A:N: Yay! I lub you guys so much for the favs and reviews! I literally have a huge grin when I open my inbox to see favorites and alerts. (Seriously, its creeping people around me out.) To put peoples' minds at ease, please just sit back at enjoy Avia's character development and trust me. Merci beaucoup.

Reviewers:

Jess906: Thank you, and please keep reading, thing will begin to pick up soon.

StarryCassandra: Don't worry; she's just a little shy... She'll develop into a little minx soon enough. ;)

shisumi12: Thank you, I hope I won't disappoint!

CountryStrata: HUGGLES! Thank you so much, you make my day! Don't worry; I will stay with this until it's through!

amber: Hugs to you too for being my first reviewer! Hope you enjoy and continue reading!

If you are looking for the owners of Young Justice, you've come to the wrong person. I own nothing but my fluffy little featherhead (Avia) so don't sue me, I'm only having a little fun. ;)

Read, review and enjoy!

Chapter Three: Of martens and Madness

-Flashback-

"Okay, M'gann, enough crowing, don't scare the girl," Huffed Robin.

"Yeah, M'gann," smirked Artemis with another hair flip that caught a surprised Wally in the face. "Robin wants his turn!"

"There's not much to say," Robin crossed his arms dismissively. I felt a little disappointed; I had wanted to learn more about my team and how could I when they were being as unforthcoming as, well, myself.

As if Wally had read my emotions, he rolled his green eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously Robin, there's nothing interesting or special about you... At all?"

Artemis smirked from his side, and I couldn't help but remember the way she had snapped when I mentioned him. They looked happy enough together, but I suppose-

"Fine!" Robin's exasperated outburst jolted me out of my train of thought. I glanced at him curiously. I could not see his eyes due to the sunglasses he wore, but his cheeks were flushed and his ears burning red, but whether from frustration or embarrassment, I could not tell. He turned to me, eyes still hidden behind black lenses, but his dark eyebrows de-creased slightly when he saw my confusion.

"My name is Robin," he introduced himself for the second time, once again initiating a handshake. He had a strong grip, which my father said meant a strong spirit. "I work to defend Gotham beside Batman."

My eyes widened. Batman. I wanted to know more about my mysterious savior, and this dark-haired, five-foot-three thirteen-year-old seemed to be my only link. "That's amazing..." I murmured, an expression of legitimate wonder on my face. "What do you do, exactly?"

He chuckled satirically. "Technically, I'm a side-kick vigilante. Glamorous career, I know."

My lips curved upwards in a hesitant smile as I regarded the boy perched next to me on the long couch. He reminded me of the little brother that I never had. Of course I knew who Robin was, and what he did, and I'm not sure why I asked.

"Will that do, Wally?" Robin turned back to the grinning speedster, his impatience reminding me of my own 'introduction'. The person in question merely treated us to another smirk, and nodded. He stood up; then disappeared in a blur and a burst of wind.

I jumped in surprise when I felt the burst of wind fly past and halt beside Artemis once again, leaving the girl's ridiculously long blonde hair billowing around her. Wally had a huge bag of chips on his hand, and was munching them nonchalantly. He grinned when he saw my astonished look, and ignored Artemis, who mumbled something about shameless showoffs.

"Hwhat?" he regarded at the blonde's glare, mouth full of chips. "I'm hungriii!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud at the ridiculous scene. It was like something my sisters would watch on a cheesy reality show. All occupants, even the brooding Superboy and embarrassed Artemis perked up and searched for the sudden peal of laughter.

I put a hand up to my mouth, and I really did try to stop, but it was in vain. The fatigue, hunger, and stress of the day had finally affected my sanity level. I slumped against a bemused Robin and an amused M'gann, my shoulder hitching with breathless giggles. I felt something furry brush the back of my neck, and a sudden weight on my shoulder.

"Whoa! What is that?" Wally said, his voice strangely curious. I struggled to control myself and looked up, fervently hoping that he wasn't talking about me.

"It's adorable!" M'gann squealed, plucking the furry something gently off my shoulder. That sobered me up fast when I realized what had been discovered.

"Kimli!" I shrieked, snatching the object of M'gann's adoration and cradling it protectively in the crook of my arm. The little marten looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes. Yes? It seemed to say. Can I help you? I felt her soft chestnut fur bristle as I held her tighter to prevent Robin from scrutinizing the creature any further.

"Avia, what is that?" demanded Kaldur. I looked up and met his eyes ruefully, a little surprised when I realized that it had been the first time he had talked since we were first introduced.

"Oh, um..." I unconsciously began stroking the marten's deliciously soft fur. "This is a marten." I held her up hesitantly for inspection. Kaldur looked like he was having a hard time not rolling his eyes.

"Yes, I know what it is... What is it doing here?"

I tittered nervously. "Would you believe me if I claimed stowaway?"

He narrowed his aqua eyes suspiciously, but did not show and further dissent, so I supposed Kimli was safe for now. Since M'gann was practically begging to hold the little marten, I, begrudgingly, allowed Kimli to scamper over to the now-green girl. She beamed, as happy as if I had presented her with a basket of rainbows and kittens, instead of a mangy animal that adopted me from the streets.

The memory of how I met Kimli made me smile again. I remembered it well...

-FlashBack -

I looked nervously from side to side, vainly trying to calm my racing heart. The concrete walls of the tunnel seemed to be closing in on me, and my claustrophobia seemed to be crushing my windpipe.

I heard a car's wet tires crunch behind me, and I silently cursed myself for not being more careful. I pressed up against the grimy sloped wall, trying to make room for the rugged SUV that slowly made its way down the tunnel. The car passed me without any trouble, but before I could slip away behind it, the car stopped.

My heart picked up again and I looked back to see a now-stationary car blocking the road behind me. The passenger side door slammed open, and a man clothed in a suit stepped out wearing a menacing expression. He started to walk towards me, and so I did the only thing that made sense at the moment; ran like hell.

I cleared a low stone divider once I got out of the tunnel and ran into a rural area I knew fairly well. Ignoring both the angry shouts behind me, I darted into an alleyway, trusting my luck to lose them. As usual, my luck was taking a vacation at the time, please leave a message, so of course I thudded into a dead end.

Let me tell you something; running into anything at a dead sprint is painful, but a brick wall possibly tops the charts of worst. I sprawled out on the concrete, breathless and seeing stars. I heard frenzied footsteps at the mouth of the alley I had "escaped" in, and heard someone shout, "Hey, you there! We need to have a word with you!"

I did not like the sound of "having a word" with anybody at the moment, especially a menacing man that had chased me down an alleyway. It seemed like I had little choice in the matter because I couldn't even lift my head up from the ground, and I think I obtained a concussion from my impromptu wall hug.

Suddenly, I felt tiny claws and a slight weight skitter over my shoulder and towards the man. I shuddered, thinking that I had become a stepping-stone for rats, but a girlish shriek interrupted my disgust. I glanced up, dazed and confident that I hadn't screamed, to see the suited man running for the hills, swatting at his pant legs, and screaming like a little girl. I struggled to my knees, confused and more than a little amused when I saw what looked like a ferret dashing back to me from the man. I figured that the little creature had decided to 'defend me' and attacked the man, most likely with its teeth. I did not know exactly where he was bitten, but I could guess by his limp and high shrieks as he dashed away.

The mangy little creature settled down in front of me as I struggled to sit up, and feeling the beginning of a nasty headache. It nuzzled an itch on its shoulder and looked at me rather calmly, its liquid brown eyes saying 'You're welcome.' And perhaps 'Don't ever make me do that again.'

I hesitantly reached out to touch it, afraid of being given the same treatment as the man, but the creature merely pressed its little head into my palm and made a strange purring sound. I laughed at the absurdity of my situation, and stood up, taking the creature with me. It squeaked in surprise, and clung to my arm before scampering up to my shoulder, wrapping a furry tail around my neck quite snuggly.

"Comfortable... Kimli?" I asked. Kimli. I liked the name, and it sounded a bit like the squeaking sound it made. The creature purred again, kneading my shoulder with its claws in an affirmative. It seemed like I wasn't alone anymore, even if it was a mangy marten for a featherhead girl.

"You okay, Avia?" a concerned voice jolted me out of my memories.

I looked up quickly. "Huh? Oh, yeah, Robin. I'm fine." I flashed a quick smile to prove it. He didn't seem overly convinced, but he shrugged it off. I looked to M'gann, who was still cooing and doting over Kimli, whilst everyone else watched in amusement.

"Who's a good little marten? Who? You are! Yes you are!" The green Martian girl giggled happily. Kimli shot me a pleading look. 'Help me!'

I smiled again, and tapped M'gann's shoulder. "Can I have Kimli back, please?"

"Oh, all right," she huffed good-naturedly, releasing the marten to scramble up around my neck. I scratched her ears in thanks for her patience, and she purred and chattered happily in my ear.

Artemis sighed. "I suppose it's my turn now,"

"You got it, babe!"

"I didn't ask you, Wally! I swear, one day-"

I rolled my eyes at their behavior. As my older sister always said-usually to tease me about my own boy problems- 'Just kiss it out already!' I blushed at the memory. In order not to embarrass myself more, I'll simply say that it was not a pleasant day for my crush or me.

"Go ahead, Arty." Robin snickered. I giggled behind my hand at the ridiculous nickname, and made a point to use it as often as possible. Arty chose to ignore that comment (apparently all her anger was saved for Wally) and cleared he throat.

"I'm Artemis Crock, niece of the Green Arrow, and I, well, kick ass!" she smirked.

"Says you,"

"Wally!"

"Moving on!" I interjected quickly, wanting to prevent a quarrel between the two. I figured that the sooner we were finished with introductions, the sooner we could eat, and I was literally starving. The last thing I ate was a stolen hot dog two days ago, and I think my stomach had started to cave in.

Artemis huffed and elbowed the offending speedster. "Go on, Baywatch."

"My pleasure." he looked at me and gave me a winsome smile. Or, what he probably thought was winsome. To me it just looked... goofy. "Wally West, at your service."

I raised an eyebrow and smiled involuntarily. "Enchante, I'm sure." Both Robin and Artemis smirked.

"Yep, West is the name, speed's my game. My uncle's the Flash, of course."

"I can... see the resemblance."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah." I tried to hold back a giggle at his hopeful expression. Then I mentally face palmed. What was with me lately? Plop me in a group of superpowered teens, and suddenly I was all jokes and giggles. These people brought out the side of me I hadn't seen for years.

"Why don't you go, Connor?" M'gann smiled at the brooding boy beside her encouragingly. He grunted unhappily, and cast his cold cobalt eyes over me. I shivered under his scathing gaze. He ran a large hand through his short black hair, and then shrugged broad shoulders in grudging agreement.

"My name is Connor Kent, but I'm called Superboy." he grumbled to me.

"Why?" I hesitated to ask. He glared at me.

"Why what?"

"Um, why are you called SuperBoy?" and just like that, I was reduced to a stuttering imbecile. A few scathing words and I melted. I thought I was stronger than that.

"I'm Superman's clone."

I looked up at his in astonishment, my green eyes wide. Clone? That was impossible! Wasn't it? He must have seen the disbelief in my expression, because he growled,

"Do I need to prove it to you?"

I shrank into the couch, ignoring Kimli's agitated squeak. I wasn't excited to see what Superman's angst-ridden, broody clone could do to me. I didn't have a death wish. "No, no. I believe you."

A beep sounded, and I sighed in relief. Saved by the bell(italics) It was the oven, and M'gann sprang up to tend to the meal, mumbled something about not burning this one.

"Wheeelp, this was fun, but I'm starved!" Wally made as if to get up, but Artemis stopped him, and looked to Kaldur with a sly smile.

"Not yet, Wally. SOMEONE hasn't introduced himself yet... Kaldur?"

The tall teen looked annoyed at best. As he mulled over his next action, I risked an inspection of him, and quickly deemed him the strangest (though definitely not ugliest) person I had ever seen. He had dark chocolaty skin, intelligent lapis lazuli eyes, and blond hair, shaved in a buzz cut. Two sets of scars marked his thick neck, and matte black tattoos ran down the length of his (quite muscular) arms. I blushed fiercely when his eyes met mine; I was ashamed to be caught inspecting him so intently.

"I am the team's leader, Kaldur'ahm. Atlantian." he said eventually. Atlantian? As in... Atlantis? Well, I had heard stranger.

"Erm, Avia." I said, shaking his strong hand as well, only blushing slightly. "But you knew that."

"Hmm."

Hmm. That went well. Kimli chattered her agreement in my ear, and I sighed, heading over to the kitchen with the others.

A:N: Hope you liked this slightly longer chapter, because it's my gift to you for the holidays. What should happen next? You tell me... Review! (BTW, did you like Kimli, she's my favorite so far)

Happy Hannaramquanzmas!

Sleepily yours,

BlackInkling 3