So, apparently. It's illegal for someone under the age of eighteen to not be taken care of by a legitimate legal guardian or caretaker.
Whoops.
So, after some talking and a drive to the GCPD I got shuffled into a foster home, papers pending to get my legalities straightened out. Or to be exact, the foster home of Gotham, the Wayne Children's Home, founded by Bruce Wayne shortly after he adopted Richard Grayson. Some programs were available to help put me adjust to a normal life in society. That is to say, a civilian life.
Needless to say, I broke out of it the same night I was brought in. I may still be a minor by the laws of this land, but I could take care of myself. I couldn't… wouldn't take the spot from some kid in the system that actually needed it.
Besides, they wanted me to go to school. A good and proper actual school. I could read and write, do math, and with my new knowledge of the internet, could easily find out anything of this world I could need.
Maybe I should buy a phone… or a computer.
And figure out what the hell why-fieis.
--
Crime is stupidly prominent in Gotham. You literally couldn't go a block in any direction of anywhere without some type of criminal activity playing out.
Not all of it was obvious of course. Maybe that man was embezzling money from a charity. Maybe that woman was a pedophile who was planning to rape her step-son. Maybe that teenager is planning on killing someone who'd destroyed their mind.
After the first few curiosities, I'd stopped having Herb look into the hearts of these depraved Gothamites.
Still, there were good people in Gotham despite what many believe. A woman who learned her barista's name and cultivated a genuine friendship over their mutual love of theater. A man who bought a beggar a cup of coffee and gave him his coat. A boy who would sketch amazing works of art, wishing only to brighten the world around him.
I've never been very big on the whole Good-Evil thing. Couldn't really afford to be with my pact with Oberon.
Freeing abused animals was fun.
Burning down a construction company building, the workers locked within… Was not, but I still did it.
I was bound to be his shadow on the Material Plane, his dagger in the night.
Still, no word from this world's Oberon though. Promising, though not knowing where I stood with the local fey still put me on edge.
But yes, Gotham was filled with darkness. More so than any place I've ever visited, though maybe that's simply the scale of this world affecting my perception of it.
But that made the specks of light burn all the more, didn't it?
--
The first time I saw him, I didn't quite realize what I was looking at.
I saw the way his cape perfectly draped around him, hiding his arms and legs. I saw his solid white eyes. And I saw the pointed, hornlike ears.
I spoke to him in Sylvan. "What would the Unseelie Court have with me, fey of night?"
He tilted his head, eyes squinting. "What language is that?"
"...Nothing important."
He moved into the moonlight, out of the shade cast by the abandoned building I call home. And into my little garden.
"You've been growing plants."
I look at my fully grown bushes and plants. I look back to the famous Batman. "No shit, really?"
Usually I wasn't as snippy, but he looked much too fey for me to be comfortable.
"Without watering them. Or fertilizing them. On barren soil, without any gardening supplies."
Ah, he's been watching me for a bit, hasn't he?
M'lord…
I see it, Herb. A heart of good. So powerful, so absolute and ironclad, Herb's magical sight was leaking into my own without me even trying. A heartening thing to see in Gotham, though goody-two-shoes could be their own type of trouble.
"You talk to them."
I what?
"..." He moves forward, towering over me.
"Tell me. Are you the son of Pamela Lillian Isley?"
...It seems he may have drawn some faulty assumptions from me conversing with Herb.
"No."
He gets into my personal space, our noses maybe an inch apart. "...You're not lying."
"I am not." I agree, magic sparking at my fingers just under the skin, ready to cast at a moments notice. "And you're not a vampire."
Batman's lips twitch into an almost-grin. "What makes you say that?"
"You're not pretty enough."
That actually seems to throw the man before me off his game ever so slightly. Hopefully. The mask makes it a little hard to tell.
I yawn. "Now, if you're quite done, I would like to go to sleep tonight."
I walk past him into the abandoned building.
He's gone, M'lord.
And sure enough, he was.
--
I'm casting Plant Growth on my garden when he returns.
I felt a jolt of surprise from Herb through the telepathic familiar bond.
M-M'lord! He's behind you!
I glance over my shoulder to find the man observing me and the visibly growing vegetation.
"You've begun growing vegetables."
I shrug. "They can't taste worse than convenience store food."
He walks closer, hovering above me. "You've picked up a bit of a following."
I've what?
"People are calling you Paws."
He holds out a stack of papers as I stand up, curious at what he meant...
Eldrak3398: I'm telling you, he's got to be Catwoman's apprentice! Nobody suspicious was seen on Gotham Academy's video feed! It's like he was a ghost!
Superlover96: No way man, he's way too small time! Catwoman would totally have Paws going on museum heists with her!
Ellina_Striker_Girl: Man, I can't wait to see when he makes his villain debut, I wanna see a catboy!
DeltaThetaSig: LOL, Ellina's gotten more thirsty for spandex ass.
WeedWeeb44: Isn't Paws suspected to be a minor?
ShadowStep7774: Who even knows, from what people are saying he's some master of disguise or something, nobody's got a single concrete description of him.
SuperWonder4Life: Maybe he's got his hands on some light bending tech? Or maybe he's a shapeshifter, like Manhunter?
GreenScreen: Guys, no way this Paws' real! He's just a rumor!
...
"...I guess I haven't exactly been trying to be subtle with some of my stuff." I admitted, rubbing the back of my head.
"This isn't something you can just brush off, Adam."
Watch me.
"It's not like I can do anything about it, Batman. People notice when someone steals their shit."
"You could stop stealing."
"Not really on the table, considering my… situation." I gesture to the abandoned, if clean, building.
"You were admitted to Wayne Children's Home. They would've cared for you, sent you to school, get you legal documentation."
God, his voice is deep… "I've been on the streets as far back as I can remember. I can take care of myself. Better the spot goes to some poor kid who needs it."
Batman pauses at that. "You're living in an abandoned brothel."
"Oh, is that what it was? I thought it was some kind of store."
"This is serious, Adam, you're exposed and vulnerable on the streets. Your abilities are not something that will remain hidden for long."
"Good. It'll give me something interesting to do."
We hold each other's gaze, neither one of us willing to give in...
He breathes out through his nose, probably his way of sighing. "If you're not willing to go back to Wayne's..." A hand reaches out from under his cloak.
It's a credit card. "I can at least give you an avenue other than theft."
"Yeeaaah, totally going to use this." I say sarcastically as I take the card from him, looking it over with.
"..." Damn, he's got one hell of a poker face.
"Nope. You may be a good guy, Batman, but good doesn't mean harmless." I toss the card to the side. It dropped onto the ground next to my carrots. "It's nothing personal."
He doesn't take the card when he leaves.
Herb, make sure he's actually gone.
At once, M'lord.
--
"Is everything alright?" I ask, crouching down to be level with the child.
The crying child looks up to me, tears still looking at his eyes. "J-Jeremy and his friends stomped down on my favorite flower…"
I wonder if it's normal for kids to have a favorite flower in an isolated corner of Gotham Central Park. Probably not. Definitely not for boys. Flowers were 'girly' after all.
Shall we curse them in their sleep, M'lord?
No, Herb, let the children be. My magic could kill them.
"That's a very mean thing for them to do."
The kid sniffles and nods, rubbing away some of his tears.
"I-I'm Oscar. Who're you?"
I smile. "Nice to meet you Oscar, my name's Adam."
"Nice to meet you…" he says halfheartedly, eyes returning to the once beautiful violet flower.
"...If you want, I can help you fix your favorite plant." I offered, grinning as he looked up to me with wide eyes, before nodding.
"Close your eyes, and count to ten."
He squished his eyes shut and started counting.
"1...2...3…"
"Let the wild grow in all places, let the land be reclaimed, let the Feywild be seen."
And I get to work. A quick, gentle application of Plant Growth… and the flower begins to recover, the grass around us rising ever slowly.
"4...5...6…"
I wasn't going to be using all of my magic with this of course, otherwise it'd cause more trouble than it's worth. No, most of the magical life energy I was channeling was diverted back into the Weave, or at least this world's equivalent, rather than the ground.
"7...8...9…"
And once the flower was eye level with the kid…
"10!"
He opened his eyes, which sparkled with fascination. Now there were three blooming flowers on the plant, all of them a vibrant violet-purple. The stem was no longer awkwardly bent, handing on a stip of plant-flesh, but now a firm green base.
"Woah… how did you do that?!"
I smirk. "Little bit of magic."
"Oscar, are you in your special hiding place?"
"Mama, mama, come look!"
"Let me hide from sight, let me strike from the shadows, let my presence be unknown."
Oscar's mother had his blonde hair, and she seems to have been a little worried, if her pace and stride was anything to go by.
"I made a friend who fixed my flower!"
"Oh wow, it looks like your special flower had a growth spurt, huh? Where's your friend though?"
"Huh?"
Oscar looks around, trying to find me even though I was still standing right in front of him.
"...he was right here though…"
--
M'lord? Someone's on the roof.
Is it Batman checking in on me?
No, M'lord. It's his protege, Robin and...three others it looks like?
I dip into Herb's senses for a moment, and look at the group.
Sure enough, Robin was talking to three other boys, a black teenager with gills, a redhead in a head to toe costume, and someone with an eerily similar face to Superman.
Ah, these were the other proteges of the Justice League… Speedy, Aqualad, and what was probably Superman's kid. But the question remains, why would they be here? Did Batman send them to try to get me to open up?
"...aws is an up and coming thief, rumored to be Catwoman's apprentice. Batman thinks he's set up shop in this building, maybe as a stash for his stolen goods." Robin said, pulling up a...keyboard and screen of light? I suppose that such a thing was possible with illusions, but to make such a thing interactive would take averyskilled illusionist.
"I still hold reservations of attacking him without the permission of Batman and the rest of the Justice League. The file you pulled from the Batcave is bare-bones at best, and Batman usually does not provide such limited dossiers." Aqualad said. Ah, he's their Valan it seems. And to think they're going behind their mentor's backs...
"Oh, come on, Kal, this is great! A low-level villain protege that's just hit the streets? Perfect way to break in the team and show them we're serious about taking missions." Speedy said. I immediately pegged him as a more lawful Aliabra. With just a slight side of arrogant self-righteousness.
Understandable, considering they were the students of living legends. Who'd come down to seek out who they thought to be a petty thief.
M'lord… what are we going to do?
Hmmmm, the building's only three stories tall...
I leave Herb's senses, looking up at the roof.
A small orb of purple energy formed in between my hands.
"Fall, fall, fall into the Dreaming."
I hurl the Sleep spell into the air, watching as it flew above the roof and detonated in a momentary flash of light.
Did I get them all?
I-Incredible, M'lord! You took them all out with a single spell!
Lucky me! Now, I just had to figure out what to do with four unconscious superheroes…
Shit, I don't have to carry them down to the ground floor, do I?
--
"Wow, this kid's belt has everything."
So, since I couldn't exactly throw them all the way down the stairs without waking them up, I grabbed some rope out of a grappling hook I nabbed from Robin's toolbelt, and strung them all off the side of the building by one foot each after stripping them down.
Probably not the best measure against Superman Jr., considering his daddy could fly, but that's why I had a knife handy to cut them down. Hostages were usually useful against people who cared about their companions.
"Uuuugh, wha happend?" Annnd, Speedy's the first one awake. Soon followed by his friends.
"What the hell?!" Heh, Robin's squirming a lot.
"Goooood morning, sleepyheads." Well, it'd only been around an hour since I'd knocked them out but semantics.
"Dude! Why are we naked?!" Speedy shouted, looking very distressed, if his blurring hands were anything to go by.
"Because Mr. Ninja boy has like a hundred throwing stars, and I'm not taking chances?" I ventured, looking down at them over the edge of the building.
"...And why may I ask, have you captured us?" Aqualad asked. By far, he was the calmest of the four. Superman Jr. and Robin seemed agitated about being caught, while Speedy seemed to be hyper-fixating on the whole nude thing.
"I'm bored." And the fact that you were going to attack me first, behind the backs of your superiors, and I didn't want a literal Amazoness Demigod coming after me for killing the kids of her co-workers.
The public may think the Justice League were strictly non-lethal, but I know Amazons. I'd sooner sell my soul to a devil than believe she hasn't killed someone before.
"You captured, stripped, and tied us up because you're bored?" Superman Jr. growled. Oooh, feisty~ But seeing as he was only glaring at me and not coming up to beat the shit out of me, he knew that I'd cause one of his friends to drop if he moved.
"Well, I stripped Robin, Aqualad, and Speedy because they're in costumes with all sorts of things. You, I stripped for fun."
"Kid FLASH! Why does everyone call me Speedy?!"
"KF, not now!"
"Yeah, Speedy, not now."
"Oh, fuck you, creep!"
"No thanks, you're a bit too conceited for my taste." Though, they did have really nice bodies. Not that I was much of a slouch either, even if I never quite built up the muscle mass.
Speedy seemed to disagree, listening to his sputtering denials.
"Ha! He's got you there, KF." Robin says.
"So, what are you gonna do to us?" Superman Jr. asked.
I shrug, though they can't really see it. "I dunno. I could leave you like this till morning, give Gotham a nice view to wake up to when the sun comes up."
"...I think I speak for all of us when I say that we would wish to avoid that." Aqualad diplomatically said. Man's he's good at keeping his cool...
M'lord, he's here.
"Or you know, I can hand you off to Batman. After alongnight of fighting crime, I'm sure the first thing he'll want to do is explain all of this to your mentors and parents."
"...I think I prefer the first option?" Speedy squeaks out.
"Too late." Batman's deep voice came out from behind me.
"So not aster…"
...What the fuck was aster? Was that a local slang word?
--
After lowering the teenage superheroes down into my garden, I threw down their clothes so they could get dressed outside of Batman's sight while the two of us walked down to the first floor.
"Did you unmask Robin or Kid Flash?" He asked.
"I did take off Kid Flash's helmet, since it was attached to the rest of his clothes. I left Robin's mask on though, seeing as I doubt something that small and thin could hide anything important other than his identity."
"I see."
We walked the rest of the way down in silence.
--
"Dude! Super not cool!" Speedy complained, his ears as red as his ginger hair.
"Oh please, you're a seven, max."
Robin was having a very hard time trying not to laugh, and Aqualad's lips were twitching as well.
Though, Superboy Jr. was a fucking brick wall. A very angry brick wall. Glaring right at me. Man, did Superman's saintly-good nature skip a generation?
I leaned up against the wall, trying not to show how intimidating I saw the young half-alien. I mean come on, strength of a giant, natural ability to fly, and invulnerability on top of that. Dude's basically Achilles with wings, and without the poorly armored heel.
Then Batman slipped forward, and they all looked ashamed and downcast. Well, Aqualad, Speedy, and Robin did. Superman Jr. just shifted his glare to Batman.
"...We will discuss this at the Mountain in the morning."
Wow, somehow they seemed to slump down even more! And look, Superman Jr. is gonna pop a fuse!
--
"What do you think of them?"
I blink and look at Batman, not having anticipated the question. "Why do you ask?"
"Humor me."
"...'Kid Flash' as he called himself is arrogant. From what I overheard, he didn't even see me as a threat despite only knowing that I'm a skilled thief. Robin's intelligent enough, but he was briefing them about me on my roof, not in advance. Aqualad was trying to talk them down, so kudos for him for being the voice of reason. Superman Jr…."
Batman twitched. Interesting… Maybe Superman was the source of his son's anger issues.
"...is a bull in a china shop. All anger, but credit to him he didn't try anything when I had his friends hostage."
"Explain."
"He can fly, can't he?"
Batman's silence is telling.
"Oooh, the diluted genes not carrying all the power? Or is it a puberty thing?"
"I have a proposition."
Very obviously a change in subject, but I'll bite. I've certainly taken jobs from shadier people. "...I'm listening."
"I'd like for you to join their group."
