AN: So nowhere near as long a wait this time ey. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Special thanks goes to a chap/chappess called Kraftykidd who gave me a few ideas for how this chapter would go. It is, I think an improvement on the way I would have gone from a character development point of view. So yep, thanks to them for their handy messages, and thanks to everyone else who read and reviewed the last chapter. The response was greatly appreciated, and spurred me on to update quicker.

Other than that, not got much else to say other than that I hope you enjoy the chapter. That and I've recently joined a Discord group with other writers on it. Feel free to join up if you want to chat, or discuss ideas, or whatever. I'm still pretty new to it, but it seems interesting. / / discord . gg /kYCPuAw

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or DC.

( - )

(Last Time)

Poseidon was the brother of Zeus, Uncle of Diana, and so was likely the father of Percy Jackson.

Meaning that Percy Jackson was not human, or even mortal, but instead he was a Demigod!

Bruce almost wanted to slap himself in the face for not seeing it early, but instead of that he just smile a small, triumphant smile, he had figured out just what Percy Jackson was, and so now could work out the full range of his abilities.

Soon, very soon, he would be able to come up with a countermeasure to deal with him, if and only if the temperamental Demigod ended up going rogue.

Bruce's smile widened at that thought, only for it to drop slightly as he suddenly remembered that he needed to brief the team about a new mission, a covert, fact-finding operation, in Bialya.

( - )

Chapter 18

( - )

(At Mount Justice)

Waking up the morning after joining the team was an odd experience for Tula. For one she had never gone to bed on the surface before, and as such waking up not surrounded by water, and floating, was jarring to say the least.

More than that though was the smells and sounds around her. In the water scents were dulled and diluted, and sound, well it sounded different, far more muted than how it did on the surface. Up here however it was loud and pungent, though some of that might just be the musty mountain air in the cave she now lived in.

Pushing off her covers and glancing around at her spartanly decorated room,- she had unfortunately not had the time to unpack yet and properly leave her mark on the room she would be staying in for the foreseeable future, she quickly got out of bed and headed for a shower.

She needed to feel the water on her skin, and the sense of home that came with it.

Not that she would say she was homesick or anything, she had only just left and she was excited to be out doing something so novel and different on her own.

No, she wasn't homesick, but was instead just a bit disorientated. Her species, like many of the other species that made up Atlantis, might be amphibious in nature. But she had still grown up in Atlantis, in her family home surrounded by attendants, wealth, and above all pressurised water.

Up here on the surface however, everything just felt so dry and light. The air brushing against her felt odd, and her dry skin felt coarser than it should.

That said, this wasn't her first time on the surface, after all she had been on outings before when she had been at that Academy, both during her junior years there with Kaldur, Garth and her other friends, and her senior years after Kaldur had left.

She had poked her head of the water before, and watched massive boats pass by, after of course she had cut through their fishing lines, and destroyed their trawler nets as and when she could. She had also been briefly on land with her teachers too, for around an hour or so to see how the humans lived.

She hadn't been that impressed at the time.

Still, she didn't regret her choice to leave the Academy and come to the surface. The change would be good for her, she knew it.

The Academy of Sorcery had been a good place, and she had had plenty of friends there, as well as her mentor, Queen Mera, and her boyfriend, Garth.

She had loved her time there. But up here she had new opportunities. She could branch out and explore herself and grow as a person away from the comfort and luxury that she was used to. That and she could improve her skills, and actually use them in a practical sense too.

Up here she wouldn't just be studying and mastering magic for the sake of it, and occasionally using it to mess with fishermen and humans who defiled the ocean, but could instead use her abilities to help save people, and to represent Atlantis and its people in the same way that her King and Kaldur did.

Up here she could be a hero!

That, and up here she also had a chance to sate her natural curiosity and desire to learn new things. After all, now that she was a member of the team she had an opportunity to learn new, interesting forms of magic and water manipulation from the mysterious leader of Kaldur's superhero team, Perseus.

That too had been a big motivator when it came to her making the decision to leave.

Shucking off the shirt M'gann had loaned her the night before, and pulling off her pyjama bottoms, she walked the last few metres to her en suite bathroom in the buff. Absentmindedly ruffling her relatively short, messy red hair as she turned on the shower and then started threading her fingers through her locks trying to get rid of any tangles she might have picked up from the bed.

That was another thing to get used to, bedhead. In the sea her hair was constantly wet and thus, save for a bad haircut, it was impossible for her to have a bad hair day.

Yet another point against the surface.

Giving up her messy hair as a waste of energy, she instead looked in the mirror. Her eyes trailing over her freckled face, tousled red hair, pale skin and bright green eyes.

Today would be the first day of the rest of her life. If she was going to be a hero, she would need to do it properly and start off on the right foot.

Nodding at her own reflection with that thought, she turned on her shower and walked gratefully into the flowing water.

Stretching luxuriously in the hot water, and working out the kinks and aches in her body after falling asleep on her solid mattress. Tula closed her eyes and began to think of her new teammates.

They had been an odd lot to say the least, and they were certainly an unusual mix of people.

There was the lean, redhead guy, Wally, or Kid Flash as his superhero alias was. He had been very friendly and had seemed to like cracking jokes. He was the kind of guy she could see herself getting on well with, in small doses. For prolonged periods of time though, she would either need to develop her sense of humour more to match his, or work on her patience. But still he came across as a good, kind, honest person.

After him there was Robin, the youngest of the group. The short, skinny teen hadn't given away much. He had put on somewhat of a stoic façade when they had first met, and had tried to keep his serious veneer going during their brief meet up the night before. It hadn't lasted though as Wally had very quickly broken through that façade with teasing and jokes. Still he seemed nice. Though he could probably do with taking life a little less seriously and to stop pretending to be an adult so much, and instead be the kid he actually was, or at least sometimes.

Then there was Artemis, the pretty, statuesque blonde. She, Tula grudgingly admitted, had made her feel little self-conscience. She had come across as strong-willed and very confident in both who she was, and what she could do. It had been a bit intimidating really, or at least to begin with. After speaking to her though, and laughing with her a bit, she had warmed up quite a bit to the other girl. She was someone that Tula could see herself being good friends with.

The same was true of M'gann, or Megan to use her Earth name. She, like Artemis had had a striking appearance, made all the more so by her apparent ability to change her shape and form at will. She would gladly admit that she was jealous of that skill. Still the Martian had been very sweet and friendly, so much so that Tula had barely even introduced herself to the leader of the team before the red-haired, green skinned girl had swooped in and engaged her in conversation. She really was a very friendly, and outgoing girl. Maybe a bit too much at times though, she would admit that she had been a bit peeved when the overly enthusiastic girl had intruded on her first meeting with Perseus.

The same though could not be said for the other alien/ clone on the team, Superboy, or Caleb as he had introduced himself. He had been very different personality wise to M'gann, with him being quiet and relatively stoic. He had been amiable enough when she spoke to him though, but had also seemed to keep himself at a distance. Which was a shame as he was very good looking, what with his strong jawline, bright blue eyes, dark hair and very well built physique. As Artemis had said, and Barbara had agreed with, he was good eye candy.

Thinking of Barbara though, or Batgirl the other new member of the team, Tula smiled slightly. She had only met the other girl around half an hour or so before she had met the others, but she already felt a connection. She had seen a lot of herself in the other redhead, both her anxiety about fitting in, her worry about whether she was making the right choice, and her will to press ahead, despite the fears gnawing at her.

Yes, she could see her and Barbara getting along very well. They would be good for each other, as unlike both Artemis and M'gann they were relatively new to all of this and not as confident in their abilities yet. Or at least not as confident in their martial abilities. But by working together, and pushing one another forward, she was sure they would both find their place in the team and make their marks as heroes. She just hoped the other girl felt the same.

Frowning slightly at that, Tula grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the side and eyed it curiously. Turning it around and putting the English and human science lessons she had had at the Academy to good work, she read through the list of chemicals in it.

She had heard bad things about human soaps and moisturisers and the like. They were greasy and made out of fat and other chemicals. More than that they were terribly pollutant, both in the way they were manufactured, and the way they were disposed of.

Still, a smile spread across Tula's face as she continued to look through the list, her King had obviously had an influence on the Justice League as this shampoo was far more environmentally friendly than she had otherwise expected.

Emptying some into her hand and creating a lather which she used to soap up her body and hair, Tula's mind began to drift towards the last member of the team, their leader.

Perseus, or Percy as he had suggested they call him, had been a very hard guy to read. Far harder than anyone she had ever met before actually.

He was quite good-looking, that much was obvious, though in a harder, gruffer way as he had not been quite as pretty as Superboy. More than that he was also bigger than she had thought, both taller, and more powerfully built too. He was built more along the lines of Aquaman, which considering he apparently specialised primarily in using magic was odd.

From her experience magic users like herself, Queen Mera and Garth, tried to stay lean and fast so they could move fast and quickly dodge when needed too. Percy however looked to be built more for strength and durability, to put a sea analogy on it, he was built like an orca whale as opposed to a dolphin.

Tula winced at that, both at the bad analogy, and at the fact that some of the shampoo had gotten in her eye whilst she was washing it out of her hair.

Still, physical appearance aside there had also been an odd gravity and weight to his presence as well. Both magical and metaphysically.

Due to her advanced training in magic, her senses towards the mystic were far more refined than a normal persons. In fact in the Academy her magical senses were second only to Queen Mera. As such she could feel the raw power emanating off the green eyed teen, it had been intense, far more so than the mystical aura both Mera and her King exuded.

She could almost taste the unbridled power and fury of the sea when she was around him. It was intense.

More than that though, he had a certain gravity to his presence too. Where Robin pretended to be serious and stoic, Percy actually was. He hadn't come across as a guy that smiled much, which was a shame as he looked like he would have a nice smile.

Instead though, he had looked like a man that carried a great burden on his shoulders. Someone who had seen and been through horrible things, and had come out the other side tougher and harder than before. Like a blade that had been broken, and then been reforged, stronger and sharper than it had been previously.

He was a mystery.

But the most noticeable thing about him however, was that he did not feel as young as he looked.

In fact if she were a betting person, she would put all her money on him being much older and more powerful than he initially seemed.

Either way he was a mystery, one that she very much needed to solve if she were to convince him to teach her some of his magic, which was indeed one of the reasons that she had even come to the surface world to begin with.

That said she was somewhat curious about why her King had cautioned her to be careful around him, it seemed at odds with his current position and responsibilities as the leader of the Justice League's covert operations team.

Stepping out of the shower now, all clean and ready for the day ahead, Tula headed back to her room and started to get ready. She wanted to make a good second impression.

( - )

Stepping out of her room a short while later, now kitted out in another set of borrowed clothes, a pair of white trainers, a blue shirt, a pair of jeans and a green hoodie- she really needed to go out and buy some human clothes for herself, a wide smile spread across her face as she saw that she was not the only early riser.

Just down the hall from her she could see Caleb, once again in his black T-shirt with the red Superman shield on the front and jeans, walking down the dorm's corridor towards her, and in the direction of the mountain's main chamber.

"Morning Caleb!" She called out in greeting, waving a hand as she closed the door to her quarters behind her and waited for him.

"Alright." Caleb said shortly, giving her a nod and a faint smile as she stepped up and started walking alongside him. "Sleep well?"

"It wasn't bad, pretty different to what I was used to though." Tula replied with a smile. He must be a morning person, as this time she had gotten more than a few words out of him. A big contrast to the night before. "What about you?"

"I was restless." Caleb replied after a moment, his brow furrowing slightly. "It is sometimes hard to turn off my super hearing, and the mountain is often nosier at night than you might think. Percy snores."

"Ah, yeah I could imagine that might be difficult." Tula grimaced. Oftentimes it was quite easy to look at superpowers and only see the positives, when in fact some came with bad, or annoying, side effects and weaknesses.

"I'm used to it." Caleb shook his head, his small smile fading slightly. "Though sometimes I miss my pod."

Her smile became a bit weaker at that statement. She vaguely knew his back story, and could guess that by pod, he meant the cloning tank that he had been born in, and had spent the first few weeks of his life living in. "Well if it's that bad. Why don't you ask Red Tornado, or Batman, to make your room soundproof?"

Caleb paused at that suggestion, his head tilting to the side in curiosity, before with a slight smile he nodded. "I may just do that. Thank you."

Smiling at this the two of them continued on to the mountain's main chamber in silence. Apparently Caleb had spoken as much as he had wanted to for the moment.

Focusing back on the here and now as she entered the main chamber, Tula ended up blinking in surprise as she noticed that the two of the other residents of the mountain were already present and in the kitchenette.

More than that however, she was surprised to see that they were not only up, but were laughing and smiling, both Megan and Percy. On top of that, as the two of them approached the kitchen area she could also pick up a delectable scent in the air.

"Morning." Caleb grunted to the pair as he joined them in the kitchen and grabbed a nearby pot of hot black liquid.

"Hey Caleb." Megan replied, tearing her gaze from Percy for a moment as she sent him a smile. Percy meanwhile gave the both of them a nod, and then proffered his own cup to Caleb as he started pouring himself out some coffee- or at least that was what she believed it was.

"Coffee, Tula?" Caleb continued, pouring some of the steaming black liquid into his own cup, and then topping up Percy's cup too.

"Or do you want some tea?" Megan added with a smile, raising up her own cup with one hand, before with a wave of her other she telekinetic pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge, at the same time as she made a greenish box of 'Yorkshire Tea' rise in the air too.

"Erm, I'm not sure. Tea maybe?" Tula replied uncertainly, she had never had either of the drinks before. Down in the sea you didn't really need to drink, as you were always hydrated. On top of which she had never been on land long enough to get thirsty, so this was yet another novel experience for her.

"Sure." Megan chirped, her eyes flashing green as she waved her hand again. The carton of milk moved over and opened as it then began to pour some of its payload into first Percy and then Caleb's drinks. At the same time as this happened, a cup zoomed out of one of the nearby cupboards, and a one of the sink taps turned on. "Percy?"

"Hmm?" Percy hummed, taking a sip of his coffee as he did so, before he looked over at her. "Oh, right okay."

With that said Percy flick one of his fingers through the air almost nonchalantly, a stream of water swirling from the tap and pirouetting through the air as he did so. The tap turned back off soon after thanks to Megan, even as the water in the air fluidly flew into the hovering cup and then, another flick of his fingers later it started to steam.

Seeing this Megan's eyes flashed green once more, and a small triangular white bag flew out of the box of Yorkshire Tea and plopped into the steaming cup of water.

"Milk?" Megan asked with a smile.

"Er yeah, sure…" Tula replied, a bemused smile now on her face as she took in all the ongoing shenanigans. Was this what it was like here every morning?

Smiling at her reply, a bit of milk splashed into her steaming cup of tea at the same time that the tea bag dipped in and out a couple of times. With the cup then coming to rest in front of her a few moments later, the now used up tea bag whizzing over to land in the bin at the same time that the milk, the lid now back on, went back into the fridge.

"You're getting better with your telekinesis." Caleb said mildly from beside her, sipping on his own cup of coffee now, a bowl of sugar with a tea spoon in it sitting just off to the side from him. "Sugar, Tula?"

"Ok…" Tula laughed a bit, looking down at the fragrant smelling tea in front of her as Caleb then passed the sugar bowl over to her. "Thank you, both."

Megan smiled at that for a moment, before she then looked over to the clone. "Yeah I'm trying to get as much practice as I can in. I was always better with my telepathy, but I'm still good at moving around big stuff telekinetically. But my control isn't really good enough to control and manipulate smaller, delicate things. But I'm working on that."

"Nice." Caleb nodded.

Megan smiled at that again, before she then turned back to Percy, their eyes meeting for a moment as something seemed to pass between them.

"Ignore them." Caleb said from beside her, answering her unasked question as he did so. "The two of them sometimes communicate telepathically."

"I didn't know Percy was telepathic?" Tula frowned. Kaldur hadn't mentioned that little snippet to her.

"I'm not." Percy spoke up, taking another sip of coffee as he did so. "M'gann is the telepathic one, she just connects our minds on a surface level and then listens to my thoughts, even as she sends me her own."

"Wow that sounds…" Tula trailed off, trying to think of a nice way to put her next words.

"It's weird." Caleb said bluntly, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe." Percy shrugged, a small smile back on his face now. Megan noticeably let out a small snort of laughter. "But it's what M'gann is used to back home, and if communicating like this makes her happy, then I don't mind it. Besides I've had much worse experiences with telepaths than M'gann."

Tula blinked in surprise at this rather sweet statement. He hadn't struck her as the touchy, feely, and caring type.

"You've had bad experiences with other telepaths?" Caleb frowned, his expression closing off slightly as he did so.

By the looks of it, she could see that he had probably had similarly bad experiences.

"Let's just say that my family is pretty fucked up." Percy replied after a few moments, a slight frown on his face now. "One of my aunts on my father's side, mind fucked me into a coma for six months, and then, after hiding me away somewhere, she then dumped me on a random street with all my memories temporarily removed. She was kind of a bitch."

Tula opened her mouth to respond to that, but no words came out. Instead she, like both of the others just started at Percy nonplussed at that. What could you exactly say to something like that?

"But that was a long time ago now." Percy continued quickly, swiftly moving the conversation along as he seemed to realise that he had very much brought down the tone of the early morning conversation.

Megan, Tula noticed, reached out as he said this and gently laid a hand on the side of his face, cupping his cheek with one hand. Her now sad looking eyes locking with his, as yet more unspoken words passed between them.

Pushing down the irrational surge of irritation she suddenly felt at this oddly tender action, Tula coughed into her hand for a moment attracting both Megan and Percy's attention as she did so.

"So Percy," She began slowly, both hands clutching onto the warm cup in front of her. "That trick you did before with the water, what was that? One minute it was just normal cold water, the next it was steaming?"

"Oh that." Percy replied, a slight smile once again on his face as he looked over at her. "It's pretty simple actually, I just speed up the movement of the water's molecules, increasing the amount of heat transferred to them as I do so by charging them with more energy which when combined makes the molecules start to separate, and hence the water starts to boil."

Tula blinked at that. What he had just described didn't sound simple at all.

Smiling at the befuddled look on her face, Percy turned to fully face her now. "From what I've heard from Kaldur, who by the way doesn't shut up about you." Her face flushed at this. "You studied water magic at some kind of magic academy didn't you?"

"Er yes, back in Atlantis." Tula nodded her head. As she did so though she caught a slight narrowing of his eyes and a twitch from Percy at her mention of Atlantis. A curious reaction to be sure, and one she wanted to know more about too.

"So you must have studied the different ways water can be manipulated? I've already seen how Kaldur controls his using some kind of magical lightning from his tattoos." Percy pressed on undeterred.

"Yes we've built up a large repository of techniques, and are always working to develop more. It's one of the reasons why the Academy is there, it's not just to teach new students, but to research and expand on our existing knowledge too." Tula nodded, a smile on her face now. "And yeah, Kaldur does like to use electricity to manipulate and solidify his water. It's a pretty simple and common technique, one that most novices learn. There is not much pure magic manipulation going on with it though, and it doesn't need much power behind it either due to the tattoos acting as both a focal point, spell crafter and an amplifier for the magic. Still it can be strong, Kaldur shows that much, though I think he has taken that technique further than most."

"Interesting." Percy muttered, his gaze locking with hers. "So you've developed shortcuts. I'd be interested to hear more about some of the things you've learned, if you're willing, and when you have the time?"

Tula's smile grew if possible wider and brighter at this. "I'd love to! And maybe I can learn from you too? I've heard great things about you, perhaps we can start training together, regularly?"

Percy smiled slightly back at that. "Well the sea is just right outside, and we all have things we can improve on."

Tula felt her heart soar at this.

Megan however, she noticed, seemed to frown a bit her skin going a slightly darker shade of green that it normally was. "Well there might not be a huge amount of time for any of that." Megan quickly piped up, her tone still friendly, though with a notable edge to it that wasn't there before. "We have missions quite regularly. In fact I think I remember you saying Batman has one for us soon, Perseus?"

"Hmm, yeah." Percy nodded, blinking in surprise as he tore his gaze away from Tula and looked back over at Megan. "He's called us all in for a team meeting later today. Apparently he has a new covert mission he wants to send us on this evening."

"Sounds interesting." Tula said, forcing a smile as she tried to ignore the sudden flash of irritation she felt at Megan's interference. She knew the girl was just trying to be helpful, but still!

"Good." Caleb grunted from beside her. "We need more missions."

"That's true." Percy allowed, a smile back on his face as he leaned against the counter and finished his cup of coffee.

At the same time as he did this the Zeta Tubes lit up, and a tinny voice spoke up announcing the arrival of several others.

Recognised: Robin B01

Recognised Batgirl B09

"Hmm, looks like we have company." Percy muttered, pushing himself off the side now as he moved over to greet the newcomers.

( - )

(With Barbara)

Entering Mount Justice, Barbara had to hold back a shiver of discomfort from the feeling of the Zeta Tubes. It was an odd feeling being teleported, one that she didn't think she would ever get used to.

Still, she smiled as she stepped off the platform after Robin and then looked around at the mountain's main chamber. She was still glad to be here.

The team, she hoped, would be everything that Robin had said it was. A good place for her to meet others her age who had similar beliefs and interests as her.

Not that she was hurting for friends over in Gotham though. No, she had plenty of friends at school, and more besides from the gymnastics team she used to be a part of, and ballet class.

Her social circle was generally quite wide.

But unfortunately, in the nicest possible way, it was limited to just normal people who went about their normal lives. She didn't have any friends like her, those that saw injustice and wanted to take to the streets and fight it. Sure some of them had taken self-defence classes like she used to, at her father's insistence. But that wasn't the same.

In fact the only people like her that she had met in Gotham, from that sense, had been Batman and Robin, and even then it had taken a lot of cajoling and borderline stalking to get the two of them to take her seriously, and for Batman to accept her as a sidekick. Or as a partner, as she liked to think of it as.

Still that was all about to change. Now she could start spending time with other heroes in training, and fight and learn alongside them as they all sought, like her, to be the best people and heroes that they could be.

She was definitely excited.

Smiling widely as she stepped off the platform, her face now fully revealed as she came to the mountain in casual civilian clothes now. Her smile widened even further as she saw some of her teammates approaching from the kitchen. "Morning all!"

"Hey Barb!" Megan grinned, swooping over to her as she did so.

"Megan, you're looking good!" Barbara grinned, before she then waved to Tula, Caleb and Percy as they met up with her and Robin in the centre of the main chamber.

"You're here early?" Caleb said bluntly, his eyes on Robin.

Percy rolled his eyes from beside the clone, and then gave her a small smile. "Morning Barbara, it's nice to see you again."

"You to boss!" Barbara grinned cheekily, nervous excitement running through her as she gave the green eyed teen a mock salute. She hadn't really gotten to speak with him the other evening, but he seemed nice, even if he did give off Batman levels of seriousness and broodiness.

From beside her Robin groaned, and pushed his stupid sunglasses further up his nose. "You'll have to get used to this. I've tried to get her to stop, but she's as bad as Wally sometimes."

"You're one to talk with your 'whelmed' nonsense." Barbara sniped back cheekily, her smile growing as Caleb let out a small huff of amusement.

"That's different!" Robin shot back, his cheeks reddening slightly. Only those close to him were able to make the younger boy act like this, as opposed to the way he usually acted, which was like he had a stick shoved firmly up his backside. "My jokes are more subtle and nuanced."

"Yeah, maybe for a kindergartener." Barbara snorted, before she looked over at her fellow redhead, Tula. And geez there were a lot of redheads in the team now. For once they were the majority! "Hey Tula, how's it going?"

"It's going well." Tula smiled, the pretty Atlantean raising a slightly steaming cup of tea as she did so. "I've tried tea for the first time!"

"Oh how British of you!" Barbara returned, putting on a bad British accent as she did so.

Tula in response just looked confused. Robin on the other hand just groaned, the little shit.

"Sorry, she isn't usually like this. I think she's just excited." Robin said, a resigned expression on his partially obscured face as he looked over to Percy.

She still didn't get why he didn't just take his sunglasses off and tell them his actual name. Then again maybe it was because his real name was Dick, and he was worried about the jokes some of them, namely Wally from what she had heard, would make.

"That's not a bad thing." Percy smiled, the expression doing wonders for him as it actually showed off how good-looking he actually was.

Then again, she thought, he was not as hot as Superboy.

"We could always do with more humour on the team." Percy then continued, completely oblivious to her thoughts.

"And I thought Wally was already too much." Caleb grumbled.

"Well he can be a bit of a wally sometimes…" Percy nodded, before smiling.

Around him the rest of the group let out groans.

"You're first proper joke and you went with that?!" Robin sighed. "Leave the comedy to the pros!"

"Ouch." Percy shot back dryly.

"Don't worry, I thought it was funny!" Megan loyally backed him up, a smile on her face as she hovered down next to him and took his hand.

"Yeah, me too!" Tula tagged in.

Barbara raised an eyebrow at that. From what she had seen Tula hadn't even gotten the joke, poor as it was, to begin with. So did that mean? A smirk spread across Barbara's face now as she looked back and forth between Percy and Tula.

Unfortunately before she could think any more on this, the Zeta tubes whirled back to life and the voice rang out again.

Recognised: Kid Flash B03

Following on from which, in a flash of light the other redhead in the team joined them. A bright grin already on his face as he too entered in his civvies, his green eyes instantly widening as he entered.

Though noticeably his attention was not on the group of teens in front of him, but was instead on the nearby kitchen. "Do I smell cookies?"

"Oh, my cookies!" Megan shouted, her eyes widening as she then turned and flew back to the kitchen.

"Save the cookies, don't let them burn!" Wally called back after her, barely paying them any mind as he then blurred away and shot towards the cookies.

"And of course that's what he focuses on the moment he arrives." Robin grumbled sarcastically.

"Ah, everyone is already here." Kaldur's voice suddenly rang out, catching Barabra's attention as she and several of the others turned to greet the white haired Atlantean as he stepped into the main chamber from the dorms. His blue eyes widening as he took them all in. "I apologise, I overslept."

"Ah don't worry, you didn't miss anything." Robin waved his apology away, even as the rest of the group greeted him.

"True, we have no team training arranged for the morning, and Batman's briefing for this evening's mission is not until the afternoon, so we have plenty of time." Percy added on, giving Kaldur a nod of welcome as he did so.

Recognised: Artemis B07

"And now we're all here." Barbara said, a smile on her face as she turned and greeted the blonde. "Morning Artemis, it looks like you're a little late to the party."

"Apparently so, pity I didn't get the invite." Artemis sarcastically replied, walking down from the Zeta Tube as she did so, and greeting some of the others.

"No one may have been invited, but this is still good." Kaldur spoke up next, even as Tula wandered over to greet Artemis. "Bonding and friendly relationships between teammates is necessary for strong team dynamics."

"What you say is true," Robin nodded. "But the way you say it is weird."

Barbara had to resist laughing at that comment. It was true that Kaldur had a slightly stilted, and overly formal way of speaking. Still, it was endearing in its own way.

"I hope everyone is hungry, because I come bearing cookies!" Megan called out joyfully, swooping over to the group again, a tray of fragrant baked goods hovering in front of her now.

Wally blurred along behind her as she did so, already grabbing a couple of cookies for himself the moment she landed and offered out the tray to everyone else.

"It's a bit early, but why not." Artemis smiled.

"I've never had a cookie before." Tula tagged on, getting a wide eyed look from several of their number.

"They are good" Kaldur replied with a wider smile than usual as he looked over at Tula. "and M'gann is a most excellent cook."

"I think when it comes to cookies it's called baking." Robin corrected him 'helpfully'.

"Huh, then why is 'cook' literally in the name then?" Wally tagged on, a grin on his face as he needled Robin.

"More importantly." Artemis interrupted any further response. "Why are all these cookies blue?"

Blinking at that, Barbara and the others looked at the tray and saw that she was indeed right. All of the chocolate chip cookies were blue…

"Ah ha ha, well…" Megan blushed, her cheeks suddenly going a darker shade of green.

"That would be me." Percy finished for her, stepping forward as he did so and picking up one of the larger cookies on the tray and biting into it as he did so. "And they really are very good, M'gann!"

"Yup, I second that!" Wally added on, his words muffled due to the amount of blue cookies he had stuffed into his gob.

It was somehow both funny and disgusting at the same time.

"And the reason the cookies are blue?" Barbara asked, her lips curling up into a slight grin at the oddity.

"M'gann asked me to bake some cookies with her, and the only receipt I know is the one my mum used to use." Percy shrugged, a slightly uncomfortable look spreading across his face. His expression looked to be an odd combination of sadness, amusement, nostalgia and embarrassment. "And well we kind of had a thing about making food blue…" He trailed off, his cheeks going slightly pink now.

It was the first time she had ever seen him blush, and it was kind of cute.

The others blinked at that for a moment, before Robin broke the silence.

"Huh, you had a mum?" Robin asked, feigning surprise in his voice. "I just thought you popped out of a hole in the ground, fully grown and already pissed off…?"

Percy sent him a flat look at that, his lips twitching slightly as if he was fighting a smile.

The rest of them however had no such restraint, and instead just started laughing.

It looked like it was going to be a good day, Barbara thought, as her team continued to laugh and joke about around her.

She just hoped that her upcoming first mission with the team, later this evening, would go just as well.

( - )

AN: So not much action, but that's going to be happening next chapter. I'll admit I was initially going to jump right into the next mission as I have some ideas for where I want it to go and how it will set up some future arcs. That said I also think it is important to flesh out the new characters, and give the team some down time and lighthearted fluff. It can't all be doom and gloom, this isn't Worm.

That said next chapter will be more actiony, as I've already planned out this story up to the middle of the season 2 events. And suffice to say I have some interesting ideas for where I went to go with this. Not quite as balls to the walls crazy as a Warhammer 40k/Young Justice story I've read recently went, but still interesting.

Not got much else to say other than that. Hope you all stay safe. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you fancy.

Thanks a lot, and I'll catch you later.

Greed720.