-TW for explicit drug use and addiction-

"Arty come on, we don't have enough cash for you to keep buying that shit." Wally scolded.

"Fuck you." She replied. "Do I tell you to stop eating all our food? I don't think so."

"Alright," Kaldur stepped in. "Wally, don't blame Artemis. She's actively trying to reduce her drug use." He turned to the other teen. "That beings said, Artemis, please ask before you take any more money.

With some little grumbling the teens agreed to knock it off.

The back door snapped shut.

"Did you get it?"

"We barely got away this time." M'ganns body twisted and paled back from the human disguise she'd been wearing.

"But you did, correct?" Kaldur asked.

"We did." Conner dropped a grocery bag of loose pill bottles on the torn-up carpet. "Come get your drugs."

"Meds, Conner, it's medication." Dick replied patiently. "It's not our fault we don't have medical coverage." He rifled through the bag, removing a few pill bottles. He mentally apologized to the people who's meds they'd stolen. But one thing he'd learned since running away from the circus was that sometimes you needed to lookout for yourself, regardless of who it hurt. He didn't like it, but it was required.

Artemis dug out her meds and set them aside. "I'm gonna get a breath of fresh air." She announced, padding out onto the porch of the condemned house.

Conner followed, shutting the door behind him. "I got you something." He said, handing her a pack of smokes.

"Thanks I was really craving a puff." Artemis took it. "and yours." She handed him the little box. "Had to go through shit to get it, but there you go."

Conner peeled open the package. "I heard arguing when we arrived."

"Wally thought I took the money for myself."

"Did you--"

"I didn't tell them." She struck up her lighter, holding it to the tip of the cigarette in her mouth. She was trying to quit, she swore she was, but the stress of each passing day on the street pushed her further into vice. She was at least grateful not to be hooked on something more dangerous.

Conner was hooked on something more dangerous; he affixed the steroid patch on his upper arm with a hiss of pleasure. The two indulged in their vices in secret, too ashamed to tell their friends.

"What did you do before you smoked?" Conner asked suddenly.

"Before I smoked I lived at home." She sighed. "I was a kid when Jady started, and when I, uh, 'moved out' I needed a way to cope. Of course therapy wasn't an option, so..." She gestured loosely with the cig and took another puff. "What about you?"

"I've always had them. I had one on when Cadmus burned down." He shrugged. "Then I found you guys and you helped me get more."

"You're welcome and I'm sorry." Artemis bowed jestingly, stamping the cigarettes butt out. "Come on, let's walk off the scent before we go back in."

Dick awoke around 3 am. Another nightmare. He crept out from the warm sleeping pile and shuffled on his shoes and jacket. He'd just take a walk over to Hastings st and back, he'd feel more sleepy after clearing his mind.

The streets were pretty quiet, a Tuesday night on the edge of the Gotham slums. Dick skipped a little as he walked, trying to keep warm. He didn't feel particularly scared, he had his knives and was decently confident in his ability to fight like the devil. If he could take down those drug smugglers, he could take down a mugger or kidnapper.

Hastings was quiet, lined with boarded up shops and small encampments. He walked on the side of the road so as not to tread on any of the tents.

"You shouldn't be here." Came a gruff voice from behind him.

Turning, Dick found himself cast in shadow, a tall Chiropterical silhouette blocking out the streetlights. Batman. In all his years on the streets of Gotham he'd done his best to avoid the bat. "Where should be?" He asked, keeping his voice steady

"At home." The bat growled. "Your parents must be worried about you."

"Yeah, they must be." He said, sticking his chin out. 

"Do you need an escort home?"

"No, I'm good." Carefully, Dick turned his back on the man, taking off down the street. Huffing, he kept up pace, circling the block twice to be sure he lost the hero. Once he couldn't see the bat, he sprinted into the decrepit house, snapping the door shut behind him. Panting heavily, he sunk to the floor.

"Dick?" Kaldur sat up, rubbing his eye. "What's wrong?" He crawled across the floor to inspect him for injury.

"Did you get mugged?" Artemis asked. yawning.

"I ran into Batman."

"You what?!" She shouted, waking the aliens with a start. "Oh my god, did he follow you?"

"I don't think so." The boy panted. "God, I'm so stupid!"

"You're not stupid." Wally assured, joining them. "Did he try to catch you?"

Dick shook his head, swallowing hard. "He told me to go home to my parents."

There was a bitter irony in it. None of them could go back to their parents, even those who wished they could, and of course not all of them had parents to go back to.

"I'm glad the crisis was averted." Kaldur said, standing. "We must be careful to keep a lo Hw profile."

"I heard on the radio there's been another pharmacy burglary." Alfred said, busily folding laundry. "They say it's the same medications stolen every time."

"Addicts most likely." Bruce said ruefully, removing the cape and cowl. 

"Have you had any luck locating the stolen cocaine?" Alfred asked, handing him a pile of fresh laundry. 

Bruce immediately set the pile of linens down. "No." He sighed. "I got...distracted."

"The bat off topic? I'm shocked."

"It was a kid." He sighed. "I was down town and there was this kid walking alone. I followed him back to a condemned house nearby."

"Sounds like another unfortunate victim of the Gotham housing crisis." Alfred agreed. "You're right to be distressed."

Bruce frowned. "What parents would let their child wander the streets like that?"

"Perhaps busy ones, who don't have the time to stop their son from wandering Gotham all night." Alfred looked at him pointedly. "Who are we to judge the desperate?"

Bruce shook his head. "I'm going upstairs."

Alfred forced the pile of clean laundry back into the younger man's hands. "Goodnight, master Bruce."

The teens managed to get a little more sleep in, piled atop each other, but not much. They had a mission later-- which is to say they were trying to prevent an assassination by Artemis' sister. The life of homeless teenage vigilantes never stops.

"We still need to figure out what to do with this." Wally, who was brushing his teeth, kicked one of the crates.

"We'll just keep it until we're done with this afternoon."Kaldur said. "Then we'll surrender it at a hospital triage."

"He's right." Artemis replied. "Jade takes priority for now."

Around six am, Bruce's phone rang.

"Batman?"

He pulled his voice out of its pre-coffee growl and into it's false baritone. "Wonderwoman?"

"Did I wake you up?"

"No." He sat up in bed. "What's wrong?"

"The opposite," She corrected. "You should ask what's right."

Bruce was floored, something went right? "What is it?"

"We were interrogating one of the smugglers we arrested." Wonderwoman said, her voice rattling over the phone. 

"and?"

"Turns out there was a tracker on the shipments so that the next group would be able to pick up the cases."

"...We can trace the cocaine shipment." Bruce finished, sliding out of bed. "I'm on my way."