"First of all, my children," Kid Flash announced as the various heroes, villains, and mercenaries ate their breakfast, making them turn to him with slight annoyance at the nickname. "You shall be split into pairs to take these tests."
Now Conner stood up from his chair, which made them all turn to him. "We have placed you in pairs based on your personalities and strengths... And we already have three couples here, it just left Deathstroke, Vigilante, Shado, and Vixen to really pair up."
The four people that were named looked at one another, wondering just how they would work with each other. But Vigilante, apart from thinking about that, was wondering just what the kids were up to. He had known them long enough to know they always had some plan up their sleeves. And that they were always interfering in the love lives of different heroes and villains.
There was a reason he had never gotten married...
"Because of this, we have decided that the best course of action to take with you is to have Deathstroke team with Vixen and Vigilante with Shado." Kid Flash told them, and at the quirked eyebrow Vigilante gave them, smiled broadly.
"We chose this because we wanted to keep a balance. And to not seem as if we were favoring heroes over mercs." Superboy explained, "But, and this is important, if you don't like your partner, we could always switch you up after the test."
The four that were paired forcefully nodded at the logic, actually understanding it.
Deathstroke turned to Vixen, wondering just how they would work together, while Vigilante turned to the mysterious woman he had yet to learn anything about. Shado, in return, nodded at the cowboy then turned to look at Kid Flash.
Greg was now fully garbed in his Vigilante costume, having decided that maybe it wouldn't be the best idea to continue going from Greg back to Vig while around the villains.
"The first test of the day will be given to Guy Gardner and Ice." Aqualad announced as he looked down at the clipboard in his hands, having stood up from his chair to stand beside his teammates.
Artemis finished up her food and stood up, Zatanna and Red Arrow right behind her. "Us three shall be the ones administering this test." Artemis told the odd couple, who nodded.
Both heroes stood up themselves and followed after the three teenagers. But Kid Flash didn't miss the slightly worried face Guy had, most probably because he was afraid of being a target yet again.
The red head smiled sadistically at that then turned to Deathstroke. "You will be going after. If I were you, I would be taking this time to get to know my partner. You and Vixen are pretty different so you should actually get to know each other... You know... To make sure you don't get disqualified over a trivial thing..."
Deathstroke glared dangerously as the boy giggled nervously, then turned to Vixen and eyed her. "After you?"
Vixen grabbed the offered hand and winked at Vigilante, smiling softly at the mercenary in front of her. She knew he was dangerous, but she had also always wanted to get to know the Young Justice Team Green Arrow and Vigilante were always boasting about. So, if that meant becoming a parent, she didn't mind at all.
"Okay, Guy. Remember what I told you." Ice told the Lantern in a very serious tone, her eyes narrowed as he looked around the desert.
Artemis, Red Arrow, and Zatanna had all gone into the barn to create their plan of attack, leaving both heroes outside to create their own.
Guy was beyond worried. He- at first- hadn't wanted anything to do with Superboy. But after ice had talked him into this, and after getting to see the children in a different light, he couldn't help but want to at least have a chance with the boy.
And Ice wanted to be a mom so badly she might be able to kill him if he was the reason they failed.
"Okay, my favorite hero and least favorite one," Artemis began as the three finally walked out of the barn, two types of futuristic visors in her hands. "These shall be the instruments we shall be using to test you."
The blonde walked up to both of them and handed one visor to each, making the heroes eye them with slight confusion.
Just what were the kids up to this time around?
Red Arrow stepped forward, though, and began to speak while Zatanna started setting up a computer beside the barn.
"These are portable versions of the Simulation Machine used on the Team a few months ago for a stress test." The two girls with him shuddered at the memory, but the strong red head just continued talking. "They are basically goggles into an alternate world. One where we are controlling what happens."
Guy and Ice nodded at the explanation while Artemis helped them put on their respective visors, but didn't put them fully on. The visors were resting on their foreheads so they could look at Red Arrow as he spoke to them.
"We shall be putting you through your own stress test. And, to give you an idea, it will be like a normal day at Mt. Justice. It will be as if you are already Superboy's parents and are going to drop him off for a Team day when Wally does yet another stupid thing."
Artemis was now standing beside her fellow archer, arms crossed with a smirk playing at her lips. "Good luck."
Then both adults were in the simulation.
"Okay, Supes Jr. We'll be leaving you now." Guy told his son as they passed through the Zeta Beam, a large smile plastered on his face.
Ice followed after her two boys with an equally large smile, happy at what their son had done. He had just been able to defeat Icicle Jr. without major damages to the city and in record time! The parents were so happy with him.
Superboy turned to hug his parents and found himself in the middle of a very tight hug, then, once they were done, turned to find his friends already standing before him.
"Conner! You're finally back!" Wally cheered as soon as the family had turned to them, a mischievous smile letting the rest know he was up to no good. "Hey! I wanna do something fun! How about we go up to the Watchtower and-"
"No." Guy crossed his arms immediately, making the red head quirk an eyebrow at him. "You kids can do whatever you want down here. But I don't trust you up there."
Wally seemed to deflate slightly, "But why not?" He whined making Robin smack him upside the head.
Ice now stepped up, "Ever since you children contacted those flesh-eating aliens from the control panel, we've decided that, really, we cannot stop you from being stupid. But, we can stop you from harming the Earth while harming yourselves."
Wally quirked an eyebrow at the diplomatic tone, then smiled evilly, "Okay, how about this, we don't contact anybody from another world, but we do go out for ice cream and you buy it for us?"
Guy glared at the red head but Ice spoke before her boyfriend could blow up. "You wanted to get ice cream from the start, didn't you?"
Wally only smiled as an answer.
Deathstroke found this Vixen woman to be slightly confusing.
He had seen her fight many times before, and she was a power house. Having the abilities of any animal at the tips of your fingertips whenever you needed them was quite a useful gift, but that wasn't the only reason he respected her. She was strong and didn't take much shit.
He liked that in any human being. And he could respect it.
Once they had getting to know a bit of one another, Red Hood had taken them to the back of Greg Saunder's rather large ranch, only to find Green Arrow and Aqualad waiting for them.
"We will be the three to evaluate you two." Red Hood had told them simply before placing the visors on them and throwing them into the simulation.
Once they were there, Deathstroke couldn't help but wonder just what the kids were up to.
It was a battlefield. A rather big one. With various men and women fighting, the Young Justice Team at the very middle of the whole conflict.
"What do you think they did this time around?" Vixen asked the man beside her, already in a crouching position to be able to dodge any projectiles sent their way.
The man looked around and, upon noticing all of the angered visages turned to the teens, shrugged, "From my files, I learned this team loves to bother the Justice League. And most of the people looking at them are heroes. The ones fighting those are villains."
Vixen nodded at the observation, "Most probably did something so stupid the villains had to step in to stop the Justice League from doing anything dumber."
Upon exchanging on look, both adults nodded and took off running.
The villains allowed Deathstroke to get to Young Justice with ease. Seeing how he was one of them, they did not give him too much trouble to reach the Team. But Vixen experienced her own teammates preventing her from reaching her objective.
As soon as Deathstroke was inside the shield created by Zatanna, he turned to all of the teenagers there. They all were clearly tired and annoyed, including Kid Flash himself. Green Arrow, Vigilante, and Hal Jordan were in there as well, doing their best to keep the heroes from getting too close to the children.
"What did you do?" Deathstroke asked in a neutral voice, making sure to keep any sort of emotion from his voice.
Superboy looked down in an abashed way while Kid Flash giggled nervously, but the rest of their team just glared at them both.
Vixen was finally able to appear in the bubble and was panting heavily, but did her best to look professional for all the children there.
"These two found it to be a good idea to make auditions for Superboy's new father... You can tell how that ended." Red Arrow growled at the villain, wondering just why Deathstroke was there.
The mercenary nodded softly then, once he had thought of a plan, walked towards the clone and dropped a hand on his shoulder. Superboy glared at him halfheartedly, but Deathstroke only smiled.
"It's not a crime to want a father. It is only natural to seek for guidance."
Vixen now stepped forward as well and wrapped an arm around the clone. "We all know Superman left you out in the cold. But that doesn't mean anyone else will." She told him in a calming tone, and Deathstroke was surprised with how easy this came to him.
Comforting the boy wasn't all that hard.
"Now, how about we bust some League skulls? At least, until they finally come to their senses?" Vixen asked everyone there.
And, as if getting a second wind, all the heroes inside cheered, prepared to fight once more.
Remember to say who you want the parents to be! And, maybe I will do as a wise reviewer offered: make alternate endings for each pair of parents.
Three reviews and I'll update tomorrow!