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They were the bad guys. Children that had been found by the big bads and trained by them. Sure, sometimes it hurts to know that they’d eventually be the ones to kill the human race, but it was only fair. The human race thought they were scum, why not live up to that title?
Wally West had been the first to join this team. He’d been twelve, hiding in the science lab at his school after the bastard he’d lived with had threatened to slit his throat if he came back. It’d been a stormy day and Wally had been picking the lock on the AP Chemistry chemical cabinet while watching a video of the new hero kid in Gotham. God, so small and yet he was fighting next to Batman, and regularly worked behind the scenes for the League- at least if all of the reports of Leaguers calling for help from Robin during a big mission were correct. He’d finally broken the lock when the window to the room flew open. The surprise had caused Wally to knock into the cabinets, glass shattering over him and covering his body in chemicals. Ignoring the burning pain, Wally had run to the window, trying to pull it shut. Instead, the sound of thunder filled his ears as a burning spread through his chest.
The next time Wally had woken up to Hunter Zolomon crouching over him. It had been a scare, everyone in Central City knew that he was a ruthless killer, but when Hunter had gently caught the boy and hugged him tight as his body began to uncontrollably vibrate, Wally had found his solitude. Training was quick to follow, and soon Wally was vibrating into buildings, stealing things he needed, and exploding walls to occupy the Flash. It was fun.
Hartley and James had been the next two to join. The rest of the Rogues had been locked up and the two teenagers had no way to get James the medicine to help with his psychosis. They didn’t even have health insurance or IDs to go and buy it, nor was the medicine ever labelled. Grodd had found the two raiding a drug store alone and examining the pill colours and sizes. He’d called Wally and Zoom to help search for the medicine after getting a list of its effects from Hartley. The relieved tears of the young boy as James was finally able to take a pill and regain some clarity to hug his semi-brother had been enough to convince the two to be taken in by Zoom. They were sweet, if chaotic, but it gave Wally some friends who he quickly taught to join him on his heists. No kills though, those had still been left to Zoom.
Six months of stealing, injuring people, and spreading the news that the US let people like them rot away for not having money drew the attention of Lex Luthor. Wally didn’t like Luthor, he was loud and snotty and had billions of dollars that he didn’t give to anyone unless people started calling him corrupt. However, Luthor took a liking to the three villainous children. He said that they could be helpful to his friends, the Light. It was then that they’d all met Kon-El and Roy. Clones, quiet, stiff-backed, short tempers. Wally liked them, Hartley was eternally sassy with them, James enjoyed pranking them and then hiding behind Wally.
Roy eventually left Luthor’s care, going to work with Green Arrow in Star City. He came back once a week, giving Luthor and the four Children of the Light information on the League. Of course, his visits often ended up in James physically tackling Roy onto a couch and forcing the male to watch at least one movie with them. It was nice, even domestic. Something to do after hours of being taught the best poisons and quickest ways to assassinate someone by Cheshire. She was sweet too, always snuck sweets to the children she trained.
One day, Conner disappeared. He’d been taken to Cadmus for the weekend for some extra teaching by the G-nomes and had been kidnapped by Robin and Aqualad. Wally had been angry, but when Conner sent him a message that he was going to make friends with the team and act as a second spy for Roy, Wally had acquiesced. Anything to help their family. Conner was only able to meet them on Wednesdays, saying it was the only time his roommate at the “Cave” left to learn more about being human. She was an alien, apparently. Still, Conner always kept the team from finding the Light’s biggest secrets and often warned his three “younger” brothers of any approaching heroes so that they wouldn’t be kidnapped as he had been. Wally would always love Conner, he was truly the kindest sibling of their group of five.
When Wally met Klarion, he’d learned to think of him as only annoying, He was loud, whiny, and tended to pick fights. Of course, Klarion’s fights tended to be mean spirited pranks that had the others laughing at the victim. Eventually, he’d gained the family seal of approval, including the James movie night tackles.
Wally had just turned sixteen when Conner called saying that Robin had found out they existed. That they were two minutes away from their quarters, only Conner and Robin. Apparently, the little bird didn’t trust the rest of his team as he did Conner. The rest of Conner’s warning had been a surprise though.
“He’s Dick Grayson. Only thirteen. Don’t kill him, he could be useful.”
“How’d you get that out of him, Connie?” James asked, currently hanging over Hartley’s shoulder as Wally rushed around getting the room cleaned for what would surely be the forceful inundation of a new family member.
“He stayed at the mountain this week due to Batman and all other guardians being out of town. Came into my room last night crying about a nightmare and had to reveal his identity to be comforted.” Conner explained. “We’re outside, I’ll grab him when we break-in.”
“Use the back door. Roy’s coming tonight, we all know he freaks out when the front lock is disabled.” Hartley commented, working on twisting earplugs into James’ ears whilst switching off his own hearing aids. “Deaf now.” He added.
“Superboy, you ready? Batman’s gonna be so excited about this.” That was Robin? He sounded so young, happy too. Nowhere near the seriousness you’d expect of a Gotham hero. Wally kept one earplug out as he silently pressed his emergency beacon for Klarion to come home. May as well listen to Robin while moving fast enough to not hear Hartley’s music.
“Yeah, I’m coming, Robin. Let’s do-” The transmission cut off as Conner and Robin began the trek to the backdoor, prepared to break in. Klarion had teleported in by now, releasing Teekl to run her way over to a perch on James’ shoulders. Honestly, one would think she belonged to James over Klarion with how sweet she was to him.
“Why’d you send out a distress beacon? I was ripping up some office workers.” Klarion whined, crossing his arms to pout at Wally.
“Robin’s breaking in. Only trusted Conner to come with. I thought you’d want to meet our new sibling.” Wally commented, raising a finger to his lips as the lock on the back door clicked. Wally watched as James fiddled with his newest snot gun, the tempered clicks being the only thing to break the silence. Of course, the quiet click of a belt as a Batarang went flying towards Hartley broke it as well.
Wally easily dashed to catch the projectile as Robin yelped. Ah, the click must have been Conner disarming him. Klarion’s giggles quickly filled the room, followed by an eerie red lifting the chaos lord into the air.
“Wohs em eht eidrib ni eht moor!” Klarion chirped, reaching a hand out to catch Robin’s wrist as he was pulled from the dark hall and into the light.
“Wh- Superboy! Call for backup!” Robin yelled, quickly beginning to struggle as Klarion removed his gloves and gave Wally a moment to remove his boots. “S-Stop it! You’re under arrest!”
“Dick, calm down. They won’t hurt you.” Conner called, walking further into the room and catching the young teen as Klarion tossed him over. The taller boy had already removed his own shoes, gently grasping Robin’s wrists and shushing him as the teen began to scold him about identities.
“Wally, Jimmy, Hart-eyes, meet Dick Grayson. I thought you all could do with someone who actually understands technology.” Conner stated, easily stopping Batman’s sidekick from escaping his grip. “And if not, he’d be a good source of League information. He told me that he programmed their security and encryption tech.”
“Superboy, what’re you doing? You’re not- you were the mole?” Robin choked out, his struggling ceasing as he spoke. The betrayal and desperation in his tone were enough to make even Wally feel bad. Wow, he really was just a little kid under that mask, wasn’t he?
“One of two. Family comes first, Dick.” Conner commented, peeling away the domino mask on Robin’s face. The startling blue eyes that were revealed automatically had Wally’s attention. Such big eyes, bigger than James’ even. They had to be the definition of doe eyes, honestly, and with the pure hurt they betrayed, Wally could understand why Batman kept them covered.
“But you think I’d betray my family?” Dick snapped, narrowing those doe eyes at the clone holding him in a tight hug.
“Batman refused to adopt you. I heard you ask him why he wouldn’t multiple times. The League only sees you as a tool. The team only sees you as the expendable person to send ahead, get the information, and watch their backs. I hate seeing it, hate seeing you hurt.” Conner argued, sighing as Robin began once again to struggle wildly in his arms.
“It’s nearly dinner time,” Hartley commented. “Conner, you’re staying, right? With Robin? Any dietary things I should keep in mind while cooking?”
“He’s allergic to nuts and strawberries,” Conner stated, gratefully taking a pair of manacles from Wally and using them to restrain the Boy Wonder. Wally was nice enough to restrain Robin’s ankles as well, adding a leather choker around his neck.
“New invention of mine. Micro-nodes are inside of it, try to escape and it’ll shock you.” Wally stated, grabbing the chain between Robin’s wrists and dragging him over to the couch. “You know, I’ve always thought you were awesome! Hey, do you want some fruit? We’ve got watermelon and peaches and apples and cantaloupe, lots of stuff!”
“I- no! You’re villains, let me go! Superboy- why?” As Robin’s voice cracked, nearly every teenager in the room winced. They’d all dealt with betrayal, it hurt, it was messy, and most often it brought out the worst in them. “I thought we were friends?”
Conner walked over to the couch, sitting down on the other side of Robin and forcing the teen into a side hug. “You are my friend, Robin. You’re one of my best friends. That’s why I’m stopping you from hurting my family. Klarion gets very protective when people attack any of them.” He explained. “Watch a movie with us, have a snack and dinner, and stay. You don’t have to give us any information until you’re ready to.”
Robin’s head dropped to his chest, the heaves of his shoulders the only evidence that he was conscious. Wally knew this feeling, bone-deep betrayal that could only be expressed through tears. He was the same way when Zoom had learned that the Flash was Barry Allen, Wally’s uncle. The man was a hero, but couldn’t save his own nephew from the evils of his brother-in-law? This part was bound to happen, especially when Robin was entirely outnumbered.
“Robin, Dick, don’t do this. Just stay with us, we won’t hurt you. If anything, we’ll keep you safer than the heroes. Batman won’t help you, no one will find you. I deleted all of your research, no one will know where to start.” Conner stated, arm squeezing the sobbing hero a bit closer. “Please, I promise. You’ll love it here.”
“You work with- with the Light. You- why?” Robin finally looked up, his glare at Conner blocking those pretty eyes from Wally’s vision. “I trusted you…”
“And I trust you. That’s why you’re here.” Conner stated the start of a sheepish smile on his face visible to Wally. As was the sudden stiffness of Robin’s back before he was suddenly jabbing the heels of his hands into Conner’s nose. Wally couldn’t help but let out a shocked laugh at the sudden attack, especially as Conner actually fell back just a bit onto the couch. Klarion began laughing as well, pointing right at Conner as the clone sat back up and rubbed under his nose in shock. “Really?”
“We saved you! We got you out of Cadmus! You- Conner I told you my name! I haven’t told anyone my name!” Dick yelled, voice raw as he forced each word through hitched breaths and sobs. “I trusted you more than people I’ve known for years! I trusted you more than my own classmate! Why did I trust you? How could you let me trust you?”
“Dick-”
“Stop it! Stop saying my name!” Robin yelled, this time pulling his knees to his chest and kicking Conner in the jaw. The position, however, put him half into Wally’s lap. And Wally, well, he didn’t waste a second to push the hero fully into his lap and pin him in place.
“Enough attacking. I know you don’t have powers and I’ll feel really bad about electrocuting such a pretty face.” The speedster commented, freehand gently wiping the tear tracks from Dick’s cheeks. “Honestly, babe, are you a child of Aphrodite? You’re seriously smoking.”
The angered flush and shock in their prisoner’s eyes was enough to make Wally grin, even as those chained hands swung up to punch his chest. At least he couldn’t get enough momentum to make it hurt. Plus, the tears had stopped. That was a victory for Wally.
“Creep! Let me go!” Robin yelled, beginning to struggle once again. Wally did release him, smiling lightly as he did so. “Conner, please, I won’t tell the team or the League that you guys are here. Just let me go home.”
“Don’t believe that, Con.” Hartley called, walking into the living room with a tray of hamburgers, condiments and toppers sitting off to the side. James followed him carrying a tray of milk, juice, and glasses. Klarion brought up the rear, floating through the air with a large bowl of fruit and utensils. “Honestly, you two are hopeless. Robin, do you like cheese and pickles on your burger? Ketchup, mustard, tomato? Talk quick or you’re getting it all.”
“I’m not eating anything you give me.” Robin snapped, earning an indifferent shrug from the villain who’d prepared the dinner.
“So, who’s gonna let the fifth know that we have a guest? He might pull a bow right away.” Hartley asked, passing three burgers sans cheese to Wally. “Or he’ll start yelling at us for kidnapping one of the more well-known sidekicks.”
“Well, we may as well just let five-figure it out. He’s only, what, ten minutes out by now?” Conner mused, leaning forwards to prepare his own burgers. He grabbed one more than normal, taking a bite of it before placing it on a separate plate and handing it to the bound hero. “Eat, Robin. We aren’t starving you.”
“You’re literally invulnerable. For all I know, this is all poisoned. Or Pied Piper cooked with nuts. Or added strawberry juice to the fruit.” Robin snapped, glaring at the other.
“It’s his choice, Conner. I’ll text five and tell him to pick up a regular hamburger for Robin.” Hartley commented, handing a plate to James before pulling out his phone. “I get if he doesn’t trust us, but he must trust restaurants.”
“So you’re really Dick Grayson, then?” James asked, grinning excitedly at the unmasked hero. “Is Bruce Wayne actually a playboy? Does he hit you? Does he ever talk to you? You were just a publicity stunt, right?”
“Yes, because I will totally give information to a well-known terrorist.” Robin snapped, expression still hard as James flinched at the sharp tone.
“I’m not a terrorist! I just play pranks! Pranks get messy, but I’ve never killed anyone! You’re mean!” The villain huffed, turning around and beginning to eat from his plate. “I’m gonna call the Joker!”
Robin paled at the threat, suddenly all too stiff in his seat. Hartley merely cuffed James upside the head before turning to the hero. “He won’t call the Joker. We only have the numbers of Klarion, Zoom, and Lex.” He promised, beginning to eat.
“Hey, why’d I have to pick up food? Doesn’t Hartley cook on-” Roy could only freeze as Conner and Wally turned. Between them was a suddenly too stiff figure, though the black hair and discarded green gloves gave that identity away. “Why the hell is Robin here?”
“He found us. We had to think fast.” Hartley stated, standing from his seat before the front of the couch. “He refuses to eat my food.”
Wally raised an eyebrow at Roy, shrugging up one shoulder. It wasn’t that much of a shock, they were all used to speeding through problems. Robin found them, came alone, and sadly resulted in Conner giving up his position. “He’s cute. A bit emotional right now, though.”
“No shit, he- shit.” Roy moved to the front of the couch, crouching down in front of Robin. Those blue eyes had been forced shut as tight as the captive could assure, but tears still flowed steadily down his cheeks. “Robin, hey, deep breaths. I know, it’s overwhelming right now. Breathe, we can explain it all.”
Robin only resolutely shook his head, choking back a sob with pursed lips. The others could only watch as he shrugged up his shoulders, knocking Roy’s hand off of one.
“Okay, okay. You don’t have to breathe. Can you tell me what’s too much right now?” Roy asked, hands moving to Robin’s knees and gently squeezing them.
“Loud.” Robin choked out, “Bright. Wrists scratchy.”
“Alright, let’s go one at a time. Hartley, can you go grab the noise-cancelling headphones?” Roy asked, pulling a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and getting them onto the crying teen’s face. “And Conner, go find padded manacles. These ones are too rough without his gloves.”
The moment Conner stood, Roy took his spot and pulled Robin to rest against him. There was silence for a few minutes as the manacles were traded out and the headphones were situated in place, but soon enough the others had settled down to get back to their dinners.
“So, are you going to explain what’s going on?” Wally asked, popping a slice of cantaloupe into his mouth. He watched as Roy gently probed a small bit of Honeydew at the corner of Robin’s mouth, raising an eyebrow as the teen actually accepted it.
“Robin’s got ADHD, he’s prone to sensory overloads. With all that happened tonight, I could bet that he was overwhelmed.” Roy explained, squeezing the teen closer. “What’re we watching tonight?”
“There’s a movie about Dory! I wanna watch that one.” James exclaimed, earning a cackle from Klarion.
“You want to watch a movie about a fish? I can tell you how it ends! She becomes sushi!” Klarion enthused.
The ensuing fight was enough to bring a tentative grin to Robin’s face, even if it was quickly hidden in Roy’s shoulder.
__
Following the movie, everyone was quick to clean up and head towards their bedrooms. That is, apart from a captive boy wonder and a grumpy half-Kryptonian. No, currently the human was being carried over the Kryptonian’s shoulder and towards a bedroom with a double bed.
“We don’t have a spare room. You’ll sleep with me, okay? It’s not that big of a deal.” Conner stated, pushing Robin’s ankles back down as the teen began to struggle once again.
“No! I’m not sharing a bed with you! You’re evil, Conner! Why should I even trust you?” Robin yelled, squeaking as he was unceremoniously tossed onto the mattress.
“It’s either sleep with me or sleep with Wally. We’re the only two with double beds.” Conner huffed, grabbing two pyjama shirts and some boxers for himself. “My shirt will be rather long on you, but you can keep your leggings on.”
“Conner, I’m not doing this. Let me go! I just- I want to go home. Please, I’ll say the mission was a bust and you’re blowing off steam. I’m not staying with villains. Especially not villains working with the Light to take down everyone I know.” Robin argued, backing up as Conner began to unbutton his tunic.
“Stay a week. Give the team and the League a chance to realize you’re missing. Wally’s tossing your trackers right now. I’ll bet you no one comes looking. They don’t care about you, Robin. Not a single one of those heroes does. But us? A bunch of abandoned kids who got taken in? We’ll care for you- protect you.” Conner finally pushed the tunic from Robin’s shoulders, leaning forward and cupping the younger teen’s cheek. His other hand gently traced a long scar across the boy’s ribs, one they’d been told had come from Killer Croc and resulted in his false ribs being entirely removed. “No more getting hurt, or being ignored, or need to fight to survive. Just being a kid. We even have tutors here, since Wally’s dead to public records and Hartley and James have police warrants on their heads. It’ll be great.”
“Get off of me.” Robin hissed, back flat against the headboard. Too much intimacy, too close, too many lies. “I’ll never be like any of you. Batman will find me, and he’ll let everyone know that you and Roy are evil. And he’ll get all of you sent to your proper prisons.”
“That’s if he ever looks for you.” Conner commented, toneless kind and back to the common gruffness he’d used with the team. The covert team, that is. Robin flinched as the Kryptonian ripped the sleeves of his tunic clean off at the wrists, huffing as the overly large nightshirt was then forced over his head.
“Couldn’t you have just unlocked the cuffs? Like you’re going to have to let me wear the shirt properly?” He asked, raising an eyebrow as the other did just that. Conner only shrugged, ripping the Robin tunic into shreds before tossing it towards the door and laying down next to the hero.
“You won’t be wearing it again, why bother?” Conner mused, pushing the teen down onto the pillows. “Now, go to bed. James wakes everyone up by jumping on them.”
"I'll sleep on the couch downstairs," Robin argued. He tried to sit up, only to be pushed right back down and onto the bed by Conner.
"You'll sleep in here where I'll wake up if you try to leave." Conner snapped. "One week. If no one comes for you, you can make the choice of staying or going."
Dick huffed softly, shoving the heavy arm off of his chest and turning to place his back facing towards Conner. "... Fine."
__
And so, Dick remained a prisoner of the "children of the light" as Wally seemed to insist they were called. On morning two, he'd quickly canned a grease fire in the kitchen caused by uncovered bacon. As such, he was quickly added to kitchen duty with Hartley, though he'd been banned from the pantry due to the 'evil' peanut butter hiding there, according to James. After breakfast, he'd been allowed a restraint-free shower, with Conner standing guard and threatening X-ray vision instead of thermal should it look like he was trying to escape. After the shower, the hero was provided with civilian clothes via James, still two sizes too large, but better than something of Conner's. Wally came by after he'd dressed, replacing Robin's choker with a waterproof one and replacing the restraints with bracelets that could be magnetized together. It was nice to have the freedom, but Dick honestly felt like the speedster was just trying to gussy him up like some girl. Not to say girls couldn't be strong or boys couldn't wear jewellery, but Dick was not one who wore jewellery. Never.
By that afternoon, Dick was getting introduced to the routine of the others. James needed his medicine with his lunch, usually some sort of sweet sandwich so Dick couldn’t help, and then after lunch was some type of animated movie. Then, he’d followed the other four into some sort of gym. Wally had quickly begun running around, looking faster than even the Flash could go, James and Hartley began sparring and Conner went to a punching bag. Examining Conner, however, Dick noticed that not only was he sweating but the bag was hardly moving. The teen had, of course, walked over to investigate and found several small shards of green Kryptonite.
“Superboy, why are you training with Kryptonite? Especially green Kryptonite. This could kill you.” He frowned, stepping between the clone and the punching bag.
“Ah, no. See, I… I train with it every time I stay here. I’m working up a tolerance to it, that way should I ever need to take Superman’s place, I won’t need to worry about that weakness.” Conner explained. “Before, I couldn’t even stand in the doorway of the room. It’s working.” The superpowered teen punched the bag once again, smiling lightly. It moved forward just a bit, but it was a noticeable swing. Dick sighed, nodding as he continued to examine the others.
That night was similar to the night he was kidnapped, dinner together followed by a movie. No Roy that time, though. He was apparently busy. And, of course, there was flirting from the speedster. He was weird, very weird. Dick didn’t like him much at all.
__
Days two and three were the exact same as the first. Breakfast, lunch, training, dinner, movie. Day four saw a visit from Lex Luthor who had been just delighted at learning the identity of Robin and, by proxy, Batman. Lex had been nothing but kind though, easily asking about Dick’s clothing sizes and material preferences before providing him with a change of clothes that was actually his size, along with a wardrobe for the rest of the week. It was weird, but, then again, Dick had known Lex since he was eight. The guy had always been really sweet, especially when he had learned that Dick watched his parents die. Hell, every time Dick had seen Lex after the fact, the man had had some kind of gadget to give him that Bruce always took away after the parties because they were “surely spyware.” Dick never thought that, but you can’t beat out Bat Paranoia.
Day five saw Dick’s first experience of a frustrated Klarion. It had been a calm morning, Dick was allowed to help with making breakfast until James had come in begging for strawberry syrup on his waffles. Lex had provided them with a kit of ten EpiPens, instructions on how to use them, and an emergency beacon to get Dick help if he were to go into anaphylaxis, but the others were still wary to allow him in the same room as strawberries or nuts. Just in case Lex couldn’t get to the home fast enough.
So, Dick had been exiled from the kitchen and, given his aversion to the ever handsy and flirtatious Wally, had taken a seat next to Klarion in the living room. At the moment, the Lord of Chaos was fiddling with a Rubik’s cube, continuously getting it to about halfway solved before making some sort of mistake and groaning in frustration as he restarted. Honestly, Dick found it quite amusing. After about ten minutes of battling the cube, Klarion yelled in frustration, setting it aflame and throwing it across the room to burn. That was less amusing.
“Uh, Klarion, that seems a bit dangerous, no?” Dick questioned, head tilting to the side. “The whole place might go up in flames.”
“I don’t care! That cube should set this place on fire! It’s awful!” Klarion yelled. “I don’t know why James insisted we buy it! It’s useless and impossible to solve!”
“Uh… it’s a math equation. You only need to know like… four combinations to be able to solve it.” Dick mumbled. “I’d think a Lord of Chaos would know how to solve one logic puzzle.”
“Chaos!” Klarion yelled. “It’s in my name! Lord of Chaos! I don’t do logic! Logic belongs with those sissies that rule over Order! It’s stupid!”
“It isn’t stupid, it’s logical.” Wally chirped, suddenly appearing behind the two with a gust of wind. “Good morning, beautiful! Had a good sleep? You must’ve given those baby blues are sparkling! Hey, don’t you normally help with breakfast? Or are we using a pretty bird killer today?”
“James wanted strawberry syrup with his breakfast. I can’t really help out with plating right now.” Dick stated, watching Klarion swipe a hand at the speedster’s head. It missed, of course, but Klarion had already set up a wall of solid magic, causing the idiot to slam face-first into it and hit the ground with a groan. Now that was funny enough to get a laugh out of the younger teen.
__
Day six was very quiet. It was spent with Dick staring out of the window of the hidden fortress, wondering if there’d be any hero coming to save him. Surely Batman would, right? If not for Robin then for the kid he had living in his house. Surely Gotham Academy would call about the excessive absences and it couldn’t be passed off as a kidnapping. People knew about those within three hours of it happening. Dick Grayson’s schedule was very tightly knit. He didn’t move from his place by the window until midnight when Conner finally grew annoyed enough to simply lift Dick up and force him to go to bed. Another thing that had just become routine, falling asleep while hugging Conner. The sixth night was the first night he ended up clinging to the clone, sobbing about being forgotten.
On the seventh day, the cuffs and choker were removed from Dick’s body and he was allowed a shower without supervision. It was a quiet breakfast, Conner offering a silent sense of comfort whilst Dick ate and then they turned on the news. Anything mentioning Dick Grayson or Robin, really. Just something to let the kids know what was going on. There were a few reports talking about Dick disappearing on a “round the world” cruise for the month, but that was all. It seemed that Gotham reporters hadn’t even noticed Robin’s absence. It was sort of disheartening.
So, Robin made his decision. He wouldn’t return to the heroes, and he wouldn’t give out their information. He’d wait. And wait. And wait for them to come and save him, to realize that he was worth saving and couldn’t get out of this predicament alone. Roy and Conner had agreed with the decision, both promising to bring up Robin every few days or whenever they went out with the team to see what rescue plans were like. Klarion even joined in, stealing the R patch from his costume and using it to taunt the team the next time they’d fought. Dick had even let the Chaos demon cut his hand to get some blood onto it.
__
Months passed. Nobody came. Wally went out on his first mission against the Young Justice team with Zoom, surprising them with a second speedster looking to beat them to pulps. It had been interesting to watch, noting how everyone but Conner and Roy fumbled with defending against Wally and Zoom. Seeing how Conner more scooped up and tossed Wally into Zoom’s arms for the villain to fake a fall rather than actually attacking his friend. Watching Wally give fake compliments to the girls, especially when Artemis grew more frustrated with her bad aim. It was halfway through the battle when Wally mentioned Robin, just a joke about birds with clipped wings being so cute. He’d watched the entire team pause before suddenly upping their attacks. Wally was on the ground in moments, clutching his head as M’gann’s eyes glowed white. Zoom was quick to get Wally out of there, running him back to the base to rest. When Wally described what’d he’d experienced from the mental attack, something that Dick recognized as a brain blast. Honestly, that could have killed Wally. How rude.
At the five-month mark, Dick and Wally kissed. It wasn’t any big, sparkling, ‘this is who I’m meant to be with moment,’ it was New Year’s Eve and Wally had spent the whole night begging for a New Year’s kiss from anyone. Dick had just been the one to kiss Wally to save him from Klarion’s piranha plan.
Seven months saw Dick and Wally dating and a few League passwords mysteriously leaked. Suddenly, Roy’s job as the mole was much easier with Batman clearance access and a master hacker on the cameras. Seven months had also been when Bruce adopted one Jason Todd, a thirteen-year-old just three months younger than Dick. It had also been the day that Bruce Wayne announced several questions about Dick Grayson’s citizenship having led to the boy’s permanent deportation from the United States. It had also been the day that Dick told his new family about his past and how he was technically a citizen of Ukraine. A fun day, one that led to many hugs and tears and promises that the family would protect the little bird.
One year saw the Light gaining full access to Justice League systems. One year saw the deaths of Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. One year saw the return of Robin, carried onto the scene over Wally’s shoulder. He put up a fake struggle before being placed on the ground, turning to look at the team of abandoners with quiet disappointment. One year saw Robin deciding to join the Children of the Light, turning his back on the world of heroes for good.
One year saw the end of the Justice League for good.