So I have decided to write a new story concerning the YJ mentors; Batman, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Flash and Superman. Basically in this the mentors wake up only to find that strange things have happened to their world, mainly their sidekicks. It is now up to the JL to figure out what happened and to set things right before it's too late.
I won't give any more details right now but please be aware that some scenes can be a bit disturbing. While others may be totally turbing at times. Just wanted you to be aware!
(do I really have to do this?) I don't own YJ or JL and if I did the DC universe would have lots more fluff than evil things!
Green Arrow
I don't know what happened. One second Flash and I are having a cool chat about how well the team was doing, how things were with Iris and Dinah, the possible attraction between our two protégés, when I blacked out. After that everything seemed unreal.
I was in Paula's house, watching as her and Artemis fought. It pained me to see the ex-villain and her daughter fight like this, I genially cared about Artemis and her mom like they really were blood related. Same went for Roy. Paula and Artemis were getting louder and it looked like Paula was about to break down into tears. Artemis yelled at her mother, blaming her for the league not trusting her.
It broke my heart to see them this way. I couldn't understand why Artemis was so upset at her mom, she would never intentionally hurt Paula like this. Artemis cared to much about her mother to blame her for anything. It wasn't in her nature to completely hate her family. She really was a nice, caring girl who was just afraid of losing those closer to her. It only hurt more when Artemis ran out the door in a fit of rage leaving Paula behind as the poor woman cried.
I wanted nothing more than to just hold Paula, she didn't deserve this even if she was an ex-criminal, but my body wouldn't move. Instead the world around me changed and I was now standing in the middle of an older apartment. It wasn't too bad, it was clean, furnished and well kept, but there were obvious signs of this being one of those couple-shared apartments. I saw Artemis walk in, wearing a jersey too big for her with her hair hanging loose, and sit on the couch. She looked older than the last time I saw her, almost eighteen. She looked sad too. I wondered how much of this was real and how much could be a trick. But it was like watching from a hidden camera or being a fly on the wall.
"-seven new reports of missing persons in the last three days. Police still have no idea where these people are or who took them although police commissioner Gordon has informed that Gotham PD is doing everything in their power to-"
Artemis switched channels in a way that worried me. She looked bored of the report as if this was everyday news. Even for Gotham this didn't sound very good. Where was Batman and Robin? She changed channels again, this time to the international news station.
"-in other news tonight, a series of craters was found through the Metropolis area. Large pieces of land were torn up and government officials claim it was all part of an experimental weapons demonstration"
"Conner." Artemis breathed looking at the screen longingly. Thankfully from my frozen spot I could see the TV screen as well. The report showed craters dotting the deserted land just outside of Metropolis. I had seen those kinds of craters, but what was Superboy doing? Where was Kent? Wasn't he supposed to be teaching him or something? I thought Bats had straightened him out about his lack in parenting skills?
The TV was shut off and Artemis got up and headed for the closet, making sure nobody was around (obviously she couldn't see me), before reaching into the small room and grabbing a scrap book off the top shelf. She walked back over to the couch and placed the book on the coffee table in front of her. Inside were dozens of newspaper clippings, web-reports and pictures taken from off the internet along with handwritten notes and maps with ink circles on them. I noticed she turned to one page that read 'Conner Kent/ Superboy'. She grabbed some sticky notes and a pen, then circled areas on the map of Metropolis and added a note that said: Conner craters What is he doing? She placed the new note among the rest and stared flipping through the pages when the door opened.
"Hey! I'm back!"
Wally West, now looking like a full grown young man, walked into the apartment, took off his coat and shoes then sat beside Artmeis on the couch and kissed her cheek. About time these two got together.
Artemis glanced at Wally, "Hey." Then returned to flipping pages. The poor kid looked a little shot down until he noticed the book.
"Anything new?"
"Conner's still in Metropolis but it just keeps getting weirder."
"Any word from M'gann?"
"None in the past three days. I was hoping she would at least call and update us on what she and Conner have been up to." She sounded so upset. I got the message that Conner and M'gann had hooked up and were probably somewhere in Metropolis. At least the some of the kids were still together.
Wally put his arm around my apprentice, "I'm sure they're fine. Conners not stupid and M'gann's got her magic way of calming him. Plus Wolf and Sphere are with them so they got a nice little family to keep them occupied."
"At least we know two of our friends are still okay." Artemis sounded so tired, like she was pushing her limit by just breathing. Wally noticed and pulled her into a hug. Thank god he knew when a girl needed to be comforted.
He kissed the top of her forehead, "I'm sure Kaldur and Dick are fine. Kal is probably somewhere in the Pacific doing what he does best, beating the snot out of some bad fish and fending off swooning mermaids." Artemis actually laughed. I never realized how long it felt since I had heard that. "And Dick is... Well ummm..."
I did not like the way he said that.
"Wally we haven't seen him in two years. How do we even know he's still alive?"
"Hey, he's Robin remember?"
"I only remember Gotham being practically torn in two until the League did something. We never saw him again after that." She eyed the last page in the scrap book. It was a group photo of the Team.
"Don't talk like that. If anyone could get out of that it's-"
Artemis suddenly pushed herself out of Wally's arm, "It's what Wally? It's ridiculous that I could think Robin the boy wonder might be dead? You saw the Manor yourself. There's nothing left! Over two million people died that night and we haven't seen Dick since! Do you remember what the League told us? After we all searched the city for days and found nothing. The League, the goddamn Justice League told us that we should accept it! That Dick was dead and never coming back." The girl was in tears now, falling into Wally's open arms as she broke down and cried freely into his chest.
I saw Wally's tears too. I didn't blame them. If Robin was dead, what happened to Batman? What had happened to Gotham? The fatherly part of me wanted to hold them both, tell them that just yesterday I was watching them train as a team with everyone still there, still alive.
Artemis sniffed, "It's been two years now hasn't it?"
Wally nodded, "Still feels like yesterday, doesn't it?"
"We should call M'gann and Conner. Try Kaldur too and meet up."
"I thought you said it was stupid to go visit an empty grave?"
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't. Disrespectful, right?"
He nodded, "That's what Barry always told me."
I noticed Artemis stiffen. She pulled herself from Wally's chest, "Where do you think they are now?"
"I have no idea. It's been almost three years, if they wanted to come back they would have by now."
"If they even want to come back."
"Arty I don't think that's fair."
"Fair? Wally they vanished. Not like the sixteen hour thing but for three years they have been gone. Three years since we last saw them. Do you remember how the rest of the League reacted? We lost six of the JL's powerhouses, we lost the goddamn Batman, the Leagues leader, we lost Superman. We lost the most powerful person on the planet! We lost all our mentors in one day! Not like in the failsafe, not like when we watched he whole League go down... I miss them. I miss Oliver and Barry, Clark, J'onn, Orin. Even Bruce. I want them to be here."
"Me too."
Was my hearing finally going or did Arty say that we; Barry, Clark, Bruce, Orin and J'onn and I, have all gone missing for the past three years? That would explain why the kids looked older, but I had just seen Artemis, sixteen year old Artemis, only an hour ago! In the Cave! At Happy Harbor! What the hell!? The two youngsters disappeared in a cloud of smoke, replaced by an image of Roy in yet another apartment.
Roy defiantly looked older, tired and his hair was a bit longer with a five o'clock shadow. He sat on a couch with a black haired woman, Cheshire to my surprise, next to him. The scene was so much like the one with Wally and Artemis it scared me, but I was pretty sure that Wally hadn't been holding a baby in his arms.
"So are you going to go?" Jade asked him.
Roy looked at the baby in his arms, then at Jade. "Everyone else will be going. It still doesn't feel right though."
"Roy I know it's hard, but if you don't go like you did the first time, you're just going to regret it later."
"You don't know anything about this." he hissed but Jade held her ground.
"He was your friend and now he's dead. If you don't go visit the grave with the rest then you are disrespecting that friendship. You owe it to him to at least visit."
"I don't owe anyone anything. And he's not dead."
"No body and the evidence being half of Gotham being destroyed rules out most chances of survival."
"You weren't there."
"Neither were you. I'm looking at this from a logical perspective. Roy you are already pushing yourself to find Speedy. Please don't lose yourself to every rumor you hear."
"I don't need an assassins advice."
Yeesh. These two argued like an old couple.
"I'm not advising you as an assassin. I'm speaking as your wife." That explains so much. "And I'm telling you as your wife to get off your lazy ass and call Wally and Kaldur. I already called Artemis and they're going. That means we are going too."
Jade took the baby and stormed off into the bedroom. She reminded me of Dinah with that attitude. Maybe that was a good thing. I focused on Roy. My first protegé, sidekick, partner, son. Apparently my disappearance had actually taken a toll on him. I hated seeing Roy like this. After finding out that he was a Cadmus clone, I had tried everything to get him to open up to me. Nothing worked and I started to think that he would never get over it. Maybe that's where Jade came in. Hopefully the girl had knocked some sence into him. Roy sighed and picked up the nearest phone, walking right next to me. I just wanted to scream at him and tell him I was here for him, give him a hug and tell him I was always there for him, like I used to when he was still Speedy.
Roy put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Kaldur. Yeah it's me. Long time no talk, huh? Yeah I know. Jades been talking to me about it. I'm going to go and meet the others. You in? Seriously?" Was it me or did Roy just laugh? "Wally and Artemis are going at six. No I'm not bringing Jade or Lian. Yeah, sure. Okay. See ya there."
Jade came up from behind him and hugged him around the waist. "I'm sure Dick would be happy that the whole family is going this time."
"So are you going to come or not?"
"Is this a request or are you too embarrassed to introduce me to your friends?"
"You said the whole family. You're my family and I doubt Dick would mind."
She smiled and my heart melted as they shared a small kiss. I was happy for Roy. He deserved a little bit of love in his life. I wanted to see more, truth be told, but the scene was eloped by mist and everything went white.
I felt something hit my head and my eyes shot open.
"Gah!" I yelled bolting up from the floor. Wait. Floor? I looked around. I was on the floor of a metal room, possibly a bunker by it's size and the air was stale. A single door lead to another room but I didn't go in. Instead my eyes focused on the five other grown men in tights spread out of the floor around me, unconscious. Batman, Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman.
All the missing mentors here and accounted for and I was the first to wake up.
What happened to us?
TADA! Okay you can leave reviews now. I hope you liked it because instead of doing important homework that could effect my education I decided to write this instead so please appreciate that. You're welcome. I will update again, though possibly not for a while since schools getting busy!
I will also try to update my other YJ story, High School Sucks, but please be patient.
BYEBYE!