[The Watchtower

March 18, 15:30 EST]

Roy walked out of the League-wide emergency meeting with mixed feelings.

It wasn't as if he hadn't lived through a doomsday event before. He was only eighteen, and he could remember at least two times that the Earth had been threatened. The first time, Roy was nine; that was when the white Martians had tried to invade. It was also the first time that all seven founders of the Justice League worked together at the same time. They didn't form the JLA until two years later and didn't go public with the alliance until several years after that.

Roy didn't remember that first invasion very well. He'd still been living on the Navajo reservation then with his original adoptive father, Brave Bow. At the time, it had seemed more heinous to him that he'd missed three days of archery practice than the fact that he could've died.

The second threat to the planet had come two years after that when the Appellaxians made Earth their staging ground for a no holds barred contest to see who would be the leader of their home planet. Roy was eleven then and actually remembered watching Wonder Woman and Aquaman fight on television. That was still long before he'd ever met Oliver.

So, yeah, this wasn't his first rodeo.

True, it was the first time that he'd be able to actively participate in defending the planet as a hero. And it was the first time that there was a threat of this magnitude. While Roy had followed the briefing about Manhunters very easily, he still found it difficult to fathom the kind of numbers involved. It was one thing to be faced with the destruction of one planet but another entirely to think about a whole sector in peril and another 3,599 sectors at risk if the Manhunters weren't stopped here. He wasn't stupid; he knew that not every planet housed intelligent life, but the stakes were still too high to seem very real.

It hadn't even been confirmed yet that the Manhunters were planning an encore performance of Sector 666, but Roy knew that they sure as hell didn't show up just to bust Wally's dirtbag father out of prison. The whole thing was still being debated amongst the Leaguers as to what Rudy West was doing with the Manhunters. Roy hadn't needed to think very hard to come to his own conclusion: Wally's father was a pathetic, disgusting excuse for a man and was one hundred percent in league with the Manhunters. He'd seen the smug little grin on his face in the attack footage. The only thing Roy didn't understand was why West was important enough to rescue.

So, things looked pretty grim. Roy had a healthy respect for how bad this could turn out, but he just wasn't as scared as he probably should be. He just couldn't see the Justice League and the Green Lantern Corps losing this fight. Hal had spoken through a good majority of the meeting, and he'd announced that the arrangements were set: Oa was sending everyone. Apparently, the Guardians weren't eager to have their biggest mistake repeated a second time. He'd also heard that the Martian Manhunter was traveling to Mars to warn his home world of the impending danger and to try and forge an alliance between the sister planets.

And if they could get other planets in the sector in on it, they'd have a lot of firepower. The only problem was, they had no idea what kind of force the Manhunters had on their side. They'd had an untold number of years to find ways to build their strength back up and possibly their numbers as well. The Justice League could be looking at an invading army that would be impossible to defeat.

Yet, Roy still wasn't all that worried about losing. As dire as the whole situation seemed, Roy just didn't think that they were going to lose the whole planet.

He was more worried about his little brothers. If this ended in a fight, it was going to get nasty. Roy could wind up on the winning side but still lose everyone he'd ever cared about. Dick was amazingly skilled and capable for a fourteen-year-old. There was no question that he had been trained by the best, but he was still only fourteen-years-old. Wally was a completely different story entirely. He was only just recently healed from injuries that had killed him, he was severely traumatized – whether he wanted to show it or not – by what happened, and he might be a specified target for the Manhunters. Roy had no idea how he would be able to help defend the planet and keep an eye on his brothers at the same time.

He slid one hand along the cropped hair at the back of his head anxiously and took a deep breath before knocking quietly on the door to Dinah's hospital room and walking in. Dinah was sleeping again – Doctor Light had her on a lot of pain medication. Her head was tightly wrapped in bandages on one side, but aside from that, her face was largely untouched. However, the rest of her body was heavily burned. Dinah's chest, legs, and arms were covered in loose gauze that concealed the extensive blisters and damaged flesh underneath.

Oliver was there again. He looked up from his girlfriend's bedside at the sound of knocking and relaxed in his chair. Roy took the seat beside him, finding that he absolutely hated the Watchtower's med bay now. He hooked one long leg over the other and folded his arms over his chest with a sigh.

"How was the war room?" Oliver had flat out refused to leave Dinah's side until she was out of surgery, so he'd been absent from the most recent meeting.

"We received our plan of attack," Roy spoke offhandedly.

"And?"

"The plan is to wait until we have more information," he said bitterly, letting his head fall back.

Oliver nodded, absently running his thumbs along Dinah's hand, "I hate large-scale invasions like this. I've always been more about helping the little guy. Plus, I'm not really equipped to fight intergalactic space robots."

"I don't know…" Roy mused suddenly, "It'll be a good chance to vent some rage. They're not really alive, so we won't have to hold back. We'll be able to go for kill shots."

"True," Oliver yawned into his fist. Roy wondered how long he'd been up here. "A lot of the big guns in the League will be happy. Have you ever seen Superman really cut loose? It's pretty terrifying."

"Sounds like most of the heavy fighting's going to be left up to the aliens and metas," Roy idly examined Dinah's feet through the sterile wrappings. She had big feet… It was hard to tell from the combat boots she usually wore in costume.

"We'll get our chance, don't worry," Oliver clapped Roy on the shoulder, dragging the redhead out of his odd musings.

He contemplated shrugging the hand off but then remembered his pledge to fix things with Ollie, "You know… this could be a good opportunity to design some new arrows."

Oliver perked up a bit at that, and he finally tore his eyes from Dinah's face, "You mean like we used to when you were younger?"

Ugh. Roy knew where this was going already. "Yes, but this time-"

"Do you remember the boxing glove arrow?"

He rolled his eyes and turned his head to look at the door, feeling the irritation already beginning to build, "Yeah…"

Oliver's mustache twitched a little as he smiled brightly, "I still made it for you even though I didn't think it would work. But you know, for not being very aerodynamically sound or well-balanced, that boxing glove flew really well… Oh, do you remember the pepper spray arrow you came up with after that? I still use that one."

"I was thinking more along the lines of making arrows specifically for the Manhunters," Roy tried to keep his tone below a yell. "Heavy explosives, EMPS, metal corroding acids; that sort of thing. And there's always the nanotech fog that Dr. Roquette invented."

Oliver was silent as he really thought about it. His smile grew more mischievous by the second, and he held out a hand to Roy, "I think we're going to be busy for the next few days."

Roy took the offered hand and shook it firmly, "Good, cause I've got about ten thousand arrows at your place that need tricking out."

Dinah grimaced in her sleep and thrashed around restlessly. Oliver reached out and took her hand again. He touched her shoulder and carefully shook her awake, "It's alright, pretty bird. You're fine."

She opened her eyes briefly to look at the both of them in confusion, and then relaxed once she realized who was there. She was unconscious again in seconds.

Roy frowned at her in concern, "How's she doing?"

"Better," Oliver looked angry now. He'd been pretty withdrawn about his girl getting hurt so badly before, and Roy understood. Neither of them were used to worrying about Dinah. She was Black Canary, and she always gave more than she got in a fight. She wasn't usually injured like this. Roy wouldn't want to be the Manhunter group that did this to her when Ollie found them. "They put her arm back into its socket no problem and were able to treat most of her burns just fine. Doctor Light said that only a couple of them are going to scar. It's her head that was hurt the worst. She had a pretty bad skull fracture."

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Oh yeah," Oliver half smiled at Dinah as she slept. "Surgery fixed her right up. She might have migraines for awhile, but my girl's tough as titanium. I bet you she'll be up and fighting again in a few days."

Roy was startled to realize that he was giving her the same adoring look that Dick had been giving Wally while he slept a couple days ago at the Allen's house. He sat back in his chair and stared into the opposite wall silently while he thought about that.

It was weird. Definitely. And Roy was probably the least emotionally equipped person to deal with the fact that one of his two younger brothers seemed to be crushing very hard on the other. He knew that Dick and Wally were best friends – he'd known that since day one. They were inseparable. What he didn't know was how Wally felt about Dick. Roy would be completely fine with it if they suddenly started dating. He didn't really care either way, but he wasn't sure if Wally could even tell how Dick felt. He wasn't sure how Wally would react to finding that out. He might be indifferent, or excited, or upset.

Roy really didn't know what to do if that was the case, especially not right now with this extinction looming over their heads. It would have to wait until later.

He just hoped that Dick didn't come to him for advice.

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[Gotham City

March 19, 20:00 EST]

Dick briefly wondered if he should ask Roy for some advice about Wally. So far, the redheaded archer – and maybe Joan Garrick – was the only one who had caught him. But then again, Roy was 'secretly' courting a supervillain, so maybe he wouldn't…

Artemis would be furious when she found out that Roy and Cheshire were hooking up.

Dick snickered to himself suddenly. Heh heh. Roy would be furious when he found out that Artemis and Cheshire were sisters.

He strode into Bruce's study and right up to the massive grandfather clock set between the bookshelves. Dick set the hands to 10:47 and stepped back as a soft click sounded from behind the clock. It swung open to reveal a long, winding staircase carved into the limestone. He stepped into the secret passageway, pulling the clock back into position behind him, and continued on down the dark steps. Thin, glowing lights lined the base of the rough cave walls, but Dick hardly needed them to know where he was going. He'd been using this passageway since he was nine. The stairs led straight to the Batcave.

Dick heard the distant soothing rush of the cave's many waterfalls and the high-pitched keening of thousands of bats above him before he'd even gotten to the bottom of the staircase.

The first thing he saw – as always – when he stepped out into the cave was the Batmobile on its turntable. You couldn't quite help it, no matter how many times you saw the sleek, black vehicle. It was like the thing was a magnet drawing your eyes directly to it.

This was a little funny, because Bruce had designed it for stealth.

Dick passed the vault that housed his and Bruce's uniforms without a second glance. There wouldn't be any need for them tonight. Bruce had, for once, put crime in Gotham on the backburner in order to pour all his time and resources into researching Wally's father. He was currently their only lead to finding out why the Manhunters were here on Earth.

He went right up to one of the pipe elevators that had been installed into the caves and poked his head around to scan the lab. He was always checking to see if Bruce was working on any experiments or running fingerprints and DNA for a case. Predictably, all of the lab equipment was off and quiet tonight.

The elevator took him to the next level down and opened to a brightly lit trophy room that would make Wally jealous. Dick glanced around the pipe to the darkened workshop behind him just to be sure that Bruce wasn't holed up in there. He walked slowly through the small forest of glass display cases and dragged his fingertips over the one holding Two-Face's coin.

Many of the trophies were from before his time as Robin. The life size mechanical T-Rex loomed over him as he meandered along, and the Penny Plunderer's giant penny cast a long oval shadow across many of the cases. He smiled a little, definitely remembering those two particular adventures. Dick examined the one holding the vampiric monk's red hood and another displaying one of the Joker's cards. And then there was the longest case towards the very end of the trophy 'room'. It held Deathstroke's sword.

Dick knew the stories behind every trophy except for that one. At some point or another during his first years living at the manor, either Alfred or Bruce would regale him with elaborate retellings of all of Batman's most fantastic exploits, but they would never say a word about how Bruce had gotten Deathstroke's sword. He'd known from the very first refusal to his request for the story behind it that he'd better not ask a second time. Something terrible was associated with that sword, and Dick had a feeling that Bruce didn't keep it around for bragging rights. It was kept slightly apart from the others and placed so that it was impossible to get to the other parts of the cave without passing it. Like a reminder.

Dick sidestepped the sword, like he always did, and ventured further into the cave system. He could hear the dull thrum of the hydrogen generator that powered the cave, and just beyond that, the clicking of a computer keyboard.

Bruce was seated in front of the massive supercomputer, typing away methodically. He didn't look up when Dick came to stand behind him, but he had to know he was there. No matter how stealthy Dick was or how hard he practiced, Bruce always knew when he was there.

So, instead of announcing himself right away, Dick looked up at the three large monitors that slightly curved inwards towards the wraparound console. Each screen held multiple windows displaying the entirety of the West and Allen families. Dick's eyes wandered over search results and profiles, skimming over every line as he speed read until his gaze trailed across Rudy West's face.

He felt his eyes narrow into a glare and his face twitch involuntarily into a grimace. It looked like Bruce had already compiled a detailed profile for him. Dick started at the top and worked his way down, taking in every scrap of information in front of him.

Full name: Robert Rudolph West

Date of birth: September 7, 1970

Parents: Ira and Nadine West

Siblings: Charlotte Nadine West – age 43; Iris Ann Allen – age 29

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Brown

Height: 5' 10''

Weight: 200 lbs

Place of birth: Blue Valley, Nebraska

Spouse: Mary West (deceased) – age 38

Children: Wallace Rudolph West – age 16

The list went on and on with a separate window for each name listed. Dick saw photographs and documents recording Wally's grandfather receiving the Nobel Prize. Ira West appeared to be a brilliant physicist and quite famous around the world. At least Dick knew where Wally got his brains from now. He saw several old newspaper scans showing high school football scores and a few yearbook pages with Wally's father as a teenager. Iris' birth certificate and… adoption records?... had their own monitor entirely. Okay, so that was news to him. Wally and his aunt looked so similar. He would have never guessed that she was adopted and that they weren't blood related at all.

Dick noticed that several parts of her birth certificate had been highlighted by Bruce, and each bit of information had at least twenty web browsers devoted to it. It was almost as if Bruce had found something wrong about the document and had torn it apart looking for discrepancies. That was a little odd.

Several windows chronicled Charlotte West's marriage to Edgar Rhodes, the birth of her daughter Inez, and then her divorce. Another three windows listed every detention, suspension, and write up for fighting that Wally's father had ever gotten from second grade to twelfth. Apparently, he'd been quite the bully in school. Also listed was every job he'd ever had or applied for. Dick didn't have any idea how Bruce had gotten hold of rejected applications. What had he done – time traveled back twenty years and gone dumpster diving through restaurants' trash? He must really be determined to hunt down every scrap of Rudy West's life and analyze it.

The typing finally ceased.

"Alfred said that you wanted to see me," Dick moved to a section of the console not being used and leaned against it.

Bruce had never been one to mince words. The typing picked up again, and Bruce's blue eyes didn't so much as flicker away from the monitors, "How was Texas?"

Dick's heartbeat tripped all over itself in surprise. He thought they'd gotten away with that… It had been a few days, and no one had called him or Wally out on it yet. Dick sighed soundlessly and chewed the inside of his cheek in defeat. Honestly, he should've known better. Of course Bruce would track him. Although he'd never been able to find it before, Dick knew that there was a GPS chip hidden somewhere in his utility belt.

"Colder than I thought it would be," he joked weakly.

Bruce's head turned to look at him for a second before his eyes followed. It was eerie. His expression was one of extreme disappointment, and his tone was even worse, "You know that we're standing blind in the face of a possible invasion that could happen at any second. You also know that Kid Flash's father, a deranged man whom we now know has the resources and the motivation to kill his own son, is free. We have no clues as to where he is."

Dick dropped his gaze in shame and braced himself.

"And you and Wally decide to run off halfway across the country by yourselves without telling anyone where you were going or even that you were leaving in the first place."

"You don't understand," Dick tried to explain himself. "The Flash was putting so many restrictions on him that Wally was suffocating. I could tell he was going to bolt whether I went with him or not. I just figured that it would be better if I-"

"Went with him so that he wouldn't be alone if anything happened?" Bruce interrupted him impassively, his stare heavy and unwavering. He gave away no hint of his feelings on that statement.

Dick squirmed under the weight of it. If there was anyone who could sweep his confidence out from beneath himself, it was Bruce. "Exactly…"

"Instead of informing the Flash of his nephew's distress?" Bruce asked. "Who could have easily caught up to him in seconds and dragged him back if necessary."

Dick felt the accusation in his adoptive father's words and flinched. But instead of conceding and admitting fault, he attempted to justify his actions, "That wouldn't have done anything but make Wally worse! He needed to run. You know how speedsters are."

"His uncle would have been more than sufficient to fulfill those needs."

"Wally's family can't see what's going on with him!" Dick insisted. "They're so concerned with keeping him safe that they can't see his state of mind dissolving. And he's so good at hiding it that no one will ever know how bad he is until it's too late!"

Bruce was silent for a few heartbeats as he listened, all the while continuing to stare straight into his protégé without giving anything away. He leaned forward in his chair and rested his arms on his knees, "You think that you know better than his family and that they can't help him as well as you can. Is that right?"

Dick was just stubborn enough to say 'yes'.

His mentor nodded slowly, "What would you have done if Wally's father had a tracker planted on him and he sent Manhunters after you?"

"We would have fought them," Dick said impulsively even though he knew he was wrong.

"They almost killed Black Canary," Bruce said evenly. "Even Wonder Woman was no match for them."

He paused to allow Dick the opportunity to speak again in his own defense, but the young hero passed on it.

"If even five Manhunters had come for you, you both would have been overpowered. Kid Flash is currently at a fraction of his normal health, and you would have been too consumed with trying to protect him to fight effectively," Bruce's voice had reached the border between stoic and angry. He seemed to realize this and took a moment to recompose himself. Dick had his arms crossed almost painfully tight over his chest as a kind of barrier to shield himself from his mentor's disapproval, and his ears were beginning to burn.

"Dick," Bruce's voice was softer now, and he motioned for his partner to come closer. Dick obediently slid down the console until he was standing beside him. "I know that you only want to help your friend, but this is not the way to do it. You need to remember that you are not the only one who cares about him. His aunt and uncle are doing what they believe to be best for his recovery, and you need to respect that. Do you understand?"

Now Dick felt bad, "Yes, but what if they're wrong and they don't realize it?"

"The only thing I recall the Flash doing is pulling his nephew from the Team's active duty roster until he's ready to return and banning him from patrol until he's healed," Bruce spoke logically; his voice was well controlled again. "Those are both the same calls that I would have made if I were in his situation."

"Flash is too busy thinking about keeping Wally safe physically and away from his dad," Dick stated his thoughts slowly to get them across correctly and regrouped mentally to attempt a different tactic. "He's basically cutting Wally off from the Team entirely without realizing what that will do to him."

"He's keeping Wally off the Team because he's not yet ready to return. He'd never be able to keep up right now, and he'd be a weakness that would endanger everyone."

"I do understand that," Dick nodded, seeing that he had Bruce's full attention and that his mentor was actually listening to him. He wasn't about to waste this chance. "But, Wally's already lost so much. I thought that the best thing to do for him would be to keep things as normal as possible. And I get that there's no way he should be allowed to go on missions with the rest of us just yet, but don't you think that it would be more helpful to his recovery if he was still able to interact with the Team in some way?"

Bruce watched him silently for a few minutes, and Dick could tell that he was thinking about what he'd said. He held his breath as his mentor weighed the options carefully before finally responding, "I will speak to Flash about this. He's been looking for safe houses for his family since their identities have been compromised. It's no longer safe for them to stay at their home in Central or even with the Garricks in Keystone. The cave at Mount Justice is probably the safest place for Kid Flash to stay long term. I think you're right; close proximity to his teammates will help him more than staying cut off."

Dick's whole face broke out into a huge, relieved grin, "Thank you!"

Bruce's thoughtful frown relaxed into a small smile as well, and he placed one hand on Dick's shoulder proudly, "See what you can accomplish if you take the time to think of a solution to your problem instead of acting rashly? You did more for Wally just now than you did helping him sneak out and recklessly endanger himself by running off alone."

Dick wasn't entirely convinced of that, but he nodded in agreement. It had seemed like the best thing to do at the time, but he supposed that he and Wally did sometimes think that they could handle things better without adults. That idea...probably needed evaluated a little bit.

"Have you found out anything about Wally's dad?" Dick asked to change the subject. He was relieved to have helped Wally even a little, but he was also glad that he and Bruce were okay. Dick hated being at odds with his adoptive father. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it took its toll. "Anything odd?"

"Personality fluctuations," Bruce replied cryptically. "From what I can gather, Rudy West was a relatively normal child until around age eleven. That's when Iris was adopted into their family as an infant. It's also when I found a sharp decline in his grades, a rise in disciplinary reports, and a marked increase in aggression. It's not clear what started it; it could've been any combination of factors: the addition of a new child, the onset of puberty, his own father's indifference towards him. From what I can tell, this behavior continues on all the way until he leaves high school. There were a few years in which he was on a football team, and during that time he did better, but once he was off the team it started again. It seems like he was alright if he had an outlet for his violence but turned to bullying once that was taken away. He displayed no ambition for scholastic pursuits and didn't join any clubs. He didn't even have a job until he was nineteen."

Dick scanned over the profile that Bruce had put together, following along as his mentor spoke. He saw badly scanned photos of a football team, medical reports, and hacked dental and school records. Everything pointed to a violent, unmotivated, and bitter child.

"Then, his life changed drastically after that. All of a sudden, he's taking any job that he can get an application for. After a quick stint at a vocational school, he has a steady job at a power plant. He's living on his own at age twenty, married by age twenty-one, and a father at twenty-four. From what Wally admitted, his father didn't start beating him or Mary until Wally was six. That leaves a few gaps in Rudy West's life where he is not violent," Bruce leaned back in his chair and rested his mouth on his fist. He glared at his research displayed on the monitors, eyes roving over every word and picture as if any one thing would be what he was looking for – as if he hadn't been pouring over all his notes nonstop. "So, something significant seems to happen at age eleven when the violent behavior starts, age nineteen when he has a sudden drive to get his life together and there isn't so much as a single police report on him, and age thirty when his aggression returns, and he takes it out on his wife and child. I need to find out what the catalysts are for these shifts in temperament."

"How are you planning on doing that?" Dick asked.

"J'onn probed West's mind when we still had him detained. At the time, we didn't know anything about the Manhunters, so he wouldn't have been looking for them in his memories; he was looking for proof of the abuse. But he might have stumbled across something accidentally that can help us," Bruce glanced at the watch on his wrist. "I asked J'onn over a few hours ago, but he's still on Mars trying to convince the planet to ally itself with us. It'll take him awhile to get back to me. In the meantime, I have questions for Iris Allen."

Dick's eyes flickered over to the monitor displaying Iris' own dissected life, and his eyebrows pulled together, "Is it about this?"

Bruce too looked at the monitor, and his face set into a deep frown, "No. I just want her to answer some questions about those three points in her brother's life. If they were close, she'll be my best source of information."

"Why all the attention spent on her birth certificate?"

Bruce tapped some keys on the console, and all of the windows minimized in the blink of an eye, "Some things didn't add up about it. I wanted to be thorough."

"Things like what?" Dick pushed curiously. He knew that sometimes with adoptions, records could very easily be lost.

"The hospital where she was born," Bruce waved it off like it was minor, which instantly raised Dick's suspicions. "The date, her birth parents names. Small details."

Batman and Robin had been partners for a long time now, and there were certain things that they just knew about each other. Their teamwork was so flawless that they hardly needed to speak to each other in battle. They knew each other's tells and methods as well as their own, which was how Dick knew that Bruce was being purposefully evasive.

He let it drop for the moment.

But he fully intended on coming back down here and hacking into the records as soon as Bruce was asleep.

"What can the Team do?" Dick asked restlessly. He'd only just gotten back from Keystone City half a day ago and already he was feeling useless. He needed something constructive to do.

Bruce looked at him out of the corner of his eye and Dick swore that he saw his father's mouth twitch upwards slightly – almost like he was smirking, "The Team can train."

Dick was about to open his mouth to argue when he was silenced by a Batglare.

"An end of the world scenario is not a good enough reason to skip training, in case you were getting ready to say that it would be pointless," Bruce returned to the monitors, waving Dick away from the console absently. "The Team is still on suspension for another week, and the Justice League intends to have you all use the time wisely."

"You mean you're going to let us operate without a 'den mother' for once?" Dick blinked at him. Black Canary was out of commission, but even if she wasn't, the Justice League didn't have anyone to spare to babysit them. He'd been hoping, given the need for every able-bodied hero available, that the League would finally recognize their abilities and give the Team a chance.

The sarcasm in his tone hadn't escaped Bruce. He paused in his typing, back still turned to his ward, "No. You'll have a substitute."

That threw him for a loop. "Who?"

This time, Bruce definitely smiled – only, it was the same smile that Gotham's very worst got right before they were staring down the business end of a batarang. "Suffice it to say that Green Lantern arranged for a friend to teach the Team how to combat the Manhunters."

Dick's stomach dropped into his feet at the ominous words.

"You start in two days."