Roy sat in the chair, staring at the TV. His arrows slung over the back of the chair, while his bow sat on the table beside him. It was the nightly news, ironically recapping the morning news. The TV was muted, but Roy still saw himself and several other men and woman in costumes, in front of a large audience. He saw himself talking to Green Arrow- his adopted father.

He felt sick. He remembered himself taking the box of Staro-Tech from Green Arrow, to do him a favor since he had to get something in for work.

He went up to the Watchtower. One by one, he took heroes and heroines, slipped a Staro into their necks…

Green Arrow. He came in after work…

Black Canary. His body came to talk to her in the hallway and pinned her…

Batman…

He could have infected anyone of his younger friends, but he had been "programed" to get Batman.

Sportsmaster! That- monster- had control of him with one simple word.

He was a puppet.

Did Cheshire know about it too? Probably… that meant she could have had him do anything, and he wouldn't be able to stop him.

He wasn't a hero. He was a fraud.

A kid who was a hero. As an adult, he got mind-controlled to betraying everyone who ever carried about him.

The feeling of nausea caught in his chest and throat, causing him to wheeze.

I can't do this. What did I do? How did I get like this? How did they get to me? I need to stop them-

"Roy? What are you still doing up?" The dark, calm voice of Kaldur entered the room.

"I- I betray-betrayed them. I -" He wheezed, pulling on his short red hair. "I'm a germ."

"Roy. Please stop." Kaldur said, closing the gap, holding his hand.

"No. Don't touch!" Roy hissed. "I'm the mole. A lie."

"Stop. Roy- you were manipulated. You saved all of us." He looked him straight in the face.

The two went silent for a minute. Roy caught his breath.

"You aren't just going to run out on me, are you?"

"I work best solo, or with one partner. And I turned G.A. into a zombie."

"Then let me be your partner. Kid Flash, Robin- the others. Let us help you. We just need a plan- some answers-"

"Wait!" Roy said, suddenly sitting up straight, eyes twitching. "If G.A. is a- and you guys got the Star-O tech first, how do I know you haven't been infected? Tell me something you haven't told anyone else. Tell me who broke your heart."

Kaldur looked down, sighed and looked Roy straight in the eye. "Tula. The girl I love chose my best friend Garth over me, while my best friend on the surface world has been mind-controlled, and won't stop thinking it's his fault."

Roy and Kaldur held eye contact, not blinking. He needed somewhere to rest and someone to trust.

At that point, he just let go of Kaldur's hand. The dam burst and his heart started to break.

"I just-I want to be alone." Roy murmured, staring into the TV screen.

"Okay." Kaldur hand hung at his side, but didn't leave the room. He sat on the floor, cross legged and watched the silent news channel, laying his weight into the chair.

Robin's P.O.V.

Robin stared emptily at his utility belt. He had already checked his suit and gear for bugs. Twice. And he had helped the others with their checking. Now, he sat on Roy's spare room bed trying to think.

"If I use the holo-watch, Batman could trace me. But I'm pretty useless without information."

"Dick? Are you in there?" Connor asked, knocking on the door.

"Yeah, come on in." Dick answered him lazily, not taking his eyes off the watch.

The two teenagers sat on the bed.

"So, what do we do?" Connor asked.

Dick looked up and stared at him. "Really? I don't know." He noticed Wolf was laying beside him, giving him a pat.

"I know. My mind is reeling." Connor said. "So, we're here tonight."

"Yeah. Roy keeps himself pretty quiet. I bet he even used a fake name to rent the place, just in case."

"Just out of curiosity, how do you know that?"

"When he was Speedy, we all didn't have licences. So he got a couple fake I.D.'s made so he could ride us on a motorcycle in our civilian modes and Green Arrow never found out. Technically, Dick Grayson, Artemis and Zatanna Zatara are too young to ride motorcycles."

"If we get out of this, can you get me a licence?" Connor asked.

"When. And yes. We can give you lessons." Robin said, despite him not looking forward to squaring up to Batman, at least until he had more of an idea how to do this.

"STARtech is a neurologically imputed device. M'gann could override them? Or maybe-" He stopped and pumped his fists. Wolf jumped down and stalked beside the door, teeth barred.

"Connor?" Robin asked.

"I heard something." Connor said, standing up towards the door.

The two sat in deafening silence.

The sounds of multiple footprints and a swoosh of a cape came closer and closer.

Them? Robin mouthed.

Connor strained to hear through the thick doors, but the quiet voices and multiple walls and a TV and the footfalls made voice recognition impossible.

"…Su-Man…"

"….what?"

"OW!"

"Shhhhh!"

Then it all went quiet.

He heard Dick's heart stop, however, when a set of footsteps stopped outside the door and knocked on the door, the fabric swishing to a halt.

-Knock, knock, knock-

Connor balled his left fist, curling his fist with his right around the knob. He slowly opened the door and started his hand through the air-

"Connor!" M'gann shouted in surprise. He stopped and jumped back, tripping over Wolf and sprawled on the bed.

"M'gann! I- I'm"

"We, thought you were the Justice League- a member that wears a cape." Robin said quietly over Connor's shock and shame of nearly attacking M'gann.

"Oh." She touched his hands, pulling them close to her. He absently traced her crook of her hand between her hand and thumb gently with his thumb, as if she were a butterfly. Wolf sat beside Connor, resting his head on his paws.

"I'm going to cheek- CHECK on the others." Robin pointed to the door and walked briskly, cheeks warm.

Kaldur and Roy had just come inside, pushing a kinetic bubble made by Rocket, an immobile, fully foamed Plastic Man. "We can put him the icebox." As Wally and Zatanna emptied out the few remaining frozen items of food, Roy and Kaldur put the immobilized man in the freezer.

"We are sorry, Plastic Man. Somewhere, I know you can hear us and hopefully forgive us when this is all over and we are allies again." Kaldur said respectfully. "Until then, we will keep you safe in here."

He shut the door, feeling the weight double on his shoulders.

Artemis was making coffee in the small kitchenette. "If we're going to stay here, we'll have to get food eventually. Nutrition shakes, protein bars and pizza will only last so long. And we can't use our bank cards."

Roy looked down. "We're going to have to go starting tomorrow. Wally's gonna eat us out of house and home."

To emphasize his point, Wally's stomach growled again.

"Eeesh. Hey, Roy, is there anywhere I can crash? I'm wiped." Raquelle asked the older hero.

"Just down the-"

"You don't want to go in there just yet." Robin announced. "Trust me."

"Shower?" She tried again after a minute of silence, deciphering the meaning of Dick's words and Connor, M'gann and Wolf's absences.

"Down the hall. Second door on the left. Keep it short okay?" Roy asked.

"Agreed. We each take 5 minute showers, maximum. This is not permanent but Roy still lives here." Kaldur told the teens.

Everyone nodded. Raquelle started off toward the bathroom. Wally sat down at the small bar table with Artemis, drinking coffee with her and the tea drinking Zatanna- because no way was Zatanna having coffee. In Artemis' words, she was "too young for coffee and not a Bat-Child", despite her hypocrisy. Dick took his cup in his hands and handed one to Kaldur and Roy, who were perched in the area: Roy on the back of Wally's chair, Dick on the back of Zatanna's and Kaldur standing straight as ever, was dutifully standing next to Artemis, talking to Dick.

"I'm just wondering how you're going to do this Kaldur. You take about half an hour showers a day to keep hydrated."

"My friend, this will pass. For now, I will just have to drink more water and not relay on my water beaters as heavily." He allowed his tattoos to flare up in a response.

"Then take my shower for tonight." Wally suggested. "I think I'm still clean from the hospital."

"No Wally, you still get to take showers. You ran, you sweat, you stink. End of story." Artemis quipped.

"Jeez, no love for the Wall-Man, huh Beautiful?" He smiled. Dick smiled. He only started calling her that a month or so ago- more as a joke.

She froze. Then she took a swig of coffee and muttered something.

"Sorry?" Wally asked.

"I said, don't call me that." Artemis said in a hard, monotone voice.

Kaldur stepped up: "We should turn the television back up. In case the League has any activity." He led Zatanna and Dick into the next room, not before both of the younger black haired teens' eyes lit up and gave a wink to Wally. Roy took a look up from his coffee cup, realized he was alone with the two and drifted back towards his chair "before that damn ninja takes it".

Artemis attempted to leave the chair, as Wally looked up at her with confused eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't call me- I mean- never mind!" Artemis stammered, cutting off.

"What? What did I do? You told me don't call you that and then call you that. What should I call you?" A confused Wally asked.

"Beautiful."

"-"

"Y-you called me beau-beautiful." Artemis said trying to talk. It was hard for her to talk. She still found it hard to talk to people about feelings. Her father had drilled that one into her that emotions got in the way.

"Oh. It felt natural to me. I think I'm remembering some stuff, but when I get close to it, it sort of slips away."

"Weird."

The two sat in silence. Just as it started to feel uncomfortable, Raquelle called for Zatanna.

"I think she needs a towel." Zatanna muttered under her breath. "And I'm getting tired Roy. Do you have any blankets after this?"

Wordlessly, Roy led her to the small linen closet. "You think you can make some more? Duplicate spell or something?"

Zatanna's eyebrows slanted upwards in thought. "I think so. It won't last forever though. And not tonight."

"Okay. That means I got three towels left."

"Wally should go next." Artemis said, pushing his elbow.

He scoffed. "I don't smell thaaat bad. Somebody smell me."

Dick and Roy looked at each other. "I'm not doing it." Roy declared.

"Ughh…" Dick rolled his eyes. He went over to sniff. Unfazed he comment "not that bad".

"No way!" Zatanna marched over and sniffed. "He's right."

"Are we done?" Wally stared at the weird black haired children. "Christ. I'm surrounded by weirdos and the run from my 'uncle' and a bunch of super heroes. Are you sure we aren't villains?"

Kaldur let out a weak smile. "No, Wally. We aren't villains."