"Don't Call Us Sidekicks" [Young Justice]

Justice||Avengers AU

Vandal Savage couldn't help but grin as the oldest living Boy Wonder crossed the docking bay of the no-longer-secret "Bat-Cave". Seriously? That was all the World's greatest detective and vigilante could come up with? Savage bet Wayne let one of his innumerable brats chose the name.

"Okay, plan B." Richard whispered to himself. He stepped out of the Bat-mobile, keeping his eye on Savage as he slowly walked up the catwalk to where Savage sat at Bruce's computer, using the great swivel chair like a throne. Nightwing couldn't help but glare. That was his father's seat, not Savage's.

"Please tell me you came to surrender." Savage drawled, standing up as Richard stopped a few walkways away, tracing the cut on the railing.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you." Nightwing said, glancing over at the glass display cases. He swallowed, wishing Jason and Steph and Tim and Bruce and Barbra were all there to help him now.

Savage chuckled, much lower than Klarion did. Teekl meowed for extra effect, like the Witch Boy was gonna scare Batman's first apprentice.

"You should have stayed in your car for that, little hero," Savage advised too little too late.

Nightwing tried not to act scared as he glanced back at the armored car. He couldn't stay in the Bat-Mobile for this. He had to look Savage or at least one of his precious little minions in the eye and implant the look on their face in his memory forever when they realized that they were going down in a disaster. Heavy on the dis.

"Yeah, it's seen a little bit of mileage," He shrugged it off, "And you've got that ol' lantern of destiny or whatever." He played innocent, waving off the Father Box of Apokalips as a trinket.

Savage looked up at the computer screens on the computer display, where there were only a few more boom tubes to put into place.

"Apokalips is coming. Nothing will change that." He warned. "Your little team is in our control. After all these years of spoiling our plans, you are finally on the downside of our contingencies. What have we to fear?"

As Savage monologued, distracted by watching the final pieces of his perfect , enduring plan being set in place, Richard almost aimlessly wandered around the cave. He'd done it so many times before, waiting for Bruce or another teammate to show up, waiting for the decryption to finish, he could walk the cave in his sleep. And as Savage and Klarion kept a close eye on the traffic cameras from all around the world, Richard nicked things into the pockets of his ever-useful utility belt. A few smoke pellets here, a bomb there, even a few bird-shaped boomerangs- "birdarangs", he preferred to call them- for old times' thing.

"Young Justice." He said at last, tucking some Lexcorp detonation coil in with his escrima sticks.

Klarion snorted, and Savage finally looked up. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Young Justice. It's what we call ourselves. Sort of like a mini Justice-League, but not-Justice-League." He leaped up, hanging upside-down on a girder that ran right over Savage's head, and turned on his glove computer, just to make sure he didn't miss anyone. Though it was unlikely, he'd known all of them since he was thirteen.

"It takes a while to get some traction in here, what with your whole setup going on, but let's do a headcount here."

Savage quickly looked at the Father Box in his hand, then back to Nightwing, who cleared his throat.

"There's Artemis, master assassin and spy. Aqualad, an Atlantean soldier and one of the Light's biggest traitors." Klarion made to rush at Nightwing, but Savage motioned for him to stay put. Klarion needed all his energy for the next step of their plan.

"Miss Martian, an alien telepath. Superboy, a clone with breathtaking anger-management issues. Zatanna and Rocket, a couple of newbie Leaguers," Nightwing pulled himself up, flipped in the air, and landed softly right in front of Savage.

"And you, big fella, have managed to tick off every one of them." He jabbed his finger at Savage's chest.

Savage smirked, gently pushing away Nightwing's finger.

"That, my dear little hero, was all part of the plan."

Nightwing stuck out his bottom lip and shook his head, pacing back and forth in front of Savage.

"Not a great plan. Because when they come, and they will," he looked Savage in the eye, "They'll come for you."

Savage made to pound Nightwing's claims to the dirt but Richard waved them off and spoke loudly.

"Don't you get it? You can't win! There is no version of this whole plan of yours, with all its preparations and contingencies, where you come out on top."

Richard's voice grew lower. "Because if we can't protect the Earth, you know we'll get Justice for it."

Savage stepped towards Nightwing, who suddenly found himself with nothing to back into but a catwalk railing, with the Batmobile parked far below. Almost too far to jump.

"I wonder, how will your little friends fight me, when they're so busy fighting you?"

Nightwing recognized the orange blast building on the Father Box as the Parademon converter, the one that had taken over the minds of more than half the team and the League. He took his chances, backflipping over the railing.

"Deploy!" He shouted to the voice-activation. The further he fell, the slower the car seemed to be moving.

"You will all kneel before me!" Savage hollered, his aimless Parademon beams bouncing off the walls of the cave.

"Deploy!" Nightwing inhaled sharply. Seconds before he hit the ground, the Batmobile took off, converting from a car into a jet. Nightwing neatly landed in the pilot's seat, quickly taking over for the autopilot.

"And there's one other person you ticked off," Nightwing spoke into the jet's microphones. Savage stood there, for the moment, too shocked to speak.

Nightwing grinned. He almost felt like laughing. He and his friends were going to enjoy this.

"His name was Wally."