The next three months are harder than any contract he ever took.

The League puts them in a small safe house. He's lived in better places, but never for very long. It's clean. It's safe. His girls are safe.

But it's not easy.

His girls are in school during the day. Artemis still calls out for her mother in her sleep, and all he can do is sit by her, stroking her forehead, telling her that he loves her, that her mother loved her. Sometimes he holds her all night, trying to protect her from bad dreams as he would any physical threat.

Jade … Jade doesn't cry. She doesn't act out. She doesn't snap at him. She doesn't call him "Daddy Dearest" any longer.

It worries him.

It worries him because his little girl should be filled with fire. She's stronger than him. Stronger than her mother, even.

Now … now she's quiet and he's afraid that his injury … the way it happened… has taken something from her.

He hates Deathstroke for that even more than the loss of his legs.

His girls are in school during the day. He has physical therapy. The doctors tell him that he'll never walk again. That's hard. Hard enough that he thinks about checking out—

But one look at his baby girl puts those thoughts to rest.

He can't do that to her. He can't do that to Jade. He can't leave them. He can't leave his girls.

So he does the physical therapy despite how much it hurts. He does his best to be a good father. He helps Artemis with her homework and tries to draw his oldest out of the shell that she seems to be slipping into. He even attends parent/teacher conference days.

But when he's not taking care of his girls, when he's not in therapy, the League puts him in their old headquarters. A cave in the middle of some mountain.

He's there one day playing Solitaire while their android is watching him when the Batman shows up with some new hero that he's never seen before. "Lawrence, this is the Blue Beetle."

"That's a new look for him."

"I'm the new Blue Beetle," the guy said. "I'm Ted—"

Batman hits him in the stomach. "Not to him."

He flips a card over. "Yeah, I'm not a good guy, Beetle. I used to be the Sportsmaster."

And that's how he thinks of it. He used to be Sportsmaster. Used to be a husband. Used to be a man. Now he's just marking time. Doing his best for his girls while he still can.

"Blue Beetle is just starting out, Lawrence. He could use some training."

"What's he need training for? Blue Beetle has powers."

"The first one did," the new guy says. "Not me."

"Was he your dad? He was around a long time."

"Not by blood." The Beetle pauses. "I promised him I'd carry on for him. Carry on the name. And I'm going to."

"A promise like that can get you killed."

"The Beetle has potential." High praise indeed, coming from The Bat. "But he could use some pointers."

"Well go on then. I ain't going to stop you." He flips a card over. "It's your cave."

"Actually, I thought you might want to do it."

The cards fall from his fingers. "Me? Bats, you got your cowl screwed on too tight today? How can I train anyone—do anything—for anyone trapped in this chair?"

"You know better than that, Crock. You're still one of the most highly trained hand to hand combatants in the world. Chair or no, you're still one of the most dangerous men alive." And for a second, he imagines there's something like gentleness in The Bat's voice. "You still have something to offer the world, Lawrence."

He sighs. "Fine, Bats. Beetle, hit me."

"Excuse me?"

"I said hit me. C'mon. Let me see what you've got."

The Beetle glances over at Batman who steps back.

"Come on. I ain't got all day. I still have to make dinner for my kids before they get home."

The Beetle shrugs and then throws a punch.

He catches the Beetle's arm. "Pathetic. You couldn't have telegraphed that any more if you used Western Union. Now I have your arm. What are you going to do now, kid?"

He expects the kid to try to punch with his other arm but he goes in for a head-butt instead.

He catches him by the neck and then slams his face into the table. "Count yourself lucky this was just training, kid, or I'd have broken your nose. Potential, huh, Bats?"

"I'll leave you two alone," The Bat says with something like a smile in his voice.

Not on his face, though. God forbid Batman should ever actually smile. It'd probably cause his face to crack.

"All right, Beetle. The first thing you have to do is…"

"I listen better when my face isn't being ground into a table …"

"Oh, right. Okay. Tornado, can you get us some ice? The kid's nose is redder than you are…"