The future team was sitting at the kitchen table, eating like the starved children they were. Once they had food placed in front of them, courtesy of M'gann and Alfred, who had been called in once the league knew there were four speedsters on the future team, they dug in.
"This is good!" exclaimed Irey, mouth full. Damian smirked, knowing what's coming next.
"Miss Kid Flash, please do not talk with your mouth full. It is not proper for a lady," scolded Alfred, now Agent A. He was wearing his usual suit plus some sunglasses to hide his identity.
"Sorry," Irey said, then stuck her tongue out at Damian. Alfred ignored this, having seen how Dick and Tim act at the dinner table.
"Oh. My. God," said Olivia. "M'gann, A, this is amazing. How can we ever repay you?"
"Call this our little present from the past," said M'gann, not noticing how Damian tensed at her words.
But Colin did. He knew how emotional Damian could get whenever people talked about his father or anything related to the past. And he hides it fairly well from other people. Yet Colin isn't like other people. He knows more.
Meanwhile, another person also noticed. That other person was Batman. Future Robin's deceased father, alive and well. Batman scrutinized future Robin, finding something familiar in his looks, his posture, the way he acted. It was so familiar, but he couldn't exactly place his finger on it.
"Batman, Wilkes, please stop looking at me like that. I can feel your stares boring into my skull," Damian said, placing his fork down and giving a batglare towards Colin, then towards Batman himself.
Colin went back to eating his meal, careful not to lay eyes on Damian while Batman had his mouth open like a gaping fish, surprised that Robin could detect his glare so early. None of the other Robins could. Not even Dick.
Silence became imminent in the room, as tension filled the air. The future team stared down at their food while the past team and the League gave questioning glances towards the future heroes and making it pretty obvious that they were having a mental discussion over the mind link.
'These kids. They're our kids, right?' questioned Hal Jordon.
'Well, they say they're related to some of us, so not all of us may be biologically related to them,' came Nightwing's mental reply.
'But we do know that the older blonde girl is Green Arrow and Black Canary's daughter and that Bart's dad and aunt are the ones in blue and black over there-" Blue subtly pointed at two blond figures in similar outfits "-and that the trench coat boy and red goggles girl aren't related to us by blood," he finished.
'However, the boy in the black and white spandex slipped up and said something about a Son of the Bat when we were thinking up nicknames for future Robin,' said Beastboy.
'Do you think that future Robin could be the actual Son of Batman?' questioned Lagoon Boy. People started to voice their opinions.
'We don't need assumptions, we need proof,' Batman's gruff voice rang out. 'I'm going to sneak DNA samples from their saliva on their cups and run it through the League's database.'
'But we can't. We gave them our word that we wouldn't take DNA samples from them,' said Superman, clearly pissed at having to go back on his promise.
'You gave them your word,' replied Batman. The two powerhouses of the League glared at each other, making the other heroes uncomfortable.
"You guys do know it's rude to exclude the people you're talking about in a conversation," said Dawn, snapping the past heroes out of their conversation. Batman and Superman looked at Dawn, then realized that the entire future team was looking at them expectantly.
"Sorry guys. We were just discussing where you guys would sleep tonight since there are not enough rooms prepared for a sudden emergence of 12 guests," Nightwing said, coming up with a quick and believable excuse.
"A conversation you had to make mentally?" questioned Mar'i a smirk playing on her lips.
Wide-eyed, Nightwing opened his mouth to say something, but only managed to stutter out, "Apparently." Mar'i's smirk grew bigger.
"Well, how many extra rooms do you have prepared?" she questioned.
"Uh." Nightwing looked at the League for help.
"Two" Flash blurted, earning him a few disproving glares from his fellow League members for not thinking his response through and possibly ruining the plan.
"The girls will sleep in one room and the boys in another. Problem solved," Mar'i said quickly, leaving most of the League gaping at her for outsmarting them, most of all for outsmarting a bat.
"Anyway," Zatara II intervened, "we should go get some rest. It's been a tiring day for us with-you know, the time travel, almost dying a few times, starving, the usual. Agent A, where do I put this?" he questioned, holding up his plate.
After having cleaned up after themselves and having helped Alfred wash the dishes, the future team got ready for bed and given an extra set of clothes to sleep with as their uniforms were all dirty and torn up from multiple time jumps, then shown to their respected rooms.
"Damian, do you think they'll find out to whom exactly are we related to?" asked Zatara.
"To be honest Zatara, I don't know. I think they might if we keep slipping up like today McDumagh!" Damian yelled. A soft "Sorry" came from said boy. "But if we don't mess up and we keep to ourselves, we'll manage to keep our secret."
"So, we can't give them heart attacks?" asked Colin. He received a bunch of glares from his fellow roommates. "Jeez, I just want to see the looks on their faces when they find out about you guys. Particularly Damian and Mar'i. I, on the other hand, have nothing to worry about," he said cockily. He got a few pillows in the face for that comment.
Meanwhile, a similar conversation was being held in the room next door.
"Seriously Mar'i. Don't you think Batman will take our DNA samples anyway?" asked Lian. "He is kinda paranoid."
"More like super paranoid," retorted Scarlet.
"Girls. Girls. I think he will take our DNA samples anyway. Actually, I'm counting on it," said Mar'i, igniting a few protests. Mar'i calmed them down. Irey opened her mouth to speak.
"Question: why are you counting on it? I'll crash the time stream, which is not crash at all," said Irey, earning her weird looks from the people around her, followed by murmurs of agreement. 'She takes Bart as an inspiration way too seriously,' Mar'i thought.
"Look, just trust me on this. Everything will turn out fine," Mar'i reassured.
"We don't doubt you Mar'i. We just hope nothing followed us from the future," replied Olivia.
"Flash, did you get the information," said Batman. The Flash nodded, handing him the notes he took on the two conversations the future teams had.
"I don't approve of the bugs you put in their rooms to listen in to their private conversations," said Superman, standing off to the side. Most of the League and Team nodded in agreement.
"Aren't you a bit curious?" asked Batman, knowing that that will get everyone on his side. Superman sighed in defeat.
"Master Batman, I have the DNA samples," Agent A came in with 12 plastic bags with cups in them. "They're all labeled so you know who is the parent of which child."
"Thanks, Agent A," Batman said, taking the bags.
"You know this will mess up the time stream. Well, mess it up even more," said Bart. "Besides, I already know who their parents are." This earned him the attention of everyone in the room. "I shouldn't have said that," he said hastily before making a quick exit.
"Won't time collapse on itself if we mess it up too much?" asked Static.
"Theoretically, it won't," said Batman. "At least not suddenly." He put one of the cups in the scanner. The label read "Robin."
"That is very reassuring," replied Tigress.
"Scan complete," said the computer. "No DNA matches. Showing closest matches."
The screen lit up, as did gasps.
99.9% Match
Unknown=Batman+Talia al Ghul