Step 2:

His feet made a muted thud as he landed rolling on his feet. Without waiting to completely gain his balance he sprinted off again. In the back of his mind he heard someone else's feet padding behind him.

The group gaped at what just happened, well some of them did.

"Did you see that?" Kid Flash threw his arms up in the direction their target had disappeared off to, "I thought the guy was a civilian! Civilians can't do that!"

Aqualad stared off in the direction where their target had disappeared off to.

"I agree." He turned to his teammates minus the Boy Wonder that had vanished. "I believe there is something that Batman is not telling us about this mission."

"You can worry about that later," a voice said behind them, "For now, complete your mission."

Somewhat out of breath now, Nic jumped over the yellow caution tape and made the final stretch to the circus tent.

He was only meters away before something whizzed past him. He jumped back from seeing the Bataring fly by him and ended up getting caught by his ankles while simultaneously getting hit in the back with something. It pricked his back and as he fell he dully noted that it was an arrow laced with some sort of paralytic effect.

"This is the guy?"

"Yeah, definitely."

Nic felt his consciousness slip away. He was so must have been the closest he would ever get to the circus. It was almost as if some sort of cruel fate was mocking him and holding his old life away from him at a hair's distance.

It hurt.

When the rest of the team caught up, Robin and Red Arrow were already standing above their unconscious target.

"Good work," Batman said walking up, "Return to the cave with him."

"Uhhh, what about you Batman?"

"Do I still need to be here?"

One look from the Dark Knight had Robin and Red Arrow both biting back their words.

"Right, back to the cave!"

Red Arrow scowled but bent down to their target. He had already plucked the arrow from his back earlier and so was about to lift him up when Aqualad calmly intervened.

"It is the least I can do."

"Do what you want," he grumbled.

Batman waited till after the team of adolescents had left before turning back to the circus tent.

When he made it into the abandoned tent a voice greeted him.

"Back again, Batman?" the voice laughed.

"Hatch."

Before him stood the form of Hatch O'Reilly. Though it wasn't truly him. It was an apparition of him made by magic.

"It's a shame I didn't get to explain things to that boy," it said with a sad smile.

"You still can."

The apparition shook its head, "No. I especially made this apparition only to inform you, or whoever else he'd be with. And by the looks of it, my magic will have run out soon."
Batman didn't really like magic. And he didn't really enjoy talking to the apparitions of the dead, even if they weren't really ghosts.

"Well, since I'm about to disappear can I leave you with something to give to him?"

"You should give it to him yourself."

"You know I can't leave the grounds of the magic circle and it would be interrupted if he entered it."

Batman let out a short sigh.

"Thanks Ol' Wayne," it barked with laughter before fading away.

Batman felt a weight in the palm of his hand. A golden ring with a large red stone and two smaller green stones beside it. On the inside of the band it read in elegant engraving, "To my Son."

The metal door hissed shut as Batman was away from the team quarters. Now he had to fill in the confused teenagers.

All eyes were on him as he made his way in front of them. Expectantly they stared with the exception of Red Tornado.

Robin especially wanted to know why Batman had introduced the young man then sent them on a mission after him. Was he expecting Victory to have run away? Or was there really another mission? However, it didn't seem very likely that there was a second mission.

"You managed to keep the target from reaching his destination," he said scanning over each of them, "But just barely."

He saw a few of them flinch, "If there was someone distracting you while he ran away, he probably would have made it."

Superboy growled and threw an arm back, "He caught us off guard! If you told us more about him then we would've stopped him easy!"

"Yeah! He was definitely more than just a civilian!" Kid Flash added.

Batman's eyes narrowed at them and his mouth set in a terse line. Kid Flash flinched and looked away meekly. Superboy remained tense but looked away with a "tsk."

"And what will you do when you face an opponent no one has met before? Don't ever be fooled by appearances," he started to pull up the computers, "Don't expect everything you need to know to be given to you."

Their target showed up on the screen. There was literally no information on him but the bare facts: his age, birth date, height, and weight. Nothing about his eye color, blood type, and even less about his actual background. Victory probably wasn't his name either and they couldn't be sure about his birthday either; he could have given false information. The only thing they knew was that he was-

"AHHH! FROM THE CIRCUS?" Kid Flash shouted grabbing at his hair before looking at his teammates and pointing at the screen, "HE'S DEAD? WE CAUGHT A GHOST?"

"He's not dead," everyone turned Robin. The Boy Wonder was scratching the back of his head as if not sure of what he'd said himself, "I'm sure Bats can tell you more..."

Once again everyone turned to Batman, who nodded his head. The man pulled up another screen cathing everyone attention.

He was still looking into it, but he could at least tell them what he knew for sure.

"Victory has the ability to come back to life-"

"EEEE?," Kid Flash jumped back, "A zombie?"

Artemis smacked him on the back of the head, "Can't you be serious for a minute?"

Robin snickered into his closed hand, "He's alive just like the rest of us."

Everyone turned back to Batman. His expression spelled, 'Not Amused.'

"Eh heh...Sorry," Kid Flash retreated.

"Though he can come back to life, his abilities are limited. He has a set amount of times that he can do this and there's a major side effect," a video of his blood and DNA showed up on the screen, "He loses a year of life. I'm still looking into what might happen along with this; but for now none of his memories seem impaired."

"Amazing..." Ms. M. whispered, "Would that make him immortal?"

"No," Robin frowned, "Obviously if he loses a year of life each time he 'comes back'", Robin used his fingers to air quote 'comes back', "there isn't a year before one."

"So, what?" Superboy stared at the screen trying to make sense of it all, "He just poofs?"

"I'm still looking into that." Batman repeated. The screens all closed.

"Then what do we do?" Red Arrow asked arms crossed.

"Before any of this, Victory is still a civilian. He doesn't know about any of this," Batman turned away, "Your responsibility is to watch him and keep him and his abilities secret."

He nodded to Red Tornado, "Eventually the Justice League will take him and he'll be quietly left alone a normal citizen with some supervision. For now it's the best to keep him here."

Then he left with Red Tornado leaving the young heroes on their own.

There was a silence that filled in the absence of the older men.

"Ah, well," Robin turned to his friends, "At least he's eighteen and not some old geezer right?"

"Right," Megan smiled, "I'm sure we'll all get along nicely!"

"If you ignore the part that we captured him," Red Arrow said under his breath and turned on his heel.

"Huh, where you going, Speedy?" Wally asked running up to his side.

Roy Harper turned on him and seethed, "It's Red Arrow."

Wally stepped back with arms up in surrender, "Right, sorry, Red Arrow, yeesh."

Red Arrow ignored him, "If we want to know anything."

He led them to the newly used room.

"We should ask him ourselves if we want to know anything."

Fshh.

As the door finally shut, he breathed a deep breath very slowly and held it. He didn't move at all for a few seconds, straining to try and hear the footsteps of the Dark Knight. It was ridiculously difficult with these rooms.

He gave up attempting to track the man and let out his breath out all at once with a sigh. He could feel his temples pulse for a bit before he settled out. He pushed himself up from the bed and sighed again. He turned around to check the small table at the head of the bed. His eyelids dropped low as he stared at the item Batman had left behind.

Tentatively, he reached out, hesitated once, before encompassing the object with his hand. He paused for a second before even slower cupping his hand and pulling the small object into his palm. He leaned forward slightly to look at what was in his open hand. A ring that was all to similar to the one Hatch used to wear.

Nic clenched his fist to his chest and leaned back hitting his head against the wall. He gritted his teeth together. What was he supposed to do now? Hatch was the one that had raised him. Since he knew about Nic already, it was apparent that the man and his wife had killed themselves so that Nic and the other civilians could escape.

But now...

"Oh, god, no," he choked and slumped forward. His head hit his knees as he held the ring to his chest with the one hand and with the other he held his head, "Hatch. Cherie."

They were gone. He'd never had to deal with losing his actual parents, since he was young when he'd lost them. Instead, Hatch and Cherie had taken their places and now they were gone.

It wasn't like he could go out and get revenge, the criminal had already been caught and brought to justice. There really was nothing he could do.

He clenched his fists. The ring bit into his hand and his hair tugged painfully in his hand.

Nic didn't keep track of how long he sat like that, the finger molding its imprint on his palm. He inhaled deeply and the air hiss out from between his teeth. It might end up being a bad decision, and it was rash, but for now he just wanted to get out. He didn't need to be where he was at the current moment. It's not like anyone had ever gone after him for his...ability before, so why would anyone now? He didn't find the protection of Justice League or this group of "mini-me's" any bit necessary. If anything, they were troublesome.

Yeah, he was eighteen. He could take care of himself.

He carefully put the ring away in his pocket as he stood up. Now he needed to look around for a way- Of course there was only one way out. The door. He walked over quietly as possible with the intentions of peaking out to see if the coast was clear before he heard a pair of angry footsteps.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed the ledge of the door and hoisted himself upside down. Before his back could press against the wall and gravity pull him back down he let his feet grip the ceiling to keep him in place. He held his breath.

The door slid open with a hiss only to show that no one was in the room.

"Huh," the Kid Flash peeked past the Red Arrow to look inside the room, "He's not-WHOA!"

WHOOSH.

Victory swooped down right over Wally and kicking the red archer out of the way and straight into Robin.

His cardigan floated in the air only for a second as he landed squarely on the ground behind them.

"Wh-what?" Kid Flash said from his spot on the ground where he had stumbled from surprise. Before he could fully react to the situation, Victory was already sprinting down the hallway.

"Stop him!" Red Arrow growled as he shot up to run after him.

"R-right!"

"Do you think we should have stopped Speedy?"

"Red Arrow," Artemis reminded from her seat on one of the couches.

Superboy glanced back at Megan from his spot on the longer couch, "Robin and Kid Flash are both there."

"Yeah," Artemis said off-handily leaning back, "They've got it covered-"

Just then Victory ran right past her. She and Superboy swiveled in their seats to see the blue cardigan pass them. Then a flash of yellow and red followed shortly after it. There was a muted thud and a cheer from the Kid Flash.

"I got him!"

Robin and Red Arrow ran past them. The three of them looked at each other before following suit.

Kid Flash had Victory pinned on the ground with both of his arms held behind his back. The ginger was grinning at his accomplishment while the captured Victory looked a little less than pleased. He was lying on the ground with his arms held behind his back. With a sigh he let his cheek press against the floor his unique glasses biting into his skin. Escape failed.

Aqualad walked in front opposite them. He gave one look at them and understood the situation immediately.

"Why is it that you continue to try and escape?"

Victory sighed again, "He said that he would let me go if I could manage to escape."

"He?" Aqualad looked up at Robin and the others, "Does he mean Batman?"

Robin shrugged his shoulders. His communicator suddenly went off and he turned away from the group to respond to it.

"Still here," Victory mumbled under his breath.

"Quiet you," Red Arrow bit out. Maybe he was a little bitter from getting kicked in the gut.

Victory groaned, "Okay, okay, I get it. Sorry for stepping on your coat," he said figuratively.

"Can I get up now?" he heaved a breath, "I don't really like being sat on."

"How do we know you're not going to make a run for it?" Artemis crossed her arms.

"Well, it's not like he can outrun me," Kid Flash said leaning forward. Victory groaned in discomfort as more air was pushed out his lungs by the pressure on his diaphragm.

"Well, he can obviously outwit you."

"You-"

"Seriously," Victory gasped, "Right on my diaphragm."

"I don't think he's going to make a run for it," Robin said with a grin, "The agreement with Bats was two attempts every twenty four hours!"

He tapped on his wrist to show them that he had just spoken with the said older man.

"What's stopping him from running off again?" Artemis asked suspiciously. She didn't feel like running after him again.

"Batman says he'll go after him himself," Robin said noting Victory's look of defeat...Ha- punny, how clever!

Satisfied with the guarantee, Kid Flash hopped up from his spot and stood amongst his friends.

Artemis let out an exasperated sigh shortly followed by a whatever a she turned sharply on her heel away from them. Now she had to deal with a guy trying to run away everyday? No thanks, the others could take care of that. She wasn't a babysitter. It didn't file under her job description.

Victory sighed deeply and pulled himself up to a sitting position. A hand appeared in his line of vision...a green hand. He looked up to see the young alien girl extending a helping hand to him. He smiled nervously and took her hand. She pulled him up pretty easily.

...He couldn't have been that light.

He looked around at the younger group of heroes standing around him. It was quite the crew. Now if he was correct, they were Miss M, Superboy, Kid Flash, Robin, Aqualad, Spee-
"It's Red Arrow," the young man in question narrowed his eyes at Victory as if he knew exactly what he was thinking.

Victory was quick to raise his arms up in defense. He forced a smile though it came out more like a grimace.

"I didn't say anything."

His masked eyes narrowed at him. Victory raised his shoulders once and tilted his head slightly.

"Whatever," he stepped forward, "We've got to take care of you now, but we've got our own responsibilities too, so try not to be a handful." He jabbed his finger at Victory's chest a few times for emphasis. Victory did not appreciate it at all.
He swatted his hand away with a straight lip, since no one could see the soft glare behind his eyes.

"If you can't take what's in front of you," Victory started, "Then maybe you should step away from the platform."

Robin's ears perked up at the acrobatic reference. He, no everyone, could feel the tension growing in the room. The Boy Wonder stepped in between them.

"C'mon guys," he said, "No fighting."

The two young men stayed like that for a moment before Red Arrow broke off with a huff. He mumbled under his breath and stormed off.
Victory sighed.

"RECOGNIZED: RED ARROW B06."

If he couldn't get out soon...this was going to be a very long and wearisome stay.

Hey guys, I see some of you have favorited or alerted this story! I'm glad and all, but hopefully you'll leave a review of what you think? Thanks and Peace.