A/N: I wanted to update this yesterday, but I got swamped with school work. At least I can update today. Enjoy!

It took four more days before Roy's leg was healed enough for him to walk steadily on it. In those four days, he did his best to behave and avoid getting hurt even more. This resulted in him spending a lot of time sleeping and sitting quietly. Oliver at least seemed to have gotten most of his aggression out on the night he shoved Roy into that closet. He still shot the teen near constant looks of outright hatred, but Roy was just happy he wasn't hitting him. After what had happened when he'd first tried to eat, Oliver gave Roy half of the usual amount of food. This was fine the first two days when his stomach was still recovering from having no food for three days. After those two though, he began to notice how hungry he was all the time. On top of that Oliver was only giving him two meals a day. Every time Roy thought to ask for more food though, he'd skim a gentle hand over the bruise that covered one side of his head. So he kept his head down and stayed quiet.

Luckily, their routine did go back to normal with Oliver leaving Roy alone all day. Still sore and injured, Roy spent most of this time sitting and trying to recover. He did manage to get his room clean, but the smell lingered. This drove him to stay anywhere else during the day, only going into his bedroom at night. He passed the time reading, playing with his hand-held games, and watching tv. Usually, he was in the den, but when Oliver was home he retreated to the library. The best part of these four days though, in his opinion, was that Oliver didn't take him on patrol, or order him to go. He knew if his guardian told him to patrol, he'd have no choice. Roy knew he was in no shape to go patrolling though, so he kept up the hope that if he stayed out of Oliver's direct line of sight he could avoid that situation.

The fifth day after he'd been allowed out, a little more than a week after he'd refused to kill that guy, Oliver called Roy into his office. The teen walked slowly and deliberately. He could walk mostly steadily now, and his leg wound was healing nicely. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." He walked and found Oliver standing by the windows, drinking. An involuntary shudder ran down his spine. Oliver had a lot less self-control when he was drinking. Roy's heart beat faster as he walked farther in. He hadn't been in here since… Fingernails digging into his palm sharpened his focus.

"You wanted to see me?" Roy asked quietly. Oliver looked at him and he dropped his head down. "Sir?" He'd given up calling Oliver by his name. If he showed Oliver that he knew his place he hoped that it would keep the man from beating him again.

"You're going on patrol tomorrow. I couldn't go tonight because of this," he gestured outside to the storming clouds.

Roy swallowed. He had known he wouldn't be able to get out of patrolling forever. "Yes, sir."

"Tomorrow I want you practicing all day."

"Yes, sir."

"Stop interrupting!"

Roy flinched back. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"As I was saying, I want you practicing tomorrow. You haven't been shooting in over a week. The last thing I need is for you to get soft. You're useless to me if you aren't shooting straight."

"Yes, sir."

"I want you to increase your draw strength by ten pounds."

"Yes, sir." Ten pounds? Ten pounds?! What was Oliver thinking?! He couldn't suddenly pull back an additional ten pounds! Roy knew better than to argue though. If Oliver told him to increase his draw strength then he would.

"How's your leg?"

Roy blinked and looked up. "W-what?"

"Your leg. How is it?"

"Oh. Um….it's good. It doesn't hurt a lot and I can walk on it."

"Good, I don't need you slowing me down."

"Yes, sir."

"When you slow me down criminals get away. They get away to ruin more lives."

"Sorry, sir."

"That's why I expect you to be competent tomorrow. I also expect you to follow my every order without question. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now get out. I'm sick of looking at you."

"Yes, sir." Oliver turned away and Roy shuffled out. He went back to his bedroom, despite the smell. It was worth braving the smell to physically get as far away from Oliver as he could. He curled up under his bed, ignoring the pain in his abdomen. Oliver had never given him pain medicine, but at this point, he was too scared to ask. He curled up in a ball as much as he could, ignoring the sharp pain that stabbed his body. Something, a truth, was slowly dawning on him. An idea that had been creeping up on him since he'd been in that closet. Something he could never tell Oliver. He knew Ollie only kept him around because he was useful as an archer. He couldn't tell Oliver what he thought or his guardian would kill him. "I don't know if I want to be a vigilante anymore," he said quietly to the empty room. "Not like this."

— Next Day —

Batman followed Robin onto the Watchtower. "I want you to wait out here."

"Why?" Robin asked as he jumped up and launched himself off a wall. He climbed up a support beam and jumped up onto the next one.

"The League has business to discuss."

"Then why am I here?" He jumped from beam to beam as he followed Batman down the corridor to the meeting room.

"Did you not want to see Kid Flash and Aqualad?"

"Of course!" He did a double-flip between two that were particularly far apart. "Batman did you see that?!"

Batman looked up at his young partner. "Of course Robin."

"Watch this!" Robin flipped upwards from his current position and not another beam. "See?!"

"I did."

"Woo!" Robin jumped and flipped again. Batman nodded to himself. The easiest way to distract Robin was to give him something to climb on. They reached the meeting room and he looked up at his partner again.

"Wait out here. Don't get into trouble."

"Me, get in trouble?!" Batman simply stared at him. Robin sighed. "Yes, Batman." Batman went into the meeting room and Robin settled down on his beam. He stayed crouched with his cape falling over his shoulders to hide his red tunic. He didn't have to wait long before Aquaman arrived with Aqualad. The Atlantean king looked around.

"It appears Batman and Robin haven't arrived yet," Aquaman said. "Wait out here."

"Of course my king," Aqualad said bowing his head. Aquaman walked into the meeting room, leaving the younger Atlantean, unknowingly, with Robin. The bird smiled as the older hero looked around, but didn't look up. Only a minute later, two streaks, one yellow and one red, stopped in front of Aqualad.

"Rob's not here yet?!" Kid Flash asked excitedly.

"Indoor voice Kid," Flash reminded him. "Looks like he and Bats are late."

"That is very odd behavior for them, is it not?" Aqualad asked the scarlet speedster.

"It is pretty odd. Oh well, Bats has always done his own thing. Kid, wait out here with Aqualad. I'm sure Robin will be here to join you guys shortly."

"Ok Flash!" Kid Flash beamed.

Flash pat his red-haired partner on the head before running into the meeting room. Robin smirked. No one had looked up yet. Clearly Kid Flash and Aqualad weren't planning on it either, judging by the way they were standing. The young speedster looked down the hall. "So, when do you think Rob's getting here?"

Aqualad considered it. "I am sure it will be presently."

Deciding he'd had his fun, Robin dropped from the beam, directly between the two. "Right on the money," he said with a smirk.

Both sidekicks jumped back in shock. Kid Flash tripped over his feet and fell on the ground. "Dude! Don't do that!" he gasped. "Geez!"

"Surprise you?"

"Yeah!"

"I admit I did not expect you to drop from the ceiling like that," Aqualad told him.

"When it comes to me, always expect the unexpected."

"No kidding," Kid Flash muttered, sitting against the wall. Robin sat across from him and Aqualad completed their triangle. "How's Speedy?"

Robin scowled. "Batman hasn't been letting me go to Star for the last week."

"Why not?" Aqualad asked.

"I don't know. It's weird."

"You're telling me," Kid Flash agreed. "Flash has been acting weird too."

Robin's eyes narrowed. "What'd you mean?"

"Well….he's been overly protective lately. He hovers more than he used to. He won't let me run around the city unless he or Jay Garrick are with me."

"This is not normal for him?" Aqualad asked.

"No."

"I have to agree with you. Aquaman has been acting….strange."

"Strange how?" Robin all but demanded.

"He seems reluctant to let me leave Atlantis. We have stopped training in the open ocean and if we need more space we go just outside the city limits."

"And that's not normal?"

"Not at all."

"What's with the face?" Kid Flash asked Robin.

"Your mentors aren't the only ones acting weird. Batman hasn't let me go out on patrol at all lately."

"That's weird. All our mentors are being overprotective."

"Yeah….weird…"

Aqualad looked at his young companion. "I take it there is more to this than appears?"

Robin nodded. "I stop going to Star and suddenly all our mentors are getting overprotective of us."

"You think they're connected?" Kid Flash asked, perking up.

"I do. They're hiding something from us."

"Thank so?"

"Know so. It makes sense. Why else would they all be acting this weird?"

"Flash wouldn't hide important stuff from me."

"Neither would Aquaman," Kaldur said.

Robin snorted. "Guys," he said with a condensing look, "I might be 10, but even I know that's unbelievable naive."

"Hey!" Kid Flash protested.

"They're obviously hiding something from us."

"It probably has to do with Speedy."

Robin rolled his eyes. "You really are a genius Kid Mouth."

"Thanks."

Aqualad smiled. He found his younger companions amusing. The gravity of the situation came back to him though and he frowned. "I am sure the League would share with us if they thought it was important," he told them.

'Doubt it,' Robin thought. "Sure," he replied evasively "Whatever you say."

— —

Once everyone in the League was seated they all looked at Batman. "You got news?" Flash asked.

"Only if you don't panic," Batman replied.

Flash wanted to argue, then remembered the after the last meeting he'd gone home so upset that Iris had needed to call Jay to come over and slow him down. So he simply nodded and closed his mouth. Green Lantern smirked. "There's a first," he muttered.

"The good news is, I have seen Roy in Oliver's office."

"Oh thank god!" Barry breathed, putting his head down on the table. Everyone else visibly relaxed as well.

"Show us," Superman said, needing to see for himself.

"One step ahead of you," Batman said as he pulled up the footage. The League watched tensely as Roy walked in, very much alive. "As you can see, he's alive."

Superman sighed in relief. "Thankfully."

"What're we doing now?" Flash asked.

"What'd you mean what're we doing now?"

The Speedster blinked. "We can't leave him there! Not after this!"

"I agree with Flash," Wonder Woman said. "We've played fate long enough. We have to get Roy out of there!"

"Whether he wants to or not!"

"That's called kidnapping," Green Lantern said. "Which is illegal."

"So is child abuse!"

"If we kidnap him he'll never learn to trust us," Aquaman pointed out. "Do you really want him to spend the rest of his life feeling like a prisoner? Do you want him to be scared of us forever?"

"He'd be safe then," Superman argued.

Flash nodded. "We're the Justice League! How can any of us call ourselves heroes if we knowingly leave him there?!"

"What would you suggest?" Martian Manhunter asked. "He instead live his whole life afraid and trapped? How is that better than his current situation?"

"So you'd rather let him die?!"

"Oliver will not kill him. Even he has to know it would bring the full weight of the League down on him."

"I don't think we can count solely on him suddenly having a realization of how much trouble he's in," Wonder Woman pointed out.

"Arguing will get us nowhere!" Superman interjected. "We're a team, so we'll put this to a vote. All in favor of going and getting Roy tonight, regardless of the consequences, raise your hand." Flash, Wonder Woman, and Superman all raised their hands. "All in favor of continuing with the original plan?" Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman raised their hands. "It's a tie."

"Batman didn't vote," Flash said. Everyone looked at the Dark Knight.

"Batman?"

Batman nodded. No one saw him clench his fists under the table. "I vote we continue with the original plan," he said quietly.

"That decides it then." Flash shook his head and ran out of the room. Wonder Woman gave the bat a look of disapproval. Batman looked at Superman as if he was challenging the boy scout to disapprove of his vote too. Superman didn't though, he just nodded to Batman in support. "Flash will get over it," he said.

"I don't care what Flash thinks."

"Of course not."

"Green Lantern, make sure he stays out of Star."

"I'll call Jay Garrick. He's the only one who can eek up with Flash," Green Lantern replied.

"Good."

"I guess since Flash decided to run out on us, we'll just postpone the rest of the meeting until next time," Superman sighed.

"Someone needs to remind Flash he's a grown man and his nephew is the child with super speed."

"He's just taking this hard. This case is personal for him."

"It's personal for everyone." Superman had to give him that.

"Flash has every right to be upset," Wonder Woman said standing. She gave Batman another cold look. "I just hope you can live with his blood on your hands." She walked out of the room, but no one was brave enough to try and stop her.

"She's just overreacting," Aquaman assured the Dark Knight. "Your reasoning makes a lot of sense. I believe in your plan."

An ordinary person would probably have thanked him for his support considering how opposed other members were, but Batman wasn't an ordinary person. He simply nodded and stood up. "There are no easy choices."

"No," Superman agreed. "but we can only do out best."

Batman left the room without another word to go collect Robin. He walked into the hall to find Robin sitting with Aqualad. "No Kid Flash?"

"He and Flash left in a hurry," Robin replied. He did a summersault into a standing position. "Maybe there was an emergency in Central City."

Deciding not to relay what had just happened, he simply motioned for the boy to follow him. "We're going home."

"Bye Aqualad!"

"Until next time Robin!" Aqualad called back as the small bird ran after his mentor.

As they approached the zeta tube Robin flipped over Batman's shoulder to land in front of him. "Batman, when can I go back to Star again?"

"If Green Arrow leaves Speedy alone then tomorrow night."

Robin smiled. "Awesome! Don't worry. I'll have Speedy on our side in no time!"

'I hope so," Batman thought as he followed Robin back to Gotham. 'I really hope so.'