"Weird..." Barry whispered to Hal, as the Justice League meeting came to an end. It was the first meeting ever since The Reach attempted invasion and the mood was awkward. Normally, after a meeting the Trinity would move to a corner and whisper among themselves, but right now Superman and Wonder Woman were looking longingly at Batman's back as he was marching away. "Are things still tense between them?"
"Flash, Spooky's son jumped in front of Superman to receive an attack that would have killed any of us, while Spooky could only watch in The Nest," Hal turned to his best friend with a raised eyebrow. The Green Lantern noticed Superman flinch from the corner of his eye, but said nothing about it- what could he say? "Of course, things are still tense."
"Does he blame Supes?" Flash asked surprise.
"No, he does not," Black Lightning joined the conversation, as he watched Superman and Wonder Woman leave the meeting room. "But that does not mean that things are simple either. If any of my daughters had done that... God! I don't know how Batman does it, allowing Flamebird out if his sight."
"Having an army of kids helps," Hal chuckled. "When I visited Flamebird in Gotham, he whined to me about how they never let him alone. There's always one of them in the same room as him, they even all sleep together in Spooky's bed."
"I would pay gold to see that!" Barry laughed. "Though, I can understand him in a way... Iris is pregnant and I'm going to become a dad. The idea of any of my kids being in danger like that... it's driving me insane. I never understood how hard it was for Batman, no wonder he is so hard on them and so protective. I have a new respect for him."
"We all do," Black Lightning agreed. "By the way, who should I talk about visiting Gotham City? Lightning wants to visit her teammate."
"I'll give Agent A a call," Hal told Black Lightning.
"Thank you!" Black Lightning thank him.
"Have they finally chosen a name for their team?" Flash asked him excitedly.
"The Renegades," Black Lightning answered with a chuckle.
"That is so cool!" Flash exclaimed.
"Cool name!" Hal agreed with a smirk. "The superhero community is growing, the bad guys won't have a place to hide anymore!"
"No they won't!" Flash agreed, beaming.
It was then that the Zeta-Tube announced the entrance of the whole Titans team and a guest. The three of them raised an eyebrow and followed the sound of shouting. They were shocked to see a furious Starfire ready to torch an already beat down woman. She was barely being held back by Tempest and Troia, while Arsenal looked ready to join the fray. Jericho and Kid Flash were consoling a pale Nightwing.
"What in the name of the Speedforce is going here?!" Flash exclaimed, as Black Lightning moved to tend to the burned woman.
"Uncle," Wally looked relieved to see him. "That woman is Mirage, she is a villain."
"A fucking vile criminal!" Arsenal snarled, as Starfire continued to curse in Tamaranean.
"This burns were not made only by Star Fire's Starbolts," Black Lightning whispered to his Justice League teammates. "She was electrocuted as well," he send a look at Nightwing's batons, making the Flash and Green Lantern understand.
"What has she done?" Hal stepped forward, trying to placate the situation. Kory shouted something, making Hal raise an eyebrow. "Someone who speaks English please?"
"Can't your lantern ring translate for you?" Wally chuckled waterly, at his uncle's humor.
"I do not have the translation application turned on," Hal replied drily. "I was expecting everyone to be speaking English."
"She fucking tried to rape Nightwing!" Arsenal snarled, making Nightwing flinch and the Justice League members blanch.
"W-what?" Flash stuttered.
"Mirage took Starfire's appearance to seduce Nightwing," Kid Flash explained softly, as he hugged his distraught best friend. "What she did not expect was that Nightwing has gotten used to being around fire species, both Flamebird and Starfire produce an internal kinetic heat that Mirage was unable to copy. So, Nightwing realized that something was wrong from the get-go. He took her down, but by the time we got there, Nightwing had entered a state of shock. We had to piece everything together from the security cameras."
"How is he doing?" Jefferson asked concerned.
"Not good," Jericho signed. "Is Black Canary around?"
"She has returned to Star City," Flash answered. "But I'll give her a call, after I put... this in a containment cell," Flash glared at Mirage, speeding them away.
"Starfire why don't you get Nightwing to the med bay? He needs you," Hal bartened perfectly, getting Kory out of her rage indused state. She carried her fiance in her arms carefuly, as the rest of their team followed her. "Ah, someone needs to call Spooky."
"I will," Jefferson frowned. "Why can't they get a break? Poor batclan."
Hal said nothing, but he agreed on the sentiment.
Poor batclan.
What none of them were expecting was for the poor batfamily to be facing another crisis elsewhere.
"Deathstroke, here to whine at us about Revenger again?" Redbird taunted the mercenary, as he and Blackbird faced him on a Blüdhaven rooftop- they were waiting for backup in the form of Batman and Batwoman.
"No, tonight I'm here to whine about how Batman thought it would be a good idea to steal my son from me," Deathstroke snapped, glaring heatedly at the toung heroes.
On the outside nothing showed how their heartbeats skipped a beat, the batclan were cursing through the coms. Redbird and Blackbird could hear Batman bark at Respawn to stay behind and head back to the batcave with Shrike.
"Who?" Redbird played clueless, cursing internally that Nightwing was at the Titan Tower- he was much better at this.
"Don't play dumb!" Deathstroke shouted, raising his sword, Blackbird stepped before her brother- they both knew that if someone could survive a battle against Deathstroke, it would be her. "Did you think I have no spies left in the League of Assassins? I know about fucking Ra's experiment!"
"Hey!" Redbird snapped angrily, as Blackbird glared at the mercenary. "That is my brother you are talking about! He is Respawn! No experiment!"
"Where is he? Don't make me ask again!" Deathstroke threatened.
"Safe," Cass answered, getting ready for the attack. "Away from you."
Just as Deathstroke was about to attack, a wall of flames spread before the two parties. Redbird and Blackbird sighed in relief, as they looked up to find their family's guarding angel.
"Brat!" Deathstroke glared at Flamebird. "You are as annoying as you were during our sword lessons."
"Teacher," Damian replied with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I am trying to do?" Deathstroke replied dryly. "Trying to get my son!"
"Teacher, you lost a child, and two of them ran away from you," Flamebird told him, making the mercenary flinch- though, only Blackbird was able to see that. "Don't ruin my akhi too. I won't allow it. Ra's has already done enough damage."
"I heard that you had disowned the al Ghuls but I was not expecting this coldness from mamma's little boy," Deathstroke mocked, making Flamebird flinch and earning the animosity of Redbird and Blackbird. "You are telling me that Batman can give him a better home than me? I'm pretty sure two of kids almost died under his care."
Three, the batclan thought to themselves, recalling how they almost lost Flamebird.
"Almost still trumps a dead son," Damian replied cruely, showing everyone why he was the Heir of the Demon and Hell. "Also, my akhi can be a child with baba. Grow and be whoever he chooses to be, can you say he'll be able to do the same with you?" Deathstroke remained silent, but he sheathed his sword. "Ah," Flamebird sighed, lowering himself in front of the mercenary to the horror of his older siblings. "Leave teacher, let akhi go and be happy. If he wants to meet you, I promise you I'll take akhi to you. Hell, Baba will do it. He only wants the best for us and for us to be happy."
Deathstroke said nothing back, but he still left before Batman made it to the rooftop.
"That was a close one," Redbird sighed, as Flamebird extinguished the fire. "Where's Nightwing when you need him? That madman was his teacher, wasn't he?!"
"He is at the Watch Tower's med bay," Batman told them, gaining startled looks from his children.
"What?!" Robin shouted through the coms, from the batcave with the rest of the birds and Agent A. "What happened to him?"
Batman did not answer but from the look on his face, Redbird, Blackbird, and Flamebird knew that it was nothing good.
Poor batclan, ineed.