It was a typical Friday for the team - after a quick briefing from Batman, they were sent to investigate a warehouse out in Bludhaven. Suspected trafficking, Batman had said. The Justice League had been tipped off anonymously. And while the tip had been vague on what sort of trafficking might be going on there, security footage pulled from the area seemed to support that something shady was going on there. The team's mission? Find out what.

However, upon the team's arrival, it appeared that they were too late - the warehouse had already been abandoned. It seemed like all evidence had been wiped clean from the place. No machinery, weapons, crates. Hardly any furniture remained. Just a few desks, chairs and filing cabinets - all of which had been emptied out. There wasn't so much as a fingerprint left behind.

Luckily, whoever wiped the security footage was sloppy; Robin was able to recover about twenty minutes of footage from one of the cameras. As he sifted through the footage, looking to find an identifiable uniform, face - anything they could work with really - Superboy spotted something.

"Wait, what's that symbol in the background?" Connor asked, pointing to a pixelated blur in the corner of the screen.

"Dunno. Let's find out." Robin connected his holocomputer to the monitor, typing away. "Enhancing footage now… got it!" Though still a bit blurry, the symbol seemed to resemble some sort of bird. "Running it through the cave database now to see what we know about these guys."

The team watched as the screen loaded, searching through all their records. To their surprise, there were zero matches. "Maybe they're new?" Artemis posed with a shrug.

"I'm not so sure," Kaldur replied. "With the level of organization they have displayed thus far, it seems unlikely they are amateurs."

"Could be a rebrand," Wally joked.

"Maybe…" Robin put a hand up to his ear, activating his communicator. "Robin to Watchtower, come in."

"You've got Watchtower," Batman's voice replied from the other end of the line, "Report."

"Whoever's running things here, they're not in our database. We picked up a potential identifier on the security feed. We were hoping you could run the image through the League's database, see if you get any hits."

"Acknowledged. Send it over." Robin complied, forwarding the image to Batman.

As the image popped up on Batman's screen, Robin heard a sharp intake of breath over the line. "Do you recognize them?"

After a slight pause, Batman responded, in a measured voice,"You've all done good work. Go back to the cave."

"But what about the mission-"

"No further investigation is necessary. Head back to the cave immediately."

"But why-"

"That's an order," he cut off his protege. "Batman out."

Robin slammed his fist down on the desk. Feeling the worried stares of his teammates behind him, he took a deep breath, pushing down his frustration. Calmly, he turned around to update his friends.

"Batman's ordered us back to the cave. He says we're done here."

"So, a successful mission then?" M'gann asked, trying to spin it positively.

"Batman knows something. He's just not telling us. But why?" Robin asked, more to himself than the group.

Trying to take charge before anyone decided to go rogue (as they so often did on these 'simple' missions), Kaldur stepped in. "If Batman is withholding information, I'm sure he has his reasons. It may be that we need further preparation before we continue our investigation. Perhaps he will clarify the situation once we return."

"Yeah, and perhaps candy will start falling from the sky," muttered Kid Flash, though he followed Superboy and Miss Martian back towards the bioship. Kaldur hesitated, looking back towards Robin, who had yet to move from the desk. He glanced over at Artemis, who put a silent hand up in reassurance. She would take care of things. Kaldur nodded, following the others out.

Artemis made her way over to Robin, leaning on the desk besides him. She said nothing, waiting.

"What's the point in sending us to investigate if we're not privy to the information we discover?" he vented, "It's irresponsible. If he wants us to have the best possible chance to take down whoever we're up against, he shouldn't be keeping us in the dark."

"Maybe this isn't an enemy he wants us to face." Robin turned his head away. "Look, I hate being out of the loop as much as you. But aside from the security footage you recovered, this place has been wiped clean. We're not going to find any more answers here. Our best bet is to head back to the cave, and hope to get some answers there."

Artemis pushed on, hoping the slight relaxation of his shoulders meant she was getting through to him. "And if he refuses to keep us in the know - wouldn't be the first time you've hacked into the League's database, would it?" He couldn't help the small smirk from appearing on his face. She knew she had him.

"Alright. You win," he conceded, hands up in defense. "I'm coming. Just gonna give this place one final sweep, okay?" Seeing the look of doubt on her face, he pleaded, "Just to be sure. A few minutes, that's all I need."

She sighed, feeling like she would come to regret this. She reached up to her ear, tapping her comm. "Artemis to Aqualad - go on without us. We're right behind you." Robin looked over to her, puzzled.

"Artemis, are you sure-"

"There's a zeta tube two blocks from here. We just need a little air, that's all."

There was a pause on the line - probably Kaldur weighing out the potential for trouble they could manage between here and the cave. With a slight sigh, he gave in. "Alright. I'll see you both at the cave shortly. Aqualad out."

Artemis turned back to the boy wonder, who was still staring at her. "What? Did you think I'm stupid enough to leave you to investigate some mystery group on your own? You've got twenty minutes."

Nodding in gratitude, Robin hopped down to the lower level of the warehouse, making his way towards the offices. Artemis stayed in the main room of the warehouse, scanning all the nooks and crannies for anything they might have missed.

Tired of her fruitless search, Artemis headed towards the offices to gather up the boy wonder. "Robin?" she called out, peeking into each room. She found him in the third office, glancing up from behind a set of filing cabinets. "Find anything?"

"No. Nothing. Let's head back." Artemis hummed her approval, heading out the way she came.

Once she was gone, Robin glanced once more around the room, then back towards the door. He looked down again at the folded paper in his hand - no larger than an index card, sealed with red wax, addressed to him. It had not been in the room before. He slipped it into a pouch on his utility belt, and followed Artemis out.

"Artemis: B-07, Robin: B-01" the zeta tube announced, as the pair stepped into the cave. The rest of the team had already arrived, and were seated around the room, waiting for the mission debrief.

"Did you have a nice walk?" Kaldur pointedly asked, brow raised.

"It was fine. Quiet," Artemis responded, passing Kaldur on her way towards the kitchen.

"Nice to get some air after being cooped up indoors all day," Robin added, flopping down beside Wally on the couch. The speedster glanced over at his best pal, suspicious of his sudden cheery attitude.

"You good, dude?" he quietly asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Robin casually deflected.

"I dunno," Wally pressed, "you just seemed kind of... heated, when we left."

Robin waved him off, dismissively. "I was, but Artemis talked me down. It's frustrating how B handles things sometimes, but I'm sure Bats will loop us in on anything important."

"So you two just had a nice chat and headed back?"

"Pretty much," Robin responded, leaning back on his arms.

"So did you two talk before or after you continued your unauthorized investigation?"

Robin sat up to defend himself. "Wally-"

"Don't even try to come up with something," Wally cut him off. "I'm not stupid. I know you. Besides, math isn't on your side. Even factoring in the time for a heartfelt chat, you should have made it back here before us. Way before us." Robin clenched his jaw, saying nothing. Wally rolled his eyes, huffing as he crossed his arms in frustration. "Did you at least find anything interesting?"

"No, nothing," Robin quickly responded, hand subconsciously moving to his utility belt. Halfway through the motion he realized what he was doing and pulled his hand back. Wally glanced down at his utility belt, then back up at Robin. He had been caught.

Before Wally could further interrogate him, the zeta tube announced Batman's arrival. As the two stood up to meet the others, Robin grabbed Wally's arm, silently pleading. Wally, mouth set in a hard line gave an imperceptible nod. He wouldn't say anything. Not yet, at least. "We're talking, later," he whispered through his teeth. Without waiting for a response, Wally made his way towards the debrief area, Robin just a step behind.

The debrief was short and sweet. Kaldur gave a quick summary of their findings, and Batman, as suspected, shed no further light on the situation. "Good work. That'll be all. Dismissed."

Of course," Robin muttered under his breath.

"Did you have something to add, Robin?" Batman challenged, patiently glaring at his protege.

Robin defiantly met his gaze, but ultimately backed down. "Forget it. It's not worth it." Without any further acknowledgement, Batman left the cave, headed back to the Watchtower. His protege exited in the opposite direction, slipping down the hallway to his room at the cave.

As the metallic door slid shut behind him, he placed his hand on the biometric scanner, locking the door. He pressed his forehead against the door, taking a brief moment to enjoy the cool metal on his skin.

Taking a deep breath, Robin made his way across the room, peeling off his uniform, and switching into civies. He removed his mask last, blinking in the sudden change in lighting. He gathered the scattered pieces of his uniform hanging everything neatly in his closet. He picked up his belt last, removing the note from the pouch where it had been hiding.

Dick sat on his bed, staring down at the note in his hands. "This is stupid," he thought to himself, "I should let the team know what I found. Analyze it properly, before opening it. Tell the League."

"Yeah, but it's addressed to you," he debated himself. "Don't you have the right to know what's going on? Besides, if Bruce found out about it-"

"He'd take it before I had the chance to so much as read it." Dick answered himself. "I should at least tell the team. Wally."

"Tell them later. It might be nothing. Do your own investigating first, rather than wasting your time. Hell, maybe you can crack this thing before Bruce gets the chance to." He shook his head at the thought. As if.

He mentally grappled with himself for a bit longer, but ultimately, curiosity won out.

He opened the note.