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The Watch Tower, one of the bases of the Justice League's themselves, was an orbiting satellite hovering in the outer thermosphere layer of Earth's atmosphere. It was widely accepted that you had to be able to hack zeta tubes to break in (which was one of the hardest things to do on top of the fact that not many people even knew zeta tubes existed). It was one of the main reasons that everyone who visited the Watch Tower felt so safe.
That was, until the first break-in happened on a Tuesday no one is quite ready to forget.
It started with Diana (AKA; The Freaking Wonder Woman), who had just gotten up and visiting the kitchen. She was staring into a mug with a thick concoction swirling in it. Hesitantly, she sniffed it. The concoction smelt of very strong coffee, but it was a brand called 'Death Wish Coffee' and it piqued Diana's curiosity.
Now, she was having second thoughts.
What was the reason it was called 'Death Wish Coffee'? It couldn't be a good one.
However, it was on the Watch Tower, considered to be one of the most secure facilities on planet Earth. The fact that it wasn't even on Earth's surface should attest to how secure it was!
... but by Hera did it smell awful!
She was Wonder Woman though, she could handle a little coffee! She wasn't some wimp like... some of her less trained teammates... *cough* ...
Stealing her breath, she glared at the cup with the still hot brown liquid. No, this 'Death Wish Coffee' would not scare her off!
Taking another deep breath, Diana brought up the coffee mug to her lips and took a hesitant sip, nearly gagging at the flavor and the burn it left as it trailed down her throat and sat heavily in her stomach. BY ZEUS THIS WAS HORRIBLE!!!! Was this truly a new torture method?
Diana eyed the cup again. Best be safe than sorry.
She took a second sip, gaging this time, and spitting what coffee made its way into her mouth back into the cup, although a few drops managed to burn the back of her throat once again. Yep. This was definitely a new torture method. Diana could already feel herself starting to react to the coffee it was so strong.
What was the Justice League trying to do? Give any villains they might apprehend insomnia until they give them information? Even Diana wasn't that cruel.
There were claws on her forearm. Brushing their smooth yet somehow rough texture upwards, against the hairs on her arms. She swore in that split second that it felt like every millimeter of her skin that the claws brushed felt wet with something, a tangy copper scent hitting her nostrils.
For what felt like minutes, but was actually less than a second, the claws slowly crawled up Diana's arm. From her exposed elbow to her mid-upper arm, a few inches shy of her bicep. The Amazonian could feel everything from each of the claw's bumpy and thin knuckles to the sharp edges that threatened to shred her skin in the most painful manner. With a delicate little flip, the claw stopped running and seemed to hesitate a millimeter away from her skin.
Doing what seemed to be the only reasonable thing, Diana turned, swinging her free fist to bring down upon the taloned fiend. Her fist landed upon empty air, the shadows of the room looking as if they were flickering. As if they were alive. Eyes darted around the room, but there was no one there. The shadows weren't moving anymore.
Taking a long look at the coffee that had spilled over her hand and now dribbling onto the floor, Diana grabbed the coffee bag and, with the mug in tow, headed towards the incineration room where they disposed of toxic items.
Oliver Queen (AKA, Green Arrow) and Dinah Lance (AKA, Black Canary) were sitting in the cafeteria, watching as Diana walked past with a bag of coffee grounds and a mug, a fully awake, yet wide-eyed, pensive look on her face.
"Do you think she's okay?" Oliver leaned over the table to whisper to Dinah. Dinah, in turn, shrugged, chewing on her sandwich.
"Maybe she's been up longer than we have." She muttered after swallowing. Oliver nodded, returning to his oatmeal. The two of them had been dealing with problem after problem after problem in Star City for two days straight with no sleep. They'd come up to the Watch Tower to get some food then sleep uninterrupted for a few hours.
Now, while they had been up for a few more hours than they probably should have, that didn't stop the two from freezing, ignoring their food once again, when they felt they were being watched after a few more minutes of eating. The two looked at each other before looking over Oliver's shoulder to see a shadow looking at them from the shadows of a completely lit room. Well, it didn't have eyes, so they couldn't be completely sure...
It waved.
"I'm hallucinating..." Dinah muttered, grabbing her sandwich and practically sprinting out of the cafeteria towards her room, Batman's rule about no food outside of the cafeteria and kitchen be damned.
Meanwhile, Oliver just looked at the shadow. It moved closer by a few inches, a sweet but coppery sent filling Oliver's nostrils.
It moved closer still, slowly crawling its way toward him, then tensed, as if ready to pounce and Oliver chucked his remaining oatmeal at it, sprinting after Dinah, not caring if it was a hallucination or not because he was getting the dire sleep he needed and pretending there wasn't some sort of shadow thing on the Watch Tower.
Besides, this was the Watch Tower. There should have been security going off the second someone who wasn't the Justice League stepped on. It was fine.
Carter Hall (AKA, Hawkman) was perched on top of the couch with his mate, Shayera (AKA, Hawkwoman), watching a news channel about celebrities and taking notes on how humans were so weird about humans loved their own privacy yet somehow found ways to invade other humans said privacy and display their lives for others to watch. Apparently, Atlantians did the same thing, according to Arthur.
Currently, the topic of the TV show was about a fairly minor celebrity that was most popular in Gotham as a celebrity, but known elsewhere as an air-headed businessman named Bruce Wayne. The hostess was blithering over how Bruce Wayne had adopted a child and how everyone outside of Gotham was claiming it was just another publicity stunt by the man. Gotham City, on the other hand, was screaming support for the 'White Knight'... whatever that meant.
"Humans will adopt human children that are not their own?" Carter muttered, tilting his head as watched the TV host show pictures of a young girl and an (admittedly) handsome man in his late 30s holding her hand as they walked out of a coffee shop in Gotham. "I suppose... although... is it positive or negative? The lady is very confusing." Shayera tilted her head so it touched Carter's.
The stench of oatmeal, brown sugar, and something that could be described as coppery (?) hit their noses and the two looked around the wide-open sitting/recreational room. It really wasn't much of a smell, and maybe someone was walking through with food even though Batman was very strict on the 'no food outside of permitted areas' rule.
Well, it wasn't like Batman was here at the moment.
Carter froze dead, eyes widening as he stared at the doorway. Shayera, not used to her mate freezing, slowly turned her head to where he was looking and froze as well. There, standing in the doorway, with puss (similar to that of an infected wound or popped pimple) was dripping off one side, was a laslk. A creature whose name roughly translated to 'shadow demon' in English, but was far scarier than the name implied. It was massive for its species and its non-existent eyes were trained on them. It's gapping black maw closed... for the moment.
The laslk shifted and the two Thanagarians fled, screeching in terror. HOW THE HELL DID IT GET ON THE WATCH TOWER!?!?!?
They flew straight into two of the Green Lanterns of the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
"Woah, where's the fire?" Hal formed a construct to push the two Thanagraians off of the two Green Lanterns. "Laslk!" Carter and Shayera wailed, pushing past Hal and John, fleeing deeper into the Watch Tower.
"A laslk? Here? They hate yellow suns!" John said disbelievingly, he and Hal flying off the ground and zipping down the hall in the opposite direction of Carter and Shayera. "Don't know, but we've gotta get rid of it before it decides it's hungry." Hal snapped.
Inside the recreational room where they assumed Carter and Shayera were in, was the laslk. It's taloned hands on the large TV, seemingly watching the man on it. It stroked the man's face and whined.
Said man was recognized as Bruce Wayne by the two Green Lanterns. He was one of the more generous donors to fund the Justice League.
"Alright, put 'em up, laslk!" Hal snapped, both he and John putting up their rings in a defensive manner. The laslk snapped to face them, seemingly startled. It tensed and took off down another hall. "Shit! It's heading to the Zeta Tubes!" Hal cursed, he and John pursuing the slippery creature.
Arthur Curry (AKA, Aquaman) was happily doing his monitor duty... while doing some Royal Paperwork for new changes in an accord draft that the UN wanted to make, one about ocean pollution and how Atlantis and all other territories within Arthur's control would handle it with the land countries. Believe it or not, but the City of Atlantis was just the capital of Arthur's vast Kingdom, and most areas were affected by the pollution humans put into it.
So, he was doing his 'monitor duty' while working on some of his more important work. He couldn't saddle Mera with all of the work after all.
Which was probably why he didn't notice the shadow that opened the door, looking around curiously and then ducking under the main control panel for the monitor room. However, he did notice when Hal and John burst in, sweating and swearing, making Arthur jump.
"Uh... is something wrong, friends?" He questioned, putting the papers down on the control panel. "Did a laslk come in here?" Hal demanded, overturning the various chairs in the room. "A what?" Arthur raised an eyebrow, standing up so he wasn't overturned with his own chair.
"Laslk. It's a parasite that sucks the air out of its victim's lungs until the lungs collapse and the victim dies, then crawls inside the body through the mouth to eat the corpse from the inside out." John explained, beginning to scan the room. "Yeah, and a massive one at that. It somehow got into the Watch Tower." Hal began looking under the various control panels in the room.
"I received no notice of an unauthorized entrance." Arthur started looking around the various screen to see if he could spot anything unusual. "Weird." Hal shook his head.
Just as the green scan and Hal were reaching Arthur once again, a black figure leaped out from under the main control panel, darting past Arthur and into the hallway. "Gah! It's heading to the Zeta Tubes again!" Hal snarled, zipping out of the room with Arthur, who snatched his trident, and John quick behind him.
"Hawkman. Hawkwoman. The laslk is heading towards the Zeta Tubes. Can you redirect?" John said into his com. "Zeta Tubes are down, actually." Shayera's voice was shaky in Arthur, Hal, and John's ears. "That's bad." Hal whispered, sending out a construct net, which the laslk easily avoided. "Still. Try to herd it into a closet or empty room." John formed a claw grip and tried to nab the laslk to no avail.
The Zeta Tube's came into view with Carter and Shayera standing in defensive positions with their mace's, trembling in terror. As soon as the laslk entered the room, the Thanagarian's attacked, swinging their maces at the slippery creature. It easily avoided them as well, darting quicker than a bullet.
Now, the Zeta Room had three adjoining hallways. The one on the far left led around to the cafeteria, monitoring rooms, a recreational room, and looped back to the center hallway if you stuck to a half-circle shape that the main hallway formed. However, the hallway on the far right led straight to a massive room that was as tall as the Watch Tower. The laslk darted down the far right.
Carter, Shayera, John, Hal, and Arthur darted down after it. It was a straight hallway that only had the names of the various Justice League members displayed on its walls. "Shit, shit, shit," Hal muttered along the way.
"Why'd you destroy my coffee, Diana!? Death Wish is the only coffee that actually affects speedsters!" Wally West (AKA, The Flash) wailed. "It is bad for you." Diana muttered, staring flatly at her companion. Wally pouted at her, looking about ready to stomp his foot like a child. Well, he was currently one of the younger members of the Justice League, so Diana wouldn't be surprised.
Behind him, a little black thing darted out of the hallway leading to the Zeta Tubes, looking behind it, as if being pursued. It was because a scream of; "Wally! Catch it!" came from Hal when he came in right afterward with a few of their other companions. Barry didn't question it and ran straight into the creature, which slashed him across his chest just as quickly with its sharp claws. Panicking, Barry tossed the thing off of him, towards the massive glass wall, a hand coming up to his chest, his suit torn.
"Wally! You alright?" Hal panicked, grabbing his best friend's nephew's bicep to help steady him.
"What was that?" Diana demanded, rushing over to the other's sides. "A laslk." John was looking around for it alongside Carter, Shayera, and Arthur. Their heads twisting around and would look a little silly if it weren't for all the tension and adrenaline in the air.
"There!" Arthur pointed to the base of the massive glass wall that lined the chamber, the other wall a series of balconies on each floor so anyone could find the beautiful view of the Earth. At the base of the glass was the laslk, kneeling and its talons on the glass, shivering. "Alright, you're not getting away so easily this time!" Hal snarled, flying over to the creature, Shayera, Diana, and Arthur on his heels.
Only to be stopped when J'onn J'onzz (AKA, Martian Manhunter) fazed up through the floor and Hal ran into his back when the Martian's body solidified. Diana, Arthur, and Shayera skidded to a stop.
J'onn leaned down so he was at eye level with the crouching laslk. "Hello." He said. The rest of the League members all blinked between each other with confusion.
The laslk squeaked, falling backward, and scrambling away from the Martian. "I'm sorry for scaring you." J'onn continued, not moving. The laslk looked between the earth and J'onn before placing a shaking hand on the glass while watching J'onn and the rest of the League members.
"We won't hurt you. We mistook you for a threat, but we don't anymore." J'onn folded himself into a crouch with all the grace of water. The laslk made a whining noise, turning back to Earth and scratching at the glass.
"J'onn, what the hell is going on!? That's a laslk." Hal hissed. "Those will kill you!" Shayera snapped, looking down at the laslk that was currently scratching at the glass while looking between Earth and the Justice League members, panting heavily.
"She is not a laslk, although I do not know what that is. She is a human child. At least, she is of Earth origins." J'onn shrugged, not taking his eyes off of the frantic... child?
The Justice League members were quiet as they observed the not-laslk beginning to sniffle and sob.
"Oh, Majistra." Arthur breaths after a few minutes of tense silence. "We've messed up." John muttered, all the Justice League members trying to get a good look at the kid, although J'onn was blocking their view.
"Little one, why are you up here?" Diana slowly stepped around J'onn and leaned over the crying child. The kid just looked up at her, sniffling and slowing her clawing, but scooted away from Diana. "I do not believe she will talk." J'onn said, scooting over in an unfairly graceful way. "I believe it would be best if you all left. I can handle this." He said.
Diana frowned. "Of course..." She pursed her lips and herded everyone but J'onn out of the room, much to their protests. "We didn't even get a good look at 'em! Martian Manhunter was in the way!" Wally protested.
J'onn sighed internally in relief and returned all of his attention to the little girl. The kid, who, now that he could focus completely on her, was dressed in all black with little ears on her cowl - which had the mouth and eye holes patched up - that reminded him of Batman. Her cape was draped over her like a security blanket and she kept fidgeting with it. J'onn stayed calm and didn't move, hoping to not scare her away.
"Do you know of Batman?" He asked, taking in the similar-looking cape, cowl, and the flash of the yellow bat he saw on her chest. The little girl perked at the name, looking around, her mind becoming hopeful-scared-not lost rather than the abandoned-scared-lost-where am I she had been radiating earlier. "Ah, he isn't here. The Zeta Tubes are currently down." J'onn internally winced when she looked back at him radiating sad-want-scared-lost.
J'onn tilted his head slightly. The little girl didn't think or radiate thoughts like a regular human might. Instead, she was a little like Batman where he didn't so much radiate thoughts but emotions that could be translated into thoughts. Although, the little girl was significantly better at this than Batman.
It was a great method to ward off mind-readers that took years to master. No thoughts to read means they have to spend more time in your head, and the easier it is to catch a mind reader, making it easier to both guard your actual thoughts and shove out any intruders. Somehow, this little girl was a natural.
"I can call Batman, if you'd like." J'onn offered. The little girl tilted her head to the side, getting off the ground and fidgeting. Scared-go home-no trust came off her as J'onn pulled out his cell phone. Deciding on a video call, J'onn called the Batcave. To his surprise, a young boy around 14 dressed like a dull traffic light answered, although with how small he was J'onn wouldn't be surprised if he was younger.
"How'd you get this number!?" A girl who also had on a similar outfit to the little girl dressed in black demanded. The older girl was obviously bigger than the boy, with a darker and space deep purple outfit than the little girl and blond hair spilling over her shoulders, blue eyes, and her cowl had an open mouth and eye holes.
"Hello. I am Martian Manhunter. I'm calling because I believe a young girl is looking for Batman on the Watch Tower." J'onn replied. "That doesn't answer my question!" The blond girl snapped while the boy slumped in what seemed to be relief as he muttered "Oh thank god, she's okay".
"I am friends with Batman." J'onn replied. "I don't believe you! Batman is a friendless loser!" The blond girl pointed an accusing finger at J'onn while the boy seemingly rolled his eyes, although his mask covered it up, but a small smile tugged on his lips.
Off-screen, someone yelped, followed by; "What did B do to this?" The person who said this came onto the screen, looking up at J'onn. "Oh, hey Manhunter." Nightwing smiled uneasily, waving slightly. He knew a few league members from the two times he met them when his city, Blüdhaven, was involved with a case.
"Nightwing." J'onn nodded. The black-dressed little girl bounced up and down at the name, radiating happy-recognition-hope.
"Uh, so, is there a kid on the Watch Tower by any chance?" The boy rubbed the back of his neck while Nightwing raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes." J'onn gestured to the little girl to come over. She popped around the screen next to J'onn and waved enthusiastically at Nightwing, the boy, and the blond girl. The three sighed in relief and waved back with smiles.
"This is Black Bat, J'onn." Nightwing explained, giving the boy and blond girl a glare. J'onn turned to the newly named Black Bat. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Black Bat." He smiled, holding out his hand for her to shake. Black Bat seemed to blink before grabbing J'onn's large hand with both of hers, shaking it with a happy-happy-relief-happy radiating off her. "Aww, she likes you." The blond girl cooed when Black Bat and J'onn turned back to the screen. She and the boy were ignoring the look Nightwing was giving them.
"BB, we're gonna get you, but B did something to the Zeta's." Nightwing turned to the screen and used ASL alongside his spoken words. Black Bat slowly nodded along. "She has trouble speaking." The boy signed along with his spoken words as well. "Understood." J'onn mimicked their signing, to which all of the kids, including Nightwing (even if he was an adult), made purring sounds. It was moments like that that made J'onn question whether or not the Batman (and his associates, if the bat the blond girl and Black Bat had on their chests were any indication) were fully human or not. But then again, humans had an impressive vocal and mimicking range if practiced, so he chalked it up to the Batman (and his associates?) leaning into the 'cryptid' label that many gave him.
"What did Batman do to the Zeta's?" J'onn asked.
"Someone was sneaking onto the Watch Tower repeatedly, so I put in a protocol that would shut down all Zeta's in Gotham if someone hacked them from the Batcave." Came the growly voice of Batman, who walked on screen. "And I tried to erase that protocol so I could sneak onto the Watch Tower." The blond girl sighed. "And now all the Zeta's in Gotham and probably the Watch Tower shut down when I tried to fix the protocol to get BB back..." The boy mumbled. They both looked ashamed when Batman leveled a half-hearted glare at them.
"And I'm assuming BB walked through on accident and is now stuck on the Watch Tower and didn't bother to call Batman instead of me because you were scared of reprimand?" Nightwing frowned at them. The boy and girl nodded. "You're both grounded." Batman grumbled. "You're not my dad!" The blond girl shrieked, running away. "Um... technically, you're my temporary legal guardian, not my dad, since he's alive, so..." The boy blinked then darted after the girl. Next to J'onn, Black Bat giggled.
"I'll catch 'em. Can you fix the Zeta?" Nightwing gestured behind him with his thumb. Batman nodded, then turned to the screen. "I'll come get you soon, Black Bat." Batman sighed. Black Bat nodded eagerly, clinging to J'onn's arm.
"J'onn, just turn the Zeta's off then on again. That should restart them. I'll fix the one on my end." Batman didn't even flinch when, in the background, Nightwing crashed into something when chasing the boy and girl. "Of course." J'onn nodded. "You'll get home soon, I promise." Batman promised Black Bat, who signed back; "I love you." Batman's mouth twitched and he signed "I love you." back before hanging up.
"Come, let us fix the Zeta's." J'onn stood up. Black Bat darted under his cape and grabbed at his waist so she was dangling off of him. J'onn didn't mind and walked over to the Zeta Room, where he turned the Zeta's off then on again. The Zeta Tubes hummed when they turned back on and Batman stepped through. Black Bat let go of J'onn and zipped over to Batman with a happy sound, clinging to him when he leaned down to scoop her up.
"Thank you. Did anything happen?" Batman asked J'onn as he cradled Black Bat. "The League members onboard gave her a bit of a fright, but she will be alright." J'onn gave the barest hint of a shrug. Batman visibly relaxed and made a low rumble purring sound. Black Bat returned it with her own happy, higher pitched purr. Both radiated safe-happy-no danger, and it made J'onn's lips twitch in a mimicking behavior of a human smile.
Batman turned to leave, but Black Bat tugged on his cape, making him pause. Black Bat made grabby hands for J'onn. Batman narrowed his eyes at J'onn, who shrugged. Batman sighed, but nodded in resignation. Black Bat purred happily when J'onn grabbed her small hand and the three went through the Zeta Tubes.
Bouns -
A little while later, J'onn was making sure that Batgirl and Robin stayed in timeout while Nightwing and Batman cleaned off the oatmeal on Black Bat. Batman wasn't happy about the oatmeal dripping off his daughter.
"Who would throw oatmeal onto a kid?" Batman snarled as Nightwing and Black Bat shrugged.
Meanwhile; Oliver Queen sat up in bed, Dinah grunting unhappily as he muttered; "Why do I feel like I'm in danger?"