Chapter 45: Justice in Motion

Far off in the outskirts of Central City, the four members of the Justice League were watching as an old hangar of S.T.A.R. Labs was being renovated, repurposed as their new headquarters. The logos on the side were being painted over, replaced with their newly created symbol, which had been anonymously spread to numerous media outlets to use for future broadcasts.

"I don't like it." Oliver announced. Kara and Barry made noises of agreement, while Mari arched an eyebrow.

"Really? I think it looks grand."

"Exactly. It's too grandiose, and it's out in the open. It's basically a beacon for criminals to come and attack us."

"Tactical as always, Oliver." Amanda Waller commented, making her presence known. She had been speaking with members of the construction crew, specifying a few more features for the base. "Indeed, perhaps it is a little bit much, but you are symbols now, a warning to all evil. And you can't be a warning if you aren't seen."

"You have a point, Amanda." Barry interjected. "But so does Oliver. We're targets for whatever megalomaniac that has grand designs for a hostile takeover of the planet, and they'll know to attack here first before everything else. I just don't feel comfortable with it."

Amanda waved his worries off, smirking. "Then maybe it's a good thing this isn't your permanent base."

Everyone blinked at that.

"There are plans being drawn up for your real base, but there are issues with authorizing the funding, and the technology is a little more advanced than what we are currently capable of – but considering who's involved, I'm sure we'll be able to get it up and running in the next couple of years." At this, she gave a pointed look to the three ex-assassins, who frowned in understanding. The meaning was clear: 'You want this fixed? Then do it yourself.'

"Very well then." Oliver took in a deep breath. "Anything else?"

Amanda smirked.

"Why are there seven chairs?" Kara asked, looking over the wooden arm chair that bore her family's crest.

After explaining that this was their 'temporary' base, Amanda had directed them to a meeting room within the hall, the only room to have been finished in the last two weeks since the start of the hangar's renovation. In the center of the room was a large, stainless steel table with the League's symbol on the surface's center, surrounded by several chairs in a semi-circle. At the head of the table, in the center of the lineup, was a chair inscribed with an arrowhead, clearly representing Oliver. To its left was the chair that Kara was currently inspecting, while to its right was a chair with Barry's lightning bolt, and to that chair's right was another, with the head of the Anansi Totem – Mari.

They were not the only chairs present, however. Three more chairs were placed at the table, each lacking a carving: one to the right of Mari's chair, and two to the left of Kara's.

"As you know, our aim for the Justice League is to gather as many public superheroes as possible and place them under one banner as a deterrent to crime." Amanda explained. "Your debut at the Undertaking has hastened the rise of these heroes throughout the world – but there are not nearly enough to serve as a full organization."

"To remedy this issue, I've decided that you will publicly invite three more heroes to the League, each of whom have done a great, heroic deed in public. Together, you seven will be the 'founders' of the organization and serve as an inspiration for the heroes yet to come. This will, hopefully, convince more vigilantes to act in the open, and eventually join the Justice League themselves in return."

"Quick question!" Mari raised her hand. "What counts as a 'great, heroic deed'?"

Amanda gave a sly smile. "I trust your judgement. All of you, in fact. I'm sure you all already have some good candidates in mind." She walked over to the table and placed her palm on it, just beneath the League symbol. The spot she touched instantly lit up, and to the slight astonishment of everyone, the symbol split open, revealing an opening. Out of the opening rose another pedestal, this time containing a line of seven rings, each also bearing the Justice League's crest.

"These rings serve as both identification and 'keys' to the hall. I'll leave it up to you to figure out how'd you like to conceal them to the public during your daily life. When you choose a candidate, bring them to the hall, and if the rest of the team approves their 'application' for membership, give them one of the three remaining rings. Once all three are taken, we will see about making more for future members."

At her nod, all four vigilantes took a ring for themselves, fitting them on their right hands to see how they fit.

"Is that it?" Oliver asked, already aching to go home. Being in Amanda's presence for an extended amount of time always made him feel uncomfortable, and he knew the others felt the same.

"For now. Farewell, ladies and gentlemen; I'll see you all next month."

Laurel frowned as she looked over her notes for the Rasmus case. The case had been delayed thanks to the chaos left in the wake of the Undertaking, but now that things had begun to settle down, the case had finally been pushed through. She and her clients would be going to court in a month or so.

Thanks to moonlighting as Black Canary and beating the crap out of thugs who just loved to talk, Laurel had become intimately aware of the corruption present in Starling – more so than all of her tenure as an attorney at CNRI. She knew of the criminality that went on the city, and that most of it was centered in the Glades, but it was only now she realized how deep-rooted it was and how far up it went. Names she never knew of passed through the lips of the many lowlifes that had the misfortune to cross her path, but more alarming were those she did know of. Many of them she already knew to be scumbags, such as the very man she was currently building a case against, but others she had been surprised to hear of. It seemed that Malcolm Merlyn wasn't the only supposed humanitarians putting up a mask.

It was this information that had prompted her to warn her clients of the potential danger attached to this case. Word on the street was that Rasmus liked to hire "fixers" to deal with problems like this, and if they pursued this case, their lives would be unmistakably in danger. When they insisted on it regardless, she had immediately contacted her father, who had issued a detail of men he explicitly trusted to watch the small family for the duration of the trial. Even so, Laurel made plans to watch their home over as the Black Canary instead of going on her usual patrol routes, just in case.

Eddie looked through a stack of casefiles, frowning. With the Anti-Streak Taskforce now the Anti-Metahuman Taskforce, their caseload had increased significantly. The rise of metas had forced them to look at cases from a new perspective. Suddenly the impossible was no longer impossible, and while it meant that no one's story could be dismissed based on logic (Barry came to mind, and Eddie winced; while he and Barry had issues, he couldn't help but sympathize with other man for what happened to his family), it meant there were some threads in these cases that would be hard to pursue.

Among the most recent incidents included people physically being in two places at the same time (suggesting a shapeshifter), a woman that could appear in one place and then another the next second (teleporter?) and, perhaps the most distressing of all, odd weather patterns that were extremely similar to those found in locations where Clyde Mardon was present, prior to the man's death. Considering that Clyde had a brother who allegedly died the same night he did, in the same storm that had given him his powers…Eddie shuddered. That was a terrifying line of thought.

Sighing, he opened a desk drawer. He looked at the mass of paper, each tightly organized in manila folders: his old files on the Streak – or the Flash, as he was now called. He felt a fire light up in his belly.

This city didn't always need the Flash to solve its problems, and Eddie was going to prove it.

"According to intel, Amunet has purchased a number of abandoned buildings along the south side of town and in Keystone City." Iris explained to Ralph as they looked over their board of evidence. "They've been turned into clubs, where she conducts most of her business. And you won't believe who was just seen entering one of them." She posted another photo to the board with a pin.

Ralph frowned. "Leonard and Lisa Snart."

The Snarts were well-known faces to the CCPD. After their father, Lewis Snart, had been arrested for domestic abuse and overall corruption, the Snart siblings had gone off the grid for a few years. Leonard Snart eventually did turn up – as Central City's premiere thief, and thus a frequenter of Iron Heights. While his sister was never charged, they had ample reason to believe she was also a part of his criminal activities. Snart had gone off the grid recently after breaking out of Iron Heights, and it seemed they finally found him.

"We have reason to believe that Amunet has contracted him and his sister for a job; according to UC, word going around is that the Snarts are looking for a new crew for their latest heist, and it's rumored to be a big payday. Coincidentally, a new cache of weapons has just rolled into Central City and are currently under lock and key at a military base just outside the city." Iris posted another piece of evidence: a report of the new weapons cache. At the top of the paper was an acronym of the organization that had ordered them in: 'A.R.G.U.S.'

"Right up Amunet's alley." Ralph smirked. "Good work, Iris." He slapped Iris on the back in congratulations. Iris winced. "Now we just need to see about getting an inside man."

"Isn't UC currently tied up in the Sonus case?"

"Point." Ralph stated, punctuated by him literally pointing at her. "And you can't do it because you're a cop's daughter. And I can't do it because I've been on the news for cases before."

"So, who are we going to get?" Iris wondered, genuinely distressed. This was her first big case, and she didn't want something like this to mess it up.

A knock on the door. The two officers shared a look, knowing they had asked the rest of the precinct to leave them undisturbed for the time being.

"It's open!"

The door swung in, and Barry popped his head into the room. "Hey, Iris! I've got you coffee and brownies. Sorry I couldn't answer your call earlier, I was in the middle of…Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No." Iris stated sternly, as Ralph began to grin.

A nice, short transition chapter. Now I need to get around to planning out the rest of the arc, like I was supposed to a couple of months ago.

Don't forget to update the TV Tropes page! There's also a character page!