Hey guys! It's seems like it's taking me forever to get anything new uploaded, I still haven't finished a new chapter for controlled yet, school is so annoying. Anyway, here's a little something to keep you occupied while I work on that new chapter. Ta-da! It's a new story! Yeah, I know I rock, no need to thank me. Hope you guys like it. I'm trying something new with this story so be sure to check out the author's note at the bottom to see how you can affect what happens in the story! (sorry if that sounded a little too salesperson-y)
Child's Play
It was just another easy mission. Sparrow, Shimmer, Sunstroke and the young justice team were sent to apprehend an evil genius professor. Sparrow knew that those were just fancy words for your typical mad scientist. According to their sources he was using an abandoned S.T.A.R. Labs facility to perform his multiple experiments. They entered the building and it was immediately obvious that their arrival had been anticipated. The lights were all off leaving the building only dimly lit by an emergency lighting system and making the already creepy lab even creepier. "OK, let's split up.' said Robin, "Sparrow you and I will stay here in the main lab by the entrance so he can't escape this way. The rest of us will split into teams and search the building. Got it?" everyone nodded, "Then let's go."
They all split up into their designated groups and scattered throughout the building. The main lab was divided into two sections separated by a single wall. One section was used for testing particularly dangerous or volatile experiments. The wall separating the sections had a large viewing window made of bulletproof glass at least three inches thick. The door connecting the rooms was like that of a bank vault in Gotham. Though, since the door was open, they split up, Robin taking the main room and Sparrow taking the test room. That's when everything went wrong. As soon as Sparrow stepped into the room, the door slammed shut with an ominous clang. She whirled around and tried to push it back open but it was no use, it was locked. She turned back and looked around the room, searching for an alternate exit, but with no luck. She saw something move out of the corner of her eye. "Show yourself!" she called out as she moved around the room, "I know you're in here!"
Suddenly a figure stepped out from behind a large machine, "It seems I have been found." he said. It was the scientist!
"Give it up!" said Sparrow, "We have you outnumbered!"
"Well in that case I guess I should simply surrender." he said calmly.
Sparrow sensed that the man was going to try to make a run for it. So she vaulted over a table and ran towards him, hoping to subdue him. The scientist had anticipated this though and he grabbed one of the numerous vials on the table in front of him and threw it towards her. It shattered at her feet and a cloud of strange gas enveloped her.
Robin heard the door slam shut and quickly ran over, knowing it would be locked. Once he found out that it was he called the others on his com, "This is Robin! I'm in the main lab and Sparrow is locked in the experimental chamber! We need backup now!"
He tried throwing a few batarangs at the glass but it was too thick, all he could do was stand and watch the events unfold. He saw the man step out from behind the machine, he saw them talking though he couldn't hear through the glass, he saw Sparrow charge the man and he saw the man throw a vial at her, then he couldn't see her anymore as the lab was shrouded with strange fog. Shimmer and Sunstroke, who had paired up to search, were the first to arrive. Sunstroke blew out the window with one of her forcefields. And they rushed inside, the fog clearing quickly. A cloth that had been covering one of the large pieces of machinery had been blown off onto a limp form. "Over there!" Shimmer cried as she spotted it.
They all rushed over. Robin exclaimed, "Sparrow are you alr-" he broke off as he threw back the sheet.
"What's wrong?" asked Sunstroke. Then she gasped as she looked over his shoulder.
There, lying on the floor was the limp form of a three-year-old girl wearing the exact same outfit Sparrow wore, except smaller. Then the rest of the team came rushing up from behind them. As soon as Wally saw the little girl lying on the floor he skidded to a halt, "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yes," answered Robin as he picked up the small child, "Sparrow."
(back at the cave)
They had taken the now three year old Sparrow back to the cave and were trying to decide just what to do with her. "How could you let something like this happen to her?!" Anna Marie shouted at Robin, "We went in pairs for a reason!"
"I already told you it was her idea to split up!" he shot back.
"Don't try to blame this on her!" Anna yelled.
"And where were you during this whole incident?"
"Searching the labs with my partner like we were supposed to!"
"Guys! Knock it off!" Wally said as he separated the two, "It's nobody's fault, well, except the super genius scientist dude."
"Yes, please stop arguing." joined Shimmer, "You're going to wake Sparrow." she gestured toward the little girl who was curled up on the couch with her head in Miss Martian's lap.
They had both been so busy arguing that they had completely forgotten about their tiny teammate. Anna, now embarrassed, looked down at her feet then back up at Robin apologetically, "I'm sorry, I was just so worried and frustrated and...I guess I just blamed you instead of blaming myself."
"No, I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault, I should've payed better attention. I really am sorry."
"So...what do we do now?" asked Artemis.
They all looked at the little girl, none of them knowing how to answer that question. At that moment, Sparrow began to stir. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and sat up on the couch. They all stood there looking at her, not really sure what to expect. She looked at all of them, eyes filled with curiosity. Then she saw M'Gann and her eyes widened, "You're green!" she said with awe. Everyone was staring at the kid, Wally's mouth was even hanging open. "Um...did I say something wrong?" asked the little girl, not wanting to make anyone mad.
"You can talk?!" blurted Wally. Artemis hit him in the arm and he blushed.
"I'm three! Of course I can talk!" the girl huffed defensively, she didn't think she was that small! (even though she was extremely small)
April couldn't help but giggle a bit as Wally blushed even harder at being insulted by a three-year-old.
"That's not very nice!" said Sparrow, thinking that April was laughing at her, except since she was three it came out more like, "Dat's not vewy nice!"
"Oh no, I wasn't laughing at you!" April said quickly, "I was laughing at Wally!"
"Hey!" complained Wally.
Now it was Sparrow who giggled, making everyone smile. Then she yawned. "Are you tired Sparrow?" Anna asked.
The little girl looked up, confused, "I'm not Sparrow, my name is-" her last words were muffled as Anna quickly clapped her hand over Sparrow's mouth
"Ow!" Anna pulled her hand away, "She bit me!"
"Sparrow is just our nickname for you." April said.
"Oh." the kid said, "Okay then."
Suddenly, something seemed to dawn on her as she realized she had no clue who these people were, in fact, she didn't even know where she was. She started to whimper and move slowly away from the martian to the other end of the couch. "What's wrong with the kid?" Wally whispered to April. Concerned for her friend April walked over to the scared toddler and sat beside her. "What's wrong Sparrow?" the girl started trembling, "It's me, April, your best friend, remember?" The girl shook her head and scrambled farther away. Then April remembered, 'The girl's only three. I met Jay in kindergarten when I was six along with Anna Marie. That was when Jay was five though so she doesn't even know us'
"Let me try Beautiful, I'm a genius when it comes to kids." Wally said confidently.
"Wally wait!" April tried to warn him, but too late, the ginger was already speeding over.
"Hiya kiddo!" Wally said cheerfully as he sped over with impossible speed. He scared her so bad she screamed, punched him in the nose, and ran out of the room.
Robin laughed, "Genius with kids huh?"
"Like you could do any better!" Wally retorted as he rubbed his nose, that kid could hit hard!
Robin just smiled.
They had been searching for an hour before they finally found the tiny toddler. She was hiding on the ledge up on top of the rock climbing wall in the gym, "How did she get up there? I can't even get up there, and she's three!" complained Wally.
"Wally calm down" said Aqualad, " We do not want to upset the child any more."
At the sound of voices down below, a tiny head appeared over the ledge. Robin noticed that Sparrow was looking and pointed it out to the others, "Hey Sparrow, do you want to come down?" Wally asked in an overly peppy voice, "We can play a game!"
As soon as she saw that Wally was there she squeaked and jerked away from the edge. "Nice going Wally." commented Robin sarcastically, "Now it's my turn." he turned and looked up to where the little girl's head had reappeared, "Hi Sparrow! Having fun up there?"
"I-I guess so." she answered.
"Wanna have some more fun?" At this, the toddler's head jerked to attention and her eyes widened. "I know a game that we can play if you come down."
She sat there contemplating for a second then said hesitantly, "Okay." she started to climb down the wall. Since the wall was built for teenagers, the hand-holds were spaced extremely far apart for the three-year-old. She was reaching for a handhold but it was just too far away. She decided to take a step closer so she could grab it, but she misjudged the distance and her foot slipped off of the rock. She hung from one hand for a split second and then she fell. She screamed as she plummeted downward. Robin reacted instantly, he grabbed his grappling hook and fired it, flying upward and grabbing the falling toddler before landing gracefully on the ledge. Sparrow was shaking and sobbing as Robin held her. She buried her head in his chest and he pulled her closer, "Shhh, it's okay, I've got you. I won't let anything happen to you." he whispered softly.
He held her like that until she had stopped crying and shaking. She whimpered a little as Anna used one of her forcefields to lower them both to the ground. When they were safely on the ground Sparrow looked up at Wally with tears in her eyes, "I'm s-sorry I
h-hit you."
Wally couldn't resist her pitiful face, "Don't worry about it. I've been attacked by super villains before," then he added, "and Artemis."
Sparrow giggled when Artemis glared at Wally, making everyone else smile too. Then she yawned and layed her head on Robin's shoulder. "Are you tired little bird?" asked April, walking over.
She just nodded as her eyes started to close, she was already half asleep.
Now they were all sitting in the common room with Sparrow fast asleep on the couch beside Anna Marie. "What do we do now?" Anna asked.
"Well, I have this week off for school so we don't have to worry about that right now." said M'Gann.
"Me neither." adds Robin.
"Anna and I have a few days off." said April.
"What about her parents? Shouldn't they be notified as to what has happened?" asked Aqualad.
"Yeah like they'd care." Anna muttered under her breath, then she said louder, "She lives at the cave remember? All three of us do ever since our parents kicked us out when they found out we had powers."
There was an awkward silence, the only sound was Sparrow's even breathing as she slept. The silence was finally broken when Kid Flash said, "Then that's one less problem to worry about right?"
"Maybe." said April, everyone looked at her, "Think about it. She's three now so she's inevitably going to want her parents sooner or later."
"I guess we'll just have to deal with that when it happens beautiful." said Wally, putting his arm around her.
"I guess." whispered April, knowing it would eventually be a problem.
"Okay, so we've got that taken care of, now for the hard part." everyone looked at Robin, confused, "Who gets to tell Batman?"
They all paled, then a voice came from the entrance, "Tell me what?"
They turned to see Batman standing at the other end of the room, even Robin looked scared now, "Nothing!" squeaked Wally.
"Where's Sparrow? He asked, not missing a beat.
At the sound of her name Sparrow began to wake up, she gasped when she saw Batman, but not from fear. She had lived in Gotham her whole life so to her Batman was a legend, "Batman!" the excitement was evident in her voice.
Batman looked at the team questioningly. They all shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. Anna Marie was the first to speak, "Um...sorry about the kid, she's really energetic. Anyway, well...it's kind of a funny story because...well, you see.."
"The kid is Sparrow." Wally finished for her.
"I see." he said, unaffected, "And how, exactly, did this happen."
This time it was April who responded even though she was terrified of Batman, "Well, um, Mr. Batman, sir, we were exploring the lab, and we, um, we split up, and then um, Robin can explain it better." she sighed with relief as Robin started to explain.
"Once we split up, Sparrow and I were searching one of the main labs. It was really big so we split up and Sparrow went to search the experiment chamber and I searched the rest. Then the door to the chamber slammed shut and the professor threw some sort of chemical mixture at her and the whole room filled with smoke. When we finally got the door, or window I guess, open he had already escaped and Sparrow was, well, this." he gestured toward the toddler, who was listening intently as if this were just another story.
"I see." Batman repeated, "Until we are able to locate the professor and find the cure she will be your responsibility. Now, I have important league business to attend to so if you'll excuse me."
"Wait. There must've been a purpose for your visit." said Aqualad.
"It can wait. It seems you have your own problems." Batman replied, looking towards the hall.
The team all turned around to see their small teammate running off to who-knows-where.
"Not again." Wally groaned, but as he turned back around Batman was already gone. He sighed before running after the girl with the rest of the team.
They had finally caught the toddler again and were then they were able to get her to take a nap again. "We need something to keep her occupied." Anna said tiredly, "She can't sleep all day and she can't wear her Sparrow uniform forever!"
"Yeah, but what are we supposed to do?" replied Wally.
Then an idea popped into April's head and she said with a smile, "Leave that to us!" she looked at the other girls with a gleam in her eye.
The girls all got up to leave before Robin exclaimed, "Wait! You're not leaving us here with her are you!?"
"Why not? She's asleep, see? She's a perfect angel." Anna said sweetly, though her smile seemed a bit mischievous.
"Yeah, an angel with horns and a tail." Wally commented under his breath, then he shut up when April shot him a glare.
It was true though, she was adorable when she slept. One look at the snoozing toddler and your heart melted, which was why Aqualad answered for the others, "We will be fine. Don't worry."
"Thanks Kal!" Anna smiled at him.
"We're going shopping so see you in about three hours." said April as she and the other girls zeta'd out of the cave.
"Wait! Three hours!" he yelled, but they were already gone.
"Wally, shut up!" Robin hissed, "You're going to-" he was interrupted by a small yawn, "wake her up." he finished with a sigh.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes, "I'm bored." she stated.
The four boys groaned, "Here we go again." said Superboy.
Okay so here's where I need your help, I am not very good at all the cutesy fluff so I need you guys to help me. Post a review and tell me what you want the team to do with Sparrow (like go to an amusement park, play hide and seek, etc.). Also if there is any character (or characters) specifically that you want to see take care of Sparrow then let me know that too, even Justice League characters. Any ideas (as long as they're appropriate) are accepted so go ahead and click that awesome button below to post a review or, if your idea is too cool to let other people see it or if you're shy then just PM me your idea.
