"Alright, so I've thrown some nanomedicine into your blood stream, so you should be right as rain within a few weeks, on your feet in fifteen days!" The nurse bubbled excitedly, "This new technology is simply amazing, don't you think? Bioengineering and all that jazz; I don't really understand much of it yet, I'm still in school. But I am certified to handle it so don't worry too much."
I stare out the window, into the inner hospital absent-mindedly as the nice lady continues her excited babble. Images of my friends float through my tired mind; Jase, X, Rick, Kalli and Graywing. I wonder what his name really is. Such a silly thing not to know for a normal person, when identity is so desperately important. Especially to people who need to hide it. It seems, if something is clandestine it amplifies its importance; because someone is that much more hesitant than the next person to give it away. And if they do you ought to cling to it with all you've got because they think you're something special. My mom taught me that, but despite my clinging to her hand, she pulled away anyway.
And with that final whisper of a thought, I drift into sleep.
"So how's this gonna work?" I ask, annoyed with everyone daring to enter within a ten-foot radius of me, a day after the bubbly nurse gave me the shot containing the nanomedicine. All six of us are crowded in my room, door open as dad requests.
"I'll stay with you guys at your hideout." Graywing says, sitting down at the edge of the danger-zone-radius.
I look up at him in surprise, "Um, we don't live at our hideout. It's not exactly Mount Justice, we meet there, maybe stay for a few hours at a time. It's an abandoned warehouse; one huge room."
"So you guys haven't done anything with it?" He says skeptically.
"We installed the computers and some other tech, there two couches and a perch that I've claimed but that's it." I explain, feeling stupid and ridiculously young and inexperienced; not something I'm accustomed to feeling around my peers...or people in general for that matter.
He huffs and stands, I hold up a hand gesturing for him to help me up. I'm still sore, despite the medicine and surgery. A week more before I'm a hundred percent again. Graywing grabs my hand and braces his feet on the floor sub-consciously before pulling me up off the floor from my sitting position.
I turn around, catching a glimpse of Dad and Batman talking with anger and worry...even fear, written on their faces. Something tells me this has nothing to do with me being injured; Batman's like an uncle to me but if it were me he was worried about he'd be in here with me. To be honest, this is the closest to panicked as I've ever seen Batman.
My dad nods, and Bats whirls around and walks down the hallway, out of sight. I turn to Graywing.
"What was that about? What happened?" I ask, my voice seeming petty and suspicious.
Graywings eyes shift from my face to the door, as though wishing he could escape.
"Uh," He starts uncomfortably, "We aren't supposed to tell you before you're recovered, stress can weaken your immune system."
I glare daggers at him, and he suddenly finds his shoes very interesting. I huff and head towards the door and say, "Fine, I'll go find out myself."
Graywing's normal demeanor returns instantly, "Well aren't you just a little impatient brat! People don't give you want right when you want it and you storm off to get it yourself! Try trusting your friends for once!"
I whirl around and ignore the black spots that dance in my vision and reply, "You are not my friend! In my world, you have to earn friendship and trust, and until you do there isn't a force on earth that can make me believe a word you say!"
poisonous memories flood to the front of my mind and I grind my teeth together, glaring at Graywing and imagining him bursting into flames. I look closer and realize that it's not Graywing that I'm mad at, it's someone else entirely. I shove my anger back, and shake my head; wanting to clear it. I exhale and I deflate, my intimidating anger dissipating in seconds (or at least, appearing to.) X almost walks in the room but backs up real quick; knowing better than to interrupt my rage.
I have to force myself to meet his eyes. Graywing's face is stony, half way between real anger and frustration, jaw clenched tightly as though he's actually offended. This irritates me more than it should; he has no right to actually think I trust fully. In my mind, there are four levels of trust; average stranger, member of the League, friends and family, and close friend or close family. Right now Graywing's on the "Hey look! You're a part of the League, too!" Which isn't exactly the level to which I'd tell him why exactly I just blew up in his face.
I sigh and finally tire of our stare-down, "I'm sorry. I'm not a trusting person, but I have reasons for it."
He nods gruffly and briefly tries to maintain his stern-statue-like mannerism before finally accepting my apology, "Anyways, we didn't want to tell you about it because it would probably put you on edge, but I guess you seeing Bats here already did that."
I nod once and wait for him to continue.
"Star City's breakout wasn't the only one, there were eleven prison breaks and over forty large-scale robberies all over the world on that same day; which is why no backup was available. The prisons were mostly contained but we guess that there will be more planned and to be carried out at a later date..."
My eyes widen slightly and I and I can feel my brow furrowing. "It seems like a show of strength to throw us off, put us on edge, or even to have us feel like the worst has passed as strike us while we take a nap after our supposed victory. I'd rather not be the next Santa Anna, how about you?"
Graywing nods, accepting my theories as possibilities, "We should find Bats ASAP."
I agree quickly, happy to finally get out of the hospital room.
X and Jase are in the lobby and I wave them over, they grin, glad to see me up and about, but surprised that I'm aware of the small crisis ahead of us. I smile and pretend that I'm not aching or sore from the wounds.
Graywing suddenly scowls and pulls something out of a pocket, then looks back up at us all.
"We've got a problem." He turns to me, "It's started, they've got the guns and have locked in their targets. D.C and Paris have fallen, London, Bejing, Athens and Rome are under heavy attack. The enemy struck before we even had a chance to gather up the pieces of the last attack!"
My eyes widen in understanding and shock. He's...he's saying that the world is at war with a villain we don't even know the identity of.
The building shakes and rattles and crashes can be heard above us. But, mostly from below. What's coming for the people of the world?
A slippery sounding voice blazes over intercoms and sound systems throughout the world, "Hello! We are your new masters, to rule over the world in divisions, and we will make earth something special, a world with an army of superheroes that will conquer other planets to keep their precious earth-goers safe. Don't worry about finding us, heroes, we'll find you. After all, its on this world we want, its you whom we place worth on. Turn yourselves in or be hunted."
The voice gets quieter for a moment as though turning from the microphone and says, "prepare to hunt you targets. Find and retrieve. Keep harming to a minimum."
It blares again, "Toodle-oo, heroes, see you soon!"
So the gist is basically, someone/thing is taking over earth to hold humans as captives so they can force the superheroes to work for them. Tada! Review? Please?
