I do not own DC or anything they market. I just thought it would be cute to watch the goody two shoes try to be bad.

Good Little Boys Don't Lie

Captain Marvel was frozen in time and space unable to even draw a breath. It was a good thing the hero had no need for a constant source of oxygen because if he did, he would be in serious trouble right about now with that substantial shadow looming over him, imposing. Captain Marvel should not be so surprised about this situation. This was what Batman did. He found things out. Batman was Earth's greatest detective. It was pretty much why the hero was chosen to stand beside the otherwise gifted heroes of the Justice League in the beginning.

Right now though, Captain Marvel felt like one of the bad guys. He had been caught in a lie by the Justice League. Batman had a smirk stretching his normally expressionless lips that made even the great hero Captain Marvel, who was gifted with the Courage of Achilles, want to run away screaming for sweet mercy. The dark knight stalked closer to Captain Marvel in the alleyway they were enclosed in making the larger hero feel trapped even with the Zeta transport behind him. Would the rest of the league pop out of there to apprehend him?

"L-look Bat- Batman I can explain." Captain Marvel tried feebly. He knew Batman needed only to press a single button to have the rest of the league sweeping in on their location. They both knew that. Why hadn't the bat done something, anything?

Minutes drew on unrelenting as the Batman slowly crept closer with that unholy sneer on his face. By the time the caped crusader's boots were firmly planted in front of the big red cheese, Captain Marvel was sure the judge had already signed off on his execution and that the axe man was simply here to do his duty. Goodbye Justice League. Goodbye Captain Marvel. Goodbye being a hero.

"Explain?" Batman was actually smiling now in his own quirking of the mouth way. "You are going to explain to me how you are really just a ten year old boy?" Man that was a lucky guess. "William Joseph Batson, average student who misses far too much school and lives with one Dudley H. Dudley in a small walkup at 1432 Binder Blvd. You are four foot two inches weighing only fifty-nine pounds though you and your 'uncle' are trying to remedy that little issue. Your favorite food is pizza with sausage, bacon, and pepperoni. You like all animals but are particularly fond of tigers. You did not ever actually turn in your report on them that was due last Tuesday. Need I go on?" The words left Captain Marvel flabbergasted. Batman knew everything about him!

It took Captain Marvel far too long to locate his mouth on his own body and longer still to figure out how to work the contraption. Batman had not only just witnessed him turning into Captain Marvel from being a ten year old boy but also knew everything about his mortal self. One of Batman's white lenses arched up in question as Captain Marvel tried to figure how he should respond to the older hero. "NO!" Batman's eyes widened slightly at his outburst. "I mean no, Batman. I- what do you want from me?" He continued much more quietly.

"I want you to tell them, all of them, yourself."

The Watch Tower had never looked so big before to Captain Marvel. Heroes were bustling around looking for leads on what was really going on at project Cadmus. Many were groaning that the Justice League should have known what was really going on there before the sidekicks broke into the building to find out about the genetic engineering going on below the surface. Well, the sidekicks now known as the Young Justice team.

Captain Marvel had wanted to be there when the sidekicks were to be 'inducted' into the Justice League but had been denied since the league only wanted the mentors to be present at the initial entrance. Membership and introductions would come later, Aquaman had been nice enough to tell him when Captain Marvel had questioned about the aquatic hero's protégé.

An alarm sounded and Batman trudged towards the main monitor as though sheer intimidation might make the console rethink its position on the world being in danger. "Looks like that shower will be a problem tomorrow." The bat announced gruffly pulling everyone's attention to him.

Superman flew to his side in seconds. "We'll need a few members to keep the big asteroids at bay. Most look small enough to burn up when they enter the atmosphere but there are at least fifty that could be problematic if they don't change course." By now some other heroes were gathered around as well, looking at the peaceful seeming rocks zooming through space. Captain Marvel noted that the ones nearby were ones that actually could help the situation, other than Batman of course. Wonder Woman, Superman, a Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and himself would all be leaguers who could fly into space and take care of the potential threat to Earth's safety.

Wonder Woman's eyes widened when Batman's mathematical notes came up with an answer. "Oh no." She turned to Superman. "You can go right? I can't, I have that charity thing. Can't blow this one off." She did not sound too thrilled about being unable to blow off the charity thing.

The Green Lantern squinted his eyes at the monitor in thought for a moment before mouthing something that looked suspiciously like a curse word before frowning. "Can't we just blow them all up tonight and not worry about it. I can't just leave work tomorrow at noon for a four hour lunch break. My boss is going to get smart to that eventually."

Martian Manhunter regarded the group of heroes stoically. Everyone knew that Superman was supposed to be doing a press conference tomorrow about recent Justice League activity. There was just so much to do. The Martian sighed. "I will do it Batman. I can handle a meteor shower alone."

Superman turned to Captain Marvel. "Can you go Captain? It should only be a couple of hours."

"Sure thing." The words came out before Captain Marvel even had a chance to think about them and Batman's lips twitched for a moment betraying the scowl that wanted to form.

Batman's words were a growl. "Don't you have somewhere important to be tomorrow, Captain Marvel? Maybe something to tell the Justice League about before it becomes a problem."

Captain Marvel knew he was digging his own grave with this one but he couldn't tell the league the truth. He just couldn't. "I uh- don't have a job right now?" Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Superman all made puzzled expressions at the admission and Captain Marvel even noticed Green Arrow stop what he was doing to look over. Was being jobless such a big deal with unemployment rates what they were right now?

Superman smiled and nudged Wonder Woman conspiratorially. "You don't think the Wayne foundation has any job openings in Fawcett City do you?"

The heroin broke out in a grin as well, responding. "I'm not sure but I think the CEO will be thinking of expanding there soon if the good captain needs work." Batman growled to cut off the pair's laughter and turned a full force bat glare on Captain Marvel. Wonder Woman wiped the smile off her face and turned back to the monitor. "Then it's settled. Martian Manhunter and Captain Marvel will be posted at the calculated point of impact tomorrow to stave off any potential collisions. Is there anything else we need to consider Batman?"

Captain Marvel had to wonder if the human's glaring capabilities counted as a super power. They sure had him shaking in his boots.

Captain Marvel probably would have known something was up as soon as he made it to the building but as street wise as Billy Batson was for a ten year old, he did not notice anything was amiss in his apartment building. Honestly, flickering lights were commonplace in the hallways and the only sign anything was wrong would have been just how quiet it was here. There were no sirens wailing tonight or anything of the sort, it was just peaceful in the city and why would a ten year old notice the peace?

Billy pulled out his key ring to let himself into his home so he would not disturb his uncle too much with his entrance. It was only seven forty but most kids would be home by this hour, at least, the ones who had not spent their afternoons meeting with the Justice League to discuss the world's most dyer problems as a whole. Billy walked into the living room with a smile already on his face for his caregiver only to notice the TV oddly enough had some doctor show on rather than Uncle Dudley's regular programs.

The smile fell off of Billy's face as terror clenched at his stomach. His uncle was not sitting in his usual chair though someone was on the sofa. What was going on? "Uncle D?" he questioned timidly.

A quiet frightening chuckle sounded from the other side of the furniture. "Not quite," sang a voice that sounded like a teenager.

"Sh-" Billy began in a panic but was cut off by a large Kevlar gloved hand. Billy closed his eyes tight for a moment to try to will away his panic. It was one word away. Freedom was one word away. Safety was one word away. They couldn't keep him silent forever. He would get out of this and he would save Uncle Dudley.

"You don't want to say that Billy. Not in front of Robin." It was a gravelly voice that was all too familiar to Billy. The hand came away from the boy's face as his blue eyes popped open.

"It's not like I haven't heard cursing before Batman." Robin called from his perch on the back of the couch. Billy had never met Robin before. The sidekick looked older in person than he did in pictures. Billy suspected Batman's protégé might be as much as four or five years older than himself. Robin had a grin on his face as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "Seems kinda young for cursing though. And even younger to be some sort of crime lord. You sure this is the guy we're here to see Batman?"

The man who was holding Billy still drew his attention away from the sidekick when he spoke in his usual gruff voice. "I'm sure he's the one I'm here to see, Robin. Go back to watching House, this shouldn't take long." Batman looked down at Billy and the kid realized how much smaller he was in this form than his other. It was not just that Captain Marvel was normally bigger than Batman but that Billy barely made it halfway up the man's chest.

Billy Batson might normally be afraid of Batman but he had no time for silly fears of a hero that wouldn't really hurt him. "Where's Uncle Dudley?" He demanded.

Robin laughed. "Wow, he sure has some spunk Batman. Where'd you find this kid anyway?"

"Go back to your show Robin!" Batman growled making Robin turn around and fall to sit properly on the couch and watch the show. The bat glared down at Billy a moment before the white lenses seemed to soften a bit. "Your guardian is fine Billy. Robin just hit him with some knock out gas. He should be on his feet as normal in the morning."

Billy relaxed in the man's grip. Batman did not hurt innocent people. He wouldn't hurt Uncle Dudley. Billy just hoped the dark knight was not going to hurt him either. "Why are you here Batman?" The dark hero released him and moved to sit at the flimsy card table in the kitchen.

Billy followed and sat across from him and as he sat, Batman answered. "I want to know why you didn't tell them."

Billy glanced at the boy wonder who was laughing at the doctors on TV. "I don't want to tell them. Everyone is allowed to keep their identities secret if they want to. I don't want them to know."

Billy wondered if it took effort for the dark hero to keep from scowling for so long but Batman's expression remained relatively soft when he continued speaking. "I am not asking you to tell them who you are just your age. They should know how old you are. You should be in school tomorrow not saving the world from a meteor shower."

Billy straightened his back. It took him a lot less time to come up with an argument than he thought it would. "My age is part of who I am. I should be able to keep it to myself if I want to."

Batman's lips quirked slightly but the small change in expression worried Billy even though the dark knight's lenses remained normal. "It is something the league should know. You will not have to give out your name. They wouldn't be able to track you anyway. There are plenty of children in Fawcett City. You don't even have to tell them your exact date of birth, just that you are still in school."

"I don't want to tell them Batman."

Batman's expression did not change. "Then you'll just keep lying to the Justice League?"

"Yes." Billy was glad his voice sounded so much more certain than he felt with Batman sitting at his kitchen table interrogating him.

Batman outright smiled at him and it made Billy squirm under the hard man's gaze. "Good little boys shouldn't lie Billy."

Billy leaned back on his chair and tried to look cool like the kids in class who always got detention for talking back to the teacher and putting chalk in the eraser and stuff. "So? Who ever said I was a good boy?"

The ledge above one of Batman's white lenses arched up making one of the bat's eyes look larger than the other. "Billy." The man began seriously. "We both know you are a good kid."

Billy huffed and crossed his arms childishly. "I could be bad if wanted." The boy tensed as Batman actually chuckled. "I could!"

The Batman's grin was something Billy knew he could never unsee. The words that the man uttered were a challenge, something Billy would not, could not back down from.

"Billy Batson, the bad boy. Now that is something I would love to see."