MERRY LATE CHRISTMAS! Or Happy Holidays!
I wanted so bad to post this yesterday when I finished but then I realized it was after midnight so that was pointless and that I should probably edit it.
I should have finished this a month ago but I couldn't get past one point. Then I completely changed my approach and it worked out perfectly. Funny how that always seems to happen, right?
So a quick over view of my struggles for this chapter:
-My safari was going through issues and I have this tendency to have like 5 windows going, so it kept shutting down and I would lose my carefully loaded episode. I literally have loaded it on multiple websites at least 20 times since September.
-Then Project Free TV has been glitching so i had to find another website. And then WatchSeries glitches too. And VideoBull doesn't have the first half of season 1. Thank God for AnimeFlavour.
-I also wrote quick HP generbend that I adore. If you like female James, Sirius and male Lily, (or Jamie, Stella and Liam) then check it out.
-Grade 11 is hard. There are lots of essays. And physics projects. And stupid Spanish tests. (I even wrote part of this chapter during Spanish class)
-Books are really distracting.
-Blood Of Olympus…
-TV Shows: I love Gotham. Love it. And The Flash (Barry is such a hottie.) I don't know how comic-accurate they are, but I love them. And Roy on Arrow is Jackson from Teen Wolf. I can't even put into words how perfect that is. I really need to watch Arrow from the beginning. And of course I have my other fandoms of NCIS, NCIS:LA, TVD and TO. And I've even dropped shows because I don't have enough time to watch them.
Reasons over. I feel so much better.
I can't wait for the Kent Nelson episode. Its going to be great. And Artemis. I can't wait for Arty to finally show up.
Black Canary is such a bad ass. I love writing scenes with her and Sel.
I hope everyone loves this. I know its long, but so many moments happen here and I wanted to explore them. I swear 6 chapters of this story is twice as long as my TVD stories.
READ. REVIEW. ENJOY.
Counting Sinful Stars~ Thank you! It was so much fun to write. Writing the three of them is just the best thing ever.
Bloody Ash~ I hope you can find me some quotes you love in this chapter!
leena1445~ Thanks for the advice for the Counting the Days summary. You're right, it did sound a bit pretentious. I was dead tired when I wrote it. I changed the summary, though, and now its sounds way less Mary-Sue, which I can assure you is nothing like a character I would ever create. And if it does, that nice... I'm really just writing that for myself. And people who enjoy Dark Light. And isn't that the point of Fanfiction?
piggythelaw~ My favourite greek god/goddess. Gods thats difficult. I would have to say Artemis, just because she's kickass and wicked with a bow, and happens to share a name with my favourite YJ character. And how Rick Riordan represents her in the PJO's is really great. But if I had to pick a male god I would say Poseidon because I love the ocean. And Percy. My turn for a question… Which do you prefer, Greek or Roman? I would have to pick the Greek aspects, mainly because they're the originals and because I started with the Greeks, not the Romans. Even when mythology was nothing but mythology and not my fave book series.
mun3litKnight~ You have no idea how good it feels to have someone say they love your OC, so thanks so much.
God-Rocks~ I swear I read this review probably three times in a row when I first got the notification. I literally thought I was going to cry. Thank you so much. I hope this continues to hold up to the standard it seems I've set for myself.
Poor Kaldur is right. The poor guy is going to be taking the fall for a lot of crap with these kids.
Thank you to everyone that shows this story even a little bit of interest!
-Love THEK
Favourite Episode Lines:
"Stick around. Class is in session." –Black Canary
"Definitely a disaster. Heavy on the dis." –Robin
"And after all the trouble I went through finding an acronym for MONKEY." –Ivo
(Basically anything that comes out of Ivo's mouth is amazing you have to admit)
"WANNA SEE ME CHANNEL THAT ANGER?" –Superboy
"Dude, the guy has no head." –Wally
Episode: Schooled (105)
Star City
August 3rd, 2010
08:52
Lying upside down on the couch with a bowl of green grapes was the only form of short-term entertainment I could think of in Ollie's Penthouse. Morning TV, especially in the summer, is dead boring and I was waiting for my lives to renew on Candy Crush. I tossed a grape into the air and waited for it to drop into my open mouth. Instead it bounced off my nose and rolled across the room. I stared at it for a second before closing my eyes and feeling for the bowl. The next attempt was more successful.
Mom was forcing me to go school shopping. For the first time since Oliver had adopted Roy, he wasn't coming with us. Sure he had graduated, so he wouldn't have been coming anyway, but it felt weird for him not to be sitting across the room and throwing the grapes I missed back at me with deadly accuracy. And now that Mom didn't have to threaten two of us to behave, she decided that we could get school supplies and basic clothing done in one day, not the usual two. And by basic clothing, I mean like underwear and tights and stuff, not jeans and real, actual clothes. I go to private school. We are bound to the time honoured tradition of adorning proper attire that creates a spectacle of our allegiance to our institution of knowledge.
In case you didn't catch that, I wear a uniform.
School starts on Monday and it's making me very bitter.
I tossed another grape in the air but it never came down. I cracked one eye open to an upside-down image of my mom. She popped the grape into her mouth and I noticed she was wearing her choker.
"I take it we're not going shopping?" Her face was apologetic as she pulled on a long jacket over her Black Canary outfit. I sat up slowly and tried to hide my disappointment. I mean, it's not like I wanted to go school shopping, but I had been looking forward to getting Starbucks and just hanging out with her.
"Sorry, sweetheart. Oliver needs help with an android attack. We'll go shopping tomorrow."
"Can I-" The question wasn't even halfway out of my mouth before she gave me the Look, the motherly one she uses anytime she wants me to not question her. I get that look a lot. Oliver and Roy do too, so I know it's not just me.
It's powerful, like Molly Weasley or Amma powerful.
"Go to the Cave, Selene. We've got this handled. He's just not used to going solo again." That was true. Oliver had dragged me out with him every day for the past week. He missed Roy more than he cared to admit. Mom grabbed a handful of grapes and dropped a kiss on my forehead. I didn't move. Then I regretted my stubbornness.
I hated when they did this to me and she knew it. Just last week I had helped to literally put an end to a dangerous drug operation and now she was treating me like a baby again.
"Be safe," I whispered when I heard the elevator door shut behind her. After all, she's still my mom.
Mount Justice
August 3rd, 2010
13:06
My friends and I get really into any type of competitive game. Going to arcades with us is like starting a minor war, especially between Dick and Wally. That's why when I arrived, and I saw my entire team was gathered around a holographic air hockey table, apprehension descended upon my very core.
Wally was doing some dumb victory dance— looking ridiculous with a banana hanging from his mouth— and Dick was grumbling about cheating as he traded places with Kaldur. Kaldur looked cautious, nervous even, as M'gann patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. It was obvious that they had been at it awhile. "I play winner," I called out, "So, I'll be against Wally. No offense, Kal."
He smiled grudgingly, "None taken, Selene. I see you are well acquainted with Wally's talent for air hockey."
"It's not a talent," muttered Dick, "he cheats."
"And you're a sore loser," I countered. Dick flung an bony arm around my shoulders and leaned against me theatrically. I stood as tall as I could so we both didn't topple over.
"Am not."
"Are too," commented Wally as he scored easily on Kaldur. The Atlantean's face was furrowed in concentration.
"Whatever," grumbled Dick. He pushed off me and I let out a lungful of air I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Stupid troll was heavier than he looked. And slightly taller than me. "I thought you weren't swinging by until later? Weren't you and Canary going shopping?" he asked. M'gann perked up at the word "shopping". I hurried to correct him.
"School shopping, and we were until GA called about an android or something. I don't know, check the news, I took a nap. Woke up like 20 minutes ago." I waved my hand dismissively in the air. The point buzzer rang and Wally took a smug chomp of his banana. Kaldur looked frustrated at how easily the speedster was beating him. That's when I realized we were missing one. "Where's Superboy?" I asked.
"Metropolis," answered M'gann. I shared a glance with Dick. That could either be really good or really bad. I hoped really good, for Supey's sake. He didn't deserve the way Clark was treating him.
"Recognized Superboy: B04." Speak of the devil. When the blinding golden light faded, a peeved off Superboy was before us. He was so peeved off, that when kind, sweet M'gann asked him how Metropolis was he stormed through our holographic game.
A throat cleared. At first I thought it was Wally because of his winning streak before the destruction of the table but then they spoke from behind me. "Ready for training everyone?"
"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!" cried M'gann as she ran to embrace her uncle.
Mom. Right. That's why the throat clearing sent a chill up my back. It was a flashback to cookie sneaking and all the childish "bad" things I've ever done.
I'd forgotten she was our instructor. Now she's going to kick our butts and refer to it as training. That's what she does to me most of the time, anyways. I've gotten really good at blocking.
A heavy weight lifted off my chest. Funny thing is, I know that weight. It's like that friend that you hate but are still stuck with. It comes and goes with Mom and Ollie and, yes, even Roy, when they go out in uniform without me.
Mom seemed fine. She wasn't leaning to one side or holding herself all tensed up, like movement hurt and she was trying to ignore it or play it off. There was no blood or really obvious injuries. Her eyes were tired, but still excited. She was looking forward to teaching us, for some weird reason
As M'gann and her uncle chatted I saw Superboy's demeanor worsen. He turned to stomp away when Mom called out to him. If she hadn't sounded so cool, I might have been embarrassed.
I was still a little embarrassed.
Mom strode to the centre of the projection field and faced the rest of us with a serious expression. The floor glowed to indicate its activation. "I consider it an honour to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you." Yeah, a lot, including sharp pointy things and punches with the same amount of force as a pro boxer. "Everything I've learned from my own mentors-" she hissed in pain as she pulled off her jacket and I clenched my fists to stop myself from running and checking on her, "-and my own bruises." She smiled. I don't know how she was smiling. I could see the bandage and rip in her jacket clearly now. How did I miss that?
"What happened?" asked M'gann. Everybody else seemed anxious to know as well. I was too busy berating myself in my head to really care about the what. My mother was injured and I totally missed it. It was a huge slash mark. How did I miss that? What kind of daughter was I?
"The job." Mom threw her newly damaged jacket to the floor. I couldn't help the smart comment that slipped out.
"Go to the Cave, Selene; he's just not used to going solo again, Selene; we have this handled, Selene." Mom gave me the earlier mentioned Look and I quickly shut up. Dick sniggered. I resisted the urge to punch him. I was worried. Me and worry don't really mix.
"Now, combat is about controlling the conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting." I could probably quote this in my sleep. Looking directly at me, she grinned. "Now, I'll need a sparring partner. Selene, step up."
"Umm," I said searching my mind for an excuse. I came up blank. "Dibbs out," I brought my finger to rest on the tip of my nose. Dick sniggered again. He was in a snigger-y mood. I was getting so close to smacking him.
Mom smirked and her eyes danced over my team members. "Any volunteers to save your poor teammate?" I should have known the training sessions were parent-talk for make-Selene's-life-difficult sessions.
"Right here, yeah," called Wally through a mouthful of banana. My stomach sank. I should have volunteered. "After this," he said flirtily, facing Mom before swishing his banana into the garbage, "I'll show you my moves."
I gagged at my best friend. He chose the weirdest moments to act weirder than normal. Mom looked more amused than anything. She had observed Wally's "moves" in the past.
Faster than a cobra, she threw a punch that a severely unprepared Wally managed to deflect. The turning floor kick, however, had him flat on his back. I smirked. Everyone else— minus Dick, he was laughing at our friend's misfortune too— was taken aback. Apparently they'd never seen Black Canary in action before. Or maybe they thought she'd go easy on us. I mentally scoffed. As if.
The floor lit up with a circle around Wally's spread out form. In a box beside him it clearly said, Kid Flash: Fail. "Hurts so good," he muttered loudly for show. Mom helped him to his feet.
"Good block," she praised, "But did anyone see what he did wrong?"
"Ooh, ooh! He hit on teacher and got served?" supplied Dick.
"Dude," complained Wally. Dick and I fist-bumped. Served him right for flirting with my mother. Mom tried to hide her smile.
"Selene?"
"Well for one, he hit on my mother."
"Selene."
I rolled my eyes at her stern tone, "He allowed you to dictate the terms."
"So you do listen when I talk," she countered. If I had been the type of girl who blushed, I would have been a tomato by now. As it was, my neck was feeling a bit warm.
"Oh please," interrupted Superboy with his arms crossed sulkily across his chest. His scowl was deeper than usual. "With my powers, the battle is always on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time." I frowned and coughed, "kryptonite!" Kaldur put a deterring hand on my shoulder. I couldn't help it. The only one allowed to back talk to my mom was me, and sometimes Roy. But Mom was one step ahead, as usual.
"Prove it," she challenged. I had to suck in my cheeks to keep from sniggering along with Dick. I felt a bit bad, since Superboy had no idea what was coming, but the sensation passed quickly. She was sore and bruised and she could still take all of us down without trying. It was better to let him find out the hard way.
Mom and Superboy adopted fighting stances; Mom's was technical and precise while Supey's was more natural and designed to intimidate. Mom stayed still, watching and waiting him out.
Mistake #1: He made the first move.
Mistake #2: The jab he threw at her head. Sure it had enough force behind it to shatter a brick wall, but it was sloppy. Catching his arm as it slid harmlessly past her, Mom used Supey's momentum against him and flipped him halfway across the circle.
Dick pointed at him and we both burst out laughing. Kaldur nudged Dick, who immediately tried to muffle his sniggers. I followed suit, chewing on my lip and trying to focus on anything but the humor in the current situation. I knew how hard it was to face off against the Black Canary. I'll freely admit it, though, my laugh was slightly evil.
Where Superboy had landed there was another one of those Fail Circles. He jumped to his feet, growling slightly. M'gann winced beside me, assumedly from the amount of anger and frustration coming off of him. I could feel it and I'm no telepath.
"You're angry," stated Mom as he visibly seethed across from her, "Good, but don't react. Channel that anger into-" Superboy charged at her. She casually flipped over his head and knocked his legs out from under him. The whole team flinched as he hit the floor. Dick had to smother another snigger. Seriously, what was with him and the sniggering?
"That's it!" growled Superboy as he ignored Mom's offered hand and stood up, "I'm done!"
"Training is mandatory," answered Mom reaching out to him. Her voice was soft but full of authority. Superboy threw her hand off.
It was like looking at a mirror image of her and Roy sparring when Roy was in one of his moods. She used the same tone of voice, the same suggestions, the same moves to intercept his blind lashes of emotion. No wonder she had been put in charge of our training. She had already basically raised one extremely volatile and surly teenager. What were six more?
A holo-screen popped up behind them before Superboy could storm off. Bruce's masked face filled the image. "Batman to the Cave." We crowded around the screen. Mom was grimacing like she knew what was coming. Or maybe it was from pain.
Still can't believe I missed that.
"Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying and then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant."
"Whoa," echoed Wally, "One guy with the powers of the entire League?"
"In the end, it took eight Leaguers nearly four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."
"An android? Who built it? T.O. Morrow?" asked Dick. Of course he would ask who built it. If they weren't evil, he would worship the guys who could mastermind technology like that.
"Good guess, Robin," Bruce answered, "But Red Tornado doesn't think so."
"The technology bares the signature of Professor Ivo," supplied Martian Manhunter.
"Ivo? But Ivo's dead," contested Kaldur.
"So we all thought. Or hoped," said Mom, the second part more for herself. I smoothed back the hair from my face. Why couldn't villains ever stay dead?
Why was I asking myself so many rhetorical questions today?
"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized," continued Bruce, "We are sending trucks containing the android's parts to two Star Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone, tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."
"Yes!" declared Wally enthusiastically, "Road trip!" I grinned along with him and Dick. We rocked road trips. Mostly.
"So now we take out your trash?" challenged Superboy.
"You have something better to do?" implored Bruce. Superboy looked away bitterly. I pinched Dick's arm before he could snigger again. Today was not Supey's day, and laughing at him wasn't going help. Even if that's all I had been doing earlier.
"Coordinates received," announced Kaldur, "On our way."
Litchfield County
August 3rd, 2010
20:08
Down in the hanger there were bikes waiting for us, but not just any bikes. These were personalized, shiny and brand spanking new. The design was different from both my bike in Star and Dick's R-Cycle. By the look on his face he agreed with me; these were a combo product of both Wayne Tech and Queen Consolidated. To sum it up, they were one of a kind and totally awesome.
Sitting on each of the bikes was a folded motorcycle jacket, road-rash pants, boots and a helmet, all in our personal colours. Apparently I got to go shopping today after all.
We were parked in the trees, waiting for Batman's go ahead. Like before Santa Prisca, nobody spoke. Even Wally, master of nervous chatter, stayed silent. Instead he was fidgeting with the buttons on his console. Dick was too, muttering under his breath about different techy-terms and about how he would rather ride his R-Cycle (stupid name, my suggestions had been so much cooler). Maybe he was just mad that he wasn't the only one with a red bike anymore.
For me personally, this was an upgrade and an upgrade I liked. The bike was easy to ride and full of cool features. My other one was a year and a half old, pretty basic and had been involved in a few too many crashes (don't worry, I was never on it). It was a bit scratched up, a tiny bit dented and it kind of pulled to the right after the last time it ran full speed into a brick wall (I repeat, I was not on the bike at the time). I'm not a bad driver, I swear. I just have to jump off of it a lot.
My new bike was silver, but not that weird metallic chrome silver, more like shimmery nail polish silver, but better. The black leather seat popped up to reveal a small compartment to stash our uniforms, just in case. Knowing this team, we'd probably need them.
The civilian outfits made us look a bit like members of different cheerleading teams, but they served a purpose. The helmets had comms units installed in each of them and the jackets were super comfy. Mine was my usual smoky grey, the piping done down my arms in the same scrolling silver curls as my suit. The pants had simple straight lines of silver on the sides and the helmet was like a combination of the two. Someone had put a lot of effort into fashioning these for our individual styles. Wally's had lightening bolts and Dick's even had a little bird on his helmet. I wondered how hard it must have been to create the others, in all the different combinations of blue and red. Like Wally, I was glad nobody else had a costume close in colouring to mine. I was also glad I didn't have a canary yellow bike.
The trucks drove out on Batman's signal. We followed in two separate groups. Wally, M'gann, and Kaldur headed for Boston. Dick and I were stuck with Superboy the Super Moper on our way to New York.
He'd gotten even moodier since we arrived at the start point, where Superman had ignored him again. I feel for the guy, I really do, but he needs to brush things off better. So the guy who's DNA he'd been created from wasn't warming up to him. Big whoop. Clark is a kind, rational guy. He'll come around eventually. Things will change for Superboy in a way that they can't for most of us. We all have tragic back-stories. I'm starting to think it's mandatory for being in the hero gig.
Anyway, once again, I was stuck on a super quiet trip. Obviously there was no music allowed, and my partners seemed to be stuck in their own heads. I was enjoying the screaming silence surrounded by the monotone cornfield scenery when Dick drove past me to catch up with Superboy. I pulled up behind them and hoped Dick was going to do something productive rather than just poking Supey with a stick to see if he'd explode.
"If like is the opposite of dislike, then is aster the opposite of disaster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right." I rolled my eyes, even though I knew Dick couldn't see them. Superboy didn't respond.
"Dude, you've been inhaling gas fumes for too long. I vote you ride up front for a bit," I commented. Dick made a buzz off gesture. Superboy didn't even smile like he usually does at any of the teams' childish teasing.
"Clearly you're not feeling the aster," Dick said to him, "What's wrong?" I was shocked when he actually responded.
"Canary," growled Superboy, "I mean, what business does she having teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?" My initial shock at his willing revelation quickly switched to anger.
"Other than the fact that she's hurt and still threw your Kryptonian ass around like a sack of potatoes?" I commented maliciously. This was crossing a line. I was now done with tiptoeing around him for today. "I mean its not like she's apart of the Justice League or anything. Oh wait… And it's not like she's trained an ex-sidekick with anger issues almost as bad as yours. Oh, and she's never had to teach her own protégé how to fight using powers nothing like her own. Yeah, she's definitely not qualified." Dick jumped in before Superboy could retaliate.
"What DL means, is that taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way, same with Batman and, well, the two of us. Me more than her." Superboy revved his bike and sped closer to the convoy. I stared straight ahead to avoid Dick's accusatory glare.
"I'm not going to apologize to him."
Silence.
"I didn't even say anything mean."
More silence.
"Okay, so the sack of potatoes comment was a bit cruel given how his day has been going, but I'm not going to treat him like he's some kind of ticking time bomb. We've had to deal with that enough with Roy."
He nodded but still didn't say anything.
"He didn't drive away until you said something. It could be your fault. It's probably my fault, but it could be yours."
"Gee, you think?" The trip was once again drowned in silence, though this time it was tense. Now I had not one, but two, teammates irritated with me. It didn't last long.
The robotic monkeys were a nice surprise. And I'm not being remotely sarcastic. What kind of crazy does it take to think of creepy, flying, robotic monkeys? And the laughing, dear god, don't get me started on the laughing. It was probably the creepiest laughter I have ever heard and I call Dick "Cackles" for a reason.
Like a horror movie, they erupted from the corn and descended over the armoured truck.
"Robin, Dark Light, Superboy. Our truck is under attack!" Kaldur confirmed my suspicions through the comm link. I was staring at a mirror image of what was happening to the other half of our team.
"Kinda figured," snorted Dick.
"I hate monkeys," growled Connor under his breath.
"Is any one else totally thinking about the Wizard of Oz right now? Because all these things are missing are the stupid hats," I asked. The monkeys were crawling all over the truck like ants on a dropped ice cream cone and banging their heads on the windshield. I could hear the panicked cries of the drivers and guards as the truck began to swerve.
Dick, Supey and I pulled into a line closer to the back of the truck. "Robot monkeys!" laughed Dick, "Totally Ivo's tweak style!" He pressed a button on his bike's touch screen. My eyes widened in awe as his front tire collapse backwards into the bike as the back one detached itself and converted into some hella cool fighter-thing. My old bike so totally did not do that.
"Hey, hey, change your bikes to battle mode," suggested Dick. I was about to do just that when Superboy muttered "No point" and jumped straight onto the back of the truck. The riderless bike wobbled before losing balance and colliding straight back into Dick's bike. I swerved wide and braked hard, screeching to a halt. A green light made contact with the bike's body and a sparking sound emanated. It shuddered and shut down. Steam— or was it smoke?— rose off the front end. I cursed under my breath. The truck continued to erratically drive away.
I was going to kill Superboy.
I kicked the stupid bike. Seriously? Why now? My teammates needed help and the stupid bike decided not to work? I don't care how new and shiny this thing was; I wanted my old, slightly lopsided bike back. At least it could take a hit. At least it was a dependable piece of junk.
I kicked the bike again in frustration. A light on the back end flickered on. Seconds later the hella-cool back-tire thing popped out and hovered a few feet above the ground. A crazy idea jumped into my mind.
Was it totally, outrageously ingenious? Oh yeah.
Stupid? Big time.
Dangerous? Ridiculously so.
Impossible? Not if I had anything to say about it.
I took a deep breath, grabbed the two ends of the ribbons I had created and jumped onto the top of the weaponized wheel. It shot forward, the ribbon being the only thing anchoring me to the metal surface. A screamed was ripped from my mouth in the wind.
This defied all logic. Somehow I wasn't falling off, or even budging. Once again, I was glad for grippy boots.
From my crouched position, I could see how fast I was gaining back the distance I had lost. Within moments I was hovering over the truck. I dropped down onto the back beside Dick, who was staring at me in shock.
"Glad you could drop in. How did you-?" he stuttered, batting away two of the monkeys with his escrima sticks.
"Not a freaking clue. Where's Supey?" I waved my arm and four marbles-sized lights smashed through two monkeys' chests. Another was taken down in the resulting explosion. He shrugged his shoulders, still batting away at the robots.
"Monkey's dropped him off about 80 feet back. Didn't see how. Wait, you didn't see him? You should have flown right over him." My helmet was ripped off as one of the monkeys zipped past me.
"I wasn't really paying attention. I was a bit busy, you know, trying not to fall to my death." I should have known better than to say something like that.
Seconds later both Dick and I were thrown off our feet by the massive impact of Superboy's landing. Or what I assumed was Superboy landing. I was too preoccupied with falling to see anything other than a streak of black and red. He really needs to work on his landings.
Dick fell straight backwards. I guess did too, but unfortunately my straight backwards was off the side of the truck. A light spiralled from my left hand and wrapped itself securely around one of the sidebars. My arm jerked painfully against the muscles attempting to keep it in its socket. I tried to clear the spots dancing across my vision. The wind snatched at my body. I felt like a giant grey kite— the toy, not the bird.
I struggled against the air resistance to bring my right had up from its useless position at my side. I needed to release some of the pressure from my left arm. I just had to connect it with the light, and then maybe I would be able to focus enough to shrink the light and make my way back to the truck. There was no way I had the upper-body strength left to crawl up the rope. My arms felt like over-stretched putty. I almost had it when the truck shuddered and lurched to the left.
'Tires,' I thought as I clung to my light, 'Those friggin monkeys blew the tires.' That's when I knew it was a lost cause. Of course the lone monkey staring at me was a good indicator, too.
Green lasers shot from the monkey's eyes. With one last effort I swung my right arm wildly towards my left, where it finally connected. I had barely thought "longer" when I shot back ten feet. Above my hands, one of the lasers connected with the light. A surge of power shot up my arms. The light shone brighter, then completely disappeared. A power surge.
Well, at least I knew that my bike had stopped because of these freaking lasers and not just because it sucked.
I hurtled backwards into the cornfield. I squeezed my eyes, wrapped my arms around my head and curled my legs into my chest. Or I attempted to. When I hit the ground it was going to be as armadillo-like as possible.
On a scale from 1 to 10, hitting the ground only hurt like a 12. The corn helped more than you'd think. I landed on my rights side and rolled until I was too tangled in cornstalks to move. A groan was muffled in a face full of dirt.
I opened my eyes a crack and stretched out. All my limbs were still attached. That was a good. Nothing felt numb or agonizingly painful. That was good too. I would be covered in bruises tomorrow, but nothing was broken.
An intense laughing filled the air. Overhead the hoard of monkeys was carrying a large box. I heard someone yelling, but I was to far away to determine what they were saying. The ground shook a bit but I figured it was just me, until I saw the black shape bounding after the monkeys. Superboy.
We had officially lost the cargo. Dejectedly, I pulled myself to my feet and started walking in the direction of the road. The team's voices sounded in my ear.
"Aqualad to Robin; We've lost our cargo. Did you-?" I heard Dick sigh over the comms.
"It's gone. And so are my partners." What the hell was Superboy thinking now? Oh, that's right, he wasn't.
I kept trekking through the corn. Now I get why corn mazes are freaky. I'm never going to one, like ever.
"Aqualad to Superboy; radio your position. We'll help you."
"I don't want help! Don't need any!" snarled Superboy.
"Superboy?" asked Kaldur. Silence answered.
"I think he ditched his comm," suggested Robin. I rolled my eyes though I knew no one even knew I was listening. My only indication to the truck's location was a thin strip of smoke on the other side of a rise. I had been thrown a lot farther into the corn than I originally thought.
"Super," remarked Wally, frustration oozing from his voice, "Now we can't even track him."
"He's out of my telepathic range," supplied M'gann, "This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?" She sounded hesitant on the last part, stuttering badly.
"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves," said Kaldur, "And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they are reassembled." Yeah, and I find my way back to my teammate and find where the other one had gone chasing after the flying monkeys.
The smoke trail was getting closer but the corn seemed to be growing taller. Is that possible?
"Oh, that's a great plan," announced Wally, "Except for the part about us not knowing where to look!"
"Maybe we do," offered Dick. I could picture him bending over his little keyboard. Or maybe I was finally reaching the end of the corn. "We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked. So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?" Everyone paused, assuming he would have an answer. He did. "Ha! The parts have GPS! The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track them with the one I captured. Looks like both sets are converging on… Gotham City."
"That far south? M'gann and I won't get there any time soon. I'm sending Kid ahead to meet you. Aqualad out."
"I love how worried you all are about me. Really, it's so touching," I grumbled as I finally pushed through the thinning cornstalks onto the road. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a destroyed truck and injured guards before in my life.
"DL! Are you okay?" Dick's words were almost as rushed as Wally's usually are. He ran over, a deactivated monkey bouncing on his shoulder. I brushed the dirt off of my jacket theatrically.
"Oh I'm just dandy. I only fell off a truck moving at full speed. And my teammates didn't sound the least bit worried about me. No big deal. I'm feeling the love." He plucked a corn leaf out of my hair.
"Good. You up for a trip to my home court?"
"Okay, A) that was sarcasm, and B) I'm currently vehicle-less. And my bike stopped working the first time I crashed."
"Hop on." As if on cue, a red bike pulled up beside us.
"Uh uh. I do not trust your driving."
"Says the girl who's wrecked another bike." He tapped his holo-computer. "But fine, I can try to signal Supey's for you. It's not like he needs it."
Ten minutes later we were cruising down the abandoned highway at a speed that would have given the Flash a heart attack. We were in full costume— it's the best (and only) way to avoid having some bored highway-patrol officer hand out a speeding ticket (it's been done before).
I had dug out my utility belt from where I stashed it in the seat compartment when I went back to get my suit. This would have come in handy, but no, I thought for once that we would have a mission go the way it was supposed to. My bad. Now I get why Dick is actually forced to take it everywhere with him.
Superboy's bike was bigger than mine had been (may it rest in pieces) and not quite as sensitive, but it was better than sharing. The last time that I had to sit behind Captain Computer on a motorized vehicle, I had to cling on for dear life so hard he had bruises.
And they insult my driving.
"How long 'til Gotham?" I asked.
"At this speed? 'Bout 15 minutes— 10, if we step on it." I revved my engine and shot forward in response. He was quick to follow.
Together, we're a driving instructor's worst nightmare.
We had just passed the Gotham City limits sign when a yellow blur pulled up in between us. Wally was surprisingly on schedule.
"So you changed too," commented Dick.
"You kidding? I feel naked in civvies," Wally grinned. "Nice bike, Sel. Didn't know you were changing your colours. Red and black; very tough."
"Oh, I'm fine, Wally. Thanks for asking."
"She's a bit bitter about being tossed into a cornfield. Give her a few more minutes," mocked Dick. Wally laughed.
"Poor Baby Sel, missed all the action while she destroyed another bike." For my own sanity, I ignored him. "You still tracking the parts?" he asked Dick.
"They were going through Gotham, but they veered." Dick studied the map in front of him. "Wait, dude, they're at my school!"
"Does that mean we get to see the Mathlete picture? Please tell me that means we get to see the Mathlete picture!" I begged with a grin. I love that picture. He looks like a baby-faced college professor.
"Shut up, Student's Union."
"Oh, and the trophy. I wanna see the trophy," declared Wally with a laugh.
"Same goes for you, Science Club," retaliated Dick. He let out a breath, "But seriously, guys, school starts next week. What if we trash the place?"
"If we trash the place, your school will start late. Gotham Academy students, minus you, will hail us as heroes," I answered.
"Dude," snorted Wally, "You're the only person I know that wants to go back to school. Even M'gann isn't that excited." Okay, that was an exaggeration on his part. M'gann couldn't wait to go to high school. She kept gushing about it and asking me questions that I didn't know how to answer. It was like she was a girl from a stupid sit-com.
"Bet you wouldn't think it was funny if it was one of your schools," muttered Dick.
"Yeah, because I treasure the place where I am the biggest loser ever," retorted Wally bitterly. My heart clenched in sympathy. We all knew how much he hated school. Not like the learning or anything— because I'm friends with not one, but two super geniuses— but the kids there are evil jerks. Stereotypical bullies that pick on Wally for his brains and his unfortunate tendency to trip over his own feet when he's forced to slow down to a normal pace. We know he's worried for the first day. Last year, after the mysterious midterm prank, they started to ease off a tad. I mean, after something like that, I probably would have started kissing the ground he walked on, but not these kids. It's a long story, involving two basketball players, a can of spray cheese and a surprise visit.
"And I would gladly light the match that burnt my school to the ground," I added. Once again, no elaboration was needed. The three of us had a mutual understanding.
We were zipping through the dark streets of Gotham now, towards the nicer section of the city. The brick houses lining the shortcut steadily became bigger, more elaborate and less grimy. Sculpted iron trellises and marble pillars began to guard extravagant front doors. You could practically smell the entitlement in the air. It's almost as bad as the lobby in Oliver's building. Here, even the stray cats seem fatter and better groomed.
Two blocks farther and we were pulling up in front of the school, Dick and I ditching the bikes and Wally bouncing from foot to foot. The anticipation was thick enough to make a milkshake. Dick pulled up the map and grimaced. "They're in the gym, which means you two get your wish. If it hasn't been destroyed." A resounding crash made Dick groan and mumble under his breath, "School will so not be starting Monday."
Unfortunately, the picture and trophy were broken. Approaching the open gym doors, I caught sight of Superboy slumped on the floor. The giant android from the video footage Bruce had shown us was leaning over him. A herd of monkeys sat protectively around a ferrety looking man in a sweater-vest and bow tie. Professor Ivo.
Before the android— What did Ivo just call it? The Amazing Amazo? Seriously?— could deliver a final blow, Wally zoomed in and grabbed Superboy, yelling "Zoink!" as the android's hands smashed through the hard wood floor. He skidded to a stop beside us. Dick threw two bird-a-rangs but they passed through Amazo as its voice box recited "Martian Manhunter" and it shifted its density. Seconds later the android recited "Access: Red Tornado" and barrelled forwards. All four of us were swept up by the tornado and flung through the air. I landed on my already bruised shoulder on the freshly waxed floor. This was not a good mission for soft landings.
Amazo targeted a slightly dazed Wally, who took off under the bleachers to avoid the energy beam aimed at him. As Wally emerged on the other side of the gym, Amazo switched tactics. "Access: Black Canary" recited the voice box. A more computerized version of Mom's screech filled the air and I clamped my hands over my ears. Wally was launched backwards. I stood shakily to my feet, fighting off the total deja vu from our Mister Twister escapade.
I was stepping forward, about to summon some lights, when Dick shook his head furiously.
"Don't be stupid, DL! He's got the powers of half the league! We don't need to give him yours too." And, of course, he was right. That stupid robot didn't need any more help destroying us.
"Superman." Superboy leaped forward but his fist was caught by Amazo, whose own punch slammed Supey back into the bleachers.
"Martian Manhunter." When Dick threw another bird-a-rang and I tossed an explosive from my belt, both of the android's arms elongated like some kind of dangerous metal yo-yo. Before they retracted, one smacked our weapons out of the air and the other destroyed the floor where we had been seconds before. I dove to the left and rolled to my feet.
"Superman." Amazo had Wally's armed pinned to his sides and was squeezing him, trying to break his ribs and crush his organs.
"Martian Manhunter." Something shot down towards Amazo's head and the android turned non-corporeal, freeing Wally in the process.
Superboy was thrown across the room (again) in a move that my mom had used against him earlier that afternoon.
I threw a handful of ice pellets at the androids feet only for them to be vaporized by the Superman-style lasers that shot out of his eyes. The liquid nitrogen didn't stand a chance.
Dick shot two more bird-a-rangs that were intercepted similarly. The glowing red eyes were turned to the pair of us. In one fluid motion, I grabbed the grappling gun from my belt and aimed for one of the wooden ceiling beams. I was zipping upwards as another round of lasers were being fired. Dick, who I thought would have the same idea as me, had been bowled over and out of the way by Wally. The lasers left another pair of scorch marks on the wall. Similar marks decorated any area we had stood by for too long. Dick so wasn't starting school on Monday.
Pressing the release button, I eased my way to the floor. The Amazo android was distracted by Superboy and Ivo, giving the rest of us a chance to regroup. They seemed to be chatting but I really didn't care about what. After I silently landed next to the other boys I hooked my grappling gun back into my belt. Wally was rubbing his head and whispering complaints about how sharp Dick's elbows were (then he was bumped with said elbows to shut up).
"Game plan?" I asked. Hope seeped from my words. These two were genius-ly ingenious. They had to have a plan.
"Sure," said Wally, rubbing his gloved hands together like a magician about to perform a trick, "We charge him and hope he doesn't kill us before Aqualad and Miss M show up."
"Yeah, 'cause that's been working so whelmingly for us," scoffed Dick.
"I don't see you coming up with anything, Mr. I-always-have-a-plan."
"Give me a minute."
"I don't see either of you being helpful," I grumbled. "It took half the League to take it out the first time. We're four teenagers. We're missing two of our strongest teammates and Superboy isn't exactly reliable. We need a real plan that's not just aim, shoot, dodge." A sudden roar broke us from our discussion.
"IT MAKES ME ANGRY!" Superboy leaped across the gym towards Ivo.
Oh dear.
"WANNA SEE ME CHANNEL THAT ANGER?"
Well, then. This was great.
"Great. He's gone ballistic again." Wally agreed with me. Dick wasn't so sure.
"Maybe not." His voice was doing that calculating thing that usually means a plan.
The scrawny professor was running away with monkeys circling him like a bad impersonation of the Secret Service. "Amazo, protect your master. Priority Alpha." Superboy leapt at him again.
I snorted in disbelief. "He's attacking Ivo." I let that sink in for a second. Oh. "He's attacking Ivo!" Dick grinned as Wally and I realized his plan. Or was it Supey's plan?
"Anyone want to play keep away?" Dick jumped and kicked Ivo in the back, sending him sprawling away from the monkeys holding him up.
"Ooh! Me! Me!" called Wally, rushing forward.
"Access: Superman." The Amazo android stomped, sending a wave of broken floorboards underneath Wally's blurred feet. He was thrown across the gym into the bleachers. I dashed forward, throwing another mini explosive at the monkey grabbing for Ivo.
"I got him! I got him!" I yelled as I ran, trying to attract Amazo's attention. We had to keep it distracted, conflicted as to whom to attack.
"Access: Black Canary." I was three feet away from Ivo when the blast hit me. The high-frequency screech assaulted my eardrums and the force sent me tumbling backwards into the bottom tier of the bleachers. A broken support jabbed into my spine. The short stab of pain that generally means bruising traveled from the rest of my body to where the wood made contact.
I swivelled my head to view something other than the blue gym doors. My attention was caught by flood-pants with loafers and tall white socks. Ivo was skittering around the gym, directly across from me. I scrambled to my feet. There was no way this guy was getting away, not after he had caused so much trouble for the League— not after he had caused so much trouble for us.
"Keep it busy," I yelled. I didn't stay to see what happened. The boys had it handled. I hoped.
When I had reached the doors, a flicker of movement directed me around the corner to the right. The hallway was dark and narrow, left over from when the school had been someone's fancy manor house. It continued like this, me reaching a corner to find a flash of clothes or hair as my only indication that I was going the right way, for a few aggravating twists and turns. What type of school had hallways like these? Barging through a heavy metal door, I was to be faced with an empty stairwell.
"Did he go up or down?" I muttered to myself. A frustrated groan followed into the echoing silence. I wanted to punch a wall, but refrained because of the copious amounts of bruising I was already suffering from. "There is no chance I'm going to catch him now." Ivo had too much of a head start and if I chose wrong, this excursion would have been even more pointless than it already was.
How did such a little man move so fast? Those fricking monkeys. This was just like last mission and Kobra disappearing into the jungle. God, I hate losing. I strained my eyes up and down to catch a glimpse of glowing green, but there was nothing. I turned and retraced my steps through the abandoned halls. I didn't try to summon a light. I had no clue if Amazo had been beaten or if he was waiting to ambush me.
Back at the gym, everything had been handled. Dick had dismantled the Amazo Android, now headless in my short absence. Wally was teasing him about being paranoid about a robotic revolution when I walked through the door.
"Dark!" Wally sped over to me and scooped me into an unnecessary hug. "Youokay?Whydidyouchasehimwithoutsayinganything?Whydidyoutakesolongtogetback?" he took a breath. "Didn't catch him?"
"Nope." He didn't say anything else as we joined the others. Kaldur smiled at me in his reassuring way, the one that says, "It's okay, we know that you did what you could" without being patronizing.
"Dark Light, we are waiting for the nearest Star Labs facility to send another set of trucks to meet us. After that, we will carry on as if nothing has happened. Miss Martian and I have brought Kid's bike for you. We assumed Superboy would prefer to have his own back. It is part of the reason we took such a long time to arrive."
"Thanks for the consideration, 'Lad. As long as I don't have to ride back with Robin, I'm more than happy."
"Hey!"
"Who's going to explain why it's headless?" asked Wally. I studied the robot lying dismantled at our feet. That could be a problem. Most of the important tech was probably located in its head. As if possessed by the same force, Wally, Dick, and I all pressed our fingertips to our noses.
"Dibs out!"
Mount Justice
August 4th, 2010
01:06
"The Amazo Android is in pieces again, safely being analyzed at the two separate Star Labs. But, even with Dark Light chasing after him, Ivo escaped and since he originated the tech, he is arguably more dangerous than the android." Kaldur was explaining, even though he hadn't been there for the entire fight. The debrief was just another reason I was glad he had been chosen leader. He had this way of making even the worse story sound halfway decent.
The boys had explained to me— and filled in M'gann and Kaldur— on what had happened while we were on the way back. It was long drive, longer than any of us really cared for. I mean, we had the zeta beams, why didn't we just stash the bikes and beam back?
"Capturing the professor will be a League priority," said my mom. She was watching us all with her psychiatrist face, focusing mostly on Supey.
"But we understand you mission encountered other… complications." Manhunter seemed to think before saying complication, like he was trying to find a word that wasn't offensive. Whether we meant to or not, all our gazes focus on Superboy. Heavy footsteps announced the presence of the last present mentor.
"Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League." Superboy looked up at Bruce hopefully.
"The whole League?"
"Given time, yes," I could hear the rare smile in Bruce's voice, "Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads." I smiled at my mom, who winked back. "Of course, there is no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists, because there are some problems even we can't handle individually."
"Please," started Dick self-righteously, "If we needed help we wouldn't get the chance to ask for it. Look familiar?" He pulled out a green arrow, with a solid, simple triangular point and green feathers at the end. "You were following us! Babysitting! You still don't trust us!" I sucked in a breath. I knew that wasn't Ollie's arrow. The tip was wrong. Oliver pulled out one to compare, showing the others what I already knew. His arrows were longer, with two serrated edges.
"We didn't follow you," said Bruce.
"And that's not your arrow," conceded Dick.
"And if you would've shown me I could've spared you that," I muttered so he could hear me.
"But that means-" Apparently I was being ignored.
"Speedy!" announced Wally.
"He has our backs," smiled Kaldur. Wally dashed forward and snatched the arrow from Oliver.
"Souvenir!" They were all grinning, and didn't notice when Oliver and Bruce shared a look. I did, mostly because I was thinking the same thing. That wasn't Roy's arrow. I would know. I packed them.
The adults and teenagers dispersed, J'onn saying goodbye to M'gann and Mom talking to Superboy. Oliver met my eyes and asked a silent "We need to speak with you." I mouthed "give me a minute" and wandered over to Superboy. I hesitantly tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hey Supes." He nodded stoically at me, but he didn't seem mad, more like apprehensive. "I just wanted to say that what I said earlier was a bit harsh. You weren't in a good mood and I wasn't really nice, and that wasn't very teammate-y of me. So yeah." He nodded again.
"Okay."
"Yeah." We stood there awkwardly for a second. "I better go see what GA wants." I took a step before pivoting to face him again. "Just so you know, I think Superman's being a jerk and that's not cool with any of us. We should, like, call his Earth parents or something and tell on him." Supey smiled, and I couldn't help but think we were good. I rushed over to where Oliver and Bruce were waiting. They cut straight to business.
"Do you agree with Robin and the others? Do you believe that is Speedy's arrow?" Bruce peered at me from behind the cowl.
"No I don't. In fact, I know it's not." I licked my lips, ignoring the way my stomach twisted. As far as I knew, Oliver hadn't a clue that I'd stolen from the old store. When I looked over, his face was amused, eyebrows raised and his stupid goatee twitching as he fought a smile. "Wait, you knew?" He nodded. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"The four of you were so cute, sneaking around to help him. I just couldn't ruin it," he chuckled.
"Gee, thanks. Cute was exactly what we were going for," I deadpanned. Ollie could be so weird sometimes. "The arrows I gave to Roy are different from both Oliver's and the one Robin found. They're the streamlined ones; 3D pyramids with the cutouts and a single point. Plus I stocked mostly trick arrows. He likes those best. And he would have painted the feathers red, not kept them green. There is no way that was Roy." The two men shared a look.
"We agree," said Bruce, "And we would like to find out the identity and the intentions of who fired that arrow. We require your assistance to do so."
"My help? Why not Robin? It's his city."
"Let him believe it was Speedy for a little while longer. He and Wally both need that. Also, I have a suspicion of who it might be, and Robin's presence could possibly by unbeneficial." I sighed. Another secret. The boys were going to kill me when they found out. And they would find out.
"I'll do it."
What did ya think? Reviews are great holiday gifts...
You guys know what I mean when I refer to Sel's lights right? And like the balls of lights and stuff? Because as epic as it is to visualize its kinda awkward to write.
Amma referred to the character from the Caster Chronicles (Beautiful Creatures)
I know Candy Crush technically hasn't been invented yet, but I have an on again off again addiction to it. When I play it, I can't focus on anything else. And then I forget to play for several weeks in a row.
Word of the chapter is crash~ and, no, not as in the Mode
I finally looked up timezones. I don't even know how half of this crap works anymore. Screw it. Imma ignore the timezones and pretend the world is one big international time schtick and follow what the show says. Sound cool?
And my timeline for the episode doesn't work. Whatever. (I'm just going to ignore that)
Have a great rest of your holidays!