Authors Note: Taking a break with my Teen Titan ficlets to write a Justice League one. This is my first try at this fandom so bare with me – it won't take long, I swear.
Title: Brave New World
Rating: T (For Safety)
Summary: AU. Bruce Wayne is just trying to keep himself upright in High School. He's succeeding too – that is, until the beautiful Diana Prince comes into the picture…
Disclaimer: The Justice League and all mentioned characters belong to DC Comic Books. The title does not belong to me either.
Brave New World
Chapter One
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Bruce groaned as the infernal noise of his alarm clock blasted from his bedside table. Pushing himself upright, he scrambled through the masses of paper and books to reach the small object. Hands finally grasping the metal surface of the dome, he furiously pressed the button that stopped the beeping in its tracks. Sighing, Bruce closed his eyes and counted to ten. Once he was done with the task, he slowly opened them again and made the mistake of looking at the clock. The luminous green light blurred away as Bruce glared at it. 5:30 – the clock read. If looks could kill (and if the clock was real) the rounded object would have been dead ten times over by now. Although Bruce had taken out the clock, the beeping was still going on. Left eye twitching, his eyes swept over every nook and cranny of his large room. His gaze finally stopped on a flashing pen – flashing red top contrasting horribly with the bright green glow of the room. Snarling, he climbed out of bed and began to crush the pen in his hands. Unfortunately for Bruce, it was one of the newly designed flexible ones. Breathing ragged, Bruce dropped the bendable pen and stalked over to his wardrobe. Pulling out a box, he threw out some of the objects, all the while biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming. Oh, when he got a hold of him…
Break
Wally West snuggled into the covers subconsciously. Eyelids closed, his face was a vision of peace, content with his dreams.
"Oh yeah baby, that's how you like it…" Rolling over in his sleep, Wally continued to mutter random phrases – unaware of the shock that was about to greet him.
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring Banana Phone!
Crimson hair falling over his eyes, the boy was jolted out of his bed by the annoying, repetitive sounds of the sped up version of the banana phone song. Clutching his heart, Wally made his way over to his drawer. Hand hitting the bottom, he brought out a dark red walkie talkie. Eyebrows furrowing in puzzlement, he flipped open the top to reveal the caller I.D. Confusion lifting, Wally stared in horror at the name on the phone. Bat Boy.
"Oh Damn." Wally whispered, dropping the object and moving away like it was a bomb waiting to go off. With each step he took, the ringing got louder. Upon hearing the sounds of footsteps on the outside landing, he pressed the accept call button and dove back under the covers.
Hoping Bruce would be kind enough to wait a few moments before yelling at him, he burrowed into the quilt and lay silently. His light flickered on and the burly form of his Uncle stepped into the room. Brows laced in confusion, Barry let his eyes sweep the room. Getting a negative from any movement within he made his way back down the hall, sighing as he went. Wally let loose the air from the corner of his mouth. That was a close one. Silently cursing Bruce, he put his ear to the phone and whispered down it.
"What?" Big mistake.
"What do you mean 'What'!" Wally had to move the phone away from his ears as his friends voice boomed over the speaker.
"I mean," he moved it back towards him. "What do you want at this time…" he paused to look at his Justice Guild clock, "It's Five thirty in the morning."
Why Bruce was using his walkie talkie to call him was really the bigger mystery. When Wally had gotten them the walkie talkie set, Bruce had glared at him with his signature move and tossed it behind him into a box. Wally had tried to convince Bruce to take it out, but the last time he did he had been in the hospital with a broken nose – not that that was Bruce's fault. It was more his own for not paying attention when racing on his bike.
He could almost feel Bruce's anger radiating in his next statement, "Because...Of…The…Pen…"
Oh Double Damn. Wally gulped, "Oh…Yeah….About that…"
"Save it West." The sentence came out harsher than Bruce had expected but he wasn't stopping there. "I asked to you to wake me up early so I'd be ready for school."
"It's early isn't it?"
From his post on the window, Bruce sighed, "Not this early."
Wally chuckled nervously, "Heh heh, I'll remember that next time…"
"I'm sure you will." Bruce was beginning to get exasperated. "Eight 'o' clock then?"
"Eight on the dot buddy!" Wally pushed the flip cover down and set the object gently on his desk.
Pulling open one of his desk drawers (only using one hand, the other was currently being used to brush his brightly coloured hair out of his eyes) he rummaged through it and pulled out a Justice Guild Comic. Settling back down, he threw the pages open and began to read from page fifteen.
"That Tom Turbine sure is something…"
Break
Bruce groaned and pushed two fingers to his head as Wally once again broke into the chorus for 'Hey Ya!' by Outkast. Terrible as Wally's singing was, it was nothing compared to the absolute drivel of the song. If he had to rate it, it would be number five on his most hated list. Clenching his teeth as Wally began to drum his fingers on the car wheel; he made a motion for him to turn the radio off. Grinning, Wally slowly began to let the volume climb higher and higher. Cursing in a tone Alfred probably wouldn't have approved of; he raised his foot and kicked Wally.
"Hey!" The teenager swerved back on course, not before raising his finger in a rude gesture to the man beside him. "You trying to get us killed or what?"
"Turn it off." The command was simple.
Wally laughed, and switched station, knowing that he shouldn't push his luck with Bruce any longer. Unfortunately for Wally, the channel he had turned to possessed a much more annoying song. Wally had to slam his foot down heavily on the brakes so he didn't crash when Bruce's fist connected with his left shoulder. Glaring, Bruce pushed Wally to the side. He fell out of the car, elbow hitting the pavement.
"I'm driving." Noticing Bruce's jaw clenching, he offered no argument and quickly slipped into the cars passenger seat.
Without even attempting a wave of sorry to the other cars behind him, Bruce sped off.
"Did you have to do that?"
He ignored Wally's question and drove on. The unforgettable tune of The Crazy Frog song numbing his brain. Bruce turned the dial and the station changed to a much more soothing song. At least he was spared from the frog – he didn't know how the British were dealing with it. Sweeping away the last of his plans to dismantle the evil thing, he turned to Wally, who was still rubbing his arm.
"Homework." Noticing Wally's blank stare, he added, "Did we have any?"
"Not that I know of, hang on, let me check." Delving into his backpack, Wally withdrew a tattered sheet of paper.
Unaware of Bruce's raised eyebrow, he scanned the page. Silent for once in his life, Wally tried to make sense of the messy sheet.
"It would make more sense if you were holding it the right way up."
Blushing with embarrassment, Wally saw that his friend was right and he quickly turned it the right way up. Now that it was correctly placed, the thing made much more sense now.
"We had some for J'onzz and some for Luthor." With this statement said, he dove back into his bag and pulled out two purple work books.
Quickly bringing out a pen, he scribbled down a few sentences on one of the blue lined pages. "What's that planet…You know…The one named after a fish?"
"I'm taking that you didn't do your homework?"
"Hey buster! Stay with me here! Planet named after a fish?"
"Neptune?" Bruce offered, at the sound of pen hitting pen, Bruce sighed.
He still didn't know how he and Wally had become best friends. They were complete polar opposites of each other. Bruce was serious and most likely to hurt you if you so much as looked at him the wrong way, and Wally, well, he was Wally. There was no way to describe him. The two had known each other since meeting each other in Primary school, and they'd been friends ever since. Whatever forces of fate had bonded them together, Bruce didn't know whether to thank them or tear them limb from limb. Letting his foot hit the brakes, he silently backed the car into the school parking lot. Carefully pushing Wally's car into the chosen spot Wally had been using for the past year, he removed the key and turned to his friend.
"You done yet?"
A shake of the head greeted him. "Nuh uh, cover for me."
Undoing his seatbelt, Bruce exited the car, mind forming some kind of excuse to tell Luthor. Hoping that Wally kept his mouth shut for once, the pushed open the heavy doors and entered the large building.
Break
Bruce tapped his pencil slowly, all the while glaring at Wally's back. His hopes of silence had been crushed when Wally had dashed in, twenty minutes late saying that a dog had stole his bag. He might have gotten away with it – if Mr. Luthor hadn't questioned what a dog had to do with his mother's car breaking down. Now he had detention for a week. Wally seemed to notice that he was being stared at, slowly twisting his body round, he spoke in a loud voice.
"Relax Brucey; it's only for a week."
Refusing to talk to him, Bruce turned his attention to the Blackboard. He didn't need to be looking there right at that moment – Luthor had gone to collect something – but anything was better than facing Wally's sad face. He swore that face almost beat the one his neighbours two year old son gave him when he babysitted the kid. That reminded him, he was looking after Richard tonight. Making a mental note to remind Wally not to come over, Bruce flicked his book back open when he realised that his teacher had re-entered the room. Wally was not so lucky however.
"Mr. West – another night's detention for throwing that plane, and, Mr. Kent – let's make it two for returning the favour hmm?"
Bruce looked over at Kent. It was a well known fact at DC Community High that Clark Kent and Lex Luthor had an unspoken rivalry since the first day of school. If Luthor was a student Clark could of ignored it and settled it in his own terms. But seeing as Lex was a teacher, he could do nothing. Grinning to himself, Luthor faced the rest of the class.
"Before we continue I have some important news. We have a new student joining us, I trust you will all make her welcome."
Luthor gestured for the mystery pupil to come in. Bruce's gaze (as well as all the other males in the room) was drawn to the tall girl standing in the middle of the room. Offering nothing but a name ('Diana Prince') she had taken her appointed seat next to Shayera Hol and quickly began to catch up to the class' work. Raising an eyebrow, Bruce let his gaze linger a little longer over the raven haired beauty. She certainly was a sight for sore eyes – and apparently, Solomon Grundy and his group of friends thought so too – at least, that's what he could tell from his spot at the back. Making another mental note next to his babysitting dilemma, Bruce settled back down into his work. Well isn't this year going to be interesting…
Break
"Leave her alone." The command came from the mouth of Clark Kent. A boy who Wally had taken to calling a boy scout when he wasn't around.
With a dark blue t-shirt and bright red (And by bright red, Bruce meant bright red) pants, Clark didn't really look intimidating. He made up for this however, by looking like a small wrestler. With pumped muscles and a firm jaw line, it was hard to tell that this was really the short, baby blue eyed boy from Kansas that Bruce had met in his first Year at DC Com. Bruce and Wally stood a little way off behind the crowd and observed as Grundy aimed a punch at Kent's head.
"He's going to be regretting that in the morning," For once in his short life, Wallace West was right.
Kent grabbed Grundy's fist and picked the larger boy up like he weighed next to nothing. As Grundy flew across the grounds, Kent made his way over to his damsel in distress.
"Are you ok?" his voice was making Bruce feel sick, and, if he didn't know any better, he could have swore that Wally was currently throwing up in the bush behind him.
"I am now," Bruce tutted and wrenched a pale red head out the rose hedge.
"Come on."
Wally smiled grimly, "What, don't wanna wait for the magical Disney styled kiss?"
"I'd rather choke on a spork. Now come on." Sighing at his friend's choice in words, Wally obeyed.
"When you die, can I have the spork?"
"Ok, ok! It was just a question! No need to get violent! I think you broke my nose!"
Break
Slamming his bag down, Bruce prepared an excuse to excuse his tardiness. He didn't any further than 'it was all Wally's fault' when he caught sight of Alfred tapping his foot in the hallway.
"Guess you heard?"
"Yes Master Bruce. I did. However, that is not what I am concerned about. You are due to look after Master Richard in one hour and you have neither prepared your cloths nor started on your homework."
Blanching, Bruce grabbed his bag again and yelled a hasty apology to Alfred before zooming up the stairs. Quickly pulling on a pair a tattered jeans and a black polo shirt, he pulled five worksheets out of his bag and quickly started on them.
Sighing, Bruce clasped his pen in his right hand "I hate my life."
End Chapter One
Brave New World
Authors Note: Well, if you're still reading this, then hopefully you didn't get bored of it. Hope you all enjoyed chapter one. This was originally going to be a Teen Titans piece, but then I saw how many High School fan fictions they had for it and decided to move it here. I'm hoping you all picked up on the little hints left lying around – oh, and Richard is important to this (I think, his part came to me in an 'OMFG! I have a great idea for a sequel! Except this story isn't even finished yet!' kind of way.)
So, all rambling aside, I'd love to hear some feedback for this – even if it's negative, negativity helps me learn – I'm only thirteen after all – I need to learn XD
Read and Review please!