"And you kept this from us?" Superman said, his brows furrowed as he stared into Victor's eyes.

He just nodded in response.

- - -

"How could you keep something so vital from us?" Diana said, anger flaring in her eyes as she went to draw her sword.

"Diana, no. Cyborg is not your enemy." Batman said, glaring at the Amazonian until she took her hand off the hilt of her blade. He sighed, turning his attention back towards Victor. 

"You've known that Captain Marvel was a child for two years...and you've said nothing," he said, his voice carefully neutral.

Victor nodded. It wasn't his secret to tell. "And I'd do it again."

"You watched him put himself, as well as potentially us and hundreds of civilians in danger, and said nothing?"

"You've seen for yourself that Cap isn't incompetent," Victor replied, careful to keep his frustration out of his voice.

"Guys," Flash said, pointing out another scene that began to materialize.

"This discussion isn't over," Bruce said to Cyborg before turning his attention to the memory. Victor just sighed.

The scene that developed around them was one of Billy and John Constantine in the House of Mystery, John instructing on how to do some kind of spell. 

"You're connected to this element, kid. Lightning flows through your veins. If you can't learn to control it when you're like this, you can get overloaded in your other form. 'S probably why you felt tired after shockin' that metallic bloke durin' your bout the other day." John said, shoving a hand in his pocket.

"Focus on the sack of rice, and will the electricity in the air to fry that thing," he instructed, pulling out a cigarette and taking a step back. Billy nodded, putting his arms out and concentrating on the burlap sack in the middle of what looked like a storage room.

"fulgur percutiens!" Billy said, gritting his teeth as electricity danced about his fingertips. The boy's hair stood on end from the static and John's cigarette suddenly lit but the meager lightning flickered before suddenly dying out, leaving the burlap sack unscathed. 

"It didn't do anyth--" Billy said, glancing at John, only to find him smirking and holding up the lit cigarette.

"If nothin' else, you make a right fine lighter," the blonde said with a smirk. Billy chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Golly mister, that's always been a real dream of mine," he said sarcastically. Victor smiled-- BIlly must be comfortable around John. He was hardly ever sarcastic around those he didn't trust, but it was common if the kid was comfortable around you. 

Victor saw Billy's sarcastic side a LOT.

Constantine chuckled, shaking his head before taking a drag of his cigarette. "Alright sparkplug," he said, blowing out smoke. "No need to get an attitude."

"Well, what did I do wrong?" Billy asked as John walked over. "I coulda swore I said the words right." The blonde nodded, gently moving the kid's arms back into the position they had been. Billy let him, just watching quietly.

"You said 'em right, don't worry about that," John said, standing back up. "But it's a mixture of a couple things. One, you're like 7, so you're body doesn't have a resistance to the amount of strain magic puts on your body yet," he said, ignoring Billy's sour look at the jab at his age.

"I'm 11."

"And two," John continued, pretending he hadn't even heard the raven, "It's like riding a bike. You can't expect to ride a marathon first time you sit in the saddle." he said, taking another long drag.

"Takes practice."

"What age did you start doing magic?" Billy asked, turning his attention back on the burlap sack as John went back to his spot and leaned against a counter. "Cause you sound like you've done it for a long time.

"Believe you me kid, I have. Started when I was 15- a bloody long time ago. When I was 16...I did something that I can't forgive myself for, but that wasn't the magic's fault."

Billy glanced at him. "What do you mean wasn't the magic's fault?" he asked before turning his attention back towards the sack. 

Electricity flickered in the air once more as Billy recited the spell, the small sparks traveling slightly further up his arm, but not really going beyond his hands again besides making John;' cigarette burn up faster for a moment.

John let out a small sigh, tapping off the ash at the butt of the cigarette. "Well some magicians, take my friend Zee for example- they think that there are a light and a dark to magic. A good and a bad."

Billy furrowed his brow in response.

"Magic is like-- it's like fire." he continued, snapping his fingers and making a small ball of flame appear in his hand. "Fire isn't inherently good or evil, it just is. Its a tool for someone, in this case, a sorcerer, to use," he said, tossing the small ball of flames up into the air and catching it.

"Sure, it can be used for bad, or do bad things-" John said as the fire morphed into an image of a burning tree or burning house. 

"But it can also be a force for good," the fire shifting to the image of a campfire with people sitting around it, then to an image of the sun.

"Something like magic," John said as the flame was snuffed out suddenly. "Can't be good or evil. It's up to the wielder to decide how they use it."

Billy smiled, glancing back towards the infernal sack again. "I think I get it now," he said, focusing on the burlap before closing his eyes. He let out a slow breath, relaxing his muscles and holding out his arms.

"fulgur percutiens!"

Lightning crackled around him, jumping around his small form before suddenly leaping forwards from his hands and striking the sack dead center. Rice exploded out of the bag, making Billy open his eyes and laugh. 

"I did it!" he said, glancing at John excitedly. "Did you see that?! I did actual magic!!" he said before running towards the partially destroyed bag.

"You sure did shortstack," John said with a small smile on his face.

"John being good with kids is honestly not something I ever expected to see," Zee said, rubbing her temple as the image shifted.

Billy was sitting in a chair in an office, his arms crossed over his chest as he slunk down in the chair. He had a fresh purple bruise on his cheek and looked like he was attempting to hide inside his faded red hoodie. Billy's trusty backpack was sitting on the floor beside him, though one of the straps was ripped, and looked worse for wear.

"Never shoulda got caught..." he muttered to himself.

The raven swiped at his nose with his sleeve, glancing out the window bitterly. Behind him, the door opened, and the heroes could see him tense slightly and duck his head. "Billy?" a woman's voice said as the door opened. 

Billy ignored her, keeping his eyes trained down.

"Billy, I have some people here that would like to see you."

The raven stayed quiet.

The woman behind him sighed, letting a group of four into the room. Billy was suddenly slammed into, knocking him out of his chair. 

He looked up angrily at whatever haad tackled him, only to have chills run through his body and for his heart to skip a beat at the sight.

"Darla?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

The little girl was hugging his torso, her face rubbing against his hoodie. He could tell just by looking at her that the girl was already crying and glanced up to find Freddy hobbling towards him, tears in the blonde's eyes and a wide smile on his face.

Freddy threw his crutches to the side and joined the pair in their pile on the floor, the kids erupting into watery laughter as Billy hugged them tightly. 

"I can't believe it's you guys- what are you doing here?" Billy asked, tears beading in the corners of his eyes as Darla lifted her head to look up at him.

Darla started to cry again, hugging his neck tightly. Billy patted the girl's back, smiling at Freddy with a small, shaky laugh. "Victor and Rosa wanted us to come along when they came to get the newest kid to join the house," Freddy said, a wide smile on his face as he sat on the floor and rolled a shoulder.

"Wait, another kid?" Billy said, pulling Darla back and looking down at her. He glanced up at who he could only assume were Freddy and Darla's foster parents, who were watching the entire exchange with soft smiles.

"And- you...you want me?" he asked slowly, swallowing thickly as Darla rest her head against his chest like she always used to.

The man, Victor, he realized, nodded. "Freddy and Darla told us about you when they first came to us a couple years ago. We've been on the lookout for you ever since, but you only just now re-entered the system."

Billy beamed, laughter bubbling up from his throat. He grabbed Freddy's shirt collar and tugged him into a group hug, holding the pair tightly. 

"I thought I'd never see you guys again..." he muttered softly, shutting his eyes as the trio put their heads together.

"Come on, Billy- you can't get rid of us that easily," Darla said, sniffling as she smiled up at him.

Rosa bent down to pick up Freddy's crutches, handing them back to the boy and helping him stand up. "What do you say, Billy? There's always room for one more in this family."

Freddy stood up, glancing down at the raven with a smile. He held out his hand as Darla stood up and tugged on BIlly's arm. The raven let out a small breath of air that served for a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. 

"Please, Billy?" Darla asked, looking up at him with her patented puppy dog eyes.

Billy stood, glancing at the blonde before turning his attention to Darla. "Come on, Darls, you know I can't say no to you."

The little girl in light purple overalls lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yay!! Billy's gonna join the house! The top bunk is finally gonna be used!!"she squealed, hopping around excitedly before running into Victor's arms. 

He picked her up easily and the girl hugged his neck tightly. "Thank you so much, Papa Victor..." she said, her cheek squished against his.

Billy stood up, dusting himself off and smiling easily. "Come on, mijo, let's go do some paperwork and make this official," Rosa said, holding out her hand for him to take. 

Billy scooped his backpack up off the floor, shouldering the one working strap and hesitating at the sight of her hand. He glanced at Freddy, who was giving him an encouraging look.

"O-okay," he said, taking her smooth hand in his and following them out of the office.

The image shifted to Freddy and Billy standing in the middle of a small bedroom, with a bunk bed in one corner, and a pair of desks on each wall. Various superhero posters littered the walls and old toys sat on a trunk and various shelves. Freddy made his way towards a dresser, opening the top two drawers of the four.

"Rosa said the top two were yours-- she's probably gonna insist on buying you new clothes, by the way," he said as Billy looked around the room. His eyes caught a model plane hanging from the roof, very obviously hand-made by the blonde. 

"You get the top bunk, by the way,"Freddy continued, getting the raven's attention once more. "And uh....ooh there's a loose floorboard over here if you wanna hide something in it. I know that makes you feel better."

A small smile made its way onto Billy's face. "I missed you," he said, shaking his head at the blonde as he showed Billy just where the loose floorboard was. Billy kneeled down and pulled out a few things- a small, leather-bound journal and a circular, golden-rimmed mirror and put them inside the hole.

He moved the board back into place before taking out his plush tiger, hoisting himself up to see over the railing of the top bunk, and setting it down on the plush pillow at the head. 

"You still got Tawky Tawny?" Freddy asked, tilting his head slightly. Billy tensed for a moment, shutting his eyes tightly as he hopped down.

"Good. I'm glad you haven't given up looking for her," Freddy continued, sitting down on the bottom bunk. Billy relaxed. The blonde ran a thumb over the metal of his crutches, glancing up at Billy. "You've looked better."

Billy nodded, chewing on his bottom lip. "Yea," he breathed, plopping down beside his official foster brother. He chuckled suddenly, getting a strange look from Freddy. "It's funny. We became the things we swore we'd never be again," he said, nudging the blonde.

Freddy laughed. "Yea, I guess we did. Trust me, Victor and Rosa-- they're great. They used to be foster kids themselves. They were the only ones that would foster both me and Darla since we insisted on staying together," he continued, glancing up at the glow in the dark stickers that had long been slapped on the ceiling by Darla leaning out as far as she could from the top bunk.

"Plus, they gave us a room on the second floor. No bars on the windows, no locks- You can climb up onto the roof whenever you want."

Billy grinned, shaking his head. "You know me very well, Freeman."

"Well of course, my good sir."

"Hey Freddy, there's actually something I need to tell you," Billy said, gripping the edge of the bed tightly. "I don't...I don't really know how to explain it since its crazy, but-"

"Boys! Time for dinner!" Victor's voice echoed from out in the hall. "It's lasagna night!"

Freddy lit up. "Aw, yeah! Victor's lasagna is the best. Tell me later, let's get downstairs," the blonde said, gathering his crutches and hobbling out of the room excitedly. Billy let out a small sigh, his shoulders dropping slightly. He glanced up at the ceiling with a wry expression on his face.

"Heracles, give me strength..." the raven muttered, chuckling at his own inside joke.

- - -