I binge-watched all of X-Men Evolution in three days. So, here's now my take on if Vigilante and the rest of the Soldiers were kind of like Professor X and them folk and Young Justice were the students. You can also very definitely thank the Vigilante Discord for the foundations of this fic!
"I'm just sayin', son, ain't no one gonna force ya ta stay. If'n ya wanna leave, y'know y'can." Conner frowned, turning his glare away from the infuriating cowboy and towards anything else in the room. His chest was tight, but the his fists were balled up even tighter. He had to force himself to focus on his breathing; to inhale deeply and exhale slowly. "But if you do that, y'know what's out there. An' that's the last thing I want any o' y'all ta deal with."
He wanted to punch something. His heart hammered in his chest and everything that his brain was supplying him with were images of the kind of destruction that wouldn't make him feel good, but would definitely make him feel something.
When he glanced down at his hands, he found himself begin to flex them open and closed. His whole body yearned to destroy something; to break something apart and leave it unrecognizable.
"But we ain't small or close-minded here. An' Travis and I've been talkin' some 'fore this went down- maybe it'll be fer the best ta pull you outta school for now."
That cut through anger within him; Conner was startled to hear the words coming out of Greg's mouth. His head snapped up and when he looked at the cowboy, it was to find that he was still wearing that same insufferable look that was equal parts composure and scathing sympathy. His eyes were soft and he was looking at Conner like he was fragile and Conner hated that.
Immediately, Conner wanted to argue that that was stupid. What was that supposed to do? If he was pulled out of school, it'd be like admitting to those jerks that they had been right all along! That he couldn't control his anger; that he was a danger... but... he hated going to school. It was loud, claustrophobic, the students were careless and the teachers were cold. He dreaded every morning because he knew that he would be stuck in that stupid building for more than half of his day.
The silence stretched between them.
Eventually, Greg clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He leaned back in his chair, nodded to himself, and finally looked away from Conner and down at the papers on his desk.
"I'll handle all the talks an' organizin'. You go on an' take the rest o' the day for yerself." as he said this, the cowboy picked up the pen that had rested beside the papers this whole time, "Do what y'need to do."
As he stood up from his chair, Conner bit down on the inside of his bottom lip. He didn't say anything as he stalked off. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like he had just received the worst scolding Greg could offer but... that didn't make any sense. The man had admitted that he wasn't angry and that he even thought that Conner wasn't lying when he had said he had tried his best... Greg had just... reminded him that there wasn't really a place out there for him.
Oh, there it was.
He wasn't able to stop the fist from forming; he had to work hard to not slam it into the wall beside him.
That's why he felt horrible. Because not only was there nothing out there for him, but he had to be better. He had to work to fit into a world that didn't care about him; a world that he wouldn't even fit into.
Why did he even have to bother?
~/~
He was real sure that the pain he had been subjected to for the past few hours could count as terrible enough for Travis to classify it as a migraine and, therefore, demand him to take a much needed break. But the world was breaking apart and falling out from underneath all of the kids under his care; and that wasn't about to stop just because he needed a moment to breathe.
With a wince, he drained the dregs of his coffee to swallow down the pain pills he was sure weren't really going to do all that much in his system. He wasn't sure what serving number this was- had stopped trying to keep track after his second cup of coffee and the school had called to inform them about the newest students his charges had pulled.
If there was one good thing about this day, it was that Wally had seemed to skip out on the misbehaving trends his friends were trying to establish, which meant that no speedster disaster had taken place... today.
The phone stopped ringing with a click; a handful of seconds later, Bats' growled baritone was assaulting his frayed nerves, echoing in his ears with a curt, "The situation is getting out of control, Saunders."
"Why, a warm hello to you an' yours, too, Bats." Greg screwed his eyes together before he sighed, "Listen, neither of us is blind ta that. So, instead of tryin' ta scold me like a child, just listen ta-"
"You are ill equipped to handle the boy. This recent outburst more than-"
His temples were pounding, his sinuses were acting up, and his whole body was beginning to ache in that worrying way that always wound up with him needing at least one full day of bed-rest to feel close to normal. All in all, he was so not in the mood to handle the Bats' theatrics.
Was there a better, more diplomatic way to handle this guy? Of course. Was he going to choose the high road? Of course not. Today, he felt like wrestling in the mud with the pigs, propriety be damned.
"He ain't goin' back ta Happy Harbor, just like he ain't gettin' shipped off anywhere else. Conner's place is at the ranch and if y'ain't gonna listen ta me, that's pretty damn fine t'me. If you can't listen, we won't be doin' any more talkin'." he snarled, and somehow his left hand wound up at his forehead, rubbing soothing circles into his skull that did absolutely nothing. "We ain't acceptin' any more fundin'."
And he cut the line.
Greg slammed the phone's cover shut. Without opening his eyes, he pulled open the long drawer at the center of his desk and threw it inside, then made the regrettable mistake of slamming the damn thing shut. That caused a horrible reverberation to assault his ears and he couldn't stop himself from shouting out in pain at that.
He doubled over in his seat, hands covering up the sides of his head in a vain attempt to relieve something... tears begun to sting at his eyes because he knew there wouldn't be any relief. He would have to open his eyes at some point, and that would mean that he would be subjected by the never-ending visual assault that were the lights all around his office...
With a hiss, Greg pressed his hands harshly against his forehead. It hurt, but, somehow, it was a much nicer pain than the rhythmic, agonizing pain that radiated all around his damn skull.
He was pretty damn sure he'd regret his outburst later... but damn. It had felt good to shut the Bat up.
~/~
"Hey, where's Supey?"
Usually, the ball of anger and teenage angst would wait at the edge of the school's parking lot. Conner liked to be far away from the rest of the school body; no one was ignorant to the fact that he probably completely skipped out on the last class of the day to be at his favorite waiting spot by the time the rest of them walked out.
Today, though, there was no dark cloud looming over the string of thin trees that lined the parking lot. There were actually kids using that area to cross through, something that Wally had never seen before.
"He got suspended." Artemis scoffed from his left; Wally's eyes went wide and when he looked over at her, it was to find that she had her arms crossed over her chest and a glare clear on her face. "Apparently, he got tired of the gym's decorations and decided that redecorating was in order. With his fists."
Oh, she was angry.
Wally sighed softly at this, but soon shrugged.
"Supey's got a point, though. That gym did need some TLC." sure, it wasn't the best thing in the world for their fellow inmate to have destroyed school buildings, but it also wasn't the end of the world. Just last week they had stopped the Terror Twins from smashing half the city and those two were still walking around the school. This wouldn't mean anything big, he was sure; business as usual. "So... what's the plan?"
Usually, he, Artemis, Kaldur, and M'gann met up in the parking lot and waited for Sir Justin to pick them up for the long ride back to their juvie-ranch-home-away-from-home. Today, though, M'gann had decided to stick around for cheerleading try-outs and Kaldur had been asked by the class president to stick around for some reason or another. It was just him and Artemis today.
"Who cares?" the blonde ball of irritation scoffed, "For all we know, Supey's made such a mess those old coots have forgotten all about us." her hair whipped from side to side and Wally found himself shrugging once more.
He pulled out his phone to see if there had been any messages left for him, but only managed to find that Rob had left him one pretty long voice message and Roy had responded to his pleas to get him out of this place with a middle-finger emoji.
"Well..." he dragged the sound out, then cleared his throat and smiled broadly over at his fellow troublemaker. "I don't have anything better to do, but I don't feel like getting scorched in this sun." she didn't respond verbally, just quirked an eyebrow that let him know she wasn't about to shoot his offer down before she even heard it. "I'm feeling like getting some concrete dust in my lungs. What do you feel about a quick jog to the big Apple?"
An incredulous look came over her face almost immediately, as if she didn't believe what he was proposing was possible. But with a quick run around her, so fast that she would have missed it if she hadn't been looking at him, he reminded her that there was nothing that he couldn't do with a little speed on his side. Her hair whipped to the right, lashing out at the quickness of his speed, and a conspiratorial smirk slowly warmed onto her lips.
"I heard they've got good pizza over there." was the only answer he needed.
Would this get them in trouble? Undoubtedly! But Wally had been needing to stretch his legs for days now and he had been real good for the past week. Artemis too hadn't caused any of her usual chaos, so he believed they both deserved a nice and relaxing time away from the disaster that was the New Horizon Home for Gifted Kids.
~/~
"You're going to lay down."
Greg wanted to roll his eyes at Travis' stern tone, but knew that if he were to attempt such a feat, he'd be risking what little stability he still had over the contents of his stomach. There was also the whole painful eyeballs thing that made looking anywhere a terrible feat, but... well, that was real negligible at this point.
"I gotta go pick them kids up." his eyes were narrowed far more than they should be, but he managed to find his keys... in Travis' hand. He frowned, "Travis, y'know you can't drive."
Travis' lips were pulled into a deep frown of their own, "That's why I've called Pat in and he's going to get the kids." he made a point of clutching those keys real tight before hiding them away in one of the countless pockets on the inside of his coat. "Unlike you, I understand I've got limits. You can't drive like this, Greg."
"It's just a headache." he crossed his arms and refused to allow himself to wince when the throbbing in his head spiked, sending out sharp jabs that hammered into his skull. "An' Pat's gonna take a while ta come down."
"Pat's in STRIPE." Travis shot back, "He'll be there by the time Kaldur and M'gann are finished up. Waiting at the school for two hours won't kill the spitfires."
The spitfires.
When his eyes widened, Greg couldn't stop himself from wincing and regretting it. But he was soon shaking that pain away, "Did ya call them two? Text 'em 'bout the change o' plans?" because if those two were the ones that had to wait...
"Sir Justin was supposed to..." Travis' eyes widened as slowly as his speech petered out. Then he stopped fully, closing his eyes before he lifted one hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose. "This isn't going to be good, is it?"
There was a reason those two were called the spitfires of the team.
Greg closed his eyes, but there was very little relief to be found in the darkness that surrounded him.
"I'll handle this." Travis barked, "Go to bed."
"Travis, y'know those two ain't-"
"They'll listen to me." he was surprised when he was handled brusquely by Travis' calloused hands, but his body ached so bad he wasn't able to put up much of a fight to complain. "Now go. So help me, Ace, I'll tranq you if I've got to."
And he really should have known that things were real bad if he didn't take Travis' closeness as an opportunity to steal the keys away and rush to the school and try to track down the spitfires.
~/~
They had been somewhere within the Indiana-Ohio-Pensylvania neck of the US woods when his phone had rang with Greg Saunders' specific personalized ringtone.
Wally had taken care to reduce his speed in a way that wouldn't cause Artemis any injury; when he had come to a slow enough speed to stop without any real issue, he had done so. And then he made quick work of setting his blonde partner in crime down before he snapped his phone out of its protective case and answered it with a toothy grin.
His heart was hammering in his chest, sure, and he was more than sure as to why and how it had almost nothing to do with the almost cross-country trek he had embarked on.
Greg was a good guy; he even reminded him quite a lot of Uncle Barry with how kind, gentle, and patient he was. Wally had also known him for years now, had been aware of just how pivotal he and the rest of the Soldiers had been for Roy growing up. So, in a way, he really didn't like disappointing him; knew that the last thing he wanted to do was cause him any real issues.
But... he had been cooped up for far too long, there was not going to be any big Team meeting this week because Kaldur was supposed to go back to Atlantis for something and Supey had been supposed to get picked up for some big secret meeting with some unnamed Justice League team member and Robin was still grounded because of the stunt they had pulled to stop the Terror Twins- and all that meant no Team until further notice.
He needed to stretch his legs!
Really, this was all Supey's fault. If he hadn't gotten in trouble, he was real sure that Sir Justin wouldn't have forgotten about them. And if that hadn't happened, he and Arty wouldn't have been left unsupervised.
This was only marginally his fault!
"Mm-yellow?" he answered as he moved to set the phone on speaker.
They were in the middle of some park clearly made for kids and families, but there was no one around. That was a bit weird, sure, but nothing too odd in the middle of nowhere that was wherever they were. Artemis scooted kind of closer towards him, head bent to look at his phone- probably to figure out who he had deemed worthy of stopping their run for.
"Listen 'ere Speedy González," Greg's voice... sounded... rough. Like, super tired. Wally blinked at this, staring down at the darkened screen of his phone even if he knew it wouldn't materialize the sight of the guy. "I don't care where you are or what you thought o' doin'. If both you spitfires come back right now, I'll cover for y'all."
That... wasn't like Greg at all.
Wally frowned now and glanced over at Artemis- she was glaring down at his phone. "We're not doing anything wrong, Greg. We're just stretching our legs." she answered for him; a car rushed past the park in a rush.
Wally snapped his head to look at it because... wasn't that weird? Wasn't this supposed to be one of those quiet suburban places where everything was calm and people acted all nice even if they wanted to tear their neighbors to pieces because of the horrible gardening decorations they were subjected to?
"No powers 'less you're on a mission or under supervision." Wally heard a groan and he looked back at his phone's screen- he knew he wasn't going to see why Greg groaned but... it was still something to set him on edge. Then there was a sharp hiss. "Just c'mon back. Ain't neither of y'all gettin'-" he paused, though, and there was barely any noise coming from the other side.
"Greg?" he asked, "You okay over there, buddy?"
Another groan and then a thud, "Headache as big as the size o' Texas." the cowboy admitted with a grumble- and, oh, was the guilt beginning to well in his chest? That sinking feeling that was reaching his stomach was real similar to what he usually felt when he started to feel guilty. "Please, y'two. Don't make us have to call anyone in- that's the last thing I wanna do."
And... Greg sounded... like he always did. So sincere it was sickening.
Wally wanted to act up. And, sometimes, acting on impulse was very easy because he didn't have the time to wonder how he'd feel afterwards.
But he had made a mistake and now he was paying for it. He never should have stopped to answer Greg's phone call.
"What's wrong with you?" Artemis huffed and she sounded like she didn't believe Greg's theatrics, but there was the slightest tremble in her tone that told Wally that this was where they would be stopping. "You don't sound too hot."
Silence from the other line. And then, a heavy sigh before Greg quietly admitted, "I ain't feelin' real hot either." Wally began to chew on his bottom lip and he began to bounce the fingers of his left hand against each other. "We'll come up with a cover story when y'all come back t'the ranch, y'hear? Just come straight back."
Wally closed his eyes and breathed in deeply; he could only hear the way in which Artemis softly cursed. They were both on the same page, it seemed.
"Yeah, okay, fine." Artemis bit out for them both, "See you later, Saunders."
She took over pressing the buttons on his phone, then let out a hurried shout of regret and irritation. Wally packed his phone up and allowed his head to hang, "I never should have answered the phone." he lamented.
"Y'think!" her hand shook him by the shoulder, pushing him with no abandon, before she growled, "Just get us back to the ranch before he can't cover for us. If it's between New York or one of Travis' punishments, I'm not suffering that madman."
"Don't worry, Arty." he grunted as he picked her back up, "One of these days, we'll actually be able to get away from the ranch."
They deserved a vacation, after all. They had been staying put, getting good enough grades, and causing minimal issues for weeks now- they had earned it!
And so, they began on their return trip, much sooner than they had expected. On the run back, Artemis mentioned that Greg had sounded more than just weird, he had sounded drained. Wally had nodded but offered nothing else up; they had fallen back into silence after that small exchanged.
~/~
Greg's phone call with two-thirds of the chaos squad cut off, leaving him in a silence that left Conner uncomfortable.
He wasn't angry anymore. Out here, in the back of Greg's ranch, there had been enough old and useless machinery for him to work a lot of his anger out with. It had taken a few hours of smashing, sure, but there wasn't any real rage left in him.
Right now, all he felt was sad.
He hadn't wanted to destroy the wall, but that Tommy Terror sure enjoyed living up to his name; and no one had seen the way he had been egging him on, just the damage he had left to make sure he wouldn't hurt the jerk. Between the wall and Tommy, he was pretty sure that everyone would appreciate him having gone for the wall.
But nobody knew what Tommy had done, because he had escaped before Conner had been able to cool off. So, while the principal had found him at the gym, all alone, right in front of the hole he had created, Tommy had gotten Scott-free.
And Conner may not have had the luxury of a normal childhood like the rest, but he knew that nobody liked a snitch and no one was about to believe that he had needed a reason to destroy that wall... he really had set himself up for failure by not having been able to keep a lid on his anger over every little thing at the beginning of the school year.
He breathed out softly as he looked down at his hands, watching the way in which they flexed open and closed. Even though he was constantly destroying and smashing, there were no callouses; his hands were eerily smooth.
The sun was shining high in the sky and it felt good on his skin. His back was rested against the sturdy wall that made up the back part of the main building's structure- all wood yet strong. It felt good to be sat here; solid.
Everything was quiet... too quiet.
Usually, at this point in the day, Greg would have turned on a radio or a TV or something so that there would be music waiting to greet them when they returned from school.
Conner shifted somewhat before he focused on his hearing; Travis had finished up his phone call with Pat about not worrying about Wally or Artemis and clicked off. But Greg... Conner's eyes widened as he heard a pained hiss coming in the direction of the cowboy's room. He could hear shifting sheets and the groaning of tightening joints.
Greg was in pain.
And he had caused it.
Conner breathed in deep before he pulled his knees up to his chest.
No, he wasn't angry anymore.
But this hollowness it had left behind... well, he would take the anger over the sadness any day.
~/~
Greg's room was... dark.
That wasn't normal.
Artemis hissed at him before he was able to turn on the lights; when he looked at her to ask what in the world was up with her, it was to find her pointing in the direction of Greg's bed.
Wally blinked at this. But when he looked over, he was able to understand why she had stopped him.
Greg was curled up into a tiny ball somewhere beneath those sheets- that much was obvious. But... that wasn't normal.
"What's wrong?" he whispered, eyes still focusing from the sudden change from sunny outside to darkened inside.
"I know as much as you do, Baywatch." she hissed back at him and seemed about to move towards the bed- to do what, he wasn't sure.
But then Wally heard the squeak of a floorboard and he snapped his head to the doorway, panic shooting up through him. He had made sure to take the most convoluted path to Greg's room! There was no way that Travis should have been able to see them!
"Oh, Supey." he breathed out with relief when he found that it had been the clone and not the harbinger of training doom; but that was short lived relief when he saw how badly said clone was frowning.
"Artemis," he hissed, and, oh... his tone was real tight. "Get out of there."
"What?" she whisper-yelled back, "But Greg said-"
And another spike of panic stabbed him when they all froze upon hearing the shifting of Greg's sheets. Wally turned back in time to see the way in which the sheets settled and now he could see just the slightest tuft of dark hair peeking out from the top of the bed.
"Come on." Supey's growl was even more quiet and careful than they had been before, and Wally didn't really find a good enough reason to fight him with his steel-tight, incredibly warm hand clamped around his wrist and tugged him.
Artemis only began to complain when they were out in the hallway and Supey kept on dragging them around.
~/~
"Ace didn't tell me he'd told you two to come back."
It was obvious that Travis knew that these two were lying to him. But it was also obvious that he knew there was something more going on.
Conner didn't bother with saying anything, more than aware that this conversation had nothing to do with him, as he began to work on dinner.
Usually, it was Greg's job to prepare food for all of them... but they couldn't wake him up.
This was the least he could do after... yeah.
"That's cause he was testing us." Wally really needed to work on not sounding like a kid that had been caught with his hand in a cookie jar when he was trying to lie his way out of a situation. It stupidly obvious that he was using an unusual pitch in his voice. If Greg could catch onto it, if Conner could, then there was no doubt that Travis would too. " He wanted to make sure that we would come back on our own, without fearing what might happen."
"It was a test of trust. And lookathat, such a shock, we passed." Artemis, at least, knew how to cover up her tone and seem normal. That being said, it was easy to do that when almost everything she said was a growl, a grunt, or an annoyed hiss.
"Hm." Travis hummed and Conner pulled out the chicken that Greg had already seasoned the previous day from the refrigerator. "Why did it take you both so long to come back?"
They all knew why.
It seemed like Travis was just as eager to keep these two from suffering from their own stupidity too... why did these guys even bother? They both had families they could go back to if they were kicked off the Team. Wally even had the Flash to mentor him once he went back to his home; Artemis had Green Arrow. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the both of them back there?
It would save the Soldiers a lot of headaches... and reduce their stress, too.
Out of all of the kids in here, there were only two that really needed to be here... and of those two, he was the only one without anyone out there to take care of him. Even M'gann's uncle could take her in if it was absolutely necessary, even if it wasn't ideal for her socialization for other humans.
"We walked. Do you have any idea how many buses we had to take?" Artemis grouched, "I expect to be reimbursed."
Travis was quiet and Conner busied himself by preparing the other components of their meal that he knew he could handle. He still wasn't all that great with making gravy, so he could wait a bit and hope that Travis would take over that duty after he was done with these two.
He could hear Wally tapping away at the tabletop with quickened fingers; could hear the way in which Artemis' jaw groaned at the way she was biting down on her own teeth.
He could hear the hissed conversation taking place between Greg and Batman; the second one of the day.
He tried to ignore it, to focus on his task and those in the kitchen with him... but he was able to hear how Batman scolded Greg for being too soft on all of them. He could hear the way in which Greg growled, impassioned even if in pain, about how the Bat had never raised a meta-kid and between the both of them, he was the only one that actually had. As he began to work on chopping potatoes up for the mashed potatoes, he was able to hear Greg reiterate that they didn't need any Bat or League-funding to run this place if it came with terms and conditions over who got to stay and who got booted.
Because that's all that he had ever been good for... getting pushed and pulled in every direction, only wanted for his powers but thrown away because of his personality.
"Well then, I'm sure Greg'll give you two some kind of prize for having proven his trust to be in the right place." Travis eventually clapped his hands together, and Wally really needed to take notes on how to lie from him. It wasn't obvious at all, even if his words were still good-natured and relaxed. "Now, why don't you two help Conner out with making dinner? Sir Justin's called in for some more help and I'm the only other Soldier available."
"What?" Wally gasped, "Sir Justin's on a mission?"
"We can go!" Artemis's chair screeched as it was pushed back so suddenly, "C'mon, Travis, you know that we're both good in the field!"
And Conner could tell exactly where this was going before Travis had even spoken up.
The lies had been accepted to keep the peace and keep them both out of trouble with their respective families, but their actions were still going to have consequences. And they had proved today, to a degree, that they could not be trusted.
"Sorry to say, squirts, but it's not that important of a mission. And Zatarra made it clear that only those with previous experience with magic should go." with these words, Conner was able to hear his footsteps coming closer to him. He sensed the man come closer, so he knew to expect the hand that fell on his shoulder. "Hold the fort down, son. Pat'll come back and fill in for me once Kaldur and M'gann are done at school."
He didn't have to look back at Travis to know what kind of expression he'd be wearing on his face- it would be the same kind of sympathetic, bordering on pitying look that Greg got on his face whenever they asked anything of him that had nothing to do with his powers.
They all treated him like he was some fragile kid that couldn't handle anything, even though they were always asking him to handle things! It didn't make any sense!
Still, he grunted before giving a tense nod.
Travis pat his shoulders twice before he was moving back out of the kitchen, gently telling both annoyances in the room that they couldn't tag along, but may next time Sir Justin needed help they might be able to come.
Once he was gone, Wally threw himself into a chair and Conner put all of the potatoes he had cut up into the pot he'd use to boil them.
"Why'd he have to go and leave Supey in charge?" he whined; and Conner had to work hard to ignore him and stamp down on the irritation that wanted to come in.
He shouldn't get angry now, no matter what. The only adult in this place was an ailing Greg and he had been the one to put all of the stress that had downed him on the poor guy's shoulders.
He... he needed to prove to Greg that he wasn't wasting his time fighting so hard to keep him around.
"Stuff it, Speedy." Artemis growled back at him. They fell into silence for a few seconds before he heard her footsteps come closer to him. "What do you need me to do, Conner?"
He simply pointed towards the oven that had finished pre-heating.
Luckily for him, she had understood and moved to grab the chicken without asking for any further instructions.
~/~
The night was a real cool one, out here in the Red Desert.
Conner seemed to be enjoying it, sat up here in the roof with his face turned up on the starry sky and shining moon.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked even as he plopped down on the blanket that Conner had laid out, at the far edges of it. When Conner didn't respond, he knew that there was no big issue with him being out here. "Beautiful night, ain't it?"
He had Travis' hot cocoa in his hand, but it didn't feel right to drink from it. Sure, the man had made it specifically for him, but... didn't feel right. He offered it over to Conner wordlessly and just waited for the boy to grab it.
"Travis made that for you." he grunted; Greg couldn't stop himself from smiling softly at that.
"Sure did. But it's mine to do with as I please." he offered the metal mug over once more and this time Conner glanced at it before he went back to looking at the sky. "And it'd please me a whole lot if you took it."
Beneath all of the hurt, rage, and silence there was a good kid; Greg had no doubt about it. Conner was a difficult kid not because he wanted to be, but because it was all he had ever known. And with the way the Bat was so prepared to demand he get isolated before he hurt anyone... it was no real surprise that there had been a need for someone new to come in and handle his case.
The League was filled with some of the kindest, most generous people the world had ever seen. But it really seemed like the League was starting to get drunk off its power at this point if it truly thought that this kid would be better off with the Bat than with them.
Stuff and Sylvester were proof that they knew what they were doing with meta-kids, powers or no.
"It's gettin' cold."
His head still ached somethin' fierce, so he was grateful that Conner's growl wasn't all that loud. But his chest filled with giddy warmth when the teenager grabbed at the mug and stole it away from him with a rough touch.
"Attaboy." he allowed himself to get comfortable on the roof now, stretching his legs out as he leaned back to rest on his forearms.
Conner remained mostly quiet, but Greg could hear him drinking from the mug every now and again and he knew that he had done the right thing.
"Thank you." was mumbled out in between a sip and a gulp, so quiet that he could have missed it if he hadn't been paying attention.
So quiet, even, that Greg knew that he wasn't really meant to respond to it.
Conner was a tough kid to understand, so he fully knew where the Bat's misguided theories came from. But he wasn't some uncontrollable ball of rage that couldn't be reasoned with.
He was just a scared kid that had nowhere to turn to.
Well.
That had been in the past.
Hopefully, by now the kid understood that he now had the Soldiers and the tiny family that was everyone that lived on the ranch.
And that's the pilot!
Honestly truly, no idea if this would become anything more. If it does, it'd be a story where every chapter is its own story, like a cartoon episode. But I've no real idea of what kind of world this could become other than what I've already written.
Hope y'all enjoyed this!
(Hell, if I really feel like it this could become a crossover where X-Men appear cause while I've got my issues with Marvel, I quite enjoy them. Can you just imagine what would happen in a universe where Wolverine and Vigilante meet?! That'd be awesome!)