Recognized Batman 02
Everyone turned when they heard the zeta tubes activate. The bat glare was darker than normal if possible.
"What happened?" Gotham's dark knight demanded.
Superman, Green Arrow and Black Canary all looked at each other, wondering how to answer. But before any of them could, a child's shriek followed by what one might describe as Robin's cackle could be heard from another room.
Only moments later did a small dark haired boy came running in, followed closely by a equally small blonde haired girl. The he two did several laps around the man of steel's legs before the girl managed by o tackle the still cackling boy. They tumbled around a bit before coming to a stop in front of Batman with a oof.
The girl smacked the other child saying "I thought he was unavailable for the next week."
Robin shrugged. " The League likely told him what happened."
"They did," Batman interrupted. "Now, is there a reason Artemis is chai get you around the cave with the intent of causing you bodily harm?"
For a moment the small boy just looked at him, then the dark knight narrowed his eyes. With a sigh he said, "I wanted to show her the bug I caught."
With a glare Artemis said, "It was a bee."
"So?" Was his reply.
Slugging him on the arm, she said, "I'm allergic to them, you dumb-"
"Artemis," Green Arrow cut her off sharply. She looked at him briefly before she folded her arms in a sulk.
"Now that that's settled," Batman said before turning to his fellow Leaguers. "What happened?"
SuperMan sighed. "The team was ambushed during their mission to China. Apparently Klairan was waiting for them. He hit some of the team with some sort of spell."
Giggling could be heard from in front of Batman. Everyone looked down at the two kids, who seemed to be whispering to each other.
"Where these two the only ones hit?" Batman inquired. But before anyone could answer, the two toddlers let out shrieks of laughter. The adults all looked down. Batman glared. "Robin, Artemis," he said sharply.
The pair looked up to see they were receiving a batglare and tried at least to look apologetic.
"No,"Superman said. " Since the team was looking for Speedy, Red Arrow was with them."
Batman sighed, " Don't tell me," before he could continue, a small version of Roy stomped into the room. "Which one of you told Wally there were cookies?" He asked " Don't you know he always eats every one?"the redhead stopped when he saw the adults were there talking about the botched mission.
The Bat turned to the other adults. "How old are they?"
"Artemis and Robin seem to between four or five," Black Canary said. "Roy seems to be closer to seven or eight."
The dark knight sighed. Alfred was not going to be happy. Robin was going to be in the chandeliers again. Not to mention any other mischief he could think of. "What of their memories?" He asked. "How much do they remember?"
"From what we can tell they remember everything," She said. "But their memories seem to get jumbled at times."
"What should we do with them in the meantime?" Green Arrow asked. "I mean Roy can stay with me but what about the other two."
"I don't see why they couldn't go home," SuperMan said, shrugging.
"NO!" All the adults looked at the small, trembling girl at their feet. "Dad might be there. I'm not going anywhere near him." Even shaking in fear, the pint sized archer could glare rather fiercely.
The Leaguers looked at each other. All of them knew Artemis' background and figured Sportsmaster was far from father of the year material. "Maybe it's just the jumbled memories." Green Arrow said holding his hands up.
"I doubt that is a good idea." Black canary said. "Even though she has the memories of him no longer being around, her home is not a safe place for her in this state."
Robin tuned the adults out as they argued the best place for the two to be. One suggested they could stay at the cave, but Batman only glared at that suggestion. He looked at his friend with she sniffled. He was still very confused, everything seemed to be a mess. But he knew that he would do anything to keep Artemis safe and her home must not be if she didn't want to be there. Deciding to take action, Robin walked over to his mentor and tugged on his cape. When he looked down, Batman was met with large blue eyes. "Artemis could stay with us for a while," he said in a small voice. "Alfred and Lina won't mind."
Bruce looked down at his now very young ward about to flat out refuse. Then he took another look at Dick's face. Yes, there was pleading in his eyes but behind that was worry. Worry for a scared friend. The clever boy also found a solution. For Artemis to stay in a familiar place with people that would give her that sense of security she needed.
He then looked over to Artemis to see the hopeful light in her eyes. Sighing he said, "Green Arrow and I will discuss this with her mother. If she saids it is alright, Artemis may stay with us. For now, wait here with Black Canary."
Two young faces lit up with delight. They each hugged one of the dark Knight's legs startling him in surprise before the pair ran off, looking for something to of occupy their time.
Two hours later
Selina Kyle-Wayne and Alfred watched as the Batmobile came to a halt inside the batcave. As the hatch the the vehicle opened the two could hear young voices arguing from within and to reveal a rather weary looking Batman.
"And how is that any better than being torn into million tiny pieces?" The small blonde asked the dark haired boy as they climbed out of the car.
"New guest, Bruce?" Selina asked.
Alfred then chose that moment to ask,"May I inquire as to what they are arguing over?"
Dick then said, " So you rather apparat and be squeezed through an extremely small tube then use the zeta to tubes?"
"All I'm sayin'" Artemis said, "is that I've never been comfortable with my molecules being scrambled then being shot through space."
Selina smirked. "It appears they are discussing apparition from the Harry Potter series vs. the zeta beams."
"They've been at for the whole car ride." Bruce said wearily. Turning to the children he said, "that's enough." Once they were quite, he said. "Artemis this is Selina, my wife and Alfred. He will help you with anything you need. Selina, Alfred, this is Artemis. She will be staying with us for a while."
When Bruce looked at him, Alfred said, "I have prepared the room across the hall from Master Dick's for Miss Artemis."
Dick brighten considerably at this. He grabbed Artemis' hand saying, "I'll show where,alfred. Come on, Arty!"
Selina smiled as the kids hurried off to another adventure. "This might be good for the two of them."
Pulling off his cowl, Bruce looked at her in surprise. "How so?"
"You forget," Selina said, smirking. "I was ….. An acquaintance of her mother's years ago. Sportsmaster could be brutal when training his children." her face hardened, "last i saw her and her sister, they both were bruised and bleeding. Artemis from training and Jade had been beaten for telling her father off for his treatment of her sister."
A look of mingled hate and surprise crossed bruce's face at this. "You thought of taking them away," he said. "What stopped you?"
"I could see Jade wanted that side of the Life and would go to the Shadows as soon as she could." was the reply.
"And Artemis?"
"Sportsmaster had the entire League of Shadows to call upon if needed," she said. "Once he hunted us down, it is possible that we both would have been killed."
Bruce thought about this. Selina had always had a soft spot for children, especially Dick. he knew that if she thought she could keep Artemis safe and both of them alive, Selina would have taken her away from such an unhappy childhood.
But the Shadow's would have eventually have found them, and Catwoman would have died protecting the girl. And artemis might have died fighting rather than be dragged to the Shadows.
"Come, enough brooding for tonight," Selina said a smile climbing onto her face. " Let's see what Alfred has made for dinner."
After a dinner of Ravioli and broccoli, Dick had talked Artemis into watching a movie. They had settled down in the game room with a pile of pillows and blankets to watch Brave, Artemis' favorite disney movie. They had even puppy eyed a bowl of popcorn from Alfred. Bruce decided to go see what they were up to, things had been too quiet for some time.
Pushing that door open, he found the movie playing the closing scene where the other clans sail away. Dick and Artemis, he saw, curled up together in the middle of what he could only describe as a nest made of pillows and blankets. Both were asleep.
He was just trying to figure out a way to get them both to bed without waking them up when Selina came up behind him. "Bruce, they're both like four at the moment i don't think," she started to say when he put a finger to his lips and pointed to the mass of blankets.
"I was just about to put them to bed,"he said.
Selina smiled, "Without waking them up?" She snorted with he shrugged. "Good luck with that. Leave them. There are motion sensors in the room so we'll know if they wake up."
"And if they have nightmares?" he asked.
"They will either comfort each other or come find us," she said gently.
Selina turned and wandered down the hall to the study. Bruce followed but not before snapping a picture of the two curled together in their little nest.
So, this is the first in a series of one shots and/or short chapter stories. I also decided to have Bruce marry Selina Kyle, i always liked that pairing. And Artemis not wanting to go home at that age. In the series, there are hints that Sportsmaster was not only training his daughter to join the League of Shadows, but could be rather harsh about it. And I will be posting a one shot about how Artemis figured out Dick was Robin. I also think she would figure it out rather than Robin telling her. I came up with this idea while watching An episode of Star Trek The Next Generation called Rascals. If you want to know the plot watch it. It's on Netflix.