Hey guys! I'm extremly sorry for not updating the past two weeks, last week I was so busy and the week before that I was sick, so I deeply apologize for the late update, I try and update this story everyweek or at least maybe once every two weeks. Now in this chapter, something very interesting is revealed... And i'll be replying to your reviews from now on at the very end!
I do not own Young Justice, though Elliot is mine :D
AND HAPPY EARLY HALLOWEEN XD, i'm being a pirate.
Taking Chances
Chapter 3: When One Door Closes, Another Opens
"Bye Dick! See you tomorrow!" Elliot called over his shoulder as he waved a farewell to the other boy.
The eight-year-old waved back, a huge white grin etched on his face as he bounced a bit from his position atop Barry's shoulders.
The short haired, amber eyed raven thrust his foot downward and sent himself on a top speed back towards the place he called "home".
The young child had been visiting Wayne Manor on many occasions for the past month. The two children had soon become immediate friends, and it was quite simple for various members of the League, or in Elliot's knowledge, "acquaintances" of Bruce, to adopt the child as a friend or 'absolutely-adorable-playmate' in Diana, Dinah, Shayera... and Barrys' case.
The smile on Elliot's face slightly faltered once out of the looming mansion's sight. A cold wind rippled by and blew up the upper sleeves of the t-shirt to reveal a poorly bandaged cut underneath.
At every single visit the child was more the wary among the other adults. Upon realizing that they would mean no harm to him at the moment, Elliot allowed his guard to slack when around the other adults, but remained cautious. Usually sticking to Dick like glue, and preferring to be near the little boy that with even someone has kind as Barry.
Without Elliot's knowing, they had noticed. It had been dismissed as simple timidness at first, but soon it was obvious to anyone but Dick that the nine-year-old was afraid of adults. The older "acquaintances" of Bruce didn't pry, but kept an eye on this friend of Dick's.
I opened up the door, and quickly made my way up the stairs. Once I was in my room I slipped off my shoes and stashed my skateboard in the closet.
I went out into the hallway and followed the sound of a muffled voice. As I entered the "family" (if you consider whatever it is that we have is a family) room I saw my mom, looking crisp as she put on a fake smile while talking on the phone.
I saw that glint in her eye shine and I inwardly shuddered.
Seeing that meant that she had struck a good deal tonight.
Her eyes turned to look at me and I put on a blank face and went up to the mini fridge and pulled out a carton of milk.
Which was an absolute godsend among all the alcohol and other unhealthy products residing in the mini fridge.
As I poured myself a cup, my mother's conversation made its way to my ears and I just let the words past blankly through.
"Yes, yes! Of course, you won't be disappointed...yes... perfectly healthy... mmhm, and nine years old..."
I paused for a second and shrugged it off.
"Right, I'll see you soon." She said finally, before hanging up.
I heard her get up and felt a hand on my shoulder, my eyes were instantly drawn to the slightly yellowed fingernails that were attached to long bony fingers, reminding me of that creepy guy who fought with that black clothing obsessed guy in tights.
What was his name? Batboy... Vampire face? No, definitely not-
"Elliot sweetie?" My mom purred, and my amber eyes flickered upwards to meet her bloodshot ones.
"...Yeah?"
"I'll need you to head out with me tonight okay? We'll be going in five minutes; the place we're headed to takes awhile to get there okay?"
And with that she left.
I shrugged off this odd feeling of foreboding, out of my two parents, I trusted my mom the most, she never hit me, and if anything kept me safe most of the time, I didn't have to worry being around her.
I didn't like this.
I didn't like this at all.
I felt scared.
We were walking at night, everything was dark out. The streetlight barely lit up much and flickered every few seconds, threatening to go out. I heard the screech of a cat, and muffled voices as I followed after my mom who seemed to be radiating happiness.
I trust her.
I'll be fine.
I ignored all instincts to flee, if I stuck with my mom, I'd be fine.
"You okay honey?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said offering her a smile to which she returned brightly.
Run.
If I stay with her I'm fine.
Something bad's going to happen.
I'll be fine.
She's a bad person.
She wasn't a bad person; she's just made bad choices.
Run!
"Is this the kid?" a gruff voice spoke up from the shadow of an alley and I instantly froze, and clutched onto the back of my mom's coat.
"Yes, just like I said, healthy and fine, now about-"
"I'll check it out first, and then you'll get the money."
"Mom... what's he talking about." I said softly, cowering away from the man that stepped out of the shadows.
"Hush sweetie, this man's a friend of mommy's and we're doing business right now."
He had greasy, slicked back brown hair, scars littered the open skin of his body, and he reeked of alcohol and the stuff my mother would inject herself with.
His eyes gleamed with some unknown emotion, and I flinched when he started looking me up and down, and pinched my cheeks. I inwardly gagged at the feel of such... dirty hands touching my skin, and flinched at his 'I-just-won-the-lottery' grin.
"Oh yeah, this'll do, the moneys all in the bag." He said, not taking his hungry eyes off me, but handing a brown sack to my mom.
"Wonderful, I'll be seeing you again soon?"
The man grunted, and leaned down, grubby hands reaching for my arm.
I instantly pulled away from the man and hid behind my mother.
"Mommy, can we go now? Please?" I pleaded with her.
She looked down at me and for an instant I froze at the look of uncaring and annoyance glinting in her eyes.
"Now, now, honey, why don't you go with the nice man? He'll make you feel real good." She smiled a sickly smile and I flinched.
"But I don't wanna go with him mommy!" I pleaded and she shook me off.
I stumbled and I felt the man's cruel grip ensnare around my arm, and seconds later there was a pierce in my skin and I screamed as some sort of burning hot liquid was shot into me.
"Mommy! Mommy!" I screamed, struggling against this man's grip as I felt one needle after another being shot into my skin. "Please! Help me!"
But all the blood inside me ran cold; she was walking away, turning her back on me. I screamed, shouted, tore my lungs out crying for her help, hot tears streamed down my face but that was it, though I wanted so badly to not believe it, I knew what was happening.
She had abandoned me.
She left me.
But, why?
Whatever the man had shot into me was starting to take affect; I felt myself drop to the floor and began panting heavily. My eyesight went blurry, and every time I rubbed at them it wouldn't go away.
The man's cruel smile shone with a sickly color in the night, and I felt myself slipping in and out of reality. I felt as if every breath I took tore at my lungs and burned my throat.
He reached for me and I tried to open my mouth in a scream but all that came out was a hoarse, pitiful cry. He smile twisted farther up and I tried to lift my burning muscles to move away for the hand that was coming to grab me in its clutches.
But before his dirty hand made contact with me a flash of something red and yellow caught my eye and hit the man's hand. He gave a shout of pain, and leapt back looking around wildly for the offender.
I heard something land with a heavy thud, and something lighter land after it. I saw the man's eyes widen in what looked like fear and he began to shake, and curse under his breath. With a desperate struggle, I turned to face what the man was so afraid of, dreading whether or not this new person meant me even more harm.
But the sound of an all too familiar voice reached my ears and I looked up to see familiar raven hair, but masked eyes.
"Elliot?" the voice said with shock, but the second repeat came out much more panicked.
"Elliot!"
With a shaky smile, I let myself slip into black.
Bruce overlooked the city of Gotham with a critical eye, while he stood at tall, leaping over buildings in the dead of the night; he looked like the perfect shadow.
While a cheerful Robin followed behind him, happily jumping after his adoptive father.
Yes, just a typical night for Bruce.
He was out, with little Robin by his side, patrolling the city, Flash had decided to come along seeing as he had nothing better to do, and Ollie had joined, Elliot had commented that he, Barry, and Ollie were like the three musketeers.
To which of course Bruce scowled at for it seemed that Barry would not get what the little nine-year-old had said out of his head.
As Bruce was making his way to the meeting point, his ears picked up the sound of a high pitched scream, and he instantly made his way towards the noise, slightly relieved to have something to do than her Barry spout "Three Musketeers" nonsense.
As Bruce approached the alley in which the sound had originated from, Robin at his side, he looked down at the sight in front of him with disgust.
An obvious drug dealer was reaching for a small child crumpled up on the floor, Batman made the connection and figured the child had cried for help and that there were no other civilians in trouble.
Beside him he felt Robin stiffen and he looked down with the worry he showed to Robin alone, and asked.
"Is something wrong?"
"I don't really know..." Robin answered slowly, squinting behind his mask, "Doesn't that kid look familiar to you?"
Batman scrutinized the black clad heap and shrugged, the child looked like a boy around the age of nine or ten, but from behind he couldn't see any resemblance to any child he might know.
As the dealers hand reached for the kid, Robin threw a birdarang at the offender, the weapon made its hit and the dealer looked up with anger gleaming in his bloodshot eyes. Batman watched as the anger quickly turned to fear at the realization of who had caught him, and he heard a grunt form the child as he turned to look at his saviors.
Bruce froze.
Amber eyes unknowingly looked into his mask clad ones and beside him he heard Robin call out the familiar name, first in shock, the second in panic.
It was Elliot.
Quickly swooping down, both Batman and Robin jumped down to kneel at the boy's side, he had passed out and Batman's eyes locked on the several empty needles lying around the alley, he brushed away the boys shoulder length hair and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the puncture wounds.
He heard scrambling and looked up, with Elliot now scooped up in his arms to the drug dealer.
He heard a thud and saw him fall to the ground as a flash of red appeared, and the Flash stopped with a grin on his face.
"Hey! I was waiting for you at the meeting point with Arrow, but we didn't see you so we went to go look for you!"
Flash looked down at the now knocked out dealer in disgust, but then he noticed the lump in batman's arms and his eyes widened beneath his cowl.
"Wait... is that... Oh man, Elliot?" He said in shock, rushing over and making sure that the boy in Bruce's arms was indeed the new friend of Dick.
Ollie upon hearing the familiar name rushed over as well and checked the young boy over. While poor little Dick was furiously trying to push past the taller men and see his precious friend.
"We need to get him to the hospital now." Bruce ordered, as Ollie caught sight of the empty needles and sucked in a breath.
Bruce sat calmly in the hospital chair as he waited for the news, beside him Dick took deep breaths and alternated between being calm and fiddling with his fingers, Barry was annoyingly pacing back and forth in front of Bruce, and Ollie was down at the desk filling out any paperwork needed.
Dick had been counting the seconds in his head and they had been here for one hour, sixteen minutes, and thirty-three seconds, still counting.
The door to Elliot's room opened and out stepped Dr. Adams, his face gave away nothing, and he was looking through his clipboard as he approached the group of men, and one boy waiting anxiously.
"So what's the news? How is he?" Bruce asked, keeping a calm demeanor, though he was slightly anxious, for Elliot, and the fact that news reporters could start swarming the hospital this very second.
The doctor raised an eyebrow, looked down back at his clipboard then cleared his throat.
"Apparently... he is now stable."
The three, now four since Ollie had joined, released a relieved breath, but Bruce kept a serious look, being stable didn't mean the child couldn't be sick.
"What was wrong with him?" Dick asked worriedly, his baby blue eyes looking as if he were about to cry.
"Well," Dr. Adams started; looking down at Dick, then to Bruce for permission, when Bruce nodded he quickly went to his clipboard and began in a professional tone.
"Elliot Winterstorm was exposed to a very dangerous, and underdeveloped drug, uh, he was given several doses, two to the arm, one to the neck, and his body didn't take well to the injections, one being he's only nine, therefore his body is weaker, while the second being good and bad.
"His body has a very high and strong immune system, the kind that some people get that keeps them from getting the chicken pox, they're immune, so it seems his body rejected the drug, and fought it, it hurt him a little bit, but he should be fine. He's extremely lucky, a child his age could have suffered form an overdose and-"
"Can we see him now?" Barry cut in quickly, not wanting Dick to hear than last part.
"I don't see why not-"
Before the doctor could even finish, the two men, and one boy had already rushed inside the room, with Bruce following at a more steady, and calm pace.
"Mr. Wayne, if I could have a word with you please." Dr. Adams said softly, but Bruce immediately turned his attention to him.
"What is it?"
"While we were examining Elliot's body, we found... some bruises, and scars, some old, and some very new. There were also signs of bones being broken before as well."
"He's a skater, so of course those all could have been from that."
"Mr. Wayne, I've treated hundreds of cases were children, and teenagers had broken bones or wounds from being active, or skateboarding, I know what they look like, and Elliot's are definitely not skateboard related."
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, his eyes narrowing.
"I mean, that Elliot seems to be a victim of child abuse, and for quite some time it seems, possibly when she was four, or maybe five."
Bruce stiffened, and his eyes narrowed further, it all added up now. The fears, the bruises, the cuts, all of it was from his parents, as soon as the thought of this boy having abusive parents entered his mind, an idea that had been secretly brewing and now had burst.
"Dr. Adams, can I ask a favor of you?"
"Elliot! Elliot! How are you? Are you hurt? Do you feel sick? Should we-"
"Dick! Chill dude! I'm fine, just a little sore is all." Elliot smiled at the boy who had been bombarding him with questions.
"Why were you out so late at night?" Ollie asked gently and Elliot's amber eyes snapped towards the two adults he hadn't noticed coming to stand behind Dick.
Elliot tensed, and for a second he felt like he would freeze up, but soon enough, he let his eyes fall on Dick, and he relaxed, as long as Dick was here, he'd be fine.
...And it sickened him how much that sounded like what he had thought about his mother.
"...Well..." Elliot started, looking warily at the two men, "I was out on my board, and I was going to pick up some milk for back home when out of nowhere that guy jumped me."
Ollie and Barry nodded but Dick was silent.
Half of Elliot screamed that he should tell them what had been going on all these years but he ignored it, he opened his mouth to say something else but instead dick spoke up.
"Don't lie Elliot, I want the truth."
Elliot's eyes widened in shock and he looked at Dick, not knowing what to say.
"That's not what happened is it? Please Elliot, no one here's going to hurt you, they just want to help, I want to help." Dick said softly, his head hanging and instantly Elliot's heart wrenched and he took a deep breath.
"My mom took me there, she said it was just some business but... even I'm not exactly sure what had just happened, she was talking to the man about money, and he looked at me like I was a piece of meat or something, then he grabbed me, and my mom just left."
She abandoned me... Elliot thought with a coming sickness, suddenly he felt cold... so... cold, lost.
"I don't want to go back." Elliot said suddenly, his bangs falling in front of his face to shield his eyes.
Barry and Ollie looked down with pity at the boy, not sure what to do.
But Dick knew.
He approached the other boy and smacked him on the head.
"Ow! What the heck was that for?" Elliot whined, rubbing his head and Dick smirked at him.
"When you fall down, you just sit and cry, you get back up remember."
Elliot froze, and slowly a smile made its way on his face and he looked at the other boy with a boyish grin.
"Yeah, except I wasn't crying!" Elliot puffed out his cheeks and Dick stuck out his tongue.
"You don't have to go back."
All eyes turned to the figure leaning on the door way, Bruce walked in and smiled warmly at the young boy.
"Because if you want, you could now be the new adoptive son of Bruce Wayne."
Elliot looked up at Bruce with wide eyes. "Are you serious?"
"Yes!" Dick cheered, leaping onto the other boy's bed and grabbing his shoulders. "Did you hear that Elliot, you can be my brother!"
Elliot's eyes lit up in happiness but then they blinked in confusion.
"Wait, Dick did you say brother?"
"Yeah, unless... you don't want to be..." Dick said, suddenly looking crestfallen.
"Oh heck no! It's not that it's just that, you know I'm a girl right?"
...
...
...
"WHAT?"
Yup! I bet none of you saw that one coming! All this time i've been refering to Elliot as a 'he' but there were a few subtle hints that leaned a bit towards the thought :D So now, Elliot's adopted, this story actually does seem to have a plot doesn't it? It doesn't really have a plot, but the chapters will probaly fall into some kind of order, in the adventures that went on in Elliot's childhood ^-^ Oh and before I forget again, even though he died like weeks ago, I told myself I would put a shout out for Steve Jobs, my life practically revolves around my Iphone.
Victoria: Thanks! I'm really glad you like it so far, and I hope you'll continue to like it :D
Reina Grayson: Hooray! I didn't just get one, I got two! XD Thanks so much for the review, it means a ton to me, and i'll do my best to look for any mistakes more often, and make less mistakes ^-^
tydeerose: Thanks, sorry for not updating soon but i'll try and update as often as I can :D
I'd also like to thank everyone that has favorited or alerted this story, you guys are the best, and its thanks to you guys that I can continue making this story ^-^
Marshmellow-
-OUT