Merry *late* Christmas! Not my favorite story. Had writer's block through most of the writing. I decided to upload because I had already wrote it, so why not upload it? I do like the ending, so I hope you get a good kick out of it. Thanks, please read and review
P.S I didn't have much time to edit it, so have mercy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, (which is probably a good thing).
Snow slowly floated from the clouds above Gotham onto the ground. For once, the city seemed calm. The police radio hadn't gone off once yet. The villains were already in Arkham, with no bombs or heists going on. The city sat in a eerie silence, covered in snow. A quiet mansion sat on the hill overlooking the town. Wayne Manor. Wayne Manor didn't get any of the warmth from the city. With only three inhabitants and three hundred rooms, it wasn't very cheery. It never had happiness for a long time, since that night. It's Christmas time, so we won't talk about that.
Two motorcycles raced up the road to the Manor. One was red and the other was green. They practically flew to the Manor's gate. The green clothed rider jumped off and pressed the speaker button. Her blonde ponytail settled as she shouted, "I'm freezin' out here!"
"Me too!" The other driver shouted indignantly.
Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's ward, had invited the whole Young Justice team. He had just told them his identity on his birthday on December the first. In his spare time, he was Robin, The Boy Wonder. He had been one of the founders of the covert-ops team. The team itself had begun earlier that year, on July the fourth. One destroyed building later, the team had formed.
Like I said, he kept his identity secret, but due to a tip from someone the team didn't know,(This, Babs, that Dick mentioned), He told the team his identity.
The gate opened. "Even the gate is creepy," Artemis commented.
"This is Batman and Robin we're talking about. Right? Everything has to be creepy here," Wally, the red head said as Artemis got on her bike.
They sped up the road, fearing the worst. Though, they did see the Manor in photos. It just looked big, not exactly scary. Of course, the photos didn't even prepare them. Both I their jaws dropped as they reached the top of the hill. The house was huge. Vines snaked up the walls with dark windows. A dark forest laid behind the Manor. They could see old stone gardens with the same creepy vines. A decorative stream was frozen over, revealing the cold stone under it. The whole place just had a forbidden feel.
The place was used for parties, but Wally and Artemis couldn't imagine it being used for those. Though, it probably looked better at night with bright lights all about the place. It was still mid morning. Artemis parked her bike next to a jet black bike with a helmet tied to the seat. They walked up to the huge doors. Artemis bravely knocked, fearing the worst.
The door unlocked. Wally whimpered as it opened to reveal... An old man in a tuxedo. Wally screamed and fell on his back. Artemis kicked him lightly and looked at the man with a confused face.
The man raised an eyebrow and said in a perfect British accent, "Ah, Master Wallace and Master Artemis. Master Dick described you well. You are early, but, please, come in."
Artemis smiled politely and stepped inside. The butler didn't offer any help to Wally in getting up. Soon Wally ran in after Artemis. The butler closed the door. The temperature in the room went up a few degrees.
"The living room is that way, would you like to have some tea or water, perhaps?" He asked, gesturing down a hallway.
"Water, if you don't mind," Artemis continued with her polite demeanor.
"Very well. Please, make yourselves comfortable," He continued, walking away towards another hallway.
Artemis and Wally started the trek to the living room. "Well, that was unexpected," Wally said abruptly.
"Agreed, for once," Artemis replied. They walked into the living room. It was huge, with a crackling fire and skylight. Except they weren't alone. There was somebody sleeping on the couch. A redhead. A female redhead.
"So he does have a thing for redheads!" Wally commented excitedly. This would prove one of his "Robin theories". He walked right up to her. Someone had put a pillow under her head, but there was another on the floor. As well as a messy blanket. Somebody had been sleeping there. Artemis got a good look at her face.
"Barbara Gordon!" Artemis whispered.
"Do you think she's Dick's girl-" Wally started. Before the girl's eyes opened and she kicked Wally in the chest with both of her legs. And he went across the room. On a table. Which broke.
"Oww," Wally moaned. He hoped he didn't have to pay for that. Barbara Gordon didn't look sorry. In fact, she smirked smugly and turned to Artemis.
"We're friends of Rob- Dick!" Artemis added a quiet, "Don't kill us.
"I know who you are... I just don't know what you are doing here. Arty," Barbara retorted, looking at her carefully. Meanwhile Wally stood and brushed off the splinters.
"So, why did you come here? Oh, where are my manners-" She stopped and tripped Wally as he ran at her from behind with his superspeed. He staggered, tripped over the couch and hit Artemis, knocking both of them over.
"This carpet feels nice," Wally commented. He could feel Artemis glaring. He submitted, getting off of Artemis. Artemis sat up, reaching for her bag. There was no doubt that there was a crossbow with bolts inside. Not the blunt kind, the very-sharp-crossbow-bolts kind. Meanwhile Wally was preparing for World War 3 to take place in the living room. Artemis was angry.
Barbara Gordon would be lying if she said that she wasn't effected by Artemis's glare of a thousand exploding suns. She reached for the ever present utility belt on the couch. She pulled out a batarang and a bola. She discreetly got them ready out of Artemis's view.
Artemis had had enough. This random girl thought that she could just- She was infuriating. Barbara Gordon had a secret Robin side. At school she was nice, but that was her secret identity. Artemis wouldn't let it go. She should've done this to Robin.
She grabbed the crossbow, and leveled it to Barbara's chest. Artemis had accidentally put high power electric bolt on the crossbow. More painful. Good. She had her finger on the trigger, eyes set. Artemis heard footsteps and hesitated. Barbara instantly threw the batarang. The crossbow flew from Artemis's fingers, the crossbow almost completely split. The bola was already in the air before Artemis could look shocked. Soon Artemis's arms were pinned to her sides and she stumbled to the ground. The cable was made to stay, so Artemis wasn't getting free. Barbara took a step towards Wally.
"Don't kill Me! PLEASE. Somebody! Help!" Wally started squirming, "You know me Barbara! I'm sorry!
Barbara helped him up. "You okay?" she asked, looking at the broken table.
He flinched. "M- mostly," He stuttered. She picked up her belt. "Whoops, don't have a key for the bola, and they are on there tight. Sorry," Barbara said, not sounding sorry at all.
Artemis opened her mouth to say something inappropriate. Barbara lightly kicked her in the side. "Language!" She said sharply, "We have a baby in the room." They looked at each other for a few seconds, until they both started laughing. Wally took a blowtorch from her belt. Artemis suddenly panicked, understandably.
Barbara put it against the bola cable. She lightly burned it off and took off the bola. Barbara stood and helped up Artemis.
"You startled me, sorry. Sorry about the crossbow," Barbara said apologetically. The crossbow was in splinters by the door.
"It's fine," Artemis said, after all, she had an extra on her bike.
Wally was looking at them like they were insane. Fighting one moment, laughing the next.
Barbara stopped and looked around for her batarang.
"So are you living here, or-" Artemis started, interested.
"Oh crap, this is Batman's house right? I'm screwed. I'm screwed. I'll need to be in a closed casket at my funeral, oh man," Wally panicked, looking at the table.
"I may need to join you," Barbara said, pointing at the batarang. Which was impaled in a painting. A very expensive looking one.
She grabbed it and very quickly brushed off the paint and paper. She closed it and put it in her belt. She quickly shoved the belt back in the compartment under the couch.
"Dick's butler should be back with the water I asked..." Artemis voiced thoughtfully.
"You've doomed us all Arty," Barbara shouted, trying to make the painting's destruction less noticeable. It was only one slice. Wally was practically crying on the floor. The table had been destroyed down the middle.
The footsteps grew louder. Artemis stuffed the crossbow in her bag, which immediately splintered into a thousand pieces. She cursed very loudly just as the butler entered the room.
"Miss Crock! I will not tolerate that language on-"
"Hey Alfred!" Barbara shouted, falling on the ground to cover that she was touching the cut painting.
Wally immediately started using superspeed and throwing the table into the fireplace. Obviously, the table wasn't made out of appropriate firewood, and the room started filling with an awful odor.
"My word!" Alfred shouted, putting a hand over his mouth. Whatever that was going on, he wasn't interested. It'd be better if he just let Master Dick handle this. He quietly slipped out just as Wally started running for the window.
"Let's get out of here!" Artemis shouted.
Wally punched the glass, hard, in panic. Which turned out to be plexiglass, and was completely shatterproof. Wally screamed in pain and rolled around on the floor. Artemis roughly grabbed him and dragged him out. Barbara locked the door behind them. They all collapsed, but Wally was still rubbing his hand.
"That was too intense," Wally complained.
Barbara pulled herself to her feet.
"Have you guys seen Dick yet? He was supposed to be sleeping," Barbara asked.
"No. He doesn't really have to be here until the whole team is, and that may be a while," Artemis replied, standing and pulling up wally.
"Don't you have family you should be with on Christmas?" Wally said, an evil glint in his eye.
"Nope, Dad's out to see relatives in New York," Barbara answered, starting to lead them down the hallway.
"So," Wally started nonchalantly, "Are you and Dick... close?
Barbara flinched. "I s-suppose so...
Artemis hit Wally, and he nearly fell into a fancy potted plant.
"Dick has to be patrolling... I told him to not go out," Barbara continued. She led them out to the main room and went up the staircase. She led them through the hallways. They ended up at Dick's room. Barbara did the standard hero motion for 'lookout'. Wally and Artemis shared a glance before complying. She knelt down and started toying with the lock.
Soon the door was open, and Barbara slipped inside. Once again, Wally and Artemis shared a look before entering. They followed her in.
The room looked like what you would expect,which included a simple blue bed, single monitor computer, a few posters, and other normal bedroom things. Barbara was already sitting at the computer.
"What are you doing?" Artemis hissed, walking up her. She did mind where she stepped though. She had already experienced Robin's traps. She was definitely sure that she didn't want to re-experience it. She looked at what Barbara was doing.
Barbara sighed, "Fine. Dick and Ba- Bruce, leave me in the dark of what they are doing. I just want to know what is going on. The best way to do that is to hack into Dick's computer and take what I want."
She took out a hard drive and started extracting files. Artemis crossed her arms and grunted. What damage could she do anyway? Wally was shamelessly going through Dick's stuff. He was always desperate to find blackmail, but soon he stopped too. After a few minutes of silence, she took out the hard drive.
"Dick's back."
"How do you know?" Artemis asked, taking her bag off the bed.
"Cameras- hurry!" Barbara urged.
Wally followed, taking his blackmail with him. They rushed down the hallway,with Barbara leading them down a path that led to a different hallway than they came by. Soon they reached another living room. It was three times the size of the last one, with intricate designs on the ceiling. A form was sprawled out on the couch.
"Dick!" Barbara shouted, stomping over to him. He flinched, sitting up. He put on a weary smile.
"Heya Babs-
"Don't 'Babs' me, You promised not to go out!" She said, agitated.
"sorry-"
"What if you got hurt? Not even Bruce is out there!" She continued.
Artemis and Wally exchanged another glance. "Wonder when the rest will be here?" Artemis said.
"Not too long, I bet," Wally replied, they glanced back at the verbal one-sided war.
"We should wait by the door," Artemis suggested quietly.
A quiet, "Agreed" followed and they silently slipped to the front door. Meanwhile, the next two guests had arrived at the gates of the Manor. The two odd ones had arrived. M'gann and Connor just pulled up to the front gate.
"It's so big!" M'gann said in wonder. Connor grunted.
"How do we get in?" M'gann scrunched up her eyebrows.
Connor walked up to it. It sorta looked like a door that he couldn't get through when he was at Cadmus. He smashed it once. Maybe if he pulled... The gates popped off.
"Connor!" M'gann exclaimed.
He looked down at the fallen gates. Oops. He forgot about his strength. It was just a bad habit.
"Fine, let's just go up. I'm so excited!" She said excitedly. Connor stayed expressionless as she literally floated up the hill. Martians have it easy. He followed her reluctantly.
"It looks so old," M'gann commented as they walked past the three parked bikes to the door. Connor grunted.
He started walking up to the door. "Connor- I don't think that is such a good-." The door broke inwards. M'gann could hear a panicked scream. She rushed up to the door.
Wally was on the ground, whimpering. The door had fallen right next to him. M'gann couldn't help but giggle. Artemis waved her in. Soon Dick and Barbara came out. As soon as greetings were exchanged, the clock struck twelve. That was when Dick told them to be there.
The other door opened with force. Kaldur ran in, breathing heavily. "Kaldur?" Dick exclaimed, stunned by the out of character Kaldur.
"I arrived at the appropriate time, yes?" He said, out of breath.
"Dude, you don't have to be at exact time," Wally said.
"Oh."
He straightened up and instantly caught his breath. His eyes dropped back to their usual calm.
"I'm freaking out. That was creepy," Wally whispered.
"Let's help Alfred get the table ready," Dick said, gesturing for them to follow.
A few hours later, they had a huge dinner where Bruce came down. He just arrived as the food was served. Wally started choking and Kaldur stood and saluted. Bruce gave them a look and sat down. He had a quick meal and retired upstairs. Soon though, it was time to go.
"It was so nice meeting you Barbara!" M'gann had taken a liking to her.
"Thanks for having me," From Kaldur.
A "Barbara your spending the night again? Shame on you!" from Wally. Which was followed by "OUCH! hey!"
"Good luck" and a knowing look came from Artemis.
Connor waved.
A few days later, Bruce was looking around the manor. He was checking to see if any of the team left anything. He strode into an older living room. There was a bad smell that he didn't recognize. He walked over to the fire to put on a fresh log, but stopped cold next to a painting. There was a nasty gash on it.
Alfred was going to kill him.