Everyone was in the living room at mount justice Wally and Artemis had nicked the TV remote of Conner so they could watch something else then static, Megan was cooking some cookies (which weren't burnt ... yet) and Robin and Zattana were deep in a conversation. When the robotic voice of the computer rang out: Superman 01. Wonder Woman 03. Martian Manhunter 07. Unknown U02.
They all headed to greet the leaguers with the silent question of who is the guest? They all stared surprised at a angry kid of about 9 years old with black hair and dark ocean blue eyes. He wore a black leather jacket with a black shirt and some dark jeans. He looked like an early teenager. Robin thought he looked familiar but couldn't place it. Superman removed the silence by speaking up "We need you guys to watch him" Artemis snorted "You want us to babysit a random kid?" "Let's make him more familiar then." Wonder Woman spoke up "His real name is classified for now." The kid grumbled at this "So you can name him Matt for now, he's eleven" this got a "duh" from the newly dubbed 'Matt' "We will leave you to it" Martian Manhunter ended and they left.
So here they were 'babysitting' an eleven year old. Aqualad Spoke up taking the lead "My name is Kaldur'ahm but you can call me Kaldur, I am the leader of this team and these are Robin, Artemis, Kidflash, Zattanna, Superboy and Megan" the kid titled his head to the side "Why do you have guills? Are you from Atlantis?" They all noted the kid was observant and smart for his age. "You are correct" Kalder responded. Kidflash broke the awkward tension "Hey man! People call me Kidflash but you can call me Wally we got some movies and games in the living room if you wanna play?" The kid hesitantly spoke up "D-do you guys have some books?" They all looked surprised at him, he didn't look like the reading type. "We have a library down the hall." Zattana answered. "I like reading, why do you like to read?" Zattana asked. "It keeps my mind of. things." he trailed of walking away. They heard Megan gasp and they turned to her confused. "Are you okay Megan?' Conner asked by her side in an instant. "Yeah, yeah, fine he's just so hurt." "What do you mean?" Robin asked. "When he said 'things' I got a glimpse of what he was thinking about I heard two gunshots and got an image of blood on the kids hands." "Wait so he killed someone? They want us to babysit some sico kid?!" Artemis all but shouted "Hey! Let's not jump to conclusions!" Wally interjected. "Okay I think it'll be smart to keep an eye on him make sure he doesn't try anything, the league is busy so that's propberly why they left him with us right so that he won't try to do anything, so let's just wait and see." Robin explained it made sense to everyone so they went back to what they were doing while Aqualad, Robin and Zattana went to the library to keep an eye on Matt.
They entered to see him reading a book with a few piled next to him. He was on the couch so they picked out some books to read and joined him. He shot them a glare which was intimidating as hell but he was no batman. "Hey Matt" Robin says trying to start a conversation. He got no response "Hey Matt" He tried again still no response. Robin frowned "Look we're being nice to you so you don't need to ignore us" Matt grumbled something incoherent under his breath. "What was that?" Robin asked. "I said it's not my name" he looked straight at robin "I know your 'being nice' to me but frankly I don't give a damn, all I know is those people back there are heroes and your their partners or whatever, they said I could go home if I stayed here a day so why don't you guys leave me alone and I won't be a pain in your #?%." He stood up took the pile of books with him and walked out heading for the livingroom.
"Okay what's the dudes problem?!" Robin complained "Wait he said he could go home if he was here for a day what the hell is going on?" Zattana exclaimed. They both looked at Aqualad "I suggest we tread lightly, We should find out his real name so we can research him a bit." "Now I suggest we should bond with him get his nose out of those books" Zattana said with new light.
The three walked out and entered the living room to find all their teammates staring at Matt who was reading in a chair. "Hey Matt" Robin said sarcastically. He shot him a glare the others gave confused looks at them "What do we call you then?" " can call me Bruce." Robin got a shocked look on his face then he ran of contacting someone via his com. They glanced at the name revealed Bruce. Megan gasped again as Bruce seemed distant. He shot up and glared at her "It's you! Stop going into my head! Argh!" tears started welling up in his eyes as he ran away. "Megan what did you see?" Kaldur asked worriedly as Robin walked back in with a concerned look on his face. Megan spoke up "I saw a grave with the name Wayne on it. Looked like a double grave." Artemis snorted in disbelief "Your telling me that's Bruce Wayne?! he's not even a kid!" Robin's eyes widened behind his mask "No. thats Batman!" Robin ran in the direction Bruce went they all followed with shocked looks. They found him in the training room on one of the rafters everyone's first thought was: how the hell he get up there? Second thought: the kid crying up there is Batman? Third thought: Batman's Bruce Wayne?! Last thought: Batman's a playboy?! This was all to crazy for them. Robin grappled up and those who could flyed up with others in their arms. Robin sat next to Bruce who was sitting with silent tears dropping down. "How'd you get up here?" Robin asked "I like high places. Keeps me calm" he said wiping tears away as he stood up and jumped off everyone gasped but on his way down he made a few flips to absorb some of the impact of the landing.
They all landed next to him as he sat down on the training mat. " I just be alone?" he said looking up. Wally sped up next to him and sat down placing a hand on his shoulder "sorry not gonna happen" Bruce looked at Megan "Do you guys know my name now?" She nodded. "Bruce Wayne right?" He flinched "I don't deserve that name' he said while looking down. Robin looked at him shocked he'd called Alfred to make sure that Bruce wasn't just at home but it was clear he got de-aged. He knew his father figure had a rough childhood just not this rough he thought. He went up to him sat infront of him. "Bruce, look I know you don't remember me or for that fact any of us, but they wouldn't want this, you're parents would want you to take your name and prove to the world that Wayne stands for greatness and hope. That when people look to that big tower in Gotham with your name over it that they see a name that helps the city. And I believe in that you will do that, Your parents believed that, and I know you believe that." He smiled as he got a hopeful look from Bruce "Thank you" Bruce said sincerely. "Di-did you know them?" Bruce asked "No I wish to hell I did, you told me they were great people." "They were." he responded with a smile. His stomach growled and they all let out a laugh as he blushed. "This! This is a job for the Wallster I got you!" He zipped away and was back in a flash (=D) with some freshly baked cookies made by Megan. Bruce took one and made and made a face as he took a bite. "Alfred's are better." "Who's Alfred?" Zattana asked curiosly. Robin grinned and together with Bruce he said "The Butler who can do anything." Bruce looked up to Robin "Can I go home now?" "Yeah I'll take you. Don't know why they didn't in the first place. Be right back guys." he said placing a hand on Bruce's shoulder and escorting him out.
He came back 20 minutes later and they were all still on the training mat cookies already disappeared. He talked before they could speak up "Yes that was Batman and yes he's Bruce Wayne, and I'm so dead. and I'm Richard Grayson." He said taking of his mask to reveal light blue eyes and his usual half smile half smirk. "Wait we'll laugh about this someday?! You kidding me?" Artemis said. "Ha ha?" He laughed nervously. "I am confused" Aqualad said and got serval nods of agreement. "We go to the same school." they said in near perfect sync. Several "oh's" rang out.
Robin spoke up again "Our identities are top secret so zip your mouth shut. And you guys can call me Dick now I prefer it over Richard" Wally still was confused. "Did we just babysit a little batman?!" "No we babysat a de-aged Batman with no memories of more than from when he was 9, 1 year after his parents murder that he witnessed for your info.." "And I thought I had a rough childhood" Artemis snorted.
They left it at that.
The next day the computer announced Batman 01. They all walked in happy to see the full grown Batman. Robin ran up and gave him a giant hug Batman was surprised at first but hugged back after a second much to the shock of the young justice team. He was crouching now and Robin took off his mentor's cowl to show the handsome face of Bruce Wayne, "Secrets out." He said in his usual serious tone of voice but they could all see where robin got his half smiles half smirks. "You're all to keep this information to yourself." The 'or else' was not needed to be said. His voice softened a bit "I wanted to thank you for yesterday. Yes I remembered it and it brought up some old memories but you helped even though I wasn't an easy child" he gave an appreciative nod and with that he pulled his cowl back on an he left. "YES! We got a thank you! That's like holy grail with Bats!" Wally shouted out. They all laughed and went back to what they were doing with big smiles on their faces. They all had an idea of why the league brought the mini-Bat here, and they all felt that it had something to do with bonding...
The end.