Hall of Justice
Washington, DC
July 4th - 11:14 am

Nightwing immediately turned the corner of the hallway as the device on his wrist gave its foreboding beep that something had happened and the alarm was active for all members of Young Justice. After coming in from one of the special zeta tube in Gotham City, Nightwing had to go from one end of the hall to the other. Thankfully no one was really there to make a mess of things. Save for a tourist from one of the viewing areas, wondering why the young hero was in such a hurry. Still they were easy to ignore after a little.

The Hall of Justice itself was certainly a facade. While it was the actual HQ for the Justice League it now only served as a fake while the real one was up in space. The Young Justice squad had made it into their own base. Since plenty of rooms in it were abondoned or now just stored random things. The team was able to use a lot of it for their own personal needs while staying respectful of its former occupants at the same time. Still Nightwing was too much worried about what the alarm was for when he turned a corner to see Aqualad and Supergirl.

Both of the young heroes were already in costume, having arrived fresh from zeta tubes in Coast City and Metropolis respectively. They wasted no time in making their way to the central hub of the Hall of Justice, the secret room where their team usually held meetings and mission briefings. Pulsing red lights bathed the chamber in a hellish glow and blaring klaxons assaulted their ears with a deafening wail. Coming to a screeching stop near them Nightwing panted slightly, the closest he'd normally come to sounding tired. "Whats going on? Where's Kid Flash?"

"I'm not sure." responded Aqualad. "I tried raising him on the comms as soon as we got here, but he didn't answer." The Atlantean adolescent peered curiously around the room. There was no one there who could have activated the alarm, the only ones capable of doing so being members of the Justice League or their own team.

As if on cue, the alarms stopped suddenly and there was an awkward pause in noise. Nightwing's mind started playing through all the dangerous scenarios that could play out. Supergirl hovered nearby, a perplexed expression suddenly coming to her face. "Wait. There's something strange. I smell... smoke?"

"PFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"

"WOO! PARTY!" Kid Flash, clad in his own superhero suit, with a noisemaker in one hand, really silly looking party hat on his head, and a cake with a candle in the top of it balancing on his other hand. Came into the room with the most joyous expression his body could clearly muster. Though he looked like he was already in a party Nightwing just stood there completely dumbfounded. "Okay... Wally? What the hell... just seriously." He couldn't get much else out before pinching at the bridge of his nose and shake his head slowly. Having another moment in which he had to seriously ask himself why he was friends with someone who can transition from smart to completely stupid so seemlessly.

Kaldur'ahm managed to open his mouth and ask the important question."I think what Nightwing is trying to say is... what's up with the alarm?" Aqualad looked only slightly amused, while Kara simply stared at the cake Wally held in his hand. "Yeah, that." Nightwing finally replied with a sigh, having a personal moment of despair over his life choices.

"Hey hey I know. I'm not suppose to activate the alarm unless its an emergency." Kid Flash put down the cake onto the table where on the top 'Happy 1 year Young Justice' was written in on red icing. "I figured you guys didn't realize or remember, but it was one year ago we saved Supergirl and this whole thing got started! I mean we've just spent 365 days kicking ass and taking names. Why not get together and celebrate the occasion?" Kid Flash had the smile of pride on his face that made it hard for Nightwing to hate him too much longer... fully at least. "Look Wally you still can't just go pulling the alarm whenever you feel like hanging out..."

"You never gave me your phone number and the last time I went to the batcave that new Robin nearly tasered me to death..." Kid Flash quickly pointed out, his tone more just to the point from the previous cheeriness.

"Point made." Nighwing retorted.

Aqualad chuckled under his breath, placing a hand on Nightwing's shoulder. "C'mon, Dick. Don't you think it's sweet what Wally's doing here? Going to all this trouble. Making us this cake... Wait, did you actually make the cake?" He turned to Wally now, a skeptical look on his face.

"What me? No no, I learned my lesson from last time!"

'How can the flour get EVERYWHERE LIKE THISSSSSSSS?!'

Nightwing, finally just letting the sorrow in his heart go for now. Sighed as he let a smirk come out and pat Aqualad's hand. "Yeah I guess you're right man, it'll be nice to have a little R & R after the last week days personally." Gotham City has been really going through its paces lately. Notably from a lot younger people Nightwing had noticed. Some of them lame like a guy who was dressed as a giant ketchup bottle named Condiment King, a lot of the others were a lot more vicious though, he had been planning on talking to Batman about it.

"Look for real, I bought it from a Central City bakery. They gave me a 25 percent discount too! The benefits of being Flash based royalty my friend!" Kid Flash proudly was telling Aqualad as Nightwing was momentarilly in his own thoughts. Kid Flash dashed out of the room and a second later returned with a large knife from the kitchen in the Hall. "Alright anyone want any particular part? I'm calling a corner for sure, much more frosting yo!" Suddenly in a flash Kid Flash's arm was a blur going through the cake in all different directions before stopping. The cake having perfect slices in both directions as Kid Flash stopped to gently wipe the sides of the knife off of its chunks of cake and frosting with a thumb before licking it off of his digit.

Aqualad divvied out the pieces of cake, handing one to each of his three friends. "Thanks, Wally. It really was thoughtful of you."
"Oh! I almost forgot. Forks." Wally once more vanished into the kitchen only to reappear an instant later with four forks in hand. He shared them with Dick, Kara and Kaldur and they all seated themselves at a nearby table.

Kara eyes remained fixed on her piece of cake for several moments as if she was unsure what to make of it. She prodded it curiously with her fork, seemingly fascinated by the color and texture. Finally, she speared a portion of the piece and shoved it into her mouth, chewing pensively for a few seconds before her eyes grew wide with delight. "This is wonderful! How is it so spongy and so moist at the same time?" She continued to chew the cake with a joyful expression, putting more and more of it in her mouth. As Kara continued to stuff more and more of the cake into her mouth Dick, Wally, and Kaldur all stopped eating their pieces, even chewing altogether just to watch Kara devour her part of the cake. "You think she's going to eat the fork too?" Wally asked curiously, as it wouldn't be the first time.

"Batman to Young Justice unit, report."

The screen behind them came on with the dark knight's menacing face. Not leaving Nightwing much time to wipe his face and swallow his food before addressing his colleague and mentor who was on the big monitor. "Yes Batman... we're here."

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Batman's voice unchanged at all, but had the small notes to it that Nightwing knew as mild concern.

"Not really, Kid Flash brought cake since its the first year anniversary for us... I guess." Nightwing quickly realized he has no idea if Wally was speaking the truth or not. Its been a busy year.

"Well as soon as you can report in to HQ, we need to speak to you four on possible future status."

"Well he seemed like a joy as always." Wally noted gulping another piece of cake down, his face covered in small chunks of cake and frosting.

"He's a black forest cake kind of guy honestly." Nightwing joked with a grin as he turned back to the others.

Aqualad set his fork aside, contemplating Batman's instructions. "I think he must have been confused. We're already at our headquarters." A look of recognition suddenly dawned on Kaldur'ahm's face. "Wait... Batman said HQ. Do you think he means... the Justice League's headquarters?"

Nightwing paused in thought before shrugging, "Well yeah I mean whats what I took out of it and..."

"DUDE DID HE SAY FUTURE STATUS?!" Wally finally practically flubbered out of his mouth, not looking very graceful as he spittled out cake. "Dude, DUDE. Future status? Do you guys realize what that means?!"

"You're going to clean up the mess you just made?" Nightwing asked, mildly disgusted.

"We're going to be in Justice League!"

The Watchtower
July 4th - 12:13 pm

Kid Flash's jaw dangled down in a limp at the news, his eyes gone for a moment as the reality of the news came to them. "Wait... WHAT?!" Kid Flash gasped out in shock.

"See Batman I told you he wasn't going to take the news well." The Flash, Justice League member, more importantly Kid Flash's father. Quietly shook his head as he stood next to the remaining stoic Batman. The rest of the core Justice League standing behind Batman. Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, all standing before the Young Justice members who saw them in front of the massive window overlooking space and the now suddenly small seeming Earth outside.

"I'm aware Flash. But getting back to the point, the Young Justice program has been too vital for us to give you the promotion for any time in the near future. Instead we're going to expand your base to a new location, and increase the ranks with several new recruits. Each of whom the four of you will be in charged of training how you see fit."

A holographic projection popped out of thin air in front of the assembled group, showing what looked like a large mountain or volcano situated on a peaceful stretch of coastline. A series of smaller images framed the scene, each of them the face of a different recruit.
"From now on, your team will be operating out of Mt. Justice. It was the former headquarters of the League, but hasn't been used in several years since... a certain incident." Batman paused for the briefest of moments before continuing. "You will report directly to me on all operations and for mission briefs. Any questions?"

"Who... How... WHAAAT?!" Wally stammered, mouth still agape.

"I'll take that as a no. Consider yourselves dismissed. The recruits will be joining you here shortly, and after that all of you will take the Zeta Tubes to Mt. Justice."

With that, Batman and the rest of the League withdrew to the Zeta Tube platform, their silhouettes disappearing into a dazzling flash of light as they left the team behind. The four of them remained standing there, each one dealing with their own thoughts and emotions stemming from the revelation they had just been dealt.

"Well... That wasn't quite what we were expecting." Kaldur'ahm broke the silence, always one to state the obvious when nobody else would.

Kid Flash just remained there, almost twitching as his brain was not handling at all the news. "Pf... I...gah! Come on we're so much better no COOLER than this!" Kid Flash was finally able to blurt out all too late.

Nightwing held his chin cupped in one hand, the other scratching his temple as he stood focused in thought. "There's got to be something they're not telling us. Something they don't want us to know." It didn't make sense for the Justice League to take its crop of young heroes, who have been borderline flawless for a year, and not just bring them into the Justice League all together. Nightwing wasn't just struggling with the question on a logical level but a deeper level. Unlike the others he was keeping the disappointment tucked away inside.

"All these new recruits." Kara looked up at the hologram, taking in the faces of those they were about to meet. "Will we really have to train them all?"

Suddenly, a loud whirring was heard from the Zeta Tubes as they fired up once again. The voice of the Watchtower's computer could be heard as shapes took form within the bright light of the tubes. "Incoming arrivals. B05... B06... B07... B08... B09...B10... B11..."

Nightwing looked on at the zeta tubes surpressing a gulp of worry for what was to come, "Guess we're about to find out..." He told Kara.

It was a rainy day in London. Course there was no other kind of days in the English Summer so Zachary did not care all that much. It was just the fact that the whole area was on a line from Nome, Alaska. If not for the locations and a few currents they would be the same and London showers would be snow storms. Zach was full of stupid facts like that. He usually when was either in a bad mood, furious, or tired. Currently he was all three at once. He had just been told, no ordered, that he was going to join some kids club or something. Constantine had decided that Zach needed to leave London, the only home that he had known for the last few years, to head to God only knew where. Now he was wandering through the city while his brown trench coat. Constantine had thought it was a good look for him and good for a laugh. It was not like the original but it had a bit of magic in it. So he wore it with his superhero getup. It had a bit of magic in it like to protect him from water. It was not possessed yet but he figured it would eventually get possessed by some hellish demon. He had a few magical artifacts in his pocket in case he would need one. He had a playing card, a doll, and a few other things.

He was walking near Hyde Park and looked up at the clouds. Part of him liked the idea of all this but the other half hated it. He liked the idea of having a team but he worked better alone. He had done jobs on his own before... Course he could not wait any longer so he turned on his heel and walked towards an alley nearby. There was a blue police box just sitting there. He had placed the glamour on the Zeta Tube himself and he thought it was funny. He needed a joke right now more than anything.

He felt himself vanish for a bit and then heard a robotic voice said "Zachary Zatara B05" It said as he saw the room around him. There were four people looking at the tube. He could tell who they were from the newspaper clippings he kept in his room. He would never ever admit that but it was true. He looked around and scratched his head.

"Hello." He said flatly before his eyes settled on the red head with the party hat. Oh this was going to be fun. "I am Zachary." He said before waving his hands and saying a spell. "egnahC otni ym emutsoc " He said as his outfit appeared under his coat. "I can do real magic which I am guessing none of you can. Especially the party boy over there. I could have sworn that you lot were suppose to be professionals. Seems I was wrong." He said smugly. Constantine had taught him how press anyone's buttons.

The wind blew her hair up and out of her face and she smiled widely. She had always loved the feel of the wind on her face. She bent over her book quietly, peering into the pages before slamming it shut, her eagerness to read leaving her as fast as it had come. She looks down at her watch and gasped. She was going to be late! She jumped to her feet and began walking toward the street. The bustling sound of cars washed over her and she smiled again, not even bothering with the fact that many people just shoved her out of the way as she walked the opposite way down the street from where everyone else was going.

Tossing her red hair over her shoulder, she winked playfully at a cute young guy on a bike, who then proceeded to crash into a car. She giggled and kept hurrying down the street. She came to an almost empty part of town, far away from the bustling streets of downtown. She peered back over her shoulder to make sure no one had followed her there, before walking down the street toward a small little abandoned building. She glanced at her palm and took a deep breath. Well, this is where Ma Hunkel told her to go. This should be the place.

Maxine proceeded inside the small building and looked around. It just looked like an abandoned shop, but Maxine knew that there was much more lying within the dusty room. Twisting her hands and throwing them forward, a strong wind came out of nowhere and flipped her mundane clothes up off her, exposing her bright green, red and white costume underneath. She giggled, touching the silver plated cyclone on her chest and then looked around. The dust had fallen to the ground from the wind, but some stayed suspended in the air. She grinned and jogged toward that spot, throwing herself into the Zeta Tube.

Well, she threw herself with a lot more force that was necessary. Suddenly, she vanished into thin air before tumbling forward into a room as a robotic voice said, "Maxine Hunkel, B06." She looked around and saw another young man in the room. She kept looking around and saw four people staring down at him, one with a party hat and another looking quite somber. She rolled her eyes and curtsied, unsure of what to do. Obviously the first young man had introduced himself, so she said, "Hey, darlings! My name is Maxine Hunkel. It sure is nice to meet you!" She smiled at them.

---

Even with the hood pulled up close around her face, people could tell she was different. Probably by the way she walked and how she acted around others. Dark red hair, tinged with pink, swung out underneath the hood of the black sweatshirt as Koriand'r, a.k.a. Starfire Princess of Tamaran, walked through the streets of Jump City, her eyes ever alert and curious. Though hidden underneath a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, she wore her uniform just in case she needed to spring into action. Though today, she hoped nothing would happen. Walking through the streets, she noticed how people seemed happy, not plagued by difference, not home sickness. She sighed and rubbed her face. Oh, how she hated this feeling.

Not watching where she was going, she bumped into a young woman, causing the woman to spill all of her files that she was carrying on the ground. "Oh, I am most sorry!" Starfire said, dropping down to help. The woman, obviously irritated, snapped for her to leave and Starfire stood back up quickly, stung by the woman's harshness. Tears beginning to well in her eyes from her frustration of being different, she hurried farther down the street, heading toward her destination.

She reached the edge of Jump City. Across the small ocean was an island, not very far from the city itself. It would be a good place to put a hangout, if she worked with others. Unfortunately, she didn't and that island goes unused except for one thing. And that thing was what she needed to go through today. Shedding her sweatshirt and jeans, Starfire jumped into the air, happy thoughts filling her mind, and she giggled, floating out over the ocean. She zoomed through the air, her short purple skirt waving around her and the cool wind chilling her exposed arms. She flew down to the island and landed gracefully on it, looking at the glowing, golden light that was there. She smiled carefully and stepped through it.

Vanishing for a moment, she reappeared in a room that she had never been in before. Looking around, she saw another young red head in a strange costume and a young man. Glancing around, she noticed that they were being watched and she heard a robotic voice say, "Koriand'r, B07". She dipped her head to the four, scanning their faces. "Greetings, all! I am Koriand'r, though I go by Starfire now. I am princess of Tamaran and am glad that you--" Her eyes paused on the young man standing above them with dark black hair and her mouth dropped to the floor. "Robin?"

"Yeah and now I am suppose to join this kiddy club of super hero brats. Can you believe that crap?!" A deathly pale teen with pitch black hair and fiery red eyes groaned as he sat on the edge of a aquarium tank, his metal boots hanging just above the water. Below his boot covered feet in the tank swam a pod of dolphins, about half a dozen. The alien looking teen was munching on a large, incredibly greasy double stack bacon cheese burger. "That is easy for you to say, you don't have to hang out with a bunch of crud munchers for who knows how long!" He spouted with a mouth full of burger, a perfect line of meat juice running down his chin. After about three more bites the teen had completely demolished what was left of the burger and tossed its wrapper over his shoulder, it hitting some soccer mom who was walking by. "Whatever... But I swear if any of them lays a hand on my hog I will show them why I am the baddest bastich in the universe. Catch you later Glumly." The teen said as he stood up, balancing on the edge of the tank, one of the dolphins in the tank chirped back to him almost as if it understood the odd looking kid. The teen then brought his fingers up to his lips and let out a sharp ear piercing whistle. After a moment a large motorcycle with a metal skull mounted on its front roared into the aquarium, literally flying over and around the buildings patterns. As the bike neared the teen jumped on it in one quick fluid motion, revved the engine a few times then rocketed out of the building and into the skies above the city.

To most all that must of been a bizarre sight, an alien teen eating a burger talking to a tank of dolphins and then ridding off on a flying motorcycle, but if one would to get all the facts... well it was all still crazy. For that is pretty much everything the young former intergalactic bounty hunter that is known as Slobo did, crazy crazy and more crazy. The reason Slobo, or the Top Teen as he calls himself, was at the aquarium was because that was where one of the few friends he had on this planet stayed. That friend just so happened to be a Space dolphin by the name of Glumly that decided to live on earth among his non space cousins. Slobo always visited Glumly when he was on earth, Glumly once saved Slobo from a horde of crazed cyborg alien bikini warriors... long story, so the two kind of bonded. Now since it looked like Slobo would be staying on earth for the long haul he has been visiting his space dolphin compadre more and more so he could talk to someone who didn't make Slobo want to blow something up.

With his visit finished he was suppose to go to the location the man of steel himself gave Slobo. With a roll of his eyes the alien teen pointed his spacehog in the direction of the zeta tube he was suppose to take, though he did stop for another burger much to the misfortune of the acne covered teen that was working the drive through he stopped his spacehog in. It didn't take long for Slobo to make it to the Zeta Tube, it was hidden in some ally and disguised as telephone both of all things. Slobo hopped of his bike, which proceeded to race off into the sky and wait for him to call it later. With a sigh Slobo entered the booth and was instantly teleported away.

"Slobo, B08" The robotic voice echoed as Slobo appeared out of the Zeta tube and into the room with the others. He still had his latest burger in hand as he looked over the others. He took a bite of the burger, grease pouring down his chin, before he spoke. "Crap are you guys really my team? I was expecting... well chumps, but better chumps."

B-Zero-Nine

An oddly feminine computer voice echoed throughout the area as Courtney stepped into the Watchtower. She hadn't been here before, but she had heard of it. On any other occasion she would have been thrilled to be standing among legends. But not today. Today she was meeting her new babysitters. Because her step-father didn't believe she was responsible. It was bad enough that he followed her around but this? This was the pits. She was Seventeen! Not twelve. She knew how to take care of herself. Once she finished school she has plans to move out. Watch the step-father of the year follow her then.

Courtney stepped off to the side as the computer began announcing the next arrival. The only reason she was here, having agreed was because of her mother. Courtney had a giant SUCKER tattooed onto her forehead when it came to her. That and Jack Knight, one of few people she honestly respected thought it would be good for her. She folded her arms and looked over the the assembled group. Everyone was talking all at once, except for the leaguers. They were standing there stoic and calm. Everyone else fought to be heard.

It was, a disaster. A complete and total disaster. Courtney mentally took a bet about how long the team would last. Probably not even a day. Not that you could all them a team. The teen snorted. Well, once whatever this was crashed and burned she could go back to being solo. She rubbed her cosmic staff and smiled.

Star City
July 4th - 12:12 pm

Speedy adjusted his red cap. Making sure it was on straight.

“Nervous?” Green Arrow asked as he typed the coordinates into the Zeta Beam control console. Roy took a deep breath before he answered.

“A little. I knew you for a few years before we begun to work together…” Roy said. Oliver nodded.

“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy…” The green clad archer said after a pause. He looked at his watch. “Alright. Nearly time.” Oliver said. Roy made sure he had his bow folded up on his back. He went to step onto the Zeta beam platform before Oliver put a hand on his shoulder. “Err… Have you gone through the zeta beam before…?”

“I don’t think I have…” Roy said, biting his lip. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“You should be fine, but it does take some getting used to.” Oliver said. “Good luck!” He said. Roy gulped before stepping onto the platform. The lights blinding as Oliver vanished from his line of sight. The teleportation felt strange.

“B-One-Zero” chimed a feminine voice as his vision returned appeared. His vision returned and the Arrow safe house was gone, instead he could see Nightwing, Kid Flash, Supergirl and Aqualad. Roy went to say hi before his head started spinning. His stomach felt like it was trying to escape out his throat. He covered his mouth, worried he was about to hurl. Thankfully, nothing happened. He looked out a nearby window. Everything was black… with stars all over. Then he saw the large blue orb.

“I… I… We’re in SPACE!?”

For maybe the third time that week, Joey found himself in Star Labs, enduring yet another series of examinations. All the lab-coat wearing scientists moved around him chattering to themselves as he lay on the uncomfortable operation table. He could tell what they were all thinking. They were all worried that the terrifying Deathstroke had done something to him. It wasn't just them though. Even the Justice League were worried. As a matter of fact, a couple of league members were currently watching over him from around the room. While today it was a combination of Plastic Man, Black Lightning and Black Canary, Joey was usually joined by Batman himself, along with the teen wonder, Robin. For this, Joey was extremely thankful though, despite the uncomfortable nature of his surroundings. This was due to the fact that the last time he had been left alone, his father had come back. The mercenary Deathstroke had taken him away and experimented on him. Why? Who knows, but Joseph had to agree that these tests were necessary as the man could have done anything to him.

Despite the slight pain of the prodding and poking, the teenager cooperated well, wanting to help as much as he could. Besides, he didn't want to spoil what was bound to be such a marvelous day. Today he was joining the Young Justice program. Today he was going to make some new friends.

"And I think that we're just about done for today, Joseph!" The voice of the middle-aged scientist snapped him out of his thoughts. "You feeling okay, son?"

Not wishing to be a problem, Joey gave the man a nod. Years ago he would have actually spoke, but now that obviously wasn't possible. He assumed that that would be a problem with this new team, although in the past, if it wasn't about his music, he tended to be a bit of a sheep anyway.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Joey turned to find Black Canary giving him a reassuring smile. "You better go get changed Jericho!" She spoke with a soothing, almost motherly tone. Joey was glad as his encounter's with Canary had been his friendliest since his time among the Justice League members. As great as Batman was, he could be extremely glum!

Rising to his feet, Joey put his hand to his mouth, signing "Thank you" before turning and heading towards the door, Plastic Man leader the way to the locker room, he goofy smile making Joey chuckle.



Jericho stepped out awkwardly from the Zeta Tube, his hands clutching each other behind his back. The room in which he entered was vast, and already full of other seemingly costumed teenagers. He stared around him, mouth gaping as he tried to take everything in. He recognized many around the room, having seen many from news broadcasts. The remainder he knew from photos which he had been shown during his brief visits to the Bat-cave over the past few weeks. Ahead of the group, stood the apparent founding members of this little group. Nightwing, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Supergirl. Though the gathering crowd, he gave them all a brief smile, before moving off to the side, spotting a window.

Here he once again stood in awe. Honestly, Jericho had never imagined that he would one day be looking down on the whole world. Out of sheer habit, he once again signed the words "Thank you", directing them down at his home.

Turning back around, he once again joined the rest of the costume heroes and began awaiting his instructions, smiling happily as he did so.

B Zero Five

Kid Flash's confusion quickly gave way from the young man's rather naive and rude introduction of himself.  For the young speedster, a magician?  Who's a smartass?  Oh that does not fly at all.

"Oh yeah oooooo fancy pantsy magic!  Oh no his gonna pull a rabbit out of the hat on all those criminals LOOK OUT!"  Kid Flash wailed and moaned with so much overreacting you'd think he was on a soap opera.  As he finally realized that he still had the party hat on.  Which brought with it the former glory of the team's one year anniversary.  Quickly ripping it off Kid Flash used his index and middle finger, he reared the elastic string of the party hat and like a missle launched it at the mouthy magician.  "PHONY!"

B Zero Six

Aqualad smiled brightly at Maxine. Her cheeriness was a breath of fresh air, and much needed within the team in his opinion. Dick could be somber even at the best of times, and Kara was often confused and bewildered by the simplest things. And Wally... was just Wally. "Hello, Maxine. Welcome to the Watchtower." Kaldur'ahm swept out an arm at the space station around them. "We're just getting settled in ourselves, but feel free to take it in and get to know the place."


B Zero Seven

Nightwing's eyes snapped open as he realized instantly who the girl was, for a brief moment he had hoped she didn't recognize him.  It had been years, he was practically a different person back then.  Suddenly though she said the word questionably he had hoped she wouldn't.  Robin, he wasn't even that figure anymore.  Still he already felt something swirling in his stomach about their short but still notable history.

"Wait you two know one another?"  Wally asked starting to recover from his steaming anger at the fake in his own mind magician.  Gesturing between Nightwing and their newest teammate as he gave his friend a nudge with an elbow.

"We uh... yeah I guess..."  Nightwing felt his cheeks start to burn in something he hadn't felt in a long time, embarrassment.  "I saved her some time ago when she had arrived on Earth the first time... well we worked together.  She... she kissed me."  Nightwing instantly regretted that last bit of information.  Especially considering who he told.

Kid Flash stayed stunned for a moment, not ever even able to register what he had heard.  Finally the giant smirk tells the entire story of what he was thinking.  "Dude, DUDE!  YOU MADE OUT WITH AN ALIEN!?"

"Shut up!"  Nightwing huffed, his arms folded and his head turned away.  This day wasn't going to end fast enough.

B Zero Eight

There was no reaction, no one said anything.  No one could, what the Hell do you say about... that?

Kid Flash shook his head, "Okay I think we did something terrible somewhere down the time, because the Justice League must be just punishing us now..."

Kaldur'ahm stood there blinking in shock and confusion. This newest arrival was by far the strangest thing he had ever seen. And that was something coming from a guy who was half-fish, had lived under the sea most of his life and regularly hung out with people from other planets. "Is he... an alien?" Turning to Kara expectantly, he waited for a sign from the Kryptonian.

"He looks like a Czarnian. I don't know much about them other than they're known for being extremely unpleasant." Supergirl wasn't sure what to make of Slobo either. His abrasive personality and seeming disregard for basic manners made her question why he was being placed on their team. They were a pretty well-oiled machine at this point, and adding someone like Slobo to the mix was the same as throwing a wrench in the works as far as she was concerned.

B Zero Nine

Kara perked up as yet another girl arrived at the Watchtower. The boys were nice, but being the only girl on the team for a year had been somewhat challenging. Now that there were three other female members of the team, Kara hoped she could learn what it was like to be a teenage girl from Earth. She still had so much she needed to know about customs and clothes and past times. The list went on and on. Walking over to Courtney, Kara couldn't help but notice the sour expression on her face. Did she not want to be there? Perhaps Kara could help her feel a little more welcome.

"So, I guess there are four of us girls now. That will be nice, for a change." Noticing that the other girl was holding a golden staff, Kara switched topics, fearing that Courtney still wasn't warming to any of them. "Your staff is certainly impressive looking. Do you use it to fight?"

By this point Nightwing felt like he was about to be handed the keys to a beat up old wreck of a car that was already smoking and on the verge of exploding.  He didn't know what to think or feel about the team so far but there wasn't a lot about it that made him feel okay.  Finally though Batman had sent to his wrist computer.  He already had just about all of the people on the team accounted for.  But one of the two remaining heroes quickly stuck out as a sore thumb, Roy Harper.  

"Oh guys!  Okay okay this might not be too great so far but look at this, Roy Harper, Speedy.  His going to be on the team!"  Nightwing told the other three with almost a surprising glee to his tone.

"Yeah so?"  Wally asked.

"His Green Arrow's pupil, I've had countless sparring matches with him and his girlfriend Black Canary.  The guy can shoot possibly better then his mentor, he makes me earn those wins when we spar.  This guy is amazing, when he shows up you guys will totally see!"

B Zero Ten

Kaldur waited to see who would emerge from the Zeta Tube. For Nightwing to have such a high opinion of him this Roy Harper should be truly impressive. The red-haired adolescent that stepped off the Zeta platform was certainly in excellent physical shape, but he seemed to be a little overwhelmed by the Watchtower at that particular moment. Approaching Roy, Kaldur stretched out his hand in greeting. "Yeah. It's pretty amazing to be up here in the League's headquarters. I'm Kaldur'ahm. You can call me Kaldur if that's easier, though. Pleasure to meet you."

Kid Flash though seemed hardly as willing.  Quickly covering his face in his hand.  Shaking slowly as Nightwing had to watch on as them an he hyped up as a possible can't miss prospect was now on the ground seemingly having a seizure.  "Welp, this is great.  Good call Nightwing..."  Kid Flash muttered considering leaving as he turned around and defeated walked away from Nightwing.  “I'm going to see how much rope is around here to hang myself with anyone want to come join me?”

B Zero Eleven

Nightwing hadn't even noticed Jericho showing up as he was considering trying to distance himself from Speedy.  Still the purple and white clad young man came into his sights not from the wave but when he was looking back to Earth.  Making the small hand gestures that Nightwing picked up as American Sign Language.  Nightwing was confused what the mute's place on the team could even be.  It hit him quickly, the last person to show up.  Jericho.  Illegitimate son of Slade Wilson, Deathstroke.

Nightwing quietly breathed through his nose at the realization of the last member of the team.  Suddenly Slobo, as crazy as he is, was no longer Nightwing's concern.  The young man had a small presence but there was a lot to worry about when it came to the young man.  Nightwing worried about telling the others about Jericho, not yet at least.  Though while he hated the idea of not telling his closet friends something important, he also wasn't sure what to tell them that wouldn't send some kind of already blarring warning sign about a new teammate.

Instead Nightwing quietly approached Jericho, trying to give the young hero a warm smile when he did so.  Kneeling over and giving Jericho in sign language "Hello, I Nightwing, pleased meet."

As everyone got situated, after a brief time of polite introductions to one another and small talk. Nightwing whistled with his fingers and lips for all the new recruits. “Alright all new recruits line up please.” Nightwing gestured a line and thankfully the group didn't seem to have too much trouble doing as told for now. Thank God for small miracles. For a moment Nightwing's mind drew a blank. He wasn't used to something like this, him and the other three usually could just go without any kind of leadership to this capacity. Finally Nightwing sighed and just had to wing it. “Alright so I'm not going to dance around the issue here. Me and my colleges are pretty unprepared for you guys. So I don't really have much of a speech prepared. My name is Nightwing, these are Aqualad, Supergirl, and Kid Flash...”

“YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE ROOKIES!”

“Kid Flash would you please?”

“Hey man if I'm doing this I'm not...”

Nightwing held up a gesture for Kid Flash to zip it. “Right... for the last year we've been a part of the Justice League known as Young Justice. Our job often involves missions that the Justice League either can't handle for whatever reason or can't have any public knowledge in dealing. We're... probably not going to have much protocol for now. Since I'm not sure what that will entail. Really I'm going to have to play this by ear for now... uh...” Nightwing admittedly wasn't okay with what he just said at all. He didn't make plans with his three friends at this capacity because they didn't need to. They typically would be on the same page when it came crunch time. Still though Nightwing wasn't sure what he could say. It hurt him a ton to have to admit that to himself, but the Justice League had left him stuck at the moment unprepared. “Any questions so far?”

Roy’s head finally cleared. He just needed some water and he would be fine.

“Sorry… it was my first time using the Zeta Beam teleporter… A pleasure to finally meet you Kaldur'ahm. I…” He huffed, feeling a little sweat on his brow. “I have heard much about you…” He said said while shaking his hand. He had also heard a fair deal about Kid Flash… Some good. A lot not so good.

He made introductions to everyone, the princess of Tamaran, or Kory as Dick called her was more beautiful than he imagined. The others seemed alright, he would have plenty of time to get to know them. Though Jericho… He had heard Canary talk to GA about him. The kid was tiny, maybe he wasn’t so dangerous and people just had a knee jerk reaction because of his father. Roy stood beside him as they lined up. He was surprised that Dick hadn’t prepared some sort of speech. But then… he had been used to be a tight group of four for a year… he looked up and down the line. The miniature Lobo creep bothered him… He had seen the bigger one on the news. Whenever he showed up tended to leave a lot of carnage in his wake… Roy took a deep breathe. He was not here to judge. The League had no doubt brought him here and them together for a purpose. He turned back into Dick’s ‘speech’ if you could call it that, when he asked if anyone had any questions. “Yes… Are we going to be operating from… this place?” Roy felt his mouth go dry; finally realizing they were in the Watchtower. "And err... is there anywhere I can get a drink?"

Maxine Hunker

Maxine smiled at Kaldur and said, "Thanks, cutie pie. I definitely will." She looked around at all of the new arrivals. All of them seemed fairly okay... that alien Slobo seemed a bit much and a bit big for his britches, but the rest of them seemed fine. She smiled and laughed as Kid Flash yelled that Nightwing had made out with Starfire, as she had introduced herself. Maxine had read up in Tamaraean culture and powers and the only reason why she would do that when she was fresh off the space craft is because she needed to learn the English language as fast as she could.

She stopped thinking for a little bit as Nightwing began to start an introduction. He had no idea what he was saying. She didn't think that Kid Flash was helping, especialky since he was interrupting Nightwing at every turn. Maxine giggled a little bit and smiled at how flustered he was after seem Starfire. She listened intently to what he was saying and then he asked for questions. She looked over to the far end of the line and saw that Roy was asking where he could get a drink.

Glancing around see if anyone else would speak up, she piped up with, "Will we be living here?" She swayed her dress. "I think that would be fun to live here. Oh! If we are, do we have separate rooms? Is it gonna be like college? This is already going to be a lot more fun than Havard probably." She smiled at the upper four. Oh they were going to have their handful with her. "Oh, by the way, just call me Cyclone. Fits better, don't cha think?" She twirled a little bit, showing her dress. "Also if I start to talk a lot, just tell me to shut up." She turned into a motor mouth at that point. "I don't have a lot of friends because I talk a lot. It might also have to do because I'm differnt. I'm also really smart. But I tend to not have a filter." Her mouth went on autopilot and she kind of just faded out from what she was saying.

"What I am seaweed breath is the top fraggin' teen in this whole universe. Slobo said as a response to the bewildered stare that he was getting from Aqualad, his mouth still full of burger. He then took a few more inhumanly large bites of his burger, crumbled up the wrapper and tossed it over his shoulder before looking over to Supergirl. "Hey I am nothing but pleasant blondie! The Czarnian said before using his arm to wipe all the burger grease off of his mouth. He then used his pinky finger to dig into his ear, a moment later he pulled out a green gunk that he proceeded to roll into a ball and carelessly flick in a random direction, hopefully everyone had the good mind to dodge the foul alien ear ooze. "Like I said nothing but pleasant!" He restated firmly.

He walked over to where the rest of his supposed team had gathered to listen to the senior members of the team. Slobo looked over the other new members of the team and shook his head. He did not recognize a single face then again most earthlings looked the same to him anyways, even the spandex clad kind all seemed to blend together at some point. Though there were a few other aliens on the team it seemed, a Tamaranian and a Kryptonian if he had to guess. Not his first pick of alien species to be teamed up with, Tamaranians may have been great warriors but they were way to touchy feely for Slobo's liking. As for Kryptonians Slobo's only interactions with one had been with the red and blue boy scout that called himself Superman and that guy was a giant pain in the top teen's backside.

Slobo had been fading in and out throughout Nightwing's improvised speech, he managed to pick up something about being part of the Justice League, not being really ready, and some random out burst from the kid in the yellow tights. Slobo rolled his eyes, he had heard all this stuff already and didn't see the point of it being told to him again. Though what did catch his attention was the question about where they would be setting up their headquarters. "Wait a minute, we are all bunking together?! That is complete and utter-" The next word, if it could even be called that, out of Slobo's mouth could only be compared to a deep throaty growling combined with a squishing sound. For those who were familiar with alien languages would know by the word he just used Slobo was not at all too happy about the idea.

Starfire stared after Nightwing, looking at him curiously. It had been so long since she had last seen him and their last meeting hadn't exactly ended on the best terms, considering that she kissed him to learn his language and then threw him aside. As she was thinking about this, the little red haired kid yelled, "You made out with an alien?!" Ro--Nightwing looked ashamed when he made this comment and Starfire tipped her head slightly to the side. Was he ashamed of her kissing him to learn his language? Or what he just ashamed of kissing her? She grimaced and looked over toward him as he began to speak.

It seemed that he didn't have much of a speech prepared, considering the fact he did not go through much about where they were at. She watched him carefully, unaware that she was looking at no one but him. He had grown up a lot... Last time they had seen each other, they were just kids. Well... he was much more of a child than she was, but still. They were the same age in Earth years, though she was greater in Tamaranean years. She only tore her eyes away when the young man called Speedy asked where he could get a drink and the young woman in the strange clothing asked if they were staying together here, though she then began to ramble on and Starfire immediately turned her off.

Starfire pulled at the cuffs around her wrists as the alien slime Slobo began to make a racket about how he didn't want to stay here with the rest of them. She gasped as he began to swear in an alien language that she had learned when she was very young. She glared at him but then turned her bright green gaze back to Nightwing. She frowned and wished to speak with him alone, but they would not be able to do that until after they left here and after everyone had gone away. She didn't know exactly how to ask to speak to him in private.

She looked around to see if anyone else was going to ask any questions. She had a couple but they were not for the whole group to hear. She wished only to talk to Ro--Nightwing about the current situation of what was going on with him and what was going to happen with him and her, considering their past. She didn't not want to cause him anymore grief than he already had, but she was curious as to why he looked so ashamed when Kid Flash talked about him kissing her, or, to use his terms, "made out" with her.

Zachary sighed to himself when he saw the red head get all up at arms about magic. He had guessed at least one person would be like that about magic. Not many people knew about it but many freaked out when they did. This guy seemed like he had to keep himself from believing. A shame really.

"I'm more of a card tricks kind of guy. "He said as the hat few towards his head. He managed to grab the hat by the side. He did have some physical training. He looked at the hat and put it in his coat pocket. "I'm not a phony. You just are either too dense or stubborn to admit that your world view is wrong. " he snapped back sounding angry. He hated when people treated him like a fake.

He listened to the speech and nodded. He was okay with bunking as a group. "Just because we haven't been on this team doesn't mean we are complete rookies at all of this. We all have skills in our own areas. " he said leaving out the part where he was terrible at physical combat. His opponents rarely used it and he had been taught to run if things got bad. He also hated being told he wasn't the best even if it was true.

"How is that a problem?" He asked the white creature. Whatever it was, it was damn ugly. "I've got nowhere else to go but here so I'm fine with it. " Zachary said shrugging. "My question is when do we start training? I'm man enough to admit that I need help working with a team..."

As the rest of the costumed teenagers pottered around the hall around him, Jericho began to have a look at his new team. They truly were and odd bunch, yet Jericho had to note that he himself wasn't exactly normal. Judging by the strange and bizarre appearances, he was surprised to find himself in the presence of two aliens. After everything that had happened to him recently though, it didn't shock him as much as it would have previously. It even took him another few seconds to remember that Supergirl too was an extra terrestrial, along with the big guy in blue himself. They looked fairly "normal" compared to these two though. One, Starfire he believed if he remembered Batman's list correctly, was one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen, with her orange skin and hair seemingly radiating a sense of happiness. The other, was the absolute opposite. Slobo as he was apparently called was by the looks of it a complete slob, with the guy sporting an outfit you'd probably expect to see a member of a rock band wearing. Although Joey had to admit that he found the character's unique personality fairly entertaining.

Another of the group, Jericho could only assume was some kind of magician judging by his outfit and the argument he seemed to be having with the young speedster. Joey had to admit the guy was kind of handsome. He smiled, entertained by the two bickering before moving on with his attention. His eyes fells upon a young blonde girl carrying some sort of staff. Stargirl. He recognized her from an old news broadcast he had seen a few months back. Judging by what he had seen, she was certainly qualified for this! Next he spotted the group's resident Robin Hood. From what he had heard from Black Canary, Speedy certainly isn't a joke, despite what one may think of a guy who used a bow and arrow. If Canary was impressed with him, then he had to be good! Cyclone was another hero he had heard of previously. Her name was a clear indicator of what she could do, and Jericho was looking forward to see it in action. That was another thing that Jericho loved about becoming a "hero". The powers! As a boy he could only imagine what it was like to be surrounded by some of the most powerful people on the planet, and now he really was!

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Nightwing, who slowly approached Joey. He was surprised to see that the former Robin knew sign language, with Joey having worried previously that nobody on the team would be able to understand him. He beamed happily at him as he replied.

"I Jericho. It is pleasure to meet you as well. You can call me Joey." He signed.

After a while, the noise of the group died down and Nightwing began giving them a speech. Joey was surprised. He had assumed that the original team members would have known about them all joining, with a part of him feeling bad at the thought that he may be intruding on something sacred to the four. He watched in silence as Speedy as for a drinking, taking a few seconds to peer around the room for anything that resembled a drinking fountain for the fellow teen. His attentions went back to Cyclone who was proving to be the exact opposite of himself. He opened his mouth to laugh, only to find no sound come from it, only a slight feeling of pain. That was probably one of the worse parts. Forgetting that you're a mute, that is.

Recovering quickly, he instead simply gave her a smile, before quickly signing "I do not have any friends either, if it helps", not knowing whether she would understand or even notice him over everyone else speaking.

Courtney didn't revise her opinion much as more people filed in after her. The noise level rose and rose. People talking right over one another. Mainly the speedster who was harassing the teen in black and blue. Courtney really needed to learn names. Name would be nice.

---staff is certainly impressive looking. Do you use it to fight?

Courtney turned, her face beginning to flush red. She offered a small smile. She hadn't realized she was being talked to. Until she heard the word staff and looked. She recognized the girl from news posts. She tried to dredge up a name but failed. Courtney hadn't gotten into the superhero business because she liked said supers. She did it to annoy her step-father. And maybe to prove something to herself once she kept going. Then once her step-father stepped in and tried to stop her, well, lets just say there was no way in Hell Courtney was giving up the uniform.

"Uh, yeah." Courtney said un-originally. She fingered the golden rod and smiled for real this time. "It's both offensive and defensive. It's pretty cool. Name's Courtney. You?"

---

Courtney winced slightly as the teen in black and blue whistled sharply. Everyone quieted down quickly to let him speak. Courtney assumed that he must be the one in charge. She wondered if that was because he was affiliated with Batman.

Alright all new recruits line up please.

Courtney shuffled to a new spot and stood there awkwardly. Though she tried to disguise it as disinterest. After all she didn't want to be here. Yet she didn't like looking like a fool. Something some of these kids seemed to take delight in. One everyone was standing in semi-order and looking at the leader there was a pause. A long pause. Courtney snuffled again wondering what was going to happen next. (If anything.)

Then the bombshell dropped. Everyone was being saddled with unwanted kids. At least Courtney wasn't the only one who didn't want this to happen. Then Nightwing, as he called himself, was nice enough to introduce everyone. Courtney tried to place all names with faces, knowing she was probably going to forget at least a few. Followed by an introduction. Courtney leaned on her rod with a sigh and tuned him out. Good looking or not she didn't care. Not that there was much information in what he was saying. Poor guy didn't know anymore than she did. Courtney couldn't help the small snort of laughter at the thought.

Any questions so far?

Courtney mentally asked: "Sure, when can I go home?" But all she did was roll her eyes. Mary was totally going to flip her top when she heard about this. Of course the small grey kid burst out angrily again. Wind him up and watch him go. Courtney thought. Like some sort of demented energizer bunny from Hell. At least if this was going to be a disaster and she had to stick around, it was going to be interesting.

Nightwing had to take pause as he realized how he completely forgot about Mount Justice. He was getting frustrated with himself so far as he knew he sounded like an idiot. It was destroying what was already a tough moment of having to make a good first impression. One which was quickly slipping from his grasp just as he gave a very brief pause on it. He had a very sad realization that if he was in a fight with all of these new recruits, he'd know exactly how to handle himself, probably create perfect puns and insults on the fly too. Yet when he actually has to show leadership and a clear direction. He had no idea what he was doing.

Batman really needs to change his education plan.

“Well we're staying at a former Justice League base at Mt. Justice. Really with us we never really made our... well now former base much of a permanent living quarters. Occasionally stayed sometimes over, other times we just stayed at our own places. I'm figuring that should be fine with everyone here.” Nightwing stated calmly even though there was pretty evenly mixed feelings on the idea. Nightwing paused for a millisecond when his eyes while scanning around again among the group came upon Starfire who was looking at him in a way that gave him those weird funny feelings again. “Before we get too far ahead of ourselves we should go ahead and take business over to Mount Justice.”

Later...



Nightwing glanced up the deep cavern like walls of the main war room. The rest of the team being allowed time to explore on their own, claim bedrooms, so on. While at this point Nightwing was expecting complete and utter left behind crap, in keeping with how this whole thing has felt so far. Reassuringly and almost surprisingly the place seemed to be in tip top shape. If that was the Justice League's maintenance for whatever reason, or they actually decided to grace him with some mercy. Nightwing was already grateful that at least the base was well done. Now if only the team seemed worthy...

“Man I have to say this place is pretty cool...” Kid Flash approached Nightwing from behind, seemingly finally mellowing out from his earlier stunned turned angry hissy fit. Nightwing turned, giving Kid Flash an assuring smile. “Yeah, I'm pretty impressed.” As Nightwing turned to his teammate he noted Kid Flash's mood being changed. “Good to see you're feeling better. I figured you would end up going haywire.”

Kid Flash waved off the notion. “Yeah yeah, I'm still not great because I have to work with some 'magician' kid. But I had a moment to think about things. I'm actually pretty stoked about the situation.” Kid Flash's smile was making Nightwing start to feel better. “Oh? How so?” Nightwing asked curious.

“Well I thought about it this way, we're the senior members now right? They're the rookies, right? See I just realized something. We can totally haze them! Haze them all the live long day!” Kid Flash was all smiles as he revealed his personal feelings.

“Oooh boy...” Nightwing sighed, he had to ask didn't he?

Roy groaned. His second trip through the zeta beam transporter hadn’t felt like it turned him inside out and back again. He opened the first door he saw and it had a freshly made bed.
“Bed.” He said, throwing himself on it. “Mine.” He said in a muffle into the pillow. After a few seconds, he looked up, no one was at the door so there was no point in saying that. Roy smiled, letting his stomach settle before sitting up. “Wonder if GA was ever in here… I’ll have to ask him.”

He got up and stretched. He felt much more comfortable back on solid ground now. He took a deep breath and walked out. Dick and Kid Flash were still in the main war room. They were still talking so he opted not to interrupt, maybe now that it was just them he couldn’t make a proper introduction to Kid Flash…

“Well I thought about it this way, we're the senior members now right? They're the rookies, right? See I just realized something. We can totally haze them! Haze them all the live long day!” Kid Flash was all smiles as he revealed his personal feelings.

“Oooh boy...” Nightwing sighed. Roy’s jaw dropped. He was standing behind Kid Flash but he wasn’t sure Nightwing had seen him.

“You do anything to me and pray it’s a boxing glove arrow I shoot at your stupid face.” Roy said loudly.

@Natty

Maxine's voice died out when she realized that no one was listening to her. She looked next to her and saw a strange boy. He smiled at her and signed, "I do not have any friends either, if it helps." She smiled at him. Her mother had taught her sign language when she was younger, which was another one of the reasons that she had been able to get into Harvard at such a younger age. She grinned and signed back, "I don't really mind. It just allows more time for me to focus on me." She then saw that they had to go through another Zeta beam and she sighed, stepping into this one without as much force as she did with the last one.

Nightwing and Kid Flash disappeared immediately, leaving the rest of them to find their rooms. Maxine spotted Speedy going into a room nearby and she immediately took the one next to it. They reminded her of the dorms at Harvard. She set her bag down and jumped onto the bed, bouncing up and down the springs. This was going to be fun! She smiled and laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She hoped her grandma would be proud of her at this moment because honestly, Maxine didn't think that she could do anything better than help save the world.

Getting bored almost immediately, she jumped up to go explore. She did not get very far when she heard voices coming from a war room nearby. She heard Kid Flash's excited one and Nightwing's solemn one. She smiled for a brief moment before she heard the word hazing. They never had hazing over at Harvard, so she didn't really understand what it entailed, but from movies, she knew she wasn't going to like it. Almost immediately, she heard Speedy's voice turning it down and she smiled, turning away from the room to walk around some more, hoping to find something interesting that wouldn't bore her to death like the rest of the things around here.

Zeta tube transporting was as common to Slobo as blinking at this point, though some of his teammates seemed to have some trouble with it. "Stupid whinny earthlings... Slobo grumbled as he walked away from the rest of the group to explore the rest of the building that would be serving as the team's headquarters. He still wasn't happy about having to shack up with the rest of these people, but no point about whining about it, he was a little baby like some of the others. "I don't even sleep. Why do I need a bedroom?" The grey teen spoke to himself as he walked down the hall flanked by bedroom doors on either side. Reluctantly Slobo picked the door at the end of the hall, as far away from the others as possible. He opened the door and checked out the room for a moment, pretty basic stuff like a bed, stereo, and T.V., before closing the door and looking down the hall in the general direction that he left the group in. "THIS IS MY ROOM, I CATCH ANY OF YOU CRUD MUNCHERS IN IT AND I WILL DECLARE OPEN SEASON ON YOUR BUTT!!! He boomed loud enough so he was sure everyone in the building heard him. After that Slobo made his way through the halls, checking out the place before he stumbled upon the kitchen. He quickly ransacked the fridge, finding somebodies left overs of fried chicken. "Ohh yeah, it is chow time! The Top Teen exclaimed before grabbing the left overs and biting into a still cold, greasy chicken thigh. Mmmmmm yeah that's the stuff...

Her second trip through the Zeta Beam was a pleasant one, considering that she, unlike a few of the Earthlings here, did not get an upset stomach going through it. Starfire looked around as others exited the beam as well and headed toward the same area as the others. She did not have a bag with her. She honestly figured that her clothes would be enough and they would provide everything else. Following suit of Maxine and Speedy, she walked toward the bedrooms as well and stuck a claim to one two doors down from where Maxine had entered. She flew in quickly, looking around at everything. It was a very interesting place to her. She had only really had a small apartment uptown in Jump City and nothing as high tech as this.

She sat on her bed for a brief moment, looking around, before her excited brain immediately began to dull down again and she stalked out of the room, heading down the hallway. She glanced up and looked around, running her fingertips along the wall, feeling the smooth metal. She noticed Speedy and Kid Flash arguing in one of the bigger rooms, a war room as she recognized the shape from the war rooms of Tamaran. She did not want to get involved with their argument as she made her way the rest of the way down the hallway. She came to a fork and looked around curiously. She did not know which way to go from here.

Doing a quick eni-meanie-minie-moe in her head, she turned down the left hallway and began to walk that way as well, possibly hoping to find a training room or possibly a kitchen. She had conflicting emotions of both hunger and the urge to punch something in frustration. It was so much easier on her planet because you could punch almost anything you saw there.

Quickly Kid Flash turned to see the angry Speedy, and as quickly as he can run immediately verbally backtracked. "Hey hey no need to get all uppity at me about the idea! I'm not just saying everyone maybe just the gray alien dude or like the mute kid or uh I mean come on man I would never EVER do anything too harsh right Night..." Kid Flash turned for confirmation from his friend, yet Nightwing had vanished in a fashion Kid Flash was kind of used too but still freaked out over. "OH COME ON!" Kid Flash blurted out angry as he flailed his arms in the air for a moment. "Forget it I'm hazing Nightwing or something... well it doesn't count as hazing I guess but whatever." At that point Kid Flash sighed irritated as he glanced back at Speedy. "Anyways yeah I'm Kid Flash, Dick said a lot of great stuff about you... I mean before you ended up on the ground and stuff." Kid Flash noted as he extended out a hand.

Nightwing meanwhile had left Kid Flash to his own devices, and potientially a lot of pain from Speedy. He had hoped to get over to the living quarters, start looking for a room to pick out. Hopefully a nice room even though he had to question how good of a room you could get from the inside of a mountain. As his mind wondered from the thought he stopped looking where he was going for a moment, which resulted in a rare mistake for the young protege of Batman.

*Wham!*

"Oww..." Nightwing fell back onto his rear end, grasping at his own forehead hissing from the mild pain of it. He had suffered way worse injuries, but it was always the unexpected ones which hurt the most he noticed. Nightwing looked up, ready to say something either apologizing or upsetting the other person asking why they weren't paying attention. He paused though, immediately feeling his throat tighten up as he saw the bronzed orange skin of Starfire hovering just above him.

Unfortunately, she had been so caught up in her surroundings that she, as she does most of the time, was not watching where she was going. Suddenly, she ran directly into someone, but her Tamaranean strength and balance kept her standing up. She looked down and saw a confused looking Nightwing on the ground. She tipped her head to the side, looking at him curiously. "Hello, Nightwing," she said calmly, holding out her hand to him. "I believe it is customary for me to apologize in this situation for I was not watching where I was going." She tossed her slight tinged pink hair over her shoulder. "But I must also ask what you are doing down here when young Kid Flash is getting hammered by Speedy."

"Because sometimes Kid Flash needs to learn the hard way..." Nightwing noted as he accepted Starfire's hand to get back up to his own feet. "Yeah I'm sorry too, I wasn't looking where I was going either I guess." Nightwing berated himself a little for the mistake, it was a tough thing to swallow knowing he let himself smack into someone so clumsily. Nightwing paused, realizing just what was the awkward moment he was now stuck in. "Well uh, its been a while huh?" Nightwing's small talk skills needed work, but his mind was drawing blanks how he was suppose to talk to someone who his sole life experience with was being kissed by, and helping fend off aliens.

"Indeed it has," Starfire told him, smiling at his lack of small talk skills. She withdrew her hand after he was standing fully up and crossed her arms across her chest. "I believe last time I saw you, I was still naive fourteen year old alien who didn't know English." She smiled. "And that it was you helped very much." She laughed softly at this, hoping that she does not embarrass him anymore, though she still was curious as to why he did seem embarrassed about that. "Talking of which, why did you have that redness on your face when Kid Flash asked you about kissing me? What is so embarrassing about that?" She looked at him curiously, her eyes wide like a child's.

Nightwing knew the question was coming, but oh was he still not ready for it. Breathing for a second Nightwing's cheeks blushed as he glanced away from Starfire, up to the ceiling before back down to the alien. "Its just... its not really a normal thing to have a girl... well kiss you like you did." Nightwing tried to be polite how he said it. Because truthfully he could recall it in ways he couldn't for many things. The way her lips tasted, the pressure her strength put into her arms as they wrapped around him. Its been something that made him feel weird whenever he thought about it. "I mean not that it was bad or anything no no I did like it I mean uh not like..." Nightwing stopped himself quickly before he would eventually say something stupid. "I guess... yeah I'm sorry if that was embarrassing for you. I shouldn't have said anything about it to Kid Flash. Especially not to him. The guy wouldn't understand subtly if it came up and bit him."

"I do not think that subtly has the physical ability to bite someone..." she said with a confused expression on her face. "Just as well I do not think," she continued off saying quietly, after he had finished, "that it was as embarrassing to me as it was for you, Nightwing. Out in the universe beyond your stars, it is very normal for that to happen. I apologize if it was wrong and embarrassed you further. We Tamaraneans do it most often because it is the fastest way to learn a language, even if we do not understand the concepts of the language at the time." She did smile, though, at his sudden panic attack that he thought that she thought that he thought the kiss was bad. "It is alright, Nightwing. It is a part of our past, is it not? We do not need to talk about it anymore, especially if Kid Flash cannot keep his mouth shut about it and causes you grief about it." She cringed as she heard Kid Flash's loud voice come down the hallway. "I am beginning to understand what you mean when you say that subtly is not his strongest suit."