Youth
Stephano Hungary: And now, it begins! Chapter two, enjoy!
Also, to Kyer: For giving me such an awesome idea for this story, I luvs you much, and wish you happiness and shower you with sugary candies, and strawberry frosting. Mmm… Strawberry…
Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League Unlimited, or any spells or magic amulets that are similar to the ones mentioned in real life. :3
Chapter 2: The Aftermath
When Batman fell to the ground, Morgaine shouted in rage and teleported herself and Mordred to an unknown location.
Once she disappeared, the energy surrounding Batman shined brightly one last time before it completely faded. Wonder Woman flew over to Batman's body. "Bruce?!" She shouted. "Huh?" She noticed that some parts of his costume had become flat, and that only a tiny bit was filling out the suit. She pulled back the cowl of the outfit and froze, "…Hera…" Wonder Woman whispered.
Flash sprinted over, "What? What's the problem?!" He then got a good look at Batman, "…Oh, wow…"
"What are you guys looking at?" Batman looked down at himself, and when he did, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!"
Instead of the normal tall, dark knight that everyone was used to, there was, instead, a scrawny, twelve year-old Bruce in his place. "You gotta be kidding me! I was already a kid once, now I gotta be a kid, again?! Phft, this bites…" He said. Bruce lifted his hand felt the weight of his costume holding him down a bit, "Ugh, the one time I think my weighted suit was actually a good idea…"
The league stared at him in awe. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Etrigan, and Superman weren't shocked at the now kid-Batman's appearance, seeing as they were all in his state once, but to see him as a child again was definitely a surprise. Hawgirl, J'onn and Flash were definitely surprised to see him, but Flash was having more fun with it, "HAHAHAHA!!! Man, this is too funny! Aren't you the cutest little thing, Batman-oh, I'm sorry, I meant Batboy! HAHA!!"
Bruce tried to give his trademark glare, but it came out looking more like a cute pout. Even Wonder Woman had to snicker at his attempt. "This isn't funny, Flash!" Batman shouted.
Flash caught his breath after laughing so hard, "No, you're right. This isn't funny…" Bruce raised an eyebrow; usually Flash didn't agree with him, "It's adorable! HAHA!" Bruce then began to grit his teeth together, "That's it-AH!" When he tried to jump Flash, he ended up tripping over his now oversized costume and got tangled in its long cape. "I hate you." He whispered menacingly to the dark drapery.
Wonder Woman helped him up, "Why don't we head back to the watch tower? Maybe we can work out something there." She was about to lift him up so they could fly out of the castle, but he refused, "I'm fine, Diana. As long as I can walk, I can-AH!" Bruce fell to the ground again, "Right, okay, tough guy." And with that, she lifted him into her arms and the others followed her out of the castle.
Once they reached the javelin, Bruce tried to head to the front of the jet; the large suit once again gave him trouble. "Ugh, that clinches it." He mumbled. He pulled off his gloves and boots and rolled up the sleeves and pants legs of the suit to the point where he was able to maneuver around, and when he was done, he walked towards the front of the javelin, and hopped into his seat with some difficulty. 'Didn't realize how tall these seats were…' He thought to himself.
He buckled himself in and waited for everyone else to do the same. After a few seconds he turned around in his seat to see the league staring at him, "…What?" He asked.
Green Lantern was flabbergasted, "What? What do you mean, 'What?' You can't even see over the controls!"
Bruce paused, "…So?" Hawgirl pointed to one of the chairs, "Backseat. Now." He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, like you can tell me what to do."
5 minutes later.
'Stupid hawk-winged, mace wielding…' Bruce thought to himself as he sat in one of the backseats next to Flash. "Did anyone ever tell you that you were pretty small when you were prepubescent?" Flash asked as he smirked at him. "Shut up!"
"Flash, stop heckling him." J'onn said. "Yeah, yeah, alright. It's still pretty funny, though." Flash snickered to himself a few more times before the whole jet became quiet. Soon, only one question was running through the league's minds, 'How do we get him back to normal?'
While the original sev-er, six were in the conference hall, Bruce was waiting outside, sitting on a chair.
"So, how exactly are we supposed to keep this a secret?" Flash asked. Superman sighed and rubbed his hair back, his trademark curl fell back into place on his forehead, "Well, besides worrying about Batman-turned-kid, we also need to think about how the world would react to a twelve year-old Bruce Wayne." Flash paused, "…Oh, yeah, that, too."
J'onn spoke, "We could talk to Zatanna, or Dr. Fate, maybe." Wonder Woman added her two cents, "We should try to keep the circle small." She then tossed a look at Flash and said, "Very small." "What?!" He replied.
"He's gonna have a hard time protecting Gotham." Green Lantern said. Hawkgirl nodded, "Maybe one of us should go with him. You know, help him out around the city." Wonder Woman shook her head, "No, that wouldn't work either. He's strongly against having metas in his city." She rolled her eyes remembering how stubborn he was about it.
"I'm sure Alfred could create a cover-up for Bruce Wayne's absence, but how is he gonna blend in to society?" Superman asked.
"I don't know, maybe one of us could stand watch over him during the day, and Alfred can take care of him during the nights when he's out bat-patrolling." Flash said.
The league considered this as they all began to have thoughtful faces. Wonder Woman blinked, having thought of an idea, and smirked while turning to face Flash, "You know, Flash, that's an excellent idea." Flash's mouth widened into a grin as he faced Wonder Woman, "You think?" When he saw the look on her face, his grin immediately disappeared, "What are you guys thinking…?" The others caught on to what Wonder Woman was insinuating and also began to smirk.
Flash began to freak out, "What?! What are you guys thinking about?!"
Superman stood up, "All in favor of Flash babysitting duty during the day, say, 'Aye.'"
"Aye." Came the collective call of the league. "Uh, nay-!" Flash said. "I thought horses said that?" Hawgirl joked. "Ha, ha, very funny. But, seriously, Supes, I object-!" "Overruled." Superman interrupted. Flash scoffed and sunk down in his seat. "Just because I wanted to know what he was like as a kid, I didn't mean I wanted to be babysitter to figure it out!"
J'onn informed Bruce that he could come in. Once he stepped through the door, he spoke, "I don't see why you couldn't let me sit in on the conversation." He sat in his seat. Wonder Woman cleared her throat, "Because, you would've been upset at the some of the decisions we've made." Bruce raised an eyebrow, "And they would be…?"
Green Lantern sighed, "Well, there's good news, and bad news." J'onn spoke, "The good news is, we'll be able to contact Zatanna and/or Dr. Fate to see if we can remedy this situation."
Bruce nodded, "…And the bad news…?" He noticed that Flash sunk a further in his seat.
"Flash will be watching over you during the day, and then he'll drop you off at your place at night so you can resume your duties in Gotham." Superman said.
Bruce's left eye twitched, "So, basically what you're saying is Flash is my babysitter."
Superman shook his head nervously, "No, not babysitting… He's more like a… a…. a caretaker, yeah."
Bruce blinked, stared at Superman, then at Flash, then back at Superman. "Oh, no." He stood up out of his chair and a beeline for the exit, "There is no way Flash is babysitting me. I'm around him all I need to be." Flash jumped up, "Speak for yourself! I've got a life outside of the league, you guys!" Bruce scoffed, "Sure, you do." "Hey! Look, I'm tired of you doggin' on me all the time, man!" "Oh, quit your griping, Flash."
Superman raised his hand, silencing the two, "Look, five of us are in favor, and there's nothing you two can do. So, Bruce, you either stay with Flash, or you stay here in the watchtower all day, your choice." Flash rolled his eyes, "It's not like he doesn't spend all his time up here." Bruce glared at him, and then he got a smirk on his face, "You know, Clark, you're right. I will stay with Flash." Flash shook his head in disbelief, "Woah, wait, what?"
"You heard him, Flash," Superman said smiling, "He's your responsibility, now. And that means you have to take extra good care of him." With that, he and the other leaguers walked out of the room, but not before messing with Flash a little. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl rubbed his head, "Good luck, Uncle Wally." They said. Wonder Woman chuckled, "Have fun, you two." And J'onn just gave them a grin as he headed towards the teleportation station.
Flash groaned as he begrudgingly went to the station with Bruce at his side. "Whenever we're finish porting, make sure you pick me up early tomorrow while the paparazzi are still in their darkrooms." Flash scoffed, "Uh, do I look like a maid to you?" Bruce kept walking, "No. You're a babysitter now, remember? But you might as well be one." Flash's eye twitched as they stepped on their respective teleportation pads.
"Good luck, you two." J'onn said as he transported them to their residences.
Flash was transported to the living room of his apartment. He sighed and threw himself onto his couch and pulled his mask back off his face, "…This sucks." He grabbed one of his strewn about pillows off the ground and placed it under his head while grabbing the sheet that was on the back of the couch and covering himself with it.
"Maybe…" He yawned, "Maybe this is all just one bad dream, and when I wake up, everything will be fine and dandy." He heard a little voice in the back of his head, 'That's exactly what you said about American Idol with Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, and look at how that turned out!'
He shook his head of the wild thought and slowly drifted off to sleep, too lazy to change out of his superhero costume.
Bruce was transported to the Batcave and he walked to his large computer with the intent to stay up a few more hours to look up information on the spell Morgaine cast on him. As soon as he was in arms reach of his chair, he swayed slightly to the side and grabbed the top of the chair to stop himself from falling. The spell had not only changed the size of his body, but it also changed his energy levels significantly.
He yawned loudly and decided that he would figure it out tomorrow night, and he made his way for the stairs to go see Alfred.
Once he got to the top, the grandfather clock hissed as it moved up so he could walk through the entrance. Alfred heard the sound of the clock moving back into place and he made for the living room, "You're pretty early today, Master Bruce. May ask as what's the occasi-GOOD LORD! Master Bruce, what happened?" Alfred exclaimed loudly after looking at Bruce's new appearance.
Bruce sighed as he walked up the stairs to his room, "Alfred, you would not believe the day I've had…"
.:END:.
Stephano Hungary: Welp, there's chapter two. Chapter three won't be up for a while 'cuz I need to go ahead and finish my reading assignment for English. Ugh, The Sound and the Fury sucks so much…
Preview of Chapter 3:
"Aw, Wally, he is just too cute!" Cindy, "What's your name little man?" "Brandon. Brandon West. I'm Wally's cousin from Gotham city." Bruce replied calmly, looking uninterested. Wally nodded his head, "Yeah, his 'rents are on vacation and they asked me to watch him for a while." the blonde woman looked at Wally, "Aw, that's so sweet of you to take care of your little cousin like that."
"What can I say; I'm pretty stand up guy." Wally grinned. Cindy pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote something on it. She handed the scrap of paper to Wally, "We should, uh, do coffee sometime…" Wally took the paper and put it in his pocket, "Yeah, we should. Call you later." He winked at her and put a hand on Bruce's shoulder as they walked away from the checkout counter.
Once they were out of the clerk's vision and earshot, Wally grinned and pumped his fist, "YES!" Bruce looked at him strangely, "You are insane." Wally wrapped his right arm around Bruce's shoulder, and smirked widely before saying, "I may be insane, but, you, sir, are a chick magnet."
Oh, yeah, Bruce Wayne: biggest chick magnet and best wingman. X3