Disclaimer: No owny young-justicy. If I did, well, it certainly wouldn't be cancelled.

So I love- love- LOVE- fics with children. And also, I love deaging characters. But most of all, like adorable things. But surprisingly, I find it harder and harder to find a really good fic of deaged kids. Maybe it's because there are so many, but I had no intention to keep digging for needles in haystacks. This is my new baby. I love it! I'll be updating this quicker, because, well, I'm writing it quicker. While the creative juice is flowing and whatnot.

The First Trial

It had been a fairly normal mission. It would have been a fairly easy mission too. Nothing in the reports and their sightings had suggested anything of this size. When Batman had handed the mission over, it had been in the utmost certainty that nothing could go wrong. Just stop a bank heist for crying out loud! This was not the sort of catastrophe he had expected to occur. The minute their signal went dead, he had Red Tornado and Canary going after them. Something had felt off to him. The two had managed to capture the original robbers, put out fires, and find the- the children- in five minutes flat.

That's when he knew something had gone terribly wrong. He couldn't quite explain why the feeling existed. But it was there, and he was sure of it. He hadn't quite fathomed at the time when Dinah called in an emergency meeting of the Justice League the degree of how wrong this was. He had been a bit angry Dinah hadn't briefed him with a report before hand, but it hadn't made any sense to him at the time. Now- Now it did. Walking into the meeting, and seeing this on the screen, not something he'd been prepared for. He hadn't even walked to his seat like the others. Instead, he moved in front of the screen, drinking in the horror that this was.

"Oh Hera!" came the voice of Wonder Woman, as she saw what Batman was seeing on the monitor. He'd been so shocked with what occurred that he had completely ignored paying attention to anything else. His mind had been focused on what was before him.

Batman turned to see the group walking in now. Behind Wonder Woman came Barry, who zipped past her and came beside Batman, his jaw dropped as he stared at the screen. Green Arrow was right behind him, his focus concentrated upon the screen. He'd never thought Green Arrow would be knocked speechless. On cue, J'onn floated into the room, his eyes on the screen. He wasn't as shocked, probably prepared from the mental signals, but his quiet concerned expression was enough to understand his worry. Batman turned away, as the Green Lanterns walked in.

"Well, shit," said the first Green Lantern, his jaw dropped slightly.

"How did this happen?" asked John Stewart, from beside Hal Jordan, directing his questions to Dinah, who grimaced.

"Where is she?!" came the booming voice of Zatara as he barged on in. He was furious, and rightfully so, as Captain Marvel came in behind him. The two were the last

Everyone who wasn't a guardian or mentor slid into their chairs. One man was missing. The big blue boy scout. Even Flash was here on time- well, five minutes later than scheduled, but on time for him. Somehow that had become Clark's attitude on everything related to the Team since the boy had joined. He was never there for them. He avoided anything to do with them. And no doubt Black Canary had told the group that this was a Team related issue. Stupid, idiotic boy scout.

"Sorry I'm late," said Clark as he finally walked in, looking less than comfortable to be here. Batman was in no mood to deal with this right now, and turned as he saw Superman catching the monitor's site. His mouth dropped open, and he seemed a little stunned. "Is that-

"Yes," said Batman, his voice seemingly cold and detached. "It is. Black Canary and Tornado were just waiting for you to brief us."

He had the decency to look ashamed as he slid into the seat. Zatara was still standing, demanding to see his daughter. Batman glared at him, and with a short bark to be quiet, Zatara stood silently. Black Canary turned to Red Tornado, and nodded as she moved to the round table, ready to address the group, her face stern as she walked forward.

"The Team was sent on a mission to stop a major bank heist in Washington, at the Washington Federal. It was their day off, but they were available and nearest to the area. Besides, we suspected the involvement of the League of Shadows. We had reason to suspect due to the presence of Sportsmaster," explained Black Canary, as the second screen flashed an image of the man entering the bank after shooting a cop, "Zatanna was there for the day, part of her gradual and hopeful incorporation to the team. She went along, despite being told to stay back until she had been trained for missions. However, an hour into the mission, and the signal went down. The Team was offline, and news reports claimed aggravation of the situation. Red Tornado and I were dispatched to check it out."

"Upon arriving," continued Red Tornado in his metallic voice, "We found the cause of aggravation. The League of Shadows had departed. The crooks hired were fighting amongst themselves. They had not expected to be betrayed by their leaders. The outbreaks of fires were minimal, and I was able to put it out while Canary rescued the hostages. We had the situation down in five minutes and twenty-two seconds. However, the team was no where in site."

"Red Tornado and I dispersed, searching for signs of the team. There were none, until we made it the backroom where the safes were. Robin's batarang was embedded in the safe. It was the only sign of the team we had. Red Tornado banged down the door, and this was how we found them," finished Black Canary, once again indicating to the monitor. "They were fast asleep. The drug test shows no signs of drugs being used, we suspect it's a magical sleep."

"I'll test it immediately when you take me to my daughter!" demanded Zatara angrily.

"Do they know who they are?" asked Hawkgirl, glancing at the monitor again.

"We do not know," said Red Tornado, "They have been asleep since they were found like this."

"Please tell me they're potty-trained," came Oliver's voice finally, a pleading sort of tone to his voice.

"Shut up Queen," said Batman, feeling a headache come on, as he glanced back at the monitor. This was most definitely not his day.

"They're not babies," said Black Canary, as Hal finally dissolved to laughter. John was sitting silently beside his fellow Corps member, but even he couldn't help but crack a smile beside Hal at Oliver's remark.

"How old do they look to you?" asked Hal, grinning like an idiot over this matter.

"They can't be older than eight at most," said Hawkgirl, "And how do we know they are who they are?"

"We know from the fact that their DNA tests came up a match," said Batman in annoyance, "And before you ask who checked- I did."

Everyone went quiet, staring at the monitors. On the screen was visual surveillance of the Young Justice Team. Much younger then they usually were. Small, cherub like children lay fast asleep in cots. The monitors closed in on each child. One screen showed the red-haired, freckle-faced Wally West, arms sprawled outwards, a peaceful smile on his face. Beside his screen was the dark-haired, still masked face of a young Robin, with chubby cheeks and a pillow clenched in his arms. The third screen showed the dark-haired, but older face of Superboy. His hair still had a military look to it, but somehow the chubby cheeks made it sweeter as he lay sleeping on his stomach. Beside him, was the dark-skinned Kaldur'ahm beside her, his blonde hair longer than he had it now, and a relaxed expression on his face. The content blonde-haired child below his screen was Artemis, her blonde hair long and splayed around her face, making her look angelic as she lay still, simply her head lolled slightly to the side. The screen to her left showed the green little alien M'gann, with long red hair, mimicking Artemis's, curled into a fetus position. And finally, the black-haired Zatanna, that flowed around her face as she clung to her blanket.

"Well, what now?" asked Hawk-Girl to the group.

"We take shifts watching them, and Zatara will conduct his tests," said Batman, standing and leaving with the magician. Maybe he'd slip an aspirin while in the med-Bay.