Dick rolled the small bit of metal between his fingers, staring at the screen that lit up the otherwise dark room. He'd been locked away for hours already. Not literally. The door was far from locked but his friends gave him space. They knew by now when he was in one of his 'moods'. They were certain he'd been infected by Bruce at a young age. He could certainly brood like the bat, just not as often. When he did...

His eyes darted down to the slug that had been dug out of his flesh, the searing pain an all to close memory. Worse was the pain in his heart, the heaviness. For the first time, in such a very long time, he felt helpless, lost.. He finally felt himself loosing hope. His eyes closed. The world was closing in on him for the first time since he'd watched his parents fall, their desperate eyes burned into his memory, the sickening thud of bodies hitting the ground. A flit of gray, a gun, a shot.

His eyes snapped open, his heart racing, the slug digging painfully into his palm from where he held it so tightly. He let out a half sight, half sob, his chest tightening painfully. How? How did it come to this? Brother against brother? Brother against sister? How did life take so drastic turns? Why was it so cruel?

He nearly choked on the air as the sirens startled him, the red lights shining with warning, the glare of alarms ringing through the cave like a banshee shriek. The slug was tossed protectively into the pouch at his waist where it'd rested since being removed from his body, a constant reminder, before he ran from the room to the main control room of Mnt. Justice.

"What's happening" Nightwing called as he ran through the hall into the main room of the cave. The red lights of the alarms flashed and the sirens blared their warning as the few members of the team present at the time scattered across the floor and scanned the screens that flared to life with signatures and readings of odd energy outputs, the electronic voice sounding 'warning' and 'incoming' before dying out in an electronic buzz.

"I don't know!" Called Conner from one screen. "The readings are off the charts!"

Nightwing approached the screen, staring at the fluxing waves of energy that were disrupting the very air around them, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. He stared for long moments to the output before backing from the screen in shock. "I haven't seen this since.."

Off to his right and further above his head, the very air itself split, opening in a black and gaping hole that tried to blow them back with unnatural gusts of air that stank of sulfur, stale and stagnant. His hands and arms flew to guard his face against the unknown elements released by this new anomaly. Through the narrow space between his forearm he could see the gray mass tumbled forward from the hole, head over heels til it crashed on the floor, bouncing and skidding like a rag doll before landing in a disheveled heap. The hole snapped back shut with a great suction that pulled everyone in the room forward.

A groan came from the mass of fabric and limbs on the floor and a shift, an opening and Nightwing was flying across the floor to lift the young girl up into his arms, turning her over gently the feathered domino that met his gaze was anything but unfamiliar, the gray bird spread across her much more developed bosom anything but surprising.

Sparrows eyes darted frantic across the room, her body ached and the cuts across her skin burned and stung. She grew panicked until her gaze fell on a dark domino, strong jaw and a familiar blue bird on his chest. "Wing..?" She gasped out, finally calming enough to catch her breath. But his suit was different. The.. they were in mnt Justice? It was.. wrong. With pleading eyes the young woman looked into Nigtwings masked eyes. "I'm not in Kansas anymore.. am I Toto?"

"'fraid not, Dorothy." Dick answered with a slight smile.

"Didn't think so..." She groaned, closing her eyes as if the light of the cave alone was causing her pain. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, hand cupping one side of her head as if to stop it from spinning. "Way to go Sparrow.. not a year on the job and already screwing with interdenominational worlds again.." She muttered to herself.

"Danielle..?" Megan whispered tentively. "Is it really you?" She feet glided across the floor towards the figure.

"Hey Megs-" Was all Dani got out before she was near tackled in a hug. A bone crushing hug. She gasped, desperately patting M'ganns back. "Megs.. Megs... air!" She rasped out. The green Martian pulled back, allowing Sparrow to finally overlook the older girl. Her hair was shorter, her face a bit more mature, higher cheek bones and.. wet eyes. "Megs..?"

The green girl sniffled. "I've missed you..." She choked out.

Danielle searched desperately for answers in her eyes. At a loss she looked up to see the same worried, longing and forlorn face etched across Conner's face and finally she turned to Dick. Her chest constricted at the guilty, pitying look that he wore. "What's happened?" She demanded softly.

"It's a long story..." His voice cracked against his will and his grip tightened on her shoulder where he'd been helping her to sit up more steadily.

"Dick-" She began before feeling him envelope her in his arms, gentler than Megan but not less demanding, still clinging like she'd disappear if he let go. Her eyes were wide in surprise at the sudden embrace. Dick had always been more.. clingy.. physical.. but not quite so out in the open..

"I've missed you, baby sister." He whispered out. "I've missed you..."

And yet, somehow, it didn't feel like he was talking to her...

AN- And I started another one.. but I AM on vacation.. Hopefully I can get some chapters done.