Chapter 8

8:54 PM January 19th 2011, Watchtower

After our conversation, Joey decided to clean himself up. He showered, shaved but didn't touch his hair, saying Jasmine would take care of it later. After removing the weird beard (cutting himself in the process), he looks more like the picture on file. His hair is longer and he is more muscularly built, but his facial structure is the same. In person Joey looks almost exactly like Dick face wise. I wonder if Dick will ever gain his height.

While Joey was in the bathroom, Barry and I notified the League of his consciousness. Almost immediately they along with the Team began arriving back at the tower, curious to meet Dick's mysterious brother. Dick's Team was the first to arrive since they were all staying at the Cave and only had to beam over. Dinah and Roy came just as Oliver was waking up, which is good because they were the only ones able to calm him down about Joey's attack. J'onn, Clark, Connor, Selina and Diana were already at the tower. Everyone except for Selina and Connor are in the sitting room and kitchen waiting for Joey to emerge. Selina is instead still in Dick's room and Connor is with Jasmine. I have been going between all three, keeping an eye on everything. Right now I am currently checking in on the sitting room/kitchen.

Clark is the first to see me enter, "Hey, is Dick or Jasmine awake yet?"

"Jasmine has been stirring, but Dick is still out of it. Joey thinks it will be a day or two before he wakes up" I answer.

"What's he like? Joey" Roy inquires.

I shrug, "Not what you would expect. After deciding we weren't a threat he was pretty friendly, until made angry. Arrogant, he is still pretty certain he doesn't need our help."

"Some people call it confidence" a voice says behind me. Turning I see Joey leaning in the doorway with a sly smirk on his face. "Talking bad about me Wayne?" he seems to joke.

"No. I am simply stating my observations."

"Yeah, well don't take our first encounter personally. I'm always cranky after waking from a long sleep" he states before adding "Connor said the food is in here."

I nod to the kitchen area "Help yourself."

"Thanks" Joey says still smirking while heading over to the kitchen. He seems to ignore the room of people watching him and begins searching through the fridge. He finds a box of macaroni and cheese, smiles and begins boiling a pot of water. Joey then goes back to the fridge and pulls out a few cheese slices and a bottle of beer.

"Young man" Clark begins reprimanding, "you are too young to be drinking that." He walks over to Joey, determined to take away the bottle.

Joey rolls his eyes and says "I'm twenty-six."

Clark stops in place, "What? You can't be more than…"

"Sixteen. Yeah I get that a lot. Pain in the butt whenever I try to go to a bar" Joey chuckles. "Thanks for the concern though. I'm guessing you're Superman or as James called you 'Uncle Clark.' You look just like the boy gawking over my sister, he's your clone right?"

"Connor. Yes and I'm sure he is being respectful" Clark defends.

Joey smirks and pours the noodles into the pot of water, "For his sake he better be. Last guy who overstepped his boundaries received a stiletto in the groin. Do you have any cans of soup?"

"Above the stove" Barry answers from the couch. The League and Team is still closely watching Joey, all not sure what to make of him.

Opening the cabinet, Joey pulls out some bread and a can of tomato which he begins preparing. He also pulls out a pan when grabbing another pot for the soup. Clark awkwardly asks

"Need any help?"

"Want to butter some bread" Joey points to the loaf he had grabbed. Clark nods and begins the task. After doing a couple pieces, he begins to put the bread away when stopped by Joey. "Keep going. Jasmine looked like she was going to wake up soon when I checked on her and she can go through like twenty grilled cheeses if given the chance." Clark nods and begins buttering the bread again. Joey comments "So do all your guests get stared at like zoo animals, or just me?"

The room's spectators all shift or look away uncomfortably, not liking being called out. I stay in the doorway silently, watching the scene unfold. Diana speaks up from where she is standing

"We are all just interested in Richard's newly found siblings."

"You're Wonder Woman correct? Diana. Just as beautiful as Richard said" Joey winks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Diana blush. Joey begins putting a couple grilled cheeses on the heated pan. He calls out to the group "Any of you have any cigarettes?"

I answer "We don't allow smoking here."

"Damn, could really use one now" he mutters.

"So you are Dick's brother" Wally asks skeptically.

"Yup. Let's see, red hair and freckles, you must be Wally his best friend. Which makes you" Joey points to Red Arrow, "Roy."

Both boys are shocked by being recognized. "Dick told you about us?" Roy asks.

"Yeah he spoke real highly of you two. From what it sounded like, you were kind of his older brothers growing up" Joey states while straining the noodles and finishing up the mac and cheese. At this point he has a couple sandwiches finished and begins pouring the soup into a bowl. Clark finishes the bread and helps Joey clean up the pots.

Wally and Roy exchange uncomfortable looks. Joey notices and tells them "Hey, I'm not mad. I wasn't around, I'm glad he had you two. Probably were better brothers than I would have been. Ask Jasmine, I suck."

"Wait" Roy frowns confused, along with many others. "You're happy we were around instead of you?"

"Eh…not necessarily" Joey shrugs, taking a sip of beer. "It was better that he was with you though."

I'm about to inquire into what he means, when footsteps sound from down the hall. Since I'm standing in the doorway, I only have to turn my head to see Connor and Jasmine making their way towards us. Jasmine looks half asleep and is still wearing the tee-shirt and shorts Diana found her to sleep in. When she sees me, Jasmine pauses and stands warily away from me. Connor puts a hand on her shoulder as an attempt at comfort, but she ignores him, sending me a cold stare.

"It's okay" I say gently. After Atlanta and Vegas, it is no wonder why she would be nervous around me. The room of Leaguers notice me speaking down the hall and perk up knowing who I am probably speaking to. "I know now that you have been trying to protect Dick, I'm not mad" I put my hands up in a surrendering motion. "You probably want to see Joey, he's in there."

Jasmine sends me a skeptical look but walks into the room. She pauses when entering, seeing all the others staring. Clark is trying to make himself disappear by backing away from the island and against the wall. Jasmine also begins slowly backing away into the hall when Joey catches her attention by saying

"Hey Sleeping Beauty. Just in time, I made your favorite." He smiles and holds up a grilled cheese.

Jasmine is facing away from me, so I can't see her expression as there is a long pause. Then I hear a whisper "Joey." Jasmine dashes over to her brother who gathers her up in a hug. She clings to him for a while. Eventually Joey smirks

"Geez Jas, didn't think you would miss me that much. Didn't know how to live without me?"

Jasmine lets out a small relieved laugh and whispers, "Shut up idiot."

Joey smiles and ruffles his sister's hair and teases "Dork."

"Salope" Jasmine says, swatting away his hand.

"Cretino" Joey laughs then give her forehead a short kiss. I can see on his face how relieved he is seeing Jasmine awake, reminding me that the last time the two saw each other was Joey's capture. This is a big moment for both of them.

"Aimsigh do smig go fóill?" Jasmine says in a joking voice. The two have seemed to have forgotten all about the room of people watching, too consumed with their reunion.

Joey pulls away from the hug and playfully glares at his sister about the last comment. "Eat your sandwich" he commands, pointing to a stool. Jasmine sits at the island Joey has been cooking on while Joey hands her a plate with a grilled cheese and noodles on it, along with a fork. When taking the plate, she asks

"What happened to your face?"

"Cut it shaving" Joey shrugs.

Jasmine smirks, "Awww. Look who tried being a man."

"Screw you" Joey playfully glares while placing the soup in the middle of the island where they can both reach. "You're going to need to give me a haircut later."

"Sure no problem" Jasmine shrugs and dunks her sandwich into the tomato soup.

"You missed it. Daniel let my beard grow in."

"And you shaved it before I could see?" Jasmine jokingly whines.

Joey laughs, "I knew you would never let me live it down if you saw."

"Hey, it's your fault."

"What exactly happened to make your beard come in like that?" I inquire, approaching the two. Jasmine turns and frown, remembering the room of people watching. Her face almost immediately reddens as she practically shrinks into the stool, away from the watching League and Team. She begins nibbling on a grilled cheese.

Joey doesn't seem to mind my interjection, he laughs and answers "It was a four years ago. We were staying at this college for a few months, living with some art students. I and some friends were drunk and bored one night, so we decided to steal some trays from the dining hall and sled down a muddy hill outside our house. I lost my tray at the top of the hill and slid down it chin first. Basically I'm screaming in pain at the bottom, my chin is scattered up the hill, while my friends are hooting and hollering at the top about how awesome it was. Then this one" he nods at Jasmine "and her friends were watching through a window eating popcorn the entire time, no intentions of helping me. Haven't been able to grow hair on my chin since."

Jasmine is smiling at the memory while starting another grilled cheese. Throughout Joey's story, she could only stare at the island. Obviously Jasmine is very uncomfortable with all the attention from the League and Team. It isn't helping that some of the members are giving her small glares. I'm going to have to yell at them about that later, they weren't this way with Joey and frankly it isn't helping our situation. It is probably in our best interest to get on Joey and Jasmine's good sides.

Appearing to notice his sister's anxiety, Joey continues talking, trying to gain the rooms focus. "I remember the look on everyone's faces when Jas and I refused to go to the hospital. My chin was fully healed three days later, of course that meant we had to leave. Couldn't have any of our friends getting suspicious."

"Joey!" Jasmine hisses, sending him a warning glare.

Joey rolls his eyes, "As if they don't already know." Jasmine sends one more scowl, but stays quiet and goes back to eating.

"You heal that fast?" I ask. I walk up beside the island, trying to separate Jasmine from the crowd.

"Depends on how bad we're hurt" Joey explains. "If it's something small, it only heals a bit faster than normal humans, nothing shocking though. If it's something major, like I broke my foot last year, we actually heal at an incredible rate. My foot was back to normal in a week. It goes faster the more we sleep actually."

"Not anymore" Jasmine mumbles.

Joey gives her a sad frown, but doesn't say anything. They finish up the noodles in a tense quiet. I break the silence by asking

"So from your story, it sounds as if you attended college?"

"No. But if we dress correctly, we can pass ourselves off as freshman. Every once in a while we would hide out on a college campus, get a couple jobs, sneak into classes. It was easy to find students who would let us crash at their house if we paid some rent."

"I know you both have been on the run your entire lives, but do you have any education?" I inquire concerned.

"Yes and no" Joey begins. "You see I…"

"Joey!" Jasmine interrupts him. "Enough."

"They're going to find out eventually Jas. They already know about James's and yours powers, minus well tell them about mine."

"You know that telling them will…"

"Put them in danger" Joey rolls his eyes. "Guess what Jas, they are already in harm's way. Especially now that Daniel…"

"Stop!" she yells.

I place a hand on Jasmine's shoulder, she flinches at the contact. Jumping out of her chair, Jasmine takes a couple steps away from me. A scared, distrusting look is written across her face, one reminding me of Dick when he first came to the manor. It doesn't help that she has his eyes. I sigh, knowing it is mostly my fault she is acting this way towards me.

"You can tell me, I want to help you. I know that I was harsh with you before, but now I know more about your situation. Before I was just angry about you taking my son away, now I know better. Trust me, I want to help…"

"I know you do" Jasmine snaps. I raise my eyebrows in shock as she continues "I've been traveling with Richard for months now. I know all about you, the League, his team. Of course I know you would want to help."

"Then why won't you let us?" Wally exclaims from the other side of the room. "Sorry to break it to you, but we are Dicks family not you." He would have continued if I hadn't sent him a menacing glare and Barry didn't grab him.

"What Kid Flash is trying to say is…" I begin.

"I don't care what he has to say! You all aren't getting involved."

"Give it up Jas" Joey says, approaching her.

She whips around and hisses at her brother "Why are you siding with them?"

"Because how I see it, we have no choice" he explains calmly. "I talked to Wayne here earlier. Whether we like it or not, he is involved. All these people are and no matter what we say or do, they aren't going to change their minds."

"You know how Daniel is. He'll kill them, every single person without a second thought. I'm not going to have their blood on my hands."

"What other option do we have Jasmine!" Joey raises his voice.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to stand by and watch these people die because of us!"

"We aren't helpless little old ladies in a nursing home" Roy snarls. "For your information all of us are trained and have been fighting crime for years."

"Hmmm, you must be Roy" Jasmine says unimpressed. "I'm sure you are all very good at your jobs, but that doesn't mean you are prepared for taking on Daniel, especially now."

"We need help Jas" Joey sighs. "It isn't just you and me on the road anymore. Daniel has our powers, who knows how long it will be until he figures out how to use them."

"Exactly, it will take him how long to figure them out. We can find him before he does, get our powers back somehow. Who knows, they may come back on their own like last time."

I interject "Last time? This has happened before."

"No!" Jasmine yells and Joey says "Yes." They exchange glares and Joey continues much to Jasmines preference, "Twice. Not to this extent though. You know about the first time, when I was twelve. The second time is when I was eighteen and working for the mob. Turns out it was a branch of Daniel's and he found us. I come home one day..."

"You really want to tell them about that day?" Jasmine snaps. Joey immediately stops talking as a look of guilt sweeps over his face. Jasmine adds "It's none of their business."

"It is actually" I state. "As your brother said, you aren't alone on this anymore."

Jasmine stares at me, thinking. "I know you care about Richard and I thank you for that, for looking after him all those years. But this isn't something you can help us with. It will only put you and your team in danger."

A voice gently says behind me "We are willing to take that chance." I recognize it as Connor speaking as he walks up next to me and in front of Jasmine. "Let us help you."

Suddenly Jasmine becomes panicked, yelling "NO! Not going to happen! No! NO!" and storms out of the room, leaving everyone shocked.

Connor looks confused by her unusual reaction and asks Joey "What did I say?"

Joey looks between the door Jasmine just ran out of and Connor, also confused. Then realization flashes over his features "Aw crap. Yeah. You aren't getting involved."

"What? A second ago you were fine with us helping" I argue.

"Okay Wayne, you can help us. As for the rest of you, no" he say while mainly staring at Connor.

"But you said…" Connor begins.

Joey interrupts him "I change my mind." As Joey passes I grab his arm, about to argue. Instead Joey turns and says "I'll talk to her. But I'm not promising anything." Before anyone can argue with him, Joey is out of the room heading to where Jasmine ran to leaving us all shocked and confused.

Murmuring begins to circulate around the room. Everyone reacting differently about what just happened. While some are annoyed by Jasmine and Joey's refusal of help, others are more concerned about why they reacted so harshly. Connor and Clark are standing in the kitchen with me silent, Connor taken aback by Jasmine's freak out.

Well that could have gone better.

12:32 PM January 20th 2011, Watchtower

After last night's odd event, Jasmine stayed in Dick's room. Joey had first taken her into a bathroom to talk and calm her down. When they emerged she was better and joined Selina in watching Dick, but still refused to talk to the League and Team. Joey had gone back to the kitchen to clean up his cooking, only to find Clark had already finished for him. He and I then went Dick's room and sat with Selina and Jasmine for the rest of the night. As of right now Dick still hasn't woken up yet, but Joey and Jasmine are sure he will either tonight or tomorrow morning.

For the most part, Jasmine and Joey have been very polite and friendly to us, which shocks me after my first encounter with each. I'm not sure what I was expecting either them to be like, but I'm surprised by their personalities, especially Jasmine's. I guess after months of hating her for taking Dick away, I came up with an image of her being some snarky, arrogant, nasty girl. In reality Jasmine is pretty shy. Being away from the room of judging heroes helped, after a while she was able to warm up to Selina and I. Overall though she has been very quiet unless bantering with Joey, not what I expected.

Joey on the other hand reminds me a lot of Richard. He is constantly out of his chair, skipping around the room chatting with Selina, me or anyone who stops by. Throughout most of the night Joey had told Selina and I many stories of his and Jasmine's travels, with Jasmine making comments every once in a while. Most of the tales are quite humorous, they even get a chuckle out of me.

I've started noticing other similarities the two share with Dick. First off was their intelligence. From what I have observed, both Jasmine and Joey are incredibly bright. I can also tell that they share similar senses of humor with Dick. At a couple points in the night, it almost felt as if I were talking to Dick instead of his siblings. Even their initial reactions to me are beginning to make sense. The two are friendly until they begin feeling threatened, that is when they become angry and attack. Richard is the same way.

Every once in a while, Jasmine asks Selina and me about our lives with Richard. She explains how Dick told her many stories over the last few months, all of them being happy ones. Joey becomes very interested into what we have to say and has begun probing us with questions.

"Have you gotten him to eat carrots? When he was six he was terrified of the things, thought he would turn into a rabbit if he ate them."

"More like someone convinced him into thinking that" Jasmine smirks at Joey.

Selina laughs at Joey's sly expression from the accusation. She answers "Yes Alfred eventually convinced him into eating carrots. You were the one who told him not to?"

Joey shrugs, "It was a joke. I didn't think he would take it seriously. Used to tell Jasmine stuff like that all the time when we were kids, she never fell for it."

"I also grew up with you" Jasmine smiles. "By the time I was five I knew whenever you were trying to mess with me. You always get that stupid grin on your face."

"What grin?" Joey teases.

"You know this one" she answers, making an exaggerated face.

Joey laughs, "I don't look like that."

"Yes you do. James makes the same one when he is up to something."

"Really?" Joey says surprised. He looks to Selina and me, waiting for a confirmation.

We both smile and nod. "It's how I know when he is about to pull a prank" I comment.

"Oh, so he's still a prankster."

Selina chuckles "Very much so. You didn't know that?"

Joey shrugs again, "Honestly I don't know James that well. Sure Jas and I had stopped by Gotham for lunch a couple times and called from payphones over the past year a few times, but before that I hadn't seen him since he was six."

"Since I took him in."

He nods. Jasmine comments "We didn't want to put Richard in danger. If we had stayed in contact, Daniel could have traced us back to him. So we decided to go back to Europe after leaving the circus."

A thought crosses my mind, "Did Tony Zucco know about your powers?"

Both the siblings tense. Joey answers "No. But he was head of one of the branches of Daniel's mob. So Zucco knew to keep an eye out for us" Joey points between Jasmine and him. "When he went to the circus to extort money, he saw Jasmine and I. It didn't take long for him to spot a six year old boy who looks extremely like us and put two and two together. I think Zucco knew that there was something special about us and Daniel though, all of Daniel's head workers do. They just don't know exactly what."

"You said you were there when I captured Zucco, then recognized me later" I say carefully. Knowing what I'm about to ask might upset Jasmine.

Joey answers "Yeah. Haly had told us about Zucco threatening him to hand the three of us over after the Grayson's died. So we set Zucco up at the lounge to be caught by you."

The comment takes me by surprise, but I continue onto where I was going. "You also said you recognized my brain."

Jasmine sends Joey a shocked glare. He ignores her and awkwardly says "It's part of my abilities."

"What are your powers?" I ask. Joey looks hesitant to answer, so I point out "You said I am involved. I need to know everything."

Joey sighs. "I can…well could connect to others minds" he explains. "I could extract information, copy it, transfer it, or put new thoughts into someone's head."

Selina and I exchange concerned looks. I ask "So you could control someone's memories."

"Basically yes, but there is more to it. I actually don't know the extent to my abilities, it never sat well with me messing with people's minds. If used wrong, my powers could really mess somebody up."

"Falcone told me about what happened the first time Daniel extracted your powers."

"Well that wasn't completely my powers. It was mostly Daniel's with enforcement from mine."

"Daniel has his own abilities?"

"Yes, they are a lot like mine. You see, I could take away a thought or memory from someone and I could make one myself and place it into someone's mind. Daniel can change thoughts or memories, but can't take away any or give anything new. He has to use what is already in someone's head."

"But you get the same result in the end, don't you?"

"We can, but my powers are a lot more dangerous" Joey stresses. "Every person's mind works in a different way. For Daniel to use his abilities fully, he need to learn how a person's mind works in order for him to change it. He figures out their emotions, fears, wants, maintenance, how to recognize them from far away. All that takes time, depending on the person it could take five minutes to five days. While I could go through that process, I didn't need to. I could quickly do what I needed to, then be on my way. For me the brain is breaking into a filing cabinet where I can take and leave documents as I please. For Daniel it is like hacking into a computer, he's gotta know how it works first."

I ask cautiously "How often did you use your abilities?"

"Tried not to. The biggest time I used them was on some college guy at Oxford. Since school was out of the question for the two of us, I copied the guy's education and downloaded it into Jasmine's and my heads. Other than that I mostly used it to get Jas and me out of speeding tickets if we were in a hurry or learning new languages every time we jumped a boarder. Like I told you before, there isn't any good in my abilities. They shouldn't be used."

"Wait…if you recognized my brain, that means you used them on me" I state, irritated.

"Well…I did but being able to recognize your mind doesn't mean much. For me it is as easy as to identify someone by their mind as it is by their appearance. I did go through your brain though to make sure it would be okay leaving James with you."

I'm not sure how I feel about that. At first angry and violated by the intrusion, but I understand Joey's motives. I can't be mad that he was looking out for Dick's well-being, but I'm still not happy about what he did.

"How about you Jasmine?" Selina inquires. "Do you only do telekinesis?"

Jasmine takes a long time to think before answering. This past morning, with the help of Joey, she has opened up more to the idea of explaining everything to me and Selina. She begins "Over the past couple years I've connected more to modern technology. But for the most part I only move objects."

"How did you fly back in Vegas?" I ask.

She frowns, "Moving air. I try not to do that, it's tiring. Whenever I try to work with air or water I'm exhausted after a minute. After floating Richard and I to that roof, I was out."

"You actually flew?" Joey says astonished.

"Yes, why are you so surprised? It was your idea on how to do it."

"Yeah but I didn't think it would work. I just thought it would be funny to see you try."

Jasmine's jaw drops "Jerk."

"Gullible" Joey shoots back.

"Idiot."

"Favorite."

"Dozy."

"Munter."

"Excuse me!" Jasmine yells.

Joey playfully smirks "You heard me."

Jasmine sends him a glare then looks over to me and says "See what I have to deal with. Try spending years sitting next to that in a car."

"It's been great" Joey laughs. Jasmine rolls her eyes in response, but also smiles.

"Anyway" she continues. "I've discovered that sometimes I can hack into electronics. Can't do much though besides simple tasks. So far I've tried phones, computers, televisions…"

"Security cameras" I add.

Jasmine gives me a sheepish grin, "Sorry about that. By the way how did you catch me on tape? I could have sworn I swiped all your cameras."

"You did, all but one. It was a different type of technology, martian."

"That makes sense. Also explains why it took me so long to figure out the cameras last time Richy and I were here."

"Last time?" Joey questions.

Jasmine brushes him off, "Had a run in with these guys and Daniel at the same time. Stayed here for a few days before getting away, no big deal."

"How many times did you have run ins?" he asks concerned.

"With Wayne here twice. Daniel caught up to us quite a few times though. A lot happens when some of us take naps" she smirks at her brother.

Joey makes a face. He is about to say something when there is a knock on the door. Diana slowly opens the door and says "So a bunch of us are having lunch and wanted to know if you would like any. I already ate, so I can watch Dick."

"Sure!" Joey jumps out of his seat. He reaches out his hand to Jasmine to help her up, but she shakes her head

"I don't want to face those people again. Half of them glare at me while the other half study my every movement. It's awkward."

"C'mon Jas, I'm starving. They're just mad at you right now, eventually they might have to maybe get over it."

"Eventually they might have to maybe get over it. Why doesn't that comfort me" Jasmine remarks. "Why is it whenever you mess up, I have to deal with all the angry people."

"I mess up?"

"Yeah. You get captured, so I have to go get James. Now practically everyone he knows hates my guts. I'm not used to this."

I place a hand on the girl's shoulder, "We all understand now that you were trying to protect Richard. The Team and League were not happy about not knowing where he was for months and we all blamed you during that period of time. Some of our members are just taking longer to get over it than others. As for the being watched, we are all curious about you two. We didn't exactly know what to expect when you both woke up."

"Yeah, they don't hate you. They hate what you did" Joey poorly encourages. "Now come on, I'm hungry."

Jasmine sends her brother a disapproving scowl and remains in her seat. Joey in response scoops Jasmine out of the chair, flings her over his shoulder and walks out of the room. All the while Jasmine is yelling at him. Selina and I exchange surprised glances and quickly follow after them. Diana has an equally shocked expression as we pass her.

By the time the four of us reach the eating area, Jasmine has quieted down and accepted her fate. Joey sets her down on the ground after entering the room. Jasmine readjusts her shorts and tank top which had gotten jostled during her struggle. She then sends one more glare at her brother before turning to face the Team and most of the Justice League.

By the looks of it, the League had either ordered pizza or made them. Everyone grows quiet and watches us with an intensity. There are a few tables in the room. One is full Team members and Roy, all stopped eating to stare at Jasmine and Joey. Wally and Roy's stares looking more like glares by the second. The mentors of the team are at the table next to them, watching with more of a curiosity. Clark and Connor are at a counter grabbing food for themselves.

Joey ignores the eyes watching him and heads over to the pizza. After taking in a deep breath, Jasmine follows. Clark practically shrivels away when Jasmine approaches while Connor continues watching the two in fascination. As Jasmine grabs a slice from a messier looking pizza, Connor says

"Wouldn't eat that one if I were you."

"Why not?" Jasmine asks confused.

"It's Wally and Barry's. Who knows what is on it." A small chuckle escapes a few people.

Jasmine stares at the slice, shrugs and takes a bite. "I've had stranger" she comments before taking a seat at the counter. After grabbing a beer from a fridge, Joey sits next to her. Curious, he takes the slice and also has a bite.

"Oh yeah, this is nothing compared to the stuff we had in France." As Jasmine reaches out to take a sip of his drink, he snatches it away. "Sorry lil sis, we're on American turf right now. You have to wait a few more days till you can have this."

"Seriously?" Jasmine rolls her eyes.

"Yup, don't worry. Only three more days and you'll be legal."

"Wait, what's the date?" she asks me.

I answer while grabbing Selina and I some food "January twentieth." We sit down with the other mentors.

"Huh, I guess that is coming up" Jasmine comments to Joey.

"Wait" Roy interjects. "You're twenty!" he says doubtfully.

"Yeah, but my birthday's on the twenty-third."

Joey teases "So right now you are just a little minor."

Jasmine rolls her eyes, "You stop being a minor in America at the age of eighteen idiot. After that you are an underage adult when it comes to alcohol. Minor isn't the proper term unless the person is seventeen or younger. And since when has the drinking age mattered to you?"

"Since I can tease you about it" he winks.

Roy sneers "I hope you didn't pass your underage habit onto Dick. He's a good kid and doesn't need you're bad influence."

"One I'm European. Where I grew up I was of drinking age in my teens" Jasmine shoots back. "I'm not saying I never had a drink when I was younger than that, but remember alcohol isn't as big of a deal where I come from. Two. No, I didn't encourage Richard to drink. In fact I only drank a couple times while with him. Three, I drove our car most of our trip. It would have been irresponsible of me to drink and drive."

"Still you were in America" Roy snaps. "It was illegal for you to even drink those few times."

Jasmine raises an eyebrow, "So you are waiting till you were twenty-one Roy? Remember I spent months next to Richard in a car. That's a long time, enough for him to tell me a lot of stories. I specifically remember him telling me one about Halloween a year ago. From what it sounds like, you actually wouldn't remember that night."

Roy's face reddens, his eye's flash towards a glaring Oliver. Wally, who obviously knows the story she is talking about, is stifling his laughter. The other Team members are smirking, probably having some idea of what happened. While the mentors, Selina and I are all exchanging looks of concern. Joey doesn't seem to care, taking a bite of his pizza.

"Can't believe Dick let that slip" Roy mutters under his breath.

Joey comments "Still can't believe you all call him Dick."

"Everyone called him that back at the circus" Jasmine states.

"Really?"

"Yes, the entire circus nicknamed him that as did I" Jasmine says exasperated. "What did you call him?"

"I don't know. Squirt, Pipsqueak, Munchkin. I think I just made fun of how short he was every time he came up to me. Could never remember his name was Richard."

Jasmine laughs "Joey, that's horrible."

"Eh, I thought it was hilarious" Joey chuckles. "He always tried to insult me back, but could never come up with anything worse than stupid-head. Kid was too pure minded for his own good."

"He was six. The only insult he should have known was stupid-head."

Grasping the opportunity, I inquire "Speaking of Richard's height. I noticed you and Daniel are considerably tall…"

"And you're wondering why Richard is a midget compared to us" Joey finishes my thought, a bit cruder than I would have phrased it. I nod in response. Joey looks over at Jasmine "Let's see. He is seven years younger than you after you're birthday. So that means he's fourteen right now. Jas and I both had giant growth spurts when we turned sixteen. So he has a couple more years, then will probably grow like a weed. You should have seen Jas when we were younger, she was tiny."

"We would go eat at restaurants when I was fourteen, the waiter would bring me the kid's menu" Jasmine adds sounding bitter.

I can't help but chuckle, Selina explains "The same thing always happened to Richard."

Barry joins in "Drove him crazy. I remember a couple years ago he I took him and Wally out. Dick nearly scared the waiter to death with the glare he sent."

Jasmine smirks at Joey "Sounds like you at bars."

"Shut up. Maybe somebody should make better IDs."

"Doesn't matter how real the ID appears if the customer looks like a stupid high school jock."

"Dopey" Joey jokingly scoffs.

"Tool."

"Git."

"Joseph."

"That's not even my name."

Jasmine shrugs and grabs another slice of pizza "Yeah. But it bugs you."

Joey smirks and playfully jabs his sister in the back. The smile quickly disappears when Jasmine lets out a pained gasp. Everyone in the room tenses. Joey worriedly asks "What's wrong?"

After letting out a heavy breath, Jasmine answers "I'm fine. Hurt my back a while ago. It was mostly healed, but Daniel must have irritated it. then your poke..."

"How did you hurt it?" Joey queries while gently rubbing her back. Clark, Selina and I exchange nervous glances. We still haven't told anyone about Clark's episode.

To our surprise Jasmine mumbles "Daniel being an arse."

"How long ago did it happen?"

Jasmine's face scrunches in thought. "I don't know" she turns to Clark "How long ago was that?" The question isn't one of anger or resentment as I expected it would be. Instead it is one of pure curiosity.

Clark, in shock, clumsily answers "Three weeks."

Turning back to her concerned brother, Jasmine answers "Three weeks ago. But I hadn't exactly gotten the most sleep before getting captured."

Gesturing to Clark, Joey begins "Why did he know…"

"He made the mistake of trying to talk to Daniel" Jasmine interrupts him.

"Oh" Joey says, appearing to drop the subject. The rest of the room is looking between Clark and the siblings in confusion. Before anyone can dig any further into the topic, Diana dashes in

"Dick is awake" she declares. She looks to me "He wants to see you."

Hey! This chapter took me forever to write. Sorry not much happened, but I thought it was really important for you all to get to know Joey and Jasmine. Please send some reviews, I'm very interested in what you think of the two siblings. Your thoughts will greatly influence the direction I am thinking of going with for part 2.