Jericho was talking to Wally when he heard screeching.

Loud, painful screeching that he had heard only once before when he first started to train his mermaids. Both of them whipped around to see blood forming in the pool before Robin darted away from it, swimming fast, Red Hood following only a few seconds behind him. Nightwing noticed and was circling around to cut Robin off, only to be swiped at repeatedly.

"What the hell?!" Jericho yelled, before running toward that side of the pool. "Hey!"

The whistle blew loudly, but Robin continued to swipe at Nightwing and Red Hood. Both of the older ones were trying to contain the younger one and a trail of blood was leading around them, but Jericho couldn't pinpoint who it was coming from.

Slapping the water, Jericho tried calling to them. "Nightwing! Red Hood! Enough! ENOUGH!"

Robing surfaced, hissing loudly. When Nightwing came up, Robin swung, landing a hit across the other's face, making three bleeding scratches. Red Hood came up, yanking Robin back down into the water, and from that angle Jericho could see that it was Red Hood's blood spilling into the pool from his side.

"I said enough!" Jericho yelled.

Wally finally caught up after falling on the wet cement a few times, and he grabbed onto Jericho's shoulder just in time to see his old friend's bloody cheek.

"Dick!"

Jericho shoved him away, causing him to fall. "Ass!"

"Not you!"

"Wally, shut up! I have to stop this!"

"No, that's not what I-"

A screech made them look up at the water platform, where the three had ended up. Robin had his teeth sunk into Nightwing's side. Robin growled angrily, refusing to let go, and used his hands along with the fact that he was half on top of his brother to his advantage to hold the older one down, so no matter how hard the blue-tailed mermaid tried he couldn't get the younger one off.

Red Hood shot up, joining in as Nightwing managed to pull Robin off. Only to have Robin sink his teeth into Red Hood's arm. Nightwing rolled over, wincing, before trying to pull Robin off. Together the two of them held Robin down for a few minutes until the younger one stopped thrashing.

Red Hood was cooing angrily, Nightwing's noises were calming, as if asking what was going on. Robin went still, but they could all hear the soft growling. Red Hood cooed angrily again, shaking the smaller mermaid. Nightwing hissed at him.

Jericho reached into his pocket, recently added to his suit, and pulled out a small, waterproof gun. He aimed and fired. Robin didn't even seem to notice, but his brothers sure as hell did. They both hissed at him.

Shaking his head, Jericho raised and fired two more times. "Sorry, guys, this training session is over."

A minute later he had three mermaids knocked out cold. Sighing, Jericho walked into the pool to pull along the side net to keep them from floating away. After that, he called for the medical team and asked Wally to start new plans for the mermaid's arena.

"Gaaahh…" Billy groaned, complaining loudly. "I don't wanna…!"

"You're filthy," Bruce said, scrubbing the land dweller child. "I already changed the water twice and it's still turning to muck."

"Gaahhhh," Billy groaned again, letting himself slump into the tub only to be pulled up again. "No, let me drown so I won't die of embarrassment."

"You'll most likely die due to all the… dirt you've collected on yourself…" Bruce pulled him back up before turning on the shower. "I've never seen any child, human or mer, this dirty before."

Billy huffed and shook his head at all the foam as Bruce started scrubbing once again. This time it came out soapy white instead of light brown, showing that, yes, the child was finally getting clean. Next, conditioner was added before Bruce stepped back to grab a towel, handing it to Billy before leaving the bathroom.

As Billy dried off, Bruce walked into the hotel's living room and grabbed an envelope that held three days' worth of tickets to Ocean Waters. It should be enough for Billy to scope the place out. He hadn't wanted to use the boy and had intentions of erasing the boy's memory of him, however, now that he knew for sure that Thomas was involved, he needed help.

Billy had quickly and excitedly agreed to help Bruce out before he could even explain what he wanted Billy to do. After he'd agreed, Bruce asked him where his parents were and found out the boy had been living on the streets for nearly three years, fending for himself.

"Hey, Mister?" Billy asked, coming out. "When I go into Ocean Waters, can I have food money?"

"Of course."

"Can we have food now?"

"Yes. Why don't you order something and I'll look over these plans."

Not missing an opportunity, Billy picked up the phone to order room service. After ordering way more than he could eat, Billy went around the room slipping things into his pockets. He already had a nice little collection hiding behind the bed. Yet, he had a feeling that Bruce knew about it and had said nothing.

"Billy, come here for a second."

Billy walked over to the table where Bruce was sitting. He was holding something. It was a small pouch with pearls in it. Bruce laid them out on the table and separated them according to color. They ranged from normal white all the way to black. In all, thirteen.

"Are you selling them?" Billy asked, picking up a deep red one. "It looks like blood."

"Yes, well, breaking it will set you on liquid fire," Bruce said, taking it away from him. "Each pearl has a special power. However, it is only as strong as the one who forms them."

"So, if you're all muscle-ly you can make them powerful?"

"It's not all about physical strength, and what's more, only a rare few can cry pearls."

"Did you cry, Mister?"

"No," Bruce picked up a white pearl. "My third son did the day he came to live with me. I know he didn't realize that the pearls came from him and now I fear that the land dwellers will discover it. If they do… if they know what the pearls can do, then they'll never let them go."

Billy frowned, looking at the small pearls. The little things didn't look like they could do much, and yet he knew better than to try and take one… Okay, maybe when Bruce wasn't looking he would see what one of them did.

"Well, you can start thirteen fires."

"Each color represents a different power."

"Oh."

"Let's just hope that all the pearls that appear are either white or off-white." Bruce frowned at them before scooping them back into the pouch.

"And if they're not?" Billy asked, looking up, only to have the pouch of pearls settled around his neck.

"If not, then… well, we'll have to see how much longer my youngest will be able to stay alive."

"Alive?"

"Pearls take life. White or off-white ones are less than a second of life. Maybe fifteen pearls a second or more… however… the darker the color, the more the life it takes from the soul until the life span is at its end."

Billy stared at him for a long moment, noting Bruce's serious face before he looked at the pearls that hung on his chest. "So… this was once someone's life?"

"Yes." A hand fell on his shoulder, making the boy look up. "Now Billy, are you ready?"

For a moment, nothing, then, "Ready!"

Bruce smirked a bit before standing up. "Then let's go."

To Noon: Thank you 8D

To Biery5: Here an update for ya! 8D

To L. VanDattae: You have no idea how much I wanna tell about what's going to happen but I can't! However yes, Tim isn't himself at the moment o_o