The Team

After a full day at school-- hearing people make fun of the name that he didn't choose-- Mark received a phone call from his brother, informing him to meet with him at the Justice League's Watchtower. Of course, Mark had no idea where the watch tower was, but Clark knew that Mark was able to always sense his location, even if he was off-world. He was able to sense a large gathering of strong energies, figuring that must've been where his brother was referring to.

And so, after school, Mark flew straight there, entering the Watchtower only to be greeted by a room full of superheroes and their sidekicks.

Batman brought Nightwing and Batgirl.

Green Arrow brought Speedy.

Wonder Woman brought Wonder Girl.

Aquaman brought Aqualad.

The Flash brought Kid Flash.

Black Lightning brought Static.

And Martian Manhunter brought Miss Martian.

'Oh no...' Mark thought, immediately understanding what he had just walked into.

"Mark!" Superman shouted, floating over to his brother before introducing him to the entire room of heroes. "This is my little brother, Mark."

"Ah, well if it isn't Superboy." Wonder Woman said across the room."Great job yesterday by the way!"

Hearing Wonder Woman call him by such a juvenile and idiotic name nearly shattered the boy. 'Even Wonder Woman is calling me that...' He thought to himself, feeling incredibly embarrassed. 'I'm going to kill myself.'

"He likes to be called Cerberus," Superman told them, defending his little brother's name.

"Oh, right. You did mention that didn't you? Sorry about that." Wonder Woman apologized.

"No big deal," he lied.

The two Kryptonians floated over to the massive round table, joining the rest of the heroes as Superman began to debrief everyone.

"That looks like everyone, Bruce," Superman said, looking at Batman before introducing himself to everyone at the round table as if they didn't know him.

"Hello everyone, as you all may know, I am Superman, the co-leader of the Justice League. Now, I bet you youngsters are all curious as to why you're here in the Watchtower. That is because we are forming a secondary team, the Young Justice League.

Superman had his usual bright, heroic smile on his face, however, his brother's reaction was completely different. 'Young Justice League...' Mark thought to himself. 'What's next? The Googoo Gaagaa Baby Squad?'

Wonder Girl raised her hand, waiting for Superman to call on her as if they were still in class.

"Yes, Wonder Girl?" Superman said, excited to answer the eager heroine's question.

"Do we have to say that totally ridiculous name? Is that, like, required? Please tell me it's not required," she said, causing all of the young heroes to either openly chuckle or hide their laughter, including Mark.

Superman was stunned, chuckling in disbelief before giving Wonder Girl the floor again. "Okay, Wonder Girl. What name do you suggest?" he asked her.

"How about just the Team?" Mark declared, getting a positive reaction from the young heroes.

"Yeah, I'm with Mark on this one It's perfectly simple and not lame," Wally added to his best friend's suggestion.

"Okay then. Any objections?" Superman asked, waiting for anyone else to add anything. Once he was sure everyone was in agreeance, he continued. "Well then, welcome to the Team. The Team is a sort of subsidiary unit of the Justice League, a team of heroes who will one day replace the Justice League when it is time for us to retire and move on from being the defenders of Earth. We figured if you guys were to become a team early on, it'll only make things easier when you replace us when the time comes. It was Bruce's idea."

With his arms crossed, Batman nodded. "Correct. You have to have backup plans for your backup plans. Don't think of yourselves as a B team, think of yourselves more as honorary Justice League members."

Cassie, Wonder Girl, interrupted him. "So a B team?"

"What Bruce is saying is: Take this as seriously as if you were on the team with us because soon enough, you will be. Alright?" Superman tapped the table before beginning to make his exit. "We're going to leave you kids here to get to know each other, rapport, bond, and all that. A few of you are already acquainted so it shouldn't be an issue."

Following Superman, the rest of the adult heroes said one last thing to their subsidiaries before following Superman out the door. "We'll be upstairs, no fighting!" Superman joked before turning the corner with the rest of the League, leaving the Team with themselves.

"Thank God." Wonder Girl groaned before floating over toward one of the chairs and sitting down, looking back at Mark. "I didn't realize you were Superman's brother. I'm so sorry you have to live with that boy scout," she told him, making the boy laugh a little.

"You get used to it." He told her, walking over to Kid Flash and dapping him up as they always do.

"Did you know about this, Wally?" he asked the yellow-wearing speedster.

"Nope, I heard about it right when you did." As Kid Flash said this, Speedy and Nightwing approached the two boys, introducing themselves.

"I'm Speedy," said the red and yellow-wearing archer. He wore a white and black mask over his eyes, one that matched the boy's next to him.

"And I'm Nightwing. You can call me Dick." Nightwing said, extending his hand to shake Mark's. Mark shook his hand, however, he was a little confused as to why the red and black-wearing hero looked so similar to Speedy with a similar color scheme and mask.

"Are you two brothers or something?" Mark asked, immediately triggering an averse reaction from both boys.

"What? No!" They both said simultaneously, disgusted with the idea. They'd always been rivals growing up and they hated the comparisons.

"Y'all act like it," a voice said from behind them, revealing himself to be Static, Black Lightning's subsidiary. He wore a puffy black and yellow jacket with a black shirt underneath. The black shirt had a yellow lightning bolt, fitting for a boy with lightning powers. He sported a fade on the sides of his head and wore dreadlocks in a ponytail.

"I'm Static. Or Virgil. Either's good with me." The electric hero told them all. "Didn't know Supes had a little brother."

"Have you been around Supes? Bro talks about his little brother every chance he gets," another voice said, this time it was from Aqualad. Like Static, he too had deadlocks, however, his were bleached blonde. He wore a skin-tight orange and black costume and his arms had glowing blue tattoos covering them.

"Seriously?" Mark asked the boy from the sea.

"Seriously. Supes really cares about you. Name's Aqualad by the way." Aquaman's sidekick introduced himself, shaking both Mark and Wally's hands.

"I'm Wally," Kid Flash said, shaking the aquatic hero's hand.

Mark looked around, seeing Martian Manhunter's subsidiary, Miss Martian, talking with Cass and Batgirl over at the lounge area. The moment he laid eyes on the green-skinned Martian, Mark could feel the world around him pause. 

"Who's she? The green one talking with Cass?" Mark asked.

"That's Miss Martian. She's Martian Manhunter's kid. Well, not like his daughter but he's her mentor," Kid Flash said, looking over at her with a gaze of admiration.

"She's bad, huh?" Static said quietly, checking the beautiful Martian out himself.

"Mhm." Kid Flash agreed, examining the girl with his arms crossed.

"Sheesh," Aqualad expressed. "Sure is."

"Yeah, she's hot." Mark was also in agreeance, looking at all three girls. "Cass and Batgirl too."

"I need Barbara bad..." Speedy said, looking directly at Batgirl.

They couldn't hear the boys, but all three girls looked up, noticing the boys staring right at them. All six boys suddenly averted their gazes, however, the girls knew something was up. Miss Martian, using her powers, began reading Mark's mind. His thoughts were all about her and only her. His mind was admiring every single last detail of her face, down to every last pore. She may have even heard a vulgar thought or two.

Her green face immediately turned red. She kept it to herself, not even wanting to repeat what the Saiyan said in his mind as she put her hood over her head and turned invisible.

"You are so screwed," Nightwing told him. "Miss Martian can read minds."

Immediately, the other boys began trying to erase any thoughts from their minds, however, it was far too late.

'There goes my chances with her...' Mark thought to himself.

The boys and the girls stayed in their ingroups, continuing to bond and get to know each other. As they conversed, Superman returned to the room, greeting everyone once again before making an announcement.

"Seems you guys are getting along," Superman told them all with a smile. "The League and I have decided that it would be great if you all would move in to live at our old base at Mount Justice. It's a nice place. There are multiple kitchens and bathrooms, and the bedrooms are nice. You guys will be moving in tomorrow," The older Kryptonian informed them, bringing a smile to some faces, indifferent expressions to some, and not-so-excited faces to others.

Mark was cool with it, growing tired of living on the Kent farm. Most of the boys were also fine with the idea. The girls, however, were not very interested in living with the boys. Especially after the whole mind-reading situation.

With everything set, the teens went back home, saying goodbye to their parents, guardians, or whoever else they lived with before moving into the Team's new base at Mount Justice the very next morning.

Mark, excited to be out of the house, was one of the first to move in with his things. After having unpacked all of his things, the young Saiyan began walking around the massive base, and it was everything that his big brother said it was.

There were many different rooms with so many different functions and activities for the teens to engage with, however, the most important thing to the Saiyan was the absolutely enormous kitchen. Not only were the refrigerator, pantries, and cabinets filled to the brim with snacks and ingredients, but they also had an unlimited fund to order food to be delivered straight to them.

"I'm in heaven..." Mark said to himself, finally living in a place where he'd be able to get his fill and eat to his hyperactive metabolism's content. As the boy began stuffing himself with snacks, he felt the presence of another behind him, immediately causing him to quickly turn around like a hungry beast with food in his mouth.

It was Miss Martian, jolting upon the boy startling her with his sudden movements. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I- Well..." Miss Martian began trailing off with her soft, innocent-sounding voice. "Oh, I didn't think anyone else would be here... I moved before anyone else."

'Oh, shit. This is going to be awkward,' Mark thought to himself, remembering their last encounter.

"Hi... Miss Martian." He said very, very awkwardly. 'Damn it, damn it!' He thought to himself, hearing how awkward he was being. "Uh, I thought I was the only one here too..." Mark said, looking toward the ground.

"About yesterday... I didn't know. I didn't think you could read minds" Mark bringing this up made the green martian blush as her gaze began to panic until her eyes locked onto the ground. "Oh, don't worry," she said quietly. "It's not the first time. I've never heard someone describe me in such a way like that so... It was unique. It was like those human romance novels... but also there were some words I couldn't quite understand. For example, I believe I heard you say the following phrase: 'It would take the entire Justice League to get me to pull out of that'. What does that phrase mean? What exactly is being pulled out? I am unfamiliar. I asked the other girls, but they told me it was better if I asked you myself." she said with her hand on her chin.

Mark panicked, "Oh! Don't worry about that, it wasn't about you!" he said, laughing awkwardly.

Hearing her voice and seeing her mannerisms, Mark thought she was being very, very cute at the moment but he didn't let himself think about it. 'La la la la la la la.' Mark was thinking in his head, trying to block out any bad thoughts.

Miss Martian giggled, seeing the boy's face as if he was straining. "Why are you making that silly face? Are you trying to protect your brain? I won't intrude in your mind again. I often forget that on Earth, it's an invasion of privacy. My eyes turn green when I do it, so... don't worry."

'Oh, thank God...' Mark thought to himself. 'Man is she cute. Her voice, her demeanor, that shy personality. Move over Cass, I'm moving to Mars.'

"Oh, are you not from here? Are you actually from Mars? I thought that was just part of the name," Mark said going back to being his normal self.

"Yes. I grew up there. We communicate through telepathy, so I was shocked when I came to Earth and things were so different," she admitted, still speaking with her soft, shy voice.

"That's so cool. You know, I'm also from a different planet. I'm not sure where though, but I hope one day I can find out."

"Oh, really?" She questioned, knowing there was another alien on the team made her feel a bit less self-conscious. "I'm glad... Oh, not that you don't know where you're from- I just meant I'm glad I'm not the only one..." She corrected herself before trailing off again. "Well, I still stand out with my green skin..."

"I think you're beautiful-" Mark emitted, not thinking for a second and realizing how direct he was being. "I mean I think your green skin is beautiful. Well, not just your skin. I just mean it's one of your many, many- Well, not that many-" Mark began to embarrassingly stumble over his words again. He still didn't understand why, but there was something about that girl that just made him feel some type of way.

Miss Martian thought it was cute, chuckling a bit before asking him a question. "Would it be easier for you to just think it? Perhaps then you could convey what you mean, with your permission of course."

Mark calmed down, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, go for it." He told her, closing his eyes and thinking what he meant. Miss Martian's eyes began to glow green, and the Martian began reading the boy's mind.

'I couldn't even begin to list the things that make you so beautiful. You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my entire life.' Mark thought, opening his eyes to be met with a surprised glare from Miss Martian. Her eyes were wide, dimming down and returning to their natural hazel color. Her face slowly began to turn red like an apple due to his words.

"Uhm..." Miss Martian muttered, putting her hood over her head and disappearing as she did before.

However, despite her being invisible, the young Martian reciprocated the Saiyan's words. "I- also think you have a very nice face." Her gentle voice said quietly before the invisible martian swiftly began making her exit.

Before she left, she had one last thing to say to Superboy himself.

"Also... you can call me Megan."