A New Beginning

Chapter 1

Robin: 16
Aqualad: 18
Artemis: 17
Superboy: 17
M'gann: 17
Kid Flash: 17
Danny: 11

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Seven years, 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 13 hours.

A total of 63,835.003 hours of his life was spent in a cage.

A total of 3,830,100 minutes since he's seen the sky that he barely remembers.

A total of 229,834,000 seconds where he's suffered from a life filled to the brim with fear and the uncertainty of tomorrow.

Seven years, 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 13 hours since he was captured by the Ghost Investigation Ward - or the GIW.

Seven years, 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 13 hours.

It smelled. Sitting in the same room for the last seven years, 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 13 - wait, 14 hours, there is bound to be a stench. The metallic rotting smell of dried blood and ectoplasm, some of it still wet and dripping onto the concrete floor and seeping through his threadbare shirt and pants, filled the too small and too dark room he has called home for almost as long as he could remember. The still young, irrational part of his brain that was barely existent anymore whispered into his ear, telling him that maybe if he hugged his knees close enough to his bleeding chest the liquid would stop.

Aqualad led the group of superhero proteges into the illegal compound that the League had found and assigned to them as a fairly low-stakes and routine mission. Batman had gathered enough information to know that a recently disbanded government organization was doing unsanctioned and unethical experiments on metahumans and non-human entities, their most recent being an unknown entity known only as Project H-01 that they have focused heavily on for years. The Young Justice Team was supposed to rescue Project H-01 while Batman, Flash, and Superman fight the "agents."

Once they were sure the hallway was cleared, Superboy, Robin, and Aqualad started to search for the cell, while M'gann, Artemis, and Kid Flash kept watch at the ends of the hall. There was a single cell in this branch of the building and it stood out among the constant white theme. The metal door was covered in blood and a green substance that none of them recognized. Although being highly trained, the echoing of apprehension and muted fear at what lay beyond the door reverberated in the air as Robin immediately went to work on the locks.

After nearly ten minutes of silence and tension (and some surprise that they have yet to encounter any agents), the sound of multiple gears shifting caught the attention of the teens that stood near the Boy Wonder and they straightened, ready to face the unknown entity that the GIW had in their custody for years. Superboy was the first to step forward and carefully open the door as he was the most durable of the group and the most likely to emerge unscathed if whatever or whoever was inside attacked.

It was dark inside the room, the only light was what leaked in from the hall. All three of the junior heroes had to take a step back at the stench that attacked their olfactory functions, making their eyes water and it even made Conner gag with his enhanced senses. Robin was the first to recover and slipped past Superboy and into the room, taking in his surroundings that were illuminated dimly with the remnants of sickly fluorescent lighting from the hall. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor were covered in the same mixture of blood and the green gel-like substance that the door was covered with. In his silent observation, something shifted and caught his attention. In the far corner directly adjacent from the entrance, barely visible as it skirted the edge of the light's range, was a young boy. He was no older than eleven, though Robin conceded that his assessment could be off as it was hard to evaluate size and body structure with the way the boy was huddled in on himself, hugging his knees, and staring blankly into the space in front of him. He had dull green eyes, and his hair was so covered in dirt and blood that the original color was lost. He was wearing grey sweatpants that were one size too big, and a stained with blood not-so-white-anymore t-shirt. The worst part, in the bird's mind, was the silver collar around his throat and cuffs around his wrists and ankles that were chained to the cement ground, all of which were glowing a menacing red that reflected in the glassy, empty eyes of the boy and highlighted the harrowed shadows of his face. He didn't flinch or acknowledge the opening door, the younger boy just continued to stare lifelessly ahead, hugging his knees close to his chest. Robin carefully walked closer to the boy and kneeled in front of him, but the boy didn't seem to notice his approach as he looked through him as if the teen were invisible.

"Hey. My friends and I are going to free you, ok? I'm going to get the chains off." The Boy Wonder carefully took the child's arm, unlatching his iron grasp on his leg and worked on unlocking the cuffs, trying to ignore the scars, burns, and bruising that was revealed on the irritated skin underneath.

When he finally got the cuffs off, he went to work on the collar. He had to work around the boy, seeing as he hadn't recognized the presence of the group of older teens, instead resuming his original position every time Batman's protege had let go. The collar took longer to remove, but it eventually gave out and clattered on the ground next to the cuffs and chains. And just in time as the sound of a few stray agents that got past the senior heros and are fighting the teens at the ends of the hall echoed into the cell. Robin glanced back at the door, seeing how Kaldur went to assist in the fighting while Conner stayed, ready to defend in case they got too close to the two inside the darkened room. Robin could hear distant shouts and insults thrown to the heroes from the sickening monsters in human form. A faint whimper reached his ears, and his attention went back to the figure next to him. His green eyes were more lucid and present, and they finally focused on him. The boy tried to gain distance by backing up, only to find out that there was a wall hindering him from doing so and got into a more defensive position.

"No, no. You're ok, my team and I are going to get you out of here. Can you stand up?" As if responding to the question, the boy started to loosen his defensive huddle and his eyes started to droop. He fell sideways only for Robin to catch him before he could fully collide with the cement. The Boy Wonder looked at the floor and saw the fresh blood, realizing that he probably passed out due to blood loss and with the trance broken his mind and body must have registered the injury and shut down. Which also meant that they had to get out of there and get help.

Now.