Title: We Meet Again
Author: Takebuo Ishimatsu
Pairing(s): None?
Summary: Young Justice is accidentally transported to another dimension in which their mentors have no idea who they are. Things get complicated. Fast.
Disclaimer: Ido not own Young Justice.
AN: 4,500+ words of...nothing truly plot-advancing. T-T
Barry's eyes widened behind his mask, appearing larger than a full moon on the horizon.
"Wow, Kid Flash, just...wow!" The other leaned back a little, as if physically blown away by the information, causing KF to frown uncertainly.
Wally figured it'd be just his luck to finally arrive in a universe in which his fellow speedster wasn't some crazy Australian criminal, or dead, only to receive a Superman-meets-Superboy reaction.
He didn't have much time to worry about what he'd do if that was the case, since the older hero was suddenly attempting to squeeze him to death, actually picking the redhead up off the floor in his over-enthusiastic bear hug.
"This is so cool!" Barry exclaimed, and Wally felt he was only just restraining himself from jumping up and down with him. Which, actually, wouldn't have been too horrible. Wally was hardly one to discourage overenthusiastic expressions of love and friendship.
However...
"Uncle B...can't...breath..." Kid Flash wheezed as best he could while Barry appeared to be trying to weld the two together by sheer force alone.
"Oh, sorry kid," Barry apologized, though his proud smile belied his words. He didn't look very sorry at all as he gently smoothed out the other's costume and ruffled his hair.
Kid Flash gave the older hero a content smile, almost child-like in its relief, as if he was a little one that had just been reunited with his mother after losing her in a store. Barry resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks at the look, even though he was fairly certain he could get away with it. That was what uncles did, after all. Right?
"Give the poor kid some breathing room, Flash," John said, the amusement clear in his voice.
"Hey now, it's not every day you find out you have unknown family nearby," Barry huffed, shaking his finger at the Lantern.
John rolled his eyes in response, muttering that the kid was just a long-lost nephew. Not like he was his son or anything. As far as he was concerned, Batman had way more reason to squeal in joy than Flash did.
Well, that is, if the words "Batman" and "squeal" could ever be in the same sentence without "perp" somewhere in between.
Barry ignored his playful grumbling, instead wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulders and mock whispering, "Don't mind him, KF. He's just jealous that he doesn't have any alternate world relatives-slash-apprentices-slash-fellow speedsters in general."
Wally smiled, gave the other an uncertain look, then smiled again, though it was a little shaky the second time around.
"Um, actually, you could, you know...call me...Wally. If you want," he said awkwardly, fidgeting all the while.
He wanted to believe the other was his uncle, in a unique way, even if the others (ok, mainly just Rob) were up to their ears in paranoia and mistrust. The man had reacted just as he'd imagined his real Uncle B would and had had a gentle, playful air about him ever since he'd realized they were no real threat. The same "aura" his Flash had.
He just hoped he wasn't rushing forward too fast, as odd a thought as that was for him, by allowing the other in to his private life so quickly.
Barry's gaze turned serious as he nodded slowly, realizing where the boy's, Wally's, uneasiness came from. The other was carefully reaching out towards him, hoping he didn't turn out to be a crook or a nutjob like the kids' last mentor encounters. The older speedster was glad he could invoke such trust so soon after they'd met.
It had to mean the other Barry did well by the kid, right?
He smiled at that thought.
Their happy moment of silence, probably the longest time the two had ever been still while conscious, was broken as Miss Martian stepped forward.
"You can call me M'gann, or Megan. Either one's fine," she said, shaking everyone's hand as she re-introduced herself.
"M'gann," J'onn said softly when the girl was in front of him, as if testing the word.
"And that's Kaldur," she said, pointing towards the Atlantian. The boy nodded.
"Nothing from you two?" Hawkgirl asked the two other young heroes.
Superboy looked away quickly, a stubborn, yet almost sad, expression coming to his face.
Clark frowned. "Something the matter?"
"No," Superboy all but growled out, his crossed arms tightening as if he was trying to huddle in on himself without appearing to be doing so.
There was a sudden awkward silence as none of the young heroes seemed willing to meet any of the older crime fighters' gazes, all of them finding the ceiling, the floor, their shoes, Wonder Woman's belt, what-have-you, far more interesting to look at. Clark's frown deepened and he began to wonder just what the other Clark had named the boy to get such a reaction. Or perhaps a recently-lost friend had given him his name?
Clark saddened as he suddenly wondered if his mother or father had named the boy in the other world and one or both were now gone. Poor kid. Poor other-world him too.
Clark quickly shook off the depressing thoughts, telling himself he was starting to sound paranoid like Bruce. Ma and Pa weren't yet that old.
Right?
Finally, just when it appeared that no one was willing to elaborate, M'gann stepped forwards uncertainly, "Um, Superboy doesn't-"
"Want to tell you. Sorry," Superboy interrupted, fading off into a whisper at the last word.
"Yeah, the same goes for me," Robin jumped in quickly, "I mean, can you even comprehend the magnitude of Batman's explosion if he found out I told a bunch of, technically, strangers my secret identity? Even just my first name? The fallout alone would kill hundreds and ruin the lives of thousands more." Though the young hero ended on a smile, they all knew he wasn't entirely joking.
Clark and his fellow Leaguers allowed the not-so-subtle cover for the other Super, realizing there was something deeper there that they weren't yet trusted enough to learn. Instead, Clark shifted his thoughts to what the smallest hero had said, smiling fondly as he did so.
That did sound like Bruce, all right.
Unfortunately, even without their scrutiny, the clone wilted at something the other had said, though he did give Robin a polite nod of thanks for his save.
"That's all right, guys. We didn't know Big, Bad Bats' name until post-Earth emergency. And, truthfully, I still don't call him by it all that often," Barry leaned towards Superboy and put a hand on one side of his mouth, as if hiding his lips from a non-present shadow-lurker, "It's a bit weird thinking of him as, you know, human."
Barry's playfulness seemed to work as Clark's look-alike smiled ever so slightly.
"Dude, I'm still waiting on proof that he is human. As far as I'm concerned, he's a robot. No offense, Stitchy." Wally joked as he sat down next to the Medbot, finally ready to get to work now that all of the drama was out of the way.
"Wally, Robin is standing right next to you," Kaldur tried to rebuke the other just as Diana asked amusedly, "A robot?"
"Yeah, this idiot here has an elaborate theory, complete with empirical evidence, on how Batman's really an android that runs on black coffee," Robin snarked, lowering himself down next to the other. Slowly.
He didn't want any more pain-inducing fast moves like earlier. KF would freak if Dick let on that his hardcore drug cocktail didn't cover every little ache and pain. (Which, in itself, was worrisome, considering what Bruce was known to put in those things. So much for the usefulness of drug resistance.)
Wally'd probably enlist the help of naively overprotective Superboy to lock him in a closet somewhere if he thought "his little Robbie" had an "owie."
Really, Dick should have hit him the first time he'd said something like that. Maybe then he wouldn't have such a problem with his two "big brothers."
Meta jerks. Ganging up on him.
"Dude, what'd you do to this poor thing?" Wally asked, dangling two pieces, which were just barely connected together via a thin red wire.
Dick just shrugged in response. So, he'd had a hard time figuring out the source of the ticking noise the first six times around. So what? He was on serious drugs; he felt he was allowed a little leeway.
"Anyway," Wally continued, apparently realizing he wasn't getting more of an answer, "have you guys seen the amount of caffeine Bats takes in? I'm pretty sure it's lethal to normal people. I mean, I don't think I could even down sixteen cups in one day without adverse side affects."
"So he likes coffee," Robin said with a shrug, before any of the JL could comment on the fact that they were fairly certain Batman was, in fact, human. The "so what" was unspoken by the boy, but heavily implied.
"Understatement ," was all the reply he got from Kid Flash.
"You do realize, he's probably listening to you right now on the other side of the Watchtower?" Robin replied with a smirk, his grin widening as Wally paled slightly.
"I'm just saying..." he mumbled, fiddling nervously with one of Stitchy's arms.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Superman is more than capable of protecting you, should Batman attempt revenge," Diana said with a smirk, playfully pushing the Kryptonian, as if silently saying, "Right, Clark?"
Wally gave the lead superhero a hopeful look, to which Clark responded with a reassuring, "Um..."
Wally wilted.
"Superman," Clark actually jumped a little at the soft growl in his ear.
"Yeah, B?" he responded carefully, noting that Wally was suddenly attempting to hide in the slack of Robin's overly large Flash shirt.
It didn't appear to be going so well.
"Aquaman has arrived." Clark could practically hear the smirk in the other's voice.
He rolled his eyes, guessing that the other Atlantian had probably arrived a few minutes ago, but, knowing Bruce, the Dark Knight had been eavesdropping on them and had waited for the perfect dramatic moment to announce it.
"Confirmed." Nodding towards Aqualad, he added, "Your mentor has just arrived."
"You mean he actually answered his JL signal for once?" John said with a snort.
"It was bound to happen sometime," Hawkgirl responded and the two shared a smile.
Kaldur frowned at the joking, sensing that there was a real annoyance hidden under the smiles. "Does he not usually in this world?"
"He tends to give most of his focus towards his own people," J'onn answered diplomatically before the others could say anything otherwise.
Kaldur nodded slowly as he let the information sink in. Apparently they'd found another difference between the two worlds. Though his own King did prefer to help sea-dwellers first, he was hardly one to ignore his fellow Leaguers when they called.
"If I may see him?"
Superman nodded and motioned for the younger hero to follow him.
"Take him to the lounge area. I'm sending Aquaman over there now," Bruce's voice came over the comlink. Clark sighed, though he wasn't surprised. Of course the other wouldn't want the boy in the transport room. At least not until they were done "sidekick (partner) proofing" it.
"On it. Superman out."
The two quietly made their way to the resting area, the silence comfortable as Clark got the impression the boy wasn't much of a talker and thus he didn't try to force him into a conversation. He already knew he was going to have a hard enough time prying small talk out of Bruce when he and Lois came over for their scheduled interview next week. He had to start reserving his energy early for the confrontation.
That reminded him, he had to call Alfred and make sure the saint of a man had Bruce's favorite cookies ready when they arrived.
Reaching the room, Clark walked in first, not surprised to see the king there already, tapping his foot in annoyance. Just how long had Bruce left him alone before deciding it was time to announce his presence?
Clark's mind began to formulate a theory regarding Batman, a homosexual android, a honeymoon suite, and revenge.
Despite what Arthur had told them all about being very busy with an oil spill and unable to help his comrade right away, Clark was certain Bruce still hadn't forgiven him. Though that might have had something to do with Arthur laughing so hard he'd almost fallen over when he'd finally arrived to "save his innocence." (His words, not Bruce's).
Clark resisted the urge to sigh.
That'd been the exact reason (well, sort of) why he'd not wanted the completely-human hero to take on a super-strengthed robot on his own, regardless of all his little gadgets and tools.
As Kaldur entered in behind him, Clark politely pointed towards each hero, introducing them to each other.
"Arthur, this is Kaldur, also known as Aqualad. Kaldur, I'm certain you've met Arthur before."
The boy looked shell-shocked for a moment, before raising a fist to his forehead in a proper Atlantian greeting.
"My King, it is an honor to meet you."
Aquaman stared at the other for a long moment, pretending not to notice as Superman quietly slipped out the door.
"You look surprised to see me. Were you expecting someone else?" he asked carefully, not entirely certain he trusted the other just yet. Especially not when he looked so much like...
Well, he supposed it was cruel of him to judge the other on appearances alone. He was fairly certain not even Batman went that far.
The boy appeared to be contemplating his answer before nodding slowly, "Actually, I was expecting King Orin. Have you heard of him?"
Arthur actually felt a little bad when he had to shake his head as to the negative. The boy looked so hopeful.
"I'm afraid I have heard of no such man."
"I see," Kaldur said softly, feeling slightly lonely, before an thought came to him. "What of Queen Mera? Or Prince Orm?"
The King's eyes darkened and Kaldur worried that he'd asked something inappropriate, before the other spit out, "My dear brother Orm is a traitor who rightfully got what he deserved."
Kaldur's eyes widened. Orm? A traitor?
That was just...not possible.
The blond's voice softened as he took in the sight of the other, "I see from your expression that perhaps that is not the case in your world. Regardless, it would probably be best if you didn't mention him again." Kaldur nodded. "As for Queen Mera, she still lives happily under the sea with our son."
Arthur smiled proudly, always looking for any excuse to mention his boy, even if he wasn't usually one to speak much with strangers.
Kaldur frowned slightly, "Your history sounds a great deal like my King's. He is brother to Prince Orm, though we have seen no animosity between them. And Queen Mera is currently with King Orin's child."
Arthur nodded, "So, it would appear that in your world, I was never born and instead this...Orin took my place."
Kaldur felt that he could point out that perhaps King Arthur was the one taking Orin's place, but knew it wouldn't be proper to contradict the other.
Instead he replied cooperatively with, "It would appear so, my King."
"Is he a good king?" Arthur asked, not entirely certain how he felt about another man ruling over his people. He had a hard enough time already with meddlesome land-dwellers, let alone another Atlantian as born-ruler.
"The best," Kaldur responded without thinking, before lowering his eyes when he'd realized what he'd said. "Forgive me."
Arthur observed the boy for a moment before wrapping an arm around his shoulders (silently noting how the young hero eyed his hook).
"Tell me more about your Atlantis. And your King. And yourself. And your Mera."
Kaldur smiled. While perhaps not his King, he supposed the other wasn't so bad.
"Yes, my King."
BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY BREAKY
Meanwhile, the other heroes were still in the holding area, trying to extract every little bit of personal information from the children as possible. Which, for some, was proving harder than going a round with Darkseid.
Wally seemed more than happy to tell his uncle anything and everything he could possibly want to know (and then some), and M'gann was over in the corner, using Martian telepathy to share a quiet moment with her own uncle. However, Robin was easily side-stepping any question even hinting towards something secretive while Superboy, for his part, just ignored them all, sulking in the corner with his arms crossed and his face scrunched up somewhere between a scowl and a pout.
It was sort of adorable, even if Diana was starting to worry about what had caused the child to be so permanently upset. She felt she knew Clark well enough to assume it wasn't something he'd done, which left her with little other clues.
Now, if the angsty one had been Bruce's apprentice...
"Hey, Supey, come help me with this," Robin said, not even bothering to give the Super a glance, instead putting all of his focus into carefully examining two of "Stitchy's" wires.
"Don't give me orders," Superboy growled, though he came over to the other boy anyway.
"Yeah, yeah," Robin said, giving him a flippant wave.
Holding up the two identical looking parts, Robin turned towards the other, "Look at these and tell me which one was cut and which one shows signs of being yanked out."
Superboy scowled, "Don't you have a microscope or something?"
Though the domino covered his eyes, Diana got the distinct impression the boy was rolling them at the other.
"Yeah, in my belt. Which Batman confiscated," shifting to an annoyed look, Robin added, "He won't be giving it back."
Superboy frowned, "What if we shift into another dimension without it?"
Robin actually seemed to ponder the question before answering, "Well, I suppose there is the slight possibility that it will automatically travel with us, if whatever is making us do this in the first place recognizes that it's not part of this world and rejects it."
There was a pause before Robin shook his head, "Nah, that won't happen. Look at these." He held up the wires again.
Diana wondered why the boy had invalided his own theory, and, apparently, so did the clone as he asked, "Why not? It makes sense to me."
"Yeah, but if that was true, then everything else we've left behind would have shown up in the Watchtower when we arrived."
Superboy tilted his head curiously, "What'd we leave behind?"
"Mostly just unneeded organic matter," Robin replied with a shrug.
"'Unneeded organic matter'?"
"Yeah, you know," Robin gave him a pointed look, to which Superboy just replied with a frustrated look, clearly not getting it.
Robin smacked himself in the forehead, before letting out a sigh.
"Sweat? Blood? Pee? Poop?"
Diana could tell the boy was just barely restraining himself from saying something degrading to the other. Which was more than could normally be said for his mentor.
Superboy nodded slowly. "So..." he paused as if mentally working through some sort of difficult equation, "if your belt's not coming with us and we teleport before Batman returns it, doesn't that mean you'll be helpless in the next world?"
"Dude, I just won't have my belt. I won't be helpless."
"But you're also injured."
"Supey, don't even go there," Robin warned.
"You need protection," Superboy concluded.
Robin scowled, "You went there."
Finally realizing that there was a conversation going on right beside him, Wally turned away from his uncle to ask, "What? Protection? Who? What'd I miss?"
"Nothing. Go back to talking a million words per second with your uncle."
"Robin needs our protection. He's injured and Batman took his utility belt," Superboy corrected.
Wally's eyes widened, "That's true! And, scientifically speaking, we have no evidence that we were all transported together because of our connection to another world, or if it was because we were all together each time a portal opened. If we're separated when it happens again-"
"Shut up, Wally."
"-then we could appear in different places! Or even different worlds!"
"That is a big jump in logic to make, with no proof to support it, Mr. Genius. Haven't you noticed that we appear in the exact location relative to each other that we were in the previous universe? The Watchtower's not big enough for us to even be out of each other's sight for too long in another universe, should we be teleported."
Wally smirked and looked over the smaller boy's head as he mock-whispered, "He's just in denial. We gotta stay with him and protect him at all times!"
Superboy nodded quickly in confirmation, actually scooting closer to the little bird, who was looking quite ruffled by then. Diana wasn't entirely certain if she should intervene and tell the poor naïve clone that the other was just messing with his friend, or sit back and enjoy the show.
Catching the knowing looks of her fellow heroes, minutes J'onn, she decided it wouldn't hurt anything if they all went along with it for a little bit.
"Protect who?" M'gann asked, breaking away from her fellow Martian.
"Nobody!"
"Robin!"
The two boys glared at each other, with Robin looking ready to pounce on the redhead, regardless of injury.
"He's injured and Batman took his utility belt," Superboy provided the confused looking girl.
She gasped and put a hand over her mouth, "That's true!"
"Dejavu much?" Robin muttered darkly.
All of the other young heroes ignored him, instead crowding together around the annoyed boy as they made detailed protection plans.
"Obviously, Supey and I will take guard duty in the bathrooms and stuff like that."
"You are not watching me in the bathroom, perv."
"Oh! I can do bedtime. If I turn invisible, he won't even know I'm there and it won't be as creepy."
"Firstly, I will know you're there since you just told me and, secondly, you are not watching me sleep!"
"And we could totally use Superboy as a shield if needed!"
"I'm not a piece of equipment."
"My bad, Supey. No offense meant. It's just, you know, you're kind of indestructible and Rob's kinda...not."
"I'm also 'kinda not' amused, KF."
"Why don't you just pick him up and run him to safety, Wally?"
"Actually, that's not a bad idea, Miss M. I was kinda thinking-"
"Ok, that's it!" Robin shot to his feet with a dark glare, "Do you guys really think I'm that unresourceful? Batman's apprentice? Seriously? How the hell do you think I took apart Stitchy!"
There was dead silence for a moment before M'gann asked innocently, "How did you take apart Stitchy, Robin?"
The boy flushed and grumbled out, "That's none of your business."
The door opened suddenly and every seemed to jump, as if caught doing something naughty.
There stood Batman, who took a moment to grace them all with an individual glare, before motioning for Robin to follow him. As the others moved to come with, he shook his head.
"Just Robin."
Walking out with the small hero, Bruce easily caught sight of the embarrassed look that sparked to life on his face before he hung his head and hid it behind his bangs.
After walking in silence for a few minutes, the boy suddenly spoke up, "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have slipped up and pointed towards something my enemy hadn't noticed before. Well, they're not really my enemies, but, you know," he shrugged as a finish.
Bruce didn't reply, instead wondering if the other realized he was speaking to the wrong Batman or if he felt he needed to explain himself regardless.
After a few more minutes of silence, with them almost to their destination by then, Bruce finally replied with, "Your medication has been known to loosen the tongue."
A ghost of smile appeared on Robin's face, "Of course. Nice one."
Bruce allowed a slight smirk at the compliment, even though he wasn't entirely certain it was yet earned. The boy still hadn't said anything pertinent, regardless of the wicked concoction he was on. Instead, Bruce felt the other world's Batman was to gain a few points in the "game," seeing as he'd clearly had the foresight to build up the boy's immunity to truth serums.
Which wasn't any less than what he would have done.
It also wasn't any less than what Darkseid or Luthor might do.
Bruce was still keeping a close eye on the boy.
Reaching their destination, Bruce punched in his code and then allowed the Watchtower to scan him before the door opened with a hiss.
"High-tech security for such an empty room," Robin commented, peeking into the space before stepping over the threshold. The boy's eyes quickly took in every little object before shifting back to the Dark Knight.
Quick and thorough assessment of his surroundings. Good training.
But he'd missed the pen on the far table and the book peeking out behind the box of folders on the floor.
Bruce was yet to be impressed by his detective skills.
"It's not empty anymore," Bruce responded simply, giving no indication as to his thoughts. He noted that the other Batman's "partner" caught his meaning almost instantly, a pout coming to his face.
Robin all but begged, "Can I at least read your books?"
"Absolutely not. Go to sleep."
Bruce shut the door in the other's face before he could respond. He had no doubt that he'd return to find that the little hacker had scoured every corner of the room and had tried to open the door at least once. If only to see if he could, in case of a later emergency.
At least, Bruce was fairly certain that was something he'd teach his apprentice, if he ever had the sudden urge to raise an unruly child as the next terror of the night.
The thought didn't bother him. He'd specifically picked his own room, as much privacy as he liked to maintain, because he was rarely in it and thus felt no need to "personalize his space," as Clark was always urging him to do.
Which was a ridiculous idea, to begin with.
The Watchtower, to date, had been completely destroyed all of three times.
Hardly what Bruce would consider a home away from home.
Honestly, the Kryptonian was far too sentimental sometimes.
That reminded him, he had to contact Alfred and demand the man refuse Kent's cookie requests when he called later on.
AN: OMG, I think I hate this chapter! Argh! Half the time I feel as if it's fairly in character, but not flowing smoothly and the other half, I'm almost positive it's bordering on OOC, even if my writing juices are mimicking the Nile. Argh! _
Any help towards making it sound better would be much appreciated. Or, I guess, if you really like it, even though I just don't, you could tell me so. ^_^
Second AN to Aqualad Fans: OMG! JL canon ruins lives! Or, at least, my fic. T-T Seriously, I was just at the part with Aqualad when I watched the new YJ ep & was all like, "WTF?" & had to rewrite it to match. Hopefully my "explanation" makes sense, since it appears (to me, at least) that JL cartoon sort of combines Orin & Arthur's history (ok, mainly just Arthur's name) into one, giving Arthur Orin's bro & woman, etc. but without the Orin name. I think they just did it to mess me up. _
