The shadows whispered in the memory before the ground shook, the images splintering around them like ice before they shattered. Batman's attention snapped to the environment around them, but Onryo was calm.
Young Senka was seen padding around the upper floor of the house, quiet as he could make himself. He hadn't looked fully healthy in the beginning, like he was skipping meals, but he didn't look like he was starving, either.
"What… what time is this?" M'gann asked, her eyes tracing over the child's torso. She could count his ribs, he was so skinny.
Onryo sighed. "This was nine months after his father brought home that Venom sample." He began. "One taste despite her objections, and everything went downhill for his mother and consequentially, for Senka as well."
Little Senka was playing quietly with the broken action figures of members of the Justice League. He seemed to handle Flash's figure with a particular reverence, as well as Wonder Woman's and Hawk Woman's- his wings were laid out behind him in a relaxed posture, his digitigrade legs were folded underneath him comfortably, and his mouth was fixed in a slight smile of childish contentment. He imitated the voices of the League members poorly, but the proteges' mentor's distinguishable from each other; the nine-year-old seemed to be at peace, more than he ever seemed to be in the time the Team and their mentors had bothered to see him as he was in the present time.
SLAM
Little Senka suddenly jumped so badly that his Flash figure, which was already missing a leg and his right arm, clattered to the ground, and he had frozen at the noise.
"So you're saying you have the subject here?" a man's voice, not belonging to Senka's father, asked. The child shuddered, feeling as if slick oil was flowing over his scales with how uneasy he felt. "Yeah, the brat's here. You have the cash or no?" Manhunter's fists clenched as he recognized the boy's mother, her once kind and soft voice now harsh and brittle with impatience and rough with the aftereffects of smoking things that weren't just nicotine or marijuana.
"We see the asset, then your husband and you will be compensated."
"I don't like where this is going," Wally muttered. For all his dislike of Senka, even he saw there was something wrong with the picture.
Senka tensed, his wings shivering and tail flicking in fear as the heavy thumps thundered up the stairs. When his room door flew open, they saw those who would turn him into who he was today.
The symbol of a dragon shielded by a billowing ring of flames was embroidered on their chests, business suits pressed and clean to perfection.
"Alright, you've seen him," Senka's mother grunted, pushing through the three men who had appeared in the doorway. "Now fork over the cash, take him, and get out."
Little Senka watched as a handful of hundred dollar bills was goven to his mother. The second man stepped forwards and knelt before the child, rummaging through his pockets before pulling out a handkerchief.
"Don't worry kid," he said, his smile hollow and malevolent.
"it'll only hurt a little where you're going."
Then the images began to fly past, being shoved into each outsider's brains along with the sensations. Tests on strength, endurance, mental capacity, powers…
Needless to say, Aqualad found out why Senka had hesitated when the Atlantean pulled the ocean with his water bearers.
Conner found out why he went submissive when the clone had choked him out in training.
Robin understood the crushing loneliness, clawing your way out of the pit your mind dug you into.
Artemis knew what thousands of volts of electricity felt like being shoved into your body.
Wally could barely comprehend the pain tolerance Senka had when a stab through the bone of his thigh sent him into a jibbering mess.
M'gann felt her chest be ripped open, only to heal back up with astounding precision.
Batman heard himself/Senka screaming, crying for help that didn't come until he saw a pair of glowing red eyes peer through the darkness, promising he would send people to help him.
Manhunter felt the slightest bit of hope that was nearly doused by fear when Senka opened his eyes to see their proteges surrounding him.
Everyone felt the betrayal, the anger, the hurt, the fear, the loneliness, and the pain, of being promised a safe haven, only for it to be a lie as they were used for their powers...
TheY're no different from ð̈́ϡ‡†∫∑ϟю …
In a crash of fire and the scream of Senka's beast form, two words were flung out in a gutteral beastial wail.
No MoRe LiEs...!
The feel of metal, rock, and dirt under their claws as they dig for freedom from the roof of the medical bay they woke up in.
The blinding sunlight, then-.
...
The Team and those that were there with them when Onryo visited the Mountain went back to their respective cities shortly after they were released from the collective trap. They only met up for missions or important meetings for the next several days… they had a lot of thinking to do, sorting through the knowledge that they had overlooked…
No, they didn't overlook it…
They were too afraid of the failures they had committed due to paranoia and petty jealousy, and an innocent had paid for it with their life and taken any form of trust away with it.
That was something they would have to live with for the rest of their lives.
...
Senka walked through the dark alleys, still sticking to the shadows, even as the excitement from the day before wound down, he still felt uneasy about going out around people. His tail twitched as he padded through the maze of alleys in Shacklebolt, still trying to familiarize himself with the new territory he had claimed for himself.
Territory… that word had a lot of ways to be spoken.
A place to call his own, a nest, a kingdom, a sanctuary. Something to protect. Senka hadn't known these people at all, still didn't know any of them, save for Andromeda and, to an extent, her parents from the few days of watching the building they lived and worked in… but they were hardworking people from what he could see. Some more unsavory than others, but who was Senka to judge when he was thought of as unsavory by the people who were supposed to protect him?
…
Well, when he thought of it that way, it seemed rather hypocritical that he made assumptions that people would try to hurt him here after he saved one of their own…
Senka glanced up from where he was now carefully leaning against the wall of a building to peer out at the late afternoon traffic. Teenagers would be getting out of school by now, and people were starting to commute back to their homes. With a sigh, the meta glanced out into the late afternoon light, debating his options. He really had finished memorizing the layout of the city… but he had nothing else to do.
Senka took a breath, bracing himself for what he was about to do, and cautiously took a step into the light, his talons flinching as if he were expecting the sunlight to burn him in some way, before he set his foot down tentatively on the concrete. His frame was stiff and unbendable he was so nervous, but he slowly made another step.
'The first steps are always the hardest,' he thought to himself, clenching a fist.
Then, someone bumped into his chest and Senka's tail lashed out to catch them, eliciting a yelp from the person. Senka blinked down at the very woman he had saved those days ago, and she stared up at him with her mouth dropped open. "I-I-it's you!" she exclaimed, blue eyes wide with awe. Senka nodded slowly, his mind still trying to catch up with the moment.
"You… seem to be doing well," he muttered, glancing at her figure, and lingering on her swollen belly. Something in him trilled curiously, and the woman held in his tail jolted.
Did he just make that sound out loud…?
"Are… are you doing alright?" he ventured, slowly and gently easing her back onto her feet, though he kept his tail up as a precaution. The woman had snapped out of her daze and gave Senka a warm smile, nodding to his question. "I am… Night Fury, was it?" making a grunt of confirmation, Senka stepped to the side, angling himself so the woman had more space.
"My name is Sherry, Sherry Greene. I was just heading to the pharmacy a few blocks from here." Senka's eyes flashed violet and he looked around from his much taller vantage point over the lady; where the heck was her husband?!
"Is your husband not able to take you?" he rumbled. Sherry blinked before her eyes widened in understanding, though she shook her head in the negative. "No… my husband works on an oil rig, so he isn't home for two months at a time… luckily he's slated to be back at the end of this month, if all goes well."
Senka hummed, watching closely as Sherry began to walk in the direction of the pharmacy. He was rooted to the spot for a good minute before he broke into a trot to catch up to the pregnant woman. "I can walk you, if that's alright?" the teen said shyly, eyes flickering every which way as if another speeding car would come out from nowhere and bear down on the lady again.
Sherry's eyes widened before she smiled softly.
"there's no need for that, Night Fury… I can take care of myself."
"What if another car comes, or you're jumped by that gang that's causing trouble?" Senka argued, shifting on his feet anxiously. His wings twitched and he grimaced at how unlike himself he was acting.
'But she's pregnant, and the baby could get hurt and she's vulnerable and carrying and-!'
A hand carded through black hair and ruffled it in a motherly manner, making Senka's speeding mind slow to a stop. Slowly looking up from where he had been staring at the concrete in his anxiousness, he saw Sherry's grateful blue eyes looking into his violet. "I never said you couldn't, Fury," she chided. "In fact, if you'll have me, can you please assist me to the pharmacy and back to my home?"
Senka rumbled before he shifted, the woman letting out an "oh, my" as she found herself looking up at the large panther-esque creature that circled her form before standing ready on her right side.
«If you find yourself feeling tired at all,» Senka said, his beak-like muzzle clacking as he chittered at the older woman. «Tell me, and I'll let you rest.»
Sherry chuckled, grasping the fur on Night Fury's new body. It was soft, almost like how velvet felt, but long and… well, not wiry, but not fluffy either.
"We have a good guardian here," she laughs gently. "Thank you, Fury."
Senka's chest warmed, and he let out that sound again.
A high-pitched chirrup that was mixed with a purr.
He couldn't remember a time he'd ever made it, but for some reason, it prodded at the back of his memory, like the scene from a movie you'd watched in your childhood.
So a bit on the shorter side today I think. If you feel let down by the memory lane scene don't be! More will come up later on in the story in different forms- flashbacks, hallucinations, comparing one thing with another thing that happened in Senka's memory.
Senka won't be going back to the League any time soon, but the League will try to bring him back with 'I'm sorrys' and meaningless gifts that won't work.
Sherry is another important figure for Senka as the story goes, and her husband won't be a scumbag- my little bro actually wanted him to be one and I was shocked and appalled because not all fanfiction husbands are gonna be like that yo!
Again, sorry for how short this was, but I've also had family troubles, so it took a while and not a lot of length. Hope this satisfies you all for the next chappy tho!
