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It seemed like a casual evening in the Titans Tower, though something strange had recently happened that changed the mood.
Maps had called a team meeting, which seemed rather strange. As the least experienced and most happy go lucky member of the team, it seemed rather odd that she of all people would call for a meeting like that.
Her intentions became clear as she quickly made an announcement to the group.
“What do you mean you can't come to the tower tomorrow?” Damian asked, concerned about what was up with his sidekick.
“Don't worry, I promise this isn't anything serious.” The teen girl quickly assured the bird themed hero.
This caused almost everyone to sigh in relief, though they were still curious about what the reason for her absence tomorrow was.
“You don't have to worry about me because me and my family are going on a fishing trip!” She happily announced to the group.
Everyone on the team was pleasantly surprised about this news.
“That's great to hear.” Kathy said to her teammate.
“Can't remember the last time me and my family went on a fishing trip. You're really lucky Maps.” Jon happily told his teammate.
“Thank you!”
“So, is anyone else besides your family coming along?” Damian curiously asked his sidekick.
“Oh, yeah. Olive, Pomeline, and Tristan are coming with us too.”
“Isn't there a fourth friend of yours?” Maya asked as she could've sworn the other girl had a larger friend group.
“Yeah. Colton got sick yesterday.”
After Maps had told this to her team, a part of her felt bad that she couldn't bring them all along. The girl could only imagine how much some of them wanted to come along. She began to think up of a plan to try to at least bring someone with her.
“Well, I'm sure I can bring someone from the team. After all, there's one open spot available.”
“Do any of you guys wanna come with me?” The raven haired teen suddenly asked, already making up her mind on the plan.
The team was definitely caught off guard by the answer. After getting over the surprise, only one of the teens really wanted to go with their friend.
“I can come with you.” Colin responded to the question asked by the excitable hero.
“You really mean it?” Maps asked, both happy and surprised by the answer.
The ginger haired teen gave a nonchalant nod as a way of saying yes.
“Sure. Never went fishing. I wanna see what it's like.” He casually explained to the teen.
The raven haired girl couldn't help but feel giddy. Her excitement about the trip seemed to increase tenfold.
“Awesome! Can't wait to pack!” Maps exclaimed as she couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.
“Just gotta inform dad and Emi about it.” Colin said as he pulled out his phone to text his family.
“So you aren't gonna come to the tower either?” Suren curiously asked the other boy.
“I'm sure I can still come. After all, I'm like lightning fast as Shazam. I can manage.” The ginger haired teen confidently said to his friend.
“That's good to know.” Damian said as he gave a casual thumbs up to his teammate.
Just like that, Colin texted his father about what was up, and got an approval message from the man.
“Aaand we're all set.”
Maps smiled at the news. She had to remind herself to not keep herself up at night from all this excitement.
“How come you're this hyped about a simple fishing trip?” Maya curiously asked the other girl.
“Well, as much as I love being a superhero, it can be a lot sometimes. Always nice to take a small break from it once in a while.” Maps explained to the cybernetic teen.
Damian nodded in agreement as he understood the struggle his sidekick had.
With the meeting officially over, all the team could do was support their friends. Meanwhile, all that Colin and Maps could do was get ready for tomorrow.
.
It was a beautiful noon day as the Mizoguchi family was on their way to the fishing lake.
Maps was practically beaming with excitement as she sat next to her older brother. She eagerly watched the scenery from the window as they got closer and closer to the lake.
“You think your little friend is already gonna be there?’ Kyle curiously asked his younger sibling.
“I'm sure Colin's on his way at the very least.” The raven haired girl remarked as she pulled out her phone. She had texted Olive a few minutes ago, and went to check to see if her girlfriend responded.
Opening her phone, she saw a message from Olive which was “Already there. Can't wait for you.” with a little heart emoji in it.
“Can't wait!” Maps happily thought to herself.
Not too long after receiving the message, the raven haired girl was happy to see that her family had arrived at the location.
“Aaand we're here.” Bella said to her children as she began to park the car from right across the main lake area.
Once the vehicle had been parked, the family stepped outside and were pleasantly surprised by who else had arrived.
Olive, whose parents had dropped her off her a few minutes ago, was currently conversing with Colin and his family.
“I never knew you took archery classes.”
“What can I say? I take after my brother.” Emiko casually said to the white haired teen.
Maps happily waved over to her girlfriend as a way to get her attention without saying anything.
Olive noticed and smiled brightly. She quickly motioned her girlfriend and the family over to where she was at.
The raven haired teen walked ahead of the rest of her family, and gave the other girl a warm hug. Once she let go from the hug, she looked over at Colin and happily waved hello to him.
“I'm so glad you two made it!”
“Happy we made it too.” Colin told his teammate as he gave her a thumbs up.
After the three teens greeted each other, the rest of the Mizoguchi family caught up.
“You must be Colin's father. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.”Henry greeted the blonde haired man as he gave him a handshake.
“A pleasure to meet you too.” Oliver kindly said to the other father.
“I'm Oliver's sis in law. Don't ask, it's complicated.” Emiko chimed into the conversation.
“Well, if you say so ma'am.” Bella said as also gave the other woman a handshake.
Soon, the adults began to converse with one another. The trio of teens decided to step back to talk to each other.
“How long until Pomeline,and Tristan get here?” Maps curiously asked her girlfriend.
“I'm pretty sure they'll be here soon, no worries.” Olive casually assured Maps.
There was a moment of silence as they weren't sure what to chat about before the white haired teen remembered something peculiar.
“Aren't you that one Shazam guy that's part of Maps’ team?” She quietly asked after making sure the adults weren't listening to them.
“Oh yeah. Guessing she told you about us.” Colin nodded as he made sure not to be too loud.
“Do they know?” Olive asked, using “they” as a way of referring to Oliver and Emiko.
Without a moment of hesitation, the ginger haired teen gave a quick nod as a way to say “yeah they know”.
“Wait, really?”
“Yup. They're pretty chill with it actually.” Colin confidently told the other teen.
“Huh. Never knew that. You're pretty lucky to be honest.”
Olive's remark to the boy caused Maps to feel something unexpected. She felt her mood begin to dampen a little.
Her thoughts about the fishing trips were replaced with how she hadn't told her parents about her still being Red Robin yet. She was worried they would disapprove and would think she was recklessly putting herself in danger.
“Hey, you okay?” The white haired girl asked as she could sense something was off.
“Oh, yeah. I'm fine.” Maps quickly changed her mood as she reassured her girlfriend.
Olive was a little hesitant to believe the raven haired girl. Yet she knew that if something was wrong, Maps would openly talk about it. Her train of thought was broken when she heard a buzz from her phone. She quickly pulled it out to check what it was.
“What's it say?” Colin curiously asked the white haired girl.
Maps leaned over to look at Olive's phone and was excited to see the text message. Pomeline and Tristan were almost here, and would probably be arriving any second.
“Sweet. Thought they'd never arrive.” The raven haired girl said as she felt her mood improve.
“Yeah. I think we should get everything set up.” Olive said as she nodded in agreement.
“Already on it.” Colin said before making his way to his family to get his stuff from the trunk.
With that, Maps decided to do the same thing to get her own fishing stuff. Olive already had a bag with her stuff so she was all set.
“Okay Maps. Just focus on fishing. Everything will be fine.”
The raven haired girl now had something else to do alongside the fishing. She had to keep her mood up.
.
Time had passed as the sky was beginning to have shades of both yellow and orange, signifying how late it was becoming. It would be an hour or two before they would leave the lake.
In the meantime, Maps, her friends, and her family had been having a lot of fun fishing. Even if they didn't really catch much of anything, it was still rather relaxing. It gave everyone a time to think and breathe thanks to the “boring” activity.
Well, almost everyone. There was one person who was trying their best to not be in a bad mood.
Now, it would've been impossible for Maps to feel all down in the dumps during a trip like this. The fact she was this excited for the trip yesterday should've meant she was having the time of her life, even if she wasn't catching any fish. Well, let's just say something else has been haunting her mind.
After Colin mentioned to Olive about how his dad and aunt know about his secret identity as Shazam, Maps began to think about how she still kept her hero identity a secret to her parents. Her mind quickly filled up with worries about the possibility of them disapproving of her still being Red Robin after the incident at the museum.
No matter how hard she tried, those thoughts refused to go away. All she could really do was try to act like everything was okay. Granted, she did a pretty good job at hiding her real emotions, but she knew it couldn't last forever.
“Can me and Colin fish on our own?” Maps asked her two parents, hoping to get some alone time with her teammate.
“Of course.” Henry said to his daughter as he handed her two fishing rods.
“Just make sure to be safe out there.” Bella assured her child as she was busy getting ready to fish with Kyle.
When Maps made her way to the empty boat with Colin, her older brother helped push said boat into the lake when the teens made it inside.
“Remember not to stay out there too late.” Kyle quickly reminded his sister as he watched the boat slowly drift away.
Once the duo were far enough into the lake, they began to fish and patiently wait for a bite. All the teens could do right now is stare at the water or make small talk.
Colin decided to do the latter option since he thought it could help pass the time more quickly than just staying silent the whole time.
“So, you enjoying the trip so far?” The ginger haired teen asked, expecting the obvious answer of an enthusiastic yes.
Instead, all Maps gave was a simple nod in response before speaking.
“Can I be honest with you?”
“Is something wrong?” The teen boy asked, confused by the sudden question from his friend.
“Yeah. It's about my parents. I-” Maps hesitantly paused as she even debated on telling him this. She worried about bringing down his mood as well. She decided she should have to tell him anyway.
“I haven't told them about my secret identity yet. I don't know how much longer I can keep this from them.” The girl solemnly admitted.
Colin wasn't really sure what to say at first. Having this information dropped like this so suddenly was very jarring to say the least. Despite this, he could empathize with this feeling. He too experienced this before his battle with Black Adam.
“I'm sure they'll understand.” He finally spoke, immediately assuring his teammate.
“I doubt they will.” Maps muttered to herself as she didn't believe that.
“What makes you think that?”
“When I broke my leg at the museum, my parents wanted me to stop being Red Robin. Thought it was too reckless.” The raven haired girl explained to her friend.
“Oh.” Colin fell silent as he felt stupid for thinking Maps' parents were like his dad and aunt.
“At least Kyle is okay with it. He knows I'm still Red Robin.” The girl added on, wanting to make her teammate feel better.
“That's good to hear at least.”
There was another moment of silence between the two before Maps continued speaking.
“I said that I was gonna stop being a hero for my parents. I can't just keep lying to them forever. The truth has got to come out eventually.”
“And you're worried about them reacting poorly.” Colin said as he guessed how the sentence was going to end.
“Yeah.” She nodded as she sighed softly.
“I feel like you should go for it anyways.”
Maps was rather surprised and confused by Colin's statement. She looked over at her teammate with a puzzled look on her face.
“Well, it's your life. You've proven you're more than capable time and time again, like that time you managed to defeat Doctor Light without us.” Colin encouraged his friend, fully confident in his advice.
“Yeah. Yeah I did beat him.” Maps said to herself as she began to feel better.
“Heck, you're an official member of the team because of how often you've proven yourself as an awesome hero.”
Colin's encouragement worked as the raven haired girl continued to feel more and more confident. Her mind had switched to thoughts of worry to thoughts of determination.
“I know you underestimate yourself, but there's a reason Damian kept you as his sidekick. Not just any average teen can be Red Robin.”
With the other boys' final words, Maps had changed her decision. She was gonna tell her parents about her big secret.
“You know what, I think you're right.”
“That's the spirit!” Colin happily told his friend. Operation boost his friend's confidence was a success.
Maps smiled at her friend before she suddenly felt something from her fishing rod. She had finally gotten a bite. Her first bite for the entire trip.
“Could it finally be? A fish?!” The girl excitedly thought to herself as she quickly began to reel in whatever took the bait.
The anticipation from the duo of teens could be felt. They were eagerly awaiting what she was about to fish up. Seconds felt like they lasted forever as the hype kept increasing.
After what felt like an eternity, Maps was able to successfully reel in her catch of the day. Turns out the fish she had gotten was a small Black Crappie.
It wasn't much, but it was still something.
“Looks like I got this little guy.” Maps remarked to herself before getting the hook off of the fish, and releasing it back into the lake.
“Not bad. At least it wasn't like a tadpole or something.” Colin playfully joked with his friend as he watched Black Crappie swim away.
Soon, the two decided to head back to land. As both of them were rowing the boat, Maps was mentally preparing herself for what was about to happen next.
“Okay, keep calm. Think about what Colin just said. Besides, it's not the end of the world if they disapprove, though I still hope they approve.”
Her attention moved away from her thoughts as she saw both Pomeline and Tristan in the distance, waving to them.
Once both Maps and Colin got close to land, the two other teens helped the boat get out of the water.
“How did your little fishing trip go?” Pomeline curiously asked the duo.
“You think they even caught anything?” The blonde haired teen whispered the remark to his friend.
“I'll have you know that she caught a black crappie.” Colin said to his teammate's friend.
Maps chuckled softly before looking back at her family in the distance.
The ginger haired boy noticed this, and motioned her friend to head over to talk to them.
“Thanks.” Maps quietly said to her teammate and walked away from the friend group.
Pomeline and Tristan were both rather confused by this, and both wondered what was going on.
“Is everything alright?” The female friend asked, a little worried about Maps.
“She's fine. Just some personal stuff she's going through.” Colin quickly assured the other teens.
While her other three friends were waiting for her to come back, Maps had made her way to where her brother and parents were at.
Kyle noticed his little sister from a distance, and waved over to her.
Now having regrouped with her family, the girl took a deep breath as she had to mentally prepare for what she was about to do.
“Is something wrong sweetie?” Henry asked as he wondered why his daughter was so quiet right now.
“Deep breath. It's okay, you got this.” Maps thought to herself before speaking.
“Mom, dad…”
Both of the parents, along with Kyle, looked over at the teen girl. They were wondering what she was going to say to them. The seconds felt like they dragged on forever before she finally spoke.
“I'm still Red Robin.”
Maps went quiet yet again as she awaited for how her mom and dad were gonna react. In all honesty, she was fully expecting the worst.
“We know.”
She had to do a double take when she heard these words coming from her mother's mouth. The teen had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't daydreaming or something.
“Huh?” Maps exclaimed in confusion when she realized that this was all real. She then looked over at her brother as she assumed he might have told them her secret.
“Hey, don't look at me. I didn't snitch.” Kyle told his little sister. He had made sure to keep his lips sealed, and didn't tell their mom or dad about the secret.
There goes the only plausible explanation Maps thought of.
“Then… then how did you find out?”
As she cautiously asked this question, the teen looked at the ground as she was scared to see the look on her parents face.
“Well, you didn't really do a good job hiding your identity as Red Robin. Heck, the newspapers sometimes showed your face as clear as day.” Henry explained this to his daughter.
Maps went silent as she wasn't exactly sure how to respond. She then hesitantly looked up to see her parents' reaction to this. The girl was shocked to see the look on their faces.
They didn't look upset.
With the teen quickly getting over the shock, that feeling was then replaced with confusion. This didn't make sense to her. She expected the worst so this left her puzzled.
“Y-you're not mad?”
Both of the parents gave a nod in response before Bella lowered herself to talk face to face with her daughter.
“We can't stop you from doing this Mia, especially since you've been Red Robin for so long. Even if we're still not entirely fine with it.” The mother explained to her child.
“You mean, you're gonna let me still be a hero?” Maps asked as she was amazed that this was even happening.
“We're still worried about you being too reckless, but yes.” Henry answered the girl's question. Even if they were hesitant, the decision was going to stick.
“Really?” The raven haired teen asked as she felt like a massive weight was lifted off her shoulders.
“Mhm.” The mother said as she nodded at her stunned daughter.
Maps smiled brightly as she gave both of her parents a big hug. She felt tears of joy prick the side of her eyes as her parents happily hugged back.
“Just promise to stay safe.”
“I promise.” Maps said to her father as she hugged both her dad and mom tightly.
Kyle felt a little left out by all of this so he decided to join in the family hug. He felt incredibly happy for his little sister right now.
As the Mizoguchi family were happily embracing each other, the friends of Maps were watching what was happening in the distance.
“Wonder what was up.” Pomeline remarked as she was curious what happened between the family.
“Probably personal business. No need to be nosy about it.” Tristan responded to his friend's remark.
As the two other teens were busy wondering what had happened, Colin was with both Oliver and Emiko. He smiled to himself as he watched his teammate hug her family.
“Way to go Maps.”