Chapter 2: River City
The next morning, all five members of the Junior League – Hall, Thompson, Jordan, Lance and Queen – gathered in Gotham and took a cab to River City and began searching for an ideal home. Their home, had to be big enough for five people, and had to have an underground secret place for their operations.
Thompson received a call from Batman.
"Don't worry, we've found a house for you" said Batman, and addressed them to the desired location.
It was a large bungalow, with red bricks as the roof. It contained a wide garden, with a huge fountain in the centre, and had beautiful flowers and plants, which ranged from coffee bushes to jasmine plants. The grass was short and was comfortable to walk on. All the five people liked it. As they reached the doorstep, there was an envelope over there.
Hall picked up the envelope and opened it, in which was a message which read 'Don't forget the keys to your home-sweet-home'. He even found keys inside and took it in his hands and opened the door. The house was grand inside also. Brown flooring and white ceiling was a good combination. Five royal bedrooms, a huge dining table, a kitchen with all facilities and a sofa-set in front of a large television.
They all went to their respective bedrooms, and freshened up, and dressed themselves. They met in the drawing room and began to adore the lifestyle. Suddenly, Oliver spoke up.
"Hey guys, we are having a royal retreat, yes, but, first of all, we have to prepare our costumes and equipment. Shall we consult a tailor or do it by ourselves"
"Not a tailor" said Hal. "As Batman said, as long as possible, we should not reveal our identities to anyone. If we tell him to sew our dresses, he would get to know it's us who are saving the world"
"Well, I appreciate that" said Dinah.
"Fine, then I will get the materials ready by tomorrow, and then we can work on preparing ourselves" he said.
"That's good" said John.
As decided, the next day, Queen had purchased the required materials and had kept in the drawing room. Individually necessary materials were taken by each of the team to their respective rooms.
Two hours were spent on preparing their suits. The five members, in their costumes, came out and met each other.
Hal Jordan had made up a green shirt, with black pants, and large green socks over it, and had black sleeves with green gloves on it, and wore a green mask covering his eyes, and on his shirt was a white circle, which had the Green Lantern symbol.
Carter Hall had worn a belt-type object on his chest, with four brown straps connected to a red circle placed on the middle of his chest, and black pants, with large golden boots. He wore a brown mask, with a long nose, with the sides extending to his neck, along two golden metallic sleeves on his hands.
John Thompson had prepared a yellow costume, with silver sleeves, and golden boots over his brown pants. He wore a yellow mask covering his eyes, forehead and hair. His shirt had the outline of a lightning, from the left shoulder to the right hip.
Oliver Queen had worn a green full-sleeve shirt with a darker green sleeveless jacket, which had a big hood to cover his face. He wore olive green pants with black boots, and military green gloves. He applied green paint between and beside his eyes.
Dinah Lance had made a black shirt and wore a black cape over it, and black pants, and black boots on them. She wore a huge silver belt around her waist, which protects her from her own sound. She had a black mask around over her eyes.
"Carter, you've nailed it" said Dinah, looking at his costume.
"Well, he actually looks like a forest hawk" said John.
"Fine guys" said Oliver. "Now, we have to build our secret underground base"
"Leave it to me" said Hal.
"Wait, it should not be accessible to all, there must be a secret passageway" Carter said.
"Right, maybe next the bookshelf, we can make a hole to get to the base" said Dinah.
"Fine" said Hal, and he created a green drilling machine, and began drilling at the chosen space. It dug and dug and finally it became a hundred-meters long passageway. Hal created a green lift in which they all stood and manipulated the lift downwards.
Then from the base, he again began drilling, until he established an acre wide room. The others were shocked.
"That is my place," Oliver said, pointing to a corner of the room, "Where I will be making new types of arrows for me, and I will create a quiver there"
"And that corner is for me" chose Carter, "Where I can prepare my weapons and select them at will"
John, Dinah and Hal did not require their own space. They did not have to prepare anything for them. They had inbuilt facilities.
The next day, Hal ordered machines from a gym, and initially with his powers, led them to the underground base. He set up everything, so that everyone could exercise on them. All the five were busy in training that day.
That evening, while John, Dinah, Hal and Carter were watching television, Oliver was busy working downstairs. He was preparing his quiver. He had coated the metal quiver with leather, for comfort. He had divided the quiver into two parts. One was for ordinary arrows, and the other was for special types of arrows, like the poisonous arrow and cold arrow. He even made arrows, by attaching arrow pointers tight to long stiff shafts, and initially his work was done.
Dinah and John had prepared dinner for the day. Roasted chicken, spaghetti, bacon and eggs and vegetable salad were prepared. Everyone gathered at the dining table and everyone had fun talking and chatting over the time.
"Can I ask everyone something?" said John. "What have you told your families about you staying here?"
"Well, my father doesn't like me though. He doesn't care where I go and when I come back home. He is a detective, mainly busy all day" said Dinah.
"I told my mother that I will be staying in California as part of business. She trusts me, though" Oliver said.
"My parents are dead" said Carter and Hal together.
"Mine too" said John.
"We're sorry" said Oliver and Dinah together.
They felt sorry for them and patted them on their shoulders. They encouraged them to come out from those memories and live happily.
The next morning, all five woke up early and drank a cup of coffee to warm themselves up. They sat out in the garden and had their morning walks beautifully with the scent of the jasmines. As they went back into the house, there came a courier to them.
"Guys, there's a courier" said Dinah.
She looked at it and opened it. It was a kind of invitation. She read it aloud.
"'Dear, neighbours, you are welcomed to the fortieth birthday of my dearest wife, Nora Nickel, at The Nickel House, today evening at six p.m. Kindly encourage your participation by giving your presence. Yours, Adam Nickel'" and there was a picture of himself.
"Who's Adam Nickel, anyway?" asked Carter.
"Well, I think some sort of businessman, giving a grand party for his wife" Hal said.
"Guys, we have to go" said Dinah. "Remember what Batman said, understand your surroundings"
Hal, John and Carter were not willing to come, but they had to.
Evening at six p.m., they took a cab to The Nickel House, and attended the party. Oliver took a peg offered by the waiters and was busy on it. In the crowd, Dinah managed to recognise Nickel and gently tapped him on his shoulder.
"Um… excuse me? Mr. Nickel, I'm Dinah Lance, and these are my friends, Oliver, Hal, Carter and John"
"Oh, nice to meet you" he said, shaking hands with each of the persons. "I need to talk to you all"
He took them away from the crowd to a table in his lawn and got them seated.
"So, may I know how's your new house?" asked Nickel.
"Fine. Brilliant" said Dinah.
"Well, what caused you all to move to this place?" he asked.
There was a silence among the group. No one knew what to say. After repeated looks on each other, Hal spoke up.
"We came here to search jobs for ourselves"
"Oh, I see. Which job?" he asked, curiously.
"We didn't decide that yet. Based on our talents, we are hoping to get a job soon" Dinah said.
Nickel went thinking for some time. He did not know what to say.
"Well, Mr. Nickel, why don't we go enjoy the party now?" said Carter, distracting him from the topic. "Probably your wife is looking for you"
"Yeah, sure"
The six of them went and joined the public there. The young heroes found it amazing. Mr. Nickel brought his wife on stage and even danced with her. Their children were cheery and happy. The cake-cutting ceremony gave rise to dinner. Everything went in a chronological order.
It was ten p.m. by the time the folks returned home.
"Well, that was embarrassing" said Hal.
"Guys, we need to tell them that we do some job. We can't just tell them that we are superheroes, you know, saving the world" said Dinah.
"Well, what are we gonna say now?" asked Oliver.
"Well, we have to tell them that we do some sort of job, like, based on our talents. I prefer telling them that I am a circus acrobat" Dinah said.
"I'll tell them that I am scientist" said John.
"I'm a mechanic" said Carter.
"I would prefer being called a chef" said Hal.
"I… umm… well, I'll be a hunter" said Oliver.
"Fine, we must remember our identities" said Dinah. "By the way, I'm feeling sleepy"
Her departure meant sleep for everybody. They went into their respective rooms.