Sword of The Lanterns

Chapter Six- Meeting the Team

They knew something was up.

Every League member had been checking in and out of Mount Justice all day, curiously looking around and leaving when nothing clearly seemed to be happening.

"What do you think's going on?" Wally West, a.k.a Kid Flash, asked his teammates as Hawkman and Hawkwoman came and went. It was a summer day, and all of them were bored and hot on top of being suspicious. Not a good combination for a team of angsty, super-powered kids.

Richard Grayson, Robin to his teammates and Rick to those who knew his secret identity, mad no indication of having heard his best friend's remark. His girlfriend, Zatanna, peered over his shoulder as he typed on his watch computer, trying to hack a mysterious transmission between Batman and the Green Lanterns that had occurred the other day.

Connor Kent, Superboy, seemed to be the only one in the group who wasn't bored. He simply sat on the couch next to Zatanna and watched the broken TV play nothing but static, as he had for the past half hour. Thankfully, the volume was turned down.

In the kitchen, Artemis Crock (her superhero alias went by the same name) was attempting to help Miss Martian, M'gann, bake some cookies without burning them. Raquel Ervin, Rocket, helped as best as she could.

And that left Kaldur'ahm, Kaldur to his friends and Aqualad when on-duty, sitting in the easy chair, legs crossed, hand on his chin, as he too contemplated the strange behavior of their mentors and allies.

"What's the point of the League calling us all here today when they don't even have a mission for us?" Artemis asked, vigorously turning the egg-shaped timer to set it for ten minutes and slamming it down on the stovetop next to the bowl of cookie dough.

"This isn't one of their "social club" things, is it?" Raquel asked.

"It wouldn't be training, we spent four hours with Canary on Monday!" Wally rubbed his back tenderly, where it was still sore from where the Team's trainer had attempted to teach him a lesson.

"Told ya you should have slowed down, Kid Mouth," Robin smirked, his face illuminated by the blue screen of his holo-computer. Wally glared at the back of his friend's head, and Zatanna giggled. The two were best friends, but they bickered like three-year-olds.

"Perhaps it is a different form of training." Kaldur mused.

"What, you mean like that-" unlike at training, Wally's mouth caught up with his mind, and he shut up before he could remind over half the people in the room of the traumatizing event.

Artemis eyed Wally only slightly angry. Now that she was finally able to admit her feelings for the klutzy boy, she found it almost impossible to stay mad at him for long.

"This is a fact." She stated.

"Team, report to the mission room." The voice of Batman echoed over the PA system, getting even Connor's attention.

"Finally, some excitement." The juvenile clone of Superman cracked his knuckles and followed his teammates to the mission room.

Superman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Aquaman, Icon, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and the team's supervisor, Red Tornado, were all waiting with Batman when the team arrived, edgy and clearly suffering from a bad case of cabin fever.

"What's the matter, Batman?" M'gann asked, floating in the air above her teammates with Raquel. The two of them were the only team members with flying powers.

"I apologize for making you all wait here, but this is something you all need to be present for and she wasn't quite ready until now."

Robin, who didn't miss a beat, caught the word.

"'She'?"

Keyword identified, the rest of the team stood up a little straighter, no longer bored.

Black Canary put a hand to the earpiece in her ear. "They're waiting, Hal."

Behind their assorted mentors, one of the two zeta-tube stations began to light up with bright golden yellow zeta-beams. Everyone except for Robin, who was wearing shades, put a hand over their eyes to protect them from the blinding light.

"Recognize; Green Lantern, 05. Green Lantern, 14. Recognize; Jaina Solo, A02. Authorization; Green Lantern, 05."

One Lantern after another stepped through the tubes, followed by a young girl about the same age as Connor, M'gann, and Kaldur. Which is to say, sixteen. She had shoulder-length chocolate brown hair and matching eyes, a button nose, and a green and black uniform not dissimilar to the uniform that the other two Green Lanterns were wearing. It had black sleeves and pant legs, with a pair of green boots, green shorts and a sleeveless top connected by a thin belt over the black part.

The new girl smiled somewhat confidently at the Team arrayed in front of her. "Hey."

Batman coughed, gaining the attention of the eight team members.

"Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin, Superboy, Miss Martian, Artemis, Zatanna, and Rocket, meet your newest team member. Jaina Solo."

Hal Jordan put an arm around his new protege. "Jaina, meet the team."

M'gann flew forward and landed in front of Jaina. "I'm Miss Martian, but my real name is M'gann. Or you can call me by my earth name, Megan!"

Jaina shook M'gann's hand, like Hal and John had taught her, and smiled. "It's really nice go meet you, M'gann."

She didn't know why, but something seemed familiar about this green girl.

"I'm Kid Flash!" Jaina felt a gust of air, and when she brushed the bangs out of her eyes, she saw another red head leaning on her shoulder. "Call me Wally!" Of course, Wally had given up on flirting with other girls since he finally got with Artemis, but that didn't mean he couldn't be friendly to the new girl, could he?

Fortunately for Wally, he had the perfect joke for the interstellar new girl.

"Hey, how does NASA organize their company parties?" He asked.

Jaina had no idea what NASA was, and she could barely even recall what a party was.

"What?"

"They planet."

Jaina had no idea what had just happened, but everyone else was groaning, so she just winced slightly.

"I'm Robin!" The Boy Wonder volunteered next. "This is Zatanna, the moody one is M'gann's boyfriend, Connor, Artemis is this idiot's girlfriend-" he gave Wally a playful shove, "-That's Raquel, and that's Kaldur." He pointed out each of the other teammates in succession.

They all smiled warmly at Jaina, except for Connor, who just nodded. Aqualad walked forwards and shook Jaina's hand.

"Welcome to the team." He told her.

Jaina smiled, and then stopped.

His eyes were green.