With the duo having finished their mission, they quickly removed their Supersuit's, Tyrone's cloak dissolving and the combat suit dissolving back into a ring, leaving him wearing his old regular civilian outfit.
The same happened with Tandy. The duo quickly glanced at the operations center, looking through all the monitors to see if there was anything they had missed, but everything looked fine.
Artio's nails clicked faintly somewhere upstairs, followed by a low, curious huff, as if the dog had sensed their return even through reinforced concrete.
Tyrone rolled his shoulders, tension cracking loose from his spine.
"Let's go upstairs," Tandy said gently, "You still look pretty weird,"
Tyrone nodded and the duo headed upstairs, the wall sliding open as they entered the warm mansion area, the lights flicking on automatically as they entered the kitchen.
Artio barreled in from the living room, tail wagging like a battering ram, icy blue eyes bright as she skidded slightly on the polished floor before sitting abruptly in front of Tyrone, staring at him with a kind of judgmental look.
"You're fine," Tyrone muttered, crouching to scratch behind Artio's ears, "I came back alive. Again."
Artio responded by sneezing directly into his face, causing Tandy to laugh as she opened the fridge, beginning to pull out ingredients while Tyrone grabbed a nearby cutting board, both of them ready to make dinner.
Soon they were sitting in the living room, watching the late night news that was reporting on the incident while they ate their dinner, which was pasta, with garlic bread and orange juice.
For a while, they just watched, until Tandy looked at Tyrone and said, "…Do you think we handled that right?"
Tyrone didn't look away from the screen immediately. He finished chewing, swallowed, then reached for his glass.
"The Young Heroes thing?" he asked, downing a swing of his drink.
She nodded, eyes flicking toward him, "Yeah. I mean, " She hesitated, fingers tracing idle patterns against the couch cushion. "They weren't hostile and maybe they'd see us as antagonistic for how you spoke,"
He finally turned to look at her as he responded, "We didn't escalate anything or come off any sort of way," he said calmly. "We didn't threaten them. We didn't lie. That's about as clean as it gets."
"But you did call them the B-Team," she said, lips twitching despite herself.
A corner of his mouth lifted. "Okay. Maybe that part wasn't strictly necessary."
She snorted, then sobered, "You meant it, though."
"Yes."
He leaned back against the couch, one arm draped along the back behind her. "They needed to know where we stand. If we didn't set that boundary now, they'd keep pushing. Monitoring and eventually 'advising' us, all the way until they feel they control us,"
Tandy was just listening quietly as Tyrone continued.
"I don't want handlers," Tyrone continued. "I don't want permission slips. And I definitely don't want Batman deciding what risks I'm allowed to take in a city he barely looks at. What we did there, we stamped our authority and showed out independence, which is important,"
Tandy nodded, and her eyes brightened, excitement flickering across her face as she once again spoke, "…You said something the last time we talked about this," she said slowly.
Tyrone glanced down at her, "I say a lot of things."
"You said once we become influential enough," she continued, turning to face him fully now, "it won't be them coming to talk to us."
He nodded once, "It'll be the League."
Her smile spread instantly, radiant and unguarded.
"Like, actually them?" she asked, barely containing herself. "Wonder Woman? Flash? Superman?"
"Eventually," Tyrone said. "Yeah."
Her eyes practically glowed. "That's, okay, that's kind of amazing."
He chuckled quietly. "You're still a fan."
"I can be a fan and still not want to work under them," she said quickly, then paused. "…But also maybe just a little under them."
He raised an eyebrow.
She grinned, unapologetic. "Come on. You can't tell me you wouldn't want to meet them on equal footing."
Tyrone considered that.
"…Equal footing," he repeated, "That part I like."
She squeezed his hand. "Then we'll get there. Our way."
***
Meanwhile, high above the curve of the Earth, where the blue faded into endless black, the Justice League Watchtower drifted in silent orbit.
Inside one of its central briefing chambers, a holographic display hovered above the round table, rotating slowly. National City pulsed at its center, and a display also showing the exact same news broadcast reporting on what happened earlier with Conduit.
All the main members of the League were here as they listened to Nightwing's report that was wrapping up.
"Cloak was the one you wanted us to pay the most attention to. He took the lead in discussion, the lady didn't speak a word to us, so we have no idea where she stands and her mentality. As for Cloak, he was very firm but controlled, careful not to overly escalate anything, but he refused to affiliate, strongly emphasizing autonomy, and M'gann was still unable to learn anything telepathically. Conduit was neutralized and removed before we could intervene."
The recording ended and Flash was the first to break the silence.
"…Okay, I'm just gonna say it," he said, leaning forward, "Calling them the B-Team was bold. Like, Olympic-level bold. Sounds like me when I just got my powers, that kid must be handsome like me too,"
John Stewart's mouth twitched despite himself, "Confidence isn't a crime."
Batman didn't look away from the hologram, "Overconfidence is."
Wonder Woman turned her head slightly toward him, "Or it's the mark of warriors who know exactly where they stand."
Batman's jaw tightened a fraction.
"They are operating without oversight," he replied evenly. "They are imprisoning metahumans using unknown extradimensional means. And their abilities, particularly their resistance to telepathy, represent a variable we cannot currently account for."
Martian Manhunter inclined his head slowly, "It is… unusual," he admitted, "From the way M'gann explained it to me, when she tried to probe their minds, it was as if there was an endless void there, just total nothingness, as if their minds simply didn't exist,"
Flash blinked, "Well. That's comforting."
John Stewart folded his arms, "Well we've learned more about their powers. We can check off Telepathic Immunity and add it to the file,"
"The good thing is they seem to be fine people. They didn't attack the young team when confronted or threatened anything. They saved civilians and dispatched Conduit in a very efficient manner without any assistance from the team. That's already quite impressive for how long they've had these abilities,"
Superman finally turned from the viewport, "They're heroes,"
Batman looked at him, "That remains to be seen."
Superman shook his head, "They've dismantled trafficking rings, prevented overdoses, neutralized Conduit, someone who's caused a lot of trouble in the past, and reduced National City's crime rate greatly, all in a matter of weeks. Intent matters, Bruce, but so does outcome."
Flash nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. I mean, I've been doing this a while and I still occasionally knock over a hot dog stand."
"Knock over by accident or knock over when 'borrowing' a hot dog?" Batman said flatly and Flash shut his mouth.
John Stewart stepped closer to the table, studying the rotating city map, "They remind me of early Lantern Corps cells on frontier worlds. No command structure or safety net. Just people who decide, 'If we don't do something, no one will.'"
Batman's voice dropped, "And those cells often burned out, or crossed lines that couldn't be recrossed. Remember this Cloak has killed many gangs, which means he already has a streak of ruthlessness, even if he hasn't done so since officially debuting as a Hero,"
Wonder Woman met his gaze evenly, "No-one is perfect. I've killed before, so has John. Things happen Batman, we just need to make sure they don't kill people for fun, and instead as a last resort. I know you don't like that, but everyone is different and I hope we don't need to have another 'private discussion' about your relations with killers Batman,"
Batman's eyebrow twitched at that threat to talk about Damien once more, so he sighed.
Martian Manhunter spoke again, more softly this time, "Cloak does not trust us. That much is clear. But distrust does not equate to hostility. In his mind, we represent inevitability. Constraint."
Superman nodded. "And he's not wrong."
All eyes turned to him.
"When people like them show up," Superman continued, "they're usually reacting to a vacuum. A place where help didn't come fast enough, or at all. If we rush in now, we're directly proving his point. We weren't in National City at all, appearing once they become Heroes would not be wise,"
Batman was silent for several seconds before he straightened his posture and spoke,"Okay, I understand all of your points. We'll take a hands off approach here, just observation and data gathering. However, I will prepare contingencies in case they go off the rails,"
Flash sighed. "There it is."
Batman's eyes flicked to him, "And we do not interfere unless they cross a line."
Superman smiled faintly. "Agreed."
Wonder Woman nodded, "Let them walk their path."
John Stewart added, "But if they stumble, we'll be there."
Martian Manhunter closed his eyes briefly, "I hope they never feel the need to see us as enemies."