KID OF THE BAT
Author: BatmanWolverine
Fandom(s): DCAU
(Justice League Unlimited)
Genre: Romance,
Drama, Humor
Pairing/Characters:
Same old, same old. Bats-Wondy, Super-Lois etc. etc.
Rating: PG13
(for now)
Summary: Where were you when it happened? That is a question many a person is asked during their lifetime…one that they'd rather forget. What happened to make them ask that to themselves. (Lamo' summary. Might change)
Series: None
Spoilers: No
specific spoilers...as yet.
Author's Note: Got
this while writing the one-shot 'Done Deal'
Disclaimer: Don't own Batman, Wonder Woman or any other related character. All owned and copy righted by DC. There are no OCs in this story.
01. Where were you when…
Where were you when it happened? What were you doing when you first heard it? Were you asleep? Or maybe you were working?
Or maybe….
….well, where in your life were you when this news reached you?
None of those questions came up in the minds of any of the people involved, at least not at that time. For them (the questions) to come it would mean that they (the people) would have actually to be thinking, and that is a very difficult proposition with your heartbeat sounding in your head….and your heart choking your throat.
---
The Best-friend,
"Kent!" Her worried exclamation sounded in his ears but without him actually hearing it. At that moment, a nuke could have gone up beside him and he wouldn't have sensed that.
"Kent. Clark…" She called again, her voice cracking at the sudden change in him. One second they were bantering among themselves, chomping down on fresh Chinese take-out while taking a break from a late night sitting to work out the details of the new section that Perry wanted to include in the weekend edition, and the next…. The next second not only did he not go still as a sculpture, his easy smile falling into a tight frown, tension lines forming on his normal pleasant face. That he dropped the chopsticks his hand slamming against his ears to block against the ultra-high frequency whine, only added to the…effect.
"Kent, you alright?" Perry was worried too. He knew that Clark had his…umm, peculiarities but this was just too…
"Please excuse me," he shot up ramrod straight, tension clear in his squared shoulder. "I've got go. Something's just come up."
Not waiting for Perry's permission or to answer Lois's questions, he started out, nearly giving up his secret by the speed at which he moved towards the door, his hand already on his tie.
"Wait," she ran after him, her behavior carrying all the worry that she'd never admit…at least not yet, and most of all not to him. And worried she was, not only as a colleague, not only a friend but also as someone who, even though she wouldn't admit it, had grown to have more than friendly feelings towards this small-town boy. "Clark what happened? Is everything alright?" Okay, stupid question. "What is wrong?" That's better. "Do you need to go the hospital?"
Stopping for the barest of an instant, the look that he gave said it out aloud. 'I hope not.'
Seconds later, he was gone, and not her or anyone else in the room paid much attention to the boom that sounded in the distance, the vibrations shaking the windows. And more than that, they never thought it to be connected with him, just putting it up to Big-Blue putting forth a burst of speed.
---
The Ear…the Counselor,
Across the world,
"…and then the big ships…." He stopped mid-sentence, his mind elsewhere as he answered the call from the heavens.
'J'onn, there is an emergency,' the deep polished voice rang in his thoughts.
'I am here Michael,' as calm as ever he returned the hail, his human hands still caressing the back of the head of the youngster sitting in his lap, the one who was staring wide-eyed at his grandma's new friend. The child was enraptured by the story that the old man had been telling him, the one about how the Justice League with all the other heroes of the world, fought and saved the earth from the bad people.
'Its on the founder frequency,' Mr. Terrific conveyed. 'Rerouting now.' And just like that, it was as if he was watching through his teammate's eyes, his own (currently) black orbs widening at the three letter code. 'MNM'
Macbeth. Nectarine. Morphine.
'Oh.' He recognized, his mental shields keeping the identity of the mystery sender from his successor. Ever since he had taken a break, electing to maintain an extended reserve status even after his return during the battle against Darkseid, it was Mr. Terrific who had been handling the 'Missions' roster, all while doing the crossword puzzle…with pen.
'Michael,' he withdrew to the periphery of the other man's conscious. 'Please arrange for a site to site teleport. Destination Gotham City. But give me a minute first.'
'Of course J'onn.' The conversation ended.
"I am sorry little one," he apologized to the boy, his heart fluttering at the sadness from the young child. " A friend needs my help."
"But our story?" The boy crooned, looking both up at him and at the older woman who had come to stand beside them. "Nana!"
She understood about the emergency also knowing that for the others to call him it must be a big one.
"How about I come back and complete it," he did not want to lie, especially not to someone so innocent, so pure. "And maybe I will have a new one too."
"A new one!" The child's eyes lit up again. "With the dragon?" He asked, recalling how Xian and grandma had taken him to see the green and red dragon.
"Yes," he conceded. "With the dragon. I promise," he supplied even before the question came up.
"'m okay." With the promise of a new story and of the dragon, it took all but a second for the boy to leap off his lap, his little feet rushing off to the guest room to get his toys.
"J'onn," she stepped out with him, her eyes and thoughts already saying what her lips were going to murmur. "Be safe."
"I will." He promised, preparing himself for the teleportation. "You too."
'I love you.' The thought rang out simultaneously from both of them.
---
The Fellow Soldiers,
"Keep you eyes on the target!" The commanding tone brooked no argument. "And Plasticman, stop slacking off. And stop trying to grope Barda."
"Hey!" The man in question's protest rang out, just seconds before his 'target' finally getting a confirmation on her suspicions, hefted her extensible staff and started after him.
Back on the observation deck,
"You shouldn't be so hard on them," the sultry voice carried more than a little amusement. "They are your teammates after all, not wet behind the ear rookies."
"The way they are acting," he arched an eyebrow at her, "they might as well be."
His bright green eyes took in her perfectly toned body rising up to meet the knowing smile on her lips. She was beautiful and she knew it. After all, its not easy to become a world famous model. She also knew that he liked what he saw in her, both with and without clothes on. Specially without clothes on.
"What do you say we…" she started, stopping as the ring on his finger suddenly grew brighter, his eyes mirroring the effect. "John? What is it?" She asked, missing out how someone else to reacted at that very moment. That someone had been standing in the practice area below, her heavy mace loosely grasped in her slender hand, her wings, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire between Big Barda and her target, Eel O'Brien, Plasticman, close to her body
"I have to go," he shot up. "We might have to postpone our plans for the evening," apologized. "This might take some time."
"Why? What happened?" She stood up too, catching the opening and sliding shut of the doors below. "What's the emergency? Want help?"
"No!" His answer came a bit too quick. This was just among them. "It doesn't…I mean…"
"Is it a Lantern thing?" Mari inquired, knowing that that wasn't the case. If it had been a Lantern emergency he would have readily told her.
"No." This time around he schooled his answer. "It's a between us thing." How was he to explain to her that these protocols, placed after the Thanegarian invasion, were just among the seven founding members, as were the codes which signified who was who. And this code, it was one that he never hoped to get. Not that any of them looked forward to getting any, but one from him. Something must seriously be wrong.
"A between us thing?" Even as much she would deny, she couldn't help but feel the doubts.
"Yes, the core council." Oh. "That's why I cannot tell you…or take you."
'And that's why she gets to go.'
----
Her…just HER,
"Hera!" Kneading at the tension knotting her shoulder, Diana, former and now once again, princess of Themiscyra huffed a very un-princess-like sigh and flopped down on the soft yet oddly firm mattress covering her bed.
Who would have guessed that bureaucratic duties would be so draining. Meeting people. Making nice with their orthodox and inherently suspicious personalities. Trying to convince them to work towards the greater good. Signing documents, reports, requisitions, even more documents, even more….
"What I wouldn't give for a good fight right now."
Startled and shocked at her inadvertent wish, she chided herself for being so…barbaric, especially when her mission was one of peace. What would her mother say if she came to know that the daughter she had entrusted with being the 'ambassador' of the Amazon nation, their champion of Peace and Trust, that she was acting like a common ruffian.
"Well," pushing herself up, she reached down to pull off her boots. "I'll make do with a relaxing bath."
Even as much her 'political' duties weighed on her, getting the embassy and her own royal suite in it was a plus…a definite plus, especially when compared to her previous residence, her quarters aboard the watchtower. Though not bad, they didn't compare to the opulence that had been set up here.
She was on her second boot when,
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Uhn," her communicator rang. Did she miss a meeting? Or was there a mission? 'Oh, let there be a mission.' If nothing else, the exercise would allow her to loosen up a bit.
'Maybe I should try out one of those…' she trailed away, her heart skipping a beat at the message, at the three alphabets on the screen.
'Hera…No!'
Within seconds she was out, tearing through the night like a living shooting star. Her fists flat against her hips, she put out burst after burst of speed until….
BOOM!
It took her all of fifteen minutes to get to her destination, but even at her supersonic speed she missed out on noticing the red and blue streaking in from the other side. Even more than that was the blur flashing across on the ground, the blur that not only caught upto her but also left a trail of red lingering after it…all in such a short time that for all her the speed she might as well have been standig stock still.
----
The Flashy-Youngster,
"Come on Digger," The Scarlet Speedster scratched behind his ears, feeling more than a little bored. "Give it up already. I know you've run out of boomerangs. Now make it easy on yourself," he looked over his shoulder, grinning at his friends, the brave men and women of Keystone P.D. "And on all of us too."
No reply.
"Come on man. I don't have the whole night here. And besides, its not like all of…"
BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Oh, what is it now," lifting his hand to his ear, Wally flicked on the inbuilt communicator, the color draining from his face at the mechanical voice…at the message it conveyed.
'MNM now. MNM now. MNM now. MNM now. MNM now…..'
"Aw man," recalling the meaning of that code, one among many that the Dark Knight had made him learn by rote, the youngest of the big seven cursed at what this specific one meant.
A tenth of a second's warning and with several red flashes and a second later George 'Digger' Harkness found himself sitting on the hood of a white and blue police car, looking rather stupid with both his hands and feet tied up and a boomerang, his last one, sticking out from between his teeth. "Sorry man, not hard feelingggggsss….." the apology trailed off into the wind, the back draft pulling the captain off the hood and onto the hard asphalt.
"Oh man, oh man," already at mach three and still speeding up, the young man tried his best not to think about what awaited him once he reached Gotham.
---
"Alfred! What happened? Where is he?" Of all those who appeared at the front door of stately Wayne manor, only Diana, Wally and Shayera were in their costumes. Clark had changed back just before landing, J'onn shapeshifted while John just used his ring to change into his 'civilian' garb.
"Good evening Master Kent." Ever the gentleman, even in the time of emergency, Alfred Pennyworth, loyal butler to the Wayne family and surrogate father to Bruce Wayne and those who grew up in the manor, namely Richard Grayson and Tim Drake, greeted the Kryptonian, extending the same courtesy to the Princess, Miss Hol and Masters Stewart, Jones and West.
"The master...please come this way." Even though the others might have missed, Clark, and both Diana and J'onn caught the momentary hesitation, Clark because of he knew Bruce and his family the longest and Diana and J'onn because of the time they had spent here after the invasion.
It was as if death had draped its dark silence with the only thing breaking it being the crackling from the living room fireplace where, thanks to his X-Ray vision, Clark saw a teenager sleeping…still half dressed in his costume.
'Bruce…what happened to you?' He and the others followed Alfred up the stairs, right upto and into the room they knew very well. It was the master bedroom. It was the master's bedroom.
Once inside, they tiptoed to the custom designed bed, stopping short at the sight that greeted them.
"Bruce…"
"Hera!"
"Huh!"
"What the…What the hell!"
"Sssh!" More than one person hissed at Flash's outburst, glaring daggers at him at not to cause any more noise.
The movement of the bed told them that it was too late, all of them holding their breath as fluttering behind their lids, the familiar deep blue eyes shot open to stare at them, the pin-drop silence ending a second later.
"Waah Wuh-WAAAAHHHHH WAAAHHH!"
Standing at the foot of the bed, the six collected leaguers dumbly stared at their teammate, the most dangerous man on the earth, who right now…
…had been turned into a bawling toddler.
-
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Note: Didn't see this one coming? I hope not, otherwise all of my build up was in vain. Anyways, hope you liked it….will try to update regularly.
Am aiming to make it different from usual full-length fics. Someone just read my recent one-shot 'Done Deal' and told me that I should do a full 'light' fic, not like my usual 'heavy-depressing' stuff.
So here goes…do review and let me know how the start worked out!
