Chapter 76: New Possibilities

(General P.O.V)

"Due to personal issues, I have decided that I'm unfit to work in a League Capacity as expected from my colleagues and hence, after careful deliberation, have resigned from the Justice League effective as of yesterday at 2100 hrs."
Batman announced. He paused to let that information sink in. And sink in it did.

Shock, surprise and in the case of one green, red and yellow themed superhero, anger populated the sidekick's faces.
"You're joking."
Wally spoke up first, his words mirroring the disbelief in everyone's mind. It was a hard concept to wrap their minds around. Batman was after all, one of the big three! Superman, Wonder woman and he were quite literally, the face of the Justice League and now he was resigning.

"This feels all too fast…"
M'gann said while rubbing her hand in sadness. None of it was going to plan! She had thought that after finally joining a team, a family here on earth, things would go well for her. That they would face all obstacles and come out on the other side stronger to show for it. Just like how Megan seemed to solve all her problems in just under 30 minutes of episodic run. Why…why couldn't it go like that?

Wonder woman who was behind Batman glanced at her and gave M'gann a comforting nod. She understood her inner turmoil. At least someone did. Miss Martian nodded back. Telling the older woman she would be alright even without using words.

"Is this about the Aden issue? Are you getting heat because of how the mission and subsequent actions led to his departure from the team? If so he's our responsibility Batman. Not yours."
Aqualad stepped forward and addressed the Dark Knight. His words made the other leaguers behind Batman share looks with each other.

"No it's not. My desire to leave the Justice League is not because of the events from the past few days. Maelstrom is also a Justice League issue. Not the Team's. You have done all you can and the standing orders not to engage him still apply."
Batman's commanding tone left no room for discussion.

Aqualad looked at the rest and saw the looks of stubbornness mirrored on their faces just like his.
"I'm sorry but you are wrong. We've thought about it and come to a unanimous decision. Maelstrom was never a Leaguer. We have fought with him, bled with him, laughed with him. He is ours to bring in. And we will do it with or without the Justice League's help."
His response was firm. His words, hard and obstinate. Despite the circumstances, Aquaman felt proud of the man his protege was becoming.

Batman and Aqualad locked gazes for a few uncomfortable seconds before the Dark Knight slightly smiled. They were taking charge. Standing up to them. Batman was glad and heartened that the team was in good hands.
"Very well. I will leave the finer details for you and the new Overseer to discuss Aqualad."

At that juncture, Wonder Woman stepped forward.
"Following Batman's resignation, we have decided that the Team needs a new overseer. Someone who will take over Batman's responsibilities. And after a lengthy discussion, Captain Atom was chosen to replace him. He will be assigning you missions after The League has carefully vetted them to avoid as many…mishaps as we can."
Wonder Woman raised her hand to silence the uproar that she knew was coming from Kid Flash and Superboy.

"That is not to call your skills and abilities to question. We all feel like…it's been an eventful month. A few relatively harmless missions to ease you into the new state of things is…not that bad."
She finished gently.
"They're coddling us. Treating us like kids."
Connor grumbled quietly. And Artemis had to agree. But…she didn't feel like that was a bad thing. They were kids after all and taken everything that had recently happened, a few missions where things didn't get derailed to the point where the ramifications would lead to a team member leaving as well as a Leaguer resigning from the Justice League was welcome to her.

"Captain Atom will be over later to discuss the details of your new base of operations as well as…"
Robin couldn't listen anymore. He got up abruptly and left. Wonder Woman trailed off, staring at the Boy Wonder. Batman placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. He was going to talk to Boy Wonder himself.

(Later that same night- Wayne Mansion)

Bruce twirled the Eskrima sticks in his hands smoothly. The door to the training room opened and Dick, out of his Robin costume walked in. He made contact with Bruce's eyes and wordlessly walked to the practice weapon rack, getting his own Eskrima sticks.

Dick stepped forward onto the sparring mat and stretched his body, taking great care to keep his attention on his mentor, lest an attack came in while he was pre-occupied, he'd learned that the hard way. After completing the action, both Mentor and protege bowed to each other in a show of respect.

Then, they straightened up and the bout unofficially begun. From sparring with Bruce all these years, Dick knew he was always at a disadvantage. Bruce was just stronger in every conceivable way. The only thing Dick had working for him was his small size, agility and skills. But to actively use them to his advantage, he was usually the one instigating the first move. To keep Bruce inside his rhythm instead of the other way around.

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"Before we start, let's make a deal. If you win, I'll tell you everything about what you've been searching the Bat-computer's files for."
Bruce stopped him before he could lunge forward. That was…a good deal. Dick wasn't immediately happy though, there was always a catch.
"And if you win?" He asked his Adopted Father.

Bruce looked at him with a hard gaze on his face.
"You'll tell me why you felt the need to not only disrespect your teammates but the League and I for walking out during the briefing."
Oh, so this was what it was all about. Despite the seriousness, Dick decided his teenage rebel phase had arrived. He aimed an Eskrima stick at Bruce and smiled like a little shit.
"Bring it on, Old Man."

(Aden's P.O.V)

After a good long shower under the waterfall, Grangos and roasted Boar meat along with a nap on a DIY hammock, I was ready to face the music. I hadn't left the Elemental Dimension even once. It was…peaceful here. Down on earth everything was just too much. Too convulated and complicated. In comparison, the grind was simple and therapeutic.

I knew that soon I wouldn't keep off from interacting with Lucifer and planning out my next move but first, I wanted to get my firebending to a good enough level that I could protect myself in case things went to shit without overly relying on Airbending.

I finished the last of my Grangos and teleported back to the Fire Plane. Instantly, the temperature changed from the cool breeze of the beach on Sanctuary to a blistering heat and heavy smoke filled atmosphere of the Flame Land. Ah, that's actually not a bad name. Flame Land, I liked it.

I shook my head to get rid of the distracting thoughts and brought out the display screen. I clicked on the training points which still read 55 and was taken to a database with four sections. 2 of which were grayed out. The ones that weren't were the Bendings I had access to. One was of Airbending and contained anyone from Aang's kid, Bumi who became an Airbender at his old age to Zaheer. The second section was of Firebending and contained only Expert ranked Fire-benders and Masters. Wait. My eyes list was not as sparse as before. I quickly dismissed that Window and pulled up my main Menu.

Right there on the tab depicting my Firebending, something had changed. The rankings were, Beginner or Practitioner whichever you want to call it, Expert, Master and Grand Master. My ranking had changed from Practitioner to Expert all in the cause of one week. It was…crazy. Unexpected and totally made sense. For starters, Fire was my favorite bending because of just how cool it was l, so I was super into it and secondly, I had advantages while learning it that I didn't when I was learning air bending.

Firebending (Expert)
-Locked.
-Locked.

So I now only had to unlock a Sub-skill to get my proficiency level to the next stage which is Master. After mastering both the Sub-skills, I would similarly go through an Advancement Trial for Fire to get my bending to Grand Master level. It was a bit confusing because the Ranking didn't change for Master Level. Unlocking and Mastering one Subskill would elevate me to Master level immediately but even mastering two, I would still be stuck at Master Level without the Advancement Trial. Which brought up another question...what if I tried to master another Subskill before the Advancement Trial?

I mean, thinking about it, the Avatar System had only placed the bare minimum requirements for me to go through the Advancement Trial but it is not said anywhere that I was restricted to only two Sub-skills. It would of course be a waste of time to be honest. I couldn't think of any other Sub-skill of fire that stood out to me for the time being. Maybe Phoenix regeneration? But that was too out of left field. Or was it? I looked around the dimension I was in.

There were dragons in it. Dragons had showed the capability of controlling different colored flames in canon. Maybe I was looking at this from a very shallow perspective. The bare bones of an idea were building inside my mind. The path to power is never easy but what I had working for me was creativity. I couldn't lose that. I couldn't allow it to be washed away by discounting things as impossible without trying them.

I scrolled down the database of opponents. I now had more variety to pick from. There was General Zhao and a plethora of more Firebending masters like Zuko. I would have loved to pick one of them but ultimately my points decided it for me. I needed to see how good I actually was. I clicked on a Firebender soldier and got ready.

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