Chapter One

It was broadcasted Everywhere.

Good evening citizens of Gotham. Tonight we come to you with breaking news on the explosion of Jonathan Incorporated. Dozens dead on what authorities are calling a freak accident with two chemical plants colliding, survivors claiming Joker's men were on the scene minutes before the flames began. Even stranger is eyewitnesses reporting a girl running directly into the fire and surviving. Deathstroke then abducted the child and disappeared before police could intervene. We have live coverage on the situation with Vicky Vale.

"Thank you Nick, my name is Vicky Vale and I'm reporting from Greenwood Avenue where Batman has just appeared and is now talking to commissioner Gordon. Hello, mister Batman? Can I get a statement regarding-"

Slade turned the tv off, sighing and rubbing his temple at the evenings' ordeal. It was bad enough that the bat knew of her existence, but now the answers he and Will were after came with a thousand more questions to solve. Marella, as she stated so confidently before passing out, was resting in her room with Richard hovering over her protectively. Probably thankful she was just still alive after that last stunt. It was a bit of a mess admittedly, but nothing he couldn't handle. A couple smoke bombs to divert attention, using a cape as a temporary blanket, and some reinforced elastic bands to prevent any accidental mauling from her new…children.

Getting those things off of her proved to be too much of a hassle, and so they now dozed off in her arms with an inquisitive look from Will in the living room, staring him down on the opposite side.

"Please tell me I'm just becoming senile"

"Unfortunately not"

Wintergreen sighed deeply, stealing a glance to the girl's bedroom then back at his old friend.

"Dragons"

"Yes"

"And she survived being burned alive while the eggs you specifically triple checked for vital signs hatched into dragons?" Will was happy to have her back, no questions there. It was her little friends that set off too many alarms for the reunion to be pleasant.

"She did"

"Blast it, Slade, I appreciate keeping calm in situations but this doesn't qualify!"

That wasn't true, and both knew it. It wasn't the strangest thing that could happen in the world, but dragons were meant to be myths. Never to have existed in the first place. Yet here it was that not one, nor two but three stood a mere room away from them, as real as both men.

"I couldn't get a blood sample from them, but what I could decipher from part of a scale that fell is, peculiar…" he sat back in his chair, arms crossed in deep thought. This was the beginning of something interesting, to say the least. Perhaps he could benefit from a daughter after all…..

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really," a smirk came across his features. Some humor could do them good before things became complicated. A stern frown changed his mind relatively quickly though. "Nothing genetically abnormal detected, nor any consistency with mutants of any kind in this city or elsewhere. No ancestors to anything living either, current or extinct. Wherever they came from, all three are not from earth."

Will merely nodded.

"No traces that could tie them to other planets either, nothing even remotely similar. She'll be unique at the very least," he could always use another apprentice as well. Deathstroke became feared further when someone else stood eagerly beside him in combat. Oh, the batman's expression was priceless. Slade wondered if it would be worth a photograph when they saw each other again, but this time with two willing souls by his side.

"Richard was a stretch in training, yet you would chance a young unstable girl to follow suit?" Will grew used to constant heart failure with that dear boy going out at night, but even he could only handle so much. Age filled his greying hair, though the prospect of ever dyeing it was out of the question. Didn't stop a certain sadist from suggesting it once or thrice. A tired expression followed solemn words.

"Two weeks we've known her. Twelve days for a child to be surrounded by strangers, be shown indifference by the man that brought her here, and have the sudden urge to leap into a fire and come back with dragons. I want to question it far more, as we should, but priorities come first. We keep her? We get her back to the health a girl her age should be with the time to adjust to our nonsense. Then she has to decide herself if this is the life she wants or not; goodness, we don't need to have an army of adolescence in this war!" and with that Will sat back down, though his words held no true venom. He trusted his old friend enough to not be too rash, but there was a reason he still stuck around.

"Harboring children is far from what I had in mind, but Dick was a valuable investment even you cant deny. One life saved for the greater good, another just the same. As I promised with Richard, I promise with her, Will." He had his fun with other young vigilantes, but it was all for a good cause. They were misguided with principles that never accomplished anything. No, he and the dozens of others in the city were the cause of misery. Right.

"That's all I ask", a smile graced the old man's face before rising yet again from his seat, off to prepare a meal for the now four residents living together. Slade figured he should check on the children before anything else. The hallway was light up only by a lamp coming from the guest room, where both were sure to be sleeping. Though when Slade opened the door, the five occupants were alert in bed, one reading to the others. Now in pajamas just a tad too large (thanks to Dick) and leaning on her brother, the girl looked at peace. The three extras were curled around them both, but heavily leaned to their mother out of instinct. He didn't make his presence known just yet, opting to really see the girl as just that for the first time. Was her hair always white? Her eyes a shade of violet and emerald, just adding to the mystery? Paler than what could possibly be healthy? To be honest, he hadn't paid that much attention before. Little details as such didn't matter before, but with the possible permanent presence, well, might as well learn a thing or two. Again, she spotted him before he had bothered to step in. Richard followed her gaze and smiled. "She can speak!"

"Little," she mumbled right after, glancing downwards. "Talk, little"

"So you can. Why now?" Slade crossed his arms. If she could speak, she could answer at the bare minimum a few questions to this whole ordeal. She didn't look thrilled at that prospect.

"Couldn't. Felt, ill. Hurt. Too cold."

"And that's why you ran into a fire." he deadpanned. She didn't seem to catch the sarcasm.

"Yes. Now not cold" Marella gently began stroking the heads of the dragons. Slade was slightly amused with her answer, though if, and he couldn't stress this enough in his head, she was prone to running off often, well, that was a problem. He wasn't a great guardian, nor would he win any awards in this lifetime, but even he couldn't let it happen again. Dick shifted quietly to get a better look at the dragons, daring to follow her example.

"Where did these come from?" he gestured to the three. She shrugged to his annoyance.

"Why did you call them your children?" Same response. Even the boy beside her was faring far too well with this. Slade sighed. This would go nowhere, but there was one more question that he needed.

"Do you plan on staying?" he asked. Dick turned sharply to look at her, clearly expecting a yes. Marella simply tilted her head and switched her gaze between both in slight confusion. Was she supposed to go elsewhere?

"Why?" is all she could reply verbally. Good enough, Slade smiled slightly. Seems he'd get that photo after all.

"Welcome to the Martyred then, Marella," he extended his arms in motion to the safehouse. "I think you'll quite enjoy yourself here."

"And we get to help people too!" chimed in her now official brother while wrapping his arms around her. The dragons weren't entirely amused, but surprisingly let it slide as they shifted to a more comfortable position. "No matter what the others say, what we do is for the greater good of everyone! We just have the guts to finish the job."

And have a little fun while we're at it.

…..

Hello! Leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter, and if you would be interested in this story as a whole! Still wondering if people would like to read it ^^'