The air inside the Cave was thick with the scent of salt and old machinery, a lingering reminder of the Justice League's former secret base. It was supposed to be empty, a silent hollow waiting for its new residents. But I'd been sitting in the rafters for three hours, watching the shadows stretch across the floor, waiting for the zeta-tubes to chime.
On my right hand, the ring felt like a lead weight. It was dull, the usual emerald glow replaced by a matte, lifeless grey. Without a Central Power Battery to tether it to, the ring was just a fancy paperweight unless I fed it. Willpower was the fuel, but a ring without a charge was like a car without an engine. I needed a jumpstart, and I knew exactly which Kryptonian-sized battery was about to walk through the door.
After months of scavenging and planning my first move, the waiting was finally over. My entry into this world, everything rested on this specific moment.
A sudden flash of light illuminated the mountain's interior, followed by the mechanical drone of the computer.
"Recognized: Batman, 0-2. Aqualad, B-0-2. Kid Flash, B-0-3. Robin, B-0-1. Superboy, B-0-4."
I didn't move. I let the red bleed into my eyes, the three black tomoe spinning into existence. The world shifted. The darkness of the Cave became a tangled web of heat signatures and electrical currents. I watched the way Batman moved, every step was a calculated negation of sound. Beside him, the boy in the red and yellow suit was a blur of kinetic energy, his heart beating like a hummingbird's wings.
"The Cave has been fully renovated," Batman's voice echoed, cold and authoritative. "It will serve as your covert operations base."
"This place is huge," Kid Flash said, his voice bouncing off the walls as he zipped around the perimeter. "Wait. Why is the motion sensor in Sector Four showing a ghost?"
"It is not a ghost, Wally," Robin muttered, his fingers dancing across a holographic display on his wrist. "Something is bypassing the proximity alarm by mimicking the base's internal resonance. That is... actually impressive."
"You can come down now," Batman said, his scowl turning toward the rafters where I sat. He didn't sound surprised. He sounded like a man who was already deciding which cell to put me in.
I dropped, falling thirty feet through the air. A split second before impact, I channeled a surge of pure, focused intent into the ring. It flared with a desperate, flickering spark of green, just enough to create a cushioned platform that caught me inches from the floor before vanishing again.
I stood up, brushing dust off my jacket. "I would have knocked, but your front door is a teleporter. That is a bit of a mixed message, do you not think?"
Superboy was the first to react. He didn't know about nuance yet; he only knew the anger that had been cooked into his DNA at Cadmus. He lunged, a powerhouse of raw strength. I didn't flinch. With the Sharingan active, his movements were telegraphed by the tensing of his traps and the shift of his center of gravity. I stepped to the left, letting him whistle past, and placed a hand on his shoulder just to show him I could.
"Easy, big guy," I said, my voice calm. "I am not the enemy. I am just a guy with a dead battery and some very important information."
"Explain the eyes," Aqualad commanded, his hands moving toward his water-bearers. He was the anchor of the group, his posture radiating a quiet, tidal strength. "And that ring. You are no Green Lantern."
Did he not just see the green energy I used? "The eyes are a family heirloom. The ring is... an independent contractor," I said, holding up my hand so the grey band was visible. I looked directly at Batman. "I know about the Project Blockbuster data you recovered. I also know that the Light is currently wondering how three sidekicks and a science project managed to wreck a multi-billion dollar laboratory in one night."
The tension in the room spiked. Robin stopped typing. Batman's eyes narrowed, his silhouette becoming even more predatory.
"How do you have that information?" the Dark Knight asked.
"I make it my business to know things," I replied, stepping toward the center of the room. I kept my movements slow and non-threatening. "But right now, I have a problem. This ring is a marvel of engineering, but it is currently starving. I need a massive influx of willpower to jumpstart the internal capacitor. And since I do not have a lantern, I was hoping the 'Symbol of Hope' might be willing to lend a hand."
"The ring is uncharged?" Robin asked, stepping closer, his curiosity momentarily overriding his suspicion. "If it is not connected to the Corps, how does it even function?"
"Creatively," I said with a smirk. "I have modified it to accept external surges of power. If Superboy here is willing to stop trying to punch me and instead focus that stubbornness of his into a singular point of intent, I can jumpstart it once more."
Superboy crossed his arms, his brow furrowed. "I do not even know what that means."
"It means you are the most determined person in this room," I said, looking him in the eye. "You spent sixteen weeks in a tube dreaming of the sun. Give me a taste of that drive."
I held the ring out. I knew the risk. If I couldn't get the ring online, I was just a teenager with a fancy visual quirk standing in a room full of the world's most dangerous protectors. But I also knew the future. I knew about the reach, the traitors, and the cosmic threats that were already turning their eyes toward Earth.
Becoming the strongest was the goal, but you cannot rule a graveyard.
"Help me help you," I said softly. "Because the things coming for this planet do not care about your secret identities."
Batman stared at me for a long, agonizing minute. The silence was so heavy I could hear the hum of the mountain's power grid. Finally, he gave a nearly imperceptible nod to Aqualad.
"We will hear him out," Batman said. "But if that ring glows red instead of green, you will find out exactly how we deal with intruders."
Again did they not see the green energy? But at this point, I didn't care. I felt the first hook of my narrative sink in. I was in the door. Now, I just had to make sure I didn't get kicked back out. "Fair enough. Who wants to go first? I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot of each other."
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Q: What do you thing Vex Vale's long term plan is with the league?
AN: This is my first fanfic yall wish me luck : )