high school/yj

fourteen

Artemis hesitantly stood at the Wayne Manor gate. The house was enormous, especially compared to her quaint home. The blonde took a deep breath and pressed the buzzer.

"A friend of Richard's?" A posh British voice asked.

"Yes." Artemis replied.

The gates opened soundlessly, as a short boy with black hair walked towards Artemis. "Hey Artemis! Everyone else is already here." He said, smiling at her.

"Hey Dick. Your house is big." She said, stating the obvious.

Dick looked up at it. "Ya... C'mon." He turned back towards the house as Artemis jogged up beside him, matching his stride.

The two walked inside the manor and eldest gawked. The place looked even bigger from the inside. Following the acrobat, they entered a living room. Artemis saw Wally sitting on a couch and rolled her eyes. Walking towards Megan, a picture on a nearby shelf caught her eye. She stopped, looking at the picture in a elegant frame. It was of a boy who looked about 14, with black hair, the front dyed white. His eyes were blue-green, and looked kind of cold.

"Who's th-" She started to ask Dick, who had just sat on the couch, when a hand clasped over her mouth.

"Ahh! What the hell, Wally?" She asked the ginger, seeing as it was his hand who had just removed itself from her mouth.

He looked around uncertainly before speaking, "Dick's older brother. He died about a year ago. Don't bring him up when Dick's in the room, he was depressed once, I don't want him to be again." Wally whispered.

"Oh..." Was all that Artemis said.

"C'mon." Wally led her back to the couch. Artemis just thought to herself. There was definitely more to Dick than meets the eye.

-

Six teens sat in the Wayne living room. Kaldur was sitting on the couch, talking to Connor, who was sitting beside him. Artemis layed across the entirety of one couch, her arms above her head and eyes closed. Megan sat on yet another couch, staring at Connor. Dick sat beside Megan, Wally sitting on the floor in front of him.

"Goodbye, Master Richard. Expect me back in an hour or two." Alfred patted Dick's head, grabbing his coat.

"Bye, Alfie!" Dick smiled at the old man.

The teens weren't alone in the manor, of course. Bruce Wayne was doing who-knows-what upstairs, not even caring that his son was home.

About an hour later, a sound of breaking glass came from down the hall. "Bruce?.. Alfred?" Dick called out hesitantly.

Wally slowly got up as Dick motioned for his friends to be quiet. Following the ebony, the teens walked towards the sound. The acrobat went stalk-still Wally almost bumping into him. Peeking around the corner, they saw what looked like ten armed men climbing silently through the window.

Heartbeats beating faster, the six speed-walked towards the front door. Just as they were entering the living room Kaldur gasped. The other five turned around, seeing him knocked out, and a tall blonde wearing a metal mask standing there, holding a bat.

"Hello, Prince of Gotham." He snarled, looking at Dick.