Archive of Our Own ^beta

Nightwing’s eyes glazed over the case file he had already memorized as they made their way to the scene of their mission. Superboy fidgeted in the seat next to him, untempered. It had taken Nightwing and Robin (mostly Nightwing), and M’gaan almost the whole pre-mission briefing to convince Superboy to not just fly there, and actually take the bio-ship with them. He could empathize though. When Young Justice had first formed unofficially on their unsanctioned mission to CADMUS to, eventually, break Superboy out of his cloning pod the Justice League along with the bandit of misfits the Young Justice team was at the time had done everything they could and expended every resource to track and shut down anymore similar projects. Unfortunately and fortunately, Konner had been the only one to be stable enough to survive outside of the cloning pod, and since CADMUS had been permanently shut down there would be no more cloning projects (from them at least).  

Or so they thought. 

A mission that the Teen Titans were on almost a month ago had given them a tip off that there were still more CADMUS research operations happening. According to the files and research they had gathered, which, granted, wasn't as much as they would've liked, it seemed like there was something about this specific branch that had been different than the ones they had been tracking down after finding Konner. That had been the explanation to why they were only finding out about them now, years after they had thought they’d seen the last of them. Batman wasn't happy to be blindsided like that. And neither were they. Konner, naturally, had taken it the worst. Practically begged to be on the mission even though it’s not his usual modus operandi. Nightwing suspected that he felt some kind of responsibility to see it through, which as illogical as it may be, he understood where Konner was coming from.  

So here they were, Nightwing (Since Batman couldn't oversee it himself), Superboy (As previously stated), Robin (Teen Titan representative of choice) and Miss Martian headed towards the new CADMUS location in an intense silence. The mission was sanctioned as a recon mission, the objective was to not to be seen so they could bug their systems and find out just how much of CADMUS they had overlooked. Hence the two bats and a martian that could go intangible. Cyborg was on standby at the Watchtower in case his expertise was required, Robin could put him through. CADMUS dabbled in a lot more than just clones, so the team was surely in for a surprise. 

Nightwing was confident it was nothing they couldn’t handle. 

They kept in the shadows, Miss Martian connecting them telepathically as they split up. She headed off with Robin to the main control room, Nightwing stuck with Superboy as they got eyes on whatever was afoot here. Superboy easily fell into Nightwing’s lead, leaving minimal traces of their presence. 

‘We’re clear.’ Robin informed them that he and Miss Martian had successfully reached the control room, ‘I’m tapping into the mainframe; downloading and in process.’ 

‘Were you seen?’ Nightwing asked back, hotwiring the security panel for one of the doors marked Authorized Access Only (that translates to “you should probably check this out” in vigilante speak). 

‘Negative.’ Miss Martian echoed back. 

‘It tell you what we're up for?’ Superboy asked, as the door silently opened. Nightwing stopped him from entering so he could scan the area for laser, boobie (heh) traps and other such sensors. All clear.

‘Systems scanning. Will update. Over.’ Robin said curtly, likely busy getting past the security without ringing any alarms. 

‘Heading into an access point. Still clear. Over.’ Nightwing reported, as their communication line went quiet but the light buzz the connection gave still echoed in his scalp. 

The lack of guards was concerning to say the least. The building wasn’t abandoned, there were still people going about. But they had all been in lab coats doing things that people that wore lab coats in shady underground operations did, not security going around securing the place. Even the access point hadn’t had any sensors that hotwiring couldn’t dismantle. Nightwing knew enough about CADMAS operations to know that this wasn’t how CADMUS operated. Knowing better than to hope for the best he told Superboy to keep his guard up, trusting Robin to come to the same conclusion as him. 

They surveyed the access point. They had managed to get pretty deep into the building so there was sure to be something juicy in here. Weapons of mass destruction, an unnamed virus that could kill on impact, neo-Armegedon. All in previous case files stored under CADMUS along with superhero cloning. Nightwing was relatively certain he wouldn’t be finding any more cloning attempts, which had been the core of what they had been searching for during the first CADMUS eradication operations. Looked into all the big pharmas connects and everything. Crazy how far a name like “Wayne” could take you. 

So imagine Nightwing’s surprise when Superboy calls him over while he’s snooping through the on hand files in the large room to see what all the freaky green bio-substance in the rows and rows of mason jars were supposed to be for and he sees an all to familiar pod. A pod that might even be referred to as a cloning pod. There was a kid inside, male, estimated age 7-10. It was always hard to tell ages with clones. Skin tone was hard to tell in the green of the liquid he was basking in, but it looked tan - melatonin tan, kid probably never got a lick of Vitamin D in his life. His hair was white in some parts and black in others, kinda like a zebra. Or was dalmatian a better reference? His umbilical cord was still attached- or something that served as one, if he were to guess. Nightwing couldn’t see where it led to as it disappeared into the ceiling. 

“We gotta get him out.” Superboy said through clenched teeth. Nightwing couldn’t imagine the memories going through his head. His hand went for the control panel before Nightwing stopped him. 

Superboy looked like he wanted to put up a fight so Nightwing was quick to explain, “We don’t know if he’s stable enough to not be in there. If you open it, or wake him or whatever- you could kill him. You need to think about this objectively, Superboy.” The anger didn’t dissipate but Nightwing trusted the nod of understanding he received and released his arm. “Clones don’t usually have an umbilical cord.” Nightwing noted, “They must’ve tried a new recipe.” Tuning back into Miss Martian's mental link, ‘Rob. You find anything yet?’ 

‘The information’s coded, Cyborg and I are working on it. But all I’ve found so far is not looking good.’ There was a beat of silence, and Nightwing’s chest twisted in anticipation. ‘They have a project Grayson.’ 

‘What?’ Nightwing ‘Are you sure it’s not just a coincidence.’ Superboy’s eyes snapped to Nightwing who turned to look at the boy in the cloning tube and wondered if his eyes would be blue when (if) he opened them. The memory of his own parents telling him the trails of his birth flashed in his head. His mother couldn’t conceive, so they’d found a doctor to help. He’d been a test-tube baby. At Least until he was old enough to be in a womb. He knew how it worked. And he knew that both his parents had to get harvested for it. Considering who they were dealing with, it wasn’t impossible their samples weren’t stolen. 

‘ Codename: P40-N10; Attempt 16: Project Grayson. ’ Robin recited ‘That’s all I got so far.’ 

‘Robin, we're getting company.’ Miss Martian's voice said, alarmed. 

With a curse Robin ended the conversation. If they found Red Robin and Miss Martian then it wouldn’t be long until guards came by their alley either. Quickly Nightwing tapped the computer screen that most likely connected to the kid’s suspension chamber. Superboy made himself useful looking through the paper trail stored in the shelves, since he could read faster than the average human. Robin was right about the coded information, trying to bypass whatever software they were using a pinprick he hadn’t been expecting poked through Nightwing’s glove drawing only a drop of blood. 

That can’t be good.

The computer screen shifted to the loading sign, force-freezing any other on going processing for whatever just popped up. Instinctively, Nightwing backed up from the screen, bracing for some kind of explosion or attack to come from somewhere. But the screen finished loading and a present icon popped up, deceptively colorful. Despite not touching the mouse, the cursor moved to the icon with an exaggerated click and the present opened with a light fanfare of digital confetti. 

Operation MouseTrap: Activated.  

Nightwing didn’t know what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. Before he could process what course of action he should take- optimally a self-extraction, they’d been sniffed- the glass dome encasing the kid retracts with a loud sound and the substance is drained only just fast enough to not spill over the glass. 

They had been expecting them. 

MouseTrap . They were mice. 

Crap. Crap. Crap. 

‘Rob, MM. We need to leave. Now.’ Nightwing ordered urgently. Superboy was on his feet, catching the kid from hitting the floor with a speed Nightwing couldn’t match. 

“I got him. We need to cut the wire.” Superboy said, checking the boy for a pulse. Approaching them quickly, Nightwing sliced through the umbilical cord with a batarang. 

‘What’s the situation?’ Robin asked, 

‘We’ve got them handled on our end.’ Miss Martian reported. 

‘We’ve been set-up. I’ll explain later. We need to go.’ Nightwing snapped, just as the overhead alarms started blaring. He should’ve seen this coming a mile away.  

Superboy picked the boy up. “Pulse is there, but barley. He needs medical attention, fast.” He used his jacket to cover the boy, holding him to his chest as he made his way to the door they had come in from. 

“It’s too risky to take him with us. They wanted us to find him, there had to have been a reason.” Nightwing stepped in his path, staying aware of potentially being approached from behind. The containers he had been looking into earlier were forgotten in their corner of the room. 

“So what?” Superboy asked venomously, “We leave him here? ‘Cause he's dangerous?” A took a threatening step closer, “A threat?” Cloning projects were always a sensitive topic for all the Supers, Konner specifically. Reasons obvious. 

Nightwing sighed, “No.” He looked at the child and he couldn’t help but notice the similarities. Both with himself(phenotypically) and with Konner(in every other way). “No, we can’t leave him here. But we can’t go into this headfirst.” There was a volley of footsteps approaching. 

‘Nightwing. Superboy. ETA?’ Robin asked through the link. 

“We could take him to Mt. Justice?” Superboy tried to offer. “Titan’s Tower?” 

“Mt. Justice is a secure location, we shouldn’t risk them being able to track the kid. We’d be risking everyone that stays there.” Nightwing explained, he could hear footsteps approaching. There was a crowd of them. “And the tower wouldn’t have the proper equipment to monitor or take care of him, medically.” The option of the Bat Cave filtered through Nightwing's mind, but he didn’t offer.

‘Guys.’ Miss Martian, called. ‘Do you copy?’

“Watchtower’s the safest bet, then.” Superboy pressed, “It’s crawling with heroes. Batman will be there. And Superman. What’s the worst one kid can do?” A lot. But Konner wouldn’t take that answer. Nightwing caught the kid’s hand twitch from under Superboy’s leather jacket. 

‘Nightwing. Superboy.’ Robin called again, urgency in his tone. ‘Do you copy?’ 

“Why can’t our recons never actually be recons?” Nightwing sighed dramatically reaching for his batons as the door opened to reveal a folly of security guards. If they were meant to get in and get the kid, then they would sure as hell leave with him. Batman’s lecture be damned. 

‘A few friends dropped by. We’ll catch you in five.’ Nightwing finally responded, ‘Get the medkits ready, we have a stowaway.’ 

Superboy let out a breath and his shoulder’s visibly relaxed, as he pulled the kid closer in his arms. He looked tiny next to Superboy's wide shoulders. Even if he was 7 he was small for it. Nightwing didn’t have much time to take in the kid, locked into a fight he could’ve taken in his formative Robin days, with a Super as back up. The two hurried down the corridor they had entered from, not bothering to take to the shadows when the loud red buzzer and alarms had exposed them. With Superboy’s enhanced strength the boy in his hands barely caused a dent in their escape plans. Though he was so small and skinny, Nightwing was confident their roles could’ve been reversed with minimal disadvantage.

The bioship took off the second the two landed both feet on board. Robin took one look at the heap of a child in Superboy’s arms and domino shifted in what Nightwing knew to be a questioning eyebrow. 

“Heading back to Mt. Justice.” M'gann said as they steadied in the sky.  

“Drop us off at the Watchtower on your way.” Dick called, following behind Konner to where Tim had set up their makeshift Medbay. 

“B’s gonna flip.” Tim said approaching the stretcher the ship formed for them, as Konner laid the kid down gingerly. Dick shrugged, watching the monitors Tim hooked the kid up to. They were low, but they were steady. “He looks like you.” Tim commented again, stepping back to examine his work. 

His hair had strips of white in that Dick never had the displeasure of dealing with, but Dick had never been in a cloning pod and he couldn’t be sure if the white hair was a genetic thing or a side effect of whatever the green stuff was. He should’ve gotten a sample of the vials when he had a chance. Have something to show for himself at the lecture he was no doubtably going to have to sit through with B. His skin wasn’t as tan as Dick’s but Dick spent excess hours in the sun and the kid got his umbilical cord cut only minutes ago. He had a dust of freckles, like Dick did. His nose bridge had a crick in it like Dick’s mom’s in the pictures, but Dick’s nose didn’t have one. His jaw was slim and angled like Dick’s had been before he hit puberty, and his skin was clear of any of the acne Dick had fought hard and long in his middle-teens. His shoulder’s didn’t have the muscles Dick had been trained into since before he could remember, making his entire body slimmer and smaller than Dick’s had been at that age. 

It was like looking into a funhouse mirror of himself.

---

“Nightwing.” Batman called in a tone that Dick had become, unfortunately, very used to over the years. “Explain.” 

“We were reconn-ing, like planned. Found the kid, alarms went off. It was no longer a recon.” He slumped into the empty chair with the Big Blue’s emblem etched into the leather of it. A bored look on his face to hopefully deter the length of the incoming lecture. 

“You were team leader and as team leader you should know better than to not notice things. Clues that aren’t there are tells as much as clues that are there, and you led your team-” The lecture was cut off by a color-clad man Nightwing hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing the name of, his hurried eyes filtering between the duo and landing pointedly on Nightwing, hesitant to say anything in the presence of The Almighty Batman. But Nightwing knew. There was only one reason anyone would be looking for him right now. 

“The kid’s-”

“Awake. Yeah, I got it.” Nightwing said pushing past him and hurrying in the direction of the Medbay Konner had refused to leave. Batman was on his tail, never one to leave a child vulnerable or unattended, regardless of the potential threat levels. Or maybe it was because he was a threat. 

Nightwing entered before Batman, but he could feel him falter at the sight of the kid that sat in the bed with a posture Alfred had taken years to instill in Dick. His hair was still a patchwork of black and white, Dick wondered if he was wrong to think there was more white than there had been before. But as he stepped through the door, large blue eyes locked with Dick’s own. His Father had blue eyes. And his mother had a hooked nose. He’d seen the pictures. He’s memorized them. The slim jaw, the large eyes, and the lush lips. He looked like Dick, but not identical. 

“He just woke up.” Konner told Dick quietly, but still loud enough for the kid to hear. Dick took off his domino, Batman left his on. The only people in the room were the three of them, the kid, and the doctor who was looking after him. The kid eyed them all wearily nonetheless. 

“Hi,” Dick started with a smile, making sure to keep his hands in view and move them slowly, “I’m Richard Grayson, most people call me Dick.” He wondered if the joke would make him laugh or cringe. The kid just watched him and gave no reaction. Dick cleared his throat and continued, “I was one of the people that helped you get out of your pod.” he informed him. Still no reaction, but he could tell the kid was listening. 

Batman stepped to speak, “Do you know who you are?” A clear question, classic Bat. 

“P-four-zero-dash-N-ten.” He recited in almost a robotic way. When Konner had been broken out of his pod, he had memories, an objective. 

“What he means is do you have a name?” Dick said even though he knew that’s not what Batman had meant. 

“Project Grayson. Attempt 16, variation B-7.” He said in the same tone. His eyes moved fast and widely and he took in Dick and Batman’s reactions. Without prompt he continued, “Subject A-1 of operation MouseTrap. To be released from confinement under circumstances of acceptance of preliminary requirements.” 

There was a beat of silence, “What are the preliminary requirements?” Batman asked his voice hesitant in the way that Batman never hesitated. 

“Requirement 1: Suitable requirements of sustainability. Requirement 2: Overridden entry granted,” When Nightwing hotwired the security to get in, “Requirement 3: DNA match Richard Grayson.” 

“What do you know about Richard Grayson?” Batman questioned again. The doctor stepped closer to the kid, but waited for Batman’s question to be answered. 

“Richard Grayson, son of Mary Grayson and John Grayson. Recognized as the Flying Graysons, a well known international circus act. Orphaned at age 8, adopted by Bruce Wayne at age 8. First notable appearance as Robin estimated age 9. First notable Nightwing appearance estimated age 19 to 20. Noted weapon of choice: dual escrima sticks. Proficient in martial arts, with emphasis in aerial maneuvers. Threat level: 9.” He paused again, eyes not leaving the whites of Batman’s cowl. “Do you require more details?” 

“No.” He said quietly. He took a small step back as silent permission for the doctor to go ahead. 

The kid’s eyes went to the doctor, taking in the lab coat before the doctor herself. “I’m going to draw some blood for testing. Is that okay?” The doctor displayed the empty syringe in her hands, not bringing the potential threat closer. The kid eyed the medical device. 

“Understood.” He offered up his still bare forearm. The doctor seemed hesitant at that, but proceeded regardless. The boy’s features that had stayed a daring still during the entire not-really-a-conversation-probably-more-of-an-interrogation, made the light twitch of his left eye as the syringe penetrated his skin only more apparent. 

Dick considered the interaction they had so far. The kid was definitely a kid. Presumably human considered the resemblance they seemed to share, but you could never be too sure with CADMUS. The tests would prove that once the results were back. But he seemed sentient, picking up on (the lack of) social cues and trying to correct (in his perspective) the mistakes he had made. He reacted to pain, maybe not in the way most kids would, but he wasn’t most kids. He had blood, so he wasn’t a cyborg. There was probably some brainwashing they needed to tap into, but nothing the League hadn’t dealt with before. 

The doctor asked him whether he preferred a Superman bandaid or Wonder Woman. His head tilted to the side just a bit, as he examined both bandaids. Then stared at the doctor in silence. The doctor retreated to grab one of the boring brown ones they gave you when you weren’t allowed to have choices anymore. Konner watched the whole interaction from the corner of the room. 

When Dick moved in wide steps, the kid watched him carefully with more curiosity than fight. He brought Konner close, but not so much that they were crowding the boy. They still didn’t know what he was capable of, and this would be the worst way to find out. “This is Konner.” Dick gave his shoulder a dramatic clap that he knew wouldn’t hurt the man, “He’s from CADMUS too, long story.” Curiosity took the better of him, “Do you know about project KR?” The kid tilted his head the way he had done with the doctor, which Dick took to mean he was confused and decided not to press the topic, “Well, anyway. Konner here can help you out with anything we can’t. Isn’t that right, Kon?” Dick spoke animatedly, pointedly being overly friendly in his demure with Konner. 

Konner gave a nervous nod. Given the fight he’d put up to make sure they brought the kid with them, he was being awfully shy. 

The kid looked between them, expression calculating. “Konner.” He echoed Dick’s cadence at the name, but it sounded strange in the monotone. Then he seemed to take a moment to process the name, eyebrows bunching up. He turned to Dick head tilted again. Dick was starting to find it quite endearing. “Konner here.” He echoed Dick’s voice again, but Dick gave him the space to try to find his next words that were brewing on his face, “Kon?” It had the slightest tilt of a question.  

“Kon is a nickname.” Konner was quick to explain, his voice was gentle and placating in the way Superman’s often was. “My real name is Kon-el, but most people call me Konner, and my friends call me Kon.” 

“Kon is a nickname.” The kid repeated, looking point blank into Konner’s eyes. Then he turned to Dick, “Most people call me Dick.” He repeated Dick’s introduction from before. 

Dick gave him a large grin, “Yeah, Dick is a nickname, too. People only call me Richard if they’re mad at me. You picked that up pretty quick kid. You’re a smart one aren’t ‘cha.” 

“Pretty quick.” He echoed. 

“Do you want to pick out some clothes?” Konner asked. They kept a reserve of all sizes in the room across from the MedBay, they came in handy and also reminded people that Batman designed this place because who else would think to have a gift-shop themed store in the middle of space. 

“Pick out? Some clothes.”

“Oh yeah, we got a bunch.” Dick nods.

Surprisingly it was Batman that spoke up next, “Would you like to go see?” 

“You’re a smart one aren’t ‘cha.” He says in the same praising manner Dick had, the musculature of his face still steady. Konner hid his laughter much better than Dick, who doubled over in hysterics. Batman didn’t laugh, he never did, but there was a wisp of a smile on his face and that was as close to a cackle you could get out of the cowl. 

Dick decided to save the Nightwing merchandise indoctrination for when the kid knew how to say no and mean it. They’d gone through and shown him a handful of options that were his size, because there were a lot of options. In the end he’d picked a hoodie with patchwork of Wonder Woman’s logo on it, that he wore over an equally vibrant Green Lantern t-shirt, and bright red Flash pajama pants. A lot of color, not that Dick’s original Robin costume had been much better in that aspect. The kid could use a bit of color in his life after whatever insanity he’d been put through. 

Dick saw the way Batman’s eyes trailed after the kid’s every movement, and hands ready to pick out wherever his eyes landed on. He’d definitely be seeing more of the kid. Pulling the clothes on to replace the hospital gown, the kid looked at himself in the mirror, pulling at the clothes that were still a little big on him and examining them under the gaze of the mirror. When he was satisfied with the ensemble, he turned back to them. 

Dick’s phone buzzed with a text. 

Timbers: Updates?

It’d probably be best if Dick called him to explain. Which he’d have to do later. “Are you hungry, buddy?” 

The kid looked at him curiously, head dipping to the side. The oversized hoodie only added to the look. “I like mac’n’cheese. Do you want to try that?” 

“Pretty quick.” He said, in what Dick would deduce to be a yes. 

“There’s going to be a lot of people there.” Batman explained, voice slow and enunciated, “We can bring you the mac’n’cheese or you can come with us to get it.”

The Watchtower wasn’t too crowded today, most of the heroes with other bases were there, but even today’s small number might be overwhelming for the kid. “Lot of people there.” he echoed, wide eyes looking up to meet the Caped Crusader’s. 

“They’re other heroes. Like Wonder Woman,” Konner pointed to his hoodie, “Green Lantern,” the shirt peeked out from under the hoodie, “and Flash.” 

“Superman. Aquman. And this is the Martian Manhunter.” The kid quoted from their quick explanation earlier. 

Dick nodded, “Yeah like them, and they’re our friends so they’re not going to hurt you. But they might not be there because uh-” Dick hesitated about what he should say, “they’re at work.” he settled. 

After a lot of consideration the kid seemed willing to head to the cafeteria, and they picked a seat in the corner where they could see the whole room but be out of the way enough so the kid didn’t get spooked. Batman and Konner took the kid to pick out which of the meals he thought looked most appetizing while Dick called Tim. 

The phone rang a few times, “How screwed are you?” Tim said in lue of a greeting. 

Dick laughed, “You should come by and meet your new brother.” 

“What! It’s been like four hours?” 

“He’s known him for like thirty minutes.” Dick watched as Batman and Konner did their best at explaining what each of the foods were. 

“ Seriously ?” Tim exclaimed before sighing, “Kid got a name?” 

“We’re working on it.” 

“Is he gonna stay at the Manor?” 

“Probably not for a while. What did you find on him?”

Another sigh, more frustrated. “It’s taking a while. But I should have it done in an hour.” 

“Personal delivery?” 

“I’ll see what I can do.” A pause, some of the other hero’s gave the kid curious looks. But fortunately no one approached since Batman was his shadow. “You know who he is, yet?” Tim meant in relation to Dick. Because there was some relation, people don’t just look alike. Not the way they did. 

Brother. Son. Duplicate. Dick hadn’t really given himself the chance to think about it. Like really think about it. He has a family, sure, Bruce, Alfred, Barbra, Jason and Tim. But he had a family. The ones who told him Romani folktales and helped him feed the circus animals even though they weren’t allowed. He was the last of the Graysons, but that could only happen if there had been Graysons before. And there had been. Until they had fallen from grace, and the show light stopped shining upon them. But there was another Grayson now, in whatever way he had been made, and whoever he was supposed to be. Dick wasn’t the last Grayson anymore, and he hoped he would never have to be again. “We did some tests. They haven’t come back yet.” 

“Hm. I’ll stop by when I can.” 

“‘Kay. Toodles.” Dick could hear him snort at that before the line disconnected. 

When Dick finally made it to the table, the kid looked up at him. He put a singular cheesy gnocchi in his mouth that took him a few tries to get on the end of his fork. The kid tried for another bite, hair flopping around as he tried to work the fork. Batman watched him as he managed to fill his fork with more than he would be able to fit in his mouth, then toppled and fell into the bowl. Confused, he tried again. This time Batman took the fork from him demonstrating how to use the utensil with a silent patience, and handed it back to the boy loaded with a bite. 

Flash, ever the conversationalist, caught sight of them and made his way to the table. “Cool pants, kid.” he commented jovially sitting in the empty space next to Konner. 

The kid looked down at his pants, cheese smeared around his mouth that Dick could tell Batman was seriously contemplating whipping. But neither of them were ready to push the kid’s boundaries yet, if he even had any. The kid examined the Flash emblem that patterned his pants, then up at the matching and much more meticulously designed on the speedster’s chest. His eyes went wide with recognition, but his face didn’t move to smile. The kid pointed to Flash’s chest, “Cool pants, kid!” He exclaimed excitement was easily laced into the Flash’s cadence of speech. 

“Hey! That’s what I said!” Flash was easy to laugh, despite the whisper of confusion in his eyes.

The cheer Flash displayed was matched easily, “Hey! That’s what I said!” There was a laugh in his voice like he was trying to say a joke that reached his eyes but not his cheeks. “And Flash!” he exclaimed. 

“That's right, I’m the Flash.” He gave a quick lap around the table to show off his speed, both the kid’s and Dick’s hair tousled in the show. 

“Pretty quick.” Danny cheered. 

“I’d like to think so.” Flash puffed his chest out, a prideful smile on his face. Dick rolled his eyes. Speedsters. 

“You should eat your food before it gets cold.” Konner nudged the kid gently. Reminded of the earlier mystery of the fork and mac'n'cheese, his attention was quickly diverted. 

“Kinda young for the family business, don’t you think, Batsy?” Flash questioned, “He didn’t even earn his colors yet.” Flash alluded to the Robin suit. 

“He’ll be staying at the Watchtower for a period.” Batman said, and whatever other additional explanation he was about to give was forgotten when the kid placed his forkless hand on the table to aim at the pasta from overhead, like he’d been doing earlier. Except unlike all the other times, his hand went straight through the hard material of the table, causing him to topple over. A surprised gasp escaped him. 

Flash caught his head before it hit anything, the other’s on their feet. “Oh, dear.” Flash commented lightly, trying to disperse any tension the kid may have had. Like all the other times, he didn’t cry or seem alarmed in any way. He tried to pull his hand out but it seemed stuck, and he turned to Dick for an explanation. Not that Dick had one to give. He wasn’t a meta, untapped or otherwise. His parent’s weren't either. And even if the tests hadn’t come back Dick had had his suspicions of who the kid was supposed to be to him. And meta didn’t fit anywhere into the bill. 

“Can you get him out?” Batman asked Flash, when it was clear the kid didn’t know how to. It took him a while to phase his hand out, and it was obvious he didn’t like the idea of using the speed force on the kid, but they didn’t have that many options. The kid, to his credit, seemed only mildly put off by the experience and went back to his goal of finishing his mac’n’cheese. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of them. 

Batman gave Dick a look. “Tim says he should be done in an hour. Stop by if he can.” Batman didn’t look pleased, but there wasn’t much else for him to do. 

“Are you ok?” Konner asked, trying for a gentle hand on his shoulder. The kid didn’t protest. 

“Pretty quick.” He said pointing his fork to Flash, as a final comment. 

---

“His vitals are stable, I’ve run the blood test,” The doctor referred to her clipboard. “Biologically he matches Dick Grayson in our system, after further analysis it seems like you have a new brother. Second son to Mary and John Grayson.” She told Dick in a professional tone, Tim and Bruce sat on one side of the bed that the kid sat criss-crossed on, and Konner and Dick on the other. Dick had expected as much, “But his DNA has been altered. There’s an unidentified substance that’s been laced into his genome, that we suspect was introduced during what-would-be conception.” 

“What do you know about the substance?” Tim asked, only having arrived just in time to join the meeting. 

“We’re still running diagnostics on it. But any attempts to remove it would likely be fatal.” She explained. Dick brows furrowed at the concept, and he wondered if it had something to do with the green substance. 

“Is that why he has meta abilities, even though Dick doesn’t?” Konner spoke, keeping Danny carefully in his peripheral vision. 

“Meta likely isn’t the most accurate description, though I will admit we hadn’t accounted for that. Given the additional substance to the DNA, the likely conclusion will be mutation, and while we could look into which genomes specifically were mutated, it wouldn’t provide much assistance in finding what other abilities he may have.” 

“Other abilities?” Bruce questioned.

“It is a possibility.” 

“Do you think they’re naturally occurring?” Tim hypothesized, “Sometimes meta’s require extraneous situations for their ability to activate, while others seemingly wake up with them.” 

“Given that the substance is still unidentified, we would have no base for either claim.” 

“Were you able to find anything about that, Tim?” Dick asked, watching the kid try to complete the first page of the scavenger hunt book Tim had handed him on arrival.

“They referred to it as 'ecto-plasm’ in most of the file, but I couldn’t find any kind of chemical make up or citation of what that was in any of the flies. Had Oracle and Cyborg double check too. It’s referred to a lot in terms of their cloning process and used in many ways. It seemed like that’s what the umbilical cord was for, so they could feed it straight into him.”  

“Is that good or bad?” Konner narrowed his eyes trying to place the information. 

“Unconcluded.” Tim sighed. 

“We can put together a medical history for him, and add to it as we find out.” Bruce concluded. 

“He’ll need a name for the file.” The doctor said, looking hesitantly over to the unsuspecting kid. 

“You can put Grayson as the last name.” Dick said easily, “Narrow the search down while he picks out the first.” 

“Noted.” The doctor scribbled it down, “As for the speech, based on what we know he likely didn’t have much time to practice forming his own sentences, and it’s also possible that he wasn’t given enough time to have all his information fully ‘downloaded’.” She started delicately, “Based on what we could conclude from the brain scans, I would confidently estimate that our young Grayson is around 8 or 8 and a half years old physically. And while he may be behind on social and speech, every other test proves that he’s functionally as capable as a child should be expected to be. I would heavily prioritize a nutritional diet, and try to introduce as many social interactions as possible. I would also recommend children’s shows, since they often display social behaviors that he would be expected to be familiar with, as well as provide a variety of distinct speech patterns for exposure.” 

“You think it’ll only be temporary?” Bruce asks

“Only time will tell.” The doctor went over the rest of the kid’s file with them, then they were left with the promise to reconvene in two days. 

“Did you clear him for general exposure yet?” Tim asked after the doctor left. General exposure being brain washing or any “programming” CADMUS may have given him. The kid was still with them, they wanted him to be there while they talked about his file even if he might not fully understand. 

“Not yet. Dinah is on a mission until tonight. We can plan something when she gets back.” Bruce stood up. The kid turned to watch him. “Konner and Dick still need to give their mission debrief and we can compare it to the decoded information Tim was able to get.” 

“We can’t leave him alone.” Dick sat up from leaning back onto the bed. 

“I can watch him.” Tim offered, eyeing the kid with interest. Like he was a mystery waiting to be solved. 

Dick not entirely opposed to the idea, raised a curious brow, “Are you even old enough to babysit?” He teased.

Tim huffed, crossing his arms like the indigent teen he was. “I’m 15 and Robin. I think I can manage watching a kid for a few hours.” 

Dick laughed lightly at that, “Hey Buddy.” He turned to the kid, “Konner and I have to go do some work. But Tim here,” He gestured to the teen, “Will watch you while we’re gone.” 

“We won’t be gone too long.” Konner added, walking to Dick. Dick nodded in agreement, and the kid watched as they waved goodbye and made their way through the door.” 

“So…” Dick heard Tim drawl, “You know how to read?” 

The debrief took about an hour and Dick and Konner were quick to go find the kid again. They found them in the same hospital bed Danny had been in earlier, both laying next to each other on their stomachs huddled over a tablet. They looked up at the sound of the door, the kid sitting up instantly. “Your back.” Tim noted, “It go well?” 

“They’re figuring out the game plan.” Dick said, closing the door behind them. 

“Shouldn’t one of you be there then?”

“Batman’s there.” Was all Konner said. 

Tim nodded in understanding, and displayed the tablet they had in front of them. “We’re trying to pick a name.” He said. 

“Did you find one that you liked?” Dick asked the kid who blinked at him. Then shook his head. 

Tim gave Dick a proud smile, “I taught him that,” He boasted, “And also nodding, but that hasn’t really gotten much mileage yet.” Tim turned back to his tablet, positioning it so that he and the kid had a good view of it. “We’re at C, so far.” 

“You’re just going to go down alphabetically?” Konner asked, wary of the idea. Dick took a seat next to his youngest brother, letting their shoulder brush, but still making it easy for him to move away if he wanted. He didn’t.

“Not really a better way, is there?” Tim shrugged. It was a tedious process, they went down the list, and Tim would give you each one in a sentence that Dick and Konner took up after a while. 

“Next ones… Daniel.” Dick was the one to say, “Daniel’s favorite hero is Nightwing.” Tim rolled his eyes at the sentence that Dick had taken to reusing. The kid looked curiously at that, a thoughtful look in his eyes. 

“Do you like Daniel?” Konner asked after a moment. 

Hesitantly he nodded, “Like Daniel.” he repeated, tasting the name as he said it. 

Dick couldn’t help the victorious smile that cracked his face, “You want your name to be Daniel then?” 

He nodded happily, then scrunched his nose in what Dick had learned was a sign that he was trying to say something. “Kon is a nickname.” 

Tim looked up at Konner with a raised eyebrow before coming to the same understanding Dick had, “You want a nickname, like Kon.” He nodded. 

“How about…” Dick considered it for a moment, “Danny?” 

“Danny.” He tried, “My name.” He tested, looking up at the three of them for approval. 

“That’s right your name is Danny.” Konner smiled. 

“Daniel Grayson.” Dick nodded to himself, it had a ring to it. Danny’s (Danny!) head turned to him. 

“Project: Grayson. Attempt 16. Variation B-7.” 

“No, not project: Grayson.” Dick said quickly wanting to clear up the misunderstanding, “You,” He started, “You’re my brother. Since the DNA they used to make you,” it sounded harsh to say it to the wide eyed boy looking up at him, but he deserved the truth, “was my parent’s DNA- our parents- that makes us brothers. So that’s why we have the same last name. Remember, my name is Richard Grayson .” He pointed to himself, “And your name is Daniel Grayson .” he gestured to Danny. “And your nickname is Danny.” 

Danny stared at him, taking in the information. His black and white patchwork hair shifted as he turned to look at the door. “Flash. My name.” His sentences, or his attempts at them, were already getting better even though he’d been awake for only a few hours at this point. 

“Sure we can tell Flash your name. Do you wanna go find him?” Dick hoped he’d made the distinction clear enough. He held out his hand for his brother to hold, not expecting him to take it. Tim stepped on the floor, and Danny followed suit walking around to join Konner and Dick. Danny looked up at his outstretched hand. Then tilted his head. 

Tim took initiative, “He wants to hold your hand,” And placed his own hand in Dick’s outstretched one. “So you don’t get lost.” He let go of Dick’s hand, “But I’m not going to hold his hand because I don’t want to, and I can walk next to him without getting lost.” He said in a demonstrative way to Danny. 

Danny seemed to take in his options, then instead of holding Dick’s hand let his whole hand wrap two of Dick’s fingers. “Don’t get lost.” And started pulling Dick to the door. 

He laughed, “Alright, alright.” And picked up pace to fall in step with the youngest Grayson. 

They made their way to the JLA meeting room where it looked like some of the members were filtering out, including their red suited hero of choice. Danny let go of Dick’s fingers, and Flash caught sight of him before Danny had reached him. “What’s good, little guy? We were just talking about you!” Flash greeting jovially. 

As sporadic as it had been the first time, Danny’s foot sank through the floor as it hit the ground, gripping him like quicksand. A surprised yelp escaped the boy, who didn’t seem to be able to control his new power. They all jumped to his aid, Flash grabbing him up by his arms quickly before his hips disappeared into the floor. Fortunately there was a floor of the Watchtower under them, but the thought of not having that grace crossed Dick’s mind horrowfully. 

“Gottcha.” Flash held the boy in his arms, “You alright?” 

Danny didn’t seem deterred by the experience at all, possibly not aware of the weight or unusualness of what just happened. He looked at the speedsters excitedly, “Danny.” 

“Who?” Flash blinked confused, and looked at Dick for an explanation. He gave him a meaningful look, pointing his head at the boy settled into his arms. 

Flash realized quickly what he was trying to say, but sensing Danny try to explain himself, Flash let him. Batman coming up to them, last to leave the room with Superman trailing after. “Hi,” Danny started even though a greeting wasn’t necessary, “I’m… Daniel… Grayson, most people call me… Danny.” He copied the same format Dick had used to introduce himself, taking a moment to configure it to himself. Dick ruffled his hair, with quick praise. 

“Wow! Your name’s Danny? That’s a great name.” Flash cheered, Batman and Superman joining in with the mini-celebration. 

Danny stayed between the Watchtower and Mt. Justice for almost two months. He had first stayed predominantly at the Watchtower until they had checked that he couldn’t be tracked by CADMUS, and cleared him for any superficial programming. But Danny’s ability, which they had quickly learned had surpassed the bounds of just phasing through objects, showed up in unforeseeable circumstances. There were many heroes who tried to help Danny with his abilities since they had similar ones, but Danny tended to get a hold of them on his own after some time using them. Relatively. 

During one of his stays at Mt. Justice, they had taken Danny out to the beach. It was a private part owned by Bruce Wayne so there were no outsiders there, but they had ended up getting caught in the rain on their way back. Danny, who had refused to stay under the umbrella, had caught a bit of a cold. Alfred had assured Dick that children were prone to illness, and this wasn’t anything incurable. The most inconvenient part of the whole ordeal was how Danny would freeze the room every time he sneezed. 

Danny’s list of abilities was expansive, and always seemed to be growing, and the doctors still weren’t sure what exactly the source of the mutation was. Phasing, invisibility (that had been a trip), ice, super strength, super senses, intangibility, and flight. So far. They also hadn’t been able to figure out why Danny’s hair was constantly changing between portions of black and white. It was never entirely one of the other, but some days there would be more white and other days more black. They didn’t have any notable correlation to his powers, or anything else they had noticed. Dinah had cleared him for CADMUS conditioning and he had finally been able to move into the Manor after 4 long months. 

The transition had gone well, Alfred usually stayed with him in Manor and kept a close eye on him if all of them were busy on patrol. 

There had been an incident though.

Danny’s powers had a bad habit of activating on their own, and since he was still young he had had a hard time controlling them. They had put a tracker and monitor on him just in case. It had seemed like overkill to Dick at the time. Though he was eternally grateful for it now. 

It had been one of the instances where Alfred would keep an eye on Danny while the rest of them were on patrol. There had recently been an uptake in crimes, and Batman had a hunch that something big was brewing. Around 11 PM, Alfred contacted them through the emergency line. Danny had teleported himself to Park Row. AKA Crime Alley. Nightwing had been the closest, and had gotten to the area while Batman, Robin and Spoiler (Tim’s girlfriend, Stephine) were en route. 

Oracle guided Nightwing through the district based on Danny’s moving location. He hadn’t teleported again by the looks of it, but there were plenty of people that would want to get their hands on a kid with powers like Danny’s. When Dick finally caught sight of the mismatched black and white hair from the rooftops his relief didn’t last long. Danny, from what Nightwing could tell, seemed unharmed. But directly in front of him stood Crime Alley’s up and coming crime lord who Nightwing and Batman had been searching for a while, and this was not how Nightwing wanted to find him. 

The Red Hood. They didn’t know where he came from or what he wanted. But he’d murdered a known 7 leaders of Gotham’s underbelly in the last 2 months alone. He never left clues that he didn’t want found, and the ones they could find were dead ends. 

Nightwing dropped to the street they were standing on with a loud thud announcing his presence. “Hurt him and you’ll regret it.” 

Red Hood looked up at him at the same time Danny turned all the way around to look at him, large innocent blue eyes unaware of the danger he was in. Nightwing had his escrima stick ready in one hand and the other stretched out in a silent signal for Danny to come to him. 

“Thought Bats don’t kill.” Red Hood’s voice was distorted in a robotic sounding voice modulator, but disdain was still evident as he watched Danny make the light jog to Nightwing’s arms. 

“I’m not a bat.” Nightwing never said he would kill. But if it came down to it… well, he hoped it wouldn’t. 

The sound that left Red Hood’s helmet sounded like static, maybe it was supposed to be a laugh. Nightwing didn’t care, he sent a silent signal to Oracle, and she relayed to the others that he had Danny. 

“Your dad's been real worried about you kid, you can’t go wandering off like that.” Nightwing chastised as he secured Danny in his arms, hoping that his words would throw Red Hood off of any connection Danny might have to them. 

Danny tilted his head curiously, but fortunately didn’t try to correct him. As they gained air, Red Hood watched them leave. “Bye bye.” Danny waved at him while they were still close enough. 

Nightwing didn’t turn around to catch Red Hood’s awkward wave back. 

In Danny’s second month in the manor, and sixth month since he’d been rescued from CADMUS, he caught a fever. His hair had been filtering between spots of black and white like it always had, but in recent days it had been more black. Never fully, there were always a few stray sections of white. But more black than it had been when they’d first met him. Now with the fever his hair had gone near all white. Dick wasn’t sure what that meant, and neither had the doctors. There were a few stray sections of black like always, but something about the look made Dick’s skin crawl. Like it was a bad omen. 

Danny didn’t get sick often, not as seriously as he was now. They’d taken him to the League doctors, and they’d noticed an uptake in ectoplasm in his bloodstream, and suspected his body must be treating it like a virus. Apart from the hair and blood test there were no other notable signs of what could have been causing Danny’s fever. He spent his day’s sleeping, and Dick or Bruce would try to wake him for a meal, but he never finished more than half. The fever continued for almost a week and half, and they hadn’t managed to get any closer to curing whatever was happening. 

They had made a point that someone always stayed with Danny while he was in the MedBay. There were enough heroes that had grown fond of Danny in the time they had known him to happily offer up their time if Dick, Bruce and Tim were too busy. And the Watchtower wasn’t exactly the easiest place to break into- it was in space, afterall. 

Yet somehow Danny was gone. 

They’d checked the security feed, and it was like he had just vanished. None of Danny’s other powers had worked during his fever, likely because he didn’t have the energy to sustain any of them. So he couldn’t have teleported, since that one knocked him right out even on a good day. There’s no way he’d been able to use it in the state he was in, voluntary or otherwise. 

Someone had taken him. Right from under their noses. 

It took them 36 hours to track him down. Cyborg had been the one to do it. He’d gotten into the security feed at (yet another) CADMUS base. Dick and Bruce watched people in lab coats crowd and surrounded Danny with medical instruments they’d never seen before while they traced the location. 

They had wanted them to see this. Just like they had wanted them to find him in that pod. And Dick couldn’t understand why.

“Is the program re-installation successful?” One of the scientists asked. They’d just entered the room.

“Negative. We’ve been attempting for 10 days so far.” 10 days ago was when Danny’s fever had started. “Retrieval was successful. Referring to notes from Project KR.” Konner stiffened next to him. 

The first scientist hummed, and examined an unconscious Danny like he was a specimen. Dick wanted to scream at them that they couldn't hurt his brother. ( Not again . Not this one .) He wanted to hurt every single one of them until they wished they were dead.

Dick stared at the screen white knuckled. The first scientist left the frame for a moment and returned with a syringe full of the green stuff that had been in Danny’s pod. Before he could even wonder what it was for, the doctor stabbed the needle longer than Danny’s finger into his neck and the canister emptied. “Override code: seven-y-eight-six-b.” 

Danny, who had been bed ridden with a fever worse than Dick had ever seen, opened his eyes and sat up in an almost robotic way. His eyes weren’t the curious wide blue he had grown used to seeing. They were a toxic glowing green. His hair had gone entirely white, not even a strand of black. And the face that was always bound with visible emotion was as still and stoic as the day he had first awoken in the Medbay under Konner’s watchful eyes. 

Realization came to Dick like an ice bath. 

“Identify yourself.” The second scientist said in a harsh, demanding tone. 

Danny didn’t answer right away, much to the dismay of the scientist. “My name is Danny.” He said quietly. 

“Give him another dosage.” The first scientist ordered. 

No. 

Danny flinched as the needle broke the sensitive skin of his neck. 

They were hurting him.

“Identify yourself.” They ordered again. 

How dare they speak to his brother like that.

This time there was no pause, “Codenem: P-four-zero-dash-N-ten. Project Grayson. Attempt 16, variation B-7.” The scientist nodded in approval. 

Dick felt sick. 

Dick felt murderous.

 “I got the location.” Oracle told him, her voice tight. She was watching this too. 

Dick’s eyes couldn’t leave the screen. A terrifying anticipation about what the scientist would do next. 

“Launch Operation Mousetrap stage two.” The first scientist told Danny. 

“Objective: Kill Nightwing.” Danny responded immediately. “Copy.”