Danny was so confused, too many things had happened before Batman left, there wasn't enough information to figure everything out and it hurt his brain. So he just settled with calming himself down, he kept rocking, his hands gripping his ankles tight and keeping them as close as possible. His eyes went from left to right, scouring his surroundings for anything ANYTHING that could be a threat.

Nothing moved, nothing changed, it was eerily silent save it be his own gasping breaths and rocking limbs.

It was familiar, but this room was not, the table-bed thing only had the head of it to the wall so it was more in the middle of the room. He wasn't sure he liked it there, but it made the room feel smaller and he liked that, but then again it made half the room harder to see so he just imagined it was a wall.

He then focused on himself, he had pants, still no shirt, but when he noticed something odd he released his ankle and lifted his right hand to his face. His hand was clean of blood, when did that happen? He didn't feel wet, the ground held no evidence of water anywhere, wait hadn't he thrown whatever liquid was in the cup when he ran away from Agent A? Where was that water? Or vinegar? The ground was clean, no water, no nothing.

How was he clean then? It made him uneasy, he checked the rest of himself over, his chest was clean, his arms were fine, even his feet felt softer than they ever had. He put a hand up in his hair, relieved to find some grime in it, it was definitely less dirty than before but it was still clumpy and matted in some places. That meant he wasn't cleaned while unconscious, they might have just wiped down his visible skin instead of a full body clean. Still, he checked his pants, they were new pants, and his legs under his pants still held evidence of blood and grime. That's good, that meant they stayed away from his private area.

This body evaluation calmed Danny, he felt better knowing what they did and didn't do to his body while he was unconscious. Being unconscious with the GIW was scary, anything could happen.

But this bat guy, BatMAN, he seemed different, much different than any GIW agent. He still didn't understand half of anything the man had said, and the way he said it wasn't the normal way people shouted at him. Not to mention he wasn't hit at all. The only punishment he had was the pressure thing, but looking back on it, it didn't hurt him, uncomfortable yes, but he wasn't in pain. Something was wrong here, but Danny could do nothing about it but at least try to escape punishment. There was nothing but GIW, right?

He settled his chin on his knees, slowing his rocking until it was from side to side instead of back and fourth. His eyes stayed low as he thought deeper and re-latched his hands around his ankles. Wasn't there a time he wasn't with the GIW? A... oh what's the opposite of male... feline? No that's something else... fe... female! That's it! A female!

He could remember a female, red hair, not really on fire but in the sun it looked like a blazing hot bonfire.

Oooooh the sun! When was the last time he saw the sun? Wasn't there another softer light producing circle at night? When was night? Night sounded much cooler than sun-time... oh wait doesn't that have a special name too... didn't it start with a 'd'?

The little halfa calmed even more with these thoughts, musing about things he hadn't seen in years was slightly scary, considering that he didn't know if he was right or not, but it did help distract his mind from worse things.

Danny continued these playful thoughts, making it a game to try to remember anything and everything about life before the GIW. He remembered some people, but they didn't hurt him, he had barely come up with the word 'parents' when the room suddenly got really dark.

The small experiment sucked in a breath and jerked up to witness the world gone black. Shadows replaced the creamy white and for a scary moment he was engulfed in inky embrace.

Then his eyes adjusted and a soft glow emanated from the bottom of the door, the room held more of a hollow glow to it now, and Danny kinda liked it. He did however, recognize it.

Huh, a night cycle, interesting. Danny hadn't had one of those in forever, the agents used him too frequently for a night cycle to be implemented.

The small experiment settled once more, enjoying the somewhat sense of safety the night cycle gave him. Night cycles meant no agents for a longer time, but they would always come back. He laid on the ground in his curled form, facing the door but keeping himself tucked tightly to himself as he usually did when he slept. His dull green eyes flickered with life, a slight glow erupting within his irises. The halfas eyelids dipped over his blazing green eyes, and he slowly nodded off, exhausted with the crazy man and developments of the past... however long it's been.

Time was a thing right? What was he supposed to call small moments of time?

The child drifted off to sleep, wishing somehow he could learn all these things.

BANG.

Danny bolted upright, eyes locking into the source of the noise. It was still dark in the room and he was unsure if time had passed or not, did he just blink and the sound came? Or did the sound wake him up? Either way, a more important thing was happening, the door was being opened. At least, it was attempting to be opened. He settled his rapidly beating heart and lowered himself more, he had no idea if it was Batman again or some of the regular agents, but it seemed like the door was stuck.

Light burst into the room as the door gave way and two white agents stood in the doorway. The small experiment bit back a whine of fear as they strutted in, their focus solely on him. They were so big, especially when they got closer, and their cores were very very red.

The closest agent sneered and with blinding speed threw a punch to the halfas head. Danny thrown to the side by the force of the blow, toppling over and sprawling limply. He saw stars and darkness, that punch was meant to knock him out, but he was still conscious. Probably due to the fact he had access to the full extent of his powers at the moment.

Through the fog he heard the whine of an ectogun, he curled on himself on the floor as he braced for impact. The gun was shot but instead of feeling pain in one spot he felt it all over. Next thing he knew the pain was wrapping around him, singeing his clothes and skin in cross hatches. His eyes fluttered open as the pain intensified across his back and he felt the sensation of being dragged. His eyes were met with a glowing toxic green net, his skin burned where it rested on his face and back, not even his feet were not spared. His bad leg, the one with the bandage, was actually the only spot that wasn't being burned by the net.

The agents were dragging him, saying things into their ear pieces that he never bothered to listen to. The small halfa looked around, grimacing in pain but watching as the ceiling passed overhead. His brows furrowed as he didn't recognize this ceiling, it was dark. Curious, Danny began to look around more.

There were lights and darks all over the place, some lights were hanging from the ceiling much farther than Danny thought possible, then there were spots of complete darkness. It wasn't even a proper hallway, it wasn't a square building at all, what is this place?

Now one might think that the small halfa was being unnaturally calm throughout his unwelcome visit by the GIW, but he believed he was still with the awful agency, he thought this was completely normal.

They exited the weird hallway into an even weirder room, actually Danny didn't know what to call it, it didn't look like a room at all. It was a giant cavern, the ceiling was so high the lights didn't even reach up there, the ground stopped after awhile and there were giant pointy rocks everywhere. The ground also seemed worn, two streaks were imbedded on the ground like a vehicle had passed over it a few dozen billion times.

Danny was so confused by this area, but the agents kept dragging him so he assumed those odd rooms were not for him. And he was thankful, because new was scary.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Dick was having a good day honestly, a great day actually. He just got the results from his college level math test -turns out he nearly aced it-, his English project was a breeze, and lunch was filled with trolling the archer resident in his school, not to mention Barbra was with him most of the day too.

He had been eager to get home, he wanted to know if there was anything new about the boy they had harbored in their bat-firmary for the past three days. Alfred made him even more anxious when he informed him on the drive home that he had woken up a few hours earlier and the was absolutely traumatized by people. Apparently Bruce tried to get Martian Manhunter to help with the mental stress but the little experiment had been too emotional and basically shut down the Martian, then later when Batman confronted him alone he was able to get his name. Danny.

Danny of course is a nickname for Daniel, and just so happened to be the name of his dead little brother. It was purely coincidence though, Dick was seven when his little brother vanished, a year shy from their parents unexpected departure. Dick suspected he was kidnaped, but there was no evidence, no witnesses, no explanation. Just, poof, gone. His little brother would have been nine right now if he were alive. Dick was convinced his brother was dead like the rest of the circus, after little Daniel Grayson had been gone for more than a year.

This kid couldn't possibly be his Danny, it was a terrible thing to think, but he couldn't deny that his motivation to help the boy increased ten fold. But according to Bruce and J'ohn, helping this Danny would take no small amount of effort and probably lots of crying on the kid's part. It twisted Dick's gut uncomfortably, the poor boy couldn't be more than 8 and was scared stupid of the human race. Dick wanted to fix that, it was such a horrible thing and so easily could have been him. Maybe not the experiments and powers part- but he was well aware he was lucky Bruce picked him up instead of anyone with much darker intentions like any of his non-ransom kidnappers have.

Dick had been home for awhile actually, Alfred protested (read: banned) Dick from seeing the kid until Bruce got back, Bruce was working late as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. The prick decided he wouldn't wait for his partner before going on patrol, so Dick tried to pass the time doing some of his homework. But now it was later, Alfred allowed him into the Batcave on the condition he didn't sneak into the boy's chambers, which by the look in the butler's eye he decided he would ditch the plan that might have included some sneaking and an 'accidental' meeting.

The acrobat had changed into Robin a few minutes ago, but as he monitored the route Batman was taking on the Batcomputer he was made aware of an odd shuffling sound that he knew didn't belong in the cave.

Curious, the Boy Wonder looked around, he froze when he saw two men in white dragging Danny across the ground in a glowing green net.

Anger boiled his blood and fearful confusion blazed through him. How in the whole flipidy flip flap multiverse did they get in the BATCAVE UNDETECTED?!?

Rage roared through Robin and he dashed out of sight, using the sharp lights and shadows to his advantage. He followed the trio like a shadow as a plan formulated in his mind, he pushed a button on his hologlove, which sent a silent alert to Batman who was about ten minutes out. His mind was a whirlwind of burning questions and confusion. Why hadn't the silent alarms gone off? How had these guys bypassed all the security? Bruce designed it all himself! And he was paranoid! The GIW didn't seem capable of this level of intrusion and burglary, their methods were usually loud and damaging, nothing that could go under the radar of a bat! Nothing was making sense!

Regardless of sense or not, the Boy Wonder surveyed the scene for a moment, noticing the little things about each person so he could take them down without any surprises. The agents had hard scowls on their faces, but just a bit of sweat on their bald heads. Robin could only guess but he liked to think that merciless and cold beady eyes were behind those dark sunglasses, he had only seen the carnage done to the boy but that was enough to know these men had no conscience. The two men were built similarly, like a triangle, broad shouldered but tiny waisted, heavy hitters but no foot work. Easy as Gotham criminal pie.

The child, Danny, was curled up inside the net, and -to Robins horror- the net was burning the little experiment. The child's face was scrunched up in discomfort, a hint of burning flesh adding to the crisp cave air. But the child made no move to help himself, in fact he looked rather complacent. These observations only fueled Robins anger.

The men were moving quickly, they did not want to stay long and Robin couldn't blame them. Anyone who would dare infiltrate the batcave must have a deathwish, or at least a body cast wish. And while they were already moving fast, the Boy Wonder needed them to move a little faster. Some good old fashioned theatrics should do the trick. Phase one was freeing the child, and, if he could, separate him from the agents. Phase two was eliminate the threats, phase three was check the kid's injuries.

Robin scuttled along a natural ledge above the quickly moving trio, passing hoards of squeaking bats and dodging stalagmites from the ceiling. He finally got ahead of the agents, but he was now out of room, the ledge was stopped because the track of the Batmobile carved into the natural setting of the cave. It was now or never. The raven haired acrobat hunkered down in the shadows, slipping a disk into his hand and waiting for the agents to appear.

He needed to spook them. A smirk crawled onto his features.

In a split second Robin threw the disk out in front of the running men, causing them to screech to a halt in order to dodge (and identify) the object thrown at them.

Behind the dark glasses eyes widened, recognizing the object that sunk into the cave wall.

Robin didn't have to wait long for the agents to make their mad dash.

"Hurry!" One of the agents grunted to the other. The two men doubled their speed with renewed vigor, perfectly according to plan.

Robin acted quickly, now that the men were dragging the boy faster the net would be more taunt, easier to slice through. A second disk was sent before the men were even out of sight, a sharp snap cracked the air and the child grunted as his movement was abruptly stopped.

Robin leaped down before the agents had a chance to recover their lab rat, running at the agent closest to Danny, the corner of his eye catching the small child tumble out of the net. Phase two in progress.

"Thought you could come in here anytime you wanted, right?" Robin fought with startling ferocity, his quips coming through clenched teeth. He slid under between the man's legs and kicked him in the back of his knees, sending him staggering forward. As the man turned to face him, The Boy Wonder followed up with a punch to the jaw. "Well think again!"

He became distracted when a small cry of anguish broke the silence. He looked over quickly and saw the second agent running, dragging the child behind him, pulling him along by grabbing the experiments albino hair.

Robin finished off the man he was currently fighting with a barrage of fists to his abdomen then a smashing kick to the head. He tore after the second man who was halfway down the Batmobile runway, when he caught up he jumped up and body slammed the man into the ground. Unfortunately that landed the child harshly on the ground as well but Robin just needed to get the man immobile.

Robin yanked the man up and tossed him away from the child (and resultantly, away from the ramp), whom was now sitting on the floor quietly in the fetal position. The man recovered rather quickly and was on his feet when Robin pummeled his fists relentlessly into the agents side. "Thought you could abuse a kid like that and get away with it?" The man attempted to land a hit but Robin was too fast, dodging by slipping around him and delivering another staggering blow. The acrobat then grabbed onto the man's arm and twisted himself up and onto the shoulders of the man. He pulled him off balance and in one swift movement slammed him into the ground with both his body weight and leg force. "Never. Again." He growled out to the unconscious man under him.

Robin got to his feet as the waterfall began to roar more violently, recognizing the sound, Robin snapped his gaze to the child on the runway. The kid was in danger of being run over, he was in the way of the Batmobile and no way would Bruce be able to swerve or stop in time. The acrobat dashed forward as the headlights of the Batmobile crashed through the water, the rest of the vehicle following suit. Robin pretty much tackled the child and held him close to his chest as they rolled away from the vehicles roaring warpath.

The dark vehicle slid to a stop at the end of the runway and Batman jumped out, coming over quickly to survey the scene.

Robin looked down to check the boy he cradled to his chest, noticing how cold the child was and the long burn marks overlapping the many scars marred across his skin. He was shivering, probably out of fear and the cold. He kept tight in his ball and Robin could both see and feel the little experiments panicked breathing.

This is not how he wanted to meet the poor kid...

Robin moved to stand, keeping Danny close to him in an attempt to get him warmer. The child kept his head buried in the younger vigilante's chest with his limbs close as Robin adjusted his arms to carry the boy.

"Is he alright?" Batman asked, both vigilantes noticing the child flinch at the sound of Batman's voice.

"They used some type of glowing net, it burned him on contact but I don't think it's anything too serious." Robin reported with a concerned frown, feeling the child trembling against his chest.

"Get him back to the infirmary, I'll take care of the agents." Batman ordered. Robin nodded and walked off, leaving the older vigilante to the knocked out Guys In White.

Robin walked briskly, trying to get to the infirmary quickly but not too quickly as to upset the wounds on the child. It was odd holding him, the little experiment didn't attempt to hold onto him like other small kids he saved, he didn't do anything except shiver.

When he got to the room he scowled at the half unhinged door leaning brokenly to the side, that would have to be fixed later. He stepped into the room and he flicked the lightswitch, flooding the room with light. Robin went over to the infirmary bed and settled the boy on top, letting go and taking a few steps back to get the bandages from the cupboard. He observed the small child as he did so, noticing how he uncurled and sat quietly at the edge of the bed, head down and a small frown on his face, eyes hooded by his overgrown white hair.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Danny had no idea what just happened, he had yet to think it over fully because of the necessity of being in the now to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Being carried by the small male was interesting, for one because he was carried, he'd only been dragged at best and he wasn't quite sure why he would carry him. The other interesting part was his core. There was a lot more yellow in it than Batman, but it still held that inky darkness that plagued the older man. He also seemed angry, but by the time the two agents were down the angry red depleted and was replaced by a sorrowful blue.

But that's all he allowed himself to think of in that moment. He had to be attentive to make sure he didn't end up on the receiving end of the smaller males fists, he saw first hand how well that would go. But since these people were clearly not the GIW, he opted to stay as still as possible and do whatever they told him to do without fuss. Clearly they were superior to the GIW, so he really should listen to them so nothing even WORSE happened to him. He couldn't imagine worse, but humans always found a way to do the impossible.

He watched as the ever colorful small male journeyed over to the cabinets where he had to stand on his tippy toes to reach the stuff inside. Danny averted his gaze when the older boy came back, holding a roll of bandages and some cotton balls in the same hand as some type of bottle with a liquid in it.

The stuff was set beside him and the older kid seemed to hesitate, then he spoke. "Alright Danny, I'm Robin, now uh, this might sting a little but it's to help heal your wounds." Then under his breath, "so please don't freak out."

Danny stayed still as the boy moved closer with the liquid, he was used to having things hurt him, this was no different.

Robin started on his shoulder, dabbing the cotton ball on the bottle and then transferring it to his raw skin. Danny winced at the pain slicing through him but found it temporary and was quickly fading. But it flared up again as the wet cotton was moved over other burns. Danny didn't know when but his hands ended up gripping the table, his knuckles white with the effort of dealing with the pain by squeezing the table. This pain was actually a nice break to the other pain he'd felt recently, this was nothing, but that didn't mean it didn't affect him at all. Pain was pain after all, it's immortal, universal, and ever changing.

At least, for Danny it was.

Sooner rather than later Robin was done and was finishing up wrapping the boy's torso when Batman stepped in. The Dark Knight glared at the broken door for a moment before his gaze lifted up and imperceptibly softened at the sigh of the child practically head to toe in bandages.

Batman looked to his ward, "Any trouble?"

Robin shook his head with a half hearted smile, "Only sign that he's alive is his breathing." He meant it as a joke but then realized that while he had been tending to the boy his skin was ice cold and lacked the pulsing beat that came with life. Sure the kids blood was green but he was clearly alive... right?

"We should move him upstairs, hopefully it can prevent more situations like this." Batman said.

Robin huffed in contempt, "Or cause more."

"He needs a more comfortable environment." Batman replied sternly.

Danny waited for something to happen silently, his gaze locked on the floor and his head spinning with confusion. Batman and Robin seemed to be fighting, but it was more of a... discussion, than anything. But the topic was him.

What was upstairs?

"But before that happens I need to be certain of something." Batman said. Danny could feel their combined gaze on him and he resisted the urge to shrink away. Robin was still uncomfortably close to him, but thankfully he had to get up to put the supplies away and stayed by the older man when he was done.

"You don't speak much English do you?" Batman asked.

Danny stiffened and it took him a second to realize it was a yes or no question, that was something he could answer without punishment, unless it was the wrong answer... He shook his head slowly, hunching his shoulders meekly in an attempt to make himself smaller.

Robin was confused. "No you don't speak much English or no you do speak English?"

Danny's mouth opened but all that came out was scratchy labored breathing. He felt his face heat up and saw a slight green hue at the edges of his vision. He couldn't clarify and that meant bad news, he couldn't communicate like they wanted him too. Stupid ghost scum, would have been easier if he was just a form of post human consciousness with no feelings.

"Don't ask too complicated of a question Robin, when he can't do something that he is asked to do he tends to react negatively." Batman said to his partner, in which his smaller companion nodded solemnly and tilted his head up to his mentor in question.

"Then how are we supposed to figure out what language he does speak?" The raven haired Boy Wonder asked.

Batman simply looked to the small halfa sitting quietly on their table. "Danny can you raise your right hand?"

Danny's good arm lifted, palm facing them and fingers curled loosely but not clenched. He had no idea why he was doing this, but he obeyed anyway because if not something horrible could happen. Orders were orders after all, and Danny would follow them to the letter to avoid punishment.

"Thank you Danny, you can put it down now." Batman said, then looked to his small companion as if he made a point.

Danny hesitated for a second then brought his hand back to his body. What was the point of this? He didn't know, he never knew. He never knew why they enjoyed slicing his skin, burning his flesh, or hearing him scream. But it clearly didn't matter that he didn't know, it still happens and there was nothing he could do to fix it besides trying to lessen the pain by getting it over with. But even then there was always more, always tomorrow, always pain after pain.

Danny was shaken from his thoughts by the realization that Batman and Robin were talking again, but he couldn't understand the noises coming from their mouths. Clearly they wanted him to understand and listen, both sets of eyes stared at him, searching for something. But he didn't, couldn't understand any sounds coming from them, similar to how occasionally the GIWs words would sound odd when he couldn't understand them either. Fearing the no doubt painful retribution for his incapable ears, he inched backwards until his bandaged back hit the wall and his knees curled up to his chest.

They stopped making noise at this action, but that only alarmed the small halfa. He shrunk in on himself more, holding his legs to his chest tightly as he buried his head in his knees.

"It's alright Danny, we're trying to find the language you know, so if you recognize anything we say, let us know ok?" Batman said, somehow normally, normal was English right? Then how was he making all those noises earlier? Danny was too tired to figure all of this out, but if he wanted to survive he at least had to try.

Danny felt his brows furrow and he gave a small (but noticeable) nod in his huddle of limbs. The odd noises started up again and Danny strained his ears to find anything familiar about the sounds they were making. It was a whole lot of nothing, until Robin spoke up.

The Boy Wonder said something in a type of side comment to Batman that the child felt wasn't supposed to be directed at him, but he understood nonetheless.

"Maybe he just doesn't speak at all, maybe he never learned English in the first place." Robin whispered to his mentor in some language Danny didnt have a name for.

Danny shifted in his seat, a squeaky whimper raising from his throat as he tried to gain their attention. He hated putting himself on the spot, it made the pain come faster, but he'd been told to do it and by golly he was going to do it if it meant being spared punishment. He sheepishly started to raise his hand, luckily it caught the smaller males gaze. But now both gazes were on him again and he could hear the angry voices in his mind, shouting at him, loud and mean. He flinched under their combined gaze and lowered the hand equally as slow as he raised it.

The two vigilantes seemed surprised.

"You understood that?" Was Batman's question the same time Robin asked his own.

"You heard that?"

Danny gave a small nod to both questions, shifting nervously on the mat as the shouting in his head grew fainter. He let his eyes wander upwards, not to look at their faces, but to their cores. His green eyes flickered between them, retreating to the ground a few times when he felt he got too close to eye contact.

Their cores hadn't changed much, still dark, still sad, still slightly afraid and a bit of lime green told him they were curious.

Green was usually a color to describe disgust, but what he found was that whenever the scientists found something new inside of him they would be fascinated and the yellow-green would show up.

That same lime green swirled within the two cores before him. This caused a new wave of apprehension to course through the halfa, when the GIW found something fascinating they went for it, usually causing excruciating pain in the place they found interest.

His mind pieced it together, they had been discussing languages and asked him questions, they wanted him to speak. Fear tore through the halfa, all blood drained from his face and his hand went up to clutch his throat. They didn't want to take his vocal chords did they?!

New fear gripped him, he began to shake again and he lowered his gaze to his lap as tears threatened to roll down his cheeks.

Batman and Robin watched this happen, each gaining an increasing amount of concern.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, what wrong?" Robin tried, his voice growing soft in a slight whisper.

Danny shook his head violently, hand still wrapped around his throat, the tears were free and his shaky body crumpled into fetal position.

Robin started forward but a heavy hand on his shoulder stopped him from physically comforting the child. He looked up at his mentor like he was crazy, his face twisting into a scowl tainted by a saddened frown. Batman's face held nothing but his mouth in a thin line.

"Any attempts to comfort him physically will only put him in more hysterics." Batman said gruffly, returning his hand to his side as his masked eyes shifted to the scared little experiment.

Robin scowled even more, physical comfort was one of the best types of comfort, how dare the GIW take that away from a child. The Boy Wonder forced his scowl to fade and put on a smile, hoping he looked more inviting and friendly this way. He switched tactics then. "Hei Danny, ce zici de asta? înțelegi acest drept?" (Hey Danny, how about this? You understand this right?) Robin said in Romanian.

The child's quaking form nodded, the scruffy white hair bobbing up and down slowly, as if he didn't want to answer.

Robin frowned but pressed on. "știi ce înseamnă acea limbă?" (You know what this language is?)

The head nodded slightly, but soon after shook from side to side. Robin rose a quizzical eyebrow but realized the boy's intention, he might have known at one point but didn't anymore.

"It's called Romanian, vorbesti foarte mult limba romana?" (do you speak a lot of Romanian?) Robin asked.

Danny shivered now, the voices came back.

"Shut it ghost scum!"

"No more of that Romanian trash!"

"Speak English you ectoplasmic runt!"

"SILENCE YOU ABOMINATION OF POST HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS. SHOULD HAVE CUT YOUR VOCAL CHORDS WHEN WE HAD YOU ON THE DISSECTION TABLE."

Danny whimpered, covering his ears and closing his eyes as he sunk like he was trying to get away. "N-no, p-please- I-I-I c-can q-quiet."

When Robin heard this he dashed forward before his mentor could stop him. He reached the boy and gently took his shoulders. "Danny, it's okay, you're not with the GIW. No one is going to hurt you."

Danny jerked out of Robins grip with a panicked yelp, his chest was heaving and his heart throbbed uncomfortably in his chest. He scooted frantically back until his back hit the wall again, holding his arms over his torso and curling in. Robin didn't stop, he placed his hands on each of the boys knees, gently separating them so he could see the child's tear stained face.

"Danny listen to me."

"Listen to me ghost scum!"

Danny screwed his eyes shut and turned his head away from the oppressive presence of the Boy Wonder.

"Danny, we are not the GIW. You are safe."

"V-Vă r-rog." (P-please) Danny whimpered, his head twisted this way and that, writhing in place to get away from the older boy. "Vă rog, Nu-mi iei capacitatea de a vorbi. V-Vă rog, vă rog, vă rog!" (Please, do not take my ability to talk. P-please, please, please!)

Robins eyes widened, "Danny, we are not trying to take your ability to speak. E în regulă, esti in siguranta. Ferit, Danny, ferit." (It's okay, you are safe. Safe, Danny, safe.)

Danny's breathing hitched, his writhing stopped but he still trembled.

"Vrem să vorbiți. Te poți privi la mine? Vă rog?" (We want you to talk. Can you look at me? Please?) Robin asked softly.

Danny only breathed heavily for awhile, his brows furrowed in confusion. This time it was not because he didn't understand the sounds, he didn't understand why. Looking in the eye- even on command- meant punishment, but he had said please, the GIW never said please.

Slowly the halfa lifted his gaze to meet Robins. His green eyes widened and suddenly he couldn't look away. Startlingly blue eyes met his own, bright and clear, deep shades graced the rim and made the light blue stand out even more. Inside the blue orbs he could only see compassion, inside his core he could only see a dark and mournful blue.

"Nu suntem GIW." (We are not GIW) Robin said, somehow delivered with as much force and assurance as he could in a whisper. "E bine, esti in siguranta. Vrem să vorbiți al tău liberul arbitru." (It's okay, you are safe. We want you to speak on your own free will.)

Danny blinked and the trance was over, his eyes lowered but a new feeling rose in his chest. Safe? They wanted him to speak of his own free will? They... they weren't GIW?

Danny sat quietly, Robin stayed quiet too, watching for any reaction that hinted the boy was listening to him.

Then he heard a small voice under the mat of dirty white hair. "C-ce..." (W-what...) but the soft sound died off.

When nothing else followed Robin was worried the child had gone under again. He nearly spoke up to reassure the little experiment, but thought better of it with the logic that if he spoke the child would for sure go back under.

"Ce-ce este... n-nu suntem G-G-GIW?" (Wha-what is... n-not G-G-GIW?)

Robins heart fluttered weakly in agony. This poor child.

"Safe." Robin said, "nu doare, esti liber."

No hurting. You are free.

Danny didn't know why but his chest expanded and burned, the sob escaped him and fresh tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. His face was hot with trying to keep them in, he couldn't, he had to let it out.

He cried, he sobbed, he wept with joy. He was free from the GIW.

6267 words.