Summary: Black, giant, enormous, feathery wings were what Leila received as a present on her thirteenth birthday. Her father just simply said that she was growing up, and that she was inheriting her powers from her mother – who was a Xelara, which was basically a form of alien race that consisted of Xelaraians who had wings just like her, along with new powers that her dad had said would come in soon. So, when she's suddenly asked to become Hawkwoman's protégé and join a team of superheroes, things get a little complicated.
I gasped, grinding my teeth as a alternative instead of screaming in pain as it began again – the change. I didn't necessarily know what it was but Dad did say something about me growing up and how it had something to do with my mother – my deceased mother – who we barely talked about. This change started happening when I was thirteen, when I happened to be walking around the small apartment I shared with my dad, looking for food, when I suddenly felt a piercing pain hit me in the middle of my shoulder blades.
It felt like someone was drilling a hole inside of your skin, although not just as fast but much slower and painful. If someone was drilling a hole into your body, the process would be much faster, and during that time period, usually, people would just want their time done, swift and quick. Although, I haven't always been that lucky, however.
Two years have passed since then, and the mysterious piercing pain between my shoulder blades had never dulled, or gone away, in the least. Like the people on the television that they called superheroes, I possessed and gained powers similar to them, and Dad always stuck himself in my room, patiently waiting, for the both of us, as the piercing pain went away, as he rocked me back and forth, calming my cries of pain, like he did, when I was much younger.
Speaking of dad, he always came on cue, when it started, and speaking of the devil, the door suddenly burst open and Dad stood at the door, rushing in, only to see me arching my entire body in pain as I whimpered at the feeling, the searing and white-bearing pain as it trailed down my back, and I could see Dad's face – usually full of mirth and laughter and laugh lines – softening into a somber one, as he cooed. "Oh, sweetheart," He sighed, running up to my bed and dropping his knees to the floor, as he ran his hands – that were glowing with a searing white – over where the pain was happening.
Dad had the power to heal, and he always managed to heal all of my injuries, especially at a time like this. He tutted softly, the sound calming my tenseness a little bit, and I sighed, relieved, as I felt the piercing pain start to dull away, and starting to fade. "It's hurts," I groaned and Dad rubbed his hand in small, slow circles on my back, humming softly. "It's over, baby." He cooed and comforted me as he sighed, bringing himself to sit on my bed, crooning softly.
"It's going to come back," I murmured as I curled my body to a ball, my legs tucking under my chin. Dad stayed silent as his crooning suddenly stopped, and I lifted my stiff neck to look over at my father, and watched as his eyes suddenly widen in wide saucers, and looked questioningly at him. "Leila." He breathed as he pointed over to my back, and I turned my blue eyes over to where he was pointing, and with a start, I realized there were two set of wings slowly growing into my back.
Black and ebony, and giant, and feathery, wings suddenly started enlarging into my back and they stopped enlarging as I sat up from the bed, and stopped growing when the ends of the wings grazed the ground softly. "Dad," I turned and I noticed his eyes straying on my newly-grown wings and he exhaled. "You're grown up now, Leila." He sighed, and I stared at the mirror, gazing at my newly-grown wings.
That was six months ago. Through the shock, Dad had explained to me that things would get rocky from on there. I didn't really understand why he looked so depressed right there but, I figured it must be because I was reminding him of Mom. I couldn't blame him, I missed her too. My mom was a Xelaraian, and, according to Dad, she did not make it through child birth, and passed away on the hospital bed.
Dad was a metahuman, a human who gained powers through a traumatic event in their life. Some of his abilities included healing and telepathy, but other than that, I didn't know what else he could do. He never really indulged into what he could fully do, maybe because he didn't feel comfortable about talking about himself, or he just didn't want me to know.
Through the matter of months, I had gotten used and accustomed to my new wings and new powers. Turns out I didn't have to do much with my wings, although, they did have a mind of their own. They allowed me to fly, glide, jump smoothly and all I had to do was trust them, which was the easiest part. Although, they were something new to get used to, I was quickly growing fond of them rather quickly. My powers, on the other hand, it was different. I could move things with my mind, project my own soul out of my own conscious body, which had an definite advantage, and I could form hot energy from my hands and construct it into anything I wanted. I had inherited my dad's healing and telepathy.
Dad had said that my powers could develop even more and they were still maturing and it could be completely at random, so he told me to give it time and to keep a look out. Dad watched me, curious as he observed the way I would grow used to my powers, and how I would seemingly react when it came to this matter. I could tell that he wished Mom was here because we both knew that she would have been able to know what to say in this situation. Dad had always been the jokester, always there as a comic relief to make me laugh and to keep any boys interested in me, to stay away and always took me to baseball games.
Dad worked as the head scientist in a treatment facility called WICKED, which was a facility that treated unwell patients, experimenting with unknown chemicals to create a new medicine and treatment plan for those who were unwell. Today, he had been called into the facility, and the only thing he managed to tell me before he left was that he'd be gone for a long while and that he left the leftover Chinese takeout in the fridge, allowing me to heat it up and eat for the rest of the day.
I didn't mind. Dad was always rushing to go to work, and he always made sure I had something to eat during the days that he would be gone or stay late nights at the facility. Besides, today was a Saturday, and I didn't really plan on doing anything for that matter. Probably eat some junk food, watch television, and scroll through Tumblr for anything interesting as I wandered around the small apartment, acting like a coach potato.
I didn't realize what that Saturday would offer me. In the afternoon, I heard a distinct knock on the door, and with wary suspicions, I peeked in through the peekhole. Dad had always told me to never answer the door, because we were the kind of family that did not appreciate visitors. Mormons always came by, asking to convert us and all, and Dad didn't like the company.
Instead, when I glanced at the peekhole, I didn't see the usual Mormons fully prepared to convert my belief, it was something I would have never expect. I opened the door wide and gaped openly at the woman standing outside my door. Hawkwoman, a tall, frightening, imposing, fierce, and the absolute toughest member of the Justice League stood outside of my dingy door.
"Woah." I blinked and then promptly pinched myself to see if I was dreaming again, and when I felt pain, I knew that this was happening for real. Hawkwoman looked just as intimidating as Hawkman, just with less armor, and she remained stone-faced as she addressed me by my name. "Leila Walker?" I tensed up, not knowing what was going to happen, as I clutched the doorknob encased in my left hand tighter as I braced myself for what was coming up next. "Yes?" My voice came out trembling than I thought it was going to be.
Hawkwoman didn't seem to notice. "It's about your father, Daniel." She paused and I could feel my panic rise, my throat suddenly becoming dry as I swallowed the lump in my throat. "There was an explosion at Wicked Inc. and your father were not seen."I let my eyes fall to the ground, my frame shaking slightly at the shock. "But authorities have concluded that your father must have made it through the fire."
Hawkwoman opened the pouch inside of her belt and pulled out two things; a small gift box and a crumpled piece of paper. "While we investigated the scene, we found this in your father's office. They both had your name on it." She offered them to me. Turning it over, I realized she was right, and I recognized Dad's lazy scrawl on the paper, Dad always tended to press hard whenever he writes, like Braille, as I ran my hands through the small calligraphy.
I could feel Hawkwoman's eyes on me, and I met her gaze with my own. She coughed to get my attention, "The League will also have to ask you for your time to answer a couple of questions," I knew what that meant. They were suspicious of Dad and I guess they had good reason to be because he was the lead Board at Wicked and to find that he suddenly escaped with no trace was enough to raise a few red flags.
I nodded to show my understanding, waiting for her to leave and when I didn't hear footsteps fading away, I looked up to her again questioningly. "Now would be a good time," She stiffly commented, and I turned to her, blinking in surprise. "Now?" I echoed and she nodded her confirmation, and I didn't have time to protest as she literally pulled me by my arm and out of the small apartment.
The small paper turned out to be a letter from Dad, who alerted me of his situation. An explosion did happen in Wicked but, not at his area of expertise. He was safe but, he had to leave before the authorities could come investigating because they would search through his research and some of it was actually semi-illegal and when they did research it, which took a long time. However, he would come back, because there were some things that needed the League's eye to be fixated on, including illegal cloning and experiments. He would be home soon, he promised, and told me to look after myself for the time being.
The gift box turned out to be a small pet, a small dog the shade of turquoise, with brown eyes that could will you to do anything she wanted. I had called her Lady due to her feminine posture whenever she sat down. Dad told me in his letter that Lady was a puppy that was intertwined with the DNA of a German Shepherd and a Xelaraian and she would be fully capable to protect me while he was away.
Lady was friendly and energetic. Whenever I came home, she would always greet me excitedly and jump up so her paws would be lying on my stomach, barking happily. Lucky for me, Dad had a storage of dog food that he fed to the neighbor dogs whenever he had free time and I had used that food to feed Lady for the time being. Since she was Xelaraian, she would probably like the water just like Mom and I enjoyed it just as much.
Anyway, through the course of the week when Hawkwoman had dragged me out of the apartment, she had immediately taken me to the Hall of Justice, where I had been asked – no, interrogated was the more describable term – by several League members. I did my best to protect my father, even though I barely understood what exactly he was doing at the moment, and I did my best to not crack under the pressure.
I guess maybe I was a bit too strong in my insistence that my father was a good man and he wasn't involved in any crime cases, especially the rumors about Wicked being that it was secretly an underground factory generating weapons of mass destruction and creating clones to create an army all of their own. The evidence that maybe I was feeling rather too strongly was when I suddenly saw the love seats encased in my own silver energy and my eyes glowing the same exact color.
"Do that again." Batman, the caped crusader demanded as he gestured towards the love seats, and I obeyed, turning to the love seats, flicking my wrist over slightly and the seats hovered over some nonexistent space. "How are you able to do that? Are you a Martian?" I raised my eyes to Green Arrow, and lowered my eyes to the ground, shaking my head. I guess my cover was blown already, seeing I had already somewhat exposed myself.
Hawkwoman sauntered over to the table where I was seating, and leaned forward with an arm on the table, with an intrigued expression on her usually stone-faced expression. "What else are you able to do?" Her voice was calm and authoritative, a commanding presence as she leveled me with her own green eyes.
I stared at her for a good minute before I stood up and closed my eyes for a brief minute before my soul-self emerged from my own physical body. A silver silhouette of my own body traveled around the room and then returned back to my physical body. I opened my eyes, aware of Hawkwoman's eyes glaring right down at me, and clenched my right fist, and then focused. A bright light of silver energy encased itself into my hands, forming into a small ball of silver energy, similar to a bolt, and then morphing it into a small hammer similar to Hawkwoman's mallet.
The silver energy disappeared from my hands, and I took off my black sweatshirt and tossed it onto the chair, the member of the League's faces did not falter from their usual mask of indifference, and I released a sigh I didn't realize I was holding in as I unsheathed my ebony, dark wings. Hawkwoman's eyes widened at the sight of my large wings before she nodded in understanding, "Is that all?" One of the wings on my back lifted up to catch the air. "I'm a telepath." I stated and blurted the last thing I needed to say. "And I can heal people."
Hawkwoman shared a look between Batman and he nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Interesting." She simply said. "How long have you had these powers?" I dropped my eyes to the ground at the sound of Batman interrogating. "Six months. But, my wings came in on my thirteenth birthday." I bit my lip and I could feel the slight curiosity and tension in the room and I wished that I could just disappear now in the world.
Two days later, Batman and Hawkwoman both arrived at the apartment I shared with my father. After a bunch of narrowed eyes and a match of death glares, Batman offered me a proposition. I was their ally to know anything about Wicked, whom they were completely clueless as to what it was. While I gave him information, I could be offered a spot on a covert team consisting of the most famous superheroes sidekicks as Hawkwoman's protégé.
Well, I think it was obvious what I said. Yes, of course. Hawkwoman didn't smile then. She merely told me that it was going to be hard and she would give me no mercy, and that training would have to be brutal. I could see the challenge rising in her eyes, daring me to retaliate, and make a big scene about being a worthy partner to be involved with.
But I wasn't stupid. I knew better than to challenge one of the fiercest and toughest fighters in the Justice League. She had a goddamn mallet, for Christ's sake. I told her that I was ready but, I didn't think my point got through to her, considering the skeptical glint in her green eyes.
From then on, I underwent training with Hawkwoman. It was brutal, and tough, and intimidating, and she was commanding, and criticized every mistake I made as I fought against her. Aerial combat was important, too. She emphasized all of the things I needed to know and what could be considered useful as I flew through the air. She taught me how to spin to ward off any attackers hanging onto me and that I should always have a weapon handy if I ever have the need to have one.
Dad barely passed my mind, and for that, I was glad. I didn't need to think of dad and think of where he was, spending my nights worrying my ass off. I was glad that Hawkwoman was busting my ass and making me burn calories, even though I knew she could wipe the floor with me any day. I was already busy, with school, training with Hawkwoman, and buying takeout just to eat. I couldn't imagine my life turning around when I joined a team.
The past months flew by faster than I realized, and it turned out to be five months that I had been studying under Hawkwoman. During that time, I've met Hawkman, turns out they were married, go figure. So I happened to see him more often than I thought I would. As I trained with Hawkwoman, things have definitely changed. I was definitely impressive on the field than before, able to respond with attacks quicker and faster, send back counterattacks of my own, and I received a hammer just like Hawkwoman from Hawkman, which didn't weigh that much, thanks to Hawkman's insistence that I pick up weight training.
Hawkwoman was a hard instructor, she was a hard ass, I admit that, but even though, sometimes, I felt like she was trying to kill me during practice, I knew she was helping me in a good way. Lady was good, too. She had grown, although, not that much. I'm guessing it's because she was half Xelaraian and that slowed the aging process, reminding myself when Dad told me about Mom looking the same twenty-two year old woman he met, even when she was giving birth to me.
Hawkwoman and I fought crime, especially on missions together. It was exciting, and I had grown used to it somehow. She informed me on the following Monday, I would see the Hall of Justice and meet the sidekicks. It was great, I couldn't wait to see people my age fighting crime. Hawkwoman was great company – believe me – I loved it when she corrected my form and criticized my roundhouses when we went on patrols together – but a girl can get tired and want younger company. By the time Monday had rolled around, I was excited, and rolling on the balls of my feet.
"Are you serious?" I groaned as Hawkwoman threw me a look, both of us suddenly airborne as we glanced down at Sr. Frost causing havoc and stealing electronics at a nearby pawn shop. The guy was way too old to enter the scene, if you asked me, he was probably seventy years old, and you could tell he was in no shape on joining the fight.
Right now, we were in the city, and obviously in the middle of a heroic mission, also known as kicking ass. I was irritated and annoyed because Hawkwoman seemed to decide that today we would have to check every corner of the city to see if crime was happening at the very moment. I understood what she was doing but, I had a feeling she was just doing it to tease me about today.
I stayed back as Hawkwoman whisked by him, swooping in and throwing her mallet back and swinging hard, which left Sr. Frost disoriented. Taking advantage, I swooped in, doing the exact same thing as my mentor, and clocked him in the jaw as hard as I could, and then did a roundhouse. Ignoring the moaning villain at my feet, I turned to my partner, eyes impatient and wide. "Can we go now? Today's the day." Hawkwoman slowly grinned at me as she handcuffed the villain before shoving him in the direction of the authorities.
I passed by Hawkwoman as we flew over to the Hall of Justice, and I could clearly see the tall building, and a small smile formed on my features, and I could hardly contain my excitement but struggled to maintain my straight face, and I whipped my head up when I heard Hawkwoman chuckle beside me.
I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." I sped up and directed my wings to lose flight as I flew down to the ground, my wings flapping loudly as I descended on the ground, and I could hear Hawkwoman reaching ground right beside me. There were the group of protégés and their mentors that stood in front of me as Hawkwoman caught up to me, "Calm yourself, child." She shook her head at me and I shrugged openly at her. Not my fault that she was getting older.
"Shaden!" I turned to the voice and realized that it must have been Wally West AKA Kid Flash, who I often dubbed Thing #1. He was a year younger than me and was the jokester usually, and he fit the part, actually, with his bright red hair and green eyes, especially with his Kid Flash uniform, bright colors consisting of red and yellow.
"I guess I'm not the last one." He smirked at me and I raised a brow at him in surprise, "Whatever you say, Spuds." I enjoyed the way his face suddenly burned the same shade as his hair. Robin cackled behind his hand and he raised his hand to offer me a high five high in the air, and I tried to fight back a smile when I realized he hadn't grown that much since I saw him last. He was still a foot shorter than me. I high-fived him anyway, his glove and my fingerless ones making a slight slap in the air, and I turned to the other redhead who was scowling at me and the calm Atlantean.
"Shaden." Kaldur nodded at me politely and I offered a small smile back at him. "Aqualad." I greeted and raised a brow at the scowling archer, who looked completely ridiculous in his uniform. "Speedy." He glared at me and I muttered, "Nice to see you too." under my breath as he walked over to the entrance, along with the others.
I had chose to give myself a codename; Shaden. I liked it and Hawkwoman didn't have a problem with it. I had met Speedy, Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash by stumbling into them with their own respective mentors, and they were all friendly and nice, including Speedy, but that was in his own kind of way.
As we all walked closer, I caught sight of the original League members and whistled lowly at the sight, already impressed, and I could hear to what Robin was commenting to Wally. "You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?" He turned and saw the statues, and he smartly said, "Oh. Maybe that's why." It was impressive, and I could see my own mentor in her familiar combat stance.
The door hissed open and out came Martian Manhunter, and he stepped forward towards us. "Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Shaden, welcome." He said, and then he turned back and I watched Robin and Wally exchange fist bumps and I grinned as we walked towards the elevator.
"You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked gallery, and of course our library." He continued. I looked around. We entered the Hall of Justice. There were a bunch of shelves filled with texts and books that I wanted to reach out to grab and suddenly read but, I forced myself to keep my arms by my sides. There was a large screen and a computer where there was a seat when one needed it. There were a couple of chairs and there was a door that read LEAGUE MEMBERS ONLY.
Flash, with his arms spread open, added. "Make yourselves at home." I barely had time to sit, especially when Robin and Wally dropped themselves onto the seats, and I narrowed my eyes at them as Wally poked his tongue out at me. Instead, I opted to look at the heavy tombs on the shelf as the Leaguers talked in conversation and Speedy to narrow his eyes at them.
"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day." I heard Batman say, and then he stared at us five, and said. "We shouldn't be long." He turned and I could hear a whirring and I looked up to see a small ball appearing from the ceiling so the computer could recognize them. "Recognized Batman 02, Aquaman 06, Flash 04, Green Arrow 08, Martian Manhunter 07, Red Tornado 16, Hawkwoman 17." The computer said as it scanned over each superhero, and then opened the LEAGUE MEMBERS ONLY door for them to enter.
"That's it? You promised us a look inside, not a glorified backstage pass." Speedy looked furious and I could understand why. The Leaguers looked back at him in surprise. "It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get." Aquaman answered him and I raised a brow, looking up to see the glass window full of reporters and civilians taking pictures down at us.
"Oh really?" Speedy retorted as he gestured with his arm, waving at the glass window which showed the exact same one I was looking at. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?" I bit my lip and watched as Speedy angrily conversed with the Leaguers. "Roy, you need to be patient." Green Arrow attempted to calm his furious protégé but Roy was having none of that as he walked towards him. "What I need is respect," He spat at his partner and then he turned to the rest of us, his expression conveying exactly what I was feeling.
"They're treating us like kids. Worse, like sidekicks." He said the word so venomously like it was acid just saying it as it rolled out on his tongue. "We deserve better than this," Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash looked at each other before glancing at me and I stared back, blinking before they looked at Roy again. "You're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why? Today was supposed to be the day." Roy swipes his hand through the air in his frustration, adding emphasis on the word 'the'. "Step one in becoming full-fledged members of the League." His words were clear; he was having none of this and he would not stand for it anymore.
"Well, sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ." Wally glanced around at the rest of us. "But, the Hall of Justice isn't their HQ." Roy retorted back. Shocked faces went all around, including mine and the Leaguers' faces tightened and narrowed. Hawkwoman had never told me that. Never told me anything. "I bet they never told you it's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching zeta beams teleporter tubes to the real thing, an orbing satellite called the Watchtower." I watched Green Arrow glance at Aquaman in worry and my mouth fell open in shock.
Green Arrow turned to face Batman, and the caped crusader simply crossed his arms across his chest. "I know," He said, "But I thought we could make an exception." He shrugged his shoulders and Batman only narrowed his eyes even more and Green Arrow's face fell, "Or not." He added.
"You're not helping your cause here, son." Aquaman said, stepping up to Roy, who turned at the merman. "Stand down or-" Roy challenged, leaning towards him in a daring matter. "Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his! I thought I was his partner. But, not anymore." Roy took his hat and threw it down on the floor and my eyes widened at the action, and it seems I wasn't the only one.
"Guess they're right about you four." Roy turned away and started walking towards the door, "You're not ready." His words hurt as Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash stood up to watch him go. Once the door closed on him, an alarm suddenly blared throughout the room and everybody turned to see Superman on the screen, with a somber expression. "Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire." He said and I watched as the League members in the room moved in front of the screen. "I've had my suspicions about CADMUS. This may present the perfect opportunity to in-" He was suddenly interrupted by Zatara appearing in another screen.
"Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Wotan is using the amulet of Attan to block out the sun. Requesting full League response." I blinked in surprise and Batman quickly looked at Superman. "Superman?" Superman appeared the same, "It's a small fire." He said somberly, "Local authorities have it under control." And that was the end of that. "Then Cadmus can wait." Batman looked down and pressed a button on the computer keyboard."Let all League members rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates." All of a sudden, the Leaguers began walking out of the room. "Stay put." Batman said to us, and Robin cut in. "What? Why?" He questioned, throwing out his hands in front of him.
"This is a League mission." Aquaman said, his arms authoritatively set on his hips, and Flash cut in. "You're not trained." And he was immediately questioned by Wally, who looked baffled. "Since when?" He threw his hands in the air exasperatedly, and Flash explained himself. "I mean, you're not trained to work as a part of a team." Flash gestured to all the three of them in emphasis and I narrowed my eyes.
"There will be other missions when you're ready." Aquaman added and I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning against the shelf, growing tired of the talk now. "But, for now." Batman interjected, "Stay put," He narrowed his eyes and tightened his jaw as he scanned all four of us suspiciously before starting to walk away. "Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?" I heard Green Arrow ask to Martian Manhunter, who was calmly overlooking the conversation. The green Martian turned towards him, "Indeed," He agreed before the two walked away together.
Red Tornado stood at the door, watching silently as his fellow Leaguers passed by him and he looked back at us for a moment before he turned away as the door closed behind him with a hiss. Wally scoffed once they were out of hearing, and muttered. "When we're ready?" He echoed the Leaguers' words, "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like," He threw his arms around him in a frustrated fashion and looked at the rest of us, "Like sidekicks?" Aqualad looked away from the speedster and I watched him as his expression turn dejected.
"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me." He mumbled and I felt bad just looking at his dejected face. "Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in space!" He raised his arms to gesture at the sky, as his voice raised a few octaves than usual. "What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad was the one to ask and I sighed, my mind wandering to my own mentor and how much she hadn't been telling me.
Robin looked away, "I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" I glanced at the door where Speedy had went marching towards, until something had occurred to me. "What's Project Cadmus?" I asked rhetorically and the boy wonder in question turned to look at me. "Don't know." And a smile appeared on his pale face, "But I can find out." I grinned also and watched as the traffic light walked towards the computer and started typing, probably hacking the League's system already.
"Access denied," The computer echoed and Robin scoffed as he stared at the computer screen, "Heh. Wanna bet?" He continued typing and the whirring from the computer started happening, and the green screen suddenly lit up with the entire database with hidden codes and encryptions that whirred by too fast for me to read. "Whoa." Wally gaped and then he turned to his best friend in question, "How are you doing that?" He is Batman's protégé, after all. I thought as I stared at the screen, I was not even surprised anymore at Robin's abilities, I was just bemused.
"Same system as the Batcave." He pressed a button on the keyboard and the glowing screen slowly lit up and the computer's voice penetrated through the walls. "Access granted." I grinned widely and Robin started reading off of the computer screen, which revealed to him the big question on our minds. "All right. Project Cadmus. Genetics lab here in D.C. That's all there is." I raised a eyebrow and I pursed my lips in thought. "But if Batman is suspicious, maybe we should investigate."
"Solve their case before they do." Aqualad summarized, "It would be poetic justice." His face softened and I could see the mischief starting to flick in his pale green eyes, and I started feeling hopeful and excited in all giant bunch. "Hey, they're all about justice." Robin chuckled, smiling at the tan merman. "But, they said stay put." Aqualad frowned and I could tell he was having a internal struggle between disobeying his king and having some fun.
"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this." Robin grinned and placed his hands on his hips, and I guess he could see Aqualad's reluctance. "Wait." Wally grabbed Robin's shoulder so he could turn him around to face him face-to-face. "Are you going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going." They really are best friends, aren't they? I mused at the identical smirks on both the speedster and the boy wonder.
They turned to both Aqualad and me with wide smiles on their faces, doing their best to persuade the mature and level-headed ones in the group. "Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" Aqualad mused, as Wally looked at Aqualad with his hands on his hips. "We didn't come for a play date." Robin said, and Aqualad's face tightened to a devilish, mischievous expression and the three boys turned to me, the only one who didn't nod my consent. I looked at all three of their happy and mischievous faces and I quirked an eyebrow at all of them, "The hell we waiting for? Let's go!" We then, jumped into action.