"Too slow, Kaldur. You've got to anticipate his movements and act on them quickly." Black Canary folded her arms over her chest. "You'll never catch him like that."
Kaldur swung his arm, aiming in front of Robin, but still he couldn't catch him. Robin was like a fish in the water: fast and slippery. Of course, it didn't help that one of Kaldur's feet was attached to the floor.
It was a training exercise that Black Canary had come up with, where one of the combatants could not move one foot from the floor and the other combatant was free to move at will. Kaldur could have held his own against anyone else, but Robin… ok and maybe Artemis.
Robin snaked on from below and sprang onto Kaldur's shoulders, his finger brushing Kaldur's collarbone. There was a click and a beep and Robin rolled away out of range. Kaldur checked chest. He was wearing a suit that had 32 red buttons on vital areas of the body. Robin's objective was to hit every single button on the suit. Once he hit them, they would beep and light up. So far, Robin had hit 27 of the 32.
Kaldur sighed. Robin was beating him pretty soundly. He would have to step it up a notch if he was going to succeed in this exercise. Forming a plan, Kaldur shifted his feet and lowered his hands, letting his shoulders sag. Robin moved, taking advantage of Kaldur's opening.
Just as Kaldur suspected, Robin went for the hardest of the buttons, the one on his throat. Robin came from the back, his hand wrapping around Kaldur's throat, reaching for the button. Only then did Kaldur move. Grabbing Robin's arms with lightning speed, he swung the lighter boy over his head and threw him to the ground, pinning him down with a knee on his chest. They were both went still, breathing hard as the computer registered Robin's fall, deducting points from his score and adding points to Kaldur's.
"Robin: 34 points. Kaldur: 30 points." The computer's voice announced.
"Good job, boys." Black Canary nodded her head. "Take a break and be back here in 15 minutes for another round. Robin, it'll be your turn to be stuck to the floor. Oh, and if you see Connor, tell him to come see me."
There was a click and Kaldur's foot unlocked from the floor. He stood, offering Robin a hand up. The two of them headed towards the kitchen, Kaldur stopping along the way to take of his suit and the special crampons on his foot that connected it to the floor. It was a clever contraption. The crampons had straps that adjusted to the wearer's foot. A holder in the floor let the spikes clip in, not letting them move or rotate. Robin had designed it. Of course.
Kaldur hung up the suit and followed Robin into the kitchen. They were confronted with a particular sight. Wally, wearing a flowery apron, was staring intently at a book on the counter top. Around his were scattered bowls, spoons and ingredients.
"What are you doing?" Robin was taken aback. "Trying to poison us?"
Wally looked up, scowling. "Black Canary told me this was my training today. Now stop laughing and help me with this." He wiped his face, leaving behind a new smear of flour.
Robin grimaced. "No way. I'm off. See ya in 15 Kaldur." He disappeared.
Right on cue, Conner walked into the room, sweater over one shoulder. He took one look at Wally and started to back up.
"Conner!" Kaldur ran after him. "We must talk." Both of the boys made their escape and left Wally pouting in their wake.
"Recognized. Batman: 02. Red Tornado: 16. Unidentified, Access granted." The computer's voice said over the intercoms. 'Unidentified, Access granted' meant that they were bringing in someone who wasn't part of the league.
As soon as it was announced, everyone dropped what they were doing and ran for the z-tubes. Of course, Kaldur and Robin were already there, training, so when Robin heard it, he stopped defending himself and unclipped his foot from the floor. Kaldur, seizing the opportunity, managed to get several buttons on Robin before he turned to start defending himself.
"Hey! That's not fair, I–" The crampons slipped on the polished floor and Robin went down hard, landing on some of the buttons.
Artemis laughed as she entered the training area, M'gaan right behind her. No one had seen her this morning since breakfast and no one knew where she had went. Artemis did that sometimes. She would disappear for hours on end and even if everyone searched for her, they would find no clue to where she went. After a while everyone had just given up. They would just wait for a meal to talk to her. She always showed up for those.
Batman and Red Tornado materialized in the z-tube pads. Someone else materialized behind them, but both were big enough to block him or her out.
"Batman!" Everyone shouted. He was the person who gave them missions…and they hadn't seen him in a while.
Batman nodded to them in greeting and got straight to the point. "You have a new team mate. Please meet Flamethrower."
The small figure that had materialized behind Batman and Red Tornado stepped forward. She was the same height as Robin, and approximately the same age, with short light brown hair. Her bangs were held back with a clip and she wore a black three-quarter-sleeved, crew neck top, jeans and red converse. She also had a small duffle bag swung around one shoulder. Not very super-hero-y.
"Hi." She said and held out her hand. "I'm Flamethrower."
There was an awkward silence. Batman coughed.
Kaldur wiped his sweaty hands on his workout suit and shook her hand. "I am Aqualad, but you may call me Kaldur. Welcome to the team." The rest of the team stood there awkwardly. Usually Robin and Wally would rush up at the chance to get to know a girl, but they didn't.
"Whose niece is she?" Wally said instead as he crossed his arms. Robin snickered.
Batman gave him a stern look. "Though Flamethrower is only a temporary member of the team, I still expect you to make her feel at home. I will leave you know." Sometime during the conversation, Red Tornado had slipped off.
As he turned to leave, Conner spoke up for the first time. "Aren't you going to give us a mission?" Batman didn't even turn around.
"I just gave you one." He said and stepped into the z-tube and disappeared. Everyone turned to look at Flamethrower.
There was a very long silence.
Artemis sighed, nodded to the new girl and turned and left. "Oh, I think your cookies or whatever you're making is burning, Wally." she said over her shoulder. There was definitely a stench of something burning in the air.
Wally cried out and ran for the kitchen, apron flapping behind him. Robin and Kaldur went back to training. Black Canary had also disappeared with Red Tornado. Conner and M'gaan were left, standing there with Flamethrower, still in silence.
"Well, I guess we'll give you a tour then!" M'gaan said cheerfully. "For starters this is the training room–"
"M'gaan! Help!" Wally yelled from the kitchen. Dark smoke billowed out from the doorway.
"Oh dear. Conner, could you start the tour? I'll catch up as soon as I fix up Wally's mess." She flew off toward the kitchen. Conner and Flamethrower were left standing awkwardly over by the z-tubes and Robin and Kaldur spared on the training circle.
"So, this is the training room. Cool." Flamethrower tried to break the ice. It didn't work.
Conner inspected her as she turned around, taking in the whole room. She was slim, but well muscled. All her clothes were brand new and her hair freshly washed. Some rich guy's daughter who thinks she can be a hero, Conner narrowed his eyes. He didn't like her much already.
Conner stalked off, Flamethrower trailing behind him like a kite. She got her tour, but the tour guide said the average of one and a half words per room they visited, and the average of no words in between. Of course, for Conner, this was almost a norm; the boy being a more silent type. Kaldur passed by them briefly on their way to the sleeping floor and told Flamethrower that she could have the spare room beside Artemis's. M'gaan didn't end up joining them; either too busy helping Wally or finding something better to do.
Conner finally led Flamethrower back to her room, leaving her to unpack. He then headed back to the kitchen, finding everyone else sitting around or lounging, talking about the new girl.
"What do you think about the new girl, Conner?" Wally had taken off his apron and was leaning against the counter, eating a burnt cookie. "I mean, you've spent the most time with her out of all of us."
Conner stopped to think about it for a while before he answered. "She's very talkative. She didn't say anything about herself, though."
Robin was sitting, crouched on the table. "I think she's soft."
"Some rich guy's daughter that thought she could help people with her powers, probably." Artemis scowled, "Hey, Conner, do you know what they are yet? I mean her powers. Or is she a normal person?"
Conner shook his head. "Didn't see any signs–"
"But considering that her name is Flamethrower," Wally motioned with his hands, "I'd say she's a fire user."
Kaldur and M'Gaan both shifted uncomfortably.
"Great, that's the thing we need." Robin snorted. "A fire wielder when two of our members are mortally vulnerable to fire."
"Tomorrow she will be tested, no?" Kaldur said. "We can see how much training she has and we can explain the situation to the League." When the other member had joined, Batman had tested them the day after so he could see the extent of their powers or skills and confer with Black Canary on future training.
"Hey, guys! What are you doing?" Flamethrower walked in, all cheery, completely oblivious to what might have been going on before she had entered.
"Just leaving." Artemis mumbled and stood up from her chair. "Wally, call me when its supper." She slipped out of the room.
Kaldur, Robin, Wally and Conner all exchanged looks.
"Flamethrower," Kaldur started, "Did Batman explain anything to you for tomorrow?"
"No…" Flamethrower looked puzzled as she stood in the middle of the room, not sitting down. "He just sort of…" she paused awkwardly, "…picked…me up. And then we came here."
"Because today is your first day, you will be allowed time to relax," Kaldur explained, "but tomorrow, Batman will come back and test your skills and what you can do."
"Oh, ok," Flamethrower nodded and grinned, "so like a test. What do I have to do? Just like this or…"
She held out her hand and two seconds later, a flame ball appeared in her hand, dancing around her palm.
M'Gaan gasped, not expecting it. Wally jumped up and zipped around the table grabbing her wrist, Robin yelling. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn that off!"
Flamethrower looked confused and a bit afraid at everybody's reaction to her display of power but she concentrated on her palm and it started to shrink. It took almost 10 seconds for the ball of fire to disappear completely and quite a bit of work as well, by the looks of it. Everyone breathed out in relief when it finally disappeared.
"Look," Flamethrower looked at them pleadingly, "it doesn't usually take that long to go out, usually it just diss–"
Wally breathed out in relief, one hand on his chest. "That might not tbe the best idea right now…"
Flamethrower still looked surprised as she started at him, "I thought this place was firproof–"
"This kitchen might be but neither Kaldur and M'Gaan are," Robin stood up, "So don't walk around waving those fireballs because not everything is fireproof."
Flamethrower stared at him wide eyed and nodded. Wally released her wrist and together, he, Robin and Kaldur cleared their dishes and separately wandered off to do their individual tasks.
Flamethrower stared after them, still unmoving and then glanced over at M'Gaan, still standing by the counter.
"Look, I'm sorry, I–"
M'Gaan smiled weakly. "It's okay, don't worry."
Flamethrower sniffed and whipped her hand over her face.
"Thanks." She smiled gathered up her plate.
