The Riddler couldn't believe it.
Months of carefully procuring weapons and items attractive enough to catch the common criminals banal eye, weeks spent scouting out nearly every abandoned warehouse in the city, not to mention the quite substantial sum he had to pay that meathead Bane and his associates to distract Batman for the night and all that inexplicably gets undone in less than an hour by a trio of children who are at best novices who have no business doing what they did.
And yet, he watched as wave by wave his potential customers, the likes of whom include paid mercenaries and career criminal, would be systematically taken down and incapacitated by these abhorrent adolescents.
Of all the indignities that he's had to endure, both personal and professional, that Edward Nygma has had to endure since embarking on his quest to become the smartest man alive this was by far the most egregious.
And yet, though the Riddler continued to glower resentfully at the three supposed 'heroes' standing over Bruno Mannheim he was not wholly disheartened by this truly unfortunate series of events.
Even in the heart of darkness, the light will always see its way through after all.
Tracing the briefcase that he held tight to his chest containing the most valuable and integral items from the now botched auction, the Riddler continued to watch when Kid Flash suddenly raced away from them presumably to gloat to his master about how exemplary a job they had done.
Nevertheless, he bit his lip to vent vocally later to his partners and got up to initiate his strategic retreat that he had postponed from doing earlier out of some naive hope that those criminal miscreants were as good as they claimed.
And so he did, turning towards the exit door only for familiar lightning emblem to suddenly appear before him.
"Hey buddy, we almost missed ya," Kid Flash smiled heroically, startling the alleged criminal mastermind who nearly tripped over himself stumbling back.
Nygma fumbled for his briefcase for a contingency device only to realize that in his usual paranoid tendencies he had locked it.
"Yeah, tonight's really not your night, Nygma," Kid Flash chided sympathetically, crossing his arms as Nygma continued to back away.
"No! No! I will not go to Belle Reve!" he insisted vehemently, before somehow conjuring up the fortitude to jab his finger menacingly at the speedster. "I'm the Riddler, you red-and-yellow simpleton! And I will not be forced to inhabit the same facility as those rabid, slothering deviants! Do you hear me? I'm the Ri-uggh!"
Roy Harper's fist sailed unapologetically into the Riddler's screaming mouth, knocking him out instantly.
"He was done," Roy said to them as Edward Nygma slumped down to the ground, his briefcase spiraling out of his reach.
And as he sprawled out on the floor, Robin was nearly beside himself in laughter. Clutching his sides as he knelt down beside him, he examined Nygma's now drooling face for a moment before looking back up at Harper.
"Dude, I'm pretty sure you knocked out his front tooth!" Robin laughed, pointing at the now noticeable gap in Nygma's front row of teeth.
Picking up the briefcase dropped by the now unconscious Nygma, Kid Flash carefully tucked it underneath his armpit.
"Good thing you kept an eye on the little weasel the whole time, Rob. Bats would've had our heads if we let him go with all the intel he has," Kid Flash grinned sheepishly.
"Nah, he would've just made us search the city all night 'till we found him. Trust me, not the best way to spend your Friday night," Robin remarked, before getting up.
"So uh, anyone hungry? After we finish reporting to the League, I could totally go for a Big Belly right about now. How about you guys?"
"I could eat. Least Batman can do is give us the night off, considering we just passed the final exam with flying colors," Roy agreed, as they all started towards the door.
"Yeah, if he's still in a good mood after the debriefing. Probably best if you let me do the talking," the Boy Wonder said.
"I hope he doesn't make us retake this to 'push ourselves harder' or whatever. Like, what's the next mission if we fail? Steal some bananas from Gorilla City? Teach Solomon Grundy a new nursery rhyme?" Wally joked dryly.
"Whatever comes next, we're a team now. No matter what Batman puts us through, that won't change. This was only the first," Robin responded.
"First of many?" Roy suggested hopefully, a sentiment shared by his brothers-in-arms.
"Yeah, let's get out of here."
Exiting the warehouse a stark contrast from how they entered it, the new cemented team of defeated criminals and mercenaries who were all in some shape or form feeling the efficient brand of young justice dealt out by the teenaged heroes.
However, unbeknownst to them all their systematic defeat at the hands of Kid Flash, Speedy, and Robin was speculated on from above, through the same skylight that they had originally entered through.
Three male figures, shrouded by the night shadows, had observed the proceedings from outside of the now opened glass ceiling, watching without interfering during the entire duration in which the teenaged heroes crashed the auction.
The one in the middle was the easiest to discern, the dim moonlight only accentuating the demonic presence that his suit projected to the superstitious and cowardly. Sporting a Herculean physique beneath a dark black suit with armored padding from head to toe with a bat-shaped cowl to conceal his identity, his cape lightly danced behind him as he momentarily tore his gaze away from the scene below to address his colleagues. Only his bright yellow utility belt contrasted against his suit.
The man to his left, sporting a much leaner look, wore a crimson all-body suit complete with yellow boots and a lightning emblem emblazoned on his chest. Only his mouth and lower jaw were visible through his mask, with twin lightning-shaped earpieces on the sides.
Finally, the third male with a medium build merely crossed his blonde goatee inquisitively as he turned away from the scene to confer with the others.
Clad in an emerald green variant of the same shirt and pants that Speedy wore, his trusty bow and quiver were strapped around a light green vest. Every article of his clothing was colored green, including a hood that partially obscured his neatly combed blond hair and white domino mask.
"So, I don't know about you two but the kids did alright," the Flash finally spoke up, his naturally upbeat tone earning him a glare from the brooding Dark Knight. "Granted, mistakes were made. And there were close calls, more than I'm comfortable with to say the least. But, they still got the job done and made it out in one piece. I reckon that counts for something."
"I second that. Now obviously, I'm partial to my boy Roy but they each did their fair share to cover each other's bases and take the bad guys down. Sure, they can learn to do better but they've certainly got my vote," Green Arrow opined hopefully, before biting at his lips nervously waiting for the Dark Knight's interjection.
And as usual, Batman's opening statement was understated yet resonant.
"They performed adequately," Batman finally said, his stoic and unemotional tone as usual betraying no emotion.
"Yeah Bats, 'adequate' is stopping a grocery robbing and not getting yourself or any civilians killed in the crossfire. But what they did down there- juggling multiple hostiles, watching each other's backs, keeping the action contained inside the premises - heck I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit jealous. I mean, put me from five years ago in a warehouse with the Rogues alone and maybe, just maybe I'd survive by the scruff of my beard," the emerald archer pointed out.
"The primary objective was completed, yes, but had they initiated contact as a combined force from the beginning, completion of the mission would've been expedited exponentially. They fought like individuals sharing the same battlefield instead of teammates maintaining a constant line of communication and synergy," Batman retorted in turn.
"So basically just like the Justice League?" Green Arrow offered sarcastically, his typical sardonic writ failing to amuse the always analytical detective.
As the white slits on his cowl narrowed into diamonds, the fastest man alive quickly piped in, "Look Bruce, all Ollie's saying is there's definitely room for improvement but the League doesn't exactly set an ideal template for them to follow. Being honest, if people like Hal Jordan and Captain Marvel followed your orders right the first time we wouldn't even get in half the messes we do get in. Least we can do is cut them a little slack."
"You both have a point, but the fact remains that this team, while more than competent on their own, is not yet greater than the sum of their parts. Wally held his own considering how recently he acquired his powers but was caught off-guard in situations he ran into before properly surveying his surroundings. Roy did well as expected considering his age and training, but his ambition and drive to prove himself even in the thick of battle makes him reckless at times. And I fear Robin may be emulating my own field tactics to his team's detriment. Those were my biggest observations, though their performance as a team while flawed was still satisfactory."
"Okay, so there's a learning curve. Dinah can help with that, but for now why don't you add in Arthur's new protégé to balance the team dynamics out?" Green Arrow brought up, referencing the Atlantean prospect currently being mentored by Arthur Curry in Atlantis. "How about you, BA?"
"You got my vote. I've heard nothing but good things about that young man for a while now, and if Arthur's cool with it I believe he'd make an excellent addition to the team," Barry asserted confidently before continuing, "Either way, the kids who cleared that warehouse tonight all by themselves, I think could do some good out there. And I'd fight by their side anytime."
"So, what's the bottom line, Bats?" Oliver finally sighed, almost dreading Batman's response.
"They'll need more trials, individually and as a whole of course. And their track record against metahumans is still unproven. But…" His characteristically monotone scientific drawl trailed off in the end, before being replaced by an uncharacteristically warm smile.
"They're ready."
Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to thank you for reading through this story despite my admittedly long-winded paragraphs and monologues. It's a fairly self-contained and simplistic plot, I know but that was just so I could get a good idea of the characters' voices and hopefully portray them and their fighting styles as faithfully as I could to how they were in Season 1. So, if you enjoyed this story or even if you didn't please feel free to leave a review or PM me any constructive criticism whether positive or negative. Feedback is extremely important to me, as it motivates me to not only write more but improve my writing style. Again, any feedback whether through reviews or following/favoriting my story/profile would be greatly appreciated and would truly go a long way.
I've wanted to write this story for a while now, probably ever since the initial announcement of Young Justice: Season 3 last year. I was a huge fan of the show when it first aired, and upon its revival I wanted to do a little one-shot featuring my favorite Team members from Season 1. So to clarify, "Final Exam" takes place a few months before "Independence Day" and is meant to showcase the brotherly bond between Roy, Dick, and Speedy that was alluded to several times during Season 1. Like the title implies, it was a field trial overseen by the League to see how well they can work together against varied opponents and by the end of the story they passed. Regarding the absence of Aqualad here, I wanted to introduce Kaldur in his own story, so if there's enough interest by you, the reader in seeing me write more in the YJ canon I'd love to continue writing these characters in their Pre-Season 1 incarnations and include Aqualad. But for now, I truly hope that I captured these character's voices to the best of my ability, and that you enjoyed me fleshing out villains like Captain Cold and Bruno Mannheim who were admittedly pretty one-note in the show. Snart in particular was a lot of fun to write, probably because I had Wentworth Miller's voice from the CW shows in my head the whole time, but I hope that I did him justice nonetheless. I also hope that I nailed Robin's wordplay and Kid Flash's youthful zeal pretty decently as well.
On a slightly unrelated note, I am still devoted towards finishing the Batman Arkham City: Reconstruction story that I started a few years back. I took some time off of that story to complete this one, so rest assured that I will be updating Reconstruction sometime during the summer/fall. For readers who haven't read Reconstruction, feel free to skim through it and give me your thoughts and feedback on that as well. For those who have been keeping up, I promise that your patience will soon be rewarded.
So yeah, again any feedback (positive and/or negative) or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'll probably update this story a few more times this month with grammatical and logical revisions but I'm most definitely proud of the finished product. I check PMs regularly, so I'll respond to any advice or suggestions you have in a timely manner. I intended for this to be a one-shot, but if there's enough interest I have a few ideas floating around for sequel stories that feature Kaldur'ahm and more of the Justice League in action. Thank you so much for reading my story and stay 'whelmed! :)
