Welcome to the first part of Heathens! Bear with me as I work this story out, I am obviously changing a lot from cannon.  Also, this part is all flashbacks, not necessarily in chronological order, just to set the stage.

"We have to keep this family from falling apart." A nine year old Artemis Crock hugged her teddy bear tight to her chest as she watched her older sister, Jade, pack a bag full of clothes. 

Jade turned to look at her younger sister for a moment. "Tooth brush, duh. Knew I was forgetting something." She slapped her own forehead, heading towards the bathroom. 

"Dad will come after you." Artemis warned her sister. Jade paused, toothbrush in hand, staring at her younger sister. A smirk spread across her face as she approached Artemis, kneeling in front of the young girl. Leaning in, Jade whispered her plan to the nine year old, causing a gasp to escape the child's mouth. "Really? You mean it?"

Jade nodded. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

+ + +

The young princess of Markovia, Tara Markov, huffed and puffed as she ran through the woods of her country, away from her palace. Images of what had occurred flashed through her mind and she squeezed her eyes tight, shaking her head as she ran. 

"No, cannot think of that now. Must keep going." The young Tara chastised herself, pushing herself to go faster and further, to put more distance between herself and her former home. 

A hand reached out of the trees and grabbed Tara by the back of her throat, startling a scream out of the young princess. "Ah, ah, ah. Where do we think we're going?"

+ + +

"Again."

Rose Wilson grunted, wiping the sweat from her brow as she lifted her sword once more, sparing her father a glance. He gave nothing away, his posture relaxed and his face void of any emotional indication of whether he approved or disapproved of Rose's form. 

Internally rolling her eyes, Rose inhaled before diving back into her exercises, her father watching over her every move from afar. She kept reminding herself with every strike, every blow, that she was doing this for him. 

+ + +

"Shit."  A young Jason Todd cursed as he saw the eerie shadow of Batman fall across his window. Turning around to confront the dark knight he was shocked to see another form with him, a foe of the caped crusader, taking the man by surprise. Jason ran to the window to watch as they engaged in  a battle, his eyes wide. The enemy of Batman was losing by a margin and Jason felt something in him awaken. 

Running  up to the roof and leaping across to the next roof over, Jason picked up a stray brick, chucking it at Batman and hitting him in the back of the head, knocking him down. His foe took the opportunity to kick Batman in the head, knocking him out before turning to Jason. The man took his mask off, revealing  silver hair and an eyepatch. He smirked. 

"Batsy here has had his eye on you. That makes me curious." Jason arched a brow. The man chuckled. "Kid, how would you like a job?"

+ + +

Oliver Queen, otherwise known as Green Arrow, was running across the rooftops of his city with his partner, Speedy, in tow. They were chasing the villain of the week down, firing arrow after arrow at the perpetrator. 

Out of nowhere the villain collapsed to the ground, a net encasing them. Green Arrow and Speedy exchanged a look as they caught up to the villain, inspecting the net to find that it was neither of them that had fired it. 

"If you're wondering who took down your enemy, that would be me." The two heroes turned, bows raised, to find a blonde girl a couple years younger than Speedy standing there with a crossbow and dressed in a tiger themed outfit, a smirk on her exposed face. "The name's Tigress. Heard you were looking to expand your hero business, Mr. Queen."

+ + +

Jade Nguyen, formerly Crock, stood before the Demon's Head and a small party of higher ranking members of the League. She bowed as Ra's al Ghul nodded at her, turning a moment later and drawing her sai. 

Approaching the traitor to the League, Jade ignored everyone in the room, picturing just herself and her mark as she came close to them. Lifting her sai, Jade drove the weapon through the traitor's heart, pulling it out a second later as the traitor fell to the ground with a grunt. 

A slow clap resounded throughout the room and Jade turned to see a smirking Ra's. "Welcome, Cheshire, to the League of Shadows."

+ + +

Tara flipped over the bo staff as it swung at her, an expression of determination on her face as she landed. Striking hard and fast, the young princess hit her opponent with a kick to the chest, knocking them back but not down. Her opponent growled, going after her more aggressively. Swinging the bo staff in rapid succession, Tara's opponent did not let up, causing the princess to grow frustrated as she had to be on the defensive and not the offensive, constantly blocking strike after strike. 

With a grunt of annoyance, Tara lifted her arm to block the next swing. As she lifted her arm, a chunk of earth beneath her opponent rose as well, lifting them in the air. Tara blinked, staring wide eyed in shock at the display.

A chuckle came from a couple yards away. "Well, that sure is new."

+ + +

"But daddy!" Rose argued, staring past her father at the small figure behind him. "Why do you need them when you have me?"

"Quite frankly, Rose, you aren't enough." Rose clamped her mouth shut at that, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Now, be a dear and show our newest recruit around the place. I have other business to attend to." 

As her father left her with the stranger around her age, Rose pouted, arms crossed over her chest. "Not enough? Humph." The stranger cleared their throat and Rose turned to them with a sigh and  a roll of her eyes. "Come on then, follow me. I'll show you where we train first."

+ + +

Jason opened his eyes as he finished the training course set up for him by his new mentor. He looked to his mentor to see how he did that time around to see his mentor had his mask on, making him nigh unreadable. But Jason knew he made him proud. He was good like that.

Arching a brow Jason hopped off the platform, landing next to the man who stared at Jason. "Well? Do I kick ass or what?"

The man was quiet for a moment before a laugh escaped his throat. "Come, there are some...people...I would like you to meet." Jason furrowed his brow but followed, his confusion and curiosity not going unnoticed by his mentor. "I think you'll get along swimmingly."

+ + +

Video footage of the Justice League standing outside their headquarters with their proteges shown on the holographic screen in the middle of the table, seven figures seated around the outer edge, watching the footage closely. The one with scars across his face hummed. "It would appear the Justice League has made a team of children to do their dirty work."

"Yes, it would appear so." The man with salt and pepper goatee murmured.

"So how do we respond?" The one woman asked.

An idea hit the salt and pepper man, a grin spreading across his face. "We respond by making our own team with our own agents. And I know just who to put up to the task."

+ + +

"This cave will act as your base of operations. The seven of you -" Batman was cut off by his partner, Robin.

"Wait, seven?"  He quickly counted everyone to make sure he wasn't missing anyone. Robin. Kid Flash. Aqualad. Superboy. Red Arrow. Tigress. "Who is the seventh?"

A door opened and in stepped Martian Manhunter and a green teenage girl. "Meet Miss Martian, Manhunter's niece."

Tigress smirked, walking up to the new girl. "Welcome to the team. Glad I'm not the only girl anymore."

+ + +

Cheshire stared at the other three teenagers, an amused expression on her face as she took in their varying emotional displays. "So, let me get this straight. The Light wants us to be a team but the three of you can hardly stand each other?"

The boy laughed. "Don't speak for me. I think they're great."

"Oh, shut up, Red X." The silver haired girl snarled. 

"Yes, be quiet." The blonde added. 

The silver haired girl whirled to glare at the other female. "Don't agree with me!"

Cheshire chuckled as the other two girls fell into an argument, staring at her new teammates. "This is going to be great."