i don't have anything to say at this point sooooooo

DISCLAIMER: don't own any characters

...

I raised my eyebrows at Frank.

"Bro, it's the beginning of the weekend. Why are you doing homework?"

"Because it's due on Tuesday and I want it to be done," he told me. Then he looked at me closely. "Besides, shouldn't you be doing yours?"

"Uh…" my phone buzzed with the new Royal We song, and I grabbed it, smirking at Frank before looking at the screen. It was from Richard (AKA the superhero Nightwing) my eyes widened as I read the message. It said, 'Joe! I need you to come to Bludhaven as soon as you can! I need your help! Please, hurry!' I typed out a quick response.

'On my way, Dick. Meet at your house?'

The phone buzzed again, and I scanned the new message. 'No, we can't. Meet me in the alleyway two blocks from my house. Ok?'

I said ok, then jumped to my feet.

"Frank, I gotta go. I'll see you later, ok?"

Frank looked up at me. "Where are you going?"

I shrugged. "Out. I'll be back later." I ran out the door, feeling Frank's eyes on my back. Closing the door, I ran to my bike and hopped on.

I twisted the handle handle, but nothing happened. Someone cleared their throat behind me, and I turned to see Frank leaning against the door, my keys hanging from his finger.

"Looking for these?" he said, smirking. I turned bright red.

"Yea." I held my hand out and he walked over and held them above my hand. I reached forward to grab it, but Frank held it out of my reach, looking at me seriously.

"Listen Joe, when you get back, I expect an explanation. Ok?"

I nodded impatiently. "Yea, ok. I will. Can I go now?"

Frank nodded, apparently satisfied. I took the keys and, inserting them into the ignition, took off down the street.

…

About twenty minutes later, I'd arrived at the alleyway richard had told me about. I hopped off my bike and walked into the alleyway, looking left and right.

"Richard?" I called out. When I got no response, I hesitatingly called out, "um, Nightwing? Which one are you right now?" still no response, but now I could hear something moving.

Something thumped down behind me, and I spun around.

"Um, hello?"

A figure came into the light. A teenage guy stood there. I think he was glaring at me. I couldn't quite tell what he looked like, but he looked like he was coming closer. I heard another thump, and turned around to see another teenage guy standing in the alleyway entrance. I smiled awkwardly.

"Um, can I help you?" neither of the guys responded. "Well… I have to go now." I started for the entrance, but teenager number two blocked my exit. I stared at him, my instincts kicking in. maybe if I got a good running start, I could run at him and make it past.

My muscles tensed as I prepared to run, but as I did, I felt something hard hit the back of my head. I dropped to the ground, seeing a fuzzy image of the two guys leaning over me before everything faded to black.

…

I woke up, my head aching. I kept my eyes closed, trying to remember what had happened. Two guys. An alley way. I'd been knocked out. I tried to get my bearings, and figured out I was tied to a chair. After I figured out I couldn't break free, I started to listen to my surroundings, and heard two voices arguing.

"What are we supposed to do with him, Hood? Chances are if he knows Dick, he knows who the rest of us are!"

"But we don't know that! As of right now, we wait," another voice said. Then the arguing stopped.

"You can stop faking it now." The younger sounding one of the two said kinda harshly.

I didn't move, leaving my chin leaning on my chest. Footsteps came closer to me. One of the two pulled my hair and lifted my head up to meet his "eyes". Of course, I couldn't actually see his eyes since mine were closed.

"We know you're faking, kid. Open those eyes. Now." This one, the older of the two was, I think, glaring.

I hesitated a moment. What if he was bluffing? If I didn't react, they might think I really was still unconscious. After all, they had hit me pretty hard. My throbbing head was a painful reminder of that.

"Kid. We know how to tell when someone's awake or not. Besides, we saw you trying to break the binds on your wrists."

I let out a groan, then opened my eyes to see the two teenage boys standing in front of me. The one smirked.

"You can't fool us, kid. Now, care to explain how you know Nightwing's real name?"

I glared at them. "Do you want to tell me how you know Nightwing at all?"

"Family connections. Now answer the question."

I kept my mouth closed, narrowing my eyes. I wasn't new to the interrogation game. This probably continued for about twenty minutes. Them asking questions, and me refusing to answer them.

Then suddenly, there was a noise outside.

"There you two are. I've been- what's Joe doing here? And why is he tied to a chair?!" Nightwing yelled, glaring from teenager number one to teenager number two.

"He knows your ID, Dick!" teenager one yelled.

"He knows Damian's and Bruce's ID's to!"

"Since when?!"

"For like a month or two!"

"Uh, excuse me," I said. The three boys turned to look at me. I smiled. "It is extremely fascinating to watch you all argue with each other, but can someone please untie me? My head is killing me, and I'm starting to lose feeling in my hands." the two teeangers looked annoyed as Nightwing walked over and untied me. After he untied me, the three went back to fighting.

"How come we're the only ones that haven't been told of this?!" the younger teenager yelled. The middle one took off his helmet thing to reveal a black haired boy wearing a similar mask to Nightwing's.

"It just didn't come up, alright? Get over it!" Nightwing yelled back.

"Well why not!?"

"When would that conversation come up?!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe at home?! When we're all together?!"

"You're always in your room and he's hardly ever home anymore! He's lucky enough to be out of jail ninety-five percent of the time!"

"That right there crossed a line!"

My eyes widened. "Excuse me, did you just say jail?!"

"He can be kinda, um, how do I put this nicely? Aggressive, when fighting criminals sometimes. And you can go home now," Nightwing told me. I crossed my arms and smiled.

"No, I think I'll stay here. This is much more fun than watching Frank do his homework."

"Well, since we got a chance, Joe, these are my other brothers."

"You have more brothers?"

"Yea. You've already met Damian. This is Tim," Nightwing pointed to the younger one, "and Jason." He pointed to the other one.

"Nice to meet you guys," I said politely. The two just looked at me. Nightwing sighed.

"Joe found out when he was bringing a book that he borrowed back to me. He saw our costumes in the closet."

"And Bruce let him keep knowing?"

"He's had training, guys. Bruce knew he could be trusted."

"What kind of training?"

I interrupted them quickly. "Actually, I think I probably should go home now. I'll head back to my motorcycle now. It's only- uh… where are we, exactly?"

"First, what kind of training have you had?"

"Training from my dad!" I yelled. "He taught me and my brother everything he knows about solving mysteries. We've been doing it since we were kids."

"Wait! That's how I recognize you! You're Joe Hardy" Tim exclaimed, "Batman used you and your brother as examples when the GCPD was getting worried about us Robin's getting injured so much. In Jason's case, dead and brought back to life. Don't ask. Long story."

I shook my head. "Wasn't going to. What's that got to do with me? Why did Batman use me and Frank as an example?" I asked.

"Well, it was actually when it was just Bruce and Dick. The GCPD didn't like the idea of a child going into the dangers that Dick was facing. So Bruce used you guys, saying that if people can accept that two boys younger than him were solving crimes and mysteries almost as if it was himself, then they can accept someone just a little older to fight crime as well."

I nodded. "Ah, that makes sense. Although, the police force wasn't really fond of us solving crimes for them," I said laughing. "But they've accepted us now, since we're apart of-" I clamped my mouth shut. Jeez, I thought. I need to start keeping my mouth shut! Maybe they didn't notice…

"Dude. All of us in the Bat-clan know of ATAC."

I blinked. "I never said anything about ATAC."

"We knew what you were about to say. Wayne tech donates a lot of money to you guys. How do you think you can afford all those weapons?"

I shrugged. "The FBI?" they laughed, and I turned red. "What?!"

"Nothing."

"So, uh, how many people actually know about ATAC?" I asked curiously, shaking off their laughter. "Besides the ones I know about."

"Well, there's us three, Damian, Bruce, Barbara, Cass, Steph, and Superman."

"Wow. Thats… a lot."

"Not really. Superman and Bruce are the only Justice Leaguer's out of almost one hundred and fifty."

"Well, all of those people plus everyone I know who knows about them, it is a pretty big number."

"You should probably head home. You have school tomorrow I assume, and these two do as well." Jason and Tim groaned, and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't remind me. Alright, I'll see you later."

"Your bike is parked under the fire escape outside," Tim said. The three climbed up to the roof and left.

"Thanks," I called. Then I muttered under my breath, "They can't just walk out the door like normal people?"