Untitled WIP
“Now that Red Tornado is gone, we’ve selected a new den mother,” said Batman solemnly.
“Canary?” wondered M’gann hopefully. She liked the blonde, and wouldn’t be opposed to having her around more.
Batman ignored her.
Suddenly, the tunnel began to glow and a tall silver-haired woman appeared with two younger girls in tow. “Sailor Cosmos 0-8. Sailor Mini Moon B-0-8. Sailor Saturn B-0-9,” came an automated voice.
“Wait-” began Kid Flash.
“No way!” cried Artemis.
“Sailor Cosmos will be your new den mother. Sailor Mini Moon and Sailor Saturn will be joining your team to do covert missions.”
“It’d be nice to have another girl around,” said M’gann eventually.
“Hello, everyone,” said Cosmos, “I’m really excited to be here with all of you guys. I’ll be staying here with you to make sure that you’re safe and happy.”
Batman’s glare didn't ease.
“Oh come on, Bats,” the beauty said, “I volunteered for this so I could watch Mini Moon.”
The hero-in-training in question glared at the woman next to her, and pet the silver cat in her arms. “As if I need you to watch me, meatball brains!”
“Hey!” cried the woman, stamping her foot, “You can’t talk to me that way!”
Kid Flash watched the two with confusion in his eyes.
The small pink warrior crossed her arms and sniffed, while turning her head away, “Don’t you have a test to study for? You got a 30% on your last exam, didn’t you?” She smiled evilly.
Cosmos screamed in outrage, summoning lightening and aiming it at Mini Moon and preparing to zap her when another voice called her out of her trance.
“I think maybe we’re better off without a den mother at all,” said Artemis.
Cosmos shot into standing position and glared at the young sailor scout. “Sorry about that. Mini Moon has no manners.”
“If I have no manners I got that from you!” said Mini Moon as she kicked Cosmos in the shin.
Batman stayed silent, but Robin could tell that he was getting irritated.
“You’re not too old for me to take you over my knee!”
“I’m 900! You’re not even that much older than me!”
“I’m a thousand years older than you, you little twerp! You are so grounded!”
“You can’t ground me!”
“Ha!” cried Cosmos, “I’m your mom! I can ground you as much as I want!”
Aqualad’s jaw dropped.
“Is this a joke?” asked Artemis.
“I’m confused,” continued Superboy.
“Cosmos,” said Batman evenly, “Mini Moon.”
The two girls looked at Batman and began to blush hotly.
“Sorry,” mumbled Mini Moon looking at her pink-clad feet.
“You should be apologizing to your mother, not me,” said Batman firmly, “You were very rude to her.”
Mini Moon sniffled and then reached up to Cosmos who looked at her teary-eyed, “Sorry, mama.”
Cosmos hugged her, and then whispered in her ear, “Make friends, okay? Saturn will be here but you need to meet kids your own age. Robin already knows you, and you’ve met Miss Martian a few times.”
“’Kay,” replied Mini Moon as she hugged her mother tightly, “Please don’t be mad at me. I’m really sorry.”
Cosmos let her go, and pushed Mini Moon forward, “Would you like to introduce yourself? Just like I showed you.”
Mini Moon cleared her throat and then curtseyed and said, “It’s lovely to meet you. My name is Sailor Mini Moon and I am very excited to join your team.”
Kid Flash smiled and shook her hand at super speed, “I’m Kid Flash. That’s Aqualad, Robin, Artemis, Superboy and Miss Martian.”
Mini Moon stared at the dark-haired boy in the back, “You look like my uncle.”
Sailor Cosmos groaned.
Superboy narrowed his eyes, “I’m not going to let someone who can’t even control her own kid be the charge of me.” He turned and began to storm away. He froze when he heard laughter from behind him. She spun around and saw Sailor Cosmos with her arms crossed and quiet giggles coming from her mouth.
“What’s so funny?” Superboy asked angrily.
Cosmos shrugged, “You, mostly.”
“Do you have a problem with me?” Superboy growled.
“I have a problem with your attitude,” Sailor Cosmos replied evenly.
“I have a problem with letting someone like you be the boss of someone like me,” Superboy sneered, “At least Black Canary has some abilities. What do you do?” he mocked, “Throw insults and look pretty?”
“You think I’m pretty?” Cosmos smiled. Then her eyes turned steel, “If you want someone to show you who is in charge, why don’t we have a go?”
“I really don't think-” began Robin.
Batman shook his head.
“But, Batman,” Robin said.
“She must gain respect from the team in order to command the team.”
“Superboy, please,” said M’gann, “Don’t-”
Superboy ran at Cosmos and readied his fist to punch her as hard as he could.
Aqualad looked on, noticing that Cosmos hadn’t bothered to put a defense up. This was going to go so badly.
Superboy’s fist connected, but it connected with Cosmos’s palm. She closed her fist around his wrist and then swung him over her head, allowing his body to slam into the cement at a frightening speed.
Superboy moved to stand but Cosmos summoned her staff and as he stood, she knocked him down with the force of her staff and then pointed a flaming arrow at him.
“I promise you that your reflexes aren’t as good as mine. So don’t try.”
Superboy tried, and found himself waking a few hours later with M’gann above him.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You tried to take on Sailor Cosmos,” Robin said.
“It didn’t go too well,” replied Artemis.
“She fried you,” snickered Kid Flash, “it was awesome.”
_
Dick ate his potatoes quietly at dinner.
“Are you okay, Dick?” asked the statuesque blonde to his right.
“Er, I’m fine, Serenity.”
“Okay,” she replied, “Let me know if you need something, okay?”
Dick wasn’t one to be jealous. But sharing Bruce was annoying. He’d lived with Bruce for over six years now, and he’d never shared Bruce with anyone but ‘Batman’. That changed when Serenity Kent had moved in three months ago. Apparently, she and Bruce had been dating for some time, but they hadn’t wanted to alarm the fourteen year old with news of Bruce’s new relationship. Fat load that did.
Serenity had brought her daughter (which Dick had been confused about because the blonde woman couldn’t have been more than 25, and her daughter was about 9). About a month after they moved in, Serenity had explaining to Dick that she was Sailor Cosmos, and Rini was Sailor Mini Moon. Dick hadn’t been too surprised.
He had been surprised when Bruce had brought him on a camping trip.
“I’m sure you know this is coming,” Bruce said as they did target practice in the woods.
Boy did he know. Bruce was going to send him back to the orphanage.
“Serenity and I are getting married.”
Dick wasn’t surprised.
“Serenity will be taking over as the new den mother for your team, because she cannot go on missions for the next few months.”
Dick’s stomach began to sink. “How long?”
Bruce realized that Dick had figured it out and replied, “About six more at this point.”
“Oh,” said Dick, “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” replied Bruce.
“I could move into Justice Mountain with M’gann and Superboy.”
Bruce frowned, “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t want to-”
Bruce stopped their target practice and looked at his ward seriously, “The arrival of Serenity, Rini, or the baby does not make me love you any less, Dick.”
Dick’s eyes widened. Bruce had never-
“I always thought you knew that I cared about you, but Serenity pointed out to me that I never told you directly. I- It’s difficult,” Bruce said uncomfortably, “But we want you to stay with us. Serenity really wants you to like her. And… Rini really likes you. She thinks of you as a big brother.”
Dick looked at his feet guiltily. He hadn’t been the most pleasant to Rini.
“So, promise me you’ll look out for her when she comes to be your den mother? She really cares about you and jumped at the opportunity to take care of you guys. She wants practice with kids, I guess.”
Dick realized that even though Bruce had said it casually, Bruce was asking a lot. As an orphan family was important, and Bruce was trusting him with a big responsibility.
“I promise,” said Dick.
He promised.
_
Sailor Cosmos had “office” hours, unlike Red Tornado. Artemis found that weird because she was there all the time and didn’t do missions. Couldn’t they just talk whenever? Cosmos had explained that yes they could talk whenever, but she would be in her “office” everyday 3-5 in the afternoon to talk, just in case. That way they knew where to find her. Even though she didn’t do missions at the moment, Cosmos explained, she still did paperwork. But her “office” was really just the kitchen.
She’d been den mother for a while when she had called an important team meeting.
“I bet it’s about that training exercise,” Wally said as he munched on cheese puffs.
“No way,” said Dick with his glasses on, “I don’t think so.”
“I think you’re all wondering why I’ve called this meeting today,” said Cosmos, with a smile.
Artemis looked at her skeptically.
“Well, I think it’s time I explain more about why I was chosen to be your den mother.”
Superboy just glared at her. He’d come to respect her, but he still wasn’t fond of her. Especially because M’gann liked her so much. Canary said that was jealousy. He wasn’t sure.
“Well, I’ve been taken off of active duty because I’m expecting.”
Wally choked on his cheese puffs.
“So that’s why you’ve been walking around in plain clothes!” exclaimed Artemis.
Aqualad sighed, and then gave her a pointed look, “Congratulations, Your Majesty.”
“Er- I mean-”
Cosmos just laughed and smiled radiantly, “It’s okay. Thank you very much, Kaldur.”
_
Mini Moon pulled the apple pie she had carefully baked out of the oven and placed the pie on a cooling rack. If she left it for an hour, it would probably be cool enough for her to pack up for later.