Ages of major characters:

Dick Grayson (Nightwing): 18...Barbara Gordon (Batgirl): 18

Roy Harper (Red Arrow): 22...Donna Troy (Troia): 19

Koriand'r (Starfire): 18...Jason Todd (Robin): 14

Garth (Tempest): 20...Zatanna Zatara: 19

Raquel Ervin (Rocket): 20 ...Vic Stone (Cyborg): 18

Lilith (Omen): 17...Jade Nguyen (Cheshire): 23

ooooooo

Looking back, Dick hadn't expected a fairly innocuous Friday to signal the utter and devastating defeat of the Titans

"Dang it, Dick!" Donna shouts. "Stop saying that! I refuse to be defeated by-ARGH, WHICH OF THESE FRICKIN' PIECES IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN 'E' SCREW!"

Dick sighs. "Well, guys, it's been a good run."

Raquel laughs weakly from where she's laid out by a pile of wood and bolts.

"Furniture," she enunciates like a swear. "No one ever expects furniture."

Vic actually does swear, trying to screw on a post. "Lilith, Zatanna, you two do magic. Can't you just snap and make this stupid thing come together?"

Lilith smiles apologetically. "I'm a telepath."

"And I'm a magician, not a miracle worker," Zatanna deadpans. "What about you? Your arm's got like a zillion tools in there?"

Vic looks at the metal and wood pieces with a manic sort of energy. "I could melt it together!"

"Yes! That is the most wondrous idea I have heard all day" Kory says, nodding emphatically.

"No!" Donna orders, blowing hair out of her eyes. "We are not welding together a crib. Not for Jade and Roy's baby when it's the literal only thing they asked us to do. Come on, we're the Titans, Earth's Protectors. We fight supervillians on a weekly basis. We can handle putting together one measly little piece of-," the screw breaks through the wood, cracking a line down it, "-BY ZEUS' SAGGING RED-"

"Recognized: B-06 Red Arrow."

"Roy!" Donna smiles pleasantly. "How are you? How's Jade? How's the baby? How are you and Jade and the baby?"

Dick thinks it's a testament to Roy's state of mind that even that questionable bit of conversation only warrants a mild pause in his pacing.

"Good," Roy says. "She's good. I'm good. Doctors said the baby could come any minute so that's….that's good? Yeah, that's definitely good because it's been almost 37 weeks so that's good, that's totally normal, and healthy. Super healthy. Like the baby's going to be. So, that's...I mean, so everything's going to be good."

"Good," Dick answers, grabbing Roy's shoulder. "Now, stop and breathe for a second, okay?"

Roy takes one sucking breath and thankfully doesn't start pacing again.

"Thanks," he says.

Dick smiles. "No problem. So, not that it's not great to see you haven't given yourself a heart attack yet, but I thought you were staying in Star today?"

Roy rolls his eyes. "Jade told me I was stressing her out and to find a better distraction. Thought I'd come here and see how the crib's going. Everything good?"

Around the room, the rest of the Titans exchange looks.

"Perfect!" Donna beams.

"Pfft! Please, Roy, we can handle building one crib," Vic says, carefully stretching to block a few pieces of said crib from view.

Dick gives Roy's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "We're handling it. Don't worry."

"Okay, good." Roy nods, looking relieved. "At least that's one thing I don't have to think about. The sales guy said that model was a bit tricky."

"You don't say," Zatanna mutters before Lilith elbows her in the ribs.

Kory steps around Dick, taking hold of Roy's shoulders. "You may leave it to us, my friend. Come accompany me to the monitors while the crib is finished shortly."

He shrugs. "Sure."

The second Roy's out of earshot, the team turns to each other.

"How long do you think Kory can distract him with monitor duty," Raquel asks.

Dick grimaces. "When he's in a pacing mood? Maybe thirty minutes."

"We're doooooooomed," Donna moans.

"Recognized: B-10 Tempest."

"Sorry," Garth says, blushing slightly. "Kind of lost track of time with Tula. What's the team bonding thing you messaged me about?" He picks up one of the pieces on the floor. "Oh, hey, we building a puzzle?"

Raquel sighs, face in her hands. "It was supposed to be a crib for Roy and Jade. But, now, it looks like team bonding is going to be death by panicked archer."

Two of the pieces slot together easily in Garth's hands. He hums, pleased.

The team stares at him.

"What? I always loved Atlantean puzzles when I was a kid."

Donna's shaking her head. "That's….that's impossible."

"Witchcraft," Zatanna accuses, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

Garth laughs. "This is nothing. Try doing one of these underwater."

Dick's wrist computer beeps with a notification.

"Well," he says, "as enlightening as this has been to the multitudes of Garth's hidden talents, I've got a teenage brother who's going to kill me if I'm any later for patrol."

"But, Dick, you're abandoning us in our hour of need," Raquel teases.

He winks. "Nope, I'm delegating. Garth, I leave crib assembly in your more than capable hands."

Not looking up from the pieces, Garth throws up a sloppy salute. "I accept my mission with honor."

Dick laughs, heading to the zeta.

There's the bright blue light of the zeta powering up followed by the strange cool sensation of having his entire body atomized before he finds himself, blinking in the cave.

"Littlewing," he calls, cheerfully. "I'm home!"

"Don't call me that," Jason says, still surprisingly not in uniform. "And you're late."

"Important Titans business came up!"

Jason rolls his eyes. "Nice try, Donna already sent me a pic to complain."

"Traitor!" he says fondly. "Also, I'll have you know crib building's very important for crime fighting. Bad cribs create supervillains; it's a proven fact."

"Yeah, right," Jason says, pulling his arm to the stairs. "Hurry up, Alfred says we have to eat dinner before patrol and I still want to get out in time to stakeout Burnley."

Well, mandated dinner at least explains the lack of uniform. Dick lets himself be pulled. "No need, Babs picked up the latest Moehler family dealers last night. We can check for their contacts though. Nice instinct, by the way, they were working out the old subway tunnels."

"Ugh, why does Gotham even have abandoned subway tunnels?"

Dick grins. "Aesthetic."

Jason huffs, feeling on the wall for the door latch.

They step out at the same time the doorbell rings.

He looks to Dick, who shrugs. "Probably a reporter, Alfred can handle it."

Jason screws up his face. "I hate tabloids."

Dick doesn't disagree. Personally, he's never trusted them since his adoption had the headline "Bruce Wayne Gone Crazy or Just a Savvy Publicity Move".

But, there's more important things to think about.

"How's the programming Babs gave you," he asks.

Jason perks up almost imperceptibly. "She said I'm almost ready to use it in the field."

"Good," Dick says, making sure Jason catches his smile.

In the past year or so since Jason came to live at the Wayne Manor permanently and the five months he's been Robin, he's taken to soaking in the training like a particularly dedicated sponge.

Dick's proud of him.

By the time they make it to the dining room, Alfred's still not there.

"This is why tabloids are the worst," Jason complains, sitting down. "They're making Alfred miss dinner and they're running us late for patrol. That's basically contributing to crime, Dick! They're like criminals."

"Patience, Littlewing," Dick says in his best zen voice.

"I changed my mind. You're the worst."

"Aww, thanks!"

Alfred's smooth entrance interrupts Jason's retort.

Dick turns. "Hey, Alf, chase away the reporter?"

"It's not a reporter," Alfred says, face serious. "Master Dick, Master Jason, I believe our visitor is someone you should meet personally."

Alright, that sounds definitely not good. Dick and Jason don't waste time asking questions as Alfred motions them to the sitting room.

The sight that greats them isn't exactly what Dick was expecting.

Sitting in a large armchair, a small dark haired boy, who can't be older than twelve, fidgets slightly.

He stands as they enter, smiling nervously and pushing out a hand. "Um, hello, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Todd."

Shooting a confused glance at Alfred, Dick shakes the hand, "Call me Dick."

Jason crosses his arms. "And definitely don't call me 'Mr. Todd'. Like ever again."

"Oh, sorry! I mean, thank you?" The kid kind of looks like he's going to explode in a cluster of nerves so Dick takes pity on him.

"And what can we call you?"

The kid's eyes widen. "Right! Sorry, I'm Tim Drake."

"Nice to meet you, Tim," Dick tries to give him a smile. "Now, what can we do for you?"

"I want…" Tim seems to steal himself. "I'd like you to train me as Robin."

The room goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Jason breaks it by snorting. "Look, kid. First, there already is a Robin so tough luck. Second, I don't know where you think you are; but, we can't help you. If you wanna pretend to be Robin, go buy a cheap costume from the store like everyone else."

Dick sighs. "I think what Jason's trying to say is we're not sure why you'd ask us about becoming Robin?"

Tim blinks, looking between the two. "Because I know you're Nightwing and Robin."

ooooooo

"Well, this seems familiar," Barbara drawls, leaning against the desk in the manor office.

Jason stalks from one side of the room to the other. "How the fuck does a fricking twelve year old figuring out who we are?!"

Babs taps her chin. "Great question. Dick, why do we have a weird number of preteens discovering our secret identity?"

Dick holds up his hands in surrender. "Hey, it's actually not my fault this time. Tim said he remembered my Haly's routine from back when he was three and matched it to videos of me fighting as Robin. You know, the two that still exist and are super grainy? There is legitimately no way I could have ever planned for that."

Barbara shrugs but gives it to him.

"Yeah," Jason says, "and can we talk about how creepy that is? Kid's like a little stalker. Probably waiting to tie us up in a basement and go all Hannibal Lecter on us."

Dick rolls his eyes. "I think we can assume the shy twelve year old is not a serial killer."

"Cause that's what he wants you to think!"

"Where is he now," Babs asks.

"Alfred's distracting him with dinner," Dick answers.

"What do we know about him?"

Dick sighs. "Just the basic stuff we found while you were getting here. Timothy Jackson Drake, twelve year old son of Jack and Janet Drake."

Barbara hums. "Drake sounds familiar."

"It should. They're old Gotham money. Used to be part of the big gala scene before they went reclusive a few years ago." He shrugs. "Truthfully, I thought they moved. Wouldn't be the only ones after the invasion."

Jason snaps his fingers. "I got it! We call in Lilith and get her to do whatever mind voodoo stuff she did on Black Mask to forget my face. Problem solved!"

Both Barbara and Dick give him matching looks.

"What?!"

"We're not hypnotizing an innocent kid," Dick says flatly. "Plus, according to Tim, he did the research on his own. For years. That's major parts of his life. Even if Lilith got him to forget temporarily, they'd come back naturally to fill in the gaps."

"Well, then what are we going to do," Jason says, throwing his hands up. He stops, eyes widening suddenly. "You're not...you're not actually going to train him as Robin, right?"

Dick lays a hand on his shoulder. "There's only one Robin, Jay. That's you."

Jason looks down, some of the tension bleeding out of his shoulders. "Right."

"He's a fan, isn't he," Barbara asks. "I mean he'd have to be if he studied the old Robin footage long enough to identify you. We could just...explain why we can't train him and ask him not to tell?"

Dick frowns. "You really think that'll work?"

She shrugs. "I don't think we have a lot of options."

"And if that doesn't work, we can always threaten him." Jason grins.

Barbara and Dick give him another look.

"What? I was kidding!"

ooooooo

When they walk into the dinning room, Alfred's indulgently trying to force another sandwich onto Tim's plate as the boy thanks him, hesitantly smiling.

Dick nods to Alfred as he takes the seat opposite, Barbara and Jason at his sides before Alfred slips out quietly behind them.

"Hey, Tim." Dick says, trying for casual. "Sorry for the wait, we had to call in someone else who wanted to hear your story. I take it you know who this is?"

"Barbara Gordon," Tim answers immediately. "You're Batgirl! I read your paper on advanced cryptology."

Barbara blinks. "That paper's not coming out for another month."

He blushes. "I might've programmed a back door function in Gotham University's research section."

"So, about our secret identities," Dick pushes forward before Babrara can start drilling Tim on programming questions. "You know you can't tell anyone about them, right? If you do, it's going to make all of our jobs a lot harder and put us in a lot of danger."

"I understand," Tim says solemnly. "I haven't told anyone, I promise."

"Not even your other nerd friends on the fan boards, got it?" Jason leans forward into Tim's face. "This shit is important."

Tim nods quickly. "I won't tell anyone. Ever."

Dick releases a breath, pulling Jason back from interrogating the kid further.

"Okay, we believe you," Dick says. "Now, why do you want to be Robin?"

"Because I can help you," Tim says, jumping a little in his seat. "I know I can. I've been studying all your cases, both in Gotham and with the Titans. I'm good at figuring stuff out, really. And...And I just thought," he does a helpless little shrug, "well, I thought maybe I fit the mold."

"What mold?" Jason glares.

"The black hair and blue eyes," Tim says like it's obvious. "I mean you have it and Dick and...well, even Mr. Wayne had it so-"

"We don't have a mold," Dick and Jason say together just as Barbara lets out a peal of laughter.

Tim shrinks back in his chair. "...oh. Sorry."

Dick sighs and manfully resists laying his head on the table.

"We don't have any set criteria for Robin," he says in a calmer voice, "because we're not looking for Robins. Jason is Robin. And as smart as you are-and trust me, I believe you're smart-we can't train you as Robin. It doesn't work like that. I'm sorry."

Tim looks down at the table, swallowing unevenly in a way that Dick recognizes countless kids he's saved as an attempt to bury down disappointment.

"Okay," Tim says quietly.

"It's not you," Barbara reassures quickly. "It's just how this works."

For a second, Jason looks like he's going to add something and then clearly decides against it.

Tim's still looking down. "I understand. I knew...I knew this was going to be a long shot anyway, I just wanted to ask."

Before any of them can say anything, he stands and swings a bag onto his shoulder. "Please tell Mr. Pennyworth that I really enjoyed the food."

"We will," Dick promises. "It was good to meet you, Tim."

Tim manages a smile. "You, too. And...and thanks for hearing me out."

He turns and walks to the door.

He pauses. "Oh, wait, I almost forgot. There's something I needed to give you."

"Of course, there is," Jason mutters, crossing his arms, but Tim doesn't seem to hear him, too busy pulling a file out of his bag.

He hands it to Dick. "Here, it's all the information I found on the Light. I think I found a money trail."

Dick freezes and beside him, Barbara's jaw drops open.

"Wait," Jason frowns, "what's the Light?"

ooooooo

Hours later, Barbara and Dick are both frantically typing at the monitors, hunting down the trail Tim gave them. It's small, so small, a piece of code in a much larger set that's been rerouted and reconfigured who knows how many times. But, it's there. It's a lead-an actual solid lead-that puts them closer than they've ever been to tracking down the Light. And all because of the obsessive research of a twelve year old.

Said twelve year old is currently standing in the cave, starring in silent amazement at everything he comes across while Jason glares behind him.

Suddenly, Barbara lets out a slightly crazed laugh. "I found it! Dick, I actually found it! It's an old bank account linked to a transfer to Gotham last fall."

"The money they sent to Black Mask." Dick looks over her shoulder.

She nods, eyes sharp. "We finally have solid proof they're linked to the stuff with Jason."

He lets out a breath. "Old account? Can you trace where the money came from originally?"

She purses her lips. "Yes, but not quickly. Tracking the account and confirming the numbers will be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"I can help," Tim pipes up, hunching in when they all turn to him. "I'm, um, good at finding patterns."

Barbara smile softens. "Sure, it can't hurt. Come on over and tell me what you see."

Tim grins brightly, hurrying over to join Babs by the monitors.

"Wait a second," Dick says before he can sit down. "Tim, it's almost nine. Won't your parents be looking for you?"

Tim stops, looking down at his shoes. "Oh. No, it's fine. My parents are….they're not around a lot. They like to travel."

And the last part is said is such a quiet tone that Dick decides to momentarily drop it. It at least explains why the Drakes are less bothered about Gotham galas. Though, really, how absent can parents be not to notice your kid tracking down vigilantes?

"Just don't stay up too late," Dick tells him gently, before looking around for Jason. He sees him over by the stairs, arms crossed and clearly one step away from pouting.

Dick walks over, leaning next to him. "Thanks for keeping an eye on Tim."

"Whatever," Jason says shortly. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about the secret villain organization trying to kill us."

"We didn't know anything about them," he protests. "Roy and I almost thought we were imagining it sometimes. There was nothing backing it up, Jason, just suspicions and two words on a H.I.V.E. account. I promise, the second we got something solid, I'd have told you."

Jason nods, rubbing the back of his neck and looking slightly appeased.

"Tim's tip is huge," Dick continues. "The first tangible path we have to actually figuring out who the Light is."

"Yeah, well, good thing Tim is such a genius then, isn't it?"

Dick sighs. "You're being too hard on him, Jay."

Jason flinches, shoulders drawing up around him. "Fine. Sorry. I'm going on look at old cases so I can get some work done myself then."

Dick catches his arm before he can leave.

"What, Dick?"

"Thought you wanted to check out the Bowery," he says . "Want to patrol?"

Jason frowns, gaze flickering to Babs and Tim. "I thought you wanted to stay with them?"

Dick grins. "Somehow, I think they'll be fine on computer stuff without me. Come on, you want to patrol or not?"

Jason looks down before reaching for his Robin mask and red hoodie.

"Yeah, okay."

ooooooo

In the five days since his tip, Tim's been down in the cave, helping Barbara, for all of them. Jason, meanwhile, has said maybe a total of five words to him.

Dick had really hoped still having their regular patrol would be enough to convince Jason no one was replacing him as Robin. Unfortunately, judging by the scowl he gives Tim whenever they're in the same room, it's not going to be that easy.

From a practical standpoint, it's mostly fine. Jason seems to be avoiding Tim for now. If it gets to be a problem, Dick will talk to him again.

Dick's got his own problem. Mainly, not making the same mistake twice.

"Hey, Tim," Dick greets when he sees the boy, surprisingly in the manor and not the cave for once. "You get lost?"

Tim turns, lighting up in the way he always does when he sees one of them. Okay, Dick will admit it, the kid's kind of adorable.

"Not lost," Tim answers. "Barbara told me to come up and eat some breakfast but Alfred's in the garden and I don't want to bother him."

"Come on," Dick gestures for him to follow, "I'm not as good a cook as Alfred or Jason; but, I should at least be able to pull off a bowl of cereal. You didn't eat breakfast before you came?"

Tim shakes his head, following him to the kitchen. "Too excited."

"And your parents are fine with you being here all day?"

Tim hesitates. "They don't really care how I spend my summer."

"They do know where you are though, right," Dick checks, grabbing a bowl and cereal from the cabinet.

"Of course," Tim insists quickly. "They just...they tend to let me do things on my own." He catches Dick's frown. "It's alright! I promise. It's what I'm used to."

He sighs but relents, giving Tim a smile. "Things like following superheroes and hacking evil organizations?"

He looks up from pouring the milk to see Tim blush. "Well...yeah, sometimes."

Dick leans over and ruffles his hair before pushing the bowl of cereal to him.

"Thanks," Tim reaches for the spoon.

"Thanks back, the tip's the best lead we've had on the Light in...well ever," he waits until Tim's taken a few bites. "Tim, you know that just because you're helping Babs finding the trail, doesn't mean we're training you as Robin, right?"

Tim's gaze is focused on the bowl. "I know."

"It's not anything about you, alright," Dick says, increasingly insistent. "And it's definitely not because we don't care. We just want you to be safe, we want what's best for you. It's not-"

"I understand," Tim interrupts, finally looking up. "Really, I do. Jason's already Robin and you don't need another one. I'm not trying...I'm not trying to intrude or anything, I just...I just wanted to meet all of you. To see if I could help."

"You have," Dick promises.

Tim smiles, looking pleased as he turns back down to the cereal.

Dick pours himself some coffee and sits down across from Tim, letting him eat in comfortable silence.

Tim's the one that breaks it.

"You know I...I met Mr. Wayne. Once. At a gala. When I was five."

For most kids, Dick would doubt they could have that solid of a memory for someone they met briefly seven years ago. With Tim, somehow he doesn't doubt it for a second.

"Yeah?" Dick fiddles with the handle of the mug. Galas with famed playboy Bruce Wayne could be...interesting first meetings.

Tim nods, looking at him with intense eyes.

"Mr. Wayne was a great detective."

Dick slowly smiles. "That he was. Among other things."

Tim looks like he wants to say more but then, Barbara rushes in and tosses Dick his phone. "You got a text. It's important."

He unlocks it immediately. If it was Titans' business, it would come through the communicator.

It's Roy. Three words.

Dick grins. "Jade's in labor."

"Go!" Barbara winks, stealing his coffee. "Jason and I will hold down the cave and take the monitors."

Dick doesn't need to be told twice. "Babs, you're the best!"

ooooooo

By the time he gets to Star General Hospital, at least half of the team is already crammed into the waiting room. He slides into a seat between Donna and Kory.

"How is she?"

"Still in labor," Donna taps anxiously on her knee. "Doctors said it'll probably be a few hours."

"How's Roy?"

Donna laughs. "Well, he hasn't passed out yet."

"He is in the delivery room now." Kory beams excitedly, fake contact lenses and carefully applied make up on so she can pass for human. A few chairs down, Vic's sitting beside Raquel with a creative use of a hoodie to hide the more robotic parts.

The team's here. All of them as Garth rushes in thirty minutes later followed shortly by Zatanna, dragging an excited Lilith behind her.

The next few hours are defined mostly by quick excited burst of conversation, a surprisingly intense game of I Spy, and Roy coming to pace the room with short updates every twenty minutes or so.

It's the last one that ends up being the tip off.

Kory glances at the clock. "Roy has not returned for forty-five minutes."

Everyone stops.

"Do you think…," Garth says, "it's happening?"

Barely minutes later, Roy pushes open the door, holding a small little bundle in his arm and gazing down adoringly.

"Guys," he says, not looking up, "I'd like you to meet Lian Artemis Nguyen-Harper."

He shift the blanket slightly and a tiny red face peers out with dark eyes.

"She's beautiful," Lilith says and Roy smiles like he's holding the most precious thing in the world.

"May we hold her," Kory asks softly.

"Huh?" Roy blinks, looking up. "Oh, yeah, of course. It's why I brought her out. Gotta hurry, though, before Jade hunts me down."

Garth rolls his eyes."There's no way she's out of bed rest yet."

Roy gives him a look. "You really want to test that?"

Garth wisely doesn't say anything and Roy carefully passes Lian to Kory.

"Hello, little one," Kory says, "welcome to the world."

She holds her gently for another minute before passing her in Dick's direction, who takes her still moving on instinct than conscious decision.

He looks down at her, watching as she blinks up at him and her eyes slowly focus on his face. He finds himself smiling down as the warm weight settles in his arms.

The thing is he's held babies before. Even newborns. It's kind of par for the course when you go around saving people for years. Some of them are going to be infants. But, he's never held one the he knew. Never felt the full weight of how much it matters quite as much as he does right now..

He thinks he understands Roy's pacing a bit more.

Roy and Jade are going to make great parents. Dick knows it like he knows the trapeze.

Donna taps his shoulder and Dick remembers again that there's the rest of the team still waiting and steadily passes her into Donna's waiting arms.

Roy waits, never taking his eyes fully off the newborn, while all of the Titans take turns holding her before finally returning her to her father's arms.

"Doctors are only letting a few people in the room at a time so you're going to have to take turns." Roy briefly looks up. "Dick, come on, you're first. Jade and I need to talk to you."

Dick is nowhere near stupid enough to argue with new parents so he follows behind without protest.

"If it's about the Titans, you know we're fine covering for you as long as you need."

Roy snorts. "As if you haven't told us a dozen times this month alone. Don't worry, Rob, we know."

Okay, then there's goes Dick's best guess.

Roy leads him down the hall before pausing suddenly right outside a closed door. He looks down at Lian and for the first time, there's a slight frown.

"What is it?"

Roy shakes his head. "Nothing, just sucks Ollie and Dinah aren't here...and Artemis, of course."

Dick steps forward, close enough to lay a hand his shoulder. "They'd have loved her. All of them."

Roy lets out a hoarse laugh. "Ollie would have spoiled her."

"Definitely." Dick grins and whatever it is must be enough because then Roy's pushing open the door.

Jade looks remarkably put together for someone who just gave birth. "Give me my daughter, Harper."

"Yeah, yeah," Roy moves to sit next to her on the bed, transferring Lian over to her arms. "Good thing we're in a civilian hospital or Jade would have thrown a knife at me during labor."

"Only a small knife," Jade reassures, looking down at their daughter fondly. "Barely lethal."

"Well, that's practically affectionate then," Roy says with a soft look.

Even invited, Dick feels strangely like he's intruding.

Then, Jade looks up, eyes flickering between Roy and Dick. "Have you asked yet?"

"Thought I'd wait so we could ask him together," Roy says, still looking at Lian.

"Ask me what," Dick interjects.

Jade shoves Roy's arm until he finally turns back to Dick.

"We want you to be her godfather," Roy says bluntly.

Dick's brains stops then reboots for all of a second just to manage, "What?!"

"You're eighteen. It's legal," Roy says as if that's the only concern.

"I'm eighteen," Dick repeats with much more incredulity. "Don't you want someone….I don't know, older? More responsible?"

Jade snorts in a way she must have picked up from Roy. "You've been leading a superhero team for the past five years and half raising Jason for the last one. You are our responsible friend."

Dick can't help but feel there's a world of difference between being an older brother to a teenager and being partially responsible for a newborn baby.

"Look," Roy says with a sigh, "Jade's mom going to be her godmother so she'll get primary custody in case we….just in case. But, if something happens to all three of us...I know this is a lot, Dick. But, well, we don't know many people who aren't younger than us anymore and definitely not anyone we'd trust with this as much as you. I know you'll do right by Lian. So, just, tell us what you think."

Dick looks down, stopping when his eyes find Lian's face, still fast asleep in her mother's arms. He remembers the weight of her in his arms, heavier than seven pounds had any right to be.

Dick doesn't know how to raise a baby. He doesn't even have the first clue.

But, he does know he' do anything to make this one has a good life. Jade and Roy's daughter. Lian.

Maybe that's enough.

"I'll think about it," Dick promises.

Roy smiles because he knows as well as Dick that, in all the years he's said that, it's never meant anything but 'yes'.

ooooooo

Dick's next few days are spent either on patrol with Jason, checking in on Tim and Babs in the cave, or helping Roy and Jade settle Lian into their apartment's new nursery.

If Dick wasn't already used to a fairly constant state of vigilante induced insomnia, he'd be exhausted. As it is, he's just really, really tired and currently half-dozing in the cave infirmary.

He shoots up at the sound of Barbara's near shriek.

"I FOUND IT!" Barbara shouts, eyes focused manically on the computer. "I FOUND IT! OH, YOU BEAUTIFUL MADDENING STRING OF NUMBERS, I FOUND YOU!"

Dick's beside her in an instant, just dodging getting his eye poked out by a pencil still tangled in her hair. If possible, Babs has gotten even less sleep than him.

"What is it," he asks, poking his head around to see the screen.

"An address. One sec, I've got to text Tim," she says, typing on her phone. "I followed the numbers to a bank account and it was all fairly useless until I found an ongoing utility bill to this address."

"A headquarters?"

Barbara turns back to the computer, pulling up a satellite. "Doubtful. Looks like a storage facility."

"Not with those energy readings." He points back to the utility bill. "No way, that's simple storage. It has to be…"

They both turn to look at each other.

"It's a lab," Babs whispers.

ooooooo

Dick doesn't really believe in ghosts in a traditional sense but there's something inherently unsettling about the abandoned factory fifty miles outside of Opal City.

Around him, tense quiet replaces the usual Titan's mission chatter.

There's nothing here. Just old farming equipment and enough dust to seem like years since anyone touched the place.

The scans tell a different story.

"BG, you getting this," he asks though the comms.

There's a quick burst of typing before Babs' voice responds. "Yep, layers and layers of heavily fortified lead for an entire floor right under your feet. Definitely hiding something."

"Any clue on finding out what?" Dick cast a glance at the warehouse. "I'm not seeing any trapdoors."

"The room's too small!" Tim's voice comes through, high and obviously excited.

Donna smirks at Dick. "And who's this?"

"Oh, um, Tim Drake, mam, I mean Ms. Troia!"

"Tim, the room," Dick reminds. "What do you mean it's too small?"

"Right," more typing, "based on the aerial scan, the east wall should be four feet wider than the measurements the internal scans show."

The Titans all look to the left wall, partially hidden behind an old crop duster.

"Secret entrance," Garth asks.

"Only one way to find out," Dick says. "Cyborg, you want to do the honors?"

"No problem," Vic says, pushing the machine with one easy motion before using his other arm to wrench apart an almost invisible crease in the metal. The metal tears back like tinfoil, revealing a narrow set of stairs leading down into total darkness.

"Well, that's definitely not something out of a horror movie," Zatanna mutters under her breath. "Who wants to go down the creepy stairs into the basement first?"

With the ease of long familiarity, the team moves into order with Garth and his unarguably better Atlantean night vision at the head, followed by Raquel and Zatanna, Kory in the middle and glowing slightly to produce some light for Lilith and Vic, and finally Donna and Dick guarding the back.

Which, of course, gives Donna the chance to interrogate him, eerie staircase into unknown danger or not.

"So, the new kid," she whispers after silencing her mic, "He seems sweet. When you signing the adoption paperwork?"

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not adopting him."

"Now, that sounds familiar."

"He already has parents," Dick finishes, still keeping his voice low.

Granted possibly absent parents that don't notice when their kid comes home after midnight, which Dick's definitely plans to check into when whatever they have on the Light calms down.

"Uh-huh," Donna says, sounding thoroughly unconvinced, "you've already got that look in your eyes. The protective big brother look. You get it all the time with Robin. Speaking of, what's he thinking?"

Dick bites back a groan. "Who knows? Based on the glares, probably that Tim's half a second away from stealing his domino mask or something crazy like that." He pauses. "And, before you ask, yes, I have already made sure Tim doesn't think we're training him, thank you. I'm only making that mistake once."

"No, not training him at all," Donna reassures. "Just letting him work comms on Titans' missions and hack down criminal organizations with Batgirl. Not mission training in the slightest."

"It was his tip!" Dick whispers back.

Suddenly, light floods the stairs and both Donna and Dick quiet instantly, moving into defensive stances.

"Relax, guys," Garth calls from somewhere below. "I found a light switch at the bottom of the stairs. Also, doesn't look like anyone's home."

The rest of the team joins him at the bottom where, true to Garth's observations, there's nothing but dust covered lab equipment and storage boxes all lit by industrial fluorescent.

Dick's sends his cleared bio scan to the cave, clicking his mic back on. "This doesn't add up. Why keep this much power running when it's not even in use."

"N, look at the back," Barbara says suddenly, shooting the image back to his wrist computer. "Thermal scans show concentrated low temperatures to your right. Oh...Oh! it is a storage facility, there just using it to store something big!"

Dick looks at the scans again and something...itches, right at the corners of his memory, something familiar in the readings that he can't quite placed.

"Stay alert," he tells the team, more for his peace of mind than anything. "Approach from both sides, we don't know if whatever's stored is safe."

The team nods, fanning out to either side of the warehouse as they approach the back corner. Dick turns past the last row of boxes, escrimas at ready, and then...he can see it and it's…

"It's people," Tim gasps over the line.

Three cryo-containers line the back wall, buzzing faintly and lit up light blue as tubes run out to hook up with individual vital panels. Faint outlines of what is definitely human shaped silhouettes show from within.

A chill runs across Dick's spine.

"That's...that's terrible," Tim's voice continues over the line, quiet and almost to himself, "How could someone do that? The biological effects alone would be-"

There's the faint sound of Barbara moving him away from the monitors, probably to comfort him, but Dick's still slightly frozen. The familiar feeling falls into place.

Cadmus. Young Justice's first mission that led to…

With a sense of foreboding, Dick approaches the first panel and looks down on the vital display.

"Kryptonian," he reports flatly, ignoring the ripple of shock that runs through the team. It's too familiar. With numb fingers, he hits a few buttons, defogging the window without waking the occupant.

He looks up, expecting to see black hair and strong features and the painfully familiar features of a long dead friend transposed on a complete stranger.

And instead, he's greeted with blonde hair and a face that is decidedly not Supeman's or Superboy's. Not male at all, actually.

Raquel comes up behind him. "Wait, I thought clones were supposed to...you know look like the people they were cloned from? She doesn't look like Superman at all."

"I don't…" Dick doesn't have any idea. Sure, theoretically, he supposes it's possible but based on appearance, she looks more like…

Not a clone at all.

He moves to the next panel, reading the notes on the vitals. Recovered Martian DNA injected into adolescent human male. He clicks another button and the window defogs to show a boy that can't be much older than Tim, with bright green fur and what looks like a tail.

"Human experiments," Dick realizes. "Shit, the Light's experimenting on regular humans."

And, by the looks of it, abandoning them to cryogenic storage the moment they get bored. That's...it's…

Around him, the team has gone silent, staring at the final container that's already been defogged by one of the others.

Dick looks up.

The young frozen face of what's undeniably Roy Harper greets him.

ooooooo

A/N: Decided to split this chapter up mainly because real life's been hectic and I didn't want to make ya'll wait until I could post it all at once. Next part will come out fairly soon (probably two weeks). Thank you everyone for all your support. I seriously couldn't do this without all of you!