Disclaimer: I do not own the existing characters that we know and love of Young Justice, although I do take ownership over the new characters i.e. The majority of the Team's children

A/N: Don't forget to review!

Chapter 08 – Mari Grayson

Angel stepped to one side, allowing the new speedster to show herself. "Everyone, meet Stealth- the newest recruit if she passes vetting done by Jester and Diana."

My mouth hung open and I gawped at Diana. She was showing absolutely no emotion. It was anything that she wasn't giving anything away.

The recruit, Stealth, was wearing a sleeveless yellow skin tight jumpsuit with a white lightning bolt on the chest. Seeing as she was called Stealth, it was obviously that she was following after the Flash, Kid Flash and Impulse as the team's speedster. How she would be able to run in the patent white boots she was wearing was something I would never understand.

"Hey guys – so as Angel introduced me. I am called Stealth and before we all get off on the wrong foot, I hope that we can all just get along and protect the city." Stealth clapped her hands together, smiling broadly and batting her long eyelashes at us from behind some white rimmed goggles.

Jester pushed Diana up to where Stealth was standing. He smirked at the two female supers, watching them closely. "The test will be devised into three parts. One will be a battle of skills against some of these supers here. The next test will be a mental test, aided and organised by Miss Martian. The final test will remain untold until the time comes." Jester paused before holding his hand out to Stealth. "Do you accept the challenge?"

"Of course, why would I not?" Stealth giggled, flashing us a charismatic smile. "So who am I fighting first?"

Although nothing had been planned, I could just tell that I was not going to get on with this chirpy, chatty girl, so I rose my hand up in the air.

"Me."

I adjusted my headband and folded my arms confidently.

Diana seemed confused over what was unfolding. "Nightstar- we have already planned this. We didn't think that- we didn't think you'd want to help with Stealth's initiation…" she said nervously, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

Stealth seemed only too pleased for a challenge. "Oh come on guys- it'll be fine. If Green Eyes wants a fight, so let me give her one."

Green Eyes? She did not!

Without even thinking, I propelled myself through the air towards her, shoving her over onto the metal floor. As Stealth lashed out, kicking me in the stomach, Jester wrapped one arm around my waist and hauled me away.

"Put me down!" I screamed viciously as Jester carried me out of the room. "Jester!" I thumped him in the side and I noticed him grunt at the unexpected strength.

"Enough, Nightstar!" he yelled, nearly throwing me down to the floor. "You cannot and will not behave like that on my team!"

There was no wear I was going to back down. "You know what she called me, Jester. You heard it, they all did."

"Nightstar, you're supposed to be a superhero- that means that it shouldn't matter what people call you," Jester replied bluntly, turning his back on me.

Anger was bubbling away in my body and I was not going to ignore it. "And if everyone called you a liar and a psycho, you'd be fine with that?!"

Before I even had time to take another breath, Jester had one gloved hand wrapped away my throat and slammed me up against the wall. Despite being able to fly, it is useless when you're pinned to a surface.

"Call me that again…" he whispered slowly, tilting his head down a little.

As I struggled for air, I saw the darkness in his eyes and I knew that he was not going to walk away. Slowly, I lifted my hand as I channelled my starbolt energy into it, preparing for an attack.

"I said, call me that again…" Jester smacked me against the wall and I choked.

I couldn't take it much longer and I cracked. I slammed my hand into the side of his neck, burning the skin lightly.

His hand immediately plastered to the side of his face, doubled over. "You little-"

"Nightstar!" a voice bellowed down the corridor and I felt my neck almost retract into my body.

That was Nightwing's voice – I would know it anywhere, it was pretty much the first voice that I ever heard when I was born. There was no chance I could miss it in a room.

"Nightstarm with me, immediately! Jester, go to the infirmary and get yourself seen to."

I marched towards Nightwing and saw him glare down at me. "Dad, I-"

"Not another word, Nightstar." Nightwing guided me towards a side room where Green Canary was waiting. "Green Canary, I've just seen Nightstar assault Jester with her starbolts."

Green Canary's eyes widened as she registered what she had just heard. "That doesn't sound like her. Nightstar, did you really do that?"

I didn't say anything, what could I say?

"Nightstar, answer me now."

Before any torture could occur, I blurted out, "I did, but it wasn't unprovoked!"

Nightwing slammed his hands down on the table, making me jump. "Enough! I know what I saw, Nightstar!"

"Why would I lie?" I shouted aggressively, feeling a tingling in my ears. "Stop it Green Canary, I can still feel it."

Green Canary shrugged at Nightwing. "Okay then, what did Jester do to warrant such an aggressive attack?"

"He- he… he-" I stuttered, unsure if either of them would even believe what I was about to say. Ultimately, I feared that they would never believe me. "He attacked me, and lashed out when I called him a psycho- but it was total provoked, I swear."

"Come on Nightstar, the real reason…" Green Canary prompted, leaning in closer.

So close that I could smell the wood notes of her perfume. It was calming and made me take a deep breath. I looked down at my boots and didn't say anything

Nightwing sighed, "There is no other option but to suspend you from missions and training within the league until further notice is given."

"What? No Dad, you can't do that!" I pleaded, throwing myself at him and pulling at his arm. "Please!"

"Enough! My decision is final!" Nightwing shouted, storming out of the room.

I burst into tears and ran away towards the garage where I'd be able to make my escape.

"Hey, Night-girl!"

I halted, wiping the tears on the silky sleeve of my superhero suit. "Stealth?"

She was standing there with her hand on her hip. "You have some nerve doing that to Jester."

"Look- I don't want any trouble, I'm sorry, okay?" I sniffled miserably, feeling utterly embarrassed. "Just leave me alone."

It felt like it was the most idiotic thing to say to a speedster. She could have followed me anywhere. After all, Stealth was a speedster.

-o-

Back at home, I stayed in the library with a book on intergalactic laws. I hadn't seen Dad or Max since the incident with Jester and I had no idea what Willow and Finn thought of me after what had happened.

As the sun began to disappear over Gotham City, I felt the cold draft of the Grayson Manor whistling through the open door. My ears pricked as I heard voices – Dad's … and an unrecognisable female voice. I held the book close to my chest and crept towards the door to investigate further.

I looked around the door and down the corridor. Down the corridor, my eyes found themselves looking at a lady in a wheelchair with auburn hair and a pretty clasp in her hair. The lady was recognisable to me, but I didn't know her name- I couldn't place her.

"You clean up well, Mr Grayson…" she said, smiling at my dad as he approached her, fiddling with his cuff links.

"It was great to hear from you, Barbara." Dad stood up straight. "We should go or we will miss the Wayne Enterprise Charity Gala."

"Then lead on."

Dad and 'Barbara' headed for the door and I frowned at it for a while. He had never told us that he would be going to a Wayne Enterprises event – he nearly always told us, or at least took either me or Max with him.

"What are you doing, Mari?"

I wasn't expecting Max to be nearby and I flinched, whipping my head around to see him watching me closely. He had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his navy zip up and he had his hair styled to cover one eye.

"Mari?" Max asked calmly.

"Look, I'm not in the mood for your incessant questions after the day I've had."

"But-"

"No! No ifs, no buts," I snapped. "I cannot believe what Dad did to me. He suspended me, but the worst thing is that he needs me- you all need me."

"We need everyone, Mari. Why did you do it anyway? Willow said you attacked Jester…" Max walked into the library and noticed the book that I had been reading. "This was Mum's…"

"Max, Jester attacked me first-"

"That's not what he said…"

"Who do you believe, him or me?" I slammed a fist down on the back of the sofa, thankful that it wasn't the table.

With my strength, it would not have been a table after I hit it.

"Knock it off, Mari. You can't intimidate me!" Max screamed with a crackle in his voice.

"Woah- what is going on with you?"

"Nothing." He went to run past me, but I grabbed his arm hard. "Let me go, Mari!"

"Not until you tell me what's going on with you?"

"I know that you didn't attack Jester first, because…" Max paused, wrenching his arm from my grip. "You said something to him and then he grabbed you by the throat, pushed you up against the wall and that' when you defended yourself."

"How- how did you know?" I gawped at him. "Has Jester hurt you too Max? Please swear he hasn't, I need to know. You're a pain sometimes, but you're my baby brother and I love you. As your big sister, it's my responsibility to protect you."

"I know because he- he… he boasted about it to me, but he made me promise not to say anything."

"He's blackmailing you?"

Max didn't respond, but his silence confirmed it.

"Max… We have to rally together against Jester. He attacked me, he's blackmailing you and I'm pretty sure that he gave you that black eye last week." I stopped and opened up my laptop that was sitting on the table. "You know, I've been monitoring things lately. I don't think he is as good a super as Dad thinks he is, and I get that Ryan- Jester is his protégé, but-"

Max closed his eyes slowly and I could see him shaking. "We can't stop him, he's too powerful. He has always been stronger, and strategic in every way, right down to the manipulation."

"But if we all band together, then we can get them to see the truth of Jester." I squeezed his shoulder, but he squirmed in my grip. "Sorry."

"You never could tell when you were being too strong." Max paused. "We aren't ready to make a move just yet. Mari, we need more time."

My phone started buzzing, vibrating loudly on the desk. There was a number I didn't have in my phone book calling me and I couldn't not pick it up.

"I got to take this… We'll talk later, okay?" I strode out and kicked off the ground to glide up to my room "Hello, who is this?"

"Um… Hi Nightstar, it's… um, it's Stealth…" Stealth's voice was way less chirpy than normal. "I need a favour and I think you might be able to help."

"What's the deal, Stealth?" I said sternly, pushing my door shut and going over to the window. "Come on, we haven't exactly gotten off to the best start, have we?"

"Didn't help when you slammed a bolt in my boyfriend's face… But that's irrelevant right now. I need your help- and as you're not on active duty, you'll be into the least amount of trouble if we're caught."

"Caught? Stealth, what are you planning?"

"Miss Martian has been working on something- keeping something a secret. I caught her looking at a file on the genomorph. Something I know is important, but when I asked, she suddenly got very cagey, wondering how I knew… It isn't going to be long before we lose the lead."

"Really? And how do you expect to find this Geno-Project?"

Clearly she knows nothing about planning secret missions… Utterly useless, but I guess I'm the perfect person to show her how it's done.

"Oh- you thought I didn't have it covered? I stole a detector from the armoury and I've set it up to detect the genomorphs. I want to search downtown city." She took a sharp breath. "I'm outside your house, hurry up."

"Woah- give me a second. I need to find a spare mask – my supersuit is at the headquarters." I stopped in my tracks, freezing. "Wait, how do you know where I live?"

"Never mind- hurry up!"

I ransacked my wardrobe, rifling through the rows of dark clothes – all the darker shades of purple, black and blues, until I settled on black leggings and a velvet black zip up hoodie with one of the backup masks we keep at home.

Wedging my window open, I hastily left the house and found Stealth waiting by the main gate, hiding in the bushes nearby.

"Stealth, how do you want to do this?" I asked. "I was thinking that I could fly you over the city and we could search that way for any sources of the genomorph."

"Actually that was my plan too." Stealth held her hand out to me. "Let's have a truce here. I get that you are the daughter of the famous Nightwing, but there's room for one more on the team, right?"

"Sure, but you're not going to be my replacement, Stealth. I am one of the original Justice Squad, so don't forget it." I didn't wait for a reply, I just hoisted her up off the ground and flew straight over to the downtown areas of the city. "Let me know when you pick up something."

Stealth's long hair billowed in the wind and I circled around over the unsuspecting citizens who were swaying about the streets after spending a night out drinking and partying. It was annoying to keep a steady flight pattern when the hair kept tickling my face.

"Stop!" she yelped. "Down here!"

I lowered her to the ground in a little alleyway between two large tall buildings. "Where to next?"

Up to one side, was an old abandoned science lab, which was blatantly where we would be going.

"Down… Down?" Stealth gawped at me from behind her white rimmed goggles.

"Like down that manhole?" I pointed at the metal circle drain that was no more than three metres from us. "Seeing as speed is your speciality, not strength… I'll do the honours."

"You do realise that I do have some muscle in me? Fine."

I gave Stealth access and let her go down into the drain system below. It did seem peculiar that there would be a secret Justice League lair under an abandoned laboratory, but if you want something to be hidden, you either hide it away or leave it in plain sight in the hopes that it is overlooked.

Down in the sewer pipe, it seemed remarkably clean – which could only be a good thing for us. Miss Martian clearly didn't want any dirt problems whenever she wanted to come down here. Thank god for that…

"So what do you think the league has hidden down here?" Stealth asked, sidling along the pipe, holding up a small flashlight. "Sure does seem important. This, 'Project Genomorph' as we are going to call it…"

"Yeah. Maybe it's a super human who has been created for the world in case of any uprisings?" I commented sarcastically, zipping my hoodie up all the way. Almost to the point where it was about to cut into my neck if it went any higher.

"I can't help but feel as though you're being a little bit sarcastic… I thought we had agreed to get along for the duration of this evening." Stealth suddenly squeaked.

"What?"

"I stepped in something squishy."

Ignoring her girly squeals, I just pushed passed her. There was a soft meowing echoing through the corridor. Knowing that there was a cat nearby made me freeze.

"Wait!" I snapped quietly, grabbing her skinny wrist. "And before you ask, what? There's a guard down here… Listen." I listened hard and we head the meow again. "That, is Kitty."

"Oh- so you have a cat called Kitty. How original." Stealth went to turn the corner.

"No Stealth!" I whispered harshly. "Kitty is a Justice Team member. She was adopted by the Justice League because she is a human with the ability to transform- shift into a cat. Kitty must be here on guard duty so it must be important. We'll just have to try again another night once we've done more research…"

The last thing I needed on my plate was my dad discovering that not only had I gone out after curfew, but I was also investigating a secret project that belonged to the Justice League. Whilst I had been suspended from duty…

"Stealth. Do not make this harder on me. We have to get out of here before Kitty notices us."

"You do realise that it could just be a random cat, right? Just because it is a cat and you know someone who can transform, does not mean it's the same one." Stealth smiled, winking behind her goggles. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about you, and Ry-Jester…"

"Oh yeah- what about it?" Stealth then noticed a metal grate which she tried to pull away from the wall of the sewer pipe. "Help… please?"

"Of course, allow me." I paused, going to pull the grate that would lead around Kitty. "You and Jester- how did that come about?" I vaulted up into the tiny tunnel and started to crawl along the labyrinth of the maze. "I was curious."

"I don't mind. It's natural to be curious." Stealth grunted as she climbed in behind me. "It was pretty romantic really. A typical cheerleader, quarterback like relationship. Corny I know, but can you blame me? He's hot A-F. True I might have played hard to get at first, but you need to make it seem worthwhile, right?"

"Interesting…" I mumbled, turning a corner so that we would be parallel to the original sewer pipe tunnel. "I've always wondered what it would be like to be a cheerleader…"

"You should try out next month, I could put in a good word for you if you want. The detector is going into overdrive, we're nearby…"

We crawled to the end of the tunnel and I peered through the gaps in the grate to see a large glass cylinder filled with a translucent liquid. There were pipes and wires creating a web of mishap in the mini lab that we were in the process of discovering. Whatever it was, it was super technical and very scientific.

"This is insane," I mumbled calmly, realising that I couldn't just prise the bars apart to get into the laboratory, because it would leave an obvious trail.

They would know someone had been here, and I just knew that Dad would interrogate me first. I would put money on it.

"What's the hold up?" Stealth asked.

"It's there… Whatever it is is right on the other side of this grate."

"Then break the bars, Nightgirl!"

"Nightstar. Night star. No can do. It'll leave a trail that we've been here." I paused. "Give me the detector, Stealth." My hand reached behind me for the detector of which when I received, I programmed the detector like I had seen Max do so. "Oh Firewing, you deserve a promotion…"

Like it was nothing, the grate opened like a little door.

"Stealth, are you sure about this?" I asked, breathing heavily. "Never mind, the curiosity is killing me!" I pushed myself out of the tunnel and float beside it, reaching out for Stealth. "Just in case of any unseen security measures. This place could have pressure pads on the floor. It would not surprise me."

"Now I know why I picked you to help me out here." Stealth took my hands and I pulled her onto my back, slowly lowering ourselves towards the floor so that we could look at the computers by the pod. "The diagnostic scans should there are no pressure pads in the vicinity. So we're good to snoop."

I went over to the computer and looked at the screen that was showing a DNA strand spiralling around in slow motion. It showed that some of the DNA bases had been modified and on closer inspection, it looked like a super-genomorph with one of the two strands being made up of a foreign DNA… But the other strand wasn't completely human either. I know my four bases in human DNA... I didn't really understand it myself, but I did see Stealth take some photos on her mobile of the computer screen and the glass pod.

When I went to inspect the pod, my mouth dropped.

"Stealth, you better look at this…" I mumbled slowly. "This changes everything. I think Miss Martian plays a far bigger part in this whole thing."

"Why?" Stealth darted towards me and pressed a hand against the class. "This… is what Miss Martian was looking at. What she was in charge of."

"Look more closely," I prompted her.

Stealth frowned through the glass and gasped. "There's a guy in there." Her blue eyes narrowed. "And he's kind of cute… What? I can still have opinions when I have a boyfriend."

"What's the plan, Stealth?" I folded my arms slowly and tilted my head to the side.

"I didn't really plan that far ahead." Stealth stepped back, accidentally knocking a switch down. "That's not good."

The gloop in the pod was slowly being drained from inside and deposited into a nearby container.

"My dads will never let me hear the end of this…" Stealth mumbled, trying to push the switch back up.

"Dads?" The sudden realisation hit me. "You mean, you're Lola. Blue Beetle and Impulse are your dads, right?" I shook my head. "Look…"

The boy inside the pod was looking right back at us with a blank look from his amber eyes.

Stealth covered her mouth with her hand. "We're totally screwed now."

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Oh I have been waiting for this introduction, what do you think of this new chapter?