Chapter Text
Victor couldn't help but worry. Look, he knew Billy was a pretty capable kid but he was still just that, a kid. It was normal to be concerned for the boy's safety, who wouldn't worry about a 13 year old being a literal superhero? Sure he had the body of a 20 to 30 something godlike being when he was fighting, but for the most part he was still mentally a young teen. And no offense to Billy in particular, but teens were known to do some pretty impulsive, stupid things. Even if they had the wisdom of Solomon.
Victor was especially worried about Billy over the holidays. There was the obvious of Billy having no family to spend it with that hurt a whole lot but more than anything he was worried for the little guy's health. It could get pretty cold in Fawcett city and Vic really didn't want the kid dying out there, all alone. Especially not on Christmas eve or something.
So what was Victor’s solution? Well he could've simply ignored it but that would've been rather cruel. He could've given him a blanket and coat or something but that felt like it was giving the message of ‘I kinda care but not really’ way too much. He might have insisted Billy spend the nights in a homeless shelter but Vic wasn't stupid. He knew how crap they could be and he didn't want to put the kid in any more danger. So he did the last semi-reasonable thing and decided to let Billy and his friend, Freddy stay with him for a little while.
The only issues were that, 1. Billy hated getting help, even and honestly especially when he needed it most. He had an awful tendency of pushing away those who wanted to help him. And 2. Billy was a menace to put it lightly. He had some pretty terrible habits and of course the need to keep his identity secret from the rest of the league. If he was staying with Vic there was always the possibility that doing that could get considerablely more difficult
But Vic had his– nonexistent– heart set on it. He really wanted to help the kid and show him how much he was truly cared for. So he needed to ask and pray Billy was in an okay mood at least.
Convincing Billy had taken considerable effort. In the end the only reason he did it was to help out Freddy since Vic had promised to let him stay too. But now Billy and Freddy were setting up their limited items in the room Victor had prepared for them.
Billy set down his handheld radio and laid down on the simple bed. He glanced over at Freddy and grinned. He was so fucking glad that Freddy was doing alright, honestly he was nervous how the guy would react to the information that an actual member of the Justice League had asked them to stay with him. That conversation went about as well as Billy had expected, which is to say Freddy freaked out and instantly said ‘YES!!!’ like a million times.
When they got inside Freddy was instantly starstruck. It didn't matter that the apartment was actually incredibly basic and frankly dull. (Vic had no taste to speak of whatsoever, maybe that'd also been replaced when he became a cyborg). So Vic just smiled and gracefully gave Freddy a tour as he super impolitely demanded. Thankfully the older guy actually seemed to be charmed by it in a way. Billy thought it was sweet to see how the two of his best friends from the separate parts of his life interacted so well.
Billy just hoped all this comfort would keep-up. But with his luck, it most certainly didn't.
Gods, this meeting was boring as shit. Billy was exhausted and really just wanted to go home so bad. It didn't help Vic had even given him a bed time after learning how fucked Billy's sleep schedule. While he did wanna argue that it wasn't fair, in a way that would defeat the whole point of the argument. That would make him seem even more childish and Gods knew he did not want Vic thinking that at all.
So here he was hoping the meeting would end soon but also not cause he didn't really wanna go home where he would be forced into early slumber. Woe was him.
Suddenly Vic kicked him from under the table, obviously Billy was pissed so he looked up and mouthed, ‘What?’ To his dismay Victor subtly gestured to the meeting room's clock. Was Vic really suggesting he leave the meeting early on account of a stupid bedtime? Fine. Billy would humor him, he was tired anyways.
Captain Marvel stood up and looked around the space apologetically. “Sorry to you all but I really must get going. This meeting was…” He tried desperately for a nice way to say ‘utterly, mind-bogglingly boring’. He searched through the wisdom of Solomon and finally he settled on, “Informative.” He cleared his throat and walked out the meeting doorway.
Everyone in the room looked some degree of confused and even concerned. Many turned to the wall-clock only to be greeted with the fact it was only 10:00pm. Usually Captain Marvel was fine to stay till much later, even begrudgingly to his own decrement.
“Is he… alright?” Barry glanced around the room. “I mean I can’t be the only one who thinks that that’s odd. He never leaves this early, what do you guys think is going on?”
No one had a reasonable answer. They knew next to nothing of the red-clad hero, especially not why he’d ditched out. “Perhaps,” Diana started to suggest, “He is going home to a family. Most of us can agree that in our civilian identities we have families and because of that it can interfere with League duties.”
It was a pretty stupid answer and they all knew it, even Diana. But it was the only one they had. The Captain had never really mentioned a civilian identity, let alone a family. Most had assumed he just did have either but perhaps this pointed in a different direction?
Victor glanced at Batman nervously. If anyone was going to take advantage of this situation and speculate on Marvel's identity it would be him. Of course that was something to do outside of the meeting so he shushed everyone and resumed the meeting.
Bruce sat in his chair, his jaw clenched at the monitor of his computer. After the meeting he'd come home to do more research on the Captain and his possible secret identity. Back when Captain Marvel had first joined the League Bruce had done his usual search for his secret identity. However, it ultimately failed and he simply deduced the man did not have one. But Marvel leaving the meeting early and the subsequent conversation gave light to the theory that he did in fact have one.
So then why the hell was it so hard to find? Finding the other members' identities certainly hadn't been easy in any way, but it looked like a light sprint compared to the marathon that was finding Marvel's identity. When Bruce first searched for the man's identity and had no luck whatsoever he had hoped desperately that the guy just didn't have one. Knowing he almost certainly did just made him even more upset. How in the hell was he supposed to find Captain Marvel's true identity. It was clear the man had taken great care in keeping it secret and no matter how hard Batman researched his efforts were always in vain. They amounted, much to Bruce's anger— in absolutely nothing.
But when the vigilante set his mind to something nothing could get in his way. Nothing could discourage his hunger for knowledge or his need to know everything. Batman would figure out who he truly was no matter what.