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Batman had kids.Hal was dumbfounded. This guy, Mr Broody Asshole, had kids?Well, yes, apparently, because the six of them were peeking out from within Spooky’s cape, each one wearing a domino mask. Six kids! What the fuck!As Hal was frantically rewiring his idea of Batman to fit being a father and probably about 40 into it, the others peered around the table to get a good look at the little tykes.“These are my crime-fighting partners.” Batman explained, as if that was helpful. Not a single one of those kids looked over 12. For hells sake, the Justice League had only existed for a few months, and he was introducing his kids to them? Either Hal severely misjudged this guy’s trust issues, or these kids were extreme manipulators. Based on the sheer number of them, he was guessing the latter. They hadn’t even gotten a proper base of operations yet, they were still holding their meetings in Dr Stone’s meeting room.“Sidekicks?” Oliver said, equally surprised“No!” a cacophony of young voices shouted, all quite angry about it. Oliver drew back like he got hit.“Crime-fighting partners.” Batman repeated, not even wincing at the very loud, now slightly irritated gaggle of children huddled under his cape. Hal was beginning to question if Batman got ahold of alien technology to make an internally endless cape.“Introduce us, then, my friend.” Arthur spoke up, as calm as ever. Batman nodded minutely, and pulled his cape back so the children couldn’t hide in it. A chrous of complaints came from them, before they lined up neatly in front of him. Hal recognised it as almost militaristic. Hm. He wasn’t sure he liked that.“From the eldest to the youngest,” Batman clarified, and began patting each child’s head as he went down the list. “Batwing- he’s 12 and not mine, Wren, she’s 11, Batgirl, 10 and not mine, Macaw, 9, Flamebat, 8, not mine, and Robin, he’s 7.”“Woah, wait, what do you mean ‘not yours?’” Oliver asked reasonably, because what the hell, Batman??Batman gave the world’s most unhelpful shrug, and Batwing put his hand up to speak“I’m the son of his tech producer, Batgirl is the daughter of-” he hesitated, “-well she’s sort of a niece, and Flamebat is his cousin.” The boy’s bodysuit was pitch black, save for a glowing pale blue bat symbol on his chest, and the edge of his domino mask, which glowed the same color.Well, that’s a little more comforting. So only three kids, then. That was more in-line. Hal mentally adjusted his age guess on the guy back down to late 20s.“Well, it is very nice to meet you all. Will you be staying for the meeting?” Diana asked, her tone friendly but not so gentle it came off as patronising, especially for a tween boy.Robin, the seven year old holy shit-, bounced on his toes, his outfit hideously bright in what Hal suspected was just a shortless leotard with a top thrown over it. “Yes!” he blurted out, before dropping fully onto his feet and sheepishly grinning, “sorry, i mean, yes, ma’am.”The boy recieved a pat on the head by Batman for the correction, which threw Hal off entirely. He didn’t know much about the ‘Dark Knight’, but he’d always presumed the guy was a hardass at home just as much as he was at work, if he had a family at all. And if he did try picture him as a parent, Hal could only imagine him as a militaristic asshole, like his own friends had grown up with. But, apparently, he was the type of parent to give head pats and let his kids hide under his cape. However, he’d seen plenty of asshole parents act like angels in public, and something about this situation felt very, very wrong.“Are we not going to discuss the fact hes taught a 7 year old to fight crime??” Hal finally asked, his brow furrowed under his mask. Everyone at the table collectively seemed to realise the fucking weight of it, and all snapped around to look at Batman, who simply crossed his arms.“I tried to keep him away from it.” Batman argued, “I left him in the house during a patrol for one night and he ended up halfway across the city throttling a robber. Twice.”“Where did you get him from??” It was Barry’s turn to be concerned and confused, “He’s not yours, is he??”“Legally, he is.”“You know what i mean!”Batman pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, “I found him.”“Are you kidnapping them?”“No-!” Batman began, a snarl on his lips, when Wren put her hand up“Legally, he did.”Batman’s gaze snapped over to the girl, and Hal had the momentary thought of He’s gonna hit her. But, thankfully, he only crossed his arms again and fully turned to face her, raising an eyebrow under his cowl.“No, I didn’t.”“I lived in your house for four months before you legally adopted me.” Wren countered, “You found me walking around in an alley and took me with you, I think that’s legally kidnapping.”“She has a point, Dad.”Batman sighed, “Legally, I got Commissioner Gordon’s permission.”“Legally no you didn’t-” Wren began to counter, and Batman simply. dropped part of his cape on her head, muffling her speech.“Shush.”The other kids snickered, until he shot them a deadpan look, to which they shot equally cheeky grins at, but stopped actively laughing.“As I was saying,” Batman said, removing the cape from Wren’s head, “I found them. Their histories aren’t your buisness.”“My friend,” Arthur began, always the mediator, “As much as we appreciate you allowing us to meet your children, we are… concerned about the circumstances of them being heroes-”“They're kids, Bats, you can’t go sending them to war.” Hal finally snapped, pushing himself out of his chair“I’m not-”“Yes you are! Those are children!”“Well if you listened for a damn second-"“Both of you, shut up!” Macaw yelled, stepping between Hal and Batman. “If you won’t listen to him, you’ll listen to me!”“Kid-”“I said shut it!” Macaw snapped, reaching for the utility belt under his own cape. Batman reached a hand out to stop the boy, but he looked over his shoulder, “both of you.”Batman pulled back as Macaw swivelled back to Hal, “You wanna know why he’s been training us? It’s ‘cuz we’re orphans, our parents have been murdered, and we are not gonna sit around and let those sick freaks run around and orphan more kids!” he said, every breath only making him raise his voice, “And we won’t let anyone stop us! not even Batman! If he didn’t train us, we’d run off to find those killers anyway!”The rest of the kids, except for Batgirl and Batwing, nodded along with every word. Hal reeled back, dumbfoundedly dropping back into his seat. The room went dead, painfully silent.“I-” Hal stumbled on his words, “Shit, i’m sorry.”Macaw seemed to size him up for a second, before nodding and slinking back over to his siblings (and cousins?)“…I’m doing this to keep them safe, Hal.” Batman added, his voice scarily calm. Hal shrunk back slightly, “They’ve been through hell already, i’m helping them channel their anger into something productive.” Anger. Hal noted distantly, these kids hadn’t just lost their parents, they’d probably watched it happen. Like him. He’d never felt more ashamed in himself, and he dropped his head into his hands, resisting the urge to groan. Thankfully, before he had to respond, Clark spoke up.“That’s really good of you.”Batman gave a small shrug. Humble bastard. Robin tugged at his cape, and he crouched to get to a rough eye level with the kid. Said kid then whispered into the cowl, and Batman hesitated before giving a small nod. Robin lit up as he bounced forward, rocking excitedly on his heels.“Dad said we can give our backstories, if we want!” the kid explained, and Hal internally winced, he was gonna look like the world’s biggest asshole, wasn’t he? “I was from a circus!” he exclaimed, doing a cartwheel for good measure, “But then-” he paused, his energy fading as he dropped into what Hal recognised distinctly as flashbacks. “-then someone tampered with my parent’s acrobat lines, just after I finished my part, and…” he trailed off, tensing. Shit. he watched his parents fall to their fucking deaths. After a moment, he brightened again, “But then mr- mr Batman found me, and took me in, and now I can do acrobatics whenever I want!”Batman smiled subtly, giving the boy a pat on the head. Wren stepped up next.“I don’t know where mine starts, i’ve been on the streets for as long as i can remember.” she began, and Hal only winced further, “I was taken in a few years ago, by a different man, but he turned out to be a villain. He only wanted me while i was useful.” she spat the word, “When I stopped helping him, he-” a hesitation, just barely noticed, a hand hovering over a part of her arm, “-he threatened to kill me, and I ran away. Batman found me just after.” she looked up at her adoptive father, “he’s a lot better.” Oh god. Hal didn’t need any further details to figure out what had happened to her. Manipulated by a villain, likely beaten. It was a miracle she was so friendly. Or alive at all. He didn’t dare meet Batman’s eyes.Next was Batwing, “Mine isn’t so tragic.” Thank god, Hal thought, “but my dad is the man who develops all of Batman’s tech. Dad doesn’t…” a pause, a clenched fist, “approve of my aspirations. I wanna be a fighter- a boxer- But Dad doesn’t like it, he wants me to be a CEO or something.” Ah. Rebellion. “We got into a big fight a while ago,” he carried on, “he said he didn’t want me being in a barbaric sport like boxing.” the air quotes were heavy with that one, “so I took a bag and I ran away for a bit. Batman found me and let me stay at his place until I wanted to go home.”After a moment, Batwing said, “Me and Dad aren’t close now, but he’s stopped pestering as much.”Hal could imagine what a kid with an aspiration for fighting and a boiling anger could get himself into if Batman hadn’t found him. Hell, he’d seen it in Coast City himself. Arson, theft, assault. Most of the time, it was stuff too severe to take off their records once they graduated. Going into adulthood with a pre-existing record was near impossible. God, Hal was a fucking idiot for snapping at them. He should’ve let Arthur handle it.Next was Batgirl, “He’s not my dad.” she started off, “but he’s…a mom? i guess?” Batman stilled, but didn’t reject the title, so Batgirl nodded, “he’s my mom.” With a breath, she began her story, “I don’t like my other moms.” a strong and concerning start, great, “I don’t think my baby brother is my dad’s, and my dad had an affair with another lady, so both of them don’t like eachother anymore. Dad’s trying to say everything’s still the same and it’ll go back to normal but I know it won’t, ‘cause he’s started smoking in the house, and Mom won’t look me in the eyes anymore.” she relaxed slightly, “So, when they get too hard to deal with, I can look forward to being Batgirl at night, and Batman always lets me come visit if they start yelling again.”Hal really wished he could turn to compost right about now. a circus orphan, an abused street kid, a runaway, and a girl with one hell of a family drama. He really needed to learn to keep his fucking mouth shut.Next was Flamebat, “I’m his cousin, but my aunt took me in after my dad disappeared ‘under mysterious circumstances’” she said, mimicing quotation marks with her hands, “He got killed, I know he did, I just haven’t figured out who did it.” "Most of my side of the family is dead, and when my first aunt was killed in a hostage situation, my uncle married a girl like half his age, so i think he’s a bit weird. She’s also a Bat, though, she’s nice.”Fucking christ. Technically tamer than the others, but a hostage situation, mysterious disappearance, and ‘a girl half his age’ was still a really, really concerning string of words. He was curious about the Bataunt, though.“But ‘cause my aunt moved me to Gotham for her Batwork, I spent a lot of time with Batman and my cousins.”Well, at least she has family, he supposed. Still, fucking hell.And last was Macaw, who was still glaring at Hal through the whited out lenses of the domino mask. “My dad was a friend of Bats’ dad.” he began, “My mum died when i was small, so it was me and dad for a decade.” Hal had a bad feeling about this story, “he was a scientist, and he claimed to be saving the world with his inventions, but-” a clenched fist, a tight line for a mouth, “he was bad. He kicked me around, drunk or sober, and called me everything possible. He was influential, too, so I couldn’t runaway, not until he drunk himself to death overnight. Turned out Bats’ family was listed as next of kin, so I was put in his custody.”Macaw hesitated for a long moment, “I’m not a good kid, I stole and lied a lot for the first few weeks I lived with him, and I blamed it all on Robin. Dad would’ve kicked the hell out of me for it, but Bats offered to teach me how to be good. How to be a hero.” He gestured down to his own outfits of vibrant blues and oranges, “I still don’t think i’m a good kid, but now I can stop other kids from being bad.” a small smile, “I like it.”Hal was internally begging Clark to kill him on the spot, just to make the coiling shame in his chest stop. He was fairly sure his heart almost gave out on the spot when the entire League turned to watch him, and he knew he had to say something.He looked Macaw in the eyes, putting on his old Military Respect voice, “I think you’re all going to make great heroes.”Macaw didn’t respond for what felt like an eternity, and Hal was beginning to accept that he had just fucked up his chances of being in the Justice League, because he was the asshole who raised his voice around a bunch of traumatised kids. But then, Macaw gave a slightly sloppy salute, and nodded to his siblings, who collectively relaxed, as did the League.Immediately, the kids split off to run up to the different heroes at the table; Robin went to Clark, Batgirl went to Dinah, Wren went over to Carter and Sheira, Batwing went to Diana, Flamebat ran over to Barry and Arthur, the latter of which switched seats to make it easier, and Macaw lingered around cautiously. When Batman put a hand to the boy’s back, gently urging him on, Macaw carefully went up to Oliver. Hal, J’onn, and Batman himself were the only ones who weren’t picked, though J’onn appeared to be taking up conversation with Robin and Batgirl anyway. Hal tried not to feel insulted by it, he completely understood, but man, it still hurt a bit.In the back of his mind, he was reminded of what Alan had told him, when he first recieved the ring. The stories of Alan’s career, and how parents would tell him of their kids begging for telescopes for christmas, to see if they could spot the Lanterns in the sky at night. How, even in the darkest times, kids would light up at the sight of him.God, Hal was an asshole, wasn’t he?“I don’t forgive you.” Macaw said, pulling him from his thoughts. The boy stood between Oliver and Hal, arms folded, “But my Uncle Tommy thinks your team is pretty cool, so…” he cautiously held a hand out to him, “If you promise not to yell at Bats again, I won’t be mad at you. mostly.”Hal offered a smile, and took the kid’s hand, shaking it like a proper buisness deal. “Promise.”Macaw nodded, and paused for a second after dropping his hand. Then, he started talking about his time at school since he was transferred, tripping around his own words to avoid dropping anything that could identify him or his family. Eventually, this got the other kids roped in, who began talking about their own school projects, topics they were learning, and what their teachers were like (Batman was visibly taking notes during that section, scribbling particularly hard when the kids collectively complained about the behaviour of a Ms Hickman). Somehow, that topic turned into a contest of who did the most heroics in the past week, which was something Flamebat apparently had a chart for at home.“I beat up fifteen criminals last week!” Robin gloated, “and one of them even cried!”“Well I caught a serial arsonist!” Flamebat countered, "in the act!"“Well I talked five teenagers out of committing a crime, that’s five less future criminals.” Batwing said, crossing his arms, “and they all had little siblings that they promised they’d share the lesson with.”“I hacked into a criminal’s database who was targetting the GCPD!” Wren argued, “I literally saved the law!”“Me and Bats stopped a drug cartel! That’s dozens of criminals!” Macaw exclaimed, making Wren stamp her foot in responseThe six of them argued for a while longer, especially after Batgirl went in with her own achievements, until Diana stepped in.“Young ones.” She said, immediately catching their attention. the way the kids’ heads swivelled around to face her reminded Hal of a bunch of owls. Diana was trying not to look too amused, “Being a hero is not a competition.”The kids frowned at her, confused, so she continued, “Sometimes it may be fun to compare achievements, yes, but being a hero is about helping the innocent, not winning.” the kids nodded along, but didn’t quite get it yet. Diana hummed as she considered her words, “You are all fighting alongside Batman, correct?” a round of nods, “So you all fight side by side?” another round of nods, “Then that makes you a team. It does not matter how many criminals you individually stopped, but how many innocent lives you collectively saved, as a team.”Finally, it clicked. A collective ‘ohhhh’ went through the kids, and Robin spoke up, “So, we’re a mini Justice League?”Diana chuckled, “yes, if you want to call it that.”Robin gasped, and turned to his siblings, “The Bat League!” he exclaimed, and the others clapped, even Macaw, who seemed a bit miffed at the name.“I’m not calling it that, but I like the idea.” he said“Nope, sorry Maccy, but we’re the Bat League now.” Wren said, patting his head. He swatted at her, but didn’t complain further.Batman smiled from his seat, watching his kids quietly. Hal heard a notification sound go off, and Batman reached into a hidden compartment somewhere on his suit to pull out a phone. He whistled, and the kids immediately stopped and gathered by his chair, peering up curiously. Damn, as much as Hal still wasn’t totally chill with the way they were trained, he could respect how well behaved they were.“Agent A’s making dinner, so we need to leave.” He explained to the kids, and glanced up to his teammates, “If that’s alright.”“Of course, my friend, I’m sure we all should be going home for dinner as well by now.” Arthur said, looking over at the others, who all nodded. Hal nodded too, Alan would want him back soon.Batman nodded once in acknowledgement, “then we’ll be leaving. Say goodbye, kids.” He stood, and began herding the kids out of the room as they wiggled past eachother to get under the cape first.A chorus of ‘goodbye!’ and ‘see you again!’s called out, with a few ‘it was fun!’ and ‘we’ll train next time!’s thrown in. Hal was not looking forward to training with them, mostly because he wasn’t exactly keen on fighting someone who barely came up to his hip, but based on their earlier gloating, he could only presume they were as competantly trained as any of them. Well, not as them, but as close as a bunch of kids could be.As the kids all somehow fit themselves back under Batman’s cape, he disappeared into the hall, and the rest of the League began getting up, exchanging goodbyes and setting up times for one-on-one meetings or teamups. Hal sighed, hoping he could find a way onto the kids’ good sides. He jumped when Barry suddenly put a hand on his shoulder.“It’s alright, man, they’ll forgive you.” he said encouragingly, and Hal ran a hand through his own hair, no doubt messing up the careful styling.“I’ve never regretted something so fast.” he muttered, “How red was I through all that?”“Oh, bright red. I think Batman was enjoying your embarrassment.” Barry laughed, but patted him in an attempt to comfort him, “Wanna come by Central and eat your guilt away?”Hal snorted, “Depends, what’re we eating?”“Pizza, of course. The good kosher place I told you about.”“Can’t say no to that.”Barry grinned, “Wanna race there?”“Your just gonna win.” Hal pointed out, and Barry’s grin widened to mischevious levels“Yeah, that’s the fun part.”Hal rolled his eyes fondly, and nodded, “Beat you there.” without warning, he flew off, nearly kicking Oliver in the head in the doorway. He heard Barry’s indignant complaints as he got the headstart, and laughed his way towards Central.Barry ended up winning, of course, but the pizza was so worth it.—The next meeting was a few weeks later, and Batman once again brought his odd gaggle of kids. In the time since the slightly disasterous first meeting, Hal had gotten through his initial shame, primarily thanks to Barry, and was now determined to make it up to the kids (which Barry referred to as ‘the flock’)So, at the meeting, Hal let himself relax when Batman entered the room, the shuffling of feet indicating the kids were, once again, within the cape.“Morning, Spooky.” Hal greeted, and Batman dipped his head in response, pulling back his cape to allow the kids to filter out. the kids collectively paused when they noticed the table, though. See, Hal had gotten Diana and Clark to agree to add seats for the kids at the table, proper non-child seats, since he doubted they’d want to be treated like kids in a hero meeting.“Did you get more teammates?” Robin asked, and Hal chuckled“Nope, they’re for you.”The kids looked between the chairs, then to Hal, and back again a few times. Then, Robin grinned, and turned to Macaw, “See? I told you he wasn’t bad!”Macaw made a sound of interest, “huh. guess he isn’t.”The kids filtered into the seats obediantly, even though half of them couldn’t reach the ground with their feet. They sat straight and focused, clearly trying to be as adult as possible. Hal resisted the urge to laugh at how serious they looked.“…thank you.” Batman muttered as he stopped by Hal before taking his own seat. Hal simply nodded in acknowledgement. Barry said not to make a big deal out of it, unless the kids did first. He didn’t think Barry was exactly the pinnacle of Child Knowledge, but apparently he did babysitting in highschool, and Hal hadn’t, so he had some experience with them compared to Hal.Then, somebody else stepped into the room. A teenage boy with brown hair and tan skin, striking an ironically close resembalance to Hal himself. He was dressed in what could only be described as a mini Batman costume, except it was red and grey, not blue and grey, and allowed his hair to show.“Ah.” Batman said, nodding to the boy, who waved back, “This is Batboy, he’s-”“-a part time member of the Bat League.” Batboy finished, looking proud. He glanced to Batman, “Can I…?”Batman hummed low, and considered something for a minute. “First name only.”Batboy nodded, “name’s John. I’m, uh, not one of his kids, just an ally.”Robin leaned over to Clark next to him, and stage whispered, “he’s totally one of his kids, he just hasn’t been adopted yet”John laughed, and ruffled Robin’s hair, “Whatever you say, kid.”Clark smiled and offered his hand, “Nice to meet you. Are you staying for the meeting?”“Yeah,” John said, taking his hand, “Like I said, i’m a part-time member, but I wanna stay up to date with everything.”Clark nodded, “Smart idea, welcome to the team.”The boy smiled, and glanced around. In an instant, a flash of red went past him, making him jump like hell, before Barry returned with an extra chair. John stayed frozen for a second, before laughing nervously.“Oh, shit-” he gasped, “-sorry, i’m not to used to metas.”Barry blinked, “oh! god, sorry. Yeah, i’ll warn you next time.”John gave a shaky thumbs up, and promptly collapsed into the chair, a hand to his heart. the other kids giggled.“Shush.” he said with no real malice, a smile at his lips. After a moment, he straightened up, and clasped his hands together on the table, making his siblings mimic him. Diana nodded, and began the presentation.This meeting was, actually, about something important, a string of cross-state murders that had been occuring over the past two weeks. Both himself and Barry kept glancing over to the kids to gauge their reactions, in case the gruesome details freaked them out, but all six- well, seven- of them were intently listening, writing on little notepads and nodding along. None of them seemed even remotely afraid. That was good, he was pretty sure. A tad concerning, but good for their line of work.John seemed particularly interested, going from his hands-clasped pose to leaning on his elbows, one hand writing on his notebook and the other thoughtfully tapping at his mouth.Hal looked over to his teammates, and restrained a laugh when he saw Batman in the exact same pose. Definitely his kid, then.“So, the question is, how do we track them down, when they’ve evaded every other state’s police?” Diana asked as she got to the end of the presentationDiscussion broke out amongst the team as they debated and theorized, until John put his hand up. Everyone went silent to hear the new boy’s idea.“We lure them.” he said, picking up his notepad and tapping the eraser end of his pencil against the words, “They target young women and girls, but the needles at the abandoned warehouse in Virginia suggest they also partake in drug deals. If we send someone undercover in the area their mostly likely to target next, and set up a drug deal, we can lead them to a secluded location.”“How would girls come into it?” Macaw asked, and John looked to him“Because i’d be the drug dealer, and Batgirl would be the bait. If she stands behind me during the deal, they’ll see her and, if I drop the right lines, will know she’ll be at the location we agree upon. Then, when they show up, i’ll step into a seperate room to ‘get the drugs’, leaving Batgirl with them. Of course, she won’t actually be alone with them, since we’ll be hiding. The moment they try go for her, we’ll swarm them.”Hal blinked. That…might actually work.“How do we know what state they’ll strike next, though?” Barry asked, looking intruiged. Hal had to give it to the kid, he was smart.“Well,” John began, “If we look at where they’ve hit so far, it seems their going around the edge of the country, starting from Washington. They’ve only hit cities on the edge of the state, by the country border or the ocean line. Their last hit was Mississipi, which means they’ll hit Louisiana next.”Carter spoke up, “We live in Louisiana.” he and Shiera shared a glance, “we could scout out a good location to meet at.”John nodded, “We might need a stakeout first. They’ll either hit New Orleans or Belle Reve next. I’m betting on Belle Reve, it’s a far smaller place with a lot less people, meaning it’d be easier to try and hide a body.”Carter nodded along, “Belle Reve has a high drug rate, too.”“Exactly.”Shit, this kid was smart smart.Oliver whistled low, impressed. “Sounds like a plan.”Diana nodded, “Very good idea, John. All in agreement to John’s plan, say aye.”A chorus of ‘aye’s spread around the table. Batman looked particularly proud. Diana nodded, “then we’ll break for lunch, and begin planning when we reconviene.”A more cheery chrous of ayes called out, and everyone hurried to beat eachother to the lunchroom. Barry, of course, won, though Batgirl gave a damn good attempt.—A few days later, Hal, Arthur and J’onn stayed behind as the others put the plan into action. Hal wanted to join in, but Batman had rightfully pointed out that the crooks would get suspicious if there were too many of them hiding. So, instead, the three of them had been left behind in the safehouse Carter had rented to work on comms.“Everyone in position?” Hal asked, getting a series of confirmations. J’onn was manning the camera operations, as they had placed hidden cameras within the warehouse they were meeting at.“I hear heartbeats approaching.” Clark said, “three men.” As confirmation, three men walked into view of the outer hidden cameras, all three masked.“Right, Batboy, ready?”“Ready as I can be.” John muttered, stood within the warehouse, adjusting his civillian attire. His jacket hood concealed his face, though he also had a bandanna covering his mouth, ready to quick change into his batsuit if needed. Hopefully, the fight would go smoothly enough he wouldn’t need to.“Batgirl?”“Ready.” Batgirl said, partially obscured just behind John, also wearing a hood but purposefully letting her long ginger hair be visible, to let the crooks know she was the same girl as the initial meeting.“They’re coming in, everyone hold position.” Hal said, watching John nod once in confirmation before the door to the warehouse swung open, revealing the three crooks.(”You made it.” John said, his hands in his pockets. “Safe trip?”
The man at the front of the trio snorted, “Cut the shit, kid. You got the stuff or not?”

“Yeah, man, i got it. It’s just in the back.”

The crooks shared glances between eachother, “Yeah, brat, we’ve heard that one before.”

“Trust me, man, it’s a big bag of it. ‘Couldn’t just leave it lying around in here, i’ve got it locked up. Give me a second, and i’ll grab it.”

The man laughed cruelly, but made a ‘go ahead’ gesture, “Fine. But if this is some fuckin’ trick, i’ll have ya head, got it?”

“Understood, man. Just,” John glanced to Batgirl, “Keep an eye on my sis a second, yeah? Don’t want her running off, she’s a bit shy.”

A sleazy grin split the man’s face, “Of course. We’ll keep her nice an’ safe.” he turned to Batgirl, who looked up at him meekly with big, green eyes, “Won’t we, Sweetheart?”

John shrugged and walked off to a side room, unlocking the door and stepping in. Of course, there were no actual drugs. Instead, he waited with bated breath.

“What’s your name, darlin’?” the sleaze asked, reaching out to brush her shoulder with his hand. Batgirl blinked innocently, tilting her head to look up at the tall man properly.
“L…Laura, sir.”
The sleaze grinned, turning to his companions, “kid’s got good manners, ain’t she?” they nodded, and he leaned over as he spoke, “Say, you don’t ‘appen to like puppies, do ya?”

Her eyes lit up, and brought her hands up to her chest excitedly, “Y-yes, sir, I do.”

The sleaze made a noise of interest, “Ah, well ain’t this ya lucky day, then. See, sweetheart, we’re dog breeders.”

“Really?”

He nodded, “Yep.” he popped the ‘p’ of the word, “and we’ve got a whole litter we ‘aven’t named yet.”

She gasped, “oh no.”

“Yeah, an’ it’s killin’ us that we can’t think’a any. But your a smart girl, aint’cha? I bet you could name ‘em.”

She nodded enthusiastically, but still shy, “What sort of puppies are they?”

“How about my boys here show ya?” he jutted a thumb towards the two men standing behind him, “our van’s right outside, i’m sure ya brother won’t mind.”

“You’ll love em, sweets.” one of the other men said, as the sleaze put a hand to Batgirl’s back and nudged her towards the men, who led her to the door.)
“Go!” Hal said, and watched through the cameras as his fellow heroes dropped from the rafters inside of the warehouse, and came out from the hidden vents on the roof to surround the criminals.
“Your days of crime are up.” Batman growled, “Hand over the girl.”

One of the men grinned, “So it was a trap, eh?”

In an instant, he pulled something from his pants, and held it to Batgirl’s back. she froze.
“He’s got a gun!” Hal yelled into the comms
Everyone froze, and the armed man grinned further, “Here’s how this is gonna go. We’re gonna take the girl, and you can go arrest that little snitch inside. Boss ain’t gonna be happy about this, i’ll tell ya that.”

“What are you going to do with her?” Dinah demanded, her fists clenched

A sickening grin, “If she behaves, she’ll be fine.”
“They’re trafficking them.” Hal muttered, his voice picked up on the comms. He saw Batgirl pale slightly.
“You’re not going anywhere, freak.” Flamebat snapped as she walked out behind them, backed by Clark and Diana, along with the tied up sleaze. “Hand her over, or else.”

The armed man laughed, “Oh yeah? and what’re you gonna do about it, twerp?”
Hal watched with raised eyebrows as chaos descended upon the scene, Flamebat and Robin tackled and wrestled the armed man to the ground as the other man took off running, calling something out to a parked van just within the camera’s frame. He didn’t get far, tackled by Carter and Sheira, who pinned him.A gunshot rang out, and Hal flinched, immediately calling into comms, “Flamebat, Robin, are you okay!?”
“Fine-” Robin growled through a struggle, “He missed.”
The three heroes on comms almost collapsed with relief, and watched as the van started up. “Flash, they’ve got a getaway driver, don’t let him get away!”
“On it!” Flash took off in a blur as the van sped away and out of frame. Shiera screeched as she took a concealed knife to the upper arm, and Carter snarled at the man, who writhed and kicked as Shiera was forced to let go, hands reaching for her wound. Hal couldn’t get a clear view of the knife, but the handle looked big.

“He’s hit an artery!” Shiera called into her comms, “Ah, shit-!”

In an instant, Carter was thrown off the man, who ripped the knife from Shiera’s arm and ran at Carter, who rolled out of the way, blocking a hit with his wings. Shiera made an awful, wailing screech as she dropped, scrambling to apply pressure to the spurting wound.
“Shit!” Hal swore, “Superman, grab Hawkgirl and get her back here, she’s cut an artery!”
Clark handed the restrained sleaze to Diana as he flew over to his temmate in a blur of blue, disappearing from the cameras.
Hal turned to Arthur, “Your on medical.”Arthur nodded, and hurried from the room to where they set up a medbay. It wasn’t the best, but it was mostly sterile and could hold until they got her to a hospital, identities be damned.
“Uh, guys?” Flash’s voice came from the comms, “I’ve apprehended the driver, but there’s a problem.”
“What is it, Flash?”
“They weren’t lying about the puppies. there’s a ton of dogs in here.”
Shit. Child trafficking, murder and illegal breeding? This could very well lead to a dog fighting ring, too.“Right, get the van back over here and we’ll sort it out in a minute. Hawkgirl’s down, but we’re close to finishing up.”
“Got it, on my way.”
Hal ran a tense hand through his hair, his leg bouncing incessantly on the nerve. He checked the outer cameras where the armed man was, who was completely restrained by a frankly unncessary amount of heroes. In the other cameras, Hal spotted Carter being dragged off the now-unconscious knife-wielder by Batwing and Macaw, with Wren giving the unconscious man a few kicks for good measure.
“All three men restrained and ready for transfer.” Batman’s voice crackled over the comms, “How’s Hawkgirl?”
Hal looked at J’onn and jerked his head to the door, and J’onn quickly left to check on her. “J’onn and Arthur are with her now. Do you need Clark’s assistance over there?”
“No, we’ve got it covered.”
“Great, Flash should be there with the van driver. They’ve actually got puppies, Bats, I reckon its a dog ring.”
He heard Batman swear under his breath, “Got it. ETA 30.”
“Right.”Hal leaned back in his seat, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his palms. That went well, definitely, but god that was stressful to watch. He’d die happy if he never had to witness such sleaze ever again. He leaned forward to activate the personal comms, talking just to Batgirl, “You okay, kid?”“That was gross, but yeah, i’m okay.” Hal relaxed with a sigh“Good. Sorry you had to be the one to do this.”
“No, it’s okay, he would’ve scared Wren too much, and Bette’s too young. I was the best option.”
Hal winced, he hated that she was right. He didn’t respond, dropping the personal comms to tap back into the main line, though all was fine. Barry did seem to be cooing over the puppies with Flamebat and Robin, though.
“B, can we keep them?”

“No.”

A chorus of three disappointed awwws, which almost definitely included Barry. Hal got the distinct feeling of puppy eyes, especially as Batman gave the world’s most defeated sigh.
“One.”A chorus of cheering. Hal chuckled, and kept the comms up as they returned to the safehouse.—Exactly thirty minutes later, Hal met the rest of the team in the main room of the Safehouse. Carter wasted no time in darting into the medbay, while Robin paraded around the small puppy in his arms.“His name’s Duke!” Robin explained, “We think he’s a german shepard!”Hal had met many german shepards and that puppy was, in fact, the most german shepard looking dog he’d ever seen. He nodded along as Robin recounted the battle, despite the fact all of them witnessed it. Because Hal wasn’t an asshole, he didn’t point that part out.Hal turned to Barry once the recounting was over, “Let me guess, you got one too?”“Wh- no, i would neverrrr…" Barry hesitated, and Hal shot him a look. He wilted, "okay yeah I did.”Hal laughed, and Barry punched him lightly in the arm, “Iris has been wanting one for ages, I had to!”“Let’s pray yours never gets speedster powers too.”Barry gasped, and Hal knew he had made a grave error, “Oh, that’d be cool! Speedy-Dog!” he paused, “no, that sounds silly. Swift-dog? Dogflash?” he gasped, “Flashdog!”Oh god, what had he started.Robin gasped even louder, “We can have puppy playdates!”“Yeah!” Flash said with somehow even more enthusiasm than the kid“I’m gonna get stuck petsitting, aren’t I?”“Hal, you love dogs.” Dinah pointed out, and Hal shrugged“Sure, but i’ve never petsat before.”“You’ll get the hang of it! Your great with dogs!” Barry had never seen him with interact with a dog before, but he wasn’t gonna point that out. He instead just shrugged again, a smile on his lips.“Oh alright, if I must.” he said dramatically, “i’ll babysit your dog.”Barry cheered, and zipped over to Batman, no doubt to arrange said puppy playdates. The kids, at least, were having a great time playing with the two puppies, Duke and…“What did Barry call his?”“Petunia, he wanted her to be ‘thematically appropriate’ for Iris.” Dinah answered with a fond laughHal rolled his eyes, but leaned down to pet the puppy anyway. He had to admit, she was adorable, with two floppy ears and an inability to go four steps without tripping over her feet. He feared he was already attached, as he reached down to pick the puppy up and hold her to his chest, getting licked incessantly for it.“That was the fastest i’ve ever seen anyone cave before.” Dinah said with a laugh, and Hal gave her the best deadpan he could manage while holding a wriggly puppy“Like you haven’t already?”“Touche.”Eventually, Arthur came out from the medbay, and all eyes turned to him.“She’s okay.” a collective, unseen tension left the room with an exhale, though he continued, “she will be out of commission for a while, but she has been stabilised. Carter is deciding what to do now.”They all nodded. Of course, Carter would likely need to transfer her to their own city’s hospital. Hal winced, he didn’t like the winged man, they were totally opposite sides of many coins, but he couldn’t imagine watching his wife sever an artery and not know how she is until almost an hour later. He wasn’t married, but it still hurt to imagine.“I’ll fly her over if she needs it.” Clark offered, and Arthur dipped his head to him“I’m sure Carter will appreciate it, my friend.”“So, Miss Shiera’s gonna be okay?” Robin asked, and Arthur nodded. He held up Duke, “Can I show her my puppy, then?”Arthur chuckled, and kneeled down to talk to him, “She is asleep right now. But i’m sure she’d love to meet him when she wakes up.”Robin beamed, and nodded, before pausing. “Do you want to hold him?”Arthur smiled, “Of course, my friend, my love of animals does not stop at the water’s edge.”Hal watched from the slightly dingy couch as his teammates chatted and relaxed, nursing bruises and giving a fair amount of congratulations to John for coming up with the plan in the first place. John eventually got so red that he skittered into Batman’s cape and refused to come out.Near the end of the day, as the setting sun shone through the windows of the safehouse, they started packing up to head back to their respective cities, with Clark flying Shiera back to St Roch with Carter. Hal opened the front door, but was stopped by someone pulling on his sleeve. He looked down and saw Macaw, not quite looking at him.“Good work on comms.” the kid said, “Thanks for keeping an eye on my brother.”Ah, right, Robin had been shot at. Hal nodded, “No problem, kid. I’m just glad the bullet missed.”Macaw gave a single, slightly grim nod, “definitely.”Silence lapsed for a moment, with Macaw fidgeting with the edge of his cape, before he said, “Bats said you can babysit Duke sometime, if you’d like. Only in the Batcave, though.”Hal huffed a laugh, “I’ll think about it.” he reached out to ruffle the boy’s hair, but hesitated. When Macaw didn’t pull away, he patted him instead, “Good work restraining Carter, he’s a nightmare to pin down.”Macaw laughed, his expression lightening, “He’s not as heavy as some of our rogues, not even with those wings.”“Oh, yeah?”Macaw nodded, crossing his arms, “You should meet Killer Croc. He’s a real nightmare to pin.”Hal shuddered, he did not want to know how or why Killer Croc existed, but he made a mental note not to go to Gotham alone. Macaw smirked at his discomfort.“Have a safe trip, Spaceman.”Hal huffed a laugh, and waved him off as he stepped into the hallway. Something in his chest loosened, he had gotten on their good sides, at least for now. As he climbed out the window to fly home, he decided he’d take Robin up on the petsitting gig. Maybe he’d make a habit of it.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Hal blinked when he entered the meeting room. There was another child. A redhead, this time, in a poorly handmade red costume. It had been a few months since Batman introduced his kids to the Justice League, but he doubted it’d stop the man from getting more. Hal raised an eyebrow, and looked back into the hallway, where Batman stood a few feet away.“Got a new kid, Spooky?” he asked, and Batman paused, putting his head under his cape to count his children before coming back up with a shake of his head. Huh.Barry appeared beside him, hands on his hips in confusion, “huh. Who’s that?”“That’s what we’re tryna figure out, Bar.”In an instant, Barry was in front of the child, who screamed and fell off the chair they were sitting in. Barry jumped back too, and Hal heard Batman facepalm behind him with a sigh. Hal winced, and hurried over. Less because he didn’t trust Barry, and more because the kid really looked like they were gonna pull a knife on him. or run. Neither were good. He crouched to meet the kid’s eye line.“Hey, kid, we’re not gonna hurt you. We just wanna know who you’re with.”The kid was already wearing a domino mask, meaning they did belong to a member of the team, but their plain red, hastily made clothes with obvious stitch marks didn’t really give much away. “That… that depends.” the kid said, “Who are you?”“Oh, right.” Hal held out a hand, “Hal Jordan, the most recent Green Lantern.” he explained, then looked up at Barry, “That’s my good friend, Barry Allen, he’s the new Flash.”The kid tilted their head, and took Hal’s hand, shaking it firmly. They looked over Hal’s shoulder, and paused. “Is that Batman?”Hal gave a smile, “Sure is.”The kid nodded, as if debating something in their head. As they opened their mouth to speak, the rest of the League members filtered in, including Oliver.“Shit, sorry, he’s with me.” Oliver said as he hurried in, a tiny bow and arrow set in hand. It was very clearly a plastic toy. “Kid, i told you to stay where i left you.”The kid hunched their shoulders, “Sorry.”Oliver sighed, and turned to his teammates as Hal stood back up. “This is Roy.” he gestured to the kid, “He’s still in training, but once he’s done, he’ll be my sidekick.”“Oh lord, it’s spreading.” Hal heard Carter mutter to Shiera, “If i ever bring home a random orphan, please punch me.” Shiera only laughed in response. Hal bet his ring she’d bring home an orphan first.Oliver levelled a look at Carter, “He can hear you.”Carter at least had the decency to wince, “Sorry.”Roy cautiously stepped behind Oliver’s legs, and something clicked in Hal’s mind.“Wait, you made that outfit?”Oliver frowned, looking down at Roy, “Yes? What’s wrong with it?”Barry snickered, “Dude, it looks like a curtain.”A long, frowning silence came from Oliver, and Barry laughed, “you didn’t.”“It was short notice!” Oliver defended, crossing his arms. behind him, Roy copied the gesture.“Oh lord.” Dinah said, stepping forward, “Ollie, what did you do to the poor boy?”Oliver went red at the ears, “It’s not that bad!”“It is.” Dinah said gently, a laugh on her lips. She crouched to speak to Roy, “Don’t worry, hun, we’ll get you a proper hero costume.”Roy smiled, just slightly, “Thank you miss.”Dinah dipped her head, “Of course. We can’t have strong heroes like you fighting crime without proper attire.” she shot a distinctly pointed look at Oliver, who only got redder.Barry laughed, clapping a hand on Oliver’s back, “Hey man, me and Hal can teach you to sew, if you want.”The archer tipped his hat down to hide his face, grumbling something Hal didn’t catch, but it only made Barry laugh again, “Dude, if you can shoot four arrows from one bow, you can thread one needle.”Hal’s gaze drifted from the two and onto Batman, who had his cape wrapped cautiously around himself, obscuring the children from view. Somehow, none of their feet were visible, despite Batman’s being in view. That cape has to be magic.Roy’s gaze was also on Batman, he noticed, slowly shuffling away from Oliver to approach the man with interest. Hal’s lips pulled into a smile. The kid was cute, he’d fit right into the Flock. Or, the quiver, he supposed. Batman looked down at the boy as he stopped in front of him, and gave a small smile, which was returned. Slowly, Batman pulled his cape back, and the many pairs of whited-out eyes of the Flock landed on the new boy.Hal expected them to bombard the kid, but instead, they all went stock still. Of course, they knew how to intergate a new kid by now.Robin was first to step forward, offering his hand, “Hi, i’m Robin, i like acrobatics, what’s your name?”The boy took his hand after a moment, “Roy.” his voice was clearer than Hal expected, though had an accent to it he couldn’t quite place, “I don’t have a hero name yet, but I like archery and the color red.”Robin grinned, “i like red too!” he excitedly pointed to the red parts of his costume. One at a time, the other children introduced themselves, though Roy hovered near Robin for the most part.“What’s it like?” Hal heard Roy ask Robin, “Being a hero’s kid.”Robin hummed for a moment, and grinned, “It’s awesome. We beat up bad guys and we save tons of people, and we get to meet all sorts of people, and i’ve learnt a ton of things like martial arts and sign language and scuba diving and finance- even if that last one’s kinda boring, Dad says it’s important, and-”Robin went into a long ramble, arms emphasising his words with animated excitement. As the boy talked, Roy nodded along, leaning in and slowly starting an excited arm shaking. By the time Robin stopped, both boys were flailing their arms around. Hal did not understand why, but it was cute as hell.Damn, he’d gotten attached already.“And I have a dog!” Robin said with a particularly wiggly flail, almost tripping backwards, “His name’s Duke and he’s a german shepard! He’s just a baby right now but he’s gonna get big, and then he can be a Batdog!”Roy grinned, his arms flapping increasingly hard, “I used to have a dog!” at Robin’s gasp, he continued, “He was a cattle dog, and he’d run alongside me and dad when we were hunting!”Robin tilted his head, “Hunting?”The boy paused, like something occured to him. “oh, right, i’m from a tribe, the Spokanes, we’re from Washington.”Robin took a moment to process this, then nodded, “Cool, what was his name?”“Spotted.” Roy smiled, showing his tooth gap, and shrugged “He was spotty.”“Good name.” Robin said with another nod, “Dad likes people who are straightforward, he’ll like you.”After a moment, Roy asked, “Are you from Gotham, like Batman?”Robin grinned, and shook his head, “Nope! I was a circus boy, which means I travelled everywhere, with my mama and tata. Mama said we’re Romanian.”“Tata?”“It means dad!”“ohh, my tribe would use lʔew.”And thus, as the Justice League began their meeting, Roy and Robin sat near the door and taught eachother various words from their respective languages, with Robin even teaching a few hebrew words. Hal made a mental note of asking if the Flock celebrated Hannukah.“So, Batman’s your Av, but your birth dad was your Tata, and your step-mom is your Ima, ‘cause your birth mom was your mama?” Roy said, connecting the words with his fingers tracing the air. Robin nodded.“And my brothers are my aħ’s, and Wren is my akhot.”“Cool. I don’t have any siblings.”Robin gave a mischevious grin, “If your dad’s anything like mine, you will eventually.”Roy glanced over to where the other kids were attending the meeting, “That sounds nice.” he watched quietly for a few moments, before whispering, “should we be sitting with them?”Robin shrugged, “Yeah, but they always take a bunch of notes, so we can read them after. Especially Dad, he writes all the time.”Hal smiled as the boys continued talking, and turned his attention back to the meeting. Across the table from him, he saw Batman smiling ever so slightly, and various other teammates were trying not to laugh. The boys were not nearly as quiet as they thought they were.As the meeting ended- no world ending invasions, thankfully- Roy hurried back over to Oliver, his previous cautiousness gone, at least for now. “Can we visit Robin’s house on the weekend?”Oliver smiled, shaking his head with a clear fondness. Ah, he was attached already. “You should ask Batman, he’s touchy about his identity.”“Ohh, okay.” Roy turned on his heel and hurried over to Batman, “Sir, can I visit your house on the weekend? I promise i’ll behave!”“Please, dad?” Robin joined in, no doubt giving puppy eyes behind his mask, “He’s really cool and he promised to show me how to do flatbeading and i promised i’d teach him acrobatics.” he folded his arms, “and you said promises are really important to keep, so you gotta!”“You gotta, sir!” Roy chirped, and Batman struggled to hide his smile. Soft bastard. After a moment, Roy added, “um, please?”“Sure, chum.” huh. Hal hadn’t heard him use petnames before. “I’ll set it up with Oliver.”Both boys beamed, sharing excited glances. Macaw approached, tilting his head, “Could you teach me archery, then?”Roy lit up, hands working up an excited flapping again, “Okay!”Hal chuckled, following his teammates into the hall as they filtered out of the meeting room- still in Dr Stone’s lab, but they were drawing up plans for an actual base. Roy was getting along great with Robin, and the other kids were dipping in and out of conversation, with Batwing, Wren and John staying hidden within Batman’s cape.“If your gonna visit, you gotta know some stuff first!” Flamebat said, “Bats has a girlfriend, so you gotta be nice to her, and she doesn’t know about the hero stuff so don’t bring it up.” Roy nodded along, and Hal took mental notes. He’d been to the batcave for the petsetting, but he had yet to be allowed into the actual house portion. “and Agent A also lives with them, he’s basically Bats’ right hand, and he’s kinda like a granddad, so you really gonna be nice to him. He makes all the house rules.”Roy straightened, “Right, got it.”“And Duke- our dog, has Robbie told you about him?” Roy nodded, “-great, Duke doesn’t like being touched on his hind legs, he was saved from some bad men and we think he broke his hip at one point, so you gotta be careful with petting him. Oh, and you gotta take your shoes off if you go into Robbie’s room, it’s a rule.”“And no shoes on the bed.” Macaw added, and Flamebat nodded seriouslyRoy took in every word, “Okay, sure.”Oliver leaned over the kids to add, “No shoes on the bed in my house either, kid.”Hal and Barry laughed at the pout Roy gave him in response, but Oliver stood his ground. Barry leaned into Oliver’s personal space to add, “Don’t mind him, buddy, he’s just stuckup and old.”“Wh-!” Oliver huffed, “I am not!”“You so are, man.” Barry said with a grin, throwing an arm around him, “Nothin’ wrong with it, but it’s a fact.”As they reached the front doors, Robin offered Roy a hug, who happily accepted. “See you on the weekend!”Roy followed Oliver out with a smile, and the rest of the Flock skittered back under Batman’s cape, who seemed oddly content.“Softie.” Hal muttered, making Barry snicker and Batman give him the most withering look. He drew back slightly, “Nothing wrong with that, man, just saying.”A thought hit him, and he stopped Batman as the man turned to leave, “Wait.”Batman turned with the impression of a raised eyebrow. Hal pulled his hand back from where he was reaching to stop him physically, “I’m hosting a Hannukah party next month. Your welcome to join.”The smallest smile, “Sure. My kids haven’t had Hannukah yet.”So he is Jewish, Hal thought, making a note of it. “Barry’ll bring the party games,” he turned to Barry, who was obviously not listening, “Won’t you, Bar?”Barry blinked and looked over, “Uh, oh, yeah, sure, okay.”Batman nodded, and swept out of the building to who knows where. Barry appeared next to Hal, and whispered into his ear, “What did I agree to?”Hal snorted, “Bringing the party games for Hannukah.”“Oh, yeah, sure, i can do that.” Barry paused, “I don’t celebrate Hannukah, though? I don’t even have a kippah”“Your invited, man, just accept the invitation. I’ve got a dozen spares.”Barry shrugged, “Cool, alright. Race you to Central?”“Oh, your on.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As the New Year came and went, Roy slotted nicely into the dynamics of the Justice League and the Bat League, usually glued to the hip of Robin, or practicing archery with Oliver and Macaw, who had taken a liking to the skill. Hal’s Hannukah Party went over fantastically, though Barry was banned from playing with dreidels after he almost burnt a hole in the table from how fast he spun it.Summer rolled around quickly, and Hal somehow found himself as the resident dogsitter of literally any league member who had a dog. Sure, it mostly just Barry and Batman, but still. Then, Clark got a dog, an alien dog who could fly. So, needless to say, Hal’s time on earth was getting increasingly busy. At this rate, he wouldn’t even need an earth job, he could just charge for petsitting.Batman kept ever tight-lipped about his personal identity, but allowed his kids to give their names if they wished. Robin’s name was Dick, Macaw’s was Lance, and Batwing’s was Luke, but the others politely declined to give their names. That was fine by the League.By summer, the Justice League had also moved out of Dr Stone’s lab (something they were sure the man was happy about) and had moved their operation to a particularly high-end bunker just outside of Metropolis. It was, of course, underground, but it was a temporary base while their actual new base- a satellite in space- was being constructed. Hal was very proud of coming up with the idea, and even prouder that he managed to talk Alan and the other Lanterns into helping oversee the construction of it, and make some of the security measures. One ‘Bruce Wayne’ from Gotham funded it after they reached out to some local companies for hero funding. Hal wasn’t sure he liked the slightly airheaded man, but he wasn’t about to complain about funded millions for a proper hero base.(Why Oliver, Mr ‘Head of Queen Industry’ couldn’t fund it, he had no idea, but again, he wasn’t complaining, and Oliver apparently wasn’t offering)Roy, too, had gotten some changes, specifically an actual fighting outfit, which was essentially just a red version of Oliver’s costume, but nobody had the gall to point it out, since Roy was over the moon about it. He had also graduated his sidekick training into getting an actual proper bow to fight with. Dick had been so happy about his friend’s new style that he broke into dance. Barry recorded it. They were never letting him live it down.But, eventually, all things must change, and Hal was beginning to suspect Batman was a hoarder. Because, one regular summer day, Hal walked into the bunker to find Batman, only Batman, and another goddamn child.“Is that-?”“He’s mine.” Batman answered flatly. His body language was tense, his back to the door as he sat hunched over in his seat. Injured or upset, that was the question.“No, i’m not.” the kid- or, he was pretty sure it was a kid, given the height- snarled back. They had one hell of a face mask on, completely covering their head and giving them the appearance of having two faces, one on the front and one on the back. The helmet(?) surely had a voice modulator, as the kid’s voice was layered and slightly demonic.Batman sighed, something between irritated and weary, “Legally, he’s mine.”The kid crossed his arms and looked away, which didn’t really work considering the two-face-helmet situation. Hal winced, and didn’t enter the meeting room any further. He’d rather wait for backup, thanks.“You got a name, then?” Hal asked, not putting on the usual tone he used when talking to the Flock. this kid didn’t seem like he’d appreciate it, even if he wasn’t much bigger than Dick himself. Surprisingly, the lack of the Flock actually put Hal on edge slightly. they always made it to meetings, at least John did, and Dick never missed a chance to hang out with Roy.“Ianus.” the word was slightly distorted through the mask, but Hal was pretty sure he heard it right“Janus?”The boy snarled, and Hal took a step back. “Ianus. Yah-nus. not Janus.”Ah, right. Roman God of duality, if Hal remembered his highschool classes correctly.“Right, sorry. I’m Green Lantern, but you can call me Hal. Nice to meet you, Ianus.”The boy didn’t respond, instead turning the front head away. The Past head looked at him instead, with a glowering statue-esque look.“He’s new.” Batman said, low. “He’s…” he stopped, and glanced over to the boy, “adjusting.”Hal winced, and looked over his shoulder to check if his teammates were arriving. Thankfully, he saw Arthur and Diana approaching, and shushed them as they got close. “Spooky has a new kid, he’s not exactly friendly.” he explained in a whisper, and the two nodded in understanding. Diana was first to step into the room.“What is your name, newcomer?” She asked, not changing her tone from the one she used with any other adult hero.“Ianus.” he answered, standoffish. He crossed his arms, as if daring her to mispronounce it.“Ah, Ianus, god of duality, seer of past and future, correct?”Ianus stilled, like he didn’t expect her to know that. He nodded. “Yes.”Diana dipped her head respectfully, “then i am Princess Diana, warrior of Themyscira and daughter of Hippolyta.”Ianus managed to still even further, looking like a real statue. In a quiet, distorted voice, he said, “…the gods are real?”“They are.” Diana confirmed, and Hal could only imagine how pale the kid was right now.Ianus dropped to a kneel immediately, “I am so sorry, your highness, i meant no disrespect to your grand-uncle.”Diana gave a soft smile, and kneeled to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Rise, Ianus. You are not in trouble.”Ianus looked up hesitantly, “But, he-”“Ianus, as a god, does not reside on Earth. Even then, i do not have contact with him.” Diana explained, helping the boy to his feet, “I am impressed you know my relation to him, though.”“Of course i do.” Ianus said, “he’s the son of Gaia and Uranus, brother of… well, a lot of people.”Diana gave a small laugh, “That he is. How do you know so much about it?”“My father was a historian. I’m from Italy, so we share gods with the Greeks. sort of.” he gave the impression of a frown, “in a way.”“Well, i give you my blessing, as grand-niece of Ianus, to use his name.” Diana said, and Ianus straightened up, dipping his head in respect.“Thank you.”“Huh.” Hal muttered, taking a seat beside Batman, “Kid does have manners.”Ianus hovered near Diana as the rest of the Justice League took their seats at the table, before eventually shifting back near Batman, after Diana gave him a gentle nudge. As soon as he was away from the amazonian, he went back to his tense, standoffish behaviour, but he at least sat down.Diana, thankfully, chose to present first, “Before we begin this meeting, I would like to announce the arrival of a new team member.” she gestured briefly to Ianus, “His name is Ianus.”A slightly cautious round of greetings spread through the table, and Ianus simply nodded back.“Now, as for the presentation-”The meeting was, frankly, a bit boring this time around, so Hal allowed himself to only keep one ear open as he leaned over to Batman. “Where’s your flock?”“Home.” Batman muttered, “Mission went wrong last night, most of them are on bedrest.”“Shit…” Hal muttered back, almost inaudible, “Nothing serious, i hope?”Batman didn’t respond, but tensed slightly more. Hal furrowed his brow. After a long moment, Batman muttered, “We almost lost Robin.”Hal stilled, and he saw Clark freeze in the corner of his eye, too. Right, he had super hearing, didn’t he? Hal went to ask further, but Batman gave a tiny, minute shake of his head. He burned with questions, but he pulled back. No need to bring up bad memories.Hal then noticed Roy wasn’t there either, and leaned over to his other side, where Oliver sat, “Is Roy okay?” he asked, now genuinely concernedOliver gave a head dip in response, “One of the kids must’ve called him after patrol, he hasn’t left Dick’s side since midnight.”Hal winced. Of course he was, those two were practically glued to the hip. He took a closer look at Oliver, and noticed the rigid line of his shoulders, the white-knuckled grip he had as he kept his hands clasped in front of him. Hal really didn’t want to think about how close the kid must’ve gotten, if even Oliver was worried.Hal let the topic go as the rest of the team gave their presentation on their respective cities and rogue galleries, until it reached Batman, who stood like he had the world on his shoulders, his cape dragging slightly as he walked to the front of the table. It felt weird, knowing the cape was empty for once.“Last night, The Joker joined forces with a local mob in downtown Gotham. Myself and my team tracked them to a three seperate locations.” Hal felt the room go tense, they knew where this was headed, “Wren, Batgirl, and Batwing went in one group, Myself, Macaw, and Robin went in another, and Flamebat and Batboy went to the final location.” Batman took a slow breath, as if steadying himself, “All three locations were a trap.”“Fuck.” Oliver swore, slamming a hand against the table. A similar sentiment carried around the table, and Batman nodded grimly.“Flamebat was the least harmed.” he continued, “the rest are unconscious and in bed rest.”“What the hell happened to them?” Barry muttered, his hands vibrating intensely, just a blur of red.“They have yet to wake up, so i haven’t gotten their side of the attack, but at the location my team went to, Robin was ambushed by mobsters when we were seperated, and kidnapped.” Fuck. Fuck. “I sent him on his own to check the perimeter of the building, it’s my fault he was hurt, and i take full responsibility.”The air was thick with tension and anger, though not directed at the man himself. He continued, “By the time we reached Robin, he had been beaten to an inch of his life, and trapped in a room that had sulfuric mustard gas being pumped into it.” Hal froze. Mustard gas? Batman grit his teeth as he added, “He was in there for four hours.” The room went cold. Hal went colder. He was a military man, Alan had fought in the world wars and told him of the horrors, he knew what mustard gas could do. That kid shouldn’t be alive.“He was unconscious and unresponsive when we got him out.” Batman continued, his voice almost a growl, “he flatlined three times before medical staff pumped the toxins out of his body and reinflated his lungs, but he’s still in critical condition with major injuries.”He took a deep, shaking breath, “He will be out of commission for a minimum of 5 weeks. The others are also badly injured, but they will only take a few weeks to recover.”The League automatically nodded along, though most were shaking, though out of fear or anger, it wasn’t clear. Hal ran through every piece of medical training he’d ever recieved, and came up terrifyingly blank.“That being said,” Batman continued further, “when Robin recovers-” he put a harsh emphasis on ‘when’ “-he will be able to return to his work, but he will not be able to go diving- especially scuba diving- ever again, due to the collapsed lungs. He will also not be permitted to fly- by plane or meta- until he is approved by his doctor.” he looked at Barry, “Which also means no speedforce.”Barry gave a singular, deeply grim nod.“I will be putting an immediate plan in place to update all of my team’s costumes to provide more protection against vapour-contact burns, and i will be enforcing that they must carry a respirator mask at all times while in uniform, especially during missions involving the Joker or Scarecrow.”Then, he turned to Oliver, “I know your company is involved with the production of electronics and technology. I would like to commission custom-made trackers i can put on their uniforms to keep long-distance tabs on their vitals.”Oliver nodded without hesitation, “of course.” he considered his words for a moment, “I’ll impliment them into Roy’s uniform too.”Batman gave a silent gesture of support, and stalked back to his chair, practically collapsing back into it, head in one hand. Hal reached over and put a hand on the man’s back. “He’ll be alright, man.” he lied, “he’s strong, he’ll pull through.” Hal had little hope for the boy, inhaling mustard gas with vapour burns on open wounds wasn’t something a lot of people survived. He considered the five- six, glancing to Ianus- kids Batman still had to care for.“If you need help with the kids, we’re right here.” He offered, and saw Barry nodding, his face ghost white.“My friend,” Diana said, a gentle hand on Batman’s arm, “Do not hesitate to reach out.”“Yeah, man…” Barry added, trying and failing to keep his normal enthusiasm in his voice. He sighed, and dropped the attempt, “Look, Iris has a little nephew and we babysit him anyway, your kids would be no problem.”“Myself and J’onn may not be able to take them overnight,” Arthur said, “but we would gladly take them for the day, if you needed it.”Batman rubbed the heel of his palm over his eye, silently nodding. Hal noticed his jaw was set tight, though his throat bobbed like he was trying to get words out. He glanced to Diana, who nodded subtly, and rubbed Batman’s arm.“Are you unable to speak right now, friend?”A nod.Diana offered a careful smile, though it didn’t meet her eyes, “You do not need to speak. We understand you regardless.” she glanced to J’onn, “though, J’onn’s mental link is always open if you prefer it.”A hesitation, then a nod.Diana dipped her head back to him, and stood, turning to Ianus. “Could you keep an eye on him?”Ianus looked to Batman, then back to Diana, “…okay, ma’am.”The boy hesitated for a long moment, before making his way to Batman and pulling gently on his arm. “Up.” he muttered, and Batman slowly stood, looking dangerously pale. Ianus paused, and tilted his head(s?), “Your hurt.”Batman pulled his arm back from the boy, and draped his cape around himself. Hal frowned.“You didn’t tell us the whole thing, did you, Spooky? You got hurt too, didn’t you?”Batman tensed, his shoulders hiking, though he swayed like a man who was very clearly injured. J’onn spoke up after a moment, “He is insisting he is fine.”“Look at his memories, J’onn, i bet you he isn’t.”J’onn frowned, but didn’t argue. After a moment, he physically pulled back like he had been hit. “He is injured. I do not know the extent, but please do not ask me to do that again.”Hal furrowed his brow, but nodded. “Bats-”Batman shook his head, and backed away, Ianus staying by his arm.“If you pass out in here, i’m not dragging you home.” Ianus said through his modulator, “you promised Agent A you wouldn’t be a stubborn dick.”Batman turned and frowned at Ianus, who growled slightly in response. Batman’s shoulders dropped, and he turned to Hal.Oh, right, Alan lived in Gotham.“I’ll just drive you there, man, i’m heading to Alan’s anyway.” he tried to keep his tone normal, but the defensive way the man tensed told him he failed.Batman frowned further, but nodded, begrudgingly letting him drape an arm around his shoulder and half-carry him out of the bunker, Ianus trailing behind them. The rest of the League stayed awkwardly where they were, but Hal looked over his shoulder to mouth ‘i got him’, which seemed to put them at ease, at least a bit.Hal had never actually been inside the Batmobile- which was a stupid name, but priorities- until now, where Ianus found the keys to it in Batman’s utility belt and got it open so Hal could dump him gently into the passenger seat. “You are not driving this thing, man, your hurt.”If the man could speak at the time, he surely would’ve complained, but he couldn’t, so he didn’t. Instead, he leaned against the window as Hal started up the car (he was fairly sure it was just a modified black cadillac) and headed in the direction of Gotham. Ianus sat in the backseat silently, and Hal finally got to see the boy’s uniform clearly in the rear-view mirror.His mask looked carved straight out of stone, one face young and one face old. Past and Future. He wore a grey bodysuit, detailed etchings running down his arms and chest to resemble a very old statue, perhaps an old roman soldier. His gloves and boots were black, with a golden-leather utility belt. On his back was a maroon-red cape that split down the middle, giving it twin tails, and attached together at his collarbone, where the clasp was a golden clip that resembled a roman coin. To stave off the panic of Dick’s condition, Hal wondered how long it must’ve taken to make Ianus’ uniform. He smiled at the mental image of Batman sewing it together.He sighed, he hoped the rest of the kids were okay.—The ride to Gotham was silent, save for the thrumming of the car. When Batman slumped, Hal kept a hand on his wrist under his glove for the rest of the ride. Thankfully, he had only fallen asleep, so when they parked up in the Batcave, Hal carried him up the levels to the medbay. Duke scampered over, panting and yipping at Hal as he walked.“Hey, Duke. I’m not here to petsit, sorry.”Duke whined, but stopped when they got to the doors of the medbay. Hal told Ianus to get Duke a dog treat for obeying the ‘no animals in medical’ rule, though it was mostly so he could get the uniform off the man and get the kid out of the room. The uniform was a damn nightmare to get off, especially the utility belt, which had practically a million failsafes to go through until it actually unclasped.“You thorough bastard…” Hal muttered as he went, careful as he removed the gloves and boots. His hands paused over the man’s arms. Cuts. not fresh injuries, not battle scars, cuts. precise, deep cuts. They looked old, old enough that Hal swallowed past a dry throat and kept going.His hands paused once more as he reached the cape and cowl. He could unmask him right now, finally see who was under the mask, finally figure out who the hell Batman really was.He let the cowl stay. It wasn’t his place.Hal drew in a sharp breath as he carefully removed the bodysuit. The man’s torso and shoulder were completely bandaged, which were soaked through with blood. He had a decent number of scars, both old and new, and was coated with bruises. He didn’t need to speculate where those came from. He must’ve gone ballistic on those mobsters once Robin was rescued. He wondered if he had to be held back.Gathering the supplies he needed, Hal began the process of removing the bandages and reapplying fresh ones, something he did almost sheerely out of instinct. Even without his military training, Alan had been damn thorough in teaching him field medicine. Just because we’re in space doesn’t mean we’re unkillable, son. Far from it.On a lighter note, Hal pointedly ignored the hickies on the man’s collarbones. Flamebat had said he had a girlfriend. Lucky bastard.Once he was done, he put a blanket over him and went looking for Ianus, who he found by what he could only presume was called the Batcomputer, or something equally stupid.“He’s fine.” Hal said as he walked over, and Ianus nodded. The boy was sat on the floor, stroking Duke, who was mostly in his lap.Hal dropped his uniform construct, leaving him in his t-shirt and jeans. His gaze lingered on the elevator door he knew led up to Batman’s house.“…You can go up.” Ianus said“Won’t he-?”“I don’t care if he cares.”Hal blinked, right, kid wasn’t a fan of the guy, apparently. “Right. keep an eye on him, yeah?”Ianus nodded stiffly, and handed Duke off to him before heading to the medbay. Hal looked down at the pup, who was entirely oblivious to his owners’ problems.“You must be one spoiled pup, huh?”Duke met his eyes, seemed to realise he was there, and wriggled until he had both paws either side of Hal’s head, and attempted to lick the life out of him. Hal spluttered, “Duke-!”A laugh came from behind him, and he spun around, ring glowing. A young girl with striking blonde hair stood before him, giggling into her hand. It took him a second to recognise her.“Flamebat.” he said, and she nodded“It’s Bette, here.” Fl- Bette said, “Come on, i know your here to see Dick.”“Won’t Batman-”“Bats won’t mind, not this time.” Bette promised, “C’mon, before Duke kills you with cuddles.”Hal huffed a laugh, and followed her into the elevator. It was odd, seeing her out of uniform, being able to make actual eye contact and all. He pointedly did not.Soon enough, they arrived at-“Holy shit.”The richest looking library Hal had ever laid eyes on. Seriously, the ceiling was wooden and had carvings in it. Rich-ass paintings were on the walls. There was a marble statuette in the corner.“Motherfucker…” he breathed, Duke wiggling out of his arms and running off somewhere.Bette laughed, “Oh, yeah, our family’s rich.” Our? oh, right, cousins.“You live here?”She shrugged, “Partly, Aunt Kathy has a house just outside of Gotham.”Hal raised an eyebrow, “a house or a mansion?”“Manor, actually. Manors are older.”“Right…”Bette took him through the rich-ass library, to a rich-ass sittingroom, into a richer-ass hallway with rudely tall ceilings, up a grand staircase, and down a wing of the second floor to get to Dick’s room. Hal was pretty sure his mouth was open the entire time.“Can I live here?” he asked, only mostly joking. Bette laughed.“I mean, we have a couple spare rooms left, so yeah, sure.”Hal decided to not react to the complete bizarreness of being able to just…have multiple spare rooms, and entered Dick’s room instead, where the air went from open and light, to suffocatingly tense. The large bedroom had been transformed into a medical room, and a steady beeping was the only thing that convinced Hal the boy was even alive.He looked dead.His normally rich brown skin was ashen and bruised, his black hair shaved on one side where a surgical scar cut through his hairline. An oxegyn mask attached him to a ventilator, and a dozen tubes and wires were hooked up to him under the stark white covers that hid the rest of the damage.“He’s… doing better than this morning.” Bette said in a far, far quieter voice, “He hasn’t woken up yet, but Dr Thompkins said we might be able to take him off oxegyn and see if he’s breathing by himself by tomorrow evening.”Thats… encouraging. He was improving. Good.“…Hey, Hal.” he turned at the voice, and saw Roy standing in the doorway to an ensuite, his eyes bloodshot with heavy bags beneath them. The boy hadn’t slept.“You holding up, kid?”Roy grimaced, and that was all the response Hal needed, immediately switching topics. “Batman’s down in the medbay, dumbass came to the meeting with bloody bandages and thought we wouldn’t notice.”Bette’s lips turned in a ghost of a smile, and Roy shook his head.“Ollie’s right, he is stubborn.”Hal forced a laugh, “yeah, he is.”The room fell into silence, save for the steady beeping of the monitor, and the thrum of the machines. Hal realised Roy was out of uniform, instead in a baggy set of red pajamas. Had he even changed since coming here?“Have you met Ianus?” Roy asked, taking a seat next to Dick’s bed on a plastic chair“Yeah, he’s…not fond of Batman, is he?” Hal leaned a hip against the end of the bedframeRoy gave a small smile and shook his head, “He’s kind of mean, but he’s big on history. He let me tell him all the stories my tribe knows, and he told me about some roman ones.”“It’s good your both making friends. I suppose Oliver’s pretty happy about it?”Roy shrugged, “I guess. he really wants me to focus on being a hero, and i want to be one, but I also want to…well, not go to school, but have friends like me.” he frowned, “does that make sense?”Hal nodded, “perfect sense.”Roy opened his mouth to continue, but seemed to think against it, instead settling into a quiet rocking in his chair, one hand over Dick’s covered arm. Hal glanced over to Bette, who sat on the other side of the bed, watching her cousin worriedly with clasped hands. They looked tiny out of uniform.A knock at the door drew his attention, and he turned as a young lady- very young, though at least 18- stepped into the room, long dark auburn hair in a curled 50s do, a baby in one arm and a plate of food in the other. She paused as she spotted Hal.“Oh, hello.” she said, walking over. She turned to Bette, “Alfred sent up food for you both. Please try and eat it, okay?” Bette nodded, her brow furrowed with worry, and got up to sit by Roy, muttering something to him. The lady turned back to Hal, and offered her now-free hand, “Julie, you are?”“Um, Hal.” he took her hand, “Uh, their Dad told me about the kid, he sent me to check up on him.” He internally winced at the lie and how easy it fell from his mouth, but Julie barely blinked.“Ah, one of Bruce’s work friends, i assume?” Hal nodded, “I’m his girlfriend.”He paused for a long moment, until his eyes snapped to the baby, “Oh.”Julie laughed into her hand. She looked to the baby- a few months old, less than a year, Hal was god awful with ages- and bounced them up and down gently, “This is Elijah. Say hi, hun.”Elijah looked at him with big blue eyes and smiled mostly toothlessly, “ahabagabah”Hal, floundering slightly, took Elijah’s hand and shook it gently, “Nice to meet you too, kid.”Julie was visibly trying not to laugh, “You are Bruce’s friend, he does that too.”He smiled at the thought of big, scary Batman shaking a baby’s hand like it was a buisness deal, and pointedly ignored the use of Batman’s name. He heard nothing.Julie’s gaze turned back to Dick, and her eyes saddened. “It’s terrible, isn’t it? That such cruel men exist that they’d torture little kids just for money.”Hal immediately picked up on the cover story Br- Batman had told her. Kidnapped for extortion of Bats’ money. Or Julie’s, who knows. He nodded grimly, his voice low, “There’s some messed up people out there.”Julie’s gaze slid to him, out of the corner of her eye, “Military?”He blinked, “Yeah, Airforce, how did you…?”Julie smiled slightly, sadness still behind her eyes, “my father was military, he always used that tone when talking about his time out there.”“Damn.” he said with the slightest laugh, “I guess we’re predictable, huh?”“Very.”“If i can ask…?” Hal said, and Julie looked back at Dick as she spoke.“He fought in Vietnam. My grandad fought in the War.” she paused a moment, “My brother just got back from the Gulf.”Hal nodded quietly, “my grandfather fought in the War too.” Alan would never live him live it down if he knew what he called him in front of civillians. “He was one of the youngest.” He wasn’t just young, he had only been 12, something he never, ever admitted publically, and likely never would. It was the secret the human Green Lanterns would take to their graves.Julie gave a sad hum in response. They watched the injured boy in front of them in silence for a while, until Hal turned to her, “Are you okay?”A carefully plastered smile pulled at her lips, but didn’t meet her eyes. She nodded silently. He decided to keep talking, and hope she didn’t punch him or something.“You’ve got, what, six, seven kids to look after, most of them are injured, one of them’s a baby,” He gestured to Elijah, who was chewing on her hair, “not to mention a hyperactive puppy and a baby cousin. I know i’d crumble.”The smile faltered, but didn’t drop. “We have a butler, he’s very good with kids. We’d be lost without him, honestly.” Hal had the distinct feeling she was trying to change the subject, “And Bruce is doing all he can to help, too, he’s just so busy with his buisness and charity events.”“That’s still three adults and eight kids, counting Bette.” Hal pointed out, and considered something a moment. “I could stay and help, if you both want?”Julie blinked, and smiled more genuinely, “That…would be a lot of help. How much do you charge?”It was Hal’s turn to blink as the cogs turned in his head, “oh, no, i’d do it for free.”He got a raised eyebrow and narrowed eyes in return, and Hal realised it sounded a lot like he wanted something else in return. He felt his face heat up, and he took a few steps back from her. “Oh, no no, I just- Bruce is a friend, i don’t charge friends.”“He really doesn’t, Miss Julie.” Bette piped up from beside Roy, who was half-heartedly poking at the plate of food. Some of it was eaten, at least. Hal had the feeling the boy hadn’t eaten since he showed up. “He babysits Mr Allen’s dog all the time and he never charges for it.”Hal gestured to Bette in a ‘see’ motion, and Julie nodded.“Sorry for the presumption, you wouldn’t believe the amount of men who try flirt with me when they know i’m taken. It’s exhausting.”He smiled, “It’s alright, i don’t go that way anyway.” Now that he thought about it, Julie did seem oddly young for Batman, weirdly so. Julie raised an eyebrow at him, and glanced to Bette, who shrugged.“He really doesn’t, Miss.” Hal was beginning to think they were referring to different things than him. He opened his mouth to ask Julie’s age, before his childhood manners beat him over the head. Right, yeah, never ask a woman her age.“How did you meet him, anyway?”Julie’s attention pulled back to him, “Oh, we met the first day of college. I ran into him in the hall, he tried to help and slipped on one of my papers and fell into a trash can.”Hal snorted, dissolving into muffled laughter. “I’d pay to see that.”“His shoulders are so broad he actually got stuck in it, it took three of us to get him out.” she said, laughing around her words. Hal laughed harder, doubling over.“Holy shit, he didn’t.”“He did! Our teachers still won’t let him live it down.”Hal paused, and gave her a questioning look, “Are you…not graduated?”Julie blinked, and smirked, “How old do you think I am?”Uh oh. oh no. he walked right into that one. “Uh…”She laughed, waving him off, “It’s fine. We’re 19.”We’re? Hal stilled, running through the past year of memories in his head. Holy shit, Batman was a dad of six at nineteen. He was still in college.“Well.” Hal said, stunned, “he uh, left that part out at work.”Julie giggled, “your not Gotham, are you?” he shook his head, “Welcome, somehow we’re not the oddest couple here.”Well.He was now verging on seriously concerned.“……I’m definitely staying to help you two.” Hal muttered.—Batman woke after a few hours, but was confined to Batcave Bedrest to not stress himself out and pull his stitches, which meant it was just Hal, Alfred, and Julie caring for five injured kids, two uninjured kids, one whole ass baby, and the world’s wiggliest dog. To cover for his absensce, Batman sent a text to Julie saying he had an emergency callout to another state he apparently had a buisness in, and he had to stay the week in said other state to ensure everything went alright. Julie seemed a bit annoyed, but Hal supposed it was only natural. It was exactly why he didn’t bother looking for a partner after becoming Green Lantern, he was off planet more often than he wasn’t, often for months at a time. Very few regular earth careers could be an excuse for that length of absence.Thankfully, Hal didn’t need to cover Batman’s hero patrols on top of everything else, as apparently, Batman had two similarly aged cousins- one the step-mother of the other, who were also vigilantes, so they covered the patrols alone, as Bette insisted on staying home, in case any of the others woke up, or Roy forgot to eat. or sleep. or any number of things, because it had been almost exactly twenty four hours- as in midnight- since the incident happened, and Roy had barely moved from his spot next to Dick. It was about two AM that Hal woke up and began checking on each indivdual kid, and stilled when he saw Roy curled up next to Dick, fast asleep. Good. That was progress. Still concerning, but progress.The next morning, Hal began another sweep of the bedrooms, checking vitals, swapping out IV drips, and changing bandages where they were needed. Bette and Roy had entirely taken over Dick’s care (despite literally every adult telling them they can’t, because apparently bone-deep stubbornness was a hero trait), so at the very least, it cut down on what the three of them needed to do every few hours. It was three hours later that they actually had a chance to sit down and have breakfast, once Julie went upstairs to give Bette and Roy their food. They had, as Hal had feared, all but locked themselves into Dick’s room and refused to come out, but they were at least eating. Small steps was what Julie called it. In need of therapy is what Hal called it.As he sat at the dinner table next to Alfred, something occured to him. “I haven’t actually introduced myself yet, have i?” he asked aloud, and Alfred’s mustache quirked as he gave a small shake of his head.“It appears you have not.”“Ah-” he offered his hand, “Hal Jordan.”Alfred smiled, though it didn’t quite meet his eyes, as he took his hand, “Alfred. Master Bruce has mentioned you.”“Oh?”Alfred very pointedly glanced down to Hal’s lantern ring, which he was still wearing. “Oh.” Hal said, “So, i guess you know about…?”“Yes, yes i do.” Alfred said, in a tone that was both proud and so very weary.Thankfully, to save Hal from making the poor man suffer further with mentions of Batman, Julie returned to the table, giving Hal the chance to switch topics.“What was it like?” He asked, before adding, “Taking in so many kids so young, i mean.”Julie hummed, fiddling with a strand of curled hair, “He’d already taken in Jenny when i met him, so i knew what i was getting into.” her tone is fond, “Dick and Lance came a few months later, I was the last one to move in.”Hal nodded, that made sense. “And the newest one?” he meant Ianus, but he realised he didn’t actually know the kid’s name.“Oh, Cesare? We only had him flown in from Italy last week, he’s… still adjusting.” That was a way to put it, considering Cesare was still in the Batcave, also refusing to come out, but also refusing to talk to Batman directly. Duke entered Hal’s peripheral vision as they talked, pestering Alfred.“Now that sounds like a story.” Hal said, “What’d Bruce do?”Julie laughed, “Oh, what he always does.” she’s so very fond, “We were in Italy for two weeks last month, just a small vacation for our one-year anniversary. He went out for an evening walk just before sunset,” her eyes darkened with worry, taking a steadying breath, “He didn’t come back for hours, i knew something had gone wrong. But it was my first time in Italy, i wouldn’t have had a chance at finding him myself, not alone in the dark. So I had to wait, sitting by the phone in our hotel room, praying he was okay.”Hal furrowed his brow as she continued, “It was almost eleven by the time he came back. He had a bullet in his shoulder and this little boy trailing behind him, wearing his coat. By that point, it had started raining, so he was drenched.” She smiled, it was sad, but fond. “But Cesare, he was dry- terrified, but dry. I called an amublance, of course, but as we were waiting, Bruce told me what happened.”He braced himself for the explanation, knowing damn well it had happened on patrol. “He said he had done his walk, but he’d gotten turned around and got a bit lost. When he went to call a taxi, he heard something in the alley, and-” she laughed softly, “like the kind fool he is, he went running towards it. It was a mugging, a couple and their son.” Shit, he knew exactly where this ended. “He tried to stop the mugger, but… well, he didn’t tell me the rest, but i didn’t need to hear it. Cesare was orphaned that night, and Bruce…”Both Julie and Alfred fell silent, a dark look in their eyes. Julie’s were sad and sympathetic, where Alfred’s… well, a civillian would only see grief, but Hal had met plenty of ex-soldiers, he knew that look when he saw it. There was no description for that look, but Hal knew everything he needed to right away.Bats was an orphan too, he’d witnessed it happen. Alfred was close with his parents- he was the family butler, he must’ve been there for decades, if the greying hair and proud tone from earlier was any indication- and he’d likely been the default guardian after they passed, at least for a time. Following that logic, Hal reasoned, Bats likely hadn’t had contact with Bette’s side of the family until recent years, otherwise they surely would’ve taken him in.Hal felt a weight in his chest, heavy and cold. He had watched his own father die, too, but to lose both, and see it recreated years later? he couldn’t imagine it. He certainly wouldn’t be able to take that child in, not with the chance he’d look down at the boy and only see himself. There was a reason Hal didn’t want kids, there was too much risk with his job, he couldn’t put that on a kid, adoptive or not.Hal was the one to break the silence, “Couldn’t bear to leave him in the alley?”Julie nodded, “Exactly. He signed the adoption papers as soon as he could, but cross-country adoption takes a while, even with the contacts he has.”“He’s a good man.” he said, low and honest. He already respected the man for his skill, his leadership, his grit. He didn’t always get along with him, but he respected the hell out of him. With a ghost of a smile, he added, “He’s lucky to have you.”She stilled, a distant confusion in her eyes for just a moment, before settling into a light, humble look. She blushed slightly, smiling, “Thank you.” She looked down at her hands, still smiling, for a few heartbeats, before saying, “He calls me the eye of his storm.” she laughed softly, “but, if i’m honest, he’s the eye to my storm.”A downward twitch of her eyebrows, a hazy look in her eyes, a grimacing smile. There was a story there, but before she could tell him, Ianus- Cesare stepped into the room. Hal hadn’t gotten a good look at the kid without his mask yet, but it was clear the boy was young. Silky black hair, almost cobalt blue eyes, slightly sun-tanned skin. he wondered if Cesare looked similar to Bruce, or if the connection was purely rooted in shared trauma.“Hal.”Hal looked over, “Everything alright?”Cesare glanced over his shoulder, “Fine. Lucius is on his way.”Hal blinked, Lucius? he hadn’t heard that name yet, but both Julie and Alfred recognised it, so Hal played along, “Ah, right, Bruce told me he’d be around.” he thought quickly through what amount of knowledge Lucius had about Batman. “Thanks for the heads up, kid.”“Bette’s come out of Dick’s room.” Cesare said, not quite a question, just a statement. He didn’t make eye contact. Hal nodded.“I’ll check on her, then.”Hal stood, and cautiously put a hand on Cesare’s head. When the kid didn’t bite his hand off or pull away, he gave him some pats. He’d get the kids graduated to hair ruffling eventually. “Again, thanks.”Cesare made a disgruntled noise of acknowledgement, and slunk over to Julie. He noticed that the kid preferred to be around women, between Julie, Diana, and possibly Bette. he made a mental note of it, just in case.—Hal kept his footsteps light but not inaudible as he went up the big-ass staircase to the hall of the wing the kids’ bedrooms laid. He did not acknowledge the small, brightly painted wooden letters spelling each kid’s name on their respective doors. He didn’t know most of their names, and he wasn’t about to call them by it if they didn’t tell him first. It was bad enough when a fellow Lantern first-named him, though being strictly referred to as ‘Human’ wasn’t much better. Every door but one was closed, so he approached the ajar door, peeking in through the gap.Bette was sat on the very edge of the bed, her back against the bedframe and one leg on the floor. In her hands was a book, which she was reading to the boy in the bed. Lance. He was a taller boy, for his age, with pale freckled skin, strawberry blonde hair, and eyes of salt. One of his arms was in a sling, and his face was mottled with dark, angry bruises.“I’m not a baby, Bets’.” Lance mumbled, clearly still feeling the effects of the pain medication he was hooked up to, “I don’t need a story read to me.”Bette paused in her reading, “Well, i always wanted a baby brother, so yes, yes you do.”Lance paused, watching her with bleary eyes for a long moment, “…’kay.”“Kay?”Lance nodded, “Kay.” he paused, then frowned, “’m not a baby, though.”“Three months younger counts, Lanny.”With a grin, Bette continued reading, her voice tinting with barely hidden laughter as Lance unsubtly began shifting closer to lean against her, his eyes drooping.“You’d be a terrible spy.” Bette teased, and Lance gave a one-armed shrug. He dropped his head on her shoulder, and Bette only moved to link the arm closest to her so she could still turn the pages.“You’d be a terrible librarian.” Lance muttered, his pronounciation slurring under the medication, “y’ never stop talking.” His words held no venom, just a sleepy sort of begrudging fondness.Bette grinned, “You never ask me to stop.”“Y’ the least annoying…” Lance mumbled, falling into a soft snoring.Bette laughed softly, watching the boy for a long moment before closing the book and settling in. She locked eyes with Hal, and gave a small wave. ‘we’re okay’ she mouthed, and Hal nodded, carefully closing the door and backing away. In his way back down the hall, he checked in on every kid, each a different level of injured, but all still asleep. Elijah was down for his nap, and Hal took a moment to take in the peaceful silence before moving on to Dick’s room.Roy was still sat beside Dick’s bed, fiddling with his bow. His quiver full of arrows laid at his feet, and his hat was placed crookedly on the end of the bedframe. He still looked exhausted, but slightly more responsive. Bette was seemingly really good at making people feel better. She’ll be a damn good hero, he thought.“Hey, kid?”Roy’s head snapped over to look at him, “Oh, hi, hal.”“How is he?”The boy’s brow twitched down, but didn’t fully furrow. “He’s okay. Not…not awake, but…”“Okay for someone whos unconscious?”The faintest quirk of a smile. If Hal wasn’t used to reading Batman’s facial expressions, he would’ve missed it. “Something like that.”Hal nodded, “Lance is awake.” he notedA slightly more visible smile, “Good. he’s…he’s really talented.”“Oh, yeah?”A small nod, “Not that the others aren’t, but they can’t shoot a bow like he can. He’s really good at it.” Roy’s hands ran across the string of his bow, “I told him he should be an archer, but he said Bats don’t do archery.” he frowned, “which is silly, because Ollie says we’re wolves, and wolves don’t do archery either.”Hal raised an eyebrow, “Wolves?”Roy nodded, “Not in a tribe way, though. He just says we’re wolves.”Did that make Ollie and Roy a pack, then? Hal filed that new information into ‘weird things he knew about his teammates’, right next to Barry’s love life, and that Clark used his heat vision as a razor. Wait, was Oliver a furry? Was Batman a furry? He was putting too much thought into this.…Were Carter and Shiera furries??? featheries???At the very least, Hal’s confusion made Roy give a small, breathy laugh. “He’s weird.”“Weirder than the Bats?”Roy shook his head, “Never, their the weirdest.”Just you wait ‘til the others get sidekicks, he thought. He was almost certain, if they ever did, that the sidekick of Clark, or Barry, or J’onn would be considerably weirder than a guy in a red hood cosplay who was secretly a furry. Though that was an odd sentence.Hal smiled, “Well, you get some sleep or something, kid. There’s a guest coming, but i’ll keep him out of here.” Roy nodded, “okay.” he paused, then said, in a quiet voice, “If it’s Ollie, tell him i’m okay, okay?”He nodded back, “i will.”Gently, Hal stepped out of the room and closed the door, just as a knocking came from the ground floor. That must be Lucius. He took the stairs two at a time, arriving just as the man he presumed to be Lucius was greeted into the house by Alfred, though a second, shorter man followed in behind him.Lucius was a tall black man with deep brown eyes and a well fitted button-up and slacks. He seemed to recognise Hal, though Hal himself had never seen him before in his life.“You must be Mr Jordan?”“Uh, yes, your Lucius?”The man laughed, “yes, yes i am. Bruce has told me a lot about you-” a swift, almost split-second glance to the ring “-I’m Luke’s father.”Ah, so this was Batman’s tech guy. Hal took his hand, “Pleased to meet you, sir. Luke’s still asleep, but your welcome to go see him.”Lucius dipped his head, and turned to look between Hal and the shorter man. “Oh, this is Bruce’s uncle, by the way. He wanted to see the kids.” The man was short, very short, and stout, in a fitted tuxedo suit with twin tails and a monocole perched on a long nose. Long black hair hit the fur coat he was wearing overtop, and an honest to god tophat sat on his head. One hand was in his striped slacks pocket, and the other gripping a gorgeous golden cane, with the handle resembling…something, his hand was obscuring the face of the thing.The man offered a hand, smelling distinctly of cigar smoke, “Nice to meet you, boy.”“I’m Hal, Hal Jordan.”The man smiled with unnervingly sharp fangs, “Oswald. Oswald Cobblepot.”