The kids all looked down at their feet as Bruce paced in front of them, radiating anger and dissapointment. True to his word, Leonidas had gotten Conner and M'gann from the top of the house, and now they were all wondering what they had done.

"What's up, Pa?" Conner finally asked, tired of the tense atmosphere.

Bruce turned to him, his blue eyes showing his true anger. They had all lost their costumes after getting to the cave, and after all six hostages were given medical attention, were made to wait there for Bruce.

"What's wrong is that this has gone too far." Bruce answered, glaring softly at his children.

All the kids were wondering what he meant by that. They all looked at one another, then Jason spoke up. "What has gone too far, Bruce?"

"All of this. Your recklessness. On missions. In school. The Watchtower. Anywhere and everywhwere you go, you seem to only care about your own lives." He growled.

They all stared in surprise at him, well, all except Wally, who was angry at this. "And what does that mean? We're not reckless!"

"You and four of your siblings were trapped in a freezer, and Raquel was almost blown up in your last mission." He growled. "How is that not reckless?"

Wally seemed struck by these words, and looked down at his feet.

"And it's not only in your missions." Bruce continued. "You all seem to have problems following instructions that are not my own. I'm constantly called by your principal. You're always stuck in detention. The only ones that actually seem to follow instructions are Kaldur, Conner, and Megan, and even then, they're cracking!"

All of the kids stayed silent as Bruce told them these things, guilt heavy on their hearts. This was all true.

"You all think you don't have to listen to anyone. Not Zatanna. Not Raquel. Not Wally. None of you seem to care about anyone outside of this family." Bruce told him.

Wally growled at this, tightening his hands into fists, not liking this. "Right now, here, in this cave, we're going to talk about whatever it is you have problems with. And you will do it tonight." He told them.

None of the kids told him anything as he looked at each and every one, daring them to answer. "Now, let's start with the hero world, because that seems the one you have most problems with." He said, then turned to Kaldur. "Why do you hate Aquaman?"

Kaldur's eyes widened at the question, but looked away. "It is not important."

Bruce got angrier at this answer. "It is important if it brings problems into the League. After your little 'Spartan Attack' on the League, most of them don't want to be close to me, much less listen to me. So, we have to straighten it out before something horribly bad happens."

Kaldur glared at him, while Bruce just glared back, until Kaldur backed down. There was no way anyone could beat the Batman in a glaring contest. "You want the truth of why I hate him?" Kaldur grolwed, getting up from his chair to look down at the kneeling Bruce. "Fine. He was my king back in Atlantis. I lived with those two horrible people, who beat me, broke me down, did anything possible for me to submit to the army, and what did he do?" Kaldur growled, venom in each word. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing! He even visited my home, he saw my bruises, how my parents treated me, but he did nothing."

Bruce just stared wide eyed at Kaldur as he spoke. "I thought that once you adopted me, Father, all of my time in Atlantis would just wash away. My scars healed. The bruises went. My spirit and hapiness came back. But every time I even think of that man, I go back to a time that I hate. A time that I can't stand."

Bruce now understood why Kaldur never wanted to go to the Watchtower. He finally understood why Kaldur did his best to stay away from Arthur. He would do the same thing if he had lived through what Kaldur did.

Bruce sighed, letting his head drop, and nodded. "Fine. You win. You have reason to hate him, but it's not reason to hate the League. The rest of the heroes there aren't that bad."

And there was a scoff from Wally. "That's what they want you to believe."

Bruce cocked an eyebrow at him, and said, "So you're the next to confess? Go ahead."

Wally glared at him, fists tightening even more, and growled. "Flash isn't who you think he is. He isn't an innocent dolt who would do anything for civillians. He did nothing for his nephew."

Bruce now wondered what he meant. "How so?"

Wally sighed, and looked away from his family, up to the roof. "He was hit every day by his father, abused verbally by his mother, yet, when Barry found out, he did nothing. He wasn't the hero he claimed to be. He claims to be." Wally growled.

Bruce's eyes widened at this, and asked, "How do you know this, Wally?"

And Wally choked back tears. "Because I was his nephew, dad. I told him, I told Iris, I told the police. I told every single adult that you should when something bad happens. What did they do?" Wally asked, now glaring at Bruce intensely with tear filled eyes. "Nothing."

Everything in the cave was quiet after this, but Wally continued. "You ask why we have so many grudges against the League. Kaldur's king did nothing to stop his parents. My uncle ignored me as my parents abused me mercilessly. Now, I bet you're going to ask why Zatanna hates Doctor Fate." Wally pointed at the young girl, who was hiding behind Raquel. "I'll tell you so she doesn't have to. Doctor Fate stole her father. Drove him insane with magic to a point where he ddn't function without the helmet."

Bruce couldn't believe this. How could his teammates do this? To children?

"Raquel hates Wonder Woman because she's a bitch. She told Rocky that she wasn't hero material, when she was starting out, Dad. Didn't even give her a chance to prove herself." Then, Wally turned to his siblings. "That's all the heroes we hate?"

Dick shook his head. "Hawkgirl."

Wally's eyes widened at this, then he nodded. "You're right! We also hate Hawkgirl because she tried to mace Dick when he played Ninja on her."

How could he not have known this? How could these people be his teammates? How come he never heard of this?

"Brucey-boy, don't beat yourself up." Roy told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look, we kept this from you because we like this you. Well, at least, this Batman. The Batman who actually calls for help from people who can actually handle the situation."

Then, Artemis sighed. "Hey, guys, I have to say something." Everybody turned to her. "I... Look, I've been keeping secrets from everybody here. And, well, now that we're playing confession, I want to get it off my chest." Then she turned to Raquel and Zatanna. "You two don't know the whole truth."

"Reason I was a run away wasn't because my parents died. Truth is that my dad is the villain Sportsmaster," Cue gasp. "My older sister is the villain Cheshire," Another gasp, "And my mom is the ex-con, Tigress." and the last gasp. "I ran after I found out my mom was kidnapped by her old employers. The reason why I cause so much trouble, Pater," She told him, looking him straight in the eyes. "Is because I don't want it be fake. I want this to be real. To make sure you won't leave."

Bruce sighed, "Oh, Artemis, I would never leave." He stood up, and opened his arms. "Get in here, all of you."

And he found himself with arms full of bat kids. The kids all hugged their adoptive father tightly, all of them having a feeling of a weight lifted off their shoulders. Some because they didn't have to keep secrets anymore, and others for not having to keep secrets for their siblings. Well, all of them but one. Once the hug was over, Megan stepped back, and sighed.

"Who's next?" Jason asked, smiling at his own question.

"I am." Megan answered, catching him off guard.

He put his hands up in defense, and said, "I was kidding."

Megan gave him a small smile, and shook her head. "I also have something I want to get off my chest, daddy. Please, don't freak out." She told them, then stepped back, her skin and clothing morfing.

She still kept her red hair, but her skin got green, and she didn't wear her jeans and tank top anymore, but a blue skirt, white shirt, blue cape, and a red X above her shirt.

All was silent as the kids all gaped at her, not sure what had happened. "You... You're a martian?" Wally choked out.

She quickly changed back into her human form, and turned arouned. "I-I was so afraid of your reaction... I didn't want to be different."

Bruce's surprised look changed into an understanding one, then Megan found herself in his arms. "Megan, being different isn't so bad. I mean, look at your siblings, you're all different from one another, yet look how alike you all are."

Megan looked up at him, then at her siblings, who were smiling and nodding at her.

"Listen to Poppa, Megan. I mean, why do we have reason to not like you?" Zatanna asked.

Raquel nodded. "Yeah, you're the one that keeps us sane here."

Megan smiled widely at this, and asked "So you're not repulsed of my heritage?"

Wally scoffed at this. "Megan, I'm a speedster, Dick's a circus brat, Arty has bad blood, Zee's a magician, Conner's a Kryptonian, Rocky's a run away, Jason's a street brat, Kal's an Atlantean, and, well..." Wally scratched his head as he looked at Roy. "I don't really know what the heck Roy is. Maybe from Jupiter?"

Roy growled playfully at him, then shoved him softly.

"What he means, Megan," Dick told her, "Is that even though we're different, we're family. And we'll never abandon one another."

Megan smiled widely at this, and screamed, "Group hug!" And tackled the first child who had accepted her into the family. Poor Dick wasn't expecting it.

That night, Bruce found himself in a bed with two fifteen year olds, two nine year olds, two thirteen year olds, and four twelve year olds. All of them sleeping soundly, and all of them with now less heavy hearts. It was as he too fell into unconsciousness that he remembered that he hadn't thoroughly scolded them for their actions.

Okay, I found that it was getting too long, so I'm doing a sequel. Don't hurt me. I'll be writing how Artemis and Zatanna joined the family in the sequel and I'll finally get to the reason why I started writing this. Please review. Remember, the more reviews, the faster I post the sequel.