The Young Demon chapter 2
I do not own Young Justice, DC or any of its fictional characters.
Chapter 2
By the time he had finally arrived back in Gotham, Bruce Wayne was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to return to his manor, eat Alfred's gourmet home cooking and retire to his bed and sleep for a few days. And a shower. Definitely a nice long shower. He had sand in places that sand was not supposed to be in. But despite all the discomfort and his weariness, Bruce was somehow content. Content in the sense that… he felt hopeful. He felt content and the most relaxed he had felt in a long time. He was confident that his new investments in Wayne Enterprises were turning out to be very profitable, and that it was the right decision to reject Lex Corps offer to combine companies. He was also confident in Lucius Fox's abilities to keep his secret and supply him with the right equipment necessary to protect Gotham. He also felt hopeful that for the first time in his life in a very long time, things were finally going right. Now you may argue about how things could go wrong for a millionaire but ever since that day… nothing had ever been the same. His drinking and playboy ways had kept him in the media eye and running Wayne Enterprises affirmed his Wayne legacy and ket the cash flowing, but the Batman cowl kept him going. Ever since becoming the feared vigilante, Bruce had found his new place in the world and things started making sense to him again. It was like Ying and Yang. And now that Talia was in the picture, everything was rooted in place and was the best it had been in years. Bruce was, dare he say it… happy? Yes that was it, he was happy.
Batman however was feeling paranoid as hell. Currently, Batman was about two minutes away from landing onto a secluded and highly restricted and hidden area of Gotham's docks. It was nearing sunrise and Batman was anxious to get back to his city. He Shifted his head to look out the side windows, staring at the dark city before him, mentally preparing himself for the worst. So far everything looked relatively normal for Gotham. Actually it looked better than normal. As far as Batman could see there were no smoke pillars indicating fires, no flashing lights, sirens or any blown up buildings. And thats when Batman's anxiety increased by a tenfold. Bruce may have been feeling a lot more positive regarding things in his life, but Batman was almost sure that something was very very wrong.
He had given Green Lantern very specific instructions to obey to while in his city. Muggers, thief's, arsonists and any other low life scumbag were fair game for GL to take down. In no way would he answer any questions or speak to the press and civilians and if there was so much as a chance that of one of Gotham's new big name villains reared their ugly head, GL would report to Batman immediately. Recently, there were rumours of thugs being recruited by employers and whispers of people so nefarious that they were controlling almost all the 'big name' leaders of cartel and mobs. He wasn't quite sure what that made them, but he didn't like the sound of it. But throughout the whole trip his JL communicator had not gone off once (the communicator was of course courtesy of Wayne Enterprises). Not that he would've noticed or answered it anyway, he had been too busy spending time with the most beautiful woman and intriguing man he had ever met. Speaking of the Al Ghul family… Batman was flabbergasted with them to say the least.
When he had first been introduced to Ra's, Batman had been stuck between a rock and a hard place. Bruce of course had been training for years prior to actually becoming Batman. After the death of his parents, things had eventually fallen into place so naturally that it felt almost like he was destined to become Batman. The discovery of the cave underneath the manor, the hidden but seemingly deliberate funds that his parents had set especially aside for him and of course the new world wide wave of superheoes and vigilantes coming forth after they had been largely absent for a number of years.
From the moment he was born, Bruce had been sheltered from the harsh reality of eyes had been blinded by the sparkling of his fathers fancy cars and the diamonds around his mothers neck. The night they were murdered was the night when the city he had once felt protected by showed its true form. And as he sat weeping in the police station for the loss of his parents and the end of his world as he knew it, a man had brought him a blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders and gave him a cup of hot chocolate. Though he never learned his name, the man stayed with him and protected him from the hoards of reporters and paparazzi trying to get a glimpse of the traumatized child, he had let him look at his badge and just kept him company until Alfred came and brought him home to the manor. Though he was full of grief and despair, that man had instilled a small amount of hope in him, and eventually that hope cycled into an absolute need and desire to see justice and keep alive hope for others.
When Batman began, he was treated as an urban legend, a myth that thugs and low lives told each other around the burning garbage can to pass the night. As he spent more and more time defending the city, people learned that he was very much real, and also very much a force not to be reckoned with. The GCPD had despised him at first, declaring him to be just as bad as the other criminals, however after saving the hospital, a school, the mayor and nearly the entire force from a hidden bomb, they realized he was just trying to help. They've recently been trying to collaborate a bit to help each other, with officer Gordon being his main resource of information, or much rather vice-versa. Batman worked alone. But after his emergence, criminals soon learned to back off and crime was at an all time low. He had been the greatest thing to happen to this city, and his name was starting to get around.
Originally Bruce had thought the Wayne family was the oldest line of people to live in Gotham. They had been there since before the city was the booming metropolis it was today and were an activate part in establishing it as a city, hence why there was the Wayne library, hospital, scholarship etc. But he had been wrong, there was someone else who had been there from day one. They called themselves "The Court of Owls". An extremely underground and extremely deadly group of only the most elite assassins. And on one snowy night conveniently on christmas eve, Batman was confronted by these assassins on the top of Wayne tower. They had been the hardest opponents he had ever fought, they seemed to know all his weaknesses and they were expertly trained, he could barley land a punch on them and moved as if they were gliding through water. Their outfits were all slightly different, but had a common theme of an owl. Before he knew it, he was exhausted and obviously outnumbered and out skilled. He thought he was about to die before in a blink of they eye, there were about twenty shadows surrounding him and the owls. Words were exchanged that he was too groggy to clearly hear (something about him already being claimed) and suddenly it was a complete blood battle between two rival assassin groups. In the chaos of it all, Bruce was stabbed by a small but sharp as a needle sword in the chest by someone wearing a much different outfit with large talons and passed out with the battle raging all around him.
When he awoke he was in a beautiful large room and he could hear waves rolling in the wounds were healed and bandaged and someone else entered the room. That was when he was first introduced to Ra's Al Ghul. Bruce listened to what he had to say and was shocked when he found out he knew about his identity but even more shocked to learn that he was on an island full of assassins and was talking to the assassin leader himself. Ra's explained that they had been watching him for quite some time now and had found him to be a suitable heir. Bruce was revolted against this idea, until he learned the cause of the group. Ra's believed that this world was tainted and that by killing evil men, they would be saving potential victims and innocents, and soon the world would be cleansed. Bruce was intrigued by this idea, but he didn't kill. That was one of his only rules, no exceptions. But that didn't stop him from training with Ra's for weeks or doing small tasks for the league. and Ra's was exceptionally skilled at hand to hand combat as well a swordsmanship, it made him realize how inexperienced he was before. During those few months he was at the island, he met Talia, and was immediately overcome by her beauty and mystique. They had become romantically involved and were still together to this day, there was only one thing in the way of them being together, and that was the thing that had gotten them together in the first place. Talia was extremely dedicated to her fathers mission and would hardly ever stray from it. Apparently it was the duty of an Al Ghul to support her father, just as it was a duty of Wayne to avenge his parents death. This caused a clash between them, but Bruce was still madly in love with her never less.
When he returned home from infinity, the papers thought he had died, he easily covered it up with a spontaneous trip to cancun for a few months and everything was solved. Except for Alfred
, Bruce didn't think that the faithful old man would ever 100 percent forgive him for disappearing without a trace for months. Batman returned and things had been pretty smooth ever since, well nothing was ever smooth in Gotham. It was more routine, playboy/business man by day, Batman by night and Bruce when he was with Talia. And since the newly formed emergence of the Justice League, with Batman joining, he felt better than ever.
Quickly and quietly he landed the helicopter onto the secured area and hopped to of it, pressing a button on his wrist the helicopter descended into a small cave hidden beneath the ground of the landing pad. He grappled out of the area and swung to downtown Gotham hoping to thank and relieve Green Lantern of his duties. So you could say he was a bit surprised to find Superman flying right along beside him. He quickly landed on a roof and sharply turned to look at the kryptonian.
" What are you doing here? I don't remember asking if Superman could defend Gotham while I was on absence"
"Well nice to see you too!" Superman responded with a nervous chuckle but quickly got back to the subject at hand when Batman flashed a warning glare at him. "something came up a few hours ago with GL, he needed someone to cover the rest of his shift and I volunteered, it was only a few hours long…. but where were you?"
"Thats my business, you're no longer required here but I appreciate your help, goodbye" He replied gruffly and turned to return home to his manor, but paused for a moment when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
" I understand that your sort of a lone wolf Bruce, but your on a team now and we all need to work and trust each other together. We all only have good intentions and if you ever need anyone were here okay?"
Batman nearly chocked back a laugh at the cheesiness of that line but secretly felt a twinge of thankfulness towards the alien. He gave one stiff nod and flew off into the night. When he returned home, he was greeted in the Batcave by Alfred who immediately ushered him off to bed for he had a meeting tomorrow, or rather this morning. He had barley been home for 2 hours and already he was back to being stuck in an office surrounded by greedy corporate morons. When his head hit his bed pillow, he had a nightmare of him and Talia being chased by a demon through a sandstorm in the desert and now matter how hard or fast the ran they couldn't get away, constantly being followed until they got separated from each other and they never saw another again. He awoke with a start when his alarm rang and groaned as Alfred entered with a fresh business suit and a pot of coffee.
1 week later
Talia
When Talia and her father finally returned home she was relieved to be back. Since she was just a little girl she had constantly been hopping form place to place and rarely ever stayed in a area for more than a few months. It felt good and reassuring to know she now had a permanent residence at infinity, and as she stepped onto the warm beach sands at just around dusk she took her place by her Fathers side as they were escorted back to the family passed through the archery, disc, shuriken and dagger throwing range and walked through the centre of the main training area where all types of assassins in training were practicing by themselves, in groups or with partners. As they walked passed everyone dropped what they were doing and bowed deeply to them showing them the absolute utmost respect. Continuing to walk past they were joined by Three more assassins. These assassins were much more experienced and trained then the ones practicing and acted as trainers, leaders and overseers for the rest. They were very prominent and feared members of the villain community who were all taken in at one point by Ra's. Deathstroke the terminator, Sportsmaster and Lady Shiva accompanied them lagging behind slightly and entered the Living quarters with them.
Together they entered the Mansion and sat down around a beautiful red oak wood table. Where they discussed the relations that had been established with the east on their trip. After few hours of discussion and planning their next move, Ra's departed from the table to attend to something else, leaving Talia alone to talk with her fellow villains.
" Lawrence, how are your daughters doing? I haven't seen Paula in awhile…"
" They're fine, a bit of a pain in my ass, but Jade is progressing great and Artemis is just a little angel. Paula is staying home to take care them until we can find a sitter so she can get back in the game." He replied with a gruff voice, but there was a glint of pride in his eye and just a slight smile tugging on the bottom of his lip as he talked about them.
" And Slade, I heard that Addie just gave birth, to a baby girl no less! You must be thrilled." She smiled happily.
" You have no idea, I could barley handle Grant and with little Rose being just born, I haven't had descent sleep in days. She just never stops crying and she keeps pulling at my beard…"
That earned a chuckle from the group and Talia finally turned to look at one of her family's most trusted friends. " Shiva hows your child doing? Have you decided on a name yet?"
Shiva smiled at her and rested a hand over her swelled stomach. " The doctors say that she's growing fast and she's perfectly healthy. David and I haven't decided on a name yet. But honestly, I just can't wait to have her, I've been itching to get back in the field and just punch somebody. And what about you Tal? Isn't it about time you start to settle down and have a child? I bet Ra's can't wait to have some grandchildren to be heirs"
Talia bit her lip in thought. " The day my father ever approved of a man for me to date will be the day that Lex Luthor grows hair, and I'm perfectly content right now."
"Whatever you say Tal." Shiva said with a curious look. The group continued to talk and gossip for a bit before they finally departed and Talia walked back to her room. The talking of children had gotten her thinking, what if she and Bruce had one. He was the only man she had ever loved enough to consider having a child with and her thoughts drifted over and played with that notion. Their child would of course be beautiful, with her arabic heritage tan skin tone, Bruce's stunning blue eyes or her green ones. The child would have his fathers black hair or her hazelnut brown, and would be gifted in athletics and music. Not to mention he or she would be heir to a powerful organization that would have existed for thousands of years. Their child could rule the world and be perfect.
That night, she dreamt of lying down with a small child whose face was blurred, but she felt an indescribable amount of love and innocence radiating from it and motherly protectiveness coming from her. Out of nowhere a pair of large Talons ripped the child from her arms and flew away with it. She screamed for help but no one came, and she ran after the child but it was lost and she was too late. She was left collapsed and crying and the sky turned black and it began to rain blood and dead bats. She woke up screaming.
So that was the second intro chapter. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm going slow because I am, But I really want to set things up before Richard is born. This will be about 7 chapters and then go into a series of drabbles and one shots with Richard growing up which you can request, and then turn into the main story. So because this is an AU I want to ask you guys if you want Damian in the story. Because I really love him and feel he would be an interesting dynamic to the story. You can vote by reviewing if you want him in it. If he was in it, he would be either the same age or just a year younger than Richard. Even fraternal twins. And by reading this chapter I think you can guess who Richard's villain playmates will be. By the way they are not OCs at all, but real DC characters. So send me ideas and what you would like to see more of because I'm really interested in what you have to hear.
I will update my other stories when I feel like, but I wrote those when I was about twelve sooo its kinda hard to get back into them.