Disclaimer: Original Story is by Rejecting Their Reality! Posting here so people can continue enjoying it!
AN: I you want me to continue then vote on my poll on my profile Blah Blah Blah
Chapter 1: Prologue
*~The Music Box~*
June 27, 18:32
Wayne Manor
Batman watched from the batcave as Alfred sat on the garden floor. Usually he wouldn't have taken a second glance, but this was Alfred. Alfred who had been working at the manor for over 25 years, Alfred who raised him since his parents had died, Alfred who NEVER sat down on a dirt floor. Something was wrong.
They were both in the garden now, as Bruce walked up to Alfred the old friend looked up from a picture in his hand. He stood up and with a practiced smile "So sorry Master Wayne, my old bones are getting to frail I suppose." But Bruce wasn't the world's greatest detective for nothing, something and he had a feeling it had to do with the photo in Alfred's hand.
"What's in the photo of Alfred?"
"A ..." Alfred sighed and handed the picture to Bruce. Bruce's eyes widened slightly, in the photo was a younger Alfred and a little black-haired girl, with deep green eyes. "That photo, Master Wayne, is of me and my goddaughter. She disappeared 10 years ago, today, a week after that photo was taken."
They were both silent Alfred waiting for the information to hit Bruce, while Bruce thought of possibilities of what could have happened to the girl. Bruce finally found his voice "Why didn't you say..."
"There was nothing to be told Master Wayne, I met Angelia once, gave her a music box, and a week later her parents were found dead. My goddaughter's body was never found. Now..." Alfred said, taking the photo back, "If you and Master Richard don't mind, I'm going to go get diner started." With that said Alfred turned and briskly walked in the kitchen's direction.
Bruce called behind him "Dick?"
The boy came out of the shadows, his mini computer in his hand "Already searching for her."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*YOUNG JUSTICE*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
June 27, 22:14
Cadmus, Sub-level 52
"You are sure you will not join Project Kr in his escape on Independence Day?" the male voice asked.
"Do not worry Dubblex. I will escape, and assist him to do the same, however I simply will not be joining him after we are out of this facility." the female voice assured the worrying G-goblin.
"Why? Would it not be easier to survive if you two were to stick together?"
"Perhaps...but, if all goes according to plan he will be cared for by the Justice League. I would not be able to join them until I finished some business in...other Cadmus facilities. Or else they would never approve, as I'm sure you've gathered telepathically."
Dubblex sighed, "You don't have to go after them. You have the appearance and right to live freely and be excepted in society...you're above revenge Project Shadow."
She smirked, "Though some of my...mission, may be for revenge...I do have to do this. We both know The Light won't leave him be once he learns enough. I have to make sure our brother has a real chance to make a difference."
"But as we both know, there are other ways to stop them. I would not be excepted in the world beyond Cadmus. I can stay here and give him a chance, while you can go and find your godfather and...other proj-"
"No Dubblex, they would not hesitate to destroy you if you were found out. With me, they would also attempt to destroy me...but I can get away. I must be the one to give our brother a chance." She said in a tone that left no room for argument. They stood in silence before she took out a small round music box. It was a faded green with black birds dancing across it. Project Shadow walked up to the pod containing the Superboy and pressed a button allowing sound from the outside into the pod. She wound the little box and opened it. A small tinkling sound came out and they stood in silence until the sound stopped.
Shadow reset the pod so no sound was heard from outside again. She walked past Dubblex and heard him murmur, "Ten years, and I still enjoy that music box."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*YOUNG JUSTICE*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Original Name: Angelia Pennyworth
Current Alias: Angel Padina
Codename: Dark Feather
Project Name: Project Shadow
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Family: Alfred Pennyworth(godfather)
Past: Isolated by abusive parents until age five (exception of meeting her uncle one week before taken by Cadmus), then watched her parents die in front of her eyes before being taken by Cadmus on June 27. She was experimented on and trained until escaping the same night her partner project, Project Kr, escaped with the proteges.
Powers/Abilities: Flight, can retract wings into body, Shadow control, fire manipulation, Master Martial Artist, shapeshifting(with shadow control)
Weaknesses/issues: Water(can't swim), can't sit still for long periods of time, trust issues, flashbacks, self conscious because of scars left from Cadmus' experimenting
Interest: won't come in until later in the story
Appearance:
Chapter 2: The Strange Glow
"Report," demanded Batman.
Kid Flash winced, he and Aqualad being the only ones at the debriefing seeing as Robin, Artimis, and Superboy were in the infirmary while Megan and Zatanna hadn't been on the mission at all(getting individualized training).
Aqualad(in all his team leader-y-ness) began, "Mission accomplished, however Superboy was hit with an unknown spell by Klarion the Witch Boy." Batman remained emotionless as The young Atlantian continued, "Superboy is being checked over as we speak by Robin and Artimis. We will report if anything else is to be included."
Batman nodded as Aqualad finished his report.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*YOUNG JUSTICE*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Well there isn't anything wrong on any of the boards." Artimis said aloud, "Weird, Klarion's spells don't ever do...nothing."
Robin pondered Artimis's words before shaking his head, "We'll ask Zatanna or Dr. Fate when they're done with training. Until then, if anything feels atypical get one of the team to check your statistics ok?"
Superboy nodded while trying to hide his yawn. Robin chuckled and Artimis gave a small smile when the chronologically youngest in their group was caught with his eyes drooping. The moments when Supey showed that he really was under a year old always managed to bring smiles to the team's faces.
Artimis poked the half-kryptonian's chest, "Go get some rest, you earned it taking that spell for Robin and me. Now go." Superboy stood nodding and began shuffling to his room, yawning and rubbing his eye with a closed fist. His actions brought bigger smiles to his other to teammates, him(unknowingly) looking like an overgrown toddler.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*YOUNG JUSTICE*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A strange, dim glow is pulsing softly from Superboy's room accompanied by faint, weak groans, and pained, pitiful whimpers.
Chapter 3: Zatanna's Panic
"Has anyone seen Superboy? He was suppose to help me fix my bike up today." Robin asked while walking into the kitchen with Kaldur.
Zatanna and Artimis were talking by the counter Megan was burning cookies, and Wally was eating Megan's burnt cookies.
"He hasn't come out of his room," Zatanna told him, ending the conversation with Artimis, "Weird,he's usually the first one up," she then stiffened a bit, "Superman didn't come by last night did he? He was already in his room when I got back and Miss M came back right after me. He usually waits for Megan to come back before heading to bed, but you guys told me he gets kinda moody when Superman comes back sooo..."
"Nah Superdouche didn't come over yesterday, but we were gonna ask if you would take a look at him. Just remembered. He got hit with a spell Klarion was aiming at robin and me. We don't think anything happened but we just kind of..." Artimis trailed off.
"But you just kind of want to make sure the baby of our group is fine because we usually regret when we assume. Got ya'." Zatanna finished, standing up, "Yeah, I'll go right no actually. He should've come out by now anyway. Ot s'yobrepus moor!" Zatanna cast before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The kitchen grew silent, "Hey!" Wally chirped, never one for silence, "Relax, no worries guys! Zee's gonna clear Supey right now and than we can all go eat at this new pizza pla-"
Megan gasped, cutting Kid Flash off, "Zatanna's panicking!" she exclaimed, "I'm going to find out out what's wrong."
~Zatanna what's wrong?~
Zatanna's thoughts stuttered making the martian girl grow more worried.
~Uhm...nothing is umm...Superboy won't be able to...go on missions...for awhile...i have to go cutting the link.~
"M'gan...what has happened?" Kaldur, gently but firmly, asked.
"She said Superboy can't go on missions for awhile then cut the link," she replied shakily.
The team exchanged glances wondering how to proceed until Robin broke the tension filled atmosphere, "Let's go blow up whoever isn't tated." He began to run down the hall toward their resident clone's room, the others trailing behind.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~YOUNG JUSTICE~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You did as I asked?" A whispered voice asked.
"Yes!" Klarion's whiny voice rang out, "The spell hit the clone just like you wanted now gimme my precious Teekle back!"
"Good. Release the cat."A loud meow filled the air and soon a ball of orange fur was pouncing into Klarion's arms.
"Teekle! My dear, oh I'm so sorry, let's get away from these people." And then Klarion and Teekle were gone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~YOUNG JUSTICE~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Supey? Hey Superboy are you alright? I'm coming in now ok?" Zatanna asked while the door automatically slid open. She slowly walked in and the door slid shut behind her. she looked around observantly and spotted a small, quivering mass huddling in the corner, half-hidden by the dresser. The young magician made her way closer stopping three feet away 'just in case'.
"Hi...umm...what are you doing back there?" The mass peeked out from behind the dresser. Zatanna's eyes widened and panic hit here in waves, she recognized the eyes that were looking out at her. Suddenly she felt an intrusion enter her mind.
~Zatanna what's wrong?~
Miss Martians worried voice snapped her into attention and freaked her out at the same time. Swallowing her panic she stuttered but responded all the same.
~Uhm...nothing is umm...Superboy won't be able to...go on missions...for awhile...i have to go cutting the link.~
Pushing Megan out of her head before the martian's prying could completely affect her, she took a small step forwards.
Towards the impossibly blue eyes of a five-year-old Superboy.
Chapter 4: Explosion and a Promise
"Superboy?" Zatanna gently asked stepping closer. He wore nothing but his black shirt, now oversized with the red S-shield now hanging awkwardly along his body.
The toddler shrank away, shuffling backwards. His eyes widened and filled with tears as he stumbled and fell, he looked up at her with fear pouring from his little face.
Zatanna crouched and tried to make herself less intimidating, "Hey. No, no tears. i'm not going to hurt you ok?" Zatanna soothed.
"N-no mow huting teses?" He asked with a voice that crumbled any defenses Zatanna had covering her heart. She shook her head, silently daring anyone to harm Superboy in his...vulnerable state, especially while he was near her. "Wh-who awe you? Whea Shadowmomma? Whea awe we?"
"My name is Zatanna and we are in a safe place ok? I don't know who or where Shadowmomma is, but I know some people who might know her, or know how to find her," Zatanna told the toddler. "No one is going to hurt you, if they try, they will have to go through me first ok?" She took a calming breath before sitting on the floor, criss-cross applesauce(I don't know the actual name of the position), and gently holding here hand out. She continued, "I want to help you, but you're going to have to trust me. Can you trust me Superboy?"
He watched her carefully, looking straight at her with his giant blue eyes, he found whatever he was looking for because the mistrust in his eyes disappeared almost completely. He stood up and padded slowly over to the magician, ignoring her hand completely, and crawled into her lap.
Zatanna's heart clenched painfully as the boy cuddled himself into her side. She felt another pang when, "I twus you," came out in his sweet little voice. He twisted and looked up at her a question in his eyes, "Why you call me Supah-boy?
Zatanna opened her mouth, but before she could respond, the door was exploded open, her last thought before the smoke cleared was, 'Please let who ever these idiots are be people I can punch.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*YOUNG JUSTICE*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The clone will be much easier to eliminate now that the witch boy has done his part."
"Yes, now all that is left is to find and eliminate him before he realizes the true power he holds."
"We must simply draw him and his little friends out from under whatever rock they are hiding under...and then we will be completely free from anyone who attempts to stop us from eliminating the weak."
A cruel smile shines in the night, "Leave it to me, I will be able to cause some type of chaos in several hours...most likely less."
Chapter 5: KF's Motor Mouth
The team rushed into Superboy's room, expecting to see the clone trapped or in pain while Zatanna would be attempting to help him. They were ready for battle, prepped for anything. As the smoke from Robin's explosion cleared, they froze in shock (read: confusion) at what was before them.
Zatanna was sitting in the corner, clutching a small child protectively, cold fury in her eyes piercing Wally (who was absolutely terrified at the look that was rivaling the Daddy!Bats glare), who had the unfortunate luck of running in first. She silently dared the teens to cause any more damage.
Robin (being the son of the world's greatest detective) and Artimis (being trained as an assassin by her family for as long as she could remember) snapped out of their state of shock first, and put their weapons away. Both relaxed their stances, but made no move towards their still fuming teammate. Instead, they waited for the rest of the team to get over the fact there was not a threat. Oh no, there was simply a small kid, in an oversized black T-shirt, clinging to the team magician. Perfectly normal.
Suddenly Wally (never one for staying still for long) blurted, "Who's that? Why's he here? And how come Zee's only glaring at me?"
His vocal outburst caused several things happen:
The remaining team members were brought out of their confusion induced trances.
Zatanna muttered "No eht deb htiw eht dik!" and disappeared from the floor only to reappear in a comfortable position on Superboy's empty bed.
Artimis whacked KF in the head for being so blatantly obnoxious.
Before anything could escalate Aqualad calmly asked, "As Kid asked. Who is the child and why is he here?"
Zatanna huffed, anger still coursing through her. But she instantly melted when the momentary silence was broken by a terrified voice, "T-tanna? They gonna hut us?"
The team watched with interest, and a little guilt at scaring the child, as the toddler looked up a t Zatanna, who proceeded to cuddle him, while reassuring him, "No, no they aren't going to hurt us. They just thought there was trouble, but everything's ok now," she looked back at the team, "They're those friends I wanted you to meet. The ones I said could help. Could you turn towards them?"
Aqualad nodded in understanding at the silent message from Zatanna, answers would soon be revealed. The little voice replied, "K." before the little body twisted in Zatanna's lap to face the team.
Chapter 6: Familiar Faces (or not)
The team's eyes widened (they're in civies so Robin's widened behind his sunglasses) as otherworldly blue eyes peered at them. The oversized black T-shirt, which made him seem smaller than he probably was, revealed a red S-shield on the front and the team realized as Wally so blatantly stated, "That's Superboy!" Zatanna glared at the speedster, silently reprimanding him for being so loud.
Megan let out a high pitch squeal, causing the toddler to wince at the too-high noise, before flying forward and plucking Superboy out of Zatanna's loosened grip. She then decided it was a good idea to instigate a twirly hug in midair until a sound, half scream half sob, was released from the child in the Martian's arms.
Robin yelled at Megan, "Stop M'gan! Put him down!" She complied quickly, confusion and hurt painted on her face. She floated back to the ground and set the toddler down. Said child then ran immediately to Zatanna, who proceeded to scoop him up and sooth the terrified boy. She rocked him back and forth while he buried his face in her neck, trembling and sniffling.
The murderous look had returned to Zatanna's eyes, this time aimed at the Martian teammate.
Then Robin stepped in. He looked at the toddler before turning to the upset telepath, "Sorry Miss M, but try to understand, Supey's what? Biologically 5 now? From the way he's reacting he probably mentally de-aged too. He's seen us for all of what 5 minutes, as a toddler, and then you went and grabbed him from the one person among us he's deemed safe."
Artimis then proved her voice useable, "Add the fact he most likely doesn't remember anything past his current age, and you can chalk that up to panicked toddler."
Megan''s eyes lit up, "If he doesn't remember, then I can just put his memories back using my powers like I did in Bialya!" Her eyes started to glow green, and Superboy screamed in panic, "No! No moa, pwease! Get oudda my head! Sdop id! Sdop id!"
M'gan toppled over, her eyes their normal shade once more, but wide with shock. She started to stammer, "I-i'm sorry! I didn't - I mean I just-." She had started to float to him, but this only caused the already panicked Kryptonian to go into hysterics. After flailing out of Zatanna's arms, the toddler ran out the doorway.
Zatanna, Artimis, and Robin, after a shocked silence, sprinted out after the tear-faced child. Megan, still confused, was about to go after them before Wally blocked her. "Babe, now might not be the best time to go rushing at someone."
"But I wasn't trying to-" Megan pleaded.
Aqualad interrupted, "M'gan. I am sorry, but I doubt your words. You remember, I am sure, how Superboy reacted when you first spoke in his mind. He is in a much more vulnerable state now than he was then."
Miss M looked scandalized. She haughtily denied, "Do you really believe I wasn't going to try and help-!"
Wally cut in, "What were you trying to do? Put your memories in his head? Then he'd have your perspective on how things happened, and be severely confu-"
"I just wanted to-"
"Help. I know babe, but the way you were trying, basically did the opposite. No Megan, listen," The speedster cut the martian's rebuttal off as she opened her mouth, "He's biologically four maybe five, and trusted Zatanna when we exploded our way in. You took him, trying to get him to like you, because he turned you down. Which is perfectly acceptable considering, chronologically, he's not a year old yet. Back to the point, directly after he's back in Zatanna's lap, you go into the mind of the toddler. Who's only experience outside Cadmus, is what's happened since he woke up today."
Aqualad piped up, "Superboy is now very scared or confused, most likely a combination of the two. It would be wise to allow our more...normal friends to calm him before-"
Artimis chose that moment to walk in and interrupt their leader. "Come on. He's ready to be in the same room, at least long enough to be reintroduced. Don't move to suddenly," she looked pointedly at the martian before turning to the speedster, "or do anything unusually stupid. Now hurry up!" Artimis demanded walking out.
Chapter 7: My Name's Not Superboy
The three 'normal' people of the group, ran out of the room after the tear-faced toddler. Said toddler was able to make it to the living room before Robin got in front of him, and caught the crying child. Superboy looked up at the boy wonder and after a brief pause clung desperately to Robin, which confused everyone in the room.
Rob hugged the five-year old to his chest, and roamed soothing fingers through the boy's hair. He shot a look over the toddler's head at his teammates, silently asking 'Why is he clinging to me?' (not that he minded). Zatanna shrugged while Artimis developed a thoughtful look on her face.
Both girls walked over to the boys after catching their breath. Zatanna took Superboy from Robin and sat on the couch, where the boy wonder and archer joined on either side of her.
The toddler feeling safe, once again in the arms of the magician, calmed quickly, his sobbing quieting to sniffles.
The three heroes melted at the sight of the little clone cuddling himself back into the team magician's side. With a quick glance at each other they agreed, no matter how cute, it was time to get some things clarified. Robin gently nudged the toddler, getting his attention, "Superboy why'd you calm down when I caught you up in my arms?"
Superboy tilted his head before timidly replying, "You awe Wobin... the G-nomophs telded me you one of da good peoples... plus... you have nice glow." The child looked at him carefully before asking, "Why eva-we-one call me Supahboy?"
Artimis finally remembered the story of how Superboy was found, and hearing his question, spoke up, "When you were found, you didn't have anything in your files that seemed like a name."
The toddler shifted to look at Artimis, his eyes searching her making her feel as if his soul was judging hers. She grew worried, she'd never felt this level of examination before. Then it was over, he gave her a little smile, "I have a name. I'll tell you, bud you godda tell me yours firs."
"You have a name?" The archer and bird echoed incredulously. The apparently named child looked at all three of them in turn. A crooked smile spread across his no longer crying face as he giggled (yes the toddler giggled!) at the faces of the teen's faces. The toddler nodded his head and the archer blurted, "Well what's your name?"
The child stopped smiling and pouted (adorably of course) and childishly (he's five what do you expect?) argued with the blond, "I askded fusd!"
Robin, never being able to resist being a troll, sided with the toddler, "Yeah! He asked firt!" Robin honestly couldn't believe how hard it was to not to crack up.
The girls both rolled their eyes at the bird, but the archer answered anyway, "My name is Artimis."
"Awtemis... you have a pwetty name. The othows called me-"
"Wait!" Robin interrupted, jumping up from the couch. "The others need introductions too! Would you be ok meeting them? For reals this time?" The toddler shrank back, but nodded hesitantly. "Artimis could you get them? I have to report to Batman. He's going to need to know about this recent... development."
Artimis jumped up and sprinted back the way they had come while Robin whipped out his Bat-phone. Zatanna moved to the kitchen and set the toddler on the counter. "Would you like a cookie?" The de-aged clone nodded excitedly and the magician pulled out some store bought sugar cookies.
The entire team was in the kitchen a little after. Wally was opening his mouth when a voice came over the intercom, "Team, report to the mission room."
Everyone glanced at each other while the five year old looked around questioningly, "What was that?"
Robin sighed and picked the child up from the counter and wiped cookie crumbs off the boy's shirt and face, "That was Batman calling."
Chapter 8: The Hug
"So Klarion's spell de-ages Supey, who doesn't remember anything about us, but apparently now remembers a bunch of stuff he didn't before." Wally quickly finished. Batman's eyes narrowed and everyone(except Robin and Superboy) flinched.
"This-"
Black Canary(who had walked in during the glare) interrupted the Bat, "OH MY GOSH!" The bird quickly went over to Robin, and knelt by his leg so she could be at the same eye level with the adorable, but unknown toddler(who was holding on to Robin's cape). "Who is this adorable-wait..." she paused at the sight of the shy child's eye color before gasping, "Superboy?"
The boy responded from behind Robin's leg(he was able to hide better behind a leg than a cape), "Why does evewy one keep calling me tha?"
"Superboy, the toddler, was de-aged due to a spell cast by Klarion the With Boy. He has no memories from after he was the age he currently is. Normally we could simply send him home until a way to reverse this was found, however" Batman put his fingers just above his nose (think frustrated and annoyed meets growing headache pose) "due to the fact he lives here makes things a bit more difficult."
The five year old(who's name is still unknown to the readers*) slipped out from behind Robin. Still in his oversized T-shirt, the toddler padded(barefoot) over to where Batman stood, and he did something no one(except maybe the Bat!family) had ever dared to do.
He hugged Batman.
Everyone(who wasn't involved in the hug) had their jaws drop, and Batman's eyes widened as he looked at the tiny Kryptonian wrapped around his leg. After snapping out of his shocked stupor, Batman cleared his throat, "What are you doing?"
"Hugging you."
"I see that... but why are you... hugging me?" Batman was doing his best not to sound awkward or mean to the child.
"Youw glow showed me you could use a hug." He looked up at Batman with hurt and confused eyes while pulling away. The toddler's lip jutted out just the littlest bit(enough to know he wasn't going to cry but he's been hurt and it was all your fault), "You don like hugs?" Realization dawned on his face, he looked down, and began to shuffle backwards, "Owe...owe you don like me."
Batman kept his eyes on the insecure child, assessing the situation. The big bat knelt (silently cursing himself for being so soft), and began damage control. "Most people are scared or intimidated by me, so I do not get many hugs."
The toddler took this as a go ahead to wrap his arms around the Bat's neck insuring another hug(the others are still in complete shock from incomprehension). "Evewy one needs hugs," the clone stated firmly.
Just like he had with the others, the five year old cut through any and every defense Batman had. The Bat scooped the child up, discretely hugging back**(HUGGLES!) and redirected the conversation. "Since you don't go by Superboy, what is your name?"
The almost-named clone tensed a bit, "Depends on whether you think I'm an it or not."
"No one in this room believes you are an it."
The literally-about-to-be-named child smiled brightly and relaxed against the Bat, "Shadow-momma calls me Kendall."