Greenhorn Hero
Chapter 1: Appearances kid, it's all appearances
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters involved except for Guardian F Forest and Guardian N Nature.
Washington, D.C. July 4th, 14:00 EDT
Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Arrow approached the hall of justice with their side kicks leading the way.
"Are you ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green Arrow asked his young friend.
"Born that way,"
The group entered the structure and were met by the Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado. Once everyone was aboard an elevator they descended a few levels, arriving in the library. As the doors opened they found two figures awaiting them.
The first was an adult male with dark green hair and eyes, he wore a billowing half-top with a slit down the middle revealing a lighter green undershirt and billowing green pants with no shoes. He smiled as they entered.
The second was a young man, his outfit an exact replica of the older's, save for the top being long enough to cover his torso even with the slit up the middle.
"Who are you?" Batman asked once they got close.
"Guardian F. Forest, at your service, this is my apprentice Nature," he bowed from the waist, putting a hand over his chest and allowing his middle two fingers to rest over his left shoulder, his apprentice followed suit with a quick copy of the action.
"Guardians, here, what crisis is afoot this time?" Aquaman asked.
"None, we're here for what you might call a… social visit," Forest looked to Nature.
"Your apprentice, I thought there were only one of you Guardians at a time," Flash asked.
"Rules change, we take apprentice's now, much like you take on sidekicks," Forest looked past the heroes to the group of young men behind them.
"Cut it with the side-kick thing, we're heroes now," Speed said as he stepped forward.
Forest nodded, "Of course, much like my little Nature here will become a Guardian in their own right one day,"
Nature nodded at his master's compliment.
"Regardless of this interruption, we're here for a reason, let's get to it," Batman led the group toward a door in the back of the room.
"We need to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day,"
Forest coughed once which drew the group's attention. "Got something you want to add?" Batman asked.
"Yes actually, Nature and I are here for another reason… a creature, Guarerian, escaped through a leyline portal, magic tracks it to this world," Forest explained as he approached the rest of the league.
Meanwhile the sidekicks and Nature were standing back a few yards.
"Leylines? Magic? What are you?" Robin asked the young Guardian.
"Oh… well… Leylines are magical channels, all worlds have them, we Guardians can tap into them when our reserves run low, and we can convert it into physical energy as well,"
Kid Flash shook his head as he heard the explanation.
"Regardless, what my master says is true, we're here mostly for the creature, but we're also here to discuss my application to join the Justice League,"
"Wait, you want to join the league? But you're so young,"
"Not me specifically, my master, and his title when I inherit it in time," Nature turned halfway to look at his mentor as he finished his explanation.
Aqualad went to asked another question when he saw the adults walking back over, Forest seemingly welcomed amongst them.
"Forest has given us a briefing of his situation, combined with our problem we've agreed to help the other in both matters," Batman explained.
"Now, if there are no more interruptions, we'll only be a few minutes for the debrief,"
An alarm pinged once and Batman sighed as he turned toward a large monitor in the wall behind him. Superman appeared on screen.
"Superman to Justice League, a fire has started as Cadmus labs,"
"Cadmus… I had my suspicions," Batman walked over and put a finger to one of the keys, but another alarm pinged and this time Zatara appeared on the screen in a smaller window.
"Zatara to justice league, the sorcerer Worten is using an amulet to blot out Earth's sun, requesting full League Assistance,"
Batman nodded, "What's the situation at Cadmus?"
"A small fire, local authorites have it under control," Superman replied.
"Then they can wait," he pushed another key on the console, "All league members report to Zatara's coordinates, we're gonna need all hands on this one," he let go and turned to the rest of the group, looking at Forest.
"Mind giving us a hand with this one?"
"Of course, we live to serve," he said with a exentuated bow.
Batman groaned as he squinted his eyes.
"So, we're going on a mission?" Robin asked as he led the group of sidekicks over.
"No, we're going on mission," Batman responded.
"You're not trained-" Flash began, but Kid Flash cut him off.
"Since when!?"
Flash started again "You're not trained to work on this team, your time will come,"
"But how much longer?" Speedy asked.
"Speedy, let's not do this now," Green Arrow told him.
"Then when? You keep telling us soon this, and soon that, but when are we actually going to become members of the league?"
"Whoa, calm down," Nature said as he stepped in front of Speedy.
"You stay out of this," He said pushing the young man away, he was caught by Robin and Kid Flash.
"I'm tired of being treated like a… like a sidekick," He said looking at Green Arrow, "I'm thought I was your partner, well not anymore," he took off his cap and threw it on the ground before storming out of the room.
Green Arrow looked at the rest of the League who stared back before Forest put a hand on his shoulder.
"As much as I'd like to discuss if the idea of letting a teenager run around D.C. with a quiver full of explosive arrows is a good idea, I think we have more pressing concerns,"
"He's right, let's go." Batman led the way out of the room, turning at the door toward the three sidekicks "Stay put," the door closed over his face.
Nature turned to the others as they waited. Aqualad turned to Robin after a minute.
"What is… project Cadmus?"
"Dunno, but I can find out," He said with a devilish grin.
He walked over to the console and began to work away at the keys, the others approached him.
"You think you can hack this?" Nature asked as he leaned on his elbows on the console, careful not to touch any buttons.
"Oh yeah, easy, same system as the batcave,"
After one failed attempt the computer opened a file on Project Cadmus.
"Let's see… Genetics lab… that's it,"
"It's just a genetics lab? Then why the concern?" Nature asked.
"Dunno, but if Batman has his suspicions, then so do I," Robin said as he stood up from the console.
"C'mon," he went to leave but turned and saw the other three weren't following.
"Our mentors told us to stay put," Aqualad told him.
"That was for the Sun mission, this is completely different,"
Kid Flash nodded as Robin explained, dashing over to his side.
"So just like that, we're a team on a mission?"
Nature nodded as he put a hand on Aqualad's shoulder, "What's the worst they could do?"
He sighed in response.