Chapter 8

Crowe had promptly taken off the arm band and become Ash Quertz once they started walking to his manor.

"It's not as big as Wayne Manor, and Quertz Manor doesn't sound as grand as Wayne Manor, I suppose. Still, it's big enough," Ash said when the team had asked him about the house. He also sent a look at Sparrow that no one else understood besides Viper.

Suddenly Viper stopped walking and face-palmed. "I am so dead!" She half screamed.

People sent her funny looks, and no one around her were exceptions. Sparrow sighed dramatically. "What did you do this time?"

"Not funny, Short-stop!" She glared furiously at him. "I'm not allowed at your place, Ash! Don't you remember that one time?"

Ash looked star-struck. "You're right. You are dead if Dad catches you thirty feet away from the front gate, let alone at the front door."

She nodded. "I've gotta go. Besides, I told Mom I'd be home to help put my little brothers, more like demons, go to bed at seven. It's seven thirty, and she's gonna kill me!" That being said, Viper turn-tailed and booked it down an alley-way, leaving the rest of them staring after her.

Sparrow whistled. "That's sure one interesting gal."

Ash had seemingly gone slack, and his voice was kind of dreamy looking. Matter of fact, his eyes looked like they were misting over as well. "She sure is."

He was leaving himself wide open, and the majority of the team knew it too. Artemis and Kid Flash were stifling giggles with their hands and Aqualad looked like he was trying not to smile.

Unfortunately, Sparrow also knew he had just hooked Ash. "Why do you date her? She's crazy man. Plus, she told me that she's got her eyes set on someone else."

Ash just about jumped six feet in the air. "WHAT? That's not true! And she's not crazy!"

Sparrow laughed and slapped a hand on his best friend's back. "Dude! I'm just messing with you! You've gotta learn to keep up your guard. You totally left yourself out in the open. And it's sad that I'm the one telling you this, since I'm younger by six years."

Ash let out a breath. "I know, I know. But I can't help it. Stupid hormones," he muttered. Then his voice got louder, as he realized he was doing nothing to help his case. "Anyway, didn't we say that we'd tell them how we met?"

"Yeah, how did you meet?" Kid Flash asked. You could so tell that black-mail opportunities were on his mind.

"If you want, I could connect our minds and you could show everybody," M'gann volunteered, albeit a bit hesitantly.

Ash and Sparrow looked at each other. Ash just shrugged. Sparrow nodded, and said, "Alright, but there are going to be a few rules. One, I think it would be best if you combined our memories, because then you can see it from all points of view. Two," Sparrow turned on Ash, "I want you to blur out my eyes. They don't know yet, and I don't intend on telling them anytime soon."

Ash nodded. The team looked at him, confused. "Are you a telepath?" Superboy asked.

Ash shook his head. "No, but I was taught at an early age how to alter memories. It's complicated. I mean, I guess I could have some telepathic abilities, but it's highly unlikely."

"Maybe we should go somewhere where we can watch without being observed by others," Aqualad's eyes shifted around, looking at the on-looking civilians who were giving the strange group odd looks.

Artemis looked thoughtful for a moment before stating, "I know where we can go. Follow me."

They all watched her as she started walking down the street before hurrying after.

They found themselves at an apartment, with Artemis taking a key from under the door-mat and unlocking the door.

"Where are we?" Aqualad asked.

"One of my friend's house. She told me she wouldn't be here today, so we won't have any surprise visitors," The only two who could see through the lie were Sparrow and Ash. And even M'gann felt from the three of them that there was obviously more to it.

They sat down on the couch, and Sparrow gave the okay signal to M'gann to begin. She put a hand to her head and her eyes started to glow. Suddenly everyone's worlds went black.

When the memory started, there still wasn't much color. They could see a small boy walking into an alley-way, shivering. Just like Ash had promised, his eyes were blurred out. He shakily took out a box of matches, tore up a card-board box and set it on fire.

The boy wore a worn-out blue T-shirt and black shorts that were torn at the bottom. He didn't have any shoes on. He sat as close as he could to the fire without burning himself.

From the corners of the alley they saw a shadow move. A man came out of the shadows slowly, with what looked like a crowbar poised above his head, ready to strike the young figure.

The team wanted to scream at him for not noticing.

The Would-Be-Robin turned around, and because the blurry section on his face grew, they could tell his eyes were widening in fear.

But then the thug's eyes widened and rolled to the back of his head, falling to the ground. Behind him was a younger version of Crowe with his baseball bat raised. This was the first time the team actually saw his costume. It wasn't much different from Sparrow's. The body suit was gray, however, and there was no insignia on his chest.

Younger-Crowe lowered the bat, and leaned on it. "Kid," He looked at the wide-eyed boy. "There's a thing called a brain. Because of the size and shape of your head, I'm going to assume I'm correct when I say that I'm pretty sure you have one," He got no response whatsoever. "Let me give you some valuable advice. USE IT."

Would-Be-Robin looked down at his feet. Little-Crowe continued on with his lecture, "Think about it kid, this is GOTHAM. One of the most dangerous places in the United States. This is also an ALLEY-WAY in GOTHAM. Do you get my drift?" He spoke as if he were speaking to a two-year-old.

Little-Robin's voice trembled a bit. "I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't know."

Young-Crowe sighed, as if knowing what he was going to do was going to bite him back later on. "Do you have anywhere to stay, kid?"

There was a shake of the boy's head. "I'd rather be a-anywhere than where I was."

The young gang-leader held out his hand. "Then come on. You can stay with me for the night."

Would-Be-Robin shook his head. "You're a stranger."

Little-Crowe's eyes rolled and annoyance flashed across his face. "You can call me Crowe. It's not my real name, but since I don't know you too well, that's what you can call me."

The boy tentatively gave him his hand. "Alright. You can call me . . . Sparrow."

A smirk planted itself on Young-Crowe's face. "Nice to meet you Sparrow. Now let's go before someone catches us."

That being said, he hefted the eight-year-old up onto his back and they vanished into the night.


So . . . How did you like the story of how the two met? This is probably as much info as you're going to get on the two of them bonding. But know that Sparrow and Crowe did have a LONG conversation in the past about if they could be honorary brothers and what being brothers meant and stuff like that. I know this because when I was dusting I was narrating it to myself, and then promptly forgot all the details of the discussion.

. . . I am so weird . . .

Anyhoo, tell me what you thought!