Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, however this idea is mine. I would like to thank my sister xXME AGAINST THE WORLDXx for helping me write this and others of this series. Also to my dedicated reviewers, I am sorry it took so lonmg to update, but I can't update all the time. I need to get inspired and it takes time to perfect the chapter. My updates maybe spread apart now, but do not fear they will be put up.

Chapter 8: Discovery

I woke up early the next morning and made my way down to the kitchen where Xavier was already awake and eating breakfast. Xavier was always an early riser for some odd reason. Alfred was sitting with him eating and talking as well. I wasn't exactly an early riser, I never really got up early, well early for Xavier.

"Morning," I said.

"Master Richard," Alfred said moving to stand. I put my hand up stopping him as I walked over to the stove.

"Don't worry Al I can do it," I said as I grabbed a plate and started dishing my self some eggs and bacon.

"It's my job though master Richard," Alfred said.

"Yeah but I don't like being waited on hand and foot when I am fully capable of doing things myself;" I said.

"That's exactly what your brother said when I found him cleaning his room," Alfred said.

"Al we were raised to take care of ourselves," Xavier said.

"So you did listen to your parents," Alfred said.

"Well it was easier than ignoring them and getting yelled at," Xavier said grinning.

"Naturally we just learned to take care of ourselves," I said. Alfred looked us over as I sat down next to Xavier. I knew he was thinking, 'Now how do I get Bruce to do that?' I started eating as Alfred remained silent. He finished eating and left to do his usual rounds. Xavier and I finished eating.

"Wanna do our laundry and then work out?" Xavier asked.

"Sure if Al hasn't raided our rooms," I said standing up and putting my dish in the dish washer. Xavier did the same and we both went to our rooms. Alfred had not gotten to them yet. I grabbed my dirty clothes and headed to the laundry room where Xavier was sorting his clothes. I joined him and together we had enough for two loads. Half way through filling the washing machine Alfred walked into the laundry room carrying a basket if clothes.

"Hey Al," we said smiling at him.

"Hope you don't mind," Xavier said grinning.

"But we decided to do some laundry," I added.

"I guess if you two wanna take care of yourselves then I can't stop you," Alfred said, "Just make sure you separate you all your colors from your whites," he said as he set the basket down and left. I looked down to the basket of whites. There was a red shirt in the basket. I grabbed it and tossed it into the wash.

"Let's go we have at least a half an hour before we have to switch things over," Xavier said. I nodded and followed Xavier from the laundry room.

"Wanna workout then?" I asked. It had been a while since we had actually worked out. Xavier thought about it for a moment and finally nodded. We walked in silence to the gym.

"So do you wanna do the usual?" Xavier asked. I looked at him for a moment.

"You up for having your ass kicked?" I asked.

"I don't think I'll be the one getting my ass kicked," Xavier said.

"You sound confident," I said.

"I am," Xavier said.

"So the usual then?" I asked, "Loser cleans the others room for a week?" I added.

"As long as you don't mind cleaning my room," he said.

"Ha ha you wish," I said. I walked into the gym and over to a mat Bruce had laid out. He must've known we'd end up in here sooner or later.

"Let's keep it clean and fair," Xavier said.

"But I can't help it if I'm better than you," I said.

"Let's just start," he said. I nodded and got ready for his attack. He did the same. We stared at one another for a few seconds before he swung his leg up at my hard. I grabbed his ankle and flipped him down on to the ground.

"Come on X," I said. I let go of his leg and let him stand up.

This was gonna be fun. He faced me once more. It was my turn to make a move. I kicked my leg up like he did before, but he ducked and swept his other leg out at my other leg. I tried to jump but he had caught me off guard and knocked me over. I jumped up as he tried to kick me again. I blocked his foot and swung my arm out hitting him in the stomach. He buckled and jumped back and tried to punch me again. I grabbed his fist and swung my other arm at him. He blocked me and pulled his fist free from my grasp. He swung his leg out at me once again. I jumped back as he lunged forward and knocked me off my feet.

We continued to fight like this for the next couple hours. We were pretty evenly matched until I managed to tire him out but doing nothing but blocking and avoiding his attacks. I managed to knock him over and he gave up. We had spent years taking Karate and Kick Boxing classes. We had both excelled at them and were amazing fighters. I had the upper hand because I had kept going after Xavier quit, but once I joined the flying Grayson's we both never had time to do that anymore.

"You can clean my room whenever you want today," I said.

"I guess a deal's a deal," he sighed. I grinned and nodded.

"Let's go check on the laundry," I said. We headed to the laundry room our clothes were done with a note on top of them. Nice try boys but I can't help but do my job either - Alfred

"He did our laundry," I said handing the note to him.

"I guess we shouldn't get side tracked," Xavier said. I nodded in agreement.

"So what do you wanna do now?" I asked.

"Explore I still have not seen this entire place," Xavier said.

"I guess we might even find rooms Bruce doesn't know about," I said as I grabbed our clean clothes. We brought them up to my room and sorted them. Xavier brought his clothes to his room as I changed. We met up at the top of the stairs.

"After Lunch we can explore," I said as we made our way to the kitchen where Alfred was waiting for us with lunch.

We ate and talked with him. Alfred finished eating first and left us once again to do his chores only after I told him to leave my room for Xavier.

"Shall we explore?" Xavier asked. I nodded and we looked around. This place was huge and Bruce had given us full reign of it. We found every door was unlocked but one. Down the hall from the stairs case there was one locked door. Bruce had nothing to hide, so why was this door locked. He even left his study unlocked, it confused me as to why this door was locked.

"Maybe he leads a double life and it's another way out of the manor so we don't know," Xavier said.

"Very funny now let's be serious," I said.

"I am," Xavier said.

"You can't be serious," I said.

"Oh but I am," Xavier said. "Come on let's go to my room where we can talk," he said. I nodded and followed him up to his room. I wasn't sure what Xavier was thinking. I did want to know his reasoning. He probably had thought hard about this and had a real elaborate way to explain it. Xavier had a big imagination still. He had never out grown that phase, like I had a long time ago. Xavier was still a kid in many ways too. He had what I lacked and he would be eighteen in a few months.

We arrived up in his room and he shut and locked the door behind him. I walked over to his desk and sat down on top of it. Xavier grabbed his desk chair and sat down in front of me.

"So let's hear it," I said.

"Haven't you noticed how Bruce is gone a lot of the time," Xavier asked.

"That's because he has job and social life," I said rolling my eyes.

"No, I've noticed when ever he's out he's being followed, but there are times when no one knows where he is," Xavier said.

"Your nuts," I said shaking my head.

"No seriously," Xavier said, "Bruce is almost always in the spotlight there's not one place he can go and not be followed. Come on Richard think," he said.

"Ok, say I believed you why would he need to lead another life?" I asked.

"That I don't know," Xavier said, "It can't be to live a normal life, he's never had one so why would he want one? I'm not sure exactly," he said.

"Your theory is flawed," I said. I jumped down from his desk and started for the door.

"I am serious," Xavier said.

"You are a lunatic," I said turning around. "There is no way Bruce leads a double life," I said. I knew what he was saying was making some sense. Bruce did seem to just disappear sometimes. I knew there had to be a reason though. He was a big time almost celebrity in this city. People knew his name and his face was everywhere. Xavier was right though if he did lead a double life it wasn't so he could have a normal one. Bruce never had a normal life so why would he want one.

"Come on Richard think about it," Xavier said. I shook my head and left his room. He was crazy.

I ran into Bruce and Alfred who were walking down the hall. Alfred was holding Bruce up as he leaned on Alfred for support. I looked at Bruce and he was bleeding.

"There was an accident help me get him to his study," Alfred said. I nodded and ran to Bruce's side. Xavier walked out of his room.

"There was an accident move," Alfred said as we walked past him.

Xavier followed us to Bruce's study. We managed to get Bruce down on the couch and Alfred left and returned with a first aid kit.

"What happened?" I asked as he sat down in front of Bruce as he took his blood soaked shirt off.

"Looks like a bullet wound," Alfred said as he looked at the wound in Bruce's chest.

"Should he go to the hospital?" Xavier asked.

"No hospital, no press," Bruce said.

"I've handled this before," Alfred said, "you two go along now this is gonna get messy," he said.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked as I looked away from Bruce. I couldn't help but think about my parents getting shot.

"Yes you can go I have this under control," Alfred said.

"Come on Richard let's go," Xavier said.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

"There was a robbery at the city hall banquet Bruce was at," Alfred said, "he managed to get out without anyone noticing," he added.

"Why wouldn't he just go to the hospital?" I asked.

"He didn't want people knowing it would start a frenzy," Alfred said.

"Where was he again?" Xavier asked.

"There was a banquet for the mayor he was attending and Two Face showed up," Alfred said, "he managed to get away," he said.

"Batman fail to show up again?" I asked bitterly as Alfred set to work. He started working on getting the bullet out and stitching Bruce up. I retreated to the other side of the room. I didn't know what to make of this mess.

After Alfred finished he stood and turned to me and Xavier. "Watch him make sure he doesn't move," he said as he left the room.

"What really happened?" I asked as I stood up and walked over to Bruce.

"I did not want any attention brought on me right now," Bruce said.

"Bull shit," I said.

"You're lying," Xavier said as he joined me hovering over Bruce.

"That bullet was too shallow to be a result of getting shot the way Al said it happened," I said.

"It's the truth," Bruce said as he sat up slightly.

"Al said don't move," I said.

"You are just like our dad you have a tell for when you lie," Xavier said, "now tell us what really happened," he said.

"Come on Bruce we can read you like a book," I said. He wasn't telling us something. I wanted to know what had really happened. There was no way he had gotten shot the way he said. People would've noticed.

"Boys it's the truth now leave me alone," Bruce said.

"Come on Bruce you can't keep this from us forever," Xavier said.

I stood there looking at Bruce and thought about how he could've gotten shot. There were many possibilities. There was just no way he had gotten shot the way he said he had. Like I had said the bullet was shallow. It was as if he had been wearing some sort of amour. The only reason he would be wearing amour was if he had known before hand or was…

"No," I said slowly.

"Richard," Bruce said slowly. He knew I knew. There was no way he was - I mean it didn't make sense.

"You were there the whole time," I said suddenly.

"Richard what are you talking about?" Xavier asked.

"I tired to do something, but the crowd was thick, I couldn't get anyone's attention," Bruce said looking away from me as he sat up. He winced as he sat up. He looked at his chest and the stitches held.

"Oh my god," Xavier said catching on.

"You bastard," I said turning away from him as I fought the urge to hit him.

"How could you just let that happen?" Xavier asked.

Bruce Wayne, millionaire and owner of Wayne Enterprises, was Batman. I had no seen this coming at all. I mean sure Xavier had told me he thought he led a double life, but this was over the top. It explained his bullet wound, and where he disappeared to all the time. I shook my head as I started pacing.

"So let me get this straight, by day you're Bruce Wayne millionaire, but by night you're the Batman the Dark Knight?" I asked.

"Yes," Bruce said, "I understand why you're mad," he said.

"Of course we're mad," Xavier said making his presence known again, "You let our parents and uncle die, just because you couldn't reveal your little secret," he said.

"I tried the noise was too much I couldn't get his attention," Bruce said, "so I managed to get out and I returned as Batman, but by the time I got back it was over," he said looking away from the us.

"How long did you think you could keep this from us?" I asked.

"I don't know," Bruce said looking up at me. Xavier would get over this he and I knew that. I was the one he was worried about. He knew I could hold grudges for a long time.