Disclaimer: I do not own the existing characters that we know and love of Young Justice, although I do take ownership over the new characters i.e. The majority of the Team's children

Big thank you to my beta, LynnnSmith – an amazing beta who has been with me from the very beginning of the story!

Chapter 02 – Max Grayson

My sister had been in the infirmary at the Justice Headquarters for days – she hadn't gotten much better after the Belle Reve Penitentiary event. I couldn't help but feel a little bit responsible for what had happened to Mar'i; if I hadn't gone to investigate what was going on, she would be a hundred percent okay. Yet, if we had both been informed over what was going on, then there wouldn't be a need to investigate.

I wondered what was going to happen to me, Mar'i, Ryan and Finn – the next generation of Justice Heroes – or as my sister called us, the Justice Squad.

Obviously Ryan was going to love the idea of a new team, because it would give him the opportunity to step up and become a leader, as opposed to being constantly ordered about by Dad. I think without his biological father in his life, Ryan looked up to my dad, so if becoming the leader of the new squad put him in my father's good books – Ryan would be all for it.

Part of me wasn't sure about what Finn would have to say. He was a little older than Mar'i and he was like a big brother to us. Fin'abarra was his Atlantean name and as an Atlantean, he primarily lived in Atlantis, but loved to explore and learn more about the 'beauty' of Earth that me and Mar'i showed him. He called things amazing and beautiful – I just saw them as being normal. Ever since he was a child, Finn learnt from Queen Mera about hydrokinesis and sorcery, of which only made him more eager to prove that he was capable of fighting alongside his dad, Kaldur – Aqualad.

I knew that a decision was coming to hand when the members of the Justice Team came to the Headquarters. Aqualad, Miss Martian, Beast Boy, Batgirl, Bumblebee, Superboy and Static – Blue Beetle and Kid Flash arrived later, but it was clear something was bothering them.

My dad led them into the conference room, but shut the door in my face.

Instantly, I ran up the stairs to the side of the conference room where I was sure there was an air vent. I thought that if I could crawl into it, I could listen into the conversation that was about to take place. But there was no way I could take off the screws that the air vent by hand… Guess I must have left my screwdriver somewhere… Damn…

So I was going to have use a little fire power to wear it down. The vent grate was metal, but I would easily be able to melt it.

Looking down at my hand, I clenched it shut tightly. As my hand turned a little red, I opened it out and saw the little ball of flame in my palm. Every time I saw it, it reminded me just how cool it was to have this ability.

Melting down the metal at the corners, I was able to pull it off the wall and put it down gently to one side. It was tight inside, but just enough for me to move comfortably inside the ventilation shaft. The metal was cold to the touch, but not enough to make it stop. I had to know what was going on in the conference room. I had to know what the future held for us all.

"But Nightwing – are you sure that you would be okay if Mar'i was hurt badly?" I heard Miss Martian ask in the distance, so I knew I was heading in the right direction.

"I understand exactly where you are coming from, M'gaan, but you remember how things were when we were their age… We couldn't wait to prove ourselves to the Justice League, so maybe we should give them the same opportunity we had?" Dad replied, totally fighting our corner. "And Mar'i is strong, just like her mother…"

Bumblebee spoke up, "Nightwing, we miss her too. Starfire was one of us, and now Mar'i has the opportunity to save the world – just like we did. I think that Mar'i would be an asset to a new team, but Max… To me, he's a little too young, don't you think?"

YOUNG! Who are they calling young? Dad was the same age as me when he first started training with Batman. And that was like being at the front line of a war.

I could see the narrow slits of light through a meshed grate that I could use to look down on the heroes as they spoke. Peering through the gaps, I could see a round table where the superheroes were seated. There, I listened in.

Aqualad looked over at Nightwing. "Have you- have you heard from Artemis- or Tigress as she goes by now…?"

Nightwing shook his head, looking down at the ground. "I worry we may have lost her. She was there at the penitentiary…"

Batgirl gasped in shock and exclaimed, "Nightwing… You can't be serious. Art- Tigress, she wouldn't do that to us, she's not like her family were. And she's got Willow to think of."

Nightwing looked away. "It's difficult, Batgirl. After Robin and WonderGirl retired from the Justice Team to start a family, Tigress went her own way. She never really got over Wally's death. Especially when she had a baby to think about. Tigress pushed away both me and Kaldur so we just grew apart – it wasn't easy when I later found out a sensitive issue. It's something that I never saw coming… Tigress helped to break out Icicle Junior after he was captured and put in Belle Reve. She was there helping Poison Ivy and the others. I'm worried about Tigress, and I want to offer her our help, but she doesn't want it – she has made her decision."

Miss Martian wiped her eye. "Nightwing- part of me can't believe what you're saying. You don't really mean that she's- she's gone bad? It's just not like her." She looked around the room at the others. "What about Willow? How is she doing?"

Nightwing pulled out a tablet and passed it across to Miss Martian, but I couldn't see what was on the screen so I leant closer, pushing myself directly over the metal grating. With my typical unlucky side, I heard the creaking of metal and when I went to move away, the grate gave way.

I fell through the air, screaming as I plummeted.

"Max!" Miss Martian called out, and with her telepathic abilities, she stopped me from colliding directly with the table.

Dad was not happy at all. "Max! I told you to wait with Mar'i- leave us now!"

I was dropped down onto the table, which I quickly jumped off of, noticing that Ryan was standing in the corner of the room, so I stopped abruptly. "But what about Ryan? He's not on the Justice Team so why should he get to listen in?"

"Jester is sitting in because he is involved – especially if he would be the new leader. Green Canary agreed with me that he would make a good leader of this new team, and she also told me that you were not yet ready for membership of the new team. Regardless of what you say about me and you being the same age, things have changed and the situations are totally different." Dad pushed me towards the door adding, "We're going to take a vote – once it's decided, you and Mar'i will be the first to know. Miss Martian will be listening to your every move in this place, so there will be no exceptions, okay?"

"But-" I went to protest.

"No. Off you go, your sister needs your presence." Dad shut the door hard, knocking it into my back.

I growled in frustration. It wasn't fair – I was just as good as Ryan, at least I had an ability. Stamping my feet hard on the ground, I went to the infirmary.

"Max, you came to visit me!" Mar'i squealed in excitement. "Come here, and give your big sister a hug…"

I wasn't normally one for hugs, but with Mar'i, I could make an exception. After embracing, I couldn't hide the glum expression on my face. "Don't ask me what's wrong…"

"You know I'm going to- come on Max."

"It's just that, well, they're making a decision on whether we can be heroes like our parents and the Justice League. I was listening in, but then I slipped and was discovered. Miss Martian stopped me from getting hurt, and there I was thinking that they had forgotten about me listening in… They're about to make a decision right now."

"Well at least if it's an odd number, there won't be a stalemate," Mar'i said, smiling. "It'll be okay, Max."

"Yeah, but- Dad and Olivia said that I'm too young to be on the team. It's not fair!"

"Come on Max – you are only thirteen. Maybe you can help us from the Headquarters. Coordinate our strategies and hack the computers."

"Well I guess that idea would work, because I get to prove to everyone that I have a superior skillset to Ryan – I can't believe that Dad thinks Ryan would make a better leader than me…"

"Come on Max- you know that Dad doesn't mean it like that. Out of all of us, Ryan has the most experience as Dad's protégé. He's been a hero longer than you, me or even Finn."

"You don't understand." I walked out and immediately wandered around the headquarters and sat outside the conference room again, hoping that they would have decided already.

Blue Beetle and Kid Flash left first, engrossed in a deep conversation. They looked at me and smiled weakly before making a somewhat swift exit. I wondered whether they were co-parenting or something, but I didn't think about it too much.

The others left one by one, until it was just Miss Martian and Dad in the conference room. Ryan left and smirked at me in a lop-sided manner – he annoyed me so much that I didn't know how I would cope being in a team led by him.

"Firewing – reporting for duty!" I said enthusiastically, boldly throwing the door back open, and then I felt awkward on seeing the two adults locked in a tight embrace.

"Firewing- why Firewing, Max?" Dad let Miss Martian go and turned towards me with a hand resting on her shoulder. "Seems you've already thought about your hero name already. I suppose you want to know the decision?"

"Yeah!" I rushed towards their sides, standing between them. "Come on!"

"A decision has been made. It was even and all relied on Miss Martian to make the deciding vote. She had her conditions regarding the new squad of which I will make sure they are adhered to. Green Canary suggested that she and Angel-"

"You mean the son of Hawkman and Hawkwoman, right?" I asked eagerly.

"Yes, that's Angel – he will overlook the Justice Squad in the early stages of development. I pushed the idea of Ryan leading the group on missions with Finn and Mar'i as active members. You will assist Angel until they both believe that you are ready to join the team – provided everything else is satisfactory." Dad ruffled my hair, smiling. "What do you think?"

I nodded slowly. "For the time being, it's okay… but we need to go and see Willow. She always had such a strong sense of good and bad, so she'd want to fight the bad guys."

"Willow? You remember her, huh?" Dad smiled slightly. "Maybe you and me could go see how she's doing?"

-o-

Dad and I waited outside the secondary school where Willow went to; it felt really weird just waiting in the car by the school, because we weren't related to anyone there. I wondered whether Willow would come out right away, or if she had an additional class after school. Dad was adamant that we waited for her – part of me thought that he was worried about Willow, because when she was a baby, he was there to help Artemis look after her. It was such a strong bond that they had, even though they weren't related. She saw him as an uncle figure.

"There she is!" I quietly exclaimed, smiling a little.

"Wait a minute – you don't want to startle her…"

She walked out the main entrance and pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt as the rain began to fall. There was a moment where she stopped to reposition the headphones in her ears before starting on her way home.

Out of nowhere, a black van sped around the corner at such an alarming rate that I may have flinched as it shot past our car. In a moment that was just too quick, two people who were clothed in dark material darted out of the car, and each grabbed one of Willow's arms. She pulled away a little, by then, I was already out the car.

"Hey!" I shouted.

Willow tried to yank her arms from their grip, but they completely overpowered her and stuffed her into the back of the van.

Dad and I ran towards the van where I latched onto the door handle, tugging at it helplessly, but it started to drive off. I tripped and fell onto the pavement.

"No!" I shouted, thumping the pavement with my fist.

"It's okay Max. Don't worry about it." Dad helped me up to my feet and patted me on the back. "Whilst you were trying to open the door, I put a tracker on the van. Always think on your feet. We'll head back to the headquarters and set up a rescue mission to get Willow back. Ryan, Finn and Mar'i will bring her back."

Our first mission: a rescue mission to get Willow back.

-o-

I glanced at the computer screen and looked at the map on the screen. "Okay team, the tracker has come to a stop at an old warehouse. I'm patching the co-ordinates through to you and your transport is ready. Ryan – it's over to you, there is already a driver so you don't need to worry…"

Ryan's voice could be heard in the earpiece of the headset on, "Oh come on Max- we're on a mission, so you can call me Jester… Is this vehicle driveable?"

"It's got a navigation system, Jester. I'm not the computer boy called Firewing for nothing. I'm the one driving it."

"Right, whatever. Me, Fin and Nightstar are going now – check in again later…"

Nightstar? Mar'i – Nightstar. It was weird to hear my sister's hero name more and more recently, because I had this obsession with being called Firewing after it was the last parts of my parent's superhero names, but when Mar'i took the first parts, I felt exhilarated. Nightstar and Firewing.

"Alright Squad, let's get Willow out of there…" I mumbled, darting between three computer screens in one of those spinning office chairs. "Let's get some security feed up. Hacking skills to the max." I couldn't help but laugh at my own joke, especially as I was the only one there.

"Firewing- we're going in now…" Jester said in my ear with a sharp tongue. "I'll report back in in a second."

I listened and waited – the security feed was up and everything was empty. As I scanned through the various angles, I couldn't see a thing out of the ordinary. Not even any sign of Willow, which could be out of the ordinary…

"Firewing! Call for backup!" Nightstar's voice rang out in my ear.

I threw of my headset and dropped it on the table. "Oh no… No, no, no!" I shouted, staggering out the control room and into the hanger deck where the remaining three vehicles were parked. Taking one of the keys of the rack, I leapt inside and plugged in the co-ordinates to the abandoned warehouse I had sent the others to. The auto-driver mode was amazing – I felt like I was driving without holding onto a steering wheel.

The vehicle came to an abrupt stop beside the one that Ryan had not even attempted to conceal it from any people passing by. I looked at my watch and noted the time – let's just say it was late and Angel was not going to be happy that I had ditched responsibilities at the headquarters.

I climbed the fire escape stairs and onto the roof. There was a gentle breeze that wasn't generated by the wind, so I turned my attention to my way in because that air must be coming from inside. I dropped down an air-conditioning unit, feeling the steel rub on the black material of my clothes. There was a loud thump as I slammed down onto the bottom of the steel tunnel. I knew someone must have heard that, so I didn't have much time to find the others. Looking back at my watch, I pulled it open like a book to reveal a map of the building, and then the additional tunnels that I was in.

I crawled along the tunnel with the assistance of the maps on my watch, using my intellect to find out where they might be holding Willow and the Justice Squad. I put myself in a villain's shoes, and felt like I would keep Willow separate from the others so that it would be harder to rescue everyone, but that doesn't mean that the villains would be that. Come on, I'm an intelligent kid – I'm genuinely the brains behind this whole situation.

"We'll be back soon, kid…" a deep and husky voice said; it echoed through the tunnel so I knew I was close to at least one of my captured friends.

I just hoped it was Willow so thatI could be the one to get the credit for saving her. My pace quickened as I carried on, but when I wasn't sure where to go, I quietly said her name in a low whisper.

"Willow…"

"Hello?"

Around the corner to the right, I found myself facing a large spinning fan which was blowing my hair back off my face. Through the propelling fan, I could make out a room below where Willow was tied to a wooden chair facing away from me

"Willow…"

"Who said that?" Willow replied timidly, making me believe that there was no one else in the room with her. "I heard you that time, who's there?"

"I'm Firewing, and I'm here to rescue you." I pressed my black mask over my eyes even though I was still wearing my own clothes as opposed to a hero suit.

A gasp passed her lips, "Did Jester send you?" There was this sense of familiarity with the name 'Jester' in her voice, something that got at me, I felt a little green.

"Kind of… Can you shuffle your chair over this way?"

Willow nodded slowly before rocking from side to side making the chair grind along the gravel floor. The grinding sound made me clench my jaw. She spun around and looked up at the fan. "Who are you?" Her dark green eyes looked up at me through the metal. "I feel, I feel like I know you…"

"I'm Firewing- but let's get you out of here first," I said, brimming with confidence. "If you can use one of my birdarangs to cut the ropes around your wrists, then perhaps we can find something to stop the fan and you can crawl out the way I came in…"

It seemed like a ludicrous idea, but it was one that might just work, but it all depended on the timing of my birdarangs. I only had three of them so I had to get it right.

The first one cracked against the side of the tunnel just on the outermost part of the fan.

"It's okay, Firewing…" Willow said, smiling at me. "You can do it

Her saying that was enough to spur me on.

"Yes Wills."

But my second throw got caught by the fan and it snapped in two – one piece shot back towards me and the other through to the room.

Then I heard the clinking, a metallic sound that was like the sharpest of fingernails tap-tapping on the tunnel. I was doomed. They were about to catch me too and I was trapped like a little mouse. Something shot through the air and I felt a sharp prick to my neck.

My hand shot up to the site of pain where I retrieved a small dart. Suddenly, I felt woozy and sleepy- my head started spinning so quickly that I slumped back in the tunnel.

Out cold.

The rescuer of the first rescue group now needed rescuing himself…

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = So we've met Mar'i, Max, Ryan and Willow in the flesh, but let's not forget Finn. In the next chapter, how are they going to get out of the warehouse alive? Well, I think Willow might just have the answer…