Chapter 31
A/N: hey guys, I'm back for another chapter about our favorite hybrids! Remember, I just own them, nothing else is mine.
/comms/
Telepathy/flashbacks
"Bold is raptor."
Mt. Justice, December 23, 10:45
"You nervous?" Diana asked as she sat down next to Onyx.
"Yeah," he nodded resting his elbows on his knees as they waited in the medbay.
"I know you're scared ok, but J'ohn isn't going to hurt you. He just wants to make sure that all of Psimon's damage is gone," she reassured.
"I know," he said, looking down as his tail began tapping the berth. "I…I just don't like people in my head."
Wonder Woman could understand that, it had taken her some time to come around to the idea of telepaths. Unfortunately, she couldn't truly relate, because while she had been mind-controlled in the past, Onyx had been essentially manipulated with it his whole life in one way or another.
Pursing her lips, she began to think of ways to calm him down so it'd be easier on him when J'ohn began. Nightmare was bound to start fighting back out of instinct once Manhunter began prodding around in his head. And while she knew J'ohn wouldn't intentionally hurt Onyx, there was a chance that he could get hurt.
Talking to him to keep him grounded might work, but she wasn't sure for how long. Nor did she know if J'ohn checking a particular area could trigger something. Physical contact, no, might remind him of restraints, and with the warning Dinah gave her…she didn't want to risk bringing up trauma.
Her gaze drifted to the cupboards where she knew there were a few light sedatives. Bruce or Dinah more than likely wouldn't approve—actually, they'd probably strangle her—but those just might relax him enough…
"Onyx?"
"Hmm?"
"I have an idea that might help you relax, however, I want to know if you want to do it," she began calmly, "The basic idea is I'd give you a light sedative, it should keep you calm while J'ohn works. This way the process is completely painless." Her son glanced at the cabinets, looking slightly unsure. "Remember, you don't have to do it and we can just figure it out as we go if that's the case. I thought I'd just give you the option."
"…You—you really think it'll help?"
"I believe it will," she answered honestly, "but there's also a chance I could be wrong."
After a few moments, he nodded, "I guess we can."
"You're sure?"
Nightmare nodded again, this time a little more forcefully. "I trust you, and even if it does make it worse, I at least know you weren't trying to make it that way."
Gods, what did she do to earn such a trusting child? "Alright," she said getting up. Walking to the cabinet, she grabbed a small medicine cup and a bottle of light sedatives. Pouring the contents in, she strode over looking at the boy with a concerned look. "You sure about this?"
"Yeah," he smiled slightly, reaching out and taking the cup. Diana would admit she was mildly concerned in how he took it almost like one would take a shot, and she made a note to remind her sisters that underage drinking wasn't allowed. She set the cup down in the sink, going back over to sit with Onyx. Grabbing the remote, she began flipping through the channels before settling on a Christmas movie. It would at least keep him distracted till Manhunter got there.
They got about half-way through The Grinch when Diana felt something—or rather, someone, slowly lean against her. Glancing to her right, a small smile tugged her lips as she saw her son resting his head on her shoulder with half-lidded eyes, his pupils blown wide as he gaze at the screen. Carefully shifting, she wrapped her arm around him and gently lifted him off. Nightmare gave an adorable mewl in protest to being moved away from his current pillow, but soon settled down when she moved to let his head rest in a real pillow she set on her lap.
Wonder Woman proceeded to rub his head as they continued to watch the movie. While she was certainly wondering what the hell was taking J'ohn so long, she was more than content to stay there for a movie night…maybe they could do that tonight? Or Christmas eve? It would be a nice way for both of them to relax.
A soft rap came from the door, and Diana paused the movie as Batman walked in, a frown on his face. "Has Manhunter not arrived yet?"
"No, there was probably an emergency," she replied with a shrug. "We've just been hanging out till he gets here."
"How long have you been waiting?" Bruce questioned, motioning to the boy.
Diana glanced down, softly brushing some of Onyx's hair out of his face as he slept peacefully. "Long enough to watch the Grinch."
"I apologize for the delay," Manhunter spoke, entering the room. "There was a bank robbery."
"It's fine, Onyx fell asleep," she said. "Now, something tells me, it's not just residual damage you're looking for?"
"No," Manhunter confirmed. "When I was repairing Nightmare's memories, I believed I detected a subconscious anomaly. Believing it to be damage, I determined it would be best for it to heal with the rest of the minor fragments. I wish to check to see if I was correct in my assumptions."
"Or determine if it was something else," Batman spoke up.
"Indeed."
"Do I need to move?" Diana questioned.
"No, I can do what I need," J'ohn said before his eyes started glowing.
Diana looked down watching nervously as she waited for a result. Every now and then Onyx would give a twitch or grimace as if in discomfort. Fortunately, it never lasted long before he relaxed again. Glancing up at Manhunter. He had a slight frown on his face, making her crease her brows. Was something wrong?
"J'ohn?" Bruce spoke up, apparently picking up on the same signal.
"That anomaly…it's not damage from Psimon."
Diana immediately felt concerned, biting her lip as she looked over her sleeping son. If it wasn't healing damage then what in the name of the gods could it possibly be? "What is it?"
"I'm not sure," J'ohn frowned, closing his eyes focusing more of his power on it. "It's deeply rooted in his subconscious."
"Repressed memories?" Batman questioned crossing his arms.
"It would appear so," he said removing his hands from his head with a frown. "Would you like me to remove the repression?"
"We need to see what's behind those memories," Batman spoke before Diana could speak up.
Almost instantly, a bloodcurdling scream ripped its way out of Onyx's throat.
-.-
Themiscyran Embassy, 16:55
Diana walked into the living room and smiling when she saw Onyx sleeping on the couch with Blue and Indie curled up beside him, a Christmas movie playing on the TV. If anyone had told her she would have a fourteen-year-old son and two raptors for pets before going to Sorna, Diana would've just rolled her eyes and scoffed saying she'd probably never have children of her own.
Gods, it was hard to believe it was just a few months ago she brought her young son into her life. She couldn't imagine life without that excitable ball of energy.
"Is that the tree Onyx was so excited about?" Donna asked taking a bite of an apple.
"Yes, I wanted to get it so we could decorate it when he woke up."
Her younger sister gave a sympathetic look, "You just missed him by a few minutes. He drifted off again not too long ago."
"How's his headache?"
"Almost gone now, but he's still a little outta it," she answered. "What exactly happened at the cave? I thought it was just a check-up?"
"It was, Manhunter found a lot of repressed memories. He didn't exactly react well," Diana grimaced thinking back to when Onyx began screaming in absolute agony once Manhunter had started to try to go through them. Bruce had even given him the strongest sedative they had; but even that didn't stop the pain, nothing did till they finally ceded and stopped trying to breach them. And even then, J'ohn couldn't decipher whatever the memory fragments were; only that they were filled with pain.
That information saddened her. Onyx had already suffered enough at the hands of those monsters and now they learned that the torture was bad enough to where the kid repressed his own memories to avoid the pain.
"That explains why he's so tired," Donna sighed taking a sip of wine.
A low rumble came from the couch and both sisters turned to see Indie watching them with curiosity. Diana would admit, the hybrid beast was unnerving at times with the intelligence that flashed through his eyes; it almost made her wonder at times if perhaps he had a little human in him too. "How're you doing Indie?"
He gave a soft croon, wriggling a bit on the couch and nudging Onyx with his nose.
Donna chuckled, "He's just taking a nap. He'll be fine."
Wonder Woman swore to Zeus she saw the indoraptor raise an eyebrow. "You want up?"
The great, black and gold creature nodded and Diana walked over, slowly lifting Onyx's sleeping form off the raptor allowing him to slide off the couch. Putting her son back down under a blanket, she turned to look at their two newest family members. "Happy?"
In response, Blue trilled, running off, Indie on her tail as they began to play.
"Whoa," Artemis balked as the two pets raced past, nearly barreling the redhead over. "Gotta say, it's never boring 'round here."
"How way duty?"
"Boring, I almost got to scare off a few nosy reporters, but Blue beat me too it. She stole one of their cameras too," she chuckled putting her helmet down.
"On the bright side we know nobody's breaking in!" Iris called from another room.
A clatter got their attention and the three Amazons turned just in time to get a flurry of feathers in their faces. As the white cloud settled, they both gave a deadpan look at Indie and Blue, who each had pillows in their mouths and were covered in feathers. Blue looked just as confused as they did, dropping her broken pillow.
Indie, on the other hand, immediately started running around the house, leaving a trail of feathers in his wake. They heard several of their sisters' shout from the other room as another plume of feathers emerged and the culprit sprinted out with what one could almost say a gleeful cackle.
"Wanna start decorating the tree and say that was our excuse for not wrangling him?" Donna suggested.
"You spend too much time with your nephew," Diana sighed.
"Like mother like son, my dear big sister."
"So…I'm not hearing a no here?" Artemis shrugged.
-.-
18:13
"So what is the plan for one of these 'movie nights'?"
"We sit around, eat junk food, and binge watch movies till dawn or till we all fall asleep."
"It's pretty fun," Iris agreed.
Slowly opening his eyes, Onyx blinked a few times to get everything into focus. He found his brows furrowing as he saw several of his sisters lying out blankets and pillows on the floor, some of the others were bringing in food with Indie and Blue following behind trying to sneak a bite.
What was going on? Was he still dreaming?
"Look who's finally awake."
Turning his head up towards the ceiling, he smiled tiredly as his mother leaned over the couch. "Hi Mom."
"How'd you sleep?"
"Pretty good, but my head still hurts," he confessed with a slight wince. He gaze flickered to the green mass across the room and he smiled, "I see y'all decorated the tree."
"You like it, nephew?"
"It's great, I can't wait for when we put the lights on."
A hand rubbed his head and Onyx purred lightly, letting his eyes slowly start to drift shut again. "Hey, don't go falling asleep on me just yet now. You need to eat something and at least watch one movie with your family, then you're more than welcome to go back to sleep."
"Can I pick the movie?"
Diana smiled and nodded, her chest feeling warm as a gleam of happiness shone in his tired eyes. "First pick."
"Nightmare Before Christmas?"
"I suppose we could watch that," she said grabbing the remote. "Scooch over." As soon as she sat down Onyx happily leaned against her as the rest of their sisters settled down on different chairs or on the blanket-covered floor passing around popcorn and other snacks, ready to enjoy a movie marathon as a family.
-.-
December 24, 16:45EST
"Alright everyone, we all get to open one present tonight," Canary said as the mentors and team sat around the living room.
Wally began to get up to grab a large box, when his uncle stopped him. "Nope. We get to choose what presents we give you."
"Aw man." The was a series of huffs and the redhead glared at the Indoraptor lying beside Wolf and Blue on the floor. "You still owe me a turkey leg, jerk."
The corner of Indie's mouth tilted up, he liked this loud one. He was fun to annoy, and he had food. "Never gonna happen."
Onyx snorted and the others looked at him. "What'd he say?"
"He said: Never gonna happen," Onyx relayed and the others snickered as Wally continued to glare at Indie.
"Baywatch, consider it payment for him not trying to eat you," Artemis commented.
"Just because he looks mean doesn't mean he is," Conner defended scratching Wolf's ears.
"Yeah, Blue's killed more people than Indie has," Onyx remarked taking a bite of a cookie.
"That's not reassuring."
"Why the hell do you have two homicidal pets?" Roy scowled scooching away from the two animals.
"First off, they're not pets, they're part of my pack. And two, they attacked only when provoked."
"He has a point," Robin agreed crossing his legs on the couch. "Now, the presents?!"
"Ok, ok, Robin, since you're so eager," Canary chuckled picking up a box of some sort and setting it in front of him.
"Why does it have holes?
"Perhaps it has to do with what's inside the box," Batman spoke from where he loomed behind the couch.
The boy wonder tilted his head back, looking up at his mentor. Sticking his tongue out at the Bat, he opened the box, a smile coming to his face as he pulled out a small black kitten with wide eyes. "Yes! You finally talked him into letting me get a pet!"
"He's so cute," Zatanna cooed lightly bopping the tiny kitten on the nose. "What're you naming him?"
Robin's mouth tilted up. "How about Batty?"
"No."
"Batty it is!" Robin decided, setting the tiny animal in his lap. The small kitten yawned, curling up in his lap.
"Oh! Oh! Now me! Now me!" Wally said jumping up and down in his seat.
"M'gann," Manhunter said levitating a small covered crate over.
"Am I getting a cat?" she asked quickly removing the cover. Her smile turned to a confused frown as he stared at the lizard inside. "This isn't a cat."
"It's a chameleon," her uncle smiled, gently opening the box. Changing the color of his hand, her eyes widened as the small animal changed to match. "I didn't think you would enjoy a plant like I do, but I thought you might enjoy a little animal that is not too different from us."
"That's so cool!" M'gann said letting the small animal crawl onto her hand.
"Yes. I have also seen many funny videos with these little animals. They enjoy grabbing things."
"I'll name her Rainbow. Cause she's so colorful."
"Are we all getting pets?" Wally questioned.
"Artemis, Roy, I figured you'd both enjoy these," Green Arrow smiled setting to boxes down and both dug in, wanting to see their possible new pets.
"Aw!" the blonde archer cooed. As a small terrier puppy hopped out of the box, tail wagging. "I love him. What's his name?"
"Adoption center said Buddy, but you can change it if you want."
Artemis thought for a moment, playing with the puppy in her lap. "I like Buddy."
"A snake?" Roy asked looking at his ex-mentor with a raised brow. "You gave me a snake?"
"It's not like he's a boa, just a little corn snake," Oliver defended. "See he likes you." Roy looked down, watching the small red and orange snake slithering into his lap, it's tongue flicking out every now and then as it took in its environment.
"Fine, I'll name him…Hector? Happy?"
"He likes eating mice and rats."
"Well, at least he's useful."
"Come on!" Wally whined, falling back on the couch. "Where's my pet? What is it? I wanna know."
"Zatanna," Canary said, reaching into a box, and the girl smiled as a black and white rabbit was pulled out. "I remember Zatara saying you wanted one."
The girl sniffled, taking the small bunny. "Yeah, he said maybe when I was older. He's cute. He looks like an Oreo."
"Oreo, that's a cute name," Dinah smiled sitting beside the young girl as she began to tear up.
"Yeah, he does look like cookies and crème," Robin remarked as his kitten crawled over his lap to sniff at the bunny.
"Looks like Batty likes him too."
"I highly doubt I'm getting another pet," Conner remarked, holding Wolf back as he tried to sniff at Artemis' puppy.
"No, but we did think you and Wolf would enjoy this," Red Tornado said handing Conner a box. Opening it, Conner pulled out a rope, much like the one he'd seen at Onyx's place for the raptors. "This way you can play with him without breaking anything."
"What do ya say Wolf? Wanna try it?" Conner asked holding up the rope. The white canine looked at him for a moment then went back to sniffing the puppy. "Ok. Maybe later."
"Sky, we got you this," Hawkman smiled and held out a brightly colored parrot.
"Peekaboo," the bird squawked.
"I can teach it to curse!" she said.
"Sky," both her parents groaned.
"You're name's Potato."
The colorful green and yellow bird whistled, "Hello Potato! Pretty bird! Pretty bird!"
"Why can't you be normal?" Hawkwoman sighed.
The girl's teal wings twitched, "Where's the fun in that mother?"
"Kaldur'ahm," Aquaman spoke up. "Since you have to split your time between the land and the sea. I thought you would enjoy having some of the sea with you."
Aqualad took the box and opened in. With a deadpan look, he pulled out the sealed magic bowl with a pufferfish inside.
"Mera thought Bubbles would be a good name."
"Thank you, My King."
"SERIOUSLY! WHERE'S MY PET?!" Wally exclaimed.
"Alright, Wally, slow down," Flash sighed picking up a box and handing it to his nephew.
"YES! I GOT…" he trailed off, looking at the animal in the box and glaring up at his uncle. "You're kidding?"
"Nope. Meet your new pet," Barry grinned picking up the baby tortoise. "His name is Tank."
-.-
Gotham, December 25, 15:32EST
"You made it!" Dick exclaimed hugging Onyx before Alfred could even open the door all the way.
Stepping inside, Onyx merely looked around, "This is your house?"
"Dude, you're royalty," the boy smirked, "the Themiscyrian palace is probably bigger than this."
He opened his mouth to respond, before finding that he didn't really have anything to say. It wasn't like Robin was wrong.
"It's a pleasure to see you again Princess Diana and Prince Onyx," Alfred greeted, closing the door.
"Just Onyx is fine," he tried hearing an amused snort from his mother.
"Then it's good to see you Prince Just Onyx," he replied, his mustache twitching in amusement as yet another of the Master's guests remained unsure on how to handle him. "Master Bruce and Master Clark are in the living room."
"Thanks Alfred," Diana smiled walking down the hall with the butler, leaving the two teenagers alone.
"So have you opened presents yet?" Dick questioned.
"At home, yeah," he smiled. "You?"
"I had to push Bruce out of bed this morning cause he was talking too long. What'd you get? I got supplies to take care of Batty, a new PlayStation (I may have accidently broken the old one with an EMP), some clothes, a few books, and some new headphones."
"Clothes, a laptop, PlayStation, TV, and these," he smiled rolling back the sleeves of his sweater revealing the silver gauntlets on his wrist, "I finally get to learn how to start deflecting bullets—you know, without relying on my skin."
"Awesome! Bruce got me these cool new night sticks to work with! You wanna go practice with them in the gym?"
"Hell yeah!"
In the living room, all four adults felt a sense of dread as the two fourteen-year-olds raced past in a blur, and eerie cackles following behind them. Alfred tossed a sidelong glance at the other adults, "Whatever chaos happens between those two, I do expect you to clean it up Master Bruce."
The Dark Knight sighed, taking a sip of his coffee; he loved that Dick now had a friend to spend the holidays with when Wallace would be busy. After all, he, Clark, and Diana always spent various holidays at each other's houses, it was only a matter of time before Onyx would learn their secret IDs.
However, with the echoing cackles, he was starting to wonder how much more chaotic the holidays were now going to be from there. Richard alone could cause a lot of chaos, now there were two teenage idiots, plus pets to keep track of…He was going to need something stronger to drink.
A/N: Hey guys, I figured this would be a cute filler chapter of just having everyone relax and enjoy a break before things started to get rough for them again. Hope y'all enjoyed it and I'll see y'all in the next chapter! Merry Christmas! :)