Chapter 2
"This is mind-numbing, the lights in this place are giving me a headache, and it smells," Earla complained. There were exactly sixteen windows at the top of Belle Reve. Currently, only one side had lights on that was four sixteenth or twenty-five percent of the lights were currently powered on. Monitor duty was the name of the current hell of tedium that she was currently sitting. Somehow, she thought being on a secret spy mission would be more exciting than sitting, waiting.
"Most monitor duties are boring and I cannot help the lights. This ship was constructed on Mars and has been built to their optimal specifications," Kaldur responded unenthusiastically from his current perch in the middle of the control room.
"Why exactly are we here if nothing is going to happen?" she wondered.
"Monitor duty is extremely important to any mission," he disclosed as he stood up from the chair where he was sitting and walked over to the main console. "It is how we are able to provided mission support to team member who are involved in covert ops. We are currently monitoring the jail for any signs of distress from Superboy and Miss M." Kaldur went on to explain that communication was now facilitated by Miss M telepathically between the three to ensure security. Inside the prison, null collars were custom made to fit each of the metahuman prisoners inside. Since, Superboy and Miss M were not the Terror Twins the collars did not work to hamper their powers. This gave them an advantage that could be exploited when needed but according to their mission parameters, they could only observe and report what happened..." Kaldur paused in the middle of his explanation.
"Miss M has reported. Nothing has happened inside of the prison," Kaldur stated to Earla. She nodded and kept looking out of the window. She let her eyes wander from the window to Kaldur. He was an interesting package if there ever was one. She began to mentally catalog what she knew about the strong, silent package that was Aqualad. Calm, level-headed and the most mature one in the group of teen heroes. He came between the antics of Robin and Kid Flash often. That was really interesting that the younger heroes, Robin and Kid Flash, had more experience than the more mature, Connor and M'gann. Kaldur attempted to hold himself from the group as if that would make him a better leader, but that is not going to work she thought. Everyone needs friends.
"Why can't we just use the tube?" Earla continued wondering why they couldn't just monitor from the comfortable Mount Justice.
"While fast, the time that it takes to port in may be the difference between an injured and uninjured teammate," he responded as he looked over the console and ran some kind of program. "Boredom is a good sign it means, thankfully, that they have not been discovered."
She nodded as his answer made sense. Kaldur walked out into the hallway and came back a moment later. He walked to a small door at the left of the back of the control room reached into to the bag and pulled out a cabbage and put it into the door. While he was working, Earla took the time to examine him. His formal posture never relaxed even when he was doing manual labor like shoving cabbage in a feeding shoot.
"I ran a system's check on the bioship," he stated as he continued to chuck cabbages down the door. "The ship is running low on fuel. M has found out that it likes cabbage."
A space ship fueled on cabbage. Yep, she was definitely in the freak show Earla thought. Well, that explained the smell. She guessed that she should be thankful that the ship did not like to eat beans. That was a blessing to which she was truly grateful. A small smile played on her face as she thought about feeding the ship refried beans before a mission. She wondered if she could get Robin and KF in on the fun.
"Talk to me or I am going to go insane. How much time do I have left anyway? " she begged watching him take the bag back out into the hallway.
"We have about two hours." He responded as he walked back in and took up his seat.
"How exactly did you get involved with JJs anyway?" she asked. Wondering how such a formal guy could get mixed up the mashup that formed the current team.
"Well…" he began. He went on to explain that he had come to the attention of Aquaman after he and his friend, Garth, had prevented an attacker from taking the king's life. He was offered the chance to travel with the king and to become a protector. His friend he explained had chosen to stay at the academy and to study Atlantean sorcery. Kaldur continued and explained how the team came to being and their first mission together. "We were not as cohesive as we are currently. Even now, we are still learning."
So, she started off with the small talk she smiled and asked, "So, where are you from exactly?"
"I am from Atlantis," he stated and at the puzzled look that she gave him he went on explaining about his home world.
"I was a ward of the state of Atlantis because my mother died about a year after I started the Academy," he stated simply.
"What was she like?" Volt asked.
"Well…,"Kaldur went on and explained about his home life with his mother and how he had not known his father. After a few, moments he stopped and realized that he was rambling on. "What about you?"
"Well, not much to say I am the second of four. I live in the Crescent City and proud of it. My little bros are the best in the world…," it was now her turn to get lost in the story of her family life. She told him about being on a field trip and how she got her powers from the Big Bang in Dakota.
They were knocked out of their conversation by the arrival of Red Tornado who was taking up the next shift. Kaldur gave the report and Red Tornado nodded as neither expected much to happen this night. He guided Volt from the ship in stealth mode to the teleportation point.
Volt followed him from the ship and carefully made sure to only step where he had stepped. Belle Reve was a modern marvel was built in the crappiest area to make it as isolated as possible to prevent any accidents in case of an escape.
She looked at him and thought about how she wanted to finish the conversation that they were having before they were interrupted. She should give him her digits which was major break from all of the rules that she was given about secret identities. Oh, hell faint heart and fair maids.
Just before they got to the coordinates she pulled his hand and wrote down a series of digits. "Text me tonight if you feel like talking," she stammered out as she heard the sound of her heart in her ears.
He looked at his hand dumbfounded and nodded before they were teleported away.
Kaldur looked at the time on the holocomputer as he passed by. Where had it all gone? Usually, monitor duty was a pain. But, tonight his shift had passed by swiftly and pleasantly. He had gotten to talk about Atlantis and his mother. He hadn't open up to anyone else on the team about his life pre-hero. However, Volt seemed to be interested in Kaldur and not Aqualad.
He replayed the conversation back in his head as he walked down the hall and to his room. It was quite refreshing. She did not seem as if she wanted him to tell all of his secrets but she seem like she was willing to take him as he was. She was no pushover and it was clear that she didn't mind him as a person, but she detested being a part of the team. It was unlike the others who it seemed wanted him to be the perfect leader and not make mistakes.
She wasn't bad to look at either. Well, from what he could tell was left exposed from her uniform or as she liked to call them, loony pjs. He replayed the discussion she had with him a while back about how idiotic the costumes of some hero were. After listening to her argument, he was inclined to agree. Especially, given the fact that Black Canary and other female superheroes were in over glorified swim suit and he had to agree what woman in her right mind would choose to fly in a mini skirt. Some male superheroes needed wedgie checks more often. According to Volt, Plastic Man's junk was stretchable too because it was the only logical explanation for why he never fell out of his costume and it was that ability that made him such a popular superhero. It made him thankful that his own king had seen fit to allow him to develop his own costume. As it was, he couldn't look at Plastic Man without the urge to checking out his junk.
He held up his hand and looked at the number. It was a definite taboo to allow himself to get to know her true identity he thought as he picked up his phone and typed in the digits and saved her into his contacts. He was still on the fence about contacting her, but hopefully he would come to a decision soon.
He placed his phone on the nightstand next to his modified sleeping chamber which looked like a giant aquarium. It had been specifically built for him to accommodate his Atlantean body. Although he could go without having to submerge daily, it had been decided by Batman that his bed was necessary for him to be in peak condition for all missions. His phone on the bed and walked off to take a shower.
Earla ported back to her aunts HQ and looked around. After assessing that she was definitely alone, she allowed her mind to wonder. What if he'd thought that her giving out the information was too personal? What if he decided that he didn't want to go on with talking to her? She allowed her thoughts to wander to the most catastrophic thoughts she could muster. Whoa, she definitely needed to get home and to drown herself in work before she drove herself stark raving crazy with all of the second guessing she was currently doing.
She changed out of her clothes and walked to the bus stop and hopped on the bus and headed home. Hopefully, it would all sort it out.
Her dad was on the couch in a drunken haze. She closed the door, sat her bags on the floor, and walked over to the couch roused him from his sleep. She manhandled him down the hall to his bedroom and mad sure that his head was facing down off the bed. She peaked in on her brothers who were fast asleep. She moved back into the kitchen and curled her lip and in disgust at the kitchen. Obviously, her sister had been too busy to come home and do her part of the house work.
Earla shook her head and gather dishes from the table and put them on the counter next to the sink. She then proceeded to fill the sink with the right combination of soap and started to clean the dishes. She let the rhythm of washing dishes to let her mind wander. Where the heck, could her sister be it was almost midnight! By the time she was finished with cleaning the dishes and wiping off the counters she had worked herself up into a good temper. She noticed that little blue sparks were flying. Great, just what I needed. She could hear the new announcer. Today tragedy struck as unknown girl dies in apparent dishwashing accident.
She stalked up the hallway back to the living room she was too keyed up to attempt sleep, so she started in on cleaning the living room. By the time she made it to sweeping up the floor, Sari walked into the door.
"Sup, sis," Sari greeted pushing her braids off her shoulder as she stood up from putting her book bag on the floor.
"Mind telling me where you've been and what you've been up to?" Earla asked in a clipped tone.
"Nothing," came the lazy reply from Sari, "just the usual hanging out with Levi."
"So, that's the reason you couldn't bother to watch the boys?" Earla spat back.
"Hey, who died and made you mom?" Sari shot back heatedly. "They are old enough to come home, lock the door, and not answer it."
"What about the house?" Earl shot back with just as much force. "This place looked like a tornado hit it when I came home."
"Don't care, I ain't the maid. In case you haven't noticed, I ain't here all that much," Sari quickly replied. "And in the future, I don't plan to be." Earl looked at her skeptically. "I just came for my stuff and then I'm outta here for keeps."
"What about...," Earl started.
"Ain't my problem," interrupted Sari as she moved past Earla and down the hall. Earla followed in a rush of speed. "As long as I keep in school, who's gonna notice the difference? Dad not likely. Aunt Mari, she only gives a crap about herself. The Bros they'll get over it soon enough."
"Well, what about leaving me to deal with all of this?" Earla replied lamely as they walked into their shared bedroom.
"You don't understand. I'll be eighteen in a month and I plan to elope then," Sari stated as she moved about the room putting things into a bag she had pulled from the closet. "I'd rather live my life on my choices than on the choices of the others this place is choked by the past and I am past it. Look, I am leaving and I don't want my last memory of us in this house to be a fight. Please sis, be pleasant." Earla looked at her sister she seemed sincere in her want for a peaceful parting. She reached for Sari and pulled her into a fierce hug.
"If that douche ever treats you bad, I'll castrate him," Earla whispered fiercely into Sari's ear. Sari broke the hug and walked back down the hallway to the living room.
"Anything that is left feel free to claim. I'll still be around if you need help," Sari promised as she open the door and walked outside to meet Levi.
Earla walked over to the door slid the bolt and night latch into place and trudged down the hallway to her room. She grabbed her shorts and shirt from the drawer and took what had to be the quickest shower of her life and went to bed. Tomorrow, definitely had to be better.
The evil time baron ran at six o'clock and Earla reached out and zapped it just for kicks. Though it was tempting to snuggle back under the perfectly warm blankets, the last thing she wanted to do was take the public bus to school. Morning buses were horrible. They were full of people going to work with nasty attitudes from under fed caffeine addictions. She drugged herself out of bed and down the hallway to wake up her brothers.
After making sure at least one of them was up and plugging up the iron in the laundry room, she plodded back into her room and pulled on her uniform and then, she walked to the dryer and prayed that her brothers still had a clean shirt each. She pulled the two shirts, ironed them, and handed them off. Thankfully, they could eat breakfast at school. Checking to be sure that they had everything, she sent her youngest brother in to wake up their dad. Hearing the familiar grunt of his wakefulness, she gathered the last of her supplies, shoved a pack of paper and pencils in each of her brother's book bags, and hustled them out of the door just in time to see the bus turn the corner on their street.
"Morning Mr. Jeremy," Earla greeted as she walked down the aisle to her seat. The ride to school would take them about fifteen minutes in regular traffic and twenty if it was a little heavy which would give her enough time to complete her homework for math and English. She could do her history and science homework in English after she was finished with her practice exercises. Her grades were no longer the pristine all A's that she had once been known for but she was maintaining solid an A and B average. She had history and English and figured that the other classes she could pull Bs in and be fine. She remembered that she hadn't given her brothers money for concession and pulled out two dollars for each of them and passed it into their hands.
She smiled as Marion came onto the bus.
"Hey, did you hear what happened at the basketball game last night?" she asked. Earla gave her a puzzled look so Marion continued on. "Apparently Kay had been stepping out with Mike and he confronted her in the stands. It was brutal." Earla was shocked those two had been dating since junior high and it was rumored that they were engaged. She was out of the loop and she missed the loop.
Marion continued updating her on all of the events that she had missed thanks to her training with her aunt. "Are we still on for another round of movies Sunday?"
"You better believe it!" Earla practically yelled. The both laughed at her enthusiasm. The bus pulled up to the elementary school and she moved to allow her brothers to exit.
"Don't forget; wait for me after school today." They knew the routine, but she had to be sure. Today, there was not a scheduled practice with Volt, so she was taking advantage of the free time. Earla scooted over to allow Marion a space beside her as they continued to talk about the goings on at the school. Marion was just regaling her with the pants incidents of Charles when the bus pulled into to school. They got off and walked to the cafeteria grabbed breakfast and ate as they walked to class.
"Hey, let's finish the gossipfest during morning break," Marion suggested.
"Can't I am behind on my project for science and need the time to print out some resources. Wanna come?" Earla responded. She couldn't afford to wait to the last minute to start anything. She didn't know if she would have the time to make things work.
"Well I might as well, seeing as you're going to be responsible and all," Marion sulked as they parted for their classes. Mrs. Vaughn was writing the bell assignment on the bored. Crap! she had forgotten about the test today. Great she groaned. This was going to be the start of a great day!
Kaldur woke up from his rest and immediately looked at his phone on his nightstand. One of the best things about the sleeping chamber was the fact that it was filled with sea water and was deep enough to allow him to float freely just like when he was at home. Should he or shouldn't? On the one hand, it would be nice to have someone to actually talk about things, but on the other, it was against the rules for them to have contact with someone's true identity. It was a major show of trust and he didn't know if he was ready for that. Oh well, he thought he should get out of the bed and just get his day started. He would come to a decision later after he had given his brain time to process all of the possibilities of such a relationship. Yes, he though, that was best. He floated to the bottom and used the force to jump out of the tank onto the ground. He walked into the bathroom to dry off and put on his civis and get to his school work.
He walked down to the kitchen grabbed some cereal for breakfast and then made his way down the hallway to the library. Like Connor and M'gann he was enrolled in a virtual high school. In fact, they were all in the same class which was beneficial since it allowed them to collaborated on many of the projects. Usually, the three of them would be in the library in the mornings working on their individual class assignments or attending a virtual lecture presentation from the teacher.
Batman had stated that for the three of them, Connor, M'gann, and Kaldur, it would be advantageous to enroll in high school courses so that they would become more familiar with technology and social behavior. Connor was a clone and often did not know how to deal with his feeling. He often went from indecision to rage within a few seconds. While M'gann was the complete opposite; she was overly cheerful. While he was more familiar with the more formal style of interactions that took place in Atlantis, it was a good way for all of them to learn how to gradually interact with people.
He settled down to the computer and started on his lesson for the day. He pulled up the start screen and looked at the objectives for the language arts lesson for today. They were learning about different types of irony. This was interesting, he thought, sarcasm always had a way of flying over his head if he wasn't careful. Some of the comments that Robin and Kid Flash made often went over his head. The lesson went on to talk about the three major types of irony and how the reader could tell the difference between them without verbal cues that were given for sarcasm.
The virtual school was perfect for the type of work they were doing. It allowed them to spend more time on the things that interested them and allowed flexibility in scheduling as long as they met the required 26 weekly hours to meet the daily attendance requirements it was fine.
Classes were not all work the lessons were a combination of media, live presentation and chat discussions. The actual exercises came later at the end when they were learning to master the skill. The teachers were extremely nice and helpful. He had called Mr. Jay when he had trouble figuring out the difference between clauses and phrases. They had set up a one on one chat session to give him the extra time that he needed. Thankfully, math was not as hard a language because it did not require any conjugation. He just did the work in Atlantean numerals and translated the numbers.
Thorough the online webmail system which only students of the school could access, he could contact other students. He had amassed a group of online friends to which he could chat with about the lessons for the day or set up to meet during the field trips that were scheduled during the year. The trips were a great opportunity to interact with people on a nonworking basis. Though he could only make it to one, probably, if the world was not in a crisis.
The field trip that he was attempting to take was to the Metros Gardens in Gotham. It was billed as one of the premier gardens in the nation. It spanned more than 250 acres and was home to some of the world's leading plant laboratories which was why it was often a target of Poison Ivy. Most of the land was originally owned by one family but was purchased by the city to create a zoo and botanical garden. The garden was actually a collection of 50 different gardens and plant collections. The different gardens included a 50 acre track of never logged old growth forest which contains trees more than two centuries old.
The field trip was designed around two specific exhibitions. The first was the Edible Garden Exhibit which would show you how to easily grow a vegetable garden that would be anyone friendly to beginning gardeners. The second was the one that he was far more interesting Plants and Fungi. It would focus on the research being conducted by scientist at the labs and would include photographs, diagrams, unusual plant specimens, and artifact from explorations in remote locations. They would also feature ten current research projects from the study of mosses and lichen to Brazil nuts and vanilla orchids.
As he finished the last of his assignments he looked up and notices that it was time to log off and have lunch. He stood up and walked to the kitchen and fixed him a sandwich. Now that he was unoccupied his brain once again turned to the problem of Volt. He was still up in the air about which way he should decide. If he decided to wait too long, she might get offended. Great, he though, just what he needed an upset teammate. Volt was not scheduled to come into training today which would give him more time to make up his mind.
He cleaned up after himself and headed to the training room to meet with Black Canary for his training. Although he was still under the tutelage of Aquaman, Black Canary provided training for the entire group and he was no exception. Canary was a good teacher and he had learned much under her and combined the training from both were shaping him to be a hero his mom could be proud.
He kept that though in his head has his back met the mat for what was probably the first of many for the training session.
A/N: I am sorry for the wait, but I am proud to announce that I completed my Master's Thesis and received my MA (takes a bow). The stuff that you recognize from the back story came from Wikipedia. I looked at this story and realized that I had not updated in a year. OHN, I will finish this story by the end of May and take this extra long chappy as a treat. The gardens are actually the New York Botanical Gardens which is on my list of places to visit. This year I am attempting to grow a real veggie garden! (Holds up my one cucumber from last year proudly.)
Any feedback would be welcomed.