Chapter 3
A/N: hey everyone, glad to see y'all back. Hope y'all're enjoying the story so far. So, trying a new thing here, review replies!
Rubeneliasrivera: thanks for the praise and the idea. I hope I can meet your expectations on this story, I'm very excited to have the chance to write it.
KaijuMaster19: huh, didn't know about Radon, but since Rodan is currently in the MonsterVerse, that's who I'm using.
Alrighty then, remember, I just own my OCs, that's about it, everything else isn't mine.
/comms/
Telepathy/flashbacks
Watchtower, July 9, 11:34EST
Diana looked down in the terrarium, looking up at the alien birds flying up. Smiling, she looked back down to see the boy lying in the small pond they left in there so the various small animals could get something to drink. Though the small birds had become more wary after he'd ambushed them a few times. Heck, she'd even been startled when she found him eating one of the birds.
For growing up in a lab, the kid had good instincts for hunting. Really good instincts. Though from his looks, it should be obvious, those claws, fangs; whatever Titanus gojira was, is was a predator. Which also explained his unusual aversion to eating any sort of vegetable, though he gave an exception to some fruits, as long as they were sweet or chocolate covered.
Though, despite his weird little quirks, she'd grown fond of the boy. Mostly because he hardly refused to stray too far. Poor thing was easily startled by other people, well, those that he didn't know well. He'd even lashed out at a few. Once he knew that they weren't a threat, the hybrid boy was actually quite the little sweetheart.
Over the past few day's she'd learned his name, his favorite spots in the Watchtower, and discovered he loved water, meat, sweets, and all things soft and fuzzy. He also purred, when happy. It was very cute.
She flew down, landing by the boy. "Hey Onyx."
He looked up at her, a wide grin crossing his face. "Hi Diana. What'cha doing here?"
The Amazon chuckled, crossing her legs as she sat down. "Well, I haven't seen you today. Wanted to make sure you weren't getting into trouble."
"I'm not," he chirped, his tail sending ripples through the water as he turned to her. "So how was today's meeting?"
"It went well," she said. "How was your day so far?"
"Boring," he whined setting his head on his arms in a pout. "None of the birds are coming down."
"Maybe if you stopped eating them," she scolded, "there is food in the fridge."
"But it's weird," he whined sliding out of the pond, trying and failing to shake the water out of his suit.
She chuckled to herself. This kid was so weird, though, she guessed all kids were based on her own experiences with Dick and Wally. "Did you hang out with Skylar or Amber?" she tried.
Onyx pouted as he plopped next to her. "Dinah took them shopping. Said they needed some clothes."
"Ah," she nodded, leaning back on her palms. She did recall Zatara mentioning that the Hawks were letting the girls borrow the glamours they used to hide their wings. "You'll get your turn soon enough. Besides, it's not a fun as it sounds."
"It's not?"
Diana laughed. "Hardly, my first-time shopping, I spent hours in a store trying on outfit after outfit. I think it ended up being over a hundred till we finally settled on something."
"Oh…So what did you go over in the meeting today?" he inquired.
"You'll see, when you dry off," she smiled ruffling his hair. "I think you'll be excited about it."
-.-
11:44EDT
Diana shook her head as Onyx plopped onto the couch wearing the loose sweats they'd found stored in a random closet. His hair was still wet, but at least he wouldn't catch a cold now. Reaching over the couch, she reached into the bag. Clark had decided it would be a good idea to get the kids some stuffed animals, something that they could keep as their own, and something they could at least use for comfort when they weren't around.
Naturally, the Man of Steel got the biggest ones he could find.
Pulling out the giant teddy bear, she smiled as Onyx squeaked and immediately pulled it close, purring loudly as he nuzzled it. "Are these things what the meeting was about?" he asked hugging the bear. "Cause if so it sounds like a very good meeting."
That made her laugh. Gods, this kid…she sighed, ruffling his hair. "No, that's not what the meeting was about."
He tilted his head, blinking curiously. "Then what was it about?"
"Well, you remember what I do?" she prodded.
"Heroing right," he remembered, his tail twitching. "You save people from bad guys and natural disasters."
"Well, how would you feel about doing that too?" she leaned forwards. A soft smile came to her face as she saw him perk up.
"You…you think I could do that?" he asked with wide eyes.
"I think you have potential," she nodded. "So, do you want to?"
"Duh!" he grinned squeezing the bear. "It would be so cool to do what you do!"
"You do know it's dangerous right?" she reminded gently. Yes, she'd be excited for him to join. But she also wanted him to know that this was his choice. Poor kid never had a choice in his life before. She wasn't going to let that continue. "You could get hurt."
Onyx went quiet for a moment, almost thinking. "Well…it wouldn't be the first time I've been hurt. It couldn't be that bad."
That statement, no matter how many times, in how many different ways she'd heard it, it was still heartbreaking to hear. "Onyx, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," she continued, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I want to," he smiled. "But thanks…for giving me a choice."
Diana smiled, ruffling his hair. "No problem Little Hunter. So, if you're going to do this, I should let you know. Batman's been preparing a team, a team of kids just about your age. And, if they choose to do so, Amber and Skylar will be joining you. So with this team, you'll have a place to stay, friends, training, and be assigned missions."
"Training?" he asked, an edge of wariness in his tone.
"Monitored training with your team and with your mentor," she gently spoke. "Nothing bad, I promise."
Onyx tilted his head, looking a little less wary at the reassurance. "Mentor?"
"Well, a mentor is someone who trains another to do what they do," she explained.
"Oh, so my mentor would be training me to be a hero?" he caught on, smiling as she nodded. "Are you mine?"
Diana laughed, gods, this kid…she almost felt reminded of herself when learning of man's world. "If you want."
"Yes!" he grinned. "Oh! I'll need a hero name right? That's what you have—I think. I might be remembering that wrong. Anyways, if I do need one, do you have any ideas? Cause I have one, but I don't know how good it is!"
Well, at least he was excited.
-.-
D.C. July 10, 09:16EDT
"You likin' anything you see Tuppence? Cuz y'know I wanna keep me li'l sis happy," a blond boy chuckled taking a bite of a hamburger while a blonde girl beside him rolled her eyes.
"Tommy. Y'know darn well yer only three minutes older. So quit babyin' me," she snapped going to a window. "Though…there are some pretty nice bangles here."
Onyx tilted his head, watching the pair stomp into the jewelry store as he and Diana walked past. "Um…A-are people normally like that?" he asked, pulling the hood of his hoodie up a little more.
Diana gave him a sympathetic look. "Just siblings," she reassured, gently pushing back the hood. "And remember, you have nothing to worry about, the glamour should work for a few more hours. Just long enough to get you some clothes, other basic necessities, and maybe some stuff to make you future room more homey."
"Like stuffed animals? And ice cream?"
"Ice cream is always a necessity," she grinned. "But yes, maybe we can get you some more stuffed animals. Though you might like a gaming system."
"What's a gaming system?" he asked trotting to keep up as he took in the strange sights.
"I'll show you when we get back. I'm pretty sure Barry kept one in the longue," Diana chuckled, leading him into a store. "But first, we're getting you some real clothes."
-.-
10:45EDT
Onyx squeaked as more clothes were piled into his arms. Once they tried some stuff on and found his size—which had taken forever on its own—Diana had wasted no time dragging him around the store and handing him clothes. "How much longer is this gonna take?"
"Not too much longer," the Amazon said grabbing two shirts and holding them up in front of him glancing between. After a minute, she put the orange one back before putting the blue on onto the pile.
"You said this wasn't gonna take too long," he whined.
"And you need clothes," she reminded. "Sorry sweetie but you can't keep borrowing whatever we have left around. I promise, we'll got get ice cream when we wrap up here." Since the pile was currently keeping the poor boy from seeing, Diana grabbed his arm, leading him through the store up to the front counter.
"Oh thank God," Onyx groaned setting the pile down. Letting the cashier start scanning the labels.
"Getting ready for the next school year?" the woman chuckled.
"I suppose, he mostly needed some new clothes," Diana replied pulling out her card.
"Ah, growth spurt?"
"You could say that," she replied handing her the card.
"FREEZE PUNK!" they heard someone shout followed by the sound of shattering glass.
At the sound, Onyx ran out the door. Diana took her card, "Hold our stuff right now and find cover. We'll be back." Exiting the shop, they could see the two blondes they passed earlier restraining a police officer and a shopkeeper. She grabbed Onyx, pulling him into a alley between the shops leading to an emergency exit. "Do you have your suit on underneath?"
"The Cadmus one?" he tilted his head. "Yeah."
"Good," Diana said pulling her trench coat off, revealing her uniform. "Cause you're getting your trial run as a hero."
"Now?!"
She nodded, putting on her tiara. "Now."
"I'm still hungry Tuppence, so I'm gonna take our new pal to the food court," the boy said, casually ignoring the man in his grasp struggling.
"Please!"
The pair ignored him as the girl grabbed the cop. "Right behind you Tommy, just cleaning up a bit first. You know how I feel about folks leavin' litter lyin' 'round." The girl, Tuppence, grinned as she lifted the officer over her head and people started screaming.
"RUN!"
"CALL THE COPS!"
"GET ME OUTTA HERE!"
"CALL THE LEAGUE!"
The girl hurled the officer over the railing. The man screamed as he fell towards the ground, only to have the air knocked out of his lungs. Coughing the man's eye widened as he came face-to-face with a young boy, with scales on his cheeks and golden cat-like eyes.
"Nice catch." Wonder Woman praised.
Onyx nodded, setting the man down. Looking up, his eyes narrowed as he saw the blonde girl leaning over the railing. "Who're they?"
"No idea."
"Tommy! We've got us some real company comin'!" Tuppence called.
"Well," Tommy grinned, "if company's comin', we should set the table," he tossed the store clerk aside. "Hostages?"
Tuppence gave a grin of her own, "Hostages."
Smirking, Tommy turned to the crowd of terrified people trapped between them and the exits. "IF I COULD HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE! Y'ALL'RE NOW OFFICIALLY HOSTAGES OF TOMMY AND TUPPENCE TERROR, THE TERROR TWINS!"
A lasso wrapped around Tommy's arm and his eyes widened as Wonder Woman smirked. "I highly doubt that," she narrowed her eyes. Yanking on the rope, she pulled the boy towards her, punching him in the face.
As Wonder Woman fought of the male twin, Onyx ambushed the girl. He threw a punch, knocking her into a wall, causing a crater to form. "Ugh," she groaned wiping some blood off her lip. "Son, you do pack a wallop," she looked him over, wrinkling her nose, "Well, should I say freak." She lunged at him, causing the hybrid to duck. Rolling onto his back, he pressed his palms against the ground, and vaulted up. His feet collided with the lady's gut, sending her flying over the railing and crashing to the floor below.
"Big mistake!" Tommy snarled lunging at the boy.
A fist grabbed his shirt yanking him back. His feet came out from under him and Tommy slammed through a wall, rolling on the ground in the parking lot. Another crash came from the building and he smirked as he saw the freak that had hurt his sis. He flipped in the air, landing on his feet.
Tommy lunged at him. Hissing, Onyx bared his fangs, and grabbed his arm, flipping him over his shoulder onto the ground. A boot slammed into his leg, and the hybrid caught himself as he felt to the ground. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw Tommy, getting up and moving to attack again. He swung his tail, knocking the other boy aside, knocking him into a car. Springing back to his feet, he had just enough time to duck as said car was hurled over his head. As he turned back to face his opponent, a fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him across the parking lot. Getting back to his feet, the red stripes on his scales began to glow slightly, lightning sparking over his frame. As Tommy Terror approached, he made his move, throwing an arch of lighting at him.
"Well done," Wonder Woman praised tossing the tied up girl beside her unconscious brother. "Not bad for your first time."
"Wonder Woman!" an officer yelled as he and others ran over. "Nice job on catching the bad guys."
"Thank you, but I did have some help," she smiled motioning to Onyx. "Meet my new protégé."
Onyx grinned, "Hi. I'm Nightmare."