Justice League: Generation Worth Millions

Chapter 18: Bound by Bats

The airport was dark and still. We were scattered over the rooftops, waiting to attack when Justin arrived. He had a private jet waiting for him, the crew was doing maintenance like regular mechanics. But, we could tell they doubled as men hired to take us out. 90% of the time, no one was ever an "average Joe" if they were working for a villain like Justin.

I glanced toward the other side of the building, where Superboy and Kid Flash perched like panthers ready to strike. Superboy was summoning all the self control he could at the moment, but I knew his real test was coming when he had to let himself be captured. He hated this situation more than the rest of us, and he had more issues with it than I did. I may have an emotional storm due to my personal conflict with Justin, but Superboy was walking straight into his demons as well. Lex had created him in a test tube as an almost perfect replica of Superman, to destroy him. He hated Lex for making him exist, keeping him locked away like a lab rat, and now he was going straight back, for Kara.

He and Bart exchanged a few last words, then Connor flew after some goons that had already loaded up. The plan was for him to attack them somewhere along the road, and they would apprehend him. Meanwhile, the B team that we watched would get the news, and they would likely be much more confident with us knowing that they have not one, but two Kryptonians in their clutches.

Tim caught my gaze. "This is big for a lot of us."

"We wanted to be treated like adults so bad." We were crouching in the shadow of the control tower. I bent my head to catch a glimpse of its distant summit. "Now, I don't think I want to grow up anymore." This was a real adult mission. Everything depended on us, while our mentors had their hands tied. The stakes were overwhelming, the cost was too high, but there was no other way. Before, we fought, but always alongside our mentors, always knowing that they were going to carry the heavyweight. This time, it was on our shoulders, and I understood why they preserved us from it.

It could and would crush us if we made even the smallest mistake or miscalculation, and those fumbles were too easy to make.

"It was going to happen eventually." Tim had the coolest head out of all of us because he was the most experienced.  He'd been wearing the mask for a few years now, and his training had been extensive, way more than mine was. He traveled the world for months and learned from the same trainers Bruce had. Then he returned to numerous psychological tests to shape his mental state to match his physical state. After he passed with flying colors, he graduated into the full fledged third Robin to fight crime with Batman and Nightwing, and he was great at it, with or without help.

I forced myself into the cowl, by stealing Barbara Gordon's suit, knowing she wasn't going to use it. Batman knew he couldn't stop me, so he let Alfred make me my own suit, and gave me more "learn on the job" training. For that reason, I was never allowed to wear the suit solo. Robin ended up attached to my hip for the most part, Bruce trusted him to keep an eye on me, and up until a few weeks ago, we'd gone the whole year without any trouble and I'd learned a lot from them.

Movement with my peripheral caught my eye.

"Showtime." Robin said straightening up. "See you when we're bound up and tied."

"See ya", I muttered as he took off around the right side of the tower. KF and Miss Martian went to the left, I took my grappler gun and climbed to the top. I perched myself where I had a clear view of the terminal.

Justin came out minutes later wearing a coat, he was having a pleasing conversation on the phone. Trailing him was a limo driver. At least, he thought it was a limo driver. It was actually Miss Martian, she had changed her shape, Robin had put the real driver to sleep by now. He was probably dreaming of driving some fancy sports car through an endless road without anyone telling him when to stop or how fast to go.