Hey, new story. I have now joined the ranks of next gen fics. I have not given up on New Year's Romance, a new chapter will be coming out later this week. I've just had this idea for a few months now and decided to try to write it and was pleased enough to publish. Hope you enjoy. Please Review.
Chicago - May 26 2032
Maria Grayson walked through the front door of the Grayson household. She had just gotten off the school bus and was ready for a snack.
"Mom, I'm home," the twelve-year-old girl announced as she walked to the kitchen.
"I'm out back muffin," Zatanna Grayson responded. Maria quickly grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and dropped her bag by the breakfast table before going outside onto the patio.
"Mom, how many times have I asked you to stop calling me that," Maria complained after she had given her mother a kiss hello. She noticed her little brother Ethan playing with their dog, Fuzzy. Zatanna worked at the same school that Ethan went to and so brought him home every day. Maria on the other hand was in Junior High and had specifically asked her mother not to pick her up.
"I know, but you used to love it," Zatanna replied, "Besides I bought a muffin for you on my way back from work."
"Thanks Mom," Maria said as she sat down across from her mother.
"My pleasure, muffin" the first grade teacher said with a smile on her face, "We're having pork chops for dinner tonight - Ethan be careful - and your father is coming back from Gotham tonight."
"I don't understand why Daddy has to fly to Gotham and stay there," Maria began, "When he could just use the Zeta Tubes."
"Maria, you know that if your father arrived in Gotham by Zeta people would be suspicious," Zatanna said.
"Yeah yeah," Maria responded, "I'm going to watch some TV."
"Fine but only one episode then homework," Zatanna called after her daughter, "You've got that Human Studies assignment due."
"Sure thing Mom."
Maria was sitting at the dining room table trying to work on her Human Studies assignment. She had to write an essay about who she was and what she wanted to be later in life. It was such a boring assignment.
"Maria," Zatanna said as she walked towards the front door, "I'm going to pick up Gio from mathletics practice and then run some errands, watch your brother."
"Sure thing Mom," Maria responded.
Maria turned back to her assignment. She stared at the blank screen, searching for an answer but she found nothing. So she started on some other homework due later in the week.
Thirty-five minutes later she had still made no progress with the Human Studies but had finished her only other assignment due the next day. That's when Ethan walked.
"Mar, I'm bored," Ethan said, "Do you wanna do something like watch a movie or play a video game?" Fuzzy had decided it was time to take a nap.
"I'm sorry Ethan but I can't" Maria replied, "I've got to do homework."
"You stink," Ethan said, but he was very bored so he decided to stick around, "What class is it for?"
"Human Studies, now leave me alone," Maria told her brother, "Don't you have homework to do?"
"I finished before you got home," Ethan responded.
"Damn why are you and Gio so smart?" Maria complained, "Honestly if I didn't know any better I'd think Uncle Tim was your father."
"Come on Mar, you're smart too," Ethan said trying to cheer up his older sister. It was true that Ethan and Gio had very little difficulty in school while Maria had to work harder than both of them, "You're really good with helping Gio and me. I mean you always know how to make us feel better."
"You're right," Maria said before ruffling Ethan's hair, "Thanks Ethan."
"I'm going downstairs," Ethan said as he left.
Maria went back to work immediately, finally finding motivation to complete the assignment. Her fingers flew across the holo-keys; most of her classmates used the speech recog but Maria preferred using the holo-keys, it helped her think. She finished the essay within twenty minutes, just as her mother and little brother walked through the front door carrying groceries.
"Hey Mar," Gio said, "Mom I'm going to go do homework."
"Good, I'll be working on dinner," Zatanna replied.
Gio and Maria both walked upstairs. Maria walked into her room while Gio headed to his. She went to go sit down on her bed and activated the voice chat function on her holo-comp, holographic computer, and initiated a call to her cousin Leah.
"Hey," Leah answered after the second ring.
"Hey Leah," Maria said.
"So did you ask your Dad yet?" Leah asked.
"No," Maria replied, "He hasn't got back from his business trip yet. You should know he was in Gotham."
"Yeah," Leah said, "I thought he'd be back by now though."
"He's probably driving here as we speak," Maria said, "What about you? What did Uncle Tim and Aunt Cassie say?"
"Well, at first my Dad was like, 'no way', but then Mom talked to him," Leah told her older cousin, "After that they both said yes. I hope Uncle Dick says yes."
"So do I," Maria agreed, "It'd be so crash to be superheroes."
"Totally crash," Leah said.
The two girls continued talking for five minutes or so before Zatanna called for dinner.
"Maria, time for dinner," Zatanna called, "It's your turn to set the table."
"Coming Mom," Maria called back, "I'll call you later Leah, after I've asked."
"Good," Leah said and then Maria hung up.
Maria walked down the stairs and checked the garage for her father's car, but it wasn't there. Then she walked to the kitchen to take out the dishes and silverware.
"Is Daddy going to be here for dinner?" Maria asked her mother.
"He said he'd be here in five minutes," Zatanna replied as she pulled the potatoes out of the oven.
"Okay," Maria said, "Elbat tes flesrouy." The plates and silverware floated over to the dining room and set themselves up perfectly.
"Maria, what did we say about magic?" Zatanna said slightly annoyed but also amused by her daughter's use of magic. It reminded her of when she was younger and would do the same thing.
"Magic can only be used in the basement and on the third floor," Maria recited.
"So you do remember," Zatanna joked. She then kissed her daughter on the forehead, "Put the glasses out yourself."
"Yes Mom," Maria responded. She took five glasses out of the cupboard and walked over to the dinner table. She started placing the glasses having placed four when she heard a sound coming from the garage. A few seconds later the door to the garage opened and Dick Grayson walked through it.
"I'm home," Dick announced.
"Daddy!" Maria exclaimed as she put the last glass down and ran to hug her father.
"Hey monkey," Dick greeted his daughter. He hugged her tightly. Ethan and Gio both rushed to the foyer to greet their father, "Well if it isn't my little ninja and my little Merlin."
"Dinner's ready!" Zatanna called from the kitchen. Ethan rushed to the dinner table, although he was the youngest Grayson, being only eight years old, he often ate more than his siblings; Dick joked with Zatanna that he was like his godfather in that sense. The other Grayson children took their time getting to the table.
"Hey there Zee," Dick said as he kissed his beautiful wife on the cheek.
"Welcome home, Handsome," Zatanna responded, kissing her husband fully on the lips. It was a passionate kiss, maybe a little too passionate for the kids.
"Yuck," Ethan said loudly. Zatanna pulled back and gave her husband a suggestive wink before turning back to the table.
"So Dad," Gio began, "How was Gotham? Was it a productive trip?"
"Yes it was Gio," Dick replied. The ten-year-old was always very interested in his father's business ventures, "Plus I saw Grandpa Bruce, Uncle Tim and Aunt Barbara."
"What did you talk about with Uncle Tim?" Maria asked, wanting to know if her father had talked about what she had discussed with Leah earlier that day.
"We were just talking about how big all of you are getting," Dick said as he looked to Ethan, "Grandpa Bruce asked me to tell you guys that he loves you."
The rest of dinner was daily routine. Everybody talked about how their week had been and when that was over, Gio and Dick got into a heated discussion. They usually had discussions at dinner that covered a variety of topics stretching from math and science to ethics and politics. The others rarely participated in these discussions, with Ethan usually just eating his food while Maria and Zatanna would have less intense conversations.
When dinner was over, Gio cleared the table with the help of his mother while Ethan headed to his room with Fuzzy. Dick went to his office and Maria headed to the bathroom. Maria looked at herself in the mirror.
"Come on Maria," Maria told herself, "You can do this. Just ask him. Come on."
She quickly washed her hands and splashed her face before leaving the bathroom. She walked over to her father's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Dick said.
"Daddy," Maria said as she opened the door and walked into the office, "I have something I want to ask you."
"What is it monkey?" Dick asked as he turned away from the holo-comp and turned to face his daughter.
"I was talking to the others and we... umm..." Maria hesitated, "We want to restart the Team."
No," Dick responded flatly, "That is out of the question."
"But Daddy, please," Maria pleaded.
"No Maria," Dick replied, "You are too young and it's not safe."
"But you were younger than I was when you became Robin," Maria argued.
"I had just lost everything in the world," Dick replied, "I needed to become Robin. You don't."
"But Daddy-" Maria tried to say.
"Enough," Dick raised his voice as he got out of his chair, "You will not be joining the Team Maria. That's final. Now go to your room."
"I HATE YOU!" Maria yelled as she stomped out of the office, "Mals eht rood!" Maria continued to stomp all the way to her room.
Dick sat back down and turned to the holo-comp, then he heard the door open again. He turned towards the door to see his wife, and she was not happy.
"Dick," Zatanna said sternly, "We need to talk."
"Not right now Zee," Dick replied, "I have work to do."
"Richard Grayson you will listen to me," Zatanna said firmly. Dick turned back to his wife as she closed the door, "Maria is our child which makes this our decision, not yours."
"Zatanna she's-" Dick began but never finished.
"I said you will listen," Zatanna snapped, "Maria is old enough to be on the Team, besides you know what she's like. If we don't let her do this she'll do it by herself. This way we'll be able to train her, make sure she is not in over her head."
"But Zee," Dick said softly, "She's my little girl. She's not ready."
"Dick, she has her magic to help her," Zatanna said before reassuringly hugging her husband, "I know she's your little girl but she's old enough to make this decision."
"Okay, I guess you're right," Dick acceded, "But we need to put down some ground rules."
"I agree," Zatanna said.
Maria was in her room, angrily hitting the air around her, blowing off steam. 'Leah's allowed to join and she's a year younger than I am,' Maria thought as she punched the air, 'But she has super strength.' She continued to blow off steam until she was panting. She walked over to her bed and sat down. She prepared the holo-comp to call Leah when someone knocked on the door.
"Maria," Dick said calmly, "Can I come in?"
"Leave me alone!" Maria yelled.
"Come on monkey please?" Dick pleaded, "I just want to talk."
"Kcolnu eht rood," Maria murmured.
"Thank you," Dick said as he opened the door. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Maria. When he tried to put his hand on her shoulder, she shrugged it off and scooched away,
"Maria are you gonna talk to me?" He was met with silence, "Fine I'll talk. Maria you're my little girl, my little monkey. I worry about you all the time and I just couldn't allow myself to willingly put you in harm's way. I talked to your mother and she pointed out that you can take care of yourself," He took a deep breath, "Which is why we decided you could join the Team." Maria turned around and threw her arms around her father.
"Thank you Daddy," Maria said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"We just have some ground rules," Dick said, "One, you will only join the Team, no patrolling Chicago. Two, you will keep up your grades up, you slack at all and you're off the Team. Three, you have to go to every training session unless your mother or I say you don't. Four, on top of these training sessions you will train an extra four hours on the weekend, two with me, two with your mother. If you break any of these rules you are off the Team, do you understand?"
"Yes Daddy," Maria nodded, "I love you Daddy."
"I love you too monkey," Dick said before giving her a kiss on the forehead, "Now go downstairs and thank your mother."
Maria jumped off the bed and ran downstairs. Dick smiled to himself. Ethan, who had just taken Fuzzy downstairs, walked into Maria's room.
"Daddy," Ethan said, "Why is Maria so happy?"
"She's going to join the Team," Dick said with a smile.
"Can I join too?" Ethan said with a huge smile. Ethan alone of Dick's children had inherited his smile, in fact Ethan was almost a carbon copy of his father, the only difference being his hair color which he got from his mother.
"No, you can't Ethan," Dick said as he picked his youngest son up and carried him piggyback style.
"Okay then," Ethan accepted. Dick smiled once again at how easily his son accepted what his father said.
"Now it's time for ninjas to go to bed," Dick said.
"Never," Ethan said as he jumped off of Dick's back. Ethan was the most acrobatic of the Grayson children while Giovanni was the least. Maria was more of a wild card, with some magic and some acrobatic skill.
Ethan ran away, heading for the master bedroom. Dick chased him but Ethan was fast. The youngest Grayson jumped onto the bed followed by his father.
"Let's see how ninjas do against tickle monsters," Dick said as he began to tickle Ethan. Ethan laughed for a while and then when Dick finally hit Ethan's most ticklish spot he let out a little yelp.
"Dick," Zatanna called from downstairs, "It's time for bed."
"Mom is right," Dick said, "It's time for little ninjas to go to sleep."
"Okay," Ethan said as he lifted his arms and Dick carried him to his room, "Can you read me a story?" Although Ethan knew how to read, and did so often in his free time, he liked the voices his father would make when reading the stories.
"Fine but only after you brush your teeth and get in bed," Dick said. Ethan rushed off to his bed to get his pyjamas. While Ethan got ready for bed Dick went to visit his other son.
Giovanni Grayson was different from his siblings, mainly because he wasn't very athletic, instead excelling in academics. Although only ten he could read at a ninth grade reading level. Another factor that separated from his siblings is that he was the closest one to his mother, mainly because of his gift with magic.
Dick found Gio reading a book, like every night. Tonight it was Ender's Game, one of Dick's favorite when he had been growing up.
"What do you think?" Dick asked.
"I like it a lot," Gio answered, "Especially Ender's mastery of the Zero Gravity game."
"Yeah I love that too," Dick said as he sat down next to his son, "You know this was my favorite book as a kid."
"I know," Gio answered, "That's why I started reading it." Dick smiled, it meant so much to him, probably more than Gio knew.
"Well, finish your chapter then lights out okay?" Dick said.
"Yeah," Gio replied as his father kissed him on both cheeks. Dick walked to the door.
"Good night my little Merlin," Dick said.
"G'night Dad," Gio responded.
I hope it was up to standard. Please review if you want me to continue. Ideas for OC villains are welcome, just give me a description of abilities, appearance and if possible motivations. Constructive criticism is not only welcomed but encouraged.