Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 11:44:57 -0800 (PST) From: Adam Subject: Teenage Justice League - Chapter 10 The characters of Green Lantern, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Wonderwoman are all trademarks of DC Comics. The same goes for any characters that may be mentioned, even if they are not alive. As for the new version of the Justice League...besides the name of Nightwing are all my own creation, with the exception of Virtue, which comes from my friend, Saphire. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'm sorry about the delay last time. I know their was a big interval between releases of chapters. And I also want to thank everyone for writing to me. I really appriciate it. And if you have any ideas please send them to me. Which reminds me, I changed my e-mail address, it is now liberateme03@yahoo.com Feel free to send something that way. And I hope you enjoy the chapter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teenage Justice League Chapter 10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I've been waiting for you Adam...Cody came back two hours ago and told me you were on your way. What the hell were you doing." Adam stepped back startled by Green Lantern's approach towards him. Nightwing and Pyro came out of their rooms to watch from their doorways to see what was going on. A quick glance their way from Green Lantern however sent them back in their rooms, leaving the two alone, although Adam was well aware that Cody was listening from his bedroom, an unfairness to having super hearing. Adam just walked past Green Lantern, pissed that the man even thought he had his own reason to be upset with him. He could hear footsteps right behind his as he entered his bedroom and knew that when the door shut that Green Lantern was going to be standing in the room behind him. Sure enough as he turned and tossed his notepad down Green Lantern was standing their with annoyance written on his face. The choice was clear, both of them stared each other down with defiance in their eyes. Adam knew Green Lantern was waiting for an excuse, but he also felt that none was needed. Green Lantern had assigned his own boyfriend to follow him and lied to them all about Wonderwoman's death. So he stared back at his mentor waiting for answers to questions he didn't feel like asking. "What is wrong with you? You just disappear with out telling anyone and then come back hours after Cody, by yourself. You could have got hurt, you can't just wonder about by yourself, something could happen to you." "I told Cody I was going out and I'm not a child, I can look out for myself. You act like I did something wrong but you are the one who sent a babysitter out to look after me. Why did you think I was going to do? You act like Virtue is some super criminal with a plot to kill us or something, he was trying to help us, he saved my life and told me more then you've told me about certain things. I can trust people better then you, not just because of my powers but because I'm not as hard headed as you." Adam stopped, he hadn't meant to say that, he wasn't trying to insult Green Lantern, but it had just come out. "You haven't been around long enough to learn all the ropes. Even the most trustworthy people can turn their backs on you, but you haven't learned that yet. I was looking out for you because you aren't invincible, you could easily be hurt or worse. I trusted Cody to look out for you because he's your boyfriend, I knew if you found him you would be less upset if it was him. You may think I'm hard headed, but I'm just cautious. On the other hand you rush into things too fast." "I had a plan, I didn't rush into anything. I took my time, I planned where I was going to go and in what order before I even left and I even took notes to make sure I covered everything I needed. I had a ride and a back up ride, how does that make me rushing into anything. I thought it all out." Adam replied with anger, annoyed that Green Lantern would even try to accuse him of being too quick in his actions. "What was your plan Adam? What did you do...did you go and find Virtue and talk to him about life? About Hawkgirl and me? What?" Green Lantern asked in frustation, obviously annoyed that the argument was going nowhere close to an answer. "I found Wonderwoman, that's what I did. Virtue told me someone was still alive, and I went out to find out who. I narrowed it down to the cemetery, and I found her, I found her island, I even talked to her. Why didn't you just tell us that she needed to leave? Why couldn't you have told us now, no harm would have come of us knowing the truth. It might have even taught us a valuable lesson about choices. But instead you lied to us, just like you always do. You treat us like kids most of the time, and I know we aren't ready for everything yet, but we certainly won't get any better with out using our own judgments." "You found Diana?" Green Lantern didn't say anything else, only turned and walked away, leaving Adam very upset that nothing had been resolved, and a little lost as to what to do now. It suddenly came to him that he knew Diana was alive, but could do nothing with it. He couldn't even talk to Lois about it, he wasn't even sure she knew. And Virtue came to him, not vice-versa, so for the time being he was living with information that was eating him alive, waiting for answers. Instead he was getting annoyance and frustration. It was a matter of two minutes before a knocking came to his door. He knew it was Cody, knew that an apology was on the other side of the door, and an explanation. He wasn't sure that he wanted to hear it, he was too upset at the moment to listen to his own boyfriend explain spying on him. On the other hand he hated going to bed mad at him, and he could also use someone to talk to. It was either now or never, because in a few hours they would all have to take their shifts and then nothing would be solved between the two. "Come in." Cody slid in the room quietly, his head down to the floor. The door shut behind him and he stopped. He wasn't sure if he should walk forward and sit down beside Adam or just explain the situation he was in from the entrance of the room. Adam just stared up at him, waiting for him to make that decision. "Can I sit down?" "yes" Adam replied as he made room for Cody on his bed. Cody sat down and looked up at Adam, trying to think of something to say. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have followed you, but when Green Lantern asked me it got me thinking. I was really worried Adam, he's right ya know, I mean, he can be sometimes. We don't know who Virtue is, we don't even know if he's telling you the truth. I was just scared of what could happen, you didn't even tell me what you were doing. Sometimes I just get ideas in my head of what could happen to you, it's not that you're weak, it's just that you don't have any thing to protect you. I feel like I need to do that, like it's responsibility. That's the reason I followed you, not because he asked me too, but because I wanted to. I know it was an invasion on you, but you have to believe me, I did it to look out for you." Adam didn't know what to say, something about the fact that Cody felt like he needed protecting made him feel like he was a baby, but on the other hand, it made him feel nice that Cody was there to look out for him and make sure that nothing was going wrong or was happening to him. But with both thoughts in his head he didn't know how to respond to the comment. "Please Adam, at least tell me if you're mad at me, cuz I'm really sorry about the whole thing." Cody replied as he watched Adam think. "You shouldn't have followed me, but your honest excuse makes me feel pretty good. Although I can take care of myself it's nice to know that you want to take care of me anyways. But in the future I'd like it if you were on my side, because I know you trust me judgment, and that would make at least someone else believe in me." Adam replied, making up his mind and choosing not to be mad. "Okay baby." Cody replied, leaning down and capturing Adam's lips wit his own, he cut the kiss short and stood up. "I'm sorry that I have to rush, but I'm supposed to go with Pyro to check out the garbage port. My mom doesn't think it's working right, she wants me and Pyro to see if we can't weld it better in place. When I get done though we'll talk, it's so weird knowing that Diana's alive." Cody rushed out of the room, leaving Adam by himself. Once again thoughts of the whole Diana situation came to his head as he leaned back in his bed. He had a lot to think about. Meanwhile others are speaking as well about new situations. Similar situations that our bound together. "I hope I didn't cause any problems, but I thought that maybe he should know." "It's alright, when I explain to my sisters that they were members of the Justice League, and tell them the situation they will understand. It will not cause much turmoil here, my people have become a little better trustworthy of men since I have taken over as queen. I also believe if I explain their relationship with one another it will make the situation even easier to accept." Diana replied to Virtue, as she peered over the rocks of her island and into the sea. "Adam is inquisitive, but I don't think he's discovered all his strengths yet. They haven't been up against a hard enough foe, but yet they are still struggling. Jessie was a tough foe for them, if I hadn't stepped in I'm not sure they would have won the battle without a casualty. Of course, Green Lantern is teaching them, but he could use some help." "He will teach them fine, it is no one else's place to give help to them. No one has stood as a pillar in justice like he has, and he has gone through enough to stay there. I for one have no place as a leader, I stepped down years ago. And you, yourself are still learning a few things as well." Diana stood up and motioned for Virtue to follow her down the side of the cliff. "You know my guards have stopped asking me why I come out here. I think they have either grown tired of me ignoring the question, or have accepted the fact that I have my own privacy still." "Perhaps they are aware that you are talking to me. Your guards are very smart, and if they know that you speak with a man, maybe they choose to not follow so that they do not have to report it and cause a situation out of it." Virtue replied with a smile. "You could be right." Diana replied with her own smile. "But speaking of situations, I must go and address my sisters about today's situation. You'll continue to keep an eye out for them though, and report to me if any thing new emerges?" "That's all I've got to do for now." Virtue replied with a nodding acceptance. "I'm interested anyways in seeing where things go with Adam, I honestly believe he's got something inside of him that he hasn't found yet. But until then I'll just keep watching them, waiting and reporting." "At least I know they have a good watcher. I will speak with you soon I hope." Diana replied as she watched Virtue soar into the sky heading back towards Gotham and Metropolis, not knowing where he would end up. Meanwhile back on the space station, Green Lantern was uninterestingly watching Cody and Pyro work on the garbage shoot. His mind was elsewhere, particularly on Adam, which also seemed to be the conversation among the two heroes working. "So you two been fucking?" Cody almost burned a whole right through the space station with that question. His concentration on exerting little heat was almost blown as Pyro asked the question and then laughed afterwards seeing the reaction it had garnered. "Ya know, I mean, we all know you're dating, so what's a little kiss and tell between guys?" "I'm already in deep water, I'd rather not go blurting out our private stuff." Cody replied and went back to work, but he could feel Pyro's eyes on his back, and knew that Pyro was still waiting for an answer that would silence him. "Well, I don't know, if I were in your position, not that I'd ever date a dude..." Cody let the comment fall on deaf ears, knowing that although Pyro wasn't the nicest of his friends, at least he was honest and meant no harm in the long run. "I'd be fucking him. You've been dating too long not to, cuz if I were in a relationship and the chick weren't putting out I'd dump her ass." Cody looked up and shook his head at Pyro, just sending him a look that needed no words to accompany it. Pyro didn't know what the hell it was for, and just stared back at Superboy. "Relationships aren't just about sex you dumbass. It's just an added bonus." "So what you are saying is that you've got to taste that added bonus a couple times for yourself?" Pyro asked with a gleam in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. Cody didn't have to say anything to admit that he had. The way he had said added bonus had given Pyro all the clues he needed to form his own answer without any more evidence. "How many times a week, like five or six? I bet the Boy of Steel has to get off at least double that a week. So you pounding him like every morning when you wake up and every night before you guys go to bed?" Cody stopped working on the garbage shoot and looked up at Pyro with anger in his eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that Green Lantern was watching them (Cody is unaware that Green Lantern isn't really focusing on them) he would have leapt through the space dividing them and started to pummel his annoying friend. Instead he just started to fly towards the door, finished with his side of the work anyways. Pyro turned up the heat coming out of his arms and finished quickly, then turned to catch up with Superboy. As they entered the space station Cody made a quick turn to head towards his mom's room to let her know they had finished, but Pyro grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Listen dude, I was just playing. It's cool if your getting action, the rest of us sure as hell aren't. But seriously, didn't mean to piss you off that much." Pyro replied with a smile as he finished with a small snicker. "I was trying to get you riled up a bit, didn't want you to blow your top." "It's no big deal." Cody replied with a forced smile, hoping that Pyro would just walk off after that, but he got no such luck as Pyro started to follow him towards his mother's room. As they walked in Lois turned and smiled at them, waving them in to sit down. "Did you boys finish the door?" "Yeah, we got it done, anything else." Pyro replied quickly, cutting off Cody. "No, that's alright, go relax for like fifteen minutes. I think Green Lantern wants to talk to us about something. I'm not sure what, but I'm sure we'll find out rather shortly." Lois replied and waved them out of the door in the same manner she had waved them into the room. Cody walked out and turned the corner heading towards his bedroom. Pyro followed him, but at the last minute turned into his own room, leaving Cody with a smile on his face at last. As Cody's door shut he slid off his outfit and tossed it to the floor. He was hot from all the welding and just needed to cool off for a little bit. He looked through his closet searching for something to wear, but really didn't have much to an alternative of his outfit. Except for varying other outfits, including a kryptonite suit, other than that he had a choice of jeans or sweatpants. He chose the sweatpants and pulled them on, choosing to remain shirtless though as he was still too hot to cover completely up. He weighed the option of heading over to Adam's room and seeing if they couldn't talk about all that had went on earlier in the door, but then he thought against it. His mom had said they would be having a meeting in twenty minutes, and that meant their would be little time for them to have any serious discussion. He didn't want to start a lengthy conversation without time to finish it. That would just make things more annoying before bed. So instead he turned on some music and laid down on his bed. He could always relax that way and at least maybe catch a few z's before the meeting. Even ten minutes of sleep helps a little bit. Down on Earth a meeting was going on as well. "My sisters, I know that by now you have all heard that we had some men on the island today. And I also know that you are aware that they left without punishment, and without injury. Their is good reason for both their arrival to the island, and their safe departure." Small voices of concern and disapproval filled the crowd of Amazonian woman, but none of them were loud enough to actually cause a disturbance. Diana continued with her speech as they silenced back down with the quick raise of her hand. "Their were two teenagers, the son of Superman, and his boyfriend another member of the Justice League. They were not asked to the island, nor did anyone bring them here. It was by Adam's powers that he found out that I was still alive, a secret that the new Justice League is not aware of, but he came to find me. He did not know that their would be reprecussion for his actions. Cody simply followed him as ordered by Green Lantern, but they were not aware of where they would be following him to. They were spoken with briefly by me, but sent on their way and asked not to return. I am sorry for the slight disturbance that may have been caused by you. But I thank you for your quick reaction to their arrival and your trust in my decision on how I handled it." Diana stepped down from her small podium and was led back to her palace by her two closest guards. The crowd disassembled quickly, not much disapproval among them. As the doors to her palace closed Diana let her cloak fall and took a seat on her throne. Her guards took their positions beside her and watched their ruler with concern. She was being distant towards them and they wished to know why. "What concerns you Diana?" One of them finally asked after much eye questioning from one another. "Oh, just a lot on my mind after speaking to our visitors. I would have liked to have talked to them more, but I did not want to keep them on the island, as our sacred law had already been broken. They just brought back a lot from the past." Diana replied, staring back at the door of her palace in silence. The guards found the answer suitable, or at least bowed to her wish for silence. But on the space station similar silence was being given. The table was full with all the members, but Green Lantern remained silent as he looked a picture of all his friends on the wall, a memorable plaque with all their names on it. He too was thinking about the past, and he couldn't put everything out of his mind as he finally stood to speak. "Adam told me today that I was hard headed, and that I needed to let you all learn things for yourself. I've hidden many things from you all, some I felt you shouldn't know, and some that I just didn't know how to explain. I have even hidden some things from the past from Lois, whom probably is shocked by that announcment." In fact the opposite was true, Lois sat at her seat in silence, no face of shock covering her face, just a look of a listening face. "I believe now that you all should know the truth about something that I hid from you all. Adam would have eventually let it slip, and I feel I should tell you instead." All eyes of the table went straight to Adam, who turned red with embarrassment at the attention. "I lied to you when I told you all that Wonderwoman was died. She in fact is not. She lives on with her people, their ruler from now til her death. We allowed her to live, cloaked her disappearance in her death. We had good reason, and she had good reason to leave. Her people needed her, she had to choose them over justice, but she had served justice for so long. And it wasn't easy, we were icons at that time, she never would have made it to her island undiscovered if we simply said she was going home. So we let her leave, let her die, and let Diana live. It was not the great of choices, it was the only choice we had. That's a lesson, one that I have to teach you, but one you won't learn until you do it for yourselves. Which is why I'm going to step down, I'm giving in my ring to the council. I've trained you for a long time, but you have to learn the rest on your own. I trust that Lois can watch over you, but you truly are on our you own now." The room was shocked, too shocked for words. They watched as Green Lantern slipped off his ring, his eyes faded from green to brown, but he still looked so heroic in his outfit. They all wanted to say something, but within a second the ring was inside a green tube of light, and within another second it disappeared, to where none of them knew, but they knew it was gone for good. The Green Lantern they knew was gone. "Thank you." Adam stood up and walked over to Green Lantern, pulling him into a hug, although a rather tentative one. "I'm sorry I said that, but thank you for being there for us, for helping us with every thing. I'd wish you would reconsider, you could stay even with out your ring." The others watched the display, all of them wanted to add in, but even Lois could think of nothing to say to keep him. "I have other things to do now, but I trust that you can help yourselves now." Green Lantern replied, breaking the hug and stepping back. "I'm not good with goodbyes, so I won't even try." And that was it, he just turned and left the room. None of them knew how he was going to leave, but after five minutes of silence they saw him flying past their windo in a jet pack and a space suit, they didn't even care about how they would get it all back. Lois was the first to stand, besides Adam who hadn't even sat down yet. "We've all had a long day." She paused, tears were welling up in her eyes, but she held them back. "Why don't you all go to bed early, I'll watch the station." She walked out of the room quickly, leaving them all still silent. Cody wanted to follow his mother and see how she was holding up, but he wasn't sure of what he would even say. Finally he stood and grabbed Adam's hand, the two of them left together, and heading down the hallway. The rest of the room was left in silence once again. Adam knew what Cody was doing, they were heading towards Lois's room and he knew that they were going to check on her. Both of them could only imagine how hard this was hitting her. Green Lantern and her had been the last of the Justice League, the only ones left holding up Justice and teaching the teenagers how to follow their leads, but now she was by herself, the only one left. They entered her room without knocking, and Cody walked straight to her bed, letting his mother rest her head on his shoulder as she cried. Adam took a seat on the other side of her, running his hand up and down her back hoping to soothe her a little bit. "I'm sorry Lois, but I'm sure he thought long and hard about it." Adam whispered, continuing to rub her back. She lifted her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, trying to smile for them. "I know he did, I knew he would. It's just so hard to find yourself alone, all of your friends gone, dead or moved on. I can't leave this job, I'm the only one without real powers, without any actual powers at all, and I could never walk away." Lois wiped away her tears and stood up. "Thanks for stopping in to check on me though, I just need to be by myself for a little while to get things straight." Cody hugged his mother one last time and then led Adam out of the room. They walked down the hallway slowly and silently towards his room, which for some reason just felt like the most comfortable place after the day they had just had. Soon they both found themselves in their boxers laying under the covers, Cody's arms around Adam's body holding him close, Adam resting his head on Cody's chest. Adam was listening to Cody's heart beat, and Cody was seemingly just taking in the view. Neither one of them wanted to break the silence, the lack of words seemed so comfortable, and the introduction of them would only seem to cause confusion. But they both knew that wasn't going to happen, one of them had to begin the conversation that now seemed so unimportant. "I'm sorry." Cody spoke first, saying just those brief two words and then kissing the top of Adam's head. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going, let's just forget today even happened." Adam replied, shutting his eyes and hoping for sleep. Cody didn't say anything in response, just gave him another kiss on the head and shut his own eyes. They both needed a good night's sleep, but so much was running through their heads that neither of them could honestly say that they would be getting one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you liked the chapter please send me mail telling me so. If you didn't like the chapter, send me mail to me that too. LOL, I just like to recieve some type of feedback. Anyways, just another remind, I've changed my e-mail address, it is now liberateme03@yahoo.com So if you have anything to say, remember to send it to my new address and not the old one. Thank you. Alot happened this chapter, including the departure of Green Lantern, which was a last minute idea that came to me as I was writing the chapter. I'm not sure where it is going to lead, but I liked the idea of it. Anyways, let me know what you thought. Also this is my last chapter before Christmas, and possibly before the New Years, depending on my time, so I just want to wish all of you a Happy Christmas, or a Happy Holidays if Christmas is not what you celebrate. And just in case I don't write again, I hope you all have a Happy New Years, and be safe on New Years Eve, we all like a little party, but don't drink and drive.