Avoiding Past And Future

(31)Intermediate

"Alfred? You knew?" Dick's voice cracked as he heard Selina scream after Danny who undoubtably ran off. Big baby blue eyes stared up at wrinkly grey ones.

"Master Dick, please understand that this was for the better."

"Better for who? You know how hard we've been looking for him! If I had known where he was I-"

"Wouldn't have lost focus and nearly gotten shot leading to Master Bruce grounding you?"

"That's very uncalled for and you know it." Dick pouted as he started to walk back to his room to get dressed. He wasn't really angry at Alfred, they were right in keeping it secret until they got a better handle on everything. But why couldn't they just have let him know? He had been worried sick looking for his brother! He tried to look for Cujo too but nothing showed up, not even a singular camera glitch that he knows the little pup causes sometimes.

"And where do you think you're going, young master?" Alfred's tone didn't sound judging at all, more rhetorical if anything. Dick knew the man wouldn't stop him. He never had, not when it was important anyway.

"I'm going to look for my brother, and you are going to keep this quiet from Bruce." He could feel Alfred's look, the specific Alfred looktm when he raised one eyebrow and looked anything but impressed. If the circumstances were different he'd care enough to look at the man but right now he had a scared brother to find. "We both know you won't stop me, Alf. Might as well become even more of an accomplice after hiding Danny for who knows how long."

"How, pray tell, will you find the boy when he has the ability to avoid everything that would alert Batman of his whereabouts?"

Dick paused for a second, shoe halfway hanging off his foot. "I...I'll figure something out on the way there." He tugged on his shoe and quickly laced it up before walking past his pseudo-grandfather and making his way down to the Batcave. Luckily Batman was out and nowhere near Selina's place so that should give him enough leeway to get in and find Danny.

"If you do find the young master, please make sure he eats some of these." Alfred held out a small backpack that he got from who knows where.

"When, Alf. When, not if." Dick eyed him suspiciously while peeking inside. Speedster protein bars. Odd but fair. Danny was a meta now so probably needed extra calories or whatever. With a final look between the two, Dick got on his bike and raced off to Gotham. The moment he got out of the cave system, rain pelted down on him as thunder crashed all over. Whatever this storm was, it was strong and it was massive. He could see lightning hitting Wayne Tower off in the distance. Idly he praised Lucious for putting a lightning rod on the building to harvest the electricity produced during Gotham's storms. Yay for clean energy, one small positive thing about the hell that had been his week.

Once he got close enough inside the city limits, Dick checked his wrist computer. Right now Batman should be on the other side of Gotham unless Gordon asked for his help on something. Dick hoped it was the latter as he sped towards Crime Alley.

Trained eyes looked at every person he passed by, looking, hoping to see somebody that would match Danny's built. He really should have asked Selina for a description of what he was wearing but if Danny was really on the run again, he would probably ditch whatever made him recognizable.

He stopped at a small safehouse where he could store his bike. No sight of his brother yet but maybe he would have better luck up on the rooftops. It's where he would go too if people were looking for him. Rooftops move faster and have less camera coverage so it's easier to get around the city unnoticed.

Exactly why the Dynamic Duo preferred them as well.

Dick clutched the backpack close, making sure it was still secure on his back before climbing up the fire escape of the safehouse. He was about 4 blocks away from Crime Alley. 11 blocks from Selina's. He'd have to move fast if he wanted to have a decent shot of finding a meta in this weather but without the extra grip from his suit it made full sprints rather dangerous on the water soaked rooftops.