Born together, die apart book 3 (young justice)

Elder Wisdom

| Hollywood; January 01, 14:24 PST

Wanda knocked softly on Halo's door. It was a moment before it opened, revealing the person. "Thank you for coming." They had called her so that they could talk, knowing that she might've gone through something similar. Violet hadn't talked to Artemis or M'gann souly because they didn't know if they'd understand, so they had reached out to the brunette for guidance and reassurance. She walked in, Halo closing the door behind her.

"I'm glad you called," she told them.

They motioned for them to take a seat on their bed which she gladly did, them doing the same. It was silent for a minute before they broke it. "When Cadmus took away your memories...did you ever get glimpses or flashbacks of them?"

"Not at first, but eventually i did. They weren't often, only once in a while things. But they weren't really flashbacks, more like voiceovers since i was blind."

"Y-You were blind?"

She nodded. "That was one of the things Cadmus 'fixed.'"

"Were the voiceovers bad? O-Or made you scared?" This made her think back so she could give them the best answer possible.

"Some were. And they did make me afraid at times."

Violet looked at their lap. "You told me that you never wanted them back, but Simon gave them to you anyways. Did you tell them that you had them? Your friends?"

This made her look away. "No." They were taken aback, turning their head to look at her. "I didn't tell anyone except M'gann. We both agreed to keep each other's secret until the other was ready to tell the Team. But even then, i was so terrified of what they may think of me after they found out what i'd done, what i had little control over. I was so scared that i was willing to betray them just so Simon could take them away."

"Y-You betrayed the Team?"

The brunette looked back at her. "I almost did, if it hadn't been for Dick."

"Were you two...together then?"

A small grin spread on her face as she shifted her gaze to her lap. "We were. He noticed that i was acting weird ever since i got them back and would ask me almost everyday if i was okay. He'd try to talk to me about it but i would always just brush him off. I was able to come clean the day i 'turned' on them."

"How did they react? Were they mad? Angry? Was Dick upset with you for keeping something so important a secret for so long?" Violet's eyes were wide while they held their hands to their chest.

"Surprisingly, they took it well. They each knew how i never wanted them and understood why i didn't say anything."

"E-Even Dick?"

She chuckled, looking back at them. "Oh, especially Dick. Once the new year started, i talked to him and told him everything i had done when with Cadmus and he was so understanding about it. I was so sure that when he found out then we were over but if anything, it made us closer." They were quiet, staring down at their lap. "I hope this helped with whatever you're-"

"Gabrielle accepted a bribe which lead to her letting in the assassin that killed Brion and Tara's parents! A-And my friend Harper kissed me the other day and i didn't stop her!" At this point they were hyperventilating, Wanda putting her hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "I-I was arrested after being caught with a gun she brought to the beach by Mount Justice! A-And-"

"Violet." They finally looked at her, shocked to see her grinning warmly at them. "It's okay."

"B-But i cheated on Brion-"

"And i'm sure that if you explain to him what happened then he'd understand. As for the Gabrielle thing, that wasn't you. It wasn't and isn't your fault. That is on Gabrielle." Tears weld in their eyes, hugging her tightly as they cried into her chest. The brunette carefully hugged them back, letting them let everything out. Once they were done, they sat up. "And Violet?" She put her hand on top of theirs. "When you tell them, you tell them when you're ready."

...........................................................................

| Gotham City; January 01, 02:10 EST

"And there you have it, faithful viewers," G. Gordon Godfrey said as the post of the Outsiders saving a little girl from Ivo finished playing out. "The latest explosive exploits of every punks favorite heroes, The Outrageous Outsiders." He then went to take a seat across from none other than Lex Luthor. "We're here with U.N. Secretary General, Lex Luthor. Mr. Secretary, thoughts?"

"It's wonderful the girl was rescued, of course. But frankly, the local constabulary could have managed that. Instead, these irresponsible, super children rush in and the predictable results, an explosion; massive property damage. Sad," Lex stated.

"Isolated incident or pattern?"

"The ladder, i'm afraid. Take Buwanda, where i personally witnessed the near death of Kid Flash. He and Wonder Girl and Beast Boy show all the maturity of kids putting on a show in their backyards. It's appalling Flash, Wonder Woman, and the League allow it. I happen to know that the parents and guardians of these teenage Outsiders are not onboard with their antics. That's why i call upon the nations of the world to authorize a new hero registry to catalog, unmask, and regulate all vigilantes. Cracking down on them and holding them all accountable, even for the actions of wayward protégés. Something like what we had in the US, in the 1950s."

Godfrey yawned. "You make some interesting points."

"I'd call interesting an understatement, Gordon-"

"Perhaps inaccurate would better suit? Based on recent social media, it seems the Outsiders parents are 100 percent onboard." A post of Wonder Girl, her mom and Ed and his dad was shown on the screen behind the two. "The original Flash, Jay Garret, even started a brand new media account to post this video."

"No one could've stopped me from being a hero when i was young. So i say," Flash and Kid joined in on that part. "We are all Outsiders."

"Oh, and look. Mr. Garret must watch our show because he just posted this in response to your comment." His post then showed. "'Fascist Hero Registry didn't work in 1950s. Won't work now. #WeAreAllOutsiders.' And there's more." Videos of people on social media saying 'We are all Outsiders' played. "It appears you're on the wrong side of, well, everyone on this Lex."

| Gotham City; January 01, 02:10 EST

"Someone should get Superman a print of that," Miss Martian mused. "He'd want to frame it."

"A publicly annoyed Lex Luthor is a minor miracle. How was it achieved?" WW asked.

The Dark Knight looked to Barbra. "It began with Oracle who sorted her way through Lex Corp shell companies to find the Dublin factory."

"Nightwing, Aquaman, Scarlet, and i checked it out and discovered Lex was using it to store his weaponized spider bots," Miss M informed.

"So the seven of us devised a plan. Oracle posted the blurred MONQI image on the Outsiders feed, i posed as the distraught Matthew Malone-"

"While i morphed into his missing daughter, Moira."

Diana still didn't understand. "The Ivo drone and the MONQIs?"

"Those were damaged bots, salvaged from Ivo's last base by Robin who repaired, reprogrammed, and operated them via remote control," Batman answered.

"To fool the Outsiders?"

"Among others."

"But not Lex Luthor?"

"No." He then stood. "Lex will know this is a setup. But knowing and proving are two different things."

"Is that your excuse?! Don't any of you see how truly compromising this is?"

"This is a war, Diana-"

"And which side are we on? We're not simply hiding things anymore, we have gone beyond lying to our comrades and the public, now we are staging false events, creating fake news merely to make our opponents look bad? Or the Outsiders and by the extension of us look good? Even with the best of intentions, that is crossing a line. You must see that. You must."