Batman made his decision. Robin sat in his motorised chair and rode into the old Justice League headquarters. It had been named the 'Secret Sanctuary', used in their early days and been mostly left alone after the Watchtower had been built.
Robin hoped that meeting here was a good sign. Batman was willing to let him appear before his friends in his chair rather than try to give the impression that he was able-bodied like them.
Kid Flash was waiting, early for once in his life. He was deep in thought and didn't seem to react as Robin's chair silently moved towards him.
"KF," Robin greeted as loudly as he could.
Kid Flash jumped. When he turned to see Robin, he grinned widely.
"Robin! Any idea what Batman decided?"
Robin smirked fondly at his friend. He knew Kid Flash actually believed that Robin could somehow have gotten the information out of Batman. It was flattering, even though it wasn't true.
"No idea, KF. I'm locked out of the cave until he gives his speech here."
"There's a speech?"
"It's Batman, there's always a speech," Robin said with all the knowledge of someone in Bruce's care. Bruce was a master at giving all kinds of speeches. It came with being Gotham's upper class.
Aqualad looked at him curiously as he rode into the room.
"Your chair reminds me of the chariot my king sometimes rides," he commented with a contemplative look at Robin. "You would not happen to be surface royalty, would you?"
Kid Flash howled with laughter. For all his money, Bruce Wayne was not royalty.
Robin shoved his elbow into Kid Flash and shook his head at Aqualad.
"Flattering but, no. I just can't use my legs because of an accident when I was young."
"But, you are still young?" Superboy questioned with a confused tilt of his head. "And I'm certain your legs twitched."
Robin frowned and took a deep breath. He hated it when people pointed stuff like that out, like he was faking it somehow. Alfred had been very insistent on making sure that he knew that most people just didn't understand. There were those who were just rude and Alfred insisted that he should be able to ignore them since they had no manners. Easier said than done in some cases.
However, this was Superboy. He had spent his life so far in an underground lab.
"When I was younger," he clarified, "and just because the signals in my brain can't reach my legs, doesn't mean the muscles no longer exist. The muscles can still contract and twitch outside of my control. I just can't move them intentionally and consciously."
Superboy was pensive for a few moments before nodding his understanding.
"I will remember that."
"Come on, Team!" Kid Flash said happily. "Let's go see what the big guy has decided."
Batman glared. Aquaman stood beside him with his arms crossed over his chest and a serious expression on his face. The Flash stood beside Kid Flash, grinning.
Robin was surprised to see Black Canary, Red Tornado and Hawkgirl standing next to Aquaman and Batman since they didn't have any proteges. And behind their line-up, Captain Marvel stood in his red and yellow outfit with a small smile on his face.
With three out of the seven Justice League members smiling; as Black Canary wasn't frowning at them, Robin could hope that it was good news for them.
"This cave original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman started. "And we're calling it into service again as Mount Justice."
Kid Flash raised his hand. "What does that mean?"
"It means we're going to be a team, doesn't it?" Robin said hopefully.
Batman nodded. "Since you all insist on following your training and fighting for what is just, you'll be doing it on our terms. You get this base and Red Tornado, who volunteered be be your live-in supervisor. Black Canary is in charge of training. I will give you missions."
"Real missions?" Kid Flash asked in a sceptical tone.
Batman huffed. "-Hh- Yes, Kid Flash, 'real missions'. But covert."
"We'll handle the obvious stuff," Flash added with a grin at his nephew. "Killer robots, aliens invading, war, that kind of thing." He tapped his lightning insignia on his chest. "There's a reason we wear these targets on our chest. But, the bad guys are getting smarter as what you uncovered at Cadmus proves. Batman has pushed the need for a team that can operate quietly. Covertly."
"Because when you think sneaky, you think Kid Flash?" Robin quipped with a grin.
"Whatever," Kid Flash responded with a shrug. "I'll just have to get some lessons from you."
"Of course," Robin said in a sickly sweet, teasing voice. He moved his chair forward and then reversed it back. "First lesson; get a motor which operates silently."
"Robin," Batman said in a warning tone. Robin and Kid Flash paused and turned back to the vigilante. "The five of you will be that team."
"Cool!" Kid Flash punched the air and then paused. "Wait? Five?"
A teenage girl walked out of the shadows with Martian Manhunter beside her. They both possessed alien green skin but her hair was a flaming red to complement it. She smiled at the group as Batman introduced her as Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian.
The Justice League moved away a distance as the new team got to know each other with the knowledge that they would be working together in the future. Miss Martian morphed her clothes the similar colours as Superboy's, impressing the others. Kid Flash was acting so impressed that Flash wondered if he needed to have a talk to his teenage nephew about the way he spoke with teenage girls.
Robin sat in the chair, chatting with the other members of the team. As they moved around explore their new base, he moved the joystick to drive his chair along with them.
Black Canary was the first to say something. "When you proposed this team, Batman, I think you left something out."
"What?" Captian Marvel questioned, moving closer to be part of the discussion.
"My niece will not cause any trouble," Martian Manhunter said. "She's excited to experience life on Earth."
"I didn't mean your niece," Black Canary said. "I'm referring to Robin's mobility issues."
"There are no issues," Batman responded in a growl with a blank expression. He was carefully judging this conversation and whether he would need someone new for training. Black Canary was the best option for a position training others but not if she was going to subject Robin to the same attitude Dick often encountered in school. "Robin is as able as any member of this team."
Black Canary placed her hands on her hips and glared up at Batman. "No offence Batman but I think I deserved to know that one of the proteges I would be training is, in fact, not as able as the rest of the team."
"Robin's-"
"The training I intended to do with all the proteges assumed that they all had use of their legs. Robin can fight but, I will have to change the training regime for him."
"Why?" Captain Marvel asked innocently.
Black Canary's expression softened a little as she turned to him, although her voice was still clipped with frustration. "One example is that Robin won't be able to do push-ups or runs for warm ups and certainly will not be able to use certain equipment."
"Robin already has a warm up regime he can do," Batman said in a soft tone as it was obvious now what Black Canary was annoyed about. He had made her job harder by keeping information from her.
She nodded her understanding of that. However, she still had another point to make. "And you realise that the holographic floor of the training room doesn't have protocols for combatants in wheelchairs? Currently it counts a body hitting the ground as a defeat but doesn't have a way to assess incapacitated for someone in a chair unless Robin gets knocked to the ground. And that's not even factoring in being able to fight from the ground."
When Black Canary was finished Batman was silent.
"You are right. I'll make arrangements for some equipment for Robin and we'll update the program." The 'somehow' went unsaid. It was likely that they would spend years debugging and updating the holo-floor to read Robin accurately.
"What's going on?" Robin asked Superboy as the clone had his head tilted as if he was listening to something far off.
"Black Canary is saying that you won't be able to do the same training regime as the rest of us."
Robin blinked as he absorbed that. "Well, that's whelming." As in, he already knew that but, "I guess Batman didn't think to tell her anything, like how we would bring some stuff for me." He didn't think her training could be tougher than Batman's but was looking forward to seeing what it was like.
"Anything else?" Kid Flash questioned, zipping around.
"Batman's silent but his heart sped up for a moment there."
Kid Flash and Aqualad looked surprised that Batman could be affected by anything while Robin was impressed and worried that Superboy was able to pick out Batman's heartbeat from a distance. It was a sign that his powers were strong but also a sign that he needed some kind of instruction. Too bad Superman hadn't turned up.
Miss Martian just smiled as she didn't know about Batman's reputation.