Hope you all enjoy! I do not own any of the characters you recognize, I am simply using them for my, and others, enjoyment! Thank you!

Research Lab

2010

Robin leapt back, gripping the iron railing and swinging underneath to come up behind the hired hand. He swung his leg backed and kicked the man back. The thugs head slammed against the ground. Robin turned back and readied himself for the next attack. M'gann, did you get the files?

There was no talk in the Mindlink. Robin could see beyond the smoke around them that Artemis and Wally were in a two against five fight. Aqualad was being held back by fire and Superboy was currently trying to lift the truck they'd driven into him off. He turned back to the thug in front of him, who'd whipped out a knife.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered. The thug grinned and moved forward to pull Robin down with him. Robin dodged, turning and kicking the man in the back. The thug fell forward onto his hands and knees. Robin flipped up onto the man's back, pushing him down into the rusty iron and then over top in front of him. A single punch rendered him unconscious.

I got them! M'gann said in the link, startling him.

Then we got what he need, Aqualad said. Though I admit I need help here.

Same here! Superboy called out, his voice strained even over the link.

Robin jumped off the catwalk and down into the fires (not the actual ones, thank god) and looked around him. They were being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people around them. They'd been told by Batman to get hard files from being destroyed by a group of anarchist arsonists, say that five times over really fast. They hadn't been on the computer, so Robin was practically useless for this mission in terms of hacking and he'd been found sneaking in with M'gann camouflaged. It was embarrassing. He knew he'd get crap for it later.

But then a different group of people came up and started fighting the Anarsonists (?) and then then Wally had been spotted trying to get Robin and then they were in this whole mess.

Kid Flash and Artemis were both almost completely gone and Robin could feel the men beginning to surround him. He steadied himself and let out a long breath. It was his fault for getting caught and getting them in this mess. So he'd get them out. Or he'd try. He fell into a fighting stance and launched himself at one of the thugs. Really, he had to get Aqualad out of the flames. He saw M'gann out of the corner of his eyes pulling the truck off of Superboy. Good. They needed him too. Robin twisted around one guy and threw his Birdarang into three of the men's chest. He didn't wait around to see them fall back from the mini explosions, instead he twisted back around and knocked the man he was using as a pivot point out and slammed his body into the next guy.

"Stand down!"

Everything froze. Robin looked around him, the man falling to the ground.

Black Mask stood at the top of the catwalk, holding his .22 toward Robin. Several dozen more men were around them, all pointing their automatics at them. Robin froze. Shit.

"You know," Black Mask said, turning to one of his men. He twisted a knife in his hands. Robin could feel that shit-eating grin underneath the black skull mask. "You'd think the League would be kind enough to send actual heroes. Too bad, too, I'd much rather not waste the effort on these kiddos."

Robin narrowed his eyes. This was wrong. Batman hadn't found any connection with Gotham Mobs, not that he'd been looking for it, and there was no reason for Black Mask to want this file. Not unless he'd been hired out by someone who wanted it. That could be anyone and Batman hadn't exactly specified why this file was wanted, just that it was. Not that Robin didn't have an idea anyway, he'd downloaded the case file before they'd even left. But this was research, important research the government was conducting, but research nonetheless that Black Mask shouldn't have an interest in! It wasn't money.

But it could be worth a lot of it.

"We're not kids!" Kid Flash bit out, tied back by one of the thugs. Artemis was sitting with a scowl on her face, glaring up at Mask with steely eyes. She would know who they were dealing with just from living in Gotham. Not that Robin would know that she lived in Gotham but still. It would help.

"What do you want, Black Mask?" Robin snapped.

The man looked down at him and nudged his man again. "Well, would you look at that? It's the bat-brat. Big Man finally get rid of you, kid? Trade you off to the team for a better birdy?"

Robin ground his teeth. He glanced at Aqualad. The Atlantean looked deathly ill, and Superboy and Miss Martian were nowhere to be found. No doubt they'd disappeared when Black Mask showed up and were planning an escape. Hopefully. But they needed to go about this smart because guns could still hurt most of them and Superboy couldn't come in fists blazing and risk them all getting shot.

"Too bad, I did like you," Mask said, shrugging, "you all put up a good fight. Sorry about the Atlantean. He looks a little worse for wear." Mask didn't sound remotely sorry at all. He walked down to the center of the catwalk and loomed over them, his hands gripping the railing and his knuckles a pale white.

Robin scowled. This wasn't a game! Kaldur could die and it would be his fault because he'd gotten caught! Him! He felt a twisting sensation in his gut. The entire situation was unsettling.

"But I'm going to need that file you all stole from me. You give me that, I'll douse that little fire and you all can walk free. Call it collateral damage," Mask said with a shrug.

"We don't have it," Robin snapped, the twisting sensation getting worse. The pipes around them creaked.

"I think you're lying," Mask said quietly. "You don't get it bird-boy, I'll shoot your friends. Think the little speedster over there needs his legs?"

One of the men turned and held his gun to Kid Flash's knees. Wally's eyes widened and began to struggle, pulling away from the guns. One of the thugs slammed his fist into the redheads face. Blood trickled down from his hairline and Wally stilled, breathing raggedly.

"You do," Mask said. "I know you do. Just hand it over."

Robin felt his breath quicken. He didn't have the file. Miss M did, and she was MIA.

Guys? He said nervously. Man he wished Rocket and Zatanna had come on this mission.

Trying to find a way to distract them! M'gann said hurriedly.

Literally anything but busting in here and just outright attacking them out be perfect, Robin said, blinking up at Mask. The mobster was leaning over the railing now, relaxed and his hands folded neatly.

"Fine," Robin conceded, "I'll give you the file." He slipped one of his empty flash drives from his utility belt and held it out. "It's all downloaded here."

He could almost feel Mask's grin. "Ah, good boy." He signaled to one his men. A larger man with a gun stalked toward Robin and held his hand out expectantly. Robin dropped the flash drive into his hand. The man grinned and held it up to Mask, shaking it a little in his fist.

Mask smiled. "Kill them," he said.

Robin's stomach twisted and it felt like a dam was breaking open. And then everything exploded. The pipes twisted in the air beneath the catwalk and flipped all the men on it onto the ground feet below them. The water went everywhere, shooting out and dousing them all. Robin felt his stomach drop. Oh god. He jumped away and ran to Kid Flash and Artemis. The men around them had been slammed into the walls around them. Robin slipped out a birdarang and slit the ropes that bound his friends.

"We need to go," he said, turning back around to where Aqualad was shakily standing up. The fire was gone and the Atlantean hadn't been spared the water. In fact, none of them had. Robin looked down at himself, completely dry.

"Go!" their leader shouted. Kid Flash ran over and helped Aqualad up. Artemis and Robin looked to each other before they both sprinted out of the warehouse and to the parking lot where the Bioship was hidden. It appeared before them in red and blue, the bottom opening up. Superboy leaned out with his arm reaching down for Robin to grab. The boy leapt up and grabbed it. The alien pulled him through and then reached for Artemis. They both sat on the floor of the Bioship as M'gann guided the ship down so that Kid Flash could guide Aqualad up. Before they'd even seated, M'gann was pulling up.

"ETA is twenty minutes at top speed," she said, and then paused. "What happened back there?"

Kid Flash jumped up. His face was streaked with wet soot. "It was awesome! Right before we all died, Kal here made all the pipes burst and saved us! I didn't even know you could do that!" He turned back to the Atlantean, who was leaning into one of the chairs M'gann morphed up from the floor. The older teen frowned, holding his stomach.

"It was not me," he said.

Kid Flash shook his head. "No need to be modest!"

"I am not being modest. I was too weakened by the flames to control any of the water," Kaldur said, straightening up and looking at Kid Flash in the eye.

"Well, then, who made the pipes burst?" Kid asked, looking over at everyone.

Robin felt a knot form in his stomach. Why did he have the unsettling feeling that it'd been him? He didn't have a traceable meta-gene according to Batman but he'd felt all those pipes. All the water in the room. He knew where it'd all been. To an old water bottle lying in the corner of the warehouse to the pipes running underneath the catwalk to the sweat on Artemis's brow. He'd felt it all. And that just didn't make sense. Maybe there was Atlantean in his blood that he didn't know about, but that wouldn't make sense either. Most Atlantean's had aptitude for magic and that allowed them to control water, but Aqualad was right. Once he'd been exposed to fire long enough, he was too weak. That fire had been blazing— he would've been effected too. He held a hand to his stomach.

"I… think it was me," he said slowly, furrowing his brow.

The team turned to him. He hadn't said anything since the warehouse.

"Uh, what are you getting at, Rob?" Wally asked.

Artemis frowned, rolling her shoulder back and forth. "Yeah, you don't have powers."

He bit his lip. "Yeah. I mean, I know that. But I… I felt the pipes. And my stomach was doing this weird twisting thing and everything kind of exploded in my head when the pipes twisted and burst. That, and aside from Superboy and Miss Martian, I'm the only one completely dry." He looked over the team.

"You activated your meta-gene?" Artemis said. She looked skeptical, but nodded. Robin was right. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and she were all soaking wet. There was no way Robin would've been able to avoid the water. It'd burst in all directions, coming from the ground, the side, and above.

"That's the thing! I shouldn't even have a meta-gene!" he exclaimed. "Batman's checked. There's nothing there. I have no aptitude for powers. I shouldn't have been able to feel the water!"

"Robin."

Robin's head snapped to the leader. Aqualad was standing there, still holding his side, but otherwise he looked alright. His pale green eyes were hard. "We will figure this out when we return. It will do well to remain calm and wait until we can explain to Batman what happened. Then we may figure out what has occurred and why you seemed to have awaken dormant abilities," the Atlantean said, his voice final. Robin slumped down, his shoulders dropping.

Oh god. He'd have to tell Batman. Bruce didn't particularly like metas. Not because he didn't trust them, but because they were generally assholes and the part of the whole point of Batman and Robin were that they didn't have powers, they didn't have any abilities. They did everything on their own. They were superheroes in their own right, on their own, with no abilities. They shouldn't have to be different from humanity to save it.

Robin nodded to his leader.

"Five minutes out," M'gann said, her eyes lingering on Robin as the mountain appeared in the distance.

Dread began to settle on his stomach. What was he going to say? And wasn't the meta-gene typically activated through intense stress and trauma? If anything, it should've activated almost five years ago, you know, at the circus. Would it change how he looked? Talked? Acted? Some activated genes made people go insane. It changed their physiology to adapt. And sometimes not for the best. Would Robin suddenly turn blue? He wasn't sure he could live with that. As far as he knew, his parents hadn't had any abilities, nor his Aunt, Uncle and cousin.

"Landing," M'gann said quietly.

Robin could feel Wally's stare on him. He glanced away at the file, eyes narrowing. It had better have been worth it. The landed slowly and M'gann opened up the floor of the ship. There, in the loading dock, was most of the league. The team all glanced at each other, eyes wide with confusion. Was the file this important to the league?

Batman stepped forward, eyes lingering on Robin for a moment before he looked over the team. "What. Happened?"

"I got caught," Robin said before Aqualad could say anything, "when Miss Martian and I went to go find the file. Wall— Kid Flash tried to rescue me and then he got caught. And they took us to this loading warehouse or something. Miss M went to get the file and the rest of the team," he paused to breathe, "went to rescue KF and I." He looked down at his feet. This was so embarrassing. The entire league. "Superboy got hit with a truck. Artemis got us free, and then these other guys came to try and get the file. Something got hit with a gun and a tank exploded and everything went down in flames. Aqualad was out of commission and we were being overwhelmed. And then, ugh, Black Mask showed up demanding the file. I tricked him and gave him a Flash drive that I had, saying I'd downloaded it on there. And then he said to kill us."

The league's eyes widened. One of the Green Lanterns turned away and murmured something to Hawk Woman.

"What happened next?" Batman asked, turning Robin's attention back to himself.

"The pipes exploded and Mask fell off the catwalk. We escaped," he turned back to Miss M, who held the file gingerly in her hands.

Batman gestured for her to come forward. The Martian walked over to Batman tentatively, handing him the file in silence. Batman looked it over once before he turned and handed it to Superman, who was decidedly not looking in the direction of the team at all. The Dark Knight turned back to the team.

"So you got off on a fluke," he deadpanned.

Robin winced, looking away. He took a deep breath. "No, I think I made the pipes explode."

Silence.

He's not looking at anyone and he barely sees the floor at all. His face is twisted into a permanent wince and his hands are curled into fists.

"Robin, report to med bay. We need to test you," Batman said, his voice is deathly low and Robin immediately walks past everyone and toward the inside of the mountain. He can hear his mentor's voice fading. "I expect a full mission report from all of you."

When Robin reached the med bay, he flopped down on one of the beds and removes his mask. He looks in one of the mirrors. There's a sink above it and he can see his ragged face. He's covered in soot too, but completely dry. He closes his eyes and runs a hand through his dirty hair. He feels wrong— well, no not wrong because it feels as if there's been a weight off his chest that he didn't even know was there has been taken off. But still… wrong.

The door hisses open and Batman steps in. The door closes behind him.

He immediately takes off the cowl and the only thing Dick can see is concern.

"Bruce," he said, his voice cracking. He's not even embarrassed. "What's happening to me?"

Bruce, not Batman because he's so human right now, hesitated. "I'm not even sure. We'll have to have Barry look. Clearly I missed something," he said. Dick looked away, frowning.

Bruce cleared his throat, moving to sit down on the chair next to the bed. "Did your parents—?"

"No," Dick said abruptly, "No they didn't. Or Aunt Karla or Uncle Rick." He looked away, biting his lip. This is surreal. He can't have powers. There's no way. He's human, normal.

"They never mentioned anything?"

"No," he said, his voice growing softer. He doesn't want to talk about this. He wants to go home and suddenly he desperately wishes he were a kid again, just so he can have an excuse to climb into B's bed and sleep there. But he'd too old for that now, he was too old for it then, but he'd have so many nightmares since he needed that.

The door opens. Flash is standing there. He looks solemn, which is generally not a good look for Barry Allen, but he can feel the tense emotion in the room. Behind him is Clark and Diana. Bruce breathed out.

"You need to get DNA," he said, moving away from Dick. Clark moved around the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Why me?" Dick asked. "Of everyone on Earth, why me?" He turned away and then looked at Bruce. "I still get to be Robin right?" there's unanswered fear in his voice and his eyes are wide and terrified. Because, god, what if developing powers means he won't get to be Robin anymore?

But Bruce smiles a little and rubs Dick's hair. "Of course you will, chum."

Dick lets out a sigh of relief and out of the corner of his eye, he can see Diana raise an eyebrow and grin in Bruce's direction. The man is ignoring her, instead focusing probably too hard on what Barry is doing. She turned toward Dick then, and her expression changes. It looked like she's looking hard for something and isn't quite sure what she was seeing. Dick turned away.

He hated the scrutiny.

They all sat in silence as Barry drew blood and took several swabs of DNA.

"The team is getting antsy," Clark said suddenly, as Barry capped everything off. "I can hear them."

Dick turned back to Bruce. "They're gonna wanna know what's happening," he said, "And someone on your team just developing powers isn't really a daily occurrence."

Bruce winced. "Right. Of course not. We can explain after we've dealt with it. We don't even know half of what's happening. Which, you need to tell us exactly how you felt. Consider this an unofficial report."

Dick grinned halfheartedly. "I just felt a twisting sensation in my stomach. Like I was being pulled. It got worse and worse and then… everything just kinda snapped when Black Mask said to kill us. I could feel the water everywhere when everything burst open. I was the only one not soaked when we got out of there and there was no way I just didn't get wet. It just… didn't touch me," Dick said honestly. He shrugged a little at the end.

"You felt the water?" Diana asked, crossing the room to stand in front of the bed.

Dick rubbed his arm where Barry had pricked it with the needle. "Yeah, like I knew where it was."

"There's something different about you," she said, eyes narrowing. "Not in a bad way, but there's… an aura. Don't you all feel it?"

Clark and Bruce looked at each other before turning back to Diana. "What are you talking about?" the alien asked.

"I don't know. It feels... familiar, but different too," she shook her head. "We can figure this out later."

"We will! In about two to three days," Barry exclaimed. "I'll get back to you then, B. It'll take a bit to go through all the proper tests."

Bruce sighed. "I figured. Take your time." Bruce pulled his cowl back on, transforming him back to Batman. "Ready?"

Robin smiled and nodded, sticking the mask back on. He could feel the glue was loose, but it would have to do for the walk back to the Zeta-tubes. He slipped off the bed and smiled shakily at Clark, Diana, and Barry. Barry put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll figure this out in no time, kiddo," he said with a grin. Robin smiled back.

"Thanks," he whispered. Batman whisked him out of there and toward the Zeta-tubes. The team was milling around and Batman wasted no time. He didn't even stop walking. Robin had to practically jog to keep up with him.

"I'll read your reports in the morning, make sure they're finished."

Wally opened his mouth to speak, but one meaningful glare from Robin shut him up. The redhead's angry stare faltered and he turned away and crossed his arms. Robin would deal with him later, once he knew how to deal with what was going on too. He hadn't even had a moment to process it, not really. He'd been too panicked about what Batman was going to think. It seemed Bruce was keeping a clear head, but that could change when they stepped through the Zeta-tube.

He waved briefly to the team before he stepped into the tube. The Batcave materialized moments later, Alfred waiting in front of the Zeta with a try of tea.

"I take it your mission went successfully?"

Robin winced. Batman appeared next to him.

"We got the file, if that's what you're asking," he said, taking a cup off the tray. "Thanks."

"Of course, Master Robin," Alfred said, raising one eyebrow before he turned to Batman.

Bruce slipped the cowl off his face and took a cup. "Thanks. There were, eh, complications."

Robin slid into the seat of the batcomputer and scowled. The computer was off and only the ambient lights Bruce had installed lit up the area. It felt cold and blue and sour. He sipped the tea.

"Complications, sir?" Alfred asked, looking between the two. "I take it you're part of the 'complications', then, Master Dick."

Dick slipped his mask off and nodded. "Part, yeah right. More like all of the complications."

"Are you going to say it or will you both continue to dodge around the issue?" Alfred said, his voice pointed more at Bruce. The younger man winced. Bruce looked a little haggard. Dick supposed that he was already stressed with the team getting the file. And they had, technically, completed the objective. They'd retrieved the file for the League. At first, they'd been complaining that they were just errand kids for the League. A mission to get a file? Were they serious? But then they'd gotten it and gotten back and the entire League had been there.

The League had trusted them to get the file. Clearly it'd been important.

"It seems that Ro— Dick, might've developed… or rather, activated, a dormant meta-gene," Bruce said slowly, gathering his words. He was stripping off his gloves and utility belt.

Alfred looked between the two and set down his tray on the cleared steel medical table behind him. Dick was slouching even further into the chair and Bruce had turned behind the changing rooms and arrived a moment later in sweatpants and one of his tank tops.

"I see… I was not aware that Master Dick even had a meta-gene," the Butler said. He'd turned to Bruce. The man was standing there pinching the bridge of his nose. He sighed deeply and nodded.

"Neither was I. I'd done tests before to see if he had a notable meta-gene, but nothing was traceable. I must've missed something. I'm having Barry look at some sample he collected before we left," Bruce said, scooting Dick from his seat. "I'll go through your DNA on file again and see if there was something there that I overlooked."

Dick slid from the chair and stood up straight. He nodded, not verbally responding because really what could he say? "I'm going to go to bed, it's been a long night." He headed to the changing rooms and disappeared around the corner. What now?

Slowly he stripped from his Robin uniform. Alfred had brought down some workout clothes, which is lately what he preferred sleeping in. He looked over in the mirror. Ugh, he needed to shave. He forgot that his dad had said when he was younger that he'd have to shave really early. Why couldn't he get tall?

Didn't puberty hit all at once? You know, height, shaving, and pimples? But no, he had to go get water powers and make pipes burst. Maybe he should change his name to Pipeboy. He sighed and threw his uniform into the laundry bin on the side of the room. What came next was what he needed to focus on. If Barry came back and say they had missed something, then what would they do? And what would his powers entail? He couldn't feel the water anymore, and he definitely couldn't control it. He scowled and stalked out the door, slamming it behind him. He winced, waiting for Alfred's disapproving harrumph. None came.

Dick walked up to the elevator that led to the library and stepped in. It shot up, and the bookshelves greeted him. They'd figure it out. They would.

Central City

Early Morning, two days later

Barry leaned over his coffee and stirred the almost blonde drink. Then he scowled.

"What's wrong?" Margaret said, leaning across her desk to watch the man glare into his cup of coffee.

Barry pouted. "They burned it."

"Again? Why do you keep going there?"

"I like it there," he paused. "And they don't always burn it!"

"The past twenty times you've been they've burned it. And you still go there. And you still drink it," the woman said. She leaned back into her chair and put her hands behind her head. "Oh, I snagged that DNA off the synthesizer for you. What were you looking at?"

Barry almost dropped his burned coffee on the ground, which really wouldn't have been that much of a tragedy if it weren't for the fact that he currently needed some caffeine. He turned to stare wide eyed at Maggie, the dark skinned woman staring at him with a strange expression on his face. "Cold case," he said hurriedly, "just thought I'd look at the evidence again. It, uh, matches what's on file."

"You know Cap prefers you working active cases. That's kind of why we're here," the woman said. She stood up and adjusted her classes. "Speaking of active cases, you need to look at the Stilinski case."

Barry looked up. "Huh? Oh, yeah, right. That. I'll get on that. Where'd you put my files?"

"Still over there. I'll see ya' later," she said, waving him goodbye as she disappeared behind the door.

He let out a sigh of relief and rubbed a hand over his face, glaring down at his coffee between his fingers. "I need to stop leaving League investigations around here at work," he sighed. He stretched and stood up, turning back to the lab and walking through the glass doors. Everything was more or less where he left it. Maggie had shifted some things around and changed the light on the microscope. He flipped the knob and sighed.

Wally had been bothering him for the past two days about the DNA and blood results. And it wasn't that Barry wasn't forthcoming with his doubts generally. He often shared his findings with police cases to Wally on the deal that Wally would keep his mouth shut. And the kid generally could when it came down to it. But this was serious. And Barry knew Bruce wouldn't appreciate it if Wally found out exactly what was wrong with his son before he did. Barry put on his glasses and leaned down to look at what had been printed.

He read it over one time. Then a first. Then a second.

"No way," he muttered. "No, no, no. This has gotta be wrong."

He knew it wasn't.

He folded it up and gathered everything and put it all in a yellow mailing envelope before he sprinted out of the office to grab his jacket. "I'll be back later, I've got something to do! See you cap!"

"Barry—." The voice had faded before it'd even reached his ears.

To be continued...