The New Adventures Of The Justice League
Chapter Five: Further Meetings Of Billy
Wonder Woman smiled contentedly at the world below her as she flew over New York City. She liked this city a lot. It was just so…big and modern when compared to her island home of Themiscyra. Since she lived at the Watchtower she didn't have a city to call home but if she did it would probably be New York. She laughed out loud in joy as she rode a particularly strong gust of wind and swooped down to land in the middle of Times Square. As usual she attracted a very large crowd that quickly gathered around her. Their words were flying around her so fast that Wonder Woman could barely distinguish what they were saying but she got the general gist of it. Although not everyone in the crowd seemed interested in expressing their admiration of her. One child in the crowd, a boy, caught her eye in particular. There was nothing different about him to set him apart from the other children but still. There was just something about him that called to her motherly instincts.
Ignoring the rest of the crowd she walked over to him and smiled down at him. "Would you like some ice cream?" she asked.
He nodded; his blue eyes wide in amazement as she took his hand and led him over to the ice cream vendor.
"Two double scoops of chocolate please," she ordered and tried to pay the man but her money was waved away.
"No charge," he said.
"Thank you," Wonder Woman smiled at him then handed the boy his cone and made her way to a bench where they sat down and began to eat. "What's your name?" she asked once she had finished her cone.
The boy waited until he had swallowed the last bite of his cone as well and said, "Billy Batson. What's yours?"
Wonder Woman blinked in surprise. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever asked her name as it was a matter of public knowledge now. "Diana," she said at last. "But you've probably read that in the newspapers."
"I've haven't exactly been keeping up to date on the latest news."
His smile seemed…odd and reminded her of Captain Marvel somehow. Now that she thought about it their blue eyes looked exactly the same and he even looked like a younger version of the good Captain. Perhaps he was his son? That would make sense.
Diana was about to say more but the sound of her communicator going off distracted her. Regrettably she listened to J'onn giving her the details of an avalanche then turns back to Billy only to raise both eyebrows in shock when she realized that he wasn't there. "He's a fast little kid," she muttered.
Wally West beamed proudly at his latest creation. It was a triple-decker bacon, Swiss, avocado, pickle, ham, cheese, lettuce, sardine, tomato, scrambled egg and pepperoni sandwich. "Doesn't this look delicious?" he declared, pulling three napkins out of his lunch bag.
"No it looks disgusting," one of his co-workers groaned.
"Seriously, Wally, do you have to eat that in front of everyone?" another one complained.
Passerby's in the park gave them strange looks as they hurried on, pulling their dogs faster in an effort to get away from the sickening smell of Wally's sandwich.
"It's not that bad," Wally retorted as he turned back to the picnic table only to let out a cry of grief and anguish. "Where's my sandwich?!"
His green eyes narrowed as he saw a little kid disappear around the corner, Wally's beloved sandwich clutched in both hands.
"That little twerp stole my sandwich! After him!" Wally let out a battle cry then ran after the kid.
"Shouldn't we go after him?" one of his co-workers asked hesitantly.
"No," the other four said in unison.
Wally ran, albeit not as fast as he could have, but still fast enough to catch up with a child sized thief. "Gotcha," he said in triumph as his fingers closed around the thin arm and forced the child to turn around. As soon as he did, however, Wally's face fell. He had been hoping that his thief was simply a child following through with a dare, not one that looked like he hadn't had a good meal in days.
"I just wanted something to eat," the boy sniffled, tears welling up in his blue eyes.
Instantly Wally panicked. If there was one thing he couldn't stand it was to see a child cry. Fortunately, though Wally was an expert at cheering kids up as his local visits to the women's shelter and orphanage proved. "It's okay," he soothed, squatting down to be on more of an eye level with the boy. "I don't care if you eat my sandwich."
"You don't?" the boy brightened, his tears vanishing in an instant.
Wally shook his head. "Not at all, just ask first the next time, okay?"
"Okay," the boy nodded eagerly. "By the way it tastes great!" he took a gigantic bite to prove his statement and, interestingly enough, didn't spit it back out like many of Wally's co-workers and Diana had. Instead he smiled and took another bite.
"A kid after my own heart," Wally sighed wistfully then took one look at his watch and freaked. "I'm going to be late for work!"
John Stewart was the next person to encounter the little boy. Actually, since she happened to be in Detroit at the time, Shayera Hol also encountered him. It was actually a funny incident. Shayera and John had been discussing Captain Marvel and whether or not he would pop again soon when a little kid bumped into John.
"Oops, sorry mister," the boy grinned widely then went the opposite direction.
"Kids," John chuckled fondly and was about to suggest that they get a bite to eat when he realized something. "My wallet's gone!" he cried. "That kid stole my wallet!"
"Can I use my mace?" Shayera asked eagerly.
"No," John said firmly. They really needed to work on her bloodthirstiness some more.
Shayera pouted but dutifully followed him as they chased after the kid. Unfortunately they lost him along one of Detroit's many side streets. "Where did he go?" she asked.
"I don't know," John frowned.
"You could use the ring," she suggested.
John gave her a look. "You want me to use my Green Lantern ring to find a pickpocket? I had less than fifteen dollars in cash, my credit card doesn't have any money on it and I needed to renew my driver's license anyway."
"But suppose Wally found out?" Shayera raised an eyebrow.
"He'll never let me live it down," John sighed heavily.
He was about to slip on his ring when they both heard the sound of thunder and, seconds later, Captain Marvel landed in front of them. "Is this your wallet?" he asked, holding out the brown leather square.
"Uh yeah. Thanks," John took it, eyeing the Captain strangely. "What are you doing in Detroit? I thought you lived in Fawcett City."
"How did you hear that?" Captain Marvel wanted to know.
"Uh," John quickly searched for an excuse that he could use since, the only people who knew about Captain Marvel so far, was the Justice League.
"Never mind," Captain Marvel said quickly, massaging his forehead with one hand. "Gotta fly." And with that he took off in the air.
"That was…strange," John commented, looking at his wallet.
"Maybe but he's cute," Shayera murmured, her green eyes following the man.
"Why hasn't he done anything yet except for talk to them?" Savage roared. Normally he was a patient man but right about now he was feeling anything but patient.
"I don't know," Sivana snapped. "He's still trying to fight his programming but I don't understand it. Fighting my control should have knocked him off his feet, not given him a simple headache!"
"I told you we made him too powerful," Luthor commented. "I told you that he would fight our programming."
"Well then, Luthor," Savage growled. "Do you have any ideas about how to lure in the Justice League? And on how to contain them?"
"Simple," Luthor said. "No doubt they'll be using satellite photos to track us down."
"Even though they think we're in Africa?" Sivana groaned.
"We are in Africa you idiot," Savage snapped.
"Anyways what I was trying to say was that perhaps we should arrange for some more bodies to show up in the river," Luthor suggested. "Preferably American bodies, especially scientists. That should definitely get their attention."
"Not bad," Savage agreed after thinking it over for a few minutes. "Sivana, find a scientist to kill."
The mad scientist eyed him uneasily then nodded and left the room.
"You do know he's planning to betray us, right?" Luthor said.
"Just like you are," Savage countered.
"Touché," Luthor smiled.
A/N: Sorry this is so late but between work, being sick and my laptop being a total pain in general I haven't had much time to do anything. Okay, more action next chapter, I promise. Any ideas or complaints just let me know! Please review!
