Lone Eagle
Summary: "What's it like living with the Golden Boy?" "What's it like always being second best?" Emmeline Grayson has a talent for saying as little as possible and letting her twin brother Dick take the spotlight. But when she becomes part of The Team and is forced to work outside of her comfort zone, will she stay in the shadows? Or will she share the spotlight with her brother?
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Fireworks
I'm not a fancy person. I guess if you were going on that track, you could also call me rich, but that's not a me like trait. That's Bruce.
And, to a certain extent, my brother Richard, aka Dick, and I.
I was eight when I watched my parents fall to their death. I was eight when I realized that life wasn't all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. That bad things happened to good people, like my parents. I can still see them, reaching for something to grab onto, knowing there was nothing there. And at least once a week, my mind replays the sickening crack that was my family hitting the ground in my dreams. Even four years later, I still wake up screaming and crying.
A childhood lost. In a millisecond.
My name is Emmeline Grayson. This is my story.
Gotham City; July 4th 2010; 11:50 EDT
"Emma!" My brother called up to where I sat, perched on the roof, my hair up in a braided ponytail.
"What?" I called back, slightly annoyed. I was working on my summer homework; a page long essay on the significance of Magna Carta.
"We've got a situation down town." That got my attention. I grabbed my notebook, and scrambled through the window. I sprinted through my room, dropping my notes on the ground, and once out the door, ran towards the stairway and slid down the banister, to where my brother was waiting outside the grandfather clock. Pulling one of the pendulums, he opened the secret door down to the Batcave.
"What happened?" I asked him as the elevator made it's descent.
"Mr. Freeze. Heading towards the park."
"Oh great." Once the doors were open, we split up to put on our uniforms. I stripped down until I was just in my underwear, and then pulled on my black leggings, slipped on my hunter green shirt with navy vest like details, pulled on my black chiffon wrap skirt, put on my black cape with navy lining, and ran out to the main room, boots and belt in hand.
"Where's the gum?" I called to my brother as I put on my boots.
"Here!" He chucked it at me, and I caught it, then slipped two pieces into my mouth. As I chewed, I clicked my belt on, and checked that I had all my little gadgets in place. I spit the gum out, and stuck it on the outside corners of my domino mask, then stretched it out a bit to make it smooth. It was kind of gross, but I'd been doing it for so long now, it was routine.
"The bikes?"
"Yeah." My brother told me.
"Perfect." We ran up the stairs to the garage, slipped on our helmets, and opened the door. We hit 60 before we were out of the driveway.
We got to the park in about 10 minutes, and ditched the bikes. No one would steal them, and if they tried, there were multiple trackers. It was easy to locate Mr. Freeze, you could hear the people screaming. Luckily, we came from the right direction, so we were behind him.
Many people were already frozen, and tons more were running for it. Robin pulled a batarang from his belt, and threw it, hitting the freeze-gun thing.
"Batman." Mr. Freeze said, in his creepy tone. "I was wondering where you-"
He was cut off as Robin and I let out our signature cackles. The dude in the dome looked around, wondering where we were.
I vaunted forwards, and landed on Mr. Freeze's dome thing, then pushed off, causing him to fall forwards. Robin landed next to me, and we each threw a Batarang at him, cracking his dome.
"Oh, the Boy and Girl Wonders." He drawled, "The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison. Frankly, I'm underwhelmed."
"Great, but I'm kind of in a hurry here." Robin said, not looking at Mr. Freeze, but at the rocky outcrop behind him.
"Kids, always in such a rush." He said, before pointing his ice gun at Robin and I. "I prefer to preserve these moments. Forever."
"Not talking to you." I said, annoyance dripping from my voice. Come on Bats, get it over with. We're supposed to be at the Hall of Justice in like, an hour, and we have to debrief before. Great, we'll be late. I'm a poet and I know it.
Batman jumped from the rocky outcropping, his cape flying out behind him, and punched Mr. Freeze's dome, effectively knocking him out.
"Can we go now?" Robin and I chorused. Bats nodded, and we ran to our bikes.
"Well Eagle, that was fun."
"Shut up." I told him, as I put on my helmet.
"Oh, come on. You know you love me." My brother's voice played in the speakers in my helmet.
"Let's just get back."
"Eagle, Robin. Once you're back at the Cave, clean up and prepare yourselves for this afternoon. Briefing will be postponed." Batman said.
"Asterous. Thanks Bats." My brother replied as we sped off.
"Perfect." I muttered, as I accelerated.
"Excited, Miss Emma?"
"Of course Alfred!"
"How could she not be?" My brother asked as he finished off his sandwich. "Today's the day!"
"I knew that Dick!" I responded, indignant. "I've been looking forward to this since I heard about it!"
"Just making sure little sis, just making sure."
"Stop it!" I snapped at him.
We were eating sandwiches in the Bat Cave while we waited for Bruce to get back.
"You kids ready?"
"You're late!"
"We're gonna be late!"
"So not asterous!" Dick and I chorused.
"Yes, no, and what is asterous again? All the others had to deal with villains this morning as well, so no we are not going to be late. But we will if you two don't get a move on!" Bruce told us. He was still in uniform, except for his cowl, which he pulled on. "Put on your masks and let's go."
Once our masks were on, we ran to catch up, then followed him into the Batmobile, and sped off towards DC.
"Remember you two: behave, and do not let anyone know about the Watchtower."
"The others don't?" I asked, surprised.
"You only found out from hacking." Bats replied.
"True, but still..."
"Not a word. Or you're grounded."
"Normal or no patrol?" My brother asked. "Cuz I'm fine with normal groundings but-"
"No patrol."
"Alright."
Washington DC; July 4th, 2010; 14:00 EDT
"Today's the day." Batman said to Robin and I. Pride was evident in his voice. What a surprise, that never happened.
"Welcome to the Hall of Justice." Green Arrow said, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. No duh. Where else would we be?
Truthfully though, I was nervous. I'm pretty sure Bru-ack Batman thought we would be inducted into the League today, but what if Robin and I were too young? I knew the other partners had at least 3 years on us, even though we had more experience.
"Headquarters of the Justice League." Aquaman continued. I once again, fought the urge to roll my eyes.
"Aw man!" I recognized Kid Flash's voice; we'd met once before. "I knew we'd be the last ones here!"
As we walked up, people swarmed us, taking pictures, and saying 'I see so and so'. They also mixed up Speedy and Kid Flash, then called Kid Flash stuff like Flash Junior or Flash Boy. It was pretty funny, but I kept a straight face. Bats do not show emotion.
"I'm glad we're all here." Aqualad said. I silently agreed. It would be fun getting to know these guys. I could finally share jokes and stories about my escapades through the city with someone other than my brother, who had been there with me for most of them.
"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid Flash asked. I mentally face palmed. Not sidekicks, partners.
"Don't call us sidekicks." Speedy said angrily. "Not after today." Someone thought they were being inducted...
"Sorry. First time at the Hall. I'm a bit overwhelmed." Whelmed. There it was. Again.
"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed why isn't anyone ever just..."
"Whelmed." My brother and I said at the same time.
And then we went through the doors. The Hall of Justice was, well, overwhelming.
"Oh. Maybe that's why." My brother said, and I held back a laugh, smirking instead. The doors beneath the gigantic statues of the members of the Justice League opened to reveal Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado.
"Robin, Eagle, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash. Welcome." Martian Manhunter said, then turned, and led us through the doors. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley, and, of course, our library."
"Make yourselves at home." Flash said. My brother, Kid Flash, and Aqualad took the chairs, so I settled with sitting on the armrest of my brother's chair. The mentors huddled close by.
"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long." Batman said, then turned and walked towards the zeta beam
"Recognized Batman, 02; Aquaman, 06; Flash, 04; Green Arrow, 08; Martian Manhunter, 07; Red Tornado, 16." The computer chimed, and the door to the slightly hidden zeta tube opened. Speedy got up, and stood angrily behind them.
"Someone's mad." I muttered. Aqualad looked at me. "I can talk." I said, annoyed.
"That's it?" Speedy said, obviously angry. "You promised us a real look inside!"
"It's a first step." Aquaman said calmly. I swear, nothing fazed that guy. "You've been granted access few others get."
"Oh really?" Speedy responded, then pointed up towards the onlookers. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?" I stood from my perch. Something told me this was going to get real interesting really fast.
"Roy, you just need to be patient." Green Arrow began. I scoffed, hasn't he heard of secret ID?
"What I need is respect." Speedy spat. Shit, that's never a good sign. He turned, and looked back at us.
"They're treating us like kids! Worse, like sidekicks!" He spoke the word like it was venom, it kind of was. "We deserve better than this." I looked at the others in turn. We kind of did, I mean, we barely get to interact with the other partners, even though I for one would love to, but what was Speedy thinking? "You're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why? Because you think they play fair? Today was supposed to be the day! Step one in becoming full members of the League!"
"Well, sure." said Kid Flash. "But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ." This is not the HQ Kid Flash. Or Kid Stupid might be more accurate...
"This isn't the League's real HQ! I bet they never told you it's just a front for tourists, and a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleports to the real HQ. An orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."
I looked at Kid Flash and Aqualad. Kid Flash looked shocked, and Aqualad looked almost pleasantly surprised, like he got something he wanted but never expected for his birthday.
"I know, I know, but I thought maybe we could make an exception." Green Arrow said. Bats looked annoyed. I didn't blame him. He'd been ticked when Rob and I found out. "Or not." Speedy glared at us. What was with this guy? The few times I'd met him before, he seemed pretty chill.
"Not helping your cause son." Aquaman said. "Stand down or-"
"Or what?" Speedy cut him off. "You'll send me to my room? I'm not your son! I'm not even his. I thought I was his partner. I guess not. Not anymore." He took his signature yellow hat off. And threw it on the ground. Ok, so did not see that coming. Seriously! "Guess they're right about you three. You're not ready." He said, then walked out the door.
"Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."
"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus..." I heard Batman say before I stopped paying attention. What was Roy thinking? Was he seriously going to go solo? Just because he wasn't inducted today? Didn't he knew you had to prove yourself, and what he did wasn't helping?
Then again, I realized with a sickening feeling, Batman didn't give tons of opportunities for me to prove myself. What if I'm always thought of as too weak, not good enough?
Way worse than my brother...
"To block out the sun." That was Zatara. Oh, so the League's gonna go save the world again. I childishly hoped they would let us come, then realized there was no way they would. "Requesting full League response!"
"Superman," Batman said, "It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control."
"Then Cadmus can wait." Batman pressed a few buttons on the computer. I walked over, and the others followed. "All Leaguers meet at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out." He then turned to us. "Stay put."
"What?"
"Why?" My brother and I asked.
"This is a League responsibility." Aquaman said.
"You're not trained." Flash added.
"Since when?" Now Kid Flash sounded annoyed that the person who trained him was saying he wasn't trained.
"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team." Flash continued. Oh, like that made it better.
"There will be other missions. When you're ready." Said Aquaman.
"But for now, stay put." Batman said. The words or else were unsaid, but left hanging in the air. I had half a mind to throw a little hissy fit. We were not children!
I glared at my mentor. So I was good enough for Gotham, where the crazies roamed, but not good enough to help fight with about 20 well trained others? That was unfair!
And then, the Leaguers walked into the zeta tube, leaving us sidekicks in the library.
"When we're ready?" Kid Flash asked. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like, like"
"Sidekicks." I put in.
"My mentor, my king. I thought he trusted me." Aqualad sounded severely put out.
"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a HQ in space!" KF's arms were up in annoyance and disbelief. Out of context, it would have looked really funny, but at the moment, I felt like going to the gym and beating something up. Or Batman. If i could throw punches at Batman I would feel better.
"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad asked. Well, to start the fact that they think we're kids.
"I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" My brother asked.
"Ditto." I said. Possibilities running through my head about what the heck were we gonna do?
"What is... Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked.
"Don't know..." I looked over to my brother. "You thinking what I'm thinking bro?"
"Find out? Yeah." He responded.
"Wait, you two are siblings!" Kid Flash said.
"Acute observation, Kid Stupid." I responded, heading over to the computer.
"Hey!" I typed in some codes, before the computer chimed,
"Access denied." I looked at my brother.
"I bet it'll take me less than five minutes."
"Ten at the least."
"You're on." I looked through the codes.
"Ha! Same as in the Cave! I win!" I typed in a few more codes, and then was granted access. "Project Cadmus, genetics lab in DC. And that is all." I turned back towards the others.
"But, Batman is suspicious..." My brother added, "Which means we should investigate."
"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice." Aqualad added.
"Justice, that's what they're all about."
"Show them that we are ready, and can work as a team." I added quietly.
"But they said stay put."
"For blotting out the sun," Robin began. We're gonna get busted eventually for this. "Not for this."
"Wait, are you saying you're going to Cadmus? Cuz if you're in, I'm in." Kid Flash said. He was obviously excited.
"Ditto. Not like you'd do anything crazy without me. Anyway, I've been looking for an opportunity to, what is it, oh yeah prove myself." I added.
"Just like that?" Aqualad asked. "We're a team on a mission?"
"We didn't come for a play date." Robin answered.
"Then I too, am in."
Kid Flash ran up the front of the building, grabbed the falling scientists, put them on the roof, and then scrambled and fell, grabbing onto the second story window. I would have laughed if I wasn't in such a serious mood.
"So smooth." Robin remarked.
"Does he always have to run ahead?" I didn't bother listening to him. I ran off, grabbing my grappling gun, ready to join KF on the second story. My brother obviously had the same idea, and once I heard his echoing cackle, I started one of my own.
Swinging off the fire truck's ladder alongside Robin, we landed on the ledge KF was hanging from, jumped inside, and pulled him in. Then, we ran into Cadmus. My brother and I sat in front of two computers, and began reading the code.
"Help would have been appreciated." Aqualad said as he entered the room.
"You survived, didn't you?" I asked. "Or are we just seeing a zombie?"
"Anyway, investigating. Poetic justice, remember?"
"There was something in the-" Aqualad started.
"Elevators should be locked down." Kid Flash said. Robin and I ditched our computers, and ran towards the elevators. My brother pressed the down button, multiple times.
"This is wrong." Robin said. "This is a high speed express elevator, which you do not need in a two story building."
"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad put in, then proceeded to force the elevator doors open, revealing a long, dark, elevator shaft that seemed to go on forever.
"Remind me never to fall down elevator shafts in strange buildings." I muttered to KF.
"Yup, that's why they need an express elevator." My brother shot a grappling hook at the ceiling, then jumped. I followed his example, and went down. When I stopped, next to Robin, I was still hanging.
"End of the rope." I said, then swung over towards the walls. If I fell here- holy Batman don't think about it. I landed on the ledge, and internally sighed. I wouldn't suffer the same fate as my parents, at least not today. A few seconds later, Kid Flash and Aqualad joined my brother and I on the ledge. I pulled up my holocomputer that was hidden in my glove.
"Bypassing security..." I muttered as the computer did the work for me. It boring, yes, but more accurate. I was pretty good, but we didn't want to risk getting caught.
"In. Go." We forced open the doors, and entered the hallway on floor -26.
"Welcome to Project Cadmus." Robin said, clearly surprised about how huge it was. Kid Flash sped off, deaf to us telling him to wait. We ran after him, only to see these... Things.
They could best be described as a creepy mix between elephants and gorillas. And they were huge.
"No. Nothing odd going on here." Aqualad said, as the beings walked past us. I was suddenly struck with the urge to run, get out of here, go back to the Hall of Justice.
Then I remembered that Eagle was fearless. Well, not really, but I shoved my fears to the back of my mind as we continued on.
"Ok, I'm officially whelmed." Robin said after I opened another door. The room was full of creatures, in these blue tubes, that looked like they were generating power.
"This is how they hide this underground facility," KF stated, "from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on grid. These things generate their power!"
"Of course. Even the name is a clue. The Cadmus myth created a new race my sewing dragon's teeth into the earth."
"And this Cadmus make new life too."
"They're called genomorphs." I was reading off my holocomputer, "The stats on these things are... Crazy. Super strength, telepathy, and razor claws? These are living weapons!"
"They're engineering an army." KF said gravely. "But for who?"
"Wait, there's something else. Project Kr."
"What is it?" The boys had gathered around and were reading over my shoulder.
"File's encrypted. I can't hack it-"
"Don't move!" Shouted a rough voice, and we turned. It was a guy in a mask along with a bunch of the genomorphs. Shit, shit, shit. "Wait. Robin, Eagle, Aqualad, Kid Flash?"
"Least he got your name right." I muttered.
"I know you." Aqualad stated. I was still trying to get to the files with Robin's help. "Guardian. A hero."
"I do my best." The guy, Guardian, whatever said.
"What are you doing here?" Accusing much, KF?
"That's my question. I'm chief of security. And you are trespassing. But we can call the Justice League. Figure this out."
"You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" KF was seriously outraged now.
"Weapons? What do- what have I- ugh my head!" What the heck is going on with this Guardian guy? "Take em down! No mercy!" The genomorphs sprang into action-towards us.
Thankfully, Robin was thinking ahead and dropped a smoke bomb, then shot a grappling hook towards the ceiling. I followed his lead, hoping the other two would figure something out. We vaulted over the beam, and landed in front the smoke screen, then took off running.
"We need to disable the alarms!" I pulled up my wrist computer, and began trying to open the door.
"Way to be a team player, Wonders!" Jeez KF. What's got your panties in a twist. Oh wait. Cadmus.
"Weren't you right behind us?" I pointed out. We ran into the elevator, Aqualad barely making it in, and my brother hit the down button. To level -52
"Um, Rob? This isn't the way out." I said, wary of what he was doing.
"Yeah, but Project Kr is down. Thinking ahead, lil sis."
"This is out of control." Aqualad said. The normally calm Atlantean was obviously frazzled. "Perhaps... Perhaps we should call the League." He was right. I slumped against the wall, and slid down it until I was sitting on the floor of the elevator. i was exhausted. Batman was going to kill us! Scold us, like we were little kids. We sure acted like them, running in without a plan. If we did anything, we proved that we weren't ready.
But then we were at -52, and back into action. Whether we liked it or not.
The doors opened, and we braced ourselves to be attacked. Except we weren't. The elevator doors revealed a reddish pink (pinkish red?) room that looked strangely like how I pictured the inside of the human esophagus looked like. It practically screamed 'I am unnatural and should not be here!'
Rob ran forward, and I stood up and followed him. There was like a mini science lab in there, complete with computers and microscopes. It was just so... Strange. They were things you would see in a normal lab, in this freaky setting.
"Which way?" Aqualad asked.
"Bizzaro hallway one or two?" I asked.
"Hold!" Some creepy thing that I could only assume was a genomorph called. It looked alien; horns on head, pale purple skin, and was slightly creepy. Screw never getting scared. These things- and the lab setting- scared me shitless. Did I show it? No. Well, not until the thing show barrels at us using only its mind.
We ran for it. Down bizzaro hallway number one.
Kid Flash had obviously best us to the doorway, and wedged a cylinder of some kind in it so we could get in. Project Kr. We were there.
Once we were in, Aqualad kicked the cylinder out. Rob and I began to hack, trying to find out what the heck was going on here.
"I disabled the door. We're safe." Rob said.
"We're trapped." Aqualad remarked.
"Uh, guys? You'll want to see this." We looked over to KF's control panel, where he pressed a few buttons. A pod was revealed.
And inside was what was obviously Superman's clone.
Thank you to everyone who read this. This story is my first ever for Young Justice, and my first chapter story in a long time. Here's how I plan on working this. I've written a few chapters ahead, so once I write another one (which will take a week or so depending on my motivation) I'll post the next. If something happens and I can't get on for a while, I'll post one of my pre-written ones. Thanks again, and don't forget to review!