After the mission to Santa Prisca, the Team hanged around the cave waiting for something to do. A training session was supposed to occur earlier that morning, but Black Canary didn't show up and left the Team to spar by themselves. The five teens now roaming around the cave until the teleporter glowed and two figures glittered into sight.
"Black Canary 1-3. Serenity B-1-3."
The teens watched as Black Canary walked into the room with a younger girl with long, wavy, caramel-like hair in a purple mask. She was dressed in black and violet latex that came up to the top of her neck with longs sleeves and gloves. Her suit had shorts with netted-leggings underneath with black knee-high boots. Her light green eyes smiled under her mask. "Hey guys." She waved when she saw all the eyes on her.
"Serenity?" Kid Flash asked as he, Robin, and Aqualad walked quickly to greet her. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he looked between her and her mentor.
Before the young girl could answer, Black Canary spoke. "Sorry about missing the training this morning," She crossed her arms over her chest, "Serenity and I had some business to attend to." She side glanced down at the girl as her green eyes trailed down to her feet. Canary placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort before looking back up at the rest of the teens. "Serenity will be joining the rest of you guys from her on out," the blonde woman in formed them as she started to turn away, "I'll be back tomorrow for our first training session." She finished as she was teleported away.
Robin turned around to the two others that didn't joined them yet. "Superboy, Miss Martian, come meet Serenity." He waved to them and they approached calmly. Superboy and M'gann looked over the girl as she looked over them. Holding his neutral face, Superboy looked down at her questionably as she smiled up at him. She could feel a small glare from the Martian girl and tried to lick her lips to get the smile away. "This is Serenity, Black Canary's protégé," Robin introduced him, "She's joining up today!" The youngest boy exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around the new girl's neck.
Kid Flash wrapped an arm around her neck from the other side with a large grin. "She's a good kid," he inputted, "We've known her for a while now."
"Kid?" Serenity side glanced at her speedy friend, "I'm only a few months younger than you, Kid." She bickered back as he rolled his eyes. She looked up at the two new people and tried to smile softly. "You can call me Shae, I actually prefer it."
"Nice to meet you, Shae, I'm M'gann or Megan," M'gann stepped forward with her hands clasped together against her chest. She saw Shae looked up at the boy with the big S on his chest. "This is Superboy."
Shae looked at her confused, "Just Superboy?"
"It's a long story, we'll tell you later." Aqualad said to her and she nodded. The two boys got off of her as they started to walk her around the cave. Aqualad stayed behind with Superboy. "Something the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." He asked his teammate. Superboy shook his head and just turned away. Aqualad watched him leave thinking about the expression he had.
"So what made you want to join us, Shae?" Robin asked her.
"Canary told me that it might be better if I start hanging around people more my age," She said as she looked over at her friend in sunglasses. "And ever since Roy, or Speedy, or Red-whatever he wants to be called, left and went rogue, it's just been me, Black Canary and Green Arrow in Star City. And I'm not a fan of being a third wheel."
"You haven't heard from Roy?" She shook her head at her fast friend. "You two were so close, that's a bummer." Shae scoffed as she pulled on her uniform. Robin took noticed and tugged on her a bit.
"You should go change into something more comfortable, we'll wait for you." She nodded down at him as she and M'gann walked into a room.
A few minutes later, M'gann walked out with a civilian-like Shae. She was dressed in jean shorts, a loose t-shirt that almost covered her shorts, and she still wore the same combat boots that came to her knees. Without her uniform and mask, her olive skin was more noticeable. "Thanks." She said to the green-skinned girl when she stepped out.
"How long have you been with Canary, Shae?" M'gann asked her. The caramel-brunette looked up to the ceiling in thought.
"Hmmm… I'm fourteen now… so about five years now." Shae nodded at her reply, "Yeah, it's been five years." Her eyes narrowed at her feet but she just shook her head lightly. "I've known Roy for almost all of that, he's like a big brother to me I guess." She shrugged her shoulders with a sigh. Looking around at the teens, Shae could see the tired eyes on their faces. "Canary said that you guys had just gotten back from a mission, you should rest." She looked to M'gann, "I'll stay the night and you can continue showing me around then." M'gann nodded and the two boys walked away while Shae followed M'gann to her room.
Later that night, Superboy was sleeping in his bed when he heard light shuffling and a presence that caused him to open his eyes suddenly. When he opened his blue eyes, he spotted a part of green eyes that almost glowed in the dark looked at him at eye level. "So you're Superboy?" She asked with a dizzy, blank expression. Superboy sat up and pressed his back against the wall quickly. Shae wasn't fazed by his startled and angry expression. "No need to be scared, I just wanted to talk." She said as she folded her arms under her chin and rested her head on it.
"I'm not scared." He growled. The hostile tone made the caramel-brunette raise an eyebrow at him. "Why do you want to talk to me?" He asked in a more calm aggressive tone. His back stayed against the wall when Shae started to talk again.
"We didn't talk today at all." She said looking up at him, "You didn't even introduce yourself, the Martian did that." She propped her head on in her palm to look up at him better. "And I was told that it was better to get to know your teammates before a mission, so let's get to know each other." Her expression didn't change. Superboy obviously felt uncomfortable around her and she was trying to get rid of that tension. "So you're Superman's clone…" She mumbled and saw the distraught expression twist on his face. He seemed to be trying to choose his words carefully around her now.
"So you know?" He narrowed his eyes again at the suspicious girl.
She nodded, "I know a lot of things, things I didn't need to be told." She pushed herself away from his bed with her hands still pressed on the edge. "No one told me, I just concluded that Superman didn't have any known relative or protégé for sure, so that just left that you were either another survivor of Krypton or the Big Guy's clone." She smirked, "I went with the clone."
"So you're smart?" He asked in a tone that didn't mean that it was a compliment.
Shae shook her head, "I'm no Boy Wonder; it took me years to start thinking like this." She leaned her head back, then to the side with her eyes closed. "I didn't need to think like that before I joined Canary." Her eyes looked to the bed, then back up to him. Straightening her head she asked, "Do you know your birthday?" The boy looked at her confused with wide eyes as he shook his head. "Me neither, not my real one actually. The only birthdate I have is the one Canary and Arrow made for me. I told her a month and they just came up with a day." She kept rambling to the boy, feeling the air get lighter as she talked. However, Superboy was still on edge.
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked after she finished talking. She looked up at him, but didn't answer. "Why don't you go talk to M'gann or Aqualad?" Their eyes stared at each other until Shae got to her feet and rubbed her knees.
"Good talk." She said simply as she walked to the door.
"Wait." Shae stopped at the door, laying her hand on the doorframe and turning her head halfway to the boy that called her. "Have we met before?" He asked softly. She turned to him with a shocked expression. "I've never seen your face before, but I've heard you name."
"Shae? You know that I can't be the only one in the world right?" She reflected with a question. Superboy noticed this, but just kept staring at her for an answer. Shae held her breath in her throat until she finally exhaled. "No. We've never met." She finally answered as she turned and walked out of his room, leaving a new kind of silence in Superboy's bedroom.
