Well, here it is, Chapter Six. Got any questions once finished with it, don't worry, I'm sure they'll be answered by the next one ;). Thanks for all the reviews so far guys, appreciate it.
Chapter Six
The headmistress stared at the child in the basket, who was still soundly asleep. She blinked a few times, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Then, slowly, she bent down to have her face level with the basket, and stared even more closely at the child. A small smile began to appear on her lips.
"She's adorable William, but wherever did you get her from?" Penolope knew well enough that Wintergreen had never been married, nor had any children. In fact, the closest relationship he had ever had with any woman was with... well, herself, but other than joking around about the ideas, they had never been exactly serious about it. So where exactly had he gotten the child from?
"Most regrettably, I found her last night on the doorstep of this very house, obviously abandoned by her previous caretaker." The Headmistress moved a finger inside the basket, and gently stroked the baby's face affectionately.
"Poor thing." she said sadly. The woman then turned to Wintergreen, smiling a bit more. "Well, I suppose it was good that she wound up on your doorstep then, with you to take care of her." Wintergreen nodded in reply, a small smile beginning to develop on his own lips. He then moved over to the door and opened it, standing at the side so that another could exit or enter.
"Yes well, she'll be taken care of now I think. So Miss Penelope, do you wish to leave now?"
The Hive Headmistress laughed a bit, smiling.
"Oh William, I suppose we should then." Wintergreen nodded, keeping his smile on even as the headmistress exited the door and walked down the steps leading to the sidewalk. He then followed her, keeping the basket over his one arm, and closing the door with the other. He quickly descended down the small flight of steps, and was soon reunited with the Headmistress, who nodded curtly even as the two then began to walk down the sidewalk together, side by side, with Wintergreen on the side nearest the buildings on the block.
The sun was already out, it being now still early in the day, but not so early that the sun had not poked its ways through the clouds, and illuminated the city below. The morning air from earlier had dissapaited, and only a gentle breeze now swept through the city. The headmistress took a few seconds every couple of minutes to look down at the tiny person hitching a ride with them, still asleep at the time of day. Wintergreen himself kept his arm steady the entire stroll even as the pair turned down corners, walked uphill and downhill, and occasionally crossed intersections, waiting for early morning traffic to pass, or sometimes forcing the drivers to wait themselves when the two pedestrians had the right of way. Every once and a while, a person or two walking by would curiously glance over at the pair, or more noticeably the small person with them. Wintergreen and Lord walked right by them though, chatting to each other nonconcernedly. The small baby of course, merely slept, unaware of any of her surroundings.
Finally, after what seemed a good hour or so of walking around the city, the elderly couple arrived at a small cafe in one of the quieter sections of the city. Wintergreen immediately pulled out a chair for the Headmistress to sit down in, before then moving to the other side of the table. He placed the basket containing the small child on a side of the table, nearest the store they sat outside of. Being in the quiet section of the city that it was, there weren't many people in the cafe, meaning the three would have more seclusion to themselves. Wintergreen then sat down himself at the table in the other chair.
"Well then Miss Penelope, I do hope you'll enjoy yourself today, considering our... guest." The headmistress laughed again to herself lightly, turning her gaze from Wintergreen to the baby. She smiled while staring at the child in its peaceful slumber.
"Not at all, I think I would have objected a bit earlier if I had wanted to. The only time children get on my nerves anyway is when you're trying to instruct them..." Wintergreen placed both hands on the table, one over the other, and looked over at her listening to each word. He was quick to respond though, picking up the hint.
"How does the Hive Academy go, currently?" he asked her. Lord turned away from the basket, and back towards her male friend. Her body position was quite similar to Wintergreen's in the chair, except for the small fact that her hands were placed in her lap, rather than on the table. The Headmistress shrugged in reply.
"Well, as soon as Sebastian came back from Steel City he tried to ursurp me like he did the last time... thanks again for letting me stay with you until he got thrown into prison..."
"Not at all, Miss Penelope, it was my pleasure. Good to see you were reinstated though. Did Blood try to do the same thing when he came back then?" The other person smiled a bit deviously before answering.
"Oh, he tried to, but the majority of the student body supported me this time, so... we had to compromise."
"Compromise? What was the deal then?" Wintergreen asked, his eyebrows picking up slightly. Lord shrugged again, thinking absentmindidly about the the agreement.
"Oh, just joint-rulership of the school system. Technically, he's in-charge again, and I'm just a deputy Headmistress now, but we basically are on even footing now with each other." Wintergreen nodded in satisfaction at the answer, alternatives certainly could have been worse than that. A waiter finally emerged from the small restaurant, and walked over to them.
"Good afternoon, sir and madam, can I get you anything to drink?" The waiter said first, passing out a menu to each person in the pair. Neither Wintergreen or Lord needed one, they had been coming here for several years now together, and knew exactly what they were going to order every time. They often joked to each other, that one day they would try something different, but that never seemed to happen.
"Black tea if you wouldn't mind." Wintergreen said, handing the menu back without even looking. The waiter wrote the order down quite quickly before then turning to the Headmistress and recieving her menu back as well.
"Coffee. Dark, with two lumps of sugar." The waiter wrote down her order beneath the first one, nodded to the pair, and almost began to walk back into the restaurant before he stopped himself. He then turned around again and came back up to them. He pulled out the pad and pencil, and used the eraser part to jab at the basket.
"Would you like anything for the baby, perhaps?" he asked the two. Wintergreen and Lord stared at the man, not sure of what to say.
"Uhm, do you... do you have anything for children here?" Wintergreen finally asked after an awkward period of silence. The man smiled at the question, as if it were obvious.
"Of course sir, we are a family restaurant after all." He handed Wintergreen back a menu, and for the first time in over a year, Wintergreen actually looked through it. If his memory served correct, the menu had sparsely changed. Still, some of the parts were new to him, as he had never paid any attention to them. He flipped a laminated page or two over, to get to the child's menu.
"Hmmm..." Wintergreen mused to himself even as he read down the menu. Most of the food on it seemed to be of the mushy and easy to swallow variety. Apple-sauce, ateamed and soft carrots and peas, various other berry sauces, and even just milk. Wintergreen took a bit to decide on the choices, with the Headmistress looking from him and to the baby on the table next to them. The waiter stood completely still the entire time, not showing any signs of impatience on his part. Finally, Wintergreen handed the menu, having picked what he thought best.
"Bring a small dish of apple-sauce for the child."
"Nothing for her to drink, sir?" The waiter asked, as if waiting for another order. Wintergreen moved his hand over to the sippy cup he had brought with him and picked it up, jiggling it a bit.
"Oh, we already have that covered, but thank you." The waiter nodded at the answer, his face frowning a bit, but nevertheless obeying. He turned and walked back into the restaurant, leaving the three alone. Wintergreen then turned back to Lord, who was still looking at the small child in the basket. He wondered why she was still looking at the child, she was quite cute, but if the baby woke up to someone just staring at her, it might frighten the child. A small cry then made itself heard, alerting Wintergreen to why she was still staring.
"William, hand me that cup." The headmistress spoke. Wintergreen quickly handed over the sippy cup even as the baby made it's awakening more noticed, making another half-cry, half-gurgle sound. Lord took the cup and set it down next to her on the table, taking her hands off of her lap. She then moved them over to the basket, and slowly with care, reached in and picked up the baby, taking it out. She moved her arms back to her chest then, and rocked the baby gently in her left arm even as she reached back onto the table, taking the sippy cup back into her hands. The small child looked at her holder, her wide eyes opened fully despite having just woken up. She then closed them slightly, and emitted another small cry, picking up her arms and waving them upward, as if trying toreach for something. The Headmistress smiled a bit sadly, moving the sippy cup over to the child's face even as she adjusted how she was holding her, to sit her up a bit better. The infant stopped crying almost immediately even as the Headmistress pressed the cup's spout to her small lips, and began to drink the beverage inside. Wintergreen watched as the baby's small face expanded and deflated rapidly even as she tried to suck on the spout, thinking it might get the drink to her faster.
"Poor thing, just a little hungry. I do hope the waiter comes soon, I don't think store-bought milk is enough for a growing child." Lord then said, smiling at Wintergreen. The gentleman nodded, having to laugh himself even as the small child put her hands on the lip of the cup, trying to hold the object herself. His gaze however however, then traveled up to the Hive Headmistress herself, who seemed to be enjoying the activity as much as the child being fed herself.
"Tell me, Miss Penelope, you haven't ever taken care of a child before, have you?" The Headmistress turned her look away from the child and over to Wintergreen. She tilted her head a bit while she looked back.
"Well, I did take care of my great-niece once or twice, but that was a while back." By this time, the waiter had returned with their selections. He deposited the two drinks with each respective buyer, and put the small dish of apple-sauce in front of the empty basket. He then took out a small piece of paper and placed it next to Wintergreen before leaving. Lord meanwhile took the sippy cup away from the small child, and moved her back into the basket, so as to feed her more easily. Wintergreen picked up his cup of tea meanwhile and began to drink it, even as he watched the Headmistress pick up the spoon from the small tray of liquified apples, and try to get a spoonful of it into the baby's mouth. The child at first craned her small head a bit away from the oncoming object, not sure of exactly what it was. Lord had to move it around a bit to catch her young curiousity.
"Come now dearie, it's just food, it's good for you." The Headmistress said in a slightly-sweetened version of her usual voice. Wintergreen took another small sip of his tea, continuing his watching of Lord's attempt to feed the baby. Eventually, through the trick of moving her other hand around behind in a wave and getting the child to laugh, she managed to shove the spoon in. After that though, she had no more trouble with the babe in getting it to eat, though getting the spoon back from the infant's small hands was another problem into itself.
Their shared chuckle was soon interrupted though.
KAAA-BOOOOM!
"What in Heavens?" Wintergreen said, standing up from his seat even as Lord went to comforting the baby, who had begun to cry at the loud and unexpected sound. She had grabbed the child and taken it back out of the basket, trying to rock her in the her arms. Wintergreen looked around quickly, trying to find the source of the upsetting noise. Being that they did live in a city continuously plagued by supervillians, it was to be expected things like this happening, but the section of the city that they were in was usually one of the more left-alone ones, mostly retirees living here. The type of stores and pharmacies here wouldn't generate a great deal of valuable objects.
Still, some villians needed to start somewhere... especially if beginning anew.
"Wha-WHOO! Now luck at all that pretty coin!" Billy Numerous yelped and hollered, even as three more of him helped carry out a large bag with a dollar sign on it. Wintergreen looked at the building the villian had just emerged from and saw it was a bank, making it one of the few major targets in this section therefore. Another small explosion followed even as another whole appeared in the bank's small walls, and more supervillians appeared from the gaps.
"Stinkin' ground-lickers!" Came a nazelly-high villian, screeching through the air on a back-mounted jetpack attached to his all-green jumpsuit. The bald midget of a child was then followed out of his hole in the wall by a much large teen, jumping out of the side while carrying more than his fair share of stolen loot. His all-black suit was crossed in several places by yellowish-gold bands, with small bumps adorned on them. He jumped down instead of flying out, his landing on the concrete street below causing would could be considered a mini-tremor. Two more people emerged after him, one with a similar in color costume, only with a shield strapped onto his left arm, and the other a smaller teen, with a large green device on his head which presented only one eye for others to see.
"Miss Penelope, don't you happen to know those teens?" Wintergreen leaned in to ask even as they began to run down the street in their general direction. The Hive Headmistress nodded in reply, standing up from her chair. The child in her arms had calmed down a bit, but still seemed very frightened, having taken the small hood that had been behind her head the entire day so far and pulling it messy-like over her head. The woman moved from the table, leaving behind her half-consumed drink, and marched out into the street. Wintergreen followed her, unsure of what she was going to do.
Then, with a momentary sucking-in of breath to get the necessary volume ready, she called out to them.
"CHILDREN!"Wintergreen moved his hand slowly up to his ear closest to Lord and jabbed a finger at it, just to make sure it was still working alright. The five teens immediately stopped what they were doing and looked over in the direction of the scream. Their faces plaed almost instantly as they saw who it was. Slowly, they made their way over to her.
"Uhh, hey Headmistress!" Billy Numerous called out nervously,. trying to smile at the same time. The headmistress did not return the gesture.
"Get over here, NOW!"
Slowly, the five teens dragged themselves over to her. They stood in front of their school mistress, almost cowing before her, even the two that dwarfed her in size. Billy Numerous rubbed his hands together slowly, one cupping over the other.
"Uh, Hive Headmistress, what a surprise to see you here today!" he said, trying to keep his voice sounding cheerful. The Headmistress stared down at him, her eyes half-closed. Numerous then looked back down at the street, unable to look her back straight in the eyes. The others followed his lead, not wanting to look up at the fearsome woman.
"What have you been instructed about in choosing targets in this city?" Lord then asked, shifting her arms only slightly, the child in them looking out from her appendages. She still held her hood over her head, with both tiny gray hands keeping it pulled down, but her eyes stared out at the teens, as if watching what they would do next.
"Well uhhh... yah'see, we were just kinda' low on cash, and thought it might be a purdy' good idea to hit a bank, then we'd have the dough rollin' in..."
"Did I not specifically instruct you that this sector of the city was off-limits for new supervillians?" The Headmistress then said in a firm voice. Billy Numerous immediately moved back again, bumping into another of him behind himself. Gizmo however, flew up next to her, his eyes looking from their former-instructer to the other man, standing near her.
"Say, why can't we commit crimes in this district anyway? What, you datin' him here?" Gizmo snided. Lord turned her neck sharply at him, causing the migdet to nearly fly backwards in an uncontrolled hurry. Her eyes seemed almost capable of burning holes into the green-suit wearing teen.
"This district is populated majorly by the elderly, and retirees, and the Hive Headmaster has agreed with me that it is specifically off-limits to any newly graduated Hive students!"
"But," See-more than chimed in, his voice sounding confused. "We're bad guys, who cares who we rob?"
"Even if you are criminals and supervillians-in-training, you must still hold yourself to some conduct if you wish to be respected and feared!" Again though, See-more continued to stare at her with his one green eye, his mouth open a small tad.
"But, we're bad guys. Shouldn't all we care about is the loot?" The Headmistress let out a low growl, making See-More stand up straight even as he tried to inch himself away. The other Hive Five members seemed to frightened to do or say anything themselves. Mammoth in particular, seemed to quake in his very boots.
"Even with all the stolen 'loot' in the world if you don't a reputation, your career is wasted. Do you all need to go back to the Hive Academy, just to hear me lecture you on the importance of being known and feared, again?" With her last word she stared particularly at the small green clothing clad midget, and the giant teen in black. The Headmistress then straightened herself a bit, adjusting her arms once more. A small goo was then made, causing her to lose the recently-gained posture even as the others leaned in, to see what had made the noise.
"Izzat'-" Gizmo started off, his facial expression that of one just smelling something putrid.
"-a baby!" Mammoth then shouted out loud in his gruff voice, smiling and clasping his hands together. The other four teens and two doubles stared at him strangely for a second until he let his arms back down and changed his expression back. The teens then turned back, looking at the Headmistress. Her expression had lost most of it's vigor even as she turned down to the child, rocking it slightly.
"Yes Baran, it's a baby." she said, her voice returning to the pre-explosion tempo. One or two of the Hive Five members flashed a glance at her, eyebrows a bit perched. Lord flashed back her own hard stare, causing them to nearly jump back. The baby in her arms giggled at the feat, which then garnered a smile even as the Headmistress turned her attention back to her. See-more adjusted his headset, trying to get a better look at the child.
"Is that your grandkid, Hive Headmistress?" he then asked, finally getting a good shot of the babe. His eye rapidly shut closed and reopened even as the Headmistress turned quickly to him. One eye seemed to close in an attempt to form a menacing stare, though the other opened wide in shock at the comment. Wintergreen quickly ran over to her.
"The child is my ward, children." he said, saving Lord from trying to explain it. The others turned their heads to him, still confused.
"So, it's your grandkid?" Gizmo said, flying a bit closer to the child. He looked down at the babe, who tightened her grip on the tiny hood over her head, trying to pull it down more.
"Figures, snot cruncher's got the same pale skin, must run in the family." The Hive Five all burst into laughter from the last comment, Billy Numerous doubling himself several times without control, making the laughter only louder. The baby let go of it's hood a little, even as Gizmo rolled in the air once, grabbing his stomach in his own chuckling. Slowly, a tiny gray finger was raised, pointing in his direction.
"Gah..."
Suddenly, the machine on Gizmo's back glowed darkly, enveloped in an obsidian energy. The powers tugged at the machine, pulling him back through the air, his laughter interrupted even as he let out a scream. Then, he was launched high into the air, and brought back down all on the machine's own accord. Wintergreen looked at the other teen's faces, seeing all of them just as suprised as he was. Gizmo barely had any time to start screaming again even as he was then brought back down to the concrete before launched back up again, the machine still encased in the negative energy.
"Geh..."
"WOOOAHHHAHHH!" Finally, the machine's straps broke even as Gizmo was being pulled upwards. He began to fall back down to the earth, waving his short arms and legs in a futile attempt to slow himself down. The other Hive Five, now much more aware of their friend's plight, took of positions to try to catch the falling midget.
"Gibah..."
The jetpack suddenly soared down from it's continued ascension and swooped below the small teen, catching him moments before he would have hit the ground. The machine then landed gently on the ground, allowing the teen to disembark if he wished, though all around could tell from what had just happened, he was in no way ready to do that. Wintergreen stared, curiously, but not at the now-landed child.
But rather, the one in his friend's arms.
Her arm... had for the entire time followed the jet pack. And the strange energy overtaking the mechanical backpack, having just appeared. Truthfully, Wintergreen had only noticed the infant's activity with the final small noise she had emitted... but had that been simple playing... or...
No, this was a small, powerless child, not like his master's foes. She couldn't have done that, she couldn't even feed herself! It was just a strange coincidence, a child pointing at an amusing object and following it with a small finger, perhaps a stage in developing coordination, or just something small children did, not knowing better. Yes, just... something a child did, a mere coincidence.
"Hey partner, you awright'?" Billy asked, bending his knees to come closer to the dazed Gizmo. The midget quickly pushed his head up, shaking it even as the others stared. He turned to his other teammates, growling.
"Alright, which one of you mud bathers just messed with my jetpack!" All of the other teens put their hands out in front of them in a defensive gesture, or simply shrugged in reply, not knowing otherwise what to say. Gizmo looked around a bit wildly, trying to figure out who did it, if no one would pony up to it. The Headmistress then cleared her throat, stopping the small teen from continuing in his search.
"Now, if you wouldn't mind, return what you've stolen and go off to a section of the city that you can steal from." Billy Numerous crossed his arms and tried to stand up as tall as possible, his chest extended out. As he did so, three more of him appeared, two on his left and one on his right.
"Aw, why should we? We all graduated from the big H.A., why should you still get to boss us around anymore?" The Hive Headmistress moved over to him slightly, still holding the child, and leaned in close to him, until their faces were bare inches away from each other.
"While you may have graduated from the Hive Academy, your base and equipment is still funded by the Hive. As long as the situation remains so, you will continue to abide by our rules. Therefore, if you do not return that money, than it better be enough to keep your base going for a very lone time." The extra Numerous doubles all folded back into the first, even as the teen villian smiled as innocently as he could, sweat beginning to pour down his forehead.
"Heh heh, ye-yes mam!"
Numerous then set a foot out, ready to get away as fast as he possibly could, and perhaps in as many directions as he could as well. But suddenly before he began to actually run away, he felt a small tug on the front of his suit.
"Geh..."
"Huh?" Billy Numerous muttered. He then looked down at his clothing, and saw a small gray hand protruding from the Headmistress. Only, it wasn't her hand or arm, but the person in thme.
"It seems the child has taken a liking to you, Mr. Hicksbe." The woman said, even as Billy Numerous tried to pull himself away from the infant's grip. The babe then let go, retracting her hand even as she made a few more inaudible sounds, her other hand still on her pulled-down hood. She looked up at the much larger person, who stared back.
"Why am I gettin' a sense of Deja Vu?" Billy Numerous then said, taking a closer look at the child, who continued to stare back at him, unaware of what he was trying to think. "Yep, there's definitely somethin' familiar here."
"A-hem." The Hive Headmistress cleared her throat again. Billy Numerous spent one more second staring at the child and without further ado, ran off towards the others, who were already carrying back the few sacks of money they had taken out. Wintergreen walked over to her, watching them as they crawled back into the holes they had made in the walls of the bank, and threw the bags back into the bank, amidst frightened employees and patrons. The Hive Five then turned back to Lord and Wintergreen, as if waiting.
"Well? Get going before the Titans show up now!" Lord yelled at them, causing the five members to nod and run down the street, intent on neither getting captured, or dealing with their former instructer anymore. After waiting a few more seconds to see if they would come running back for any number of reasons, and seeing that they would not, the Headmistress then turned to Wintergreen, who nodded politely.
"Would you wish to return to our small meal?" he asked, motioning back over to their table next to the restaurant. Lord was about to oblige, already setting a foot out to move over to the table, when suddenly a ringing tone sounded off.
"Oh, not now..." she said, trying to take an arm out of her support of the child to reach to one of her dress' pockets. Wintergreen moved his arms over, and with a small bit of difficult, picked the child up from her arms so that she could reach whatever was making the noise. Surprising Wintergreen somewhat, it turned out to be a cellphone.
"Hello? Oh, Sebastian, why are you calling now? ... Need me back at the Hive, has something happened, or... I see, alright, I'll be there shortly, try to hold the fort down until I get there then." Lord turned the phone after that, and put away. Wintergreen noticed her mouth sagged a bit, and her shoulders slumped slightly. She turned to him, not looking very pleased.
"Sorry William, but Blood needs me back at the school. Appearantly, some of the new students are causing some unexpected problems for him, his mind control not working on them it seems. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all Miss Penelope. You go do what you must do, which is quite alright with me. Will you still be free next thursday then?" Wintergreen said back, assuringly to her. The Headmistress smiled, knowing now that Wintergreen wasn't disappointed in the abrupt ending to their already-interrupted day together.
"Of course, I'll see you there then." she replied a bit more happily. She then nodded, and turned away, already beginning her small trek back to the Hive Academy, wherever it's secret location was. Wintergreen called out to her from behind, juggling the babe in his arms even as she began to squirm.
"Oh, I beg to differ miss Penelope. Next time, I shall come to your house for you. No need for you to walk alone all this way again."
He could hear a small laugh come from her direction even as she walked off into the distance, waving her hand a small bit before putting it back down. Wintergreen stared after her, watching even as her legs moved the sleek figure away, clip-clopping across the surface of the sidewalk; her high heels propping her graceful feet up above it's grainy top. The sound of the walking seemed to hit something in the elderly butler's mind, as if a long-forgotten switch turned on.
The strength and confidence with which she carried herself, so fine, yet so conservative, so as to not stand out. Choice of clothing, perfect as well, keeping a sense of power and yet beauty at the same time in the gray fibers. Of course too, the hair that sat atop her fair head, so lovely in it's own nature, tightened into a short bun, not a single blade out of place.
And then... even from this angle, Wintergreen could picture her face perfectly. There was barely any sign of wrinkles or other signs of aging about her. Like her step, she herself had aged gracefully. The same though could not be said of himself. the lines of many years etched into his skin. Still though, her blue eyes like a nice stream color, unpolluted or clouded over. But below that, and her nose of course, were her lipstick laden-
A baby's cry interrupted the butler's thoughts, jerking him back to reality. He looked over swiftly to the source of the interruption.
"Waahhh-ahhh!" The infant in the basket cried out, obviously upset over something. She curled her arms back, bringing her tiny hands closer to her face. Wintergreen turned around, forgetting about his flight of fancy and concentrated instead on the child. He reached his hands underneath her small arms, picking her out and up.
"Whatever is the matter with you?" he asked, though not expecting an answer from one so young, yet still saying it out of habit. The baby continued to wail, even as Wintergreen searched for the answer.
Then, an unpleasent smell caught his smell. Wintergreen's nostrils turned upward a bit, even as he reared his head back away from the baby. Well, at least he had found out why she was crying...
"Oh dear..." he said, continuing to hold her up. He didn't have anything with him at the moment to change her with, and getting home would take a good while, just as long as it had getting here. Still... it was the only way he thought possible to get back quickly.
"Very well then..." Wintergreen then said, both to himself and the child. He reached into a breastpocket and took out a small amount of change, more than enough to pay for the meal, and reached over for the basket, taking that on one arm even as he kept the crying child in the other. Then, he broke off into a quick sprint down the sidewalk.
He hadn't done this for a while, but his old training served him well. Keeping his breath at a steady pace as he kept his right arm with the child steady, the baby having grabbed onto his shoulder and leaned her head onto it, still wailing. He moved quickly down the sidewalks, his dress shoes not biting at the sides of his old feet. Wintergreen ignored the pain however, and continued forward.
BEEP-BEEP!
Wintergreen looked to the side of the intersection he was currently running across. A car had just gotten the light, and the driver looked extremely irate for having been delayed even longer. The butler ran across as he was, never once breaking his stride to go any faster. He didn't wish to risk it; the activity still strenous, no matter how fit he may have been for many years before (though still a bit so). His breathing was kept at an even pacing, to keep the lungs from giving out to easily. The baby's cries were becoming a bit louder by the moment.
Even as he ran he began to attract stares. A person riding by on a bicycle looked over in his direction, forgetting to instead look ahead and thusly crashing into a mailbox on the side of the sidewalk. Wintergreen heard the thud from behind, but did not stop to look, instead choosing to keep up the level run. Stares also began to come from other pedestrians. Several young people watched, jaws somewhat sagging, even as he passed them by, before then bursting into laughter at the seemingly hilarious scene. Shoppers and customers in the shops and other restaurants along on the sidewalk also began to look out, their own curious gazes discarded by Wintergreen. All that was important was getting back to his house, his master's lair, and finding some more of his master's old children's relics.
"Yo' old dude! Look out!" Another bike rider screamed angrily, swerving just in time to not run into Wintergreen. The butler ignored the continued calls from behind, even as the rider yelled out profanities. His hand shifted a bit, moving the child in them closer to him.
More people then began to yell at the elderly gentleman as they got out of his way, jumping to the side and hugging the buildings or signs so as to not fall over from the sudden movement. Wintergreen almost replied back to them with apologies, but he couldn't risk taking his controlled breathing out of the equation. This run was something he hadn't done in a good while, and if that crucial step were to be taken out...
Well, it would take a great deal longer to get home, in the most optomistic lighting on the situation possible. And that wouldn't be very good for his "ward" at all.
He ran back into an intersection, the light seeming to understand his plight and changing as soon as he reached the end of the street. Several cars, in different shades and shapes, came to screeching stops even as the traffic light changed to a solid red from the waning yellow. However, like the one only minutes before, they too honked their horns at him, as if he had caused the light to change against its will. The noise started to gather even more stares at the servant, if that was possible.
"Just a bit farther..." he said, already seeing a familiar signpost up ahead. It would be only a few moments more, and then he'd be back into his house. Wintergreen kept staring straight ahead, the muscles in his legs beginning to strain against him, trying to slow down. Yet he kept staying his path all the while, closing in on his target. His shoulders ached, the distribution of weight having an effect on him now at a much different speed then before. He tried to move his hand only somewhat, to grab the child more, and hold her better. Running the distance instead of walking had certainly cut the time down from getting from the first point to the second, but had much more of a toll on him. Regardless, he was coming closer and closer to his master's hidden lair. He could already see in the distance the outline of the last corner before he reached his house's proper street.
A few kids had lined up on the side of the concrete, watching even as he was coming up towards them. They snickered at the image, finding an old man carrying a newborn quite humorous. One of the kids then moved a foot onto the side of the trash can he was standing next to and pushed it over. The metal barrel began to thusly roll downwards, and towards the elderly gentleman.
"Oops." one of the kids said, before laughing with a touch of sadisticness in his voice. Wintergreen continued running, even as the object came closer and faster by the second towards him. He was running uphill, and the can was going downhill. A collision on their parts was almost certain, unless WIntergreen broke the pace at which he was going. The noise of the barrel hitting the rough surface of the sidewalk, clanging and smacking it, was becoming louder and louder to him even as it picked up speed.
Then, with the agility that even Wintergreen himself doubted he still had in him, he stopped and bent his knees down to the Earth. The trash can was only a few meters away, and in any second he would've had to stop anyway. But his plan at the moment wasn't to stop his motion.
Rather, just a short transfer of it.
As soon as he had bent down, Wintergreen immediately pushed off, losing only milliseconds in his continued momentum. The teens watching the spectacle stopped their chuckling, and watched even as the elderly gentleman soared into the air, bringing up his knees close to his chest. For a few, if only very short seconds, even the child in his arm stopped crying, taking the short time to look around in the sky. The barrel below continued to roll down the rest of the downwards sidewalk, other pedestrians jumping out of the way, though none with the finesse of the butler. The elderly man landed after coming back down in an upside-down U-shaped movement. His polished shoes landing back onto the ground and bursting right back into his sprint. He passed by the teens, who nearly stepped back and into the streets as he flew by them.
Wintergreen turned the final corner, and within seconds he was back onto the porch he and the Headmistress had left only hours before. He quickly ascended the atairs, and with the flick of several keys to get to the fourth one, he opened the now-unlocked door, and came in.
But the run wasn't done yet completely. No time to rest, Wintergreen ran right up the stairs, skipping every other step in his fast pace. He was soon back in the upper hallway, in which he made it quickly over to the bathroom door. The butler opened the door in a quick fashion with his free hand, and closed it behind him as soon as he had brought his own self and the child into the room.
Then, without giving himself a moment of rest, he moved over to a small table in the room. The bathroom wasn't large, but it wasn't what one would consider small either. It contained that which many bathrooms would contain; a sink against the wall facing the outside; a small clothing basket for dirty wears next to the wall to the door along with a wastepaper basket next to it; a medium-sized white tub next to the wall sitting adjacent with the one behind the sink; a toilet next to the bathtub, made up of the same materials, seemingly-thin white concrete smoothed to the touch; and of course, a large wooden cabinet in the corner of the conjoining walls behind the toilet and waste basket. Wintergreen walked over to the open cabinet after dropping the empty basket at the door, reached into one of its many rows, and took out a plain white sheet. He placed the thin piece of paper on the basket's closed top, before putting the small child herself on the paper. She was still crying, her hood having been forgotten long ago on the run, and now resting behind her small head. Wintergreen went back to the cabinet and then bent down, going to the lowest shelf.
"They should be around here somewhere..." he said quietly to himself. Suddenly, he spotted what he was looking for, and went to grab them. He returned again to the table, and placed the newly-gotten diapers, wipes, and powder next to the child on the plastic. Wintergreen then took a second to look at the child, to figure out exactly what to do.
"Hmm, now how would I get you out of this peculiar outfit?" he said, again speaking to himself, being that he doubted the baby would understand him. Well, there was always one place to start. Wintergreen moved his hand over to the small brooch that connected to parts of her cloak and undid it, before taking the cloak away and placing it next to the child. He then picked her up again, and looked about at the small leotard. Whoever had dressed this child up certainly had a strange choice in clothing for children, to be sure.
"Ahh, there we go." Wintergreen spoke, his voice softer than before. He found a hidden zipper on the back and pulled it down, before taking the child out of her clothing. He put the now almost-naked child back onto the paper, and the leotard next to the cloak. The cries seemed to somewhat lessen in volume, but the elderly gentleman knew they would not completely end until he did the next step.
Slowly... but carefully, he took one one strap, and disconnected the side of the diaper from the rest. Then, again carefully, he pulled the disposable piece of clothing out from under her, folded it quickly and tossed it into the trash can next to him. He proceeded to after that cleaning her, holding the small legs up so as to not get them in the way. With the offending material gone and away from her, and her bottom cleaned, the crying had stopped, only to be replaced by the occasional small sound when Wintergreen made a sudden movement with her limbs.
With that done, the butler threw the dirtied-wipe away into the same wastepaper basket as the diaper, before reaching over for a fresh, cloth diaper. He lifted the child back up by her small, grey legs, and put the clothing underneath. Before connecting the straps to each other with the pins already inserted in the sides, he took the bottle of powder and with a few quick jerks, applied it to the child's rump.
An appreciative giggle met his old ears even as hetook the bottle away, and moved to attach the sides of the cloth. After doing that, he slipped the infant back into the miniature leotard, and reattached the cloak around her neck. He then picked her up, and held her face-to-face with him.
"There we go. Feeling all better now?" he asked the child. Like all the other times before, he didn't expect a sensible answer. But seemingly, the child obliged and replied with an inaudible giggle. The old butler smiled, before lowering the baby to a slightly easy to hold position. It was then that he noticed however, the sweat dripping from his forehead. He moved the child to just one arm as before, and wiped at his balding skin with the backhand of the other.
"Oh my." he said, a bit surprised at the amount of sweat that had culminated. He moved over to the sink, taking a small towel from the cabinet as he went. The faucet turned easily on as his hand moved it to the left in a circular direction. Cold water gushed out of the spout, and pooled in the bottom of the sink's bowl. Wintergreen tossed the washcloth into the water, and then pulled it back out. He wiped at his forehead, a few trickles of water coming down, crossing the deep etches in his skin unil they seeped into the clothing below. His breath was heavy as well, he had hardly noticed that at all until now, his worries for the child obviously taking his attention from elsewhere.
Wintergreen put the washcloth down on the side and placed his palm on the flat surface of the sink. The run had tired him out a great deal more than he had realized, it seemed, and perhaps... a small rest was in order. Slowly as before, Wintergreen lifted himself up from the counter, and made his way back over to the door. His legs now felt like weights, the pain of the stress he had put on them taking its toll now. His arms likewise, wanted to drop to his sides, let go of anything he was carrying at the moment, and just rest. But he ignored the pains and aches, and continued forward. Picking up the basket and placing it on his other arm, Wintergreen opened the door back to the hallway. He walked in the small seperation of the bathroom and his own room, his head sinking a bit lower than usual. He tried to correct it, and stand up as straight as possible, but the pains of the day tried in counter to pull him down, and keep him there. Finding a small compromise, Wintergreen kept his body at that, and reached his own room's door.
He quickly opened it and entered, the slight creaking noise it made as the hinges worked their jobs making itself heard. He ignored the sounds, and walked into his room. Getting over to the wicker chair, he placed the basket in it, so that it faced his bed. Then, he took the child out of his arms, and placed her in the basket as well, fastening the covers over her even as the child looked up at him, her eyes round and wide, her tiny grey hands gripping the edges of the cover. He turned then, and and was about to head over to his bed when something panged in his head. He looked back at the child, and reached with a gloved hand back into her basket. With two fingers, he gripped the edge of the child's hood, and pulled it over her forehead.
He smiled as the infant giggled in appreciation, and moved her own small hands to the fabric, pulling it even tighter playfully. The butler smiled, and with that, began to move over to his bed. He sat down on it, finally allowing his shoulders and legs to rest. He pulled off his dress shoes, not wanting to dirty his sheets, and positioned himself a bit better on the mattress, so that his body went in the same direction as the bed itself. He propped his head up on the pillows, so he could look back at the child, who was still preoccupied with making noises with her mouth, and tugging on her headware. He relaxed a bit more at the sight, his appendages demanding such.
A thought however, occured in the elderly man's head. What was he doing in bed at this time of day? So he had run a few miles to get back to his living quarters and take care of a child, so? That was barely nothing compared to what he used to do in the army. This should have been nothing. And besides, he should be up at the moment, catering to Master Slade's whims, at his side for any order. Why therefore, was he in bed at the moment, day off or not? Even reading one of his books from his collection in the other room would be better, sitting downstairs in the parlor next to the fireplace, than just lying in bed, falling asleep.
But then... he wasn't still young and chipper, was he? It was bit humbling to recognize that, after such a brisk run of several miles, that he would require such. His youth was over with it, it had been for a quite a while now, and no matter or arguing with himself over that was going to change the fact. He'd known that for a while now, after all, and this wasn't the first time he had faced it. Still, had running all that way, only to now be able to do anything at the moment for himself, or Master Slade, worth it? Had for the moments of running, thinking he could such so easily, been worth now lying up here, too tired to get up and stroll about the house, cleaning or cooking something?
A small giggle met his ear. Wintergreen focused his eyes back on the basket, and to the small child in it. She had finally wiggled her arms up from out of the covers completely, and was pointing them towards the cieling. The elderly butler smiled at her, his eyes beginning to relax a bit, and his muscles lessened in intensity. Sleep, something that at this time of the day he had often thought improper was already coming onto him, regardless of his previous thoughts on it.
Yes, it had been worth it, after all.
X X X
With how the chambers had been built in this lair, it was in a state of perpetual night.
But that was alright, Slade perferred it that way.
He stood on a platform, clear of all the pipes and beams that surrounded the metal island. A small control panel that had come up through the floor was situated in front of him, with several buttons and knobs on it. A huge screen, one of five in fact, was on the wall the supervillian faced. It was the only one activated though, as per Slade's command to the inanimate object. He moved a hand onto the small control panel, and pressed a button.
As soon as he had done so, an image of the Teen Titan, Raven, appeared on the screen, devoid of her cloak. Her pose was a generic one, the only importance being the figure herself. Slade then pressed another button on the panel, bringing up the image of a basket containing the infant that Wintergreen no doubt still had with him. He flipped a switch on the board then, the basket dematerializing along with the covers, bringing only the infant onto the screen along with the teen figure.
"You know, I'm a bit surprised I didn't connect the dots any sooner." Slade spoke to no one. He moved his hand to another button, and punched it in. The two figures' images glowed on screen, even as they changed, from an outward appearance to one of a black outline, with nothing but green imagery inside them. DNA brackets, the intertwining braces, then appeared in each figure, swirling together in exact symmetry.
"But I had to be certain this wasn't just a very big coincidence, or a case of one of the Jump City's 'heroes' being promiscuous." He moved his hand then to the bottom of the panel, and flipped a final switch. The two DNA brackets on screen then began to move across it, until they collided. However, instead of doing such, or different colors overlapping, they connected like an image cut in two, connecting perfectly.
A match.
"Imagine my surprise, when a Titan is found living under my roof." Slade added, watching as the DNA brackets continued to swirl on his screen. The images of the two figures faded back into the two people, now identified by the archfoe as one in the same. It hadn't been easy, to find a hair, especially from a newborn, but he had done it, and the tests from past "samples" gotten from the other Titans had confirmed it. The luck of such was almost too good to be true to the villain.
First with Robin, then with Terra. Both had been failures. But Slade realized where he had went wrong. Both of his past apprentices had had considerable influence on them before he had gotten to them. But this one, a Titan somehow shrunken back to an infantile stage, was much more appealing. It was a fresh mind, one he could mold to his very whim, influence completely and solely by himself.
Not to mention, had inborn powers complementary to his own skills.
It was the perfect chance, and Slade wasn't going to let it slip through his fingers, even if those fingers would have to hold onto it for over a decade.
Thank God Wintergreen had convinced him to let the child stay.
End of Chapter Six