This is my first work in DCU or anything DC, really. Disregards anything in season 2 except for Spitfire, obviously. This was originally a 5+1 fic but now, its a entirely different thing. Just four no!ents the League members saw something of Spitfire.
Batman and Black Canary walked through the hallways of Mount Justice silently, no sound coming from their mouths, or their feet. There wasn't much to talk about.
They were only there to check up on the team, seeing as they'd gone up against some of the "Big Bads," as Wally so lovingly called the main villains. Apparently, Red Arrow had shown up and screwed up the plans - no one got hurt too badly, but M'gann had a "pulsating head wound" that turned out to be just a headache - her first - and Artemis had "broke a hip," much to Robin and Wally's (semi) complete joy.
Batman fiddled with his wrist-computer-holograph-thing for a moment, then grunted and said, "We'll find them in the common room."
Canary nodded, and took the correct turn to get there.
The team of young heroes had just been back not too long before Batman and the resident trainer/den mother/pseudo-mentor decided to look in on them. The two heroes walked into the common room, expecting the teens to be loudly debating something that had transpired during the mission, like usual. They expected Wally to be stuffing his face and Robin to be recording how many whatever's his friend could eat in a minute. Instead, what they got was the teens passed out and strewn over the two couches, floor and coffee table.
Robin lay on said table, curled into a ball. Roy lay next to him, almost falling off the tiny table, arm and leg hanging off. Aqualad and Superboy took up one of the couches, curled up on each of their own cushions, while M'gann laid on the floor in front of it, not quite spread eagle. Zatanna laid next to her, not touching, but within reach of the other girl, her hands cushioning her head. Wally and Artemis were on the other couch, with Wally laying on top of Artemis, her knees bent up by his waist and his head on her shoulder. His hand laid protectively on the bandages around her wait, and she had her hands in his hair.
Zatanna, Roy, M'gann and Robin definitely needed to sleep somewhere more comfortable, but they weren't the heroes' first concern.
Batman knew the speedster and archer would eventually end up like this - in every mission report he got, it was clear that the two protected each other from the villain more than they protected the others, if only fractionally. Kid Flash's duty was to confuse the bad guy and speed innocents out-of-the-way, while Artemis' was to take out any one that would harm an innocent or teammate. Yet somehow, the two always seemed to be picking off the goons who had found a target in their teammate.
Canary had seen the way the two sparred - and it was cute, really, cute enough she'd told the rest of the League's females. The teens always had to one up each other while simultaneously letting the other win. It didn't work out that way very often, and usually there was no usual winner. Wally was too fast, and Artemis was too agile. A lot of the time, neither had failed by the time she stopped them, or they'd both failed.
Batman and Canary shared a look. They could leave the two to rest, or they could wake them up and give them a stern talking-to.
Canary shrugged and pulled out her phone to take a picture to send to Barry and Ollie, knowing it would piss them off. Batman raised an eyebrow, but didn't question her, instead picking up Robin and adjusting Roy some so that he wasn't even close to falling off. Robin snuggled closer to Batman's chest, and then the two disappeared down the hall to Robin's makeshift room.
Canary snickered, and sent the picture to the rest of the League, with the caption, This is the future of the League.
Barry sent back, Adorable. Ollie sent back, He needs an arrow in the knee. Or the head, maybe. Her laughing almost woke up the slumbering teens, so she left quickly, getting many more angry texts from Ollie as she went, each getting more and more hilarious.
The League had been almost too late - Hal and Aquaman had been sent off too late, had gotten there too late. Nearly anything they'd have done would've had no effect, because Sportsmaster had already brought his wrath onto his youngest daughter and her teammate/friend.
Sportsmaster had tortured them in the sewer, oddly, and that's why Aquaman had been sent there instead of Green Arrow, or Flash, or anyone, really.
As they got closer, the water got darker and nastier, the smell turning absolutely putrid. It must've been an insult to Aquaman, the water, if you could call it that, they were stepping in. Hal made him and Aquaman some shoes, so that they weren't slopping around in the sludge. It had to have been a nightmare for Kid Flash and Artemis.
They could hear Sportsmaster yelling as they neared the place the heroes' trackers said they were.
"Do it and I won't kill him! Tell me now! Join me now, and he'll walk free!" You could practically hear the spittle he was probably projecting right at Artemis with every screamed word.
Hal winced at the loud screeching. This guy was Artemis' father? He seemed like a huge asshole, and, with all the problems he'd caused in the years since he'd first shown up, it was a real, very likely possibility that he'd abused his kid in some way.
They approached the scene just as Artemis yelled back, "them! I'm loyal to them, to the heroes! I may be your daughter," she spits, "but I am not you, nor do I want anything to do with you or your job. And we both know you wouldn't keep that promise if your life depended on it."
Hal watched as the look on Sportsmaster's face turned even more sour, watched as he pulled the trigger on the gun. Just as he was going to make some sort of force field around Wally's head, and as Aquaman was about to make the water pull Wally out of the way of the bullet, Wally sped his way behind Sportsmaster, and jumped on his back, feet first, causing them to fall in the water. Aquaman immediately took advantage of that, and, working in tandem with Hal, Sportsmaster was caged to the floor and unable to move.
Wally didn't seem to care one bit, instead helping Artemis to her feet and pulling her into a tight embrace. Neither teen seemed to notice the nasty liquid soaking their civvies, or the dark bruises forming on both of their faces. No, they seemed more concerned with...
Now, Hal doesn't have a sidekic- baby hero or any connections to the group of young leaguers at all, nor does he have really any paternal feelings, but they are feeling each other up right in front of two adults, two leaguers, for god's sake. He starts forward, ready to pull them apart and then blow their ears right off from his loud voice, but Aquaman pulls him back. Fleetingly, he wants to punch Aquaman in the face, but decides against it when he realizes the opposition and anger he would recieve from Queen Mera, Batman and Aqualad. He doesn't want any one of them even looking angry in his direction.
"Look closer," he whispers, like he knows everything about what two teenagers from topside are doing.
Hal lets out a sigh, and does as the older man says. Now that he's looking - and yeah, at first, he hadn't really looked, he'd just noticed; his thoughts had been Jesus Christ, I cannot be a pedophile and these kids are going to send me there why must they do this right now can't they wait damn - he can see that they are more running their hands everywhere, with occasional pokes and whispers he can't quite make out, than feeling each other up.
It takes a second, but he realizes they are checking for wounds that they'd probably not let out to dry unless they were unearthed by someone finding them.
Hal's never really thought of the team he heard so much about as actual people, but this - this display, this act - has shown him that they are just like the Leaguers, just younger and more hormonal. Actually, he could probably pull some strings and get them some time off if he pulled that card...
(What? Everyone needs some time off, especially after getting abducted. Especially after getting abducted by your father. It's the least he could do, even if he doesn't know them - and what better way to make them like him is there?)
Diana and Superman were hosting. They were hosting a party - charity thing, really, because there was an admission fee, and those went to charity - for students from the hometowns of the Justice League to interact with said heroes. That meant Metropolis, Star City, Gotham and Central City schools were all in one place - the Hall of Justice. Diana and Superman, the resident aliens - Hal and John and anybody else they could've used to freak out the kids into being less-than-destructive were off-world - were just there to supervise and make sure Flash, who was running around and sneaking up on the older kids from Star City and Metropolis - aka the ones who weren't used to it and the ones who wouldn't try to shank him, and succeed, cough, Gotham, cough - and Captain Marvel, who was chatting away to anyone who would listen, didn't make too much of a mess.
Obviously, they weren't the only ones there, or hosting, either, for that matter. They were the ones who saw what happened.
Basically, they'd been making rounds around the room, making sure there were no fights or drug deals or potential rape situations, because even though this is a miniature gala, they are heroes and they can't help it. They'd seen a corner with about three people, two of which were girls, and the faces weren't visible, so they'd gone a quick as they could without looking like they were about to rush the kids.
Superman's super-hearing picked up, "you shouldn't have come. This party was only for kids for could afford the pay up front." A nasty, pompous laugh follows the scathing words, and really, he almost doesn't want to get in the middle of it. He'd gone through that kind of treatment back in Smallville, and it was something that everyone went through, like some weird coming-of-age thing. Then he remembered that he'd always hated it, but he'd never wanted someone to stop it because then he'd be the one unable to deal with a little smack talk.
"And those clothes! Oh, they're atrocious. They belong in the slums, just like you." He can hear the girl go on, and he takes a second to reconsider going in and playing hero.
Even if he'd decided not to get into it, Diana was already going forward, and he didn't have time to stop her.
A blur passed them to the three, and he could see that it was Kid Flash, who was supposed to be Wally West, not his superhero persona. The sidekicks hadn't been apart of the appeal from day one of planning the party, even though they'd all be there in their civvies, no questions asked.
Kid Flash looks just a bit too sleazy as he says to the girl with the fake laugh, "babe, you should definitely pull your skirt down some before I have to be heroic and save you from the eyes of every guy and even some girls in here." He glances at who Superman now recognizes as the archer girl of Ollie's, then continues his spiel. "I have to say, preying on the supposedly weak is pretty villainous. I might have to lock you up."
The girl looks pleased, taking it as an innuendo, but the guy next to her looks like he may pop a blood vessel - his heart rate sure was through the roof for a simple party with no dancing and yes mingling.
She giggles, and Superman, after years of practice, suppresses a wince at the way it grates on his ears. "I've been very, ah, villainous. You should def lock me up, Kid Flash." She pauses her simpering, and Superman almost tenses. "We should get away from the street rat, and then you can get the cuffs." She giggles again, and the boy nest to her rolls his eyes in disgust.
Kid Flash looks kind of pained for a second, but it's gone so fast it makes him live up to his name. He glances up, as if searching, and meets Superman's eyes. "Nah, I think I'll let Superman deal with you, and I'll stay with Beautiful, here."
The look on the girls face would be outrageously funny in any other situation, but it's not there for very long.
Diana steps in, then, and she looks the two Gothamite's up and down in the same way she does the bad guys, the ones that tear down buildings and the ones that don't know what kindness is alike. They wilt under her glare, and can't find a way to get far, far from her fast enough.
Kid Flash grins, and kisses Artemis' forehead quickly, saying, "don't let those jelly bitches get to you. They're just mad that you aren't trying to be their friend."
Artemis scoffs. "As if. I'd rather be chained to Roy and Batman for a whole year than even talk to them and their pretentious friends. I mean," she goes on, "they think they're so good, and because why? Because they're rich! Like money makes a difference. I'm a hero, I save lives," she whispers. "They have nothing on me."
She's ranting, but Kid Flash just grins a bigger grin and murmurs, "I know" and "me too" and "you're right" under his breath.
Superman pulls Diana away, sensing that Wally has everything handled, and she looks up to him for a moment before looking to the crowd.
"What?" He asks her, not really expecting an answer. She hangs her head slightly, almost like she's going to be vulnerable, and he tenses.
"I want someone to look at me the way he looks at her," she whispers so low it's almost hard to hear under the loud conversations around them.
He swallows, because he doesn't remember any relationships he'd ever been apart of making anyone but his mother react anything like how Diana is now. He hopes, for them, and for everyone, that Kid Flash and Artemis get to see their thing to the end, and he also hopes the end is not anytime soon.
Captain Marvel and Martian Manhunter were just looking in on the team - as teenagers, they got angry with each other a lot and sometimes, the cave almost ended up torn to shreds in the arguing heroes' warpath. Also, they hadn't been on a mission lately, and there was no telling what antsy, hormonal teenagers would do. (Add on that they were constantly putting their lives in danger, saving the day and getting little more than a tongue lashing from Batman, sometimes with a semi-positive remark at the end, and there you go. Unpredictable teenagers.)
Robin, Conner and Kaldur were training - Robin said he wanted to see how he fared against a Kryptonian, and Kaldur had come for entertainment value - and Zatanna and Megan were in the kitchen. Megan was cooking, no, baking, those were cookies they smelled and Zatanna was listening to the stories Megan told of all of the missions the team had been on without her. Wally and Artemis were in the common room, playing MarioKart. They were sitting right next to each other on the couch, and both were leaning forward and knocking into each other.
"Eat my dust!" Wally shrieked as his motorcycle, carrying Yoshi, sped past Artemis' bullet-shaped vehicle that carried Baby Mario.
"'Eat my dust?' Eat my dust," Artemis said as she hit the ? item box, pressed the button on the controller and tripled in size, effectively crushing Yoshi as it drove over him.
"No! No, god, no," Wally moaned as Yoshi's flat tires made him bump around aimlessly on the track.
Artemis glanced at his half of the screen as she passed into the second lap, and laughed. Wally glared.
Slowly, Yoshi un-flatened - dis-flatened? Oh, god, they were starting to sound like Robin - and sped off to complete the first lap himself. Baby Mario came in for the third and final lap at the same time that Yoshi did for his second, and Wally groaned.
"Woman, you must hate me." Wally grumbled.
"No, I just like to win." Artemis smirked as she turned the last corner. She paused, then, before she could go over the finish line and win again.
"Then why are you just stalled right in the middle of the track, hmm?" Wally smiled, a real, full, beaming one that Artemis pointedly ignored.
"Because I can be - especially if I want to. Are you saying that I-" She looks like she's about to start in on a feminism rant, but Wally cuts her off, both agreeing with whatever she was about to say and not in the mood to hear it.
"Are you letting me win?" He turns the corner, too, stops just like her, and all of the other characters in the race rush past them. Baby Mario shoots forward, and Yoshi goes to follow, but he stays, and turns side to side for a moment, black gas ejecting from his motorcycle before he starts driving, too. "Beacuse, if you are, that would be totally-"
"No, I'm not!"
Artemis goes over the finish line for the last time, wining at 5th place, and Wally wins in 8th. They both have more points than the actual first place winner does, though, and it bumbs them up the chart. Artemis cringes at the music.
Artemis - 1st
Wally - 2nd
Peach - 3rd
There's silence for a moment, and Captain Marvel, knowing something's going to happen that will be totally gross, motions to Manhunter that it's time to go on with their days. Manhunter has a sappy smile on his face, just like Wally's, and he stays rooted to the spot, watching the two like some weird alien stalker.
"You know," Wally says, looking over to Artemis, "Peach is always in the top three. Just something I noticed, but it's kind of annoying, really."
Artemis grins, then turns to them. "If you guys don't need something not specifically from us, shoo. I have to keep winning against Kid Lame, here."
Wally sputters, starting to object, before Artemis shuts him up with a kiss on the cheek.
"Ugh," Captain Marvel groans in disgust. They are so gross, oh my god. "C'mon," he says to John, and he has to physically drag the other man - what do you mean men, haha, he's an alien, and Billy is ten, you're hilarious - away.