A/N: I have to say I was initially disappointed by the lack of reviews but then I got one and omg it made my day and my heart melt and that's what I live for by writing. I love writing and I used to just do it for myself and I was always so self conscious about it and it took a shit ton of courage for me to post them online, and now I just have to say it has been the best decision I have ever made.

The only reason I was slightly upset about lack of reviews is because I know people are reading the story, but I don't know if you are liking it. It is not enough for people to just read it, I write for your entertainment so I need to know if you guys like it or not. It doesn't need to be long just something saying: oh I like this, or I hate this or I'm confused by this. I want to be able to learn from your opinions to better my writing, my story and my plot and I can only do that through reviews.

Enough of my rant, here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter: 4

Darren kicked the legs of the stool he was sitting on in the Cave. Today was lab day for school and he had to do it down in the Batcave. He figured it was safer than upstairs in his room and it actually made homeschooling easier since they had the Cave to do experiments in. He was only half paying attention to Tim though, who had volunteered as tribute to help him with the lab. It was for biology and while it was not Darren's worst subject, it was still difficult to decipher what he had to do and understand how when reading the instructions. Tim was home because it was a staff development day which meant the kids didn't have to go to school and the teachers did for meetings and stuff. The funny part, as Tim put it gleefully, was that since Tim was in high school and Damian was in the middle school—Gotham Academy went from elementary through to high school but had "separate" buildings for each of the schools—Damian still had to go to school that day. Darren didn't get why Tim was so evilly delighted by this but he didn't try and clarify. He'll leave Tim to his small victories.

Darren was still lost in thought. He couldn't get those yellow-green eyes out of his head. It was pushing his paranoia to the limit. Was she a Talon? Was she spying on him? Or was she just some random citizen with a unique eye color? What did this all mean…if anything? His skin prickled uncomfortably and he suppressed a shudder, he felt like there were eyes watching him from everywhere. He needed to solve this mystery or it would drive him over the edge,

"Okay. So just cut the—Darren are you even listening?" Tim's voice interrupted Darren's racing thoughts,

"No," he stated bluntly. Tim let out a sigh but put the paper down,

"Okay. What's up?"

"Nothing," Darren muttered,

"You're a terrible liar for an assassin,"

"No I'm a great liar. I'm a ten-foot tall giraffe with butterfly wings,"

"Points for sarcasm," Tim snorted as he rolled his eyes, "Talk or I'll fail you,"

"You can't do that! Only Alfred can!"

"And if you can't write up this lab report because you didn't understand the lab experiment you will be failed by Alfred so I'd start talking," Darren let out a loud exasperated groan before glancing around the Cave, making sure no one was there before talking,

"Okay, it was after Jason and I went to get the tattoo,"

"How did that go by the way?"

"Great," Darren said, "I actually slept last night!"

"Aah…great?" Tim stated frowning,

"Forget I said that,"

"I won't, but continue,"

"Well, on the way back I saw this girl," Tim raised an eyebrow and grinned, "What?" Darren asked, interrupting himself,

"Nothing. Continue,"

"And she almost got hit by a bus, so I tackled her onto the sidewalk so she wouldn't…you know…die,"

"Okay, not going to lie, not how I thought this story would go,"

"How did you think it would go?"

"Nothing. Continue," Darren glared at him before doing just that,

"And she had these…yellow-green eyes and it just got me thinking…what if that whole thing was just a trick to see what I'll do? What if she's a Talon, spying on me for the Court and it was all just planted to see what would happen and how I would react? What if the plan was for her to play damsel in distress just to get my guard down so that I trust her. Then we'd just conveniently run into each other from time to time until the Court inevitably swoops in and kidnaps me again…or kills me. Whichever," Darren said, doing hand motions for the theoretical 'swooping' of the Court,

"Wait…you think she's a spy?"

"What else would she be? Those eyes…they had gold in them,"

"Like gold flecks? Or were they actually gold?" Tim asked,

"Flecks…I guess…I mean maybe a little more shiny than just flecks but it wasn't the complete eye,"

"Wow. You observed such detail,"

"I was trained to be aware of my surroundings. All of my surroundings…buy they could be spying on me and I don't even know it. Am I losing my training or am I just being stupid?" Darren questioned seriously,

"Well for one, I don't think she's a spy. You said she'd just moved here a week ago—,"

"— a few days ago. It could be a lie,"

"It might," Tim agreed, "Or you're just being paranoid. I mean people have all sorts of details like gold flecks in their eyes naturally without Electrum or other things like color changing contacts. Also, your eyes turn completely gold except for the pupil when you're healing. Not flecks, all gold…one shining color,"

"I don't care…I don't know for sure and I need to know!" Darren almost growled, "I can't get those eyes out of my head,"

"Are you sure it's because you're paranoid that she's a spy?" Tim asked, a grin on his face,

"What do you mean?" Darren asked raising an eyebrow,

"I mean, why did you really save her? You were a civilian, not Renegade at the time,"

"No one was really paying attention," Darren said defensively, "And why does it matter why I wanted to save her? I died, I know what dying is like she didn't deserve to die—well I thought she didn't until the possibility came up that she was a spy for the Court of Owls. Isn't saving someone's life something you want me to do?"

"Well…not at the cost of revealing your secret identity," Tim replied,

"For people who try to save every life they can you can be quite hypocritical,"

"That's besides the point," Tim growled, "Are you sure about her?"

"Yes I'm sure,"

"Was she pretty?" Tim asked,

"I…guess? I don't know. I wasn't paying attention,"

"But you were, I mean you had to be paying attention to be able to save her and you were said you were trained to be aware of your surroundings,"

"Well that doesn't mean I was thinking she was pretty…she was actually walking with a book in front of her face and I was thinking that wasn't a smart thing to do because you'll just bump into people and walk into the middle of streets and nearly get run over, which she did!"

"Okay. I'm gonna put this bluntly…were you attracted to her?"

"Why would I be attracted to a spy? That's ridiculous and dangerous," Tim sighed and closed his eyes and shook his head briefly before opening them again,

"You know what, never mind. Clearly you have no idea what I'm talking about so I'm just going to say this. Let it go. She's not a spy, she's just an innocent civilian you saved from dying in a painful bus crash. Good Samaritan deed done for the day. Her eye color doesn't mean she's a spy,"

"But—,"

"No buts, don't let this consume you. Not everyone with somewhat golden eyes is a Talon. I know you're worried about the Court capturing you again but they can't do that, not right now. Besides, the gold color, that goes away quickly for a Talon anyway, it's a sign the Electrum is healing you…it doesn't make your eyes permanently golden yellow. So let this go, and let's finish this lab,"

"Okay," Darren sighed, taking the scalpel and moved to cut the tops of the strawberries off, but his thoughts again wandered to why Tim would think he even liked a complete stranger right off the bat and how being attracted to someone would mean he would save them. He would save anyone in immediate danger, it didn't mean he was attracted to them. Suddenly Tim was snatching the scalpel from him,

"Hey!"

"You almost cut your hand!" Tim snapped, "Blood…especially your blood…would ruin this experiment,"

"Or make it more interesting!" Darren stated, Tim let out a small laugh before sobering,

"You know what I've always wondered?" Tim started,

"What?"

"If you cut off a Talon's hand…would it grow back?" Darren thought for a moment, shuffling through his memories at the Court trying to remember if he'd ever seen that happen,

"You know…I don't actually know…I've never seen that," Darren and Tim looked at each other before looking at the scalpel,

"For science?" Tim asked,

"We're gonna need a bigger scalpel."

"Okay, wait…will this hurt?" Darren asked, as Tim raised the Batarang,

"You don't feel pain!"

"Yeah but that's like, cuts and knife wounds and poison and illness and literally everything but amputation…that I know of," Darren held his left hand out on the table. To be honest he was a bit nervous,

"Fair point but—,"

"—What the hell are you two doing!" Dick's voice rang out from across the room. Darren and Tim stared as he marched over to them, he looked angry,

"Cutting my hand off," Darren stated simply,

"For science!" Tim added quickly,

"No! Are you serious! Just no!" Dick snapped, yanking the batarang out from Tim's grasp, "Are you two that idiotic to try something this stupid? We don't know what will happen!"

"That's also a fair point," Tim muttered, "What were we thinking?"

"Yeah this is stupid…I'm a lefty, I need this hand. Well I'm ambidextrous but still, two hands are better than one,"

"Yeah, we should do a pinky…or like the top joint of the pinky,"

"No! No amputation! That is not allowed, new rule now! No amputation. I am revoking all batarang privileges until further notice and until it is clear you two are not being idiots," Dick yelled. Batarangs in hand he marched up the stairs to where the safe was while Tim and Darren cackled in their seats,

"I can't believe he actually thought we'd do that," Darren snickered,

"I mean we did consider it but we knew it would be a horrible plan," Tim agreed, laughing, "Pranking Dick was the best idea…we should probably tell him it was a joke though. He'll tell Bruce,"

"We'll save it for dinner. I mean I do wonder what would happen, but I'm not that curious. And this is all thanks to me hearing him come down into the Cave."

"Credit given where it's earned," Tim agreed, finally calming his laughter, "Okay, let's seriously finish this lab. We need to get this done by dinner,"

"Fine," Darren grumbled, diligently chopping the green tops off of the strawberry for the DNA extraction lab.

A/N: Ahhh, I remember the DNA extraction lab, AP Bio...senior year(I could have taken it earlier but my school wouldn't let me because of stupid credits or something)...such fun.

Sorry the chapter was kinda short. The others will be longer I promise. I have a lot to get through in this story so the chapters will definitely be longer because of it. And perhaps this chapter ended a bit weird and goofy and out of character but I needed a way to end the chapter and I thought this was interesting and funny. Perhaps a bit OC-ish but still humorous? Anyway I hoped you liked it.

PLEASE REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

And next chapter on Thursday!