Chapter 1
"Hey, Nightwing?" He paused, glancing back down the hallway to see Jaime hurrying after him.
"What's up Blue?"
"I, ah, I need to ask a big favor," the teen tried to grin, only for it to come out as a grimace. "Y'see, my mom's been switched to a different shift at her job, the afternoon one, which means she's not gonna be able to watch my little sister after school lets out and needs me to do it, except I've got to be up here most days-"
"And you want to know if you can bring your sister up, is that it?" Nightwing asked with a bemused smile.
"...Yeah."
"That's fine, Jaime. As long as you keep an eye on her."
"Oh, gracias, I promise I will!" Relieved, he hurried off to call his parents and inform them that he would, in fact, be able to take care of Milagro in the afternoons. Nightwing watched him go, idly wondering how much the others were going to fuss at him for making a split second decision on their security protocols like this.
Ah, well. One regular human six year old couldn't be anywhere near as bad as the trouble often presented when Roy, Barry or King Orrin brought their kids up to the Watchtower.
-AN-
"Whoa," Milagro breathed as she took her first step out of the teleporter. Imposing stone and metal arched away to form a grand foyer room, with gigantic windows looking out onto space and the Earth far below. What child wouldn't be awed at such a sight?
"Okay, hermanita, I've got a friend of mine who's going to give you the grand tour, then drop you off at the monitor room where I'm gonna be working. Got your stuff?" Jaime asked her. In answer, Milagro reached up and tugged on the strap of her old Dora the Explorer backpack, never taking her eyes off of the view out the windows.
"Hey Blue!" A cheerful voice called out to them, as Cassie hurried into sight. "Sorry I'm a little late, hope you haven't been waiting long - hi there! You must be Milagro!" The blonde dropped into a crouch so as to grin directly at the startled child.
At a nudge from her big brother, the six year old cautiously reached out a hand to shake. "Si, mi nombre es- I mean, my name is Milagro. And you- you're Wonder Girl!"
"Yep! But you can just call me Cassie - your brother and I are pretty good friends, and I hope you and I will be too!" It was the right thing to say, as a delighted, gap-toothed grin took over Milagro's face.
"Okay, I'll see you later then, hermanita." Jaime bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Te comportas!"
"Si, hermano." With that, the elder Reyes hurried off to his assigned monitor duty, leaving his baby sister in her tour guide's capable hands.
"So! Is there anywhere you want to start? Maybe the kitchen, for a quick snack?" Cassie offered.
"Okay!"
-AN-
By her fourth visit to the Watchtower, Milagro had become used to the place and most of the other people who worked within it. Some of the older superheroes still intimidated her, but all of Jaime's teammates were really nice, even the stranger looking ones. It wasn't until someone else was brought up for a visit that Milagro made her first real friend through the League.
There was a meeting going on in one of the big halls about something with the word Shadows in it, and the girl was waiting out in the hallway for her brother so that they could go home for the day. She caught to distinctive sound of the zeta beam activating, and a voice announcing the arrival of Red Arrow, Cheshire, and a guest. Curious, Milagro looked up from her coloring book to see who was coming.
In front was a red haired man with a scowl on his face, followed by a woman with long, wild dark hair and a small smile, and behind both of them came a tiny girl with hair that matched the man's who dragged a toy bow behind her.
"Honestly! They wanted your opinion on the Shadows' recent movements, and couldn't actually be bothered to wait until we'd gotten here?"
"It's fine, Roy. At least this way I can fork over my thoughts right away and we won't have to sit through the rest of the meeting." The woman's words calmed the man down a bit, but Milagro thought he still looked annoyed.
Both of them started to enter the door to the meeting hall, telling the little girl to wait for them outside. As soon as the adults were gone, the redhead turned to stare at Milagro. Milagro stared back. Then the smaller child stomped over and sat down beside her.
"Whatchu doin'?" She asked.
"Coloring." Milagro told her, holding up the pages of black and white superheroes for display. "You want to help?"
"Ye-es!" The other girl squealed, eagerly accepting the crayons that were handed over along with a page that had Hawkwoman on it. "Lian help!"
"Lian? That's tu nom- er, that's your name?" The redhead nodded affirmative. "Interesante. I'm Milagro."
Scrunching up her features, Lian tried to repeat the other name. "Meelago?"
"Close enough."
By the time that the meeting ended, the two girls had hit it off, chattering happily at one another as they filled up the coloring pages, and later at their respective family members on the way to the teleporters. Already seeing where this was headed, Roy called out to Jaime as the pair of siblings prepared to depart.
"Hey, Reyes! Let us know if you ever want to arrange a playdate."
"Uh, o-okay! Thanks!"
-AN-
On Milagro's seventh birthday, mutated spores had taken over the corpses of everything from forest critters to human beings and caused them to walk about, attacking anything living nearby. As the outbreak spread across the American southwest, the remaining members of the Reyes family stayed anxiously close to their home's television set, waiting for any news on the heroes desperately trying to hold back the oncoming horde. Milagro breathed an especially deep sigh of relief after the report came through on Batman and some Star Labs scientists having created a toxin to destroy the spores. Ruined birthday aside, it had been killing the girl to constantly fear for her big brother's welfare.
For her eighth birthday, Milagro got two birthday parties, to make up for the lack of one the year before. One she had at home, with her relatives and classmates. The other she had aboard the Watchtower, with a whole bunch of League and Team members stopping by for some fun, along with her best friends from other hero families. She'd had to veto Dawn and Don Allen's suggestion of a game of tag, and spent a good chunk of her time explaining various human party customs to the clueless Atlantean prince Artur, but between her, Luke O'Brian, and Anissa Pierce, they all got to have a great time.
-AN-
"Have you guys met Damian yet? He's a total jerk!" Lian folded her arms and scowled in a perfect imitation of her dad.
"He's a Bat, isn't he?" Milagro mused, looking over the equations she'd gotten from Bart. Despite just getting to sixth grade, the girl was determined to be able to understand the basics of the computer systems the Watchtower used by the end of the fall, and that meant learning as much advanced math and science as she could. Fortunately, there was an over-abundance of superheroes perfectly willing to help her out with that endeavor.
"Yeah, he's a Bat, but he has to be the most arrogant, pig-headed Bat who ever lived!" Snickering at Lian's complaints, Milagro turned about on her stool to properly look at the other girl, two and a half years her junior.
"Sooo, does that me you like him?" She teased, prompting the redhead's jaw to drop.
"Ew! Mil! Why would you even say something like that?!"
"To get you back for saying the same thing to me about Luke last week, usted tonto!"
Lian's eyes narrowed. "That's the one that means dork, isn't it?"
"More or less." Milagro laughed as her friend glowered, and had to flee the room before the younger girl brought out her bow for some target practice.
-AN-
Milagro took a deep, steadying breath. She could practically feel Jaime's tension from behind her, and wondered briefly how he'd react to her decision.
"Much as I appreciate the offer, Nightwing, I think I'm going to pass." Both men in the room blinked at her in shock.
"Care to explain to me why, Milagro?" The Gotham hero asked her gently.
"First off, I think any time I got hurt in the field, my brother would have a heart attack." She smirked.
"Hey! I would not!"
"Oh please, Jaime, you've been silently freaking out the last two days while I thought this over. But in all seriousness, while I'd love to be an active agent of the Team, I don't have the powers or the lifelong training that my friends do."
It was clear that Nightwing didn't fully believe her, but he nodded anyway.
"Besides, I think I'd be of more help in the communication room, making sure those idiots don't do anything too stupid. I want to be where I can do the most good, which definitely is not where I'd be putting other people at risk because they were worrying more about me than themselves." The teen knew she'd finally convinced Nightwing with that one when he smiled.
"Fair enough, Reyes. We'll go ahead and key you into the security system as a civilian assistant then, so that the computer can quit announcing you as Blue Beetle's guest."
"Thank you, 'Wing."
-AN-
"All operatives, this is an Omega-Level alert, the Watchtower is under attack, I repeat, home base is under attack!" Milagro barked into the communications system, prayin to any deity that would listen that someone would hear it in time to come help. As far as the seventeen year old knew, it was just her, Static and Huntress aboard the space station, which currently had a giant, nasty, dust cloud-y looking monster attempting to tear it apart. "Maldita sea, does anyone read me?!"
*Transmission received, Reyes.* A reassuringly strong voice answered back. *Green Lanterns Stewart, Jordan and Gardner on approach from space-side. We see the problem.*
"I should hope so - it is a little hard to miss, after all."
Another voice laughed over the comm line. *Have I mentioned how much I like this kid's snark? So much better than her brother's...*
*Focus, Guy, we need to attract that thing's attention and get it away from the Watchtower.* As ever, Hal Jordan's usual cheer and good humor disappeared when trouble was at hand. *Milagro, are you the only one aboard?*
"No - last I knew, Static was in the power room, trying to keep the tendrils away from the reactor, and Huntress was trying to make her to the hangar bay so we could get a Javelin into the fight."
*Are you still able to contact them?*
"Nope."
*Okay then, I guess we're splitting up first and foremost. John?*
*I'll try to reach Static, I'm nearest to the bottom level.*
*Good. Guy, you're closest to the hangar entrance-*
*Sweet! I get to rescue hottie Huntress!*
Milagro snorted. "Don't let her husband or daughter hear you call her that. Actually, I'm pretty sure Jade herself will stab you if you say that to her face."
*Kid's got a point there, Gardner.*
*Yeah, yeah.*
*Alright, just get going. Milagro, you ready for pick up?*
Considering there was a coiled tendril of space smog trying to get into the comm center to either eat or disable her, the teen was definitely inclined to say so. A few minutes later, beams of green light appeared through the seams in the door, removing it before reaching in and enveloping her in a bubble. Hal Jordan himself arrived mere seconds after that, giving Milagro a quick once over for any injuries. Spotting none, he quickly carried the both of them back out into the hall and towards the closest outer edge of the station.
"We'll save the Watchtower if we can, but the first priority is getting this monster to leave off its attack," the Lantern informed her as they hurtled along. "I'm going to have Guy take the three of you down to Earth while John and I try to-"
His words were cut off when a blast of yellow light hit their bubble, knocking it off course to smash into a wall. Caught by surprise, Hal was able to keep holding the shield up after a second blast.
"Tut tut, Jordan, I expected better of you."
"Sinestro," Hal growled, getting to his feet as he subtly motioned for Milagro to stay down. "What are you doing here?"
"Isn't it obvious? I've brought my new pet to your homeworld for a bit of fun." A red skinned alien walked towards their position with a smirk, and even without having seen the case file images Milagro would have recognized him in an instant. Thaal Sinestro, traitor to the Green Lantern Corps and longtime enemy in particular of the League member now standing before him.
She should have been scared. Instead, Milagro was surprised to find a growing anger towards this being. And even during the fight that erupted between the two Lanterns, the teen found herself trying to get into a position where she could help Hal rather than just running and fleeing.
Unfortunately, Sinestro managed to catch to catch her with a projected beam, pinning Milagro to the wall. He then threatened to end her life in order to get his opponent to surrender. Glancing back and forth between the Yellow Lantern and the teen, Hal reluctantly removed his ring and dropped it to the floor.
Milagro watched with horror as Sinestro grinned, dropped her to form a blade, and drove it straight through Jordan's chest.