Today is the day. It's invigorating to finally say that. After years of waking up at five in the morning for trainings, juggling school work and the sporadic work at Queen Industries, and the late night till early morning patrols, it's nice to be one step closer to something I have worked so hard for. We stood outside the Hall of Justice, the Justice League "Headquarters" waiting for the rest of the members and their protégés to arrive. I stood with my mentor and adoptive mother, Black Canary. She stood with a strong stature, a back straight, arms crossed over her chest, footing parallel with the shoulders for perfect balance. She was dressed in her costume a black corseted leotard and leather jacket with dark gray stockings all made of a bullet proof shock resistant fabrics paired with heavy duty light weight black combat boots. Her blonde hair cascading naturally on her shoulders in its usual dressed down casual do. She looked down at me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Patience, Carter, they will arrive shortly. They all just had business to attend to before getting here."
I nodded in understanding, "It is very strange that four villains with similar abilities attack four different locations at the same time."
She nodded, "Oliver and Roy said they had it and I am sure the others are finishing up. The League will discuss these suspicious occurrences, after your tour."
"Are you sure they aren't going to show us the tower?" I said with disappointment.
She nodded, "Unfortunately, not today, some of the members are still…apprehensive about minors being involved in this line of work. They are still keeping you in the safe zone, away from the press and keeping targets off your backs."
"Some of them don't trust us either I am assuming?" I asked, she gave me a sullen look and nodded. "Roy isn't going to like that, he's been raving about this for weeks."
She nodded, "Yeah, he's going to be pissed."
"Who is going to be angry?" a gruff male voice asked. I turned to see Aquaman standing on the stairs just a couple feet away along with his protégé Aqualad.
BC laughed, "You'll see," sharing a glance with me before facing him, "How long did it take to take him down?"
"We actually encountered Killer Frost," he laughed, "It did not take us long to defeat her it was more time consuming to arrive on time."
"Don't you find it strange, four villains, similar powers, attacking at the same time at different locations, today?" she asked.
He gave an answer but I didn't pay attention to it. I was too busy looking at the quiet boy, or I guess maybe teenager would be a better noun, standing at Aquaman's side. His skin was dark in color reminding me of chocolate, with tattoos wrapped around his arms. Blonde hair and what seemed to be silver colored eyes were to only contrasting features he had besides his suit. Red top and dark colored pants separated by a black belt with a golden Atlantian symbol belt buckle. A amused smirk appeared on my face when I realized the lack of shoes. After several seconds of observing he caught my gaze and began observing me as well. He saw me dressed in my suit similar to that of my mentor's. A black corseted top with tight fitted black pants paired with black combat boots and my own leather jacket, all with details of bright blue with a huge blue raven shaped logo on the back. The only difference was my red hair was pin straight and held out of my face by a head band and my face was partially covered by domino mask.
He meet my gaze once again and gave me a smile, "It's good to see you again, Blue Raven."
I nod, "It's good to see you too, Aqualad."
"Aqualad, you aren't hitting on my sister are you?" a voice called climbing up the stairs. I looked over Aqualad's shoulder as he turned to see how called him. Climbing up the stairs donned in an all red and yellow outfit and yellow hat was one of my favorite archers, Speedy, followed behind him was my other favorite archer, Green Arrow, his mentor. I rolled my eye and snorted.
"We were just saying hello, Brother, you would have been here for them if you weren't so slow," I said with a smirk.
"We got detained, I'm here aren't I?" he said once he reached where I stood.
"Late, but here," I agreed with a smile.
"Blue Raven," I turned to see it was Green arrow addressing me, "missed you out there."
"Hey, if you needed help, all you had to do was ask," I said teasing, "but no you said you had it."
He ruffled my hair, "Hey we did have it, just missed you making fun of Speedy."
"Who's making fun of Speedy?"
We turned to see Robin, the boy wonder in suit, shadowed by his mentor Batman.
"No one, Boy Wonder," Speedy deadpanned him and crossed his arms over his chest.
I let out a laugh, "Hello Robin."
He nodded in response, "Blue Raven, looking good." I rolled my eyes in response and went to stand by my mentor.
"What'd I say?" Robin "whispered" to Speedy.
He shook his head, "Stay in your league, Boy Blunder."
Before he could respond, Batman placed his hand on his protégé's shoulder. "Today's the day." He said with a barely visible smile.
Green Arrow grinned and looked at Speedy and I, "Welcome to the Hall of Justice."
"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman added.
Black Canary placed both hands on my shoulders, "The product of your hard work," she murmured into my ear.
"Aww man!" the voice of yet another teenage boy appeared behind us. I turned to see Kid Flash with arms crossed over his chest. "I knew we'd be the last ones here."
He raced up to the four of us, gave Robin and Aqualad fist bumps. Speedy just glared at him, or maybe just looked at him the way he usually looked at everybody. I can never tell sometimes, Speedy is a very grumpy person. "Hello, Beautiful," Kid said to me as he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
I rolled my eyes, "You guys keep up with that and Speedy will skewer you with his arrows."
He laughed and shrugged, "He's got to catch me first."
Black Canary, thankfully, cut in before Speedy could say anything, "Come along, Blue Raven, boys, we are already late meeting Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter. They are patient but not that patient."
I nodded and began walking to the large double doors. They opened to reveal a very large room. Right in front of us was a door with all black letters "Authorized Justice League Personnel Only" it seemed out of place since it was directly beneath the tall golden statues of the founding members of the League. Out of the doors walked out the two aforementioned members.
"Robin, Speedy, Blue Raven, Aqualad, Kid Flash. Welcome." He turned around and began walking through the doors. We all eagerly followed like kids in a candy store. I turned to Speedy who had a very rare smile on his face.
"You now have unlimited access to our Gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course our library," he stated ending with the room we were in now. Lined with shelves of thousands of books with a computer nook on the other side and seating areas scattered throughout the room.
"Make yourselves at home," said Flash. Kid Flash and Robin took no time sitting down in the nearest chairs. With Aqualad following suite, Speedy stood in his place and I left his side to explore the nearest book shelf.
The members of the league gathers near another door, I'm assuming to a zeta tube. And discussed the strange attacks that happened earlier.
"That's it!" Speedy yelled from his spot startling me and making me drop the book I was admiring on the floor with a loud boom. I turned to glare at him as I picked up the book but he was too busy glaring at the members.
"You promised us a real look inside. Not a glorified backstage pass," he said with venom. I looked at my mentor as if to say Here we go.
"It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get," Aquaman said calmly but that just angered Speedy even more.
"Oh really?" he said sarcastically and gestured towards the glass windows high above us where tourist were taking photos. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on?"
Green Arrow stepped forward, "Roy, you just need to be patient."
"No, what I need is respect."
"Enough!" I snarled as I slammed the book down on the table next to me. Making a cup of pencils knock over. He looked at me with narrowed eyes. "You are acting like a child!" I yelled as I pointed my finger at him. "You want to be respected? ACT LIKE YOU DESERVE IT!"
He looked at me and snorted "Are you serious?"
I stepped forward but was stopped by hand on my shoulder, my mentor's hand. Speedy continued, "You're kidding, right?" he asked me dumbfounded, "You're playing their game," he looked at the others, "Why? Because you think they play far? Today was supposed to be the day. Step one to becoming full fledged members of the League."
"No duh, Speedy! This is they just don't let anyone walk in here. It takes hard work and just because we defeat a couple of villains in our hometown means we are ready for the big leagues, the League. It takes building trust and showing the other members what we've got and not just our mentors," I said.
"Yeah, I mean isn't step one a tour of the HQ?" Kid Flash said from his spot.
"Except the hall isn't the Leagues real HQ!" Speedy exclaimed. I slapped my forehead with my hand.
I heard my mentor cuss under her breath, "Damn it, Oliver!"
I looked up from my hand to see the reactions of the other protégés, by their reactions this was not going to end well. The silence in the room gave Speedy clearance in his mind to continue. "Yeah, bet they never told you this is just a tourist false front and just a place to put the teleporter. The real headquarters is an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower."
I turned to the group of mentors to see them all glaring at Green Arrow including my own. He looked sheepishly at Batman who had folded his arms. "I know, I know. I thought maybe we could make an exception?" he asked. Batman's eyes narrowed, "Or not…"
Black Canary stepped closer to Speedy, "Roy…"
He turned towards her and cut her off, "Save it for your partner."
Aquaman stepped forward, "You are not helping your cause here, Son. Stand down or—"
"Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son! I'm not even his." He turned his glare to Green Arrow, "I thought I was his partner," he said somberly, "But not anymore." He grabbed the hat on his head and threw it to the ground.
"Roy!" I yelled from my spot, he paused for a second and looked back at the four of us proteges that gather together.
"Guess they were right about you, you're not ready!" he exclaimed angrily and then continued out of the room without looking back.
Kid Flash put one hand on my shoulder while Black Canary put her hand on the other. Before either had a chance to say any consoling words Superman's face appeared on the large computer screen behind us.
"Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."
"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus." Batman said as he and other League members walked towards the computer. "This will present the perfect opportunity to—"
"Zatara to Justice League, the sorcerer Wontan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full league response."
"Superman?" Batman asked looking up at the Man of Steels image.
"It's a small fire, local authorities have it under control."
"Then Cadmus can wait. All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out," he said as he clicked off the screen. He turned to look at the four of us gather behind him in curiosity. "Stay put."
"What! Why?" Robin asked astonished.
"This is a League mission." Aquaman stated.
"You're not trained—" Flashed started to add but was cut off by his protégé
"Since when?"
"I meant you're not trained to work as a part of this team," Flash finished.
"There will be other missions," Aquaman stated.
"When you are ready," Black Canary finished.
"But for now, stay put," Batman said sternly looking directly at his protégé.
They all left shortly after through the zeta tube. The other proteges began to bickered amongst themselves about their mentors while I stood quietly by the computer. Then a thought occurred to me just as it did Aqualad. "What is Project Cadmus?" we both asked simultaneously.
We both gave each other small smiles and I could feel a slight blush come to my face. I turned to Robin and Kid. They both shrugged.
"Dunno," Robin said and walked towards me near the computer.
I turned around and immediately began typing hacker codes. "Let's find out shall we boys."
Robin appeared at my side and began typing as well. "Didn't take you for a hacker."
"Eh, not really, Boy Wonder," I said, "Strictly Justice League systems."
"ACCESS DENIED."
I snorted, "Yeah, right," I said sarcastically.
"Wanna bet," Robin said at my side.
"Boy Wonder, do you have that code for, never mind," I said with a smile.
"Whoa," Kid said in shock as he saw all the data running on the screen. "How are you doing that?"
"Same system as the Batcave," Robin said.
"Might have hacked them once or twice," I said with a grin.
"ACCESS GRANTED."
Robin and I both shared a glance and fist bumped.
"Now let's see here, Project Cadmus is…"
"A genetics lab here in D.C.," Robin finished for me.
"That's it? Really Batman, what happened to the detailed reports you always do?"
Robin looked at me and crossed his arms over his chest, "How do you know about those?"
"Like I said ," I began searching for the coordinates, "I have hacked them a couple of times. I'm going check it out, see what I can find. If Batman is suspicious then that is cause for investigation," I said as I loaded to coordinates to my wristlet.
"Wait are you going?" Kid Flash asked as he saw a map appear on the screen. "Because if you're going, Gorgeous, I'm going."
"That would be poetic justice," Aqualad said nodding.
"They are all about justice," Robin said smiling.
"But they said stay put," Aqualad reasoned.
"For the Sun Blotting mission," I said, "I didn't hear him say anything about staying put for this."
All three of us looked to Aqualad, "So just like that we are a team on a mission."
I smirked and placed a hand on his shoulders, "It'll be nice to see what you boys can do as a team."
"Same to you," he said with a smirk.
"Good because I didn't come for a play date," Robin said.