Hello, hello, I've been on an updating roll with all of my stories!

x

Mal Duncan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "Ugh, why isn't this problem working out?"

Conner and Cade looked up from their homework. The three were in the school library, completing homework while waiting for certain two females to finish cheerleading practice.

Conner leaned over and immediately saw what was troubling his classmate. "You calculated the 'E' thing wrong, there should be an extra zero at the end of your result."

Mal slapped his forehead and muttered a 'thanks' before returning to his chemistry homework without another word. Cade watched the interaction with an amused expression. Conner Kent and Mal Duncan getting along? This scene would have been considered unthinkable two months ago to the entire student body. Cade would like to declare that it was all due to her efforts. The first step had been getting Conner to join her and Mal for the chemistry project. Though Mal and Conner nearly argued over pointless misunderstandings the first couple of times they tried working on the project, they managed to see eye to eye under Cade's watchful presence. The three of them chugged out a worthy project that received much praise from their chemistry teacher.

Mal got to understand that Conner's silent attitude and terse words didn't mean to threaten, and Conner learned that Mal had misunderstood some of his actions. Their girlfriends Karen and Megan helped foster the new friendship, and they even went on a double date once, though Cade had heard that it was slightly awkward on Megan and Conner's part.

The real turning point of the tentative friendship was when every adult in the world had disappeared into a dimension. With Conner and Megan's help, Mal and Karen managed to run Happy Harbor High School as the base camp for all adolescents during the entire crisis. Luthor wasn't involved in the planning of that disaster, so Cade was free to alleviate the chaos in the streets by guiding all kids to the high school gym. And in the process, a level of respect grew between the two males when they realized that they could trust each other somewhat.

Today, the two couples and Cade had made plans to catch a movie after school, with Cade being the fifth wheel. Since Karen and Megan had cheerleading practice after school, the other three had no problem waiting in the school library to finish some homework. Cade thought that seeing Mal and Conner getting along was quite a sight to behold, and she smirked a little.

Conner caught her smiling at them and glared. "What?"

The grin didn't falter as Cade responded, "Nothing, I just think it's funny that you two are friends now."

Mal didn't look up from his homework when he and Conner chorused, "We're not friends."

Cade waved her hand. "Sure."

The two hard headed male students shot each other disgruntled expressions before looking away. Cade had to stifle a snort. They were so tsundere. Conner, ever perceptible at every slightest detail, glared at her with even more heat.

"Is something wrong?"

Cade made a face and gestured between the two of them vaguely.

"Nah," Cade said and continued squinting at them.

"It's just so….bro," she managed to say. She tilted to the right when Mal flicked a pencil at her. Luckily, a savior walked in to prevent any more violence.

"We're baaack!" Karen called out in a sing-song voice. It was a good thing that the librarian was out right now, or she would have been shushed. Megan was behind her, both of them were changed out of their practice clothes and carried a sports bag along with their backpack. The rest of them quickly packed up their stuff and left the library, heading for the student parking lot. Piling all of the school bags into Mal's car trunk, the group of five shuffled into the sedan car. Karen sat in the shotgun seat, while Conner, Megan, and Cade crammed into the back row.

"So what movie are we watching?" Megan asked as Mal pulled out of school and into the main town road.

"A rom-com! It's gotten good ratings, so maybe it won't be so bad," Karen said. The Happy Harbor entertainment plaza wasn't far from its local high school, for the sole purpose of hoping to attract as many students as possible. It was a good placement, and many people visited the plaza for its green public parks, shops, farmer's markets, and restaurants. Even though it was long past the school hour, there were numerous teenagers and families milling around the area. Happy Harbor lived up to its lively name.

The movie theater wasn't exactly a theater, but an old fashioned pull up driveway with the film projected. Mal parked in a nice spot with a good view and pulled out foldable lawn chairs from the trunk with Conner's help. Cade went with Megan to the nearby food stand to buy some snacks while the others finished setting up. The two teenagers were waiting for our orders to come out when Megan cleared her throat.

"Um, Cade?"

"Hm?" Cade looked at her with a curious expression. To be completely honest, Cade's head was a little preoccupied with business from Luthor. It was turning out to be somewhat difficult to balance all of her activities and to play a regular student during the day. Though her friends' naivety made her job to befriend them easier, Cade was aware that for every precious memory they gained with her, it was going to be more painful for them to find out that she was working under Luthor's orders the entire time. Sure, she wasn't on their side, but she didn't want to emotionally damage them either. The Martian and Superboy weren't the most accustomed to social customs, so they were more likely to be hurt than anyone else on the Young Justice team.

Megan fiddled with the receipt in her hands before speaking. "It's a little late to mention it and I don't know if Conner has talked to you about it yet, but he's really thankful for what you've done for him at school."

Cade raised her eyebrows. "Really? For what?"

"You know, just helping him with getting along with our classmates," Megan said nervously. "I was worried for him when we first came here, but ever since we met you, it's been easier for Conner. He's a little unsure how to talk to others, you see."

Deciding to pry, Cade asked innocently, "Wow, you seem to really understand him. How long have you been together?"

The redhead blushed a little and stammered, "O-oh, me and Conner? I-I mean, we're not exactly in that kind of relationship, he and I, we know each other because of-"

The Martian cut herself off before she could finish the sentence. Cade tilted her head, acting a little confused at the unfinished answer although she inwardly knew that Megan had gone too close to spilling a personal detail.

"We know each other because we came from the same town," Megan amended.

"Well that's a nice coincidence, knowing someone from your old town when moving to a new school," Cade commented. "It makes the transition easier."

"Yeah, it does even though it was still pretty scary. I kind of wish I was a little more like you, Cade," Megan admitted, looking down. Cade looked at her, almost shocked at the redhead's words. It was an unexpected turn of topic.

"You're funny, nice, always optimistic, you get along with everyone and everyone likes talking to you, even Betsy."

Betsy liked her? Cade thought back to Betsy, a fickle girl from the cheerleading team. She was a good cheerleader, but wasn't quite close friends with the rest of the squad due to her quick temperament. Cade only talked to her whenever she was with Karen, but it was true that Betsy wasn't as capricious when Cade was around.

Megan trailed off her reasons, finishing with, "And you fit in."

With Megan leaving herself vulnerable, Cade silently groaned. Of course, Luthor had told her to befriend the Martian and Kryptonian Jr., but it was still a hassle to play the good part. On one hand, Cade was doing great since it was obvious that Megan had opened up to her about some insecurities. On the other hand, she was sure that the Young Justice team would be quite wrathful towards her once her cover gets blown.

She personally thought that it was dangerous that Megan was leaving herself open like this. Based off of her summarizations of the video files Luthor had sent her a while ago, Megan was actually good at acting when she was physically disguised and on a mission. However, she didn't hold up her guard outside of missions, which meant she didn't expect any threats from high school.

"Megan, if it counts, I think you're pretty incredible for coming this far," Cade said carefully. "You're new, but ever since you transferred, you've been trying to make friends not just for yourself but for Conner too, and you're really sweet and nice. You care about people. You're already fitting in."

Megan sighed. "Thanks, but it's kind of hard to explain exactly what I'm going through."

"Hey." Cade put a hand on Megan's shoulder. "You're a good friend. And if you're a friend, that means we like you for who you are."

The troubled redhead considerably brightened and smiled at that. "Thanks," she said sincerely. Not one second later, their order came through, so Cade and Megan took a box of pizza and a cup holder for five drinks back to where the rest of their group were sitting. Conner was noticeably warmer towards Cade, most likely due to him hearing the girls' entire conversation with his enhanced hearing abilities.

Cade was the first to be dropped off after the movie. She waved goodbye to the car before turning the lock to the apartment. Not soon after she walked in, her cell rang.

Luthor's voice was casual. "How's school?"

Plugging in earbuds, Cade pocketed the phone so she could move while talking. "Pretty fun, as usual."

"Miss Martian and Superboy don't suspect you yet?"

"Nope, if anything, they trust me more. I think they leave their guard down when they're at school."

Luthor sounded more interested. "Is that so? Tell me about that."

Cade pulled out some leftovers from the fridge, setting it into a microwave to warm. "Well, Conner's very slowly learning how to be a normal teenager, all thanks to me, though he's still got his quirks. Megan told me today while we were hanging out after school that he was grateful I helped him with making friends, and she said herself that she wished she were more like me."

"Very good, that is fascinating. A Martian wishing to be more like a human," Luthor chuckled. "Keep up the good work, however you can tell me more later. Your time at Happy Harbor is soon to come to end, I'm bringing you to D.C. for upcoming plans. Instructions on your academic leave are in the same assignment folder when you started this assignment. You'll receive more information once we meet."

"Got it."

"Let Mercy know when you're ready to leave Happy Harbor."

"Will do."

The call ended just in time for the microwave finish warming up her second dinner of the day. Although the pizza from the Harbor plaza had been filling, that meal had been two hours ago, and Cade was getting hungry again. Plopping on her couch with a spoon, she spooned fried rice into her mouth as stormy thoughts raced her mind.

Up until now, Luthor had kept her out of direct inclusion with his plans with The Light. Cade wasn't sure if her summon to D.C. meant that he was going to start using her for The Light, and if it was, then...

Cade put her food down at the sobering chance. Truth be told, her time as Luthor's protégé wasn't all that bad despite the fact that her mentor was more in line with the bad guys. She was fine with raising and falling stock markets, managing his companies, working as techie for the field, playing a cover, or even running some of Luthor's more illegal business practices. But to actually be involved with The Light? That was a whole different level of being bad, not to mention their later plans with the alien species, The Reach. She didn't know she'd be able to bring herself to that level. Considering her work under Luthor's orders, Cade knew she wasn't strictly on the good guy side in terms of helping the world, but everything she had done for him so far had been almost harmless to regular people. Even she had boundaries.

Cade finished her small meal, throwing the takeout box in a trash, and retrieved a folder from a locked cabinet. It was the same file she had opened in Taipei while helping Cheshire with her mission. Flipping to the last couple of pages, Cade raised an eyebrow at the detailed instructions that were longer than expected. As she read the past the part that told her to simply inform Happy Harbor High School that she was moving out of the area, to D.C., Cade furrowed her brows as she finished to the end paragraph. Putting the folder away, the teenager leaned back against the couch, staring into empty space.

Luthor was treating her like a pawn.

Cade got up and grabbed her skateboard, leaving the apartment with elbow guards, keys, earbuds, and her throwaway phone that had a decent playlist downloaded. She needed some fresh air and Happy Harbor was lined with the best beaches so going out was the logical choice. The outside view was beautiful right now too, the sun was beginning to set. If Luthor or Mercy wanted to contact her, they'd have to call the throwaway cell instead of her personal mobile and besides, they almost never called twice in one day. Boarding to a small skatepark next to a pier, Cade cranked up the volume in her earbuds connected to the phone as she leaned in to skate a bowl.

Cade didn't know any tricks or flips, but she was decent with her balance and could at least manage boarding around a skatepark. Going up and around the bowl and surrounding obstacles, Cade tried to let her mind wander as she navigated the concrete landscape.

Was she capable of what Luthor wanted her to do?

Wrong question. Of course she was capable otherwise Luthor wouldn't have given the order to her. The real question was whether she would be okay with it.

She was completely comfortable with being hidden in the background, along the sidelines. She never met any villain or hero without a cover. When she saw Dick Grayson at social functions, Cade was the daughter of a no-name, insignificant politician. When she was on communications for Cheshire or Sportsmaster, she was just a regular techie. When she met Superboy and Miss Martian at Happy Harbor High School, Cade was a regular high school student. It was easier running around this world with a cover since no one would truly know her, so there weren't strings attached.

If she showed herself with a real identity, that would mean she would actually involve herself. She wasn't too worried about the reaction she'd receive from the Young Justice team, Cade simply thought that the fact that they would know her true face was troublesome.

Reaching a flat surface, Cade hopped off the board and kicked it up in the air, catching it by the bearings and found herself slightly panting and sweaty. She decided to take a breather and sat at the edge of the skatepark, legs idly kicking air, as she watched the night sky. Crime at Happy Harbor was at an all time low, so she should be okay staying out for a bit more. Feeling the wind breeze gently against her face, Cade closed her eyes and tried to appreciate the fresh air.

Heroes. Villains. Aliens. Superpowers. Good. Evil. Justice League. Injustice League. Young Justice. The Light. The Reach.

She lied to people on a daily basis. Since when did Cade care about the world affairs?

x

Thanks for reading!