The team and bats were all relaxing in the rec. area. Well, the bats were as relaxed as anyone trained by Batman could be with outsiders present, which was not very. Batgirl was sitting on a couch with Red Robin, leaning against his shoulder. The zeta tubes were in their peripheral vision and it was clear that they were ready to respond the moment that they activated. Red Hood was sprawled in an arm chair, his leg draped over one of the arm rests and an arm over the other. He was gazing at the roof, but it was clear that his focus was on the others in the room. None of the team doubted that he could respond to any threat in a split second. Robin wasn't even pretending to relax like the other bats; he lent against the wall, keeping everyone in his field of view. He was inspecting a batarang and occasionally shooting bat glares at the newer members of the team, whom were clearly unsettled by the bats.

Jamie and Garfield shifted uncomfortably on the floor under this miniature bat's glower and whispered to each other. "Dude, I think that's Batman's glare," Garfield whispered.

"I know what you mean, ese," responded Jamie. "It's creepy as."

"It's called the bat-glare," Red Hood said suddenly, startling both boys so much that they jumped a foot off of the floor. "All bat kids learn the glare. You should see how old Batsy reacts when faced with it." He gave a barking laugh at the thought of Robin and Batman glaring at each other, neither willing to back down.

Karen and Zatanna giggled to each other at the thought of Batman having to deal with his own glare. Artemis smiled as well and turned on the couch to look at Wally, only to see a sullen frown on his face. She sent him a questioning look, but all she got was a slight shake of the head and an even more severe frown. She heard the door that lead to the kitchen open and turned her head to look. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw all of the bats tense minutely and relax as they saw M'gann float in carrying a plate of slightly burnt home-made cookies and telepathically floating a box full of soft drink. Conner followed behind her and settled into an armchair as M'gann arranged the snacks on the table. Kaldur was watching Robin from his chair with a look of slight concern. He still remembered Oracle's command for Red Hood and Robin not to kill each other and wanted to make sure that the violent youth did not attack any of his team.

"You may sit down, Robin," Kaldur said kindly to the new boy. "We are all friends here."

"-Tt-," Robin sneered, not deigning to respond in words. He made an even greater show of toying with his batarang, looking pointedly at the team.

Kaldur frowned slightly at the young boy's lack of response, but before he could comment further, the door leading to the infirmary opened and the remaining bats entered. Zatanna, Karen and Artemis all gasped in surprise when they saw Oracle wheeling herself in after Nightwing. A small cry of concern slipped between M'gann's lips and she darted up towards Oracle. Her movement was halted by Conner, who placed a hand on her leg and gentle shook his head. Wally's sullen look was replaced for a moment by one of surprised horror, before he remembered that he was meant to be angry. Oracle parked her wheelchair next to the chair which Nightwing flopped into. Black bat snagged a pair of cookies and handed one to Oracle. She then perched on the edge of Nightwing's arm chair and nibbled on her snack. Nightwing shot her a betrayed look, clearly having expected a cookie himself.

"Forgive me if you do not wish to talk about this topic," Kaldur began hesitantly when none of the newcomers spoke, "but why are you in the wheelchair? From what we could tell in the infirmary, you sustained no injury in the attack to necessitate it."

Kaldur watched the looks of pain and anger that flitted over the faces of the bats. He had expected the extreme look of fury that passed over Nightwing's face, but it was a surprise to see the dark rage that was on Red Hood's face. Oracle took a breath and squared her shoulders before answering.

"Are any of you familiar with the Gotham rogue called the Joker?" she asked the team.

Wally winced at the name and Artemis unsuccessfully tried to repress a shudder. Kaldur frowned as the name struck a chord within him, but he could not remember any details. The rest of the team shook their heads in response to Oracle's question.

"Well," Oracle said, "The Joker is one of the worst rogues that Gotham has ever had. He is completely insane and you can never know what he is going to do next. He would kill a cape as soon as look at one." She paused for a moment and looked over at Red Hood as if asking for permission. Upon receiving a slight nod, she continued; "He even killed a Robin."

There were gasps of horror from the team. Zatanna and Wally went white. M'gann's hand covered her mouth and she turned to Conner who pulled her into a hug. Artemis had a stony look on her face, whilst the younger members of the team looked sick.

"Who was it?" asked Conner. "Which Robin did he kill?

"Me," Red Hood said simply.

"Um, ese," said Jamie, "how could he have killed you when you are here now?"

"I'm just too awesome to stay dead," Red Hood replied with a sardonic grin. "But seriously," he said, becoming sombre, "you kids should know that death isn't always permeant in this line of work. However, there is always a cost to being brought back, and you don't want to have to pay it."

After he finished, there was a moment of silence as everyone tried to assimilate what they had just learnt. Then Oracle spoke once more. "The Joker shot me a few years back. The bullet permanently damaged my spinal cord, ending my career as Batgirl. After I recovered, I became Oracle and took over the technical aspects of crime fighting,"

"We are sorry for your loss," Kaldur said and some of the team nodded at his statement.

Oracle nodded once and waved her hand dismissing their condolences.

Artemis picked up on the slightly awkward mood in the room and searched for a new topic of conversation.

"So Nightwing, what's going on with you and Oracle?" she asked with a knowing grin.

"Yeh," said Wally spat accusatorily. "What other secrets you have kept from your friends?"

"Wally!" she rebuked with a smack on the arm.

"Come on, Babe," he complained. "We didn't even know that he had a girlfriend and now we suddenly find out that he is going to be a dad! As his best friend, I think he should have told me that he had a girlfriend."

"Fiancée," Nightwing corrected. "O is my fiancée. I asked her to marry me before we found out about the baby."

"See," Wally said dramatically. "It's like we don't even know each other anymore."

"Don't talk to my brother like that," snarled Robin, pushing off the wall and menacingly stalking towards Wally. "He is a good man."

"Yeh," said Red Robin, "Di- Nightwing and Oracle are planning to invite all of their caped friends to the wedding."

"Sure," scoffed Wally.

"What Red Robin said is true," replied Nightwing. "We've been having a couple of hellish month in Gotham and haven't had much of a chance to spread the good news. The only ones who know are the family."

"Still," Wally said, only slightly mollified, "you should have told us that you have a girlfriend."

There was a moment of quiet after this statement. Nightwing rose from his seat and walked over to Wally. "I'm sorry," he said looking Wally straight in the eye. "You are my friend and I should have told you." He looked at the other members of the team. "You too," he said. "I didn't need to keep everything in my civilian life hidden from you guys."

"Thanks mate," said Wally in a tone that indicated that he had forgiven Nightwing.

"Hey, does this mean that you are going to tell us your civilian identity?" asked Karen.

"If Batman gives us permission, then yes," Nightwing replied.

"Why do you need his permission?" asked Zatanna. "You are your own hero now. If you want to tell us, why can't you?"

"Because," Red Robin said, before Nightwing could, "if you know the identity of one bat, it is easy to figure out the rest."

"Well I guess that explains Batman's paranoia about you keeping your identity hidden," Zatanna replied.

All of the bats nodded their heads at that statement. "Gotham rouges are ruthless," Batgirl said. "If any of them found out our civilian identities, it would be a massacre. The more people who know, the greater the chance that our enemies will find out."

The younger members of the team had slightly sceptical looks, unable to understand why the bats were implying that the Gotham rogues finding out would be worse than any of their cities' villains finding out. The more experienced heroes, especially those with mentors on the justice league, nodded in understanding. The villains that existed in their cities paled in comparison to the evil that stalked the streets of Gotham.

"If there are no other questions," Kaldur said, "perhaps you could tell us about the attack that drove you to retreat into the cave."