Bruce: 36

Dick: 18

Lillian: 14

Wally: 18

Forming The Team Part One

"Think you're ready for this?" I whispered to Dick from behind a bush.

"Taking down freeze? Piece of cake." He answered his eyes following the icy villain.

"I meant about later." I said rolling my eyes.

"Oh that, course I'm ready." He smiled. "How 'bout you?"

"Oh damn it Dick, Freeze just go that family with his freeze ray. Head in the game!" I commanded before sending a batarang sailing towards Freeze's gun.

"Batman!" He growled. "I was wondering when you…"

"Sorry disappoint!" Dick grinned before handspringing off of the ground. Launching himself skyward his feet connected with Freeze's helmet causing the man to topple to the ground.

"Oh Boy Wonder, the bat sent you to drag me out to prison. Frankly I'm underwhelmed." I decided Dick was more than capable of handling himself, retrieving a small heat gun from my utility belt, I began to thaw the family that Freeze had incapacitated.

"Great but I'm kinda in a hurry here." I heard Robin reply. Assuming he was talking to Freeze I continued my work with the civilians.

"Kids always in such a rush." The villain reprimanded. I threw a sideways glance to Robin checking to see if he needed my help.

"Not talking to you!" The Boy Wonder grumbled at the ice man seconds before a great big bat swooped in. Turning back to my work once more, I successfully thawed the family out. They were shivering in front of me wearing soaked, wet clothes.

"Robin some help!" I called while wrapping the family in their picnic blanket.

"There are some emergency blankets in the Batcar." He replied before racing off to fetch them. It didn't take long for law enforcement and medical services to arrive. The small family was able to return to their picnic in the park after receiving clean bills of health from the emergency response team and Freeze was carted off the his favorite cell at Arkham.

"Now can we go?" Dick asked when Freeze was loaded into the back of a police cruiser.

"Yes we can. Batgirl, Robin, to the Batcar."

"Today's the day!" Batman announced proudly as Robin and Batgirl stood shoulder to shoulder with Green Arrow, Speedy, Aquaman and Aqualad.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice!" Green Arrow added.

"Headquarters of the Justice League." Aquaman concluded.

"Aw man!" Seven of us looked over our shoulders to see The Flash accompanied by a very disappointed looking Kid Flash.

"I knew we'd be the last ones here." Wally pouted.

"Come on kid." The flash said leading our group towards the entrance of the Hall of Justice.

"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid Flash animatedly asked Robin.

"Don't call us sidekicks." Speedy commanded a few paces behind us. "Not after today."

"Sorry, first time at the hall…I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"

"I don't think whelmed is a word Robin." I smirked.

"I believe Batgirl is right." Aqualad confirmed my suspicions.

"Robin, Batgirl, Speedy, Aqualad, and Kid Flash, Welcome!" The Martian Mahunter greeted all of us in turn as we entered the gigantic entrance of The Hall. With our mentors, we followed the Martian Manhunter through a door marked for "Authorized Personnel Only". He led us down a narrow hallway, to a large room filled with wall to wall bookshelves. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley and of course our library."

"Make yourselves at home!" The Flash suggested. Kid Flash and Robin eagerly complied. They threw themselves into two armchairs, grinning from ear to ear. Aqualad sat down slowly but he too smiled. I perched myself on the arm of Kid Flash's chair, while Speedy stood behind Aqualad.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villians attacking on the same day, we shouldn't be long." Batman said once he saw the five of us had settled down.

"That's it?" Speedy burst suddenly. "You promised us a real look at inside, not a glorified backstage pass."

"This is the first step." Aquaman assured him. "You've been granted access few others get."

"Oh Really?" Speedy countered. He swept his arm up, gesturing towards the tourist who were taking pictures through sound proof glass. "Who cares which side of the glass we're on!"

"Roy," Green Arrow warned "You just need to be patient."

"What I need is respect!" Speedy turned to the boys and I for help. "They're treating us like kids! Worse, like sidekicks! We deserve better than this!" Wally, Robin, Aqualad and I looked at each other, none of us said anything. "I can't believe it! You're playing their game. Why? Because you think they play fair? Today was suppose to be the day! Step one in becoming full-fledged members of The League."

"Uh sure." Wally shrugged. "But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ."

"Except that the Hall isn't The League's real HQ! Everything they've told you is just a false front for tourist and a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite called the watch tower." I noticed Aquaman glaring at the back of Green Arrow's hood, and a snarl began to rise from behind Batman's cowl.

"Oh I know." Green arrow apologized. "but I thought maybe we could make an exception." When Batman's facial muscles failed to loosen, and even Uncle Barry gave Green Arrow a disapproving look, he knew he'd told Roy too much.

"You are not helping your cause here son." Aquaman interjected. "Stand down or..."

"Or what? You'll send me to my room? I'm not your son, I'm not even his. I thought I was his partner, not anymore." Speedy tossed his hat to the ground and stormed out of the room. Before any of us had time to react and short blasting alarm went off, and Uncle Clark appeared on a giant computer monitor.

"Superman to Justice League, There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

"I've had my suspensions about Project Cadmus, this might be a perfect opportunity to..." The Dark Knight's words were cutoff as another video transmission began. The result was split screen between Superman and Zatara.

"Zatara to Justice League, the Sorcerer Wotan is using the amulet of Atemp to block out the sun, Requesting full League Response."

"Superman?" Batman asked plainly.

"It's a small fire." Uncle Clark answered quickly. "Local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait. All League members rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out." Batman replied before signing off the computer. He then turned around to address Wally, Dick, Aqualad and me. "Stay put."

"What? Why?" Robin probed.

"This is a League Mission, you're not trained." Uncle Barry answered.

"Since when?" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team."

"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aquaman promised.

"But for now, stay put." The final warning rang from the Batcowl. Without another word Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter exited the room.

"When we're ready?" Kid Flash burst once the door was closed. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like...like sidekicks!"

"My mentor, my king, I thought he trusted me." Aqualad responded with a pained expression.

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret HQ in space!" Wally shouted.

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad proposed.

"I have a better question, why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin stated rhetorically.

"What is Project Cadmus anyway?" I thought out loud. The boy looked at me before thinking for a long moment.

"I don't know, but I can find out!" A grin spread across Robin's face before he dashed over to the computer where the transmissions had come from seconds ago. We watched as Dick tapped away at the keys. Soon the computer chirped out Access Denied. "Wanna bet?" Dick challenged before continuing his high speed typing. He was soon granted access to all of the computer's files.

"Whoa, how are you doing that?" Kid Flash queried.

"Same system as the Batcave." Robin bragged without taking his eyes off the screen. "Alright Project Cadmus, genetics lab here in DC, that's all there is. But if Batman's suspicious maybe we should investigate?"

"Solve their case before they do?" Aqualad suggested. "It would be poetic justice."

"Hey, they're all about justice." I shrugged.

"But they said stay put." Aqualad reminded.

"With the blocking out the sun mission not this!" Robin countered.

"Wait, are you going to Camus? Because if you're going I'm going!" Kid Flash smiled at Robin.

"If kid Flash and Robin are going, I guess I'm in too." We all turned to Aqualad, gauging his reaction.

"Just like that," Aqualad said at last, "We're a team on a mission."