"Miss Martian, can we talk?" the boy wonder asked, catching up to
the Martian girl as she walked down the hall. She was instantly thrown
off by his tone of voice. No longer was he the carefree boy wonder. He seemed more like he was getting ready to play good cop in an interrogation. Something had to be wrong. But what?
"Sure, Robin!" She replied in her usual cheery demeanor, "Is something wrong? Oh! It's about Zatanna, isn't it?" Blushing, Robin muttered a quick no, pulling her into the room used for his meeting with Batman, Aqualad, Roy and Red Tornado a few days prior. Suddenly staring at her intensely, he put the room into lockdown. "umm... Robin?"
"Look - I need answers."
Taken aback by his bluntness, she stuttered, "A-about what?"
"I think you know the answer to that." she imploringly stared at him
until he further explained, "I know your secret, M'gann." her eyes widened in shock as she looked at him, frightened and worried. Seeing her reaction, he quickly assured, "I won't tell the others - yet, at least."
Refusing to meet his eyes, she asked, head down, "Why wouldn't you? I don't deserve your pity. I'm a horrible person."
"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. It's not that big of a deal-"
"Not that big of a deal? They'll all hate me!" she shouted, eyes wide. She was like a caged animal, pacing back and forth.
"They'll understand. They might be a bit upset that you deceived them, but it'll be better if you tell them instead of them finding out from someone else. Just tell then the truth, no harm done."
"No harm?" She protested, "but I-"
"So you got caught in a lie. Spiced up your origin a bit. Well, maybe
more than a bit, but-"
"Wait, this is about my backstory?" Her eyes glimmered with hope – maybe he didn't know!
"Well yea," Robin responded, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "But I know about you're relationship with Conner too," he confessed with a smirk, trying to help her calm down a bit. Relief rolled off of her in waves. He didn't know that- "I just want to know why you lied. You know, on that camping trip we had, when the team first formed? (1) You told us you were close with Martian Manhunter. That you won some sort of tournament to be his sidekick, which he didn't want you entering... But that's not what happened. You stowed away on your uncle's ship a few months ago. He barely knew you." She nodded in conformity - that was the true story.
"Alright, let me get this straight - you weren't all chummy with Manhunter until meeting him a couple months ago, and you stowed away on his ship to Earth."
"That's right," she said, head bowed in a semblance of shame – after all, at this point she was more relieved her real secret wasn't out. Yet, that is…
"So I guess the only question I have left for you is why? Why'd you lie to us, Megan?" All hopes of getting her to open up were gone as soon as the name was spoken.
Because that's all it was – a name, "It'sanEarthname,andI'monEarthnow…" all an act to hide her true self – her true intentions, her true nature. The boy wonder had just sealed her lips tighter than a cement-coated box. And he didn't even know it.
"Well, I guess I just wanted to sound more interesting… after all, you all had interesting stories – Wally recreating the Flash's science experiment to get his powers, Superboy being rescued from Kadmus, Aqualad being in the Atlantean Millitary…" She trailed off, knowing Robin would interpret her as 'eager to please Megan,' just trying to fit in. And that's exactly what she wanted.
"Hey, so what? Being a stowaway's pretty neat. And besides – you're from a whole different planet. You have superpowers. That's a neat story in itself," he assured, causing a ghost of a smile to light her face. He may not know exactly what she was really hiding, or why she lied exactly, but he was good at pep talks. She'd give him that. "And honestly," he continued, "Wally's story was much less interesting than he made it out to be – he exaggerated – a lot." She did smile at this – it did sound like something Wally would do…
"What about you?" she asked, trying to change the subject, "You never told us your story." She wasn't aware of the can of worms that subject would open up.
Dealing with scenarios like this before, he gave a stock answer. "Oh, it's not that interesting, really. Trained by the Bat and let loose in Gotham, simple as that."
Fine. If that was how he was going to play… He had no room questioning her if he wasn't going to answer any questions either. Buthedoesn'tharborthekindsofsecretsthatIdo… A voice in the back of her head reminded her.
Getting back on track, Robin spoke, while typing in the override to unlock the door, "Seriously, just tell them. You're imagination got away with you is all, and you wanted to make your story more interesting. No big deal. No secrets in a team… well, with some limitations…"
"No secrets…" she echoed, liking the sound. If only that were the case… Suddenly, a thought came to her. "Uh, Robin?"
"Yea, Miss M?" he responded, cheery smile back in place.
"If you don't mind my asking… how did you find out? About my stowing away on the ship, that is… did Uncle J'onn tell you?" that would be a curious answer indeed. J'onn didn't seem the type to tell the team things behind her back… but was he? She was suddenly aware of how while the team knew little about her, she knew even less about her uncle.
"Oh, Roy told us," he said without thinking.
"Us?" She was under the impression Robin was the only one that knew of her lie…
"Me and Kaldur. I think it flew over his head though," he answered absentmindedly. Suddenly M'gann grew suspicious. She and her origin just happened to come up in casual conversation?
"Wait, when were you talking to Red Arrow?" she questioned, "And why would my background even come up anyway?" her words grew more and more frantic and accusing.
They were talking about her behind her back? They didn't trust her? How much – what did they know? Did they know her real secret?
True to his mentor's nature, the boy wonder stayed silent, mentally scolding himself for letting that slip.
Eyes turning cold as she stalked out of the room, she turned to the younger boy.
"I guess I'm not the only one with secrets."
– story and camping trip from companion comic.
Well, this has been in my head ever since Robin and Kaldur didn't react to Roy spilling Miss M's real backstory… and as for her REAL secret? It's been hinted at. Severely. And very bluntly thrown in the audience's face, if you know DC. But it could be interpreted many ways, especially depending on who you think is the mole.
I hope you enjoyed! Whether you did or not, I love feedback!
