This is where I'll post some of the prompts I get from tumblr. Have fun. (Best viewed in 3/4)
Anon asked: One of the two (Artemis/Wally) gets turned into a four year old and the other has to take care of them alone while the rest of the Team goes on a mission to figure out how to fix them?
~o~
"Stop laughing," Artemis slams her hand against the dry-erase board they placed on an easel, "And start guessing!"
She waves her marker at her partner, who dissolves into giggles. Robin motions for her to continue drawing, even through his laughs at her feeble attempts this round. She can hear Zatanna, Raquel, and Wally laughing, too. She sort of wishes she had pulled Wally's name from the hat, because they sort of have their own shitty-drawing language- but such is fate.
"I'm not an artist." She grumbles before she wipes away her bankand starts drawing money bags. Robin calls out 'bank, bank, cash, bank, thief, cat burglar, catwoman, bank'. Artemis draws a crude, smug stick figure next to the money bags. As time begins to run out, she throws a line with two boxes on the top. The alarm on the timer they're using dings just as Robin shouts, 'WALLSTREET'.
"Yes!" Artemis throws down the black marker and sighs, "You draw next-"
The lights in the cave go out for a few seconds and everyone tenses. That shouldn't be happening.
Aqualad stands up first, "M'gann."
Everyone is linked. M'gann nods and looks to Robin, Are you picking up anything strange? I sense something… strange…
I sense it, too.. It's almost like magic… Zatanna scans the room with her eyes.
Robin nods as he types on his wrist and a screen materializes, There's an unfamiliar energy source in the cave…I'm trying to locate it now.
"Can I play next?" A merry voice chirps from above them all. Eight sets of eyes fly up, but only seven people tense for battle.
"Oh no," Superboy groans and his shoulders drop, "Not this guy."
"Superboy! This is where you live? Are these your friends? Introduce me!" The small man floats down to the teenagers level. He wears a green pinstripe suit, an equally green top hat, and Artemis is pretty sure he's holding a miniature cane behind his back. She glances at her teammate, You know him?
Superboy grimaces, Unfortunately. Mr. Myxlptlk.
Bless you, Zatanna nods.
No, that's his name. A mouthful, I know. He's from another dimension. He can bend reality, extremely powerful, but not usually dangerous. He just likes coming here to bother Superman— and me, ever since he found out I existed. It's all a game to him.
The dimension hopping magic man hovers in place as the team surrounds him on all sides.
Be ready for anything, Aqualad orders as his tattoos begin to glow. Artemis isn't in uniform, but she does have her collapsable crossbow strapped to her leg, and her hand hovers over the clasp. She takes a look around the circle. Raquel's hands glow, Zatanna is whispering something to herself, Robin has his hand over his belt, M'gann is starting to lift off the ground, Wally's fists are rising, and Superboy- he just looks like he's got a headache coming on.
"You kids look like a little angry. You don't want me to play?" Myxlptlk pouts, and Artemis snorts.
"We're not kids." She quips, as her fingers tug on the top of her bow.
Myxlpltlk turns to her and places a hand on his chin, "Really? You sure look like a kid."
As soon as 'kid' leaves his mouth, he snaps his fingers.
That's the last sound she hears before it all goes dark.
~o~
Wally is used to having 'weird days'. He's a superhero. It comes with the territory. Still, he's going to have to put today pretty high up on his list of weird days.
When the smoke begins to clear where Artemis is standing, she's gone.
"What did you-" Wally starts to shout, but he's cut off by the floating man's loud, snorting laughter.
The speedster runs to where the archer had been just a second ago, and the remaining smoke blows away. Suddenly, Wally sees exactly why the dimension tourist is laughing. He kind of wants to laugh- and he would, if the situation wasn't so insane.
On the ground, in a miniature version of the civvies she'd been wearing, is… a child.. thing… that kind of, sort of, looks a lot like Artemis. Her hair is barely past her shoulders and sticking in all directions and a tiny olive hand brushes it out of her big grey eyes slowly. She looks awfully confused- but Wally's a little more concerned about the crossbow sitting in her lap. He swipes it away before she can notice it in her grogginess.
"Myxlptlk!" Superboy barks angrily, "Change her back, now!"
The man floats upside down and flies higher, "Where's the fun in that?"
Wally places the crossbow in another room before he speeds back and picks up his… miniature… girlfriend… So weird. She doesn't protest when he holds her at his hip, in fact, she leans into him and yawns.
"Change her back!" Wally growls, and the tiny Artemis doesn't stir.
"I like her better like this," Mr. Myxlptlk decides, "She's a lot less of a buzzkill this way. And the only thing I'm changing is my mind. I don't want to play with you spoilsports- I want to see where Superboy lives! I've seen Metropolis, but let's see what Happy Harbor has to offer."
All at once, Kaldur, M'gann, Conner, and Raquel jump towards the flying man, but he disappears in a plume of green smoke.
Zatanna rushes over to where Wally is still standing with Artemis, who is now asleep in his arms.
Wally looks desperately between the two girls, "Can you fix her?"
"I can try." Zatanna takes a deep breath and extends her arms toward Artemis before shouting, "Nrut Simetra kcab otni a neet!"
The most she does is wake Artemis up because of the yelling. And this time, the little girl is not in a daze. Her eyes widen when she sees Zatanna pointing her hands at her. She tries to scoot away, but Wally hangs onto her.
"Where am I?" She struggles in his grasp and looks up. Her eyes begin to well up with tears and she struggles harder.
"Artemis, stop." Wally tries to hang onto her, but she's so wiggly.
"No!" Her tiny teeth dig into his arm and he yelps and lets go of her, but she doesn't hit the ground. Wally rubs his arm as M'gann levitates the tiny demon into the air.
"Ega Simetra." Zatanna tries again, and again, and again- before Conner stops her.
"Myxlptlk is really powerful in this dimension. I don't think you're going to be able to fix this. I'm not even sure if Doctor Fate could," Conner glances at Artemis, who is trying to fight M'gann's hold, "The only one who can reverse this is Myxlpltk, and the only way he'll do it is if we find him and make a deal."
Wally glares at the still-dissipating green smoke and his nails dig into his palms, "Then let's go find him. He said he was going to see Happy Harbor."
There's a general murmur of agreement when they all hear sniffles.
"Lemme down… Please." Artemis has stopped fighting- and big tears make their way down her round cheeks. Ouch, my soul, Wally thinks, before he motions for M'gann to bring Artemis down to the ground. The Martian gently places the blonde on her feet and Wally stoops down to her level.
"Hey, don't cry- we're the good guys. You're safe." He gives her the best 'hero' smile he can, but she doesn't stop sniffling and wringing her grey shirt in her hands. The entire team watches and waits for her to react when Wally holds his hand out to her. "Artemis?"
She starts to reach out for his hand but stops herself just short of contact, "Who are you people? Where is my Mom?"
Wally bites his lip and looks around. H E L P. M'gann lets out a quick 'oh' and flies out of the room. Yes, thank you, that is so much help, Wally grimaces. He looks to his best friend for assistance but the Boy Wonder is busy… taking pictures-
"Seriously!" Wally rolls his eyes and takes Artemis' little hand before he says, "We're a team of heroes. I'm Kid Flash. And that guy with the cape over there, you see, the one taking pictures instead of being helpful? That's Robin."
Artemis sways and her free hand comes up to her mouth, "My daddy don't like heroes. He'll be mad you kidnapped me."
Wait what.
"We didn't kidnap you, I swear! Uh-" Wally is saved from answering when M'gann swoops back into the room with a phone - Artemis' cell phone- in hand.
"I'm called her mom. She wants to talk to her." M'gann smiles as she hands Artemis the phone. It looks enormous in her hands.
"Momma? Momma, I'm sorry I got kidnapped-" Artemis turns away from Wally and he takes the opportunity to address the team.
"You guys go find him. I'm going to stay here with Artemis in case he comes back."
Kaldur nods and there's a noticeable change in his demeanor, "Miss Martian, Rocket, Robin, take the bioship and scan the skies of Happy Harbor. Superboy, Zatanna, and I will take the Supercycle and search from the ground."
"The little imp likes to bother me- trust me, he won't be too hard to find." Superboy sighs, "We just need to make sure no one else gets involved in his antics."
Artemis tugs on Wally's pant leg and holds the phone to him, "Momma wants to talk to you, Kid."
Oh…Uh. He takes the phone and accepts his fate, "Hi, Paula."
"She sounded very convinced she had been kidnapped. I told her you were taking care of her for the day. She shouldn't be difficult… But Wally- tell me this will be fixed soon."
Wally glances at the little blonde by his legs, "We're working on it now. Don't worry."
Paula sighs, "If I didn't, what kind of mother would I be? Please let me know as soon as you've gotten her back to normal. And she likes gummy bears. And coloring books. And do not let her near a bow."
"I've got it all handled," Wally half-believes himself, "All our friends are here. I'll call you the minute she's back."
"My daughter is lucky to have such great friends. Thank you so much. Goodbye."
"Bye," He presses the end button- and finds that all of his friends have abandoned him (without so much as a goodbye glance) with the pint-sized version of his girlfriend. Such great friends.
Artemis tugs on his pant leg again, "I have to pee."
~o~
He finds a League-themed coloring book and a twelve pack of crayons in the storage closet M'gann uses to hold her craft supplies in. Perfect for the little girl who has been chanting 'I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored' for the last six minutes. When he zips back into the lounge, Artemis is not on the couch where he left her.
"Artemis? Where are you?"
Silence is his answer. Okay, she couldn't have gotten far, don't panic-
A smothered giggle echoes in the empty room.
"Artemis, come out here, I've got a surprise for you-"
A voice squeaks near his feet, "A s'prise?" Thump.
Artemis crawls out from under the coffee table, rubbing a spot on her head.
"You okay?" Wally touches the spot she's rubbing but she pulls away.
"I'm okay. S'prise?"
He points to the crayons and the book on the very table she had been hiding under. Her eyes light up.
"Colors? I can colors?"
Wally nods with a bright smile, and Artemis pulls herself up onto the couch and stands on the cushions as she hugs him tightly.
"Thank you! I love colors." She plops back down to the floor and he pulls the table closer to the couch so she can reach everything. She flips through the book, skipping over Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Batman, and Superman, until she gets to a page with Hawkgirl on it. She pulls a green crayon from the box and colors in the lines with careful precision. Wally's comm goes off just as she finishes the first boot. Robin sounds a tad breathless as he says,
'KF, we've made contact. We have to make him take off his shoes before he goes back to where he came from and changes Artemis back.'
"Alright, Robin, thanks for the update. Steal his shoes."
'A little harder than it sounds.'
Wally's comm turns off and he picks a red crayon from the box. The page next to Hawkgirl is Red Tornado.
"Can I color him?"
Artemis doesn't stop coloring, "As long as you don't mess me up."
So much pressure. He colors at a slow pace, mostly because he doesn't want her to get mad at him.
"So… you like Hawkgirl?" He asks.
Artemis nods slowly, "She can fly, and throw things."
"Cool."
"Yup," She says as she picks a brown crayon out of the box, "But don't tell Daddy I say that."
Wally blinks, "Oh?"
"Daddy don't like heroes. So I can't like 'em, 'cept I do."
"Why?" He really shouldn't be asking, considering he already knows. But- she's never really gone into much detail.
"Umm, heroes do good things. Save people, fix stuff. Better than Daddy's friends. They break things, and hurt people. I don't like hurting."
"That's a good reason." Wally nods and switches his red for a yellow.
"You're a hero? You got powers." She stops coloring and waits for a response.
"Oh yeah, I'm Kid Flash. I can run really fast." He wiggles his eyebrows and she laughs.
She puts down the crayon in her hand. "Show me."
He runs around the couch twice and she has to fix her hair out of her eyes because of the air he just swept around her.
"See, super speed." He grins at her.
Artemis' eyes glow with excitement, but then he notices she isn't looking at him. He turns to find Wolf strolling into the room.
"Is that a doggie?" She jumps off the couch cushion and heads straight for the wolf that is looking at her like a stranger. Oh shit.
"I love doggies!"
~o~
'Please tell me you got him to take off his shoes.'
"Not quite, KF, still working on it." Robin throws a paint can at the imp, but he disappears just in time for Conner to get a face full of orange paint.
'Artemis has been riding Wolf like some sort of dog-horse hybrid and she won't get off and Wolf won't let me take her down.'
"Take pictures."
'Get. The damn. Shoes.'
~o~
Eventually, Artemis' head begins to droop as Wolf parades her around the Cave. The excitement of the day is catching up to her, and Wally sees his chance to get through the day without incident.
"Artemis, want to watch a movie?"
"Movie?" She yawns as Wolf stops near the lounge couch. She rolls off of him, pats his head, and lies down across two cushions. Wolf lies between the couch and the coffee table, also tired out. Wally picks out her favorite from underneath the T.V. and puts it in the dvd player.
"Alice in Wonderland." He says, as he takes a seat next to her.
"I like Alice." She sits back and watches as he goes through the main menu and presses play. "Jade likes Alice too."
She's a trooper, because she actually makes it a third-way through the movie before she starts snoring, high pitched, squeaky snores that make Wally laugh. He runs to pick up a blanket and pillow from his room at the Cave. Artemis doesn't resist when he picks up her head a little to put the pillow in place, and she grips the throw blanket with both hands after he covers her.
He mentally pats himself on the back. Today has been so freaking weird. Ninja girlfriend gets turned into a four year old by a transdimensional traveller? Definitely in the top 10.
~o~
When they wake up in the morning, Artemis is back to her normal age, Wally and Wolf are cuddling on the floor, and a collage of photos and a pair of really strange-looking shoes sit before them on the coffee table.