Welcome to The Medium Between!

I wrote this story for Nanowrimo 2014, which finished last night. It's not done yet, but I have written 33,333 words. In other words, this will not end up like the last story I published. I plan to update at least once a week.

I do not own Young Justice.

Enjoy.

Prologue

It was a stupid bet. They both knew it when they made it, but that had not stopped them.

Not long after a particularly brutal kidnapping, Dick was in recovery at Wayne Manor when Wally came to visit. Proving that he was perfectly capable of being asterous even when incredibly injured, Dick stole Wally's goggles and painted little robins in permanent ink on the straps. Dick wanted to keep them, but Wally wanted them back. It had been Wally who proposed the bet, partly out of jest and partly out of worry for his friend's current condition.

"Fine. You can keep them if you don't get kidnapped for three months starting now."

Dick was silent for a second. "In civvies or in costume?"

"Either."

Dick pondered it for a minute during which Wally disappeared to grab some cookies, returned, and ate all said cookies except for two, which he gave to Dick. On the one hand, whether or not he got kidnapped and, thus, the bet was entirely out of his control. On the other hand, it was a relatively simple bet.

"Deal," Dick said. "But, if the majority of the team is captured as well, it doesn't count. Also, no friendly kidnappings count."

"Friendly kidnappings?" Wally asked.

"Like if you or Roy or someone kidnapped me to go somewhere fun like Six Flags, or to spend time with me. That doesn't count," Dick paused for a second, considering any other conditions to set or loopholes to close. Finding none, he questioned, "What do you want if you win?"

"The new Xbox 720!" Wally said, "And my goggles back."

"That's fair. A pair of goggles for an Xbox. That totally makes sense."

"Those are high tech goggles, and your dad's a billionaire. An Xbox is nothing." Wally crossed his arms.

"He's not my dad," Dick replied automatically.

"Deal or no deal?"

Dick huffed, "Deal. I don't get kidnapped for three months, 90 days, starting now, excluding friendly kidnappings and most of the team kidnappings, and I keep the goggles. If I do get kidnapped, you get an Xbox 720 and your goggles back."

They shook on it.

A stupid bet, one that they both blatantly hoped Dick would win.

A stupid bet, one that had a definite conclusion, which pushed the limits of that outcome to the end.

A stupid bet. Dick thought with a groan as he leaned his head back against the side of the cold, metal box when the ship tilted to the side once again. He shivered, and pulled the blanket as tight as he could around his shoulders with handcuffed hands. How did it go so wrong?