The New Adventures Of The Justice League

Chapter Four: Billy Makes An Appearance

Once the meeting had been adjourned and all of the members went their separate ways Batman returned to his cave and once again became Bruce Wayne, lord of the manor. As much as he would have liked to begin working on satellite photos immediately he did have certain…responsibilities as the CEO of Wayne Industries to uphold. So, reluctantly, he put on a suit and tie and went to Wayne Industries to attend several boring business meetings.


After climbing out of the limousine (some images he didn't mind enforcing) and straightening his tie he began walking towards the main entrance. But, just as he was about to open the door, something (or rather someone) caught his eye. A boy, no older than eight if he was a day, stood at the side of the building just watching Bruce. In and of itself that wasn't unusual; homeless children often hung around big businesses like Wayne Industries, just waiting for a handout. And yet…there was something about this boy that tugged at Bruce's heartstrings. Maybe it was the too big red sweatshirt and blue jeans that looked like they were about to fall off of him or perhaps it was because he looked skinny enough for Bruce to be able to wrap one arm all the way around him. Or it could be the dirt smudges on his face or the fact that, with his black hair and blue eyes, he looked enough like Bruce or Clark to be their son. Whatever it was it was enough to detour Bruce from entering the building and, instead, to walk over to the boy.

"Hi," he said, bending down so he was eye-to-eye with the kid. "My name's Bruce; what's yours?"

"Billy," the boy said after a momentary hesitation, as if deciding that giving out his first name to Bruce might be okay.

"Where do you live, Billy?" he smiled, hoping to set the boy at ease.

"Wherever I want," Billy replied, his tone implying that it wasn't any of Bruce's business.

Bruce's smile grew even wider. No one could say the kid didn't have spunk. He wanted to offer to take the kid out to lunch but the knowledge that he was already late for a meeting forced him to reconsider. Instead, he pulled out his wallet and watched Billy's eyes grow wide as he pulled out a handful of twenties and handed them to Billy. "Here," he said. "That should be enough to get you back to 'wherever you want to live' and get some food."

"Thanks, mister!" Billy gave Bruce a brilliant smile, one that made his whole face light up before taking the money and running off.

Bruce stood up and chuckled. "Kids," he shook his head fondly then went inside for his meeting. A few minutes later, however, he could have sworn that he heard thunder and lightning off in the distance…


Clark knew he didn't imagine the sound of thunder but trying to convince Jimmy Olsen (the resident photographer) otherwise was proving to be impossible. "But I really did hear it!" he protested.

"Sure, Clark," Jimmy didn't even bother looking up as he put another roll of film in his camera. "On a warm, sunny day in Metropolis, a day with no clouds in the sky, you heard thunder. Look, Clark, we all know you've got great hearing but still. Unless you've got some kind of super hearing that we don't know about (here, Clark winced) there's no way you heard anything!"

Suddenly a voice bellowed, "Jimmy Olsen! Where's that boy?!"

Jimmy blanched. "Coming!" he yelled then raced off.

"But I know I heard something," Clark frowned then decided to go investigate. He was a reporter after all and that was what reporters did.


Even without using his super speed it took him less than half an hour to reach the spot where he had heard the thunder. It was an alleyway, located in one of Metropolis's less than desirable neighborhoods. Trash covered pretty much every available surface as did cockroaches, fleas, ticks and many other insects Clark didn't care to have identified. There were no scorch marks, indicating that lightning had struck but, judging from the way the insects were still avoiding the center of the alleyway, he suspected that something had startled them. He took another step forward, ignoring the squishing sound his shoe made as he stepped in something. He used his x-ray vision to scope the place out and was rewarded when he saw a small body huddled in the corner.

"Hi," he said. "Did you happen to see any lightning or anything earlier?"

The figure shook his head. "No," he said in a whisper. "Besides, mister, it's sunny out. Trust me; if it was going to rain us homeless kids would've already found someplace dry."

Clark sighed. Maybe his hearing really was off today. Everyone had to have an off day eventually. Right? "Well, thanks anyway," he said and turned to go. But before he left he said, "There's a pretty decent shelter on Union Hill Road and from what I hear they serve good food."

"Thanks," the boy said.

Clark was almost back to the Daily Planet when he heard it; the sound of thunder rumbling. He stopped and stood still on the sidewalk. "Nope," he said at last. "I didn't hear anything." Then he continued walking. Five minutes later he regretted that course of action after it started raining.


"If I may ask, what in the world is he doing?" Luthor asked Sivana.

"I honestly have no idea," the short man admitted.

"Really?" Savage said sarcastically. "You, the great Sivana have no idea what our investment is doing?!"

"Why do you guys expect me to know why he's going around and trying to meet the Justice League as civilians?" Sivana snapped.

"Because you claim to know everything," Luthor replied.

"But how does he know their secret identities?" Sivana wondered out loud. After seeing the raised eyebrows he received from Luthor and Savage he laughed uneasily. "Answered my own question," he said.

Savage groaned. "All right; I will admit that I'm getting a little impatient myself and for someone who can live forever to say that then you know it's taking too long!"

"It's not my fault," Sivana protested. "We couldn't have foreseen that he'd try to meet all of the Justice League as civilians!"

"He's ten years old," Luthor said slowly. "The Justice League are his heroes; of course he's going to try and meet them. Even I knew that."

"Can you hurry up the process or not, Sivana?" Savage asked wearily. He wasn't sure how much more of Luthor and Sivana he could take.

"I'll try," Sivana grumbled as he turned to a computer console and began typing in commands.


A/N: Hope you guys like so far. Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!