Hello! EmiStone here! Here is my second attempt at a Young Justice FanFic. The first one didn't go so well, so I hope you like this one more. I just had dream about this last night and my muse wouldn't let me go until I had written it. Its still won't so, a new chapter might be coming soon. Please review. I hope you like it!
~EmiStone
I am outside
And I've been waiting for the sun
With my wide eyes
I've seen worlds that don't belong
My mouth is dry with words I cannot verbalize
Tell me why we live like this
Batman/Bruce Wayne's P.O.V.
The phone rang early that morning, waking me up from my fitful sleep. I went downstairs and picked it up, Alfred deserved some sleep anyway.
"Hello?" I asked sleepily.
"Hello, is this Bruce Wayne?" The voice on the other end of the phone asked in an official manner. I was immediately awake.
"This is he. May I ask who's calling?" I asked, wary.
"This is Officer Wright from the Gotham police department." The voice said, confusing me thoroughly.
"What do you need officer?" I asked.
"You were put down as an emergency contact for one, Violet Elizabeth King? She was found wandering the streets of Gotham with an injury to the arm. The police were going to take her to the Hospital when she ran. They managed to find her two days later, due to the blood loss she fainted. She was taken to the Hospital, and when we pulled her file up her only living emergency contact was you. It seems that her mother died four to five years ago. Could you come down to the General Hospital or the station so we can sort this out, please?" Officer Wright finished, breaking me out of my stupor.
"Yes, of course. Thank you very much." I said, making a last ditch effort to seem normal.
"Thank you. Goodbye." Officer Wright said, ending the call. I sank down in one of the kitchen seats, rubbing my temples.
"Who was that?" Alfred asked from the other side of the Kitchen, making breakfast.
"An Officer from the police station, apparently I'm listed as an Emergency Contact for a little girl." I said, still trying to figure it out.
"Really? What's her name?" Dick asked from the doorway, excited.
"Violet Elizabeth King," I said, amused, Alfred dropped the pan, but I ignored it to be polite. "Why are you so excited?" I asked.
"I could have a sister, or a niece or a-" Dick said excitedly, before being cut off by Alfred.
"Cousin." Alfred said with finality, turning back to the stove.
"Aster!" Dick said, which I chose to ignore.
"What?" I asked, really confused.
"Well, you remember that rumor you had of a sister, maybe three years ago?" Alfred asked, I nodded. "Well, you did. But I didn't tell you because she was dead, and you would just freak out again. I didn't know she had a daughter, though." He said, nonchalantly. I jumped up and ran down to the Bat-Cave. And typed in her name on the Bat-Computer. Sure enough, there was Violet Elizabeth King, daughter of Elizabeth Martha Wayne, who changed her name to King. I forgot about the family tradition of having the mothers name be the middle name of the daughter… I looked her up further, but I couldn't find an address or really anything else. I went back upstairs, then to my room. I got changed and went downstairs; Alfred had already pulled up the limo.
"Bye, Bruce!" Dick shouted after me, "I can't wait to meet my cousin!" Sometimes he seemed a little younger than thirteen. I went in the limo and we soon arrived at the Hospital, which as per usual whenever I go anywhere was surrounded by paparazzi. It is pretty annoying actually. I just ignored the questions and nodded at the police officer at the door. One of the police officers detached himself from the crowd and walked over to me.
"Bruce Wayne?" He asked, I nodded and shook his hand.
"Officer Wright, I presume." I said. He nodded.
"Well, here is her room." He said, stopping outside the door to the Hospital room. "I'll be right out here if she tries anything. She beat up some of our best during that chase, and she had blood loss. Be careful." He finished, I perked up.
"Don't worry. I think I can handle it." I said, going into the room, and gasping.
"Mr. Wayne?" Officer Wright asked, putting his hand on my shoulder, I shook him off.
"It's nothing." I said, although it was most certainly something. Lying on the bed was a teenager who was the spitting image of my mother, when she was a teenager of course. Officer Wright closed the door, and I sat in one of the visitor's chairs, just staring at her. Alfred came in a half an hour later.
"The Press is gone, they gave u- Martha?" He gasped. I shook my head.
"She does look like her, doesn't she?" I asked, with my head in my hands. Alfred came over and pulled up a visitor's chair too.
"Yes, she does." He said, sounding like he was going to collapse. Suddenly, she started to stir, she sat up and opened her eyes, showing them to be the startling color of aquamarine that my father talked about in his love letters; and pushed her red hair over her shoulders. She started upon seeing Alfred and I sitting there staring at her.
"Who are you people?" She asked in a confrontational voice that neither Alfred nor I were expecting.
"Well, come on. I don't have all day. Who are you and where are we?" She asked, showing an accent from the Lower City.
"I'm your Uncle." I said, getting myself under control thanks to my practice at it.
"OK, then. Next question." She said, still with the accent. Alfred looked truly weirded out.
"Um, we're in the General Hospital, Gotham." I said, she sighed in relief.
"Oh, good. Well, not good. Um, see you two. Great meeting you, really. But, I really have to get home, they must be freaking out right now." She said, getting up and starting to remove the IV chord.
"OK, first of all, where do you live?" I asked, stopping her from removing the IV chord.
"With the Crocks." She said, sitting back down on her bed.
"You live with Sportsmaster and Cheshire?" I asked, horrified.
"Well, first of all," She said, mocking me, "Cheshire moved out about six years ago, which was about two before I came, although I did know her pretty well. And Secondly, Lawrence moved out two years ago when Mom, I'm sorry, Paula, got out of prison." She finished, causing my brows to go up at the casual use of the word "mom."
"OK, so you're living alone with an assassin?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even. She smirked.
"No, I'm living with an ex-assassin and my best friend, Artemis." She said, pulling out her IV chord. I didn't even try to stop her.
"Artemis is…?" Alfred asked, since I was at a loss.
"Paula and Lawrence's daughter, of course. Why do you care?" She asked, almost flippantly.
"I'm your Uncle." I said, she just narrowed her eyes, but for a second she looked almost fearful.
"Once again, I really have to go. Bye!" She said, literally flipping out of the open window behind her. I rushed over to the window, expecting to see her splattered on the sidewalk twenty floors below us, but instead she was nowhere to be seen. I turned to Alfred, who was actually grinning in amusement.
"What's so funny?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
"She's just like you were."
Violet's P.O.V.
I flipped onto the rooftop next door, using the flag pole near the Hospital to propel myself. I ran to the apartment and knocked on the door, Paula opened it and engulfed me in a hug. Well, I had to lean down, but that was OK, it still meant a lot. Then Artemis tackle-hugged me, with me laughing. Paula gestured us inside and we sat down for dinner.
"So, what happened?" Paula asked, serving out chicken.
"Well, some random thugs jumped me, and one got in a lucky shot." I said, trying to spare her anything really bad. Artemis and I both did it unconsciously.
"Where? And how deep? Should I get the First aid kit?" Paula asked, putting her hands on her wheels, completely ready to go get the First aid kit.
"It was in my arm. And it was deep enough some police officers took notice." Artemis and Paula both winced; police only mean bad things in my neighborhood. "So, I ended up beating them up and then avoiding other ones, for two days or so, so I couldn't come home, then I passed out from blood loss." I said, hoping they wouldn't ask for a follow up. Artemis just stared at me, not buying that that was the end of the story a bit.
"Go on, sweetie. We're not idiots." Paula said evenly. I smiled at her.
"OK, Mom. So, I woke up in the General Hospital, with my wound fully treated. A weirdo and some old dude were in my room, so I exchanged in brief pleasantries and booked it out of there. They kept staring it was weird." I said, almost shivering. They were really strange.
"Oh, is that all?" Paula asked, knowing full well it wasn't.
"Um, well, the weirdo said I was his niece. But, that trick is the oldest one in the book. Everyone from this end knows that my mom told me to go look for my uncle. I mean, seriously? At least five goons have used it this week alone." I finished, Paula and Artemis nodded.
"Guess what?" Paula asked, obviously excited to show me a surprise.
"What?" I asked, excited.
"Your third job finally paid. We have cable!" Paula said, to much shrieking on Artemis and my part. I checked my watch.
"Well, you can try it out without us. Artemis and I have to go to our joint job. To Starbucks!" I said, making theatrical gestures. Artemis and I headed out the door, laughing. We stopped on the streets, and Artemis put her hand on her bow, while I touched my hands to my throwing knives. You don't venture out onto the streets of Gotham laughing and without visible weapons. We weren't bothered, though some goons did throw the word "Uncle" about. In a matter of time I had them really saying uncle. We continued to Starbucks and threw on our aprons and started serving. This particular Starbucks hosted all of the major villains of Gotham, and occasionally Batman. The Starbucks had a certain sense of job security, because only a handful of girls were able to have it, and we weren't about to be replaced. Also, if you miss a few days they just assume it had to do with Super-Villains capturing you because of the job, so they tended to not bring it up.
"Hello, what can I get you sir?" I asked, going up to a table with the occupant buried in his menu. He hid further in his menu, as if wanting to pop out. They do this sometimes, as if we had never seen it before.
"Seriously? If you're a Villain, I get it, you're evil, you're scary. But, seriously? The menu thing is cliché. You want coffee, or are you just wasting my time as well as everyone else's?" I said, which usually gets them out of their menu. Wait, was it shaking?
"Oh, black it is then." I said, ordering it in the kitchen. I got other orders and during a lull went back to the poor guy still holding his menu.
"Your normal, aren't you?" I asked. His head nodded.
"Name?" I asked, as if I didn't care at all.
"Joe Westerfield. I just wanted some coffee. I didn't know this was some kind of Super-Villain hangout." He said I handed him his coffee.
"Wait till my shifts over, and I can take you home. You live near here?" I asked, trying to sooth him. He nodded and drained the coffee, handing me some money for it.
"Right down the street. I just moved here, not a lot of money." He mumbled. I nodded.
"OK, menu down. No one attacks anyone in this store. Batman and the Joker have sat two tables apart before." I said, he put his menu down, and I saw that he was telling the truth.
"OK, I'll take you home. But, no funny business, got it?" I asked he nodded. I finished my shift and turned to Artemis.
"We got a Robby." I said, in reference to the first boy we had helped out.
"Oh, where?" She asked, obviously not wanting to spend that much time, as we had cable to get home to.
"In our way." I said she nodded. We hung our aprons up and headed out the door with Joe Westerfield.
"Hey, Art, Vi!" Our friend Chelsea from the next shift greeted us as we left. We stopped briefly to talk.
"Sup, Chels?" I asked, hiding Joe behind me.
"Nothing. Sup with you two? You seem pretty excited." She said, obviously trying to get in on it, whatever it was.
"You'll never guess! Mom found some rotten cucumbers in the dumpster!" I said excitedly. Well, she had.
"So?" Chelsea asked, confused.
"So, they were too rotten to eat, but not to rotten for facials! It's going to be so fun! Paula's gonna play your old radio you let us fix up. And I bought a bag of chips, and we might watch a movie on that old TV that has a crack in it!" I said, practically jumping up and down in my excitement. Chelsea smiled.
"Oh, you girls have fun with your girls' night in! And I keep telling you, if you just steal a TV yours wouldn't have a crack in it." Chelsea said matter-of-factly, happy for us for having a bit of fun.
"Oh, well, see you Chelsea! Have fun with Dave!" Artemis said forcefully, before I could blow up in Chelsea's face. Dave was a customer that had come at Chelsea's shift everyday for the past month, and he tipped generously.
"Trust me girls. I will. Now, you get home to your mama. Have a nice girls' night! You deserve it!" She said, walking into the restaurant. We nodded and walked down the street, with me to one side of Joe Westerfield and her to the other.
"Why do you not let me yell at her? I like yelling at her." I said to Artemis, who smiled.
"Exactly. My goal in life is to make yours a living hell. How am I doing?" She said jokingly. I hit her lightly on the shoulder than stopped, looking up with really wide eyes.
"Artemis…" I said, poking her on the shoulder.
"What? Holy Shit." She said, looking in the direction I was and seeing a large dark shape on top of our apartment building. Joe Westerfield looked about to pee his pants.
"OK, Joe. Where do you live?" I asked, never looking away from that shape. It could only mean one thing.
"Um, over there." He said, pointing to the building behind us. We walked him to the door and saw him in safely. Then we walked back to our apartment building, which was, as per usual this time of night, surrounded by thugs. It was a small gang that was on the rise. We had been friends with the mob boss forever, so they couldn't hurt us in any way that Jake, the mob boss, could see anyways.
"Sup, little ladies." Adam, one of the nicer ones, said politely.
"Sup, Adam?" Artemis asked.
"What's shackle akin?" I asked, like he had taught me in grade school. He laughed.
"Still trying to find your Uncle, you little bitch?" Asked Jeremy, who had a grudge against me ever since he tried to grab me and I kicked him in the balls.
"Hey, Jeremy. Not really. You still looking for your balls? Oh, wait! You never had any to begin with!" I said, acting like I had just solved the mystery of the Mona Lisa's smile.
"You little-" He said, jumping up from his perch and coming towards me, seemingly to strangle me.
"Hey, Jeremy? What did I say about strangling my friends?" Jake said from behind him, almost lazily, before flipping him over his head and into the gutter. He looked at Artemis and I concerned. Jake had raven-black hair and the brightest blue eyes imaginable. Despite his career he had no scars and every girl in my whole neighborhood had a crush on him. Artemis and Paula were convinced he liked me however, I think it was just one of those fantasies they were prone to.
"You guys OK?" He asked, staring at me strangely.
"Yep. We're fine Jake, Jeremy just got excited, again." Artemis said, before I could say anything.
"You guys have a nice night, then." He said, still looking at me weirdly. "Hey, Vi?" He said quickly, and quietly.
"Yah?" I asked.
"Watch the News." He said cryptically, I nodded.
"Hey, Jake?" I asked he nodded a yes.
"Did you see who's on top of this roof right now?" Artemis blurted out.
"We're trying to show we aren't scared." Jake said, using a brave act with a little tinge of fear. Artemis and I exchanged glances.
"OK." Artemis said, "If you get arrested, we'll testify for you Jake,"
"And maybe Adam," I continued, Artemis and I sometimes talked like we were twins, it was a habit we picked up from living like twins for four and a half years.
"But definitely not Jeremy. Yah, he can,"
"Rot in Hell, for all we,"
"Care." Artemis finished, we laughed and hugged Jake and then went in. We went into the apartment and let ourselves in. Paula was sitting at the table, practically jumping up and down in her excitement. We jumped onto the sofa and turned the TV on, giggling like four year olds. We watched a couple of shows before Paula asked what else we should watch.
"Jake told Vi to watch the News." Artemis said, with obvious glee.
"Oh, did he?" Paula said, wagging her eyebrows up and down suggestively. I giggled.
"Oh, come on. It wasn't weird like you people. He seemed kind of worried actually." I said thoughtfully. Paula got her worried face on.
"Well, the News it is then." Paula said quickly turning on the News. There was a News reporter lady outside of the General Hospital.
"Yes, its Cat Grant here, and according to an inside source the Billionaire, Bruce Wayne, has a niece! He visited this very Hospital behind me early this morning and came out looking shell-shocked; apparently he and his niece just found out this morning that they were in anyway related. This remarkable Cinderella-like story has the whole city buzzing! We are led to believe that his niece is still in this very Hospital! Her identity is being kept a secret, as well as her injury, but we here at GBS we are trying our hardest to find out. Here is a picture of Mr. Bruce Wayne going out of the Hospital." A photo came up on the screen and I gasped. "Stick around, next we are going to talk about the flower market with Iris West-Allen." The News went to commercial and Paula put it on mute, staring at me. Artemis decided to join in on the staring contest, while I could barely form coherent thought. Artemis hit me on the back of the head and I started.
"Thanks." I said, smiling at her, she smiled back and joined in on the staring again.
"What hospital were you sent to?" Paula asked, obviously seeing that I didn't know where to begin.
"General." I said, in a little bit of a freakish whisper.
"And what did the weirdo who said he was your Uncle look like?" Artemis asked.
"Him, the dude on the TV…" I said, still freaking out inside.
"OK, so that means he was telling the truth?" Paula asked I nodded.
"But, I don't want to go live with him. You guys are my family." I said forcefully.
"But, you could have a better life. You could go on and do something really special. And your mother told you to-" Paula said, but I cut her off.
"Yah, go look for my Uncle. And why did she do that? To get me off her back. She literally abandoned me. If she wasn't shot in the alleyway I would have never seen her again. She hated me." I practically shouted Paula winced.
"She loved you. And now I do in her place. Which is why you should go and at least talk to your Uncle." Paula said with finality.
"Well, he knows where I live, so he can come here if you want me to talk to him so bad, Mom." I said she wheeled around.
"You honestly expect a billionaire to come here? And anyways, how exactly did Jake know you were in General Hospital and met Bruce Wayne?" She asked, clearly teasing me. I blushed.
"He must have been watching to make sure you were OK!" Artemis said, teasing me further. My blush turned tomato color.
"I'm going to bed!" I said, kissing Paula on the cheek and heading into Artemis and my room. I slept on the bed that Jade used to sleep on, because there wasn't room for one more, and it made Artemis and Paula less sad. Artemis came to bed a couple of minutes later, it was Friday, and so we had work all day tomorrow.
"You don't want to go live with him because you want to support Mom and I, don't you?" Artemis asked, as if asking the weather. I propped myself up.
"You guys are my family, and you have been for four and a half years. I work three jobs and we are barely getting by. Take them away, and you guys are starving. I couldn't do that; I just couldn't live with myself. You guys have always been there for me, when I started doing that weird thing, you guys supported me. Well, Mom was in prison, but she supported me on Visitor Days." I said, forcefully, Artemis nodded, understanding completely.
"Speaking of 'that weird thing', how is it going?" Artemis asked.
"Pretty well, I cooled the coffee without spilling it today, and I helped Jeremy fly, if you catch my meaning." I said, grinning evilly.
"Good, you need the practice. And he deserved it." She added, almost like it was an after-thought. I smiled.
"Yah, he really did. Apparently he terrorized poor Joe Westerfield before we got there. Beka told me." I said, explaining my actions.
"Ahh, I thought you were a little disproportionally angry. Well, more than you usually are." She said jokingly, I threw a pillow at her using 'that weird thing'. She grabbed it and threw it back, which launched into a full scale pillow war, which involved a lot of hand-to-hand combat and gymnastics, finally I was distracted by a sound near the window, and Artemis tackled me to the ground and held a pillow in the kill position.
"OK, what do you want?" I asked, knowing that it was something. Our pillow battles always end with the winner getting something.
"You have to come with me after work to see your Uncle." She said.
"Oh, fine. Mom put you up to this didn't she?" I asked, she got off me and I got up, stretching my spine.
"Oh yah, totally. But you pillow war promised. So you're stuck!" She said, laughing and getting back into her bed. "Night!" I got into my bed too, grumbling about ungrateful sisters who think they're all that because they won a pillow war because I was distracted. The last one was said at more than a mumble and Artemis laughed. We both fell asleep, preparing for one very interesting day tomorrow.