I ended up sleeping on the couch that night. Which was strange to me. It was a couch, but it could also be used as a bed...but it was still called a couch…
Kid Flash's mother seemed nice. She was a little freaked out at first and she gave me a weird look, but Superboy and I were grateful to her for letting us stay here until the three days were up. Kid Flash explained the whole thing to his parents and soon it was smoothed over.
I also learned that Kid Flash's real name was Wally. That was also strange. Why did he have two names? Did he have two different lives? He didn't act any differently than when he was in costume. He put out some spare blankets and a pillow on the couch-bed for me, while Superboy had his bed and he slept in a bag. Well, not really a bag, but it looked like one.
I fell asleep quickly. The next morning, I woke up on my stomach, with just about every muscle in my body sore from so much physical activity the night before. I groaned from the pain and rolled on my side. My wings stuck out from underneath the blankets so I just pushed the sheets onto the floor.
I sat up, about half-awake now, to find Superboy and Kid Flash watching something on a colored box. Stretching my wings to feel how sore they were, I asked Kid Flash what that thing was.
"It's called a TV, and it's one of the greatest inventions known to man. Y'know, besides pizza and video games." I didn't know what those were either. I watched as videos played on the TV box, but soon I was growing bored. I wanted to do something besides sit here for three days cooped up inside a house.
I walked around, ate a little bit, changed into some of Kid Flash's mother's clothes that were a little too big for me, and sat back down in front of the TV box again.
Time passed slowly. I was aware of every hour, every minute, every second even, that passed while I stayed in the house. I ate, slept, went to the bathroom, and watched the TV box.
That is, until Kid Flash's mother forced us to get off the couch. She said she was kicking us out to go do something, and I jumped up, excited.
"Oh, can I come?" I asked eagerly as Kid Flash decided we should go to the mall to get some new clothes. I didn't know what a mall was, but I was excited to learn.
"Uh, actually Hawkey, maybe you should stay here. I'll just...bring you back some stuff, okay?" Kid Flash said. My mood dropped.
"Oh. Alright then. Have fun, you two." I said, walking into the kitchen, sitting down at the table. Now what was I supposed to do? Sit and wait? I've already done that for two whole days!
I heard Kid Flash's mother walking in from the hallway, so I figured if I was going to live with other people like this, I was going to have to know about stuff.
"Miss Kid Flash?" I asked, leaning back on the chair so she could see me.
"Oh, dear, call me Mrs. Mary West." She answered with a slight chuckle. I shut my mouth, then opened it again.
"Mrs. Mary West, can you tell me what things are?" I asked, completely serious.
She stuck her head out from the hallway entrance. "What kind of things?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, things. Like…" I scanned the room, looking for something I didn't know the name of.
"That water bowl, there." I pointed to a square bowl built into the counter, with handles and a nozzle that made water come out from it.
"That's called a sink, dear." She answered. I smiled at her.
"And what's that?" I pointed to a plant that grew inside the house, with colorful leaves on the end of it.
"That's a lily flower."
"And that?" I pointed again.
"That's a towel rack."
And that?"
"Those are the cupboards."
"What's that?"
"That's the couch. You know that already."
"I know, but it can also be a bed." I turned to look at her. She sighed.
"Yes, it can be a bed."
"Then why call it a couch?" I asked, confused again.
"Because that's just...what it's called." She wiped her hair from her face with a hand, turning back down the hallway, leaving me alone again.
I didn't like being alone. It made me feel like I was back in Cadmus, even though I clearly wasn't. I had been alone there, too.
But now I had friends in Robin and Kid Flash and Aqualad. I had a clone brother in Superboy. I had at least a temporary home. I had Hawkman and Hawkwoman. I wasn't alone anymore.
I wonder what they think of me, I thought about the Hawks again. Last night I had wondered of nothing else, and my dreams were of flying alongside them.
I had wanted to be with them. To fly with them. To live with them like I was living with Kid Flash right now. It was weird, but I had wanted us to become a family, a family of Hawks. I wondered if they wanted the same thing.
Kid Flash and Superboy returned a little while after that. I tried calling Superboy my " clone brother" to see what he would think about that, but he just glared at me, so I stopped trying. Kid Flash held up a bag of clothes they had brought home, and I took it and looked inside.
There was a dark green shirt and some blue jeans for me, lots of black shirts for Superboy, and a plaid shirt for Kid Flash.
I took my clothes in hand and went to the bathroom to change. The white shirt and pants that I had worn for the last few days were cut and torn and dirty, and I peeled them off of my body and switched them out for the new clothes.
The green shirt had no back, which made it easier to fit, since I didn't have to worry about my wings getting in the way. The pants were still a little too big for me, but they came with a belt and I tightened it until they fit.
I looked in the mirror for perhaps the first time in my life, and I was shocked at what I saw.
That wasn't me, it couldn't be. I didn't have that messy mop of light brown hair, my hair was dark brown, like my wings. I always thought my eyes were grey, and I was surprised to find them a dull shade of green instead.
I looked down at the counter. I saw a hairbrush, and I decided I should at least try to brush my hair out. It had been put into a braid that reached my shoulders for as long as I could remember, so it was a real struggle getting it to straighten out.
Eventually, I succeeded. I brushed the tangles out, and, feeling more confident about myself now that I had cleaned up a bit, I went back to see what Kid Flash and Superboy were up to.
As I walked back into the kitchen, Kid Flash was telling about what had happened at the mall that day. I was disappointed that I had missed out on such an adventure, but maybe it was for the best. Hawkwoman did tell me to not get into any trouble, so I guess staying at home was the best way to do that.
"Oh yeah, Superman and the Flash were there, too! Ah, you should've been there, Hawkey. It was sweet!" He told me as I sat down. He raised an eyebrow at my new appearance, but didn't say anything about it. Instead he told me that Batman has made his decision.
"His decision about what?" I asked.
"Y'know, the whole 'team' thing." He did air quotes at the word "team." Were we a team? We did work well together. And we worked together to take down Desmond. So yeah, I would say we were a team.
"Hey, Superboy, what do you think about the whole 'team' thing?" I mimicked Kid Flash's air quotes. He shrugged.
"Doesn't really matter," he replied, then fell silent. I frowned. It was hard to get him to say a full sentence, but I was determined to bring in out of his shell.
That evening I realized Kid Flash had also bought me and Superboy a pair of sleeping clothes, called "pajamas." Mine did have a back, unlike my green shirt, had the Flash logo all over them, but I was just happy to have some more clothes.
That night I dreamt of flying again.
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of an alarm ringing. I didn't know who was ringing it, but I wanted them to stop and let me sleep.
Kid Flash appeared in front of me, and I jumped in surprise.
"Wake up, Hawkey! Today's the day!" He said excitedly.
"What's today, again?" I was still half-asleep, so I heard about every other word. I rubbed my eyes and sat up on the couch-bed.
"Batman's made his decision, remember? So get up and move it!" He zoomed around the house, moving too fast for my eyes to see. I still had no idea how he could be so energetic so early in the morning. I swung my legs over the side of the couch-bed, stretching as everything was still pretty sore.
Soon I did get up, eat something, and get dressed, this time in a dark red shirt that also had no back and my jeans. Kid Flash also bought me some black sneakers yesterday that I didn't try on, but they fit nicely. After a little while all three of us were ready to go.
Around that time a bell rang in the house. I looked around for the bell, but found none. Kid Flash headed for the door and opened it, revealing the red Flash man from a few nights ago.
"Are you two-" he started, then stopped when he saw me.
"Umm, are you three ready to go?" He corrected himself, clearing his throat. We all nodded.
"We're not going to be running there, though." The Flash Man explained, to Kid Flash's disappointment. "We'll catch the nearest Zeta tube to Mount Justice."
"Wait, what a Zeta tube? And what's Mount Justice?" I asked as we walked out the door, saying our goodbyes to Mrs. and Mr. Kid Flash beforehand.
"A zeta tube's like a teleporter. You walk through in one place and come out another." The Flash Man demonstrated somewhat with his arms. I nodded, understanding.
"Mount Justice was the League's first headquarters before the Hall of Justice was built." He answered, keeping at a walking pace so that Superboy and I could follow. "Batman'll probably tell you more about it later."
As we walked, the Flash Man in costume and the rest of us wearing regular clothes, I kept on getting strange looks like the one Mrs. Kid Flash gave me the first time I showed up at her door.
"Why is everyone looking at me like that?" I whispered to Superboy, who was the closest to me.
"Probably because you have giant wings sticking out of your back." He answered gruffly. I took another look at the people walking down the street. None of them had any wings.
Of course, I didn't think everyone had wings, I just figured it was like some people having blonde hair and others having black hair. Some people had wings, and some didn't. But now I saw that that wasn't the case. I was the only one who had wings here. It made me feel ashamed and embarrassed. I tucked my wings in as close to my body as I could and hoped no one else noticed.
Finally, we came across a large white building with the sign "STAR Labs" in front. We walked through the pristine hallways, looking almost nothing like Cadmus's except that they were hallways.
I looked up at the windows and pictures put on the walls, soaking in the sunlight. I wasn't watching where I was going, and I didn't know someone was coming in the opposite direction until they ran into me.
We collided, both of us being thrown to the ground by the impact. Papers scattered everywhere as the figure hurriedly apologized and began scooping the papers back into a folder.
I began to help, and I saw that the person was a boy about my age. Well, biologically. I don't know long I've been alive year-wise. But I felt about fifteen.
"I'm so sorry," I apologized to him, handing him the last stack of papers.
"Nah, it's not your fault. I should've been paying more attention," he took the papers as I looked up to meet a pair of steel-grey eyes.
"Uh, well...thank you," he said after a moment. "For helping me, I mean. I-I really should get back to the lab now," he stood up and offered me a hand.
I took it, and I stood as well. He started walking away, but as I watched him with a growing curiosity, he stopped and turned back to me.
"By the way, what's your name?" He asked.
"Hawkgirl," I replied. He looked confused for a moment. "What's yours?" I asked him.
"Xavier."
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Xavier," I waved goodbye and turned around to see Superboy still standing there, waiting for me to follow.
"What was that all about?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I think I just made a new friend." I heard him make a growling-sound, but he didn't say anything else.
We walked to a darker room than the hallway, with lots of machinery and two big tube-looking things. I guessed those were the Zeta beams. Flash Man and Kid Flash were still here, waiting for the two of us. Flash Man raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on our lateness. He said he could only authorize on at a time, and Kid Flash offered to go first, since he'd traveled by Zeta tube before. I didn't object.
As a voice called out Flash and Kid Flash, a yellow and white light engulfed Kid Flash, and then he was gone. Just like that.
My eyes widened in surprise. I remembered Flash's explanation of Zeta tubes, so Kid Flash was most likely at Mount Justice by now.
Then it was Superboy's turn. He hardly reacted when the voice called his name, and then he disappeared as well.
And now it was my turn.
I had survived Cadmus training. I had fought alien-things like it was nothing. I had even battled a giant Desmond-monster.
But now, standing in front of this Zeta tube, I was scared.
"Don't be nervous, Hawkgirl. It's just like feeling a breeze on your face." Flash consoled from the computer desk. Taking a deep breath, I stood on the platform that Kid Flash and Superboy had stood on before me.
The voice called out Flash's name, and then mine. My heart beat faster and my stomach started churning as the bright light surrounded me. I shut my eyes, preparing for the worst…
And then I was standing there. I opened my eyes to see that I was indeed in a different place than before. I stepped out, a little bit shaky from the Zeta tube.
"Hey, Hawkgirl! First time on the Zeta tubes?" Robin asked. I took in a deep breath and nodded.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." He pat me on the back in between my wings.
I looked forward to see Kid Flash and Superboy already there, along with Robin and Aqualad. I smiled and waved at them before taking my place in line with them as Batman explained our position.
"This Cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms." I nodded, not completely understanding, but not left in the dark either.
"Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor; Black Canary is in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions." I turned to see a red robot-looking figure wearing a blue cape, and the blonde woman with a blue jacket and black suit from before as Batman said their names.
"Real missions?" Robin asked. What's the difference? I thought.
"Yes, but covert." Batman answered. He was a bit like Superboy in that he only gave partial sentence answers.
"The League'll still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason why we have these big targets on our chests." The Flash spoke up beside Kid Flash, pointing to his chest. Oh, so that's what they're for…
"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter." The king person spoke next. "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."
"This six of you will be that team." Batman finished. Wait a minute, I thought, looking over and counting the number of people here.
"Wait, six?" Robin voiced my thoughts out loud. We all turned as a green-skinned man covered with a blue cloak -what is it with the League and blue clothes?- and another green-skinned person, this time a girl.
"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian." Batman explained as she waved and said hi. I smiled.
"I'm Kid Flash," the boy in question introduced himself. "That's Robin, Aqualad, Hawkgirl, it's cool if you forget their names." He pointed each of us out. I directed a scowl towards him. I can introduce myself, thank you very much. I can speak.
"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian spoke. I walked over with everyone except Superboy to introduce myself properly.
"Hey, Superboy, come meet Miss M," Robin called out. My clone brother obliged as he stood within our circle.
And then Miss Martian's shirt changed from a white and red to black and red. Whoa, I don't know what kind of shirt she has, but I want one.
"I like your t-shirt," she said after the change was complete. Robin and Kid Flash grouped around him, while Aqualad stayed out.
"Today's the day," he stated.
"It sure is," I agreed. Today was the day I made two new friends, joined a team, and became a hero. Today was the day my life changed for the better.
A/N: So, there you have it! Hawkgirl is officially part of Young Justice. The next chapter will focus a little bit more on the Hawks, so stay tuned for that!
Reviews, followers and favorites are welcome as always.
I don't own anything here except my character Hawkgirl.
