Freddie's POV

"You think that the League is onto us!?"

I scrunched up my nose at Jessie's loud exclamation and glanced quickly around the room. Most of the others were already upstairs but Sam, Cole, and Des were still in the basement talking with Cameron. Luckily, they mainly didn't seem to hear Jessie's outburst but I did see Des flinch. Letting out a breath through my nose, I turned back to the monitors.

Tapping my foot under the desk, I replied to the younger blond. 'No, I just said that the alert I had for them went off.'

His green eyes narrowed at me. "But you have that alert set for if something that involves us or sounds like us enters their system."

'Or for anything that warrants an investigation in Bludhaven,' I try to calm him. 'How about you check out what caused the alert and I continue sorting through these files?'

Jessie frowned at me, but I just smiled back at him until he let out a huff and threw his hands in the air. "Fine!" He spun around in his chair a couple more times before settling and racing his fingers across the keyboard. Letting out a laugh, I turned back to my own screen and got to work. "Oh, shit."

Surprised, I push myself next to Jessie. A frown stretched across my face as I viewed the document and where it originated. As I kept scrolling, I realized that this was very not good. Turning back to where Jessie was continuing to freak out I tried to get his attention. I finally gained it by kicking him in the shin. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Des start making her way towards us.

'I thought you liked Batman?' I signed at him confusedly.

"Well yeah," he replied like it was obvious. "He's way better than Captain Underpants and most of the others. But that doesn't change the fact that he might make me go back to my dad!"

I tilt my head at him. 'Why would he make you go back to your dad?' He let out a frustrated sound, clutching his hair, and buried his head into his knees. By then, Des has finally made her way behind us so I directed my question to her. 'Why would Batman make Jessie go back to his dad?'

She blinks slowly at me before glancing down and putting a calming hand on Jessie's back. "He wouldn't do it on purpose but he might place Jessie in a position where it would be easy for his dad or mom to get to him." Her eyebrows furrow and a frown appeared on her face. "Why? What prompted this conversation?"

Tilting the screen towards her, I replied, 'It seems like Batman has started to gather information on us. He doesn't have a lot though, and it doesn't seem like he has shared it with the rest of the League yet.'

I felt Des freeze next to me. She took a deep breath before straightening up. "Do you think he might know that we have Cameron?"

'I don't think so. We erased all the information on the computers but there could have been something that slipped through the cracks.'

"That's something at least," Des sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. A troubled look appeared on her face but its gone as soon as its there. "Did you finish going through the stuff you got from the labs?"

"Mostly," Jessie grunts, finally peering up from his legs. Stretching out, he leans over me to get to my area. I retaliate for disrespecting my personal space by poking him in the side. "Freddie still has to do a couple more things before we're completely done."

Offended that he made it sound like it was completely my fault we weren't done yet (I had the bigger work load to start with), I gave him a shove. He yelps as he's dislodged from his chair and I lean over to stick my tongue out at him. Looking back up at Des, who stood there with an amusement in her eyes, I signed, 'It shouldn't take me that long. Two hours max.'

Shaking her head fondly, she replied, "I think the rest can wait until tomorrow. You two should head to bed, it's getting pretty late." Jessie cheered, jumping from the floor and racing to the stairs. I was a little more hesitant. I hated leaving work unfinished and it wasn't like we had any school tomorrow. I could shove the sleepiness down for a little while longer, I could finish, sleep late, and double check everything before going out for patrol again.

Almost like she was reading my thoughts (or watching my emotions closely), Des huffed and pulled my chair away from the desk to push me out towards the middle of the room. "Oh, no honey. When I said you should go to bed, I meant that you are going to bed." Gripping the armrests tightly, I looked up at her with pleading eyes, not caring if I was acting a little childish. But Des had her 'no-arguments' face on. "Freddie. Go. To. Bed. It'll still be there tomorrow. I promise that no one is going to touch it." I let out the closest thing I could to a whine and stood up reluctantly. Des ruffled my hair before I started trudging my way up the stairs and out of the basement.

When I passed the living room, I noticed that the light was still on. Curious, I poked my head through the doorway. Riley was lying on the couch. Her face scrunched up in thought while she rubbed her hands together. She must've heard my footsteps because she turned away from her glaring contest with the ceiling and gave me a tired smile.

"Des make you come upstairs?"

Letting out a puff of air, I gave her an affirmative nod. Riley chuckles at my disappointed mood. Quieting down, her face twists again. "Jessie told me that the League has some information on us."

'Batman actually. It didn't look like he shared it with the rest of the League yet.' I signed to her. Confused, I ask, 'Why is everyone so afraid of the League. Aren't they the good guys?'

"If you want to get technical, then yes, they are the good guys," Riley stated. "We're worried about them because we don't follow the rules like they do."

I frowned. 'But we share a common end goal.'

"Yes, but they won't see it like that. They'll see a bunch of criminals doing some questionable things."

'They want to arrest us because we do things differently than them?'

Riley sighed and scrubbed her face with her hands. "In a way, yes. But they only want to arrest some of us like Cole and I. Otherwise, they will separate the rest of you and most likely put all of you into the system."

My blood froze in my veins and I stared at her. I felt my hands shaking by my side and I clenched them in an attempt to stop. 'They can't do that! We're a family!'

"It doesn't matter Freddie, to them we're just a bunch of thugs taking care of children we shouldn't have gotten custody of," she grits out. She looked up after her rant and her eyes softened when they landed on me. Standing up, she quickly strode across the room to pull me into a hug. I felt her pet my hair as I cry into her stomach. "It's okay, najmay (1), neither Des or I will let that happen," she crooned.

Sniffling, I asked, 'What about Cole?'

Her body shakes as she laughed. "Oh, I'm sure he has something very special planned for the heroes just for making you scared."

1- Arabic for 'my star'