I climbed up the last step of the metal ladder that led up to the highest spot on the roof of the hanger. Dick sat on the ledge with his arms and head leaning on the middle bar of the railing. Bruce had told me that Dick liked to go someplace up high to clear his head before he left for Central City. This was the highest spot I could find.

Dick didn't even bother acknowledging me as I stood behind him.

"You mind if I sit here with you?" I asked softly.

"I don't care." He replied gruffly. I took a seat on the ledge next to him and leaned my arms on the railing as well.

"You've grown since I last saw you." I started out with small talk.

Dick scoffed, "That's what kids do. They grow." I should have expected that sarcastic comment.

I gave a sigh, "I'm sorry about what happened to your mom. I know it's not easy losing your last surviving parent. Especially when it happens right in front of you." Dick remained quiet. He had his head turned away from me so he couldn't see me.

"How much does it bother you that Bruce keeps referring me to you as "mother?"." I asked. I could see Dick's fingers clutching his school uniform's jacket.

"It bugs me a lot." He muttered. I needed to talk to Bruce about that then. I know Bruce wants Dick to call me "mom" but if he wasn't ready then he wasn't. I'd be okay if Dick never wanted to call me that either.

"I'll talk to him about that. You're right. I'm not your mother because you already had one. Mary was your mom and I'm not her. I can never be her and I swear to you I'm not trying to replace her. You don't ever have to feel obligated to call me that. You can just call me by my name." Dick slowly turned his head to look at me.

"Thanks…Mel." I gave a slight smile in response.

"How much has Bruce told you about me?" I brought up next.

Dick shrugged, "That you're Voltess. That you had left to a different world and couldn't get back." I raised a brow at that. Bruce left it pretty vague.

"I only ask that because you remind me a lot of myself when I was in my teens." Dick looked at me slightly shocked.

"How?" He asked.

"Well for starters, my dad was gunned down in front of me. I was only sixteen. Granted that's much older than you were but it still hurt all the same. I was angry for a long time. Angry at my dad for leaving me, angry at the guy that shot him, angry at the cops that told me there was no point in searching for the guy, and angry at the people around me that could live a normal life." Dick lowered his head with a tense look on his face.

"How did you get past the anger?" He asked above a whisper.

"For the longest time, I didn't. I just learned to cover it up. For eight years I learned to put on a fake face to mask the anger I felt. I didn't care about having any friends during school. They didn't understand me anyway so what was the point? School was practically a joke for me. I graduated highschool at sixteen and college with two masters under my belt at twenty-one." Dick stared at me intently.

"Then, I got these powers when I was twenty-four. I got struck by magical lightning summoned by a god-like man named Thor. These powers turned my life upside down and it's what I needed. I could use my powers to prevent the same bad thing that happened to me for others. I could stop that gun from being fired. Then I joined the Avengers and for the first time in my life I had people I truly considered to be my friends. The anger was slowly starting to fade the more I was with them. Eventually, it completely disappeared or…at least I thought it did." Dick furrowed his brows at that.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I haven't told Bruce this yet. The eighteen months I was in my world, a lot happened. Including that I finally found the man responsible for taking away my father's life." Dick's eyes widened.

"What'd you do?" I gave a sigh as the memory came flooding back.

Flashback

I walked along the busy streets of Boston while keeping my head down. I was wearing boots, jeans, a black hoodie with the hood up, and a hat. I had my hands stuffed into the pockets of the hoodie. My eyes kept sight of the back of a man I'd been watching for days now.

Jason Nolan

The name of the man that killed my father. I found him or rather Tony had found him. I had been going through Tony's things after the funeral and I found an old recorded hologram message he had made. Tony had found my father's murderer just after the events of the Avengers fighting at the airport.

Jason Nolan lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Former drug addict that went to rehab and got clean. He's an advocate for the rehab group he leads. He's been drug free for ten years now. He turned his life around except for the fact that he's never once attempted to turn himself in. He knows he killed a man and he lives on as if he's done nothing wrong.

My teeth ground together as I glared at Jason's back. The hatred and anger I was feeling was like an old friend greeting me back. I had forgotten what the anger felt like until I saw him. I had been following him for days and tonight…tonight was the night Jason Nolan would pay. I could finally get closure for my father's murder.

I turned the corner of the alleyway as Jason did. This was his normal route back home. This man did things like clockwork. It made it easy to stalk him. The sun was almost set behind me. I stuck to the shadows of the buildings that surrounded us. I quieted my footsteps as I followed closer than I have before.

Jason was only a feet away from his rundown home in downtown Boston. He suddenly stopped and carefully looked behind him. I stayed still in the shadows. I know he couldn't see me.

"Hello? Anybody there?" I clenched my hands into fists hearing his voice. It hadn't changed one bit in years.

Getting no response and seeing nobody, Jason slowly unhooked the gate connected to the chain link fence around his home. He looked around some more before turning his back to me.

I then stealthily walked from the shadow and passed the gate. The sun was completely down by now. His porch light was out so the yard was completely pitch black. I could hear him struggle to find the key to unlock his front door.

I approached him quietly. He then dropped his keys in the dark and I took my shot. I quickly grabbed him by his neck and slammed his head against his front door. I turned him around and slammed his back against the outside wall to his house. I reeled back my right arm and swung a fist into his jaw with all my strength.

"Did you really think I would just let you go about your life knowing what you've done?!" I growled out to Jason.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I-I don't k-know what's going on! Y-you've got the w-wrong guy!" Jason whimpered out.

"Oh, I've got the right guy. June 6, 2004. Does that date ring a bell?" Only a whimper could be heard.

I gripped him by the collar and slammed his head against the wall again, "Answer me! Do you remember that date?!" I yelled.

"I-I don't r-remember. I-I'm sorry." I growled and sent another punch to his jaw. His nose and mouth were bleeding at this point.

"You don't remember taking a life away?! You should! You gunned down an innocent man that night! A father celebrating with his daughter for getting accepted to college!" I ripped off my hoodie and hat. My blonde hair and blue eyes stuck out in the darkness.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't remember killing my father!" I yelled and pulled his face closer to mine.

I could see Jason's eyes widened, "You're her…you're Voltess. You're an Avenger."

"Yeah, that's right and tonight…I'm avenging my father's death." I placed my palm on his chest just over his frantic beating heart.

"I can kill you with one little jolt to your heart without even batting an eye. Do you even remember my father's name or were you too high?" I asked in a dangerous tone.

"Col Daniel Moser." He answered without missing a beat. I stayed silent but my anger grew.

"His name constantly haunts me. I went into rehab after I realized what I had done. I made the connection when the name Melody Moser spread around. Her story was told about her father being killed by a drug addict. I've lived with the guilt ever since." I tighten my hold on his collar.

"Bullshit. What guilt? I've been following you for days and I haven't seen any sign of that. If you're so guilty then why haven't you turned yourself in? You're nothing but a pathetic coward." Blue electricity began to spark from the hand on his chest. I hadn't sent the electricity to him…yet.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't end your life right now?" I growled out in a low and dangerous tone.

"Daddy?" I froze hearing a child's voice come from next to us. I slowly turned my head to see a little girl no older than maybe seven. She had the front door cracked open and was looking at us.

"Sweetie, go back inside." Jason told his daughter calmly. I let go of Jason and began to back away. My eyes never left the figure of the little girl. For a split second I saw myself standing there.

What am I doing?

I spun around and sprinted down the front yard. I jumped the short chain link fence and ran for the outer streets of Boston. I eventually came to a stop and leaned against a brick wall. I stared down at my hands. They were shaking and I could feel my heart hammer away in my chest.

I almost killed a man. A father. I almost went down to Jason's level. I slid down the brick wall and hugged my knees to my chest. If his daughter didn't show herself at that moment…I would have killed him.

End of Flashback

Dick stared at me wide eyed and speechless.

"I almost sunk down to that man's level. I saw myself in his daughter. I would have just done to her what he had done to me so long ago. Confronting him wasn't a total waste. My words had apparently struck a chord in him. The next day he turned himself into Boston Police for the murder of Daniel Moser. There was never a court date held since he pled guilty. I was there for the sentence hearing. Life in prison with a chance of parole after twenty years. The girl's mother was given full custody of her after he was shipped off to prison." I finished and kept my gaze out to the horizon.

A silence fell between the two of us. It wasn't tense like it was before. It was more of a comforting silence. No words needed to be said.

I suddenly felt extra weight added against my side. I looked through the corner of my eyes to see Dick leaning against me. He had his head resting against my upper arm/shoulder area. A small smile formed on my face at the contact.

"I miss her." I could hear Dick's voice crack as he whispered. My heart felt heavy hearing the hurt in his voice.

I sat up from leaning on the railing and lifted my left arm up. Dick immediately leaned on me as I put my left arm around him. I rubbed his arm with my hand and rested my cheek on his dark haired head. I heard and felt him take a shaky breath and the occasional sniffle. I could feel his tears soak into my shirt and cling to my skin.

Neither of us said a word. I just held him as he let everything out. It made me wonder if he had really ever had a chance to properly grieve the loss of his mother. He went straight into the system after she died. He hopped from home to home where each family said they didn't want to deal with him.

"You want to head back inside?" I finally asked quietly.

I felt Dick shake his head no, "Can we stay like this? Just for a little longer." He pleaded softly.

"We can stay here as long as you need." I assured him.

"Hey Mel?"

"Hm?"

"Could you tell me more about the world you came from?" A small smile formed on my face.

"Yeah. I can do that."

No One's P.O.V

"Whoa. This thing is massive." A young man with dark hair and dark eyes said as he stared at the carrier.

"So this is him?" The young man turned around to see Alfred looking at him.

"This is him. Barry, meet Alfred." Bruce introduced. Barry held up his hand in an awkward wave.

"Hi." Bruce looked at the desk and frowned seeing nobody was there.

"Where's Mel?" Bruce asked Alfred.

Alfred was currently working at a workbench on new arm guards for the bat suit. Melody had come up with the idea of energy absorbent guards to protect Batman from high energy attacks. Alfred had been working on them for months now. Occasionally getting help from Lucius Fox to help create them. It would have been easier if Melody had never disappeared, but they worked with what they had.

Alfred pointed upwards, "Madam is still up on the roof with Master Grayson. They've been up there for hours now. I'm taking that as a good sign. Oh and Miss Prince left not too long ago. It appears the cyborg contacted her." Alfred stated.

Bruce nodded, "Keep an eye on him for me." He said and pointed to Barry. Barry frowned and looked taken back by Bruce's words.

"I can manage that, sir." Alfred agreed.

Bruce headed back out the door of the hanger. He looked up at the roof. The sun had set by now. Had both of them really been up there for hours? He walked around the corner until he came upon the metal ladder.

He quickly began to ascend up the steps until he reached the rooftop. Just as he could see over the top he paused. Dick was leaned against Melody and she had one arm over him. The two were quietly talking and occasionally he could hear one of them laugh.

A smile grew on Bruce's face as he silently watched the interaction. He didn't know how Melody had done it but she did. Dick was opening up. More than he's done in the past eighteen months.

Melody's P.O.V

"You really met a talking tree?" Dick asked.

I gave a chuckle, "He only said three words but yeah. He'd just say his name over and over again."

"That just sounds weird." Dick commented.

Dick and I hadn't left our spot on the roof for hours now. The sun had set by now. The moon was up high and I could see clouds rolling in. My powers could pick up the feel of the pressure. Those were storm clouds coming in.

"You know it's supposed to rain tonight. You can't stay up here all night." Both Dick and I turned to hear Bruce's voice behind us. Bruce climbed off the last step and stood on the roof.

"When did you get back?" I asked.

"Just now. Barry's downstairs." Bruce said and gestured with his head. He smiled as he eyed both Dick and I.

"I take it the talk went well?" He asked.

Dick nodded his head, "Yeah. Mel's pretty cool, dad." I grinned and nudged Dick with my elbow. I noticed the frown on Bruce's face hearing him call me by my name. I shot him a look and he backed off.

Bruce gave a small grin, "I think so too." Bruce sent me a wink.

"Since we now have Barry, are we meeting up with Diana?" I asked. I gestured for Dick to stand up.

Bruce nodded, "I stopped by to pick you up. Dick, Alfred will take you home." Bruce said to the young boy.

Dick let out a sigh, "Yeah alright." He muttered and headed for the ladder. By the time I stood up from the edge, he was already going down the ladder.

Bruce approached me with a look of curiosity, "How'd you do that?" He asked, pointing in the direction of Dick.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Bruce loosely wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. I rested my hands on top of his chest as I looked up at him.

"You got Dick to open up more in the past few hours than I have in almost two years." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I just related to him and I shared something with him that happened to me during the eighteen months I was gone." Bruce furrowed his brows at that.

"What happened?" A pained look spread across my face.

"I found him." Now Bruce looked completely confused.

"Found who?"

"My father's killer." Bruce's eyes now widened in shock, "His name is Jason Nolan. Tony had apparently tracked him down years ago and found him. He recorded a message for me and decided to not give it to me. I found the recorded message in Tony's things after his funeral. I tracked Jason down to Boston and…I almost killed him." I said quietly. Bruce moved one hand from my waist and cupped the right side of my head.

"Almost?" He asked quietly.

"He has a daughter. She isn't much older than Morgan. I don't know how long she was standing there. I was too blinded by my anger to see until she talked. I had my hand over his chest ready to stop his heart. I saw myself in her and I realized that in her eyes I was the villain in that moment. So I fled. He turned himself in and he's now in prison for the rest of his life. I'd say I finally found closure but I don't think I have. Every time I see his face in my head, I can't help but feel that hatred and anger towards him. I can never forgive him nor forget what he's done to me." Bruce gave me a sympathetic look.

"No one's telling you to forgive him, Mel. He took your father away from you. That's not something that can easily be forgiven. I'm proud of you, though." He mumbled and his thumb gently stroked my cheek.

"How?"

"You could have easily taken away his life but you didn't. You're stronger than I was when I faced Joe Chill. I was going to do it but somebody else beat me to it. It took Rachel to slap me across the face to realize how big of a mistake that would have been. You came to that conclusion by yourself." He explained softly.

I gave a small smile and moved my arounds around his torso and rested my cheek against his chest. Bruce wrapped his arms around me tightly in response. I felt him kiss the top of my head before resting his cheek on me.

"We should get going. Diana will be waiting on us." I said with my voice slightly muffled by his chest.

Bruce pulled away from the hug. His hand caught mine as he led me to the ladder of the building.

"By the way, what was that look you gave me earlier?" He asked as he started to climb down.

"Oh right. You need to stop saying the word "mother" when you speak about me to Dick. He doesn't like it. He had a mom and he's not ready to start using that word again anytime soon. He can call me by my name until he's ready. Or if he's never ready then I'm fine with that too. I don't have to be called "mom"." Bruce paused mid step and looked up at me from the ladder.

"I'm hoping he'll come around to the idea." Bruce admitted honestly.

I shrugged, "If he does, then he does. If not, I'm fine with it. We're still a family at the end of the day." A grin grew on Bruce's face. He started to climb down the ladder again. I followed shortly after him.

I hopped off the ladder after being a foot off from the ground. Bruce put his hand on my lower back as we headed over to his silver Mercedes. The black Rolls Royce was missing signaling Alfred had already left with Dick.

I noticed a young man with dark hair and eyes waiting by the car. He noticed us approaching and we grew a grin on his face.

"Oh wow. You must be Voltess. I'm Barry Allen. Huge fan." He held out his hand to me.

I gave an amused smile, "You can call me Mel, Barry." I took his hand and shook it.

"You got it. Just wow. Sorry, it's just really cool to meet you." I let out a chuckle. Barry continued to shake my hand with no intention on stopping.

"I can see that…you can stop shaking my hand now." Barry immediately recoiled his hand.

"Sorry." He put his hand up in an awkward apology. His mannerisms reminded me of Spiderman. He was like that too when he met the Avengers.

"If we're done here, we need to go." Bruce stated and opened the driver side door.

Barry opened the back passenger door behind the driver side. I walked around and opened the passenger door. I climbed in and shut the door as Bruce turned the key over.

"Uh, by the way. Who was the kid?" Barry asked. He leaned forward from the back seat and rested either elbow on the back of the front seats.

Mine and Bruce's eyes met for a brief second while I buckled my seatbelt. I looked over my shoulder as Bruce put the car into drive.

I gave a small smile, "He's our son." I answered simply. I didn't miss the large grin that formed on Bruce's face hearing me say those words aloud.