Mounting an ineffective offensive against the yellow sea monster his first time in front of Young Justice was bad enough, but taking another swing at the beast and getting swatted away like he was nothing before he could land a single blow had hurt his pride even more.

He’d tried to come back from his lightning strike gambit, but was rewarded for his hard-headedness by being knocked into a bench nearby on the dock, demolishing it with the strength of the monster’s hit.

By the time he’d managed to stumble up to his feet again, the she-beast had withdrawn, disappearing back into the ocean. Young Justice was regroup, apparently no other team member faring as well as he had, save maybe for the wolf-looking guy who had tried to make peace with the monster, and he’d been put through a boat for his trouble.

Now, though, the police had arrived in full force, cordoning off the area and beginning to question some of the Young Justice crew. He’d spotted one member off talking with an onlooker, and the wolf-man had managed to pull himself from the water and stomped back into the team’s transport, clearly upset with how events transpired.

[i]He wasn’t the only one.[/i]

Thunder grumbles something under his breath, picking himself off and brushing the debris from his costume. With his costume restored to its almost-pristine look, he steps out of the pile of rubble that was once a public bench and makes his way over towards the team, intent on introducing himself like he had planned to do before everything with this sea monster had happened.

As he nears the group, he seems to grab their attention before even saying a word. He only realizes a moment later that it’s because of the lightning bolt adorning his chest, sparking wildly, no doubt in combination from his anger over the monster showing him up and his nervousness at meeting the team, a team he had for the longest time been hoping to join.

[i]Courage of Achilles, remember?[/i] He reminds himself. Suddenly, jumping off of the Prudential Building back home seems like a piece of cake compared to this.

He comes to a stop in front of the group, rubbing the back of his neck and grabbing a piece of wood he missed previously.

“Uh… hi.” He greets, flicking the splinter of wood away and smiling shyly at the group, “I’m Thunder, Captain Marvel’s partner.”

No-one immediately responds, and his smile quickly turns into a frown, “…Captain Marvel mentioned me, right?”

[i]Oh, Billy was gonna pay for getting his hopes up like this…[/i]