WARNING- this is going to be the longest chapter since I love Kaldur the most out of everybody. So here we go

Today was the day. The day that he was going to escape from Atlantis for good. He had been planning this for months from between hiding away from his parents to the authorities hunting him down. This moment was the only good chance he had. When the guards left their post, he took his chances and made his escape from Atlantis. He memorized Aquaman's activation code and used it to get to the surface. He dreamed of his freedom on the surface for years and now, he was finally getting his wish.

He typed in the coded that he memorized and stepped into the zeta beam. When he stepped in, he had a slightly funny feeling in his stomach before he arrived in an alley. Even with all the dirt and grime, he thought it was a thing of beauty. He walked barefoot down the alley, being very careful of not stepping on pieces of glass and trash. The light blinded him as he made his way to the public area and he almost ran into traffic. He realized that he was standing in grassy area by a mall. The soft yet prickly feeling on his feet made his heart race. He found his little piece of heaven on earth. Taking in a deep breath of the fresh air, he ran from the grass area to the sandy beach side south from the mall. He got lost in his excitement and realized that he was standing in water. Not floating, but actually standing! He used his feet to kick the water up around him as a loud joyful laugh escaped his lips. He had never been so happy.

His parade was soon rained on when a man in black came on the beach. Kalur turned and became frightened. He used his magic to freeze his feet but Manta just jumped to the side to avoid the attack. Kaldur took off running to get away from him. He bumped into people down the busy sidewalk. He kept looking behind him to see if his father was behind him. His father was always few feet behind him in this wild goose chase. He kept on running until he came, well crashed, into a man in a black suit. He crawled back away from the man, but the man knelt down and tried to calm him down.

"Hey, are you okay? I didn't mean to frightened you," The man said in a gentle tone.

Kaldur looked back and saw that his father was coming closer. He jumped into the strange man's arms for protection.

"What's wrong? Why are you running away?" The man asked as he held the boy.

"Help me, please," Kaldur begged as his voice began to shake.

"I suggest that you let him go." a voice in front of them ordered.

The two looked up to see Black Manta standing a few feet in front of them. Kaldur screamed and began to cry while he crawled back to the man he crashed into.

"I suggest you back off," the man holding Kaldur said in a protective manner.

"Who the hell are you?" Manta demanded.

"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded as he put the child down and moved the child behind him.

"I'm his father. I would like him back now," Manta said.

"I don't think that he wants to be anywhere near you," He said as he motioned to the trembling child.

"What he wants does not matter to me. He is my son which also makes him my property," Manta explained.

"Is there a problem Mr. Wayne?" A tall muscular man said a he got out of the car.

"Call the police," Mr. Wayne ordered as he put Kaldur in the car and closed the door.

Bruce and Manta argued back and forth until the police came. The police talked to Kaldur when Bruce opened the door but he was too scared to talk to them. When Manta ordered him not to say anything and nearly charged at him the cops had to arrest him. Bruce took off his coat and wrapped it around Kaldur.

"Hello. Can I ask what's your name?" He asked softly.

"Kaldur'ahm, but you can just call me Kaldur though," Kaldur answered. "What is your name sir?" He asked hesitantly.

"My name is Bruce Wayne. But you can call me Bruce," Bruce explained.

"Hello Mr. Wayne. Thank you for stopping my father. I didn't want to go home with him. He and my mother are not very kind to me," Kaldur explained respectfully which was a shock to Bruce.

"What do you mean by that?" Bruce asked as the police took notes.

"Sometimes I do bad things. My parents punish me for it," Kaldur said.

"What do they do to you?" Bruce asked but already knew by the visible bruises on his arms and face.

"My father would hit me and my mother would sometimes join him," Kaldur explained as he became some what uncomfortable.

"What bad things did you do?" Bruce asked.

"I- I dropped a cup once. I did not do everything my father told me to do perfectly. I was sick for far too long. Just small things I guess. My parents have very short tempers," Kaldur explained as Bruce became angry.

"Do you have any where to go?" The older police officer asked.

"No. Do I have to go back?" Kaldur asked as his worst nightmare started to come to life.

"What if I took him to live with me until I could legally adopt him," Bruce suggested to the officer.

The police agreed at the known fact that Bruce had done this before. Bruce took Kaldur home but it was around 6:00 in the evening. Dick was at a mathlete practice, Wally was at track practice, and Artemis was at archery practice. Alfred was at the door, waiting when the driver told him about the police.

"Master Bruce, are you alright?" Alfred asked in a slight fatherly tone.

"Yes, I'm fine. Alfred meet our new house guest Kaldur'ahm, but he prefers to be called Kaldur. Kaldur, this is Alfred Pennyworth. He is our butler but we treat him like family," Bruce explained.

"Hello Mr. Pennyworth," Kaldur said politely as he clung Bruce's leg.

"Hello Master Kaldur. Please call me Alfred. I am sure that you are very hungry. Let me fix you something to eat," Alfred said.

Before Kaldur could say no, his stomach let out a loud growl.

"I am going to assume that you are very hungry," Alfred said as he went to the kitchen.

"Thank you," Kaldur said.

"Come on, I will show you to your room," Bruce said as he held his hand out to him.

"I get a room?" Kaldur asked in shock.

"Of course you do. Now I do have other children but I am sure you'll get along with them. They are very friendly," Bruce explained as he lead Kaldur to his room.

"How many?" Kaldur asked.

"Three. Two boys and one girl. Just don't underestimate her," Bruce explained.

"Why?" Kaldur asked as he became nervous.

"Just trust me. My oldest has the bruises and the broken toys to prove it," Bruce said.

"Will she hurt me?" Kaldur asked becoming very nervous.

"No. Just don't push her. Here we are," Bruce as he opened the door to one of the empty bedrooms.

Kaldur had a king size bed with a grey carpet along with a balcony. He ran out to the balcony and looked out into the yard.

"Is this really mine?" Kaldur asked in shock.

"Yes, for as long as you want," Bruce said with a large smile on his face.

"Thank you," Kaldur said gratefully as tears started to form in his eyes.

"You are very welcome. Now, how about we go downstairs to see if Alfred is finished with your meal," Bruce said.

Kaldur follow behind Bruce with a joyful smile. Alfred made chicken noodle soup with crackers. He never had soup before. It smelled so good and it made his whole body warm. Kaldur nearly devoured the soup to the point that he picked up the bowl of broth and slurped it down. It didn't even burn his throat because he was so hungry. Hiding out in the middle of nowhere with no food or water will make you hungry. After about 45 minutes, he finishing the whole pot of soup by himself and four bottles of water, Alfred made him mostaccioli with garlic bread. Kaldur had never had so much delicious food in his entire life. He was only stuck with leftovers and scraps from his parents. He ate two plates of pasta so fast that it will make Wally eat at the pace of a sloth. When he finally became full from his large meal, he did something that surprised both Alfred and Bruce.

Kaldur got up from his chair and took his dishes and walked into the kitchen to place them in the sink. He was basically a walking skeleton. It takes him a few minutes to get up and put away his dishes instead of asking Alfred or someone else to do it for him. How is it possible that Kaldur had two abusive parents, almost had to go back with the bastard and he was still polite and respectful. Bruce and Kaldur went into the living room to talk about what was going to happen to him.

When Alfred left to go get the other kids, Kaldur finally fell asleep on the couch. Kaldur wanted to go up the stairs but he was too exhausted for that. Kaldur in total drank over ten bottles of water. Bruce laid a blanket over him to keep him warm and watched over him. When the kids came back, with two cases of water, they were in shock to see a kid sleeping on the couch.

"Who is he?" Wally asked.

"His name is Kaldur. He is in a bit of a fragile state, so just keep the excitement to a minimal," Bruce explained.

"Is he our new brother?" Dick asked.

"Not yet but soon," Bruce said as he received a phone call. "Stay here with him," He said as he stepped into the hall.

Kaldur started to stir lightly which caused him a sharp pain in his side which caused him to wake up. He was even more frightened to be surrounded by three new strangers.

"Who are you?" Kaldur asked as he tried to breath through his pain.

"I'm Richard, but you can call me Dick. These are my siblings, Wally and Artemis," Dick introduced as he motioned to them.

"Are you okay?" Wally asked as he tried to reach out and touch him.

Kaldur moved away from the touch which caused him to cry out in pain.

"Dad!" Artemis called out in panic.

"What is it?" Bruce said as he came in the room.

"Kaldur's in pain," Dick said as Bruce knelt down beside Kaldur.

"How long?" Bruce said as he tried to examine Kaldur for any signs of bleeding.

"A while," Kaldur admitted in a soft painful groan.

"The paramedic said you were fine," Bruce said in surprise.

"It was after we left them. I did not want to be of anymore trouble than I have already have," Kaldur explained as he held his side.

"Can you lift up your shirt? I need to see for any bruising," Bruce asked.

Kaldur, as gently as he could, rolled up his shirt. His midsection was covered in blue and purple bruises and opened scars.

"Alfred, call an ambulance!" Bruce shouted in panic.

Kaldur was in tears thinking he did something wrong. Bruce tried to calm him down with soothing words and rubbed his shoulder gently.

"Dickie, grab a camera," Bruce said.

Dick ran upstairs and went to his room for a camera.

"D-did I do something wrong?" Kaldur asked nervously.

"No, no, no. Don't worry. We're going to get you some help. Just relax," Bruce said.

"Kaldur, on a scale from one to ten how much does it hurt?" Alfred asked as he moved the phone.

"Ten," Kaldur said as the room became fuzzy.

Alfred repeated into the phone and soon became impatient with the operator.

"Alfred where are they?" Wally asked nervously.

"They are in route," Alfred said as Dick gave him the camera.

Bruce took pictures of Kaldur's bruises and cuts but Kaldur simply refused to show his back. Artemis notices a small blood pool on the pillows.

"Kaldur are you bleeding?" She asked seriously.

"Possibly," Kaldur said tiredly.

"We need to see it, okay. We'll be quick about it," Artemis said in a calm voice.

Kaldur sighed and sat up. He took off his jacket and lifted up the shirt and the whole room became angry and very concerned. His back was covered in slash marks and opened sores. There was a tattoo of an eel that went up his back and down his arms. You could see how boney he actually was.

"Kaldur who did this to you?" Wally asked as he became empathic.

"My father and mother," Kaldur said as he let out a loud cough into his hand.

He looked at his hand and saw the splattered blood covering his hand.

"That's it. Alfred get the car ready. Kids, get towels, water, and get Wally's snack bag. We might be there for a while," Bruce said as he picked up Kaldur gently.

"Right away sir," Alfred said as he went to get the car ready and the kids went to get the things.

Bruce carried him to the truck as Alfred told the police that they couldn't wait anymore. The kids scrambled to the truck with the things and placed them in. They had to sit on the floor so they could make sure that Kaldur was awake and alive. Alfred had to lock the doors quickly before he ran to the car and hopped in. Bruce drove like a mad man to the hospital. They got to the hospital in a time span of ten minutes and they quickly got him out of the car. Bruce carried himself as the kids ran inside and called for help.

"Help! Please! We need help!" They shouted to the lady upfront.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"My son needs help please!" Bruce shouted as the kids ran to him.

"I need a gurney!" She shouted as a male nurse ran with a gurney.

"What happened?" The male nurse asked as they placed Kaldur on the gurney.

"I brought him home and gave him something to eat and he fell asleep on the couch. He started to cough up blood and Alfred, our butler, called the ambulance. They took too long so I just decided to drive him here myself," Bruce explained as Kaldur was placed on the gurney.

"Are you his legal guardian?" The first nurse asked.

"No. The police gave me permission to take him home until I could legally adopt him. He said that his father did this to him," Bruce explained as he gave the number to the police officer that handled his early issue.

"Okay. Where is the mother?" She asked.

"I have no idea on his mother but his father is in jail," Bruce said.

"What is the boy's name?" The male nurse asked.

"Kaldur. I honestly don't know his last name." Bruce answered.

"Okay, I will let you know if I or any of the other doctors tell you if anything happens to him," She said as she followed the doctors.

"Will Kaldur be okay?" Wally asked as his fear of hospitals came back to life.

"He survived this long, he will survive," Bruce said as they took a seat.

Five hours went by, everyone was sitting and waiting for news on Kaldur's condition, and four trips to the vending machine for Wally. The doctor came out of the operating room around 1:30 am.

"The nurse told me that you came with Kaldur," He said as he shook his hand.

"Bruce Wayne," He said.

"Dr. Cumming." The doctor replied. "Kaldur is suffering from several infections that have probably been there for years along with several broken bones that have healed and been re-broken several different times. It is honestly a miracle that he is still alive," He explained.

"Can we go and see him?" Bruce asked.

"Yes. He is asleep after being sedative. He was fighting the nurses and causing himself even more pain," Cumming explained as he lead the Wayne's into Kaldur's room.

"Is he going to be okay?" Artemis asked.

"Of course. He is fine. He was talking in a different language and screaming a name. I believe it was your name ," Cumming explained as he stopped at the door.

"He is also suffering through PTSD and Anxiety so please tread lightly," He said.

"Thank you," Bruce said.

"Call one of the nurses if you need anything," Cumming said as he walked down the hall.

Bruce walked in carefully, not wanting to wake Kaldur up. Kaldur was hooked up to a few IV cords and water drips. Wally had been there and done this with his own parents so he knows what it is like. Wally's father was an ass and a deadbeat but he never did this to him. Kaldur looked like he was on edge of death. His bruises on his face have only swelled along with tears stains and cleaned of blood and his neck had three small slits on each side of his neck. The weird thing was that where there gaze was covering the slits, there was no blood on the graze. Along with those injuries, his arms are covered in blood and cuts that are covered in gaze.

"Oh my gosh," Artemis said in shock.

"Please tell me we get to hurt the son of a gun who did this?" Dick asked angrily.

"He's already in jail, but he'll get out," Bruce said.

"People like him always get out," Wally said sadly.

They sat around him and waited or Kaldur to wake up. After thirty minutes of sleeping and five trips to the vending machine. Kaldur woke up.

"Hey," Bruce said with a small smile.

Kaldur was still a little bit loopy from the drugs so all he could do was mumble incoherently. This made all of the kids chuckle lightly. There was a small knock on the door and Alfred walked into the room. He came back with more snacks for them, mostly for Wally, and Bruce's tablet in case he had to spend a few nights.

"How is Master Kaldur faring?" Alfred asked.

"He's awake," Dick said as Wally took the bag of snacks.

"Where? How did-" Kaldur said in a soft groggy tone as he started to fade out again.

"Shh. Rest now Kaldur. It is alright. You are in the hospital," Bruce said.

"Thank you," Kaldur slurred before going back to sleep.

They stayed with him for several long hours until the doctor said that he has to stay there for a few days for observation. The infections were fortunately not deadly. They were treatable he had to stay on the IV drip. The kids went back to the manor due to the fact they had school the next day. Bruce stayed with Kaldur as he slept. He needed Kaldur to know that he was safe now. They talked about his abuse and his parents. Kaldur began to cry his eyes out and started to have a panic attack. Bruce did the best he could to keep him calm. His past brought Bruce to tears as he heard about the violent words and even more violent actions his own parents did to him. Bruce promised him that he would have a warm place to stay and food on the table, and that he was now his family and he would fight like hell to make him stay with Bruce

Kaldur was shocked and happy to hear that. No one has ever done that for him before. He honestly was speechless. All he could do was squeeze the hand that Bruce gave him and smiled warmly at him. There was something that ran through Kaldur's mind, hope. He has never had hope before in so many year that he had forgotten what it felt like. Growing up in a home filled to the brim with anger and rage and hopelessness and with a king that never actually helped him, hope seemed like a fable dream. Having hope now, all Kaldur hoped for was that he could keep that hope.

The doctor gave him antibiotics to take for ten days and he was given thirty anti anxiety pills. The doctor told him that he needed to talk to a therapist for his emotional and mental abuse. Bruce agreed and paid for all of his medical treatment. It took some teeth pulling but Kaldur agreed to go to therapy. After his days under observation ended, they were able to take him home. The kids took turns pushing Kaldur's wheelchair, after arguing about it for a good five minutes. They used their jackets to make a cushion for him since he was still sore.

All three of the kids talked to Kaldur about TV shows and movies they wanted to watch with him. Kaldur has never watch TV or a movie before. They took Kaldur to the den and put in Beauty and the Beast. Kaldur's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw the candle and the dishes singing and dancing and talking. He had so many questions on the characters and the setting. When they finished the first movie, they let Kaldur pick the next one. He became interested in the movie "Aladdin' so that became his choice. Kaldur fell in love with the characters, especially Genie. He connected to him the most.

Like Genie, all Kaldur wanted was to be was free. It brought a small tear to his eye at the end when he got his wish. He became even more excited when he saw that there was a squeal. When Bruce came into the den after several hours later, he saw that Kaldur was asleep on the couch surrounded by Wally, Dick, and Artemis. He smiled happily as he went into the room and draped a long blanket over them, placing a small kiss on each of their foreheads. He turned off the lights and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Before he went back to his office he thought:"My kids."

As Kaldur and the others became closer as a family, Kaldur's scars both physical and emotional began to heal. Kaldur had to visit a therapist once a week. His antibiotics for his infections were working as they slowly started to vanish. After two weeks of being on his anti depressant pills and his anti anxiety pills, he wanted to stop taking them. It was not a medical decision by a doctor, it was his own decision. He told Bruce about it and he was a bit skeptical about it. He was worried about Kaldur's health. He told Kaldur that he should start to slowly stop taking them, just one pill a day until he's finished his prescription and they wouldn't go to get it refilled. He agreed to Bruce's terms.

This was the first time that Kaldur has been on prescription pills for any reason. After Kaldur finished his prescription, Bruce told him the risks of not being on them. Kaldur understood them and thought that everything was going to be fine. At first Kaldur was having these thoughts. They were really disturbing. Then soon became the thoughts of suicide. His past came back to haunt him again, which caused him to have headaches. He would talk to either Alfred or Bruce about his past and his thoughts. Bruce tried to stop him from going on like this and tried to make him take his pills again. Kaldur still refused even though he felt like he was getting sick. After a while the symptoms stopped and Kaldur felt a lot better about everything. Even though Kaldur still had his minor thoughts of ending his life, the majority of his mind kept telling him that he had a wonderful life ahead of him. Something to look forward to in the future. Besides, he had to deal with three younger siblings that kept him active, which in turn kept him happy, which also in turn kept him away from his thoughts of death and away from his depressive state of mind.

There was something else eating away at Kaldur though. The fact that he was an Atlantean. Kaldur hated lying to people. One night he had a nightmare of being sent back to Atlantis and he realized that he had to tell him. He got out of bed and walked to Bruce's room. When he saw that the bed was empty, he went to his office. He saw the light on and knocked on the door lightly. When he didn't get a response, he opened the door and peak in the room. He was slightly surprised to see that Bruce wasn't in the room. He looked around the office and became interested in the books he kept. After about ten minutes of waiting, he heard a loud noise coming from the book case. He ran behind the chair and waited. Kaldur saw Alfred coming out from the bookcase. Alfred pushed bottom on a bust of an old man and left the room. Kaldur became curious in the bust and tried to open the book case. He lifted up the head of the bust and push the red button. The book case slided up to reveal a secret elevator shaft which opened up for Kaldur. He got in and pushed the down arrow button. He slightly jumped a little in shock when the elevator took him down. When he reached the bottom, the door of the elevator opened. Kaldur walked out of the elevator and was shocked to see a huge penny, a large computer screen along with a keyboard, a dinosaur, and four cases with only three of them containing suits.

"Oh my Neptune," Kaldur muttered in shock as he realized who Batman was.

"Well I guess the cat is out of the bag," a deep voice said causing Kaldur to jump.

He turned around to see Batman standing near the Batmobile, cowl and all. He started to walk over to Kaldur but he stopped when he saw Kaldur was shaking.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Batman said.

"You did not. I am just shaken," Kaldur said as he tried to calm himself.

"Why are you shooken Kaldur?" Batman, turned Bruce Wayne, said as he took off his cowl.

"I do not want to be in trouble. I was merely curious and I found this," Kaldur explained as he quickly turned his calm demeanor to shame and embarrassment.

"Listen to me, you're not in trouble. I would have told you any way. I don't keep secrets from my family. No matter what. Besides, I need to talk to you about your heritage," Bruce said as he motioned for Kaldur to follow him.

"What do you mean?" Kaldur asked.

"I know where you are from along with who your father really is," Bruce explained.

"Please, I beg of you do not send me back there. She is will kill me for abandoning her and leaving David in jail," Kaldur said as he tries not to become too panicked.

"Listen to me, I am not by any means sending you back there. I just want to talk about why you left. I understand that a reason why you left was because of the abuse but I have an ally in Atlantis. The king. Why didn't you go to him?" Bruce explained as he sat down in his chair and motioned for Kaldur for him to sit on the small space he made on the desk.

Kalur let out a small sigh as he took a seat on the desk. He didn't want to bring this up since he never wanted Bruce to become in danger all because of his personal issues.

"Well, let us just say that my issue with him is a personal one. I do not want to get others involved," Kaldur said as he choose his wording carefully.

"You know that you can't tell anyone about our identities. Also don't tell Wally that you know," Bruce said.

"Why not?" Kaldur asked slightly nervous.

"He wants to be the one to tell you in the most dramatic way in the entire world," Bruce said with a small chuckle.

Kaldur joined the laughter before he started to cough on the pressure he was putting on his lungs. Bruce rubbed his back softly as he tried to help him breath. When he relaxed his breathing, Kaldur gave him a sad and slightly concerned smiled.

"What about Aquaman? Will you send me to him?" Kaldur asked as he became worried for his own safety.

"No. If Aquaman comes looking for you and has an idea about taking you back, I will shut it down. I truly mean that Kaldur. I will make sure that nothing cause you to go back, okay. You don't have to worry about that anymore," Bruce explained as he looked Kaldur straight in the eye.

"Okay. Thank you," Kaldur said greatfully.

Bruce took Kaldur upstairs and put him back to bed. He honestly forgot about the reason why he got up. Kaldur was able to rest peacefully as he now knows that he was safe in the manor.

Even though Kaldur was happy to be out of Atlantis, he missed being in the water. He was walking around the manor as his thoughts wandered to being in the water when he found an indoor pool. he was thrilled to see this and decided to take a swim. He carefully unwrapped the gauze around his neck and flex his gills out slowly, just to see if they were fine or still badly bruised. When he felt them flare up he smile slightly to see that they were fine and working. Kaldur lost track of time and he soon went to the bottom of the pool and started to meditative. He needed to meditate in order to stay connect to his magic. His tattoos started to glow a light blue as he entered a deep meditative state.

Wally and Artemis went looking for Kaldur since dinner was about to be served soon. They looked everywhere, and they couldn't find him until something told Wally to go look for him in the pool. He saw Kaldur at the bottom of the pool.

"Arty! Get Dad!" Wally shouted as he looked in the pool to see if Kaldur was even alive.

"What! You found him?!" She shouted in response.

"He's in the pool at the bottom! Hurry!" He shouted as he tried to poke Kaldur with the pool stick.

Kaldur was in deep meditative state so he couldn't hear the commotion above, but he did feel something poke at him. He looked up to see Wally poking at him and shouting to him from the surface. He heard someone shouting to Artemis about him being at the 'bottom' and 'go get dad'. Curiously, he went up to the surface to figure out what was going on. When he surfaced, Wally jumped back in shock.

"Wally, what's wrong?" Kaldur asked nonchalantly.

"Wally! Is Kaldur- oh my gosh!" Artemis said as she stopped dead in her tracks when she came into the room.

Bruce, Alfred, and Dick were behind her and watched as Kaldur came out of the pool.

"How is this-you-he-what!" Wally started to explain in shock.

"I think Kaldur can explain," Bruce said with a small smile to Kaldur.

"This is a long tale." Kaldur said as the spot light came on him.

"I believe that this should be explained in the dining hall," Alfred said as he gave Kaldur a towel.

"Of course," Kaldur agreed as he took the towel and dried off.

They went to the dining hall and sat down to talk. He told them the story of him being raised in Atlantis and his half human half atlantean DNA. Kaldur already told Bruce half of the story so some things that he said came to a shock to Bruce. Kaldur kept some things out of his story. For example, more details on why he can't stand Aquaman. Like he told Bruce, he didn't want others to be involved with his own personal issues.

Wally had questions for him about Atlantis. He didn't believe in Kaldur's abilities in the mystic arts. Kaldur idd a small demonstration with a glass of water. He made it come out of the glass and made it into a ice flower for Artemis. Even then Wally still didn't believe in his powers. One thing they agreed on that it didn't change anything about their love for Kaldur. They still loved him like family.

Seven months went by and Artemis was in school in the fall. Bruce came up with a remedy to help Kaldur cover his gills when they went out in public. Alfred went to the store to buy Kaldur a whole new wardrobe as a surprise. You should have seen the look on KAldur's face when he looked in his closet to see a whole rack full of new clothes and all kinds of shoes on his clothes floor laid neatly out for him. He ran down the stairs and gave both BRuce and Alfred a hug huge and about fifteen million thank yous.

After a few weeks went by, Kaldur finally became legal son. It took some doing and even Batman had to make Kaldur's paper says that he was a legal citizen of the United States. He asked Kaldur to come to his office and told him about the adoption. Kaldur stood like a statue when he told him. His smiled became so bright that it put the sun to shame. He started to cry with joy as he started to shake. Bruce opened his arms for him and Kaldur leapt into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. Kaldur was finally free. When they pulled away, Kaldur wiped the tears in his tears from his eyes.

"For so many years I-I gave up on hope. I prayed and I prayer for a miracle. But instead, I received a guardian angel," Kaldur said as he wiped his eyes and tried to keep his voice calm. "Thank you Mr-Bruce. Thank you for saving me," He added as he took his hand and squeezed it tightly.

Bruce got down on his knee and squeezed his hand.

"You're welcome," Bruce said as Kaldur hugged him again. "Kaldur, how would you like to be a hero?" He asked with a small smile.

Kaldur looked at him with a confused look at first then a small smile and a look of understanding appeared. Bruce talked it over with the other and they agreed to let Kaldur become a hero. From that day forward, Tempest born.

THE END OF CHPT 4