Old faces, new blood

“So, President Luthor, we came here primarily to talk about your involvement with the newly expanded Justice League. Any comments or insight to give to the nation?”

Leaning back into his chair with a look of pride on his face, Lex Luthor moved over a few files onto the coffee table between himself and his two guests.

“After the surge of crime more than a decade ago and the string of terrorist attacks that came in the mass hero disappearance, we’ve been screening new candidates to give the existing League both an influx of funds AND new recruits to help put the strain off in their workload.”

“Mh’hmm…” Jimmy commented, eyeing the stack of folders the man opened for him and Kat to look over. “Sounds like Taskforce-X all over again.”

“Not quite.” Opined Lex as he offered a folder to Miss Grant. “Taskforce-X was under the radar and used… Unscrupulous means to get the job done. There’s nothing but total transparency in this project.” Pressing his finger on the first folder, he gestured to the first name present. “Let me introduce you to…”

*

Meanwhile at the Halls of Justice…

“Adriane? Adriane Tepes? Come up. Let’s see what you’ve got.” Called out Nightwing, waving the young man over to the training mat while the rest of the new recruits to the league stood and watched or sat from the bleachers. Dick Grayson had aged well in the last 20 years, showing some grey in his hair and some stubble on his chin. In his early 40s the man was showing his age but was well in good shape considering. He had retained the look of his suit, all black with the symbol of a blue bird on his chest like a chevron. Still, in his middle age, he was quite limber… At least Starfire still says so.

“Please tell me I won’t be parading in pajamas like the rest of you.” Complained the handsome young man as he took his place at the mat and unsheathed an elegant saber, lining the blade at his feet to gauge his reach. He wore dress pants and a button shirt and coat, his long dark hair tied back in a ponytail as he looked back at his opponent with an almost bored, expressionless stare. “The lot of you look like you are going to a Halloween party.”

“In this job son, EVERY day and night is Halloween.” Responded Nightwing, pulling free a pair of truncheons from his leg pouch and deftly spinning them around his wrists and taking a defensive stance. “So, let’s see if you got any tricks or treats.”

Watching from the bleachers, the rest of the League kept their eye on the two while nearby the rest of the team tested the other newcomers. Blue Beetle, Beast Man, Raven, the Flash and Talia watched each member be tested by the leaders of the League. Green Arrow and Black Canary had opponents of their own, sizing them up to see what they had to bring to the team.

“We’ve got quite a few newcomers this year.” Blue Beetle smirked, leaning back in his seat as Beast Man nudged him in the elbow, nodding over to the one fighting Starfire. “Ah yeah, the OTHER one’s here too.”

“She seems anxious.” Said Garfield, keeping his eyes on the other Tepes sibling as she faced Nightwing’s wife in the nearby training pad. “She’s pretty new to this.”

“So were WE, once upon a time.”

Circling the training pad with a staff in hand, Starfire smiled back at her opponent, a diminutive woman with shoulder length black hair holding her own staff hesitantly and looking over her shoulder to the rest of the inductees waiting for their chance to spar with Starfire. Victoria kept her eyes on Koriand’r as the older woman stopped and made a strike, causing the girl to yelp and block it just it time, along with the next five strikes with her own staff before the woman tripped on her feet and fell back, landing on her rear and dropping her staff in the process.

“YAY! Mom won!” Called out a dark-haired little girl sitting next to Raven, the white robed woman ruffling up Mari Grayson’s hair as she cheered her mother on. The rest of the contestants jeered back at Victoria as she sat up and pretended to rub her thigh as if hurt, until she spotted an orange skinned hand offer to help her up.

“Very well-done Victoria.”

The 20 years had done NOTHING to diminish Starfire’s beauty as she smiled warmly down at the young woman who she towered over. If anything, her figure had only grown firmer and more voluptuous if that were ever possible. Almost as if the Tamaranian woman chose what parts of her age to keep and what to remain as she was in her prime. Wider hips, narrow waist, ample chest, and hair so long it reached her heels was ambient with an orange glow that seemed to make her look otherworldly… Because she was.

“T-thanks, I’m not as skilled as my older brother is.” Victoria stuttered as she got up to her feet, looking up to the beautiful, tall woman who seconds earlier had beaten her.

“You’re not, are you?”

Looking over to where Adriene and Dick fought, the two were a blur of motion and skillfully timed strikes that reverberated the noise of metal meeting metal across the entire gymnasium. For almost a minute they fought non-stop, only to pause briefly to find their next openings and continue just before it came to a crashing end when the two finally stopped with Adrien’s blade at Nightwing’s neck.

“I surrender.” Nightwing smirked, putting his batons back into his holster.

Watching the two shake hands after Adriene sheathed his sword, Victoria sighed just as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Leaning into the woman’s ear, Kori whispered so only she could hear. “You too did well Victoria Tepes, consider this your acceptance into the Justice League.”

“I’m in?”

“Really? She made the cut?” Called out one of the initiates who waited their turn to prove themselves. Some were heroes who had earned their stripes and were invited, like the Huntress who leaned against the wall checking her hand-held crossbow, or Red Tornado who stood stone stiff but watched just as intently.

“She couldn’t even keep up with you, and SHE gets in?!” Scoffed another, pointing back at Victoria who stood behind Koriand’r as Starfire stepped forward only for Talia to get up from her seat at the bleachers and get to the floor. Nighwing, Black Canary and Green Arrow also stopped their sessions with their initiates to join Starfire who stared down the man who looked behind him to the other potentials waiting to prove themselves.

“I said she made the cut based on my assessment; do you wish to be next?”

“You’re just going easy on THOSE two because they’re the kids of that blood sucker back in Whogivesafuckinstan. HE’S the reason they got a free pass, them AND that Morticia looking bitch over there.” The man nodded over to Talia, who simply looked back with an unreadable look on her face.

More murmuring came from the men who stood smug with his arms crossed.

“Where are you from son?” Asked Oliver, stepping forward to eye the man over. Oliver had taken care of himself well in his winter years, but age was showing with his hair now sporting some grey and a prominent beard down his chin. It did nothing to diminish his aim. Seeing her husband size the man up, Dinah stood behind Oliver with a smirk, knowing full well where this was going to lead.

“Spent a tour in Egypt after that Queen Bee fiasco dragged out, been fighting there for 5 years, so I think I’m more qualified to join the Justice League then this little girl.”

Smiling, Oliver rested a hand on Victoria’s shoulder, like she was his own daughter and gestured for the lot of them to follow him over to a small table at the corner of the gym.

“If you say so, lets see what your qualifications get you.”

The table was in fact set up for simple arm wrestling, with two sides matted with cushions to comfortably rest their spare arms along with handles to grip. Gesturing Victoria took one side and the other initiate to the opposite side, the two set themselves up and got their arms ready. Instantly, the man clasped his hand over hers, startling her when he showed off his arm was almost twice the size of hers in terms of muscle and sheer size.

“Is this really necessary?” asked Adriene, hearing the rest of the initiates scoff. “This hardly seems a proper test of our skills.”

“You’ll see.” Answered Dinah, her arms crossed as she shared a smirk with Talia.

“You two ready?” asked Oliver, checking both their hands to make sure there was no funny business. “Alright… Go!”

Immediately the man pushed with all his might, getting cheers and cries from the others behind him as he tried to make her arm budge, after several seconds, and sweat trickling down his brow and neck, he found all his strength barely made a dent in moving the diminutive woman’s arm. But while he tried to push her arm back, Victoria did nothing save stare at the man’s blood vessels bulge in his neck as he fought to move her. Confused, she simply turned to the rest of the League who shared a laugh over the crowd cheering her opponent on.

“Am I doing it right?”

Incensed, the man took his other hand and tried to move the woman’s arm, failing to do even that as she simply stood there watching the 6’2, 300-pound man barely move a 5’4 woman a single inch.

“Vampires have the strength of 20 men at the worst of times bucko, they’re fast enough to dance around bullets in mid-flight, they can see in the dark, and can hear your pulse a block away.” Explained the Green Arrow, watching the man tear himself apart out of blind pride as the crowd slowly stopped cheering. “But she didn’t get a pass because of her strengths, she gets a pass because of her control. Her AND her brother.”

Looking up wide-eyed and sniveling as he still failed to move Victoria’s arm in both hands, he still refused to stop, too invested to do so lest he be shown as weak.

“Even from my spot I knew she fell back on purpose because if she leaned into the strike, Kori’s arm would be broken.”

“I struck her five times, and each time was like striking an impenetrable wall.” Explained Starfire. “You didn’t see it, but I was putting enough **** into my strikes to shatter stone, and it STILL didn’t budge her.”

By now the man was having a full-blown meltdown, punching the girl’s hand to make it move and nearly breaking his fingers doing so. The other initiates tried to make him stop and got shirked away as he cried out in frustration. Seeing enough and getting disgusted seeing the man practically drool as his wits left him, Victoria simply flicked her wrist and sent the man off his feet to roll onto his back. Looking up as if to go into a berserk fury, he stopped dead in his tracks when he felt an arrow tip poke at his throat, the archer already set to fire from his bow at the man.

“Are we done?”

Slowly, the man nodded, breathing hard as the fight left him.

“GOOD! We’re not looking for insecure hot heads who lose it in an arm-wrestle with an 18-year-old girl. We want people who can control themselves when everything around them has gone to hell in a handbag and think about the safety of others over themselves. Our job is to put out fires and floods and save as many people as possible. If you can fly, shoot lasers from your eyes or can turn a ham sandwich into a granola bar, all the better. Makes what we do easier.”

Slowly let back up, the man brushed away the two behind him who helped him up and stormed out of the Halls of Justice, just as Dick pulled out a clipboard and struck out a name on the list.

“Anyone else want to get into an arm-wrestling match with a little girl?”