Pebblekit: Hello everyone! This is my longest ever author's note, but some of it is important to the story. So, if anything, I'd suggest reading the second paragraph for some important information. It's been a long time, but I have started writing again. I'm not entirely certain that this is going to be my best work, mostly because I haven't written regularly in QUITE a while. I've had a lot of personal issues this last couple of years that have been hard to work through, along with a full time school schedule and starting up my own personal crafting business. In other words, life has gotten very busy and something had to take a back seat. That said, to those of you who are waiting for me to update my other stories, I apologize. I will get to them eventually. I'm reworking a bunch of stuff, but it is, slowly, coming. For more information, you can check my profile.

SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT: So, that said, this story…is somewhat…tricky for me. I just recently started reading Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin Reborn and while I have some serious issues with the story, I fell in love with the relationship between Dick and Damian. Especially their exchanges. And Alfred! This story is spawned from my foray into that series as well as my love for Young Justice. I just played the video game ("Young Justice Legacy") for the first time, which spurred me into writing this. Though, I must WARN you guys – I'm not very familiar with Iris West. I've read a few issues with her (not so much her brother) and was rather taken with her character. Enough to be somewhat depressed when I found out she doesn't exist anymore. But, this Iris is…older. As is Damian. They are the Iris and Damian from a slightly skewed "Young Justice" reality, which I say because some things that happened in this story are slightly different than what actually happened in the show. They are not exactly as they were in the comics. Things that happened in the comics also happened in this story, but they'll be addressed as we go along. Also, this is a…slightly one-sided Dick/Wally story. But it's not shoved in your face at all. It's only mentioned by other characters. If that bothers anyone…sorry.

So! For those that are willing to continue, on to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics, any of the characters, any of the settings, Young Justice, or anything to do with it. All I own is this story line, which I am in no way profiting from.

The Antics of Speedsters and Robins

Chapter 1

(Damian) (About fifteen years after the end of "Young Justice")

Damian didn't know the West family. He'd met Wally West a couple of times, off and on again throughout the years they were both active, but only for a mission here and there, and even then, he apparently didn't act as he normally did out of costume. At least, he didn't according to what he heard about the speedster from Drake and Grayson-

He blocked that thought before it went any further. It had already taken him an embarrassingly long time to get this far. If he thought about the older man, he might waver. Not lose his nerve – Damian would never do something as stupid and pointless as that, especially after he'd put so much time into coming to Central City. He just didn't want to be…distracted. As he had been several times the last couple of months.

Instead, he focused on the house in front of him. He didn't know the West family. But he knew about them. Mostly from files on his father's Bat Computer, but also from word of mouth. Members in the Kiddie-Justice-League he'd been forced to fraternize with spoke of them enough for him to have at least an approximate idea of the family.

But Damian hardly remembered Wally past him and Grayson working seamlessly together. He had never seen the man outside of uniform, except in the picture Grayson had kept on his kitchen counter featuring the first Robin himself, about age twelve, grinning mischievously, Wally laughing his head off at something, and a (falsely) scowling Roy Harper with crossed arms. They were the perfect picture of friendship.

But that had been a long time ago. And things were different now. Damian had often looked at that picture in the past couple of months and pretended that he'd known those three people. That he'd understood why they had chosen that day, of all the ones they spent together back then, to memorialize. That he had been standing behind the camera with them, taking the picture. If only so he'd have a piece of him left outside of circus posters that were worn with age almost to the point of falling apart and a torn costume sitting behind glass in his father's cave.

…It was a stupid, childish sentiment. And Damian knew it.

…But…

…But…he hurt. So much. He felt like something important had been ripped away from him prematurely. Every night, he waited, still expecting to hear that goofy laugh pass behind him as he worked on the Batmobile. Even though it was futile, he waited. When it never came, he'd sigh to himself and bury his hands deeper into whatever part he was working on so that his father wouldn't see them shake.

He hated himself for his weakness.

But he couldn't help it.

This wasn't mother. Or father. Or Todd. Drake. Brown. Cain. Gordon.

It was Grayson.

And he…was being childish. But he didn't care at the moment.

Damian shook himself of that thought, realizing that at some point, he'd stopped walking and had just been staring blankly. He grimaced to himself, mentally giving his face a slap for dropping his guard when there could be enemies anywhere, even on this quiet, suburban street. He steadied himself, took a deep breath, and focused on the house before him once again.

He didn't know the Wests. But he knew enough about them to be mildly surprised. Their abode had fallen into a state of neglect that Damian knew Iris or Jai could have fixed within moments (ignoring the fact that the neighbors would surely notice if they did so). The siding, which had been a nice, soft green color, had faded into something that resembled mildew. The plants out front were almost all dead or overgrown and those that weren't were close to being so. The shingles on the roof looked like they needed to be repaired soon. The mailbox was crooked and the letters that spelled out "West" were stained with grime, the 's' missing. One of the front windows was cracked.

Damian wasn't really sure what to make of it. Iris and Jai had both been heroes not too long ago, and their mother, Artemis, still ran missions with both the League and Young Justice. Normally, he'd be disgusted at the amount of negligence right in front of him. But now…

Now, he had lost someone close to him as well.

The teenager sighed deeply, wrapped his arms around himself ONLY because of the chilly, December air, and began to traipse up the sidewalk to the locked door. Discreetly looking in all directions out of habit to make sure no one was watching or following him, he stuck out a gloved finger to ring the doorbell. Even that was dreary, as the electronic bell had gone out of tune and become sluggish with age. Damian ignored it, stubbornly reasoning that so long as it worked, there was no need to replace it.

No one came to answer the door.

He stood outside for about half a minute before trying again, absolutely not shivering and trying to stuff his hands as deep into his pockets as they'd go. After that ring went unnoticed by any inside as well, Damian backed up and peeked through a window, chastising himself for not doing so earlier. It wasn't like him to not look completely at his surroundings before walking anywhere, and he was trying really hard not to think about just how amateurish he was being.

Lights were on inside the house, and he could make out flashes of something in the kitchen that looked like a TV in the living room reflecting off the stove. He went over to the garage, his feet crunching through snow as he walked, and stood on his tip toes to peek in through a window in the door. The car was inside. So it seemed that someone was probably home and had simply deigned to just not answer the door.

Well. That wouldn't do at all.

Maybe what he was about to do was wrong in the eyes of morality and the law, but at the moment, Damian frankly didn't care. He had come for a reason. He had a mission and he would see it through to the end, no matter what that entailed. Besides. It wasn't like he was an enemy or something. So he felt no guilt whatsoever when he vaulted over the fence in the side yard, landed in a pile of snow up to his knees, trudged through it to the back door, pulled out a lock-pick, and went to work.

Within seconds, he heard a small click telling him that he'd been successful and he turned the knob. A blast of warm air hit him, more surprising than it really should have been. He almost gagged on it, not realizing until right then just how numb his face had been after his long journey. The nearest Zeta-beam spot was a good forty-five minutes away in the center of the city while the West house was on the outskirts of the suburban district. Damian figured it didn't really matter though. With two speedsters living in the house who could carry Artemis quite easily (at least, it seemed to be in the video files Bruce had in his database), the family could probably get anywhere they wanted to go in a relatively short time.

Damian caught his breath within a second and closed the door quietly behind him, already scanning the area for any sign of life. If for some reason he was wrong and no one was home, he'd just wait for someone to show up. It's not like his father would notice he was gone or anything.

…Though…Pennyworth might.

Damian had to shove really hard – much harder than he'd like to admit – at the swell of guilt that suddenly rose in his stomach.

Dear Alfred Pennyworth. Probably one of the only people Damian had grown to respect, to the point where he'd never want to disappoint the old man. But…surely he wouldn't if he was home before supper. Surely.

…Maybe.

Damian shrugged to himself, trying to push the concerns back down. He didn't care what Pennyworth thought. Really, he didn't at all.

…But…Maybe he could try and get this over with as soon as possible. Just in case.

So, with that happy thought, he started walking, making a mental map of the house as he went. Everything seemed old, some in slight disrepair, but the childhood crayon drawings and worn furniture spread around made it feel more like a home than the manor ever had. If Damian were honest with himself, it reminded him a little of the way Grayson's old, cramped apartment had felt. A small, but well-arranged kitchen with a breakfast nook that led to a nice, comfy living room with a staircase were as far as he had to explore before he heard the telltale sound of a small explosion coming from down a hallway to the side. He slinked through it slowly, hearing some rustling behind a door at the end.

Damian paused outside for a moment, taking in the sound of someone cursing softly inside the room before he silently pushed the door open slightly and slipped through the gap, shutting it behind him. Jai West was fanning some sort of purple smoke away from a mechanical device that Damian had never seen before. His black hair (which he had to have gotten from his grandmother) was drooping with perspiration. "Come on, come on, don't set off the fire alarm. Please don't set off the fire alarm again," the other teenager was mumbling. Damian blinked in surprise. According to his research, he and Jai should have been roughly the same age, but the other looked to be slightly older.

Damian focused on the matter at hand and cleared his throat. "Jai West –"

He was cut off by Jai spinning around fast. Not…speedster fast, but fast. "WHO ARE YOU?!" He practically yelled, looking Damian up and down.

Well. Some people just couldn't control their over-reactions. Sure, Damian HAD broken in, but Jai had been in the superhero business for awhile. This must have happened at some time or another.

"Tch," he began gathering his words, hoping he wasn't glaring too hardly at Jai. Considering the other boy's slight flinch, he probably was. "Damian Wayne. Though you should be able to recognize your allies on sight."

Jai's eyes widened and he again looked Damian up and down almost like he was a science experiment. "Damian…Wayne…Robin."

"Brilliant deduction," he replied caustically.

"Long time no see. But…what are you doing in our lab?"

Their "lab" was just a room with some tables in it and what looked to be a bunch of junk that was broken. At least none of said tables were wooden. Judging from Jai's earlier reactions, that probably would have been dreadful. Damian chose not to comment on that.

"I came to speak with either you or your sister. Perhaps your mother."

"About what?" No suspicion or anger, just confusion.

"Your father."

And just like that, Damian could tell he'd made a mistake as Jai practically shut down, his face growing dark and his mouth snapping shut.

Dang it dang it dang it dang it. Grayson had always said to slow down and not be so impulsive and blunt-

And that topic was quickly banned. Damian couldn't afford to get distracted when he was trying to do damage control on something he apparently did wrong but didn't understand.

"We'll get back to that, though. I actually need to talk about…Grayson…first. I just…" and no, he did NOT fumble over his words right there. "I have a theory. About his…disappearance. And I-"

"I've heard all about your theories."

Damian hadn't been expecting that. "You have?" He could easily have kicked himself for letting that come out so pathetically.

"Everyone even slightly associated with the League has."

And…that was the root of the problem. Damian had only come here because it was the last place he had left. The only people he thought he'd have a chance talking to about this. Everyone else had dismissed him or written him off. Given up far too quickly. Even his father.

And Damian…had a lot to learn. But he was a little better now at admitting when he needed help. Even if every one of his next words felt like acid coming up from his stomach. "I understand they may seem…farfetched, but I have evidence."

Jai cut him off before he could finish. "I heard no one else agrees with you. Batman told the others you were still in the thick of the grieving process."

Damian most assuredly did NOT stumble over his next words. "I'm fairly certain I'm not mistaken. I just…" and here was where he fell apart. Where his words failed him because he didn't know which ones to use. He had never been any good at this. Suddenly, he found himself wishing he had paid more attention whenever he'd let Grayson do all the talking. "I need help to prove it. To be absolutely sure."

And, really, did that statement really warrant the look of outright pity that formed on Jai's face? "Damian…look. I know how you feel. Really I do. You know I do, or I'm guessing you wouldn't be here right now. It's not easy losing those close to us. I…I went through the same thing you are right now. I wanted to believe so badly that dad wasn't…gone. I did believe it. I spent three years looking for him. But, Damian, there comes a point when you have to realize that it's all just empty, wishful thinking."

'Empty'. Funny. Because Damian felt far too full. Like his stomach was about to reject everything he'd eaten the past couple of weeks and like his heart was about to hurl itself out of his chest. His brain was throbbing so badly he was starting to see double.

Except…that wasn't…It couldn't be. No. Damian wasn't about to start crying. Those were not tears building up and he did not feel the telltale lump growing in his throat.

He didn't.

"But I have evidence," he repeated, hoping that Jai would just stay quiet for a second and let him finish-

"You said you weren't entirely sure, though. That doesn't seem like evidence to me. Not good evidence anyway."

…And no luck. Right. Speedsters. They apparently talked a lot, according to what Damian had been told. He should have planned for that. If he wanted to get his point across, he needed to do so fast, before Jai could interrupt. "There was a strange distortion in the room where he…it happened. After he was gone. It…was a lot like his pulse."

"That could be anything. Pipes in the walls."

"There was another sound," Damian forced, talking over Jai's last couple of words, stupid as they had been, especially for a scientist. "I couldn't make it out at first, so I had to magnify it. The Bat Computer identified it as Grayson's voice. It came up about fifteen minutes after he disappeared."

Finally, Jai didn't seem to know what to say. But he recovered quickly. Not surprising, considering how fast his brain probably worked. "…It could have been an echo or something."

"It was too strong and the sound too pure. It was an actual statement. He said 'I missed you'. He spoke to me just before what happened. He said nothing like that."

Jai worked his mouth for a few seconds before replying. "Damian…look, it's just not possible."

And no. This conversation was not going to be pushed in that direction. Damian would eat his gloves before he let that happen. "We can't know for certain. There was no body."

"There was enough genetic material floating around to prove he was most likely dead!"

Damian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. For a second, his mind was filled with a rather unpleasant mental image of pieces and bits of Grayson coasting around, bumping into walls and ceiling, unable to dissipate. It wasn't pleasant. Damian shook it away, but his voice was still a little more choked than it had been before, much to his chagrin. "But not enough to actually prove it. He was there, and then he wasn't. He could still be-"

"Damian," Jai took a step closer to him, angry now, "he didn't just disappear, he disintegrated. There's not enough left! He's gone!"

Silence fell, for just a moment. Damian, for once, had no comeback, and instead of forming one, he busied himself with watching the realization followed by shame come to Jai's face as the older boy took in his own words.

"Oh…Oh, Damian, I didn't mean-"

"I was there," and this time, Damian's voice was hard as steel, enough so that Jai flinched slightly. "You weren't. I saw what happened. You don't have to remind me."

"I'm sorry-"

"I came here," Damian raised his voice slightly, well aware that he was beginning to sound a little like a frightened child, so he reigned himself in as best he could, trying to keep his face impassive, "because I found that same phenomenon, that same after-voice I've started calling it, in another case the Justice League has on file."

Whatever Jai was about to say, he stopped with a surprised blink. "What?"

A few years ago, Damian would have assumed that he'd actually have to repeat himself and that Jai was an idiot for not being able to pick up his statement the first time. But, since then, he'd learned a lot – especially in the last year and a half or so. Mostly because of Grayson – and yes, he could think the full name without feeling like a lost, frightened cat; he just had to prove it to himself – and he was fairly certain that Jai knew exactly what he had said and was just shocked. So, Damian figured he should just keep going. "It was in your father's case."

Jai was quiet, for a long moment, staring blankly. Damian had been prepared for anger, for disbelief, for even fear. But…Jai's face was filling with something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. "My…dad? He's…"

"His voice," Damian clarified, watching warily as some of the color left the other boy's face. "It was harder to catch because it was in super speed, but when I slowed the recording down, it sounded something like 'not again'. There was more after that but it got garbled. I tried to catch it though other security cameras up and down the street where he disappeared, but most of them were silent and those that weren't were not high quality enough to pick it up clearly."

Jai was still staring at him, looking a little lost. "My dad…is…dead."

"He might not be. If he isn't, there's a chance-"

"NO!" Damian didn't jump at the sudden increase in volume. He really didn't. But he now realized that the expression on Jai's face had been one of hope, one that was quickly being quashed with a very aggressive forcefulness. "He IS. I…I looked. For three years, I looked and…He's gone. That's it."

"He was gone once before," Damian tried to remain calm as he answered. Jai was being rather erratic, but that wasn't unusual in this sort of case. He just needed to keep his wits about him. "In Antarctica. He came back that time."

"I know that," Jai snapped, "Iris and I wouldn't have been born if he hadn't. But this…this is different."

"How?" and Damian really was curious about the other boy's logic. Wally West had disappeared a second time, and while the circumstances had been different than the first time, the end result had been the same.

"In Antarctica," Jai wasn't as good at controlling his emotions as most heroes his age, "dad was bombarded by bursts of kinetic energy. Originally, everyone thought the extra amounts caused his body to lose cohesion and fall apart. But, as we later discovered, that very energy actually slingshot him to another reality. It was because of it that he was able to make it all the way there without so much strain to his body that he actually would have disintegrated. That's not the case this time. He ran too fast on his own with no outside help. There's no way he could have survived."

"You sound as though you are reciting from a textbook," Damian pointed out, irritated that Jai was simply refusing to even think about what he had said.

"I looked for him! I couldn't find him, and not for lack of trying! It took me a long time, but I finally realized what everyone else already knew, Damian. He's gone. My dad's gone and he's not coming back. I'd appreciate if you would stop making me think about it."

Damian took a deep breath. He had to be careful here, because one wrong word could make Jai completely shut down. "Everyone thought that back when he disappeared the first time. Except for Grayson. And Harper, when he made it back home. If they hadn't kept working and looking, we never would have gotten your father back after Antarctica. What's to say that everyone isn't wrong again? That you're not wrong?"

Jai looked like a goldfish for all of ten seconds as he tried to figure out what to say, and when he finally managed to get something out, it was so choked and garbled that Damian almost couldn't understand it. "Get out."

Damian look at him for a long moment, trying to compute the merits of arguing. But even if Jai's voice said he was unsure of himself right then, the set of his body and firmness of his stance said the exact opposite. Jai had made up his mind and there was no way Damian was going to be able to change it. Especially now. Maybe later, after the other boy thought on it awhile. But right now, there would be no point in staying.

So, he shrugged and turned back towards the door, noticing Jai look slightly surprised that he actually was leaving. But he ignored it, even as the other boy seemed to realize just how rude he had sounded, considering that Damian was experiencing a very similar thing to what Jai had just a few years before. His hand fell on Damian's shoulder lightly, hesitantly. "I really am sorry. I just can't…"

But Damian didn't want to hear petty excuses. He had lost Grayson. The most important person in the world to him. He couldn't understand how Jai could just…give up like this. He'd come here because he'd thought – hoped – that someone would understand. Who better than someone who had already gone against everyone else's opinion before? But now… He shrugged the other boy's hand off and grabbed the door knob, pulling it open without a word.

If Jai didn't want to get involved, Damian would leave and do it all himself. Drake had done it when Bruce had been thrown back in the past, so why couldn't he?

Never mind that Drake apparently agreed with everyone else in this case and hadn't answered either of the two e-mails Damian had sent him (which was overwhelmingly generous, considering their history together. Drake should have been happy that Damian had contacted him at all).

He walked through the doorway and slammed it practically in Jai's face, not that surprised when the other boy didn't follow him.

He, however, was surprised when he almost ran into a girl about his own age right outside the door. Iris West had been listening. For how long, Damian was ashamed to realize he couldn't say. The girl had been very quiet. Something poked at the back of his brain, bothering him as he saw her for the first time outside of photos and videos. Jai and Iris were twins, right? And yet…Jai looked like he was at least a couple of years older. It made no sense.

That train of thought jumped straight out the proverbial window though as Damian took in Iris' pity-filled expression. Great. Just what he needed. Without a word, he tightened his jaw, straightened, and made to march right past her without a word. Iris did nothing to stop him as he went, but instead stepped aside. In fact, it wasn't until he was almost at the end of the hall before he heard her voice. "I'm sorry."

Damian forced himself to stop. Iris had done nothing to him. Hadn't upset him like her brother had. She didn't deserve his ire. Yet another remnant of Grayson's teachings.

Not a remnant, no. Because Grayson wasn't dead. And he'd smile that stupid, goofy smile of his, ruffle his hair annoyingly, and offer to spar with wooden swords instead of staves or eskrima sticks when Damian told him about how he'd kept his temper in check once they found each other again.

Because they most assuredly would.

"I…I don't want to make excuses for my brother," Iris sounded sad, so very sad. Damian actually froze because…that's not what he expected at all. "He's just…tired. Really tired. He wore himself out looking for dad while everyone told him it was a waste of time. Even when he ran out of ideas, he wouldn't stop. He ran himself ragged, day in and day out. I went out to find him at least twice a week and found him asleep in some ditch or warehouse somewhere and carried him home. When he finally gave up…he…just…stopped. He had nothing else to work for."

But he did. It was Jai's decision to leave Young Justice. His decision to pull out of the superhero community. Iris, while not part of a team currently, still helped out every now and then, though at fourteen, she was rather young and didn't have a full time mentor anymore. Last Damian had heard, Bart and Barry Allen had offered, but there was apparently some tension there. She was still a part of things, as was their mother, but Jai had withdrawn from his duty completely.

Damian had wondered why, but now, seeing the tiredness Iris was speaking of (and he did, now that he looked back at what had just happened, saw the circles under Jai's eyes and weight on his shoulders), and now having experienced losing someone so important to him…Damian could at least begin to understand. Maybe. A little bit.

He found himself nodding before he'd decided to actually do so. Iris must have been watching him and caught the gesture. "Maybe he'll change his mind later." Though her voice said that she really had no such expectations. "But you…if you truly think there's a way…If you truly think you're right…don't give up. I can't…I can't watch that again. Can't see that hope die."

That was the best thing anyone had said to him this entire time. And Iris didn't even know him.

Damian nodded again, biting down his 'thank you'. The last thing he wanted right now was to show weakness. So, without another word, we walked away back towards the door he came through. Artemis was in the kitchen now, pulling a pot out of the cabinet above the sink. She hardly batted an eye at the intruder in her home and Damian had to remind himself that Grayson and Wally West had been best friends and both had been very close to both Drake and Brown. Wally's wife was probably very used to a bat family member randomly showing up at all times of the day with no warning.

"Are you staying for supper?" she asked, not giving away anything on how she actually felt.

"No thank you," he answered, minding his manners, just as Grayson had taught him.

Artemis nodded at him, not looking surprised in the least. "Alright then. Be careful going home. Do you want Iris to run you over to the Zeta beam?"

Damian shook his head, because that would be nothing short of awkward on too many levels.

"Okay. Would you call when you get home so that I know you made it there safely?" She knew much better than almost anyone, just as all heroes did, just how many things could go wrong in an hour. Damian nodded absently, knowing that even if he didn't, Pennyworth would. Without another word, he opened the back door and walked out into the snow.

Author's Note: Thanks to all of you that made it to the end of chapter one! I'm having fun writing this story, but it's also very difficult for me. I'm very new to both Damian and Iris, and it's rather hard to write them sometimes, so I hope I'm doing them justice. I also hope that nothing was too confusing, what with the bits of comic lore spread throughout. If anything's confusing or seems off, whether in story, characterization, anything really, please let me know. Things are going to be expanded on later. Unlike "Disappearing World", I don't have most of this story written beforehand, so updates won't be as fast as they were then, but I do plan on trying to stay on top of this story as much as possible. Thank again and hope to see you in chapter two, where things start moving forward.