A/N: Not too many reviews for my first chapter, but that was expected. Now comes the good stuff! I hope you like it. Please R&R.
Disclaimer: I don't own Batman, Alfred, or Robin. I do own some of the kids, though.
Chapter 2 The Kids
"So when does my training start?" Robin asked Batman as they stood in the shadows of a train platform. It was three days after Batman had said that Robin needed training. "And who are we waiting for? Is it one of Alfred's friends? And shouldn't we be just Bruce and Richard if that was the case?"
"So many questions," Batman said while shaking his head with a small smile on his lips. "Why don't you just be quiet and let the answers come?"
"But I'm sick of being left in the dust all the time," Robin complained.
"Patience, Robin," Batman told him calmly. "It is something you have to learn."
"Yeah," Robin muttered under his breath. "And it's something I have little of."
The two stood there for a few more minutes. Very few people were at the train station at around midnight. A few homeless people slept on the benches while some people waited around the platform yawning from being up so late. But Robin was wide awake. He couldn't wait to get through his training and prove Batman wrong. He knew he could lead a team by himself.
Finally the sound of a train blasted into everyone's ears. Robin looked into the darkness of the night and saw a small light of the train come into view. He smiled and wondered who would be in there. Would this person be part of his training?
The train came to a screeching halt at the platform and made a few people wince. Some lights went on above them to show the newcomers their way. The doors opened and a few people shuffled out looking sleepy and tiered. Some looked like they were half awake.
Robin's smile widened in amusement when four little kids jumped out of the doors of the train. One girl shoved another little boy out of the door with a wicked smile spreading across her face. Her black hair stuck out of a bandana on her head with a skull on it. Her shirt said "I love Death". She looked like she was a big handful.
The kid she had pushed was a dinky, little kid. He was small and very pale. His extremely, curly blond hair was like a puff cloud on his head. He had glasses hiding his bright blue eyes behind them. He cowered under the girl's demanding power. They both looked to be only nine or ten years old.
"We are here!" another girl squealed in delight. She jumped into the air with a wide smile on her face. Her long brown hair was put up into two cute pigtails. She had on a pink sleeveless shirt and jeans with sparkles on them. She smiled some more when the next kid got off.
The last kid watched the others with mild interest in his deep, green eyes. He had dark, brown hair that went into his eyes. He wore a blue hoodie and black pants. He then looked away from the other group while putting his hands in his pockets. He sighed in annoyance and turned the volume of his walkman up that was playing some rock band.
"I feel sorry for the person who has to take care of those kids," Robin said to Batman with a small laugh. "They look like a handful."
Batman only smiled. It didn't take long for Robin to catch on. Dread started till creep up on him as his smile quickly faded. Oh no! He thought while looking back to the kids. I'm so dead! Me and my big mouth!
"Don't feel sorry for yourself, Robin," Batman then said. He started to walk toward the kids. Robin hesitated before following after him.
The preppy girl gasped when she saw Batman and kind of hid behind the silent boy with his headphones. The punk girl stopped her torturing on the dinky kid when she saw the two superheroes. She smiled and gave the kid one, last shove before standing up straight and trying to look like the angel she wasn't.
"You four must be the superheroes in training," Batman said to the group. "You were sent over to me because Robin, here, needs to go through training himself to be a leader. He will train you while you will train him. Have a good night." With that said, he turned around and started to leave.
"Whoa, wait!" Robin said while quickly cutting Batman off. "What's going on?"
"These four kids are your team for now," Batman answered. He held back a smile because of his son's priceless expression. "I'm not taking you home. To get to know these kids I'm making you all walk home. When you get there I will lay down all the rules. Goodnight, Robin."
"You can't do that!" Robin yelled after Batman.
"How much do you want to be a leader, Robin?" Batmanaskedbehind his shoulder while still walking away. "Ask yourself that question. Only you can answer it."
Robin growled out of anger and frustration. So this was his training? It was unexpected, but that was expected from Batman. He hated to admit that he had not seen this coming in a hundred years. He knew that Batman had a sense of humor somewhere in that shell of his, but this was just too much. Bruce was only doing this to prove that he was right and that Robin was not leader material. He was most likely laughing his head off right now.
"I'll show him," Robin seethed. "This time he will be wrong for once."
"Can we leave now, Mr. Robin?" the preppy girl asked him suddenly.
Robin turned around to face this new mini team of his. They all stared back at him with different expressions on their faces. They were all so different. He sighed while shaking his head. Batman wasn't going to tell him what to do this time. He was going to have to do things his way. But wasn't this was what he wanted?
"Okay, team," Robin said with a smile. "I need names, age, and power."
"I'm Amelia!" the preppy girl said loudly and happily. "And I'm eight, almost nine. And my power is that I can move water! And I'm a cheerleader, and I love the color pink, and my hero is Hillary Duff, and…"
"Okay!" Robin said quickly to shut the girl up. "How 'bout the other girl?"
"My name is…Lilly," she said quietly. "But you can call me Shadow Demon. And I'm ten. I have light powers."
"We will just call you Lilly," Robin said sternly. "Nicknames will be given later." She growled at him with a small hiss of anger, and everyone took a step away from her. "And what about you?" he asked while pointing to the wimpy kid.
"Um…my name is Josh," he said weakly. "I'm nine and my power is to turn invisible."
"Cool," Robin said with a nod. He could come in handy. "And last but not least," he said while nodding to the other kid off to the side of the group.
"Alex, ten, and fire powers," he said while looking over to them.
There was a long pause as Robin wondered what to do next. It would take a long walk to get back home, and he knew these kids would not be able to walk that whole way without collapsing. He would have to get on a bus or something. But he didn't have any money. He sighed in total confusion of the situation.
"I'm hungry," Lilly said. "Can we just go now?"
"Problem is that we have no way to get home," Robin said. "Have any ideas?" Too bad no one had one.
"Master Bruce?" Alfred questioned Bruce while serving him his usual morning coffee before he headed off to work.
"Yes, Alfred?" Bruce asked the old butler. He put down his paper a little, and a small smile crossed his lips. He was in a good mood this morning for some reason unknown to the butler.
"Where is Master Dick?" Alfred asked Bruce with some concern in his voice. "He did not come down for breakfast this morning. And his bus comes in only an hour, and there is no sign of him."
"He started his training for leader," Bruce said with a wicked smile spreading over his face. "He'll be here any minute now." Alfred looked over to Bruce with confusion. Five minutes later there was ring from the doorbell, and Alfred quickly answered it.
"Oh my!" Alfred said while looking at the sight before him.
"Hey, Alfred," Robin said weakly. Three little kids were sitting around his legs, and another one sleeping on his back. They all looked worn out and flushed. Sweat pored down all their foreheads, and all their stomachs were growling out of pure starvation.
"What happened?" Alfred demanded from the teen as he slowly walked into the comfort of the home. The kids groaned while getting up and following their leader into the house. Alfred's eyes were wide in horror and surprise. He rarely saw the teen like this. "And what is with all these kids, Master Dick?"
"My team," Robin answered. He set Josh down from his piggy back ride. The other kids started to look around the place with much interest of the huge mansion. "We need food," he said while walking over to the kitchen with the kids right behind him.
"You made it!" Bruce said with pretend happiness as they all piled into the kitchen. Robin glared at him then focused his attention to the kids. He got out some bowls, spoons, and milk.
"Mine!" Lilly yelled at the others while snatching the milk off the counter and chugging it down in only a few gulps. Josh started to cry when he saw this while Amelia started to scold her for it. "What are you?" Lilly asked her, "My mom?" That shut Amelia up.
"Don't worry, we have more milk," Robin muttered. He made sure Lilly didn't get it, and he made all the kids some cereal. He then sat back and watched all the kids dig into their meals like starving wolves. He closed his eyes and gave a sigh.
Alfred waited for either Bruce or Richard to explain. Bruce realized that Robin was too worn out to say anything at the moment, so he would have to explain things to Alfred. "Richard wants to lead his own team of superheroes, so I'm putting him through training. His job is to lead this team of kids with superpowers. But don't worry, Alfred. You won't have to take care of them. That will be Richard's job."
This snapped Robin out of his sleepy daze. "You can't make me do all that!" he protested. "I have other things to do. Like school and patrol. Who will take care of them at those times?"
"They are going to school in Gotham City for a while," Bruce answered. "And they will be sleeping on patrol. And speaking of school, it starts in half an hour for you."
Robin's eyes widened in surprise as he said, "I can't go to school today!"
"You can and you will, young man!" Bruce said sternly. "Alfred can take care of the kids for only today. But I'm not letting you slack in your grades because of this. You have to keep good grades and train this team at the same time. Understand?"
Robin sighed once again while running his hand through his hair. "Fine," he muttered. He looked to his team that was finishing up their breakfast. "Team," he said and all their eyes lifted up to him. "I'm leaving for school. I'll pick up all your luggage waiting at the train station sometime this afternoon. Alfred will take care of you till I come back from school. Don't be rude or mean. Got that?"
They all shook their heads yes except for Alex and Lilly. "Lilly?" Robin asked her sternly. She gave a loud sigh then muttered a yes under her breath. "Did you hear what I said Alex?" Robin asked the boy while taking off one of his headphones to get any kind of reaction out of the stolid kid.
"Yes," Alex muttered with annoyance in his voice. Robin let him go and walked out of the kitchen with his face serious. Bruce smiled to himself and started to read his paper again. Sooner than later Robin would crack under the pressure. Alfred just stared that the kids in horror. It was like taking care of four little Robins all day long! He was going to hate this day!
"No, Miss Lilly!" Alfred said to Lilly as she started to mess with a stand that held an old Chinese vase that was worth millions. She laughed evilly while pushing it over and running away. Alfred dove for the vase and caught it before it smashed. He gave a sigh of relief and set it back in place.
As the butler dusted the vase off, he saw Amelia doing back hand springs down the hallway. He left his duster were it was as he took off to stop the girl before she knocked into another vase stand. He gasped when he saw her at the last second change her direction and come to a stop in front of him. She did a small bow and smiled at Alfred.
"Don't do that again," Alfred told her.
"Okay!" Amelia said cheerfully. "Boy, is Alex's headphones loud," she muttered to herself while walking away to find herself some entertainment of any kind.
Alfred agreed with the girl. He glared at Alex who was lying on the couch listening to his music with his eyes closed. The butler walked over to him and took the headphones off the boy's head and said sternly to him, "Keep the noise down, Master Alex. And feet off the couch, please."
Alex glared daggers at him before getting up and walking away. He had to put on the brakes when Josh came running past him screaming at the top of his lungs in his high pitched scream. Lilly was casing him with a sharp kitchen knife clutched in her right hand. She smiled wickedly while laughing her heart out from pure entertainment.
"Oh my god!" Alfred breathed while seeing this.
"Idiots," Alex muttered to both Josh and Lilly. Suddenly Josh turned invisible and Alfred screamed in fright at seeing his first dose of superpowers. Lilly turned to Alex with a death glare. He simply shrugged his shoulders and started to leave.
"I'm not an idiot, idiot!" Lilly yelled at Alex while coming at him with her knife. Her light powers would do nothing right now. She gave a loud battle cry while lunging at him. Alex turned sharply around and threw a huge fireball at the girl. She started to scream when she realized that she was on fire.
"Somebody get some water!" Alfred shouted to no one in particular. Josh was still screaming his head off along with the panicking Lilly who was still on fire. Alex walked away while turning up his walkman without caring too much of the others. Amelia came into the room and started to scream because of the hectic atmosphere.
Suddenly a bucket of water was pored on top of Lilly. She calmed down quickly and looked behind her to see Richard there holding an empty pitcher in both hands. Everyone stopped screaming and Josh turned visible again. They all stared at the teen thankfully because he had stopped all the madness.
"Alex!" Dick shouted to the boy climbing the stairs. Alex stopped and looked down with a sigh. "Get your butt down here!" Alex didn't move and this made Dick shout, "NOW! That was an order!" Alex hesitated before finally coming down the stairs and standing beside Amelia.
"Give me that!" Dick said harshly to Lilly while pulling the knife out of her hand. He shook his head in frustration and looked at the group with his face a mystery just like Batman's sometimes. "This behavior is horrible!" he yelled at the group. "My only order to you guys today was to be good. If you can't even obey one order then I'm going to have to show you how to. We are going to the park."
"She started it," Josh said quietly while pointing to Lilly.
"I'll kill you for saying that, tattletale!" Lilly yelled at Josh while going for him. Josh screamed and turned invisible again. Dick grabbed Lilly by the shoulders and held her there.
"Get out of the house right now, Lilly!" Dick ordered her while lightly pushing her toward the door. She glared at him but did what he said. "That is the same for the rest of you. I'll be there in a few minutes."
Once they were all out of the house, Dick collapsed onto the couch looking miserable as ever. Alfred was worried about the young teen. He had no sleep for a whole day and he was going to the park with all those rambunctious kids. Alfred did not know how long Richard could handle this.
"I'm afraid that being a leader is not your thing, Master Dick," Alfred said while sitting next to Dick.
"Not you too, Alfred," Richard said while getting up. "I can do this," he said stubbornly to the butler. "Bruce is wrong this time. I'll be a leader in no time. Watch me!" With that said, Richard walked to the door and left. Alfred shook his head in concern. Boy, that teen was determined.
A/N: I told my little sisters to make one of the kids as their own character. Lilly is Naomi's character while Amelia is Debbie's. The funny thing is that their characters are pretty much like themselves and it makes me laugh. The two boys are my creations, though. I hoped you liked this chapter. Please give a review! Thanks!