A Batman Beyond Fic

Batman's Crush Part 2

By: Malaizjan De Jesus

Three weeks later…

Watchtower was a party.

Literally, a party.

The original team and their children were celebrating Molly's 11th birthday. She already had a small one with a few of her school friends and Luna and Andrew, but this one was including the team and her family.

Molly wore a pale pink frilly and lacy dress with white leggings, black ballet-looking boots and her strawberry blonde hair was pulled into her signature pigtails with white lace ribbons.

Luna, her best friend, wore a yellow tank top and a white lacy prairie skirt with small white slippers. Her long reddish hair was held back by a yellow flower headband.

Andrew, Molly's other best friend, wore well-fitting jeans with a button down tee; his wings were restrained. His black hair had been recently cut short for the party.

Ms. X and Serenity used their powers and magic to decorate. It still looked like the Watchtower but now it looked like Molly and Luna had gotten ahold of pink and white streamers and balloons and curtains and draped the stuff everywhere.

The original Batman would have a stroke if he saw his precious Watchtower now.

Tigress helped with the food. Nightwing took the team off of active duty so the JLU were on their own.

In Gotham, Areina and Terry took care in their appearance. Terry had his hair trimmed and he wore black jeans and a collared shirt. He got a gift for Molly. Areina had to pick it out for him though. He still didn't know how to get Molly to stop crushing on him. He thought bribing her would help but Areina threatened to fry him if he did such a thing. And it didn't help that he got her a charm bracelet also with the other gift. He knew she loved jewelry.

Areina had her hair pulled up into a ponytail with a pale yellow v-neck tee and red jean pants. She was pulling on her ankle boots and pulled a leather jacket on before grabbing her own present, which was a pot of spaghetti. It was her father's recipe. How Bruce managed to get his hands on it, she had no idea. But Areina was happy that he did.

She hoped she did it right.

Terry made sure Ace had food and water before the young adults headed for the Batcave.

"Are you sure you won't come?" Areina asked Bruce.

"No. You two have fun."

Terry merely shook his head at his mentor's ways. He reached up to his ear and touched the comm there. "We're ready."

The boom tube appeared.

"Brian! Stop teasing Luna!" Wally yelled at his 16 year old son.

"Wally, Luna can handle herself," Conner told his former teammate. Superboy had aged well. There was one single wrinkle under one eye; otherwise he had not truly aged. Lucky cloned Kryptonian.

Wally didn't either. At his old age, he was the active Flash and was still going strong. His ginger-colored hair was showing the slightest signs of gray, but there were only a few pieces, so it wasn't really noticeable. Lucky speedster.

And Luna could handle herself. She held out her hand, her eyes going red.

Brian cried out as he was suddenly lifted off the floor and into the air. "Luna, put me down!"

Conner stood there, punch bowl in hand, shocked that his daughter was able to do that without any straining. "Luna…" he warned gently.

"Okay dad." Luna let Brian go, her eyes going back to normal.

"OW!" Brian fell on his butt and he got up slowly, rubbing it. "That's not fair, Luna!"

"Then leave me alone," the Krytonian/ Martian hybrid warned.

Conner chuckled. He put the punch bowl down and smiled. 'M'gann?'

'Conner? Is something wrong?' the Martian asked mentally.

'Luna is ready to be trained. She can do more than change her skin color.' There was pride in Conner's voice.

'Okay. We'll start tomorrow.' M'gann was gone from his mind.

Conner couldn't believe his luck. He had a wife that kept him on his toes, despite that little issue with her powers decades ago. He had a family, his teammates, the original members of the team. Thanks to Dick, they all lived on his piece of land on the outskirts of Bludhaven. It was his city and it wasn't that he had planned on the original members of the team to move there with him eventually, but they did. He and M'gann had their own home next to Dick's. It was more than big enough for them and their 2 kids. He loved his family. And even though he was still called Superboy, he was by no means, a boy. He was retired, like most of the team was. But there were missions that called upon his abilities, and if Clark wasn't available of course. But Conner didn't mind at all. He got to go home to his family every night. That was what was important to him now.

Tigress walked into the main room, carrying a tray of chips. She smiled at Wally and Flash smiled back. The retired archer put the tray down on the buffet table and Wally was next to her instantly. "Wally…your son," she warned softly.

"Brian and Vincent will find out anyway." Flash pulled Tigress into his arms. "Might as well let everyone in on the news."

Vincent walked into the room with the plastic cups. He looked over at his mom and eyed her oddly. He didn't like the way Flash was holding her.

Tigress pulled away from Flash, smiling meekly at her son.

Archeron put the cups down on the buffet table, grabbed Brian by the shoulders and left the room. He believed he finally caught their parents.

"Welcome Batman C-12, Red Bird C-11." The computer announced as the two New Gotham heroes arrived on Watchtower.

Dick was waiting for them. "Areina, Terry." The first Batman protégé waited for them to get to the door before locking down the teleporter. "This party might be a bit quiet. Meygan won't be here."

"Why, Uncle Dick?" Areina asked.

"She's training with Raven," Dick told his niece. "But the rest of the team is here."

"You said I could meet the original protégés," Terry brought up.

"Yeah. They are. They're ready for your questions. I warned them ahead of time." Dick led the over to the party area.

Orin was entertaining everyone with his water sorcery. He heard the younger kids cheering, including Billy's other best friend, Virgil Jr. Static was letting his only son come to Molly's party, and he made a decision in regards to his son, who was a meta like him. Static and Gear were talking off to one side, talking as if things hadn't been strained with them.

Wally was leaning up against the wall, Artemis next to him. They were holding hands.

Kaldur smiled proudly as he watched his son. After the fiasco of his young adult years, he was happy that his own son had been accepted into his new family. Even though he had saved the world, most of Atlantis thought him traitor and still did to this day. Kaldur still could not return to Atlantis. He was still in exile. The only reason Orin was able to go was because Queen Mera hid the new Aqualad's identity, so he could learn. However, things were getting harder to hide over the past year, even with the dyed hair. So Orin left, showing his dad what he learned and Kaldur picked some of it up. But Kaldur longed for Atlantis.

The team became their family, gave him a new home, a new life. The cloned Roy and him strengthened their friendship and it stayed that way until his untimely death.

Kaldur missed Roy. So did Wally and Dick, even after all these years.

The Atlantean chose to honor his best friend by looking after his son. And now it was confirmed that Roy had a son and daughter. It felt right for Kaldur to look after his best friend's children.

Serenity and Dick were in a corner, snuggled against each other, watching the party. Orin had learned so much in his 9 years at the Conservatory of Magic. Hiding his true parentage had been the smart thing to do.

Orin then created a water dragon but it was so detailed that it looked alive.

Molly giggled happily.

Terry and Areina entered the room with Dick.

"TERRY!" Molly cried. She got up and ran over to the young Batman and hugged him tightly.

"Umf!" Terry got the air knocked out of him as he was pushed back.

Areina laughed.

Andrew glared Terry down. The quarter Thanagarian was ready to rip Terry's limbs off.

The other members of the team grinned at the scene.

"Hi Molly," Terry managed to get out.

"Terry, you got me presents!" Molly let go of him, blushing. "You didn't have to."

"Awwwww," said Wally, Orin, Kevin, Luna and Mathen.

Now it was Terry's turn to blush. "Stop that!" he cried.

Meanwhile, in Pewter City…

Rave ducked as Red Hood threw his grappling hook at her. It was lodged in a wall behind her.

He yanked it out.

The wall came crashing down.

Meygan cartwheeled out of the way and caught the foot of an incoming kick. She pushed Red Hood back with his leg. She backed up as Red Hood got his bearings. "Just give it back."

"Or what? Little girl, you're not ready to play with the big boys." That was when he pulled out his gun and fired it.

Meygan was able to narrowly dodge the rapid fire of the bullets…until one tore through her upper arm. She reeled back.

Red Hood snapped kicked her in the face and Meygan's world faded to black.

Back at the party…

Wally was regaling Terry with a prank he and Dick pulled on Bruce. The Batmobile was painted pink with yellow polka dots.

Terry laughed to the point of tears. Even in his prime, everyone thought he was too rigid. So teasing Bruce was so going to the top of the list.

"Reiena was our 'supervisor' when we had to repaint the car," Wally finished. "I got a few fireballs for slacking off."

Hearing his twin's name bought a sadness to Dick's eyes.

Terry sympathized with the older Nightwing. "Areina turned out fine," he offered.

"She did," Dick agreed. Areina was talking to Orin off in a corner. "Kaldur…?"

"Dick, I do not think you have to worry. But if you wish, I will talk to my son later."

Meanwhile, Vincent and Brian were in one of the balconies overlooking the main room where the party was in full swing. Both boys had buckets filled with stuff. A bucket of melted taffy was next to Brian as a bucket full of feathers was next to Vincent.

"This is great!" Brian whispered. "This should teach our parents a lesson about dating in secret."

"I just can't believe that after all these years, they got back together," Vincent said softly.

"The only good thing about it is that we're gonna be bros." Brian grinned. Long before Billy came along, Vincent had been the youngest. He had been everyone's little brother. Brian was only 2 at the time, Meygan only 1. They both were thrilled with the new baby but Brian mistakenly thought Vincent was really his brother. He had to be corrected later.

Not anymore. Vincent and him were brothers for real.

"On my mark…" said Brian.

"M'gann and I have an announcement," Conner said as he walked over to his wife. He wrapped his arms around her waist. His only regret was that his brother Clark wasn't here to hear it.

Serenity leaned against Dick.

The kids and young adults of the team gathered around them.

M'gann giggled. "I had this fancy speech but Conner's too impatient for it. So here it is… we're having another child."

Artemis and Serenity rushed M'gann, cheering for her good news while the guys congratulated Conner.

"Luna, you're going to be a big sister!" cried Molly. She hugged her best friend.

"Kevin, looks like you win in the sibs department. Congrats," Orin teased.

"So I have two younger sibs like Mathen. So what?" Kevin threw out.

M'gann smiled as Areina hugged her. Seeing her reminded the female Martian of Reiena. A wave of sorrow hit her. She missed Flamebird. "It's good to finally see you, Areina."

"I know my mom would be happy for you, M'gann," Areina told her.

Terry walked over to the pregnant Martian. "Could I touch your stomach? I mean, I read that babies move-"Terry stammered.

M'gann took the new Batman's hand and put it on the slight bulge. "You asked."

Terry felt the baby move against his hand and he pulled away. "Wow. Thanks. It's moving around."

"So…when are you and Dana having kids?" Areina teased.

Terry waved his hands in front of him, exclaiming, "No kids! I don't want any!"

Everyone laughed at his response.

Molly took his hand just then and smiled up at him.

Terry groaned. Why him?

Airhawk was livid. He watched how Molly was reacting to the new Batman and he hated it. He liked Molly. She was smart and mature for her age. She was funny too. And here was Terry, taking her from him. Andrew wanted to take on the new Dark Knight. That was the only way for him to win Molly at this point…

"Well, we have one too," said Wally. He and Artemis walked over to the entry way, the one where Vincent and Brian were hiding above. Wally backed into that hall. Just in case he got blasted by his old teammates. "So…since our sons are hiding somewhere, we'll just say it. Artemis gave me a second chance. We're dating again."

There was a deafening silence. The adults were shocked.

Kaldur was the one to break that silence. "Artemis I am happy for you."

The retired archer grinned.

"That's great!" Areina ran over to them. It meant that her younger brother would have a brother and dad now. She had noticed the shared looks and small pecks on the lips.

"NOW!" cried Brian, tipping over the taffy as Vincent dumped the feathers.

Artemis and Areina got the taffy but the archer had backed out and Areina got the feathers. She looked like a sick chicken losing its feathers.

The boys were laughing, not realizing that their targets didn't get their prank.

There was a collective gasp.