Young Justice
I reread my story and I was less than whelmed, therefore I am going to restart this story.
Rochelle Grayson was given the moniker of Boy Wonder even though she let hints slip to the contrary, eventually she gave up and accepted the title, even embraced it. FemRobin pairings will most likely be Femslash. Don't like it, don't read it.
Chapter 1 – Independence Day
Haly's Circus pulled into Gotham City on the 4th of July. Some big-wig business type hired them for the celebration. There was going to be three acts, ending with the Flying Graysons. Mr. Haly was proud of the act and they were going to reveal the new flower to the folks in Gotham.
Rochelle smiled as she ran over the lot checking in on the others. She liberated an apple from the clowns who was only mad at her for about a Nano second. They even tossed her a banana as a bonus. That was when Rochelle came across some unsavory types trying to rough up Mr. Haly. She disappeared into herself finding a place to listen to the conversation.
"Now Haly, we don't want you here, but as it is we can't really stop you." Goon 1 said.
"But see, pay up or we can't guarantee your safety." Goon 2 added.
"Go suck a lemon, I was personally invited here, I don't need your paper thin so-called protection." Mr. Haly said and shoved pass the goons.
Rochelle was proud that Mr. Haly didn't give into the bullies and made her way back to her parents' trailer to get ready for the night. If she stuck around for just a few more seconds she might've seen the goons signal to an unknown. The unknown almost seemed like she glided up to the platform. There with a sigh she undid the bolts holding the trapeze in place and then sailed back down.
"My debt is paid up. Tell Black Mask that Huntress doesn't want to hear from him again, she's retiring."
"That won't be necessary –" Goon 1 stopped leaving the comment in the air. Huntress knew what it meant. She turned and walked away cursing her husband.
Huntress didn't make it far when a shot whizzed through the air, Goon 2 shot her in the back with a silenced 9mm. From that day forward she would never walk again. At least they had the decency to drop her, unceremoniously, at the hospital after removing her clothes. She crawled into the ER naked and got a nice wheelchair out of it.
That evening Rochelle ascended the rope ladder up to the balcony, she was to remain there until it was time for their act. The show was very spectacular from her high vantage point. And then they came, her parents. Her mother was on her side, her father on the opposite side.
The act was finely choreographed, Mary Grayson swung over to John Grayson who caught her ankles, they swing over and Rochelle jumped out of nowhere only to be caught by her mother for her big debut. But fate had other ideas, not the senile old fool, the coldhearted reality. As John Grayson swung back after catching Mary the trapeze came loose and they fell to their deaths. Only now the ground resembled the face of the psycho clown, The Joker.
Rochelle woke screaming, every year it was the same nightmare. And every year Alfred would comfort her with soothing words and a treat of her liking, today was no different. Alfred was there for her, on the plate was her, current, favorite, chocolate mousse.
"Why is it the same every year Alfred?" Rochelle asked through tear filled eyes.
"Nightmares are there to remind us that we are only human, Miss Rochelle, just remember that it is only a dream." Alfred smiled. "Now finish your chocolate and get ready, today is the day."
Rochelle smiled up at the kind fatherly butler.
"Thank you for being there for me Alfred."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Just as they were getting ready to Zeta to the Hall of Justice an alert sounded. Robin spied the screen and saw it was a very sudden drop in temperature. Batman confirmed that it was Mr. Freeze. Recalibrating the Zeta tube to local they exited near the park.
Robin could see the wisps of the ice as she disappeared into the shadows. Going over her supplies she settled on an explosive bataring. Throwing the projectile she began to chuckle. Mr. Freeze didn't seem amused when the exploding projectile cracked his helmet.
"So Batman sent his whelp. I'm a bit under whelmed, boy wonder." His voice sounded more metallic then usual.
"Cute, but I'm kinda in a hurry here." Robin didn't even look at him.
"Kids these days are so impatient." Mr. Freeze readied his ice-rifle.
"I wasn't talking to you Frosty." Mr. Freeze's eyes stretched as he turned around a bit too late to prevent Batman from rupturing his protective helmet.
They returned to the cave where Robin picked up her phone while Batman recalibrated the Zeta tube. There were a few messages from Barbara, mostly well wishes for the day ahead. Today was the day that the side-kicks were going to the Hall of Justice, sure it wasn't the Watch Tower, but it was a first step.
They were the first to arrive. Robin smiled as she saw the hall. It was short lived as she heard Batman receive Intel from Green Arrow. Apparently Icicle Jr. attacked Star City. Soon after Aquaman and Kaldur showed up, Killer Frost attacked Pearl Harbor. Now all that was missing was the speedsters and Captain Cold. When they arrived Robin felt like slapping her own forehead.
"Has all four side-kicks ever been at the same place at the same time?" Wally asked a smile almost splitting his face.
"Don't call us side-kicks, not after today." Speedy warned his voice cold.
"Sorry, I'm just a bit overwhelmed that's all." Kid Flash said his smile not leaving his face.
"You're overwhelmed, Fries was under whelmed, why can't people just be whelmed?" Robin was a bit irritated but swallowed her words as she glanced up into the hall. "Maybe that's why?"
Red Tornado and the Martian Man-hunter guided them through the halls while the adults discussed, briefly their encounters. It was no coincidence, Robin knew that. The glorified backstage pass made for a fine tour, at least there wasn't peeping glass in the showers like there was everywhere else.
"You now have unlimited access to the cafeteria and gym." The Martian Man-hunter said.
"That's it?" Speedy said sounding very agitated. Robin wanted to make a joke about Wally and food but kept her tongue. "Are you kidding me, you are okay with this?"
"Yeah Speedy, you know this is the first step." Robin said trying to calm the teen.
"No! Today was supposed to be the day!" Speedy through his hat down, "I guess they never told you that the Hall was only a front, a half-way point catching Zeta tubes to the real HQ, an orbiting Satellite!"
"Calm down, Son." Aquaman tried. Speedy narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not your son, I'm not even his. I thought I was his partner." Speedy deflated. "I guess they were right about you, you aren't ready." Diva tantrum aside, Roy did have a point.
Just then an alert came through. Superman said something about Project Cadmus. Robin knew she heard the name before, but couldn't place it. Batman was about to deploy when Zatara requested an all League response. Perfect.
"Superman?" Batman asked.
"It is a small fire, authorities has it well under control." Superman replied. Even better.
Kid Flash was the first to demand to go. The fool doesn't know that you don't demand anything from Batman. After a heated exchange Robin was making her way to the computer only vaguely listening.
"What is Project Cadmus?" that was her cue.
"I don't know but I can find out." The alarm sounded for about a second as Robin hacked the system. She smirked and brought up Project Cadmus, but it was a disappointment. "It just says it is a genetics lab here in DC. If Batman is interested then there must be more to it."
"But they told us to stay put." Kaldur said.
"For the blotting out the Sun mission, this we can do, it would be poetic justice."
"Solve their case for them," Kaldur mused.
"And don't forget they are all for justice." Kid Flash added.
"Just like that we are a team on a mission?" Aqualad nodded.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Robin was busy hacking the Cadmus systems when Aqualad made his way into the building. He was disappointed and voiced that to them. Robin brushed him off for a bit and boosting his ego. Once completed, she went to the lift, there she stared to scan it, it was a high speed elevator with 52 sublevels and the schematics showed that each level is at least 2 or 3 stories high.
Using her grapple she descended for as far as her rope could go, SL-26. Swinging to the side she waited for Aqualad and Kid Flash to get next to her before she pressed release on her grapple brining it in.
Robin rolled her eyes as Kid Flash ran ahead of them, she was more interested in the computer, it wasn't connected to the front company and it had information on everything inside Project Cadmus, including something called Project Kr. This had her intrigued.
Robin disappeared into herself when Guardian showed up and programmed the elevator to take them down. She really needed to know what Project Kr was. She had an eerie feeling about it. When her teammates showed up she told them about her suspicions. Manipulating boys was so easy.
As it turned out Project Kr was the genetic clone of one Superman, grown in the last 16 weeks and force-fed an education worth 16 years. They couldn't let it continue, but they couldn't just let Superboy die. They had to free him, too bad he was fed other ideas. Robin was knocked-out in no time.
Robin woke sometime later with Superboy just standing there looking self assured, to the untrained eye at least. Robin noticed that he was fighting with his inner demons.
"Stop staring you're freaking me out." and that would be Wally.
Robin instead chose to break out of her constraints, she was only 12. She didn't do kinky, yet. Focusing on the task she got frustrated with herself. Batman taught her how to lock pick every lock and she couldn't seem to figure out which lock this was.
"Start a new file, Project Side-kick, begin the cloning and have the genomorphs start downloading their memories." Desmond, the lead scientist barked out.
"Pass, the bat-cave is crowded enough." Robin said trying yet another pick, finally the right one. Too bad they began the extraction, painfully.
The large door exploded inwards knocking the scientists and Guardian out. Robin jumped out of her pod and released Kid Flash, noting that Superboy didn't like to be given orders. Good to know. She then through explosions to wipe the gathered DNA from the mainframe, if nothing else it would stop them from identifying her as a girl.
They ran towards the lifts. She used her grapple extending it to the max, coming to a rest at SL-22. They must've moved them up before lowering them back down to Superboy's level. They were forced to exit as the elevator began coming down.
There was a slight chirp in her ears just when Superboy began shouting out directions. She filed that away for later. They came to a seemingly dead end but Robin recognized the area instantly there was a secret door to their left with a terminal. She dislodged the vent and opened the door for them to enter. Hacking the motion sensors she got the Cadmus bunch chasing their tails. They then proceeded to ascend two more stories before Cadmus figured out what was what.
They were about to reach the top two levels when everything faded suddenly. When the feeling passed the team was facing Desmond. Only he wasn't Desmond anymore. He swallowed something he called Project Blockbuster and became a mindless monster. Those were the best kinds, you could outwit them.
Scanning her surroundings she smirked, they could bring Project Cadmus down and expose them at the same time all she needed was to remove seven pillars. Calling Kid Flash over she explained the plan and loudmouth Wally wasted no time irritating Blockbuster into destroying the pillars. She motioned Superboy and Aqualad over and explained her plan. They went to work on the other pillars while she planted the explosions on the central one. She gave a very low whistle. Everyone came close after that just as the building exploded. Project Cadmus was exposed.
Kid Flash made some comment on keeping promises, but Robin was too tired and relieved to listen. And then she felt the cold calculating stare of Batman. She knew what was coming both publicly and privately. Publicly he would scrutinize them. Privately he would want full details. Luckily her domino-mask was set to record. She'll make up some story that her hands were locked into a fisted position that she struggled to break before getting loose, or something. As they got back to the cave Batman folded his hands fatherly.
"I recorded it all. The bit with Superboy, there is no excuse, I was sloppy." Way to spin a story, she added silently.
"Good, I'll be in the cave for three days analyzing every detail and see if you are fit as a team. No Robin activities till then."
"Fine, I'll just hang with Barbara." Rochelle took of her mask and handed it over. She then went to the dressing room and changed into civvies.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Barbara was not impressed. In fact she was downright angry. Rochelle had just finished telling her about the Project Cadmus adventure, hoping the redhead would be impressed by it, she sighed inwardly. Boys just seemed so much easier to impress.
"– but I guess it wasn't all bad. I mean you did rescue Superboy." Barbara finished her rant.
"Done?" Rochelle asked defeated.
"For now," Barbara narrowed her eyes, "What are you planning?"
"I can't do the Robin thing, so I was wondering –"
"Oracle and Nightwing," Rochelle shook her head.
"Same as the Robin thing," Barbara sighed as Rochelle gave her that look.
Over the next three days the girls spent time in the mall's arcade, against Barbara's best wishes. Sometimes Rochelle can be such a tomboy. Just don't let it be known that Barbara enjoyed the arcade whenever Rochelle dragged her there.
Bruce came up on the third day and nodded towards the girls as they came in. Sure Barbara knew where the bat-cave was but only three people were authorized to be in the cave alone, and she wasn't one of them.
"Barbara," Bruce greeted her.
"Yes she told me about the adventure, pretty reckless." Barbara greeted back.
"That is why you will be part of the team to keep her in check, only when she's not Robin, there is going to be a separate designation for the two of you." Bruce paused for a few seconds. "Barbara, if you are to fight the good fight. What would your handle be?"
"I wanted to go with Batwoman, only it was already taken, Batgirl?" Bruce nodded.
"Once you are fully tested, by me, and pass can you take that name, until then?"
"Oracle," Barbara turned to Rochelle, "And when she's not Robin can she be Nightwing?" Bruce nodded again.
"I'll have Alfred work on a compound to mask your signature. For tomorrow dress as a boy and we'll get you all sorted. You will be deployed out of Mt. Justice. Get some rest. Barbara, I want you here tomorrow as well. We'll get you scanned and introduce you to the team, don't use your real name and try to hide as many of your features as possible."