The Lost Grayson (Young Justice)

Prelude (3rd person)

"Yeah! Practice time!" Rylie Grayson yelled as she and her twin brother, Dick, ran and did acrobatic moves towards the main circus tent to warm up for that night's show. Rylie was extremely excited. After two grueling weeks of not being able to preform because of a sprained wrist, her parents were finally allowing her to get up on the trapeze and do the show as the youngest flying Grayson (even though she was only younger than her brother by six minutes.) But before she could even get to the trapeze ladder, she was stopped by an ominous figure standing just outside the center ring. The twins gasped and stood back as the man smiled crookedly at them. After pulling her brother away from the man, she went to stand by her mother, who was watching the man with a look of confused curiosity. He was an older man, with graying hair and slightly wrinkled skin, but he looked like he could still put up a decent fight if he needed to.

But something was off about this man. Maybe it was his two colored eyes, or the way he walked, but she had a feeling it was how he was looking at her father, the way the circus lions looked at a piece of meat right before feeding time.

"Name's Tony Zucco. Welcome to Gothem. My brothers and I are here to offer you our protection. For a small fee, of course." The twins looked at each other, clearly puzzled by the man's statement. Protection? Why would the circus need protection? Rylie eyed her father as three more men, younger and much more intimidating, walked in behind Zucco.

"John Grayson, the circus manager. And I'm not sure way we'd need your protection." Her father said sternly, crossing his arms. The twins copied his movements, waiting for their father to kick the rowdy men out.

"I come from circus folk myself, so let me put it into your terms. Pay up, or you'll have to deal with a strong man," said Zucco as the first man knocked down signs and barrels, smashing them to bits as the Graysons jumped back, half in shock and half to avoid getting cut by the flying debris.

"A lion tamer," the second brother snapped his whip and pulled down a light fixture that was about to come down on Rylie's head. In an instance, Dick pushed his sister out of the way, saving her from injury but splitting the two up.

"And the juggler." Zucco finished with a flourish as the final brother started destroying more signs and props with carefully aimed juggler's pins. He was about to aim one at a disoriented Rylie when her brother again jumped into action, blocking the man with a stern,

"Stop!" The mother, Mary, gaped at her son's boldness as Zucco, having already grabbed Rylie by the arm, set his hand on the young boy's shoulder, stopping the confrontation between the boy and the brother.

"You have a wonderful family here, John." Zucco stated as he guided the twins into full view of their parents. "And as my pop always said, family is the most important thing. I'd do anything for my brothers. It would kill me if something happened to them." With each word, Zucco dug his nails into the children's arms until that cried out in pain. It was then that John sprang into action, knocking over Zucco and landing a good punch on the third brother before flipping backwards while Zucco stood up and rubbed his jaw. Unfortunately, John had flipped right into the path of the strongman, who delivered a swift punch to his head and knocked him over as Zucco laughed.

"You see John, I don't think you or your family could perform tonight without our protection."

"Oh, I think we'll be fine." Responded Rylie. The brothers turned to face her.

"And what makes you say that, doll?" The leader asked. She turned to her brother, who held up a phone.

"We called the police five minutes ago."

"And guess who intercepted that call?" Came a deep voice from behind him. He turned only to be knocked out by a certain caped crusader. The twins gasped as they recognized who had just entered the tent. It was Batman! He leapt into action, dueling with the brother with the whip as the strongman turned to Zucco.