(no subject)
And here's the next installment of "A Bird in the Hand"
Prologue
Disclaimer: DC's characters aren't mine
Part One: Standerdised Testing for the Not-So-Standard
Superboy was shaking as they walked out of the room they’d been locked in for the previous three hours. Impulse didn’t look much better, having been forced to sit still for so long. Wonder Girl was scowling, muttering under her breath about teammates leaving the field of battle in the darkest hour.
Lobo had heard what the JLA planned and said “Frag this,” grabbed Empress (who wasn’t protesting as much as she could have been) and called for the Super-cycle to take them somewhere - anywhere - else. The five remaining members had to deal with the JLA on their own.
Secret was looking puzled by their reactions. “Was it really that bad?” she wondered aloud. “It’s better than yelling.”
“They’re sadists,” Superboy hissed, Impulse agreed: his head blurring. Wonder Girl was still grumbling and Robin was ominously silent.
Secret looked at the Boy Wonder in concern when he still hadn’t said anything, even after three hours. “What did you think of it Robin?” she ventured, hoping his mood had lightened. Or at least that he wouldn’t yell too loudly at her.
Robin just continued walking down the hallway of the Watchtower towards the main meeting room. Secret’s hopeful expression fell and Wonder Girl stopped cursing Lobo and Empress under her breath long enough to glare at the caped boy. Superboy just snorted in disgust and folded his arms, following their ‘leader’: the rest of Young Justice falling in behind.
The Justice League had probably not finished with them yet.
“Booster! Beetle!”
The two troublemaking heroes camped out on the couch in the Superbuddies HQ rec room both started out of the doze they’d slowly been falling into. Mary Marvel, sitting on the armchair, glanced at them curiously before returning her attention to the television screen where “The Sound of Music” played.
“What have you two done now?” Ralph stretched his head around from the kitchen to stare exasperatedly at the dumbfounded duo.
“Nothing,” Booster insisted. When Ralph just rolled his eyes, Booster scowled. “I’m serious, we haven’t done anything!”
Ted shrugged and got up from the couch, stretching his back out. “Max is probably just being grouchy. Better go see what he wants.”
“But we haven’t actually done anything this time!” Booster continued to protest as he followed Ted to Max’s office.
Maxwell Lord was scowling as the two entered. This wasn’t unusual, especially not when the two of them were anywhere in the near vicinity, but since neither of them had a clue why Max was scowling this time they were actually a little nervous.
“Can you explain to me,” Max began in that calm-yet-barely-an-inch-from-exploding businessman tone of his, “why the Justice League has demanded our immediate attendance in the Watchtower?”
Ted and Booster shared equally puzzled looks with each other and shook their heads.
“No, seriously, tell me.”
“Honstely Max, I’ve got no clue,” Ted held up his hands. “It’s entirely possible Booster did something without knowing it--”
“Hey!”
“--but I’m innocent.”
“I haven’t done anything! Why won’t anyone believe that?”
“Your record speaks for itself, Booster,” Ted told him. “And that’s without adding in the stuff you’ve done unconsciously.”
Booster crossed his arms childishly over his chest but didn’t argue.
Max ran his hands over his face and sighed. “Well, something’s happened, and it sounds serious so we’d better not argue this. Get everyone up and in costume now.”
“Ja, mine führer.” Booster saluted while Beetle rolled his eyes and shoved his best friend out the doorway.
“You’re not allowed to watch bad WW2 war movies again,” Ted scolded.
“Aw, but--”
“No.”
“My Lordliness,” L-Ron piped up from behind the pile of paperwork on his tiny robot desk shoved in one corner of Max’s office. “It is possible they’re telling the truth and they have nothing to do with this situation.”
Max got up and started rolling down his sleeves, frowning at the AI. “L-Ron, you’ve been with us for quite a while now. When has that ever been the case?”
L-Ron was silent for a minute, sorting through his memories.
“Well … statistically, your deliciousness, it has to happen sometime.”
“I don’t think those two should ever be counted among normal statistics.” Max grabbed his suit jacket and headed out the door.
“You’re quite right, most high slicknessness,” L-Ron followed mournfully.
“Of course I am.”
They arrived almost three hours after the call from the JLA came in.
Booster had walked in on Bea in a rather … compromising situation, despite the very heavily barricaded and locked door to her quarters. That resulted in quite a lot of structural damage and a numerous burns that Sue had almost refused to treat just to teach Booster a lesson.
None of them had really wanted to interrupt Mary’s viewing time since the girl tended to forget her strength when she got emotional. (Plus, no one wanted to have to watch the movie a again any time in the next few months just to appease the girl.) So they’d had to wait at least an hour for that to finish.
There was a random burglary as they were leaving and a few complaints from the neighbours to deal with, so by the time they reached the nearest teleporter they were officially very late. Late enough that, were this a world-in-dire-straits situation, the world’s straits would be very dire indeed.
Max led the way from the teleporters, trying to ignore the wacky hijinks going on behind him.
Ralph was pointing out every new thing that had been added since his last visit while Sue clenched her teeth before saying he coldn’t tell what was new or not around here since it all looked like the same gray metal down every corridor. Bea was insisting, rather distractedly, that it wasn’t Mary’s fault that they were late, that of course they’d all wanted to finish watching the movie and that, if it was anyone’s fault, it was probably Booster and Beetle’s. A half-hearted protest was raised by the two, only because - thinking about it - it was probably true that whatever they’d been called to the Watchtower for was their fault.
“It makes a father proud, doesn’t it, Papa-Lord?”
“You know, L-Ron,” Max glanced down at the robot beside him, “the Antarctica branch is looking for a new managerial assistant.”
L-Ron was silent for a moment.
“Have I mentioned how much I like your shoes today, Mr. Lord?”
“No, but thank you for the compliment, L-Ron.”
“My pleasure, your most wonderfulness.”
The open door to the main JLA briefing room came into view and the Superbuddies all walked in apprehensively.
No one said anything. The gathered members of the JLA all looked stern, but that was expected. What wasn’t expected was the five sullen and apprehensive young superheroes sitting at the briefing table. Considering the way everyone was situated around the room, it was obvious Young Justice were in the JLA’s bad books. The reason for the Superbuddies being there was still eluding them all. But that wasn’t what was important.
“Ha! I told you I hadn’t done anything wrong!”
tbc ...
And I'll leave things there for now.
I apologise for weird little spelling mistakes, my spell-check wasn't working for some reason.
Prologue
Disclaimer: DC's characters aren't mine
Part One: Standerdised Testing for the Not-So-Standard
Superboy was shaking as they walked out of the room they’d been locked in for the previous three hours. Impulse didn’t look much better, having been forced to sit still for so long. Wonder Girl was scowling, muttering under her breath about teammates leaving the field of battle in the darkest hour.
Lobo had heard what the JLA planned and said “Frag this,” grabbed Empress (who wasn’t protesting as much as she could have been) and called for the Super-cycle to take them somewhere - anywhere - else. The five remaining members had to deal with the JLA on their own.
Secret was looking puzled by their reactions. “Was it really that bad?” she wondered aloud. “It’s better than yelling.”
“They’re sadists,” Superboy hissed, Impulse agreed: his head blurring. Wonder Girl was still grumbling and Robin was ominously silent.
Secret looked at the Boy Wonder in concern when he still hadn’t said anything, even after three hours. “What did you think of it Robin?” she ventured, hoping his mood had lightened. Or at least that he wouldn’t yell too loudly at her.
Robin just continued walking down the hallway of the Watchtower towards the main meeting room. Secret’s hopeful expression fell and Wonder Girl stopped cursing Lobo and Empress under her breath long enough to glare at the caped boy. Superboy just snorted in disgust and folded his arms, following their ‘leader’: the rest of Young Justice falling in behind.
The Justice League had probably not finished with them yet.
“Booster! Beetle!”
The two troublemaking heroes camped out on the couch in the Superbuddies HQ rec room both started out of the doze they’d slowly been falling into. Mary Marvel, sitting on the armchair, glanced at them curiously before returning her attention to the television screen where “The Sound of Music” played.
“What have you two done now?” Ralph stretched his head around from the kitchen to stare exasperatedly at the dumbfounded duo.
“Nothing,” Booster insisted. When Ralph just rolled his eyes, Booster scowled. “I’m serious, we haven’t done anything!”
Ted shrugged and got up from the couch, stretching his back out. “Max is probably just being grouchy. Better go see what he wants.”
“But we haven’t actually done anything this time!” Booster continued to protest as he followed Ted to Max’s office.
Maxwell Lord was scowling as the two entered. This wasn’t unusual, especially not when the two of them were anywhere in the near vicinity, but since neither of them had a clue why Max was scowling this time they were actually a little nervous.
“Can you explain to me,” Max began in that calm-yet-barely-an-inch-from-exploding businessman tone of his, “why the Justice League has demanded our immediate attendance in the Watchtower?”
Ted and Booster shared equally puzzled looks with each other and shook their heads.
“No, seriously, tell me.”
“Honstely Max, I’ve got no clue,” Ted held up his hands. “It’s entirely possible Booster did something without knowing it--”
“Hey!”
“--but I’m innocent.”
“I haven’t done anything! Why won’t anyone believe that?”
“Your record speaks for itself, Booster,” Ted told him. “And that’s without adding in the stuff you’ve done unconsciously.”
Booster crossed his arms childishly over his chest but didn’t argue.
Max ran his hands over his face and sighed. “Well, something’s happened, and it sounds serious so we’d better not argue this. Get everyone up and in costume now.”
“Ja, mine führer.” Booster saluted while Beetle rolled his eyes and shoved his best friend out the doorway.
“You’re not allowed to watch bad WW2 war movies again,” Ted scolded.
“Aw, but--”
“No.”
“My Lordliness,” L-Ron piped up from behind the pile of paperwork on his tiny robot desk shoved in one corner of Max’s office. “It is possible they’re telling the truth and they have nothing to do with this situation.”
Max got up and started rolling down his sleeves, frowning at the AI. “L-Ron, you’ve been with us for quite a while now. When has that ever been the case?”
L-Ron was silent for a minute, sorting through his memories.
“Well … statistically, your deliciousness, it has to happen sometime.”
“I don’t think those two should ever be counted among normal statistics.” Max grabbed his suit jacket and headed out the door.
“You’re quite right, most high slicknessness,” L-Ron followed mournfully.
“Of course I am.”
They arrived almost three hours after the call from the JLA came in.
Booster had walked in on Bea in a rather … compromising situation, despite the very heavily barricaded and locked door to her quarters. That resulted in quite a lot of structural damage and a numerous burns that Sue had almost refused to treat just to teach Booster a lesson.
None of them had really wanted to interrupt Mary’s viewing time since the girl tended to forget her strength when she got emotional. (Plus, no one wanted to have to watch the movie a again any time in the next few months just to appease the girl.) So they’d had to wait at least an hour for that to finish.
There was a random burglary as they were leaving and a few complaints from the neighbours to deal with, so by the time they reached the nearest teleporter they were officially very late. Late enough that, were this a world-in-dire-straits situation, the world’s straits would be very dire indeed.
Max led the way from the teleporters, trying to ignore the wacky hijinks going on behind him.
Ralph was pointing out every new thing that had been added since his last visit while Sue clenched her teeth before saying he coldn’t tell what was new or not around here since it all looked like the same gray metal down every corridor. Bea was insisting, rather distractedly, that it wasn’t Mary’s fault that they were late, that of course they’d all wanted to finish watching the movie and that, if it was anyone’s fault, it was probably Booster and Beetle’s. A half-hearted protest was raised by the two, only because - thinking about it - it was probably true that whatever they’d been called to the Watchtower for was their fault.
“It makes a father proud, doesn’t it, Papa-Lord?”
“You know, L-Ron,” Max glanced down at the robot beside him, “the Antarctica branch is looking for a new managerial assistant.”
L-Ron was silent for a moment.
“Have I mentioned how much I like your shoes today, Mr. Lord?”
“No, but thank you for the compliment, L-Ron.”
“My pleasure, your most wonderfulness.”
The open door to the main JLA briefing room came into view and the Superbuddies all walked in apprehensively.
No one said anything. The gathered members of the JLA all looked stern, but that was expected. What wasn’t expected was the five sullen and apprehensive young superheroes sitting at the briefing table. Considering the way everyone was situated around the room, it was obvious Young Justice were in the JLA’s bad books. The reason for the Superbuddies being there was still eluding them all. But that wasn’t what was important.
“Ha! I told you I hadn’t done anything wrong!”
tbc ...
And I'll leave things there for now.
I apologise for weird little spelling mistakes, my spell-check wasn't working for some reason.