Veronica Grey's pov

Crystal Palace Mall, Gotham

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Artemis and I are sitting at one of the tables in the dramatically large food court. We've been here for an hour and it's been pretty nice, we've gone into two stores and it seems the both of us are into going to bad stores and making fun of the slutty clothing. We now sit here, drinking slushies and people watching.

"Ooh, six o'clock. There is a mohawk holding hands with a mullet." She says in an amused tone but a straight face so as not to draw attention. I slowly peek around and it's not what I expected.

"You'd think from what you told me, it would be a gay couple or a girl with a mohawk." I laugh, "but a girl with a mullet is too much." I cover my mouth, trying to quiet my laugh.

"I know right." She grins, looking down as she takes a sip from her slushie. I spot something.

"Your four o'clock. Creeper by the carousel." I tell her, staring at the guy with the backpack over by all the kids. Our table only a couple feet away from the little area.

"I think he's gonna have a panic attack." Artemis comments with slight interest in the man. I can see the glistening perspiration on his face from here and the heavy breathing. She may be right, he seems off.

"I wonder what is making him so nervous." I comment as I stare. I feel like everything slows down around me, my sight centered on the nervous wreck of a man as he pulls something out of his back pack. In a split second, I recognize it as a homemade bomb, a sizeable amount of explosives rigged to an extremely unorganized control panel. Blast radius, not too large but we are still in it. The man looks me dead in the eye as I see him reach for the switch. My immediate instinct caused me to flip the table and grab Artemis, pulling her in front of me so my back is to the bomb. It goes off with a deafening sound. Within seconds I feel the heat on my back, but I hold onto Artemis for dear life, protecting her from the blast. Everything speeds back up as the heat ceases and I let go of her, my body falling next to her.

"Ronnie! Are you o-" She begins to say, but I'm sure she's seeing the burns disappear without a trace. I push myself up from the floor and face her with worry in my eyes.

"Please don't tell anyone." I beg her and I assess her for any injuries that may have gotten past my attempt at protection. Her clothes and the tip of her ponytail is signed, but other than that, she's absolutely fine.

"I won't." She is breathing heavily and her eyes wide. "You just saved my life." She tells me as she watches as my burning hair goes back to normal, even the length, which I wasn't expecting. My jeans are signed and there are large holes in the back of my shirt, the fabric of my shirt as well as the back of my bra is smoldering.

"He was looking right at me as he reached for the switch. He made actual eye contact." I whisper, seemingly to myself but Artemis's behavior suggests she heard me. I focus on the situation at he and and realize a problem. "I'm glad you're alive but I have to get out of here, too far into the blast radius and no burns on me. Too many questions." I tell her, freaking out. This is not how I want my secret to be exposed.

"Run to the bathroom. Don't open the door for anyone. I'll be back with fresh clothes and a bag for the burned ones. Assuming you're my size, you'll look like you missed the explosion." She orders in the midst of my panicking.

"Okay." I get out as I scramble to my feet and run to the bathroom. I find one of the handicapped stalls and hide inside. I feel like I'm in there for far too long when Artemis returns, but it's only been a few minutes.

"Ronnie?" She calls and I stick my foot out under the door. She finds me and throws the clothes over the door. I get changed and emerge in a fresh pair of jeans and a button down.

"You have no idea how grateful I am right now." I tell her as I go to a sink and scrub the ash off my hands and face, even washing it out of my hair.

"You just saved my life, it's the least I can do." She tells me, but she grabs my arm and drags me out of the bathroom. "We have someone to talk to right now." She says as she drags me to an authorized persons only hallway. This is insane, she is crazy.

"This is crazy!" I yell as she stops us in a far corner. The alarm from us opening the door without and access code blaring in my ears. "If this doesn't stop I'm going to have a panic attack." I growl as I slap my hand onto the wall and command the alarm to shut off. "So much better." I sigh as I slide down the wall, sitting on the floor.

"How did you do that?" She asks. "And how did you heal back there?" She asks in a demanding voice.

"To my knowledge, I classify as a Technopath. It's a meta gene. My regeneration is also another metagene of mine." I say as I close my eyes and try to relax, trying not to release any electricity. But I do feel metal pulling toward me slightly.

"Artemis, are you alright?" Someone asks in a deep, gruff voice. I open my eyes to see the one and only, Batman. I'm in awe.

"Where's Robin? He can't find out my identity." Artemis stresses toward the brooding hero.

"I ordered him to go question bystanders and work with the police. Are you alright?" he repeats.

"Yeah, we both are. Ronnie over here pulled me in front of her and made herself a human shield." She says to the Bat, showing him the burned clothes in the bag like proof. "I freaked out at first but she regenerated, Batman." She informs him in an informal version of a debriefing.

"Artemis! Who are you?!" I yell in frustration and confusion. Normal people don't have connections to the Batman. They both look at me.

"I'm Artemis Crock, but in Star City, I'm Green Arrow's sidekick." She tells me, her voice making me realize that this might absurd but it's still true. I bet my mouth is gaping, but I can't focus right now and the shock is affecting me negatively. Sparks fly from my hands and my vision lights up around the rims. The two heroes watch me as I take a deep breath and hold it back, everything disappears.

"I thought you were a technopath!" Artemis exclaimes. Batman just looks at me.

"I am. I have four metagenes." I tell her, she backs off. "Regeneration, Electrokinesis, Technokinesis, and Magnetic Manipulation." I say as I finally come to grips with reality. Batman gets something from the communicator in his ear and looks right at me. He puts his back between me and Artemis. I can make out whispering, but I have no idea what they're saying. Before I know it, someone is sticking me with a sedative. The next thing I know, I'm in my bed. At first I think the whole ordeal was just a dream, but I look down to see the clothes Artemis found for me when mine burned. I slowly get out of my bed as to not make any noise. There is something going on downstairs, I can hear muffled voices. I walk as silently as I can out of my room and into the hall. I start down the stairs and peek to the living room from the top only to see a bunch of heroes in my living room. I lose the stealth and go to face them all.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" I ask all of them in an angry and confused tone. I recognize Kid Flash, Robin, Aqualad and three others she didn't recognize. One with a superman symbol on his black t-shirt, a green girl with the same red x on her torso as Martian Manhunter, and a blonde with a uniform that makes you think she has a Green Arrow fixation. Artemis. They all face me and Artemis approaches me.

"We had to get you home and under protection. The drugging was not my idea." She tells me. I run one hand through my wild hair, processing what she just said.

"Why do I need protection?" I ask her while staring at all of the other heroes, the green girl is confusing and it's overwhelming to have all of them in my living room.

"The bomber had information on a phone in his back pocket. There were photos and personal information on it. It was all about you." She tells me, I'm taken aback.

"So a bunch of people burned because someone wanted to attack me?" I ask. No one really answers me, so I just go to the kitchen and start getting food. I pull sweets, chips, crackers, sauces, dips, everything from the pantry and the cabinets.

"What are you doing?" One of the males ask me. I sigh as I start snacking while making a big, fat, sandwich.

"It just so happens, I stress eat." I snap, slathering mayonnaise on the bread of my sandwhich. They all just stare at me. "What, do you want some?" I ask, pulling little rolls of ham in my sandwhich whilst handlessly eating a fruit roll up. Kid Flash grins.

"Don't mind if I do." the speedster smiles as he makes a plate of nachos. I see Robin smack the back of Kid Flash's head.

"Be respectful, KF. We're on the job right now." The boy wonder says in a voice I find all too familiar. Where have I heard that voice before?

"Robin is right, Kid, we are here to protect Veronica, not eat her out of house and home." Aqualad says to Kid Flash in a commanding tone. Artemis is just off to the side, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, she offered." the speedster shrugs. "Besides, I have to eat when I can to be prepared, I burn quite a lot of calories running a few MPH shy of the speed of sound." He defends as he sticks the plate of chips and cheese into the microwave. He's got a point.

"Yeah, it's fine." I tell the Atlantean. He gives me a slight smile and stands down. After a while, I don't really know what to do with myself. I'm just sitting at the table in the kitchen, staring at my empty plate. Robin comes up and sits down at the adjacent chair.

"You seem to be holding up better than most would." He says as I look up to face him. That voice.

"Well, I happen to be good with weird." I mumble slightly, observing his face in extreme detail, trying to figure out where I've heard that voice before. I feel like the messy hair is throwing me off. The voice reminds me of a certain someone with hair usually slicked back, and the most insane blue eyes. Well, insane for a normal human being. Mine happen to be borderline abnormal.

"That's always good if you end up in our line of work." He says calmly and I can't help but get a confused look on my face.

"If I end up in your line of work? As if anyone would want me saving them if people are blowing up malls to attack me." I mumble as I get up and take my plate to the sink.

"But if you are seen as a trained hero and there is a separate identity to be associated with your abilities, the less people will try to attack you in the open if they think you are a trained hero." He tries to make it seem appealing, and as soon as he finished his statement, I figure out where I've heard that voice before. But I'm probably wrong. He couldn't be parading around as a vigilante… But he comes to school with injuries along with absurd excuses of how he got them. I get an idea.

"I don't think I'd be a very good hero, Dick. I'm not the most heroic or the most exceptional." I slipped what might be his name into the sentence and he falters.

"How did you know?" He comes over to me and whispers, trying to keep this from the others.

"You can't be my lab partner and in my math class everyday for two months and think I'm not going notice it's you when you put on a mask and come in my house." I laugh quietly, going to the pantry to pull out a protein bar.

"I guess I thought I could since usually people just see me, they don't get to spend time with me unless it's during interrogation." He smiles. It's weird seeing him with the mask.

"Well I think it's crazy that I've been going to school with the Batman's protege." I joke, raising an eyebrow and taking a bite of the protein bar. He laughs. "So why are you all here together?" I ask, referring to the other five sidekicks in my living room.

"Long story short, our mentors were treating us like sidekicks instead of partners, like kids. So we struck out on our own. Aqualad, Kid Flash, and I found Superboy at Cadmus, causing the League to get mad at us for hacking League systems and such. We told them we would be doing it again, so they gave us the option to become a covert ops team for the League. Miss Martian came and joined a little after the Team was formed. Artemis came a few weeks after Miss M." He explains. It's pretty ironic, the League sending kids to do their dirty work.

"That's pretty interesting." I comment, taking another bite of the protein bar.

"You know, you really could work with us. I could pull a few strings to get you trained and ready for field work stuff." He offers, but I just shrug.

"I think I'd be pretty handy as a hacker since there is quite literally nothing I can't get into." I joke, but he keeps his slightly serious face.

"I noticed that when you were getting Star Labs files without even trying that day at lunch." He gains a certain smugness as he speaks.

"So you did see, I was worried that you might have but I just shrugged it off." I laugh. I must have been a little to cocky at school for not being noticed for so long.

"I also saw you get super charged under the table after that beaker exploded in Chemistry." He smiles.

"So, what do you think? I could be a great hero or am I a work in progress?" I ask playfully, genuinely curious what I could be like. I honestly don't know If I want to be a hero. Personally, I think I could make a better difference in the world by making technology to better mankind.

"Mostly a pretty good beginner hero, but you should get a handle on the electricity." He says was an honest expression. I get it, I struggle with that the most. I don't know if I want to be a hero, not even what I would be called, let alone if I could actually go out there and save lives. Eventually, Robin and I end up back in the living room. I gotta ask a question, fearing what the answer may be.

"So," I look at all of them, "Do we know who the bomber was working for or why they are targeting me?" I ask the group, in desperate need for an answer.

"Batman and the League are working on it, we will inform you when an answer is revealed." Aqualad tells me, putting a hand on my shoulder as to reassure me. I let out a sigh, plopping down onto the sofa and putting my head into my hands.

"If you let me go on my computer, I could find out for you." I look up at Aqualad, seeming as he is the leader.

"It may not be the safest idea." Superboy says to me from across the room, next to M'gann.

"He's right, you should just lay low for now, just in case." Kid Flash supports him, I lean back on the sofa and let out another sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.