Leaving the Nest Prologue

Young Justice Fanfic

By: Dominique Moreau

Summary: When an assassin saves Wally from drowning in a pool during a mission Wally is intrigued and slightly confused. When the same assassin later kidnaps Wally and demands he escort him and his five year old little brother to a fair Wally spends a few seconds trying to comprehend what's happening before just deciding to go with the flow.

Author's Note: I'm so happy to find inspiration to write after so long not writing. For anyone waiting on my Sherlock fic on AO3, I'm sorry but it's almost certainly dead. At first I was just going to rework it after getting a thoughtful comment of constructive criticism but along the way I lost interest in it and then lost my interest in the fandoms involved and then eventual stopped writing altogether. I've still been coming up with a lot of ideas but this is the first I've actually gotten myself to sit down and turn into a story instead of just a bunch of notes typed up on my phone. As a warning, my knowledge of comic canon is less than what many would consider to be basic knowledge. While I've watched all of Young Justice and some of the Justice League & Justice League Unlimited cartoons and watched a few of the animated films and the live action films, I've unfortunately never had the pleasure of reading any of the comics. When I actually become financially stable I'll probably pick up some of the storylines I've heard about and want to read but until then my knowledge comes from what I can find online and what I've read in fanfiction. Granted, I've picked up a lot of knowledge and am comfortable enough in my familiarity of the Young Justice fandom to feel confident writing in in the YJ continuity but I may still make some faux pas due to ignorance and if I do please correct me. Some of the characters I'm working with I've only experienced through other people's fanfics so I very well may end up taking a wrong turn due to ignorance and I know the alternate continuity only allows for so much leeway. I really want to do the characters due justice and I can't fix something I don't know is wrong. Beyond that I do want to say that so far I am very happy with how this fic is coming out, although I admit the prologue is probably a little rough due to how little familiarity I have with Talia. My primary experience with her comes from watching the Son of Batman animated movie and I know I'm portraying her differently here than how she was portrayed in that movie. However, beyond the impact her existence, her actions in this prologue and her actions off screen have on certain other characters that are major features of the story she herself shouldn't be a major feature in the rest of the story. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being her only on screen appearance. Despite writing a character I am utterly unfamiliar with I do still think the prologue came out well and am happy enough with it.

I currently have a couple chapters already completed, fully written and revised, that I plan to post soon after this. I can't promise a steady update schedule as college means I can't always write when I want to. I am also limited to only being able to post certain times of the day which in turn depends on the day. Any delays from the last issue would delay things a couple weeks at the most and as little as one day at the least. It will not cause month long delays. Those are caused by problems with the Author and the Author's classwork and are much harder to fix or work around.

The words in bolded italics come from the scene in the episode Performance where Robin is remembering back to his family's act.

Talia al Ghul took her seat near the back of the large colorful big top that housed Haly's Circus' Big Show. She's heard rumors of the star act including a boy with exactly the kind of skills she's been searching for. As she watched the other patrons enter the tent she did not miss it when her Beloved entered the tent and took a seat near the front. She smiled.

Only the best for Bruce Wayne.

Talia was glad that she chose a spot out of sight so she could avoid being noticed. She could not help but watch Bruce while they waited for the show to start. She briefly felt a faint pang of guilt at what she had done to him but put it out of her mind and turned her attention to the stage. The show was about to start.

One by one each act came on stage and performed. Hardly any of them managed to impress Talia. She occasionally glanced at her Beloved when the acts bored her too much. Eventually the act she had come to see was announced.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Flying Graysons!"

The boy was everything she'd heard him to be. He practically flew in the air with his parents on the trapeze. Talia was impressed by the entire family's mastery over their own bodies. Their trust in their skill and in one another showed in the fearless flips and summersaults they performed while soaring through the air. The youngest Grayson was exactly what she needed. She had only started making preliminary plans for covertly eliminating the boy's parents when the trapeze snapped and the two adult Graysons plummeted to their deaths as the boy watched their fall from above on one of the high platforms. Her Beloved was starting to look around so Talia discreetly slipped out of the tent before he could notice her presence. She would return for the boy when his disappearance would go relatively unnoticed.

One good thing about the corruption rotting a city like Gotham is that a person could get almost anything by bribing the right people. Despite finding such uncouth methods unsavory Talia was not about to let personal preference get in the way of her acquiring the boy. A brief exchange and she found herself being led to the boy's cell in Gotham's Juvenile Detention Center. When she arrived the boy turned on his dirty cot to look at her. He had been in Juvie for a few weeks and was covered in bruises and cuts. His pitiful state would have sent a wave of sympathy through most anyone with a heart. Talia only saw how to use the boy's predicament to get what she wanted and proceeded to do just that.

Talia slightly shifted the bundle in her arms and said, "I watched your act at the circus. You have my sympathies for your parents' deaths."

The boy glared at her and the expression reminded her slightly of her Beloved in its intensity.

Talia said, "I doubt your parents would have enjoy seeing you in a place like this, all cooped up and unable to fly. I was rather impressed by your skills. It would be a shame if you were to become unable to continue to improve them. I would be willing to take you in as long as you promise me one thing."

The boy looked at her with a guarded expression and asked, "What do you want?"

Talia kneeled down to his level and shifted the bundle in her arms so that the boy could see the young infant she carried. The infant had black hair and looked up at the boy with innocent steel blue eyes. The boy was caught off guard as he stared at the young infant and missed Talia's brief smile of victory.

Talia said, "In exchange for becoming my ward it would be your duty to watch after my son Damian. He would be your little brother and require your protection and loyalty."

The boy continued looking at her son and said, "I promise."

The next day Bruce Wayne came to take Richard Grayson as his ward only to find him gone. Batman investigated but the trail grew cold at a few dead guards.

Dick Grayson had only been with the League of Shadows for a few days before he began to have doubts. As a highly intelligent boy Dick quickly figured out that he had signed on to be an assassin. Although he was treated well and had not yet been forced kill he probably would have ran away after the first week if it had not been for his little brother, Damian. With Talia's cold and distant parenting and Bruce unaware of his son's existence, Damian's care most often fell to Dick who had already come to see the baby as his little brother. So Dick trained and allowed himself to be molded into the Robin that the Shadows wanted for the sake of the little brother who needed him.

Author's Note: The rest of the fic shouldn't be as completely dead serious or dark as this. It will have its serious and dark moments but should be mostly light and adorable and fluffy and fuzzy. Future chapters are also unlikely to be this short. The last one I wrote actually ended up on the longest-chapter-I've-ever-freaking-written-I-swear side. IMPORTANT: I have what I'm doing for the first three chapters after this decided but after that I'm open to requests. Each chapter corresponds to an episode that it takes place around the time of and while I have what I'm doing for some of the episodes I haven't decided on what I'm going to do for a majority of them. The only exception to the one-chapter-per-episode thing is if I find the need to split up the events associated with an episode into multiple chapters due to sheer length (this is most like to happen with what I have planned for the episode Performance). I'm open to suggestions/requests on what you'd like to see. Requests don't have to be episode specific. In fact I'm betting most of the chapters I don't yet have completely planned out will have very little to do with the episodes they supposedly correspond to. Don't let that stop you from asking for episode specific prompts. It just means I haven't thought of ways to tie the events of the episodes in question into the story due to lack of relevance to the story arcs I'm focusing on. The episodes I already have covered or mostly covered are Infiltrator, Denial, Downtime, Revelation, Disordered, Secrets, Coldhearted, Insecurity, Performance, Usual Suspects and Auld Acquaintance. The rest of the season one episodes need ideas and I can see myself squeezing an idea or two into a select few of the ones I mentioned but don't have completely worked out yet. If I end up using your idea/request for a chapter I will mention it in the Author's Notes at the top of the corresponding chapter. I love all feedback with praise making me fuzzy happy and constructive criticism making me think so please tell me what you think.