An update! Another long chapter, after another long wait. Sorry to keep you all waiting, but here is the seventh chapter to A Matter of Time!
Disclaimer: I only own my characters Scarlet Tanager/Alexis, Kitsune/Karie. Every other character belongs respectively to DC Comics.
Savoth, Grand City
December 4TH 9:47 a.m.
Scarlet Tanager's Pov
We had taken out the first wave of Reach soldiers walking past on patrol. The moment I said sleep, they fell to the ground, and we dragged their bodies into the underbrush. It was Batgirl who had told us to take the com-links in their helmets. Batgirl and I dissembled our own helmets for our coms, while Wonder Girl waited for Robin to find hers. As we worked swiftly, B.G. and I snuck a glance at Robin and Wonder Girl, and shared a look with each other and then one with Bumblebee and Miss M. We were all smiling or smirking.
"Slip them on," Batgirl said. "We can't have them suspect something is up. Zatanna and Doctor Fate specialized our Glamour Charms so that we look like any other Reach soldier, and can speak like them. All you have to do is talk normally."
I slipped the Reach's com-link into my ear. I waited for Wonder Girl to slip hers on, watching as she thanked Robin before she was ready. "Let's hurry, or they'll start to suspect something."
Taking their hand cuffs, we cuffed up Alpha squad and followed along the path, with Batgirl, Wonder Girl and I keeping our staffs pointed behind their backs.
When we reached the end of the path, I searched for the previous squad of guards that had walked ahead of us. I didn't even have to tilt my head to use my heat tracing anymore. "Into the city, that's their routine. From the city, then out of it by a twelve-mile radius, then back."
"Why not farther than that though?" Robin asked. He quickly opened up a map of Savoth on his gloved-computer, scanning for everything outside of the twelve-mile radius. "Nothing that could pose as a threat to them, but it might be because they think there isn't any threat towards them outside of that."
"It's a possibility, now pay attention everyone, cause our real mission begins the moment we step foot into their HQ," B.G. said. She looked over Wonder Girl to meet me. "Every time we pass the bunker, you'll report back to Aqualad and the others by Soul-Clone. If anything extremely important comes up, link up to them and report it. Are we clear?"
Miss Martian shifted to become more comfortable in her cuffs before saying, "Alpha squad ready."
It was the same as yesterday when we did some recon in the city; dark alleyways, but with the light reflecting off the windows of buildings lit up the city. I continued to lead my squad after the Reach guards, noting how they would always split about ten-feet at each intersection, before they would regroup. We did the same, but instead of searching for stray or runaway civilians, we took the time to analyze parts of the city.
"What is that?!" Bumblebee asked once we had reached the Reach's HQ.
There were hundreds and hundreds of Reach soldiers and ships in front of the HQ. Some soldiers were marching out of it, while others were heading out into the city, or the outer area. My head was pounding with all the heat signatures moving around me, then again, it was always like this when my powers were doing their job.
"They split from here. One goes into their headquarters, one heads over to the ships, while the other heads over to civilians," I said, closing my eyes as I narrowed down the Reach soldiers we had followed into the city. A major headache was pulsing in my head from the overusing my powers. I ignored the urge to rub my temple, and continued, "Batgirl?"
"Tanager, you're headquarters. If anyone asks you anything, don't be hesitant to use Songbirds Cry. I'll go to the ships, and get a full scan of them. When we rendezvous, we'll report to Aqualad about them. Wonder Girl, you'll be with Alpha squad, so make sure that they keep you updated on what the other civilians are telling them. Every piece of information is considered valuable," Batgirl said seriously, before she started to speak with the Alpha squad. "I'll leave the rest to you."
Then we split.
Savoth, Mt. Justice II
December 4TH 10:07 a.m.
Kitsune's Pov
We were training in the make-shift gym Wally, Alexis and I had tried to set up through Soul-Clone. Actually, all we really did was teleport the equipment to the bunker and let Wally and S'kidd figure out the rest. Everyone who wasn't deployed for their mission already was in the gym, except for Gamma, who had just left for their recon in the lake.
"What are we working on today, Nightwing?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips as I stood beside him in the center of the mat.
"Fighting against Reach soldiers," Nightwing answered, looking at everyone in the room. "Kitsune will demonstrate how to defend yourself from them, how to avoid their laser staffs, and how to knock' em out quickly and efficiently."
"This is solely hand-to-hand combat," I added. "No weapons, no powers, no holding back."
I smirked as I un-clipped my utility belt and dropped it on the floor. Nightwing walked off to the side where the others stood, before starting up the exercise. There were three Reach soldiers surrounding me, all of them with their staffs aimed at me. When they shot, I jumped at the one on my left, swiftly giving him a good roundhouse kick in the face, before I somersaulted behind him. The other Reach soldiers shot in my direction, but their lasers ended up hitting their comrade. As he crumbled to the ground/dissipated, I ran at the closest one to my right. The two soldiers shot at me again, but I easily ducked the lasers. As I ducked, I swept my leg to trip the one on my right. Just as he fell, I grabbed his staff, and quickly smacked the other soldier in the face, before promptly giving him a few kicks. Just as he fell, I spun around and knocked out the soldier on the ground with his own staff. That was the end of the training exercise.
"Any questions?" I asked, catching my breath.
S'kidd raised his hand slowly. I nodded for him to speak. "Where did you learn to do that?!"
"Batman and Black Canary taught me," I answered. My voice came out strong, but everyone else except Rayner and S'kidd could tell that my voice had wavered with hesitation. They knew why; I had practice even before Bats and Canary had taught me.
Thank goodness Artemis said something to distract everyone. "Who wants to go first?"
"We'll do this in pairs. Everyone buddy up," Nightwing said, discreetly looking my way. His look said everything, "You should go sit down."
I stood behind the control panel, while everyone else paired up. Wally and Artemis were going first, followed by Superboy and Wolf. Guardian was giving tips to S'kidd as they waited to go, while Nightwing was talking to Rayner casually. I wasn't paying much attention to what they were talking about, but when I heard Rayner bring up my name my ears twitched. Nightwing had hesitated just for a second, glancing at me for my reaction. I was watching Artemis and Wally take care of six soldiers, but he knew I was listening in on them.
"Hey, did you hear me?" Rayner asked, getting Nightwing's attention. "What was up with Karie when S'kidd asked her a question?"
Nightwing knew better than to tell him about my past, but being a master at wordplay since he was thirteen, he knew exactly what to say. "That's a touchy subject that I can't tell you about, or else Karie will try to kill me. But since I know you're probably going to ask her about it anyway, I'll just give you some advice; don't expect an answer."
Wally fell to the ground, dodging the laser of a soldier when Artemis grabbed his staff and flipped him over Wally. I clicked a few buttons on the panel, ending the exercise. I nodded for Superboy and Wolf to step up for their turn.
Artemis helped Wally up, Wally throwing his arm over Artemis and pulling her close. He kissed on her forehead and said, "Thanks babe."
Artemis rolled her eyes, smiling at Wally. "You know, you always end up on the ground during these training exercises?"
They continued bickering playfully even as every pair took their turn at the training exercise. I glanced over at Nightwing who only laughed and shook his head at them. My eyes looked over to Rayner who stood beside him, and realized that he had already been looking at me. He looked like he was trying to decipher something though. I looked back at S'kidd and Guardian, who were doing fairly well with taking care of the guards.
I wasn't really paying attention though because I knew what was going to happen later today; Rayner was going to come up to me and ask about my background. I didn't want to tell him, more specifically, I never wanted him to know.
Savoth, Mt. Justice II
December 4 TH 2:17 p.m.
Green Lantern's Pov
Gamma squad had come back from their recon mission, and now the team sat in the debriefing room. I sat beside Wally, only two seats away from Karie. Even from here I could tell that she was agitated.
"Gamma squad consisting of Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy and myself scoured all of the lake today, and have successfully found Reach ships hiding in it," Aqualad said, his voice serious and formal. "They are hiding off to the eastern side of the lake, which sets them farther apart from our location. There are around thirty ships below the surface that are waiting patient and ready."
"There's been a change of plans," says Nightwing. He brought up a map of Savoth on the holographic screen behind him. "If we attack the ships first before attacking the palace, it would draw the Reach's attention to the lakefront. If this fight takes place at the lakefront, then the city of Savoth and the civilians will be safer and apart from our fight."
"But if we attack the ships first, we risk destroying the bunker, and losing our connection to the Watchtower," Kitsune spoke up. "This won't matter though until this fight is over, because if we win, then we'll have the Speed Force fragment and be able to travel from Earth to Savoth anyways."
"Which is exactly why we're going to go through with this," Aqualad said. "Kitsune, we'll need you to contact both Scarlet Tanager and Miss Martian about this."
"I'm on it," she said, taking a deep breath. It was weird because she didn't seem like she was stressed or worried about anything.
Maybe she was thinking about S'kidd's question earlier. I know I'm still wondering about her answer. I really needed to ask her about that. It was so odd seeing Kitsune hesitant. My first impression of her was the exact opposite. In a way, it worried me.
"Alright, we're going to need to start building weapons to take down these ships, and for the Reach soldiers," Nightwing said.
"You mean bombs," Superboy said, watching as Nightwing uploaded a blueprint of a bomb. "We're going to build those?"
"You got it S.B. Actually, me, Guardian and K.F. is going to build it. We'll need everyone else's help with the material gathering, and the transporting," Nightwing said.
The meeting went on about how the bombs are going to work, when we'll use them, when we'll need to move them, and how we're going to move them.
"That's all for this meeting, everyone back to training," Nightwing said.
As everyone filed out of the debriefing room, I was about to put my hand on Kitsune's shoulder to get her attention when Guardian swung an arm over my shoulders pulling me in the other direction. I tried to turn around to see her standing there with her eyes enveloped in yellow and glowing even brighter than usual.
"So Kyle, how about you and I spar together?" Guardian asked, smiling under his golden helmet.
"Actually, I needed to talk to Kit about—" I was interrupted by Kid Flash who sped up beside me and swung his arm around my shoulders as well.
"Kit? Man, if Kitsune heard you call her that she'd probably smack your head until it's spinning," Kid joked. "Of course, it looks like she didn't need to that to get your head spinning."
I raised an eyebrow at both of them. "What are you guys trying to do?"
"Face it man, that vixen has got you good," Guardian said, laughing along with Kid. "Let's just say that we've seen many guys being charmed by her."
This caught my attention. I wasn't charmed by her, and if I was, I wouldn't risk taking it any further. What happened to Alex still haunts me. I stopped walking at the memory of her.
I had come home after a long day of crime fighting to our apartment. I was excited to see Alex. With all the new responsibility as a G.L. and my meeting with the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps, I've been gone for a good couple of days.
I walked into our apartment, calling out for her. "Hey, Alex. I'm finally back." There was no response. I raised an eyebrow. Alex should've been at the door the moment I had opened it and greeted me with a hug and a smile. But she didn't. "Alex? You here?"
There was a note on the small dining table in the kitchen. "Surprise for you in the fridge. Love, A." Her handwriting looked, different. Pushing off the odd feeling, I headed for the fridge and opened it. I felt pain, grief, shame and sadness all slap me in the face as I sank to my knees. There was Alex, bloody and mangled, her body stuffed awkwardly into the fridge. She was dead.
"Oh, God," I whispered. I shut my eyes and clenched my teeth, trying my best not to cry. I punched one of the tiles of the kitchen floor. "Alex, I'm so sorry." My voice had cracked on sorry. All I could think was "Some hero I am."
She had died while I was away learning to be a hero to help and save people. But I couldn't even save her.
Savoth, Mt. Justice II
December 4 TH 5:52 p.m.
Kitsune's Pov
I had contacted Miss M and Scarlet Tanager, learning from both of them that Reach had total domination over the city. It didn't surprise me, but what did was how quickly they had to cut the connection.
"Hey, you okay?" Artemis asked. I sat on one of the benches breathing hard. "Was that sparring match really that intense? I didn't expect you to be."
I laughed. "Are you kidding? I haven't sparred since Batman made me go up against Batgirl, and that was two years ago."
"Who won?" Artemis asked, smiling as she took a seat beside me.
"You only asked because you already knew the answer," I said, bumping her shoulder gently. "Come on, we should start preparing dinner. All the boys are expecting us to make it."
I looked down at that thought. "They should be able to make their own dinner, so why are we expected to make it for them?"
"Because they know we're the best cooks on this team," Artemis said, holding her head high and proud.
"Can't deny that," I agreed.
We changed out of our uniform in our rooms before meeting each other in the kitchen of the cafeteria. Artemis was already in her apron lifting a pot on to the stove. "What are we making?"
"I don't even know half the foods in this kitchen," I admitted, going through the fridge. I pulled out some purple looking meat. "I think we should get S'kidd in here."
He came in a second later smiling and saluting to us. "S'kidd Flash at your service."
"Good," Artemis said, placing a hand on her hip. "Do you know any recipes for Savothian dinners, because we can't tell what is what?"
"There are some foods that come into mind…" S'kidd said before helping us prepare dinner.
As we waited for our turkey-like meat to cook in the oven, Artemis and I were preparing two separate deserts with Earth ingredients that Savoth did have. S'kidd had left, saying that he was going to start setting the table with Gar.
"What are we making for dessert?" I asked, smiling as I watched our main dish cook in the oven. "I was thinking of making a chocolate cake and oatmeal sugar cookies."
"Oatmeal sugar cookies? Where did you learn to make those?" Artemis asked, crossing her arms and giving me a quizzical look.
"A very close family friend," I answered, laughing at her look. "Trust me they taste way better than they sound."
"I guess I'll be making the cake then," Artemis said, turning to the fridge for eggs and milk.
In the middle of me making the cookie dough, and Artemis making the cake batter, Artemis said something that I'm very surprised I had missed earlier.
"While you were sparring against Aqualad, the guys, and I mean all of them, were talking about you and Kyle," Artemis said. "I could tell that you weren't listening, you always get so worked up and focused when you're sparring."
I cleared my throat uncomfortably. They were talking about me and Rayner? "What did they say?"
"They actually made a bet," Artemis said, looking down at her bowl of cake batter. She started to add the chocolate mix, or at least, the sweetest syrup in Savoth. I eyed Artemis as I placed my cookie dough on the pan and caught her smiling. "If Kyle could get you to fall for him as much as everyone thinks he has for you by the end of this Reach infestation, then all of the boys except Aqualad will have to pull a prank on every League member. If he doesn't, then he owes all of them five dollars."
They made a bet to see if Rayner could get me to like him?! The thought was so infuriating, I completely disregarded that Artemis had said that everyone thinks that Rayner has fallen for me.
Artemis started to pour her batter in the cake tray. "I know that you're probably going to go knock some sense into the boys, but I'm not finished. Kyle didn't agree to the bet."
"Really?" I exclaimed a little too quickly. Artemis looked up at me and smiled knowingly. I felt my cheeks flare. "I'm mean he seems like the kind of guy who's always up for a challenge."
That earned a laugh from Artemis. "Karie, anyone who tries to go after you is in for a challenge. Besides, he doesn't seem like the guy who's into immature things like bets. He's more of the focused kind. Did you seem him when he was sparring? Wally didn't have a chance."
I smiled, turning away and placing my tray of cookies in the other oven. Thank goodness Artemis couldn't see me smiling, because my cheeks were still burning. The focused type, huh? I scoffed. He might actually be up for this challenge.
Savoth, Mt. Justice II
December 4TH 9:07 p.m.
Karie's Pov
I sat in the cafeteria alone, nibbling slowly on one of the left over oatmeal sugar cookies. I was thinking about what Scarlet Tanager had told me just before she cut the link. "There's more than one Guardian with them this time. So far, I've only seen two, including Black Beetle." Two Beetles? So far? We were barely able to take down one! How am I supposed to tell Nightwing and Aqualad?
"You know, those cookies taste pretty good." I jumped from my seat, almost dropping my cookie. I glared at Kyle, who was in pajamas; an old green-sleeved baseball t-shirt and some flannel pants. "Sorry, didn't expect to scare someone like you."
"What were you expecting then?" I asked, my voice cold. I was mad, and ashamed that the new guy had scared me.
"Well, I was kinda expecting that you'd share some of your cookie with me," he said. I stared at him with dead eyes, amazed by his answer. He gave me a joking smile before saying, "I'm kidding. Actually, I was expecting an answer for what had happened earlier today, you know when S'kidd asked you a question?"
I broke apart one end of my cookie, holding it out for him. He smiled as he took it, chewing on it happily. As he ate, I was contemplating whether I should tell him. I mean, I've only known him for twelve hours. I finished off my cookie, before getting up from my seat. "Some other time, Rayner."
I pushed past him, but he put a hand on my shoulder gently. I tensed, almost smacking him in the head when he said, "What happened to 'there is no identity to hide'?"
I frowned, hating that he used my own words against me. A flashback of the first time I ended up getting hit by a bottle. It was all red. I touched my left forearm unconsciously. The memory of the glass stuck inside my arm was still fresh, even though the memory took place nine years ago. My eyes started to blur, and I knew that I was going to start crying. I never cry in front of anyone, especially some guy I just met today. I brushed off his hand roughly and sped off to my room, the tears blurring the hallway.
Savoth, Reach HQ
December 4TH 9:10 p.m.
Scarlet Tanager's Pov
Something was happening to Karie, I could just feel it. You could call it sister's intuition, or our psychic bond. I couldn't do anything about it though because Batgirl, Wonder Girl and I stood in the courtyard of the Reach headquarters, watching as the Scientist and Black Beetle walked up on to the stage by the entrance. Following them closely was another Beetle, the three of us dubbing him realistically, Red Beetle.
Anyways, every soldier was to report to the front of HQ because of some big announcement they had to make. The Scientist stood behind the podium, clearing her throat to silence everyone. "My fellow Reach. We gather here tonight because we have an announcement to make."
There was a small murmur from the crowd as the Reach soldiers were guessing what the announcement could be. I glanced at Batgirl and Wonder Girl. "Any guesses on what this big announcement might be?"
"Miss M said that the civilians down in the prison didn't know anything about the scientist, Gorflack," Wonder Girl said. She was frowning under her helmet, upset that they couldn't squeeze a lot of information out of the civilians. "There was this one guy who said that he probably hid the fragment some place where the Reach would never find it. Maybe they finally have."
"The scientist of this planet, Gorflack, who studies the Speed Force has finally told us where he has hidden the fragment," the Scientist said smiling, all the while confirming Wonder Girl's guess. "His little experiment S'kidd Flash has it in his possession. Tomorrow morning at seven o'clock, Red Beetle and all of you will be searching for Gorflack's little failure of an experiment. That is all."
We followed the soldiers to their quarters, and found our way on to random bunks. We lay on them helmetless, but it didn't matter because our Glamour Charms made us look like any one of them anyways. I was the first to say anything, "What are we going to do?"
Batgirl and Wonder Girl slept on a separate bunk from mine, so there was a completely clueless soldier sleeping on the bunk above me. Both of them rolled over to look at me, Batgirl being the first to comment, "I have a plan. S'kidd will hand himself in."
"What?! We can't do that!" Wonder Girl exclaimed, her voice ringing in my head loud and clear. She grabbed the side of her bed and looked down at Batgirl like she was crazy.
"I know. Which is why Miss M will pose as S'kidd." Batgirl smiled up at Wonder Girl. "Our plan for bombs might have to be crossed off, because if they do find our bunker and S'kidd tomorrow, then our war might be waiting for us in just a few hours. With Miss M posing as him, the rest of the team will have time to figure out where the fragment is, and how we can use it to our advantage."
"I'll tell Miss M to start a link with you guys, I'm Soul-Cloning back to the bunker," I said. I shifted into a more realistic sleeping position, before calling for Miss M. I knew that she was already talking to Wonder Girl and Batgirl because Wonder Girl's face was contorting in thought, while B.G's eyes were moving back forth like she was processing something. I breathed, thinking, Here I go.
I'm so sorry for not updating in almost a month, this is probably the longest I've ever been without posting a new chapter. My summer's been so busy, and when I finally found time to write, then I came up with the idea to create a series of one-shots that happened in between this series involving any and every character (like Jason Todd). So far I have over forty ideas for one-shots. So what do you guys think of the idea? I've already finished two, and I'm working on the third. Of course this main fic comes first, but let me know what you guys think.
Review, follow and fav!
