Author's Note: 12:10 a.m. on a Thursday XD

"Do you have nothing better to do than just sit there?" Tim asked as he watched Roy, who was sitting on the couch silently. The brunet snapped out of his thoughts and gave Tim a surprised look.

"Uh...I don't know, do I?" Anxiety began gnawing at his stomach as he spoke. "You didn't tell me to do anything."

"Do I have to? I figured you knew how to take care of a house, given you pretty much ran yours yourself." The gnawing turned to an engulfing heat as Roy's expression soured.

"Watch it, Tim." The black haired teen sighed and ran a hand through his already messy hair.

"I'm sorry, that was rude. I'm just..."

"Stressed out?" Roy finished for him. "I know, I could hear you typing away at that laptop of yours all night." Tim winced a bit.

"Sorry if that kept you up."

"It didn't. It was actually a good bit of white noise." Roy smiled a bit. "I can't fall asleep without some background noise. Like a fan running or something. And you were typing at a pretty constant rate. What exactly is it that you do on that thing?" Tim looked like he was in thought.

If he has to think about it, he's going to lie to you.

"Are you a writer?" Roy asked. "That'd be pretty cool." Tim smiled a little, but shook his head.

"No, not really. It was just business at WayneTech." Roy frowned. How much work does he have to do day to day?

"You know, you should probably take a vacation if you've got work to do at midnight."

"I've worked later. I just drink a lot of coffee and I'm fine." Tim sat next to Roy, which brought a rush of color to Roy's face. "Given any thought to it?" Roy looked over at Tim, trying not to think about how close they were.

"Any thought to what?" Tim smiled.

"We never got around to it because of Croc, but I asked you what you wanted to do with your life." Roy sighed and looked down, his parents running through his mind.

"I haven't really...had time to think about myself since then."

"Let me tell you this from experience, Roy." Tim said, looking at him. "When everyone else lets you down, all you can do is help yourself." Roy snorted.

"Such comforting words from a true ray of sunshine." He shook his head. "There's no way everyone in your life has let you down." Tim was silent. "...seriously?" Tim shrugged.

"Just about everyone, at least once." Roy stared at him silently. He felt a weight in his stomach as if he'd swallowed a block of lead.

"Have I?" Tim looked at him.

"Well, you ran away." Roy frowned.

"I was scared. I have enough to freak out over without fucking Batman stalking me." Roy sighed and put his face in his hands. He could still see that thing's face. He'd been dreaming about it for the past two days. It didn't matter if he forgot the rest of the dream, this was something he knew he'd never forget. And then he saw his parents. Would he ever see them again?

Now isn't the time to grieve, or be scared. Ask him about thr blood tests.

Roy's eyebrows furrowed, but he raised his head up.

"How did the blood tests come out?" Tim stared at him for a moment.

"I'll show you." He stood and left the room. Roy sighed and looked around at the plain grey walls and tile floors. It was made to look like wood, but he knew it wasn't. He could see the square cracks.

"Okay, look at this." Tim said, sitting down next to Roy and showing him the blood test results. "See anything weird?" Roy read through the paper for a moment.

"Everything on here has a weird name." Tim sighed.

"Other than that, Roy."

"Well, I..." Roy stared at it for a bit longer before it finally clicked. "The chromosome count is really high..." Tim nodded.

"Exactly. In fact, it's double the amount that a normal person should have. It's two separate DNA sequences. And neither of them have the meta gene."

Wait, what? Roy slowly looked up at Tim.

"...what does that mean...?" He bit his lower lip. "I mean, what...how can I...?" Tim frowned.

"I wish I knew, Roy. It's like I took blood from two people at once. And then it gets even weirder: the second sequence? It matches nobody in public records." Roy frowned and stared at the paper again.

"Well, we know he's a male. Double the amount of XY chromosomes." Roy glanced at him. "Do you think the needle might've gotten contaminated somehow?"

"Definitely not. But we can run a second test if you want, just to be sure." Roy's gaze went back to the paper, then he nodded.

"Okay, but you're taking me out to eat afterwards. I demand ice cream." Tim's lips curved up into a small, amused smile.

"Demand, huh? Okay, it's a deal."

An hour later, they were sitting on a bench in a park. While Roy ate his ice cream (butter pecan, Tim noted), he began to lose himself in his thoughts.

It had been two days since Roy started staying with him, and he had actually been about as verbal as usual. Maybe because having someone to talk to distracted him from thinking about his parents?

"Who's that statue of?" Roy asked, snapping him out of his train of thought. Tim looked up at the nearby statue in the middle of the park.

"That's Arkham." Tim replied with disinterest. Roy looked at him quizzically.

"Uh...so he founded the asylum?" Tim nodded, leaning forward with his chin on his hand and his elbow on his knee. "Sorry for enjoying history." Tim smirked a little.

"Apology accepted." Roy let out a dramatic sigh, but he was grinning as he finished his ice cream. "I'll be right back." He stood up and approached the statue. Tim just hummed and stared down at the pavement.

He hated waiting. But that's what he had to do until the second test came back.

At least Bruce and the others had some of the same priorities as him now: finding Roy's parents.

Only because they're on a list of victims. Tim thought bitterly. They don't give a damn about Roy.

Tim chose that time to look up, and saw Roy talking with Jason.

Great.

"Tim? He's right over there." Roy gestured to Tim, who looked to be a blend between exasperated and angry. "I don't think he's in a good mood, though." Jason snorted.

"Timmy's had a stick up his ass for awhile." Jason gave him a look that Roy couldn't identify the emotion behind. "I think that's mostly because of you." Roy felt a pang in his chest as he frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked. Jason shook his head.

"It's not bad that he cares about you, kid. It's that he's gotten so..."

"Aggro?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Roy looked up at the statue.

"You guys are going to find my parents, right?" Jason looked at him silently for a few seconds, then he finally nodded. "Who else has gone missing besides them?" Jason reached into his back pocket and handed Roy a newspaper clipping. Roy scanned through the pictures and froze, his eyes widening. He could feel the color draining from his face.

"Woah, you look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?" Jason asked. Roy read the two other names again.

Vernon Everett, Amber Walsh.

Then the pictures again.

"I know the other two people here..." He said quietly. Jason's eyes widened a little.

"You do?"

"Yeah...they're both taxi drivers that I've met before they disappeared..." Roy replied, his voice almost a whisper. Why would these people disappear? What motive could whoever did this have?

It hit Roy then. His parents and the two cab drivers going missing...

And Nathan being killed...

Roy looked up and saw that Jason had reached the same conclusion.

"Whoever's doing this has it out for people you've met, or that you know..." Keith, Evelyn, and the others flashed into Roy's mind.

"I have to go make sure they're okay!" Roy tried to rush past Jason, but the man grabbed him by the arm.

"No way, Roy. They're after you too." Roy glared at him.

"I don't care! Let go!" He could hear Tim running over.

"Jason, what the Hell?!" The two began to argue as Roy tried to vaporize. But he couldn't.

You can't. Not while he's grabbing you. Roy looked around. The statue, Roy. The statue.

Roy looked up at the statue's eyes. After a moment, hus vision gained that hazy red smoke. Then it was gone, but the statue's eyes were now blood red. With the grating noise of concrete and metal scraping together, the statue slowly stepped down from its pedestal and glared at Jason, raising its fist.

No, don't hurt him! The statue stopped immediately, but its eyes stayed red. Tim and Jason stared at it, the former speechless and the latter apprehensive.

The statue pulled Roy out of Jason's grip, surprising him. Right away, the statue froze up and fell over, hitting the ground with a loud bang.

All three of them, as well as the few pedestrians that witnessed the event, were silent. Finally, Roy broke it.

"I didn't know I could do that..."