You bet the Bat children would be happy if I owned them. Happy and safe.

How sweet is the shepherd's sweet lot!
From the morn to the evening he strays
He shall follow his sheep all the day,
And his tongue shall be filled with praise

For he hears the lambs' innocent call,
And he hears the ewes' tender reply
He is watchful while they are in peace,
For they know when their shepherd is nigh

Mount Justice

March 19, 08:27 EST

"When are they going to get here?" Jason moaned, throwing his head back in annoyance, wincing as he didn't want the pretty green girl to yell at him. He was used to being yelled at, but she'd been so nice to him that he didn't want to upset her.

"They'll be here soon Jay, now please sit still or this is going to look bad." M'gann replied from behind him, pulling the scissors back so she didn't accidently hurt him. Once he settled down with only a light grumble, she smiled to herself and resumed cutting his thick, black hair. The poor boy couldn't remember the last time he'd had a proper hair cut and M'Gann took it upon herself to fix that.

Despite the bombs, despite being hauled back to Mount Justice through the Zeta tubes in shame; she couldn't help but feel that the mission had gone well. She glowed in happiness and relief that she'd trusted Thomas. If they hadn't gone out and found Jason on their own, he would most assuredly be dead. She lightly brushed one of his ears as she paused to examine her work. Yes, they'd made the right choice.

"Just don't me look weird Miss, I already look like a jerk in this get up." He said, but there was no bite in his voice and M'Gann couldn't help but smile. He was spirited alright, but a sweetheart underneath it all. Out of the corner of her eye, and saw some of her teammates quietly hiding their own amusement. She wasn't the only one Jay was enchanting.

Once they'd returned to Mount Justice and explained the situation, the other Leaguers had agreed that their first priority was keeping Jay safe. A few of them even looked pleased that they'd had the skills and resolve to sneak out and rescue him. She's pretty sure she saw Superman wink at them on his way out.

So, first thing, they stripped the kid of his worn street clothes and put him in a shower to get him cleaned up. Since Robin was the only one who came close to fitting him, Jason was given a plain black turtle neck and some black workout pants with the cuffs rolled up a little. Her heart broke a little when she caught a glimpse of his bones sticking out unnaturally on his skinny body. She'd already put a nutritious lunch in the oven by the time he'd come out trying to dry his too long hair with a towel. While they waited for the others to return, she decided to do something about his hair.

"I mean I appreciate what you guys have been doin' for me and all but what's going to happen to me? I mean, my mom, she..." he cut off suddenly, ducking his head to hide his grief. M'Gann didn't know what to say.

She sighed, and gently tilted Jay's head back up after a moment. "I don't know Jason, but I do know that we're going to take care of you and keep you safe as long as you need. Now hold that position for just a little longer, I'm almost done." He hummed sadly as she finished cutting the straggling bit of hair along his neck. "But I'm certain when Batman, Robin and Thomas get back, they'll be able to figure out where you should go." And hadn't that been strange? When Batman had arrived at the scene to find Robin, Thomas and Jason sprawled across the rooftop, he'd insisted that on flying the two Robins back to Mount Justice alone while the rest returned via Zeta tubes.

She imagined he wanted to talk to the boys about something in private but she still felt bothered. It seemed Robin had reached an understanding with his possible future brother and M'Gann didn't want anything to threaten that. Plus Jay had become rather attached to them after his ordeal. He'd been constantly asking when they would return and, after all he'd been through today, M'Gann didn't want him to experience any more heartache.

She tutted and stepped back to admire her handiwork. "You're all done Jay, now doesn't that feel better?" She asked watching as the boy all but propelled himself from the chair and ran his hand through his now much more manageable locks. He gave her a lopsided grin.

"Thanks Miss, I guess I was a bit of a mess." He replied, stretching out his arms. "Hey is there any chance a guy can get some food around here? I am beyond starving." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Conner sit up straighter in his chair and nod at her. She smiled, it looks like the others were back and just in time for breakfast.

"Of course, the turkey in the oven isn't ready yet but I can make some pancakes or waffles," she said with a smile, there was nothing wrong with trying to fatten up the thin boy a little. "And it sounds like you'll have some company too, that should be Batman and the Robins right now." She said, now able to hear for herself the loud sound of the jet landing.

"Oh man, I haven't had pancakes in forever! You're the best!" Jason said joyfully before turning to point at the others. "Speedy, Arrow Girl, which way to the bat plane? I want to tell them about breakfast." Wally rolled his eyes at the kid, not sure if Jay was messing with them or just uninformed. Probably both.

"It's Kid Flash and Artemis," Wally corrected, though Jason wasn't even listening at this point. Wally sighed and patted Artemis's knee, "Come on honey, it looks like Junior wants to go out for a bit." She rolled his eyes but rose to follow him.

Jay ran forward and tugged impatiently on their hands. "Come on they've probably already landed by now, I thought you were supposed to be fast?" Jason grinned and had just about dragged Wally and Artemis out of the lounge when Robin suddenly stormed through the door with an angry look on his face. He brushed roughly past them and headed towards the gym.

"Woah, hey bro, what's up?" Wally asked, not just because he was concerned that his friend's mood had done a complete 180 since he saw him last, but because Jason's hand suddenly went limp within his own.

Robin didn't even look back as he stomped out of the room. "Why don't you ask the lousy brat!" He shouted from the hallway, stalking down the hall until he was out of sight. The rest of the Team watched as Jay uncomfortably crossed his arms over his chest. At that moment, every single one of them wanted a piece of Robin for upsetting the child.

"Did he- was he talking about me?" Jason asked quietly.

"No Todd," Damian answered, standing in the door frame with his back rigid and his face as unreadable of stone. "You've done nothing wrong. Robin has been made aware of certain circumstances and did not react very well." He paused before angrily giving the doorway a small kick before leaving the lounge area as well.

Somewhere over Gotham City

March 19, 07:04 EST

"I am very disappointed in you Robin, in both of you, for disobeying orders." Batman growled out as he began take off procedures for the plane. He'd sent Flash and Icon to investigate the origin of the bombs once they'd found the children and listened to their story. It seemed Thomas had been right and Epoch was clearly targeting the Todd boy. Therefore, it was agreed that Jason would stay at Mount Justice until further notice. Bruce had no idea what they'd do with him after that. Both boys were pouting, Thomas in the back, Robin in the passanger seat, having been cut off from their explanations.

"But we saved Jason! You wouldn't have made it here in time and you probably wouldn't have even found Jay without Tommy here." Robin said with frustration. Tommy? It looked like Dick had gotten over his initial pettiness and was beginning to get along with the younger boy. Good, that would make what he had to say easier.

"You didn't let me finish Robin," Batman interrupted once they had reached the clouds. "I said I was disappointed that you disobeyed orders but it was necessary in this situation. You both performed excellently, saving the civilian and confronting the villain. I'm not happy you did it, but I understand that you had to." He glanced at them out of the corner of his eye, "Good work, I'm proud of both of you." The boys smiled in their own ways and the jet fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way back to Rhode Island. Batman allowed them a little while to bask in their success.

"Thomas," he asked after they'd been flying for a while, waking the boy out of his light doze. "I apologize for not believing you initially about Todd but I had every reason to be suspicious." Robin looked curiously at him but Bruce ignored him, they'd get to that conversation eventually. "Since we are alone, would you care to explain why exactly Epoch was targeting the boy?" It had bothered Batman all the way to Gotham City, it was strange that Epoch would go to the trouble of killing an addict but her son? He couldn't find any reason for someone to hire an assassin for a middle school drop out.

In the back, Damian shifted uncomfortably. "Todd is important to the future, his death now would most certainly affect Gotham City and the hero community as a whole. The fact that Epoch knew to go after him, knew his civilian identity, is worrisome. I believe we need to focus on who would employ him."

Robin turned in his seat to look at Thomas. "You told me Jay was a hero in the future, so who is he?" Damian bit his lip, "Come on, you've already changed things by telling us save Jason. The whole future might be kaput if we don't know where to put him. He's an orphan now, he's got nowhere to go."

"He's one of us," Damian replied quietly after a moment. "Batman caught him in late 2011 stealing tires off the Batmobile, his mother had been dead by that point so Batman took him in and trained him to be the second Robin." He explained further to cover up the silence that followed. Up until recently, Damian had always considered Todd's adoption to be one of his father's poorer choice but right now he'd do anything to get that snarky kid into Wayne Manor. "You can't just abandon him now," Damian remarked testily.

"I guess that explains why you were so protective of him." Robin teased lightly as he tried to push down that clawing feeling of jealousy and inadequacy tearing at the back of his throat. Another boy Bruce had taken in, someone else to compete with for Bruce's attention. He shook his head to get rid of those selfish thoughts.

"Exactly how many children do I have in this future?" Batman asked Thomas, he himself still reeling from the news. That boy, that dirty boy he'd so casually dismissed earlier, was going to be his son. They'd almost lost him today because he hadn't trusted his other son. Damian shrugged.

"I don't believe I should say, but I can assure you that there are less than ten." Bruce closed his eyes, less than ten? Good lord Alfred was going to be busy. What on Earth was he thinking?

"That's not very assuring." He replied as Damian glowered.

"Well then I would suggest you to stop adopting children, Father." Damian's eyes widened as the title slipped out unexpectedly. He was fairly certain Grayson was unaware of his biological relation to Batman, especially after his earlier reaction. His eyes darted over to his brother but Dick had pulled back and was now hunched over in his seat.

"I was going to get to that," Batman said quietly, observing the look of shock on his eldest. He had planned on telling Dick of his future child but now was second guessing his decision. But he couldn't back down now, not after Thomas's slip. Mount Justice wasn't too much farther anyhow. "When Thomas first arrived, we performed several tests; the results came back that I was his biological father. After the initial surprise, I realized when Thomas had been conceived." Now Dick was glaring at him and all at once Bruce regrets keeping him in the dark.

"His mother is Talia al Ghul. You may recall last year I went on that mission to uncover Ra's plans in the Middle East, when you were in the process of transferring schools. We had a brief affair and she later informed me that she was expecting. I had hoped to take her away from Ra's influence and raise our child in peace. But there were complications and she later told me that she had miscarried. It now appears that wasn't the case." Silence fell again but it was far from the blissful quiet of earlier.

"Mother said she never told you about me." Damian whispered quietly from the back, thinking about an imaginary life where he grew up with his mother and father in Gotham, surrounded by people who cared for him. He discarded that line of thought because it was just fantasy, a life that had could have been.

"So he was raised by the League of Assassins?" Dick hissed out next to him, pointing accusingly at Thomas. "He's a trained killer! And you're just telling me this now? And you knew this when you let him attack M'Gann!" He turned back to glare harshly at the boy. "Just have many people have you killed, monster?"

"Dick that's enough," Batman said, leveling his partner with a hard look. "We don't have a choice who our parents are."

"You're just defending him cause he's your kid!" Dick snapped, "and you're a fine one to talk about choices. How could you have a fling with the Demon's Daughter? How could you be so careless? I thought Batman was supposed to be better than that!"

"Well Bruce Wayne isn't," Bruce responded just as harshly. "I am just as human as you are Richard and while I have made many, many mistakes, I don't consider Talia or Thomas to be one of them." Batman had been so caught up in the fight, he didn't realize that they'd arrived at Mount Justice, the autopilot blinking that he should take control and land the jet. He gripped the steering wheel with more force than necessary.

"I can't believe this," Dick muttered under his breath. "I thought I was your partner, your... but I guess I don't really know you at all." Dick responded spitefully. Batman kept his face carefully neutral not betraying how much Dick's comments dug into him. His adopted son had shifted as far away as he could from his mentor, glaring into the window as the plane landed. His genetic son glared silently in back, clearly wanting to fight back but not knowing what to say. As soon as the aircraft was down, Dick was out of his belt and storming out of the hangar.

"Thomas," Batman said, quietly, looking for the words to save the situation.

"I'm sorry Father, but this is both our faults," Damian answered, pushing down the dull ache in his chest as he followed his brother's example. He unclipped his belt and walked off the plane leaving his father with all of his regrets.

Mount Justice

March 19, 10:22 EST

"Jay? Jason, look I have lunch here for you, would you please eat something?" M'Gann asked setting a carved turkey sandwich with french fries in front of the boy. Jason just pouted, his chin balanced on his fist as he stared off into space. He'd been like that for a while now, after Robin had burst in a few hours ago. Jay had grumbled over what he'd done to upset the Boy Wonder before settling at counter. He'd even turned down the pancakes she'd made for him earlier which worried her to no end. She was certain he was used to going without food but she wanted better for him now.

Her green hand petted the back of his now short hair. "Jay you didn't do anything wrong, something happened on the plane. Both Thomas and Batman seemed upset too." She took the seat next to him. "I wish you would tell me what's bothering you, I can't help any other way."

"I don't know, it's dumb." Jason shrugged, looking down at his plate of food, playing lazily with one of the french fries. "I guess I'm used to the people in my life being mean to me; my dad has always been a lowlife and my mom's been sick for a while now. There's always creeps and criminals hanging 'round the street so I know who to look out for, it's how I survived." He glared at the plate and pushed it away to look at M'Gann. "I guess I just wasn't expecting it from my heroes. I thought they were supposed to be better than that."

"We try to be, but we all make mistakes son. It's a part of being human even if we aren't all human." Superman said coming up from behind, smirking as Jason's eyes nearly fell out of his head when he caught sight of the Man of Steel. "Nice to meet you, folks call me Superman." He held out a hand to shake, which Jason hesitantly reciprocated.

"'m Jason," He murmured staring as his tiny hand was encased in Superman's much larger one. "You could totally kill me right now and launch my body into space or something." Superman couldn't help but chuckle and was pleased to see the boy smiling back.

"I typically reserve that for the bad guys." Bruce had retreated to the Watchtower immediately after he'd returned but he'd given Clark a basic rundown of the situation. While he was far from happy that Dick had responded so poorly, he was intrigued to hear that Bruce would take in another child. But after meeting the kid, he thinks he understands. Not only was Jason Todd full of spunk but he was also fearless. He couldn't wait to see him out in the field as Robin.

"It's the job of a hero to do their best for their team and for the people they serve. They don't always get it right, they make mistakes in battle or lose their tempers. But the mark of a true hero is that they're able to rise above their shortcomings and do what's right even if it isn't always easy." He mock punched Jason's chin, "who knows? You could probably even teach the Batman a thing or two."

While Jason's eye lit up at the thought, Superman reached past him and picked up a sandwich off the larger pile. "Mind if I take one of these Meg? It's been a long day and it's far from over."

"Sure, go ahead, if you're going up to the Watchtower, you should probably bring a few for the others as well. Here, let me get them ready," M'Gann said, bustling over in the far end of the kitchen for some containers. While she was busy, Clark set his hand on Jason's back.

"I know you've had a hard day Jason, an unbelievably difficult day that I can't even imagine." He felt bad watching the kid's face fall at the reminder but he had to say his piece. "It helps to talk about it son, I lost my Pa a few years back and I don't know if I'd have gotten through it without my friends." He patted his back. "Black Canary is a good listener, she's helped many members of both the League and Young Justice. If you want, she'll help you sort through all the things you're feeling. I'm not forcing you, but I just wanted you to know."

"I don't know how I feel about shrinks Supey," Jason muttered and Clark laughed.

"Well it's a good thing she's not a shrink, she's a superhero, and she could punch you all the way back to Gotham City if she wanted." Jason grinned at that and turned to watch M'Gann finishing packing the sandwiches.

"Yeah, okay, I'll think about it."

"Good boy, now, do what M'Gann says and eat your food. The girl is a fantastic cook and you're missing out if you just let it sit there." Jason made a face and waved off Clark's hand but he picked up the sandwich and took a bite. M'Gann flew over and deposited a large bag in the older hero's hands.

"Thanks Meg," Superman said, as he lowered his voice. "Now take care of him, I have a feeling he's going to be around a while." He said with a teasing grin as he made his way out of the kitchen. For now, he had to get back up to the Watchtower and hopefully get Bruce to eat something. If he was real lucky, he just might convince the Dark Knight to talk to his boys, all three of them.

Mount Justice

March 19, 10:48 EST

Superboy was destroying the gym. Now normally he didn't have a good reason to tear through the equipment aside from his constant state of low-level rage, but today he felt justified. They'd had a terrible patrol resulting in a punk kid literally dropping into their lives and now everyone was acting different. Robin was angry and snappish and the League was ignoring them more than normal. Worse yet, M'Gann was upset by the circumstances and there wasn't a thing Conner could do for her. He grit his teeth and raged into the punching bag.

"Move it clone, you're not the only one who needs an outlet." Superboy turned, surprised to see the kid there. He hadn't heard the boy enter, maybe he really was related to Robin. As much as he wanted to be alone, Conner recognized the dark anger on the boy's pinched face as something he saw in the mirror. Thomas didn't wait for a response and began throwing out some violent hits of his own onto a practice dummy. It didn't escape Conner's notice that the boy went for the dummy's vital spots and was not holding back his lethal force. Within a minute, it was just a broken heap on the floor.

"You sure are angry. I don't know why, it's not like we've done anything to you." Conner stated. People told him that he had a tendency to speak his mind, regardless of the kindness of those thoughts. But Superboy didn't feel like playing nice with the kid who was making M'Gann sad and thus ruining Superboy's life.

"Right, I've got no reason to be angry," Damian ground out, diving headfirst into another practice dummy. "It's not like I've been ripped from my home, from my family, and was dropped in a world where I am a non-entity." He snapped out his leg, instantly breaking what would have been the dummy's neck but still he persisted in the attack. "It's not like my mentor barely registers my existence other than to chastise me for things beyond my control." He hissed, "or my brother, someone I have come to admire greatly, can't stand me and is constantly telling me what an aberration I am." He sneered as he spun and did another kick that removed the dummy's head completely causing it to sail across the room.

"Of course I can't be angry, I've only been manipulated by the people who were supposed to care most about me and kept hidden away from the ones who would truly understand. I've been trained and hardened from the day I was born to hurt and to kill and when I decided I didn't want to be my Mother's weapon anymore, I was shunned by both of my parents." A third dummy came under his assault and this time, he reached into his belt and pulled out a few batarangs, which dug deeply into the plastic of the remaining dummies.

"I have suffered and struggled to live up to everyone's high expectations only to fall short every time." Damian ground out, raising his voice as his rage sung through his veins. "I am sick of being treated as an object: a weapon, an heir, a problem to be dealt with. I am tired of being treated as worth less than a bunch of useless children!" Damian threw out another batarang but this time it beeped threateningly and exploded, causing the dummy to be completely obliterated.

Damian huffed after the somewhat cathartic outlet of rage and pent up aggression as he stared at the charred spot on the floor and grimly took in the dummies he'd lethally dispatched. There was a saying that Grayson used frequently, you could take the boy out of the circus, but you couldn't take the circus out of the boy. He supposed it probably applied to secret assassin organizations as well. Maybe everyone was right; maybe he really was the monster people thought he was. No matter how bright his Robin costume, perhaps he would never be able to escape the darkness within him.

He grunted as he remembered that the clone was still there, judging him. "You're right, I have no reason to be angry," Damian answered darkly, indeed feeling his anger begin to abate and a terrible emptiness take it's place. "It seems you have to be a real person in order for that to happen." With that, he walked out of the gym and left his fellow weapon standing there thinking about how he, how all of them, had been treating Thomas. Superboy knew very well those feelings the boy had described, he snarled and went back to his punching bag. He felt angry again, but this time, not for his sake.

Two steps forward, one step back but I hopefully make up for it with the sweetest of cinnamon rolls in the form of tiny, precocious Jason Todd. It was hard but I think I found a balance between Jay's natural sense of independence and untrusting nature but also his genuine goodness with plenty of snark. He was ridiculously fun to write. So Dick's insecurities cause him to lash out once more, Damian's still nursing that rejection and Bruce just wants to give up parenting altogether. No one ever said Bats were known for emotional stability.