Green Lantern took over from Superman in debriefing Marco after a while so he could join J'onn on the monitoring station but the Martian Manhunter had his own questions for the Man of Steel.
"I'm not saying that Yuriko, Katrina and Marco haven't proven themselves to be capable Superheroes." J'onn asserted as he continued to monitor situations that the League was dealing with. "But they are all young and unknown."
"Star Girl is younger than all of them combined and she was one of the first new additions to the league." Superman responded as he glanced at the monitors. "Besides that, Yuriko, Katrina and Marco have all proven themselves against experienced Supervillains."
"That still leaves Ehsan, Earthshaker is the only hero from the other dimension who we haven't located yet." J'onn responded as he typed away at the keyboard. "And not every member of the league can dedicate 100% of their time to finding him, Diana is dealing with the wildfires in Australia and Shayera is tracking down the remnants of the Legion of Doom, they have been informed of the situation and will assist as soon as they are able to."
"Good to know." Superman responded with a nod. "Aside from those who are out searching for Ehsan, what else is going on?"
"Vigilante, Shining Knight and Zantanna are breaking up that weapon smuggling ring in Star City but that's about it." J'onn responded as he showed the trio of heroes beating up some bad guys. "Green Arrow wanted to be apart of that mission before you first encountered Yuriko."
"Keep him updated in the meantime." Superman nodded before walking off.
*back in Central City*
"You know, I think we may have overdone it." Kat deadpanned as she, Fire, Ice and Flash stopped for a rest on the roof of a high rise, Kat was carrying several bags filled with the shopping she brought which wasn't too difficult for her thanks to her Super Strength but even then, she needed a rest. "I don't normally buy this many "fashionable" clothes, or fashionable clothes in general for that matter."
"Why not? I thought you looked good in them." Fire commented and Kat shook her head.
"Was always more into sports than fashion, even before I became a Superhero," Kat admitted before setting down several bags. "I was the captain of my school's track team, had several scholarship opportunities lined up and even had dreams of competing in the Olympics." Kat added before glancing over at her wings. "Then my powers activated, and my dreams came to a screeching halt." Kat sighed as she shook her head.
"That's too bad." The Flash commented sympathetically as he approached her. "But I guess you had a higher purpose."
"My mom definitely thought so, she always thought that I was destined for great things." Kat responded before sitting down on the edge of the roof and getting her phone out. "And yes, she knows I'm a Superhero, made the mistake of fighting my first Supervillains out of costume as they were running from a bank robbery alongside Marco."
"Yeah I can see how that would blow your cover." The Flash nodded with a slight laugh. "What about your dad?"
"He figured it out before I fought those villains." Kat responded as she shook her head. "I was never any good at lying but even then, he saw right through it, he was a police detective over twenty years of experience, both stateside and in China. But even after finding out I was a mutant he still supported me."
"Your dad sounds like a good man." The Flash added with a pat on Kat's back and she sighed.
"Yeah, he was." Kat said sadly before pausing. "J'onn's not listening in right?"
"Only on league essential communication, otherwise he'd have our earpieces muted, so yeah, your safe." The Flash added before it hit him. "Your dad's dead, isn't he?"
"Shot in the line of duty after a massive jailbreak, to make matters worse, I was the only witness." Kat nodded and The Flash winced. "Even two years later, the fact that I didn't step in and try to save him still eats up at me."
"I'm sorry to hear that." The Flash nodded sympathetically, and Kat sighed, Fire and Ice weren't paying attention at this point as the two Superheoines were talking amongst themselves. "I'm sure he'd be proud of you."
"Thanks, that means a lot." Kat responded before picking up the bags and standing up. "So, what's next" Kat asked, and Fire looked up.
"You'll see." Fire resounded with a grin before leading Kat and the others away.
*back on the Watchtower*
Following Marco's debriefing he had returned to the side room to gather his thoughts before he returned to Central City to continue the search.
"Man, this was supposed to be a simple mission." Marco thought as he leaned back in his chair with both hands clasped together behind his head. "Well, as simple as a mission involving Target, Shockwave and Hellraiser can be! Come to think of it, why was Target working with the other villains?" Marco thought as he heard the door open but didn't pay it much attention. "Wasn't his whole thing about cleansing the world of the criminal disease or something?"
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." A new voice rang out and Marco looked up seeing the Elongated Man standing across from him. "I'm still waiting on the third member of our search party."
"It's fine, just thinking about how crazy today has been." Marco responded with a shrug before righting his chair. "Name's Marco Gordano, AKA Mental Boy,"
"Ralph Dibny, AKA The Elongated Man." Ralph responded before stretching his arm across, quite literally, to shake Marko's hand which, after he got over the initial surprise, Marco accepted. "Would explain my powers but I just demonstrated them."
"Funnily enough, back home there's a Superhero with similar powers to yours." Marco responded as he let go of Ralph's hand. "Calls himself Mr. Fantastic, not because he has an ego but because he's the head of a Superhero team called The Fantastic Four."
"I'm still going to assume that it was because of his ego." Ralph chuckled before sitting down. "So, how are you finding our world so far?"
"So far? Well, I fought a guy who used exploding boomerangs for weapons whilst my girlfriend took on a giant humanoid crocodile and the other woman in my group took on a cyborg." Marco commented as he shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, in terms of a straight one on one fight, both Yuri and Kat could kick my ass and serve it to me on a silver platter but it's not like I haven't fought tough Supervillains before."
"I saw the footage of your fight against Captain Boomerang and your idea of fighting is hide behind your shields until you can throw the collected energy back at your opponents." Ralph commented as he shook his head and Marco shook his head.
"To be completely honest? Even before I got my powers, I was never much of a fighter." Marco admitted as he leaned forward. "Kat didn't start taking up Martial Arts training until she was a few months into her career as Dragon Girl but she was the sporty type at school before then, she'd be the first to tell you that her dreams of being a professional athlete got crushed the moment she got her wings." Marco added and Ralph raised an eyebrow.
"The league seems to be under the impression that she's always had those wings." Ralph commented and Marco shook his head.
""She initially got all her powers minus the wings when Kat's powers first activated, made hiding that fact from her parents that much easier for the day or so when they didn't know that she was a mutant." Marco responded before sighing. "Eventually she started getting back pain, mostly upper back, turned out that the pain was because her wings were sprouting, and the mutation was strengthening her spine so that it could support them." Marco explained and Ralph nodded as he got the idea. "Ironically that saved her from being crippled for life after she got an a really ill-advised fifth."
"One of the fights where she had no chance of winning?" Ralph asked and Marco nodded. "You do this long enough and you'll eventually find yourself in an unwinnable fight, how bad was it?"
"She was in a bad place at the time, for reasons that I won't go into for personal reasons." Marco explained and Ralph nodded in understanding. "At the time a being called The Hulk was on a rampage, technically this guy's a hero but, well, imagine the strength of Superman trapped in the mind of a being that's constantly angry and wants to smash everything in it's path, living or not." Marco added and Ralph winced. "The results weren't pretty; I was with her for most of her hospital stay and I can't keep track of how many broken bones she had after that fight."
"Sad part is? I now want to see a fight between The Hulk and Superman." Ralph chuckled and Marco winced. "Who do you think would win?"
"I wouldn't care as long as I am at least fifty feet away from the battle with a bag of popcorn in hand, it would be enough to level several city blocks at least." Marco responded and Ralph laughed in response. "So, when is the third guy arriving?"
"I don't know, he said that he had some stuff to take care off." Ralph responded as he glanced at the door. "He'll be here soon, I'm sure."
*back in Star City*
As the last thug fell unconscious at their feet there wasn't much left for Vigilante, Shining Knight or Zantanna to do other than search through the stolen weapons for anything that belonged to a known supervillain.
"Nothing in this crate." Vigilante commented as the cowboy superhero searched through another crate. "Is J'onn sure that this is the HQ of the weapon smuggling ring?"
"J'onn's never been wrong before." Zantanna responded as she shook her head. "Besides we will be joined by Green Arrow, Black Canary and Silent Tempest soon."
"I'm still not sure about including the new girl on league business." Vigilante responded as he shook his head. "Her fight against Metallo was impressive but she isn't an official member of the league, and last I checked, we're stull searching for her boy…" Vigilante was cut off when the portal opened up on the second floor of the warehouse dumping Ehsan behind some crates and he span around. "Who goes there?!" Vigilante demanded as he spun around and pointed his guns at the crates.
"Hey, hey, easy!" Ehsan called out as he stood up with his hands up. "Look, I know this sounds crazy but one minute I was jumping through some strange portal with my friends, the next I'm here!" Ehsan added and the three heroes shared a look. "I go by the codename Earthshaker and…."
"Your real name's Ehsan Sayegh?" Zantanna interrupted him and Ehsan hesitated. "We know all about you from your girlfriend."
"Yuri? Where is she?" Ehsan asked just as the doors opened.
"Okay, fine, I'll help these guys." Yuri's mildly annoyed voice rang out as she trailed behind Green Arrow and Black Canary as the trio entered the warehouse. "But I still want to get back on the search for…" Yuri trailed off before seeing Ehsan. "Ehsan?"
"Yuri!" Ehsan exclaimed before he hopped down to ground level giving the other heroes a better look at his six foot four frame, especially compared to the five foot two Yuri and if the size difference wasn't obvious before, it became obvious when she ran up and hugged her boyfriend. "And here I was worried about how long it'd be until we saw each other." Ehsan added as he knelt down to allow Yuri to kiss him.
"Hate to interrupt the touching reunion!" A new, sinister voice rang out putting the heroes on alert almost immediately. "But I'm about to reduce this stinking city to ash!" The voice added before the far wall exploded and the Batman villain Firefly emerged from it. "Catch me if you can!" Firefly added before flying out of the warehouse.
"Who's he?" Ehsan asked and Green Arrow turned to him.
"Firefly, real name Garfield Lynns." Green Arrow responded as he turned to the young couple. "He's tangoed with Batman a few times over the years, he's an insane pyromaniac in power armor."
"Sounds like the kind of guy we can't let roam the streets." Ehsan nodded before getting his glider out and Yuri took flight. "We're going after him?"
"It just so happens that we agree." Green Arrow nodded before the four heroes left the warehouse in search of the Supervillain.
*later*
By now Yuri and Ehsan had located Firefly though that wasn't difficult as he had left them a burning path to follow.
"Yuriko?" Batman's voice rang out and Yuri put a hand to her earpiece. "We haven't met but this is Batman, I understand your in pursuit of Firefly?"
"Yeah, me and Ehsan." Yuri nodded as she flew through the streets. "Green Arrow gave us the basics but I'm guessing you have more info?"
"Off course, Garfield grew up in an abusive family with his sister, his sister was sane, but Garfield wasn't." Batman explained as the two heroes chased Firefly through the city. "Due to Gotham City's severe poverty he turned to crime and eventually pyromania."
"Almost enough to make me feel sorry for him." Ehsan responded before putting a hand to his earpiece. "Bats? The name's Ehsan, you've probably heard of me through my girlfriend, at any rate, why is Firefly in Star City?"
"I don't know, he was last reported breaking out of jail in the same jailbreak that saw Killer Croc get lose." Batman responded and Ehsan nodded. "And don't call me Bats."
"Any tips for defeating him?" Yuri asked as Firefly neared a school. "Preferably before he burns a school down!"
"He has no powers of his own, disable the suit and he'll be powerless." Batman explained and Yuri nodded.
"Man, does that guy ever joke?" Yuri muttered under her breath as she picked up speed. "I'm the big bad Batman and I'm super serious all the time because I got a big stick up my…" Yuri commented in a mocking voice until.
"I can hear you." Batman said simply and Yuri stopped dead in her tracks. "And I am one of the original founding members of the Justice League, you'll do well to remember that."
"Right, sorry." Yuri responded with a nervous laugh before she flew in front of Firefly. "You ever hear the phrase "play with fire and you'll get burned"?"
"Heard it? I LIVE by it!" Firefly responded before he sent a wall of flame towards Yuri but was stopped by a wall of earth by Earthshaker. "You won't beat me as easily as you did Metallo, Silent Tempest!"
"Unfortunately for you, she's got me helping her out this time." Ehsan responded as he glided alongside Yuri. "Name's Earthshaker and I'm about to rock your world Firefly."
"Kid, you just made it sound like you want to seduce Firefly." Green Arrow's incredibly deadpan voice rang ouy through the earpiece. "Also, don't tell Batman I said this but me and Black Canary were cracking up during Yuri's Batman impersonation."
"Deal." Ehsan nodded before the two heroes launched themselves at Firefly.
"I don't care who you are!" Firefly yelled as he propelled flames from his flamethrowers at the two heroes who barely dodged out of the way. "You will both burn!"
"Ehsan, if you have any ideas that don't have a high probability of me burning to death, I'd love to hear them!" Yuri commented as she did her best to avoid the flames from Firefly's flamethrowers. "Especially considering how long m hair is!"
"I thought your mom had been pestering you to get it cut down to shoulder length anyway?" Ehsan asked as he bent down to avoid his own flames and Yuri shook her head.
"I can't believe I have yo say this but even if I wanted it cut that short, there's a clear difference between "hair cut by a hair stylist" and "hair burned off by a mad arsonist"!" Yuri exclaimed as she got underneath. "I got an idea, you go on top, I go on bottom."
"You realize how that sounded to someone who can't see your battle right?" Black Canary's voice rang out through the earpiece and Yuri blushed like a madwoman under her mask. "I know he's your boyfriend and all but try to keep your head straight Yuri!"
"I'm never living that down, aren't I?" Yuri sighed to herself before putting a hand to her earpiece. "Sorry, I didn't hear that Black Canary, Ehsan, you up for it?"
"I'm still not sure if you mean this battle or the bedroom later but sure, I'm up for anything!" Ehsan responded before he formed a rock fist and dove straight at Firefly whilst Yuri flew up with an uppercut.
"Enough of this! I will make you watch as I burn this school to the…" Firefly never finished his sentence as Ehsan's lock fist slammed into his jetpack sending him plummeting right into the path of Yuri's uppercut, as she had no Superstrength of own Yuri's attack was only enough to stun Firefly but that left the Supervillain open to a roundhouse kick from Ehsan that sent him plummeting to the ground below.
"That guy's still conscious?!" Yuri wondered as she saw Firefly scramble to his feet. "Guess that power armor of his is tougher than it looks."
"Or not." Ehsan responded as the power armor started to spark and the flamethrower fizzled out.
"No, no." Firefly cried out as he tried in vain to get his flamethrower and jetpack working. "This city must burn!"
"Sorry firebug but the only flames that are burning in this city." Green Arrow's voice rang out and Firefly looked up in time to see Green Arrow preparing to fire a boxing glove arrow at him. "Are the flames of justice!" Green Arrow added before firing the arrow at Firefly and knocking the villain out cold.
"Flames of justice?" Yuri asked with an amused look as she and her boyfriend approached Green Arrow and Black Canary. "That was so corny!"
"Best I could come up with at te last minute." Green Arrow shrugged after a teasing elbow from Black Canary just as an older man in a long brown coat approached Firefly. "Don't worry sir, he's been dealt with." Green Arrow said and the other heroes looked up to see the man glaring at Firefly's unconscious form. "He'll be back off to jail before you know it."
"So, he can break out again?" The man asked in a British accent that set off alarm bells in Yuri and Ehsan's heads. "There is only one cure for the criminal disease."
"Target!" Yuri yelled out just as the disguised Supervillain got a gun out ready to gun down Firefly, seeing this Green Arrow notched another arrow and Black Canary got ready for battle just as Yuri kicked Target away. "I was wondering when you were going to show your ugly face." Yuri added as Target dropped the disguise via an image inducer.
"How do you know I'm ugly when you've never seen my face?" Target asked mockingly as the other heroes surrounded him. "Five on one? That hardly seems fair."
"Neither does gunning down an unconscious man, regardless of what he's done." Green Arrow responded snidely as he glared at Target. "The League has a few questions for you, like why did you and your cronies steal that portal generator in the first place."
"I'm not at liberty to say." Target responded before grabbing several silver balls from his belt. "But we will meet again." Target added before throwing the smoke pellets at his feet and causing a smoke cloud, as the four heroes coughed and tried to wave away the smoke Target changed disguise and disappeared into the crowd.
"Damn it, he's gone." Yuri commented as she looked around. "He could be anywhere by now."
"He can't have gotten far." Green Arrow responded as he lowered his bow. "At least we've confirmed the location of one villain."
"Sorry to interrupt." Superman's voice rang out through their earpieces. "But I need all four of you back on the Watchtower, local authorities are on their way to arrest Firefly and Katrina and Marco are waiting on board the Watchtower."
"Sure, beam us up." Green Arrow responded with a nod before the four heroes were teleported back to the Watchtower.
*later, on board the Watchtower*
After Ehsan had gotten over the shock of being in space and his debriefing by Gren Lantern the four heroes had been called to the control room.
"I doubt that this is a situation that any of you thought you find yourselves in when you woke up this morning." Superman stated as he addressed Ehsan, Yuri, Kat and Marco. "But in the short time that we've known you, you have all proven yourselves to be capable heroes, even helped us deal with some of our tougher enemies."
"And then there's me fighting a guy who throws exploding boomerangs." Marco thought as he glanced up at Superman. "Kat didn't stop laughing for minutes after I told her about Captain Boomerang, and I can tell from here that she's doing her best to not burst out in laughter."
"I've had a few hours to talk it over with the other senior members of the league, including Wonder Woman and Shayera who you haven't met yet." Superman continued as he motioned to the older female heroes. "And we all agree, whilst we don't have a way to get you home, yet we would like to extend an invitation to all four of you to join the league as junior members."
"Bear in mind, as members you will be expected to run any missions that require more than one League Member by us." Batman continued as the younger heroes tuned to him. "And if you violate the rules of the league more than once, you will be asked to leave."
"The rules are simple, don't go against the League's orders and uphold the greater good." Superman continued and the young heroes nodded. "Some of our wealthier members are arranging places for you to stay until we can get you back to your home dimension safely and they will cover the rent as long as you contribute towards it, so what do you say?"
"Mind if we talk this over?" Yuri asked and Superman nodded before the four heroes huddled together. It didn't take them long to decide but they didn't realize that Superman could hear them whispering. "We accept, after everything you guys have done to reunite us, how could we not?"
"I just have one question, how long until we get a place to call our own? Because it was getting close to evening time in Star City by the time we caught up with Firefly." Ehsan asked and Superman turned to him. "Me and Yuri both know how long it can take to move into a place, we brought a place together in New York a few weeks ago, our New York that is, not this version of New York."
"Let us worry about that, but we do have some news." Superman responded with a nod before nodding towards Batman.
"When I met Katrina, I had learned that Killer Croc has escaped Arkham Asylum, and Yuri and Ehsan helped take down Firefly." Batman continued before his frown deepened. "Those villains breaking out right after you enter our world. It was no coincidence as the Asylum was hit by a missile causing significant damage to the building."
"A missile?" Kat echoed as her blood ran cold. "Was anyone hurt in the blast?"
"Fortunately, no, but several villains were tipped off to the attack by an anonymous source and used it to escape in the confusion, you've met two of them." Batman nodded as he stepped forward. "Due to the damage, Killer Croc and Firefly are going to be housed in Blackgate whilst the repairs are complete, it would be the equivalent of your world's Ryker's Island."
"Well, you say that, but we have a Supervillain prison of our own called The Raft." Marco chimed in and Batman turned to him. "There was a massive prison break out there during our first year as heroes but that was contained in no time at all, other than that The Raft has been relatively quiet."
"In that case The Raft would be a more apt comparison but more to the point." Batman responded before a picture showed up on the screens behind them and he stepped to the side. "Look familiar?"
"Hellraiser." Kat nodded as she bit her lower lip. "Out of the three villains who escaped to this world, he's the only one I've never been able to beat in straight up combat, I've always had to outsmart him to bring him down which, fortunately, is a lot easier."
"Someone like me and Wonder Woman would likely a stand a better chance at beating him if Yuri's reports are accurate." Superman nodded as he glanced at the picture. "That is all for now, so far Shockwave is the only villain we haven't located but right now Target and Hellraiser are at the top of our priority lists and as soon as we find them, we'll let you know."
"And we'll keep an eye out as well." Kat nodded before the four heroes left the control room, once they were away from the room Kat let out a deep breath. "Been a hell of a day, hasn't it?"
"You can say that again." Ehsan nodded before removing his helmet revealing his handsome Syrian face with neck length black hair and a matching goatee. "I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that I'm in Space."
"Join the club." Yuri responded with a grin as she glanced up at her significantly taller boyfriend. "Though I am worried about who we'll run into following that jailbreak, Killer Croc and Firefly were nasty enough."
"Here's one thing I don't understand about the jailbreak." Marco responded as he turned to the others. "Hellraiser and Target entered the portal together, yet Hellraiser freed several villains whilst Target tried to kill one of them?"
"We entered at separate points, maybe the villains did as well?" Kat offered as a explanation as she folded her arms. "Even so, you'd think they'd have communicated their plans once they reached this world."
"Either way, we can't let our guard down, me and Ehsan almost made that mistake and Firefly almost paid for it with his life." Yuri nodded in agreement before glancing around. "So, I think our next step should be to look around?"
"I know where the gym area is, which should probably surprise no one." Kat admitted with a sheepish grin before shaking her head. "But I'm sure we can find our way around."
"Mind if we help out with that?" Green Arrow offered as he approached the group with Black Canary. "Sorry, I overheard but I figured this would be easier than you kids stumbling around a space station."
"Agreed." Kat nodded before Green Arrow led them away.