Chapter Text
“A presidential ceremony?” Robin furrowed his eyebrows. “For what?”
“For Steve Trevor’s new super-team,” Nightwing replied. He crossed his arms, eyes narrowing a little bit behind his domino mask. “Batman wants a team on the ground there. Unveiling something like this is just asking for trouble.”
“Steve Trevor?” Bumblebee cocked an eyebrow. “Isn’t he the guy who brought Wonder Woman off of her ladies-only island and introduced her to the rest of the world?”
“That’s the one.” Nightwing nodded to the projection behind him, which switched to show a massive blowup of Steve Trevor’s face. “But he’s working alongside ARGUS now, and Wonder Woman says that she hasn’t seen him in months. Which means that he’s almost definitely on Amanda Waller’s payroll.”
“The former Belle Reve warden?” Superboy and Miss Martian exchanged glances. They remembered the formidable woman who governed the prison with an iron fist. “That Amanda Waller?”
“The very same.” The projection split to show Waller’s face side-by-side with Trevor’s. “She’s the head of ARGUS now, and lately they’ve been working very closely with CADMUS. The members of her and Trevor’s new team are going to be revealed today in DC. Even Batman doesn’t know who they are, but knowing Waller, there’s definitely some kind of ulterior motive.”
“So who’s on the ground?” Beast Boy jumped off the couch and morphed into a fly, then into a sparrow, then back into a human. “I vote me! I’ve been working on blending in with crowds.”
“Actually, Gar, I already have the squads all picked out, and you’re on Beta, not Alpha-who are the ones on the ground,” Nightwing said with a small smile. Beast Boy’s shoulders slumped a little. “I need you to be one of our eyes in the sky. A literal fly on the wall, as it were. You’re with Bumblebee and Miss Martian. Static and Beetle, you’re on Alpha with Robin.”
“Only two squads?” Wonder Girl frowned.
“The rest of us are staying here-if there’s a comm frequency that Waller’s using to talk to her new pawns, Robin will be able to patch into it. He’ll give us the frequency, and we can listen in on whatever they’re saying.” Nightwing started pacing. “Take the bioship. We need to get out there. A ceremony like this… It’s bound to attract some trouble.”
“Do we know the lineup of her team?” Miss Martian asked.
Nightwing shook his head. “No, we don’t. All we know is that if Waller’s pulling Trevor’s strings, it’s very bad news for the rest of us.”
“You’re not gonna like this, ‘Wing,” Tim said, narrowing his eyes at the two familiar faces onstage as the crowd around him cheered.
“You’re right, ” Dick agreed over the comms. He was watching the press conference himself from the Watchtower, eyes narrowed down into slits. “I don’t.”
‘Uncle J’onn?’ M’gann’s voice rang out over the mental link and over the comms. ‘What is he doing?’
“Martian Manhunter wouldn’t do anything without reason,” Dick soothed, fiddling with one of his batons absentmindedly. “I’m more worried about why Hawkman decided to defect to Waller’s side.”
‘How the hell did they get Stargirl?’ Karen’s indignant voice rang out over the link. ‘Isn’t she one of the ones that you were thinking about recruiting, Nightwing?’
Dick sighed. “She was, even if she doesn’t have a senior Leaguer as a mentor, but I don’t think there’s any point now that she’s on Waller’s little team.” He squinted at the blurry humanoid figure on the stage. “Is this camera’s quality bad, or is the third one on the left showing up really blurry for all of you, too?”
“Vibe?” Tim squinted behind his sunglasses. “He looks normal to me. I’ve never heard of him, though.”
“Must be a new vigilante on the scene if you haven’t heard of him,” Jaime mumbled. “I thought you guys and Batman kept track of every new cape on the scene?”
Tim shrugged a little bit. “We try to, at least. But I don’t know… I guess he must’ve slipped through the cracks.”
“Are you on the frequency yet?” Virgil asked, craning his neck and trying to take everything in. When Jaime nudged him, he shrugged. “What? I’ve never been to a presidential ceremony before.”
“I’m working on it.” Tim answered his question, chewing on his lip as he tapped at his watch. A loud squeal of static echoed out of it and Tim winced. “Give me another second-” He fidgeted with it again and the static stopped hissing. “There. I think this is it. Nightwing, are you getting anything?”
Back up on the Watchtower, Dick nodded as he tapped a few keys. “Yeah. Oracle’s helping us along from home base, too, so the connection should be fairly stable.”
Tim smiled a little bit to himself. “Good old Babs.”
“Who’s stepping out of line?"
Virgil jumped about a foot in the air as Waller’s voice sounded right next to his ear before he realized that it was coming from the comms. “Jeez, Nightwing, a little warning next time.”
“Ramon.” This time it was Trevor’s voice. “Thank God those glasses are hiding his eyes. They’ve probably been as wide as saucers since he set foot in DC. I hope you’re right about this kid and his powers, Waller.”
“Ramon?” Jaime whispered. “Who’s that?”
Tim frowned a little. “Vibe, I’m guessing. He’s the only one up there who’s name we don’t know.” He frowned deeper, eyebrows furrowing. “It looks awfully small for a super-team…”
“Our team only started out with five members, then six when Artemis joined,” Dick reminded them. “We don’t know the full extent of Stargirl’s abilities, we don’t know anything about Vibe, Hawkman has the tendency to attack first and ask questions later, Steve’s got military training and more, Katana is a world-renknowned assassin, and as for J’onn… He’s probably one of the most powerful metahumans on the planet. This is still a very, very dangerous group. Don’t underestimate them.”
Above the crowd in the camouflaged bioship, M’gann sighed and closed her eyes. Why was her uncle doing this? He must’ve known how cruel Waller could be. How this could only mean bad news for the Justice League and the Team-if not the world at large.
So why had he joined Waller’s-what was it called again? Had it even been announced? It must’ve been, but-
As if in reply, the answer was shouted up at her through a microphone. “-The Justice League of America-”
‘Because of course that was their name,’ M’gann thought bitterly. ‘ Bad enough they stole my uncle, now they’re trying to steal the name of the Justice League itself-’
‘We can hear you, you know,’ Karen thought back, and M’gann jolted.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to let my thoughts drift like that. It won’t happen again,’ she apologized.
That was way more of a rookie mistake than they were used to M’gann making. She was senior member of the team, they all knew how well trained and formidable she could be. Tim’s shoulders tensed a little. J’onn’s defection must’ve shaken her a lot more than she was trying to let on.
It had shaken all of them a lot more than they were letting on. J’onn had been one of the very first members of the Justice League, and none of the League members had mentioned anything about him deciding to go off and join a team full of rookies.
The same went for Hawkman. While it had been his wife, Hawkwoman, who was one of the founding League members, he’d still been close to the entire League. (Which meant that they all knew how hot-headed he could be.) What could’ve happened to drive them both to join a team made up of an unknown, a Colonel who used to be with Wonder Woman, an assassin, and a teenager with really good PR?
They needed to find out the answer, and fast.
Or else this whole thing could cause an even bigger explosion than the one they were expecting.