Robin one shot part 3!

It doesn't matter anymore

"You don't have to," Beast Boy told him. He couldn't get his voice above a whisper. Seeing Slade freaked him out. He got too close this time. This could've ended with Nightwing being snatched away. Maybe they wouldn't find him as quickly. He could disappear for good. 

"It's fine. It was a while ago anyway," Nightwing replied. 

"Doesn't make it any easier."

"They should know. God forbid this happens to them, I want them to have some hope."

"At your own expense?" The acrobat went silent for a moment, his eyes focusing on something that wasn't there. He went tight-lipped before finally saying something. 

"I'll be fine. We're a team, they deserve to know things that can affect our work." 

"Says the guy who avoids checkups whenever he can," he mumbled.

Nightwing stayed true to his word. They chose to sit in the therapy room since it gave them all a sense of ease. That and Nightwing already had bad memories laced into the vibe of the room that one more wouldn't hurt. He waited until everyone was comfortable and kept an eye on Garfield. This wasn't just his story, it was Garfield's too. 

"So you're probably confused about what happened back there," Nightwing began.

"That's one way to put it," Bart muttered, getting a harsh nudge from Jaime. "Ow." 

"Back when I lead the Teen Titans, Slade was our biggest enemy and I was a little-"

"-a lot," Garfield corrected.

"-fine, I was very obsessed with him. I guess you could say he felt the same. We got called to this place, a bomb was supposedly inside. On the way there, I got caught up fighting Cinderblock but the team carried on," he explained. "We later found out that was just a distraction. So the team goes to "bomb" that's supposedly is going to stop time and it "goes off" but nothing happens. Then a laser fires at them, knocking them into the water." He checked Garfield for any sort of reaction. He didn't look happy but it wasn't to a level Nightwing thought was too much. "They just thought it was a fluke since they're all okay and they leave thinking this was a job well done." He glanced down at the floor, needing a minute. He didn't like explaining the bad things that happened to him but that wasn't important. His team needed to know that if this happened to them, it's not the be-all-end-all. "I get lured to Slade's base. He tells me that the "bomb" was a distraction and a laser infected my teammates with probes that'll kill them at a push of a button. The only way to stop this was to become his apprentice." 

"How long were you there for?" Robin asked. Even he was unaware of the past. He didn't like to delve into Nightwing's stuff. There was always something sad to be found and the job could be emotionally taxing as it was without knowing about the torture a previous protege had gone through. Nightwing glanced over to Garfield. 

"Two weeks at least. We searched day and night for him so the days blended together. Eventually, we found you on that rooftop," the younger answered.