Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics, Teen Titans, or Young Justice.

A/N: Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever, AKA Leap Frog, for beta-ing this for me.

Chapter Three

The Day

July 4: 12:00 EDT

It was a peaceful day in the city of Gotham. People were enjoying the day and having barbeques in the park. John Kane flipped burgers on his portable grill by a small ledge that was used as a nice ski jump in the winter. As John thought about the fun his children had on the ledge and flipped one of the burgers, he heard a scream. He looked up from the grill to see people running from a blue cloud that was heading towards him and his family steadily. He dropped his spatula and stared as a bright blue beam, surrounded by the blue cloud, hit a screaming woman, freezing her solid. The ray continued on and froze several more people. John grabbed his children's' arms and ran for his life. Mr. Freeze saw this from his spot on the top of the ledge and froze them solid as well.

"Enjoying family time, sir?" he asked coldly. "Too bad I have other plans."

He jumped down and kicked the ice statue that was John and his family away. He leveled his freeze gun at more fleeing civilians. As he was about to fire, a black batarang hit his gun, causing it to shoot up into the sky. Mr. Freeze glared at the gun, as if it was the reason he had missed.

"Batman," he growled, his freezer-like armor distorting his voice mechanically. "It's about time."

He whirled around to face where the batarang came from, but saw nobody. He glanced around for the caped crusader and heard a mischievous laugh. Mr. Freeze scowled, that laugh could only mean one thing: Robin was here. Mr. Freeze turned around, looking for either one of the dynamic duo, only to have Robin land on his dome-like helmet, staggering the ice villain.

Robin flipped off of the dome, which sent Mr. Freeze sprawling, and landed a few feet away. He grabbed two red disks and threw them at the dome that protected Mr. Freeze from the outside world, cracking it slightly.

"Ah, so you strike first," Freeze growled as he picked himself off the ground. "Frankly I'm underwhelmed."

"Great," Robin replied, "but let's hurry up. We're on a tight schedule."

"Then I won't keep you long," Freeze smirked as he leveled his minigun-sized freeze ray at the Boy Wonder.

"Wasn't talking to you, Freeze," Robin sighed.

Freeze realized his error and turned around, just in time for Batman to slam his fist into the cracked dome. The glass shattered and exposed Freeze to the heat of summer. Freeze gasped in pain and shock, dropping his freeze ray. He placed his hand over his suit and started to blast himself with icy waves to keep himself alive.

"Great, we've stopped Freeze. Now let's go. Today is the day!" Robin said excitedly after Batman had secured Freeze in a position that wouldn't compromise his ability to keep himself alive.

July 4: 09:01 PDT

On the freeway of Star City, cars passed each other as they sped to wherever they were headed. As it was mid morning, it was easy for one to assume where they were going. Icicle Jr. jumped down from an overpass and onto the freeway, generating a circle of ice around him, a yard in diameter. He pressed his fingertips onto the sheet of ice then shot his hands into the air, creating a ramp that sent a car right behind him flying up into the air. The car crashed onto its side and skidded to a halt. Two more cars followed the first and the ice villain laughed hysterically.

Just then five arrows imbedded themselves into the ice ramp and another went into Icicle's arm. He stopped laughing to stare at the beeping arrows. The one on his arm exploded, quickly followed by the others. Icicle was tossed around like a ragdoll from the explosions and crashed onto the ground, his ramp destroyed. Clutching his head, he got up and looked at where the arrows came from. Ever the drama king, Green Arrow balanced on the guardrail, with Speedy standing on the pavement beside him. Both had their bows at the ready and pointed at Jr.

"Finally!" Icicle laughed. "I was beginning to wonder how many freeways I had to crash to get your attention!"

The archers released their shots at the ice covered villain, and drew once more.

"He's doing this for attention?" Speedy asked, incredulous. "I'm telling you now, if this interferes I am personally going to kick your ass."

"Not now, Speedy," Green arrow replied as Icicle threw foot-long shards of ice at them.

The heroes jumped down from their spot and fired at Junior again, running towards him as they did. Icicle crossed his arms in an X like formation, generating two streams of ice that blocked the arrows. Speedy's red-fletched arrow exploded, blowing a hole through the ice. Icicle snarled and threw several large spikes of ice at Speedy. Speedy kept running and flipped over the spikes, drawing and firing an arrow at Icicle before he landed. The arrow hit Junior straight in the jaw, knocking him out cold. Arrow kneeled down and secured Icicle with a Rope-Arrow, chuckling as he did so.

"The kid had a glass jaw," the emerald archer laughed.

"Hilarious. Now can we go? Or do you need to crack another bad joke?" Speedy growled to his mentor. "Need I remind you that today is the day?"

July 4: 06:02 HST

Pearl Harbor, normally a picturesque view of summer on the beach this time of year, was experiencing snow. Old and modern navy boats were frozen in place, where they had previously bobbed lazily in the ocean, and had sharp icicles jutting out and off of them. Killer Frost stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Arizona, holding her hands to the sky, making more snowfall. Suddenly, a whip made of glowing water wrapped around her wrist and jerked her arm down. Frost whirled around to face her attacker and saw two heroes.

Aquaman and Aqualad, stood on top of the bridge of the ship, looking regal and intimidating at the same time. Killer Frost smirked and shot ice beams from her palm, aiming at the King of Atlantis. Aquaman jumped from his spot and landed on one of the massive guns that adorned the ship. Frost shot more ice, causing him to leap to the side and land on the deck of the ship. The king ran at the ice witch, only to get everything but his head frozen in place by her ice beams.

Aqualad jumped over his king and powered up his Water-Bearers and formed them into twin spiked maces, his eal-like tattoos glowing bright blue as he did so. He ran at Frost and raised his weapons to strike.

"Don't tell me you're not excited," Aquaman said as he broke his way from the ice.

"Right now, my king, I am more focused on the task at hand," Aqualad replied as he dodged one of Frost's ice beams.

Aquaman followed his apprentice and dodged the beams. When Aqualad got within striking distance he jumped into the air and brought his weapons down on Frost. She froze his weapons solid and backed up a step, out of danger from his overhead strike. Aqualad glared at her as his landed and rushed forward quickly, swinging his weapons into her exposed chin. The frozen water shattered on impact, sending ice flying. Frost flew a half foot into the air then landed with a grunt, unconscious. Aquaman crossed his arms and smiled at his partner as Aqualad sheathed his weapons back into the holders on his back, his tattoos no longer glowing.

"Well?" the king asked.

"Yes, I am excited," Aqualad replied. "Today is the day."

July 4: 11:03 CDT

Central City was normally known as one of the best cities to live in. Today was not one of those days. Captain Cold and Heat Wave were robbing a jewelry store, Cold taking a unmeltable ice crystal and Heat wave taking everything else. Wave was breaking glass left and right, stuffing rings and diamonds into a black bag in his hand.

Heat wave wore a suit much like the Flash's except instead of red, it was white and instead of a lightning bolt on his chest, he had a yellow gas tank strapped to his back. He had his heat gun hooked to the tank. As he was about to tighten the drawstring on the bag he felt a slight wind across his face, saw a red blur fly past his vision, and felt the bag ripped from his hand. He turned around and saw the Flash and Kid Flash.

"Well, if it ain't the Scarlet Speedster and his brat," Wave snarled as he grabbed his heat gun.

"Not now, Mick," Cold muttered as he aimed his pistol sized cold gun at Flash.

Flash ran to the right and Kid Flash ran to the left. They started running circles around the two rogues. Cold fired at the red blur while Heat Wave fired at the predominately yellow blur that ran in the opposite direction. Cold fired and hit a car, as Flash had slowed down a little so the beam wouldn't hit him. Heat Wave fired at the same location two seconds later, melting the ice and causing the car to explode.

"Stealing ice, really?" Flash sighed as he ran in circles. "It's just sad how unoriginal these villains have become."

"Come on," Kid Flash complained as he ran past Heat Wave. "We don't have time for this! We're going to be late!"

He then veered from his path and ran straight at the two villains. Cold and Wave both saw this and fired at him. He dropped down and slid beneath their blasts, springing up at the last second and stealing Cold's gun, spinning his legs to trip Wave in the process. Wave landed flat on his back while cold stared at his empty hand.

The two villains growled almost simultaneously. They were silenced when Flash's red blur streaked past them, socking them both in the jaw. Cold spun around and landed on his back, unconscious. Heat Wave got his head slammed sharply against the pavement, and he was out like Cold instantly.

"Calm down, kid," Flash admonished, admiring his work.

"Oh, puh-lease," Kid Flash scowled. "You'll make damn sure we'll get there late. You'll chat it up with the cops, the press, everyone! No! not today!" He stopped his rant to grin broadly "Today is the day! Now let's go!"

July 4: 13:36 PDT

Jump City had been quiet that day, and Red X had hoped that it would stay that way. His suit had functioned perfectly these last four days and he was pleased with the results. He had most of his powers from his old suit and had lost none of his mobility with all the wires that clung in between the suit's dual layered design. He had not been able to recreate the systems that sent out electric beams or the X-portal. He had instead added a shock gauntlet system to have the same effect as the beams, just at closer range. Every other function worked as well as he could hope with the materials at hand.

He and Raven were doing their first patrol during daylight and had hoped that nothing out of the ordinary would happen. Unfortunately for them, fate was not kind to them. They quickly encountered a guy in purple spandex who was waving his hands over the beach resort where Titan's Tower used to sit, freezing the place solid.

"Raven, let's go!" Red X growled in his distorted voice, still attached to that particular lot of land.

The demoness nodded and flew faster towards the little island, which currently only housed frightened civilians. Red X jumped from the building he had been running on and and activated his low range teleporter. Raven across the stretch of water and landed behind the man. as she landed Red X phased into existence beside her, his fists at the ready.

He was a man in his mid-twenties with white hair and light blue eyes. He wore a purple spandex suit with a twin icicle on his chest that seemed to glow when he used his powers. from his hands streams of solid ice shot out. he turned around to look at them and smirked.

"So the two new heroes finally meet me," the boy laughed. "About time. I am the incredible, the amazing-" His speech was cut off by Red X throwing an X-shaped shuriken at his face. The man was knocked onto his back.

"I never was one for long speeches," Red X said as he held two more Xs at the ready.

"Stay down," Raven said, narrowing her eyes at him and condensing her power around her hands. The man growled and pushed himself to his feet.

"Never. No one beats Winter's Chill," he snarled.

"Is that the best you could come up with?" Red X asked as he jumped into action.

He threw his two Xs at Chill as he jumped into the air. Chill shot icicles at the shuriken then he generated ice blades in his hands, his face contorted into a vicious snarl. He crouched down with his ice blades pointed at the ready. While in the air Red X activated his shock function and sent a punch at the new villain. Chill dodged and retaliated, swinging his blades at X, who was in front of him.. Raven raised her arms and opened her hands wide.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she said before hurling bolts of black energy at Chill.

Chill jumped backwards using his blades to block the bolts. He landed and looked to his blades. They were nothing more than ice stumps. Chill threw his weapons away and shot ice at Raven. She waved her hands in front of her, forming a shield that blocked the ice. Red X drew out his collapsible bo staff and swung at Chill. Chill generated a shield of ice and blocked the staff. Raven took control of the shield and turned it against it's owner. The shield raised itself and whacked Chill upside the head two times before it shattered. Chill, who was not expecting this, could not react and was unconscious after the second hit. Red X tied him up with a Constrictive X and left him at the police station. An hour later they were walking back into their "lair."

"Not bad for our first day-run," he said as they entered the basement.

"No, it wasn't," Raven replied as Red X took of his mask and booted up the laptop, as was his habit nowadays.

Red X had been searching for something to get them home. And would spend at least two hours on the computer looking for any clue that would be worth looking into, occasionally drawing Raven over and pointing things out that might be of interest. This normally started as soon as they got back from a patrol. This time, he looked for an hour before sitting up straight and staring intensely at the screen.

"Raven, look at this," he said, scrolling through the page.

Raven got up from her spot on the floor, marking her place in her book and setting it down as she did so. She had gotten several books from the local library over the last few days. Whether the librarians knew she had taken them was another matter entirely, but she usually returned them within a day or two. Sometimes the books were in better condition than they were in when she took them. She walked over to Red X and looked over his shoulder.

"Cadmus genetics lab," she read out loud. "Based in Washington D.C., founded by Lex Luthor himself and other like minded individuals, this facility strives for the next level of human greatness. So? What about it?"

"Nothing obvious, at first, but if you keep reading some things don't add up," Red X replied, scrolling down the page and pointing at a paragraph. "It says here that the facility has state of the art security, even a closed circuit computer system. But why would a simple genetics lab need that sort of thing? It's the little stuff that most people miss that give it away."

"So how does that help us?" Raven asked

"Anything this secretive must have something of value to us," Red X replied, smirking. Raven nodded flipped up her hood.

"Let's go."

July 4: 14:00 EDT

Outside the Hall of Justice, Robin, Speedy, Aqualad and their mentors stood admiring the majestic white building. Batman laid his hand on Robin's shoulder and looked at the boy kindly.

"Today is the day," Batman said.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow said.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman finished.

"Ah, man!" Kid flash complained as he and Flash sped up to the others. "I knew we'd be late."

Flash just smirked at his nephew and shook his head. The heroes then made their way around the pond that sat in front of the hall and walked towards the door. Tons of people had gathered around the entrance, straining to see the sidekicks as they took the first step to becoming members of the League.

"Is that Batman?" one person asked as they all started to take pictures and ask the heroes questions or questions about the heroes.

"I see Flash and Flash Jr.," a woman gushed in the front of the crowd.

"Hey, genius, it's Speedy, duh," another person said.

"No, Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick."

"Well, that makes no sense."

The heroes ignored the civilians and kept walking.

"Ready to see the Inner Sanctum?" Green Arrow asked Speedy, leaning forwards to heard over the crowd.

"I was born that way," Speedy said, giving a rare smile.

"I am glad that we are all here," Aqualad said sincerely.

"Dude, have all four sidekicks been in the same place at the same time? Ever?" Kid Flash asked

"Don't call us sidekicks!" Speedy snarled. "Not anymore."

"Sorry," Kid Flash muttered. "This is my first time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anyone just whelmed?" Robin asked as they passed through the doors.

They walked inside the Hall and looked around. The first thing that greeted them were seven, two story tall golden statues of the original Justice League. The four former sidekicks looked up at them in awe. There were several people in the entrance hall taking pictures of the event.

"Oh," Robin muttered as he stared at the statues, "maybe that's why."

They walked up to the restricted elevator specifically for the Justice League. The doors opened and the Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado stepped out. They stood before the sidekicks and Manhunter nodded to each of them in turn.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, I bid you welcome," he said in a deep voice. He turned around and led them into the elevator. Robin and Kid Flash fist bumped and they followed him. "You will now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked restaurant, and, of course, all the other areas of the building."

The elevator doors closed and they rode up a floor. Manhunter led them through the building, giving them a tour of the building. Eventually they had finished the tour and stopped in the library.

"And finally we have the library," Manhunter said as they walked into the room.

"Make yourselves at home," Flash said, gesturing to some pretty comfy looking armchairs in the middle of the room. Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash flopped into the chairs and grinned at each other. Speedy stood still and glared at the adult heroes.

"There will be a debrief to the coincidence of five ice villains attaching on the same day," Batman said to the other Leaguers, ignoring the sidekicks.

"Five?" Green Arrow echoed.

"There was a fifth villain in Jump City that the police found on their doorstep. I' m wondering which one of the League dealt with him," Batman replied. He looked to the sidekicks. "We won't be long."

He lurned around and looked up. A small dull gray sphere dropped from the ceiling and scanned Batman and the other Leaguers.

"Recognised Batman: 02, Aquaman: 06, Flash: 04, Green Arrow: 08, Martian Manhunter: 07, Red Tornado: 16," the sphere said in a robotic voice. A steel door opened in the wall and the sphere flew back into its slot in the ceiling.

"That's it!?" Speedy shouted. The heroes turned to look at him in surprise. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass."

"This is nothing but a first step," Aquaman said calmly. "You've been granted access few others get."

"Oh? Is that so?" Speedy snarled, gesturing to the giant window that had people pressed against the glass, eager to see what was going on. One person snapped a picture when the Leaguers looked in his direction. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on? The result is the same."

"Roy, please, you just need to be patient," Green Arrow said, almost sadly.

"What I need is respect," Speedy snarled at the emerald archer. "You know what? Screw this!" He turned away from the Leaguers and addressed his fellow sidekicks. "How are you okay with this? They're treating us like kids. No! Worse! They're treating us like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!"

Robin and the others looked at each other confused. Kid Flash raised an eyebrow at Robin, silently asking, Do you have any idea what he's talking about? Robin shrugged and shook his head.

"You're joking, right?" Speedy demanded, getting more angry. "You're playing their game?! Why?! Today was supposed the be the day! Step one in becoming full fledged members of the League!"

"Well, yeah," Kid Flash said, confused. "But I thought step one was supposed to be a tour of the HQ. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're not wrong. Except the hall isn't even the real HQ!" Speedy explained. The sidekicks eyes widened at that. The Leaguers' eyes narrowed and they all turned to glare at Green Arrow. "What? Surprised they didn't tell you it's just a false front for tourists? And that it's nothing more than a pit stop for catching Zeta tube teleporter beams to the real thing! An orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."

"Ah, no, that wasn't the brochure," Robin said wide-eyed. Aqualad and Kid Flash nodded in agreement. Batman and Flash glared even harder at Green Arrow.

"I know, I know," he said, trying to weasel out of too much trouble. "But I thought that maybe we could make an exception?" Batman narrowed his eyes and Green Arrow's face fell. "Or not?"

"You are not helping your cause here, son," Aquaman said, stepping forward to where Speedy had to look up to look him in the eye. "Stand down. Or-"

"Or what?" Speedy interrupted. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son, I'm not even his! But I thought I was his partner." He gestured to Green Arrow as he said this and the other sidekicks could see the hurt that flickered across the senior archer's face. "Not anymore I guess."

With that, Speedy took off his yellow beret and threw it to the floor. He turned around and walked towards the exit, making a point to trod on the hat carelessly as he did so. The sidekicks stared in shock and watched him go. As he was about to walk through the door he turned back one last time and glared at the assembled mass.

"I guess they're right about you three. You're not ready," he growled and with that turned and walked out of the door.

It took a few seconds for the sidekicks to get over their shock at Speedy's actions when they did they heard the alarm go off from the terminal on the wall. Superman's face was displayed on the giant screen above the terminal.

"Superman to Justice League, there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. There's a fire and it's not going out quickly," he said.

The senior Leaguers walked over to the terminal and watched some of the data flow into the adjacent screens.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus for some time. But I've been preoccupied on another project and have had not had time to investigate. This may present the perfect opportunity to do so," Batman said, narrowing his eyes. Just then another alarm came through and an image of Zatara appeared on another screen.

"Zatara to Justice League, the sorcerer Wotan is using his recently reaquired Amulet of Atem to cover the sun! I am requesting full League response," he said. Batman looked to Superman questioningly.

"It's a small fire, not progressing very fast. It can wait for now," Superman said upon considering for a second.

"Then it's decided," Batman said, pressing a button on the console. "All Justice League rendezvous at Zatara's location. Batman out." He turned around the face the sidekicks "Stay put."

"What?!" Robin exclaimed. "We can help!"

"You're not trained-" Flash said

"Since when?" Kid Flash interrupted

"I meant you're not trained for this type of mission," Flash said, releasing his words hadn't helped him at all.

"But there will be other missions," Aquaman said cajolingly

"For now, stay put," Batman said, glaring at the teens.

The senior heroes then left the room through the still opened steel door with Green Arrow muttering something to the Martian Manhunter as they left. The sidekicks all stared at the ground. Finally Kid Flash broke the silence.

"Gah! Other missions!?" he yelled. "That's all we're ever going to get! The baby missions!" He started to pace and wave his arms around, nearly backhanding Aqualad in the process. "They're treating us like sidekicks!" Aqualad and Robin agreed but didn't join in on Kid Flash's rant.

"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me," Aqualad said dejectedly.

"Trust? Trust?!" Kid flash yelled. "They down even trust us with the basics! Or didn't you hear? They've got a secret HQ in SPACE!" He raised his arms to make his point.

"What else are they not telling us?" Aqualad asked. Robin sighed.

"I have a better question: why didn't we leave with Speedy?" he asked. Now the other sidekicks stared at the floor.

"What is… Project Cadmus?" Aqualad asked Robin.

"Hmm, I don't know," he replied before smirking mischievously. "But I can find out. Watch this."

He moved to the computer terminal that had previously held all the information of the fire on its screens and started to quickly type on the keyboard. After a few seconds he got a blinking error message.

"Access denied," the computer said in the same voice as the sphere had used.

"Wanna bet? Let's see here," Robin grinned as he continued to type on the keyboard. After two more seconds he had changed his access level to the highest there was. Kid Flash looked at the screen, his eyes widening.

"Woah, dude, how are you doing that?" he asked, completely shocked. Robin smirked and pressed three more keys.

"It's the same system as the Batcave, and I hacked that when I was ten," Robin chuckled before re-entering his password.

"Access granted," the computer said before displaying the information about Cadmus.

"Okay, Project Cadmus... genetics lab here in D.C.," Robin read. "That's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious then maybe we should investigate."

"And we solve their case before they do?" Aqualad asked, considering. "It would be poetic justice, of a kind."

"And they're all about justice," Kid Flash agreed. "Let's do it."

"But they told us to stay put." Aqualad argued.

"On the sun mission," Robin argued. "They never said anything about the Cadmus mission."

"And just like that we are a team?" Aqualad asked

"We didn't exactly come here for a playdate," Robin replied. Aqualad smirked at that and nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash asked eagerly. He lowered his goggles over his eyes, smirking. "Let's go!"

July 4: 14:40 EDT

Red X vowed to himself to never again ask Raven for a teleportation to anywhere. It was so dark and cold he was surprised that his fingers hadn't fallen off from frostbite. That's saying nothing of the demonic whispering that filled his hearing. But after a second or two they were across the country and staring at a building that looked like a warehouse in it's simplicity from the roof of one of the buildings across the street. Cadmus was a two story building built of white bricks that was roughly shaped like a square. Pretty much your average lab.

"So we're here, how do we get in?" Raven asked.

"I don't know," Red X replied, searching the building for entry points.

Suddenly the building's northern half exploded, glass flying everywhere. Smoke billowed out of the shattered windows and Red X heard people screaming. He narrowed his eyes, suspicious of the convenient opening.

"We need to help those people," he finally said and jumped to the ground. He ran over to the side of the building and teleported to the window where some scientists were waving their arms and yelling. They jumped slightly as Red X appeared behind them.

"Hold on," Red X said as he grabbed one on the scientists.

He jumped from the building and landed with a grunt. He set the scientist down and watched as Raven levitated the other one out of the window from the roof. She set the scientist down then generated a small, pure black, platform for Red X to ride up on. He stepped onto the disk and rode up to the shattered window. Inside, Raven appeared out of the shadows and walked to the window where Red X was stepping off the platform.

"So we're in, now what?" she asked

"Now we search for whatever isn't right about this place," Red X said, looking around the darkened room.

Raven felt a presence in her mind. It seemed curious more than anything else. It also seemed to come from below them. And whatever it was, she knew it could be a serious threat. Just what was Cadmus hiding?