-Prom outfit up top!! Drafted and sewed everything by hand (don't own a sewing machine, never drafted clothes before)-
-Very (very) inspired by FantasyFire's fin "Catching Icurus" on AO3-
"Calm the alert, Batman." Wonderwoman said. "These 'threats' are children."
"Wonderwoman," Robin sighed. "Are we glad to see you! Is Bats still mad about earlier?"
She frowned in confusion, caught off guard by the familiar tone he used.
"Listen kiddos," The Flash said in a voice that was not that of Wally's uncle. "How about we call your parents and get this whole thing sorted out before bedtime, huh?"
Wally glared at him, heart pounding faster than normal, as if speed-reading in iambic pentameter. "You're not Flash."
"Uhuh... what?" Flash asked.
"Can I get everyone to put down their weapons please and give me their names?" Wonderwoman asked, very slowly and peacefully as though defusing a bomb.
"What?"
"Wonderwoman?" Robin pleaded. Kaldur stopped him before the smallest teammate could stir up anything else. "Please can we see Black Canary? I'm sure she can explain everything."
Flash frowned. "Canary? What does she have to do with this?"
Wonderwoman shrugged. "Call her, they might be acquainted."
"I came as fast as I could." A gruff voice called, drawing all eyes over to a rapidly approaching Batman.
"B, thank god!" Robin hurried over, intending to grab his mentors arm and hang all his weight on it, when he felt a sudden coldness, a sense of preemptive alarm that he'd developed from living with Bruce. He jumped back, just in time to avoid Batman's disarming attempt. "Bats! Its me!"
"Who are these?" Batman asked.
"Not sure. They claim to know canary."
"And you, obviously: kid has to be confident in his plan to try and hug you."
"I wasn't--" the bird huffed, realizing he was being excluded from the conversation.
"Have you called their parents?"
"They haven't even introduced themselves."
Batman glowered down at them. "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"
Kaldur looked over the three humans, all looking as queasy and confused as he felt. What was wrong with the league? There was one thing he knew for sure: they needed to get out of this situation, find the other two, and make a plan of action.
"I'm sorry, we're just looking for our friends. We got lost." He said quickly, placing one hand on Robin and one on Wally, pulling them back from their mentors.
"Pretty lost, for an Atlantean." Batman observed. "What are you really doing here."
"We're just leaving. we'll stay out of the way..." Kaldur babbled, backing away under their glare.
"Team! oh my gosh!" The leader flinched, but despite the interruption of his plan, he was overwhelmingly relieved to see his friends. M'gann zoomed down just over them, green skin and all, embracing her friends in a hug.
The Faux Flash, Wonderwoman, and Batman looked at each other, the energy shifting dramatically. "J'onn will want to hear about this."
"That's not all." Wonderwoman looked over their heads at the final approaching teenager.
"We were so confused! when I woke up my connections were all fuzzy, so I couldn't open the link! Lucky Superboy could hear you guys..."
"Superboy?" The two founders chorused, crouching with preparation as Conner quietly greeted his friends, looking the adults up and down, awaiting instructions.
"Another...?" Flash frowned, staring at Conner.
Wonderwoman nodded feverishly, blanching and taking on a fretful look. "It's another Cadmus clone?"
"Hey!" Artemis, Robin, and Wally shouted in tandem.
Kaldur's usual shyness became masked with mortification and anger. "Please, there's no reason to address superboy like that."
"Call superman." Batman said. "We need to ready for transport."
Clark didn't know why Bruce called a founder's meeting, but he perked up as the others escorted in six young strangers.
"Uncle J'onn!" A green girl cried, waving excitedly to the martian, who was working busily at the tower's controls. "What's happening."
"Sit tight kiddo," Flash pulled her arm back down. "We're just taking you to a holding room for--"
"You..." J'onn stood, shaken. Seizing up, both his and the girl's eyes glowed, anf neither could be moved from their trance.
"Is he the one?" Clark hurried over to his fellow World's greatest, eyes wavering on a familiar fluff of black hair. "The cadmus clone?"
"SHUT IT!" Barked a blonde girl, poised like a feral kitten about to launch herself at him.
"Please calm down." Batman said, not sternly, but firmly. "We know you're scared, but we'll get you back to your parents as soon as we've sorted this out."
"W--WHAT? No! I mean--" She stammered, face flushing, but couldn't find the words.
"Before you go into the holding room, would you like to tell us anything?" Diana asked.
"Like how you come across a martian, an Atlanean, and a Kryptonian clone?"
"Batman! You know you guys can't call Superboy that!" the Smallest kid growled.
"It's fine." The clone said stiffly, glowering at him. Though the Clone was younger, mid teens at most, and of a much more severe disposition, It was definately a clone; and the other children's unwillingness to acknowledge it was confusing. They're reaction to the words 'Cadmus' and 'clone' were those of hearing a slur of insults, why? What was so personal about it?
A young black boy, the same age or older, sporting noticeably aquatic traits, grabbed his arm. "Superboy--"
"IT'S FINE, OKAY?!" The clone snapped, jerking his arm away and crossing them tightly. He glanced around, and settled himself on glaring in the direction of the green girl, who was still floating in deep trance.
Clark noticed that both the other founders were on edge; Diana was toying with the end of her lasso, while Bruce had dropped all subtlety and gripped his belt, iron gaze set of the threatening presence of the teen. So as not to be the last to act, Clark prepared himself to jump in and restrain.
"We don't know what's going on," A ginger kid in a garish yellow costume said, actually addressing them, and not his friends. "honest."
"What about your costumes?" Diana asked, also judging their strange apparel; some dressed in unique ways, others looking like shrunken down versions of heroes they worked with.
"Well, uh," He gestured vaguely to the flash symbol on his chest. "Well, I feel weird fighting crime without it."
Clark and his collogues exchanged glances, it wasn't the first time they'd dealt with Inexperienced wannabe heroes, but it was uncomfortable to see them come as young as the short kid with the cape.
"Look, kid. I'm flattered," Flash chuckled. "But I've kinda got the Flash market cornered."
"You're all young. you're still learning and growing. You shouldn't have to worry about saving the world." Dinah explained gently.
"You're too young and untrained." Bruce said.
"OH? Where's This coming from?" The small kid sneered, glowering up at Batman with the brevity only a god or an idiot could harness under Bruce's watch.
"Maybe you can help us out somehow when you're older, but please enjoy your youth while you have it."
"Contact Aquaman." Bruce ordered, gesturing towards the amphibious-looking boy. "Ask if he's had anyone go missing. Superman, see if you can make contact with J'onn and the martian girl."
Martian girl? But, J'onn was the only survivor of mars, who was this girl? Clark turned and watched the two; both stationary with their arm's limp at their sides, eyes glowing, yet their serenity was interrupted by some abstract tension. Then, Clark realized that both had heavy, consistent tear streams trickling down their cheeks.
Before he could ask what was wrong, the teen gasped sharply, as if awaking from a nightmare, and began to shake, wiping her eyes. "But they're all still there. They're alive, I showed you!"
"Not here, child." J'onn gently cradled her chin, helping blot out the tears. this was A new side of him for sure: he was so gentle with this child.
Behind them, a blonde woman leaned in the doorway. "Flash, you wanted me?"
"Canary." The clone stormed at her.
Luckily, Dinah could handle herself; lunging under the clone's arm, she kicked in the back of his knee, causing him to crumple to the ground. Dinah situated herself, pinning him down. For a Cadmus clone, he wasn't showing nearly as much planning or aggression as Galatea. "Batman? What's going on?"
"Get Off!" The clone kicked her off, scrambling up. "Why did you do that?" He ordered, a hint of something in his voice, fury? Betrayal?
"Calm down, son. Nothing will come from fighting." Clark said, putting a firm hand on the boys' shoulder to steady him.
The clone yanked away like he'd been burned, sprinting past Dinah (minding he stayed out of her reach) to hide behind the hero. Looking at him, Clark saw even more differences: in leu of an apricot-toned tan from summers on the farm, the boy looked sun deprived, with bruise-like purple showing through the hollows of his cheeks; instead of the famous 'soft-serve' cowlick, his hair was greasy and unkept.
"Black Canary, these children claim to know you." Diana explained, herding The Atlanean --along with the youngest three-- forwards. They glanced between themselves anxiously, put on the spot.
The Martian girl pulled away from J'onn. "Black Canary! You're here!" She smiled shakily. "Are you our Black Canary or their Black Canary?"
"She's not our Canary." The clone snarled, arms rigid at his sides.
"What do you mean, Ms. Martian?" The Atlantean boy asked, hesitant, as though he was on the brink of something big.
Ms. Martian (She wasn't even old enough to be called miss) wiped her eyes with her knuckle. "Hello, Megan! It's not our league:" She hiccupped. "It's not our world! That shock wave that hit the bioship! It took us to a different earth."
"Whoa, slow down." The kid with the Flash symbol waved his hands. "Multiverse Theory is still a THEORY! I mean, there was the under-eighteen dimensional split, but the timelines were parallel and they collided, so-- so..."
"I think you broke him." The short kid commented.
"She didn't break me. This is a crazy-big scientific discovery!" Clark, who had found the kid's voice strangely familiar, took pause, regarding the boy's messy mop of red hair. Could they be right? The league had assumed that finding children in the boom tube radius had been a coincidence, but dimension hopping wasn't completely new to them (Although involuntary dimension-hopping children was something else).
"Uncle J'onn showed me! He showed me that there's a league here, but it's so much bigger! It's not our world!"
"Please, we need to go back to our world." The Atlantean pleaded. "We were supposed to be on a mission, we shouldn't risk any sort of dimensional rift..."
"It's alright, son." Clark interrupted. "Calm down, we're going to need to ask you some questions."
"You're late." Bruce hissed.
"I have a kingdom to run, a few suspect children can wait." Arthur, king Orin, Aquaman, was insufferable as ever regarded the cluster of children as they paced impatiently around the mirrored waiting room.
"Far left, sitting next to the small kid." Bruce said stiffly. "You know, the one with the gills."
"I don't know everyone in Atlantis personally, but I'd assume he's an inner-city citizen, middle to lower class." Arthur said. "He's what many of my advisors would call 'impure'."
"Impure?"
"Gills, fins, aquatic features. They're just signs of genetic evolution, but many consider them to be lesser."
"You need new advisors." Bruce replied. "We don't expect you to identify the boy. After we sent for you, we discovered that these children were ultraterrestrial: They're from another timeline."
"Another Atlantis."
"Indeed." Bruce turned back to the kids, while the small boy and the Atlantean exchanged words, the blonde girl and the redhead bickered audibly through the wall while the martian girl played with tufts of their hair. The clone however, faced them directly, inches from the wall, squinting. Watching them? He would be if he had superman's X-ray vision.
"You hear something, Supes?" The redhead, having lost the argument, asked.
"They're watching us!" The little kid told them. "Put your hands around the mirror and you'll be able to see them."
"Aqualad..." The Clone muttered, staring hard. "it's Aquaman --not Aquaman, their Aquaman."
"Hi guys." Redhead waved at the heroes through the glass, causing a couple of the others to grumble. "Ready to question us yet?"
Bruce sighed. "Call the others and pick a child."
"My king." The boy stood, saluting, not looking Orin in the face. His foamy teal eyes caught on his hook and widened, but he didn't speak. He didn't end his salute or relax; waiting to be excused.
"At ease." He said. The boy dropped his arm, but still stood stiffly, trying to keep his eyes from wandering over his king. "Name and Rank?"
"Kaldur'ahm, general, minor-rank; Aqualad."
"General?"
"Yes sir."
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen, sir."
"Sixteen?" Orin asked, both eyebrows raised.
"Seventeen in a couple months, sir." he said quickly.
"And when did you begin your service?"
"I began my mandatory military service at age twelve."
"At twelve and yet your team was captured by in seconds."
The boy deflated, eyeing the floor, and not knowing what he was supposed to do from here, Orin left.
"Alright, bud." Wally sat across from the yellow-suited kid. "So, Kid Flash, what's your name? "
"...Wally."
"Wally?" Wally asked. "Wally West?"
"Uh, yeah!" The kid laughed, nervously.
"JUNIOR?"
"Uh..." The kid stumbled. "...I don't think so."
"No?" Wally asked, confused. "But you said you're Kid Flash. I'm the Flash. Aren't you like, my kid?"
"Flash is my uncle." The kid, little Wally, frowned. "I mean, in my universe he is... but... you're not my uncle."
"Were you named after your uncle?"
"Nope. His name if Barry."
Wally gaped. "Wait-- MY uncle's name was Barry! You're me!" He pulled back his cowl, exposing his ginger hair.
The kid looked him up and down. "Oh. Ew."
"Ew? Really?"
"What am I supposed to say? You look like me but old and tired!" Little Wally pulled back his cowl and Wally couldn't help laughing. "What?"
"You're-- I'm-- I mean, you're like, a baby!"
"I'm not a baby. I'm fifteen." Little Wally snapped. "And you're what? Forty?"
"I'm twenty-eight!" Wally had a good chuckle, but the laughter died on his tongue. "You... are aren't serious, about the fighting crime, I mean."
"Why would I be joking?"
"I mean. You're fifteen!"
Little Wally crossed his arms, defensively. He did look exactly like Wally's 10th grade yearbook photo; fluffy gel-fueled hair, so many freckles you could barely see his pasty skin, and eyes so furiously green they seemed like a derogatory Irish stereotype. "And?" He asked in a voice that had not fully dropped. "Me, Aqualad and Rob are more experienced than some of the leaguers, y'know."
"I'm sure..." Wally said, not sure how to feel. "But uncle B is the Flash in your world? That's wild. You're like, his sidekick?"
"Uh, we're not sidekicks. Me and the others are a covert team of teenage heroes."
"So... It's like, the Babysitters' Club?"
"No!"
"Name?"
"Robin." The child said. He was about twelve or thirteen, black hair (noticeably coarse, possibly of south Asian or Indian decent), and built small but wiry; perhaps a gymnast or a dancer, Bruce thought.
"Real name?"
"Not here. Bats don't just banter their names in public." Robin exclaimed, glancing around the perfectly empty room.
"Bats don't?"
"So you never... you never trained me here." The child muttered, lowering his eyes.
"If it helps, you probably don't exist here." As soon as he said it, Bruce frowned at himself; no way the boy would read that correctly.
Robin smiled. "I guess it helps. But how can I know there's not one of your work chums watching us from back there?" He gestured to the large mirrored wall.
"Because I'm the only one who actively watches interrogations."
"Fair enough." He sighed. "But how do I know this isn't some weird mind trick?"
"You're an interdimensional intruder to us, you'll just have to make your peace with telling me if you want to go home."
"...Yeah, no one could sound that much like Bruce."
Bruce tried not to show his alarm at being identified. "And your name?"
"One second, let me enjoy the power." The boy caught he look and groaned. "Kidding! I'm Dick Grayson, your ward."
"My ward?"
"Yeah, you kinda just scooped me up when I was nine and I've been training as Robin ever since."
"Since you were nine?" Bruce was staggered, in whatever universe he originated, that Bruce Wayne had not only taken in a child while he was (allegedly) seducing his way across America, but had made that child fight crime! What for, to earn his keep? Who on earth would justify endangering their own child like that?
"Uh, yeah." The boy said, reluctantly peeling off his mask. "I've been at it more than some of the league. I'd say I'm pretty good."
Bruce frowned, his other would counterpart disgusted him! Even though he could not imagine settling down to raise a child, the thought of endangering his own son as a child soldier in the name of saving other children? What was wrong with him? Children were not old enough to handle the nuances and responsibilities of saving the world. Who was this other league? Taking on sidekicks? The oldest of these teenagers still looked young enough to be actively sleeping with a teddy bear!
"Is this my one?"
"Ollie? Huh, half expected you to not exist here."
"She knows my name!" Oliver smirked. "What's your name, kiddo?"
"Artemis."
"Archery themed name?" He looked at Dinah ecstatically. "Green costume? Blonde?!"
Dinah groaned, slumping in her seat.
"What?" The girl asked.
"So... Artemis Queen or Artemis Lance?"
"What? No!" She jumped up, toppling her folding chair.
"But... you're our daughter, right?"
"WHAT? NO!" The girl exclaimed, She gestured wildly at her hair, low nose bridge, and decidedly south-east Asian skin tone. "You think I'm-- Arrow, look me in the face and tell me that you think I'm your guys' kid!"
Oliver shrugged, feeling defensive, and admittedly a little embarrassed. "I don't know, alternate universe stuff."
"NO! not your kid! Just you're backup."
"So... my sidekick? How did that happed?"
"First of all, not a sidekick. Second, It's cause your ward got so pissed about being called a sidekick that you sought me out cause you need teenage backup."
"Wait, my ward?"
"Red Arrow? Speedy? Whatever!"
"Super...boy?" Clark asked. "I'm sorry if this is awkward, talking to me instead of your Superman..." The boy huffed, arms crossed protectively over the shield on his shirt, looking everywhere but at Clark. "What's your name, Son?" The boy stiffened, shooting him a vicious glare. "again, I'm sorry about this questioning situation, it's mandatory, but we'll have everything sorted out shortly." Still the boy said nothing. Clark felt bad, the boy was the other Superman's son. Clark had always wanted a son, this was probably the closest he'd get, and the kid didn't even want to speak to him. "Can you please answer these questions? It's the only thing I'll make you do."
"Fine." The boy grunted, scowling at the floor.
"Alright then, can you please give me your name and age?"
"Superboy, five months."
"okay..." Clark noted it down, they could ask one of the more open kids later on. "...the names of your parents or guardians? I guess that's a bit redundant." He said, going to sign his own name. Except, the boy went stiff; he glowered at Clark, as though the man had just said something deeply insulting. "Did I say something?"
He turned away sharply. "No."
It was a blatant lie, Clark could hear the boy's heart pounding a mile a minute. "I didn't mean to offend you."
"You never did anything." the kid bit out.
Clark frowned. "...Would you rather sit with your friends?"
He raised his eyes just off the floor. "...Yes."
"No way, bats adopted a kid?" Wally laughed. "I just.. I never would have seen in!"
"Neither would I." Diana said icily.
"Well apparently I adopted two kids, so beat that." Oliver interrupted, willing as ever to one-up.
"I want to disclaim," Wally added. "That that embryo does NOT represent how I was as a kid; I was NOT that annoying!"
Bruce didn't even say anything merely turning to the last few. "J'onn, you had a connection to that girl."
"She is a Martian. She showed me a planet full of Martians, alive and functioning as if nothing happened." J'onn took pause. "Although, she is not a green Martian like she pretends to be..."
"Then, what is she?"
"I'm not sure as of yet... but I will find out."
"Speaking of needing to find things out, we are yet to learn anything substantial; not even his real name."
"Whoa. He must be real tough if even Bat's kid confessed his."
"That, or he wasn't being interrogated properly." Bruce said. "He'll be used to you, he needs something firmer."
"Be my guest, but I'd like to be there." Clark added. "He may be a Cadmus clone, but he's the other Superman's son. I want to be there for him."
"Alright then." Diana said, joining her fellow founders. "Round two."
-I'm sorry about how rushed and disorganized this was, but I'll just about to head out to my grad ceremony and prom afterwards, so i just wanted to post smt :)