Hello all!

A few months ago, I discovered this awesome new cartoon, Young Justice, and now I'm obsessed! This is one of the first YJ fics I've written. It was posted at LiveJournal but I want to expand on it, so I figured the best place for that was here! Anyone who has read it there, I've edited it slightly- mostly just grammar. I probably didn't catch all the mistakes, but every little bit counts, I always say.

Anywho, I won't drag out the introductions. On with the show!

Mount Justice
21:32

"Less than an hour ago, sensors picked up an unusual energy signature originating from Metropolis."

The image on the holo-screen changed from Batman to a map of Metropolis. A red dot flashed over what looked like a large park area. A moment later, Batman reappeared, the map shrinking and moving to the top corner of the screen.

"The energy appears-"

"Metropolis is Superman's city," Superboy protested, a bitter tone coating his words. "Why isn't he looking into it?"

Batman seemed unfazed by the clone's harsh voice. "Superman is off-world," he explained flatly before continuing as if uninterrupted. "The energy appears to have some sort of magical properties-"

"Magical?" Wally snorted from beside Robin. Robin winced slightly at the second interruption to Batman's instructions. That would not make him happy.

"Can't Zatara go an investigate it?" M'gann said innocently. "If it is magic, he would know more about it than we would."

Again, Batman's expression didn't change, but Robin could tell he was getting a little annoyed.

"Zatara is… unable to go," Batman said. Robin knew from the tone in the Bat's voice that 'unable' really meant 'unwilling'. The Justice League's magician was still sore about the younger team 'kidnapping' his daughter. He was probably still chewing out Zatanna and giving the League the cold shoulder.

"You are to go and investigate the energy's point of origin and the surrounding area," Batman continued, his voice just a little colder than before as if he were daring any of them to interrupt again.

"And if we find something?" Kaldur asked seriously.

"I trust you to handle it," was the only reply they received before the screen went blank. Robin couldn't help but grin at that. Trust. There were very few people Batman trusted and for him to use the word with them meant something.

Artemis, however, didn't seem too impressed. "Does anyone else get the feeling that we're still in the doghouse for something? I mean, really? Going to investigate an energy reading? If it were something big, we would've heard about it by now, or the Justice League would've handled it. It's probably just some blip on the Watchtower's monitors."

"Or it could be the beginning of an inter-dimensional sneak attack," Wally countered.

"Either way, it is our mission to look into it," Kaldur said. "Let's move out."

The team fell in step behind their leader as they made their way to the bio-ship.

"You guys going on a mission?" They all stopped as Captain Marvel flew up behind them. "Do you need help?"

Wally groaned quietly while Artemis rolled her eyes.

It was Kaldur who finally turned, motioning the others to continue on. "Thank-you, Captain. But I believe that we are capable of doing this ourselves. In fact, I do not think it will be very interesting at all."

"Well, okay. But if you change your mind, just call and I'll be there faster than Mercury."

Kaldur's lips twitched as he nodded. "Again, thank-you." And with that, he turned on his heel to join the others in the bio-ship.

"Ugh. He's like an annoying little brother," Artemis muttered as the ship took off.

Robin couldn't help but smirk. Thanks to his hacking skills and Batman's compulsion to know everything about everyone, he knew just how true that analogy was.

Behind them, M'gann laughed. "I can see that. I have two little brothers and they always want to do everything us older kids do. I remember this one time my sisters and I went for a walk and we told them they couldn't come. We were gone for an hour before we looked back and saw them both trailing about two blocks behind us trying to keep up." She smiled softly. "It was so sweet of them, I just couldn't be mad. In fact, I just felt guilty for not including them in the first place."

Artemis arched an eyebrow. "Are you trying to guilt-trip us into taking Captain Marvel with us next time?"

M'gann shook her head with a giggle. "No. I just think we should be happy that we have this little family of ours."

"Such as it is," Kaldur said with a wry smile.

There was a moment of silence before M'gann continued. "Hello M'gann! Here I am going on and on about my family and I don't even know anything about all of yours."

The temperature in the ship seemed to drop several degrees as the members of the team shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Artemis crossed her arms over her chest and stared resolutely out the window. Kaldur suddenly found his own tattoos very interesting while Superboy looked like he was trying to light something on fire with his eyes.

"My Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris are way cool," Wally said a little too cheerfully, as if trying to lighten to mood that had fallen on his team mates. "I don't even know how Aunt Iris manages to feed two speedsters, but she does. The woman deserves a medal."

Artemis snorted. "No kidding. I know you'll say it's not scientifically possible, but I bet you have a black hole in your stomach."

"My king and queen are to have a child," Kaldur piped in after a moment. "I hope I can be considered a sort of uncle to him."

The team continued to talk, each trying to bring back a bit of humour as they moved to a different topic. Even Conner tried to join in once the conversation strayed from families, obviously trying to keep M'gann from feeling guilty over hurting anyone's feelings.

Robin, however, kept his gaze to the window, his stomach cold and heavy.

He was lucky. He knew that. He had a great team, which as M'gann had pointed out, was like a family. A really great group of brothers and sisters. And he had Bruce and Alfred. Bruce was a bit of a moron when it came to showing affection, but he managed in his own weird, Batman-like way.

He loved them all. A lot. And they loved him back. But sometimes all that just didn't soothe the aching he felt when he tried to remember exactly what his parents had looked like and all he could see was a fuzzy outline. It didn't help when he tried to remember his mother's voice and all he could hear was a garbled, distorted version of her soft lilting tones.

"Ew! Don't touch me. I'll get ginger-vitis!" he heard Artemis snap.

"What the- ginger-vitis? Are you serious?" Wally hollered. "Whatever! Everyone just wishes they were a redhead. Right, Gorgeous?" he grinned, sending a wink towards M'gann. The Martian just giggled awkwardly while Artemis rolled her eyes.

Robin smiled softly. "My mother was a ginger," he said, too quiet for anyone to hear.