Christine sat in her room in the mountain. It was so different from her room back home. For one thing it was more of a modern design with darker walls and metal furniture.
Purple eyes, looking through rectangular glasses, wandered over the pages of a humungous, very old, leather bound book in her hands.
It was the full compilation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series. It had belonged to her father, her real one, and it had been one of his favourite books.
"Papa" Christine murmured.
She traced her cold fingers over the wonderful black Baskerville Old Face font, remembering how a pair of much larger and warmer hands had held this book…a long time ago.
"Are you enjoying it?"
"Ah huh! Can we read the next chapter?"
"Hmm…I'm sorry little missy but no besides its way past your bedtime"
"Awww but-"
"Come on under the covers now. No don't give me that look. *sigh* Fine we can read another chapter tomorrow night. How does that sound?"
"Okay"
"That's a good girl. Now sleep tight."
"Wait! Where's Batty?"
"He's right here. There you go, snug as a bug in a rug now."
"…Papa"
"Yes baby girl?"
"Do you think I could be a detective when I'm bigger?"
"You can be anything you want to be sweetheart now how about a hug for your old man. Argh! Goodness you're getting strong."
"*giggles* Sorry Papa"
"It's alright. Good night baby girl"
She set down the book next to the plush toy Batty that lay on a pillow beside her, before falling back onto the sheets.
She shut her eyes as flashes of dark shapes crossed her mind.
She didn't hear the door handle turn.
She walked up a polished grand staircase.
She didn't feel the person's presence as they crept into the room.
There was a door at the top.
She didn't even know she wasn't alone anymore until it poked her
Christine shrieked in terror, eyes flying open as a hand tried pressing itself over her mouth. She grabbed whoever it was by the scruff of their necks and flung them down into the mattress. She rolled on top of them holding them by the throat.
"Chrissy! Chrissy it's me!" they choked. Christine gasped, her eyes regaining their focus.
"Dick?" Her hands loosened and Dick coughed roughly.
"Damn, I was just checking in on you" Dick spluttered sitting up trying to flatten is even messier mop.
Christine pulled him close at once, holding him so that his face was nestled near the base of her neck.
"Whoa there!"
He felt her shake and heard a small sniffle close to his ear. He held her close rocking her backwards and forwards slowly.
"What happened?" he murmured low. Christine shook her head.
"Ok, you can tell me later. By the way is that Conner's shirt?" he pulled away to look at his partner.
Christine looked down. Indeed she was wearing the clone's black shirt. He'd given it to her to wear last night as her other night shirts were all in the wash. She still wore a pair of shorts underneath though...just in case.
"yeah" she pulled up the sleeve to cover her shoulder. It was so large for her that the bottom reached mid thigh and one sleeve always slipped revealing her bare shoulder.
"So adorkable" he smirked.
Dick
reached out and tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear.
She shrugged as she turned her head away biting her bottom lip shyly. Both sleeves fell softly.
Then before Christine could even think about blushing she was suddenly on her back her head close to the foot of her bed.
"Di-Robin! Wha-hahahahahahahahhaahaha!" she laughed out loud as his fingers danced under her top around her stomach. She grabbed his shoulders trying to push him off, but Dick was a man on a mission, one to make her laugh.
Someone coughed loudly.
They stopped abruptly; head's turning slowly towards the door. M'gann and Artemis were both was giggling at the back, Conner was frowning sleepily, and Kaldur and Wally were smiling knowingly. All of them were in their pyjamas.
"We are glad to see you two are enjoying you're morning" Kaldur's smile widened.
"Kaldur…it's…It's not what it looks like" Dick gulped.
"So I'm not seeing that you got up early to tickle your sister"
"Oh…no you are it's just…we thought you thought…" The pink flush on both the birds faces turned fire hydrant red.
Wally burst into laughter.
There Dick was pinning Christine to the bed beneath, with his hands under her shirt. Her cleavage was spilling out slightly and she was smiling. Had they not known the pair were already close…well it seemed only logical that they would assume…
"What is tickling?" Conner cocked his head to the side. Dick sighed in relief. Talk about Super-clone to the rescue!
"It's something you do to other people" Artemis snorted.
"Anyone can be ticklish" M'gann nodded "and in different areas too. Some people, like Swift are ticklish on the stomach and others are ticklish on the feet, around their ears-"
"Basically it's stimulating very sensitive areas of the body to produce a positive result like laughter…though use it too much in excess and it can be very irritating" Wally grimaced. "Boy Wonder loves ambushing people with it"
Christine and Dick were both on their feet now both brushing themselves down.
"Best technique for torturing friends" Dick smirked sneakily reaching out with his fingers.
"And siblings" Christine raised her eyebrows. The hand retreated back into the pockets of his jeans.
"Let's go eat breakfast" they both rushed past quickly.
Ever since the shooting at the Hall of Justice Christine had been staying at Mount Justice for her own "protection".
She put inverted commas around the word because it was not so much protecting as it was babysitting. Batman knew that if left idle and alone to brood on her thoughts for too long she'd get antsy to catch the criminal. Very few of the Justice League members actually knew Batman's secret ID and at this point in time only Alfred was there to keep an eye on her. However even then he couldn't do it twenty four seven as he had his own duties to the house and to the Dark knight's crusade. So she and Dick had packed up their suitcases and started their stay at Mount Justice.
The team, probably on Batman's instructions, were each spending as much time as possible with her trying to keep her as busy as a bee. Dick was there every minute of the day, always next to her like an extremely proud guard dog. He'd also arranged things so that she'd have her room in-between his and Conner's. The super-boy had super-hearing and was a very light sleeper. So if anything were to happen, he'd hear it first.
Each day members of the league popped in at around midday to give very short, very uninformative and very irritating updates. Usually it was one of the mentors or Black Canary who would then take them for training afterwards.
Today however was special. M'gann and Conner would be going for their very first undercover mission. They were going to Belle Reve penitentiary disguised as the Terror Twins, Tommy and Tuppence. Christine had spent the last few days after each one had come back from school to help them practice the thick southern accents and brusque mannerisms of the super powered twins.
It had been fun, but today was the day that the pair would finally go undercover. Kaldur and Red Tornado were their handlers.
Christine looked up from her crossword, watching amusedly as Conner sniffed at his plate of scrambled egg. He'd never had egg like this before and he kept poking at it with his fork watching it suspiciously as if it would suddenly rise up and attack him like a sleeping dragon.
"You can eat it you know?" Wally said through a mouthful of his own pile of egg some of which flew out of his mouth.
"Hey! Hey! Watch it Baywatch!" Artemis scowled and dragged her chair as far as possible from the speedster to avoid the projectiles of half chewed egg.
"Hey I'm just saying. Prison food ain't that crash hot. So get what you can, when you can"
"Of course you'd say that" the blonde archer rolled her eyes.
Wally was about to retort when Kaldur cleared his throat loudly from behind an open newspaper. They both went back to their food in silence.
Dick snickered softly over his bowl of cereal.
"That goes for you too Robin" M'gann playfully waggled the wooden spoon she was using to mix more scrambled egg for Christine's and Kaldur's portions.
"Yes mam!" He smiled cheekily before turning back to demolish the contents of his bowl.
"So how is it Conner?" Christine asked as the clone chewed his first bite.
"It's…" the blue eyes suddenly glazed over in wonder. "Really…good
"Really"
"Yeah, you know…for the embryo of a dead baby bird" he shrugged in an attempt to be nonchalant.
Wally choked so hard that the contents of his mouth flew everywhere at top speed over the table. Conner and M'gann both ducked, Kaldur and Christine both had used their portions of the newspapers to hide themselves, Dick joining Christine at the last minute. Poor Artemis however received a whole face full.
She wiped the yellow mix of egg and spit slowly off her face, her blue eyes flashing dangerously.
"Run for it dude" Dick hissed kicking his best friend's shin under the table. The yellow haired archer's cheeks were almost the colour of an aubergine.
"WALLY!"
"He's so dead" Christine smirked as the speedster dashed out of the room without a backwards glance at the table.
?, September 14 2010, 11:05 EDTA man in a black suit stepped forwards towards the half lit ornate oak desk. A woman sat in the black leather chair behind. Her head was concealed shadow but he could make out her dress, a rich satin wine red with a plunging neckline.
"Mam, we apologise for the late inconvenience" he bowed respectfully
"And yet you still insist on inconveniencing me" She drawled tapping a cigarette on an ash tray.
"Mam it's about the girl. She hasn't been seen with her mentor at all. She's not at the manor she hasn't even gone on patrol"
"It figures you twit!" The woman snapped squashing the dog end down. "I wouldn't be surprised if he has the girl under lock and key by now. But no matter. She will come to me soon enough."
"And then shall we kill-"
"No!" the woman slammed a long nailed hand down hard "You don't pick a fruit off the tree when it's only just begun to ripen. You take it when it's completely at its sweetest before squashing it. No my dear fellow, this is just a little taster. A trial run if you will, it will be a long time till we have to actually kill her. Now leave, me I have an important meeting to attend"
The man bowed and exited the room quietly. The lady sighed and clicked a button hidden under the table top. Many holographic screens appeared in front of her. All had images of bright lights shaped like people.
"Welcome back Red Queen" the screen with the label L-1 addressed her.
"Thank you" the woman, Red Queen drummed her fingers on the desk impatiently.
"I take it you're operation succeeded?" L-2 asked sounding intrigued.
"It has for the most part" she gritted her teeth in aggravation. "However you are right L-2. The Bat is indeed very paranoid."
"If there is one thing he treasures more than Gotham City it is his little birds, especially that child." L-2 snorted knowingly.
"And yet, for a child she is certainly causing more trouble than we can afford" a female voice spoke from the screen saying L-4.
"Indeed" L-3 murmured in agreement "But she has not yet reached her peak just yet. Give or take a few years and she will be a greater threat than her mentor"
"Zen why don't we eliminate zat brat as soon as possible?" A metallic French voice spoke from L-6's screen.
"Because we need her" L-1 sighed "She is the only one who we can use to find… the others"
"Her powers are only just starting to develop" Red Queen glared hard at the screen as she lit another cigarette. "It may still be months, even years before she realises what she is or what her destiny is. Until then we have time"
She looked at the ornate clock on her desk. "Forgive me, I must retire. My schedule is packed for tomorrow"
"We understand. Keep us informed if any news should reach you about your target"
The screens all shut off at once plunging the room into total darkness.
hey everybody. yes that was the light talking! hehe. sorrz if the chapter was short. I just didn't know what else to write. so theirs a bit of team fluff at the beginning for being so patient.
Keep r&r-ing the next chapter's "Homefront".