Disclaimer:fanfics are so much fun! no character ownership required. which is good because I own none of these.

Just thinking about whether or not Dick could really pull the wool over everyone's eyes. I'm pretty sure this is what would be going on behind the scenes. Only time will tell.

Figured Out

Tim was looking over old reports in the cave, very old reports. While the others were mourning over Artemis, he had other thoughts. He hardly knew the girl. Only met her once and heard stories from others, mostly Dick. Reading these reports among other things was giving him a better feel for who she was. And for her murderer.

Kaldur'ahm was another mystery to him. He saw the guy in action, heard more stories, but Dick really didn't talk about him. He'd deliberately walk around any question he had about the former leader of the team. Tim even found old journals in the guy's room and started to read them, trying to figure out why the guy changed sides. But try as he might, it was still a mystery to him.

Which was why he kept at it. Tim loved mysteries.

"Hey ya Ti—Rob!" Bart zoomed in, a bag of pretzels in one hand and an apple in the other. He looked over the teen wonder's shoulder curiously. "What cha doing?"

Tim actually looked over his sunglasses at the speedster, raising an inquiring eyebrow. Something was definitely wrong here. "Homework. Batman has me reading old mission reports every day so I don't miss something. What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to hang out with the cool crowd," the timetraveler said grinning. "Make some friends, see what was going on. You know, things like that."

"Shouldn't you be with Wally?" The young detective looked over the newcomer. Not a hint of concern in the boy's body. "I mean, he's your cousin and he did just lose his long term girlfriend. I'm sure he could use your support right now."

"Lose? They broke up?" Bart really looked confused now. His eyes shifted to the right a bit, trying to remember something.

"Noooo…." He answered slowly. "Artemis was killed by Kaldur'ahm while on a mission."

Some donning came to the kid's face. "Oh… that…."

Tim watched him and how his excited demeanor changed to reflective and quietly searching in his mind for some kind of answer to this dilemma. He wasn't a bit sad about it. "Didn't you know about Artemis? You know? From hanging out with Wally in the future."

"Ahh… Wally and I… we really aren't that close." Bart suddenly became really interested in his pretzels. "Besides, who wants to talk about their dead girlfriend from forty years back?"

The detective watched him for a moment longer, putting pieces together in his mind. He took a short breath before closing the case files and getting out of his chair. "Okay, that settles it."

"Settles what?" Some alarm was in the kid's voice, but only those who dealt with less expressive people could detect it. The guy was clearly concerned he said the wrong thing and revealed the future.

"Nothing. Business as usual. Later Impulse." Tim swiftly left the cave, leaving one nearly panicking speedster in the dust.

"She's alive isn't she?"

Dick froze mid his report typing on the bat-computer, slowly turning to face Tim. His surrogate brother leaned against one of its open sides, folding his arms in his demanding-answers way. His glare told his older counterpart that he wouldn't believe whatever he was told either. He was going to get answers.

Didn't stop the acrobat from trying. Putting up his best pained and confused face, Dick started to divert away whatever theories the kid had. "What are you talking about?"

"Artemis Crock is alive, and you know it."

"Tim, I was there! I tried to save her! I felt her heart stop!" He had to detour him from this line of thought. He couldn't risk too many people knowing about this.

"Exactly." Tim gave him a small smirk. "You were there."

"Tim," Dick's warning voice came with a slightly threatening glare. This was not a subject to bring up, ever. "She was one of my friends. My best friend might never forgive me for this."

"Possibly. You asked her to come back to his life. And you put her in even more danger now than before." The junior detective pushed himself on to the consol, sitting between buttons, still smirking a bit. "The one question I've got is how you've managed to change a known hero's face, who has personal connections to the criminal world? She used her easy-in up five years ago just before those missing sixteen hours."

Okay, now he really was getting angry. "What are you implying?"

"That you are running an ultra top secret ops, for the past year at least." Tim gave him a knowing look, one that Dick hated when he was hiding something.

"Tim—"

"You promised you'd confirm any mystery I solved Dick," the kid's eyes narrowed as his smirk grew. "Any mystery. And I've been reading into this one for a while now."

Dick stood from his chair, forcing back the panic and dread that filled him whenever he was caught by Batman for something big. And now Tim was bringing it out. He could have just forced his brother to shut up, but he had promised. There may be a way to detour him still though. "There's nothing to look into."

"There's why Kaldur'ahm left." This made the young man blink. Wasn't that an open and shut case? They made certain it was. "I found his journals."

Internally the older teen winced. Apparently they missed something. "Aquaman treated him well, despite being the son of Black Manta. And if I were in his shoes, I wouldn't want to know that my dad was a criminal. He and Tula broke up years before her death. Yes he had feelings for her still, but he got over them. Even supported his friend Garth and her going out. And Tula died after Jason did. He knew the job had risks, and he knew you'd be there for him. Her death and finding out about his father, that's not enough motivation for him to switch sides. Retire, yes. But it would not so drastically change him to switch sides."

"You don't know that." Dick tried to end this quickly. Though Tim had brought up very good points, he didn't know Kaldur. "Kal was going through a really hard time and things just kept getting worse for him. I mean, what would you do if one day, your girlfriend died, then your dad, and… I don't know, me. All within the same year. What would you do then?"

"Stay the course." The seriousness in the kid's voice was almost disturbing, but also a comfort. Tim was too stubborn to switch sides, even in tragedy. "And so would Aqualad. I can tell from his journal and field reports.

"But," the detective emphasized, "it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. You guys thought that since the 'Light' used a mole, it'd be a good idea to make one yourself. There's no way you or Wally could actually convince them you changed sides. Roy was also out because of how he was already used as a mole and his obsession with finding the original Speedy. Zatanna and Rocket were on the fast track to the League, and M'gann and Conner can't lie to save their lives. Artemis, like I said before, used up her traitor card. Only option left was Kaldur'ahm, and the timing was perfect.

"You guys set up the best show possible for him to switch sides, making everyone take yours, Wally, and Artemis' words for it. They 'retire'—"

"They really retired!" Dick interjected. He was still upset that they had.

"Alright, they retired," Tim stated, letting it go, "making them no longer suspect to anything. You put yourself into the crosshairs to make sure no one else suspects them. To make certain this works, Aqualad gets in deep. Real deep. To the point that even his king believes it. Has to in order to gain Black Manta's complete trust. And if Black Manta's on the rise, so's Kaldur'ahm. Being close to his dad, and getting his dad close to the 'Light', gives you the perfectly located mole you need to get all your intel.

"But then we have the Kriletaians appearing then they get double crossed for some reason. Your mole needs help on the inside. So you arrange for Artemis to 'die' at Kaldur'ahm's hands, then find a way to get her into his inner circle to help him out. The only thing I haven't figured out yet is how she could get in. She doesn't exactly have a secret ID with the bad guys."

The young man's jaw tightened with each word, keeping himself from chewing out his kid brother. He really couldn't. Tim was dead on. Exploding wouldn't help, but he couldn't just let the kid know he was right. This was a very delicate situation. So he took a breath before trying once again to make him see what the others saw. What he wanted the whole world to see until the 'Light' was taken apart and exposed to the world.

"What on Earth drove you to this conclusion? Do you really think I'd endanger the lives of my friends just for a mission?"

"If necessary," the young detective concluded. "And only with their full support. Batman would trick people into doing what he wants, but you let them know all the facts so they don't get suckered into anything. You wouldn't manipulate them, but you could manipulate a situation around them to help everyone, including them."

Dick could tell Tim was trying to spin it a certain way, trying to make it clear he wasn't doing what their mentor would, but did take risks with people when needed. He just avoided it as much as he could. And truth be told, the mole thing was Kaldur's plan.

Tim continued anyway, looking away slightly. "As for how I figured it all out, it took Artemis' 'death' really to put the pieces in place. I mean, why would you put a retired hero into the line of fire? You only asked Wally to help deal with Impulse because they're both speedsters, not to have him help his uncle with some super powered guy in a suit. Artemis though, you wanted her help on a mission. There are plenty of others who would have volunteered, but you called her in.

"Second, she was 'killed' by Kaldur'ahm. By one of his water constructs. That can easily be manipulated to make it look like it stabbed her but actually didn't. Third, you tried to resuscitate her. You could have easily planted fake blood on her costume in the process and slipped her something that slows down her heart and breathing to make it look like she died. You also took care of her body afterwards.

"And lastly," the thing that cinched it for the teen wonder, "Bart didn't do a thing about it either way. You'd think a kid from the future, who just saved his grandfather and the guy who would have killed him, would do everything in his power to save the girl his cousin loved as well. You and I both know there's more to his 'visit' than being a tourist. And he was no where to be seen until after the wake. Plus, he held back info when I asked him why he wasn't with Wally to help him out with it.

"The only logical conclusion I could come up with, along with all the conflicting reports I was getting on Kaldur'ahm's personality, was if he was a double agent and Artemis' 'death' would result in helping with his undercover work." Finally done with his hypothesis and explanations, Tim took a deep breath and returned to his real question. "I just don't know how you'll manage to put her with the bad guys when her face is known."

His surrogate brother just watched him for a long moment before finally giving in. He groaned as he flopped back into the chair, gripping his head and propping his arms on his knees. Tim had him, perfectly. Again. This was worse than when the kid explained how he figured out who Batman and Robin were. At least back then Tim had good intentions behind the knowledge. This time it was simply the end of another mystery for the teen wonder.

Finally Dick answered. "I got Zatanna to make a glamour charm and gave it to her. Zee doesn't know what it's for."

"Ah. That makes sense." The subtle pride in the kid's voice was a bit unnerving. It reminded him too much of Bruce. Still the teen earned it.

"Tim," the acrobat jerked his gaze straight into his eyes, "you can't tell anyone about this. Got it? No one can know. No reports, no journals, and you can't talk to even Alfred about it. You weren't supposed to know. The League doesn't even know. They'll probably kill us after this."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"This isn't a joke Tim. Two of my best friends' lives are on the line, not to mention the whole world if we aren't careful. The 'Light' are very dangerous. They killed Ted Kord for getting too close for crying out loud."

This reminder shook the boy to a certain degree. Tim was actually a fan of the second Blue Beetle. Learning about his death just a few months after joining the fight himself unnerved him. The 'Light' was not to be taken, well, lightly. And he wasn't about to.

"You're looking at the only one on the team who has to lie to his dad about this," Tim reminded him. "And is still living with him. If there's one thing I can do, it's keep a secret. How long did I keep yours without even trying to confront you about it?"

"Tim…" Though Dick knew the boy was good at lying and keeping quiet, he still didn't want him to carry this load. Before the young man could say anything more, Tim threw up his hands.

"Seriously Dick, I just wanted to end a mystery in my head. That's all. I won't look into your black ops anymore." The detective smirked slightly before hopping off the consol and starting to walk towards the stairs out of there. "I'll act just as depressed as everyone else if I have to. You should look a bit distraught too you know. You're way too upbeat for someone who just lost a friend, even if you are putting up a brave front for everyone else.

"But truth be told," he added before the man could object, "I think you should be more worried about Bart spilling his guts than me. If I actually interrogated him, I bet I would have known everything."

With that thought, Tim headed up the stairs and out of the cave, leaving a frustrated and thoughtful acrobat behind him. Thanks to their little talk, Dick had a new problem to think about. He'd have to talk to Bart later. Then he'd have to figure out how to keep Tim out of anymore secret operations in the future. The kid was smart and dangerous, but thankfully not reckless. He could count on him staying out of this one.

The acrobat pinched his brow in frustration. Oh yeah, this kid was definitely a detective, and Batman would be proud of him right then. More than likely their old mentor would have figured it out as well if he were there. And that would only make the whole thing worse.

"Way to go Grayson. Beaten by a kid. Again."

END

A/N: really didn't know how to end it after Tim left the cave, so I cooked up that last bit in the past two hours.

Now I have to say first off is that this is my theory of how they worked it all out. All it would take for a natural detective like tim to figure this all out really is Bart not really reacting. I mean, seriously, they must have figured that Bart's hiding something and that he saved his Grandpa's life on purpose. And if he saved his gramps, wouldn't he have saved his cousin's girlfriend too? Bart didn't show up or anything. Figured he'd have near no reaction to her 'death' either. Combine both factors and anyone who's trying to figure Bart out would know something's up.

And really, even though Kaldur switching sides does make him more interesting, even he can't just switch sides that fast. i'd have liked to hear the whole downward spiral story, but this is just as interesting a theory. It really seemed too light for him to just switch sides. This whole mole thing with him just made him way more interesting a character. =P

Notice all the comic book references? Tim figuring out everything on his own when Dick tried to hide it all was his way of beating him, again. *sigh* I really hope this sequence is cannon. I'd like to be right, completely right, for once.

Now back to figuring out a fight scene for another story. *diez* Poll still up on profile.