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xXx Zatara's Apprentice xXx
xXx Ch. 01: Welcome to Happy Harbor xXx
xXx July 5th, 2010; 1500 EDT xXx
"So what do you think, Solaris?" a gruff voice asked from just behind a young man who was wearing black trousers, a white button-down shirt, along with a black vest, red tie and black silk top hat. The voice belonged to a man that was dressed in an outfit that looked remarkably similar to a bat.
"I'll be perfectly blunt, Bruce…" the man known as 'Solaris' spoke up.
"It's Batman," the bat-like individual growled.
"Would you prefer I call you, 'Snivellus'?" Solaris drawled as he turned away from the monitor that had been displaying an after-action report of a group of teenage heroes, none of whom were all that much younger than Solaris himself, fighting for their lives as they truly worked together for the first time.
"No," Batman admitted.
"Then 'Bruce' it is." Solaris grinned at the man. "Now as I was saying... They were pathetic."
"Explain that for me." Batman demanded.
"First, they completely ignored the orders they were given. Second, someone wanted the trio inside that facility for reasons I don't yet know. While they were inside the trio found themselves quickly being… what was the word that Richard used?" Solaris stopped talking for a few minutes while waving one hand in the air before snapping the fingers and saying "Oh yeah! 'Whelmed. It's nifty how Dick and Zee use similar slang yet I'm fairly sure they've never met before."
Batman was about ready to walk off and offer this job to someone else, but he chose not to when he heard the next statement, "I've sparred with Big Blue a few times, both with and without magic. I'm fairly confident I can restrain that clone without hurting him if he actually goes completely round the bend. I'm also one of the few spellcasters with a spell that could tag the Flash, to say nothing of Kid Flash, and that's without getting into my prank goods."
"How would you like to be the 'dorm nanny' as it were, for the newly christened, Young Justice Team?" Batman inquired, his voice expressing curiosity while still sounding gruff.
"I suppose I can handle that. Who is assigning their missions?" Solaris wondered.
"I'll be handling that." Batman admitted. "I think I'll also approach Black Canary and Martian Manhunter to assist you with continuing their training."
"In that case, ask John if he would be comfortable letting his niece join the roster. They need a hands free communication relay and Martians are absolutely brilliant for such purposes." Solaris requested.
"Very well." Batman said before turning and beginning to stalk off.
"There was one last thing, Bruce."
Batman scowled as he drew to a halt just beyond the door. He didn't speak, but the fact that he hadn't continued walking was evidence that he would listen. "Punch Clark in the face as hard as you can while wearing your Anti-Superman armor. He deserves it for making such a bad impression on his, well his son."
Solaris didn't see it, but Bruce Wayne's lips turned up in a smirk at the suggestion. He too had issues with the way Clark had handled that, so he would actually be dressing the Man of Steel down for it, even if he wouldn't actually punch him.
xXx July 8th, 2010; 0804 EDT xXx
Originally the Justice League operated out of a subterranean headquarters built beneath a mountain just outside of the coastal town known as Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. The mountain itself came to be known as 'Mount Justice', while the complex contained within it was referred to as 'Secret Sanctuary', or as Harry liked to call it 'The Cave.'
The entire facility had to be abandoned back in 2006, when Snapper Carr found out where it was and told the entire world that information. This lead to the Joker infiltrating the structure, which had been nothing short of a disaster. It had also been before Solaris, otherwise known as Harry Potter, had joined the Justice League. In fact, at the time Harry had been attending his first and only year at Hogwarts due to his name having come out of the Goblet of Fire, forcing him to compete in the Triwizard Tournament.
It wasn't Harry who was of interest at this moment however, it was a group of teenagers that were making their way towards the mountain and underlying facility. The group included four young men and two young women. The two girls were approaching the mountain from a different direction to the boys while chatting to one another like friends who hadn't seen each other in several years, so they could possibly be forgiven for failing to notice the effect one of those two girls was having on all three boys.
They did however notice it when the redhead suddenly appeared next to the blonde girl and draped an arm around her shoulder saying, "Well hello there, gorgeous, who might you be?"
The brunette girl frowned at the redhead will saying "Buzz off, Red."
The redhead scoffed at her and said, "I wasn't talking to you…"
"You either bail, or I start screaming 'rape'," the brunette threatened.
"So uncool," a dark haired boy wearing sunglasses muttered, "We're the good guys."
"Yeah, and that's a Veela…" a dark skinned boy with blonde hair admitted. "You might want to do as you're being asked before she um… crap too late…"
The blonde girl's hand had just begun glowing with bright blue flames a moment before she grabbed Wally West's hand and twisted it away from her shoulder, which displayed an incredibly level of acrobatics as she twisted with the maneuver so as to not pull out her arm. In complete defiance of all logic, Wally slammed face first into the ground in a manner that would make more sense for someone who lacked superspeed.
"What just happened?" the boy with sunglasses demanded.
Kaldur'ahm said, "Thank you for using the cold stuff, ma'am. Can I assume you're our future teammates?"
"I am, she's not," the brunette admitted. "Or at least she won't be for a couple more years. She's on vacation from a boarding school in France. I will also point out that my friend understands English well enough, but has only just begun learning to speak the language, so it might be best to find someone who understands French if you wish to converse with her."
"Pouvons-nous simplement aller à l'intérieur?" the blonde girl inquired.
Smiling down at her the brunette said, "Of course. I mean we do have to inform our cuddle-monkey what just happened, don't we?"
That said the two girls continued walking on. Kal turned to look at the boy with the sunglasses and said, "Do you happen to know what a 'cuddle-monkey' is?"
"Yes," Richard 'Dick' Grayson, who is often known by the alias of 'Robin the Boy Wonder' admitted.
"Are going to tell us what it is?" Conner Kent wondered in honest bafflement at what just happened.
"Not given the context," Robin admitted as he began walking after them. "But we should all probably avoid hitting on either of those girls."
Conner walked over to where Wally was still face down in the dirt, "What exactly does the 'cold stuff' do?"
"Normally it just makes a Veela's allure more effective, however given that she used it in conjunction with a takedown maneuver, yeah he's going to be out for at least an hour," Kal admitted. "I just hope someone plans on explaining her presence."
Conner froze in the process of lifting Wally onto his back, "Huh?"
"Veela and Atlanteans were enemies in antiquity and neither species has really gotten over the animosity."
Inside the Cave, Batman was standing next to Solaris, with Martian Manhunter and Black Canary arrayed behind them. This allowed them to all have a clear view as the 'sidekicks' entered the cave. Solaris was dressed more casually than the others, being in jeans and a t-shirt, as he was the only one that would be living here more or less full time. The other three were dressed in their normal superhero outfits.
"There was some sort of altercation outside…" Martian Manhunter informed the others.
"I expected that to happen," Solarris admitted.
"Explain," Batman demanded.
"As you know, Zatanna and I are in a relationship with one another. What you probably didn't know was that there is another partner in that relationship and she is on vacation from school right now and wanted to spend the rest of it with us."
"Next time you will brief me on th…" Batman started to say before his attention turned to the two girls who had just entered the room.
Rolling his eyes at this, Harry said, "Gabi, tu émets."
"Euh-wha?!" the blonde girl exclaimed at the same moment that her face became as red as a tomatto. She then glanced behind her while muttering, "donc ça signifie…"
"That was just Wally being Wally," Robin spoke up from where he had been standing against the wall behind them. "He does stuff like that all the time."
"Gabi, you should probably go stand over with Solaris while we wait for the stragglers to arrive," Zatanna, the brunette girl from earlier, admitted. "Unlike you, I actually have to listen to the introductory spiel."
The blonde girl frowned, "Solaris?"
"She means me," Harry spoke up, before shooting Batman an annoyed glare, "I still hate that code name by the way, it has nothing to do with my skill set."
"It's called misdirection," Batman retorted. "You do understand that concept, don't you?"
By now the others had arrived and Batman began his introductory speech. Harry listened only with half an ear, as he was far too distracted by having Gabrielle Delacour practically collide with him due to how happy she was to see him again. "Tu m'as manqué, mon amour!"
"Solaris has agreed to supervise the team, while Black Canary has offered to help keep your skills at their optimum levels. In addition to Solaris, you will also have Zatanna acting as your magical support…"
"Magic's bogus!" Wally West cried out from where he had finally managed to recover his wits, which occurred in record time due to the fact that he had an accelerated healing factor.
"Mih etativel" Zatanna called out without bothering to look in Wally's direction.
When nothing seemed to hit him, Wally smirked and said, "See told ya, nothing…"
"Uh, Walster, your um… not getting any traction," Robin admitted while looking remarkably impressed over what just happened.
Wally looked down at his feet, blinked a few times and then promptly shrieked in horror. He then began saying, "This is a trick, it has to be a trick!"
"Okay well how about this one," Harry said while pointing a finger at the boy who Gabi had just informed him had been trying to hit on him, "Mucus ad Vespertilio."
"Oh, how cartoony!" Robin exclaimed while they all watched Wally's snot pulling itself free from his nose before turning into bats that proceed to attempt clawing out his eyes.
Bruce turned to glare at Harry, who for his part rolled his eyes, and countered the spell. He then said, "I trust that more than verifies that magic is real?"
Wally vigorously nodded his head, "Yes sir."
"You can continue where you left off, Batman," Harry acknowledged.
Gabi shook her head before pointing at Bruce and saying, "Snapeman!"
"See, she thinks so too!" Harry crowed out victoriously.
Ignoring them both, Bruce continued by saying, "We have one more person to add to the team's roster. Manhunter if you will?"
J'onn J'onzz had been quiet throughout all of that, mostly cause he was trying to figure out why he couldn't access the mind of the blonde girl. But having been called on he said, "I'd like to introduce each of you to my niece, M'gann M'orzz…"
"I'd rather they call me Megan," a young girl with red hair and green skin admitted as she entered the room they were gathered in. Once she was in the room, she said, "I can see every mind in this room except for Gabi's… why is that?"
It was actually Kaldur'ahm who answered the question rather than Harry or Zatanna. "Veela are creatures of fire and air. Your own instincts are probably keeping you out of her mind for your own protection."
"Then how am I supposed to…" Megan started to ask, only to be cut off by Zatanna.
"First, she's not actually a member of the Team. Second, she would probably let you into her mind if you simply asked politely."
"Si elle m'a demandé? Alors oui je le ferais." Gabi admitted.
Bruce began growling to indicate he was getting annoyed, which served to silence his audience. Once he was sure he had their attention, he informed them that "The League members have agreed that some missions are too delicate for us to handle, requiring finesse that we often lack, so we will be assigning you to handle them. Do not disappoint us."
With that said, he stalked off so he could use the teleport station within the facility and return to the Watchtower. J'onn stayed for only a moment longer to wish his niece good luck, and then the kids were left with both Solaris, and Black Canary.
Grinning at them all, Harry said, "Alright kids, welcome to Hell Week."
"Oh fuck!" Zatanna groaned out. She had already undergone what Harry was referring to and had no desire to go through it a second time. Defeating Voldemort had only been half the battle, they then had to basically reset that entire society to its factory settings, which was a pain in the arse, and had actually required real combat skills, something which Zatanna sorely lacked at the time.
"What's Hell Week?" Conner inquired.
"I'll be teleporting the lot of us to a planet orbiting a red star, and then everyone present right now except for Gabi, will be training for five days and five nights solid. You'll only be allowed to sleep for a combined total of four hours while we are on this trip."
Conner raised his eyebrow, "How does that equate to hell for someone like me?"
"Oh this will be fun!" Black Canary spoke up for the first time. "Let's not waste any time then."
xXx Etag! xXx
Author's Note: In the first season of Young Justice, the only character on the Team who can claim to be mentally stable is Kaldur.