I do not own Young Justice!

Chapter 7—

Angel knew she was closing in on Robin as the mist she knew to be his aura became thicker and heavier. She had followed the trail through Gotham all the way back to mountain that served as their headquarters. Hiding in plain sight, so genius—would the league think to look right outside for him? He sat at the beach, his head dipped to his knees in thought. Angel didn't bother hiding her wings since Robin was in uniform too, she just recoiled them to make them less noticeable. Robin was gathering his own looks from others, mainly the girls his age who had hung around for the sunset and stayed for the beautiful night at the beach. So he was quite the chick-magnet, she stored it away for any later blackmail.

She slid down the grass bank gracefully to sit beside him. He turned wide and startled eye to her.

"Do you like my new shoes?" She asked randomly.

He looked at her feet, cracking a small smile as he saw the ribbon wind up around grey tights, meeting the black shorts and jacket tied securely around her waist; it was also black, as was the dark grey tank top she wore, modified to fly comfortably. It was a simple, made for disappearing into the night and not being seen or heard. The ballet shoes were a nice touch, Robin knew how good a dancer she was even in clunky boots. She loved to dance in a fight and Robin loved to watch her. He bushed his knuckles over the material, noticing how the matched her wings, not just in colour either; they were an angelic feature yet so strong and capable of so much.

"You have a whole new outfit." He murmured.

"Okay, now I know something is wrong."

He looked at her accusingly and she knew what he was ready to say, 'Batman sent you'. She just scoffed, "Forget him; you know I have my own agenda." He nodded so I continued. "Look, I haven't seen you in ages and I find you at a cold beach, alone and I am able to creep up on you without you knowing."

"How's mom?"

She gave him one of my plastic smiles—he always joked that Feathers and Batman were secretly engaged and so called Mariana his step-mom. Angel didn't mind, it made her feel closer to her brother. "Drunk, as usual. I was able to slip out the house. So come on, what chaos shall we cause tonight?" She nudged him with her shoulder.

He leant back and shoved her playfully, "You want to know what's up; come with me and I'll show you. But you can't spill a word, not to anyone. Not even Feathers, or Bats, definitely not Bats."

She stood up, my hand up as she took the oath. "I swear to tell no one especially not Batman and to follow you and only you to the end of the world whether we bring it on or not."

"Oh, we will." He gave a sly smile, jumped up to grab Angel's hand and dragged her away from the shore.

He ran up the beach and so she followed. When he was sure that no one could hear him, even if they shouted, he stopped and turned a serious face to his sister. She was the one person could unload all his thoughts upon and so he started to talk. She sagged against the rock they had chosen to sit head, where it protected them from the worst of the wind, and Robin picked up a shaving of rock, with which he could distract his eyes.

"What's on your mind?"

He rolled up his sleeve to expose light cuts. Someone had engraved the words 'or else' into his arm. It would heal embarrassingly soon but it was still a message. It was about what he could have done. They locked gazes and held it for minutes on end. So much flashed between them, Robin dropped his guard and let her in. He was scared, scared of what, he didn't know. Whether it was letting people in, getting hurt or getting others hurt.

"He'll find out you know and then he'll hurt you."

"Let him," I took his hand and squeezed, "so you might as well tell me everything."

He pulled notes out from his pocket and she read them one by one, they told the story in themselves.

Hello my dear little bird.
Don't run from me.
I know where you are.
I know where you'll go.
I know of those about whom you care.
Do you want me to hurt them?
Will you play my game?
I have a friend, fancy meeting him?
I'll find you tonight, just be in Gotham.
Having fun?
Do you see what you'll miss when you're dead?
Things will fall into place and you will fall into my clutches, my dear little bird.
The bank.
Mistakes are made; the notes were intercepted. Same palace, same time. This time, we'll meet in person.

"I feel him inside my brain, he controls me sometimes. I think he can see what I do, hear what I say." His voice was flat and his face remained expressionless. "I don't want to put you in danger, but I the same time I don't want to be alone in this. It's so selfish of me."

"No it's not." She looped a reassuring arm around him, even though she was few years younger than he was, she always managed to make him feel protected by her presence. "I want in on this," she handed him the notes back; "you're not alone, not anymore. We can do this."

I scooped her into a hug. "I've missed you so much. You couldn't have come at a better time."

"I missed you too. So what will we do, do you have an idea?"

He winced, "He tortured me before and threw me back, to torment me further, to surround me in people who in could simply reach out to, except I couldn't, you know. Now he's coming back and it'll be for the last time."

She heard everything first time and needed no time to take it in. "Do we let him, do we fight back or do we tell someone?" She asked, looking to her big brother as always.

"I don't know, I guess we'll go on our instincts."