Disclaimer: Remmy18 does not own Hexalys story Young Justice: Red X. Hexlays has generously given me permission to publish this story I asked to write for her, since I absolutely love the story. This is for Hexlays and all the followers.
Oh! And I don't own Teen Titans or Young Justice. Enjoy!
"You want him to come watch the baby bunch?! Are you nuts?! We don't know if we can trust this kid, Batman! How on earth do you think that he'll protect them better than us?" Green Arrow ranted, all while Batman and Green Arrow stood next to the beams, watching the newly de-aged Titans scream and play. Kid Flash running around Artemis while she was trying to punch him, Robin hanging upside down by holding on a door handle, Conner watching static on the television, not paying any mind to the chaos around him, Miss Martian coloring in a book, and Aqualad sitting on the couch watching Kid Flash and Artemis.
"You want to handle this?" Batman snarled. His patience had long been gone when Green Arrow had learned about the teams condition, and still somehow blamed Red X for. Batman exhaled deeply and glowered. He knew that Red X went on solo missions as well as team mission and was stopping a drug bust in Bludhaven, which was the reason why there wasn't a miniature brooding skull kid around and for that he was very thankful of.
Red X 0-51.
Batman and Arrow turned around and saw X in his civilian outfit, wearing his usual dark sunglasses, dark blue jeans, black shirt, brown leather jacket and combat boots. His backpack laid on the ground as he stared at his smaller teammates. X sighed tiredly and ran his hand through his spiky hair and shot Batman a look.
"So..." X said, glancing at the small children, then back at the two heroes. "I sense a story behind this."
"Ya think?" Arrow snapped, quickly grabbing Artemis from KF when she finally landed a sucker punch, making Kid Flash trip and cry. Miss Martian helped him up and offered him a purple crayon.
"The mission went wrong. The team was suppose to observe and report. However," Batman said roughly, gritting his teeth, "Klarion the Witch Boy spotted them and turned them into small children before they could get the rest of the information. It's their luck that they were close to the space ship, or otherwise they wouldn't have returned."
"Lucky for them." X replied dryly.
Batman's eye twitched.
"Look," Arrow spat, glaring at X. "We need to find Zatara so he can fix this mess and we need someone to watch the baby bunch. Raven is working with Carny, and frankly, she doesn't seem like the kid type."
X rose an eyebrow. "And you think I am?"
"No." Arrow deadpanned. "But you're their teammate and we need a babysitter. It'll only take a few hours. If everything goes well, they should be back to normal after dinner."
A loud wail pierced the air. Kid Flash had shoved the purple crayon up his nose, much to the distress of Miss. Martian.
Red X shot a dirty look at the pair, making Miss. M quiet and Kid Flash take the crayon out of his nose and offer it to X as a peace offer.
"Kid's a pro. Lets get going." With that tidbit, Arrow left, not sparing the dark heroes a second glance.
Red X turned to Batman. "I want a week off from missions after this."
"Done. Robin!" Batman barked. Little Robin flipped over to Batman with a grin, and Batman gave him a slight smile. X felt a pang in his chest but ignored it. "X is in charge. Listen to him and if I hear of any misbehaving there will be consequences. That goes for all of you."
Batman then turned toward X. "Good luck," he said, smirked, and he too, left.
X turned towards the miniature heroes, who were all staring at him. He had a bad feeling about this.
Two hours Later...
"Artemis! Get off the table! Kid! Stop unraveling the toilet paper around the lounge! For goodness sake Robin, get off the damn beams from the ceiling!" Red X yelled, carrying a grumpy Conner to the naughty corner after he had thrown the remote at the TV in a fit of anger.
Miss. Martian gasped in shock. "You said a bad word."
X pinched the bridge of his nose. Dear god! It's only been ten minutes and was already developing a headache. He'd be dead by the time they returned to normal, he was sure of it.
A shriek filled the air. X hurriedly ran towards Artemis, grabbed the arrow from her hand, and snapped it in half. "Just what do you think you're doing?" X asked in a low voice. "Do you know how dangerous this is? You could have hurt someone dearly and it would have been your fault. Don't let me see you with any type of weapons again." Artemis cringed and nodded.
The noise got louder and X's temper was gone. "Enough!" He yelled, and all of his small teammates stopped what they were doing and stared at him in shock. "Get on the couch and make yourself comfortable." No one dared disobey the command, and hurriedly went to the couch.
X took that moment to calm down a bit. He glowered at his de-aged teammates. Kaldur was looking at him respectfully, Conner looked bored, Artemis stared at her lap, clearly to afraid to look up, Robin was bouncing up and down slightly, and Kid Flash was swinging his legs back and fourth. X sigh; at least he had their attention.
"How about a... story? You guys want to hear a story?" X gritted. The miniature heroes nodded their heads quickly, obviously not wanting to further anger the dark looking teenager.
X sigh and sat down across from them, making sure to have their attention.
"There once was a boy. He lived happily with his parents in a wooded area with his parents. The parents love their son dearly, and would have moved the heavens to see their son smile. Though they need not move the heavens to get their son to smile, it was the simple things that made him happy.
"However, one day a bad man saw the family's happiness, and decided to take it away. He stole the mother and placed her in heaven, making sure that she had no way to communicate to her family." A movement. X turned and saw Batman, Arrow, and Zatara near the beams, listening to the story. X shifted slightly as he felt Batman's gaze on him and continued the story.
"Noticing the boy's despair, the father promised his son that he would journey towards heaven to get his mother, and that he would see them someday. So, the father made his journey to heaven and the boy waited.
"The boy waited, but never saw his parents again."
X stared at the kids, all of whom looked at him with full attention. He felt heroes eyes behind him and continued the story.
"So, alone, the boy traveled. He discovered different types of foods, languages, and people. One day, while getting something to eat, a group of mean kids surrounded the boy, wishing to harm him. Before the leader could hurt the boy, a tall man suddenly stepped in and scared the mean kids away. The man introduced himself as Usta and offered the lost boy to train with him. The boy agreed and lived the man, training under his watchful eye.
The young boy aged and as he grew, so did his abilities. One day, the boy and his mentor, Usta, was on a mission when a skilled assassin approached. The man offered Usta money for his apprentice, impressed with the skills the boy had. Enraged, Usta refused and vowed to protect his apprentice. After a long fight between the two, the skilled man took Usta to heaven, leaving his apprentice alone once again and fleeing for his life.
X saw that Kaldur's eyes dropping. He eyed the rest of the team, who seemed close to sleep. He glanced at Batman and decided to continue the story. Maybe after they've fallen asleep he could wake them up in an obnoxious way possible. The brats deserved it after the nightmare they've put him through.
"So once again, the boy traveled. Helping those in need and trying to make a living. The end."
Okay, so the ending sucked. Hell, the whole story must have sucked, but if it got the monsters to sleep, he'll end it with a poke-a-dotted spider doing the tango for all he cared.
He stood up, stretched, and watched as Zatara looked them over with interest. His job was done and it was time to get the hell out. Perhaps he should go on the bars Robin was swinging from earlier. He miss doing circus acts, but he didn't dare do them at the mountain, least Batman or any of the JL became suspicious on how he knew those tricks. Maybe he should just work on his sword and bo-staff techniques. Despite being an unwilling apprentice to a dangerous assassin, he had learned a lot from Slade and he was willing to use those skills.
With that decided, he walked towards the gym, grabbed a katana sword, and started his usual stance. It felt nice that all he needed to focus was on his body and mind. He didn't have to worry about every word from him being viewed with suspicion.
He just wanted to get into that meditation state, he didn't feel like socializing. Plus, Batman had a fake history to analyze.
Robin woke, startled when Zatara observed him. He watched as Zatara looked over to Batman. "It's going to take an hour for each of them and it has to be one of them at a time." Batman nodded at him in thanks.
"Batman!" Robin jumped and ran over to Batman, hugging him. The corners of Batman's lips went up slightly, amused that his 13 year old ward was a five year old. He would have to get Alfred to take some pictures.
"Did you hear the end of the story?" Robin asked, bouncing up and down. "I fell asleep before I heard the ending! How did the story end?"
"I'm not sure." He lied. "Why not find and ask Red X? I'm sure he'll tell you all about it."
Excited, Robin grinned and ran, looking for X. He was so cool! He knew martial arts, how to ride a motorcycle, and he was nice! Even if he was a bit scary and intimidating like Batman.
Robin walked into the equipment room to find Red X practicing with a sword. It looked like he was intensely focus on his movements. As Red X gained speed, he put in a few martial arts moves, and took out what look like sharp Batarang, but in a shape of an x, and threw it at a dummy. He finished the last of his sword piece and the sharp x met the forehead of the dummy.
"Wow!" Robin exclaimed. Red X startled as Robin bounced up to him. "Thatwassocoolcanyouteachmethat!"
X rose an eyebrow at Robin and smirked. "Say that again, slower this time."
Robin took another breath. "That was so cool! Can you teach me that?"
X studied him and Robin began to twitch. "I don't use the sword much. I like the long daggers myself."
Robin attempted puppy eyes under his shades. "Pllllleeease!"
X sighed tiredly. "Very well." He went and grabbed a smaller sword, handing it to Robin. "Here's what you do..."
Batman watched as Red X handed Robin the sword and started to explain ways it helped and hindered the person who fought with it, and demonstrated a fighting stance. Robin copied the stance while Red X looked it over and made some corrections to it, all while explaining the reason behind it.
X made a pretty good teacher, Batman mused. He must have taught his former teammates how to fight. He was patient and good at explaining at a level a little kid needed. Perhaps, X could help teach along with Canary. As soon as he thought of that he immediately discarded it. X wasn't the most likable teen hero within the JL and they would be most vocal about the opinions.
Batman continue to watch as X placed himself behind Robin, guiding his arms with his own as he slowly went through a blocking technique. He felt a flutter of pride as he watched the two boys. Robin was a good student and X was a strong dedicated teacher.
Batman's heart clenched as he recalled X's story and remembered that X had a previous mentor that Arrow said was gone. His parents were murdered, or at least, his mother was. Did X watched as his father committed suicide, or did he just discover his body? And Usta...Usta in Turkish meant "Master." The man must have been the one who taught X all he knows. Bruce wondered if he was also taught under this man while exploring the world to learn under the best masters of fighting. If Red X had yet to complete his training under Usta before his demise, maybe Batman could complete the training in honor of Red X and Usta.
If he had...
Well, the League had a force to be reckoned with, rather they liked it or not.
He didn't want to think of the Justice League and their blind views though. Robin had another hour before he would be back to normal, leaving Red X to go home to rest. Right now, he was content to watch Red X and Robin train together.