GOTHAM CITY
JULY 4, 2010
11:55 EDT

"Jeez, you're gonna choke on your food at this rate," I laughed, watching as Dick frantically took bite after bite of his pizza.

"So excited," Dick muttered out between bites. "Today's the day!"

"I know," I grinned at him from across the table.

We were currently in a small diner getting some brunch while Bruce finished up some League stuff before coming to pick us up. I heard some beeping sound and paused in my laughter and reached into my pocket, pulling out my phone. From my peripheral vision, I saw Dick doing the same thing.

Dick pulled out his wallet and placed a twenty on the table, which was more than enough. I took a last gulp of my soda before running out of the diner with him. "Money's on the table!" Dick called. "Keep the change!" They were probably used to this by now.

He and I headed into an alleyway, where I peeled off my civilian clothes to reveal my costume. I unhooked my guns from their places at my thighs. I slipped on my mask to see Robin doing the same thing.

"He's at the park," Robin said, looking at his phone.

"Let's get going then," I said before pulling out my grappling gun. Robin nodded in agreement and we swung off towards the park.

There, we saw Freeze… well, freezing everything in sight. Robin threw a Batarang towards Freeze, making him miss his target, and the last of the people ran away.

"Batman," Freeze spoke, turning in the direction we were in. "I was wondering when–" He was cut off by Robin's laughter. Robin and I kicked Freeze and we turned around quickly. I quickly shot out two bullets, cracking his helmet.

"Oh," Freeze said, not amused. "The Boy and Girl Wonders. The Bat sent you two to send me off to prison? To be honest, I'm quite underwhelmed."

"That's great and all, but we're kinda in a hurry here," Robin sighed, throwing his arms in the air.

"Kids, always in such a rush…" Freeze commented.

"Not talking to you~" Robin sang, exasperated.

I spotted a familiar shadow heading in our direction, and apparently, so did Freeze. He turned around just in time to take a right hook from Batman, which shattered his glass helmet. Freeze collapsed to the ground, defeated, and Batman tied him up.

I heard the sounds of the police sirens getting louder and louder, and once Batman stood up, the police were here. "He's all yours," I said, gesturing towards the unconscious Freeze while Batman stepped away towards us.

"Is it time yet? Is it time yet?!" Robin asked eagerly beside me.

"Calm down," Batman said, looking down at the Boy Wonder. "Yes. It is. We head off to Washington, D.C. right now." As he said that, the Batmobile stopped in front of us.

Because today was Sunday, Robin was shotgun, so I had to take a seat in the back. Batman got into the driver's seat, and he drove off, heading towards Washington, D.C.

Batman took off his mask once we were nearly out of Gotham City, so Robin and I did the same thing.

"How long is it going to take us to get to D.C.?" Dick asked eagerly. I could hear him bouncing in his seat.

Bruce's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. "Just how much sugar did he have?"

"An extra-large chocolate shake," I answered. "But if it helps, he didn't finish it. We were called out before we got to finish our lunches."

Bruce let out a small sigh before he answered Dick's question. "Around two hours at our current speed."

"It would've been faster to fly," I commented.

"It would've," Bruce agreed. "But then I'd have to hear you two argue over who flew over there." Ah. Smart man, Bruce Wayne.

After about five minutes of silence, Dick let out a groan of pain, making me turn from the window to Dick's seat. I leaned over in my seat and peered at him. "You okay there, Dick?" I asked.

"Kicking Freeze's butt plus jumping plus shake plus pizza equals pain…" Dick groaned, slouching in his seat. Ever the mathlete he was.

I shook my head and sighed, leaning back in my seat. "I'm not even sure you chewed your food properly…"

"Shut up, V," Dick groaned, holding his stomach.

"Open the compartment," Bruce told Dick. "There's a water bottle in there." Dick did as he was told and gladly gulped down half of the water bottle in one breath.

"Y'know, shutting up helps too," I piped in, and Dick turned around to glare at me after finishing his water bottle. He stuck his tongue out at me.

"Why couldn't you adopt a cute little sister for me?" Dick asked, looking at Bruce.

"Hey!" I protested, and then proceeded to whack Dick's head. "I am cute!"

"Yeah, as cute as Joker's hyenas," Robin rubbed his head. "And less violent." I puffed my cheeks in frustration before leaning back in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest. Robin chuckled and leaned back in his seat casually.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
JULY 4, 2010
14:00 EDT

We were only waiting for Flash and Kid Flash now as we stood a ways from the entrance to the Hall of Justice. Batman placed a hand on Robin and my shoulders and looked down at us. "Today's the day," he spoke in a proud tone, and Robin and I exchanged looks before smiling.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow said.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman added.

"Aw man!" an all-too familiar voice exclaimed. We all turned around to see the two speedsters coming to a stop in front of us. "I knew we'd be the last ones here!" Kid Flash complained, crossing his arms.

"Now that we're all here," Batman spoke. "Let's go."

"Yes!" Kid Flash and Robin jumped up at the same time. They gave each other high fives before walking ahead. The rest of us followed shortly.

As we walked to the Hall of Justice, the surrounding spectators began to talk excitedly as they snapped picture after picture.

"Is that Batman?!"

"There's Flash! And Flash Jr.!"

"His name's Speedy, duh."

"No, Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick!"

"Well that makes no sense!"

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

"Don't call us sidekicks," Speedy reprimanded the young speedster from my right side. "Not after today."

"Sorry," Kid Flash apologized. "It's my first time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."

Robin let out a sigh from my left. "You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone just ever whelmed?" Robin questioned.

The doors to the Hall of Justice opened up for us and I gaped at the large, seven bronze statues of the founding members of the Justice League. "That's probably why…" I answered Robin's question.

We approached a door that read "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY", and the large metal doors slid open, revealing Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter.

"Robin, Black Falcon, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash," Martian Manhunter spoke. "Welcome." Robin and Kid Flash gave fist bumps as we followed Martian Manhunter inside the room. He proceeded to give us a tour of the inside area, which was the gym, the galley, and of course…

"… our library," Martian Manhunter finished.

"Make yourselves at home," Flash said, and Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash sat down in the three seats that were there. I sat on the left armrest of Robin's chair while Speedy stood in the center of us.

Batman announced that he and the others were going to go for a quick debriefing on the reason why four ice villains chose today to attack. They stood in front of a pair of steel doors, and a scanner popped out.

"Recognized: Batman: Zero-Two. Aquaman: Zero-Six. Flash: Zero-Four. Green Arrow: Zero-Eight. Martian Manhunter: Zero-Seven. Red Tornado: One-Six."

"That's it?!" Speedy exclaimed. He approached the older heroes angrily. "You promised us a real tour. Not a glorified backstage pass."

"It's a first step," Aquaman tried to reason with the teenager. "You've been given access on what few others get."

"Oh really now?!" Speedy questioned, gesturing towards the ceiling window, where tourists were snapping pictures. "We're just on the other side of the glass!"

"Oh dear…" I found myself muttering.

"Roy, you just need to be patient," Green Arrow tried to calm his partner down.

"What I need, is respect," Speedy retorted. He turned around to look at us. "They're treating us like kids. Actually, worse. Like sidekicks." He pretty much spat the last word out like it was venom. "We deserve better than this."

The four of us exchanged looks and then I exchanged looks with Robin.

'Any problems?' I mentally asked.

'No.'

"You're kidding, right?" Speedy deadpanned. "Today was supposed to be the day! Step one to becoming full-fledged members of the League!"

"Well, sure," Kid Flash spoke first. "But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ."

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real HQ!" Speedy retorted, making my jaw drop slightly in shock. "I bet they never told you that it was just a front for tourists and a pit stop to catching Zeta-beam tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite called the Watchtower!"

"You are not helping your cause here, son," Aquaman spoke, stepping up. "Stand down."

"I'm not your son," Speedy answered. "I'm not even his." He directed the last sentence to Green Arrow. "I thought I was his partner. But not anymore." Speedy took his cap and threw it on the ground before storming out of the room.

The four of us stood to watch Speedy exit the double steel doors, and they slammed shut behind him.

There was a beeping sound before a large screen from the back of the room displayed an image of Superman. "Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

"I've had my suspicions on Cadmus," Batman spoke. "This will present the perfect opportunity to–"

He was cut off by Zatara's voice before he appeared in the corner of the screen. "Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response."

"Superman?" Batman inquired, looking at the Kryptonian on the screen.

"It's a small fire," Superman said. "The local authorities have it under control."

"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman decided. He pressed a button the large keyboard. "All Leaguers rendezvous to Zatara's coordinates. Batman out."

The screens went black as the four of us approached our mentors. Batman turned to us and ordered us to stay put.

"What?" Robin exclaimed. "Why?"

"This is a League mission," Aquaman explained.

"You're not trained–" Flash started, but Kid Flash cut him off.

"Since when?!"

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

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

"But for now," Batman said, looking at all of us. "Stay put." The Leaguers left the room, and the double black steel doors that read "JUSTICE LEAGUE MEMBERS ONLY" slammed shut.

"When we're ready?!" Kid Flash exclaimed, outraged. "How are we supposed to ever be ready if they treat us like, like," he searched for the word.

"Sidekicks?" I suggested for him.

"Yeah!" Kid Flash cried.

Aqualad looked hurt. "My mentor… my King… I thought he trusted me."

"Trust?" Kid Flash retorted. "They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got an orbiting secret HQ in space!"

"What else aren't they telling us?"

"I have a better question," Robin spoke. "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" I let out a sigh and went over to the computer.

"What are you doing, Fal?" Kid Flash asked as I turned on the computer.

"Find out just what Project Cadmus is," I replied.

"Access denied."

"Really now?" I quirked an eyebrow, before typing in some codes.

"Whoa," Kid Flash said. "How are you doing that?"

"Same system as the Batcave?" Robin asked.

"Yep." I popped the p.

"Access granted."

The file opened and I read what it was about. "Project Cadmus… genetics lab… here in D.C…. That's all there is."

"But if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate," Robin suggested, grinning.

"Solve their case before they do," Aqualad smiled softly. "It would be poetic justice."

"And they're all about justice," I grinned. I downloaded the coordinates.

Aqualad sighed beside me. "But they said to stay put."

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this," Robin said, bending their words slightly.

"Got their coordinates," I answered, and Robin gave me a nod.

"Wait, are you two going to Cadmus?" Kid Flash asked us. "'Cause if you guys are, I'm goin' too." The two males grinned up at Aqualad.

"So just like that?" Aqualad questioned. "A team on a mission?"

"Well we didn't exactly come here to go on a play date, now did we?" I asked, looking at the hologram of the coordinates from my gloves.

I told Kid Flash where the coordinates were, and he sped off without us as we ran as fast as we could to Project Cadmus, which, thankfully, was only a couple miles away.

As we got closer, I watched as Kid Flash caught two scientists who were falling out of a building and tossed them on the roof. Because of the sudden stop, gravity pulled him down, but he managed to hold himself from an open window.

"It's what's-his-name! Flash Boy!" I stifled a laugh behind my gloved hand.

"So smooth," Robin commented sarcastically. He exchanged a look with me and I nodded, pulling out my grappling gun.

I launched mine at the same time as Robin and we swung ourselves upwards. Robin let out a laugh as we landed on the open window. He helped pull Kid Flash up while I went over to the computer, hacking into it.

"I'll check the cabinets," Kid Flash said, going over to the few cabinets that there were.

"I appreciated the help," Aqualad said sarcastically, jumping into the room.

"You handled it," Robin commented. "'Sides, you handled it." He turned towards me and asked, "So how's it goin'?"

"Downloading all of their files as we speak," I answered, looking at the bar. "Forty-seven percent." I heard the boys leaving the room, but continued to download all I could. Once the files were done downloading, I disconnected and headed to the hallways.

I looked at the hologram from Robin's glove and looked at it. "A 182 Story Capacity elevator?" I questioned.

Aqualad went over to the elevator shaft, and opened the doors. I quickly joined him and looked down. It was like an endless pit of doom.

"And that's why they need an express elevator," Robin commented. "Fal."

"I know, I know," I answered, pulling out my grappling gun. He and I launched it inside the roof of the elevator shaft, and we started going down.

We went down, story after story. I could hear Robin's cape fluttering beside me as I went down beside him. At sublevel 26, we suddenly stopped.

"Crap. That's the end of my rope," I commented.

"Looks like this is our stop," Robin replied. He jumped and landed on the small floor. I grabbed a hold of Robin's rope before I let go of my own gun. He caught my hand as I jumped, steadying me. Aqualad and Kid Flash joined us shortly afterwards.

Robin sat down and began to bypass the security system, and Aqualad opened the elevator doors. We stepped onto the floor, and looked at the large hallway.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin said.

Kid Flash sped on ahead, and I watched as he almost got trampled on by their weird, alien-looking things. I gaped as I walked beside Robin, looking at the weird gigantic things.

"Nope," I started sarcastically. "There's nothing weird around here. Batman was ridiculous for suspecting Project Cadmus."

"Let's take a look around," Robin suggested, and we continued to walk down the large hallway.

"Well, looks like this is the end," I said. "Wanna bypass the security?" I looked at Robin, who was already on it. I rolled my eyes at my partner's personality and waited as the doors unlocked.

"I'm officially whelmed," Robin announced once the double doors opened.

"What are these things?" I furrowed my brows. They were weird alien-things in tubes generating blue electricity.

Robin went over to the computers against the wall. "Let's find out." He hooked himself into a computer and then said. "Hey Fal, you mind downloading their files while I find out why they're doing all this?"

"No prob," I said, going over to the computer beside him. I hooked myself onto that computer and began hacking into the files. "Holy crap, there's a lot of data in this." The bar read eighteen percent.

"They're called Genomorphs," Robin read. "Holy crap! Look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws, they're breeding weapons!"

"They're generating an army, but for who?" Kid Flash inquired.

"There's something else," Robin pointed out. "Project Kr. The files triple encrypted, I can't–"

"Don't move!" a loud, commanding voice cried.

"Robin? Black Falcon? Aqualad? Kid Flash?" the man questioned.

"At least he got your name right," Robin teased. "How's it goin', Fal?"

"Ugh. It's so slow. Seventy-eight percent," I told him, slightly annoyed. I vaguely heard Aqualad recognize the man as Guardian, who was a hero. He announced that he was the chief of security around here.

"I'll cover you!" Robin exclaimed after Guardian ordered the genomorphs to take us down. True to his word, Robin threw a smoke bomb, and blocked any genomorphs that got too close to me.

I unhooked my gun from my right hip and just as Robin ducked down to kick a genomorphs, I shot one that was jumping towards us. When I saw the loading bar disappear, I quickly pulled out the USB cable.

Seeing this, Robin grabbed me by the waist as his grappling gun and pulled me with him. When he let go of me, he quickly hooked himself onto the security system and began to hack. Aqualad and Kid Flash joined us soon afterwards.

"Way to be a team player, Rob, Fal!" Kid Flash exclaimed, glaring at us.

"Weren't you right behind us?" Robin asked, continuing to type on his holographic keyboard. The elevator door opened, and the three of us ran in. We waited for Aqualad to join us and once he was in, I pressed the button to go down. The doors shut just in time, keeping the genomorphs out.

"We're going down?" Aqualad asked, looking at me incredulously.

"Dude, out is up!" For emphasis, Kid Flash pointed upwards whilst looking down at me.

"Hey, don't yell at her!" Robin said, standing in front of me. "Project Kr is down on sublevel fifty-two."

"This is getting out of control," Aqualad sighed, exasperated. "Perhaps… perhaps we should contact the League." We stood in silence for a while, until the elevator dinged, signaling we arrived.

The doors opened and I couldn't help but scrunch my nose at the sight. It looked like we were in someone's intestines. Robin was the first to jump out, and I quickly followed up. Kid Flash and Aqualad followed right behind me.

Aqualad sighed and asked, "Which way?" once we stopped.

"Yeah, take your pick, Fal," Robin gestured. "Bizarre-looking hallway one or bizarre-looking hallway two?"

"Halt!" someone called. I turned and saw another genomorph standing there. He levitated some barrels at us, but we dodged the attack. They exploded and Robin threw a batarang, but it was dodged.

We sped down the hallway, with Kid Flash ahead. He stopped a door from closing and gestured for us to run faster. I picked up the pace and jumped through the almost closing door. Robin jumped in after me. Aqualad kicked the stopper away, and the door slammed shut behind us.

"I disabled the door," Robin said from where he stood. "We're safe."

"We're trapped," Aqualad plainly said.

"Hey Fal," Kid Flash said from beside me. "You seein' what I'm seein'?" I nodded mutely. "Uh… guys," he called for the others' attention. "You'll wanna see this." I pressed what looked like a light button, and, thankfully, the lights turned on.

My eyes widened at what I saw in front of me though.

It looked like a younger version of Superman.

"Big K little R," Kid Flash said, walking up to the pod-like thing that contained the Superman-look alike. "The atomic symbol for Krypton."

I approached the tube-thing as well, looking at it. "Could it be a clone?" I suggested.

"Robin, hack," Aqualad ordered.

"Uh, right, right," Robin answered.

"By the way, I'm surprised you remember your atomic symbols, Kid," I grinned up at the speedster.

Kid Flash looked down at me, his eyes narrowing. "You're lucky you're cute."

I turned to Robin, who was hacking into the computer. "See, Robin, he thinks I'm cute."

"Like I said, you're as cute as Joker's hyenas," Robin retorted.

"Jerk," I muttered under my breath. Kid Flash and I went over to where Robin and Aqualad were standing, and Robin began to read what he had.

"Weapon designation Superboy. A clone force grown in… sixteen weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected.

"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid Flash added.

"His solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation twenty-four seven."

I looked down at the screen in front of me as Aqualad pointed to the thingies inside Superboy's pod. "Genomorph gnomes. They're force feeding him an education."

"They're like… making a slave out of Superman's son," Kid Flash commented.

"I think we should contact the League," I suggested. "Before we get any deeper into this." I activated the hologram on my gloves, but I got nothing but static.

"No signal," Robin said.

"We're in too deep," Kid Flash commented.

"Literally," I added, making Kid Flash nod his head. I looked at Superboy and then back at the other guys. "We can't leave him like this…"

"Set him free," Aqualad agreed. "Do it." He looked down at Robin.

Robin inputted some codes and the next thing I saw, the pod was opening. I really hope this wasn't gonna backfire on us.

Superboy's eyes suddenly flew open, and that wasn't the only thing that flew. He flew right towards us, tackling Aqualad to the ground.

"Me and my stupid thoughts," I reprimanded myself. I just had to go and jinx it.

The three of us rushed over to where Superboy was punching Aqualad, and I snaked my arms around Superboy's neck, holding him while the other guys got his arms.

Superboy's strength though, proved too much and he escaped from Kid Flash's grip. He used his free arm to punch Kid Flash right through a glass tube.

"Black Falcon, smoke bombs!" Robin cried as I struggled with Superboy's arm. Man, he was strong! I pulled out some smoke bombs and we threw them right at Superboy's face. Aqualad took advantage of the distraction and he kicked the Kryptonian away.

Robin extended electric wires to Superboy, but the guy just grabbed onto them and pulled Robin forward before stepping down on him.

I unclipped both guns on both of my thighs and began to shoot air bullet after air bullet towards the male. Ugh. Stupid invulnerability.

Using my distraction, Aqualad whipped out a water hammer, and attacked Superboy. I ran over to Robin, and helped him up. "You okay?" My response was a groan and Robin collapsed back down onto the ground. "Robin? Robin!" I cried, shaking him. No use. He was unconscious.

"Black Falcon! Look out!" I heard Aqualad exclaim, and the next thing I knew, I was pinned to the wall.

I let out a gasp as Superboy's hand wrapped around my neck, squeezing it. I struggled to get control of my hands, and placed my guns on Superboy's stomach. I shot him at point blank range, and he jumped back in shock.

He roared in anger and proceeded to tackled me to the wall before throwing me across the room. I hit the computer before sliding onto the ground, and the next thing I knew, I saw black.

A/N: So yeah, this is a YJ fic that I've been writing for a few months now. I actually have the first six chapters done. :) I know you readers are out there! (I can see the view count :P) Please leave a review. A review = a guaranteed faster update. ;) Can we hit five reviews~? :o