AN: Hello everyone! I've recently updated the first 6 chapters, but I'm not very good at *starting* stories so I apologize for the inconsistencies in writing style, as different parts were written at different times with different levels of inspiration. If you notice any content that is inconsistent, or have tips for how I can fix the style bits, let me know! (Also, spoilers for Young Justice, if you hadn't guessed that already). This is also rated T primarily for cussing (mostly from Jason) and some violence. It might get a bit dark later, but I don't think it'll be anything beyond T and I'll provide warnings as necessary.
I want to clarify ahead of time that this is an AU story, so I heavily pick and choose what cannon I include throughout. That said, it's safe for you to assume that all of Seasons 1 and 2 of Young Justice happened exactly the way it did, except the heroes are aware of meta genes before the Reach showed up. This story is set during the 5 year gap, so I won't actually be including any of Season 1 or 2, but I might reference things as I go along.
Relative ages are as follows:
Dick - 15 (rest of Team aged up accordingly)
Jason - 13 (almost 14)
Jane - 13 (almost 14)
Bruce - Batman Age (somewhere around 38-40)
I have all of the main plot points planned out, but I'm definitely open to suggestions and prompts as the connecting parts are a bit sketchy (hence the disjointedness of the first few chapters). My updates will be sporadic at best, and this will definitely take a few years to finish... Oh the joys of being a science major! So without further ado (since you've survived my AN!), I give you... The Blue Rose!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs, Lucas Films and Warner Brothers get all the credit!
Prologue
Tamadon bit down on the shaft of his pilex driver and wedged his other hand into the small gap in the bulkhead that contained the hyperdrive regulator. It still worked, but it was getting old and this was definitely a piece that needed to be replaced before it stopped working.
He grit his teeth around the metal driver when his hand got pinched on something again. Given, he could technically have taken more of the bulkhead down to actually access the chamber, but this model was small and could fit through the smaller gap so therefore it would fit through the smaller gap.
"Tamadon!" He distantly heard I'ra En call for him, but in that same instant something sharp decided to stab him from out of nowhere.
"Blast!" He had to resist the urge of yanking his hand back reflexively and gave himself a second to breathe, "Just a minute!"
Extracting his hands, Tamadon grabbed a dirty rag from his pile on the floor and made the resolution to come back and pull the rest of the bulkhead down before climbing up the ladder to get to the main hallway of the ship.
"Hey Honey, what's up?" Tamadon kissed his wife lightly on the top of the head, careful to keep his hands away while he worked at wiping the worst of the grease off.
"Well, I was cleaning out old data on the NavComp, since you went and transferred the entire data history when we got the new one, and found the weirdest coordinates. Look at these! They're in the negatives and it's gotta be a glitch in the system. I wanted to see what you thought, in case we need to get a new one."
Tamadon took a deep breath and stared at the numbers. 000, -028, 034. Those three sets of numbers tugged at a hidden part of his mind that meant a whole lot of different things to him, but the wide expectant gaze of his wife won out.
"It's not a glitch. Not anymore, at least. About six months before I met you, I was having some major trouble with the system, kept arriving at planets that weren't the ones I had picked, and I'm honestly lucky that it didn't take me through a star along the way.
"This is back when I was working for that junker on Utapau, you remember S'kra? Well I had gotten this tip that there was some kind of space battle near Mandalore, and the system wasn't working with Grid Coordinates at all, so I had to punch in the manual numbers and I settled in for a week-long hyperspace trip."
I'ra En's mouth twisted in a way that was obviously trying to hide a smirk. "I forgot how old your ship was back then. I swear it was gonna fall apart if you sneezed too hard."
"I don't need your sass woman! That ship was great, and it didn't actually kill me, so I count it as a win."
"Yeah, you can keep telling yourself that. It doesn't change the fact that you basically gave it away once we bought the Shadow." I'ra En patted the panel in front of her with mock fondness.
"Oh hush, you're distracting me. Where was I? Oh, heading to Mandalore." Tamadon took a second to pull out the second chair to finish the story, "So it's been a solid six days, almost seven, and I get ready for the drop from hyperspace expecting the blue and green mess that is Mandalore. I come out of hyperspace and find myself looking at a literal rock. Just this random asteroid hanging out in the middle of nowhere and I've got no clue where I'm at.
"I do a scan of the system and mark down my arrival point and find out that there's one planet capable of supporting human life, so I headed that way to figure out where I am and what's going on. No one answers any of my calls, I can't find any information on the planet itself and nothing comes up to greet me. I plotted a course to land away from civilization and investigate from there." Tamadon let out a breathy laugh and scratched the back of his head.
"Wait, where were you?" I'ra En asked, but he waved her question away.
"Getting there. So, I land, and a ton of people show up. I mean, these guys had to be military, and I'm just trying to make sure I can breathe the air outside and won't immediately die from foreign pathogens, so I can't greet them right away, but they're yelling basic at me, so I figured communications won't be a problem.
"Turns out I was on a planet called Earth, and my brilliant navigation system had stuck me in the next galaxy over. The guys who came to greet me were from a mixture of organizations, but I remember that NASA was the one who saw me coming, the CIA were the ones who showed up, and the Justice League were the ones I liked."
"This world must like acronyms." Tamadon burst into laughter at her comment. Of all the things to comment on and notice, that was what grabbed her attention.
"Oh, you have no idea! Anyhow, the Justice League kinda works like the Jedi, except they don't really have the Force there and instead have a variety of powers instead. They're the ones who made sure I actually made it off Earth without making anyone too angry and assured me that Earth wasn't interested in joining our known galaxy – they actually swore me to secrecy about it. Apparently, the Green Lantern Corps is some intergalactic police force or something, but stays away from our galaxy because of the Jedi, I don't know, I don't remember all of that too well."
"How could you forget even the smallest detail?!" I'ra En gasped, amazed that any part of that experience could have slipped his mind.
"Well, I spent most of the time in awe of the fact that I literally discovered a new world, and the rest of the time wondering why this one guy called Batman was dressed in this really dramatic and kinda creepy costume that covered everything except his mouth."
"Wait, are you saying that these people were human? There's human's outside of this galaxy?"
"Yeah. Green Lantern and I talked about it a lot. We figure that at some point in the last 50,000 years an alien race kidnapped a whole bunch of humans to use as slaves, and then ended up on Coruscant somehow. That would explain why the historical records on the human species is sketchy and why we're found across the galaxy with no exact point of origin. It's impossible to know for sure though, but it's a plausible theory."
"Yeah, it would really explain a lot." I'ra En trailed off. She was Hapan, and Hapan culture was based around the fact that pirates had kidnapped beautiful women from across the galaxy as slaves, and after the pirates were killed by Jedi the women took over in an iron-held matriarchal society.
"Earth also has this strange obsession with the idea that aliens will one day arrive and try to brainwash and eat them, or something, and are overall xenophobic despite the fact that there are three native species to the planet. It was honestly the experience of a lifetime, but before I left an alien called Martian Manhunter altered my memories so that I wouldn't remember all of this unless triggered by something. It was their way of making sure I didn't immediately spread news of their existence."
Tamadon pointed at the screen. "Apparently this counts as a trigger."
I'ra En spent a few moments absorbing the information, slowly developing a list of questions to ask him during the coming days.
"I want to go." She eventually managed. "This planet sounds really interesting, and I'd like to see it. Surely this Justice League gave you a way to talk to them, so you don't cause another panic?" Tamadon blinked at her, surprised by her immediate response – though he would later think back on the conversation and realize that it was a completely normal train of thought for his wife.
"I mean they did, assuming I still have the communications frequencies programmed into my personal comm. That's still old, right? I haven't gotten a new one in the past three years?" He pulled it out of his pocket and stared at the small device, unsure if he could trust his memory.
"That's still your old one. I've been bugging you about the quality of the transmissions for months." I'ra En raised an eyebrow at him, it was an ongoing battle that he was still winning through sheer stubborn pride.
"Then I can talk to them once I'm close enough. You sure you want to go? It a two-week trip just to get there and back, and I don't know how much of the actual planet we will get to see if the Justice League has to keep us away from the government like they did with me." She shrugged.
"Getting off of Hapes and through the Transitory Mists was hard enough, so I'm not going to pass up an opportunity like this. Me, the girl from an isolated system, getting to see a planet that no else in the galaxy will ever get to see. It sounds like a dream come true to me." If her smile was a little on the vicious side, then Tamadon couldn't blame her. The Hapes Cluster was not a place for someone who craves adventure.
"Well, I don't see why we can't go then! I'll have to talk with Visk, make sure he doesn't need anything delivered for a month or two, but shipments have been slowing down so it shouldn't be a problem." Visk worked with an industry on the planet Bothawui that required shipments of materials to and from other systems at irregular times, so it wasn't logical to have a permanent transport fleet. Independent agents like Tamadon were much cheaper to hire – although he still made enough to be comfortable.
I'ra En beamed up at him, blue-gray eyes shining, and Tamadon found himself falling in love all over again.
"We're coming up on the system, hyperdrive disengaging… Now!" Tamadon sat at full attention. It was always stressful going to mostly unknown systems, where you couldn't be totally sure you wouldn't find yourself in a sudden head-on collision track with an asteroid.
Luck was on his side this time, as empty space greeted them. Distantly, a bright yellow star twinkled at them, and Tamadon could faintly see the large shadow of a nearby planet, its rings just barely visible.
"Is this the system?" I'ra En was completely enraptured by the data coming through the scanner, reading every bit of information as it scrolled up the screen.
"Yup. It'll be a few hours before we reach earth, I have to plot a micro jump to get to the asteroid belt, then another after we maneuver out of it." She nodded absently, only barely hearing him.
"It looks like there's eight planets in this system – or is there nine? The last one is tiny, but it has moons that orbit it, so I guess it counts as a planetoid. Earth must be the third planet in orbit though, since it's the only one that could be the right temperature. How long will it take for us to get there?"
"A few hours, two, maybe three. Just sit tight and give me an extra set of eyes, okay love?" Tamadon smiled as she looked up and out the viewport with an intense determination. Navigating asteroid belts was never easy, most of the time it was safe to just go over the field, since it was relatively planar, but there was no guarantee that the asteroids would stay there. Tamadon had almost been hit more than once when one of the massive chunks of space rock decided to float upwards. It was too risky to just hyper-jump over the asteroid field, and moving too far out of plane of the planetary orbit would increase the amount of radiation the ship was exposed to – nothing above what the shields could handle, but it was best not to put unnecessary strain on the ship.
After they passed Mars, Tamadon started broadcasting the signal that the Justice League had given him during his last visit. He was unsure when they would be able to pick it up but figured that it was better to broadcast sooner than later. Surprisingly enough, it was only a few minutes after he started the signal broadcast that the communications link was accepted.
"This is Martian Manhunter. Identify yourself." I'ra En jolted at the sudden emotionless voice and stared wide-eyed at Tamadon.
"This is Tamadon Naberrie. Batman gave me this frequency for communications purposes in case I ever returned to Earth. I visited here about three years ago, and recently had my memory jolted." Silence rained over the comm for several minutes, and they both sat on edge waiting to hear Martian Manhunter's response.
"I remember you, Tamadon Naberrie. Is there a reason for your return?" Tamadon pursed his lips. Somehow, in all their planning, he had forgotten to consider that he might not be welcomed to Earth again.
"Well, my wife discovered the coordinates and I wanted to prove to her that the planet existed. We honestly just wanted a break from the chaos of our galaxy to visit your planet." More silence.
"Mount Justice has a docking bay that can hold your ship. I will mask your ship's presence from civilian scanners, but you will have to wait for nightfall to descend. We will discuss the possibility of you visiting the planet once you have landed." The line went dead then, though Tamadon was sure that they would open the line again to guide his landing.
"Well that wasn't very hopeful." I'ra En spoke quietly, although her silent laughter was a giveaway that she found the situation humorous. "You really weren't kidding when you said this planet was isolated, were you? If this is their first contact system, it's a wonder they have any interplanetary interactions at all!" Tamadon laughed.
"They actually don't, not officially at least. Martian Manhunter and Superman were the only true aliens on the planet last time I was here. I think the Justice League mostly ensures that no one else can get to the planet, so I'm not sure how much the group has changed."
"Ah. Well I hope they don't immediately turn us away… Although I can't really blame them if they do. We're basically asking them for a tour of their world, and I didn't consider how that would come across to an isolated world." She flushed, and Tamadon gave her a reassuring squeeze to the knee as he continued guiding the ship towards the blue and green planet, following the guide that Martian Manhunter had sent to the communications interface.
"We'll just have to figure out how to bribe our way in then."
Tamadon timed their approach so that they would breach the atmosphere after night had settled over that side of the planet. The rout that Martian Manhunter had sent to the communicator led them to a large mountain by the sea, a small city twinkling several miles away. The ship landed in an open area of the docking bay in the mountain, several other strange aircraft taking up most of the space. A group of costumed heroes waited for them, Batman at their head.
Once the ship was fully powered down, Tamadon led I'ra En down the ramp of the ship to greet the heroes, none of whom looked happy.
"Tamadon." I'ra En flinched at the gruff quality of Batman's voice, but Tamadon knew that that was just how he spoke.
"Hey Batman. It's been a while!" He forced a cheery smile. The only other Leaguer who didn't look upset was Green Lantern, who was obviously trying to hold back laughter.
"Why are you here, Tamadon? I thought we figured this all out years ago." This was as close as Batman could come to sounding exasperated. Tamadon had the decency to look sheepish.
"I know. Listen, it's weird and I know you're probably going to say no, but I wanted to show I'ra En your planet. Introduce her to your culture. She's the one who found the old coordinates on my ship and jogged my memory, and I figured we could negotiate a trade." No one could ever claim that he wasn't talented at flying by the seat of his pants. He still didn't know what he was going to say next.
Batman tilted his head as a sign to continue speaking. "If you let I'ra and I experience your world for a week or two, even just a small city, then, uh – oh! I'd be willing to help translate our holographic technology over to your tech, assuming you still don't have holograms."
The League was silent for a few moments, and Batman pursed his lips. "We will need to discuss this. Captain Atom will show you to a waiting area, and I will let you know when we have reached a decision."
A tall man with in a silver suit with red gloves stepped forward, and the rest of the heroes quickly left the room.
"Please, follow me." His voice was deep, and I'ra En found herself captivated by the strange glow that seemed to emanate from him.
Captain Atom led them to what amounted to a break room. There was a few couches and chairs, and a strange black screen that sat against one wall. For nearly an hour, the three sat in a tense and awkward silence. I'ra En had tried to start a conversation with the other man but was given only one-word answers and annoyed looks, so she stopped. Finally, Batman and Martian Manhunter arrived.
"We have decided to accept your terms. You will both have to agree to learn about American culture and Martian Manhunter has volunteered to be your guide when you visit, but you will have to sleep here since you have no legal identification and the IDs that I will make for you will not be very intricate."
Tamadon broke into a massive smile, "Thank you Batman! You won't regret this." Batman looked at him sharply, as though threatening Tamadon to even try making him regret it.
"Your names are too unique to pass for normal Earth names. Are the names Taylor and Irene acceptable to you?"
I'ra En glanced at her husband and shrugged with a smile, "It works for me, even sounds like my name. I'm willing to do anything I can to help this go smoothly." She smiled up at the intimidating man before her, who nodded once.
"Martian Manhunter will start your introduction to America's customs and language now. We can evaluate your holographic technology tomorrow, Tamadon." Batman and Captain Atom both left the room, and I'ra En found her excitement growing at the prospect of learning about this new world. A world far different than any she had ever encountered before.
"If you would follow me, I am sure there is a conference room available for us to use." The green-skinned alien gestured for them to follow him, and Tamadon led I'ra En the first few steps towards their future.
Chapter 1
March 19, 2012, 12:30 AM
"Jane! Have you seen my glasses?" Raniero called from his room upstairs.
"No, Papa. Have you tried looking in your coat pocket?" Jane called back at him. The thirteen-year-old frowned down at her history notes. It was closing in on the end of her first year of high school, and so far all of her classes had just been a more detailed repetition of what she had already learned. Why schools did that, she would never know.
"Found them!" Niero called triumphantly down the stairs.
"Where?" Jane asked smugly, she already knew the answer.
"In my pocket." He answered. Niero had called in a half day at work to spend the morning with her – it wasn't every Wednesday that schools was canceled with a teacher in-service – but had a meeting a noon he couldn't reschedule.
"Va bene," He walked into the living room and patted down the pockets of his suit, making sure he had everything. The tall Italian man made a habit of speaking both English and Italian when he was home, resulting in a strange mish-mash of phrases that often confused outsiders. "I'm off to work, if you need anything just call me. I'll be back at five." He kissed her lightly on the forehead and turned to leave.
"Oh, hey Papa! Is it okay if Tasha and I go eat a late lunch with some friends at The Diner?" Jane asked after him. Natasha Barker had been Jane's friend for seven years, ever since they had first met in a beginner's combat-jujitsu class.
"Sure, there's money in my dresser. Well, I'm off! I'll see you later dolcezza."
"Bye Papa!" Jane called after him as he walked out the door, then she hopped up and started to get ready for the day.
Niero lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods within the limits of Star City. It was close enough to downtown that all of the major stores and businesses were within a twenty-minute drive, and safe enough that Jane felt confident walking to The Diner without worrying about being mugged.
The Diner was a small, modest restaurant that was famous for its pies and soups and located at the very edge of Jane's neighborhood, right where the city started and the residential area began. It was actually called Star's Family Restaurant, but local teens had nick-named it 'The Diner' years ago and the name had stuck. Natasha and two other people were already seated by the time Jane walked through the front door, and Jane easily made her way over to them.
"Jane!" Natasha called, jumping up and hugging her friend. Her short, straight, brown hair brushed the edge of her jaw and her brown eyes sparkled, eager to introduce her friend to these new people.
"Jane, I'd like to introduce you to Pamela Drane and her older brother, Adam. Guys, this is my best friend; Jane Naberrie." Natasha said, then sat down and scooted over in the booth so that Jane could sit down too.
"Nice to meet you two." Jane said, smiling as she sat down.
"They're from Central City." Natasha added. "I met them at school the other day and wanted to introduce them to you!"
"Yeah, our Dad just got transferred to the Wayne Tech/Queen Consolidated merger branch out here." The girl, Pamela, said.
"Really? What division is he? He might know my papa." Jane asked. They had to pause and place their orders as the waitress asked around, and Jane could feel her stomach rumble at the idea of their tomato bisque.
"Advanced Science Technologies. He's one of the new researchers. Who's your Dad?" Pamela answered her question after the waitress walked away, leaving behind their drinks.
"Cool, then our dad's will be working together. My papa is Raniero Esposito, the guy who talks to the board of directors about getting money sent to the AST branch, and to convince them to put the new tech on the market." Jane explained, "He's the representative for the entire AST division."
"Wait," It was Adam speaking now, "You're Mr. Esposito's daughter? Isn't he like, from Italy?" He asked, taking in Jane's dark blond hair, light grey eyes, and pale skin.
"Well, yes, sort of." Jane hesitated, not wanting to continue, but knowing she would have to. "My mom died when I was born. My real dad was Taylor Naberrie. He was the head scientist and researcher at this branch of Wayne Tech. The only person higher up than he was is Niero, but they were best friends and worked together a lot. He vanished when I was five, but the police have never been able to find any hint of him. I've been with Niero ever since."
"Wow." Pamela said, "That really sucks. Does anyone know what happened to him?"
"No." Jane said, "I think that someone kidnapped him or something, cuz there was this really creepy guy who had showed up the day before, but the police never found any hints of foul play and I was five, so I wasn't a very reliable witness."
"Well, he could have been a sales person, trying to sell your Dad tickets to Hawaii for him and some bimbo!" Adam burst out laughing and Jane gripped her butter knife until her knuckles were white to keep from punching him. She didn't need to though. Natasha and Pamela both looked aghast, and Pamela smacked her brother as hard as she could.
"Adam you shut up! That was an awful thing to say and you know it! I'm so sorry Jane, just ignore him. He's being a jerk." Pamela glared at her brother, who looked smugger at having cause the upset than apologetic for being so rude.
Jane pushed aside the hurt she felt at the comment. Now was not the time to let her insecurities show. "I'm fine, Pam. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions."
The rest of lunch was spent awkwardly trying to keep a conversation going. Pam and Natasha did most of the talking, with Adam butting in sarcastically every now and then – much to their displeasure. Jane kept a smile on her face, but only really talked when directly addressed, her mind focused on the butter knife still clutched in one hand on her lap. They were all glad once the bill came, some for different reasons than others.
"It was nice to meet you Pam." Jane purposefully ignored Adam, she could be petty when she wanted to, "I hope you settle into Star well."
Pamela smiled sadly and waved, getting into the backseat of her mom's car, Adam having claimed the front seat.
"It was nice to meet you too Jane! I'll see you around!" Natasha stood by her side and waved as the car drove away.
"He's just some jerk, okay? Don't let him get to you." Natasha said.
"I know, Tasha. He's a straight up stronzo and don't you dare tell Papa I said that." Jane chuckled lightly with her friend. "Besides, we don't know what actually happened. All I know is that my dad is gone, and he would do everything in his power to be here if he could."
Natasha nodded sadly. She knew better than to try and drag the topic out, and her friend seemed mostly okay at the moment.
"Well, it's no use dwelling on it now, what's done is done, no going back. I'm going to head home Tasha, but call me later, I don't think we have anything planned this weekend, so you could probably come over."
"Okay Jane. You call me if you want to talk about anything."
"I will." Jane smiled, "I'll see you tonight, but this time I'm going to beat you!"
"Ooo! It's on girl! See ya later!" Then the two girls walked their separate ways.
Jane fingered the butter knife in her hands while she watched Natasha walk away, feeling the dips and grooves that would match her fingers perfectly. Shoving the knife into her hoodie pocket, she started walking home, taking the scenic route.
Italian translations:
Va bene - All right
Dolcezza - Sweetie/Sweetness
Stronzo - Asshole