Wow, this update came in fast! I realize now that this might have been better to put as a crossover between Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited, but whatever. As of now, I'm on vacation, taking a break from the stresses of everyday life. I'm glad that I've been able to get so much of this done so far and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. So read, review, message, do whatever, but please enjoy!
To answer some of the reviews so far, I'm glad y'all are getting a kick out of this story. While the premise of Young Justice was definitely intriguing for me and enough to build a story around, I'm taking a slightly different approach. Don't be surprised to see a few cameos, too!
Disclaimer: Do I need to put this every chapter? I do? Fine...I don't own any of the characters created by DC comics, thankfully, because I can't draw comics to save my life.
Beast Boy followed closely behind Batman, the Dark Knight's cape swishing slightly at his heels. The changeling was having trouble grasping what was before him. Sure, he knew a few members of the Justice League to a certain extent, it was bound to happen being a superhero. Of course, he had also seen plenty of pictures of the watchtower. Multiple members of the League were very active on their social media sites and tended to post photos of the various events they held in their command station. However, it was one thing to see pictures and meet other heroes, it was another to be there and be among them. Beast Boy managed to shake himself out of his stupor as Batman started talking, never turning back or breaking stride.
"You'll get to know all the members of the League during your week here. You're expected to at the very least be familiar with all their powers, strengths, and weaknesses, as you will have input on who is on the team in the various regions you will go. Do you think you can handle that?"
The changeling almost chuckled to himself before he realized he was standing in front of the one person who couldn't take a joke. He gulped, but couldn't keep a smile down as he thought back to the many nights he had read up on all the League members instead of sleeping, even before he had acquired his powers. He nodded his head before realizing that the Dark Knight was still facing forward, escorting him out of the main room and into the hall.
"Sure, no sweat." The imposing man in front of him grunted in acknowledgement. Batman gestured toward the suitcase the changeling was carrying.
"Here, allow me." Beast Boy handed over the suitcase to the Dark Knight, who signaled a man passing by on the other side of the hallway. He wore a button up blue shirt, jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat. A red bandana covered his nose and mouth. "Would you mind taking Beast Boy's bag, Vigilante? You know where to put it." The man called Vigilante nodded.
"Sure thing." He looked over to the changeling. "Hope you enjoy your time here, fella." With that, he walked away, as Beast Boy and Batman continued in the opposite direction. The green teen had so many questions bouncing around in his head didn't know what to do with them. He mentally plucked the first one that he thought of out of the many and decided to ask it.
"So, what's the whole thing about 'zeta-beams' that Robin mentioned before I found myself up here?"
"A zeta-beam, when exposed to certain parameters of radioactivity, becomes capable of teleporting people and objects across large distances. We didn't actually know too much about it until we met Adam Strange, who was transported over trillions of miles from Earth to a planet called Rann, where he eventually became a hero. He isn't officially a part of the league; however, we have worked with him before. All of our teleportation technology is actually based on the principles of zeta-beams, however we managed to work in some of the basics of a Mother Box, that we had received blueprints regarding from New Genesis, to overcome some of the flaws with it, such as the fact that when zeta-beam radiation wears off, the person or object returns from where it is beamed."
He looked over his shoulder to see that Beast Boy had come to a complete stop in the hallway, a blank expression on his face. Batman sighed.
"You'll learn. Come on." The Dark Knight continued forward, the changeling jogging to catch up. He finally managed to reach the man's side and looked up at him to observe his face. It was strong, chiseled, and stoic. He absently wondered what his upbringing must have been like before his lack of attention span got the best of him and he opened his mouth.
"Who exactly will I be working with?"
"You'll have the entire roster of the Justice League to choose from, as well as for the Titans. We do recommend that you pick those from the region being investigated with the appropriate skills for each mission."
Beast Boy nodded, but inside something was nagging at him. The odor coming off the Dark Knight was eerily familiar. It took him a second to place it, before he realized that Robin had a similar scent. However, it wasn't his natural body odor; it smelled more like the cologne that Robin had recently started wearing. Piece by piece, the small bits of information he was collecting started forming a picture, until two words tumbled off his lips quietly, unable to be held back.
"Bruce Wayne?"
Batman's normal apathetic demeanor broke almost immediately, though there was no one else around who could have heard it. The Dark Knight swiveled on his heel rapidly, turning to look down and stare the changeling in the eye. There was nothing but pure ice in his voice as he spoke.
"What?"
It took all Beast Boy had to keep himself from squealing like a pig. He instantly put on an innocent façade, hands behind his back, smiling widely. Though it had always worked to keep Raven from hammering into a pulp, it didn't look like it had the same effect on the hero of Gotham. They stood silent and staring at each other before the changeling finally cracked and started babbling at an almost incoherent speed.
"Sorry, I won't tell anyone! I mean, if that's who you actually are, which would of course be a total surprise because you're nothing like him at all! I don't use my brain too much so it's more than likely I'll forget this whole thing! What were we talking about?" His voice climbed to a higher pitch during the rant, finishing off with an almost imperceptible squeak. Batman resisted the urge to slap the palm of his hand against his forehead and instead asked the first question that came to mind.
"How?"
Beast Boy sighed. He wasn't good with explanations, that much was certain. He recalled the time he tried to explain Silkie's presence in the tower, remembering the Tamaranean's blank expression when he was through. He swallowed down all the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth before beginning.
"It's the cologne." Beast Boy's enhanced senses barely picked up on Batman raising his eyebrow behind his cowl. He was clearly looking for something more in-depth. Beast Boy continued.
"About three months ago, Starfire was gushing about some fancy new cologne she read about in one of those teen magazines she gets. Since Robin had started dating her fairly recently…"
"What?" There was that word again. The changeling never knew that single word could sound so threatening. He gulped.
"You didn't know?" The fact that the Dark Knight was completely silent with his lips pressed firmly together answered his question. This was the World's Greatest Detective? He decided to continue.
"Anyway, she practically has him wrapped around her little finger, so he went to see how much it cost. Turns out that one of the ingredients to it was a rare oil from the Earth's crust, making it incredibly expensive. Robin was going on about how only ten people in the world could afford it and he listed them off. When I was involved with a prank war between me, him, and Cyborg, don't ask, I managed to sneak into his room and saw it on his nightstand. I put two and two together for once and noticed that the new smell that had mixed in with his normal musk was the cologne. There was no way he could have afforded it, which means that someone close to him had to pay for it. He doesn't really have any friends besides us, which left only one person…you. You just happened to match the image of Bruce Wayne better than the other nine." Beast Boy finished his spiel with a loud inhale.
Judging by the way Batman's mouth was slightly open, he was impressed by the changeling's cognitive skills. Even Beast Boy was at a loss for words at this point. The Dark Knight finally composed himself and sighed.
"I can't believe I couldn't figure out Robin had a girlfriend. It seems so obvious now…" Meanwhile, the green teen had planted a finger on his chin, clearly thinking about something.
"Wait, if you're…him, does that mean that Robin is Rich-"
"Yes…don't tell anyone…"
"My lips are sealed." Beast Boy mimed zipping his mouth close only to face Batman's death glare, as he was clearly not amused.
"…moving on." The World's Greatest Detective once again faced forward and trudged along, the changeling keeping pace beside him. The only sound between the two of them was of their feet tapping against the metal floor. Finally, Beast Boy couldn't take it anymore.
"Where are we going anyway?" Batman answered him without bothering to look over his shoulder.
"The mess hall."
"Huh?"
"I thought you would be hungry, plus a lot of league members spend their downtime there."
"Oh."
A few minutes later they arrived at the entrance, doors sliding open to greet them. The Dark Knight gestured to several counters filled with food.
"We have cuisine from every part of the globe. Western, eastern, you name it, we have it."
"Whoa…" The changeling's eyes skimmed the palette before coming to rest on a dish he never thought he'd see again. He rushed over to the counter, Batman scrutinizing his overly energetic behavior.
"What is it?"
"It's just, the last time I've eaten this was when my parent's made it, before…" Beast Boy's joy quickly dissipated as he became downcast and started staring at the floor in an effort to hold the tears back. Batman, though not usually one for gestures of affection or even comradery, decided to break his façade for a moment and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder. The changeling looked up to meet his eyes.
"I read your file. I'm sorry." Beast Boy sniffled for a moment before finally managing to recover.
"Nah, it's fine, it's in the past now. Besides, if that hadn't happened, I might not be here now. I know where they are, and I'll see them again eventually." Batman allowed his lips to turn upward slightly.
"I know what you mean." They were frozen there for a moment before the changeling felt a forceful breeze race by him and a presence to his right. A hand suddenly manifested itself atop his head.
"Hey squirt, how's it going?"
"Flash!"
"Heard you were heading up a new team or something; you enjoying all the watchtower has to offer?"
"Uh…" Beast Boy was caught off guard. There were very few people that could match his energy or lack of concentration, and the Flash seemed to have exceeded him in both. Luckily, Bruce knew just how to handle the speedster. It got to the point where his low voice easily grabbed the attention of the Fastest Man Alive.
"I'm currently giving him the tour, this was our first stop. Also, the team is on a need-to-know basis, got it?" The Flash dignified the Dark Knight's response with a salute.
"Right, sorry." He turned to the changeling and shook his hand vigorously. "Hope you like your quarters; if you need anything, let me know." The speedster punctuated the sentence by jabbing his thumb at himself before taking off, leaving a red blur in his wake. Beast Boy's eyes were wide open, staring after the jokester of the Justice League.
"Wow…"
"Meh."
The changeling jerked his head to his left, where the Dark Knight stood, looking less than amused. Batman looked at the green teen before continuing.
"You might want to grab that to go." He gestured toward the plate Beast Boy still held in his hand. "I have plenty more to show you." The changeling shrugged.
"I wasn't that hungry, anyway." He set the dish down where he had found it, vowing to return for it later. He quickly returned to Batman, mulling over all the Flash had said in his head. A couple questions came to mind and he decided that now was the best time to ask them.
"You said the team was on a need-to-know basis?" They had started down the hallway again, Beast Boy walking alongside Batman. The Dark Knight nodded his head. Beast Boy decided continue, hoping that the answer to his next question was no.
"This isn't some sort of Task Force X thing, is it?" Batman sighed.
"Robin told me not to underestimate you; I should have listened."
"You don't mean?"
"No. Not exactly, anyways. Any country you visit on a mission will be given full notice of your arrival and business. People we trust that hold high positions in the government will be notified, and you will need to have their approval before you start any sort of reconnaissance work. That being said, you're going to investigate disturbances that may be linked to a network of criminal activity. We can't intervene until we have proof of that. Don't expect backup or a rescue team." Beast Boy gulped. He had the feeling that he was in a bit over his head. Still, if the League had asked for him specifically, there must have been a reason.
"This is gonna be life-threatening, isn't it?"
"Possibly, but we wouldn't have asked you if we didn't think you could handle it. This is your last chance to back out though, so I would suggest you think long and hard about whether you want to do this." They stopped in the middle of the hallway for a moment, the changeling looking down at the ground. After mulling the decision over, he looked back up at the Dark Knight, a resolve that was rarely seen in him sparked in his eye.
"I'm in it for the long haul."
"Good." They took a few more steps down the hall before Beast Boy broke the silence yet again.
"Robin really said you shouldn't underestimate me?" If the changeling didn't know any better, he would say he heard amusement in Batman's voice.
"Yes. I'll admit, when we started throwing around names about who should lead this team, yours popped up mainly due to versatility in combat. Once we started talking to Robin though, he mentioned how you managed to successfully coordinate a ragtag team into taking on the Brotherhood in a minimal amount of time. We decided to look into it and, I have to say, I was impressed."
"Wow…" Batman let out a rarely ever heard chuckle, one that the changeling strained to hear even with his enhanced senses.
"There was a reason we voted unanimously on having you lead." The Dark Knight ended up taking him around to several other locations around the watchtower. In the lab he got to talk with the Atom, who apparently had been busy fighting some sort of subatomic creature before they arrived. They also visited the med bay, which was far more extensive than anything they had in the tower. The few heroes that were in this area seemed to be doing well of, as for the most part none of them actually worked shifts there. Instead, the League had hired multiple medical professionals with varying areas of expertise who all passed a series of elaborate background checks. Strangely enough, most of them seemed to recognize Beast Boy, calling out his name in greeting as he passed by, or smiling and waving whenever he made eye contact with one of them. Then again, how hard was it to recognize a green-skinned, pointy-eared teenager? Still, it piqued his curiosity, so he decided to ask his tour guide about it.
"They knew you were coming."
"Wow, gossip sure travels fast."
"They were all pretty excited that you were showing up here."
"They were?"
"Yes, remember, the majority of them were up here when Trigon showed up. They were, of course, completely safe, as his power only petrified those who were residing planetside when he arrived. Communications were still up, so while they were unable to help, they were able to observe your fight against him via our surveillance cameras we have set up around the world. They are fully aware of your part in the battle, as well as leading the charge against the Brotherhood."
"So, I'm some sort of celebrity?"
"In a way. They work with us every day. They've never had the chance to meet you." Beast Boy grunted in acknowledgement. As they were walking, a blond woman made eye contact with him and giggled. He dropped back a little to escape Batman's line of vision and started to make his way over to her, about to turn on the Beast Boy charm.
"No flirting." The Dark Knight's voice rang loudly through the corridor, so that everyone heard him clearly. Beast Boy sighed, then slowly trudged back toward the hero of Gotham. He looked back over his shoulder as he caught up to see that the woman's face had appeared downcast. She looked up at him again and mouthed a single word that he barely managed to hear.
"Later…" Scratching his head, Beast Boy turned back to the Dark Knight and continued beside him down the hall. Their next stop was apparently the reactor core, which supplied energy to the whole station. Steel gave them a rundown of how it worked when they arrived, which Beast Boy tuned out of just a few seconds later. Batman, being the detective that he was, easily noticed that the changeling was not entertained and quickly ushered him to the next area when Steel was done. They finally ended up back where they had started, except now they were on the observation deck, overlooking the teleporter pad. Beast Boy saw a man in front of him sitting in front of several screens. There appeared to be several orbs floating around him. He swiveled around in his seat to face the two of them. Batman gestured toward the man.
"Beast Boy, meet Mister Terrific." The man grabbed his hand and shook it firmly.
"It truly is a pleasure to meet you, Beast Boy. I've heard a lot about you and have seen you in action. It will be fun working alongside someone new." The changeling was looking up into his red eyes, and couldn't ignore the big T plastered on his face. He looked mostly normal, save for those two features. Then again, who was he to judge appearances? He returned the handshake with an equal amount of gusto.
"Mister Terrific, huh? I actually haven't heard of you before." Batman began to explain to the changeling.
"He manages the personnel that we send on missions, and as such is familiar with the entire roster of the Justice League. He also has a high level intelligence. I suggest you become familiar with him throughout the week. You can gain a lot of insight from him." Beast Boy smiled.
"Will do!" With that, they turned and walked off. Beast Boy was curious to see where they were going next. They had already visited pretty much everywhere in the watchtower. Still one thing was nagging at his mind though.
"Batman?" He acknowledged him with a grunt. "What was Flash talking about when he said that he hoped I liked my quarters? I, mean, it's not like I have a room up here."
"Actually, you do."
"What?"
"We have multiple guest rooms for those who don't reside in the tower in case of emergencies. Whether one of our members is being specifically targeted by a villain, or a small city is destroyed by a natural disaster, we have enough space to house them if we make a few small modifications. We simply converted one of the guest rooms to be yours."
With that, they stepped in front of a room labelled 'Beast Boy'. It appeared to be stuck on in a temporary manner; still, the thought of the Justice League putting some actual effort into welcoming him was heartwarming. Even Batman, though not kind by any stretch of the word, still attempted to be hospitable to him. It was incredible.
The door slid open to reveal a room twice the size of the one he had back at the tower. The majority of the furniture was stainless steel and sparkled as if it were brand new. Beast Boy spotted his suitcase in the corner and briefly wondered how many of the members knew where his room was. He walked over to the mattress in the center of the room against the back wall and pressed his hand against it. It gave for the most part, but was still a bit firm, obviously made of memory foam. On the wall to the right of the headboard and above one of two nightstands adjacent to the bed there was a thermostat. All-in-all, the room was sparsely furnished, leaving plenty of room to accessorize. The sound of a cough coming from behind him brought him back to reality.
"I trust everything is to your liking."
"Yeah, I mean, yes, this is incredible!"
"Good, did you want to get settled before I take you to our final stop?" Beast Boy chuckled to himself, fully realizing that his version of getting settled in was strewing his multiple items of clothing across the bedroom floor. Still, he had thought this would be the last stop on his little tour.
"Nah, I'm good, though I am curious, where are we going?"
"Training room, we're going to meet your partner."
"Partner?" They exited the room and started walking down the hall.
"Yes, while you will assume the full leadership responsibilities of this team, we figured it would be best if we had an unchanging aspect of it, in this case, a League member with a great depth of experience and wisdom."
"So, like a teacher?"
"And counselor." They finally arrived at the training room doors as they slid open. Batman gestured inside.
"Beast Boy, meet your mentor."