"Aww man! I knew we'd be the last ones!" Kid Flash whined, upon seeing the other three superhero tag teams gathered in front of the League of Justice. He threw a glare at his mentor, crossing his arms and pouting bitterly.
The Green Arrow chuckled whole-heartedly at the irony and stepped forward as Batman took the liberty of welcoming the two. He waited for the dark knight to finish before chiming in, "Actually son, you'll be happy to know we have two more guests to wait on."
Kid Flash looked up at him in surprise along with the other sidekicks. As if on cue, a black portal formed on the ground beside them and two figures rose from the concrete. One was the seductive blonde known as Black Canary and the other was a skinny girl with lustrous, bouncy curls and doe-like eyes. She smirked at the group and held out her hands, palms facing the floor. They glowed in a black energy as the portal shrank before the two women's feet.
"Black Canary," Batman greeted again before turning to the younger girl. "You must be Canary's protégé, Glitch. We've heard excellent things about you."
"Thank you," the girl bowed pleasantly, showing Batman all the respect he rightfully deserved. "It's wonderful to finally meet you all."
Kid Flash's eyes brightened and he opened his mouth to say something flirty when Speedy interrupted him. "Great. Now that everyone's here, can we move things along?"
The Green Arrow sighed and smiled sheepishly at Batman, silently apologizing for the bluntness of his apprentice. Batman ignored it, letting it slide by as he nodded and led the way. The younger superheroes smiled excitedly as they followed their elders down the tourist lined path. They waved excitedly as the fans took pictures and waved to them.
"This is so great! Today's the day!" Kid Flash exclaimed excitedly, catching up with the group easily.
"I'm glad we're all here," Aqualad added sincerely, having known the others briefly through previous events. He turned to their newest member and smiled, letting her know that she was included in that statement. Glitch met his eyes gratefully and nodded gratefully for the kindness.
"Isn't it great? Having all four sidekicks here at the same time?" Kid Flash beamed before catching himself and turning to Glitch. "I mean five!"
"Stop," Speedy scowled. "We're not sidekicks. Not after today."
"Sorry," Kid Flash frowned, trying to explain himself. "First time at the hall."
"I hope you don't mind," Black Canary spoke up as they approached the entrance of the Hall of Justice. "I thought Glitch would do better with others, so I added her in last minute."
"That's fine, Canary," Green Arrow eased, smiling at her graciously. "I'm sure she'll be a most welcome addition."
Black Canary smiled back at him as they made it to the door. The steel entrance beeped and slid open to reveal Green Martian and Red Tornado. "Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Glitch, welcome. You now have unlimited access to the Hall of Justice."
Green Martian turned on them and began leading the group inside with Red Tornado as he explained things to them. As they took the tour, Robin and Kid Flash shared twin grins and bumped fists in recognition. Green Martian led them into the library and trailed off as Flash took over the tour. He smiled widely and stretched out his arms, "Make yourselves at home."
The teens looked around and did as they were told. Robin jumped into one of the seats, sinking in deep because of his size while both Aqualad and Kid Flash offered a seat to Glitch.
"After you, my lady," Kid Flash joked, taking her hand and gesturing to his seat. Glitch grinned and sat down as Kid Flash stole the arm of her chair for his own bum while Aqualad and Speedy found seats of their own.
"We're going to have a quick debrief about the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We won't be long," Batman excused himself and the others as they gathered further back in the room. A scanner hovered over them, materializing itself from the ceiling as it read their bio markers. Once it confirmed the members, a room in the back opened and the Leaguers moved to enter when Speedy snarled and got up, chasing after them.
"That's it? You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!"
Robin and the others widened their eyes at the statement, surprised by the other's boldness. The adults, however, handled the situation calmly. Aquaman stepped forward, being one of the more rational ones in the group. "It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get."
"Oh, really?" Speedy asked doubtfully, holding his arm out to display the glass panel placed above them for the tourists to take pictures.
"Roy," Green Arrow said sternly. "You just need to be patient."
"What I need is respect," Speedy demanded and glared.
"Hold on," Black Canary intervened. "I get it. You don't want to be treated like a sidekick anymore. Why don't you let us have our debrief and we'll discuss this when we get back?"
"I've heard that before," Speedy glared, remaining irresolute of anything they said. What Black Canary had said was just another tactic of getting kids to calm down. He turned away from them and made his appeal to the others sitting down. "They keep treating us like kids. Worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this."
His rally was meant with uncertain stares as the other four looked to each other for a response. They all seemed pretty content with where they were at. Speedy's eyes widened as he realized he was the only one upset over the outcome of their visit. "You're kidding, right? You're playing their game? Why?! Today was supposed to be the day. Step one of becoming a full time member of the league!"
"This is step one," Glitch argued worriedly, frowning in her seat.
"Yeah, a tour of the HQ," Kid Flash agreed, hoping to calm down his friend before he made a mistake.
"Except the Hall isn't the real HQ!" Speedy countered angrily, working himself up and earning very startled reactions from the Leaguers behind him. "It's a front for tourists and a pit stop to catch zeta beam teleporting tubes to the real HQ the Watchtower, an orbiting satellite in space!"
The Green Arrow grimaced and turned back to his fellow members feeling a number of disapproving stares on his back. Batman crossed his arms and frowned, waiting for an explanation.
"I thought we could make an exception?" Arrow excused himself weakly. If anything, the disapproving looks he received only intensified and he sighed deeply, slumping in defeat. "I know."
"You are not helping your cause here, son. If you want to prove yourself capable of being a member of the Justice League, behaving like a child won't help you," Aquaman stepped in again, staring at the younger condescendingly.
Speedy's eyes flared with anger at that as he took his hat and threw it down. "Fine, I don't need you guys telling me what to do and how to act. I'm not a kid I know I'm ready whether you decide I am or not."
He threw one last glare at them and spun on his heel, heading for the exit confidently. He glared at the other attendees and walked past them. "Guess they're right about you four. You're not ready."
The four of them stood up in surprise, stunned by how quickly things had escalated. Glitch held a hand out, making it glow black as she stared after Speedy in alarm. A hand on her shoulder stopped her from whatever it was she was about to do and she turned to the owner of the hand.
"Let him blow off some steam," Canary advised, taking her glowing hand and seating her back down as the group began to recover from what happened. At that moment, an urgent message appeared on the giant screen behind them and Superman appeared bearing a message.
"Superman to Justice League: There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."
"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus," Batman replied, taking control. "This may present the perfect opportunity to-"
Another urgent message interrupted him as a smaller screen appeared in the corner and another Leaguer revealed himself. "Zatara to Justice League: The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to block out the sun. Requesting full League response."
Batman turned to Superman as the other replied, "It's a small fire. Local authorities are already taking care of it."
"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman concluded, punching in a code to the super computer as both Superman and Zatara logged out of the screen. He punched in a code to contact all Leaguers and quickly conveyed the message. He turned back to their apprentices and told them to stay put.
"What? Why?" Robin asked, becoming suspicious of the League's motives for them after what Speedy had revealed.
"This is a League mission," Aquaman argued, putting his hands on his hips as the three boys gathered in front of them while Glitch stayed off to the side with Canary.
"You're not trained," Flash added, hoping to quell any more defiant outbursts.
"Since when?" Kid Flash scowled, quickly putting an end to that hope.
Flash frowned and gestured to his teammates, "I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team."
"There'll be other missions," Aquaman , learning his lesson from his exchange with Speedy.
"But for now," Batman repeated himself, giving a look of warning to his own helping hand, "Stay put."
"Same goes to you," Canary ordered Glitch as she joined up with the rest and left the room, leaving the four of them alone.
"Speedy's right," Kid Flash scowled, upset at how easily they were turned over. Today was the day. "They treat us like sidekicks!"
Aqualad looked down dejectedly, "My king…I thought he trusted me."
"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in space!" Kid Flash exclaimed, sounding much more upset about not being able to go into space rather than the secrecy.
"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad asked.
"I have a better question: Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin threw in, clenching his fists at being tossed to the side by the man who practically raised him.
"Hold on a minute. I'm sure they had their reasons," Glitch spoke up, intervening with their pity party.
"Easy for you to say," Kid Flash countered, crossing his arms. "You haven't been by their side for as long as we have."
Glitch scowled, but went quiet. She didn't have a counterargument for that, so protesting would be useless if they didn't think her opinions were validated. She settled on blowing steam and crossing her arms, fuming silently to herself. Meanwhile, Aqualad developed a peculiar looking expression as he pondered what else the Leaguers were hiding from them. "What is Project Cadmus?"
"Don't know," Robin frowned, though that was quickly replaced by a mischievous smile. "But I can find out."
He approached the super computer with the others, earning an alarmed look from Glitch. A portal opened up above the keyboard, causing Robin to jump back and turn to her.
"Oh no you don't," Glitch said. "We have to stay out of trouble."
Robin scowled and muttered something under his breath while Kid Flash shot her a sharp look, "Don't you want to know what they've been keeping from us?"
Glitch faltered, but her portal stayed up. She admitted she was curious, but she held a lot of respect for her mentor and wasn't going to disobey her so easily. Kid Flash continued, "Oh, come on. Superman said it was just a campfire. What harm could we do?"
Glitch surveyed them warily before sighing and putting her hands down, joining them a few seconds later. Robin leaped at the keyboard and punched in a few codes, earning a big, old 'Access Denied' message on the screen. He laughed, "Wanna bet?"
He punched in a few more codes and soon enough, the computer was handing out information on a silver platter. Robin smirked, "Same system as the Batcave."
Glitch paled as she was now sure they were doing something bad, but it seemed she was too late to stop them. Aqualad, noticing her discomfort, put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her as Robin looked up the information he wanted. She gave him a weak smile and turned her attention back to the front as Robin began reading the documents aloud. "Alright, Project Cadmus: A genetics lab here in D.C. That's all there is, but if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate."
"Solve their case before they do," Aqualad guessed as Robin and Kid Flash seemed to be on board with the idea. "It would be poetic justice."
"And they're all about justice," Robin added, glad to be doing something important rather than sitting and waiting for everyone to come back like a good little boy.
Aqualad sighed, unwilling to disobey his King's orders. "They said 'stay put.'"
"From the blotting out the sun mission," Robin said, easily finding a loophole.
"Sweet! I'm in!" Kid Flash volunteered, beaming at Robin's devilish little head. The two of them turned to the others expectantly, waiting for their answer.
"Just like that? We're a team on a mission?" Aqualad asked doubtfully, still holding a few reserves.
"We didn't come for a play date," Robin reminded, smirking as he knew he got Aqualad's vote.
They turned to Glitch who had turned a shade paler as their conversation continued. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"Look, you don't have to do anything," Robin persuaded as Aqualad steadied her. "Just teleport us there and teleport back. They'll never know."
"Right," Glitch said, closing her eyes and taking a moment to focus as she leaned against the Atlantian for support, deciding to help them at least that much. A split second later, the four were surrounded by a black energy and sucked through the floor.
A/N: Hey, so thats it for the intro. Send me in your OCs via comment or direct message and I'll update soon.
UPDATE: I have received a lot of heroes, therefore any new ones sent in now will either be saved for next season or much later in the story line. I do have room for villains though, so send them in if you wanted your OC to be featured sooner.
Name:
Age:
Appearance (include day clothes):
Personality:
Hero? Villain?
Superhero Name:
Costume:
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Relations to anyone? (May be tweaked)
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