Chapter Text
It was never good to get a distress signal from the team. This was because they knew their sidekicks would rather die than admit they needed the League's help.
Even more concerning, they could not see any members of the team, there was no shouting, explosions, gunfire...
The league spread out, anxiously. This wasn't like the team...
Martian Manhunter lead them to the bioship, which was settled between two of the concrete buildings on the edge of the facility they'd been sent to inspect.
Opening the door, they didn't know what to expect, all mentally preparing for something horrific. The team was tough, and could usually hold their own, but they were like the league's children, and the heroes knew they wouldn't be able to stomach if anything had happened to the six.
It turns out that the team being like their children was about to get a lot more literal.
Creeping into the ship, they were relieved to see no blood, but they didn't see or hear the team either. Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Flash led the way into ship, with Green Arrow and the others just behind them, and that's when they finally saw the team.
They were scattered around the ship. They must have been in the middle of an escape, since the kids were collapsed on the floor in a heap. They didn't seem injured.
Funnily enough, they're mentors were so worried about blood or fatal wounds, that it actually took them a second to notice the team was looking a little... younger.
The adults stared down, eyes wide with surprised. At their feet lay five toddlers, fast asleep.
Batman stooped closer, inspecting the child in the Robin costume. He was the youngest by far, a year at most, and practically drowning in his suit. He was tiny, with dark hair. He sure looked like Richard...
"Kid?" Barry asked. "Wally?" He reached out to touch the redheaded toddler's arm, he was one of the younger ones, he looked about three.
Wally stirred in his sleep, he rolled over and grabbed baby Robin, hugging him against his chest like a teddy bear. The infant kicked a little, still out cold, and snuggled into the redhead.
"M'gann?" The older Martian asked, they looked around for the girl, and finally saw her, collapsed behind her piloting seat.
She was also significantly younger, but shocked them further by the fact that she'd reverted to her white martian form. Most of the league had never seen a white martian. Hell, most of them didn't know Ms. Martian was a white martian.
"They're so tiny!" Oliver helpfully observed. "How did this happen?"
"I'm not sure." Bruce shot back.
"Kaldur." His mentor tried to wake him, shaking the boy's shoulder gently.
"Are they okay?" Black Canary asked, looking down at the young heroes she'd been teaching for the past several months.
"I think they're just asleep." Batman replied.
"Well do we wake them up?" She asked, turning to Martian Manhunter. He nodded and froze for a second. Instantly, the kids began stirring, waking up.
Conner sat bolt upright and looked around him curiously, next, Kaldur and M'gann pushed themselves up, then Artemis rolled upright and pushed her face into her palms, Wally blinked his eyes open, and Dick rolled over, yawning and blinking hard.
Wally let go of the infant and shoved himself upright, looking around as his brain adjusted. The redhead's eyes locked on his martian teammate and he screamed. This caused a sort of domino affect, Conner seemed the only one not entirely taken off guard.
Dick scrambled to sit up and looked at M'gann. He was a little confused and scared of the white martian, but what really started him crying was all the shouting.
M'gann looked down, and seemed to scare herself. She tried to shapeshift back to her preferred form, ending as a pint-sized, green version of Hello Megan. "Stop!" She shoved her hands over her ears, tears beginning to wet the corners of her eyes.
The others cautiously opened their eyes, seeing that their teammate had returned to what they knew as normal. Dick however, was still bawling.
M'gann half-crawled, half-dragged herself over to Robin. "I'm sorry! Stop! I'm sorry!" She cried, holding her hands out.
"Wait, guys?" The redheaded boy asked, identifying his teammates despite how young they were now. He was far too scared to even touch the crying infant. "What's happening?" Wally asked his friends, sounding distressed. He looked up at the adults with cautious, worried eyes.
"I don't know." Conner told him.
Kaldur had been frozen for several seconds, eyes wide, his mouth hovering open. Finally he remembered how to breath oxygen, and gasped lungfuls of air.
"They're so small!" Barry pointed out the obvious again. "They're babies!"
"No we aren't!" Artemis objected. "We're not babies!"
"Yes." Bruce told the speedster. "I noticed."
"But how did this happen?" He asked. "Why do they look just like baby versions of themselves?"
"We're not babies!" Artemis repeated, as if someone was listening..
"And they act like baby versions of themselves too." Oliver observed.
"I said, We're NOT babies!" The blonde stamped her foot, a frustrated tear drizzling down her burning cheek.
"Shh. We know." Dinah assured, squatting down and wiping the little girl's face dry. "We know."
"We're not..." The blonde girl sniffed, arms crossed firmly.
Across the circle, Kaldur was trying to sooth his crying, infant teammate with one arm, and reaching out to comfort M'gann with the other.
"I'm sorry!" She whimpered, tears streaking down her face. The martian felt terrible for scaring everyone, and making Robin cry.
"Stop. You don't need to." Kaldur told her. "Robin, she wasn't trying to scare us." He told the baby, completely unsure of how to hold him properly.
"We need to get them back to the mountain." Batman said. "We can deal with them when they're safe."
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Martian Manhunter had piloted the bioship back, with Black Canary and a few of the others watching over the kids inside. The bioship had even shifted booster seats for the older children, and larger, more intricate carseats for the younger three.
Now the team had been returned to the mountain, and were sat on the couches, since the living room seemed the safest place for them.
M'gann was sniffling, blinking one of her eyes dry in her sleeve. "Robin was crying!" She whimpered tiredly. "He didn't stop! I scared him!" She sobbed.
"It's not because of you." Black Canary told her gently. "Don't worry, it isn't your fault."
"I scared him!" She repeated.
"No you didn't." Kaldur tried to tell her, falling on deaf ears. He reached out and held M'gann's wrists, to stop his friend from hitting her head in anger. "Stop!"
"I DID!" She went back to bawling, face buried in her sleeves.
Wally,who was lying on his back across the couch, kicking his legs in the air, frowned at the discussion. "Where is Robin?"
"He's just in the next room with Batman and the others, talking with WonderWoman." Black Canary told him. She'd been deserted to toddler-sit while the others went to the next room to panic over this situation.
"Uncle Barry?" The toddler asked.
"He'll be back soon." She assured.
"When?"
"Soon, Wally. He's just getting some things that we need." She sat on the edge of the couch, watching the kids. She'd been their denmother for months now, monitoring them and training them... they'd become like her Nieces and Nephews .
Next to them, Artemis was fidgeting like crazy. She missed having a sibling to fight with. "I'm bored." She said moodily, leaning her upper body on Dinah's leg. "I wanna go."
"Not yet." Dinah told the little girl, patting her long hair affectionately. "We need to make sure you're safe and healthy before you can go."
"I'm tired." Wally whined.
"I know." She assured them. "But we have to stay until your tests are done."
"How long?" Artemis asked.
"I don't know." The woman admitted. "But soon Flash will be back and we can get you some late-dinner."
"Okay." Artemis settled.
"I'm hungry." Wally agreed reluctantly.
So, just as things cooled off with the three-year-olds, attention was drawn back to the other side of the couch. M'gann was still crying hysterically to the confused and overwhelmed Kaldur, and Conner was...
Great, a missing child already.
"M'gann, where's Conner?" Dinah asked her.
The girl paused for a second, wiping her face with her hand. "What?" She sniffed.
Their denmother put on her best encouraging voice. "Do you know where Conner is?"
"No."
"I have a special mission for you: can you find him for me?"
The girl thought about it and nodded a little. "Yes." She slipped off the couch and began wandering the living room.
"I want a mission." Artemis told her excitedly.
"Me too!" Wally agreed. "I want one!"
Dinah bit her lips, realizing that maybe that wasn't the best call. "You can... do some colouring for me?"
Well, there hadn't been a complete meltdown so far...
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M'gann wandered into the kitchen and spotted her best friend on the kitchen floor. She immediately forgot her objective and ambled over.
Conner's freshly rebooted brain had latched onto the large, white, Wolf lying on the cool tile. The boy had been lying on the floor next to his dog for almost half-an-hour straight. Only getting up to find Wolf's brush and begin brushing out his fur.
"Can I play with Wolf?" M'gann asked, squatting down to join them.
"No." Conner said.
"Why?"
"I'm brushing him."
M'gann thought about this for a minute. "Can I brush him too?"
"Okay." Conner passed her the brush. He buried his hands under Wolf, and with all of his super strength, he rolled the dog over. "I haven't brushed this side yet."
The duo got to work, while Wolf watched them curiously.
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"Why did this happen?" Arthur asked his colleagues.
The Archer shrugged. "They're... drawn to chaos and trouble?"
"I understand what you mean," Diana bounced Richard in her arms. Bruce didn't know how to hold a baby safely, and was sure that he would scare Dick more. "What I mean is why would turning them into children benefit anyone?"
"What's their plan?" J'onn realized.
They heard rapid footsteps, almost before they heard the computer call out Flash's name. "Sorry, Everywhere was closed." Barry skidded to a halt and set down the shopping bags.
"Thank you." Diana told him. She awkwardly gave the crying baby back to the dark knight to help unpack the bags.
"I just picked up the bare necessities we'd need until the stores open in the morning." Barry said. "Not completely sure what they need, but I got diapers for Dick, I got clothing incase they need to go out, and some pull-ups for nights because Wally and Artemis are on the younger side."
"Great, thank you." The Amazon organized different piles of supplies. "Are these for the kitchen?"
Barry looked up. "Yeah. I thought we should be prepared. There was a few years when Wally was little when this was basically the only thing he ate." He shook a box of Annie's Mac 'n' Cheese, setting it in the pile. "Has anyone seen Clark? I thought he was supposed to meet us here?"
"He claims he couldn't come." Bruce said. He passed Dick off to Diana again, the baby began crying immediately.
"Great." Oliver sighed. "What are we going to do with Superboy?"
"I don't know," WonderWoman passed the baby back to his foster father. Dick went silent again. "I think Dick wants to stay with you."
"I can see that." The bat said, concerned. He didn't know how to take care of a baby!
"Let's unpack these so we can get the Team changed into fitting clothes." Arthur suggested.
"We should get Black Canary." The Archer agreed, taking two of the bags from her. "She's watching the kids on her own."
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Now Dinah didn't know where Conner OR M'gann were.
Logically, she probably should have sent Kaldur to find the super boy, he seemed surprisingly responsible for a four-to-five year old. It was helpful to have Aqualad there, because things weren't doing too well.
Wally and Artemis had been doing some colouring (which was really just drawing since the only supplies they had were the contents of Artemis's pencil case), that was peaceful enough at first, but quickly went downhill, as soon as Artemis wanted the highlighter that Wally was using.
"You have to take turns." She told them. "Wally will have a turn, and then you can."
"Yeah!" Wally agreed.
"Not fair!" Artemis shouted, looking like she was going to attack Wally. "It's mine! My marker!"
"I can count the seconds to make sure both your turns are even." Dinah held the children apart incase got violent.
"But it's MINE!" The blonde objected, stomping her foot in fury.
"I know, but you're sharing it."
"I don't want to!" Artemis whined.
Kaldur pulled her back. "Wally can have it for a minute?"
"No!"
"If you get a new one?" He asked.
Artemis thought. "No, I want mine!"
"Wally," Kaldur leaned across. "please give her it if I get you a new one."
"Okay." Wally relented.
Kaldur hurried to the miscellaneous basket of pens and pencils on the kitchen table from when they were doing homework.
He gave Wally the highlighter.
Wally gave Artemis her highlighter, reluctantly.
"There we go." Dinah let go from holding them back. "Now can you two say sorry?"
"Sorry." Wally said, uncapping and scribbling on his page with the marker.
"Artemis?"
"Sorry." She grumbled, reaching out to grab her pencil. Her and Wally's knuckles brushed as them both grabbed the pencil. "HEY!"
"I want it."
"But it's mine!"