Author’s Note: I’m very refraining from making the main character of this story the futuristic “Lord of the Dance” right now because of where I’m setting this story… When you hear about the house here, think “The Haunting” house. I JUST watched that… WARNING: I’m taking MAJOR liberties!

Legalities: All characters property of the WB.

Continuum: Gee, cartoons maybe?

Rating: N/R (yet!)

Secrets

By: Carmen Wayne

“Ooooh my God…”

“Wow.”

“Welcome to my castle.”

Terry McGinnis turned, a slight grin coming to his face.

“That was CUTE.”

Bruce Wayne glared at him.

“Shut up.”

He walked past, headed for another part of the gigantic castle. Terry looked over at Tim Drake and smiled.

“It’s great that you came, Mr. Drake,” he said. His eyes trailed over the gigantic, gothic main hall way. “This place…”

“It’s fantastic, I know. Bruce used to bring us here for training. I’m shocked he came back.”

“Why?”

“Why else? Memories. Choose a room, any room! Unless it’s already got someone else in it!”

Terry frowned as Tim crossed past for a gigantic stairway with his bags. Terry trailed to the side, down a side corridor. A lot of questions were in his mind about this monstrous place. He could understand why no one lived there typically, but how come it was never mentioned, and what happened to THIS place that made them stay away?

He turned a corner of the huge hall way and looked at a huge griffin statue that had it’s wings spread in an archway. He went to cross through it, when two sets of hands grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.

“Whoa, there, partner!” a man said.

Terry looked at the gray haired man and raised an eyebrow.

“Do I KNOW you?” he snapped.

“Terry,” Barbara Gordon said. Terry jumped a little and looked at her. “Terry, meet Dick Grayson.”

“Wha--?!”

He looked at the man in surprise, who mockingly pinched his cheek.

“Don’t go through that archway, okay, kid?”

“Uh. Sure.” He was pulled away, down the hall by the two. “What’s beyond that?” he asked.

“None of your business kid, just don’t pass any archways like that, okay?”

“Okay. Stop dragging me, will ya?!”

“Nope, can’t trust you!” Barbara grinned.

“Aw, c’mon!”

“Seventeen year olds need to be babysat, doncha think, Babs?”

“Oh, entirely!”

“GUYS!”

****

The five sat casually around the end of a large table, empty (yet used) plates in front of them. Dick smiled to Barbara and Tim.

“Your culinary talents have not changed for the WORSE, I see,” he said.

“We’ve had time to learn,” Barbara said.

“How have you been, Dick?” Tim asked.

Dick grinned and winked.

“You SO don’t want to know,” he said.

“Oh God,” Bruce sighed. “That means he’s been messing around.”

“Like usual,” Barbara grinned. “Boy-toy.”

The four chuckled. Bruce looked at Terry, who’s eyes were just locked on a candle flame. The three soon joined him in looking at the seventeen year old.

“Well… So, we have to have some faith in Gotham these days,” Dick said, smiling at Bruce. “I like the kid.”

Bruce smiled just a bit.

“I’m glad.”

“He’s definitely got something,” Tim agreed.

“He does.”

“Faith is for individual interpretation… Be judged in front of many, judge in front of few…” Terry murmured. The four’s eyes quickly fixed on him to find him shaking his head clear. “Er, yeah.”

The four kept staring at him, eyes wide. He frowned, not even knowing what he said. Barbara touched his shoulder gently.

“Terry, why did you say that?”

“Say what?” he asked.

“Where did you HEAR that?” Bruce asked.

“Hear *what*?!” Terry asked. “I say “yeah” and get the third?! Look, the meal was great, Commissioner. I’m taking a shower.”

He stood and rushed out before anyone could stop him, just not wanting to put up with anything. The four looked around, paled slightly at what just happened.

****

Later on that night, Terry leapt down the main lobby’s stairs and headed for the huge front doors. He wore his normal attire, and his bag was slung around his shoulder. Just as he was about to reach the door…

“Going somewhere?” Tim asked, walking out from an upstairs balcony.

Terry grumbled and looked up at him.

“Mr. Drake, I CAN’T stay in this place! It’d be different if I wasn’t limited, but I am and we’re in Scotland, for God’s sake! London’s so close, and they have disco techs! ‘sides, I leave now and I can check out the Irish River Dancers down in town!”

Tim signed in distress.

“River Dancers. Pah. Nothing’s as good as the original. Look, kid, there are REASONS you can’t go certain places. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other places here.”

“Why do I have to STAY here?!”

“Because, this is training one-o-one. You’ll understand in time. Besides, you’re a teenager and as long as you’re here, you’re stuck with being babysat by us. And I don’t *care* if you’re seventeen!”

Tim disappeared from the balcony, into darkness. Terry cursed loudly and started for yet another corridor towards the right of the main door, whistling loudly to himself. He came to a large griffin archway and sighed. He was about to turn away, when a shadow caught his eyes beyond it. He turned slowly to it again and watched as it came closer to showing him who was making it. However, all it came out to be… was pure shadow. As Terry continued to watch it, it began to dance around the wall, almost lifting from it. To his amazement, it did separate from the walls and danced around in a smoky black appearance. It looked to him and seemed to wave for him before it glided down the hall.

Terry’s eyes were fixed on it the entire time, not believing what he was seeing. The shadow started to show that it was female. It twirled, becoming more and more solid. Face not seeable, she waved for him as she began to dance the hall. Terry’s eyes seemed as if he were in a trance as he followed her with his eyes. She waved again for him and disappeared down the hall. Terry walked for that hall, entranced and just wanting to see her again.

Just as he was to pass the archway, a pair of strong hands yanked him back and threw him into a wall. It was Dick, and he was angry too.

“What did we TELL you?!” he yelled.

“Enchanting…” he whispered. “She was… enchanting…”

“What?!” Terry blinked and looked at him. “What are you TALKING about?!”

“Whaddya mean, what?! Why’d you throw me against the wall?! Mannn, leave me ALONE, will you?!”

He pushed off the wall and tried to walk away, but the room spun around once in his mind and he fell to the ground as his vision went black.

****

Barbara poured Tim some tea and sat next to him with her own cup.

“That boy is scaring me, Tim,” she murmured.

“Me too. Bruce and Dick are checking all the places he was, including his old room and bathroom.”

“Old room?”

“Yeah. It was really close to a griffin arch, so they moved him.”

“This is really peculiar…”

They turned as Dick entered the large kitchen.

“I’m retired from this…!” he hollered through his teeth.

“Dick, where’s Bruce?”

“With McGinnis.”

Barbara handed him her mug of tea and stood.

“I’m going to check on him,” she said.

Tim was right behind her.

“I’m coming with!”

Dick grinned and followed Tim.

“I’m not leaving this be! I wanna know what’s up!”

****

Bruce walked out of a pair of large French doors and shut them, looking to his three younger friends.

“How is he?” Barbara asked, concerned.

“Eyes are dilated and he’s running a fever, but he’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

“Poor kid,” Barbara said. “I bet it’s the altitude…”

“Altitude poisoning?” Bruce asked. “Doubtful.”

“You never know,” Tim said. “Then again, in Gotham he’s constantly switching altitude’s. I don’t think this is much different for him.”

“And it can’t be THAT,” Barbara said.

“Nothing happened here,” Bruce said. “We were sick, there was some sort of poisoning in the water, that’s all.”

“Sure, Bruce,” Barbara mumbled. “Tell us another.”

“We came here for HIM, not our own personal post-mortem action from DECADES ago… Maybe we should cut the trip short…?” Tim asked.

“No, not now,” Dick said.

They turned to where he was leaning against the wall, arms crossed as he deeply thought to himself.

“What?!” Barbara exclaimed. “Dick, you know what’s causing this!”

He looked up and sighed.

“No, Barbara, even now I’m not sure. But I’m SURE as hell not fighting to run again!”

“Run from what?” Terry asked. He was leaning in the doorway of his new room without a shirt, and an ice band around his head. The four didn’t respond. He shakily walked out, his eyes narrowing. “Look, when the HELL are you guys going to trust me?! I’ve done so much… SO much, and no one understands that I deserve to know what you guys have to say!”

“I’ll say this, we’re LEAVING,” Bruce said.

“OH no we’re not,” Dick said. “If it’s a “sickness” then why haven’t we gotten it yet?!”

“Perhaps we built an immunity,” Bruce said.

“Immunity my foot,” Barbara snapped. “I want out as much as you, but will you stop denying that something HAPPENED here?!”

“Because it was a matter of delusions struck on us by a poison!” Bruce insisted.

“It wasn’t a poison! A poison doesn’t last thirty six years!” Tim yelled.

“SHUT UP!!” Terry yelled. “Stop YELLING! I’ve got a friggin’ hangover! Now, you better tell me why I’ve blanked out twice, why I can’t go through those… THOSE archways, and why do I feel like I ran ten miles with the only thing charging me being tequilas!”

“How do you know what it’s like to drink tequilas?” Dick asked accusingly.

Terry wiped his eyes and shrugged.

“I just do. Now, will somebody spill it or do I have to give Drake a wedgie?” he threatened, pointing a universal finger at them.

Dick sighed and crossed his arms.

“Aren’t you ever tired of these flashbacks, kid?”

“They’re the past that’s forming my future. I never get tired of that.”

“Okay, then, if you say so… Babs, help me if I skip something.”

“Sure.”

“It was a loooong time ago…”

****####****####****####****

14 year old Tim Drake sprung from the limousine they rode up to the huge structure. He wore most of a tuxedo, but not the jacket.

“AWESOME!” he laughed. He ran and grabbed his duffle from one of the two escorts. “Dick! C’mon!” he hollered.

Dick Grayson emerged from within the limo and took his bags from the men. He too wore a tuxedo, but the tie hung loosely around his neck and his shirt was unbuttoned almost completely.

“Isn’t it cool?” he asked. “Bruce owns something like this over in Germany that we visited all the time. Not NEARLY this size, but same time period design.”

“It’s gigantic! I’m SO gonna get lost!”

“Don’t worry, I brought the baby harness.”

Tim stuck his tongue out at him.

“I hate you. Come on, lets get those huge doors open!”

They headed away for the house. Barbara Gordon emerged from the limo in a blue evening gown. Her hair was pinned back and curled slightly. She held in her hand a diamond choker that Bruce and Tim had given her prior to the lunch they just had in town. She took her duffle bag and back pack from the men and looked at the many levels of the house that COULD be seen.

“It’s so gorgeous!” she breathed.

“BABS!” Tim yelled. “DOOR!”

Barbara looked over to where Dick and Tim were trying to pry open the old door and laughed. She ran over and up the stairs in her heels to help. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne, proper as always in his tuxedo still finely done up, came out of the limo. He walked over and took his four bags from the men. He set them down and pulled his wallet. He handed them each two hundred dollars.

“Come back as ordered in one week. Thank you for putting up with us.”

The two men grinned, looking at the money.

“No problem! You want help with your bags, sir?” one asked.

“No, it’s fine, thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Bruce said, smiling.

Tim, Dick and Barbara huffed as the doors finally flew open to the massive lobby. Tim threw his bags to the side and took off running. Dick grinned and followed his example.

“I’m IT, ya know!” he laughed.

“AGH!” Tim hollered, bolting up the stairs.

Barbara watched as they sprinted out of sight and then turned to Bruce as he made his way up.

“This place is really yours?”

“Uhm, yeah… I’m… faded royalty,” he said modestly. “Where are the boys?”

“Frolicking.”

****

Tim sprinted under the griffin archway to the west wing, Dick still right behind him. Tim ran to the left and entered a small door to a small passageway. Dick laughed as the door slammed shut on him. He flung it open and bolted after.

“You’re so dead!”

“BITE me! Haha!”

“You little pervert!”

Tim turned in the tiny hall, disappearing from sight.

“Haha-AAH!”

There was a huge crash. Dick rounded around and stopped to see Tim gripping the walls tightly, almost parallel with a pit. Dick grinned and walked over. He peered over the edge to see just complete blackness. He looked at Tim then.

“What the hell happened?”

“The floor just gave away in front of me! Gimme a hand here!”

Dick turned away and looked around the hall.

“What triggered it…?”

Tim grunted and Dick walked away. He saw a small, out of place slab on the floor and knelt down.

“Diiiick!” Tim screamed.

“You triggered your own fate, mon ami!”

He went over and grabbed Tim by the back of his tuxedo pants. He hauled him from the edge and grinned. Tim straightened his hair and shrugged.

“It’s all good.”

“Sure it—TIM!”

Before he could react, Tim was sprinting back the way they had come. Dick grinned and followed him.

****

Bruce offered his arm to Barbara and led her up the stairs from the lobby, talking quietly with her.

“The lobby seems like the perfect place to start training,” he said softly.

“Yeah. The entire house seems perfect, in all honesty. I mean, Dick and the boy have already seen that…”

“WOO!!” Tim yelled. He did a flip into sight in a corridor. He started running for them, to run past them. “YouwouldnotbelievethisIalmostgotmyselfKILLED!!”

He ran past and down to the lobby. The two blinked and stared. Dick bolted past next.

“Yeah and I had to save his sorry behind!”

Tim grinned as he hit the lobby and started river dancing towards a hall that was to the left of the main door. Dick stopped running and walked after him, staring at the lion statues that stood high on each side of the hall.

“This place is so Gotham it KILLS me!”

Tim did a twirl and started walking normal, passing through another griffin archway. Then he stopped, looking out a window to some gardens outside. Dick walked behind him, but was stopped by his hand.

“Yo, Dick, is Bruce SURE we’re the only ones here?” he asked.

“Yeah. Why? …Oh.”

Following his gaze, he saw a black, misty figure dancing in the gardens. Dick walked over and slid open the window. The feminine figure stopped twirling and vanished walked behind a fountain, seeming to vanish behind there. The two exchanged glances, and then shrugged it off.

****

“How’s THIS for size?” Barbara asked later on that night.

She pushed her way into the huge dining room, carrying a large turkey platter. Bruce went to help her as Tim whistled.

“I knew somethin’ was smelling great!”

Dick grinned.

“It took her ten tries to make it,” he said. “She was eighteen when it was going on. Heheh, it was the epitome of getting worse before better!”

“Shut up!” Barbara laughed.

With Bruce’s help, they sat the platter down and Barbara exited again. She headed down a hall to the kitchen. She pushed the doors to go through, but found she couldn’t. She frowned and pushed again. Still, it remained jammed. She slammed all her weight into it and it flung open, making her spill to the floor in the kitchen. She groaned a little and sat up.

“What just happened…?” she whispered.

Something flowed through the air then. A noise that sounded like giggling. Barbara looked up and around, trying to see where the giggles were coming from. The giggling began to rise as a black, robed figure walked through a small sub-part of the kitchen. It looked at her, eyes flaming in gold, and then continued on out of sight. That’s when the giggling faded.

‘That was SO not any of the guys,’ she thought to herself, shaking a little.

Trying to blow it off, she slowly stood and went to get the two bowls of side dishes for the meal she baked. She felt her knees wobbling, but tried to stifle it as she entered the dining room.

‘Just the shadows,’ she thought. ‘No such thing as ghosts!’

She walked over where Dick was torturing Tim at the table, fighting for who would cut the turkey. She sat the bowls down and sat slowly near Bruce. She took her wine glass and brought it for her lips. Bruce noticed that the wine was shaking in the glass.

“Barbara, are you okay?” he asked.

She choked on the wine a little and nodded, setting it down with both hands.

“I-I’m fine,” she said, eyes distant.

“Well, you don’t LOOK fine!” Tim said.

He kicked Dick away and jumped onto the table, on his knees.

“TIM!” Bruce yelled.

“Who wants turkey?!” Tim sang.

“Get off!”

“I’m going to turn in,” Barbara said quietly. She rose from her seat and walked for the doors. “Have a nice meal…”

Dick murmured something to Tim and Bruce. They nodded and he went after Barbara.

“Babs, lemme walk you to your room,” he said properly.

He offered his arm while opening the door with the other. She gladly wrapped both of hers around his after they went through.

“Th-Thank you…” she said.

“Barb…” he said, looking at her. “You’re shaking. What’s wrong?”

“I just want to go to bed…”

“Okay… Come on.”

****

Tim walked down a corridor, Bruce right behind him. They both held flashlights as they approached a door that was usually concealed in total black. Bruce moved his flashlight to a map he held and nodded.

“Yep. That’s it.”

“Dude… What’s the deal with THIS?” Tim asked. He flashed a light beam over the floor. There were hideous scratches all over the floor and lower door, surrounded by brown splashes. “What is that? Rust?”

Bruce flashed his light up to the ceiling.

“It’s not wet.”

“Well, it is old.”

“It can’t be rust.”

“And the scratches?”

“I’m afraid to know.”

“You? Afraid? Right.”

“Ha.”

Bruce walked past and had to take two good shoves before he could enter through the doors. Inside was a large tomb-like area with a single, rectangular platform towards the far back. Bruce looked down the hall that went towards the left as Tim entered the black room. Dead plants where scattered everywhere as he paced for the rectangular piece.

“Why are we here again?”

“Just some old legend I wanted to check, but I think I heard something.”

“Hunh.”

The platform seemed to shake suddenly, startling Tim. It cracked down the middle and a sound that was like someone moaning in pain filled the room.

“Tim? What was--?”

Bruce couldn’t finish as the door slammed shut. Tim spun, his light fully covering the doors. He noticed horrid gashes all along the double doors. He squinted, noticing it was some sort of message.

“Faith is for individual interpretation…” he whispered.

The room suddenly became unbearably hot. Tim panted and tugged on his shirt collar. There was movement behind him and he gasped. He tried to run for the door, until the moaning from before seemed to be right next to him…

****

“BRUCE!!!”

“Tim!!!” Bruce yelled.

He dropped the flashlight so it flooded a beam over the door and he tried to open the door, but it didn’t work. Inside, he heard Tim crying out in pain and being thrashed around. Panicking slightly, he slammed into the door hard. It didn’t budge, but he wasn’t about to give up on this. He kicked into the door by the handle with all his strength as Tim emitted a loud, panicked cry of pain.

That’s when the door flung open and Bruce fell in, onto his knees and elbows. He looked up to hopefully see what attacked Tim. But, the beam of light that came from his flashlight still outside, flooded over him and faintly showed him the shattered flashlight that belonged to Tim, and the pale outline of a hand, laying on the ground two feet from him. He crawled forward a bit and grabbed the hand, knowing it was Tim. He pulled him up to boost him in his arms and looked at his face in the light. Tim was unconscious and bleeding from a gash about one inch in length on his forehead.

Bruce felt his forehead as his eyes traveled the darkness around them both. Normally, he had the ability to feel if someone was watching him, and could pinpoint WHERE they were… Now, he could only feel… a presence. Picking Tim up, he wasted no more time there and bolted out. He managed to grab the flashlight and keep going without losing his grip on the boy.

****

Early the next morning, Barbara unwrapped Tim’s head bandage to look at the wound. Bruce and Dick were off, unpacking some training gear. Tim winced as she put a cotton swab with antiseptic on it.

“Sorry…” she apologized.

“It’s-irk-okay.”

“What happened, exactly? Dick woke me up to tell me you were hurt…”

“Well, you know that place Bruce wanted to check out based on that map he found in some chest that belonged to his dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Well… I… think it was some kinda tomb or something. The door slammed shut… and…”

He trailed off and looked away. Barbara looked down, looking at the long sleeves he was wearing and frowned. Tim hated long sleeves, so why was he wearing them now? Without waiting to actually ask, she took his hand up and pushed the sleeve away. He watched, waiting to object, but he didn’t. Barbara bit her lower lip, seeing slash-like bruises and cuts all over his arms.

“Timmy… Timmy, please tell me what happened?” she asked, rubbing the bruises.

“Ouch-stop! And no!” Tim barked, pulling away. “I just fainted, okay? It was REALLY hot in there! When’s practice?”

Barbara sighed and shrugged. She went to put a smaller bandage over the head wound.

“We’re starting in about thirty minutes, but we need to hook up. If you’re not up to it, though, you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Hey, you got quite the scare yourself!”

“I’ll live.”

“Sure.”

****

“OOF!”

Tim fell down due to Bruce’s tripping him. He spun onto his back as Bruce tried to fire on him with a laser tag gun. Tim kicked the gun away and somersaulted backwards, to his knees. He dove to the side and away with his night vision goggles pressed on his forehead.

A shot came from behind and his gun shut down just as he entered a hall.

“DAMMIT!” he yelled, diving behind a griffin archway.

He peeked around to see Barbara searching for him. On a balcony of a third level that overlooked the lobby, Dick was aiming for her. With a quiet snarl, wanting revenge, Tim ripped off his laser vest and threw it at Barbara before running.

“Ack! HEY!” she hollered at that, and the fact that it gave Dick a chance to shoot her.

Tim ignored her as he pushed through a door about ten feet from the archway. Rushing down some stairs before the light the open door provided faded, Tim found himself standing at the beginning of a corridor. The door above shut, emerging him in complete black. He thanked God for the night vision goggles and slid them over his blue eyes. He turned them on and started down the stone corridor.

When the four started the training session, the only limit Bruce gave was they couldn’t leave the house. But that was completely fine to them, since the house was so massive with so many hidden passages and rooms.

It was an interesting situation since not even Bruce really knew the house. They were all using their own navigating skills to face off with each other, and get used to the house. The training day had started with sparring and archery practice outside. Laser tag started at 8 PM, and at midnight they’d have to rip off the night goggles. And it was 11:55. Tim wasn’t about to cheat, so he started running.

****

“You JERK!” Barbara yelled as she bolted up the lobby stairs.

Dick laughed and disappeared from his sniper position on the third level balcony. Barbara ran up two flights of stairs and came out to where he had been to see him gone. She went on complete guard and slowly paced down the hall, both hands on her gun. A laser shot past her from behind, just missing her. She yelped and took off running. She turned right and ran down a narrowing passageway. She turned left, and then right, entering through huge, dirty glass doors. Now she had entered into a massive courtyard.

It began to grow hot around her as she walked down a stone path, surrounded by huge, green plants who’s only survival was the natural rainwater from above. Barbara walked over to a huge fountain that was full of water, and she noticed the elaborate system of tiny ducts going from the fountain, into the ground to help water the plants.

“Ingenious,” she murmured. She looked up at the center of the fountain and noticed something. “What in the world…?”

She tossed her gun to the side and crawled onto the rim of the fountain. She leapt across to the center of it and leaned on the base. It was a large podium with two torches on each of the four sides.

‘I know a secret passage when I see one,’ she thought.

“Babs?!” she heard Dick calling.

Barbara turned one of the torches and a stone panel of the huge podium slid open. Not wasting any time, she pulled on her night vision goggles and looked down to see it was some sort of steel slide. She sat down and pushed onto the slide, having to lay down so she wouldn’t hit anything.

****

“Where did she go?” Bruce asked.

Dick pointed to the hand print that Barbara left on the dirty door.

“There.”

“It could be a trap.”

“Doubtful.”

“Maybe.”

The two carefully entered the courtyard, guns on the ready. Bruce froze, feeling something behind him. He spun around to look while Dick walked ahead, going towards the fountain.

“Did you feel that?” Bruce asked.

“No,” Dick said, not stopping. “I—“

He gasped as the ground broke apart under his feet and something grabbed his feet, pulling him in. Bruce’s eyes widened and he ran that way.

“Dick!!”

****

Barbara gasped as she saw Dick fall through the top of a corridor she stood in, and then through the floor of it. She had to shield her face from rubble… and then she ran over to the hole to look down, but he was nowhere.

****

Bruce skid over to the hole in the garden and looked down. He didn’t see Dick, but he saw Barbara looking down another hole.

“Barbara, did he go straight through?” he asked.

“I’d say so… What do we do? I can’t see a thing!”

Bruce replayed in his mind the maps of the house he had secretly memorized… Then shrugged.

“We play.”

Bruce nonchalantly fired on her.

“ACK! Bruce!”

She dove over the hole to the other end of the hall and took off running. Bruce turned and ran another way.

****

Whistling a tiny disco tune, Tim walked along with a flashlight instead of his night vision, waiting for his watch to start beeping. He was now in some sort of art gallery from decades, maybe even centuries ago. His mind worked fast as he looked at each one.

‘Jeez, I wonder if Bruce KNOWS about this place! These pictures could be worth thousands of dollars! I should try to figure out how to get a hold of—‘

“Whoa!” he said aloud.

His eyes fixed on a life sized picture of a woman dressed in a long, black evening gown that covered her completely from the neck down. She had bright blue eyes and black hair that spilled over her shoulders, to her waist. He noticed a shiny, gold plate towards the bottom of it, and neared it to see what it was. However, he stopped as he heard a loud crash down a corridor that began at the far end of the room. Tim frowned and went into a jog. He rounded the corridor’s edge and peered down to see Dick plastered flat on the ground, a vase shattered nearby. The wall had a square blackness, which turned narrowly rectangular, and then returned to a normal wall.

“Grayson? You okay over there?” Tim asked with a wary eye.

“I feel as though I got a wedgie from that slide!”

Tim rushed over and helped him stand up, setting his equipment beside them. The flashlight light was set so it would bounce off the wall and gave a slight haze over them.

“Dude, you GOTTA check this picture out that’s over there!”

“Picture--?”

Tim dragged the young man to his feet and snatched up the flashlight. They made their ways down the hall, back to the picture. Dick looked up at the picture, sliding on his nightvision goggles to see it better.

“See?” Tim asked.

“She’s pretty…”

“There’s a name plate down here…”

Dick lifted the goggles to his forehead and both knelt down to look at it. Upon gazing at the name, both of them let their eyes widen. Dick touched it gently.

“Oh… my… God…”

****

Barbara’s feet hit the ground hard as she ran, trying to find some place to get out of the dark corridor she was in. She wore her night goggles, saving the power on her flashlight. She turned a corner and stopped dead.

“Aw man.”

The hall here was dark, filled with water and mossy as can be. She sucked it in and started for it. She stepped out, figuring that it was just a few inches deep—little did she know, it was VERY deep and she fell clear in. Gasping after she resurfaced, she tried to regain herself. She tossed her hair a little and gained some footing, right on the tips of her toes.

“Not cool!” she hissed to herself.

Sighing in grossed out despair, she toed her way towards her original destination slowly, not wanting to get a mouth full of water moss. Just as she set a hand on the edge, something fluttered behind her, followed by the giggling she had heard in the kitchen the night previously. Barbara froze, fingers clinging to the flat, stony surface in front of her. Slowly, she turned, unaware of the robed, golden eyed figure that was less than a foot behind her. As her eyes fell open it, however… she screamed.

**

To Be Continued!!

(Really!)