A/N: Hello everyone! Before you read on, I'd just like to say that I am fairly new to the Young Justice fanfiction section and also new to the show Young Justice. That aside, I knew I probably shouldn't have started a YJ story until I became more familiar with it, but this was continually nagging me in the back of my mind and refused to go unwritten. I already have started chapter 2(that's how much it's bugging me!), but who knows when my writing streak with stop, so don't expect another chapter anytime soon. I try to update at least once a month, but life gets in the way and I already have four other stories I'm working on and two of my other stories are on hiatus and might come off soon, so... xD I guess I should just stop talking and let you get on to the story! I hope you enjoy! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. If I did, there would be a season 3, no question.
Chapter 1: Escape
A blinding light rushed into her vision as the echo of a slamming door reacher her ears. She shut her eyes tight, ducking her head down in between her legs and abdomen like a scared puppy. Why wouldn't she be afraid? Every experiment was brutally agonizing. So much so, that the pain knocked her out for hours. She was lucky enough to evade the experiments for a week. She wasn't sure of the exact reason, but she knew that none of it pertained to her, or so she thought.
Fragments of conversations had been caught by her ears, something about a FOG technology. If she wasn't invovled yet, hopefully she wouldn't be involved ever. But hope was all she could do.
"Tsk, tsk. Open your eyes, little one. We have much to discuss."
The voice was rough and unforgiving. It was the voice she couldn't stand to hear. It was the voice of Doctor Hewett.
"Did you not hear me? Open your eyes!"
She clenched her fists, reluctantly opening her eyes. The bright light flooded into her eyes again and she instinctively shut them. She had been in the darkness for about a week now. She was so accustomed to it. But she knew better than to disobey Hewett. It took her a moment to adjust to the brightness of the room as she forced her eyes open.
"That's better, little one. We have not spoken for a little while now. Tell me, how are you feeling?"
Her light green eyes shifted over to the doctor on the other side of the empty, bright white room. He stood tall and confident, messy ginger hair covering his head like a mop. His glasses, which were not on his face, were tucked into the chest pocket on his plain doctor uniform. His blue eyes narrowed, obviously unhappy with his question going unanswered.
"Answer my question!" he snapped.
"I feel fine," she said evenly, looking away from his intense gaze.
The man visibly relaxed. "Good, good. I think you are finally ready to be put to some good use, little one. Of course, I cannot tell you all of the details, but there is a technology I need you to control. It is currently being re-worked, but all I need you to do, is simply send it to its destinations. I'm sure it's not that hard for you to do, but today we will practice. Stand up and come over here."
She obeyed, lifting her frail frame up off the ground and slowly making her way over. Her long, unkempt brown hair fell in her face as she looked down at the tile floor.
"Bring in the tech," Doctor Hewett said over his shoulder.
The door opened, revealing three guards. One of them wheeled in a large, cylander-like metal container.
"This is FOG. It consists of tiny nanobots that can destroy anything while collecting information. I am going to deactivate the collar you wear so you can use your technopathic abilities. I will step out and then it will be opened. You need to control the nanobots or you could be injured if they touch you. If you successfully control them, I believe a reward will be given."
He gave a twisted smile before stepping out of the room. She heard the little beep coming from her neck that indicated she was okay to use her abilities. The girl took a step back from the container as the guards opened it. She took a deep breath, forcing her mind to concentrate on the technology inside. When the container was completely open, the little nanobots came out in a rush.
Like a cloud of smoke, the bots swirled around the ceiling for a moment before taking their course right at her. It must have been beause they sensed her tech abilities. She quickly spoke to the bots in her mind, telling them to form a circle at the ceiling. They did not listen. Huffing, she emersed herself fully in her mind and shut the outside world out completely.
In a flash, the nanobots obeyed, forming a circular cloud in the middle of the room up high.
From another room, Doctor Hewett watched with amazed eyes. "I am very surprised. I did not believe that she could actually do this. Now we can move forward with total mind control. When would you like that to be done?"
The doctor turned slightly to look back at Professor Ojo. It wasn't easy to talk to someone with a helmet almost completely covering his head, but Doctor Hewett had gotten used to it by now. The nanobots were now swirling around the room under her control.
"What is she doing?" Professor Ojo exclaimed, standing up.
Doctor Hewett's head snapped to the security screen. She was sending the nanobots right at the guards by the door. They jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit, but it wasn't them that the nanobots were after. They crashed right into the door, leaving a gaping hole.
"She is trying to escape!" Hewett shouted, abandoning the computer and bolting out the door.
She ran as fast as she could out of the room and down the hallway. She didn't care that the nanobots were probably destroying half the building. It would only giver her an advantage. Her long, ragged and dirty night gown flapped at her calves as she turned down the next hallway into the outside world. What she saw next surprised her so much that she skidded to a stop.
A tall young man was pressed against the wall, peering around the corner. He was muscular with short ginger hair. He was wearing something that looked like a superhero outfit: a red and black sleeveless shirt and black pants. A domino mask covered his eyes, but just by looking at his body language, it was easy to see that he was scouting out for any guards.
She glanced back down the hall, knowing she didn't have much time before they found her. This was her only shot. Slowly, she moved toward him. She didn't think that he would notice her at all until she was right beside him, but she was wrong.
In a flash, he spun, pulling an arrow out of the quiver that was on his back and knocking it on the bowstring, aiming right at her. She froze, holding up her hands in surrender.
"Don't. Move," he growled, taking a step closer and pulling the bowstring back a little further. "Who are you?"
"I should be asking you the same question," she said evenly. She couldn't act scared. She had already done that for most of her life.
His muscles visibly tensed and his eyes narrowed behind the domino mask. "I'm the one with the weapon, so I'm the one asking the questions!" he snapped.
Her head snapped behind her as she heard something that sounded like a shout. She didn't have much time. This archer was her only chance at escape.
"I don't have a name. I'm an experiment. I need help escaping," she blurted. "And the guards are chasing me right now. They'll find you too if you stick around."
His response was quick. "Why should I help you? For all I know, you could be trying to lead me into a trap."
"If I show you the extent of my powers, will you take me with you? I don't care where you're going. I need to get out!" Her voice was frantic as she heard another shout.
He didn't respond for another moment, making her begin to feel the panic more.
"Fine. What can you do?"
"I'm a technopath," she said hurriedly. She moved forward and peered around the corner he had been looking around previously. A security camera was mounted on the wall across from them. Not even waiting for a response from him, she closed her eyes and focusing on the camera. Fry the circuts, fry the circuts... she repeated in her mind scanning through all of the technology inside of it like a filing cabinet.
At last, she found what she needed and was able to fry the circuts. She opened her eyes just in time to see the sparks coming from the camera.
"Yes!" she exclaimed quietly.
Even though she had done small things like that many times before, it was still an accomplishment whenever she was able to use her powers. It wasn't exactly easy to control her powers. It had taken her years to just be able to do the small things and she still wasn't completely able to do more complex things.
She turned back to the man, jumping a little when she realized he was hovering over his shoulder.
"Well...," he trailed, leaning away to think for a moment. "Fine. I'll help you out. Stand back."
She moved away as he took out an arrow from his quiver and loaded it onto the bowstring. He shot it at one of the two guards. As quick as he fired the first shot, he fired another at the next guard. Both of the guards dropped down as they were shocked by the trick arrows.
"Keep up or you're on your own."
She nodded slowly as he took off, picking up her own pace to try and match his. But being cooped up in a white room and a medical table for the past few years, she was definitely not in the right shape to keep up with someone who was expertly trained. By the time they had stopped again, she was wheezing and clutching at the stitch in her side.
The man knocked loudly on the door they had stopped beside. She wondered why in the world he would do something like that, but the next second he had broken the door right off its hinges. He moved into action and quickly knocked out the guard with a few punches and good hits with his bow.
When it was clear, she stepped inside. The room was dark and the only source of light was from a computer that a blonde woman was sitting at on the other side of the room. She looked very surprised.
"Doctor Roquette," the man greeted, walking past her nonchalantly.
The woman, now established as Doctor Roquette, shot a confused glance at the girl before turning back to the archer. "Tell me you're the advance guy..."
The archer loaded his bow again, looking back at her. "The only guy."
"You couldn't bring back up?" The woman asked, irritated. "What, were there budget cuts?"
"I brought her," he said gruffly, jerking his head toward the nameless girl.
"A child?"
"She was here when I snuck in. Says she's an experiment."
Doctor Roquette's eyes widened slightly in realization. "So you're project XJ03? I didn't think... I didn't think they would do something so cruel..."
The brown-haired girl looked down at the ground, nostrils flaring and fists clenching at the mention of her project name.
"Sorry to cut your heart-to-heart short, but we don't have much time," the archer snapped as a bell started to ring in the distance.
He released an arrow at the wall, causing it to explode. Both females ducked down to avoid any debris.
"Now or never time, you two," he said, looking back.
"I can't leave this!" Roquette motioned to a large cylander-like container. It looked almost exactly like the one that contained the FOG.
"Look, I take it, or I take you. I'm already going to be overloaded with her." He jerked his thumb at the girl.
"Right. Take me," the blonde sighed, taking off her glasses.
The two females moved forward as he raised his bow and shot at a tree down by a large body of water. A zipline was attached to the arrow, making it a quick escape. He attached a handle to the zipline.
"Hang on!"
Roquette immediately clung onto his right side, leaving the girl to try and hold on to his left. She wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, clinging on for dear life as he pushed off the edge of the floor and into the air. As soon as they were halfway down, gunshots rang out through the air and Roquette screamed loudly. They were on the ground within a few seconds and the experiment tumbled off the archer and into the dirt.
Before she could even get to her feet, the archer had lifted her up by the collar of her night gown and hurried over to a motor boat resting in the water. Roquette shoved the tarp off it and climbed in while the man dropped her, none too gently, into the back of the boat. She winced as she landed on the hard seat. He pushed the boat further into the water before jumping right in.
"So what do you call this? The Arrow Boat?" Roquette asked in a snarky tone.
The younger girl would have laughed if they weren't in a life-threatening situation.
"I call it a rental. Now get down! Both of you!"
They both ducked down as the bullets skimmed right over their heads. Doctor Roquette looked rather scared, but this wasn't the first time that she herself had been threatened in such a way.
"We're in the clear!" He called back to them over the roar of the motor.
Doctor Roquette sat up, but the girl stayed down. She felt a little more secure curled up.
"Great. Leaves only one problem..." Roquette sighed.
He looked over at the doctor, but said nothing as he continued to drive away from the island.
"So what's your story? How did you get mixed up with the Shadows?" The archer asked gruffly.
"I'm only a nanorobotic genius, what do you-"
"Not you!" He snapped at Roquette.
It was only then that the girl curled up in the back of the boat realized he was talking to her.
"Me...? I don't know. I've been there for as long as I can remember... They must have erased my memories from the past..." She sat up and leaned on the rim of the boat, peering over the edge. She saw a name scratched into the paint. It was very small, but on getting a closer look, she realized it said "Stevie".
"And they didn't name you?" Roquette asked, glancing back with a look in her eyes that made it seem like it was the saddest thing in the world.
"No...but," she paused, looking back at the name. "I think I'll be named Stevie."
"Where did you come up with that?" the man asked snootily.
Stevie shrugged. "I don't know," she lied.
"Isn't that a boy's name?" Roquette asked, tilting her head to the side. "What about something like Samantha or Kelly?"
"No," Stevie said stubbornly, sitting up straighter. "My name is Stevie."
The archer looked back, smirking a little bit at her stubbornness.
"What's your name?" Stevie asked him, green eyes narrowing a little.
He turned his head back ahead to check if they were going the right way before letting out a stiff, "Red Arrow."
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"You'll see," was his reply.
A/N: And yeah... Don't know what to say...besides this fic might be a little bit dark, but nothing too bad. It will be eventual Dick/Oc, but not for a while, seeing as I'm starting this out pretty early in season one and it will cover some of the events that happen during the five year gap between season one and two. This story might be a little easier for me to write since the main plot line is already there...xD Well enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoyed the start of this story and hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon! :D
Mo