A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry for the lack of updates, I've had a crazy few months! Hopefully, the updates will be coming out a bit quicker this time around but we'll see! Thanks to all those who've followed/favorited/commented, it makes a world of difference knowing someone's interested in the story you're telling! :)

Hope you all enjoy!

Chance Elhaney

Gotham City Suburbs, 7:00 AM

Flashes of light blue and lavender lit up the grinning boy's freckled face as horses made of colorful wisps of light bounded around the room, illuminating the walls and the young faces within them. The laughs and exclamations from his friends only further induced a sense of joy and warmth within the young meta. He watched as the glowing horse pranced around his best friend, Thea, her face lighting up with excitement as she reached forward to make a grab for the horse. Her hands passed through the glowing animal as if it were simply a projection.

Chance knew that, in a sense, that's what it was, but more of a projection of the soul is how he preferred to explain it. It was too complicated and boring otherwise. However, he also knew that his friend wouldn't be any less entertained by the fact that she couldn't truly touch the projection of her own soul. Which... sounded a bit weird the more that Chance thought about it, but who was he to question his own abilities anyway?

His smile only grew as he watched Reggie, Thea's young brother, stare up at the dark green eagle that soared over his head with wide, bright eyes. The bird left a trail of green sparkles in its wake, sprinkling dark green sparkles over the boy's awestruck face.

Happiness. That was the best feeling in the world in Chance's opinion. Either that or friendship. It was a very, very close tie. And he was feeling both at the same time, he felt like the luckiest person alive.

Bump!

Chance's soft brown eyes fluttered open as the bus slowly screeched to a stop, his brows furrowing slightly as his little friendship daydream melted away before his eyes. His previously happy smile dipped slightly into a disappointed frown as he peered to his left and out the window, drawing his knees up to his chest with a small huff. They had stopped at another neighborhood. Gosh, it was boring.

Typically he loved meeting new people, but not like this! On a bus, kinda sorta against his will, even though he loved Superboy and Miss Martian and didn't believe that'd truly do anything to hurt him if he didn't want to go with them. But it almost seemed that way. He remembered feeling ecstatic when they came to see him again, after-all, they were kind of friends. Not like that had movie days or game nights or anything like that, but they had saved him once! To him, the incident was mostly a blur, he only remembered bits and pieces. Super bright lights, mean people, cold hands and this really weird beeping noise. And clocks. Lots and lots of clocks.

Chance remembered asking Miss Martian if he was attacked by his alarm clock for hitting snooze many times. He laughed when she had laughed. She was really nice, and had a really pretty smile, she reminded him of his big sister. Though it was odd, he never really received an answer when he had asked what had happened to him and why he couldn't remember. Miss Martian and Superboy just said it was probably better he had forgotten, and if they said so then Chance was a-okay with it.

Which was why he was also so a-okay with the fact that the two of them had told him that it was for the better that he was going to this weird camp. Although part of him wasn't quite as steel sure that they were on board with what they were saying. Miss Martian looked a little sad when she and Superboy had come to pick him up, and Superboy just looked distracted. Chance thought that he always looked kinda distracted, but like, he was level weird distracted.

Still, off he went with a surprisingly difficult goodbye from his sister. She had fought hard for him to stay, she was pretty mad at them, but Chance knew that they were only doing what they had to do to help. His own little town had been impacted by the weird meta-human crazy-fest that was going down throughout the world. He knew it must be hard for any sort of solution to be made when there was a problem like that to deal with.. on top of... aliens.. and other weird things the Justice League protected the planet from.

A small gasp from the seat in front of him pulled Chance from his thoughts. He went to prop himself up on his knees and peer over the top of the seat, his gaze landing on a girl with curly brown hair and scared brown eyes curled up in the corner of the seat by the window. She looked to be a few years older than him, but he didn't think that would make her anymore tough than anyone else on the bus. He tilted his head and went to give her a tap on the shoulder.

"Excuse me..?" His voice, although soft, appeared to startle the girl even more as she jerked her shoulder away from him and whipped her head around to stare at him with her frightened gaze.

"Wow, oops, I'm sorry, are.. are you okay?" Chance asked quickly, holding up his hands slightly, now feeling just as uneasy as the girl he was attempting to calm.

Rather than speaking, the girl curled further into herself and leaned against the window again, her eyes screwing shut as she released a shaky breath. Chance had pulled both his hands back, figuring that physical contact to reassure her was probably not the best move.

"I'm sorry if I scared you.. I just wanted to see if you were going to be oka-"

"I'm fine. Just sit down and don't talk to me."

Chance blinked, quickly shutting his mouth as he stared down at the girl with a confused stare. His cheeks began to burn slightly as he felt embarrassment creep over him.

"Okay... I.. sorry.. that was... mhm.. personal space..."

"What part of 'don't talk to me' do you not comprehend?" The girl's voice was bitter, but trembling.

"Sorry-" Chance quickly went quiet again, sinking back against his seat as he gave a deep sigh, his frown deepening slightly as he absentmindedly swung his legs back and forth off the front of the seat, his toes barely brushing the ground from the height of the tall seat. That was the worst feeling in the world, wanting to help and not being able to.

He looked out the window, watching quietly as a girl in her late teens with short, curly brown hair with dark magenta tips hopped onto the bus with a confident stride, her gaze sweeping about the passengers. Chance began to hold up a hand to wave, but quickly brought his hand down, instead moving to bounce his leg slightly up and down, his eyes falling onto the inhibitor bracelets on his wrists. They were a little itchy.

"Is this seat taken?"

A warm female voice once again stole Chance's attention. He glanced up to see the newcomer gently smiling down at him. Chance brightened, feeling his smile begin to return.

"Oh! Nope." He shook his head.

"Mind if I..?"

Chance blinked, surprise briefly replacing his happiness. She wanted to sit with him! Finally, someone who wanted to talk.. or at least try to make friends, maybe.

"Oh sure! I'd love to have some company." He paused, briefly glancing toward the seat with the scared looking girl. "The others are kinda scary... or sad..."

"So I see.." Chance caught the girl smile as he straightened up and shifted closer toward the window to make room for the taller girl.

The smile once again began pulling at his lips as he sat up in his seat, he then turned his head to look at the girl who was staring absentmindedly at the seat ahead of her.

"My name's Chance, what's yours?"

The girl blinked and glanced over at him.

"Sorry? I didn't hear."

Chance simply flashed her a smile and waved his hand.

"I said my name's Chance! What's yours?"

"Kinsley."

The girl finally mirrored Chance's smile, her eyes mysterious, yet oddly kind. She seemed genuinely interested in talking to him too. That was a nice change, maybe he had found a new friend after all.

Somewhere in the Northern Labrador Sea

Black wing-tipped shoes slowly stepped along the middle of a cement pathway, bordered on either side by freezing seawater. Above the head of the owner of said shoes, was a clear glass ceiling, revealing nothing but the bitterly cold and treacherously dark water of the Labrador Sea. The man's dark overcoat trailed behind him as he practically glided through the chilled tunnel and to the set of large metal doors at the end of it. He slipped off a dark leather glove to place his sickly pale looking hand against a handprint scanner, removing it only when the doors hissed and slid open, allowing the man entrance into the dark circular room before him.

The glove was slipped back onto his hand, though the man paused when the edge of the glove met one of the few golden watches the man wore upon his wrist. He slowly released the glove and tapped at the glass covering the hands on the watch, waiting until the previously stalled hands began to tick once more.

"Sir."

A woman's voice from the left caught the man's attention, his pale blue gaze sweeping over toward the source of the voice.

"Walsh." The man responded in a quiet, smooth tone, stepping toward the uniformed assistant.

"Phase Two appears to be on the road to completion..." The assistant, Walsh, stuttered quietly.

"Show me."

Upon the man's request, Walsh turned to a keyboard laid out on one of the side desks in the rooms, pressing a button to display a various news stations on a wide projector in the middle of the room. Slowly, the man approached, his gaze glued onto the videos of overturned cars, burning buildings and people running, shifting his attention to the headlines.

"'Meta-Human Apocalypse'?" The man paused, a small tugging at his lips. "Cute... What of the Justice League then?"

Walsh quickly walked over, pressing a button on a small remote to change the stations.

"They're creating... camps... sir."

"Camps?"

"Yes.. to.. teach and protect children with an activated meta-human gene."

"Mrm.." The man approached the screen again. "Well that won't do, will it?"

The room was eerily quiet, the only sound being that of keyboards tapping quietly from the various workers in the room. Even from a few feet away the man could tell young Walsh was stiff.. intimidated.

"Then again..." He took a deep, thoughtful breath and narrowed his eyes. "Maybe it will..."

"Sir..?"

"Walsh." The man addressed the woman almost condescendingly, evoking a small squint from the woman that disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. "They're rounding them up... placing them in a centralized area.."

"I know, it's a set-back... we're thinking of a way around it-"

"Ah-" The man held up a finger, silencing her as he shifted his gaze back to the screen. "It's an opportunity."

He didn't have to see the woman's reaction to know she understood now. She was clever enough to figure it out with a little help. Though he remained quiet, thoughtful, as he looked over each headline and update from the Justice League and the U.N., furrowing his brows as his gaze settled upon on one, briefly shown headline in particular.

"Oh and Walsh?"

The woman stopped before reaching her desk, glancing back at the man.

"Do alert me if there's any sighting of the Nightwing snooping about these camps, won't you?"

"Of course, sir."

The woman took a seat at her desk as the man continued to eye the screen, eventually turning away and placing one hand behind his back, the other slipping into his overcoat to retrieve a silver pocket watch. He ran a gloved thumb over the shiny metal before clicking it open, watching the hands within the watch tick past quietly, a smile once again crossing his face.

"Soon, my friend..."

A/N: YeeT! Take a team member introduction and also the first peek at the big baddie of the story. Hope you enjoyed this much over due update!

Reviews and whatnot are greatly appreciated if you have any thoughts! :)

Hope you all are having some happy holidays!