Hellooooo! Update time! Woohoo! So this is by far the longest chapter I've ever published, but don't get used to it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime-long chapter. I mostly write chapters that are smaller, but the seem to be getting consistently larger, so we'll see I guess. Chapter 7 is mostly filler/backstory, so there's not a tonne going on within the main story arc.
TotallyCray-Cray: Thanks so much! =D =D Two smileys for you to! I hope her and Bart change things for the better, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Considering my plan for the story, you might not think I'm so astrous...
Hope you enjoy this chapter!
oOo
7: Dreams of the Past
May 29, 2016
Taos, New Mexico
So, petty vandalism. Yup. That's what we had been reduced to. We hadn't had any contact with Luthor for about ten days, so we had to find some way to attack the Reach. It was a daily routine; eat supper, then go destroy stuff. Well, I didn't usually go out with them. Where I came from, we barely had enough to live off, much less voluntarily destroy. No, my crimes would include thievery, not vandalism. Still, it made them feel better to be actually do something, which I totally understood. I felt I was going to go mad just sitting on my hands.
While Virgil, Ed, Tye, and Asami were out warring against the Reach, I was web-surfing. Well, I guess Lex's laptop. Since the loss of my parents' wristwatch, I hadn't had any access to information period, let alone a Wi-Fi connection, so I was in absolute heaven.
I researched Blue Beetle of course, learning everything I possibly could by hacking the Justice League's system. Funny how 50 years in the past and they still had most of the same passwords. Although I was quite dedicated to my task, there was one subject my mind kept plaguing me about. My grandparents: Kid Flash and Artemis.
In the wrist computer, the information on them had been scarce. Birthdays, names, designations, and the dates they had retired from hero work. There had been no location on them, as they had died years after getting out of the game. In this time of the League, however, there would be a location for them.
It was strange. I had never really met them – they had died before I was born – but I was drawn to them. Then were my only real connection to my parents. I looked at the clock on the bottom right-hand corner of the computer screen. 6:34 pm. They still won't be back for a while, I said to myself, thinking of my fugitive friends. I looked back at the computer screen. I guess it wouldn't hurt…
I quickly opened another tab, surfing my way through the internet and into the Justice League's databases. I typed in my grandfather's name first. I quickly scanned through his information.
Real Name: Wally West
Alias: Kid Flash
Age: 21
Species: Human
Powers/Abilities: Super Speed
Designation: B03
Base Location: Palo Alto, California, USA
Status: Inactive
Reading the information, I had an unrealistic urge to go to Palo Alto and meet him. I knew it was stupid. There was absolutely no way I could even get to Palo Alto, but still. He was some of the only family I had left. For now, I reminded myself. That will all change soon. I typed in my grandmother's name.
Real Name: Artemis Lian Crock
Alias: Artemis
Age: 20
Species: Human
Powers/Abilities: Archery
Designation: B07
Base Location: Palo Alto, California, USA
A smile crept to my face. They were already together. Who knows? I thought. Maybe Dad's already on his way. My smile quickly disintegrated when I got to the bottom of her profile.
Status: Deceased
No. No that can't be right! How could she be dead? It didn't make any sense. She should've been out of duty by now, not killed in action! If she's dead, then how am I still … existing? Something was off. I wasn't an expert on time travel – heck! I don't think anyone is – but I knew that if she was dead there was no way I could have been born.
"Ugh!" I slammed my palm against the table. Nothing made sense. I leaned my head back onto the couch seat, wedging myself between the couch and coffee table. I ran different scenarios through my head over and over, but nothing seemed to work. Everything had some sort of hole. Eventually, I fell asleep, frustrated exhaustion taking its toll on me.
oOo
"Bart!" I giggled, my hands groping at his wrist. "Give it back! It's my turn now!" I tried to be quiet, not wanted to draw any sort of attention, but he was really annoying me. We sat side-by-side, hiding under a pile cracked cement blocks. We should have been helping collect scrap metals with the others, but this was so much more fun. Reading about past heroes was our favourite pastime. It seemed like a fairy-tale, meta-humans who didn't where inhibitor collars, who saved the world from villains like the Reach. We snuck away any moment we could to read about them.
"Jade! Stop it! I'm reading about the Flash!" the redhead pushed me away. I growled.
"You've already memorized the Flash's profile!" I whined. "It's my turn and I want to read about Static!" I pulled on his arm again in protest.
"Fine, you big baby!" he sighed, pulling the computer off his arm and onto mine. I pouted.
"I'm not a baby," I huffed, securing the computer on my wrist and searching for Static. With a cheeky grin he forced his way into my face.
"Are to."
"Am not."
"Are to!"
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"How many times do we have to go through this? Just because I'm two months younger than you doesn't make me a baby!" I shoved him backwards and went back to the computer.
"Does to!" he said in an annoying sing-song voice. I ignored him, until he started pulling on my ponytail.
"That's it!" I snapped. In one smooth motion I turned off the computer and tackled my annoying cousin. He yelped in surprise as he fell on his back with me on top of him. We wrestled in the dirt, part play, part actual frustration, vying for the upper hand. Unfortunately, he got it.
He rolled me onto my back, sitting on my stomach and making it hard for me to breath. He grinned down at me holding my wrists above my head.
"Get off!" I grunted. He laughed before scrambling up and running out of our little hideout. "Oh no you don't," I mumbled, running after him. Even with an inhibitor collar, Bart was a fast runner, so I pushed all my effort into chasing him down. Unfortunately, I ran straight into someone who was as sturdy as a brick wall. I fell onto my butt in the dirt. I looked up and scowled.
"Watch where you're –" the words died in my throat, engulfed by fear when I saw who it was. The hulking blue-and-black mountain scowled at me before grabbing my arm just below the elbow but above the computer and hauling me up, dangling my feet above the ground. I yelped at the tight grip on my arm.
"Meat?" Blue Beetle's deep voice resonated at a frequency that made my chest quiver. Or was that just fear? I whimpered, clawing at my captured arm.
"I-I thought you w-weren't supposed to be in this district till tomorrow," my voice quivered. We never would have dreamed of bringing out the computer if he was in the district.
"I came back early." By now a sizeable crowd had gathered, their faces as fearful as I knew my own was. No one would dare interfere. My arm hurt so bad under his iron grip that tears snaked their way down my cheeks. I kicked my legs and clawed the air around his hand with my free arm in an attempt to alleviate the pain. Blue Beetle's eyes narrowed at the device on my wrist. "What's this, meat?" A pang of fear struck the cords of my heart. That kind of technology was forbidden. I'm gonna die for this! He's gonna kill me! I stuttered for an answer.
Blue Beetle reached with his free hand and ripped the computer off my wrist, accidentally turning it on in the process. The smiling profile of Static stared through the holographic screen.
"Jade!" My name was shouted desperately by multiple voices. Blue Beetle turned, jarring my arm to the point I thought he would dislocate it. Once he had turned, I could see who had called out to me. My mother, her crystal blue eyes wild with fear, my father, his red hair askew and face smudged with soot, and Bart, his face filled with more terror than I had ever seen, all stared at the scene unfolding before them. My parents stepped forward, pushing Bart back into the somber crowd.
"Stop!" my dad shouted, one hand stretched to me and the other holding my mother's. His green eyes found mine, and his gaze calmed me, if only for a moment. Out of my parents, my father had always been the hyper one, but he had always had a knack for making me feel safe. Like everything in our messed-up world was going to turn out alright.
"What, meat?" Blue Beetle's voice grinded against my ears.
"It's not hers," my father answered.
"It's ours." My mother's usually level voice was shaking with emotion. I shifted my gaze from my father to her. "Please! She doesn't even know what it is!" she lied. My heart quickened when I realized what they were trying to do. They were trying to shift the blame.
To them.
I wanted to scream, to shout for them to run, for her to stop, but I couldn't. I was trapped within the prison of my own blind terror. I whimpered, my eyes finding their way to my mother's face. I had never truly realized how beautiful she was. Her blonde hair, hanging in dirty streaks whipped about her head in the wind, framing her crystal eyes. A tear snaked down her cheek.
"You know that these devices are forbidden?" Blue Beetle asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes." The world seemed to pass by in panicked flashes. My parents intertwined hands. The tear on my mother's cheek. My father's steady eyes. Bart, peeking out from the crowd, his face a mask of horror. This isn't happening. This isn't happening.
I didn't hear what Blue Beetle said, I only heard the rumble of his voice. The shatter of metal as he crushed the computer and let the remains tumble to the ground.
"No!" the word tore itself from my throat as Blue Beetle lifted his free hand and shot both my parents through the chest. I was suddenly numb. The terrified screams of bystanders reached my ears, by the crowd remained eerily still. Didn't they see my parents? Why doesn't somebody help them? I kicked my legs and struggled against Blue Beetle's grip, desperate to get to my parents.
"I'm done here," Blue Beetle muttered distastefully, as if my parents had been some sort of pesky mosquito that he had swatted away. The crowd remained still. "Back to work!" He barked, springing the shocked crowd into action. The area began to clear as people went back to their day. As if nothing had ever occurred, no tragedy had just taken place, the mountain of a Reach agent dropped me unceremoniously to the ground before sprouting his wings and flying away.
I landed hard, jarring my knees, but instantly started running over to my parents. They were still holding hands. I kneeled beside my mother, shaking as I looked at the rapidly expanding pool of blood beneath their bodies. Large blue spikes jutted out from their chests, and their eyes stared unblinkingly into the overcast sky, void of any spark. They were just … gone. I touched my hands to their faces, willing them to come back. Sobs wracked my body and tears wet my face, flowing freely onto my parents lifeless forms.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I heard an unearthly shriek echo into the heavens. It took me a moment to realize that the sound had come from me. "Please mommy, please daddy come back," I sobbed. I looked up through tear streaked eyes to see that only two people from the crowd were still there.
Bart stood frozen in shock, his arms limp at his sides. He was full of both terror and disbelief. He was shocked as much as I was. The second was a man that I had seen only a few time before. He was bald, but his face was crisscrossed with scars. There was a thud as Bart's knees hit the dirt and he began weeping at the loss of my parents. He covered his face with his hands. I closed my eyes and sunk my face back into my mother's neck, allowing grief to overtake my body.
Someone placed their hand on my back, and I turned. Expecting to see Bart, I was surprisingly greeted by the hazel eyes of the bald man. I pushed him away angrily.
"We have to go," he said quietly. "You'll get in more trouble if you don't get back to work or out of sight." More trouble? He made is sound like it was a mere inconvenience. On a better day, I probably would have tried to wrestle him to the ground, but I was too shocked, too numb to do anything but cry onto my parents' corpses.
The man gently tried to pry me away from my mother. I resisted him, flinging myself onto the bodies. Hands encircled my waist as the bald man hauled me up and away. I screamed at him, biting and clawing and kicking. I had to get back. He couldn't take me away from my mom and dad.
"Mommy! Daddy!" I screamed. "No! Take me back! TAKE ME BACK!" I fought as hard as I could, but the man was undeterred by my frantic please. The bald man dragged me over to Bart and nudged the redhead with his foot, muttering something about needing to leave. Bart nodded, wiping his still-leaking eyes as he stood, ready to follow the man. I felt fury boiling up inside me.
"No! Take me back! I can't leave them!" I was frantic. The man began dragging me away and Bart followed like a lost sheep. I sobbed in desperation. "Bart! Help me! Take me back! Please! Please! Daddy! Mommy!"
oOo
So...that happened. How do you like Jade's backstory-dream? Please review and tell me what you think! I'll update when I update, so until next time!
