"This meeting is hereby called to order." Batman announced as he, Superman and Wonderwoman stood in front of a large U-shaped table in the Watch Tower high above the earth. All the members of the Justice League were in attendance, sitting around the table, from the senior members up to the most recent members.
"The objective of the conference is to think over the prospect of an undercover squad involving the Sidekicks." Wonderwoman began.
"As all of you know, there are certain problems that go right under our noses, create situations that we cannot solve with sheer brute strength or power alone … situations that require information that needs to be gathered before it can be solved. The purpose of the team will be to gather info and deal with small problems." The Man of Steel continued where Diana had left.
The three senior members returned to their seats as the meeting began.
"While the formation of such a team certainly has merit, it would need a base of operation and supervision from one of us." Aquaman stated loudly and looked around the table for agreement.
"Superman has petitioned our former headquarters to be an appropriate base of operation for the team. As for the designation of a supervisor, we will vote on it." Batman responded evenly.
"I volunteer as a supervisor." Captain Marvel raised his hand pleasantly. Working with boys almost his age would be fun. The Justice League members, while powerful and unique, were far too stiff and uptight in his opinion!
"We will take it into consideration," Superman stated firmly.
"Name of the team?" Flash asked curiously and raised an eyebrow when he saw Superman trying to mask his amusement. Was the Man of Steel actually trying not to grin!? The name couldn't be that bad, could it?
"Young Justice." the Dark Knight replied and directed a discreet glare at an innocently smiling Superman. "If no one has anything to say, I believe it's time to vote. All oppose?"
No one raised their hands. The formation of the team had more ups than downs.
"All in favor?"
Everyone raised their hands at once.
Batman nodded in approval. "It's decided. Team Young Justice is hereby formed. Now for the designation of a supervisor, I myself will be handing out missions appropriate to their talents. We need someone to supervise them, any volunteers?"
"I volunteer to be their supervisor," Red Tornado said in his monotone robotic voice.
"Good, now we…."
"Incoming Transmission." a robotic voice interjected as a wide screen appeared in front of the Leaguers and showed the image of a black haired female, the attendant of the Justice League earthly base, Catherine.
"Sorry to interrupt, but a red haired man calling himself "Destiny' seeks an audience with the justice League"
"Motives?" Batman asked seriously.
"Unknown"
"Where is he?" Superman asked curiously. Who would intentionally want an audience with the League?
"Sitting in the waiting room in the Hall of Justice"
"Alright, meeting adjourned for now. The rest will be discussed upon our return along with this new individual. I, Wonderwoman and Superman will go and meet this 'Destiny' characterm" Batman declared seriously and stood up from his chair. The Man of Steel and Wonderwoman followed after the Dark Knight as he stepped into the Zeta beam tube.
Superman, Wonderwoman and Batman paced into the waiting room and saw a tall and muscular red haired man in his mid-twenties wearing a crimson skin tight shirt, black leather pants with two red lines and red combat boots reaching up to his knees. He was wearing a long blood red cap kept on his shoulders by two shoulder pads, and red segmented wristbands reaching up to his elbows. His long silky blood red hair was stretching up to the small of his back while two thin bangs hung over his narrow blue eyes.
All in all, he was quite intimidating and admittedly otherworldly handsome.
The tall redheaded man walked up to them as soon as they entered the room and smiled softly "Greetings. My name is Haru Uzumaki, a pleasure to meet you"
Diana observed the strange man with a judicious gaze as he walked forward. His voice deep but soft, a calm and ethereal handsome face and a stride full of confidence and conviction bore a resemblance to that of a royal blood. The sheer potency of his presence demanded respect, even she; a princess herself could not deny the self-conscious thoughts about being disrespectful in his presence into surface.
What truly caught her attention were the two wristbands and abnormally heavy pressure in the room. The wristbands were similar to the bracelets worn by her and her sisters as well as the Queen. Though they resembled the ones worn by the Queen and her, except red in color and segmented. She would have to ask about that later on.
Superman, being the kind-hearted man that he was, simply smiled at the redhead and tried to ignore the sudden appearance of an unknown force weighing down on his shoulders. He didn't need his superior Kryptonian intellect or his enhanced sight to know that this man was not normal by any sense of the word.
Batman on the other hand was already trying to analyze the newcomer and find his weakness, but was unfortunately being met with failure. This man left nothing uncovered or exposed to be exploited, not to mention he was too friendly.
Judging from the name—which was another surprise since all Heroes and Heroines kept their real names a secret—he was obviously from either Japan or China, but his style of dress, regal facial features and fluent English presented a completely different picture.
"A pleasure to meet you, Haru. I'm Diana of Paradise Island, as you may already know, this is Superman and Batman." Wonderwoman greeted with a polite smile and extended her hand.
"I have to say I'm honored by your presence." Haru smiled and shook hands with the three members.
Such an impressive grip. the black haired heroine thought in surprise when she shook hands with the redhead. The strength of the grip reminded her of the times she had hand-wrestled Superman, which was saying something considering the man was… well Superman.
"Now that the formalities are out of the way, can you tell us why you wanted an audience with the Justice League?" Batman asked with his eyes narrowed behind the cowl. The redheaded king couldn't help but smile at the cautious man who was trying to intimidate him.
"Simple, I want to join the Justice league"
The three members were surprised to say the least. Normally, when a new Hero would spring up and get the attention of the League, he would be given the opportunity to join the League or … if a sidekick was nominated and voted to be a part of the League. No one had ever volunteered to join the League before.
"Why?" the ever paranoid Batman asked suspiciously with a glare while Superman sighed. Can't he just give the guy a chance?
"I didn't realize I required a reason to save innocent lives." Haru smiled softly, not the least bit intimidated by the "Batman Glare", quite the contrary in fact.
The Dark Knight, however, was not convinced by his supposedly noble actions and friendly act at all. He had seen far too friendly people later revealed to be serial killers. Who was to say that this one wouldn't turn out like the rest of them! In their line of duty, nothing was certain.
"Why don't you tell us about your abilities?" The Man of Steel asked, trying to change the subject.
"Super Strength, Speed, Senses, Flight, Invulnerability and a few other abilities."
Superman and Wonderwoman were surprised to hear that his abilities were almost similar to theirs while Batman narrowed his eyes at his curt explanation of his abilities.
"What other abilities?"
"Some secrets are better to remain a secret." the redhead said mysteriously, prompting Batman to frown.
"If you want to join the League, you need to come clean with your secrets."
"I'm entitled to my own secrets Batman, just like all of you. Superman has his own secrets as does Wonderwoman and you do as well. They wouldn't be secrets if they were exposed, but rest assured, it will not put the League in jeopardy." Haru explained with a delicate smile.
"Excuse us, Haru. Batman, may I have a few words with you?" Clark interjected with a smile. He had to agree with the redhead's logic about secrets being secrets. I mean he wouldn't outright reveal his secret identity to anyone simply because they wanted him to come clean.
In fact, very few people knew about his identity as the mild-mannered Clark Kent. Batman had found out through means he didn't want to know about. To be fair, he had also used his X-ray vision to figure out the Dark Knight's identity as well.
Diana… Well, she had been the most surprising one in regards to figuring out who he was off-duty. She had figured it out during an interview. He had counted his lucky stars on that day for being alone with her in her Embassy office since she had outright asked why and he quoted "Kal, why are you dressed in a silly garb and asking me these questions when you could've asked them on the Watchtower?"
He knew she was blunt and all, but come on! She could've compromised his identity!
Batman raised an eyebrow at the strange request but complied and walked out of the room with Clark, leaving a contemplating Wonderwoman behind.
"I'm not convinced by his act. I'll summon J'onn to scan his mind." Batman said in his usual grumpy voice as they stood outside the room.
"When are you convinced anyway?" Clark teased with a raised eyebrow. "Jokes aside, I listened to his heartbeat and it stayed the same throughout the conversation. If he was lying, it would have surely increased, yet it didn't."
"That is still not enough. Can't you feel the weight of his presence even outside here? It's like a huge truck is placed on our shoulders and frankly, it's making me a little wary." the Dark Knight explained with a scowl. He had faced the likes of Joker, Felix Faust, Circe and Darksied, all considerably powerful with great strength or skills, yet not even one of them had been able to make his heart thump faster in his chest cavity.
Not even Darksied had been able to make him sweat from sheer fear alone. Joker's most twisted and revolting "jokes" hadn't even made him flinch, let alone shiver. Yet this redhead was doing all those things by just being there! He hadn't even moved from his spot, yet he could feel his overwhelming presence even outside of the room!
"Wary than usual?" Superman asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes."
"Then I guess calling J'onn is the only option?"
Batman nodded and turned to the wide screen computer. "Computer, Contact J'onn."
"Connecting… Message Sent."
The monitor displayed the image of the olive green face of Martian Manhunter "Yes Batman?"
"J'onn, we have a situation in the Hall of Justice that requires your 'unique' abilities." the Dark Knight replied.
"Acknowledged. On my way."
Haru was seated on a comfortable sofa in the waiting room with a delicate smile on his ethereally regal face, sensing a set of eyes observing him closely, as if he was a puzzle she could not solve.
"You have something on your mind, your Majesty?" Haru asked suddenly without even looking, causing Diana to give him a puzzled look.
"I don't know what you're talking about and please don't call me 'your Majesty'." She stated innocently and tried hard not to lose herself in those oceanic blue orbs when he glanced at her with an arched eyebrow of amusement.
"Your posture indicates that you have something on your mind yet you seem reluctant to ask what your heart desires."
Wonderwoman seemed to be rather shocked that he could read her like that. She indeed had a question and was dying to find the answer, but she was reluctant to ask in fear of offending a potential member of the League. A part of her was screaming at her that she knew this man, but she could not recall ever meeting someone like him before.
The feelings were just at the tip of her mind yet her tongue could not find words to describe them.
"Quite perceptive of you." she praised curiously. "I do have a question, a rather personal one in fact. Why are you wearing those bracelets?"
"Am I not allowed to?" the redhead asked with a lopsided smile. Realizing the humor in his tone, Diana shook her head in negative with a smile.
"No, just curious."
"Mere coincidence I believe." Haru responded and raised his bulging forearm to his eyes to look at the red segmented bracelets. "They are quite helpful."
"That they are," Wonderwoman agreed with a smile. The unease and self-conscious thoughts were slowly reducing the more she talked with him. Maybe at some point in time, she would have enough courage to ask him if she had met him before. "I hope you don't mind the attitude of my teammate, he is quite… cautious to say the least"
"Not at all. Would I be correct in assuming that this is the normal protocol for new membership?"
"Not entirely. Usually, we recruit members, not the other way around. You're the first to actually volunteer by yourself." the black haired heroine replied sheepishly and smiled softly when Haru let out a small melodious chuckle.
"That must have been quite a surprise."
"It was."
The door to the room slid open and Superman, Batman and the green martian, Martian Manhunter entered.
"Haru, allow me to introduce you to the fourth senior member of the League, Martian Manhunter." Superman started and gestured to the green man standing quietly beside him.
"Ahh yes, the ever analytical and faithful extraterrestrial comrade of the League, I'm honored." Haru praised genuinely. What he said was neither sarcasm nor empty words, but merely the truth. Martian Manhunter was what could be described as the perfect upholder of Friendship and Loyalty.
"I'm honored by your kind words," the green Martian replied in his monotone voice.
"Martian Manhunter, our 'friend' here wants to join the league. You're here to read his mind to find if he is being truthful." Batman stated seriously.
The quite green alien nodded slowly and stepped forward in front of the seated King.
"It's not my desire to invade your privacy, unfortunately it's the only way to clear your name and to satisfy Batman's suspicious nature," he explained apologetically.
"Do what you must," Haru assured with a smile.
Martian Manhunter's already red eyes shined a bright red as he gazed straight to Haru's blue eyes. Seeing as mere mortals couldn't see what truly laid inside his head unless they wanted to get their minds fried, Haru, in the spin of 1 millisecond, created an entirely different life story with precise details to properly convince the Martian and Batman.
The green alien's eyes stopped glowing after a few moments and turned to Batman "He speaks the truth."
Batman scowled and narrowed his eyes at the calm redhead, still not convinced. The redhead's smile was not of someone who had just his mind scanned by the Martian. He would have to ask J'onn about the things he saw in Haru's mind.
"Welcome to the League, Destiny." Superman stated with a smile.