September 9th, 7pm, Metropolis

"You might have Superman fooled you little brat, but I know you're still a little piece of trash. I can't wait for him to realize that you're not worth the effort. What kind of hero name is Steel anyway!?" Gloria Rose, Chief of police for the MCPD, hissed angrily as she took the mugger from Arthur's hands and cuffed him. "You still need to bring me back my goddamn car too! Don't think I've forgotten about that!" The fiery Chief of Police threw the offending mugger, maybe a bit rougher than she normally would, to a passing cop.

Arthur sighed and rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you, it's somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, hire a boat and go fetch." He replied, annoyed at the cop's high pitched voice, he swears if her voice was any higher, she would be able to communicate with Dolphins. "By the way, is that your husband's Ford Mustang over there? I wonder how many times I can skip it across the Indian ocean, your BMW only bounced twice." He loved goading Gloria, nothing gave him quite as much pleasure in his life than messing with dumb cops. Before either he or Gloria could continue their little squabble, Superman's voice interrupted them.

"Steel, that's enough. Go do a few laps, I'll meet up with you soon," He ordered his apprentice with a weary look on his face, this wasn't the first time he had caught Arthur and Gloria going at each other. Most of his time as Arthur's mentor had been spent trying to repair the bad blood between Arthur and the Metropolis police.

Arthur took one last look at the Chief of Police, his eyes running up and down Gloria's body until he finally made eye contact with her, his blue eyes clashing with her green. "You've put on weight." He quickly said before taking off into the sky, a smirk on his face as he got the last word.

Around 10 minutes later Superman flew over to him, a disapproving look on his face. "That was a cruel thing to say, Arthur," The older hero said, exhausted at his sidekick's antics with the police. He had tried time and time again over the last month to try and get Arthur to be a little more respectful to Gloria. Arthur was going to have to deal with the police a lot if he wanted to be a hero so it would be better for everyone involved if Arthur and Gloria could get along a little better.

Once again, Arthur rolled his eyes again. "I just want to point out that she was the one that started it, she brought up the car!" The teenager said, struggling to hide his smirk. "All she had to do was take the mugger and thank me for doing her job for her…"

"Arthur. If you want to be a hero, you NEED to have a good relationship with the police. We need their support more than you realize. Not to mention your behavior with the police can negatively affect my own relationship with them," Superman explained to his young apprentice.

Taking a breath and rubbing the bridge of his nose, Superman looked at Arthur. "Look, there's someone I'm meeting up with soon, very soon in fact. I was going to invite you along, but after what just happened I think it would be best if you went home for the night…"

"No! Come on, I'm sorry, I'll do better next time, I promise!" Arthur exclaimed, not wanting to end their night early just because he made a dumb joke. "Let's go meet these people, I'll be on my best behavior," Arthur promised, making a show of dragging his finger across his chest in a cross shape.

Superman just looked at Arthur for a few, weighing the pros and cons of bringing Art along with him to meet The Flash and Green Arrow. He could just send Arthur home like he said, but there was no guarantee that Artur would stay at home, but he also couldn't keep Arthur from meeting the other members of the Superhero community. Sighing and running his hand through his hair, Superman hoped he wouldn't regret this decision. "Okay… You can come, but I need you to do everything I say. No complaining and no disobeying, can you promise me that?"

"I promise, You will not regret this Superman!" Arthur said ecstatically, smiling wide and flying closer to Superman. "So where are we going?"

"Come with me, Steel, you're about to learn about Zeta Beams." Superman said, finally cracking a smile.

September 9th, 7:30pm, Hall of Justice, Washington DC

'RECOGNIZED: SUPERMAN, B01' The Zeta-Tube lit up with a blinding light as it teleported Superman to the Hall of justice's library, where he was met by The Flash, Kid Flash, Green Arrow, and Speedy. The flash walked up to greet him with his typical easygoing, laidback smile.

"Superman! I know it was just supposed to be me, but I thought bringing Kid here would help your new protege feel a little more comfortable. I was hoping this would be the only surprise but KF decided to tell Speedy…" The Scarlet Speedster explained as Kid Flash stood behind him, practically buzzing with excitement at the thought of getting to meet a new hero before Robin.

"I don't know Flash, he's in a bit of an excitable mood tonight…"

Green Arrow stepped forward. "C'mon Superman, I'm sure he'll be fine, We'll make sure nothing goes wrong," The Emerald Archer stroked his beard. "Besides, it'll be good for him to interact with the other sidekicks…"

"DON'T call us sidekicks," Speedy voiced angrily. He stood a few steps behind his mentor with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"Sorry… partners," Green Arrow amended, looking back at Speedy. "But, in all seriousness, bring the boy in, let him meet the others. It'll be good for him."

Superman sighed, he wanted Arthur to meet Barry alone. He didn't want to overstimulate Arthur with a whole bunch of faces and names, but maybe Ollie had a point. And it wasn't like it was the whole League. He reached for the terminal attached to the Zeta-Tube and started typing.

'ACCESS GRANTED: STEEL, A02, AUTHORIZATION: SUPERMAN, B01'

Arthur smiled as he walked through the Zeta-Tube. He had no idea that the Justice League had teleportation technology! It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. He only made it three steps out of the Zeta-Tube before he stopped, his eyes wide underneath his domino mask as he took in the sight of two legendary members of the Justice League. To Arthur, seeing The Flash and Green Arrow standing in front of him was like being face to face with a God, it was the same feeling he got when he met Superman. He felt his face heat up as The Flash took a step forward and offered his hand in greeting.

"Hey, it's great to meet you…" The Flash's introduction was cut short when he grimaced and yanked his hand away from Arthur's, the young hero forgetting to limit his strength, had almost crushed the Speedster's hand.

"O-oh crap, I'm sorry…"

The Flash laughed, and waved him off. "Heh, don't worry about it. How about you meet the rest of the gang? Obviously you have Green Arrow,"

Green Arrow walked over and went to shake Arthur's hand before remembering what had just happened to The Flash and instead friendly clasped the young man's shoulder.

"Great to meet you, It's nice to put a face to the name," The Emerald Archer said with a calm and confident smile, before he was shoved out of the way by Speedy and Kid Flash.

"The name's Speedy, and this is Kid Flash." Speedy said, greeting Arthur on behalf of both of the two sidekicks, his face was almost unreadable and his body language gave him a serious aura, it was clear to Arthur that Speedy was a no nonsense type of person, the only give away that he was happy to meet Arthur was the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Uh, Ar- Steel, my name's Steel," Arthur mumbled out, almost giving away his secret identity.

"So what are your powers? Obviously if you're working with Superman you have to have powers, right?" Kid Flash said taking over the conversation, he had a large smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye as stood, hand on his hips, staring up at Arthur.

"Uhm… yeah, I can fly, I have super strength, I can run really fast, and I have super-hearing." Arthur explained his powers to the two younger heroes as Superman, The Flash, and Green Arrow slowly moved away from the group, whispering amongst themselves.

"Well if you've got super hearing, why haven't you used it to tell us what those three are talking about over there?" Kid Flash whispered, challenging Arthur

"Easy, Superman's listening to us," Arthur answered, pointing at the trio of older heroes who had all stopped the conversation and were now looking at the sidekicks with amused smirks on their faces,

Suddenly the giant screen near the Zeta-Tube came to life (Arthur wondered how he didn't notice it when he first walked into the Hall's library.) and Red Tornado appeared on the screen.

"Red Tornado to League, an explosion has been reported at a S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Star City." The android informed the league.

"I swear the moment we leave that city, it starts falling apart. We're on it, we'll check it out." Green Arrow said with a sigh.

"KF and I will come too," The Flash declared. S.T.A.R. Labs was home to many talented scientists and researchers who were always tinkering and creating brilliant, but also dangerous inventions. He was worried that an explosion, accidental or otherwise would simply be the tip of the iceberg.

"You guys go on ahead, I need to talk to Steel before we join you." Superman was also worried about the explosion. The League and S.T.A.R. Labs had a close relationship. The two groups worked closely on many things, including the Inhibitor collars that the police used to restrain super-powered criminals. It was within the League's best interest to make sure that no one was hurt and nothing was stolen.

Superman gently grabbed Steel's arm and led him away from the group of heroes.

"Arthur, if you're not comfortable with this, just say the word and I'll send you back to Metropolis. This is a dangerous situation and I don't want to throw more at you than you can handle." Superman placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder. If Arthur agreed to come, it wouldn't be like anything he had dealt with before. This wasn't a mugger or perp running from the police, this was a potential terrorist attack and he didn't want his apprentice to feel like he was overwhelmed.

Looking up at Superman, into the eyes of his idol, he almost flinched at how serious he seemed at this moment. Arthur could tell this was a serious situation. He studied his mentor's face, the way his eyebrows were furrowed, the way his mouth was set in a straight line.

"I can handle it Superman, don't worry."

Superman nodded his head, still looking worried. "Okay. Stay close to me and do everything I say, if you somehow lose track of me, look for Green Arrow or The Flash, they'll look after you."

And that was that, Superman walked over to the Zeta-Tube and set the coordinates for Star City. What was supposed to be a simple meet and greet with The Flash had turned into Arthur's first Superhero team up, a chance for him to show the Superhero community what he was made of, that he was strong enough, fast enough, and brave enough to call himself Superman's partner.

September 9th, 7:45pm, Star City

When Arthur and Superman walked out of the Star City Zeta-Tube Arthur found himself inside a warehouse. 'How many Zeta-Tubes are there?' he thought to himself as he followed Superman out of the warehouse and they flew into the air. Arthur took in Star City, it was amazing, the skyscrapers and bright lights all seemed so familiar but so different at the same time. Star City also seemed… greener… than Metropolis, Arthur could see a number of parks that were all well lit and there were still people walking around them, completely carefree even though it was getting dark. Metropolis was by no means Gotham CIty, but even with Superman protecting the city, very few people would be caught walking around in a park at night by themselves.

It didn't take them long to get to the S.T.A.R.S Labs building. It was built on a university campus, probably to attract and encourage young scientists and researchers. The building had a huge hole blown in it, the entrance of the building was basically nonexistent, nothing but rubble and glass, most of the front stone steps that led to the entrance were blasted into pebbles. The other heroes and the police, Who were a few meters away from the building, surrounding and securing the building, were already on the scene, and it looked like they were fighting. Countless gun toting men and women dressed all in black, so much black that they honestly looked like moving shadows, were engaged with the heroes, firing large rifles at shot beams of red light. It looked like a warzone to the young hero as he watched Superman fly ahead and engage, immediately seizing the rifle from one of the perps, easily snapping it before knocking them out and leaving them on the ground. Unsure of what to do, Steel grabbed the woman Superman had knocked out and flew her over to the police who promptly cuffed her.

Flying back over to all of the action, Steel looked around, wondering what he could do to help out when he saw what looked like two people, a girl and a boy, entering through the massive hole in the building and disappearing inside, expertly navigating the rubble. Steel followed them, flying into the building, he landed on the ground and managed to take one step before the male stepped out from behind the rubble, grabbed Steel and threw him into a wall. Steel tried to stand up, but the man's friend decided to keep him down with a punch to the face and for the first time since he was three, Steel felt pain, it was a strange and terrifying thing for him to feel, his brain immediately screamed at him to get away, get away from these people that can hurt him and to go back to Metropolis where nothing could hurt him. He looked up at the blurry faces of his attackers as they laughed at him.

"I saw this brat with Superman earlier, I thought he would be a lot tougher than this." The female said with a southern twang.

"Let's have a little fun with 'em sis, seeing all this fighting but not being allowed to join in is getting me all frustrated!" The taller male hissed through his teeth before winding up for a punch.

Steel covered his head with his hands as his attackers pummeled him with kicks and punches, a punch to the stomach that knocked the air out of his lungs, a kick to the ribs which left three of them broken and stomp to his left knee that shattered it. They were savage in their sudden and brutal attack on the young hero, Steel attempted to beg them to stop, he had never felt anything like this before, he had trained with Superman before, obviously, but Superman never hit him this hard.

When they were finally done with him, he was coughing up blood and he felt like he had this unbearable heat in the pit of his stomach. His attackers laughed at him as they walked away to head deeper into the lab, ripping a thick, steel security door off the wall that led to the part of S.T.A.R.S Labs that had all the dangerous stuff, leaving Steel on the ground, groaning in pain as the heat spread throughout his body.

Steel regretted ever becoming Superman's sidekick, no one had ever told him what pain actually felt like before, it was crippling, it made tears flow from his eyes, it made breathing hard, it made him want to throw up. Or maybe it was the heat in his stomach that made him feel like this? it felt like he was boiling from the inside, surely this wasn't what pain felt like? How did regular humans even survive if this is what happened to them when they got hurt? Shame washed over him, he was the sidekick of the Superman, how could he be beaten so easily? 'Superman will be so ashamed of me' Hot tears ran down cheeks as he lay, crumbled on the ground beaten with his knee shattered, his ribs broken and coughing up blood.

Unbeknownst to Steel, as he was lying on the floor, wallowing in his own self pity and pain, his injuries were slowly healing, his body absorbed the broken bones and replaced them with newer and thicker ones, the bruises on his stomach faded and the internal bleeding stopped. Before he knew it, he felt as good as new, better even. He slowly stood up, gingerly placing some weight on his left leg and feeling his ribs, he took a small step down the hall where his attackers had disappeared. His small steps turned into longer, more confident ones as looked for the two villains. They caught him off guard, he wasn't going to let them do it again. The heat in his stomach slowly cooled down as he searched the halls.

His mind was screaming at him to leave and go back home to his mom, but he smothered those thoughts as best he could. What kind of hero runs away? Speedy and Green Arrow sure as hell weren't running away just because their opponents had rifles and they only had bows, no, they were still fighting and from the sound of it, winning. If they could power through, so can he.

Eventually he found his attackers in what looked like a padded room in an asylum, only cleaner. The wall and the floor were cushioned like it had been sound-proofed and in the middle of the room on top of a podium was a spherical object, it looked like a bomb you would see in a comic book. It was fairly large, roughly the size of a person, it was about five-feet tall and five-feet wide with a split running around the middle with three lines running up to the very top of the device, on the bottom half of the device was a computer screen and a slot that looked like it was some kind of card.

Arthur's two attackers were busy trying to figure out a way of transporting it, the girl talking on some kind of device as Arthur snuck up behind the brother and picked him up, throwing him through one of the cushioned walls, mirroring what the other boy had done to him earlier.

"What the…" The girl put the little device she had been talking to away and jumped into action, leaping onto Arthur's back and slamming her fists down on top of his head, bringing him to his knees before wrapping her arms around his neck in a chokehold as her partner pulled himself back through the hole that he had made when he was thrown through the wall.

""I told you we should'a went back and finished him off, Tuppence ." He hissed as he watched the girl struggle to keep Steel in the chokehold, the young hero delivered an elbow to the now named Tuppence's ribs, forcing her to loosen her grip and allowing Steel to escape.

"Agh!" She yelped in pain as she rubbed her now bruised ribs as Steele gasped for air. "Shut up Tommy, grab the little fucker and kill 'im already!"

Tommy was on him within seconds, grabbing Steel by the waist and throwing him to the ground as the hero struggled to catch his breath, he hit the ground with enough force to shake the entire room. Before he could get up Tommy was once again on him, climbing on top of him and pinning Steel's arms by his side with his knees, Tommy rained blow after blow on Steel, clobbering the poor boy's face as he struggled to break free.

"Stupid bastard. You never. Should have. Interfered!" Tommy screamed as he beat Steel. Steel could feel his nose break, could feel his left orbital crack as Tommy punched him again, and again, and again. Steel groaned in pain, he could feel that burning in his stomach come back, every punch from Tommy made the burning sensation spread throughout his body, he yelped and whimpered as the pain became to much, it felt like the burning feeling was pooling in his throat as he opened his mouth to scream, suddenly there was a bright neon green light that filled the room and Tommy was on the other side of the room, moaning in pain as his sister ran over to him.

"Tommy! Tommy, are you alright!?" She cradled her partner, checking him for injuries as Steel slowly stood up, he was messed up, his left eye drooped and his nose was unrecognizable. He spat on the floor, a mix of blood, teeth, and neon green… stuff… landed on the floor.

"G-give up..?" Steel gasped as he tried to look at Tuppence and her partner who was moaning in pure agony. He could barely stand, blood freely ran down his face from his nose and he was having trouble seeing, but it wouldn't stop him from trying. He took a step forward and stumbled and he watched as the floor filled his vision. 'At least the floor is cushioned…' he thought as he closed his eyes and got ready for his face to meet the ground. Except his face never collided with the cushioned floor, instead someone had caught him just before he hit the floor, he opened his eyes, his left one still drooping and slow. He waited until his vision cleared up enough to see who had caught him. It was Superman.

"Steel, are you okay? Jesus, this is all my fault. I'm so sorry!" Superman gasped as he took in the damage that had been inflicted on his sidekick. Steel just smiled at his mentor, giving him a blood stained smile with what was left of his teeth.

"I…I did it, I stopped them," Steel whispered to Superman as he fell unconscious.

Superman smiled at the unconscious face of his sidekick. He looked over at the others who were busy arresting Tuppence and checking on Tommy, The Flash zoomed off before coming back and slapping two Inhibitor Collars on the two of them so they could safely be handed off to the police. "You sure did, buddy. Now let's get you back to the hall."

September 9th, 10PM, Hall of Justice Medical Wing, Washington DC

Arthur woke up in a hospital bed. He yawned and sat up, feeling like he woke up from a refreshing nap.

"Glad to see you awake." The gentle voice of his mentor said. Steel looked to his left and saw Superman sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He looked happy and also slightly concerned.

"Superman? Where are we?" The last thing Arthur remembered was that he was getting his ass beat by Tuppence and Tommy. His hands quickly flew up to his face, checking his nose and eye. They were perfectly fine, he ran his tongue over his teeth and found that they were all accounted for.

"Strange isn't it? By the time I got you here your nose was perfectly fine and your teeth were already growing back. It took a little longer for your orbital to heal. You have quite a healing factor on you." Superman explained, he stood up and walked over to Arthur's bed and gently placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "I'm proud of you Arthur. You went above and beyond what I expected of you today. And if you're feeling up to it, the others want to see you."

Before he could even answer, Kid Flash and Speedy burst into the room, their mentors filing in behind them with weary looks on their faces, Arthur wasn't sure if it was because of the night they had or if it was the fact that their partners just barged into the room without asking.

"How are you feeling?" Speedy asked him, an impressed smile on his face, clearly Arthur had earned his respect and Arthur found himself smiling back.

"Like I just woke up from a nap." He answered truthfully with a small chuckle.

"Hey, you didn't tell me that you could shoot lasers out of your mouth. I mean, I understand not revealing all of your powers, but if we're going to be friends you can't keep all your cool abilities to yourself y'know?" Kid Flash interrupted, a bag of chips in his hands, scarfing them down and getting crumbs all over the hospital bed.

"Laser beam?" Arthur asked, he remembered a bright neon green light but he didn't remember it coming out of his mouth, he looked at Superman curiously.

Superman sighed. "I was going to wait until we were alone to bring this up…" He glaring at Kid Flash, who had the decency to look embarrassed. Superman walked over to the door to the hospital room and pressed one of the buttons that lined the wall, a large TV slid down from the roof as Superman typed something onto a holographic keyboard and the television came to life, showing black and white camera footage of what happened between Arthur, Tuppence and Tommy.

Everyone winced as they watched Tuppence slam her fists into the back of Arthur's head and put him in a chokehold. Superman fast-forwarded past most of the footage to skip what happened to Arthur until they got to the last ten seconds of the footage that showed Arthur opening his mouth to scream and a beam of light blasted Tommy away and into blasted the boy off of him.

"So, you have more powers than we first thought. Obviously we'll need to train so you can use them responsibly. Luckily I have some experience with this kind of stuff myself so don't worry about that." Superman explained as he pressed the button again and the TV disappeared back into the roof.

"Wait. What happened to Tuppence and Tommy? And what was that thing they were trying to steal?" Arthur asked. He took quite a few punches for the damn thing, he wanted to make sure that it was worth it.

Green Arrow stepped forward. "The device was a prototype for a new type of power Inhibitor. It works like the Inhibitor Collars but on a larger scale, it creates a field that stops everyone in the vicinity from using their powers. Obviously it's in the very early phases, considering that the collars have to be adjusted to the person they're attached to and so would this new prototype. But the eggheads at the lab were pretty certain they could improve it."

The Flash offered his explanation for what happened to the twins. "The Terror twins are fine. Tommy was a little burned but luckily your little light show won't leave him permanently scarred. I was able to grab some Inhibitor Collars and adjust them for the Twins before handing them off to the police and now here we are!"

"Aw crud, look at the time, I have to get back home!" KF suddenly said before running away.

"Yeah, I think all of us are going to leave, glad to see that you're feeling better kid, hope to see you again soon!" Green Arrow said as he, Speedy and The Flash all leave, giving Arthur and Superman a friendly wave.

Arthur relaxed back into the chair. "I fired a laser beam from my mouth…" He said, still confused. That probably explained the burning in his stomach earlier, but how could he possibly make it come out on command when he only felt it when he was in pain?

"Arthur, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah… It's just, how can I make that laser come out again? It only came out before because I was in pain…"

"Well that's what I'm here for. We'll figure it out together!" Superman said simply, smiling at his partner. He really was proud of Arthur, as rough as he is around the edges, he had a hero's heart. "Now are you ready to go home? We had a doctor give you a check up, don't worry, no one removed your mask. But he said you're good to go home if you'd like to."

"Yeah that sounds good. Mom must be worried about me."

September 9th, LexCorp, Metropolis

Lex let out a gentle sigh as his associates relayed what had happened at S.T.A.R.S Labs. "Oh well, it would have been nice to get our hands on that prototype, but it's not something that's integral to our plans. But what about the Terror Twins, I thought they handled themselves quite well, they would have beaten Superman's new friend if he didn't catch them off guard with his laser beam." He stated to the computer screens that featured his 'business partners' silhouettes.

A voice hidden in the dark could be heard, it was deep and dignified, like a kings.

"Yes… They seem to be useful pawns, I would like to employ them again in the future. Which means they cannot be taken prisoner,"

Another voice could be heard, it sounded gentle, but also incredibly wise.

"I have already dispatched Taskmaster and Cheshire to make sure the truck carrying them to prison has a little 'accident'."

"Very good. Now as for Superman's protege,"

Lex suddenly spoke up. "I regret interrupting you my friend, but I already have plans for Superman's little helper, I would appreciate it if you left this matter up to me."

"... Very well. I trust that you have the situation under control." And with that, the computer screens shut off. His associates leaving their little meeting and going back to their own business. Lex rewatched the security footage, impressed with the young hero, even after getting thrashed, he still stood up for more. Pressing a button on his desk, he spoke into an intercom.

"Mercy, could you come to my office please?" They had some planning to do.

—-Author Note—-

Hi everyone, sorry this chapter took so long to get out but I've been busy planning and rewriting this chapter over and over again. I feel like this is pretty much as good as it's going to get so I hope you guys enjoy it!

Also, yes I understand Kid Flash and Speedy don't see the Hall of Justice until the very first episode (No I totally didn't forget, don't mention it.)