[b]8 hours earlier[/b]

Chester was still wondering how this whole invitation to meet Batman at the Grant Gym would turn. His anxiety started to kick in and his mind raced with the idea that this may be a trap set by either the bastards that killed Robin or maybe even the authorities. Ever since Robin's death Chester had been having bouts of anxiety and paranoia, making it harder for him to focus at times. Thankfully they weren't constant, but it made things difficult. 

"What do you think about this? Do you think I should go?" he asked his pet rats as they climbed on his shoulder. He had two rats for pets, one was named Archie and the other named Amy.

"I can't see how the villains would have figured out where you live since they killed Robin before any of you could get to really know each other" Amy replied in a slightly squeaky voice.

"Ya you never know, there could be food involved and you know how I love food" Archie said with a little giggle.

"I'm not taking you two along yet" Chester said to the rats.

"Why not?" the two rodents asked almost simultaneously.

"Because I want to make sure that the place is safe and I don't want to put you two into unnecessary danger" he responded to them.

"But we've helped you before" they countered.

"Yes and you will soon, but this time you'll stay here and I'll come back for you as soon as I see what this whole thing is about" he said his pets with a reassuring smile. They were two of his closest friends and after Robin's death he wasn't keen on putting them in danger so soon after a teammate had died.

"Please be careful Chester" Amy told him in a concerned voice; of the two she was the most worried about his well being, which was natural for rats.   

"Don't worry, everything will be fine" Chester half lied, he wasn't sure how this would turn out, but he didn't want to let his friends become worried. 

[b]Midnight[/b]

When he got to Gym Chester saw Batman and another costumed man who he didn't recognize. He looked like some type of feline vigilante and Chester was glad he hadn't brought Archie and Amy along with him, they might have panicked when they saw him. Chester also saw the others that he had met when the terrible night had happened, and some new heroes that he didn't know a thing about. One that caught attention quickly was Argonaut, she was so tall and that made him think about how much of a target she would make herself, well he now knew who he would use as a meat shield when shit hit the fan.

He followed Batman and the other older vigilante down to what looked like bunker that was built underneath the gym. Chester listened to Batman explain that the place was built during the second world war and it was now their headquarters. 

[i]"Military training facility, very hardcore"[/i] he thought to himself. Batman then informed them about their schooling arrangements and how he would assist in maintaining their secret identities. That was very nice of the dark hero and even though he didn't show it Chester was very thankful for help in keeping his hero life a secret. He was a little bummed that he would have to stay in school to get the Dark Knight's support, but there was a price for everything in life so Chester would have to deal with it. 

Chester listened to Robert talk about wanting to go after Deadshot and Multiplex to bust their skulls, and he rolled his eyes. He too wanted to bring the villains to justice, but training was necessary if they were going not get their asses handed to them a second time. Batman then informed them that he had already taken down the two villains and Chester was glad that they were brought to justice, but he had wanted to bring them to justice as well. Either way he was still going to stay with this team in honor of their dead teammate.

After they were instructed to suit up, Chester went to find his new costume and upon seeing it he almost laughed.

"Oh my God, he replaced the yellow with black" he said out loud as looked over his suit. It looked cool and he was glad to have it, but it wasn't as bright as his last suit had been, which was probably for the purpose of stealth. His shrinking abilities already made him stealthy, but he guessed that the Dark Knight wanted it more harder for him to be spotted. After suiting up he returned to the room with the others.

"Nice suit, I really like the black" he said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. He then heard Argonaut speak about her height making it tough for her to fit in and Chester chuckled.

"Don't worry, we'll just tell them that you were an experiment for height changing tech" he chuckled. He then heard Zero ask why everyone was being transferred to his school and why he apparently looked similar to the hero Firestorm.

"1: He probably wants to keep a close eye on us and what better way to do that then to go to the same school. 2: Now you and Firestorm can be a buddies of opposite elements, your team name could be The Arctic Volcanoes" he said with a laugh. His humor had gotten the better of him and he couldn't help, but make jokes.