Young Justice: Ephyra

The Team Is Born

MOUNT JUSTICE

July 8, 08:04 EDT

Ephyra was practically ecstatic and only the threat of Batman's presence caused her to contain it. Her face was straight, though there was a small upwards curve in the corner of her lips, and her eyes gleamed with excitement and pride. She couldn't believe she was going to be on this new team. Several leaguers were there, though only seven were standing with the five of them on a type of circular platform. She assumed this was probably close to the middle of the cave from its huge size. She had only exchanged a few words of greeting with her friends, before taking her place beside Superboy when Black Canary went over next to a red robot with a yellow T on his chest and blue cape, and the Batman began speaking.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," the Dark Knight says walking a couple paces before stopping to look back at Ephyra and the others, "We're calling it into service again; since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight." He pauses slightly, "You will do it on league terms," he says in a serious tone.

Their attention switched to the other leaguers in the room who were present, their eyes shifting to the ones that Batman named. "Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary is in charge of training." He turns to look away from the two leaguers and back at them, "I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions," Robin asks with some hope in his voice.

"Yes," Batman answers as he walks a bit closer to stand in front of Robin and Kid Flash, "but covert."

The Flash speaks up from his place behind Wally, his arms crossed over his chest. "The league will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chest," he says pointing to his yellow and white emblem.

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman adds, "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," he says looking to the Dark Knight.

Batman looks from Aquaman back to the five children. "The six of you will be that team."

Ephyra felt pride gathering inside of her and glanced at Superboy. I still can't believe this happening.

Superboy glances at her and shares a discrete smile. Same here.

Robin smirks before grinning a bit, "Cool," he pauses and frowns. "Wait six?"

Ephyra soon became puzzled as well as she remembered there were only five of them.

Batman answers their confusion by tilting his head slightly to where he seemed to be looking at something behind them. All five of them turned to see what (well whom) it was.

The green man she'd seen speaking to Superman at the Cadmus warehouse was walking over to them from the shadows of the zeta-beam. He wasn't alone though, there was a girl walking next to him, who looked to be around their ages.

She had green skin like her older Martian counterpart, but had hair auburn-colored hair, with amber eyes. Faint freckles were on her cheeks, similar to Kid Flash's. She seemed to be wearing a one piece outfit that had a white t-shirt, with a red X over it, that went up to her shoulders, while the bottom section connected to another thick red strip around her waist. A golden circular buckle rested on the red stripe, before it led down to a mini skirt, slightly lower than her mid thighs, which was blue. She had matching blue boots that came up to just below her caves, and had a blue cape that started half way at her neck before going down and covering her shoulders and collarbones, before falling down her back a bit lower than her skirt, but higher than her knees.

She walked over with Uncle, stopping beside him, her left arm venturing over to grip the crook of her left elbow, which remained at her side.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece; Miss Martian," Batman says, introducing the girl.

"H-Hi..." Miss Martian says shyly, with a small wave of her left hand.

"Liking this gig more every minute," Kid Flash mutters to Robin with a sly grin. Ephyra just rolls her eyes from her place near Superboy. Sarcastic, rude, and a flirt: the epitome of infuriatingly annoying.

The speedster starts forward, "Uh welcome aboard!" He stops a bit short of her with a hand on his hip, while he uses the other to point his thumb at himself, "I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin," he says gesturing to his friend as he holds up a spider-man imitation gesture with his hands, "Aqualad," he says gesturing to the Atlantean. "Cool if you forget their names," he says breezily.

Ephyra heaves a sigh and gives a Superboy a pained look, to which he just a smiles a bit and pats her back.

Miss Martian was just smiling at them all as she clasped her hands together at her chest. "I'm honored to be included."

Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin walk up to her a bit more closely, but Ephyra and Superboy keep their distance.

Superboy was looking at the ground and Ephyra frowned at his expression. You okay?

He glances at her about to respond through their link before they're interrupted as Robin calls over, "Hey Superboy, Ephyra, come meet Miss M."

They exchange a glance and Ephyra walks over with Superboy as they meet girl.

"Robin already told you our names," she said simply, to clearly state that she didn't know what else to say and wasn't going to.

Still the girl didn't stop smiling, "I like your hair." She says nodding a little to the natural, blonde streak in her hair, usually was a bang, but was combed over instead.

She glanced at Superboy who remained silent, before glancing down as she shifted her attire. Her skirt, buckle, and the Red X remaining, but the cape and white shirt vanishing, to be replaced by a black t-shirt.

"I like your t-shirt." She says glancing up at Superboy with a gentle smile.

Ephyra smiles a bit herself as Superboy glances up from her shirt and returns the smile. Ephyra shifts away discretely until she's a bit closer to Aqualad, just in time because Robin scoots over to Superboy and elbows him in the chest, while giving him a sly smile. Wally does the same speeding over except rests a hand on his shoulder and offers a grin.

They look to Aqualad to with smiles and he smiles a bit. "Today is the day."

---------------------------------------------

"Cadmus changes today," Guardian says sitting behind a desk as he looks up at his lead scientists and Dubbilex. "With Desmond out of the picture, the board's placed me in charge." He looks to the dark-skinned doctor, "Dr. Spence, you're acting chief scientist." He leans forward a bit, "No more G-Gnomes suppressing our wills," he says. "No more secret breeding projects. This is a kinder, gentler Cadmus."

"Then I will of course, help in any way that I can," Dubbilex says.

Eight screens in a semi-circle watch the live-streaming video of Guardian and the two others at Cadmus. The screen disappears and leaves them in silence, before one breaks the silence.

"Can The Light afford to leave Guardian in charge without the G-Gnomes?" One asks in deep and faintly guttural tone.

"We have subtle means of control," another voice says, before continuing. "What concerns me, is the children." A screen pops up with Superboy, Ephyra, Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad on a Cadmus security camera photo, running down the halls. "We now know the league is going to employ young heroes to do their dirty work."

A tongue clicks from the first voice sounding disapproving, "That's a dark twist." He pauses. "But one that can be played to our advantage. Even the temporary loss of the weapon can prove useful," he says in a matter-a-fact tone. "Eventually, everyone sees The Light."