Step 1:
JULY 26
"Please don't think, I'll go along with this…" the young man frowned deeply with his arms crossed.
"Oh, c'mon, Nic," the older man slapped the boy on the back, "Be a sport and do it!"
Nic scoured at the man, "I can't really say I appreciate you changing everything last minute, Hatch."
Hatch let out a bellowing laugh and smacked the boy on the back again, "C'mon it can't be that hard for our genius!"
"Being a genius doesn't even mean anything if you change the stunt last minute every other show!" he hissed, "It's one thing for me to be able to adjust, but I'm not the only person performing, remember, Hatch?"
The older man smiled at the younger boy and put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't sweat the details, Nic, just do your thing."
"…" Nic kept an even look with him before turning away with a sigh, "There's no use trying to reason with you. Whatever."
With that, Nic threw in the towel and made his way out of the tent. No use trying to speak with the man that laughed at logic.
A woman walked in shortly after Nic had left, "Hatch."
"Hmm? Oh, Cherie~ there you are!"
He held his arms out to his wife who walked over and let him kiss her cheek.
"…Hatch," she said seriously, "When are you going to tell him what you're really doing?"
"Doing?"
"You know what I mean," she narrowed her eyes at him, "Pretending to change the performance when all you're doing is making up his on the spot."
"Oh, you mean training him?" Hatch looked out the opening of the tent, "Who knows…"
"Hatch," the woman sighed and hugged him, "There's no reason to do that. We're just a small circus now, not criminals or superheroes, okay?"
The man carefully wrapped his arms around his wife.
"I know, but I can't help but be worried for him…" he smiled down wistfully at her, "He's like a real son you know?"
"…I know, Hatch, I know."
"Oh, sweet, we get to go to the circus!" Wally exclaimed pumping his fist into the air once.
"Ahh, this is so exciting!" Megan cried holding her cheeks with both hands.
"…The circus?" Connor said giving Kaldur a look who shrugged his shoulders.
"Actually," Artemis stepped in, "It's just a small troupe. Their carnival is going to be in town for the week."
"A whole week?" Megan exclaimed, "Oh, please tell me we're going today!"
Everyone turned to look expectantly at Red Tornado who happened to be in the room. The Justice League member met their stares and walked out of the room.
"I'll take that as a yes!" the Kid Flash whooped.
CRASH!
The entire building fell down disheveling dirt and smoke into the air. The Boy Wonder angrily swiped away at the interference until his vision cleared. Several unconscious bodies lied around him and his mentor, but not the main player.
"He got away," Robin scowled.
"For now," Batman said stepping forward. He pulled out a small screen that had a small moving red blip, "But we can still catch him."
He let Robin see just where the target was headed.
"I'll put the team on alert."
JULY 28
"Amazing," Megan breathed watching all of the acrobatic stunts.
"I know right?" Wally was quick to follow Megan's interests, "But you know that Lion tamer was cool too-"
"I don't know…" Megan hesitated, "The man stuck his head in its mouth you know…"
"What?" the ginger suddenly sat up straight, "I mean, what was I saying, of course this is so much cooler than the lion tamer!"
Artemis scoffed and rolled her eyes at the antics of the boy, who in turn shot her a look.
Kaldur on the other hand was equally engrossed with the display of acrobatic skill as Megan was.
"The boy is really impressive," he said, "It's almost like watching Robin…but in the circus."
It was sort of ironic that his face was masked also, though the entire troupe had masks on.
Suddenly their comms went off and they looked at each other.
"I thought this was supposed to be a day off?" Wally shouted to his fellow teammates still in "civie" attire.
"There's nothing we can do about it now," Aqualad replied from his side, "We just need to stop him before anyone gets hurt."
There in the middle of the arena the villain was holding the Ring Leader hostage along with his female assistant. Other armed men were situated throughout the crowd, weapons pointed at the audience.
"Got it covered-" Superboy was interrupted as the lead acrobat leaped down from nowhere and at the assailant.
He managed to land a kick right on the head honcho's face and landed easily on his feet. The nameless villain stumbled backwards and lost his grip on his two hostages. He gritted his teeth together and aimed a punch at the boy's face, but he smoothly somersaulted backwards and out of range.
The man shouted something incomprehensible and shot a full round at the boy. He lithely dodged the panging bullets and made his way closer to the villain. Realizing that his round was gone, he angrily threw the gun at the boy and shouted at his men. Half of the men jumped out from the bleachers and made their way towards the boy.
"We have to help him!" Megan screened through her mind link.
"I know!" Kaldur thought gritting his teeth. He glared at the man holding an AK47 to his side.
"I got this!" Wally replied before zooming past the people into the center. He was almost by the boy's side helping him out when the boy pulled a roundhouse kick on him. Wally went flying into several of the armed men.
Apparently the boy hadn't intentionally hit the Kid Flash when a wave of confusion flooded his face.
"Wha-"
WHAM!
The back of an AK47 hit him square in the head. He was thrown to the ground with a groan before being forcefully pulled to his feet by the front of his uniform. He was staring straight into the face of the unnamed villain. The man growled at him.
"You damn brat."
"Ngh…"
Both of them looked over when the ginger haired Wally groaned. He was being held from both arms by two of the armed men.
"Annoying brats," he hissed again.
"Get rid of him. He can be the first example."
On the order one of the men pulled out his gun and pointed at the unexpecting hero.
"Don't you dare!" "Don't!" "KF!" the young team exclaimed.
"Stop!" the circus ring leader suddenly roared. "Do not hurt the civilians!"
The villain scoffed, "Or what? You'll throw a rabbit at me? Don't make me laugh."
"My name is Hatch," the man grit out, "I'll do anything-"
"You idiot!" the boy suddenly shouted and started to struggle.
"YOU WILL BE QUIET!" Hatch shouted and turned his attention back at the man, "I will do anything. Just do not hurt the civilians."
The twisted man looked down at the boy in his grip and back at the ring leader and smirked.
"I'll let them go if they leave their belongings and you kill all of your troupe!" he smiled wickedly, "How's that sound? I'll let 'em go and everything."
"Y-you bastard!" the boy struggled even more.
He was hit with the blunt side of a gun and fell to the gravel.
"I never did like the circus. Start with the brat first."
Hatch was shoved forward in front of the boy.
"Nic…"
Nic kept his eyes closed and his breath hitched when he felt something hard and cold touch his chest over his heart.
"Hatch?" he whispered.
"All you need to do…is wait two minutes," the man said in equal softness, "Just two minutes and you'll be all better. I see some people here that can take care of you."
"What? Wait, Ha-"
BANG!
"NO!"
After the boy was shot, the Ring leader shot himself and his assistant followed his example. The two fell limp beside the boy. It only took milliseconds for everyone to start screaming and for the team to get into action. Wally came to soon enough and helped out with the tussle.
In only a few minutes the criminals were apprehended and bound together with some of the tight line rope. Shortly after which, Batman and Robin dropped into the scene.
The criminal had been apprehended and everyone, along with most all of the circus crew, had been able to escape, but there still had been three casualties. Even though they had won, the team was defeated. Aqualad filled the dynamic duo in on what had gone down.
"The Ring Leader…" Superboy whispered and everyone turned to him.
"He said something to him. 'I see some people here that can take care of you,' right before he shot him," he recalled from what he had heard with his super hearing.
Batman walked over and looked at the fallen Circus troupe and his eyes scanned over the face of the Ring Leader. His lips tightened just a margin and he knew exactly who the man was.
"Hatch O'Reilly," Batman said.
"You know him?" Robin asked.
"We had been acquaintances at one point," the Dark Knight replied, "He was a Wizard. A real one, but he could only make Illusions and the basics."
"He was on the Justice League?" the Kid Flash interrupted.
"A small time villain," Batman said turning away and to the boy beside the dead man, "Nothing big enough to be a real threat, and he gave up on his criminal record the first time he was caught and became a small time vigilante."
"More than likely," he continued, "the rest of the circus crew were all his illusions."
"What?" Wally frowned.
"Then that means…" Aqualad trailed off while Megan finished for him.
"These three were the only real people in the circus?"
Batman nodded his head.
The sound of sirens was suddenly close.
"We'll leave this to the rest of the authorities…" Batman looked down at the boy with blood coming out of his chest. He walked over and picked him up.
"Uhhhh, Batman," Wally took a step back, "You know that guy is dead right?"
Robin ran over to him and looked for a pulse, "He doesn't have a pulse and he's not breathing Batman."
Megan frowned, "He's not thinking anything either."
"He's definitely dead," Artemis snapped, "What are you going to do with a dead body?"
Batman strode past them easily.
"Return to the cave," he ordered, "Now."
Batman watched warily as Alfred removed articles of the boy's trapeze uniform. He may have searched dead bodies before but something about this was unsettling and even more so because he felt like he just couldn't leave the boy there.
"Sir," Alfred said breaking the silence.
Bruce Wayne walked over in full Batman attire and leaned over them. Alfred had cleaned all the blood away and was pointing at the boy's wound.
"Considering everything that happened, this wound shouldn't look like this," the butler continued and looked straight at Batman, "the body also doesn't seem to show any sign of rigor mortis."
"Definitely dead though…"
More importantly he was looking at the moderately large marking on the young man's chest. The basic shape formed a circular form with an "x" shape that extended from a smaller circle and to the outside of the larger circle. Probably some sort of celtic design. He wasn't too surprised that the boy had a tatoo. Plenty of people his age had tattoos in Gotham.
Suddenly they heard a muted sound—something like moving through liquid. They both turned to the boy, or more specifically his wound. The skin around the wound seemed still at first before it seemed to tremble. A small trickle of blood started from the wound, then a small piece of metal glinted from the entry hole before being forced out.
It was the bullet that had killed the boy.
Suddenly the boy's eyes sprang open and he shot up in the bed grabbing wildly at his chest and breathing heavily.
"Hatch," he choked, "Oh god, Hatch."
Alfred shared a look with the Dark Knight before standing at his side.
"Something like this should not be possible."
Batman nodded his head, "He must be why Hatch dropped off the radar."
At the mention of the Ring Leader's name, the boy's head jerked to the side.
The despair left his face in an instant, but settled in his eyes as a thin line formed on his lips. The boy forced his breathing to slow down and he stared at them both evenly, edging as far away from them as possible before actually falling off the bed.
"What's going on?" he questioned sharply.
Batman crossed his arms, "That's what I'd like to know."
The boy's expression did not change.
"The dead don't just come back to life.
AUGUST 12
"RECOGNIZED: BATMAN 02."
At the sound of the computer voice announcing the Dark Knights arrival the Young Justice team made their way to greet him. The man was in his uniform while the youths were all in their civilian clothes. They had been planning to go out.
"A mission?" Aqualad asked.
Batman nodded his head, "It can wait, briefing in a few. I need to speak with Robin first," after no one moved he added a, "now," to make them scatter.
Robin, keeping his complete attention on his mentor tilted his head to the side, "What's up Batman?"
"We're heading out for a bit," he said before turning away to leave the cave.
Not any least bit taken aback by his mentor's behavior he quickly followed after the older man.
"Where are we going?"
"No where too far."
Robin could almost hear the laugh in his voice. He looked up at Batman with the faintest tinge of confusion.
"Batman-"
"You can come out now."
"Who can?" before Robin could be answered someone dropped down from a tree right behind him. He spun around to kick the sudden offender when his leg was caught and he found himself knocked off of his feet.
"Oomph," the boy wonder lied there on his back, the air knocked out of him, not knowing what just happened.
"Sorry," a tenor voice said above him, "You surprised me."
A hand was held out to him and he could only see the outline of a young man standing above him.
"Ah, no," Robin grabbed the hand that pulled him up firmly, "I was surprised too."
His vision out of the sun, he got a better look at the taller boy. He had messy, black hair that barely covered his ears, most of it covered by a dark fedora. He was wearing a light blue cardigan that reached past his pants pockets over a black turtleneck. His cardigan was also hanging a little off of one shoulder; probably from the small tussle he had just had with Robin. Then he was wearing simple jeans and plain black converse. But what caught most of his attention was the thin black glass covering his eyes. Glasses?
"Robin, this is Victory," Batman put a hand on his protégé's shoulder, "he'll be staying at Mt. Justice till he can be placed somewhere safer."
"Oh, I see," Robin blinked behind his shades and held out his hand to Victory. The other young man gave him a firm hand shake with a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Robin."
"Yeah! Nice to meet you—"
Something clicked in the Boy Wonder's head suddenly and he jumped back pointing at the person he had just shaken hands with.
"AHH, YOU- YOU'RE THE- YOU'RE DEAD!"
Victory gave him a slightly hurt look, "Obviously not. Want to check my pulse?"
Robin didn't seem the least bit convinced and still had his hand raised in the air pointed at him.
"Robin," Batman started, "Victory is indeed the person you met the other day."
Victory at the moment was looking somewhere off to the side, a look of mild confusion on his face. He was trying to remember when he might have met Robin and was drawing up nothing. Of course he wouldn't, seeing as he was dead when the Boy Wonder had made his appearance.
"And he did die that night."
Robin suddenly took another step back, "You mean he's dead? The undead?"
Victory's head snapped back to attention, "Hey, I'm not dead. Didn't I say that already?"
The Dark Knight cleared his throat catching both of their attentions.
"Robin. He died, but came back to life," he saw Robin open his mouth to say something again, but cut him off, "He's not undead or a zombie."
"…Then why is he here?" Robin asked understanding the situation a little more, "Besides the dying and coming back to life thing, he's still a civilian isn't he?"
"It's a safety precaution," Batman explained calmly, "Victory has the ability to come back to life and apparently an incredible sense of intuition."
Robin stared at him.
"The other day may have been coincidence with Johnson," he said in regards to the criminal from the circus, "but it doesn't hurt to be safe."
Robin made an "O" with his mouth.
"So...we're watching him?"
"Keeping him under the radar till the League can figure out what to do."
"Ah..." Robin turned to Victory again. "So, what now?"
"You'll go on your mission with the team while Victory settles in;" Batman said turning once again, "I've already informed Black Canary and Red Tornado about this."
Robin nodded his head and began following after his mentor when Victory spoke up again.
"Uh, Batman...would it be alright if I could go today?"
"Negative, Victory," Batman said without turning, "It's too risky for you to head out alone still."
It looked like Victory had something he wanted to say but cut himself off with a shake of his head. He followed after the man that had brought him there.
Nic looked behind him once before closing his eyes and walking up to Mount Justice. He wanted to go back to that place...the last place he had been with...his family. It had been over a week by now. Eventually they would take the circus tent away and dispose of it...
...Just once, it might have been a little immature for an eighteen year old, but he wanted to see it one last time at least.
And so before either of the dynamic duo could notice, Nicodème J. Wyatt disappeared from their presence.
After slipping away, Nic broke out into a sprint. He didn't want to risk getting caught by the Dark Knight. It'd be no effort for the man to catch him. He didn't want to be under the care of anyone either. He was eighteen...he could take care of himself. Plus, no one else in the world seemed to know about his coming back to life incident so he doubted Batman's worries were truly justified.
He wasn't exactly sure how far he'd even gotten before he heard rapid movement behind him. He risked a glance over his shoulder to see a boy in yellow running after him. He must have been Kid Flash.
The boy ran in front of Nic to stop him but he pushed off of a root he had stepped on and onto the trunk of a tree where he jumped to another before vaulting clear ahead of the momentarily shocked superhero.
Having passed the Kid Flash something else whizzed by his ear, an arrow. He darted behind a tree making sure to keep running. He'd use the trees to give him some coverage for now. He smiled a little after hearing the THUD that the arrows made while hitting the trees behind him.
Suddenly something glinted in the corner of his eyes. Water? It was like a rope and very much so about to grab him. He managed a running somersault over its grasp twice and kept running. It was getting a little tricky now. He gritted his teeth together.
"URAAAAAAH!"
Eyes wide under the glasses, Nic barely dodged the landing of the much bulkier boy. Wearing the signature "S" on his chest, he must have been Superboy. And though Nic had dodged the landing he lost some of his footing from the heavy impact.
The Kyptonian swung a fist at him and Nic just barely dropped to his knees in time. Before the boy could get a hit in Nic was already off and running again.
His eyes widened again when he saw a wall of pebbles and stones suddenly form in front of him, obstructing his path. His head shot up to where a girl with green skin was flying above him. He made a clicking sound with the back of his tongue as he skidded to a stop just before the completed wall. As he faced his back to the wall, his pursuers gathered around him.
Kid Flash. Artemis. Aqualad. Superboy. Miss M.
Breathing a little heavily, Nic looked at them all evenly and ran straight at them. Taken slightly off guard the team of five tensed and watched as Nic…ran right past them. He bolted up the trunk of a tree behind them and used it to propel himself over the makeshift barricade.
TheArtist(T1): Young Justice is my new favorite cartoon. I hope that I don't make Nic seem to overpowered; he just caught them all by surprise, heh. Please let me know what you think! And, ahaha...sorry, I'll go work on my other stories now...
This will have an update up next week on Friday(May 6) even though I have finals coming up, because-tada- I already have the next chapter ready!