"This past Fourth of July four ice villains staged simultaneous attacks. Mr. Freeze, Icicle Jr., Killer Frost, and Captain Cold were all easily apprehended" the Dark Knight informs the Team that was standing before him. Superman was at his side, while Manhunter and Red Tornado were behind the teens.
"Perhaps too easily. Cold and Frost were immediately sent to Belle Reve penitentiary, a federal prison designed to house super-criminals. The 17-year-old Icicle Jr. was sent to a juvenile facility. Mr. Freeze, to his usual cell in Arkham Asylum. But Freeze petitioned the court to be declared legally sane and Junior sued to be tried as an adult. As a result, both await transport to Belle Reve which seems to have been the goal all along. I'm sending the two of you in to find out why" Batman said while pictures of the villains came up on the screen behind him.
Kaldur is the first to ask the most important question
"Who inside the prison will know their true identities?" He asked.
"No one" Batman answers too easily. "We can't be certain the prison staff isn't compromised. Reinforcements will be waiting outside working in shifts. When your shift ends you would be best to get sleep and eat while you can. But at all times be ready to come back and contain any issue that may occur."
"Let's go pack then" DJ said as the team began walking away.
"Reinforcements except for Razor and Robin" Batman added making the team stop. Kaldur froze, thinking that Batman was doing this because he suspected that one of them was the mole.
He had told Batman about what Sportsmaster had said as soon as he got back from Rhelasia and so far the Dark Knight hasn't done anything.
"Some Justice League members will be waiting as well outside the prison. These including myself, Green Arrow and Black Canary. So while we're there we need someone to keep an eye on Gothem and Star City. That will be the two of you" Batman said as his protégé smiled at the thought of him patrolling the city alone.
DJ was enthusiastic as well but didn't show it as much as Robin.
"But it does come with a few rules" Batman added before gesturing to the rest of the team to pack and for Superboy, get his disguise ready, which they did.
"You are not to go after any of the big players like Joker or Two Face. Just stick to normal crimes around the city just to give the presence of a hero in the city" Batman said as Canary stepped forwards.
"And with the two of you being teenage boys, don't let your ego get in the way of your safety. If you need help, call" she said as the two look at Green Arrow. He looked at them with a confused look before he began stuttering obviously not knowing that he had to add a rule as well.
"Um, have fun?" he said as Canary facepalmed while Batman's eyes narrowed.
"Well be okay and we will follow the rules" Robin said as DJ stayed silent until a hit to the side made him agree with a 'yeah.'
"Good, then get ready and be safe" Canary said directing the question more at DJ than Robin. But they both nodded and began walking away.
As they walked away Robin's smile turned onto a frown which DJ noticed.
"You good?" he asked concerned again his friend.
"Uh yeah, I just don't wanna mess up. This will be the first time I've been doing hero stuff alone. I've wanted this since I was nine even before that" he said.
DJ was silent for a few seconds before he grabbed a piece of paper and pen and wrote on it.
"This is the number of a burner phone I have, Pre-pay, call it from a pay phone if you need me and I'll come and give you a hand. You don't need to say anything over the coms and Batman doesn't have to know" he said. Robin smiled before he took the piece of paper and patted him on the back.
Explosions echoed throughout the area as Cat Grant's camera man turned on his camera and pointed it at the reporter.
"This is Cat Grant reporting live from New Orleans' historic French Quarter where the Martian Manhunter and Superman are in mid-battle against the so called Terror Twins' " Cat said as the camera focused on the two heroes who were in flight before focusing on two others down on street level at the bridge.
They both had blonde hair and were wearing white shirts with red suspenders, black pants and boots. They picked threw car after car at the two heroes as the two superheroes either dodged, let the cars go straight through them (Martian Manhunter) or just simply smashed them into the river underneath them.
The siblings locked their arms and jumped towards the two. The male twin threw his sister at Superman while he want after Manhunter.
Superman caught the female twin by the forearms and throws her behind him as Martian Manhunter did the same with the male.
The two plummet towards the ground and crash through the roof of an abandoned warehouse.
New Orleans; September 14th; 16:53 CDT
The two groan as they get to a sitting position and look around them. Around them were Mardi Gras style decorations.
As they got up, they failed to notice Aqualad and Red Tornado sneak up from behind them with collars in their hands.
Aqualad came up from behind the male twin while Red Tornado came up behind the female and put the collars on them.
"Hey!" the male said with a thick southern accent as the collars three lights came on, signaling that they were turned on. They were each restrained by the heroes.
They tried to use their super strength and break free but they couldn't.
"That don't feel right" he said before struggling again until he gave up.
"My strength. But I dun' just gone toe-to-toe with Superman" he said with a shocked voice.
"Congratulations" a sarcastic voice said as two figures came out from another decoration. It was Miss Martian and Superboy already dressed as the male twin.
"That's more quality time than he's ever given me" he said crossing his arms.
M'gann looks worriedly at Conner before heading over to the female Terror Twin. Placing a single hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Gotch'er inspiration, sister Tuppence?" Conner asks, his accent matching the deep Southern one the boy was using.
As M'gann turns towards Conner she shapeshifts to match the female Terror, Tuppence, completely stunning the two real Terrors.
"I believe I do, brother Tommy" her accents a little less pronounced, but not wrong.
"Somebody tell me what's goin' on!" Tommy demands of the two look-alikes as Batman comes up behind them.
"It's simple" the Dark Knight tells the Terror twins.
"They're under arrest" he said accenting his point as the two collars he puts around the Teen Heroes necks turns on.
timeskip
Two days after following the capture of the 'Terror Twins', DJ had received word that Miss Martian and Superboy were being transported to Belle Reve penitentiary.
However Connor Kent and Megan Morse were out sick with the flu so their parents, Batman and Black Canary, called them in for the week. Hopefully the op doesn't take that long but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Batman and Green Arrow convinced Paula to do the same with Artemis and with Aqualad already being well educated in Atlantis and no longer attending school, he didn't need to get called in
So during the week, DJ was to collect Connor and Megan's homework and leave it in their rooms in the mountain until they return and then spend whatever days they had until the week was up to catch up on their work.
However once night fell on the city, DJ Queen stopped doing his school work and instead focused on protecting Star City while Robin did the same with Gothem.
Black Canary and Green Arrow had both taken the week off of work as well as Batman and they would sleep inside the Martian Bio-Ship while Aqualad and Artemis were part timers.
All the heroes could go to their homes to get sleep but someone always had to be outside the prison for then at least someone was there for an immediate response.
DJ stood atop a building and took in the surroundings below him. The city was now in his hands and he intended not to let down the League. Or his guardians.
DJ's pov
I gave one final punch to the mugger and he fell flat on his back. I smirked before grabbing the purse that was on the ground. Dusting off the dirt, I handed it back to the lady who smiled while accepting it.
"Thank you Razor" she said before quickly planting a kiss on my cheek before continuing on her way home. I just smiled and rubbed the spot where she kissed me. That had been happening a lot lately but I know that it's just them being grateful for me saving them and it doesn't actually mean anything.
However something else happened when ever they kissed me. I don't know why but every time someone does I think of Cheshire. I'm not one hundred percent sure why but I'm thinking it's just because when she went to kiss me last she stabbed me in the chest.
"Razor" Red Tornado's voice said over my earpiece. "There is a silent alarm at one of Star City's jewelry store downtown" he said. Even from here I could here a large amount of cop sirens out tonight.
"Downtown, Where's all the cops? They should be able to handle that" I asked confused.
"There are several other jewelry heists going on right now and those are at more expensive ones" he answered. I was still very confused by this but just shrugged it off before running towards the location he sent me.
Paula sat on the couch in her home. Normally she didn't stay up this late but tonight she had a good reason to do so.
She stopped her reading as she heard the sound of keys jingling outside.
"It's open!" Artty she yelled from inside closing her book and setting it on the table beside her. Even if it wasn't Artemis, she always had a weapon nearby. The door opened to reveal it was just Artemis.
"Mom, what are you doing up so late?" she asked confused. She dropped the bag that contained her costume and her bow.
"Um, I couldn't sleep" she answered lying and she knew her daughter could probably tell. Artemis was confused but shrugged it off.
"Oh um okay, well I just have a few hours to get some sleep and some dinner" she said going to the kitchen and opening up the fridge.
"Okay" Paula said slowly loosing the confidence she had spent hours building up. Artemis came out of the kitchen with a bowl of something and went up the stairs eating it.
"Wait!" Paula blurted out before biting her lip. Artemis stopped halfway up the stairs and looked over at her mother with a questioning look.
"Do you have a few minutes to spare?" she asked. Passing the point of no return.
"Um, yeah sure" she said coming back downstairs and sitting on the couch next to her mother.
"What's up?" she asked with a mouth full of cereal. Paula sighed.
"Do you... Do you remember a few months before I had my accident, when I came home once from a job and then I spent that time just being a mom to you and Jade. Dolls, trips to the park, tea parties all that?" Paula asked. Artemis thought for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, kinda. I was pretty young. I just thought that something nearly happened to you and you were scared" Artemis said before shoveling another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.
"Uh, not exactly" Paula said confusing Artemis even more.
DJ's p.o.v
I reached the jewelry store and immediately seen a busted in door.
"Alright, Tornado. Call local pd tell them I'm here and to get a unit down here once they can spare one. Tell them not to shoot me" I said into my earpiece before I began walking forwards.
Luckily Star City wasn't Gothem so we didn't have a lot of high ranking bad guys around here. So worst case scenario, I call for some backup.
I got to the door and took a whiff of air. One person, male, with no guns or any weapons of any kind that I could tell that I could tell. But I couldn't hear anything except for a heartbeat. No footsteps or glass breaking. Nothing.
I peaked inside and didn't see anyone inside the dark store, so I took a few steps inside still sniffing and listening.
However once I got into the middle of the room and still didn't see anybody, I got a feeling of dread. So I walked into the storage room in the back of the store and the heartbeat started getting louder.
Third person view
Up above ground level, a figure sat on the rafters inside the storage room. As the clawed teen entered the man froze not making a sound, not even breathing as the boy walked right underneath him.
The man saw his chance and jumped off the rafter and onto the boy's shoulders before Razor could even react to the noise he heard when the man jumped.
Razor grunted and struggled as the man reached forwards and placed his open hand just under where his ribs ended and pulled up, creating five long scratches going across his body.
Razor screamed before he slammed himself against the wall and grabbing the man by his coat collar and throwing him across the room into the opposite wall.
He began to heal as he looked over the man who stood up and faced the hero.
The man had short brown hair with brown eyes. He had a scruffy looking beard but had no hair on his upper lip and chin.
He smiled at the boy and Razor seen that he had two teeth larger than the others where his canine teeth were.
DJ looked down at his chest and traced a finger over his still healing cuts before looking back at the man. He smiled before he put his hands up like he was showing off his nails.
His fingernails began to grow until they were inch long claws.
"Your move boy" the man said. DJ scoffed before he raised his closed fists.
"Not bad. But I think I got you" he said as his own claws came out. Instantly the man was taken back by the claws.
"Jimmy?" he said quietly to himself. DJ heard him but didn't think anything of it before he jumped at the man.
DJ immediately tried a roundhouse kick to the man's head but he blocked it with his forearm. The man swiped his claws at DJ's face but DJ used his claws to stop his hands before kicking him back.
"So I'm guessing you have friends who have done false burglaries at the different jewelry stores while you hit this one for an expensive piece" DJ guessed while the man smiled.
"Good guess" he said before throwing a piece of wall that broke off when DJ slammed him into the wall.
DJ immediately sliced through the thin wall piece as the man seemed to smile even more.
"Nice claws. Get them from your father?" He asked. DJ shook his head.
"Some evil people who liked experimenting on kids actually. They killed my parents and kidnapped me" he said before delivering several strikes to the man who barely snapped out of his confusion in time but he still was able to block and deflect all the punches, almost like he has had practice fighting someone with claws like his before.
As they fight continued on they found themselves out in the front of the shop. The man grabbed a piece of broken glass from the window that Razor had thrown him into and threw it at Razor.
He easily blocked it but the man used the distraction to do a flying mare kick which sent DJ into a display case stunning him as a piece of glass went into his chest. As he did that an earpiece buzzed in the man's ear.
"Sabretooth, the artifact was found. Why did you wait so long to report in?" a feminine voice said over the earpiece as the man now identified as Sabretooth looked at the boy getting up from the case and pulling the glass from his chest.
"Was dealing with something, still am. I'll meet up with you just after I loose this guy" he said before running outside.
DJ got up, removing several more large pieces of glass before seeing the man was gone.
He ran out the door only to get hit in the face with hot ashes. Sabretooth smiled and laughed before giving the ash stained coffee mug back to the hobo who was sitting next to a fire barrel, hence where he got the ashes from.
DJ coughed and sputtered while wiping his face. After a minute, he finally was able to open his eyes but the man was long gone. He smelled the air a few times but all he could smell was the ashes.
"God damn it" he said before blowing his nose into his sleeve a few times and trying again, only to get the same result. He sighed before he pressed his coms.
"Hey Tornado, is there any cameras near the jewelry store?" DJ asked still rubbing ash from his eyes.
"Yes there are but they're all too far away for facial scanning though. And the ones on the inside were disabled two minutes before the silent alarm went off" He said as DJ sighed.
"Great, alright I'm coming back to the mountain to get cleaned up but listen to the scanners. For any crimes and for that guy. I want another shot at him" DJ said before he began walking to the nearest Zeta, now also wishing he had brought his bike.
Two days later.
The entire night after DJ had lost the man had been silent. Not only did all the robberies stop but the man didn't show up on any cameras and Batman had checked them all; traffic, ATM, cell phones, nothing.
Right now DJ was in his room with a sketching pad and a pencil.
DJ finally breathed as he finished shaping the eyes of the man. He admired the picture for a second before nodding in approval and running out of his room.
Right now Batman was in debriefing room with M'gann and Superboy. The thing that happened was all the ice villains had planned to break everyone out of Belle Reve penitentiary.
They stopped them with the League's fast response time, since some of them were just outside in that Bio-Ship. But something else happened while that was going on, DJ wasn't sure what but M'gann and Superboy rarely left each others side since they got back.
And DJ had even seen them holding hands for a split second until they realized he was coming into the room.
He got to the debriefing room and stood outside the door as he's seen from previous experience (Wally) that Batman hated being interrupted by anything.
After a few minutes the door opened and out stepped Batman, Black Canary and Green Arrow who all stopped their conversation when they seen DJ standing there.
"That's the guy who ambushed me" DJ said giving the picture to Batman as Green Arrow and Black Canary looked over his shoulders.
"I don't recognize him" Green Arrow said as Black Canary shook her head and Batman just stayed silent. Green Arrow then seen how the picture was drawn.
"Wait, did you draw this? This looks like it was done by a professional" he said as DJ nodded.
"A scientist in Cadmus took pity on me and gave me a notebook, a few crayons and a pencil when I was a kid. I'd practice my writing and when I was sure nobody was on the other side of the two way mirror I'd copy my own reflection" DJ answered as Batman nodded and ripped the paper off the pad before giving it back to the boy.
"These fangs and claws, those aren't an exaggeration, are they?" Batman asked as DJ shook his head.
"No, his fangs seemed to be out all the time but his claws grew out from his fingernails" DJ said as Batman nodded.
"Okay, well I'll run it through facial recognization and see what I can find" Batman said walking away but as he did, he saw the look in the boy's eyes.
"Something else?" He asked as the boy was silent for a few seconds.
"I, um... I'm not sure if it's anything but he seemed to know how to fight me" DJ said as Batman turned to him with a questioning look.
"With or without my claws, he always seemed to know how to deflect and strike without causing him a lot of damage. Plus he knew that I had enhanced scent and knew how to cripple it and let him get away" DJ said before shaking his head.
"I don't know maybe I'm just over thinking it" he added as Batman held up the picture again.
"You don't remember him at all?" he asked as DJ focused on the picture. Nothing came to his mind so he shook his head.
"Alright, we'll find out who he is and how he was able to match you in combat" he said before walking to the Zeta-Tube.
Black Canary put a hand on DJ's shoulder which caused him to look up at her.
"No one can always win every battle that is thrown at them. You did the best you could" she said in a mothering tone. DJ was about to shrug her hand off when he stopped. He's been with them for a few months now and while that may have not been long to some people it was to DJ. Especially the way he grew up.
And in that time he's always tried to keep himself distant from them, tried to keep them from getting too attached to him and vice versa. But they never gave up on him.
"Thanks" he said as the three began walking towards the Zeta-Tube. While they did, DJ thought something over.
"So uh, it's pretty close to when we usually do dinner and nothing is made at the house. So do you guys wanna try that new pizza place on Jefferson street?" DJ asked. They both looked at each other shocked as he never offered anything like that before. But they soon got over the shock and nodded.
"Sure, I can order it" Green Arrow said getting out his phone but DJ stopped which made both of them stop as well.
"Uh I was thinking, maybe we could go out and eat. It doesn't close till ten. What do you think... Dinah and Ollie?" he asked as they both froze in shock. That was the first time he'd ever called them by their normal names
Dinah was the first one out of the shock, smiling and placing a hand on DJ's shoulder.
"I'm not sure about him, but I'd like that" she said liking that the boy was finally started to let them in. As they continued to walk, Ollie quickly snapped out of his trance and caught up to them. After all, how can they pose as a family if it's just the mom and son?
Somewhere in Gothem.
"Meow~" a sultry voice said looking over a large Diamond about the size of a basketball. Normally she didn't work heists in other cities but when she heard that this beauty was just sitting in a store in Star City waiting to be transported to a museum, well she just had to snatch it up.
But the problem, well the main problem, was that she didn't know exactly where it was being held. And with over a hundred stores, time running out plus not to mention Green Arrow, Black Canary and Razor, she needed goons.
So she put the word out that she needed muscle on the underbelly grapevine. Not just Gothem either. All across America, and then some, came when they heard her offer.
50 grand plus whatever else they take from the jewelry stores but the diamond was hers. However one of the goons was an odd one, Sabretooth, the one that said he came from somewhere south in Mexico.
He didn't take anything from the stores, just did the job, took the money and left. No words, no nothing. But then again he also had a run in with Razor which will make almost any man run away.
"Eh" the woman said before setting the diamond on her nightstand before lying on her pillow.
"It ain't my problem to worry about someone else" she said before she looked up at her large gold and Diamond chandelier. Very expensive... for people who actually buy it.
Near the Canadian border
Sabretooth looked down at the envelope full of cash and smiled. He then dug into his pockets and pulled out a piece of paper.
Unfolding it revealed it to be part of a newspaper article. It showed several men standing near a large bull moose that was being held up by a large tractor.
'Hunters in the Yukon bag possibly the next largest moose' was the headline. But he wasn't interested in the moose. Well okay it was a little interesting, he must admit but it's not why he's near the Canadian border.
He focused behind the band of hunters to see a general store. Outside it in the parking lot a man was getting into a pickup truck and had looked over just as the photo was taken giving him a clear picture of his face.
"Okay Jimmy, this money was supposed to buy me a place down south" he said to himself tucking the picture and the money into his coat.
"But I think me and you need to have a little chat" he said before jumping onto all fours and running quickly into the woods. He had to get as far away from the border as possible before he stopped running since they didn't issue passports to two hundred year old beings.