Chapter 1
Wally let out a low groan as he stirred. "Rob?"
"KF! Are you alright?" Robin cried.
"Yeah. I'm a little tired but I'll be okay. Did you have to hit me so hard?" Wally replied while glaring at the older Flash.
"Lantern." Batman said sternly. In an instant he too was engulfed in the glowing green light.
"Whoa!" Wally cried as he was lifted off the ground. "I take it we lost the fight." He inferred by the teams captured state. None of them looked remotely happy.
Artemis huffed irately and began beating on the sides of the glowing sphere. "Let us go! You brought us here and you have no right to hold us! When I get outta here I'm going to-"
"Settle down everyone. John, put them on the ground please. They aren't going to be any nicer to us all cooped up in there. Maybe we can talk without attacking each other." Clark interjected. Something about keeping children held up in a prison didn't make him feel good.
"I don't think that's a good idea Clark. They're-"
"Children. They woke up in a strange world where nothing makes sense and they're frightened. Keeping them caged isn't going to help." Clark studied each of the children. Clearly something was amiss and their best bet was to try and get the kids home.
"I have to agree with Lantern on this one, if he lets them go and they bolt, we may not be able to round them up again. They may actually get a hold to one of the jets and then wreck havoc on Earth. At least we can keep the damage contained up here." Hawk Girl said.
"I don't think they're going to leave their teammates here unconscious." Clark gestured to Superboy and Miss Martian. "Let them down. We'll get these two the medical treatment they need and we'll get someone to help them."
A moment passed before Green Lantern finally lowered the teens to the ground. He released the power of the ring on them. Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Artemis landed soundly on the floor and turned to face the Justice League.
"Thank you for releasing us. We merely wish to return home without confrontation." Aqualad said gravely. Artemis's hand itched towards her bow. Her fight or flight reflex was kicking in. She was ready to fight to the death.
"Easy Artemis. Easy." Robin whispered. He could sense her distress. "With Supey and Miss M down, there's no way we can handle another fight."
"Ugh... My head hurts." Megan sat up slowly. She wiped her bleary eyes and looked around. "Guys?" She scooted away from Batman in fear.
"Chill Miss M, we're talking now." Kid Flash warned her.
'Talking?' She thought towards them.
'Great, we really needed our mental hook up. So what are we going to do?' Wally thought.
'We talk. I'm still running some test but my scans tell me that's the real Batman. Something's seriously off.' Robin informed them.
'And the others?' Aqualad wanted to know.
'Also legitimate. We could test Clark with the kryptonite I keep in my utility belt.'
'You keep kryptonite?'
'Batman makes me. I would never use it on Superboy though.'
'I do not recommend that plan.' Their heads all snapped to J'onn. He had arrived with Dr. Fate.
'Well crap. So much for a mental uplink giving us an advantage.' Kid Flash groaned.
'He is the master.' M'gann reminded them.
"What do you make of this, Dr. Fate?" Diana inquired. The man clothed in navy and gold considered the children in front of him
"They are not of this dimension. They are from elsewhere." The man finally said gravely.
"Not from this dimension? You have to be kidding me!" Flash exclaimed.
"I told you all we shouldn't have gone messing with Cadmus. Nothing good ever comes out of that place." Artemis wanted to pull her hair out. Now they were in a whole other dimension, one where their mentors were even worse than usual? She didn't think she could take it.
"This explains things, why they don't recognize us, why they started a fight. There's a good chance that we don't exist here." Robin tapped his lower lip thoughtfully. "If we're trapped here, this could be really bad. Who knows what chain of events this has set off in our own dimension."
"Hey, calm down. We'll work out how to get you back home. For now you'll just have to stay here with us." Clark supplied.
"Since when did he get so nice to us?" Artemis whispered.
"Super hearing and what do you mean by that?"
"Well…it's just…our Clark is kind of and ass." Robin supplied. He had been trying to contain his shock. "No offense meant of course."
Clark's brow furrowed. He couldn't imagine a world where he would have a reason to mistreat a child.
"I'm still confused. They know me and they know Superman; they know both of our secret identities-"
"I know all of your secret identities." Robin smirked.
"What I'm asking is, how?" Flash shot an annoyed look his way at being interrupted.
"I thought we already talked about this. In our world, we're your partners. We're each paired to a hero. That's why we know your identities. Well, all except for Batman's, only Robin knows his." Kid Flash explained. The teenagers nodded at his explanation.
"I don't believe that, none of us would ever have a sidekick." Flash said.
"Okay, first: don't call us sidekicks." Artemis growled. "Second: he is not lying."
"She is right, no word he has said has been untrue." J'onn supplied.
"That's impossible. I'm The Flash, I don't need a sidekick. I can handle myself." Flash said indignantly.
"Uncle Barry stop! God, you are so obnoxious here!" Kid Flash said. Robin squeezed his eyes shut. He knew what Kid Flash was really feeling. His uncle was his only confident. At a young age, Wally's parents had given him over to his aunt and his uncle. Now he had lost someone who he saw as his father.
"Barry." J'onn said. Obviously he had realized the same thing.
"We need to wake up Superboy. If we don't he'll wake up fighting." M'gann lightly pulled Wally away. She was right; Superboy would still think they were on the defensive.
"Superboy? So he's my side- excuse me, partner?" Clark actually looked hopeful.
"No. You and Conner don't exactly get along." Robin said cryptically.
"Don't get along? Why ever not?" Clark looked puzzled.
"It's complicated." Artemis crossed her arms and glared.
"And who do you belong to? You don't seem like a partnership kind of girl." Green Lantern raised and eyebrow at her.
"If you have to know, Green Arrow's my mentor." She huffed.
"Oliver? No, he'd never take an apprentice. I don't believe it." Shayera Hol threw her hands up. "This is absurd!"
"Not really, Ollie screwed up one kid and now he's working on a second." Artemis snapped.
"And the rest of you? Who do you all belong to?" Hawk Girl asked.
"I am Aqualad and I humbly serve my king who you would know as Aquaman." Kaldur responded in his normal monotonous voice.
"My uncle J'onn brought me to this team." M'gann smiled sweetly.
"And you?" The League looked to the youngest hero.
"Batman." Robin said with a wicked smirk. There was beat of silence.
"Now that, even I don't believe." Clark shook his head.
"There's no way he would take a child on as a partner." Green Lantern was close to laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Aquaman, he could believe. Maybe even Flash. The girl had said she was J'onn's niece so that made sense but he drew the line at Batman. The man was no good with kids.
Bruce Wayne stared the thirteen year old for a few minutes.
"You're my 'partner'?" he said skeptically.
"I was the first 'partner'." Dick challenged his mentor's glare.
"Just find a way to get them back home and out of the Watchtower. We need to get this wrapped up and soon." With that, the Dark Knight swept from the room without sparing his would-be sidekick a second glance.
"You could have woken me up." Conner was rubbing the back of his head. He had woken up a few minutes earlier, much to the joy of his team.
"Yeah, but if it hadn't been us standing over you, you would have killed someone." Kid Flash said without humor.
"You're right. Are we still on the satellite?" Superboy asked.
"Yeah, we aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They want to keep an eye on us while they try to figure out how to send us back to our dimension." Robin informed him. He couldn't get Bruce's dismissive glance out of his head. Bruce had never been uncivilized with him. Sometimes curt, maybe a little demanding but Dick had never been ignored. Bruce was his father.
Shayera sat in her corner, swinging her flail back and forth. She had been assigned first watch over the teenagers and she had to admit it was pretty boring. They all watched her with distinct apprehension.
"Can you believe this? They've assigned us a baby sitter. We're back to square one with these people." She heard the one named Artemis growl. Shayera couldn't help but laugh. Clearly she was the feisty one of the group.
"Please, I just want to get home where my uncle actually knows me, oh and where's he's not a complete jerk." Kid Flash snapped. "Maybe they'll put it together and we can get back to kicking but back home."
"I cannot help but agree with Wally. This has been extremely distressing. I want to go home." Miss Martian was sitting on the floor, her knees hugged tightly to her face. "I want to see my uncle J'onn, not a man I don't know." Shayera couldn't help but sigh at the sadness in her voice. She stood and opened the holding cell's doors.
"I'm changing the watch. John or Diana should be in a few moments." She said.
"We don't need a babysitter!" Artemis looked about ready to explode.
"Cry me a river sweetie, it's not like I want to spend my Saturday day night with a bunch of kids." Shayera replied over her shoulder. Once door slid close, she wearily rubbed her forehead. "This is going to be a nightmare."
A/N: You all had a lot of really great questions. Most of them were similar so instead of answering each individual one, I'm going to give you one blanket answer:
Yes, I am using the characters from the Justice League cartoon. I know their personalities much better than I know the ones of those in the YJ cartoon. However, I did switch out Wally for Barry. I wanted this story to be about mentors and apprentices and two Wally's wouldn't fit that line. Plus, I'd have to write for two. They went to Dr. Fate because I'm a bit more familiar with him that with Zatara. (Did he appear in JLU?) Also, as you probably noticed, I accidentally posted the first few sentences of this chapter in the last chapter, that's why you had those strange words. I fixed the problem. Feel free to ask questions, I appreciate them. -IFW