The air inside the Hall of Justice's private anteroom is thick with suffocating tension, smelling faintly of ozone from the Zeta-Tubes and the polished marble floors. It is July 4, 2010—Independence Day—but for the sidekicks, it feels like a cage.
A second ago, the heavy steel doors slammed shut. Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Arrow have just left, their parting words ringing like a patronizing slap in the face: "Stay put. This is a League matter." They chose to investigate a routine fire at Project Cadmus, leaving the next generation behind like tourists.
Roy Harper's temper finally detonates. With a violent, furious motion, he tears his yellow-feathered arrow from his bow, slamming it into the floor before turning his venomous glare toward the rest of the group.
"A backstage pass?! Is that what you think this is?!" Roy snaps, his voice cracking with pure, unadulterated resentment. "They're treating us like kids! Like glorified sidekicks! I'm done. If you guys want to keep being their lapdogs, fine. But I'm out!"
With a hard sweep of his red cape, Speedy turns on his heel and storms out through the public exit, leaving an echoing, heavy silence behind.
Wally pushes his white goggles up his forehead, his jaw dropped, looking at the door and then at the others. "Are you kidding me...? He's just... leaving?"
Kaldur stands perfectly rigid, his arms crossed over his chest, his dark Atlantean features hardened into a stoic mask that barely conceals his quiet disappointment. Beside him, Robin checks his holographic wrist-computer, a smug, dark smirk slowly cutting through his domino mask as he bypasses another League security wall.
"Fixated? No. Appreciative? Semi-whelmed," Robin murmurs, his fingers flying across the glowing screen as he pulls up the Cadmus fire files. "Batman's keeping secrets. But if there's something burning down in Washington, I didn't come here just to sit on my hands."
Robin looks up, his white lenses locking onto and the rest of the room. The line has been drawn. The mentors are gone, Roy is out, and the database for Project Cadmus is flashing red on the holographic screen.
"So..." Wally mutters, a reckless, hyperactive grin forming on his face. "Are we staying put... or are we going to show them what we can actually do?"
