Apollo had tackled Plastic Man out of the way, wide-eyed as soon as he saw Cyber Knight steady her flamethrower. The gout of fire struck the criminal, and Apollo almost felt sorry for him. Then, after apologetically smiling at Plastic Man, he looked in near-horror as Icicle was further brutalized by a super-human punch from Patriot, who then began sapping electricity from the surrounding street lights and cars. Fate came in then, apparently just as shocked as Apollo had been by Cyber Knight's actions with her flamethrower. Apollo watched as Fate drifted down towards Icicle, but as the smoke began to clear, a blast of freezing cold energy radiated outward from Icicle's position. Alexander wasn't initially worried about it, but then he realized something: he was still soaking wet from his shower.

When the cold hit him, his clothes became stiff, his hair stood up and froze on-end, and soon he was utterly encased in ice. For a many harsh, long seconds, he was afraid he'd suffocate, but the ice suddenly liquefied, leaving him even more drenched than before. He fell to his knees, gasping for air, and looked up to see a massive Icy creature-no, he realized, it was Frostburn encased in his frigid armour. He figured he had Hákon to thank for freeing him from the ice, and made a mental note to thank him upon the team's return to base. Veronica had come in by now, completing the team, and she seemed to be calling the authorities, which, to Apollo's eyes, seemed the only way to handle the situation at this point. With Icicle out cold, Hákon moved to chastise the team, even though the one who tried to burn Icicle to death wasn't among them. Cyber Knight had flown off back to HQ.

"Do we need to do some homework back at HQ?" Frostburn asked, his voice drenched in sarcasm. "How are we supposed to make people accept us as these 'champions of justice' if we run amok, blasting every petty criminal we see into submission and disregarding the safety of everyone around us?" When he finished speaking, he singled out Patriot for a stern talking-to, and Apollo didn't feel like waiting to be next. He hadn't even participated in the fight. He had caused no damage, and hadn't even struck Icicle. If anything, getting frozen had made him more of a liability than anything. He slung his bow over his shoulder and walked off, turning his head to shout back at Hákon,

"None of us performed admirably, but I can tell you right now Frostburn, that Patriot isn't the one you need to worry about. Patriot didn't try to burn anyone alive." He didn't wait around for a response, instead choosing to continue his walk back to the base. Somebody would have to talk to Cyber Knight, and it might as well be him.

Back at HQ

"My name is Kilian Darukk and I've lived on the planet Earth now for roughly three weeks. I met this hero of heroes called Superman from the dead planet Krypton in a city called Metropolis. Apparently he met some other Cargg native from the future and welcomed me into this business of heroes with open arms along with another more patriotic kid, funny enough called Patriot. In our second mission out, as a group in Star City, we somehow managed to hospitalize a 2nd string supervillain named Icicle. We just found out from Batman and Engineer that he was catching a glimpse of his son at a local school after his ex filed something called an order of protection...." the Carggite thought to himself, as if monologue'ing his story to an audience. He would later watch the television show Scrubs and feel less awkward about it.

"It shouldn't have taken all of you to handle a minor threat like Icicle. After a school officer noticed Mahkent all hell broke loose before you got there, that's the only reason I'm not taking you out of the field. You can't all go in playing cowboy." Batman spoke in a grizzly tone.

"Some of you acted with restraint, which shows discipline. However, all of you need to continue to develop and master your abilities. You fracture another villains jaw and shatter teeth, Patriot, I'll take your membership in this group to a vote with the rest of the League. Superman may be used to more powerhouses in Metropolis, but we don't try to punch people through buildings on the regular around here..." the Engineer began saying as Superman entered the underground HQ.

Superman pulled the other two Leaguers to the side in the lobby/lounge area of the base on the opposite side of where the young heroes had been gathered to get reprimanded. They spoke for several minutes about League business.

"Superman is supposed to be this ultimate superhero and the inspiration for damn near every hero that came after him. I read his file earlier this week. Between the Kryptonian and Batman it was like reading two completely different novels. He [Superman] still looks like he did when he first started doing the hero thing over a decade ago in his t-shirt and cape. Only the slightest bit of gray in his hair. When he comes into a room everyone is on their toes. Just being in the same room as somebody who's such an inspiration makes me want to stand a little taller. I wonder what they're talking about..." Ditto continued thinking to himself before making a duplicate to run to the kitchen to grab a few bottles of water for everyone on the team.

~KL~

Nodding, and having nothing to say to Apollo that couldn't wait until he returned to HQ, Hákon walked with Patriot and assisted where he could in cleanup, although he lacked the strength to clear any of the larger pieces of debris.

"Perhaps you would be a good leader for the others, then. Perhaps we should consider ourselves more akin to nuclear deterrents as a group, rather than deployed infantry. By our presence alone, perhaps we can do good. If we all display the threat of power, perhaps villains in the future can be convinced to stay their hands. As you can see from today, overwhelming force can be the fastest way to incapacitate someone, but it should be kept as a last resort."

Hákon gathered some of the more obvious pools of water to himself as they moved, freezing them into crystalline structures I his hands before tossing them into the occasional storm drain.

"I didn't always understand the merits of restraint, you know. My mentor, Ice, taught me to be better than I was. It was hard, but it was worth it, in the end. I learned many laws of your country, and I learned of many international laws. Maybe we can teach the others such restraint... I could get some books on ethics, the legal system, law enforcement, and the Geneva Convention for the library? What do you think?"

---

Later, back at headquarters, Frostburn had taken off his mask, and collapsed onto a lounge chair after Batman's lecture. Somehow, he wasn't surprised that the face of justice in Gotham was a bit irate. Although, having researched the mans early career to some extent, it seemed a bit hypocritical. Although perhaps he, too, had learned a fair bit about restraint during his tenure as a caped crusader.

He looked idly at Superman as he entered, and began running through what he knew of the man in his head. Then he began countering himself with that knowledge in a few mental scenarios. Most of them ended poorly for Hákon, falling short as the man of steel shrugged off anything he thought to throw at him. Even freezing on a cellular level was difficult, given the speed the kryptonian was capable of reaching.

Perhaps that's why he prefers to play by himself... Hard to keep up with the guy who has all of the powers...

Letting down the serious batman was something scary and when the lecture was over, Veronica sighed and retired to the kitchen. "Who wants some-"And then she remembered patriot lifting up the fridge earlier and saw the mess in there. "...some carryout." It was a complete mess in there, one that Veronica had no intention of cleaning up. She grimaced and slammed the door shut. She liked to cook to lighten up her mood minus when she was being graded over it. Sucks. Leaving the kitchen, she threw her body on the couch with her hands behind her head as she thought about where exactly she wanted to grab some grub from. Turning to the side she noticed Frostburn looking troubled, deep in thought.

"Yo dude. Lighten up."She smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Dunno what you're worried about but it's all good." She turned to her side and gave a yawn. Maybe she'd just go out eat instead. It still felt so awkward here and most times she had the inkling to go out. Feeling a poke she found herself being offered a water bottle. "Thanks."She said sitting up, and taking it. Without saying a word she left the hide out for some fresh air. Sitting underneath a tree, she took a swig of the water bottle and refused to think about feeling homesick.

Plastic Man got nipped by the psycho robot's (she is a robot right?) homemade flamethrower. Only for Apollo to swoop in with the save. Still the intense heat had melted plastic man down, leaving him stuck and gooey looking on his fellow hero. "Thyank ouuuu!" He tried to gargle out as he got helped away.

As he recovered and was back to normal just in time for everyone to get reamed at HQ. Luke didn't get any real stern talking too, as he did handle the initial takedown and didn't do anything else. Batman did pull him aside at one point to tell him that while it was good that he seemed to be over his initial fear, prematurely celebrating near the at one point still conscious villain was not at all smart. Luke understood, and certainly would've peed himself in Batman's presence if his body still worked like. It was a little weird having Batman, the supreme badass of the Justice League, taking such a gentle approach with him though. Eh, maybe he just knew what a gutless coward he was became Luke's personal reasoning. Sighing Luke looked over, "Uh what time is it, I'll call up a pizza place and have them deliver. My treat." Luke said aloud sounding a bit drained. Body still looking a bit saggy as his arms dragged on the ground.

"I never really thought about leading the team, but if no one is up to the task then I am willing to be a leader. And Superman also taught me to try and resist giving to violent solutions if it can be avoided, I guess I still have some ways to go" Patriot said to Hakon as they helped clean up some of the mess that was caused by their conflict between them and Icicle. He wasn't sure if he had the experience and training to be the team's leader, and today sure wasn't going to show that he did.

---

Patriot's Journal

I am now going to keep important happenings in my career as a superhero in a journal. I have made a mistake in today's act of heroics and have badly injured a criminal. Most would not care how badly beaten a villain is, but I am part of a team founded by the Justice League, and the League doesn't believe in excessive violence unless it is absolutely necessary. I was created to be a hero for the American people and if I expect to become the country's greatest hero then I would have to prove myself a worthy hero to the Justice League. Instead I have possibly ruin a good first impression, and I can only hope that the League will forgive me for my mistake.

Back at HQ, Batman and the Engineer were giving them a lecture on restraint and Patriot expected this to happen. But what he didn't expect to happen was when the Engineer put his team membership to a vote, meaning that he could be kicked off of the team. Things had gotten even worse for Thomas now, and who knew what Project Cadmus would say if he had blown his chance to become a part of the Justice League in the future. He wouldn't argue or get angry, he would take the all of the blame for the team.

"I am sorry for my mistake in using excessive force against Icicle, I take full responsibility for what happened today and I ask you to not punish my teammates. I only wish that I had chosen a better course of action in the detaining of the villain" he said to the two League members. There was no point in pointing fingers and if he was going to be thought of as a leader then he would need to act like one, which he was doing now by taking all of the blame. His hopes in staying on the team rose when he saw Superman enter HQ, he hoped that his mentor would be argue for his continued membership with the team.

Jin had her back to the wall, squirming slightly as Batman reprimanded her. Honestly, it never got any easier to hear, his disapproval. She wanted to impress him still, to prove that she'd been worth the time and effort to train. But she'd messed up pretty good. It just made her nervous, when Batman got mad. It wasn't a yelling, hot anger. That, she could handle. She could yell with the best of them, and would have preferred it if she was just screamed at. But no- Batman had this way of looking at you, and digging into your core, and quietly telling you just how and why you'd screwed up. It was a calm, rational anger, and she had nothing to refute it with. Yelling at him would make her seem like a child. So she just stood there and tried not to shake, and desperately refuted the tiny part of her mind that told her that Batman could drop her off at some street corner at the other end of the world and wash his hands of her if she continued to fail.

Of course he wouldn't. But he could, and that was more than enough to scare her. She heard Luke saying he'd order pizza, and tried to fight down a little smile. He bounced back pretty quick- that was admirable. The quicker you could brush off defeat, the quicker you could work toward winning the next time. There was no use wallowing in it- stay too long at your pity party and the world would continue without you.

Patriot tried to throw himself under the bus, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Her gaze did narrow at Patriot, and she couldn't stop herself from speaking. "Full responsibility? Please. We all acted on our own terms, and that was the entire problem. You did what you knew, I did what I knew, and et cetera. We all screwed up. Don't think you're so important that we did it because of you." What was he trying to pull? Did he really think anyone believed his little act? It was disgusting, how he seemed to be treating their elders like they were all born yesterday. He was no better than a charming con with the best gig in the world- desperate for anything he could snatch, including power. She'd definitely have to keep an eye on him.

When Cyber Knight got back to base she was working on designing a flying car for the non-flyers on the team, cause no hero should have to walk in her opinion cause dealing with traffic or navigating rooftops only slowed you down and when seconds matter and lives are in danger you don't want to screw around with something that will slow you down.

She was in the middle of studying her own flight abilities in order to calculate power needed to accommodate the non-flyers on the team when Batman and Engineer came in. She was still working on it even during their speech. Considering the reaction she noticed from Apollo & Fate she was expecting something to be said to her about scorching Icicle. This led her to believe that Superman's entrance interrupted it and thus would come later.

The others started talking about food, she took that as a sign that it was over for now. She hooked up to her computer and began designing the basic outline. She created several versions and ran simulations on aerodynamics. Some designs were scrapped altogether some were modified. She then began work on implementing some sonic weaponry as a non-lethal option it also would be easier to maintain that an ordinance based weapon.

Cyber was curious how much food costs, she never had to worry about it, and the memories of Tabitha didn't have a reference since her parents paid for everything. So she looked up a pizza joint's prices. She did a quick calculation to feed everyone on the team it would cost a small fortune. She had no use for money anymore and before she joined the team to test out the processing power of her nanites she solved one of the Millennium Prize Problems and got a million dollars. She ordered one of each type of pizza for the team from Lougi's Gourmet Itallian Pizza Bar, the only drinks they served none of the team was old enough to drink. She put down Luke Roosevelt as the person placing the order.

When it was Hellfire's turn to get berated by Batman, he was already squeamish with the thought of getting criticised by his mentor- his idol. He looked up to Batman- he wanted nothing more but to be as great a hero as him. And when the criticism came, so did what Gabe liked to call the 'Bat Stare'. The stare only Batman can give, the one that can make the toughest man in the world cry, make him curl up into a ball and hope he disappears out of existence- yeah, that stare. And so Batman scolded Hellfire, never shifting his scrutinising gaze, telling him how he can never be late to a mission again, how he could have failed the team, and how he was lucky he did not take part in Icicle's brutal beating. And then the scrutiny shifted to why Gabe didn't step in to stop the beating like Frostburn did, and how it made him as responsible as the rest of the team.

During the entire lecture, the same thought repeated, over and over, in Gabe's head: 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...' But he did not let the guilt show. Instead, he just nodded, said that it won't happen again, and left to join the rest of his team. Apparently, Luke was about to order pizza, and Gabe was eager to eat. He hadn't realised just how hungry and worn out he was until after Batman had finished staring into his soul.

Shaking off the bad feeling he always got after a lecture from the Dark Knight, Gabe approached Luke, now out of costume.
"Uh, hey Luke... You sure you want to pay for the all of the pizzas? I'd be glad to give you a bit of my cash. It'll help me get the Bat Stare out of my head, you know? Make me feel a bit better about myself."

Apollo took his criticism from the mentors with clenched fists. He had arrived late, and been frozen solid. He was basically useless to the team. He had managed to save Luke from the full force of Cyber Knight's flamethrower, but that hadn't really done as much good as he was hoping, considering the boy still ended up as a pile of... himself. Particularly when The Engineer scolded Patriot for breaking Icicle's jaw, and not her own Cyber Knight for setting him on fire was baffling to Alex. He had planned on saying something about it before Patriot tried to put the blame on himself.

This took Alex by surprise, and he raised an eyebrow while looking towards Patriot. Patriot thought of himself as this groups leader, that much was true, and he was expecting to set an example. This didn't fly so well with the more independent members of the group, particularly Orbit, who basically laughed at him for it. Apollo wasn't sure where he stood on the matter himself. After all, since when do gods follow mortals? Apollo looked to Cyber Knight as the Leaguers finished criticizing the team. Nobody had spoken to her at all. He made a mental note that after he indulged his mortal weakness for delicious pizza, he would have to speak with her himself.

Apollo approached the still-saggy, weird-looking Luke, who had offered to buy some pizza for everyone at the same time Hellfire did. Gabe offered to help pay, and, with a smile, Apollo said "I'd like to help as well. Not sure how much money I have, but I'll chip in as much as I can. On a side note, you look like melted wax. Sorry I couldn't get you out of the way sooner. You feeling okay?" when he finished, he poked Luke in the shoulder to check is consistency.

Everyone. Everyone had left to go fight the bad guy. They had left not as a team, but as individuals. And Ricki just stood there and watched them leave. Instead of following her teammates the girl turned her attention to the monitors to watch the fight. One villain. Her 'team' had all ran off to fight one guy. Well, maybe he's some freaky bad-ass Justice League arch nemesis? By the time Ricki finished her thought the battle was all but over. Or not.

Batman and the Engineer would arrive just before the team got back to headquarters. Ricki wasn't too sure what the Engineer was all about, but she had heard of the Batman... and she found him intriguing. The Dark Knight was way scarier and cooler than the Flash. Even as he read the team the riot act Ricki stood there mesmerized by the sheer presence of the man. Those glaring eyes, that intimidating stance, that dark grizzly voice, they all made the teenage girl quiver with equal parts fright and excitement. The fact that Patriot had taken the blame for the fiasco or that Cyber Knight had literally melted Plastic Man who was little more a large puddle of sludge when he after the fight (though he seemed to be recovering fairly quickly) could not distract Ricki's thoughts or gaze from Batman. It wasn't until Superman arrived and pulled the Engineer and Batman aside that she snapped out of it.

Once the Leaguers were done talking to the team, Ricki left for her room, but not before hearing the talk of ordering pizza. The smell of food would no doubt draw her out of her quarters later. For now though she did not feel like joining the others. After all they had left her behind without a thought just minutes ago. In her room Ricki returned to her bed as she grabbed her box of crayons. The fifteen year old did not bother to remove her costume. No. The wall. She had to get the jumbled thoughts out of her head and on to the wall. The walls of her bedroom back in Keystone City were covered in her thoughts and ramblings. And, after a week of being here in Star City she was well on her way filling these new walls. Ricki pulled a crayon from her box, red-violet, and began to write not far from the place in which she had been writing before the alarm went off. Writing on the walls cleared the girl's mind of all the bad things, all the naughty or crazy thoughts that would eventually lead her to getting into some kind of trouble. Sometimes what Ricki wrote made sense. Sometimes her words were beautiful and poetic. And sometimes, like now, only Ricki knew the meaning behind the words she wrote.

Days later...

The Flash, now seemingly made out of living lightning produced by the speed force, races in a blinding yellow light around the underground HQ of this young group of heroes sponsored by the Justice League members. Madcap seemed to be on edge, like she really didn't know what her teammates and sponsor thought about her. Everyone else seemed to be fine with hanging out, those that are under the age of eighteen enjoyed the fact that summer had officially started and they could wait to register for high school classes at Plymouth High School. The shiny Engineer was working in the workshop area along with Cyber Knight on a transportation vehicle for the group of non-fliers. One of Ditto's duplicates added an extra pair of hands and tried his best not to get in the way, as the Engineer also had wires and cables reaching from her body to the new equipment the Flash was building in a matter of minutes. The headquarters of this new 'team' was getting a major upgrade.

"You know, Batman wasn't too happy about all those pizzas you guys ordered a few days ago. You're all lucky he's in good with a billionaire..." the Engineer said to CK as they re-scaled some designs and specs with the raw materials available.

After tripping over her wires one too many times, Ditto3 finally decided to call it quits after one too many evil glances from the metallic heroine.

"You ladies yell if I can do anything for ya..." he said not really speaking up while making his exit.

Ditto1, or the Ditto Prime, was finishing some lunch as it was just after 11 am. Ditto3 approached kinda looking bummed until he saw what Ditto1 was eating. BBQ chicken with fries had become Kilian's favorite food on Earth in record time. The Carggite loved BBQ so much he eats it on nearly everything.

"What are you waiting for man!?! Absorb me already so I can get some of that..." Ditto3 said agitated somewhat as if his prime self was torturing him.

"Have you seen number two?" Ditto1 asked in between bites.

"He's still sleeping for the three of us apparently. Come ON MAN! There's ONLY two pieces of chicken left. Why in the three suns did this planet get cursed with such delicious food...?" Ditto3 responded, all but crying at the end of his words watching as his other self ate the food.

The original Ditto that was eating finally absorbed his duplicate and finished the meal. His last self, Ditto2 came from their quarters with sleep in his eyes and hair in a mess.

"Did I seriously miss BBQ chicken?" Ditto2 asked in TMNT pajama bottoms.

"Yeah..." Ditto1 replied sipping a soft drink from a to-go restaurant cup.

"We still breaking in that new War Room the Flash was working on last night?" Ditto2 asked scratching his hair and stretching.

"Yeah..." Ditto1 said again before responding and reabsorbing his last duplicate becoming whole.

He tossed his trash in the kitchen trash can and made his way to the War Room.

~KL~

"No no no..."Veronica exclaimed shaking her head. Running her hand through her hair she had no idea what she was going to do about this sauce. After everyone had left, she decided to get working on her project that was well, due tomorrow... Magnetizing a plethora of objects in the room, she accidentally lost grip of the seasoning salt that decided to dump all of it's contents into her homemade barbeque sauce. She had to bite back a swear. Trembling and with a sigh, she stuck her finger in to taste the concoction and immediately regretted doing so. "ACK!"she spat out. She almost flopped back into her stool. "Well that's what i get for being lazy...and thinking i could handle all these..."As she let all the ingredients and instruments down. Nothing to do but start over on the sauce...but not right now. There was plenty of time right? She decided she'd fly on over to HQ and see if there was a mission for her to take her mind off of...Also, she kind of had all kinds of ingredients all over her chef hat and coat so changing would be nice.

---

As she walked in, she noticed bright yellow flashes zooming in and out. "Hmm?" As wind blew against her face. "Oh yeah...War Room!"She said with a smirk of excitement. She left off into her room to change into some shorts, a tank top and some sneakers while her mind trailed off into wonder about what exactly they'd be in for today. She knew she could handle it though. What couldn't she handle? Besides the sauce this morning... Sighing, she too, made her way to the danger room, and with a wave at Ditto was surprised she wasn't the first one to make it there.

Meditation used to be a chore, something that needed to be done, even though he didn’t particularly enjoy it. But Phil felt the need to clear his mind, and nothing sounded better right now. He tried to focus entirely on his breathing, blocking everything else out. If a thought did come wandering into his mind, he sent it away. But they kept coming.

There seems to be lots of people that can punch, shoot, and generally cause mayhem and damage. I don't have much experience in slugging it out. Zatanna was no Batman; she didn’t prowl the streets at night, looking for ne’er-do-wells to beat up. Their missions were almost always magical in nature, so Phil did not have a lot of experience with physical threats. Maybe I should focus on the things the others can’t do as well, like shields.

Phil tried to rally his thoughts, focusing on his breathing, but his thoughts drifted back once more to the battle a few days ago. The team needed a leader. Who could it be? Patriot might have the ability to get people to follow him, but may not have the cool-headedness to lead. Frostburn might have some potential. Cyber Knight isn’t a team player and obviously lacks the human touch, although she has a good tactical mind. The two batprentices are both too...batty; broody and moody like the Dark Knight. He really is as intimidating as Zatanna said, Phil thought.

Realizing his mind was drifting once more, Phil tried in vain to clear his head once more. But now all he could hear was someone zooming past his quarters. Judging by the speed, it could only be the Flash. There was no way Phil’s meditation could continue like this. Leaving his quarters, Phil wandered around till he found Ditto and Veronica in the War Room. He had forgotten about these two in his leadership musings. Ditto would make great a leader/leaders. But what if the three duplicates disagreed with each other?

The War Room was a giant room, filled with holographic and robotic training programs. Veronica and Ditto hadn’t started yet. “Can I join you guys?” Phil asked, putting on the Helm of Nabu.

Patriot's journal

I have not much to say other than that in the last two days since our little screw up with taking down Icicle without excessive force, I have been trying to gain trust with the team and also finding out if I can trust them. If we don't have trust then it is almost impossible to work properly as a team and we will keep making bad mistakes. I hope that we gain each others' trust soon, otherwise we might all be taken off the team.

As Thomas finished this entry into his journal, he took a sip of a soda he'd had when they had ordered pizza. He liked getting his thoughts on paper, you never know when it would be a good time to review past events when a present threat called for it. He was glad that his interpretation of being possibly kicked off the team was a mistake, it meant that he was getting a second chance. When he contacted Cadmus while he was at school, they instructed him to not make careless mistakes like that again and Thomas assured him that he would try his best to not make anymore.

After he was done with his soda, Thomas felt like he wanted to go check out the War Room and he quickly changed out of his civilian clothes into his Patriot costume. He left his room and decided to fly down the halls of HQ to get there quicker. He couldn't fly too fast in the confined area otherwise he would crash into the walls. He soon entered soaring into the War Room doing a lap around the room up near the ceiling. He then flew down and landed in front of the others and asked, "May I join you guys?"

When the pizza arrived Luke was surprised to learn that it was already paid for, turns out Cyber Knight had handled the transaction herself. That and the fact that someone got the door so they didn't have to see weird slimy melty Plastic Man.

As the days progressed from that 'learning experience', Luke started to feel less and less good about his superhero endeavor. Sure he put the cold guy down, but then he watched the same villain got the living s-word beaten out of him. That plus being turned into plastic man goo didn't do much for Luke's confidence. Sure he was getting along with some of his new teammates. Orbit in particular seemed cool, Apollo didn't seem to shabby either. Still Cyber Knight bothered him, much more than just the usual 'almost getting set on fire' stuff. It's the dead feel she lets on, the cold emotionless. Patriot was another one, although he wasn't nearly the robot she was, there was still an unsettling... Thing to him. Something not there, or something fake. Luke couldn't decide what it is. Regardless Luke took his cue, bouncing into the harshly sounding war room as some of the others were there. "This isn't going to end with me melted on Apollo again is it?" He meekly asked aloud as he went from ball form to normal. Adjusting his shades down to cover his eyes.

Alex chuckled at Luke's comment, entering the War room just after the elastic hero. He was wrapped comfortably in a towel, and was drying his hair with another one, having just come from the shower.

"Hopefully we'll be able to work as a more cohesive unit next time." He said. As he finished drying his hair, he slung the second towel diagonally around his chest and connected it with the other, making the whole ensemble resemble a toga, which was a common enough garb back on Themyscira. He now truly resembled someone of his heritage, a young God in the company of heroes. "Oh, and don't worry. I've been covered in worse." He said to Plastic Man, giving him a playful nudge with his elbow.

Apollo's mood had improved in the time since the 'fight' with Icicle. Being reprimanded by The League had initially bothered him, but after the frustration, he began to take the lesson to heart. He hadn't spoken with Cyber Knight as he had intended to, but now, after some time had passed, it seemed it would be an unnecessary complication. He had decided that as long as she didn't scorch any of the team again, he would let her be.

Many of the young heroes seemed to gather in the War Room. Ditto stood in awe at the size of the round room. Almost like a giant dome with a control room in the center of the ceiling roughly sixty feet above the floor. Shock came in after the Carggite, who didn't bother finding his mask since they were in a controlled environment. Fate and the red, white, and blue clad hero arrived within seconds of each other. It got awkward for a few moments when nobody really discussed anything as their surreoundings were currently generic. Ditto2 bounced out of the original to go and set the controls before anyone else had made it to the training area. Since it was already complete and two levels below the rest of the underground base noise wasn't a problem. But the Flash and Engineer couldn't hear anything from below the rest of the HQ while being occupied building and programming upgraded tech, power tools making noise all around as the task of making a vehichle with her protege also on Engineer's to-do list.

One thing that Kilian hadn't taken into account was that he had no idea how to operate human control panels. He couldn't read numbers or letters completly only having been on Earth about a month, however he thought he understood what some symbols meant. The skill level setting ranged from 1-10 but looked like a climbing volume bar.

"I want to be able to hear the battle, so I'll turn this one up here..." Ditto2 said to himself in a mubbled tone while working the controls and trying to understand what 'Number of opponents' meant on the next menu, "This one is the one I'll set low..."

Ditto2 hustled down from the control booth in the ceiling and approached the three heroes and his original self. The new Plastic Man came in joking with Apollo who'd used a large towel like a make-shift toga just before the door closed and locked. The control room faded and it was probably a dumb move not to leave somebody up there. The surroundings shifted a few different ways, like speed warped photographs of different scenes. It settled on a battle damaged city block. Ditto1 looked at his duplicate and finally asked the obvious questions...

"What did you set it on, how many opponents are we going up against?!?" he asked almost if shaken by the thought of biting off more than they could chew.

"Just one I think." Ditto2 said before being reabsorbed.

"I would immediately regret not learning the English language in writing." Ditto thought taking a fighting stance...

"We can surely handle one guy right?" the whole Ditto asked to nobody in particular as cars began getting knocked away in the distance as their single adversary walked forward menacingly.



Doomsday.

~KL~

The ear piercing girly scream Luke let out was something to behold....

Sure Plastic Man was a bit nervous taking the war room for a test run like this. It was such a strange, creepy concept. Some VR simulator that produced things that could hit you and hurt. Sure he got th purpose behind it but it was still an unnerving experience. Unnerving though turned quickly to complete and utter fear at the sight of... him.

The thing known as Doomsday...

Quickly and instinctly Plastic Man went right away with his first thought. Ducking behind Apollo and praying he'd wake up from the nightmare soon. Wimpering and too scared to even hyper ventilate Plastic Man curled himself up into a small tight ball that shook lighty. Maybe doomsday simbot won't notice him?!

"By the Gods..." Apollo mumbled, raising an eyebrow. The Doomsday simulation was walking menacingly toward the team, tossing simulated cars out of the way like they were made of foam. Alex was instantly aware of the fact that he was unarmed and unarmored. He had expected to have time or warning before a simulation started. Now, for the second time, Apollo was unprepared for a fight. He had no bow, no armour. Luke cowered behind him, and Apollo suddenly felt responsible for his teammate's safety. I may not have my bow, or my armour, but I am still the son of a God, he thought, squaring his shoulders in forced-confidence. Without a second thought, he rushed towards the Doomsday simulation and leaped into the air, delivering a knee to the creature's face. It hurt a lot, but it seemed to have an effect.

Doomsday staggered back a few steps, then glared at Apollo, who steadied himself in a hand-to-hand combat stance, remembering his training from Wonder Woman. Doomsday sauntered forward casually for a few steps, and then threw a punch square into Apollo's chest, sending him flying back toward Luke. As he tumbled through the air, he wondered if the technology that powered the simulation would know when to stop pummeling them...