Strange meetings and a reunion.

September 20th.

After the proposal of working alongside the professional heroes it was time to step up their game. They trained harder and more frequently, having duels with each other or practising battle manoeuvres together. The device given to them by Batman had been primarily carried by the team's leader, Zinira. However, it then became the duty of the one who was responsible for watching base. The ones that were away from the base eagerly kept their phones close for any sign of their first mission. Other than that their usual crime fighting and civilian lives, life carried on.

That afternoon Rose came back from work with an armful of shopping that she had picked up on the way to the apartment. Aaron was sitting cross legged on the floor trying to adapt the metal in a tea spoon. He wasn't having a lot of progress. He could move metal of various shapes and sizes but when it came down to changing the very shape of the metal… well he hadn't done it very often. He had to be in deep concentration to manipulate his element that way, something that was almost impossible to do in battle. The shifting sphere was pretty much the only thing that he could manipulate in that way. Whilst he was doing this Zinira on the other hand was searching through newspaper articles from the library to follow both hero and villain activities. It was also a great opportunity to build up on her knowledge of their powers, history or anything of importance. As Rose placed the shopping on the kitchen counter she said,

"There was an odd man in a suit at the gardening centre. He wasn't really interested in the flowers he was buying I think, but kept asking me questions. Things like how I ended up as a gardener and where I was from. He dressed really well and I think he was quite wealthy in the way he behaved but it was a bit odd that he should want buy from the local garden centre. I'm sure he is the type that you would expect at branded places that cost a pretty penny." Aaron frowned when he heard this.

"What did he look like? Did he have dark hair? Brown eyes? About thirty?" Aaron asked. Rose looked surprised then exclaimed,

"You have just described him perfectly!"

"He was at the garage last week, had a pretty fancy car. He came in for it to be washed but came over to talk to me whilst I was working on another car. I gave him the cover story but… I can't shake the feeling that he knew more than he was letting on." Each of them had the cover story of coming to Happy Harbour to live near the city and was going to the university in the city. They got part time jobs to support their "course". Rose was studying Botany, Zinira human anatomy and Aaron engineering since they knew these subjects well. Many people just accepted this cover story and didn't ask questions.

"What a strange coincidence." Rose added with a thoughtful look on her face. "Zinira, have you seen this man?" Zinira shook her head and answered,

"No, but it is a little strange. I don't think I will be seeing him at the chilli pepper; a man in a suit sticks out in that sort of atmosphere. He probably was visiting or on holiday from the city" Truth be told, Zinira was a bit unnerved by this strange "coincidence".

xXx

That night Zinira had a shift at the club. There was a featured guest on the semi-circle stage that was doing aerial acrobatics. It reminded Zinira of her old days at the circus. As Zinira manoeuvred between the round tables, handing out drinks, she half watched the show. The woman was beautiful in her purple all in one suit that showed her back and her auburn hair was in a bun. There was a slow paced jam tune on and she managed to perform alongside the music. Aerial acrobatics was something Zinira could see herself doing and would enjoy installing dance into the performance. She came to one of the candle lit table that had just received a customer. He was wearing black shades and a grey hoody. Even below the baggy top Zinira could see he was a good build and guessed his age to be at least thirty.

"Can I get you a drink?" Zinira said only half paying attention to the new customer.

"A sprite will be fine." He responded. Zinira nodded and drifted towards the bar, picking up empty glasses and placing them on her tray along the way. When she served the drink to the man in the shades he said in a serious voice,

"How did you come to be a waitress?"

"I applied; it was the only job available at the time." Zinira replied.

"What made you apply?" The dark headed man continued to ask.

"I needed the money for my apartment." Zinira never liked handing out information to people she did not know so she gave very simple answers. The man looked like he was going to say something else but was interrupted by the audience clapping for the performer. The red curtains covered the stage once more and some music was put on. People were slowly making it to the dance floor by the stage. All of a sudden Zinira got a loud of racket going into her left ear. Her manager was behind her and was shouting over the noise,

"We need twelve seats sorted out and a few tables put together. There was a last minute reservation for somebody's eighteenth party and they will be here in fifteen so move it!" Zinira nodded and went straight back to work grumbling to herself. She had missed the end of the show and got into her manager's reach to give her extra work when she was answering questions to that man. Zinira was glad to hang the modern work apron with the chilli pepper insignia on at the end of her shift. It had been busier than usual that night due to that party. Zinira finally made it back to the apartment's ground floor door and buzzed their apartment bell to be let in. Unknown to her, she had been followed by a figure with a black cape.

xXx

September 23rd 06:50.

Both Aaron and Rose were just getting up to join Zinira for some breakfast. Zinira didn't have work last night so she was free to get up earlier to do her Tai chi. Just as they had sat around in a circle on the living room floor to have their breakfast, a beeping noise disturbed them. They all looked to the black device by the laptop. The device batman had given them. They glanced at each other and then hurriedly put their bowls down to see what the device said. They crowded around Aaron as he picked it up. It read like this,

Your team is to meet with another team in northern India at the co-ordinance below at nine thirty. Your objective is to investigate the area in retrospect to the series of incidences that have taken place here. It has been found that civilians have been attacked by armed and intelligent animals.

There was a newspaper clips under this, the top one was about how the mayor of Gotham had an encounter with an ape armed with a machine gun.

"We need to leave right away if we want to get to India on time." Aaron said with a big grin on his face. Rose called in sick to work then they packed up and made their way to an isolated place to get changed. After this they stealthily headed toward the forest without anybody seeing them in a car with tinted windows where Aaron changed it back into the shifting sphere. From the sporty car with tinted windows it transformed into a small black aircraft. It was sleek and streamline with two large round fans in the place that the plane's wings would have been and a slim body, all of it in a brilliant black coating of paint. It was being propped up from the ground by four sturdy metal legs, one on each end of the aircraft and one at each point where he huge fans connected to the main body. Both Zinira and Rose stared at it in awe. Ladders came down from underneath the main hull.

"Ladies first." Aaron mock curtsied. Zinira snorted,

"What, no long complicated names?" She asked sarcastically.

"No. It hasn't got one yet, I haven't decided yet." He said casually rubbing his chin. That gave Zinira a shock. Had Aaron really progressed as far as to completely starting from scratch and creating his very own plane? They climbed into the hull by the ladders and found a curved computer station at the front by the wide windscreen with two seats fixed near the console. There was another chair by the back of the room with the familiar silver handprints.

"Right, Zinira gets the seat towards the back with the great view. Rose, you're on monitor duty on the left side of the console and I'll steer." Aaron said rubbing his hands together, itching to fly his newest contraption.

"I'm sure your driving licence doesn't cover this, Aaron." Zinira joked as she got comfortable in her seat inspecting the two seatbelts that crossed over each other on her chest. Rose timidly went over to her seat looking at all the controllers thoughtfully. Aaron went over to her and gently explained what she would be doing, showing her the radar screen and the GPS. She is getting better at being around technology Zinira thought but I don't think she will ever truly be accustomed to it. When they were all settled and had belts on Rose an Aaron spun their chairs round to Zinira.

"Whenever you're ready Zi." Aaron said lazily. Rose nodded and added with a reassuring smile,

"You can do it!" Zinira nodded back and set her hands on the silver pads. This aircraft would require her to control a higher voltage and current than any other technology that she had ever done. If she didn't get this right they could end up falling from thousands of feet, well, unless the battery was charged anyway. Taking a deep breath and putting on a brave leader face she activated her wu.

"Eye of Dashi!" The whole aircraft started to rumble and the two giant fans started to whirl around like a helicopter. Finally, they left the ground starting to rise above the trees as Aaron steered the aircraft. Zinira felt alive as she felt all of the electricity run through her, but it took some concentration to keep it under control. Soon they were soaring through the sky taking in the view of happy harbour.

xXx

September 23rd 21:00.

The sky had turned dark by the time they had landed near the co-ordinates in an Indian jungle. It was noticeably humid when they clambered off the plane and the earthy smell of the jungle filled Zinira's nose. She stretched when she got down; concentrating for hours not moving much really left her stiff. She was slightly weary and if it weren't for the fact that she had trained in meditation she would not be fit to continue their mission. Another side effect of the trip was that all of Zinira's loose strands of hair shot out in all directions due to static when directing the flow of electricity. Thankfully, she managed to get her hair to behave after a few suppressed chuckles from Aaron. Rose was ecstatic at their surroundings looking admiringly at some of the plants. She had the backpack with her Shen Gong Wu and first aid on her back. Aaron on the other hand managed to keep all his gizmo's in the pouches on his belt. They had decided against changing the shifting sphere back into its orb form on the journey, it would look suspicious if there were any onlookers and if the team they were working with tried to walk them back to their aircraft. Aaron pulled out a round black piece of tech and pressed a button on it causing the aircraft to bleep like a car and go into camouflage mode. Aaron had filled them in on the way all the perks that their new superhero plane had. In the end they had decided to give it a simple name, they called it the soaring treasure or the S.T. for short. They made their way stealthily to the co-ordinates, remaining hidden from view. It was twenty to ten when they came together crouching on a tree branch looking through the leaves at the ground before them. There stood Aqualad and another hero Zinira recognised as Captain Marvel. Giving the hand signal to her team mates they jumped down in front of them. Zinira was very curious as to why this "team" had only two members. Perhaps there were more, but already started on the mission.

"Oooh, so you're the new team that batman was talking about, Melanite, Hematite and Verdite." he said pointing to each of them. "I'm Captain Marvel and this is Aqualad." the caped hero said. Zinira nodded, she was in front of the three taking up that appearance of being a leader.

"We are thankful that you have joined us for this mission. We are in need of assistance." Zinira nodded and then asked,

"Are their more of you?" Curiosity getting the better of her, surely a team wasn't just the two of them.

"There are five others, some that you have already met. They... have started the mission." Zinira caught the strain in Aqualad's voice but decided against investigating why.

"What is the plan?" Zinira asked.

"We shall head out to the scene and continue from there." Aqualad replied. Zinira nodded and they followed his lead. On the way to the scene Captain Marvel kept trying to prod Zinira on more details about them. Started out with favourite colours then to what kind of super powers they had. Zinira did all the main talking but did not give specific details. Thankfully they came to the scene before Zinira could tell Captain Marvel to mind his own business. She had only known him five minutes. The scene itself had really strong evidence pointing out what happened. Aqualad on the other hand seemed really distracted. Even as they were investigating the scene and Captain Marvel was saying something to him but he didn't seem to hear him. Finally, the Atlantean turned to Captain Marvel and said,

"My apologies Captain... I am plagued by doubts. Perhaps I was wrong to withhold." Zinira was confused now. Withhold what? Why did the hero doubt himself?

They didn't get much of a warning to what was going to happen next. There was the sound of fluttering in the bushes and the ground shuddered. There were loud thumping noises that sounded like a stampede. The treasured trio were already in battle formation, back to each other and in fighting stances. Then three colossal elephants came from all directions; or what at least that's what Zinira could categorise them as. They looked... creepy and unnatural. They were super-sized and the skin was torn in several places revealing the muscles underneath. Their eyes had a strange look in them, something you wouldn't see in any normal living creature. Marvel went head on towards one of them and Aqualad pulled out two glowing sword like structures presumably from his backpack. That left the last one to the trio. After a few hand signals from Zinira, Rose and Aaron agreed to the plan by nodding. Rose retreated from the immediate danger zone; her attacks were better suited long distance. From afar, she sought out the plants vines and roots buried under the deep underground. Soon the plants had a vice grip around the unnatural animals legs. Aaron, however, did the opposite since he was strongest in close range combat. He dived straight into the chaos wrapping his metal wires around two sturdy trees on either side of the aggravated animal. The wire had enough slack to wrap around the two protruding tusks. Aaron clenched his fists and tucked his arms closer to his body and the wires visibly wrapped around the trees more making the wire taunt, bringing the head of the elephant down to the ground. Both Aaron and Rose strained to keep their pose and grip on their elements as the elephant continued to struggle. Zinira was about to go in for the final blow to knock the creature out with an electrical shock, much to Rose's distress. There was no other option though; none of her knock out potions would work on something that size. Just as Zinira was running towards the animal she heard Aqualad's voice call out, stopping her in her tracks.

"Remove the collar's!" Nodding, Zinira continued towards the animal with a new resolve. She jumped onto the trunk then to the top of the mammoth of an elephant head. Even with both Aaron's and Rose's restraints, the mammal was able to shake and fidget. Lowering herself into a crouch and carefully slid down the back of the elephants head, keeping her balance. She removed the glove that Aaron had gotten her, holding onto it with her teeth. Grabbing hold of the collar, she extended her senses to stop the current and concentrate it in one area to fry the system. The elephant ceased struggling and became peaceful. Even its eyes became ... normal. Zinira leapt off the now calm elephant, placing her glove back on. Aaron tentatively released the wire from the animal and for good measure wrapped the wire around the collar, crushing so the collar would come off. After this, Ross released the animal and it trotted off peacefully in the same direction the other two went. Rose seemed to be very pleased with the outcome, smiling and waving goodbye to the animal like it had just come to visit them rather than crush them under their giant feet. Aaron just smiled at her antics, shaking his head.

Captain Marvel went to Aaron and asked,

"If you can control metal, why didn't you just take the collar off with your powers?"

"It wouldn't have been safe for me to attempt that." Aaron replied honestly. "I have not fully mastered adaption of metal and didn't know anything about the collar. It may not have been completely metal or could have caused a reaction if I had taken control of it. So it's safer that I use the metal I know about, it was Melanite's idea." Zinira perked up at the mention of her second name. Captain Marvel nodded in understanding. Aqualad spoke up saying,

"You work well as a team."

"We have fought alongside each other for a long time." Zinira answered.

"Pretty sweet, the way you figured out that the problem was the collars." Captain Marvel appraised Aqualad.

"But the collars indicate intelligence behind this attack. The rest of the team may also be at risk." Aqualad replied then placed two fingers to his left ear. "Team; report status. Augh, com is jammed and Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up."

"Actually, you let everyone split up before communications were set." Captain Marvel countered.

"They would not listen!" Aqualad said exasperated.

"I guess, but back at the cave, Batman stopped everyone arguing with one word."

"But Batman is... Batman." Aqualad finished lamely.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me." Captain Marvel replied light heartily. "When I first joined the league, all he ever did was boss me around and it's hard not to take it personally. But, I never disobeyed an order and that's probably what kept me alive."

"Batman takes command." Aqualad said in realisation. "He has to, for the good of the league. Thank you for helping me understand."

"Hey, wisdom of Solomon." The Captain replied. Then out of the blue, Aqualad placed his right hand by his head and ordered,

"Yes Miss Martian, report." He wandered a little way a way from Captain Marvel with the look of concentration on his face. Had his com started working? Captain Marvel on the other hand was concentrating on something in the long grass, then suddenly said,

"Cool, a tiger! I'll be right back." With that he leapt off toward the grass. Aqualad tried to object,

"Captain wait!" But said Captain was already well on his way. "Hey, speed of Mercury." Aqualad said sarcastically. They set out after the wandering Captain. Aqualad seemed to be concentrating with his hand frequently going to his temple. The treasured trio were behind him, following his lead and sharing glances with each other. Zinira thought that this wasn't what they were expecting at all. Perhaps they were still new to completing missions without mentors. Aaron and Rose came to the each side of Zinira as they stepped into a clearing. The scene that met them was four metal poles sticking up from the ground and clear tracks leading away from the surrounding. Aqualad knelt down to examine the tracks then stood up suddenly ripping one of the poles from the ground. There was no warning that he was going to take such a violent action, the trio visibly tensed. He dropped, or more like shoved, the pole to the ground. After taking a deep breath he turned to the trio and said in a confident tone,

"Captain Marvel has been captured; we are going to meet up with the rest of the team." Just as Zinira had pieced together, the Captain must have wondered into a trap, the poles were very similar to those in the report batman had sent them on the Mayer's account on the incident. Aaron interrupted before Aqualad could continue,

"How are you still communicating with your team, the area is thick with static still. Are you using this 'telepathic link'?"

"Yes, Miss Martian has the ability to telepathically connect the team. I advise that you are also included in the link." Aqualad replied. Zinira didn't like this one bit. Exactly how much of their minds would the Martian see? An idea came to Zinira, it could prove risky but it had worked in the past, especially against the mind reader conch.

"I shall join the link and relay anything to my teammates." Zinira stated. Aqualad looked momentarily surprised then nodded. Both Rose and Aaron seemed to just as uncomfortable about the idea as Zinira had been. Zinira gave them a reassuring nod before she felt and heard a familiar voice inside her head,

"Welcome online Melanite!" From then on, Zinira let her mind go completely blank and put all her concentration either into reciting basic Kung Fu stances. The voice returned,

"Don't worry; you don't have to cover up information that way. Nobody on the rest of the team will see that anyway." Zinira imagined a glowing sphere in her mind to be her voice and replied,

"But you can, can't you?" It was more a statement rather than a question. The voice went quite. Another loud obnoxious voice filled her head,

"What you two talking about?" Zinira recognised it to be the red headed teen.

"It is not important." Zinira said simply. "What is the next step Aqualad?" They agreed on a place to meet before going after Captain Marvel.

After a while, Zinira got the hang of keeping the concentration up and hearing voices in her head. Zinira, however, felt the presence leave her mind as they closed in on the meeting place. The Martian herself came floating into the clearing and soon the rest came from the bushes, including one that she had not met before. She presumed that it was Superboy, considering how uncannily he resembled superman. Then her eyes finally came to Robin, in the flesh. Her heart was filled with silent relief. He was definitely taller than she remembered him. Her face remained blank and tried very hard to keep it that way. She turned her attention to Aqualad and tried to keep her excitement down whilst listening to Aqualad's plan. When it was time to leave, Zinira was connected back up to the link and repeatedly recalling the stances calmed her down enough to think clearly. At the end of the tracks they came to a stone building surrounded by trees. This would be her first fight alongside her brother.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait.

Mind reader conch= is a Shen Gong Wu that allows its user to hear the thoughts of others.