#young justice reader insert

[am-i-obsessed---maybe]

I've been getting back into digital art and decided to finally draw what I imagine when I write Shadow Of A Bluejay

Featuring a teaser for the next chapter "Performance"

I'm getting to the end of season 1, (though I'm moving so it's taking a while) and I wanted to have a reference for the outfits. Obviously, you can imagine it however you like. That's why I try to keep it vague and I don't describe their actual physical appearance.

[apatitecatseye]

No joke, so heartwarming 💕.

Open Door Policy (Young Justice and Bat!Mom)

Ask: What would it be like to be the parental figure of Young Justice.

Well Anon, I got a little carried away with this ask, but I enjoyed doing it.

You weren’t sure how it happened. It wasn’t that you were complaining, you enjoyed it, but you just weren’t sure how it had happened. Probably because of Bruce’s bleeding heart. He picked up children like they were collectables.

You only became the ‘Teen Justice Mom’ because you didn’t like the idea of a group of teenagers running their own team and fighting villains. So you and Bruce started you open door policies, if anyone needed to talk both of you were available.

You honestly weren’t expecting any of the kids to take you up on your offer, but one night at midnight you heard a crash in your apartment, startling you out of bed. You ran out of your room to see Artemis desperately trying to clean up the nick-nacks that had been on your window sill. You opened your mouth to say something, anything really, but Artemis just said, “I thought you and the Batman were together.”

Keep reading

[hanasnx]

Heyy <3 dunno if it's gonna echo something in your inspiration, but I was thinking a Nightwing thing, like with vigilante reader and they coincidentally get stuck in a tight space on a mission to catch the riddler. I don't really have much more but yeahhh (love your Clark fics btw i- 🛐)

MINORS DNI 18+

NOTES: DC is for December Event! — request DC characters.

“It was your idea to follow him…” you accuse, and flick your head to the side to sweep the hair out of your face while your hands are stuck.

“Oh, and it would’ve been a better idea to stay there and play sitting ducks?” NIGHTWING matches your energy, and when you neglect to respond, merely occupying your gaze with the surrounding walls in a leisured peer, he looks for a way out. Limited mobility affords him some advanced peripheral vision, but there’s not much else to do than try to slide a direction together and hope for the best. The problem is you’re practically painted on him. Chest-to-chest, the two of you can barely breathe. “If you could just… you could try to..” His suggestions trail off as he lets you finish the sentences, following his lead. His shoulders shifting down, carefully shimmying while the material of his suit catches on the texture of the wall. In an attempt to rearrange the puzzle pieces of your body, you raise yourself on the tips of your toes.

“Like this?” you confirm, right before your foot gets caught on his, and out of instinct his hands fly to you. The only area that they can reach, however, is the space of your outer thighs, and you gulp because his aid to steady you is reminiscent of intimacy. Your lips press into a thin line, and neither of you say anything, the silence filled by your conjoining panting.

Once you’d slipped, the swell of your chest now rests on the apex of his, and your cleavage sits in his immediate view. His eyes visibly widen, and even through the whites of his mask you can tell he’s averting them. The warm breath of his nose washes over your tits pressed up against him, and you know he’s so close he can feel your nips peak in the cold night air. It’s humiliating.

The shame of it blooms a deep heat on your cheeks, and it drives you to take the lead from him. You shift, the gravel under your shoe filling in some silence while you move in your panic. “Let me just—“

“—Don’t move—“ he says, but it’s less of a command, more of a plea.

“—No, if I can just get—“ As you fight for room, he tries to accommodate you, his hips backing up with nowhere to go but bumping back into yours.

“—Wait—“ he responds, firmer this time.

“Trust me!” And as soon as your outburst ends do you feel a new sensation. The hands on your thighs or his chest pushing up yours is all old now. This is entirely unprecedented.

You both fall completely quiet, and completely still. An unmistakable outline nudges your inner thigh as it fills itself out, seeking a warm and wet home an inch away from its head. It creeps towards you, and that familiar feeling pools in your core like its greeting an old friend.

“I told you not to move.” he sighs, and you can hear the frustration masking the embarrassment in his voice.

[dollwhite]

wow..?

uhh I hope y’all like thisss I js need a lil sum sum to post 😫 yesss I know it’s bad 😭 might be grammatically errors. But that’s ok!! I still need dividers guysss I’m tired of ___

made by Dollwhite

__________________

Wally west had? How do u say…?

No dating life.

And his friends know that his family knew that. everyone that known him knows he has no dating life.

The man just couldn’t pull ok?

so when he got himself a girlfriend and she was bad?..

Wally was NOT going to tell his friends shit. He know they would ask him

“how did U pull HER???” it wasn’t like his friends had no faith in him, they just know he couldn’t pull. Once when he and dick went to a coffee shop, a girl was sitting across from them. Wally asked for her number cuz he thought she was cute….

she said “Ew, your friend can get my number tho.”

Dick brings it up like once a month….

one day y’all were on a date night, and his friends pulled up…..and he asked u to get in the back sit… and to put a blanket over your self.

__________________

“What” you giggled, your right hand hovering over your cheat.

”ik Ik it’s stupid but.. I haven’t told my friends about us.” Wally muttered his hand rubbing the back of his neck. “ we.. have been dating for 2 years and you haven’t told you friends about us!” You yelled at him

who doesn’t tell their friends about their girlfriend. That’s just fucking stupid. And on date night. Do u know how many date nights y’all had to cancel because he was saving the word.

TOO FUCKING MANY

And now his asking you to get in the back sit cover yourself with a blanket? What. The. Fuck.

The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. Him.

“you joking?…right.” As he sakes his head no, two cars pulled up next to Wally’s.

“pls [reader] next date next I promise, no matter what happens I won’t let hero work get in the way.” He eyes the looked so pleading.

But..No.

you came to have good time with your boyfriend. Hell it was fucking date night. And if he thought that you were going to climb in the back seat? Because he didn’t want his friends finding out?

He could go fuck himself.

“No, Wally I am in a 300 dollar dress with red bottom heels. I Will not be going any were near that fucking back sit, so fuck you.” You declined. Grabbing your coat and purse.

As you opened your door, and stepped out. You could feel 6? Perhaps more.

Eyes traveling across your body, some wandering to other parts.

___________________

“Who was that?” A familiar voice questioned. “Fuck off dick.”

“Dude, step outside the car”

as Wally stood outside of his black car. He looked around him, and all he could see were the questioning gazes of his friends. “Go ahead. Ask your questions”

“who was that girl?”

“pls tell me that was your cousin”

“How old is she?” “does she know about yk?..?” “Who was that fine babe”

“Can ya give me her number?. Or try and hook us up?”

one at a time people!! Wally complained.

“ok ok uh was that you gf?.” Wallys best friend Dick asked. “yes”

a bunch of aw’s were muttered, but not like the aw cute ones. More like the disappointed ones. __________________________

um that’s the end I hope u guys liked this, I just need sum to post cuz I felt kinda bad for y’all…..and like I was supposed to be working in BRAT part two buttttt my man Wally was just calling my name guyssss. This isn’t my usual writing style, cuz I was rushing 😓 should I make part two of this my brain juices are going again

.

[hannibals-favourite-meal]

.⋆｡The Middle Name Issue｡⋆.

Dick Grayson x plus size reader

The one where Alice's middle name is revealed

Warnings: fluff, brief mentions of childbirth, little bit of argument WC: 1.4k

Minors DNI

Library- @hannibals-favourite-meal-library

The Graysons Masterlist

“Alice is a good name.” 

“I guess, I would’ve thought they’d go with something more dramatic.” Tim raised an eyebrow at his older brother as he set down the last tray of finger sandwiches on the immaculately decorated table. “I thought they’d go with Agatha or Marilyn. Maybe even an Evelyn.” Jason popped a grape into his mouth, biting down with a satisfying crunch.

“But Alice is good, classic.” He kicked his feet up onto the table, knocking over one of the tacky ‘Congratulations’ signs. “But…”

Tim drew in a deep breath through his nose, trying to will the oncoming migraine to go away so he could at least have a semi-pleasant afternoon with his growing family. “But what Jason?” 

“The middle name. We haven’t heard it yet! Could be terrible, absolutely destroy my niece’s future.” 

“Our niece.” Tim muttered. He picked up the fallen decoration and righted it, internally preening at the small gathering he had put together to celebrate little Alice’s welcome into the world and your feat of human strength pushing her out after carrying her for 42 weeks. 

“They could have given her one of our names.” Damian waltzed into the dining room, Titus at his heel. “Grayson did hint at it.” He eyed the careful arrangement of food with a grimace that Tim ignored.

“Yeah right. I don’t think ‘Demon Brat’ or ‘Replacement’ are any good as middle names. Jay, now that’s cute enough for a girl.” 

The youngest of the boys glared at his second oldest brother. “Are you calling yourself a girl, Todd?” Despite the obvious jab, said suspected girl just shrugged and continued his ramble.

“What if they named her after Dickhead. Alice Dick Grayson is not a good name.” 

“Jesus Christ.” 

“I mean they could have named her after her mom-“

“Or our mother.” Ever the mama’s boy, Damian piped up as he slid one of the dove shaped cookies into his pocket. 

“What if they named her after Bruce?” Silence washed over the three boys for a moment before they suddenly burst out laughing. Jason hit the ground hard, tears rolling down his scarred cheek as Tim doubled over and Damian hid his smile behind his hand.

“Now that, Replacement, was fucking funny.” He wiped the tears from his eyes, getting up off the floor with a less than graceful groan. He straightened up, his hands on his hips. “Right. Now are you sure we can’t hack into the hospital and pull the birth certificate?”

Tim sighed, having already been on the other end of this conversation with you, then Dick, then you and Dick together, and then his parents and then worst of all— Alfred. “No. If we do that then we don’t get any baby time until she’s 6 months old.”

“But we’d miss the newborn scrunch!” “That’s a cruel and unusual punishment!” Jason and Damian cried out at the same time, making Tim cringe at their volume.

“I know but you know them, they’ll do it too. Remember when we stalked Dick to find out who he had been dating and we didn’t get to meet her until way after they had moved in together? I am not risking it with Alice. Besides, only Alfred knows cause he was her birthing partner.” 

“Makes sense.” Jason ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair. “How long till they get here? Cause I am running out of patience.”

“I didn’t think you had any in the first place.” Damian muttered under his breath as Titus sniffed around the pocket of his cardigan. 

“Look here brat-“ He spun around, ready to admonish (beat) his brother when the tell-tale sound of the huge front doors opening stopped him in his tracks. Their heads whipped around, their bodies frozen, daring not to even breathe. 

“Are you sure you’re fine?” A voice floated down from the hall.

“Stop fussing Dickie, it’s only a few feet. I’m not exactly dying, just fucking sore.” 

“She’s fine chum.” Their mother’s giggle accompanied Bruce’s voice.

“Such a mother hen.” They saw Dick first, his body hunched over as he walked backwards, deep purple under his eyes but there was an undeniable sparkle in those blue irises. He had one hand extended, leading you into the dinning room like it was your first time visiting the manor all over again. And you, you were glowing with joy, and exhaustion, but mostly just love and contentment. 

“Hi boys.” You cooed, a slight pinch of pain in your voice.

“The baby?” Damian squeaked out before Jason’s palm slapped over his mouth.

“How are you Dovie?” You grinned.

“Don’t bother with all that, I know exactly what you want.” You hobbled over to the table, aiming for the very plush chair that Tim had brought in just for you. “Bruce, stop hogging my daughter.” You called over your shoulder as Dick helped lower you gently down.

With a shamefully deep blush on his cheeks, Bruce rounded the corner, the baby’s carseat in his arms. “I just wanted another second with my first grandchild.” You rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Hand over the goods old man.” Jason took his moment to pounce, leaping over the dining room table (much to Tim’s and his mother’s chagrin) and snatching the handle of the seat from his arms. “Where is my precious little monster?” 

The little pink blanket covering her fell away, revealing the tiniest member of their family. She was wrinkly and had the barest amount of hair on her little head but in that moment, Jason swore he had never seen anything as beautiful. “You can pick her up, we trust you Jay-bird.” Dick reassured him from his place kneeling beside you. “Just support her head and her butt.”

Jason, for probably the first time in his life, nodded obediently as he placed the carrier onto the table and with the most delicate touch, lifted his niece up and into his arms. She scrunched up and something in his chest jerked. He stared at her instantly as she yawned, her whole face squishing then relaxing before she fell right back asleep, her cooed snores muffled against his collarbone.

“I will kill anyone that even looks at her wrong.” Your smile grew softer as you shared a look with your boyfriend.

“Alright, hand her over, you’ve had her long enough!” Tim snatched her out of his grasp, leaving Jason feeling suddenly very cold. Before he could instigate the inevitable tug-of-war over their niece, he met your gaze and you motioned him over.

He sank onto the arm of the chair, greeting you with a brotherly kiss to the top of your head. “You did so well. She’s perfect.” You gave his hand a squeeze as you watched Damian scramble onto a chair next to Tim, eager to get a good look at Alice all while the new grandparents, including Alfred, carefully observed every little move she made.

“And she’s gonna be so loved.” You added.

“And that’s why we named her after the person that will do everything in their power to make sure she is loved and safe for the rest of their life.” That caught everyone’s attention, letting the room fall into anticipatory silence. 

Dick turned to you, his lips pressing to your knuckles. He mouthed an ‘I love you’ to you before turning back to his family. He rose to his feet and gently took his daughter from his little brother’s arms. “So, for the first time ever, I want to introduce you to Alice Robin Grayson.”

“Little bird, that’s beaut-“ His mother started, Bruce on the edge of tears.

“Oh god, he really did name her after himself.” Tim groaned.

“Hey! I named her after all of us, thank you very much.” Dick defended as you leaned over to whisper in your brother-in-law’s ear.

“He totally named her after himself.” Jason laughed and wrapped a great arm around your shoulders just as your daughter was thrust back into your arms so the argument about her name could continue.

“It’s a wonderful middle name!”

“It’s a bit too on the nose chum. Like Damian naming the cow Bat-Cow.”

“Did you just compare my daughter to a cow?!” 

“Tt it is much too obvious Grayson.”

“No one asked you short stack.”

You looked up at the taller man who was currently making faces at his niece. “By the way Jason, what do you think about being her godfather?” And at that moment, Titus darted forwards to tackle his owner, successfully retrieving the cookie in his pocket and once again sending the whole room into chaos.

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[sillygoose067]

A Masked Promise

Ch.5

Dick Grayson (Nightwing) x Reader

Dick Grayson stood in the training hall of Titan Tower, arms crossed, eyes scanning his team as they prepared for their next mission. The atmosphere was tense, the sounds of combat simulations in the background blending with the palpable sense of anticipation in the air. After weeks of training, the team was getting closer to working as a unit, but they still had miles to go.

“Alright, team,” Dick began, his voice calm but authoritative. “We’ve got a potential threat in the city. A group of tech-savvy criminals, armed with weaponry far beyond their means. We’ll need to hit them fast and hard, but also work together—no solo acts this time.”

Kory Anders, her eyes still blazing green from her earlier display of starbolts, floated up into the air, clearly ready. “I can take care of the firepower, but I don’t know how much my blasts will do against their tech.”

“Exactly why we need to work as a team,” Dick said, adjusting his utility belt. “Gar, you’ll be our recon. Get in, find their weak points, and relay the information. Connor, you’ll back up Kory. Make sure she doesn’t get pinned down while she’s dealing with their tech.”

Donna Troy, always poised, leaned forward, her brow furrowing slightly. “What about Rachel? She’s been working on those energy shields. She should be front and center with me.”

Dick nodded, giving a brief smile. “Good call, Donna. Rachel, you’ll be in the front, covering our flank with shields while we push forward. And Hank, Dawn, you’re with me on the ground. Keep an eye on the civilians, make sure we don’t cause any unnecessary damage.”

The team moved to their respective spots, preparing for the mission, but Dick’s mind wasn’t entirely on the task at hand. As he adjusted his Nightwing mask, his thoughts wandered briefly to someone else—you. You had been a constant presence in his life lately, offering help to Rachel when things got rough and pushing him to question some of the choices he’d made. He could still picture your quiet strength, the way your eyes shone when you spoke of hope, even in the darkest of times.

“Grayson, you alright?” Donna’s voice broke through his thoughts. She stood nearby, her arms crossed, a knowing smile on her face.

“Yeah, just… thinking,” Dick said, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

“You’ve got that faraway look in your eyes,” Donna continued, her tone light but probing. “I know what that means.”

Before Dick could respond, Dawn Granger approached, her gaze soft but understanding. “You’ve been distracted a lot lately. Something on your mind?”

Dick sighed, glancing at the others as they prepared. “It’s just… everything. The mission, the team. But mostly… Y/n. She’s been on my mind a lot.”

Donna raised an eyebrow. “Y/n, huh? I didn’t take you for someone who’d let their feelings get so… tangled. What’s going on?”

Dick ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “I don’t know. When I’m with her, it feels… right. But I’m Nightwing. She’s not part of this world, and I’m not sure how she would fit into all of this. But there’s this connection. I can’t shake it.”

Dawn gave him a sympathetic look. “You know, Dick, sometimes the things we push away are the things we need the most. Maybe it’s not about fitting her into your world, but figuring out how the two of you can fit together. You’ve always been about protecting people, right? Maybe it’s time you let someone in to protect you, too.”

Donna nodded, her expression softening. “You can’t be everything to everyone, Dick. You’re allowed to have a life outside of being Nightwing. You’ve been through a lot—alone. Don’t let that be your only story. Y/n seems like she’s worth the risk.”

Dick looked at his teammates, each one of them ready for what lay ahead, and for the first time in a long while, he felt conflicted. He had always believed that keeping his emotions at bay was the only way to protect those he cared about. But now, with the possibility of something more with you, it felt like he was standing on the edge of something he wasn’t sure he was ready for.

“You’re right,” he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. “Maybe I need to figure this one out before it’s too late.”

Dawn placed a hand on his shoulder, offering a rare, understanding smile. “Whatever you decide, we’re here for you. Just remember that you’re not alone in this.”

Donna’s tone was lighter, teasing almost. “And if you decide to finally tell Y/n how you feel, don’t make it some grand, brooding speech. Trust me, she’ll appreciate the honesty more than the drama.”

Dick chuckled despite himself. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The team had gathered, ready to go. As Dick moved to lead them out, he took one last moment to steady himself, the weight of the upcoming mission and the complexities of his emotions pressing down on him. But for the first time, it felt like maybe, just maybe, he didn’t have to do everything on his own.

As they headed out, he couldn’t help but think of you again, wondering what the future might hold if he allowed himself to take that leap. The mission would come first, but after that, perhaps it was time to figure out the possibility of something more.

[mintyys-blog]

FOOD IS THE WAY TO THE HEART — bart allen x reader

WARNINGS: none

The apartment felt a little too quiet. You sighed, glancing at the clock for the hundredth time. Valentine’s Day, and your boyfriend—Bart Allen, aka Impulse—was off on a mission. Of course, you understood. Being a hero came first, but that didn’t mean you didn’t miss him.

So, instead of sulking, you had spent the entire day cooking. Every dish was something he loved—pancakes stacked high with syrup, spaghetti with extra parmesan, a mountain of burgers, and even homemade churros. The kitchen smelled divine, and you could only imagine the look on his face when he got back.

The sound of the apartment door swinging open made your heart race. A gust of wind rushed through the room, and suddenly, Bart was standing there, still in his suit, panting slightly. His messy hair stuck to his forehead, but his amber eyes gleamed with excitement.

“Baby!” he called, holding up a bouquet of red roses and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. “I ran straight here—didn’t even stop for snacks!”

You smiled, stepping forward as he thrust the flowers and chocolates into your arms, his hands instantly moving to cup your face. “I missed you so much,” he breathed before pressing a quick, eager kiss to your lips.

You chuckled against him, running a hand through his wild hair. “I missed you too, Speedy. But, uh… you might want to look in the kitchen.”

Bart blinked before following your gaze. The second he saw the spread of food, his jaw literally dropped. “No way.” He turned to you, then back to the food, then back to you. “No. Way.”

You grinned. “Yes way.”

He didn’t even hesitate—within a blink, you were off the ground, his arms wrapped tightly around your waist as he spun you around. His laughter was bright, filled with pure joy. “You are the best girlfriend ever,” he declared before kissing you deeply, pouring every ounce of his love and appreciation into it.

When he finally set you down, his hands stayed on your waist, and he rested his forehead against yours. “I love you so much,” he murmured. “Like, a stupid amount.”

You giggled, brushing your fingers against his cheek. “I love you too, Bart. Now, are you gonna eat, or just stand there drooling?”

Bart pulled back slightly, feigning deep thought. “Hmm… both?”

You rolled your eyes, laughing as he practically vibrated with excitement. Then, before you could say another word, he grabbed a fork and dug in—because nothing, not even a mission, could keep Bart Allen from appreciating good food. And especially not when it was made by the person he loved most.

[bia-wayne-west]

The worst part of being bilingual is that you read something and your mind thinks it was in a certain language, then you spend hours looking for that imagine and only later discover that it was in another language.

[dccomicsimagines]

Gift Exchange Mayhem - Young Justice Imagine

Requested by Anon - Can I have the team doing some last minute shopping for Christmas?? Maybe the reader waits until the last minute and needs help??

Author's Note - Happy Holidays! I finally was able to finish something.

***

"Dismissed," Batman said, waving his hand as he turned back to the computer to finish up whatever paperwork he had. The mission had gone well, so the debriefing wasn't too painful.

At least for everyone else, you found it excruciatingly slow. Every minute was a minute closer to the Christmas Eve party and the gift exchange.

Everyone moved off. You stayed where you were until you saw M'gann and Conner walk completely out of the room.

You turned, scanning the room until you saw Artemis heading toward the locker rooms. Dashing after her, you grabbed her arm. "I need your help," you whispered, voice tight with the brewing storm of panic in your chest.

"Ow," Artemis hissed, jerking her arm away. "What do you want, weirdo?"

You swore you saw Batman glance over from the corner of your eye. Your breath caught in your throat. "I need help, but we can't talk about it here. Please?"

Artemis sighed, but gestured for you to follow her. You quickly fell into step beside her.

The two of you walked in silence until you made it to the library. She spun on her heel and crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

You admired how cool she looked in this moment. You wished you could be cool. "I..." You swallowed away your insecurities. "I need help finding a gift for the gift exchange."

She raised an eyebrow. "You haven't gotten one yet? It's tomorrow."

"I know!" You threw up your hands, shaking slightly. "I couldn't focus on it, because I got M'gann and I knew I would blow it in the mind link at some point, so I decided I had to not think about it at all until the last minute. That way, she can be surprised."

Artemis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why do you always do this shit?"

"I wanted it to be good. It's her first Christmas on earth and she's already excited, but I don't know what to get her." You bit your lip and blinked back tears.

"Why can't you ask Conner? I got things to do." Artemis narrowed her eyes with that steady frown she was always inclined to give you.

You groaned. "I can't ask Conner, then she'd know. That boy doesn't hide anything from her anymore."

She rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Okay, fine."

A grin burst onto your face. "Thank you!" You almost reached out to hug her, but she held up a finger to stop you. Your face burned. "Sorry. Can we go now after we change?"

"Sure." Artemis left the room. You let out a sigh to calm your heart.

***

Artemis' head ached at the bright lights of Star City's Megamall. Christmas music blasted throughout the place as people hurried about.

"Luckily, the west coast is still open huh?" You laughed, nudging her side.

Artemis swallowed back a biting retort. "Yep." You stopped by the big tree in the center of the main entrance. Glancing around, you seemed just as lost as you always were. Irritation bubbled up inside of Artemis. "Let's go. We don't have time. It closes in two hours."

You flinched slightly. "Right." You hurried off to your left, leading the way past a bunch of clothing stores.

Artemis took a deep breath. She shouldn't be so annoyed really. What other plans did she have today anyway? All she was going to do was go home and hang out with her mom. Christmas didn't mean much in the Crock household. Just a time where there was no school and a lot of Dad.

She shook her head. 'Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.' It was a quote from Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens. A early present to herself when she spotted it in a thrift shop during her Christmas shopping.

You started to head into Spencer's, but Artemis snatched your arm. "No."

"Why?" You blinked. Sometimes Artemis wondered if you were also from Mars.

"There will be nothing for her in there, come on." Artemis pulled you along.

You bit your lip. "I don't know where to even start. What does M'gann even like anyway?"

"Conner." She snorted when you seemed to think she was serious. "You can't give her Conner."

"That would have made things easy. I could just put a bow on him." You dodged a family who was running to the mall.

"You're so weird." Artemis crossed her arms. "Let's go here." She walked into a trendy clothing store. It smelled expensive. Artemis' skin crawled.

You glanced around. "I can't give her clothes. She has...clothes that can be anything."

"Just look around!" Artemis snapped. She saw you deflate in the corner of her eye. She should be nicer to you, but...you were so annoying. You moved away from her to look at the wall of perfumes.

Artemis made herself browse at the other side of the store, ignoring price tags and just looking. Like a normal girl.

***

You sniffed at a perfume. It could work for M'gann, except you didn't know if it would be like giving her clothes. You haven't noticed her making a scent when she shifted her clothes.

Biting your lip, you glanced over to find Artemis across the store. She held up a nice brown moto jacket to herself. A hint of a smile on her lips. You smiled too until her face dropped at the sight of the price tag.

"Well, well, well, you went shopping?" A creepy laugh followed. You turned to find Robin in civies with sunglasses over his eyes. He glanced over at Artemis. "With Artemis?"

You slapped a hand over his mouth. "Are you alone?" You looked around wildly. Your heart stopped when you saw Wally, Kaldur, and Roy standing outside the store with big soft pretzels. Kaldur eyed his while Wally and Roy munched down.

Rob pushed your hand away. "We all saw you two sneak off and got concerned since Artemis and you...never mind."

You pursed your lips, wondering what he meant. However, you had other concerns. "Conner and M'gann aren't with you, are they? Please tell me, they aren't?"

Robin snorted. "Those two are occupied." He crossed his arms. "What? Did you have Conner as your secret santa?"

"No, I have M'gann and I don't know what to get her!" You blushed as your eyes filled with tears. "I'm going to mess up Christmas!"

"Woah, stay whelmed." Rob held up his hands. "Deep breaths." He took a deep breath. You copied him. Your heart slowed down. "Why did you wait until last minute?"

"I would have spoiled it through the mind link at some point. You know how I get distracted, so I made myself not think about it until I knew we wouldn't have another mission." You took another deep breath. "And I asked Artemis because she knows a lot...but...you know she's not happy about it." You saw Artemis march over to Roy, Wally, and Kaldur. "But she said yes."

Rob hummed, rocking on his heels. "We can all help you out with that." He nudged your arm. "Come on, I have an idea."

You grinned, skipping after him. Robin always knew what to do, even if he liked to sneak up on people.

***

Kaldur watched as you, Dick, Wally, and Roy headed across the way into another store with bizarre decorations. Artemis groaned and flopped onto a nearby bench. She crossed her arms, muttering how this was all a waste of time.

"Would you like this..." Kaldur held out the untouched pretzel. He didn't like the look of it. Plus seeing Wally dunk it into some plastic-like yellow substance made Kaldur's stomach turn.

Artemis took it and bit a chunk out of it. Kaldur sat down beside her. He looked around at the bright, shiny walls of the mall. The crowds were lightening now as it neared closing time.

"It was kind of you to help (Y/N)." Kaldur smiled as he saw Wally teasing you. You stuck out your tongue in return.

"A mistake. They are so helpless." Artemis took another big bite.

Kaldur's heart fell slightly. He knew Artemis didn't have a high opinion of you and wasn't shy to voice it. She often didn't care if you heard. Kaldur had to comfort you more than once.

"I know (Y/N) can be challenging." Kaldur pursued his lips, carefully choosing his words. "Not everyone is raised with the same experiences. That is what makes the world a more...intriguing place."

Artemis eyed him. She swallowed. "I'm being nice."

Kaldur nodded. "You are." He met Artemis' eye. "(Y/N) thinks a lot of you." You gestured for both of them to join you. Artemis avoided his gaze and yours. Kaldur saw you frown.

"I got to go. Thanks." Artemis stood up suddenly and walked off. Kaldur watched her go with a sigh. He got up and joined you and the others, hoping his words sank in.

***

You brushed away Wally's hand as he reached to tug your hair again. "Where's she going?" You asked as Kaldur approached.

"I believe she is heading home. Her mother was expecting her," Kaldur said kindly. You nodded. Maybe she wanted to get home earlier too? That's probably why she snapped at you.

"I think you could go for something space." Roy held up a metal print of a space nebula.

"Isn't that racist? She's from Mars. It would be like getting Kaldur something from the ocean," you said, waving the print away. "It needs to be good."

Rob tugged you deeper into the store where they had a retro tv show section. Roy followed the two of you, hands deep in his pockets. You noticed Wally and Kaldur stayed back, whispering to each other.

Your face burned as goosebumps appeared on your skin. You hated when you felt like you did something wrong. Was asking Artemis wrong? They didn't need to worry about your feelings.

Honestly, you only cried once. You gotten tougher over the last few months, or at least you waited to cry until you were alone.

"Hey, you with us?" Roy nudged your arm. You gave him a quick smile and moved to look through another stack of metal prints.

Robin and Roy joked with each other. You sighed, moving to the next stack. Kaldur and Wally joined them.

Suddenly, right after you paged through several tv shows you didn't know, you came across a sparkly Hello Megan print.

"Yes!" You held it up like it was priceless.

"Look at that. She'd love it," Wally said, grinning. "And you didn't need anyone's help."

"Well, you did direct me to the right store." You hugged the print of your chest. "She's gonna love it. Too bad Artemis didn't stay to see it."

Roy scoffed, but Kaldur quickly elbowed him in the side. "She'll see it when we open gifts tomorrow," Roy said, rubbing his side.

You hummed, studying the print again. "It's perfect. Good thing you four stalked us to the mall." Robin and Kaldur blushed. Roy just smirked.

"Hey, I wanted to come to the mall anyway." Wally shrugged. You narrowed your eyes knowingly. He blushed as red as his hair.

"He really just wanted to follow Artemis," Roy mumbled in your ear before flopping an arm around your shoulders to lead you toward the checkout. "Come on, let's buy this thing and head out."

You let Roy pull you along, giggling in delight.

As you all headed out of the closing mall, you passed the clothing store you went in with Artemis. The moto jacket was still there. You bit your lip.

"(Y/N), are you coming?" Kaldur asked when he noticed you stopped. Robin and Wally were teasing each other. Roy stopped with you.

"I need to make another stop. Like really fast." You flashed them a smile and headed into the store.

***

"Ekam ti elkraps," Zatanna said, waving her hands. The Christmas tree in the center of the living room lit up. You clapped your hands.

"Thanks Zat. The lights were getting the best of me." You laughed, tossing the jumble of Christmas lights back into the box.

"No problem." She sneezed. Zatanna had been down with a cold for the last two weeks. She was finally back on her feet just in time for Christmas.

You were glad, especially since this was her first Christmas without her dad. It was your job to keep her busy per Black Canary's request. Of course, keeping people busy was your specialty.

Zatanna stared at the tree. You saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes. "Alright." You clapped your hands. She looked back at you, blinking rapidly. "I think all this work calls for some Christmas cookies."

"But those are for the party?" Zatanna crossed her arms. A genuine smile on her lips.

"Yeah, but we also decorated the place for M'gann, so the least she could do is let us have some early. Besides, Wally will eat them all if we don't get some now." You led her to the kitchen where M'gann was pulling more cookies out of the oven.

You made sure to not think about your gift for her, just in case she was listening to your thoughts.

M'gann's back was turned as you went to the cooling rack and stole two snickerdoodles with red and green sugar. Zatanna pointed to the M&M cookies and you took two of those too.

"You could ask," M'gann said without turning around.

"What?" Your eyes widened. You quickly handed the cookies to Zatanna. "Ask what?"

M'gann turned to look at you. She smiled and shook her head. "Enjoy your cookies and thank you doing the decorations."

Zatanna and you shared a look before giggling. "Thanks M'gann," Zatanna said as you both slipped away.

You took a big bite of cookie. Zatanna nibbled on hers. You both sat down on the couch in the living area and watched the tree sparkle away.

"Z, did you cast a spell on the tree?" Artemis came around the corner. She saw you and you saw a flicker of emotion in her eyes. You didn't know what that meant.

"Yeah, the lights got the better of us," Zatanna laughed, offering Artemis her other cookie. Artemis took it and sat down next to Zatanna.

You wanted to ask her if she was okay or at least thank her for yesterday, but you knew she wouldn't take it well. Besides, M'gann might overhear that you went shopping.

So you stayed quiet, listening in as Artemis and Zatanna talked.

***

"This is amazing!" M'gann gasped as she ripped off the paper to reveal the Hello Megan print.

You tittered, rocking back and forth while hugging your knees to your chest. You sat on the floor of the living area with Wally, Zatanna, and Robin. Artemis, Kaldur, Conner, M'gann, and Roy took the couch and chairs.

Wally poked your side. "She's gonna know it's from you if you keep doing that."

"They're excited. Shut up," Zatanna hissed, poking Wally. You took a deep breath and tried to calm down. However, you still felt like you could burst.

M'gann hugged the print to her chest. "Thank you so much, (Y/N)!" She looked at you. You grinned back.

"Wow, that was a quick guess." Roy rolled his eyes at your giddiness.

"(Y/N) broadcasted their delight. Like almost screaming it." M'gann laughed, handing the print to Conner before flying over to give you a big hug.

You hugged her back, giggling uncontrollably. "I'm glad you love it!"

M'gann pulled back and sat back next to Conner. Conner put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. Your heart melted. Those two were always so cute.

"Not cool at all," Artemis muttered under her breath. You glanced at her to find her shaking her head at you. A jolt ran through you, but you quickly turned to blink away the burn in your eyes.

"Who's next?" Robin asked, looking around.

The exchanged continued. You played with the edge of your cozy blanket you had received as your gift. Taking a deep breath, you forced a smile on your face. You wouldn't cry on Christmas.

***

Artemis yawned as she made her way toward the zeta tube. Her new set of books under her arm. The party had died down. Artemis was the first to head home. Her mother was waiting for her.

"Hey Artemis," you said. She heard you jogging up behind her. She had to hold back the eye roll before turning.

"Yes?" She hugged her books to her chest. You stumbled a bit, tripping over the blanket you had wrapped around you.

"I..." You coughed, blushing slightly. "I wanted to thank you for coming shopping with me yesterday."

Irritation crawled up inside her. "You're welcome." She kept her face blank.

You smiled a little. Artemis took a deep breath at the moment of silence.

"Well, Merry Christmas." You pulled a nicely wrapped package from under your blanket and held it out.

Artemis flinched, blinking. "What's that?"

"A present." You bit your lip, looking down shyly. "For you. I know you...think I'm annoying. I'm working on it, I promise." You glanced back up at her. Artemis couldn't stop the guilt that sank her stomach. "Anyway, I hope you like it."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "I got to get home."

"Yeah, have a good night." You waved, backing away before tripping over your blanket.

Artemis shook her head as you rushed back out of the room. She looked down at the present. It was nicely wrapped. Guess they aren't clumsy about everything, she thought.

She sighed before ripping it open. Her jaw dropped to the floor when she found the soft leather of the expensive brown moto jacket inside.

Setting her books on the ground, she slipped on the jacket. It felt smooth like butter. She hugged herself.

"Nice jacket," Wally said, walking into the room with a gift bag in hand. "Where you get it?"

Artemis pursed her lips. Rot ate her up inside. "(Y/N)."

Wally whistled. "It looks amazing, babe." He grinned. "(Y/N) must really like you. I know when I first met them, they gave me a PlayStation. I couldn't believe it."

"Really?" Artemis played with the sleeve of the jacket. "I should give this back to them."

"No, you'll just make them feel bad. They wanted you to have it." Wally held up his hands. "Listen, (Y/N) really cares about what you think of them." Artemis' eyes widened slightly. "So maybe...just try to be a little nicer to them...not that you're not." Wally blushed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "I know I'm not, Baywatch." She let out of breath, admitting she always noticed that you took any comment she said hard. How many times had she made you cry? "I'll be nicer."

Wally grinned, nudging her arm. "Thanks."

Artemis punched his arm back. Wally dodged it, laughing. She snorted and picked up her books before trying to get him.

***

The next time you saw Artemis, she was wearing the jacket. You actually started jumping with excitement. However, you forced yourself to be cool as she approached you.

"Thanks for the jacket. I needed a new one." She met your eye before giving you a genuine smile. You felt your eyes widen as you couldn't recall another time she smiled at you.

"You're welcome." A big grin pulled at your lips. You rocked on your heels.

Artemis walked away to go to talk to Zatanna, who was across the cave with Robin. You watched her go, letting yourself bounce a little with glee.

M'gann flew up beside you and gave you a hug. You hugged her back. "Try to get back to whelmed," she whispered in your ear. You nodded, taking a deep breath. However, you felt that you could maybe count Artemis as a friend and nothing could be better than that.

[ski0k]

i guess this is the time of year i start yearning again for young justice and hoping for season 5, so much so i might just write the fanfic that’s been in my head for so long now (over a decade probably). like at this point i’m writing jason’s reveal and wally’s return myself because i quite literally cannot take it anymore

[tiramiiswu]

ᯓ࣪ ִֶָ☾. desiderium

0.1 Independence Day & Fireworks

⋆.˚ young justice x genshin impact ⋆.˚

✦ masterlist || next ✦ young justice x adeptus!reader ✦ word count: 13.7k ✦ warnings: none ✦ originally posted on quotev (may 18, 2023) ✦ a/n: purely writing this to appease the goblin in my brain. ✦ tide caller is supposed to be written with an ambiguous/unstated gender as to help with projection and will be referred to with they/them pronouns respectively. i kind of go on autopilot when writing and type out the wrong word without thinking so if anyone catches me slipping and accidentally using the wrong pronoun please let me know and tell me where you caught it so i can change it asap :'D sometimes my hands type a little slip of the brain and i never catch it until it's too late ^^;;

✦ (3/12/25) edit: fixed some formatting issues with my dividers, i didn’t check to see how they’d look on mobile and had to adjust their length 😭

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

Washington D.C.; July 4th, ??? CDT

        “Okay, I’m officially whelmed,” is the first thing to fall from Robin’s mouth as he and his fellow sidekicks—Aqualad and Kid Flash—stood in a stunned silence staring at what towered before them. 

        Lined up in several rows and columns were several vertical cylindrical containers that pulsated with a strong electrical energy, illuminating the expansive room with an eerie neon blue glow and a notable hum sounding in the air. And to think it was all kept several dozens of stories below ground, completely unnoticed by anyone above ground. 

        The real Project Cadmus.

        Upon a closer inspection the three noticed the very inhuman shapes within each container. They were large, insectoid looking creatures, almost akin to fireflies, though their legs were longer than a human arm (one pair looked more like long protruding horns due to their placement) and their wings were short, almost spine-like along their backs. A large bulb of sorts hung off their back and down their back legs and gave off a bright, cyan glow. 

        Kid Flash began walking forward, taking it all in, “This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn’t on the grid, it generates its own power with these… Things.” he stops, gesturing to the imprisoned creatures surrounding them. “Must be what they’re bred for.”

        “Even the name is a clue, the Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragons’ teeth into the earth.” Aqualad stated.

        Robin notices a computer console to the side of them, “And this Cadmus creates new life too. Let’s find out why,” he extends a wire from the holo-computer in his glove and connects it to the console. He begins hacking the Cadmus database for information on the strange creatures the boys had discovered. He relays the information he sifts through to the others, “They call them Genomorphs… Woah, look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws— These are living weapons!”

        Kid Flash leans over his shoulder, reading the seemingly endless scroll of information recorded about each Genomorph created at Cadmus, “They’re engineering an army, but for who?“ 

        Aqualad moves to stand behind them as something on the holographic screen catches the Boy Wonder’s eyes, “Wait there’s something else, Project Kr, a-and a new input as recently as this month, Project Riptide. The files are triple- encrypted, I can’t—“

        He’s cut off as a new voice booms from across the room, “Don’t move!” The three sidekicks jolt up, startled by the new presence in the room. Before them was a tall man in a dark blue jumpsuit wearing a gold helmet with a strong looking build. He wielded a shield and was covered in some other gilded armor pieces alongside his helmet. 

        The three noted the extra company he brought with him. Surrounding him were smaller elf-like Genomorphs, an even smaller one sitting passively on his shoulder, like a monkey. They all shared a similar humanoid body that was a sickly gray in color, a pair of beady red eyes and striking red veins apparent on the arms and ribs of each creature. The smallest Genomorph had a pair of tiny horns protruding from its forehead. 

        Surprisingly though, the helmet-donned man seemed just as shocked to see them there as well. “Wait. Robin? Aqualad? Kid Flash?”

        Robin seemed to snort a little, making a quick jab at his speedster companion, “At least he got your name right.” 

        Aqualad ignored them as he spoke up, recognizing the man, “I know you. Guardian. A hero.” 

        “I do my best.” Was the quick reply he received. 

        “Then, what are you doing here?” Kid Flash inquired, squinting at him accusingly.

        “I'm chief of security. You're trespassing.” Guardian stated matter-of-factly. Though from his next statement he didn’t seem too apprehensive of the three now that he recognizes them. “But we can call the Justice League. Figure this out.”

        During this exchange Robin had been quietly downloading all of the contents they uncovered from the Cadmus database. Quickly retracting the USB cord from the console while his friends had been keeping Guardian distracted. “You think the League’s gonna approve of you breeding weapons?!” He shouted accusingly at the man.

        The helmed man seemed taken aback, genuinely shocked to hear such a thing, “Weapons? What are you… What have I..?” He trails off, raising a hand to hold against his head. He repeated, confused as his eyes began to close. As something flashed across his expression, as if a fog was starting to lift from his head. “Ugh, my head…”

        The clarity seems to fade, and the fog quickly creeps back to cloud his mind as the little Genomorph on his shoulder lights up it’s horns to relay a message to Guardian. His eyes snap back open, hardened into a glare and looking more determined than before, “Take them down,” he ordered. “No mercy!”

        The Genomorphs sprung into action with an animalistic snarl, making a charge towards the three teens with lethal intent. Robin jumps forward and drops a smoke bomb in response to is sudden attack, using the obscured field of view to shoot a grappling hook above to a beam hanging overhead to make an escape. An alarm began blearing during the disturbance.

        Kid Flash manages to dodge the razor claws and gnashing fangs of the Genomorphs while blitzing them with extreme speed, taking down several of them in his wake. 

        One of the Genomorphs had launched itself onto Aqualad’s back, though he managed to rip the creature off of him before Guardian came barreling towards him. The two traded several blows before the Atlantean intercepted a strike from Guardian’s shield, sending shockwaves through the metal and rendering Guardian and the miniature Genomorph incapacitated on the floor. 

        The two notice Robin’s absence and find him by the elevator, his holo-pad out as he attempted to hack the industrial elevator for them to escape through. Kid rushes over to him, skidding to a stop before giving him an sarcastically irked, “Wait to be a team player, Rob.”

        To which the younger boy says: “Weren’t you right behind me?” 

        Seeing two Genomorphs tailing after him, Aqualad books it to the elevator, barely making it in after tucking and rolling into the metal chute. The three heard a metallic THUMP from the other side as the Genomorphs collided against the now shut elevator doors.

        Glancing at the elevator’s floor screen, he’s unable to contain his utter disbelief as the sub level numbers displayed above the door began increasing, “We’re headed down?”

        Kid Flash turns to the other masked teen, “Dude, out is UP,” he shouts, pointing upwards to the ceiling.

        Robin seems to give him an incredulous look in response, “Excuse me? Project Kr is DOWN, on sub-level 52.” 

        Before any sort of fight could break out between the two Aqualad steps in, placing himself between them, “This is out of control,” he states, he seemed stressed by the course of events that had just occurred, at least as stressed as the stoic Atlantean let on.

        “Perhaps,” he sighed. “Perhaps we should contact the League…”

        The three fall silent for a moment, fully realizing just how deep they had gotten themselves into (both literally and figuratively). 

        That is, until the elevator makes a ‘ding’ to indicate they’ve arrived at their destination. 

        The elevator doors open to reveal a disturbing sight. The once cement walls and flooring have been replaced with a soft, flesh lined tunnel, only accompanied by several pods lined in rows along the walls that acted as a macabre decor. There was a division in the path that followed ahead of them, leading to two unknown rooms.

        The atmosphere became eerier, and it only cemented the reality of what the three had stumbled into by complete accident when investigating a simple building fire.

        Robin is seemingly undeterred by the disturbance in their environment, quickly taking initiative as he dashes out of the elevator. Kid Flash is silent for a moment before making a half-assed attempt to reason with his remaining companion , “We are already here…”

        Aqualad just sighed, defeated by the curious nature of his two friends, “Which way?”

        Their shorter companion scoffs, “Yeah, bizarre-Iooking hallway one or bizarre-Iooking hallway two?”

        They didn’t have to spend much time deciding however as a stern voice calls from behind them with a quick, “Hold!”

        The three boys are quick to noticed the horned individual appearing down the first hallway. Standing there is a tall, slender man with blue skin. In addition to his strange complexion, he bore a pair of aforementioned horns, lacked a nose, his ears were notably pointed and fin-like, and two ribbons of flesh, originating on his cheeks. He was adorned in plain white hospital apparel.

        The strange man then raised his hand, his horns began to glow like the small Genomorph from before. A few crates lying behind them in the hall began to float in the air before exploding above the sidekick trio’s heads. Robin threw an exploding birdarang towards him before the three began escaping down the second hallway.

        Kid Flash runs ahead of them, though when he turned a corner he nearly crashes into a Cadmus scientist. He slides past her, tripping her in the process. He looks back from where she had come from and saw the gradually closing door that read “Project Kr”. 

        He turns back to his companions who were approaching at a significantly slower speed than the closing door. He then spots a few air tanks placed near the door and quickly thinking picked one up to then lodge in the door, preventing it from closing. “Hurry!” he shouts to the others before he jumped between the gap and into the chamber, Aqualad and Robin following shortly after. 

        The former looks through the gap and sees Guardian and his Genomorphs closing in on them. He steps back and kicks the air tank out of the gap which causes the doors to snap shut with a loud CLANK!

        Robin had been typing something quickly into his keypad, when he finished he announced to them, “I disabled the door. We're safe—“

        “We're trapped,” Aqualad had corrected, more stressed than ever. Though before any debate on what happened could start, Kid Flash drew both their attention to the matter at hand, “Uh, guys? You’ll wanna see this.”

        Standing before him was another Cadmus computer console, though this time it was only attached to a single tank. Kid Flash pressed a button on the console that activated several lights near the center of the lab room. Now illuminated the boys could see what was contained within the stark white pod, a sleeping boy. He appeared to be close to their age, with dark hair and a fair complexion. He slept peacefully unaware of the chaos that had just occurred outside his pod. Above him were three of the small monkey-esque Genomorphs like the one Guardian had on his shoulder. 

        Though the most startling thing about him was the skin tight suit he donned, it was an equally as stark white as his pod, the lighting and lack of contrast made it reflect a blinding light. On his chest was a bright red shield with a large S dead in the center

        The symbol of Superman.

        Kid Flash walked in a slight stupor towards the pod, reading the label on the lower part of the glass aloud, “Big K little r, the atomic symbol for Krypton!” He turned to the other two, his brows furrowed somewhat. “Clone?”

        Aqualad immediately turned to their more tech savvy friend, “Robin, hack.” He ordered.

        “Right, right,” he whips out his holo-pad again and connects it to the console with the extending wire like he had done before. After bypassing Cadmus’s security once more he began reading the newly uncovered information about the project. “Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force-grown in— 16 weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman." 

        “Stolen from Superman.” Aqualad corrected with a scowl.

        “No way the big guy knows about this.” Kid Flash agrees.

        “Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7.” The Boy Wonder continues.

        Aqualad gestures to the sleeping creatures above him—Superboy, “And these creatures?” He inquired.

        “Genomorph-Gnomes, Telepathic, force feeding him an education.”

        A grimace starting to form on Kid Flash’s face, “And we can guess what else, they’re making a slave out of… well, Superman’s son.” 

        “And now we contact the league,” Aqualad states firmly. There was no room to argue at this point with what they’ve discovered. He presses the Atlantean A symbol on his belt while the others attempt to activate their comms. 

        “No signal,” Robin says.

        Kid Flash looks to the other two, “We’re in too deep. Literally.”

        After a few minutes of contemplating their next move, the three notice the G-Gnomes horns lighting up above the Superboy. Kid Flash looks to Aqualad and Robin, “This is wrong.” He says grimly.

        Robin agrees, nodding, “We can’t leave him like this.”

        Aqualad takes another moment to think, before coming to a decision, “Set him free,” he looks to Robin, firm in his decision. “Do it.”

        Robin takes to the console, quickly typing out a command to the pod for it to open its lid. The air compressed within the pod hisses as it escapes into the open room, the glass lid lifting upward and the metal plates around it sliding open.

        For a moment the boy inside remained still, peaceful even. Then they saw his hands stretch out at his sides, the knuckles of his fingers cracking before forming into a fist at his side. His eyes snap open, and the trio watch as he springs to life, immediately jumping to attack them.

        He attacks Aqualad first, he tackles him to the ground before raising his arms and bringing them back down in a violent manner, punching the Atlantean boy repeatedly before Robin and Kid Flash come to intervene. They attempt to restrain his arms as well as try to snap some sense into him—

        “Woah! Hang on Supey!”

        “We’re—on your side!”

        —But to no avail. The Super-clone shoves Kid Flash off of him, flinging him back into a glass container. He crashes into it before falling and knocking himself out after his head collided with the ground. He falls over limply and lies still.

        Robin pulls various items out of his utility belt and throwing them at their assailant,, attempting to spray him with gas and even tasing him before Superboy slammed him into the concrete and stepping onto his chest, attempting to crush the smaller boy beneath his foot as Robin struggled beneath him, feeling his ribs crack under the pressure.

        Aqualad looks to see Robin struggling against the clone, taking out his water bearers and taking an aggressive stance, forming a solid hammer in his hands before charging at him, “ENOUGH!” He manages to knock Superboy off of Robin, sending him spiraling against the pod which leaves a large dent in the metal due to the force. Aqualad then tries to help Robin stand to his knees, but the poor boy simply falls back down onto his back, rendered fully unconscious due to Superboy’s assault.

        As Superboy regains his footing he begins walking menacingly towards Aqualad, who attempts to stop him, saying, “We... are trying... to help you—!” Before the clone’s expression twists into a snarl and leaps towards him again to engage in an exchange of blows once more. This exchange stopped momentarily as Aqualad manages to get behind him and interlocks his arms behind him in a restraint before shocking him with a strong electric charge.

        This however only causes his opponent to yell before leaping back first into the ceiling, slamming Aqualad into the hard unmoving surface in an attempt to shake him off. When this doesn’t work he starts slamming him repeatedly against the roof before Aqualad detaches from behind him and falls unconscious.

        Superboy assesses the situation and sees that all three of the sidekicks had been defeated by his hands. Calmly, he began walking to the entrance of the lab. 

        He punched the metal door until it flew open, falling shortly in front of him. Behind it were some scientists, Guardian, and several Genomorphs. A male scientist with long brown hair tied in the back in a pony tail stepped forward. His name was Dr. Desmond. He wore a standard white lab coat, glasses, brown sandals, he had slight wrinkles on his face and streaks of white in his hair. He had smiled in a pleased way when Superboy emerged from the lab, and he inspected his weapon’s success. Simply giving him a brief, “Atta’ boy.” 

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        In a stark white room were seven large monitors, on each screen was the silhouette of an obscured individual. Dr. Desmond entered the room lacking the confident superiority he tended to have beneath the surface of the Cadmus facility. He now stands before each monitor. A voice emits from one of the screens, “Dr. Desmond. You require an audience with the Light?”

        “Yes. Very sorry to disturb you at this late hour—“

        Another cuts him off, “Just make your report.”

        “Of course,” the scientist cleared his throat. “Well, we had a small fire here at Project Cadmus. The origin of the incident is still unclear… but it seems to have attracted some unwanted attention. Three sidekicks, Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash...breached security. 

        “They found and released the weapon. The Superboy. Of course, the clone is under our telepathic control... and, as ordered, turned against his would-be liberators. The three are contained and we don't believe the League knows they're here. Uh... What should I do with them?” He was unsure as to what he was supposed to do now, more worried about losing his job (or worse) for allowing such a blunder to occur in the first place.

        There was but a beat of silence before they spoke again, “Clone them,” the second voice says. “Add them to the current cloning schedule, alongside Project Riptide.” 

        The first voice agrees, stating, “The substitutes will serve the Light. And only the Light.”

        “And… the originals?” Desmond inquired.

        “Dispose of them. Leave no trace.”

        For the first time since he entered this meeting room, an evil smile crept its way back onto Dr. Desmond’s face.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        A calm, yet stern voice rang through the barely conscious minds of the three sidekicks, attempting to rouse them, “Time runs short. You must awaken.”

        When they did not stir the voice became more demanding, and a force jolted them awake, stating, “You must awaken now!”

        The three had awoken startled, finding themselves inside a more industrial looking pod than the one they had freed the Super-clone from. They were strapped against a metal plate by steel bands, restraining their wrists and ankles against the plate behind them. 

        What Kid Flash noticed after realizing his current predicament was the piercing stare of the backstabbing boy standing below them. 

        Superboy stared intently at him, it was hard to tell what he was doing whether it be examining him or simply trying to kill him with a single look, but Kid Flash was up to his limit with him, “What? What do you want?!” He spat, though it didn’t seem to deter the Kryptonian clone. “Quit staring you’re creepin’ me out!”

        “Uh, KF, how ‘bout we NOT tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?” Kid Flash turned to his right to find Robin in the same position as him. He could swore there was something next to Robin, another tank, but from his limited field of vision it took an excessive amount of neck craning in order to check. To to the left of him was Aqualad, “We only sought to help you—“

        Distracting himself from the fourth pod, Kid Flash cut in to chew the clone out, “Yeah, we free you and you turn on us! How’s that for grati—“ 

        “Kid, please. Be quiet now,” Aqualad cut him off, trying not to escalate the situation even further than it already had. “I believe our friend was not in full control of his actions.”

        Then, surprising the three captives to no extent, the clone spoke, “What if I..? Hn… What if I wasn’t?” His voice was low, somewhat rough and rasped from a general lack of use. It was as if he had spoken for the first time since his creation (and judging by his general timeline of living it probably was).

        Kid Flash was the first to react, “He can talk?!”

        This earned him a glare from Superboy, who found a much stronger voice that was laced in irritation, “Yes… he can!”

        The Atlantean and Boy Wonder each gave Kid Flash an unamused side eye, to which he sheepishly replied, “It’s not like I said ‘it’.”

        Aqualad seemed to catch on to the rising tension, hoping to steer it away from the premature death of his speedster companion he focuses his attention back to Superboy, “The genomorphs taught you telepathically.”

        He nodded somewhat, it was a bit difficult to see but it was enough for Aqualad to see. “They taught me much,” he said curtly. “I can read, write. I know the names of things.”

        “But have you seen them?” Robin pressed. “Have they ever actually let you see the sky or the sun?”

        “Images are implanted in my mind,” he seemed to shrink somewhat, regretfully admitting, “But, no, I have not seen them.”

        Aqualad frowned, “Do you know what you are? Who you are?”

        This question seemed to strengthen his resolve, though not exactly in the way Aqualad might have been hoping. He watched Superboy’s poster straighten, and in a tone that felt preprogrammed he stated firmly, “A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from the Light.”

        Aqualad’s companions shared a nervous glance while he responded carefully, “To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration.” He told him. “But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus.”

        This irked Superboy, it seemed to trigger a newly characteristic anger he’s shown since his awakening, “I live because of Cadmus. It is my home!” He growled.

        Robin looked at him in what could only be described as pity, “Your home is a test tube, we can show you the sun.” 

        “Uh, pretty sure it’s after midnight. But we can show you the moon,” offered Kid Flash, trying to add something helpful into the conversation.”

        “We can show you, introduce you to Superman.” Aqualad offers him.

        This catches his attention. The three watched his expression soften, his eyes shining with a glimmer of hope. It had been the softest expression he’s shown since they discovered his serene expression sleeping in his pod.

        This tender moment was cut short by a snide voice coming from the entrance of the lab chamber they were in. “No, they can’t.” Desmond approached them, Guardian and the scientist Kid Flash tripped from before—Dr. Spence—flanked his sides. “They will be… otherwise occupied.” He turned to his subordinates and began to order them to work. “Activate the cloning process!” 

        A genuine alarm spread across Robin’s face, “Pass! Batcave’s crowded enough!” He exclaimed, attempting to cover up his alarm with his usual witty banter.

        Desmond ignored him, “Add them to the schedule set for Project Riptide,” glancing at Superboy the scientist grew agitated. “And get the weapon back to its pod!”

        Despite the circumstance Kid Flash seemed to pout at hearing this, “Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an it?” He asked indignantly.

        Guardian placed his hand on Superboy’s shoulder, though with one final glance at Aqualad (and another plea for help from him as well) he shrugged him off. Desmond seemed to catch onto this exchange rather quickly, “Oh, don’t start thinking now.” He groaned, a G-Gnome hopping from his shoulder to Superboy’s. Condescendingly, he began speaking down to him. “See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon. And you belong to me. Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod.” He commanded. 

        Without another word, Superboy obediently turned around and began walking out of the lab. 

        Desmond then turned back to Spence, “Where’s Project Riptide?” he inquired, irritated.

        Spence had input something into the console before her and in doing so caused a light to turn on in a pod placed to the right of Robin. There was a fourth person strapped to one of the machines the boys were hooked up to (this came as somewhat of a shock to the three of them) however it was hard to make out any discernible features due to their slumped over posture indicating they would not be conscious for the next step of Cadmus’s plan. What they could see though was that rather than a solar suit like Superboy’s they were wearing some very outlandish clothes that had several intricate details and patterns with an otherworldly feel to them.

        Desmond stared at the fourth pod for a moment before turning back to Dr. Spence, he nodded. This acted as an indicator for her to continue and she put another sequence of inputs into the console. The three sidekicks began to writhe and scream as they felt an excruciating pain shoot through them. Several metal probes jab them in the chest, simultaneously electrocuting them and extracting blood into tanks attached to the machines. 

        Desmond says something to his subordinates over the din, “Where’s Dubbilex?” Before being startled by the sudden appearance of said Genomorph stepping out of the shadows of the room, standing beside Desmond. “Lurking as usual… Get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories. When that's done, delete the source material.” 

        During this exchange Aqualad managed to bite back his screams, and over the nearly deafening sounds of his friends anguish he spoke under his breath, attempting to speak to the Kryptonian boy via the presumption he indeed had super-hearing, “Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon or a person? The choice is yours. But ask yourself: what would Superman do?”

        There was a beat. Maybe two passed. And as the sidekicks writhe from the extraction process, the door of the lab is promptly kicked open by the individual on the other side, propelling it into the large computers across the room. This shuts off the DNA extractors and alleviates the trio of sidekicks of any more pain from said machines.

        Desmond is furious, immediately turning to his creation to bark out, “I told you to get back to your—!” He’s roughly tossed to the side by Superboy alongside Dubbilex and Guardian who both attempted to get in the Kryptonian’s way.

        Superboy glowered down at the bespectacled man, “Don’t give me orders.” He growled, before continuing his stride towards the sidekicks.

        Having recovered somewhat from the machines torture, Kid Flash is the first to acknowledge the sudden turn of events, “You here to help us or fry us?” 

        Superboy narrowed his eyes at the redheaded speedster, as if thinking something over. “Huh, I don’t seem to have heat vision. So I suppose helping you is my only option,” he says with a small smirk.

        In this moment Robin’s pod began hissing to life, the metal door sliding open as he slipped out, wringing his wrists in his hands, “Ugh, finally. Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long!” It was then apparent he had been attempting to pick the lock of his wrist cuffs since he woke up. 

        “Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about?” Kid Flash deadpanned. “The whole League will have our heads after tonight!”

        Robin ignores him as he throws a pair of bolas at the only remaining scientist in the room, restraining Dr. Spence. He then walks over to the console she was occupying and types a new input, this opens the other pod doors open with a hiss. Then he directs some of his attention to the clone, “Free Aqualad, I’ll get Kid Mouth.” 

        Superboy didn’t take too well to receiving another order from someone, “Don’t you give me orders either,” he growled out,  but nonetheless he leaps up to tear the cuffs off the Atlantean. Robin picked the locks for the cuffs on Kid Flash.

        Aqualad thanks him as the three sidekicks descend to the ground with Superboy about to follow. That is, until he remembered the unconscious fourth captive. He looks to the pod on the other side of the row, its lid open but its inhabitant still hanging from their restraints. To anyone else they could assume they’re unconscious state was caused by death, they hadn’t stirred this whole time. But Superboy could hear the faint, methodical sound of their heartbeat beneath the whirring of the machine. The sidekicks called out to him, but he had made his decision. He maneuvered his way from Aqualad’s pod to the other and began tearing their cuffs off as well. If he was being freed tonight, it’s only fair he helped free his fellow Project. They fell forward limply as he caught them with his arm. Realizing they weren’t going to wake just, yet he supports their body with his and leaps back down to join the others. 

        Desmond sees the four of them (plus his new Project) begin to race out of the lab, “Y-You’ll never get out of here! I’ll have you back in pods before morning!” He shrieks from the ground.

        “That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all,” Robin muttered, only stopping momentarily to throw some birdarangs into the DNA containers and triggering them to explode, destroying any of their DNA collected by Cadmus.

        “What is with you and this ‘whelmed’ thing?” Kid Flash asks as Robin rejoins them. They race down the fleshy hall, passing by the pod-like inserts in the walls as they begin to glow an eerie red. 

        “We are still fifty-two levels below ground,” Aqualad states. “But if we can make the elevator—!”

        He’s cut off as several ginormous Genomorphs emerge to block their way, the smaller Genomorphs they had fought before against Guardian begin emerging from the pods behind them, snarling and growling like wild beasts. 

        During this, Project Riptide began stirring awake. Superboy was startled to feel them move, even more so to feel them shove him away from them. 

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        You groaned, holding your throbbing head with a gloved hand (the others took notice of the strange blue pendant embedded into the top side of your wrist) “What… What happened?” before opening your eyes to see an absurd sight before them, snapping your eyes wider and frantically looking around, “Where am I? What the Hell is this place? And what the Hell are those??”

        They don’t have time to answer them as one of the large Genomorphs raised both of its fists in preparation of crushing them. You all manage to duck out of the way, though Kid Flash is very much caught off guard when you begin to pull a spear out of literally thin air. It was a long, double pronged polearm fading from a dark navy to a brighter blue by the tip. At the end of it was a teardrop shaped pommel with a decorative end in the shape of a small anchor. He stared at you in bewilderment, “Where did you get that—“

        You ignored him as you began to pull back your spear before hurling it like a javelin at a frightening speed into the neck of one of the smaller Genomorphs, the force pinning its now limp body into the wall next to it. Before he could ask again you seemed to have moved so quickly it looked as if you had teleported over to your spear before ripping it back out and making another dash to a different Genomorph. 

        The other sidekicks had made their way to the elevator, however their newly liberated companions seemed to be preoccupied in trying to eliminate the Genomorph threats to follow them. While you dashed to-and-fro around the Genomorphs, slashing them with your spear, Superboy had launched one of the lumbering Genomorphs into the wall. This impact ran a crack up the wall and started to cause parts of the ceiling to break off and come crashing into the ground, “Superboy! The goal is to escape, not bury ourselves here!” Aqualad shouts.

        This seems to peak his already heightened aggression, “YOU WANT ESCAPE?!” He challenged, before swinging one of the larger Genomorphs by the arm and swinging it into the horde of others. He then grabs your wrist abruptly—startling you—before regrouping with the others by the elevator.

        Aqualad tears the elevator doors open to reveal the dark empty chasm of the shaft. Kid Flash and Robin each make their way into the elevator, the former jumping onto the wall of the elevator shaft while the latter uses his grappling hook. Superboy takes Aqualad into one arm and tries to do the same for you as well, however before he could grab a hold of you, you managed to step away from him as you began to arch your polearm up before launching it into the side of the shaft wall. The two watch as you take a big leap up before grabbing onto the spear end sticking out from the wall. You then began to scale the elevator shaft with now notably clawed hands, your spear dissipating into gold particles.

        Now only having to worry about one passenger, Superboy tightens his hold on Aqualad and takes a powerful leap into the air. He and Aqualad soar several stories up, making it all the way to about SL-9, before suddenly losing momentum, the two suddenly beginning to descend downwards, “I-I’m falling,” he realizes in somewhat of a daze. 

        You had seen the two boys pass them while you continued climbing steadily up the side of the chute, though you were very shocked to see them suddenly pass them going down this time. Groaning somewhat they lept off of the wall and descended downwards in order to catch up to them right as Robin looked up and threw one of his birdarangs into the wall above. Once you had caught up to them they grabbed Aqualad by the arm, causing him to tighten his hold on Superboy, before a pair of false wings deployed from around your shoulder blades. They were then falling slower, though the extra weight of two more passengers still caused the wind glider to drag down faster than it was supposed to while you heaved them up with you. 

        Once you glided near the birdarang embedded into the wall you heaved the two over by the dark skinned boy’s arm, helping him latch onto the new protrusion in the wall around SL-15. You in turn latch onto the wall beside them, observing the conflicted expression cast over Superboy’s face. He wore a crestfallen expression, and he began to question himself, murmuring, “Superman can fly… Why can’t I fly?”

        Kid Flash pipes in suddenly, drawing your attention from the one currently having some form of an identity-crisis to the level below, “Don't know, but it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound... Still cool,” he reassures, offering to help the distraught boy up to the small ledge beside him. Aqualad hopping down beside them.

        Still a little dazed he manages to thank the speedster before Robin alerts them to the imminent danger they were about to be in, “Guys! This’ll have to be our exit!” He shouts as the high speed express elevator makes its quick descent above them.

        Aqualad and Superboy take out the elevator door, the latter taking one final swing to it before you all dive out of the way from the rapidly descending elevator right before it slammed all of you into the void. You weren’t given much of a break however as a group of Genomorphs came down the main hallway, attracted to the sound of the destroyed metal doors, causing the five of you to break out in a run. 

        As you were running down the halls, Superboy suddenly directs the group, “Go left! Left!” The group listened, mostly as there wasn’t much room to try and press him about where you were going. Then another call, “Right!” 

        However, upon following his directions this time, you found yourself at a dead end, the only thing of note being the sight of a single vent near the top of the wall. You gave him somewhat of a cross look , “It’s a dead end,” you stated lowly.

        Kid Flash was the second to jump on him, “Great directions Supey,” he says sarcastically. “Are you trying to get us re-podded??”

        “No. I… I don’t understand,” he seemed genuinely confused at this outcome.

        Robin nudged Kid Flash to the side, a wide grin breaking out across his face as he excitedly stated, “Don’t apologize, this is perfect!”

        They work to get the vent cover off quickly, then after discarding it to the side the boys assist each other in getting up and crawling into the vent itself. Robin led the charge while Aqualad, you, Kid Flash, and Superboy followed shortly behind.

        It was during this escapade through the vents that Kid Flash (who was currently crawling right behind you) decided to mention the elephant in the room, “By the way, uh, who are you exactly? We never really had time to get your name.”

        You wanted to look back and glare at the redhead, however your current circumstance prevented you from doing so, “Is now really the time for this?” 

        Robin piped in from the front, “So far we’re not sure if there’ll be any time in the future, so now is definitely the time to ask.”

        You rolled your eyes, “If it quells your incessant probing then so be it. For now, you may call me Tide Caller.” 

        “What? No first or last name?”

        “None that I feel like telling you at the moment.” You did not feel like informing them of anything aside from your adeptus title until you found out just exactly what was going on around here. “Now I get to ask you some questions: What is going on? And what exactly is this place?”

        “It’s a bit… complicated. Short answer? We’re in an underground research facility hidden from the rest of world that’s focused on cloning and creating living weapons, which were the creatures chasing us from before, that are called Genomorphs,” Robin explains, though he as a bit preoccupied with following the layout of the ventilation system to guide them to an exit. “We came to investigate a fire that started in the building above ground but upon further inspection we ended up going way deeper than anticipated, eventually we found Superboy and later you and the rest is history.”

        You blinked owlishly at his explanation, “I… have no idea what half of the words you just said means, but it’s enough for me to know that this place is bad news,” you take a few cursory glances between the boys in front of you and the one behind you. “Who are you three anyway?”

        Wally balked at this question, “Wait seriously? You don’t know who we are? Robin, Aqualad? Kid Flash? No, not ringing any bells?”

        “No, not really… Am I supposed to?”

        “Seriously? Dude, what kind of rock have you been living under?”

        You scoffed at his question, “Forgive me if I’m unable to recall a group of such strangely dressed individuals and their equally as strange titles,” you grow silent for a moment before a follow up question comes to mind. “Why are you all dressed like that anyway?”

        “Oh, as if you aren’t—!” 

        “Enough! Now is not the time to start arguing.” Aqualad shut you both down before you could start a fight while you all were still traversing the vents. 

        You could hear Kid Flash grumble something under his breath behind you. After some time he started to complain, “Ugh, at this rate we’ll never get out.”

        Superboy stops suddenly at the end of the line you’ve formed, shushing the group as he looks behind him. “Listen.” Unbeknownst to the rest of you, his super-hearing had picked up some movement far behind them within the vents. If he focused he could hear the quick, clambering sounds of claws against metal as several Genomorphs began to scurry through the vents in an attempt to close in on them.

        The group began to advance further, Robin leading you down a certain path as you all crawled after him. He kicked open a vent cover at the end of the path and jumped down, Aqualad followed in order to help the rest of you down from the top of the wall. Robin was typing something frantically onto the holo-pad on his wrist, “I already deactivated the internal security cameras during the trek in the vents, now if I just…” he trailed off somewhat as he hooked up his glove to the wall.  A moment later he looked triumphant, “I hacked the motion sensors.” He states with a smirk tugging at his lips.

        Kid Flash was the one to respond first with a cheerful: “Sweet.”

         “Still plenty of them between us and out.”

        Kid Flash seemed undeterred by this information, pulling down his goggles, saying, “But I’ve finally got room to move,” before barreling out the door and down several flights of stairs, clearing a path for you and the others by knocking several Genomorphs down in the process. 

        You stared at his abrupt exit in awe, “I take it the ‘Flash’ in his name refers to his speed?” You wondered aloud, earning a small laugh from your shortest companion as the rest of you followed in tow. 

        Robin, who was still in the process of hacking as you ran, called out to your group, “More behind us!” Once you had all passed him, Superboy came to a stop on the platform behind you, slamming his foot on the connecting stairs. This caused the remaining stairwell as well as all of the horde of approaching Genomorphs to come crashing down.

        Kid Flash continued to speed up the winding column of stairs before skidding to a stop once spotting the door indicating his destination to be Sub-Level 1. Before he could reach the door, racing towards it as we speak, a blaring alarm pierced the air, causing a pair of heavy-duty doors to automatically slam shut. Kid Flash couldn’t stop himself before crashing into the closed off exit, muttering an “Aw man,” before colliding with the doors head first and falling abruptly to the floor a few feet away, landing on his butt.

        “We’re cut off from the street,” Aqualad grumbles, and you were all so close to freedom.

        “Thanks. My head hadn’t noticed,” Kid Flash says sarcastically while rubbing the back of his head from the impact with the floor.

        You came up from behind them, staring blankly at the doors, “Can’t we just break them down like before?” Superboy must have been thinking the same thing as he stepped forward, passing the fallen speedster and attempting to knock the door down with a punch. Though his fist didn’t seem to even leave a dent. He then tried to pry the door open, Aqualad even joining him but to no avail, it had been shut tight.

        Robin was below you, grumbling in annoyance as he typed rapidly into his holo-pad, “Can’t hack this fast enough,” then noticed a pair of Genomorphs reared around the corner, growling at the sight of you. He then sees a door to his right, “This way!”

        He kicked the door down and led the rest of you through the corridor but stopped when you saw the rest of the Genomorphs waiting for you, alongside Guardian. Each of them had a small G-Gnome resting on their shoulder. 

        You immediately summoned your spear as Aqualad formed a pair of dual swords out of his water bearers and took a fighting stance. 

        One of the G-Gnomes’ horns began to glow, then another, and another. Suddenly all of the G-Gnomes were glowing red like beacons, seemingly set off in a chain reaction. You felt a sharp pain in your head, an echoing mental rattling as you and your companions fell to the ground. You couldn’t make out the sounds outside the ones reverberating through your skull, leaning heavily onto the side of your polearm, breathing heavily and ragged in an attempt to stay upright as the rest of your companions lie limp on the floor. 

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        Superboy had fallen to his knees after the G-Gnomes triggered this telepathic attack on him and his newfound friends. It was only when a voice echoed through his head, through his mind, that he felt the fog lifting somewhat, “Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind.”

        Superboy looked up to see the Genomorph from the lab—Dubbilex—as he came to a realization as to where he heard this voice before, eyes widening, “It was you.”

        “Yes, brother,” he confirms. “I set the fire and lures your new friends to Cadmus, woke them when they were in danger—”

        “And guided me,” he finished for the older Genomorph, before questioning him and his motives. “Why?”

        “Because you are our hope,” Dubbilex relays to him. “The Genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing us the way to freedom.”  He then glances at the dazed, slumped over form of Tide Caller, impressed by their mental fortitude being strong enough to keep conscious even under all of the pressure the G-Gnomes were putting on them and the other teens. Though it didn’t seem like they were able to focus on much else, “And for you to help to guide this displaced soul during their imminent travel into the unknown…”

        Suddenly, the G-Gnome perched on Guardian’s shoulder hopped off its spot, deactivating whatever control it had over the man. He groans, gripping his head in pain, “What’s going on..?” As Guardian gradually began to come to his senses, the sidekick trio and Tide Caller began to stir.

        “What is your choice, brother?” Asked Dubbilex, staring stoically at the young clone. Superboy for a moment looks down in contemplation, before lifting his head with a fire in his eyes.

“I. Choose. Freedom.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        You groan as the weight over your mind lifts. Sluggishly lifting your head to see the Genomorphs now standing passively around you. The Genomorphs had ceased their hold over Guardian, you, and the sidekicks alike, “Feels like… a fog… lifting,” Guardian mutters, hand to his temple as he feels a newfound clarity forming in his mind. 

        Aqualad looks to the dazed hero, still a bit apprehensive of the man, “Guardian?”

Guardian had looked at them with a determined expression, and with conviction he told them, “Go. I’ll deal with Desmond.”

        A voice cuts through the air, “I think not,” as Dr. Desmond reveals himself, the Genomorphs parting their wall for him behind Guardian. In his hand he holds a strange blue vial. “Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus.” He declares, downing the mysterious glowing liquid, dropping the empty glass vial shortly after.

        He fell to his knees, head slumped into his arms, veins pulsating under his skin. His body rips through the fabric of his lab coat and undershirt. Robin and Kid Flash watch him undergo this horrific transformation. Desmond growls as he jerks his head up, the whites of his sclera turning into an ink black while his eyes turn a bright red. His skin tears into scraps as his body grows larger, stronger, the layer underneath such a grotesque display turned thick and gray.

        He rises from the ground with a guttural roar, scraps of skin and tufts of hair still clinging to his head and body. The thing standing in Dr. Desmond’s—Blockbuster’s— place turned to the group of heroes, breathing heavy. He sneered down at them with thick, sharpened teeth.

        Guardian puts his arm out towards you and the teens, defensively ordering, “Everyone back!” Before charging at the hulking goliath. You are greatly unamused to see Blockbuster sweep Guardian aside like he’s a mere toy, watching the golden helmed man fly into the wall a few feet away.

        Superboy was next to act, charging at the monster and striking him across the jaw. This however hardly affects him as he retaliates by punching Superboy downward, targeting his shoulder and upper back. Superboy turns and tries to hit him again, this time with an uppercut. He lands a few more hits, at one point being knocked back onto his shoulder before rolling back onto his feet, before Blockbuster reacts in turn by launching the boy as Superboy attempted to leap into the air to strike him by catching him and throwing him violently into the ceiling, following him up to the next floor shortly after.

        You all stare in disbelief at the massive hole the two had made, Robin being the first to make a comment on it, “Okay, that’s one way to bust through the ceiling.” He then pulled his grappling hook out and shot it through the opening the hole formed. 

        “You think Lab Coat planned that?” Kid Flash asked as he grabbed onto Robin in order for the shorter boy to propel them upwards. 

        “I doubt he’s planning anything anymore,” retorts Aqualad who crouches down in order to help give you a boost before following shortly after, jumping through the hole in the ceiling next.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        Above them was an expansive room with railings on the sides and upper stories in order to separate the two stories, the open hall lined with pillars acting as support beams. The four of you watched as Blockbuster made an attempt to restrain Superboy by pinning his arms to his sides, though it proves fruitless as Superboy manages to break his hold on him. Before he could take a swing at the gargantuan man, Blockbuster had grabbed a hold of Superboy’s ankle and flung him into the group you and the sidekicks had formed. Robin and Kid Flash managed to avoid getting hit by the body of their friend, you and Aqualad however weren’t as lucky as he came crashing into you.

        The yellow speedster dashes over to the entanglement of you, and the other boys, Robin following shortly after him in order for you to group up again. You pull yourself up using your spear as leverage while Kid Flash and Robin help Aqualad and Superboy back on their feet as Blockbuster starts to charge towards you.

        Kid Flash charges quickly at Blockbuster before needing to drop into  a slide underneath him as the goliath attempts to squash him. Though he still kept Blockbuster’s attention long enough for Superboy and Aqualad to perform a unison attack, landing two solid punches to Blockbuster’s face to knock him back and over as Kid Flash had crouched behind his legs in order to trip the monster, “Learned that one in Kindergarten,” he informs you smugly as Robin jumps over him, throwing two of his projectile disks (though the impact of this quip is lost on you as you instead chose to ponder what exactly a Kindergarten was… a garden of children?). 

        Blockbuster swings his arm, deflecting the two incoming projectiles before they could do any sort of damage aside from stagger him momentarily. He rolls only to see Superboy standing before him, making a gesture that led you to believe he was taunting him into wrestling. Blockbuster however is faster than the Kryptonian boy, grabbing him and shoving him forcefully into a nearby pillar, cracking it under the sheer force of his assault, though Superboy doesn’t seem to fazed by it as he continues to unleash a combo of punches to the hulking creature as it pulls away. That is until Blockbuster performed a cross strike that shattered the pillar behind Superboy due to the impact.

        He goes for a second strike but is interrupted by a water whip coiling around his arm, restraining him back. Aqualad pulls him forward, propelling himself up high enough to land a jab to Blockbuster’s face using his knee before landing on the remaining pillar above Superboy and turning his water bearers into a mace, readying it to swing. Blockbuster intercepts this single-handedly before tossing the Atlantean to the side as he holds Superboy down with the other. Aqualad lands on the floor with a pained cry, the floor beneath him cracking beneath the pressure while Blockbuster’s grip on Superboy grows tighter before flinging him violently  into a segment of another pillar near the second story of the building. The Kryptonian falls somewhat unconscious, his arm then buried beneath piles of debris from the breaking pillar.

        Kid Flash rushes in to help his friends as Aqualad manages to dodge Blockbuster's attempt at squashing his head with his foot. The yellow speedster had managed to grab a hold of the monster’s wrist and using his momentum he turned it to face back first towards Aqualad. It opens it’s fisted hand which allowed him to grab a hold of Kid Flash’s wrist when he lost his grip. Blockbuster then intercepts another one of Aqualad’s attacks by swinging Kid Flash like a sack of flour into the Atlantean. This sends each of them flying, Kid Flash sprawled against the ground by a different pillar while Aqualad slumps against the pillar from before. 

        Blockbuster comes in to deck him with an uppercut to the stomach that hits like a truck, destroying the remainder of the pillar before he then pins Aqualad to another pillar, his hand around his throat.

        You felt the building begin to shake as the pillar cracks where it’s seen joining the floor by one of the corners, blockbuster continuing this relentless assault while you and Robin watch from a safe distance away from the action. “Of course!” your shorter companion says in realization, activating his holo-pad to look at the floor plans of the room. Then calling out to Kid Flash who had been slowly recovering, “KF, get over here!”

        The speedster recovers his footing and zips over to the Boy Wonder as Aqualad changes his water bearers into a circular shield to defend himself from another uppercut from Blockbuster. As the monster stumbles on his feet, Superboy charges at him, targeting the area below his ribcage before jumping and hooking the goliath from behind in a chokehold. This enrages Blockbuster as he tosses Aqualad to the side in favor of trying to get the clone off of him before flinging him into the pillar again, destroying it.

        Robin had been showing something to you and Kid Flash, a simulation of sorts playing in real-time on the holographic screen, “Got it?” He asks, directing this query to the speedster who nods in confirmation, parroting the words before the Boy Wonder gives him a command, “Go!”

        You watch as Kid Flash dashes away, speeding to the right of Blockbuster to direct an attack at his face. When this doesn’t seem to faze him in the slightest save for tearing some of his stretched skin from his face, he dangles it tauntingly, “Got your nose!” 

        This manages to draw his attention from Superboy to begin targeting the talkative speedster, he barely misses him when he goes to strike him in two downward attacks. Before Superboy could get on his feet again to attack the beast, he’s called over by Robin, “Superboy, Aqualad!”

        Kid Flash continued to taunt the raging goliath as he came to a stop in front of one of the remaining pillars, shouting: “Come and get me you incredible bulk!” before zipping out of the way as Blockbuster lands a devastating punch to the pillar. Some of the debris had flown out and hit the speedster in the shoulder, which knocked him off his feet.

        He barely dodged another incoming attack from Blockbuster as Robin finished explaining his plan to You, Aqualad, and Superboy, “This one, and that one,” he says pointing to the remaining pillars he needs you three to destroy. The two of them gave him a nod of affirmation before charging back out. Robin takes out a few of his exploding disks to throw at his own targets, before turning to you momentarily, “You’ll be able to help Aqualad with that uh… Vision? Of yours? Th-the thing on your wrist.” You gave him a silent nod before joining the others.

        Superboy breaks his pillar with ease, landing a single blow to the base of the pillar while Aqualad forms his mace with his water bearers to destroy the second one, his tattoos glowing a bright electric blue. 

        Kid Flash dodges another attack from Blockbuster and moves to his right, tricking the creature into weakening another pillar, chuckling, “Sorry, try again,” before bolting away once again.

        Robin drew an X onto the floor with chalk as Aqualad used his water bearers to form a puddle on the ground. You helped him in creating the field by activating your Vision, water forming from your wrist and swirling up your arm before creating four missiles made up of water and launching them at the ground next to you. In the spots you targeted, small, semi-translucent whiskered serpents made of Hydro sprouted from the ground, looking at you as they awaited your orders. You crouched on the ground near them and then pointed to the X Robin had drawn, “See that X? I need you to target that spot specifically.” The four Hydro serpents gave a tiny nod before turning to shoot small bolts of Hydro at their intended target, adding to the puddle that Aqualad had been forming.

        Kid Flash skids through the puddle and obscures the X as Superboy jumps into the air, hitting Blockbuster hard enough to knock him to the ground landing straight on the target Robin laid out for him. Your Hydro mimics had dissipated by the time Aqualad channeled a current of electricity from his now glowing tattoos, channeling the crackling electro power from his hands and connecting it to the puddle formed beneath him that trailed all the way to the massive puddle Blockbuster currently resided on. Once he touches the water Blockbuster is immediately electrocuted.

        After stunning Blockbuster, Aqualad relinquished his hold on the current as Robin called for everyone to move out of the way, the three remaining pillars he had stuck his exploding disks which began blinking red and green rapidly and emitting a frequent beeping sound before they exploded. 

        This causes the building to collapse, the five of you barely avoiding the now caving in roof. Superboy managed to grab you and Kid Flash in an attempt to cover the two of you from the falling debris while Aqualad covered Robin as the whole building came crumbling down.

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        For a moment there wasn’t a single sign of life beneath the rubble, that is until Superboy had punched a large potion of debris from over your group, tossing a slab of concrete somewhere to the side. You used your polearm as a crutch, leveraging yourself into a standing position, the others began to rise slowly, standing shakily next to you. Their clothes had been ripped and they all breathed heavily as the adrenalin escaped their bodies. 

        Aqualad came to his senses first, almost in disbelief at the events that had just occurred up to this point, “We… did it,” he pants.

        Robin was panting just as much, “Was there… ever any doubt?” He questions as he gives Kid Flash a high five, though both of them dropped it immediately as a sharp spike of pain shot through them due to the injuries they received during this whole adventure.

        Superboy had stepped out of the rubble, he looks to the incapacitated Blockbuster. You joined him momentarily, taking in the strange environment you seemed to be in. There were towering buildings in the far off vicinity near the destruction. They were tall, taller than the buildings of Liyue Harbor and the windmills of Mondstadt. They were more industrial looking as well, uniformed. The lack of notable details in their architecture made it hard to determine just where in Teyvat were you. Though a little nagging voice in the back of your mind told you that you were very much no longer in your homeland anymore.

        Kid Flash called out to Superboy, “See?” He says, drawing both his and your attention from where you were directed towards, jerking his thumb towards something in the sky. “The moon.”

        You both looked to the sky, Superboy stared in awe at the celestial body, taking it all in. He finally got to see it in person, to feel the moonlight and the breeze against his skin, no longer wondering what it felt like when he envisioned the image of the moon in his mind when educated by the G-Gnomes fed him mental pictures. To him it was mesmerizing.

        Meanwhile you were startled to find that (aside from the moon) you couldn’t make out a single constellation in the sky that you recognized. Missing were the familiar sights of Bestia Iustitia, Sinae Unicornis, Alatus Nemeseos, or Lapis Dei. Not even the sight of your own constellation. The stars held no meaning to you now, and the distance between you and your loved ones felt even more unsettling. Now that you were above ground you could feel the distinct lack of touch with the elements, surrounded by an unnatural amount of Geo and not enough Dendro to make it feel less jarring. 

        Before he could answer you, Superboy noticed something in the distance, something approaching from the sight of the moon. He squints at it, trying to decipher what he was seeing. It grows larger, the shape forming that of a man. He was donned head to toe in a bold blue, accented by a red cape flowing behind him. He bore a striking resemblance to the boy standing next to you. Kid Flash walked up to the other side of Superboy, “Oh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?” Though he seemed just as surprised as the boy next to him.

        You squint at the man in the gradually closing distance, “Is that man… flying?” You wonder aloud, before then coming to a small (rather delayed) realization. “Wait… do you mean ‘Super’ as in… in relation to Superboy?”  This caused one of the other boys behind you (Robin you presumed) to let out a small laugh, though due to your current conditions it sounded more like a cough.

You activated your elemental sight, and it seems he was flying without the need to use Anemo (unlike a certain god you had met before).

        Suddenly, more figures began to form in the moonlight behind this… Superman. All of them unfamiliar to you, and all of them dressed in just as strange of outfits as your saviors. Many could fly without the need of Anemo—like Superman—though you noticed some of them needing to be lowered down on glowing green platforms created by some of the airborne heroes. They landed above you on the rubble before lowering their more grounded companions to the rubble below. Next to the now landed Superman was a man dressed like a bat wearing a dark suit and a cowl who flanked him on one side, to the other was a man in all red who appeared at an astonishing speed similar to the yellow speedster you’ve become acquainted with. 

        There was a moment of silence as these… heroes stared passively at the sidekicks, Superboy, and you. You could see a familiarity in their eyes when they scanned over the sidekicks, though it vanished when they landed on you. You straightened your back to stare as intensely in return, despite the soreness of your body screaming for you to just fall over and rest.

        You watched as Superman narrowed his eyes upon sighting Superboy who had begun to take a few steps forward, as if sizing him up and taking in the similarities the two had, almost suspiciously. The younger of the two then lifts the torn flap of his suit, showing the matching shield symbol on his chest with a small smile. Identical to the one that the older man wore across his broader chest.

        However that is where the similarities stopped as Superman’s expression went from one of disbelief, and almost as quickly turned into one of anger. You glared at this shift in tone as you began to shift closer to Superboy’s side, polearm still in hand as you began to take a protective stance alongside the now confused, almost disappointed expression of the clone.

        The man dressed as a bat—based on these naming schemes you guessed his title was something like “Batman” or something—was the next to speak up, though you didn’t take too kindly to the tone he used when he said, “Is that what I think it is?” While staring at the boy beside you.

        Kid Flash put a hand to the side of his mouth, as if trying to whisper, “He doesn’t like being called an ‘it’,” before Superboy suddenly rose to anger, his eyes hardened into steel as he announced firmly: “I’m Superman’s clone!”

        The heroes surrounding you, save for Batman and Superman, all seemed taken aback by this declaration. Batman redirected his gaze to Robin, and with a slight glare demanded him to, “Start talking.”

        As the three sidekicks were explaining the situation to their mentors, they remembered your presence, turning to you suddenly. You were tuned out of the conversation up to that point, too busy watching all of these strange people work on clearing damage and assessing the situation. Not a single one of them seemed to have any sort of elemental traces on their person, save for the blonde man speaking to Aqualad (you swore to the Archons and Celestia above if that man was simply dubbed “Aquaman” you would hurl yourself off the nearest mountain peak). 

        You felt a hand on your shoulder as you turned to face the group of sidekicks and adults. They all stared at you with inquisitive looks, Aqualad giving you a silent cue to introduce yourself. Sighing you looked the scowling Batman in the eyes, he seemed the most distrusting of you or your origins as you began to explain, “I am one known as Tide Caller, an… an adeptus from Liyue Harbor and former servant of the Geo Archon,” you were hoping this was explanation enough but none of the words you had just said seemed to spark any resemblance of recognition from the heroes who all glanced to each other in confusion.

        It was Robin who helped come to your rescue, “Tide Caller was there with us when we woke up in the pods in Cadmus, one of the scientists called them Project Riptide’.  They were about to be cloned as well, but Superboy got them out after coming back to rescue us.” 

        Kid Flash rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah what Rob said, they don’t actually seem to be a clone of any sort like Supey’ here. Actually, they don’t really seem to be aware of what Cadmus is or how they ended up here at all.”

        You nodded, “I come from a land known as Teyvat, a place ruled by gods which harness the ability to control the elements under the eyes of Celestia, as well as provide mortals living within Teyvat the potential to achieve godhood by granting them the powers of one of seven elements via that of a vision, Teyvat is a dangerous place to traverse without any means to protect oneself, Visions are granted to those who are recognized by the gods and act as a conduit for whichever element resonates with a chosen allogene,”

You raise your wrist to show them your vision, still glowing to indicate the stored energy within the cerulean gemstone embedded into your wrist guard, small traces of Hydro rippling around your hand when called upon. “My Vision is that of Hydro, representing the divine ideal of justice. Alongside it are Visions are that of Anemo, representing the divine ideal of freedom, Geo representing contracts, Electro for eternity, Dendro for wisdom, Pyro for war, sometimes passion, and Cryo, which was once represented by the divine ideal of love… though, I have heard in more recent times that that ideal has changed since then.

        “I am accustomed to fighting monsters roaming my homeland, but when I had awakened we were faced with a horde of creatures I have never seen before. During our escape, Kid Flash and his companions attempted to question me as well, but none of the information they had managed to share before trouble stirred once again made any sense,” you then looked to the skies, observing the new star patterns littering the backdrop of the moon sadly. “The stars of this land are equally as unfamiliar to me. I cannot make sense of any of it, and I fear I am much farther from my home than I had anticipated.”

        The older heroes seemed to sympathize with you, however the more commandeering of the three continued to stare at you analytically, as if trying to suss out any falsehoods from your revelation, “What’s the last thing you can remember before waking up in Cadmus?” He presses.

        This caught you off guard, a slight headache forming from the start of your recollection. You’ve been wondering this since you had awoken, though distracted due to being thrown into the fray upon coming to your senses, so with a hand now pressed against your throbbing temple you relayed such information to them, “If I’m being honest I am… having some difficulties recalling such information. Though, the last thing I remember before waking here was… the feeling of falling. A-And feeling as if I had been dropped into a pool of ice water,” you looked up tiredly to the unwavering expression of the man in black. 

        He made some noise of acknowledgement after some moment of silence. During this moment of contemplation you took notice that Superboy’s attention was elsewhere, and following his gaze you saw the man in blue and you felt your eyes harden, much different from the former’s curious expression. He was speaking to a woman in a tiara and a warrior’s garb and a man dressed in black and blue (though the most striking thing about him was the fact that his skin was green). 

        The latter looked over his shoulder to see the inquisitive stare of Superboy and promptly put a shoulder on the other man’s shoulder, this caused Superman to meet the curious gaze of his clone. You watched them have a small exchange of averting their gaze before sheepishly looking back for a moment before the older Kryptonian began to approach the other. Superboy crossed his arms as the older male started to speak, “We’ll, uh, we’ll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean.” He manages to correct himself in what you took as him trying to distance himself from the situation. “For now I  better make sure they get the Blockbuster creature squared away.” 

        And with that he takes off into the night, following the two men who had created the platforms from before—the Green Lanterns, as you had overheard them be referred to as—had formed a sphere around Blockbusters still immobile body, while a silver man with red gloves and boots as well as two winged heroes with maces flew alongside them. He just flew off leaving the poor clone feeling hurt, confused, and abandoned.

        The sidekicks watch this exchange as well, though you aren’t sure if they feel the same bubbling anger as you from witnessing such a thing. Before you could make any biting comments directed to the departing figure, Batman draws all of your attention to him, “Cadmus wil be investigated,” he states. “All 52 levels, but let’s make one thing clear—”

        He’s interrupted by the Flash who pipes upo in a whine, “You should have called.”

You’re starting to realize where all of the younger speedster’s childish antics seemed to come from. 

        The Batman glared at his counterpart before growling, “End results aside, we’re not happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again.”

        The three of them looked down for a moment, before Aqualad spoke firmly, “I am sorry, but we will.” 

        His mentor attempts to commandeer him into silence, “Aqualad, stand down.”

        “Apologies, my King… But no.” Aqualad puts his hand to his chest in reverence to the older man—you are shocked at hearing such a title be directed to such a man—an action of which causes the blonde man to raise his brow as to question such an action.   He looks to his mentor—his ruler—before firmly stating his mind. “We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together on our own we forged something powerful, important.”

        “If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you—”

        “The four of us,” Kid Flash corrects, not hesitating to cut off his mentor. “And it’s not.”

        Robin had already taken a step forward, the next to speak his mind and step up against his mentor, “Batman, we’re ready to do what you taught us, or why teach us at all?” He’s the quietest out of the three, but his voice doesn’t waver.

        Superboy finally let his irritation bubble over, spitting out a curt, “Why let them tell us what to do?”

        You nodded, supportive of their cause, “Where I come from, the noblest of heroes do not wait for the gods to acknowledge them first in order to pave way to a better future. It is their ambition that will guide them to Celestia.”

        “It’s simple,” Superboy passes you, then the sidekicks, all of which stood proud and tall as they defied their mentors, “Get on board, or get out of the way.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

Mount Justice; July 8th, 8:04 EDT

        You watch as one of the Green Lanterns and Captain Atom fly around carrying large pieces of metal equipment around the inside of the hollowed out mountain you and the rest of your newfound team were within. Alongside you in the center base of the mountain’s interior were an assortment of heroes in addition to your team who were dressed in civilian clothes over the colorful getups they had worn when first meeting you. 

        Robin wore a black jacket over a hooded sweater and a pair of black running shoes in addition to a pair of “sunglasses” as they had told you they were called. 

        Kid Flash—or you should say Wally, after informing you of his secret identity a few days prior—was wearing a long sleeve shirt under an unbuttoned short sleeved button-up in addition to dark blue pants and running shoes. He kept a pair of goggles in his pocket.

        Aqualad—known as Kaldur’ahm—wore black sandals, black pants that were baggy enough to allow a comfortable room for the fins on the backs of his calves, and a two-toned blue and black jacket with a turtleneck style collar as to hide his gills. When you asked about his physiology he had informed you he was not in fact human, but rather Atlantean, which he described as a race of people who lived underwater and bore aquatic-type physiology due to their subversive nature, showing you the webs between his fingers and the shark like fins on his legs.

        Superboy donned a simple short sleeve top and fit him snugly, it was black with the signature red shield of him and his predecessor. In addition to this he wore a pair of dark pants and black combat boots.

        The boys had taken to explaining to you that they can’t be seen in their hero uniforms everywhere they went outside missions, so they took to their civvies (civilian clothes). Additionally they had to explain to you that the attire you’re used to seeing back in Teyvat is considered more “old-fashioned” or fantastical. 

        That being said, you still didn’t have much of a “modern” wardrobe outside your usual adventuring getup as they put it so you were still in your usual attire from the night they discovered you. They had been surprised at how well the fabrics of your clothes held up from all of the chaos that occurred at Cadmus. 

        “This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League,” Batman informs your team of heroes. “We’re calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you’ll do it on League terms.”

        All of you watched as he began to walk away from the center of the room, leaving the floor to the two other heroes standing by. “Red Tornado,” the red, metallic, being with a cape you were startled to discover lacking any organic signs of life to. “Volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary,” the beautiful blonde woman in the black, one-piece bustier-leotard combination under a blue lapelled jacket. “Is in charge of training.” She also wore gray stockings with seams up the front and back, as well as black, heavy, calf-length boots, black fingerless gloves, and a black choker. 

        He had introduced them before swiftly bringing the attention back to himself, “I will deploy you on missions.”

        Robin seemed excited by this part of his exposition, “Real missions?” he inquires.

        “Yes, but covert.” Batman confirms.

        The Flash was next to speak up from behind Kid Flash’s shoulder, “The League will still handle the obvious stuff,” he then starts tapping the lightning bolt symbol on his chest. “That’s why we have these big targets on our chests.”

        Aquaman continues after him, “But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly,” he says before redirecting the conversation back to the stoic man in black.

        “The six of you will be that team.”

        Robin is the first to react, very excitedly going, “Cool!” Before catching the part of his mentor’s statement that felt off. “Wait, six?” 

        Instead of answering him, the Dark Knight simply looks over Robin’s shoulder as a new pair enter the room. You and the boys turn to see Martian Manhunter stepping from the shadows with a young teenage girl with green skin and a coppery red hair (the explanation that the reason the two were green was due to his origins as an outlander—as a Martian, took a bit longer for them to explain that you’d like to admit). “This is Martian Manhunter’s niece, Miss Martian.”

        She was a bit shy at first, giving them a small wave and a cute smile, you noticed she seemed to have a more human-like facial structure than her uncle. She greeted you all with a small yet nervous, “H-Hi.”

        You noticed how Kid Flash gives Robin a look as he puts his hand on his hip, the shorter male glancing up at him in turn, “Likin’ this gig more every minute,” he says with a small smirk before turning his attention back to the redheaded girl. “Uh, welcome aboard! I’m Kid Flash, that’s Robin,” the aforementioned boy gave her a little ‘rock on’ gesture with his hand (you only recognized it from your time with Xinyan who took the time in teaching you about the gesture she tends to make when performing). “Aqualad,” who gives her a silent nod in greeting. 

        “It’s cool if you forget their names.” He follows up nonchalantly.

        “I’m honored to be included,” she says with her hands clasped in front of her as the former sidekicks moved closer to greet her.

        You followed shortly behind them, raising a hand to your chest in a slight bow you had grown accustomed to doing when meeting new people back home, “And it is an honor to meet you as well, Miss Martian. I am Tide Caller, I hope our time together shall be memorable,” you state calmly. She seemed to fluster somewhat at your formality.

        You and Robin seemed to have come to a similar observation as you both had looked back to see Superboy standing off to the side by himself. Robin had taken the initiative however, noticing his downcast expression as he called out to him, “Hey Superboy! Come meet Miss M!” To which he complies.

        As he approaches, you watch as Miss Martian’s shirt seems to shift and warp into a new shape, changing from a solid white with a red X across her chest and a cape into a black t-shirt with the same red X, as if mirroring Superboy’s black top, “I like your t-shirt,” she admits albeit shyly.

        Superboy smiles softly which in turn causes Robin to nudge him in the chest with his elbow, a small smirk across his face. Kid Flash zips to the other side of him bearing a bright smile.

        Robin then looks to the Atlantean teen, both of them seemingly coming to a similar train of thought as Aqualad proudly states, “Today is the day.”

☆ ꧁ ═════════ ⋆✦⋆════════ ꧂ ☆

        While all of this occurred at Mount Justice, there was something stirring within Cadmus once more. 

        Below the currently under renovations Cadmus, “Cadmus changes today,” Guardian spoke directly to Dubbilex and Dr. Spence, the latter he turned to next, “Dr. Spence, you’re Acting Chief Scientist. No more G-Gnomes suppressing our wills, no more secret breeding projects. This is a kinder, gentler Cadmus.” He declares. 

        Dubbilex ensures to Guardian, announcing his his full support, “Then I will of course help in any way I can, brother.”

        Despite this promise to make a new and improved Cadmus, free of corruption and secrets galore, something sinister was brewing beneath the surface. 

        Guardian’s conversation was monitored by a group of unknown individuals, “Can the Light afford to leave Guardian without the G-Gnomes?” A masculine voice asks, the screens lined up as they all review the security footage currently playing this live feed.

        “We have subtler means of control,” another reassures. “What concerns me is the children. We now know the League is employing young Heroes to do their dirty work. Tch. That’s a dark twist.”

        “Yes, but one that can be played to our advantage,” a third, much deeper voice says.

        A scoff is heard, “You should be more worried of the loss of not only one, but two weapons,” A feminine voice chided. “You may be able to recover from the clone, but what about the Tide Caller? That was not an easy acquisition to make, their impromptu dive into this world was difficult to plan, how do you expect to get them back after such a blunder.”

        "Even the temporary loss of the weapon and the Tide Caller may prove useful,” reassures the last voice, before ending the exchange with finality. “Eventually, everyone sees the Light.”

[hanasnx]

honestly, every time you write for dc characters, it gives me life cause it feels like a dying art form on this site now 😭 anyways, i saw your new event so what about wally x wayne!reader, like “enemies to lovers-esque” they’ve been bickering since they were kids but now that they’re older somethings had to give after a particularly intense mission?

MINORS DNI 18+

NOTES: DC is for December Event! — request DC characters.

“Ugh! I don’t get why you don’t just listen! If you’d just trusted me—“ you begin, gesturing wildly with your hands despite no one being around. The comm in your ear sputters to life as your opponent is quick to rebuttal.

WALLY WEST doesn’t ever see your side of things, or refuses to just to get on your nerves. “Oh, I’m sorry. Last I checked, Major Bossy hadn’t been promoted to Team Leader.” You could hear the roll of his eyes in his voice as you pull the frame off the vent.

Instead of wasting your energy with clever response, you revert to immature tactics—the only strategy he lowers himself to. “If I’m Major Bossy, you’re definitely not Lieutenant Ass-Kisser.” you argue, ending the comment with a grunt as you slide your body weight into the narrow hall of the vent.

“Oh-ho-ho, didn’t know the weather report called for sarcasm—“ Predictably, Wally meets you where you’re at but now you can’t leave it alone. Your fingers press into the piece in your ear to make sure he hears you transparently.

“‘Weather report?’” you parrot incredulously, spitting your words, “you- are such- a cornball—!”

“Keep the comms clear!” the warning voice of the actual Team Leader, Nightwing, silences you both. Until you hear Wally’s stuttering protests, intent to keep bickering with you. “We don’t have Miss Martian, and you two idiots are wasting air time with this bullshit. Cut the chatter. Nightwing out.”

You press your lips together. As you dissolve into a snicker, you hear Wally mirror you on the other line.

“Do you ever shut up?” Wally speaks against your mouth, bare sweaty bodies sticking together.

“Do something to render me speechless, then.” you challenge, a curl teasing the corner of your lips as your arms wrap loosely around his neck. He lifts himself to hover above you, the leather band around his neck dangling a silver pendant over your chest. Your two heads bow to meet the sight between you, his dick slicked with pre-cum and spit settled nicely in your slit. The thick shaft makes a home in your folds, while the lip of his bulbous mushroom-shaped tip catches on your clit every time he ebbs and flows his hips. Lazily, he demonstrates it, the mix of fluids lubing up the rod to stroke up and down your sore sex. He’s hefty, a lot more than you gave him credit for, a heavy cock sprouting from wild dark red curls.

“You didn’t even shave.” you comment, hiding your obvious interest with a thin veil. He can still hear the waver in your voice, can see how you roll your puffy bottom lip through your teeth.

“You think I planned this?” He meets your eyes with his brow pricked. “Thought you hated my guts.”

You peer to the side innocently with the minutest of shrugs. “Or maybe I just wanted you to fuck them.”

[hazelsmirrorball]

Spider-Man’s Biggest Fan Series

Jaime Reyes is the biggest spiderman fan. His girlfriend on the other hand is Spiderman's biggest hater. 

pairings: Jaime Reyes x Spider-Man Fem! Reader 

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

And if you guys are up for it I’ll do another part for closure! Thank you so much for the love and support <3

[Masterlist]

[hannibals-favourite-meal]

.⋆｡A Big Night In｡⋆.

Dick Grayson x plus size reader

The one where Dickie and Dove finally have a night to themselves

Warnings: smut, unprotected sex, fluff, mom!reader, embarrassment, sort of breeding kink?

WC: 1.8k

Minors DNI

The Graysons

Library- @hannibals-favourite-meal-library

“Now, if she gets fussy, she really likes the koala with the missing ear. She literally can’t sleep without it.” Dick was panicking, that much was plain to see and Bruce couldn't help but smile. It was moments like this, where his boy was filled with anxiety about something so normal as leaving his 6 month old baby with her grandparents overnight, that made his heart ache in the best way.

“Chum, I know how to take care of Alice, I think the 20 page binder you gave each of us on her needs helps.” He glared at his father, arms tightening around his baby as she sat on his narrow hips, happily playing with the buttons on his shirt.

“Oh leave him alone.” His mother scolded, giving her husband a light slap on his arm. “Don't pretend you weren't even more upset when you had to leave Dick alone for the first time. I seem to remember you calling me every ten minutes to get updates on how he was doing.” A light pink flush spread across Bruce's cheeks at the memory.

Grumbling, his eyes dropped to the floor like a petulant child. “It wasn't every ten minutes.” Dick shot his mother a grateful smile before turning his attention to Alice who didn't seem to share her father's level of anxiety.

It was a big day, her first sleepover without her parents. It would have happened sooner, in fact the first attempt had been when she was three months old. You and Dick needed some 'alone time' and your in-laws had been more than happy to extend their babysitting services. But an hour before they would come to pick her up, you and Dick had a breakdown and cancelled, instead spending the night curled up together in bed, Alice between you.

But, you couldn't put it off any longer. Alice needed to be socialised with other people and you needed to get laid.

So after a tearful goodbye, Dick drove her to Gotham, insisting on a little daddy-daughter bonding time before she was handed over to her grandparents.

“She likes thunderstorm sounds when she goes to sleep. And if she's still fussy, there's some frozen milk in the cooler bag.” Said bag was handed over to the awaiting hands of her grandfather, along with a Wonder Woman themed duffle-bag that held everything else she could possibly need.

“Ba.” Alice spat out, chubby arm pointing to her grandmother. Dick knew he had to get this over with, like pulling off a bandaid.

He pressed a long kiss to the patch of dark hair on the top of her head, inhaling that baby smell she hadn't yet grown out of. “You’ll be good for nana and pops won't you?” She cooed, eyes still locked on the older woman. He sighed, pecking her soft skin a couple more times before she slipped from his arms and placed safely in his mother's.

“Everything will be fine, I promise baby bird. You two have fun tonight.” Dick was quickly shooed out of the manor but not without a vague threat to Bruce to keep her safe, which he brushed off with his usual nonchalance.

By the time he had returned to his apartment in Blüdhaven, his mood had improved, especially with the text he received from you telling him to come straight to the bedroom when he got home.

“Dove?” He called into the darkened apartment, slipping off his shoes as he stumbled forward. A trail of clothes, haphazardly thrown on the hardwood guided him forward. There was a dim glow coming from the room just off of the kitchen, the smell of vanilla like a siren's call.

“Come on Dickie, we have a lot to make up for and not a lot of time to do it.” Your voice called out to him.

Dick groaned and palmed his already throbbing cock- it had been a long time, too long. “You're playing a dangerous game, Dove.” His voice thick with arousal as he called back to you.

His own clothes quickly joined yours, leaving him in just his boxers as he stepped into the bedroom where all the air was knocked from his lungs.

Your perfect, soft, naked body was completely on display for him as you lounged on the bed. 

Your skin glowed in the soft orange light of the room and for a moment, Dick thought that there was no way you were real and that you were his.

“Holy fuck.” He watched with wide eyes as your legs fell open, revealing paradise to him, your fingers already tracing over your clit. “Leave it!” He suddenly shouted, now furiously tugging at his boxers. “That's all mine baby!”

Your giggles quickly turned into moans as your husband's strong body forced you further into the mattress and his lips met yours in a truly desperate kiss. Your nails dug into his muscular back making his hips buck into yours.

“Well, what are you gonna do about it daddy?” You cooed into his mouth, your left hand travelling down his front deliberately slow.

He caught your hand before you could reach his cock and with a dangerous gleam in his eye, he responded. “How about baby number 2?”

The cold metal of his wedding ring against your heated thigh sent a shiver up your spine, making his smirk grow as your nipples pebbled beneath his gaze. His fingers inched towards your centre, quickly gathering the arousal that had smeared onto your skin.

“God, you get even sexier by the day.” You gasped as he finally touched where you needed him the most, both easing and adding more fuel to your lust. His own patience was quickly wearing thin so your husband wasted no time in sliding two thick fingers inside you.

“Dick!” You threw your head back with a moan of his name.

“That's it, that's my pretty dove.” With his other hand planted by your head, Dick watched his fingers pump in and out of you, his skin now shinny with your wetness. “You're so fucking wet dove, must be aching for me.”

Your only response was to tighten around his fingers, your orgasm dangerously close. “Please please.” You begged.

“Do you want to cum on my fingers or my cock?” Dick breathed into your ear but the way that he was pressed so tightly against you, you could feel his thick cock throbbing against your thigh, the decision was already made for you.

“Want you inside, wanna feel your cock again.” His body sagged against you as he groaned from deep in his chest.

“Fuck, you can't say stuff like that- gonna make me cum before we even get to the good part.”

“Then you better fuck me already Grayson.” But the bite of your words was softened by the moan he forced from you as he ripped his fingers from your aching cunt and replaced them with the fat head of his cock.

“If you insist.” The first thrust was always deliciously painful as he stretched you out, making you feel every inch of his perfect length until he was nestled against your cervix and his balls pressed tightly to your ass.

Your groans mingled together in a beautiful lewd symphony, filling the bedroom like music. “So fucking tight.” Dick moaned through clenched teeth. “Need to fuck you more.”

“Yes.” You hissed both in response to your husband and because at that moment, his hips twitched causing his cock to brush against that sensitive bundle of nerves inside you.

“My poor girl, been neglecting my perfect wife. Gonna make it up to you, make you sit on my face till you beg me to stop.” His first thrusts were tentative, almost shy just like the first time you fell into bed with him but as you began to relax beneath him, he switched it up.

He knocked the moans from your lungs as he jackhammered into you, his own desperate need for release blinding him to everything else. “Never gonna let you feel empty again, I'll make sure you're always full of me one way or another.”

You sobbed with a particularly brutal thrust to your cervix and you dragged your nails down his back, leaving bright red marks. “Yes!” You cried.

“Fuck, your pussy is so fucking warm and tight, need to cum.”

“Inside, need it inside.” Your ankles locked around his hips. Your stomach began to pull tight just as Dick's thrusts began to waver.

“C'mon dove, cum for me- please.” And you shattered below him, melting into a puddle of ecstasy as your husband filled you with his cum, prolonging your orgasm.

Your left hand tangled in his dark hair and tugged his lips into yours. Your breath mingled as you both came down from your highs but Dick remained inside you, neither of you keen on having this end just yet.

“I love you.” You whispered to him and your husband smiled against your lips.

“I love you.” He replied with a gentle peck. “Soooooo, round 2?”

——————

“Dick's late.” Bruce's eyes once again flicked to the grandfather clock in the corner of the living room and then to the entryway but once again, there was no indication that his son had arrived.

Looking up from the floor where she had been playing with their granddaughter, his wife rolled her eyes. “Bruce, we've just given them their first uninterrupted date night in months, of course they're gonna be late. And hopefully they spent the night productively.” She said this last part almost to herself as she turned back to Alice who suddenly believed her right foot to be the most delicious thing ever.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at his wife. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing!” She sing-songed. “Oh look! They're here!”

And sure enough, Dick and a limping you walked through the door, not looking as well-rested as Bruce assumed you would be but both of you had big smiles on your faces.

“My girl!” Of course Dick immediately dove for his daughter, sending her into peels of laughter at seeing her father trip over his own feet in his hurry to get to her. You instead approached your father-in-law, greeting him with a warm hug and kiss to the cheek.

“Thank you for watching her, I hope she didn't give you too much trouble.” Bruce waved you off.

“She was an angel, like always. I thought you and Dick were going to get some rest, you look like you haven't slept a wink.” Dick snorted but immediately stopped when both you and his mother shot him a look.

You cleared your throat and with a look of embarrassment, you avoided Bruce's eyes. “We lost track of time and didn't get to bed until late.” You were content to leave it there but apparently, your husband had other ideas.

“Alice, what do you think about having a baby brother?” You and your mother-in-law sighed heavily as Bruce went pale, the realisation finally dawning on him.

“Oh-oh god. I think I need a drink.” 

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🎤 › "New member is an idol" Young Justice character ai bot ! The reader will be referred by they / them pronouns :) [ Author's note : you can edit the introduction to whoever you want to be your mentor ! ]

The team of young justice would be chilling in the main base of mount justice. They talked to one another about whatever they had on their mind before hearing the Zeta tubes being activated. They paused and looked towards the Zeta tubes.

"06 - [Mentor name]"

"B - 08 Y/n"

Two people walked out of them which consisted of a member of the justice league and presumably their protégé , Y/n. Y/n walked behind their mentor , they were slightly nervous on meeting the team. Y/n were in there civilian attire which m'gann instantly recognized , they were someone who was apart of an idol group named "Requiem For A Fallen Rose" and was commonly nicknamed "The Siren of Sorrows" due to their powerful and angelic vocals.

"Team , This is Y/n. Y/n , this is the team. You'll be working with them for now on." their mentor said , gesturing towards Y/n then towards the team. A soft smile was on their mentor's face. They were clearly proud of their protégé. "hello! I'm m'gann!" She quickly said , flying towards Y/n , a giddy smile on her face. She was excited to meet one of her favorite idols! Although the other members weren't aware of the new team-member being an idol.

Young Justice Character Ai Bot

[mintyys-blog]

DC MASTERLIST

PLEASE NOTE: the following fanfics may not be suitable for all readers, I am not responsible for your media consumption. please read any warnings before continuing.

YOUNG JUSTICE CHARACTERS

—> including: wally west, roy harper, jamie reyes, bart allen + kon el kent (90s superboy)

BATFAMILY CHARACTERS

—> including: tim drake, dick grayson, jason todd, batfam