Bonds
A/N; It's been a looong time since I tried writing a fanfic and I'll admit it's been hard for me to keep going with a fanfic once I start one. But I've been really craving writing again, especially a fanfic. So I've decided to give it a go again and maybe I'll do better, especially since I'm a much better writer now than when I last wrote a fanfic (or at least I'd like to think I'm a better writer now).
For this fanfic, I'm gonna try a Young Justice fanfic because I've been really wanting to do a YJ fanfic ever since I started watching the series. And now I've finally decided how I'm gonna do it after being inspired reading Hexalys' Young Justice: Red X story xD Wish me luck!
As a quick warning, the first three chapters are just going to be explaining the backstories of each OC I'm bringing in, then the fourth chapter will bring all three together and the story will go from there, eventually merging with the canon YJ. I will more than likely change some things once it gets to the YJ canon to fit my OCs in, so please don't complain if I do things differently from the show.
You do, of course, have the option of completely ignoring these first three chapters and getting right into the story but at least they're there if anyone wants to refer back to them. ~8~8~8~8~8~
Full Summary: Three very different people from three very different lives; one hunted, one an anti-hero, and one shunned by everyone except his family. All three alone in the world, they end up meeting one night. By coincidence or fate they don't know or care and together they form an unusual comradeship that night. But as they begin to fight crime together, what happens when their escapades find them on both radars of the Justice League and The Light?
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Young Justice, it is copyright to whoever created it. I only own the three OCs that I'll be putting into the story; Jericho, Vervoid and Erix. I realize there's already a hero called Jericho in the DC universe but since he hasn't appeared in the YJ series (yet), I'm going to ignore that.
That is all. Onto the story~
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The Red-eyed Skull
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Jericho has been no stranger to tragedies over his childhood and teen years. Born an apparent 'Demigod' after his father had a one-night stand with the supposed Greek Goddess of Chaos, Eris, Donovan Noryer found his son on the front step of his home one day and happily accepted his new son into his life. But Donovan Noryer wasn't alone, he was married to his then wife Samantha, who despised the child the first day he entered their lives. She had wanted to bear a child with Donovan, on the condition they raise an only child. Once Jericho came into the picture, Samantha lost her chance to have her own child.
Samantha made it clear to Jericho, long before he was old enough to understand why, how much she hated him and over the course of seven years she would ignore him or punish him for things he didn't do whenever Donovan wasn't around. And the times Donovan found out about these things, he and Samantha would argue over it, sometimes for hours. It was always over Jericho, the child Donovan loved and Samantha hated, one defending him and the other blaming him heartlessly. Their arguments would get worse over the years, sometimes fueled by Jericho himself without him realising. The chaotic environment had unlocked the demigod powers he had, powers originating from the very Goddess who would thrive in such an environment. Powers of strife, of discord, of chaos.
As the arguments got worse, so did Jericho's powers and a never-ending cycle began. Until at seven years old, Donovan finally had enough and demanded Samantha to get out of his house and his live. Oh, how he'd regret those words, for as Samantha walked out of the house, suitcases in hand, and out into the street she was hit by an on-coming car, the driver too distracted by his radio to notice her. Donovan witnessed the accident from the living room and immediately his stomach dropped, both at his wife's death but also out of panic. He'd been a motorcycle gang member several years ago and been in trouble with the police before. He didn't want to be accused for Samantha's death. So in a state of utter panic, he ran through the house grabbing a couple of bags and just throwing whatever clothes he could grab into them, both of his and of Jericho's, while telling Jericho to pack things he wanted to take with him but only a few things. Soon enough, the saddlebags of Donovan's motorcycle were packed with the bags of clothes and Jericho sat behind him with his backpack on and clinging tightly to him. Just as police started to arrive on the scene, Donovan drove off without a second thought. They drove for as long as they could before Jericho was exhausted, doing the same the next day, and the next, until they had gotten to the other side of America, far from their home state.
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Donovan found them a new home in North Carolina, making a fresh start, even going as far as to change their last name to Coye fearing the use of Noryer would alert the wrong people. Donovan got a new job as Security at a company, while Jericho enrolled in a new school. It was a huge change in their lives and one Jericho was struggling with. Such a huge upheaval of one's life is a challenge for even the most strong-willed of people, so for a seven-year-old kid with chaos powers it was overwhelming. He found it most difficult in school where finding friends was hard and trying to focus on schoolwork harder still. The school soon contacted Donovan about Jericho's difficulty in settling in and the man, after thinking hard on how to help his son find comfort in this new place, found a solution.
A dog.
He took Jericho to the animal shelter and the boy was immediately drawn to a handsome black and tan Great Dane, Rottweiler mix puppy, and soon had the puppy at his side as they adopted him. Of course, Donovan had to set some rules for Jericho and their new family member, who they had named Ruben. Jericho was to take proper care of their new puppy; feed him, clean up after him, train him and most importantly, love him. Donovan promised Jericho that if he followed these rules, he'd never find a more loyal friend in the world than Ruben. That was all Jericho needed to hear to set his mind. He quickly found out how hard it was to look after Ruben, but with his father's help he found hidden rewards whenever Ruben obeyed a command or when he'd be welcomed home from school by the large puppy.
This new found responsibility helped him to better focus his mind on things, especially school. Schoolwork got easier and as news quickly spread about his new puppy, his fellow students began talking to him more. Things only got better over the years as Ruben became ever more loyal to him (growing up into a beast of a dog) and he finally had a group of friends to interact with at school. And though by now both he and his father had noticed his strange powers with things going so well his powers had fallen quiet, only occasionally acting up in stressful events. But of course, Jericho was into high school now and all too often, high school can change people, for better or worse. And for Jericho, it was the latter.
As Jericho got older, his attitude got worse, turning rebellious. He started dressing in punk clothing and hanging around the bad sort of crowd. He couldn't find it in himself to go so far as to start smoking, drinking or drugs, but he found himself thriving in the risks him and his friends would take, and the chaos they'd leave behind. Donovan, at this point all too eager to keep his son happy, turned a blind eye to the stuff Jericho did. It was hardly anything worse than the things he had done as a teenager. But as his attitude got worse, his powers started acting out more and more, until eventually at sixteen his powers caused such a big fight at school one kid had to be sent to the hospital. And Jericho, he was expelled, blamed for starting the fight in the first place.
Donovan was obviously disappointed, but hardly tried to convince Jericho to try a different school. They both knew he'd probably just cause another fight one way or another. So his father let him do whatever he wanted. For the most part, he hung out with Ruben, taking him to the park every day. One day though, he noticed a group of guys watching him and soon after, they approached him. They had heard from one of their member's siblings about the fight that got him expelled and asked if he was interested in joining their gang, have some new friends to hang with. Having lost his school friends when he was expelled, Jericho was hoping to find some new friends and quickly took the offer.
For a while, Jericho kept his involvement with the street gang a secret from his father. But over the months, Donovan began to notice his son coming home with bruises and cuts. He quickly figured what his son had gotten into, having once been in the same situation at his age, coming home to be confronted by his parents when they noticed a new bruise or injury. And eventually Jericho had to tell the truth when he came home with a severely broken and bloodied nose, having been out with the boys taking out a rival street gang. While the hospital had been suspicious of how he had gotten a broken nose, he got away with it but they couldn't do much to fix it. After that, he scowled at the way his nose looked every time he caught a glance of it.
So at eighteen he got a tattoo. A face tattoo. Donovan had never been so shocked in his life when Jericho came home that evening with a skull tattooed on his face. After the shock wore off, Jericho actually felt guilty as he saw how upset his father was over it. Afterwards, Donovan would often say his son had been a handsome kid, even with the broken nose, until the tattoo.
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So for four years, Jericho did whatever he was told to do by the gang. Though they included him in whatever they did, Jericho couldn't shake the feeling that they really weren't his friends. That they only wanted him because he was good at starting conflicts. That they were only using him. So on the quiet days, he'd spend time trying to gain better control over his powers, finally trying to stop them from acting out at random. When he felt confident, he'd secretly test his control on his fellow gang buddies, watching them squabble at each other for ten minutes before stopping it. The more control he gained, the more confident Jericho felt. Though, the more he practiced, the more his powers revealed to him.
Soon after turning twenty though, things took a drastic change. The gang was ambushed by a new street gang, bigger than any other street gang they've faced and stronger too. The gang scattered out of confusion and surprise, trying to take on this new threat. Everyone, except Jericho. Scared out of his wits, he fled from his gang's base, an old abandoned warehouse, all the way home to a worried father who had been watching the news as it reported police being called in to a large and violent fight between two gangs.
Donovan had been overly relieved when Jericho burst in, fairly unscathed if out of breath. After that, most of Jericho's gang had been caught by the police, some dead, while the rest had gone into hiding until the incident blew over. But he didn't feel safe whether they were in hiding or not. He had run rather than stay and fight with them. Feeling the need to get away from everything, he asked his father if he could take a trip back to their home state so he could re-think his future. Donovan understood and allowed Jericho to leave, even letting him take his motorcycle so he could go wherever he wanted. Unfortunately, he couldn't take Ruben and while the loyal canine was heartbroken at his owner leaving Jericho commanded him to watch over his father, giving the lovable brute a purpose while he was gone.
For a few months, he traveled across America eventually ending up back in his home state and hometown. He even took the time to visit his step-mothers grave, albeit he found he still felt the same way about her, never truly forgiving her for making his childhood a hell. Only a few people recognised and only did so because they recognised his red eyes, a trait he had been born with and supposedly got from his Goddess mother. He took the time away from home to think about what he was going to do from now on. Maybe try to find a job though with his past experience, that'd be difficult. Expelled from school with two years left to go and involvement in a street gang, oh and let's not forget the powers of chaos. Not exactly job material.
He was no closer to figuring out what he was going to do with himself when he got word that something bad had happened back home involving his father. Jericho immediately returned home to find his father dead. Killed by what had been left of his old gang. But his father hadn't gone down without a fight, killing one of the gang members and severely injuring another before the rest filled him with lead before fleeing into the night. Jericho was devastated, even more so when he found out Ruben had been injured as well but found him alive and recovering at the vets.
Though the police had the injured gang member in custody, the rest had gone back into hiding and refused to rear their heads while the police searched high and low for them. In the meantime, Jericho was planning his own course of action. As soon as Jericho was allowed into his home and Ruben was returned to him to recover from his injuries, he set about sorting out a funeral with some help from their next door neighbor, a sweet and kind lady who had gained feelings for his father before he was killed. The funeral was short, only a few people turning up to pay their respects in the pouring rain. Jericho remained long after the funeral ended, standing by his father's grave, his thoughts turning to revenge. The police obviously weren't getting the job done and if anyone could find those bastards, it was him.
So upon returning home, he immediately ran upstairs to his room to dig out a weapon from his closet, a compound bow and quiver of arrows. Archery had been an old hobby his father had dragged him into when he took up interest in it, becoming a sort of father, son bonding hobby a few years ago. Jericho stopped a couple years ago, but his father kept it up and was able to use his skills to fight off the gang before his inevitable death. As soon as he found them, he checked to make sure Ruben was alright and promised him he'd come back before he headed out into the night to find his father's killers.
Sure enough, he found them meeting up together in their old base, now fairly torn up after the big gang fight months ago. With anger in his heart and revenge on his mind, he unlocked something new about his powers. A twisted form taking inspiration from his skull tattoo. With this new empowering form, Jericho attacked and either killed or severely injured every last gang member. Those he left alive, he made sure were knocked out cold to make sure none could try to recover from their injuries to fight back. But he couldn't leave them like that, oh no. He couldn't leave evidence for when police eventually found them. Searching through the warehouse, he found a gas main and after breaking it to let gas leak into the building, he left to a nearby rooftop. Lighting one of his arrows on fire, he shot it through a broken window. He barely had time to duck and cover when the gas exploded in a giant fireball, the heat almost unbearable.
With sirens suddenly blaring in the distance, Jericho fled from the scene, only stopping when he was several blocks away. At this point, he tried to shift out of his new skeletal form but in doing so discovered it was excruciatingly painful to return to normal. Curled up in agony in a filthy back alley, he suddenly flinched when something wet and cold touched his hand. Looking up, he saw a small boston terrier puppy, just skin and bones with filth covering it's beautiful white fur and what looked like an infected wound across its snout. Ignoring the pain he was in, his heart went out to the lost and frightened animal, figuring the poor thing had been abandoned, left to fend for itself. But watching the young puppy slowly approach him again after being startled by his previous reaction, its little wet nose snuffling at him, he could see it wanted to trust someone again; to be loved. He soon found the puppy sitting in his lap, little tail wagging as he soothingly stroked its dirty fur and as soon as he felt confident, he securely picked the puppy up and took it home.
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Three years later, at 23 years old, Jericho is now an anti-hero assassin-for-hire. After the warehouse explosion, police figured out it was the rest of the gang and though they suspected Jericho at first, they eventually blamed it on the gas leak and when a gang member tried to light up a cigarette; BOOM!
And in the meantime, the puppy he took home he immediately bathed to try and get as much crud off it as he could, with Ruben watching at his side, the 10-year-old dog constantly reassuring the little thing that bathing wasn't scary. The next day he took it to the vet, concerned about the infected wound on its face even after bathing it and in the process finding out it was a she. The wound was dealt with and though the vet assured she'd be left with a scar, all she needed was some food, care and attention to get her back to top form. He would name her Annabella (Bella for short).
As soon as the investigation was into the warehouse explosion was over, Jericho packed up and moved out, unable to stay in the house any longer, not with the fact his father had died in the bedroom next to his hanging over it. With Ruben and Annabella in tow, he moved them all to Dakota City, Nebraska, getting a home-converted fire station. He didn't sell the house in North Carolina, and he never intended to because he'd use it as a cover. Because now, Jericho had finally decided what to do with his life. He didn't want anyone to suffer a loss like he did, nor did he want anyone to resort to revenge the way he did if they did. He'd use his powers and his archery to become an assassin-for-hire, to keep innocent from bloodying their hands while his got redder. If anyone felt like they were danger from a criminal of any kind, they'd call him to take them out first. And with the money he was paid, he worked on improving what types of arrows he could use and changing parts of his new home to better suit his new lifestyle.
For three years, he has worked to make Dakota City a safer place to live, taking out street gangs and criminals, keeping innocent people safe and guiltless. And he has worked alone without disturbance.
Until now…
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A/N; And that's it for Jericho's backstory. His is probably the longest out of the three since he's the oldest and more has happened with him that I needed to go into some detail with to explain. Next up is Vervoid!
Hope you've enjoyed reading and leave a review if you want. Feedback is always appreciated~