Yay, something new! I had this idea for a while I wanted to write to add to Winters' Ballad and couldn't figure out how to get it in the main story. So why not a one-shot thing?
So here's Origin Story! Based on a chapter within the comics of Young Justice, let us delve into a peaceful time with the team as they reminisce about becoming heroes for the first time. ;3
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
-Mount Justice, Happy Harbor
July 20th, 2010 8:47 P.M.-
Poor Wally.
Samantha knew his game. The look on his face was evidence enough to show what was going on in his head over the situation he was in.
From around a campfire in the forest nearby Mount Justice, Kaldur, M'gann, Samantha, Superboy, and Wally all sat in camp chairs, letting the warmth of the fire light the darkness that surrounded them during the cold night.
It was an elaborate scheme, Samantha had to admit. The teens still awaiting some answer for batman to call them for their mission had never came that day, and with that day nearly up Samantha had been ready to pack it up and go back home for the night.
Until M'gann and flown in like a missile, speeding over to her, excitement beaming on her face.
A whirlwind of an explanation had swept her attention soon after. Stars, s'mores, a campfire, and something about a first time. It took Samantha a couple of seconds to piece everything together, to figure out what M'gann had been so ecstatic about. And then the martian had asked if she wanted to join them.
"Us? Did one of the others ask if you wanted to try camping?" Samantha asked, smiling at the excited alien.
Nodding, M'gann smiled too. "Yeah. Wally suggested it and said it would be fun if we both went camping since I'd never tried before. I thought it would be much more fun if all the team got together, so I rushed to find you before you left."
Her eyes narrowing and a knowing smile taking over her lips, Samantha raised an eyebrow.
Both? As in...
Oh, now she was getting it.
There was no way she was leaving poor innocent M'gann alone with Wally of all people to camp. Who knew what kind of stupid gimmicks he had up his sleeve for her. As a senior female of the team, she was not going to leave a fellow girl behind.
"Wally huh? Sure? Why not? I'm sure he'd be happy if we all came along. I'll find Superboy and Kaldur. You get Robin." Samantha said, nodding and giving the girl a thumbs up.
"I can't thank you enough Wally. If it hadn't been for you I may have never been able to try s'mores." Miss Martian spoke, biting into her newly made s'more a few inches away from the campfire.
"Yes. A perfect idea Wally. I'm glad you thought of camping to get us all together." Samantha added, smirking a bit as she began scribbling down on a notepad in her lap, her eyes never leaving the pages.
"Hey, I don't remember inviting you. And I said campfire, not camping. Big difference." The speedster explained, eyeing the ice user from the other side of the fire. "I don't really like camping...outside."
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of camping?" Robin asked, laying back on a log the group had found and pushing his marshmallow on a stick close to the burning flames to help his food cook.
"Well," Wally spoke, his eyes moving over to M'gann. "Unless I'm camping with a special someone."
"Creep much?" Samantha commented, biting into one of the chocolate bars she hoarded from the supplies.
"Well, I think all of us camping is still a huge success," M'gann replied, rocking back and forth in her chair, a large smile on her face.
"Yeah. Miss M doesn't seem to think so." Wally pointed out, pointing a finger to the martian who continued to finish her baked sweet.
"She might be on a sugar overload." Kaldur joked, popping a marshmallow into his mouth and smiling at the others conversation.
"I wonder what a martian high on sugar is like." Samantha mused, laughing at her question as she liked a bit of chocolate off her thumb.
Watching Samantha go back to her notepad, Wally smirked and activated his powers, speeding around the camp and grabbing the notepad out of the unsuspecting hands of the team's ice user. "Oh! Whatcha writing down?"
"What the?" Feeling her hand empty of her notepad, Samantha felt her face fall at the sight of Wally looking at her notepad. "G-Give that back Wally!" Getting up out of her seat and running over to reach her hand for her notepad, Wally moved back and jumped on top of his chair to gain higher ground.
"Whoa! Robin catch!" Wally exclaimed, motioning for Robin to catch the pad as he threW it in the boy's direction.
Deciding to join in on the fun Robin obliged, grabbing the notepad in the air and moving back to look through the notepad. "What is all of this? Robin and Winter. Code name Angel Wing. Focused hand to hand combat attack. Aqualad and Miss Martian. Code name Tidal wave. Force based to create wave of water." Doing his best to hold in a laugh, Robin grinned widely and looked at Samantha. "Well well well. Looks like one of our team mates is thinking up attack patterns before any missions have even started. How productive."
"Don't read it out loud you idiot!" Samantha whined, stomping her foot on the ground like a mad child.
"What? Oh, I got to see these." Wally voiced, speeding over to Robin and flipping through the notepad's pages. "Blah blah blah. Attacks, defense moves, traps...Hey! Where's my team up with M'gann?!"
"That's what you are wondering about?" Kaldur asked, shaking his head at Wally's question.
"His priorities are always the same," Robin spoke sadly, shaking his head in confirmation.
"Ahem," Samantha spoke, making a noise to get the conversation back on track. "Those are notes. Just ideas to think about for future missions, nothing concrete yet. I don't have one for everyone yet. Now give me my notepad back." She asked, reaching her hand out and making a grabbing motion.
"Fine...Wait, one more!" The speedster going through a few more random pages, he stopped and frowned at a specific note. "Why do I get a cover based team attack? And why is it called whiteout?"
Snatching the notepad out of Wally's hands, Samantha held the notes close to her chest, her face beet red. "It's a cover based attack with you and me. The name is called whiteout because with it we could create fog based cover to sneak through battlefields. It blocks everyone's vision, hence whiteout."
"What about the tidal wave with Kaldur and I?" M'gann asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
Her face flushed further. "A mix of control over water and your telekinesis. With both together and enough water, you two can make a very strong wall of water to smash on opponents, push large numbers back."
"And angel wing?"
She gritted her teeth, her fist clenched at her side. "Our themes. Your name is Robin, hence wings of a bird. My style is white in color. Mix the two together and angel wing just popped up in my head. Not all of the team attack names are obvious! Are we done interrogating my ideas now?" Samantha whined, lightly glaring at the teens smiling at her.
"It's okay Samantha. I think they sound great. They could help us against some villains we may fight when we get our missions." M'gann cheered, her smile making Samantha' irritation die down a little.
"Easy for you to say beautiful. Pfft. Angel wing." Wally giggled, no longer able to hold in his amusement at the notes he read.
Her irritation shot right back up again after that.
"Stop laughing!"
The group continuing their antics together around the fire, the chatter quieted down as s'mores were continued to cook and be eaten, Samantha huddling herself in her chair and just scribbling notes down at her leisure, careful that she kept a grip on the notepad this time. Soon enough the most intensifying part of all camping trips came about at the questioning of Superboy.
Story time.
As silly as it sounded, the group telling stories sort of got the socializing going between them all in Samantha's opinion. Laughing, joking smiles, poke fun at some random minuscule details. All of it helped the group to relax.
And then the question of origins came about. And everything tumbled into wondrous mysterious tales of how some of the members became heroes, or got their powers in others case. From Kaldur's wanting to take the Aqualad mantle, M'gann's dream of going to Earth, Superboy's repeated tale of the Cadmus incident and Wally's unorthodox means to get super speed and work alongside The Flash, everyone's tale had something in common.
Each one had an interesting start. The start of something great.
'Do I...tell mine?' Samantha wondered, her hand tapping the tip of the pen onto the notepad in her hand. No longer writing whatever it was she was scribbling down, her mind was swimming through nothing, her attention disappearing into a quiet void of uncertainty.
'I can, but how do I tell them anything without naming my dad?'
"What about you Samantha?"
"Wha?" Hearing her name being called, Samantha raised her head up from her notepad and looked over to M'gann who had called out to her. "Sorry, I blanked out. What did you say?"
"Your origin story. It's your turn." M'gann urged, her usual innocent smile pointed in her direction.
"Yeah. We all told ours. I want to hear how snow angel got to become snow angel." Wally spoke up, rocking back and forth in his chair with interest.
"Oh." Samantha responded, her fingers playing with the pen in her right hand. Her eyes shifting away from their staring, she spoke up. "It's not that amazing as your guys's stories. It's pretty tame. And I can't really talk about my normal life much since my dad wants to keep it under wraps."
"Do not worry," Kaldur added, nodding to Samantha. "None of us will judge your story. No matter how boring it could be or how much you don't say about your normal life. Tell as much as you'd like."
'If I just keep it simple enough, low on details...'
Her shoulders slumping in a relaxed state, Samantha's eyes wavered to each member of her team.
From the hidden eyes of Robin.
A relaxed look from Kaldur.
Excitement beaming from M'gann.
A raised eyebrow and stare from Wally.
A quiet gaze from Superboy.
All of the attention was on her and waiting.
Sighing, Samantha rubbed the back of her neck and did her best to give a smile to everyone. "Alright then. I'm not the best storyteller, but I'll give it a shot.
It was a couple years back. I was twelve..."
"I'm tired daddy. Can I stop now?"
A young girl with short brunette hair stood in a large extravagant looking ballroom. She was short, just a tiny 4'11 and still budding through adolescence. Dressed in a soft white night gown and standing a few feet away from her "audience", the tiny girl let her eyes wander around the room, trying her best to not fall asleep.
Tiles of the best granite designs coated the floors in dazzling patterns, drapes of wine red hanging in front of the many windows etched into the walls of the room to show the starry night sky outside, the moon hanging neatly in the air and shining moonlight into the room.
An older man, dressed in a dark business suit and blue tie sat in a chair at the center of the room. Eyes gazing at the child and noticing her eyes wander off, her shook his head and irritation appeared on his face.
"I've told you many times Samantha. You can go to sleep once you are done practicing. You will need to be ready tomorrow when you sing for my friends at my business party tomorrow." Her father spoke, doing his best to keep his voice level and calm.
"But this is stupid." Samantha pouted, shaking her head at the idea. "I don't like your friends. They're all about boring business stuff. And I still can't hit the note you want. It's too hard."
"Your dad was making you sing?" Wally asked, skepticism obvious in his tone. "Man, you weren't kidding when you said this was going to be boring."
"I don't see it like that." M'gann spoke up, looking over to Samantha with interest. "You sing Samantha? You should preform for all of us some time."
"I would also like to see that. I am sure it would be an interesting sight." Kaldur added, a smile of his own appearing.
Her blush contrasting with her white hair, Samantha shook her head. "Uhh...no thanks. Sorry, but I don't think you'd like it much, trust me. But anyways, back to the story..."
"Honey," Nikolai spoke, getting up from his seat and walking over to the pouting child. Bending down on one knee to get to his daughter's eye level, the older man smiled. " I know it is hard, but you must remember that there will be things that happen in life that will be hard. Harder than even this."
The idea of even tougher challenges coming her way, the tiny child shivered a bit and frowned. "R-Really? Really harder stuff?"
"Yes," Nikolai answered, nodding to show he was telling the truth. "That is why I am trying to push you so hard now. I want you to be strong and talented when you grow up, that is why I am pushing you so hard. I'm not doing it because I enjoy seeing you sad. Do you think I do?"
Feeling guilt running through her, Samantha sniffled and did her best to hold in the urge to cry and shook her head. "N-No."
"Of course I don't. I know being on a stage in front of so many adults you've never even met can be scary and preforming is even scarier, but you have to remember that you aren't alone. Every time you sing the best you can in front of people your mother is always by your side helping you sing and take some of that nervousness away." Nikolai spoke, patting his daughter softly on the head.
"I will always be in the audience watching you and cheering you on too. Even if its really quiet, so don't forget that. If you ever get scared, just pretend everyone but me is in the room and I'm sure you'll be amazing dear. Just like your mother."
A stray tear threatening to come out, Samantha wiped it away and nodded. "J-Just like mommy."
Halting her story, Samantha leaned in her chair and let her eyes wander to the campfire sat around, her expression somber despite the activity the group was participating in.
"So, your mom..." Robin quietly asked, breaking the silence of the campsite.
Eyes never moving from the flames of the fire, Samantha nodded, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "Yeah. She died giving birth to me. I'm all my father has left. I guess it's why he's so protective of me."
'I did take the love of his life after all. Now that I'm all he has left of her, he just wants to be sure he doesn't lose anything again. If only I hadn't of been born. She'd be...'
"I'm so sorry Samantha." M'gann spoke, her voice distant and quiet. "We...can stop if you want."
Samantha stopped her thought. She couldn't go back down that path again. She'd danced around it all her life, always wondering "what if's" and "why's" that would never be answered.
The best she could do with her life was follow her father's instructions. Do the best she could with what he asked of her, even if she did not always want to. She owed him that much. For saving her when she was at death's door, for loving her despite the blow she caused to his heart.
Shaking her head, Samantha leaned back into her chair. "No, I promised a story so I'll tell it. I just got sidetracked by some things. Don't worry about it M'gann. I've lived with it for a while so it's no big deal." Shaking her head and biting into a piece of chocolate, Samantha let the sweetness of the cocoa relax her mind and twisting heart.
"Okay, back to the story."
"Try again. I know you can do it this time. Just focus." Nikolai instructed, walking back and taking a seat in his chair.
Nodding vigorously in her spot, Samantha took in a deep breath and began to sing a few notes to warm herself up. After a few passing melodic notes echoing through the room, she changed the pitch of her voice and continued the exercise.
Again she raised her pitch, her voice going higher than before. Her throat was starting to hurt a little, but she kept going. The encouragement of her father and the words he spoke repeating in her head.
She had to keep going. She didn't want to disappoint her daddy again. And her mother...
No! She wouldn't let that happen!
She'd keep going! She wouldn't give up!
Samantha would become great! Like her mother, Aiko Sumeragi. The famous enka singer and a soprano class opera vocalist!
Her voice higher once more, her voice almost dying out from the stress of it. However, Samantha held on, doing her best to adjust to the new range she was hitting.
She was almost there. Just one more...
'I can do this!' Samantha mentally cheered, trying to psyche herself up.
Taking a breath to continue her singing, Samantha raised her voice higher than before. Higher than she ever though she could hit. The sound echoed across the room and bounced off every wall, ringing loud in her ears yet still held the sophistication that she had started with.
The stress doubling further on her throat, Samantha continued her efforts to go beyond what her tiny body could.
Unsure of how it was going her brown eyes opened and looked down as best they could to her father in her makeshift audience.
A smile was reflected back at her! His stare on her the entire time and simply watching in silence, his lips were curved in a proud grin, simply enjoying the performance he was watching.
Samantha was so happy inside! She'd done it! She was able to do it despite the odds!
"That's wonderful. I'm glad to know you were able to hit the note." M'gann congratulated, clapping softly to Samantha.
"It seems we've found the root of where Winter's stubborn attitude comes from." Kaldur added, smiling and nodding as he listened to the story.
"Hey!"
"He's kidding Samantha. You're kind of stubborn, but not as bad as Superboy here." Robin pointed out, pointing a thumb to the quiet clone.
"I'm working on it." Superboy muttered, his eyes shifting from Robin to the pouting face of Samantha. "So when do the ice powers come in?"
"Those?" Samantha asked, eyes gazing back at Superboy. "Actually, right after. It's a little fuzzy though. I can't remember all of the details."
"What'd you do?" Wally asked curiously, rocking back in his chair. "Start a blizzard?"
Samantha's eyes though slowly shifted to the side, not making any eye contact with her other team mates. "Uhh..."
It was hard to remember. Samantha remembered the energy building inside her, the feeling of it growing and growing at a rapid pace. She started to hurt all over, like her body was on fire and aching. She thought it was just because she was singing so loudly and so hard. Her body was probably really tired and stuff.
But then the pain started getting worse, wanting to be let out.
And she felt...cold?
Sucking in a breath the tiny form of Samantha cut off her singing, wrapping her arms around herself and crouching onto the tile floor. She whimpered in pain, curling up in an attempt to contain the pain she was feeling.
"Honey, what's wrong?!" The surprised and fearful voice of her father asked. Samantha could hear him rushing over, his chair being knocked onto the ground from the force of him getting up so quickly.
Tears started to water her eyes, gritting her teeth at the pain. "I-I don't know. It hurts daddy!"
The energy that was hurting her. The pain rushing through her arms, legs, and head.
It wanted to get out.
She was freezing all over, her body aching and now curled on the floor. She couldn't keep this up for long. It felt like she was in a fight with a bigger kid, just getting punched and kicked one after the other. She couldn't block anything, fight back against it.
She was losing and she knew it. She just wanted it to stop.
And so Samantha simply let herself go.
And for the first time in her life, she saw ice cold snow during spring before succumbing to darkness.
Eyebrow raised at the silence, Wally stared at the awkward look Samantha was showing. "Wait...Did you actually-"
"Yes. From what Ice Maiden told me at least." Samantha interrupted, her face flushing with embarrassment. Moving her eyes around the campsite, all the brunette could see was the confused eyes of Wally, the shocked and interested gazes of Kaldur, Robin, and M'gann and Superboy's usual look of small interest at the details.
Did...it sound as bad as it did?
"Hey, it's not like I wanted to start a blizzard." Samantha spoke up, stuffing a piece of chocolate into her mouth. "It was an accident."
"An accident is breaking a window with a baseball. A blizzard is more like a chaotic oopsie daisies." Wally joked, holding in a laugh along with Robin who high fived him.
Suddenly, Wally felt his chair raise up from the front. Unable to hold himself upright in time, the speedster fell back out of his chair onto the grass.
The team turning to see what had happened, the teen's eyes looked over at Wally before looking to see a small icicle popped out of the ground, the same place where Wally's chair had been.
"Oopsie daisies." Samantha said cheerfully, a pointed finger in Wally's direction and satisfied grin on her face.
"Why only me?!" Wally complained from his new spot on the ground, adjusting himself to get back up and fix his chair.
"So," Kaldur started, looking over to Samantha. "You started a blizzard with your powers. How did you acquire them?"
"Yeah, KF here got a whole story about an experiment he recreated. You do the same or something?" Robin asked, eyebrow raised in interest at what kind of answer she'd give.
"What? No way. I'm not smart or crazy enough to do anything like that."
"I'm right here!"
"Would...it be bad to say I don't know?" Samantha asked, a sheepish grin on her face.
"Are you just trying to keep it a secret Samantha?" M'gann asked playfully, laughing her own question.
"She's right. You have to know something. Did you get them the same way as Ice Maiden?" Superboy questioned, his curiosity bubbling a bit too.
Shaking her head, Samantha just kept grinning at her team mates. "I'm being honest. I really don't know. My father thinks it had to do something with stress. Or some kind of reaction in my body."
"Like a chemical reaction? Or some kind of brain signals?" Wally asked.
"Maybe? I'm...still not really clear on what my father even says sometimes when he goes into his genetics language, but he thinks it was something that just...happened. Like how our bodies use adrenaline in extreme stress. He's still studying me to this day, trying to figure out what it was that made me create a winter wonderland out of part of our house." Samantha explained, making an explosion motion wither her fingers.
"Thankfully nobody was hurt. My experience got a little better thought after I woke up." Samantha reassured the group, smiling and kicking a rock on the ground.
"I got to meet Ice Maiden for the first time that night. It was so amazing. I was...ecstatic to meet her." Samantha spoke, stressing a bit on her words, turning her head away and continuing her story.
If only that was true.
"S-Stranger danger!"
"How long is she going to keep yelling that?"
"Don't be like that Speedy. This girl has never met us before. She's gonna get scared."
"It's not like we're trying to force her. We just helped her deactivate her powers and stopped her from freezing over a block of the city. She shouldn't be trying to hide from us."
Three figures, an older man, older woman, and young boy dressed in colorful outfits stood in the still frozen ballroom, each one staring over at the shorter girl a few feet away, shaking behind the form of her father.
Ice continued to freeze and pour out of Samantha's feet, each shake and nervous look etching more frozen water into the ground, glass scattered across the floor from the blizzard. Icicles hung from the ceiling, sharp and large enough that they could nearly be Samantha's own height. Frost covered the walls and windowsills, adding to the mystique of the entire situation.
Her hair was no longer its normal brown anymore, but instead had become pure white in an instant. She hadn't noticed it either that her eye color had changed, her irises now light blue like the sky on an early morning.
For her, the only things on her mind were what had happened. How did all of this ice get in the house? Why was the ground so slippery and cold? She knew what cold felt like and her shivery she should have felt, so why wasn't she cold like her father was?
And why were superheroes in her house?
At least, that's what Samantha guessed. She remembered seeing the big man in green on T.V. a lot, beating up bad guys with arrows like Robin Hood. A boy who looked a little older than her and dressed in red stood next to him. Was he another superhero?
Then there was the last person. It was a woman and a tall woman at that.
The shadows of the dark night outside still obscuring most of her features, Samantha could tell the woman had white hair like hers, the locks shining in the light of the moon. Her outfit in contrast to the other boys was blue, dark in color and showed off her powerful body.
"You will have noting to do with my daughter. Understood?" Nikolai spoke, his voice trying to keep firm despite the freezing cold in the room. His voice shook slightly an icy breath coming out from his mouth with each word he spoke. "I do not care how famous or powerful you heroes are, you aren't taking my daughter from me."
"You misunderstood." The woman of the group spoke, raising her hand up to get Nikolai's attention. "I not wish to take girl. Your daughter have great gift. She needs to learn to control less want another blizzard in house." The woman spoke, her eyes shifting to Samantha, a friendly smile on her face.
Samantha jumped a bit on her feet, moving further to hide behind her father.
"I can take care of my own daughter just fine." Nikolai persisted, moving his hand out to shield his daughter. "I may not know what just happened or how exactly ice has suddenly formed in my home, nor my daughter's physical appearance changing, but I'm a geneticist and doctor. I'll find the cause myself. We'll remedy the situation without outside help."
"By hiding them so you won't get judged." The voice of the younger fourteen-year-old muttered, scoffing at the answer.
"Speedy, don't be rude." Green Arrow scolded, lightly glaring at the boy.
Turning her head to look at her partner, the woman shook her head. "No, little archer right. This man hopes to keep powers in check by never letting them appear. Not using power may work for time, but they will only grow. She can't keep them hidden if they become too powerful for her." Moving her gaze back to Nikolai, the woman nodded thoughtfully. "She will need training, less she wants to hurt anyone. She almost froze you like popsicle moments ago."
Huffing at the argument going on, Nikolai lightly glared at the heroes standing in front of him. "I don't know what gave you the right.
"I-I don't!"
The adults and the young boy in the room stopped their back and forth conversation, all eyes turning to the source of the voice that had sprung to life in the room.
Poking her head out from behind her father, Samantha felt her face warm up and move back a bit from her father. Stepping to the side to stand on her own, the white-haired twelve year old fidgeted with her hands a bit before slowly panning her head up to look at the woman who was arguing with her father.
"I," Samantha spoke, nervous tension running through her veins. "I don't...want to hurt anybody. I don't want to hurt my daddy again. Not even on accident." Samantha spoke up, shaking her head at the thought. She never saw her dad during the commotion. She'd been unconscious the entire time.
If the lady and her friends hadn't come, would her daddy have gone where her mother was?
That...scared Samantha to her core.
Was she really that strong?
"I love my daddy a lot. I don't want to see him or anybody hurt because of me." Samantha answered, a hint of conviction in her quiet voice.
"I see." A knowing look in the woman's eyes, she slowly bent down on one knee and looked to Samantha at eye level.
And Samantha felt her eyes widen in surprise.
The woman who had spoken and come down to her level now in a better light, smiled to her. Her entire form revealed, Samantha finally noticed the woman's skin that was ice cold blue.
Like she was frozen solid.
"I am happy to hear that miss..."
"S-Samantha. S-Samantha Glacia Freya." Samantha spoke up nervously, moving back a bit and displaying a proper curtsy in greeting, just the way her father had taught her.
She couldn't stare! Daddy said that was rude!
"So polite for someone your age. Your father must be very proud of you." The woman said, smiling at the younger girl.
Blushing at the compliment, Samantha simply shrugged her shoulders. "I-I try really hard. I want to make my daddy happy."
"Wonderful. You must make sure to practice a lot than?" The woman asked with interest, her friendly smile never leaving her face.
"Excuse me," Samantha heard her father speak, his eyes looking at the woman and his daughter. "I'd like to know where this...conversation is going."
"Don't worry, I am getting. No need to rush when ladies talking." The woman spoke up, Samantha blushing again at the womans' friendly nature. "So you listen to your father all the time correct?"
"Well, yeah. He's my daddy." Samantha spoke in a matter of fact tone.
"That's good. However, as much as it is important to listen to parents, listening to what yo want is also important." The woman explained. "Your father wants what is best for you Miss Freya and we have all been talking for a while now about what we think we should do about fun ice powers you have right?"
"Y-Yep. It's really confusing."
"I know it is. I'm sorry about that. But, now that we've been talking for a while and after hearing you speak, I now only realize we haven't been asking right person."
Confusion bubbling up inside her, Samantha's eyes widened, her ice blue eyes staring back at the blue of the woman talking to her. What was she talking about?
"R-Really?" She asked, wondering what she had meant.
"Yes," The woman spoke, nodding at affirm the girls' question. "Us big adults have been talking about your ice powers and what should go on, but we have not even asked what little Freya wants. And that's most important thing."
"Miss, I do not see the merit in asking my daughter. She is still young. We shouldn't be adding such a burdening choice on the shoulders of a twelve year old who does not know what is going on." Nikolai spoke, his voice firm in his comment.
"Just let your kid speak. She has the right. Her powers after all." Green Arrow spoke up, eyeing the father from his spot in the room.
"So Miss Freya, what is it you want to do about interesting powers you have? Don't be afraid to say truth. As long as it your truth, it won't be scary." The woman spoke, smiling to Samantha to help her feel better.
Keeping her mouth closed, Samantha moved her gaze down ward to the tile floor. Ice coated the ground, moonlight glistening off it and showing the reflections of everyone in the room.
And she looked at herself. Or, who she though was her.
A girl with face stared back at her, fear all over her cheeks and eyes. Hair as white as a princesses in a fairytale was on her head and eyes that were usually dark like chocolate were light blue and staring back at her, squinting and shaking.
The other her in the ice looked really scared and nervous. Like she was waiting for somebody to speak.
One of them had to say something!
But what did she want?
Samantha wanted to listen to her daddy. He was always happy when she listened to him and that made her happy in return.
However, there were times when she did not want to listen, to not follow his orders. Like just a while ago when she sang. She wanted to rest really bad, but instead she just listened to her dad and sang more. She never really got to do what she wanted.
And now all of a sudden she had crazy super powers! She froze the ballroom, almost hurt her daddy by accident. Samantha did not want that to happen again. To see her dad on the ground cold and freezing because of her.
If she was going to be trained, did that mean this ice lady was going to be her teacher?
'Does that mean I'll get to be a super hero?' Samantha wondered, her mind wandering into the world of imagination at the thought.
She could learn to use her icy powers and fight bad guys, help people who really needed her, show her daddy she could learn to do things on her own. Maybe even join the cool place where all the super heroes got to play?
"I," Samantha spoke, her voice quieter than she expected. Rocking side to side on the balls of her feet, the white-haired girl looked up at the older woman and gave the best brave face she could. "I wanna learn to control my powers. I don't want to hurt my daddy or anybody like this again. "
Trying to think big and standing up on her tippy toes to look taller than the woman who watched her, Samantha balanced on her toes and pointed at Green Arrow, the red archer, and then back to the lady. "I want them to help people like you guys. Be a super hero and save people from bad guys who want to steal and hurt others!"
Silence filled the ballroom. Nothing was said at first, yet the echo of the tinier girls' words bounced off the walls, repeating her words for the adults and older boy to hear.
And then...
"Hahahahaha!" The body of the woman shook, her voice roaring out of her mouth into a long flurry of laughs. A grin on her face and trying to calm herself, she held her stomach and let her laughter die down and look back at the confident looking girl. "Now...that sounds like such fun and unique idea. Perhaps if you trained hard enough you could, but we should focus on learning powers first."
"Samantha dear, are you sure about this?" Nikolai asked, staring down at his daughter with concern.
Looking up at her father, Samantha nodded a bit to signal her decision. "I...I want to learn. If I do, maybe I can use the powers to help a lot of people. Like the super friends do!" She answered, jumping up in the air at the idea.
The younger boy held in a laugh, covering his mouth to try and stay professional. "S-Super friends?"
"It's called the Justice League." Green Arrow muttered, feeling a bit of a blow to his confidence at the name.
Sighing, Nikolai rubbed his tense neck and let out a cold breath. "Alright. If you want, I will allow this. However, I don't want you getting into any danger with these powers understood? I will want reports on everything you do so I don't need to worry."
"Uh huh!" Samantha answered, smiling brightly and nodding to her father vigorously.
"It settled than." Clapping lightly to emote her congrats to the younger girl, the older woman smiled and reached her hand out to Samantha. "I will be teacher from now on, help learn control of icy powers. You can call me Ice Maiden, little snowflake."
"Snowflake?" Samantha repeated, shaking the womans' hand and lolling her head to the side, confusion on her face.
"There is something about you Ice can't put finger on." Ice Maiden spoke, taking her hand back and standing up onto her feet. "Have never met little girl like you before. It interesting."
"I-Is that bad?" Samantha asked hesitantly, her smile faltering.
"No, no. nothing of the sort. It is actually much more fun in end."
"Huh? Why?"
Smiling, Ice Maiden looked down at the younger child with an interested and excited gaze.
"It may be far, but curious to see what kind of hero you become. Perhaps kind and helpful hero like soft breeze. Or maybe strong snowstorm like winter season. Wait is almost killing body." Ice Maiden spoke, laughing at the butchering of the saying.
Eyes wide at the interested gaze pointed in her direction, Samantha could only stare up at the woman who was now going to be her teacher.
And then something else popped up in her head.
'Winter?'
"So that's how you met Ice Maiden? And got your hero name?" M'gann asked, finishing her third s'more and listening to the tale.
"Yep. After that Ice just trained me as best she could until I insisted to be her sidekick. At that point I'd learned enough under her that it would be a waste to not let me work further with her. But, sorry it wasn't as action packed as most of yours. Mine was really just a lot of talking." Samantha responded, eating another piece of chocolate.
"It is no trouble. Not all origins go the same way. Your story was unique, just like you Samantha." Kaldur spoke thoughtfully, burning up another marshmallow.
"Aw, thanks Kaldur." Samantha said, smiling at her friend's kind words.
"Bleugh." Making a gagging noise from his seat, Wally opened his mouth and motioned his finger towards his open mouth.
Irritation showing on her face, Samantha grabbed onto a marshmallow and threw it at Wally's head. "You keep gagging Mr. Insensitive. But Kaldur is right. The story may not be all that great, but I wouldn't change it for the world. If I hadn't spoke up, who knows where'd I be now."
"Probably sitting around at your house bored." Robin joked, shrugging his shoulders.
"But you're here now with all of us, so it worked out in the end. I'm happy we're all here together as a team. I couldn't ask for more." M'gann concluded, smiling in her seat.
"Agreed."
"Batman couldn't keep me away."
"You said it beautiful."
Seeing the rest of the team resound in confirmation at their fellow team mates heartfelt words, Samantha smiled and let her eyes wander to the sights that were going on in front of her very eyes.
And then Superboy appeared, almost magically to her. He'd been so quiet, she nearly forgot he was there.
He was still, sitting in his chair and staring off into space as usual. He had yet to say a word, not doing much conversing during their time camping already. What it was he was thinking about was unknown to her, yet she could guess it was something about the stories each one had spoken about themselves.
Well, albeit Robin and his origin story.
Leaning a little on her arm res tot try and get a bit closer to the stoic boy, Samantha whispered. "Superboy?"
Hearing his name being called said boy turned to look at Samantha, his usual deadpan expression staring at her. "Yeah?"
"Are you happy?" Samantha asked, but felt herself mentally kick herself at the very blunt question. "I mean...are you happy about it all? That you're here? With us?"
Her fingers wrapping around the leftover chocolate in her hands, Samantha couldn't help but feel her fingers squeezes around the wrapper. Never had Samantha really asked Superboy about it all. How he felt since being taken out of Cadmus. To be in this new life, this new world he was still new to.
Could anyone be happy about being ripped from the only life they knew?
Superboy said nothing at first, his gaze only turning away from Samantha and to the fire burning in front of them. The crackle of embers in wood replacing their conversation for a few moments, Superboy finally spoke again.
"I don't know." A bland answer, the same usual tone from the clone.
"O-Oh." Samantha answered, her face crestfallen at the simple answer.
"I...appreciate it though." Superboy added, some emotion pouring out in his expression. His voice was still quiet, almost distant to Samantha's ears.
"R-Really?" Samantha asked, surprise rising in her voice.
"Yeah. Cadmus was messed up. I thought it was a real home, but it never was. It was a prison. If my story or whatever you guys call it hadn't been the way it had...maybe I'd still be in that pod. Working for those jerks."
She frowned, a slight ping of sadness hitting deep inside her. "Superboy."
The idea of Superboy never getting out, the group never finding him, him alone still stuck underneath Cadmus's cloth and still their slave. It shook her. Superboy was till new to her, just as she was to him, yet she felt like something akin to friendship had grown between the two since she'd met him in the catacombs of that insane lab.
"We wouldn't let that happen." Samantha spoke, confidence strong in her statement, eyes burning with passion. "We'd find you, no matter what. We'd get you out of there. You deserved a better life. You still do now."
Had her words reached him? Or were they just that? Words he had to listen to her say?
A chuckle escaping his lips, Superboy turned his head back to Samantha, a smile on his face. "Thanks for getting me out of there."
Smiling back to him, Samantha felt her cheeks redden and moved to stare at the campfire, the flames helping to illuminate her face and hide the redness of her blush. "You're welcome. I...We're all happy you're here with us."
Grinning and giving Superboy a thumbs up, Samantha flipped through her notepad and read over some old idea she'd scribble down, the sounds of her friends talking and the smell of the burning firewood relaxing her senses.
"Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Happy? The way things have turned out for you so far?"
The white-haired heroine stopped flipping through her notes, letting her hand drop to her lap at the question. Leaning back in her chair, Samantha hummed softly and watched the antics of the group in the campsite, gathering her thoughts.
M'gann, a martian from Mars was once again eating another s'more of her own creation.
Wally, their resident teen speedster was stuffing a handful of marshmallows into his mouth without a care.
Robin, the boy detective was holding onto Wally's arm, swatting at him in an attempt to make him give up the sugary treats.
Aqualad, an Atlantean from the sea laughed at the antics going on, making a comment about the two teens being careful around the fire.
And Superboy, a clone from a dangerous facility sat beside her, conversing and enjoying each other's company.
Warmth ran through her form, hotter than the flames of the campfire she stared into. She sank back into her chair, a smile on her face.
"Yeah. I'm really happy. I never want this to end. A mission from Batman would make this even better though."
And with a playful snatch of her hand, Samantha grabbed onto the last chocolate bar the group had and bit into it, the complains of Robin and Wally for stealing the last precious sweet music to her ears.
Her origin story couldn't have gone any better for her.