Hello, everyone :) I'm Rae, welcome to my first Young Justice story. This is basically a series of one-shots connected with a story I'll be doing soon in the Spiderman universe. Now, yes, I know that Spiderman is Marvel and Young Justice is DC, but we're gonna smash them together here, so bear with me please.
The main character here is my own twist on Spiderman's daughter – I say my own twist because I have no idea what she was like in the comics, so I'm just winging it here. I could be totally off cannon or right on target… frankly, I don't really care, I've just got to write this or it will slowly drive me insane O.o xD Some things will be obvious from the start, like how this is set just after the episode "Agendas", and some will be explained later on, like why Spiderman and Heather (his daughter, also called Black Widow) are on rocky terms.
Anyway, these one-shots are written in order, but they're not exactly like consecutive chapters in a story, as a lot of time could have lapsed between scenes or none at all, and some will have happened before "Agendas". Confused yet? I know I am, but we're gonna give this a shot anyway :D Hope you like it, and please review.
New Spider in Town
1) The Arrival
"So why did you call us all here, Batman?" M'gann asked from where she floated next to Conner.
"I thought we were training today," Artemis agreed. "Black Canary's not here though, so… what's the deal?"
Wally, Zatanna and Connor seemed to agree by their expressions. Aqualad was silent, but obviously curious. Robin had been smirking knowingly since he'd arrived with Batman.
"As you all know," Batman began his face stoic as usual. "The Justice League recently met to discuss some new members – both for the League and your team as well. We disagreed on many choices but one very important figure was agreed upon without arguments. He will join the league, and his protégé will join Young Justice."
"And that would be who exactly?" Wally asked.
"See for yourself," Batman invited, just as the zeta beam portal glowed behind him.
Recognize. Spiderman A19. The computer intoned.
Out of the glow stepped the webslinger himself. "That thing always gives me a head rush," he remarked as he came to stand beside Batman.
Wally's eyes grew huge before he zipped up to the Arachnid hero. "Oh my god! Spiderman, dude, I am such a huge fan!" He said excitedly while shaking the older man's hand a little too vigorously.
Spiderman took a step back as his arm was vibrated up and down. "Good to meet you too. It's Kid Flash, right?" He inquired warily.
"Yes!" Wally exclaimed, nodding his head rapidly as he released Spiderman's hand. He turned and zipped over to Robin, practically bouncing. "Dude, Spiderman knows my name!" he said in a not so quiet whisper.
Artemis rolled her eyes. "Wally, honestly. He's a member of the League now – of course he knows all our names!"
Wally sent her an annoyed glare. "You're just jealous," he retorted.
"Jealous? Of you? Don't make me laugh," Artemis snipped.
As the two oblivious teens argued, the rest of the team stepped up to Spiderman to make proper introductions. Aqualad bowed respectfully as well as shook the hero's hand, M'gann practically hugged him and Connor only nodded. Zatanna shook his hand, noting that Robin failed to step up.
She shot Robin an accusing look as the grin on his face only grew. "You knew this was Batman's news, didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Robin replied, as if it was obvious. "I know everything," he added cockily, the sunglasses unable to hide his lifted eyebrow like his mask could.
"He only knows because he hacked into the Watchtower's computer and looked over the security tapes. Against my strict orders," Batman said, throwing a light batglare at his adopted son.
Robin's demeanor dimmed only slightly. "Hey, I built that computer from scratch. I didn't need to hack, just access the back door I installed." The smirk was back now, "Besides, if I didn't hack as well as I do, I wouldn't be the Boy Wonder! Don't get traught about it."
To anyone else, it looked like the batglare intensified. But to Robin, he could see past the cowl and discern the corners of Bruce's mouth twitching slightly. Dick's grin could now give the Joker a run for his money.
"You said that you also added a new member to our team. Where is he?" Connor asked.
"She should be here soon," Spiderman answered, glancing at the zeta tubes, his tone annoyed. "I could have sworn she was right behind me."
"She?" Zatanna asked, glancing at Robin to see that yes, he knew about this too. Surprise, surprise.
The computer answered before Spiderman could. Recognize. Black Widow B09.
Instead of someone stepping out of the tube however, they flipped into Mount Justice in a double somersault before landing in a crouch. The figure looked up and grinned.
"Did I miss anything?" the girl asked while standing. Black Widow, Spiderman's sidekick, put her hands on her hips as her smile grew. Her eyes danced secretly behind the mask that was of a similar style to her mentor's, but it only covered half of her face like Artemis' cowl.
Coming out of the back of the mask and trailing down behind her was a long braid of auburn hair. She was a little taller than M'gann with tanned skin and an athletic, sinewy form. Her costume had the same design base as Spiderman's, but with purple in the place of red and black instead of blue. In addition, Widow's top was sleeveless and with a bared midriff. Her gloves were black, fingerless motorcycle gloves and she had a silver utility belt with the familiar emblem of her mentor stamped in black.
"Late as usual, I see," Robin said playfully, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I heard you were going to be here so I had to drag out arriving as long as possible," she replied with a smirk while stepping up to stand next to Spiderman. He sent her a look of annoyance while she just smirked back.
"You were right behind me," he said lowly. "What happened?"
"Mugging," she replied in a normal tone, not caring who heard, "There was a woman with a baby. I had to do something and it didn't take long really. Guy's hanging from a flag pole over Third Avenue now with a note for the cops. I got here as fast as I could afterwards," she added.
"What have I told you about going in without me?" Spiderman demanded, seeming to forget the people standing around them.
"Don't do it, you don't have enough experience, blah, blah, blah," Black Widow replied in a bored voice. She shook her head, "Seriously, I've been doing this for almost a year and you still don't trust me to take a mugger by myself? It's not like it was Hydroman or something, just another hood with a sad excuse for a pocketknife."
"You should have contacted me," Spiderman scolded.
"I knew I could handle it and I did," His protégé replied in an icy tone. "Just because you think I can't do this job doesn't mean I can't. It only makes you look more and more paranoid. Oh and in case you've forgotten, we're not the only ones in the room. So now on top of everything else, we both look totally unprofessional."
Spiderman glanced over at Young Justice and The Batman and winced. The team was trying to look anywhere than at the two heroes. Even Artemis and Wally had quit bickering long enough to notice what was happening and appear uncomfortable. Batman, meanwhile, was in full batglare mode.
"If you two are done now," Batman articulated darkly to the senior part of the arachnid duo. "You and I have to get back to the Watchtower for a meeting. Green Lantern – Hal – has returned to Earth with an urgent report. Superman gets annoyed when people are late."
"Forgive the interruption. We can leave immediately." Spiderman sent one more look at his protégé, his meaning clear even through the full face mask. We'll continue this later.
She sent him a look right back, her jaw clenched. Don't expect it to go well.
Batman turned toward the zeta tubes, throwing one warning over his shoulder. "No hacking Robin, this is strictly League business. I'll let you know if I have a mission for the team soon."
Robin crossed his arms and sighed. "Yes, Batman. Guess he's not feeling the aster today." Zatanna giggled and patted his shoulder consolingly.
Recognize. Batman A01. Recognize Spiderman A19.
When the light from the zeta beam faded away, so did the tension in Black Widow's shoulders. She sighed. "I hate it when he's like that," she muttered.
Turning back to the Young Justice team, she rubbed her neck sheepishly. "I, uh, guess we didn't really get introduced properly. I'm Black Widow," she greeted. She paused for a moment before pulling back her cowl-like mask. "But, you guys can call me Heather," she added after revealing her face, including her high cheekbones and light blue eyes.
"It's good to meet you, Heather," M'gann said first, throwing her arms around the other girl in a hug. "I am M'gann, also called Miss Martian." She changed her skin from green to Caucasian and giggled. "I'm also called Megan."
Heather was obviously not much of a hugger, but she patted the alien's back gently. "Uh, hi. Is it common for Martians to have three names?"
M'gann pulled back with a giggle. "No, it's just for me!" She gestured at her larger than life boyfriend. "This is Superboy, or Connor Kent." The Kryptonian nodded.
Heather's eyes widened. "Where'd you find him?" she asked with a small smile.
"In a cloning pod inside Cadmus," Connor answered.
Heather blinked. "O-okay," She said hesitantly. That wasn't the response she'd expected. "Cool."
Artemis stepped forward. "I'm Artemis," she said simply and the girls shook hands.
Zatanna waved from Robin's side. "Zatanna Zatara. This is Robin."
"We've met," Heather replied wryly and Robin smirked.
"Maybe we could spar later for old time's sake?" Robin teased.
"Oh you're on, Boy Blunder," Heather shot back with a grin. "Remember, you still owe me a soda from the last time."
"I still say it didn't count," Robin retorted immediately. "You might have hit him the first time but it was my punch that took him out."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Heather said, rolling her eyes. She was distracted a moment later by a yellow and red blur stopping abruptly in front of her.
"Hi," the red haired boy greeted with a grin. "I'm Kid Flash. My friends call me Wally West."
"Really? Because I'm pretty sure we call you Kid Idiot," Artemis said with a snort.
"And Kid Mouth," Robin added in a singsong voice.
"And Kid Twinkle Toes," Zatanna chimed in, wrinkling her nose as she thought of the last time Wally had managed to set off the alarm of the complex they'd been sent to survey. Needless to say, all hell had broken loose.
"Dudes," Wally growled through gritted teeth, "You're making me look bad!"
"You do a pretty good job of that all on your own," Artemis told him, crossing her arms and cocking one hip to the side.
"Do not!" Wally shouted.
"Do too!"
The argument continued in that manner while the rest looked on with bored expressions, with the exception of Heather who appeared mildly amused. "Do they do that a lot?"
"Pretty much," Connor replied. His eyes were going back and forth between the two Meta and non-Meta heroes like it was a tennis match.
Heather shook her head and chuckled. "Well, they make a cute couple, that's for sure," she remarked.
"Oh they're not dating," M'gann replied cheerfully.
Heather cocked an eyebrow. "No?"
"We'll fill you in on the spitfire angle later," Zatanna said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Heather shrugged and shook her head, "If you say so."
While the others continued to watch the argument unfold, she looked over and met the eyes of the last member she hadn't been introduced to yet. "Hey," she said softly, "I'm Black Widow… Heather," she held out her hand to Aqualad invitingly.
The Atlantian hesitated before giving it a firm grip. His eyes widened when he felt a small shock in his palm from the contact. Judging by Heather's look of surprise, she felt it as well. He wondered if his electrical powers were malfunctioning, but didn't really think so. This feeling was… different. The shock, while unexpected, was rather warm and pleasant. After the initial spark, it dulled to a steady throb, like another heartbeat. He found he liked it. "I am Kaldur'ahm or Aqualad. I am the team leader, at least for the time being."
Heather raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. "Thinking of resigning?"
Kaldur hesitated. "The team needed a leader. While Robin is ideal, given he has the most experience, he is not yet ready. I was the next logical choice."
Heather nodded, like she understood the feeling of having a role forced upon you that didn't fit. "It must be a hard burden to bear," she said sympathetically.
"At times," Kaldur agreed, "But not always."
They still hadn't let go of each other's hands. Oddly enough, Heather found she didn't really care, and neither it seemed did Kaldur.