Theresa woke up with a pounding headache. She was sitting in a metal chair and sleeping on the metal table in front of her. She frowned as she sat up and winced at the light. There was one very bright strip of light above her and it seemed to reflect of the plain grey wall. She went to rub her temples but she couldn't move one of her hands. She looked down and saw a pair of Earth handcuffs. She tried to use her powers again but, with her head still ringing, she just caused herself more pain.
"Ouch." she murmured, letting her eyes adjust.
When her eyes settled, she was sure she was hallucinating. A man dressed like some sort of creature was standing in front of her. To his left was a man dressed completely in green and holding a bow. To the creature man's right was the mass of muscle, bright blue eyes and spiky black hair that had knocked her out of the sky.
Batman, Green Arrow and Superboy all watched the teenager with varying degrees of anger. Theresa, of course, did not know enough to understand that the young man she had been fighting was in fact Batman's son and he had been told everything in vivid detail.
"Hey, kid, you need to explain what happened back there." Green Arrow said.
Theresa paused at that and frowned. She recognised the language. Slowly, she thought it through. She was on Earth – she knew dozens of Earth languages. She picked one at random and tried that. "Bonjour, je m'appelle Theresa. Où est ma aime?" (Hello, I'm called Theresa. Where is my friend?)
While the adult superheroes took in this new revelation that Theresa could speak an Earth language and decide if they should answer her question, Superboy stepped forwards.
"Mauvaise langue." he said, his Cadmus programming giving him mastery over the French language.(Wrong language).
Theresa paused. She noticed Batman's glare and, trying to master Earth customs, glared back. She did, however, continue to answer Superboy.
"Méjor?" she asked in Spanish. (Better?)
"Idioma incorrecto." Superboy said with a shake of his head. (Wrong language)
Theresa opened her mouth to try another on but Superboy stopped her.
"Halba usted Inglès?" he asked. (Do you speak English?")
Theresa paused and then nodded. "This correct?" she asked.
Green Arrow smiled at the fact the girl could speak English and was about to ask her a question when a wind whipped about the interrogation room. Superboy knew the girl was behind it and prepared to leap into action. Theresa hadn't taken her eyes off Batman for a long while and suddenly Batman's cape flapped over his face and he lost his focus on the alien girl.
"I winning!" Theresa laughed.
"What?" Green Arrow managed.
"We were having a staring competition, right? That is an Earth sport?"
Green Arrow looked from the Dark Knight to the teenager and couldn't stop himself from letting out a little laugh as Batman battled to keep his cape out of his eyes.
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Lourina glared at the handcuffs that had been snapped around one wrist, keeping her at the table. They were glowing slightly and didn't seem to react to her attempts to melt them. She felt cheated; she had been told that there wasn't a single metal on Earth that couldn't be melted by a Venusian.
"Thank you, Zatanna. We felt like she might be able to melt out of normal restraints."
"No problem, Aqualad." Zatanna said as she let the interrogation room.
Superman stared at Lourina as she sat at the metal table. She shifted and then her red eyes glances from the Man of Steel to Aqualad to Red Tornado. Given how the girl's powers were able to be controls by wind and water, they had been selected to interrogate her.
"Who are you?" Superman inquired slowly.
Realisation dawned in Lourina's eyes and she smiled, leaning forwards.
"Earth is English?" she said with a proud smirk.
The heroes frowned at the shock in the girl's voice. They had predicted that such an alien teenager would be able to fully understand them.
"What is your name?" Aqualad asked.
Lourina shook her head and lent back in her seat.
"We're not here to hurt you. We just need you to answer these questions and then we can get you home." Superman told her.
"My friend. I need to um... Oh... I need to look her."
"See her? I'm afraid not. She's safe."
"You lie!" Lourina shouted, slamming her hands against the metal table.
Her eyes glowed red and her hair caught fire. The temperature in the room increased suddenly. Lourina had dealt with too many liars, traitors and murderers during the war to have the patience to deal with the liars of Earth. She just wanted to find Theresa, find a space ship and get off the planet before they were hunted down.
"You need to stay calm." Aqualad said. "Sit down and take a deep breath."
"I promise you, your friend is safe."
Lourina sat back down and seemed to calm. She studied her hands, masking the pain sparking from her wrist. She had hurt it when she had pulled against the handcuffs to slam her hands down.
"What is the saying? Liar, Liar, pants of fire?" Lourina sung.
Suddenly Superman's pants began to smoke. Then they erupted into flame, masking the Man of Steel in smoke. The corners of the girl's mouth twitched into a smile as she watched.
"Fire detected." Red Tornado announced.
In reaction, the android started up a wind in the room which put out the Kryptonian's pants. The pants were mostly in good shape but the red material was now littered with black marks.
"I am done." Superman said and left. Red Tornado followed him and Aqualad paused.
"My friends are exploring your ship, is it safe?" he asked.
Lourina shrugged and then frowned. She searched for the right words. "We took it and we... Um... We parked it badly?"
"You crashed it." Aqualad said and Lourina smiled, thanking him for finding the right word.
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"There's not really much left of the ship." Artemis remarked.
She, Robin, Kid Flash and Miss Martian were studying the wreckage. Given the fire damage, the explosions from the fireworks and the actual crash, part of the spaceship had collapsed in on itself and sections of the metal had dug themselves into the walls and were stuck there.
"Go on, Zatanna, tell us what you've got for this craft." Kid Flash said over comm.
"Green Lantern is a pilot, right?"
"Yeah." Robin said.
"This database is stupid. Most of it is just comparisons to other planes and how nice it is to drive. I'll need a picture or something." Zatanna replied.
Robin fished a camera out of his belt and began to take pictures. Kid Flash raced over to Miss Martian while Artemis began to pick up the remains of fireworks. It was hard for her to tell apart the spaceship from the fireworks in some cases.
"So, our resident expert on aliens, what ship does this look like?"
Miss Martian paused for a few seconds and frowned. She used her powers to lift parts of the wreckage so it could begin to take shape.
"Robin, Artemis, you two would probably be the best suited to go in and have a look around. I'll keep the wreckage together but you'll need to be quick."
"Roger that, Miss M" Robin saluted before wandering into the wreckage, the female archer following him.
Artemis screwed up her nose at the smell of acrid smoke in the air filling the spaceship. She muttered how bad it was under her breath and Robin rolled his eyes, unplugging his computer as the doors opened.
"Then lets get out of here as soon as possible." Robin said.
They walked into the room Robin had just opened to them and they looked around. There were burns marks everywhere and the computers were flickering. Electricity was bursting from a smashed screen and Artemis was shocked. The ship looked like a death trap.
"It looks like a control room. Look, controls like the bioship has." Artemis remarked, pointing towards a central chair that looked out over everything.
Robin walked over to a screen and frowned. He looked up at Artemis "I guess this shows the logs" He turned back to the screen, typing at the remains of the control board. "I'm going to copy the logs onto my computer and we can get Miss M to look through them." Robin said, plugging in his computer.
Artemis continued to look around. She walked towards another screen checked it. She could see a red blip over Earth and a green blip over Venus.
"They were heading to Venus." Artemis remarked. "I wonder why?"
"Maybe there's a party going on there." Robin remarked.
Artemis moved away and continued to look around. She paused and then saw a screen which had been smashed into freezing. It showed damage reports of the ship, more than likely before the crash. Red marks showed damage to what Artemis guessed were wings and the back end of the ship. She gasped as she realised what it meant.
"This ship was attacked!" she exclaimed. "They were being shot at. No wonder they crashed."
Robin suddenly appeared beside her, looking at the screen. He frowned. "The damage is only to the engines, it looks like they were just trying to make them land, not kill them. Seems like the girls had a different idea. They would rather crash then get themselves captured." Robin said.
Artemis jumped and looked at Robin. She told him that she really wished he would stop doing stuff like that. Robin smirked and rolled his eyes. Suddenly there was the metallic thud as part of the ship fell apart. Both of the heroes winced.
"You had better get out of there." Miss Martian said through the mind link.
"On our way." Artemis replied and looked at Robin to check he had everything.
They began to slowly pick their way out of the wreckage.
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Theresa was getting bored. She had been locked on her cell by herself for ages. She couldn't get out and she needed to see Lourina and discuss getting to Venus and finding protection with the anti-war supporters. She had given up trying to free herself from the handcuffs and was now running through what she could remember of the fight against their teenaged captors.
Suddenly the door to her cell was opened and Superman, still in his burnt pants, stood in the doorway.
"You've been requested." he said, simply.
He walked forwards, freed Theresa from the handcuffs and lead her out of the room. He kept a close eye on her, knowing to be slightly wary when dealing with the alien teenagers.
"So how is Lourina?" Theresa asked with a smirk, noticing the burn marks on Superman's pants.
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"Lourina!" Theresa shouted, running towards Lourina.
Lourina got up from where she was sitting and raced towards Theresa, hugging her when they reached each other.
"How are you? They haven't hurt you, have they?"
"Of course not but I feel like I've been mind blasted by a Martian... Again." Lourina remarked. "And this planet is too cold."
"Have you got your powers under control?" Theresa asked.
She was happy to see that her friend had not once again caught fire but, for all she knew, Lourina might have needed help getting to that position.
"Just." Lourina smiled. "Have you got a headache?"
Theresa nodded slightly and then the two teenagers realised that they had been babbling together in Jupitian language and that Superman, Batman and Martian Manhunter were watching them.
"If you are quite finished." Martian Manhunter said in Theresa's language.
"Nearly." Theresa replied.
She paused and turned back to Lourina, "How on Callisto does he know how to speak our languages?!"
"He looks alien." Lourina murmured. "I would say he's Mercurian but he's green and they're not."
Martian Manhunter stepped forwards "It is rude to speak in a dialect that people in your presence do not understand"
"Sorry." Theresa said.
Batman walked forwards and looked at both teenagers. "Now you can see that the other is safe, I think you should tell us your names and why you are here."
"We crashed!" Lourina said, proud she had remembered the word. She grinned at the heroes and then sat back down.
Theresa rolled her eyes at her friend "Our ship...it…...we….drove into Earth. I am Theresa" She said, gesturing at herself before her friend "And this is Lourina". Her pale skin flushed brightly, her English was incredibly rusty.
"Is there a chance that you are Venusian and Jupitian?" Martian Manhunter asked.
Lourina nodded. "I'm from Venus, Theresa's from Jupiter." she said.
Martian Manhunter nodded and turned to Superman and Batman. He looked at them both and drew them away from the girls. "As I thought. Jupiter and Venus are at war. These children must be running from the war." Martian Manhunter said. "I feel like we must offer them a form of shelter.
Superman looked back at the teenagers. He frowned. He wasn't happy with it. He didn't want to shelter the teenagers on Earth and possibly put the Earth in danger. "If we don't let them stay, what might happen to them?"
"The report of the team from the wreckage showed that the ship had been attacked. If we force the girls to leave Earth then we could be sending them to their deaths." Batman reasoned.
"The team tackled them before. They would only have one chance and it would be fully explained to them. If you still not trust that they are good people, I can read their minds..." Martian Manhunter told them.
Superman looked back at the teenagers. They had been talking between themselves but turned to the Man of Steel when they was he was looking at them. Lourina's eyes began to glow red as she smirked at Superman. Theresa got her friend's attention again as the heroes continued to debate where the teenagers would be staying and what rules would be put in place.
"I think they want us to stay here." Theresa said dipping once again into her native tongue.
"It's too cold. We're going to skip planet as soon as we can get a ship." Lourina replied.
"Which could be years."
Lourina paused and rolled her eyes. She watched the heroes for a few seconds and then looked back at Theresa. "So we stay, we wait and then we go and help the anti-war supporters." Lourina agreed.
Then there was a hand on her shoulder. Flames flickered up as she jumped as the teenager was still not fully used to Earth and it's level of oxygen. Zatanna pulled her hand back and frowned. "Sorry about that... I didn't mean to make you jump."
"Just not used to..." Lourina began, trailing off when she couldn't find the right words.
She looked at Theresa who shrugged. The adult heroes turned to the three and got their attention. "You can stay. This will be your home for the time being." Batman explained and then got Martian Manhunter to translate just to be sure.
The two teenagers were about to react when the team walked in. Superboy and Aqualad had joined them and Batman quickly lead the team away, Zatanna giving Theresa and Lourina a nod before she left. He was going to brief them on the rules of the two teenaged aliens staying with them.
"For you to stay with these teenagers, there are a couple of rules." Martian Manhunter said in Mercurian, noticing the way the Jupitian shifted slightly as he spoke, he simply brushed it off as a dislike for rules. Both girls seemed to have a fond distaste for discipline. "You are to try to follow human customs, try to fully learn the languages the team use and you will do as you are told by the League members, either attending meetings or simply standing down when needed. Finally and most importantly, you are not allowed to leave the Mountain just by yourselves. You need at least two members of the team with you at all times."
Theresa and Lourina agreed. The rules weren't too restricting and they knew that, if needed, they would be able to find a way around the rules. Behind the pair, Batman was returning with the other teenagers. He had told them that they were to have a tour of the Mountain and then they would be taken to their rooms.
"They speak lots of alien languages, Miss Martian." Batman said. "If their English begins to fail, translate for them."
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"And this is the kitchen." Robin said.
The teenagers had shown the two aliens a seemingly endless stream of training rooms and meeting rooms and both were looking slightly bored.
"This is where everything good happens – the food is made here." Kid Flash said, smiling.
He raced over to the fridge and returned in the blink of an eye with a slice of cold pizza. He began to eat it while the others were showing the teenagers where everything was. "And look..." Kid Flash said when both teenagers looked slightly lost by all the kitchen equipment. He reached down and turned on the hobs. Lourina's eyes lit up when she saw fire and she smirked, letting her hand catch fire. She stole Kid Flash's pizza off him and placed it on her hand, handing it back seconds later.
"You warmed my pizza?" Kid Flash gasped.
Lourina frowned, not understanding most of the words in his sentence. Theresa looked at Miss Martian as she turned down the hobs so they were off.
"What he is eating is called pizza." Miss Martian said. "It's okay if you don't understand. I've got some books in Martian about Earth and..."
Theresa was suddenly distracted. Superboy had moved towards the TV and turned it on, watching the static. Theresa was watching it, almost hypnotised.
"What's that? It's like a monitor but..."
Lourina looked at the others for an explanation but none of them were willing to give her one. She watched as her friend strayed away and then looked at the others.
"Rooms now?"
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Theresa and Lourina had been put in separate rooms but they were rooms right next to each other. They were all in Theresa's room. It consisted of simple furniture, a double bed, a desk, a chair, a wardrobe and a bedside cabinet. Robin had promised that, if they needed anything else (new clothes especially) they would have to go to the shops.
"My room's just down the hall if you need anything." Miss Martian beamed.
Lourina and Theresa looked at each other and then shifted.
"Names?" Theresa requested.
Miss Martian paused and then realised that none of the teenagers had done introductions.
"Hello Megan! You need names." She exclaimed, hitting herself on the forehead gently.
Robin stepped forwards first, holding out his hand with a smile. "I'm Robin." he said with a smile.
Kid Flash zoomed forwards so he had his arm resting on Robin's shoulder "Kid Flash, but" He continued with a coy smile "You can call me Wally, besides you" He suddenly appeared at Lourina's side "You can call me whatever you like" He flirted.
"How about Narcissist?" Lourina murmured, her red cheeks steaming slightly as she blushed.
Theresa laughed at her friend as Aqualad stepped forwards "I am Aqualad, but off the job, you may call me Kaldur".
Next, Miss Martian flew over and smiled at the pair "I'm M'gann. Incase you didn't realize, I'm Martian Manhunter's niece".
"Stupid Martian mind blasts." Lourina muttered in her native tongue before smiling happily at the Martian, who clearly didn't understand enough Venusian.
Theresa smirked and watched as Zatanna and then Superboy introduced themselves. The latter with an uncomfortable glance at the Jupitain.
Artemis stepped forwards when she realised Kid Flash was opening his mouth to flirt once again. She introduced herself instead of letting the Fastest Boy Alive flirt with two aliens who understood limited English.
"I'm Theresa. That's Lourina."
"Lourina and Theresa – aren't those the names of the Venusian and Jupitian princesses?" Miss Martian inquired.
Theresa and Lourina shot each other nervous glances before Theresa spoke up "No. It's just a coincidence. We were both born around the time of the princesses so our parents decided to name us after them." she lied, quickly.
Lourina agreed with a smile. "As a sign of respect".
"Right" Kaldur nodded before gesturing to the door "I think we should leave and let you two settle in". Soon enough the team was bustling out of the door, Artemis forcefully shoving Kid Flash through the doorway. Lourina waved them off with a smile before she closed the door and turned on her friend.
"Why did you tell them that we're the princesses?" Lourina said in Jupitian.
Theresa rolled her eyes. "They know our planets are at war and they have their own planet to protect. If we pretend we're just aliens then they are less likely to send us away because we get too much bad attention." Theresa reasoned in her native tongue.
Lourina rolled her eyes "I'm not so sure". Normally she would be fine lying but the people they were with were good people and she felt guilty about not telling them. The Venusian sighed and ran a hand through her red hair "If this backfires, it's your fault".
"I'm willing to take full responsibility." Theresa informed her friend.
Both were about to say more when the door swung open and Robin appeared "Sorry to interupt. But the team has to go".
"Why?" Theresa asked after a beat.
"There's something big going on downtown." Robin said.
"Can we help?" Lourina asked.
Robin thought for a few seconds and then smiled "Well, Batman and Martian Manhunter said you needed at least two team members with you at all times, so I don't see why not".