Chapter 36
A/N: alright! Onto the next chapter! Holy cow, when I started writing this never in a million years would I have thought it would be this long! And I'm still only in season one of both seasons!
Sprry it took so long for me to update I had finals. Ok, rant over, now onto what you're here to read.
/comm/
Telepathy
"Bee's speech"
Watchtower, November 26
Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Optimus Prime stood staring out past the forest in the tower to provide air towards the planet below.
"Times like these, one feels the very weight of the world upon us," Wonder Woman said breaking the silence.
Hearing footsteps they turned to see Aquaman. "Everyone is here." Going inside the rest of the League stood in a room as the window covers closed. "Our adgenda is clear, what's at stake should not be underestimated."
"The decisions we make today will reverberate for years to come," Superman added.
"And influence whether or not the world continues to trust the Justice League," Wonder Woman continued.
"It's time to consider new members for the Justice League, consider all canididates wisely, remember an expansion can generate another escalation of hostilities from our enemies," Optimus finished.
"Please take your seats, we have work to do," Batman said.
Taking their seats, they looked at each other. "Remember that voting no is an option on all candidates," Superman reminded. "So, to start things off, I nominate Icon for League membership."
"Why? Cause you suspect Icon might be Kryptonian like you did with Captian Marvel?" Green Arrow scoffed.
"You thought I was Kryptonian" he said. "Cool."
"Icon interests me also," Wonder Woman agreed. "As does his protégé, Rocket. Athena knows the League more female members."
"Got that right," Arcee smirked.
"Agreed," Black Canary nodded.
"Here, here!" Hawkwoman called.
-.-
Mt. Justice
"Gobble, gobble! I love Thanksgiving," Wally said taking some cherries from the pan. The spood levitated out and smacked him. "Ow!"
"Those are for dinner Wally," Megan scolded.
Grabbing some spices, Zatanna tossed them over the turkey, casting a spell as she did so. "There, seasoned to perfection and ready for the oven," she said wiping her hands.
M'gann opened the oven and levitated the turkey inside. "Wally, I thought you and Erica were eating with your family?"
"Yea, Dad's expecting me to help! See ya!" he said grabbing another handful and running off, tripping over a wire causing a bunch of sand bags to fall on him.
"YES!" Erica exclaimed popping out of a vent, looking over she groaned. "Dang it! Wally! That was meant for 'Bee!"
"…ow."
The fans turned on under her and flour exploded out of the vent she was in. When it cleared the red-headed girl was covered in white. Another vent opened, and Bumblebee hopped out setting the bag of flour down. With a smirk he saluted and vanished.
"IT IS ON!" she screamed slamming the vent closed.
"What was that?" Zatanna asked.
Wally groaned from where he layed on the floor. "Brace yourself, Erica and Bumblebee are having a prank war."
Superboy sat down on the couch when a confetti-canon shot off behind him, covering the clone in confetti.
"YES!" Erica and Bumblebee exclaimed coming out of the vent, before looking at each other. "C'MON!" Disappearing back into the vents, Conner started to dust the paper flakes off.
Zatanna laughed lightly. "You ok?" M'gann asked.
"It's fine, just the onions," she lied and M'gann put her hand on her shoulder. "It's just…this is my first Thanksgiving without my dad."
"DANG IT!" Wally cried, walking back in he was covered in feathers.
"HOW IS IT WE KEEP GETTING EVERYONE BUT OUR INTENDED TARGET?!"
"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF! I ALREADY GOT YOU!"
"ONCE! BUT I'M GOING TO GET YOU BACK!"
Zatanna smiled lightly. Swiping the remaining tears away, she looked to find the Conner had vanished. "So…is that normal?"
"Very," Wally sighed hopping on the other couch, where a second confetti canon went off.
The warring friends popped back out again, before groaning and disappearing.
-.-
Watchtower
"Seriously? The Atom?" Captain Marvel asked. "How useful can he be at that size?"
"It's the size that makes him useful," Batman stated.
"I agree, that Atom can go into places we cannot simply because he fits. This is useful in getting info about an enemy," Arcee agreed.
"Still, we could always use more raw power," Flash said. "And Earth has a fourth Green Lantern, Guy Gardner."
"No," both present Lanterns said.
"But we could really—"
"No."
"Then what about Emerald? She was a Green Lanter before Guy," Bulkhead suggested as the image switched to the Lantern girl.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Hal frowned.
"You're not going to nominate your own protégé?" Wonder Woman questioned.
"With the way her ring is it can be hard to tell where her loyalties lie. And…when we found out what yer ring was capable of she was…different," Hal replied.
"How?" Flash asked.
"Believe me when I say you wouldn't believe it."
"Like it could be that different from her usually irritating self," Ratchet grumbled.
-.-
Conner walked towards the Zeta Tubes with wolf. Pressing in the coordinates for the DC tube, he scowled as the screen said error, then several flashes went off blinding him. stumbling back, he felt a piece of the floor sink. And before he knew it he was dressed in a frilly pink dress, he had make-up covering his face, a tiara on his head and he was covered in pink sparkles. Looking at his partner he saw that somehow Wolf had ended up in the same postion.
"FINALLY!" They looked at each other and groaned.
"Why is it we keep doing the extact same pranks?" Erica asked and 'Bee shrugged before he disappeared again.
Sighing he cleaned up and went to the hangar to get the supercycle. Hopping on he opened the door and drove straight into a bunch of clear flypaper.
"Conner!" Erica scolded glaring at him.
"What did I do?" he asked.
Sighing she hopped out of the vent, and they pulled sphere out of the paper. "Just don't come back for a while ok?" she said walking away before she ducked as a bunch of bouncy balls fell from the ceiling. "DANGIT BUMBLEBEE!"
Shaking his head, he felt bad for those remaining at base; those two had set traps every ten feet. At least he was leaving for a meeting with whoever the pit called him.
-.-
Watchtower
"If we're considering Blue Devil, then I nominate Red Arrow," Green Arrow stated. "Roy has more experience and he's not a kid anymore, he's eighteen, a legal adult. He's ready."
"Is he?" Aquaman asked. "Red Arrow has been uncooperative and disrespectful. If we reward that behavior what message does that send to the rest of the team?"
"Aquaman, you must remember that respect is earned and not just given away freely," Optimus reminded. "When we lied to the team, Roy lost the respect for us and rightly so, we should just be glad that the rest of our partners did not react as he did. If anything, I have to say going out on his own is an effort to prove that he is worthy of being in the League, and his disrespect is his way of trying to show he can handle it on own, which means he can handle it with us."
"How do you know that?" Hawkman asked.
"You'd be surprised how many of my soldiers tried."
"Tried?"
"It was the military," Arcee said, "usually we sent them to Ironhide, Solarflare, Magnus, or Prowl to straighten them out."
"Then what about the rest of the team?" Flash asked.
"No, Red Arrow may be eighteen, but the rest of the team is still too young," Superman declared. "We're not iducting children into the League."
"That seems myoptic," Fate replied. "I have been one with Kid Flash and Aqualad. Both are ready."
"And what of Zatanna?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Absolutely not!" Fate snapped.
"That sounded alomost protective Fate," she smiled. "At least we know Zatara is still in the helmet somewhere."
"Why is Dr. Fate a member?" Captain Marvel said. "You coerced Zatara into giving up his life for you or lose his daughter instead."
"Should such behavior be condoned?" Red Tornado asked.
"Zatara desires Dr. Fate to remain in the League," Fate replied.
"And how do we know you aren't just saying that to save your own skin?" Hawkwoman asked.
"It is true, Zatara's trust in Nabu is…measured, he desires the League to maintain a close watch upon us."
-.-
Mt. Justice
Erica had managed to get 'Bee once throught this entire prank war, but he managed to dodge most the incoming paintballs, so he just had a few splotches of purple, green, and red on his clothes.
They had gotten Zatanna with a minor classic, putting saranwrap on a doorway and having the person run into it. Both had apologized quickly for that, but she brushed it off with a smile, she had to admit listening to them argue and try to prank each other was brightening her mood.
M'gann had been drenched in water, they stuck buckets on the doors, and when she opened it, well, it was just like her initiation into the cheer squad.
Wally had gotten the worst of it, he had been pelted with brown jelly beans—a trap by 'Bee no doubt to make Emerald think it was coffee beans since she was highly allergic to those—drenched in water, he somehow got catapulted into the bay, he was unfortunate enough to walk in when 'Bee activated the paintball trap, and those that missed the scout hit him, and now he was stuck in the floor with a tarantula slowly walking towards him.
"Uh…guys?" he asked looking at the vents expecting one of them to pop out. "Erica? 'Bee? Someone?!"
On the floor of the living room, Erica and Bee were sprawled out, having declared a tie after the six-hour prank war began. "Welp…that was fun," Erica huffed.
"Yep," 'Bee said moving to sit up. "So…how are you doing considering…"
"I'm fine."
"Erica, wasn't it you who told me it's not healthy to keep things bottled up?"
She sighed, curse him using her own words for his advantage. "It's just that…it's just…" she started crying, unable to finish. The fact that she wouldn't be having Thanksgiving with her parents just hit her like Bulkhead's wreaking ball.
Bumblebee pulled her up and let her sob into his shoulder like she did for him not too long ago. Hearing a beep, 'Bee pulled up camera footage to see that Wally had fallen through his false floor and the spider was slowly crawling up his shoulder. Tapping Erica's shoulder, he showed her the video hoping to cheer her up.
"Should we get him?" Erica asked cracking a smile as she watched Wally panic.
"Eh, later."
"GUYS! THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" Wally screamed as the spider started climbing up his shirt.
-.-
Watchtower
"Plastic man? I don't know, guys got a substantial record," Flash commented.
Captain Marvel burst out laughing. "Sorry, guy just cracks me up," he smiled before becoming nervous at all the looks he was receiving.
"Perhaps we should all talk as you would say the elephant in the room," Ratchet said. "Should Captain Marvel stay a member now that we know he's really only ten years old?"
"He does possess an adult body and the wisdom of Soloman," Red Tornado stated.
"Wisdom does not equal maturity," Aquaman growled.
"But he still has come though when we've needed him," Bulkhead said.
"I'm sitting right here!"
"Billy, then maybe you should leave," Black Canary said, "just until we've hashed this out."
"No," Batman said. "Captain Marvel is still a member and is entitled to participate until or unless he's voted out."
"It's not just his age, it's the fact the he lied about it," Wonder Woman growled.
"I didn't lie—exactly—I just left out the part about me being a kid," he said.
"A lie of omission is still a lie," she said. "You kept an important secret from us. No one in the League knew the truth."
"I did," Batman stated.
"I shouldn't be surprised since you put Robin into crime fighting when he was nine," she said glaring at the Bat.
"Robin needed to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice."
"So he could turn out like you?!"
"So that he wouldn't."
"Alright that's enough," Optimus said before Wonder Woman could snap back. "We still have the option to vote no. But I have to say Captain Marvel has proven he can stand with us despite his young age. And frankly, I have noticed when he is in his adult form, he is far more mature than his ten-year-old self. At least with him in the League we can keep an eye on him, and ensure he doesn't take on anything too dangerous. If we kick him out, who is to say what and who he will fight? He will not have back-up when he'll need it."
A few of the others murmured and nodded in agreement.
"We seem to have reached the consensus that eighteen is the right age for joining the League, but what of Miss Martian?" Manhunter asked. "She is an adolescent by Martian biological standards, she was born forty-eight earth years ago."
"So what is the deciding factor?" Red Tornado asked. "Chronology or biology? Take Superboy."
"Exactly, he's less than a year old, does he have to wait seventeen more to stand beside us," Black Canary said. "And what about Bumblebee? He's older than the human race. Should we make him wait another two million years before he's eighteen?"
"I'll admit Bumblebee—despite his age—is more than qualified to join," Wonder Woman said.
"We've already been fighting alongside him when we fight the Decepticons and a few League missions, he's can fallow orders and knows how to work in a team," John Stewart said.
"So we'd just be making it in an official capacity?" Hawkwoman asked.
"Basically," Flash said. "His infiltration and spying talents, and experience can also be useful."
"Any other ideas?" Optimus asked. "No? Then here are our candidates for new or continued membership." The holograms of the options shown around the table.
"We've debated origin, gender, size, experience, age, temperament, and background," Batman said. "But what is the fundamental criteria for membership?"
"When all is said and done, the question must be: who do we trust? Trust to fight beside us? Trust to have our backs? Turst to uphold the high standards and ideals of the Justice League?" Wonder Woman said as the voting holograms appeared.
"Time to vote," Batman said.
-.-
"All those in favor of ratifying the results?" Batman asked as the last of the results came in.
"Aye."
"All opposed?"
No one said anything.
"Then we are adjourned."
Getting up from their seats they all started walking to the Zeta Beams. "Optimus?"
The Prime turned to see Batman looking at him with a subtle worried expression. "You seemed uneasy when Canary nominated Bumblebee?"
"It's nothing to worry about Bruce, just the natural worries of a father, I'm sure you understand," he replied, and Batman nodded.
"That's not all is it?" the Caped Crusader said noting that the man he would call a friend still seemed uneasy.
"It's just a feeling I can't shake…" he replied looking out the window with a frown, "it's almost like something's going to happen soon, something bad."
"Megatron?"
"No, I'm not sure what it is, but he is not the cause of my growing unease."
Batman nodded. "Whatever it is we'll be ready."
"I hope so…I will consult with Dr. Fate, see if we can find a reason for this."
"Batman—02. Oprimus Prime—18."
Going into the cave, both were immediately pelted in cupcakes. Wiping the frosting off they looked at Wally, Erica, and Bumblebee who stood there frozen in shock.
"IT WAS HIM!" Erica and Bumblebee shouted pointing at the speedster before the both took off, leaving Wally alone with a very angry Batman and Prime.
