12/19/10

It's that time of year again! Time to get into the holiday fanfic writing spirit!

I'd really, REALLY like to finish this, this year so all comments and reviews would be very encouraging.

Chapter 10

The Legion hovered around the bridge for a while, walking around the different stations and asking questions of the crew seated at each one. At the front of the bridge, Phantom Girl seemed to really enjoy listening to Chekov talk – much to the annoyance of Timber Wolf – while Triplicate Girl and Bouncing Boy hung around Sulu, getting piloting lessons. Lightning Lad talked command with Kirk in the middle of the deck, while Saturn Girl monitored communications with Uhura.

Superman, for his part, sort of wandered around aimlessly, continuously looking back at Brainy at the science station with Spock, and trying not to frown at the fact that the Vulcan had let Brainy have his seat and was hovering around him, hand on the back of his chair, as he showed him the various controls and their functions. It looked far too intimate.

Yet he couldn't figure out why it bothered him so much. Spock seemed like an okay guy, and he appreciated him keeping Kirk from molesting his friend back at the academy; but at the same time, he didn't want Spock to keep doing it. He was more than capable of keeping Kirk away from his friend, even though he probably wouldn't understand half of what they were talking about right now.

The Man of Steel nearly flew off the ground in surprise when the captain suddenly turned and asked him; "Bored?"

"A little," Superman quickly lied, not sure how else to explain his constant movement around the room.

"Yeah, there isn't much to do around here if you're not working on something," Jim nodded sympathetically. "Anything you have questions on, or would like to see more of somewhere else on the ship?"

It was hard to think of Kirk as being a complete jerk when the captain was trying to be nice to him, but all he had to do was look at Brainy to remember not to get too comfortable with him.

"Not at the moment. I guess I just need someone to point me in the right direction."

"Well you seem interested in the science station – why don't you join Brainy and Mr. Spock?" the Captain smiled in a way that made Superman nervous.

What made him think he was interested in the science station? Did he see Superman look over at Brainy all those times? Did he suspect his dislike of Spock? Was he trying to call him out on it? Should he deny it?

"Captain," Spock interrupted, "With your permission, I would like to take Brainiac Five and Mr. Sulu back to the botany lab to work on the plants for the colony."

"Of course, Mr. Spock," said Jim, nodding to him before turning to Superman. "Why don't you join them?"

"I-I'd probably just get in the way," Superman found himself saying before he could even think upon it. He immediately wished he could take it back, but felt it would make him look like an idiot in front of a certain someone with a 12th level intelligence. At least Sulu would be chaperoning them….

Sulu stood, standing out of the way of the red shirt that came to take his place. He turned to the former Legion leader.

"Would you mind coming with us, Lightning Lad? I have an idea for the plants that your powers would be ideal for."

"Sure," Lightning Lad nodded; having no clue how envious it made Superman.

The Coluan stood from the science station chair, and turned to Superman, "If you're still bored later, feel free to join us." He smiled reassuringly at him. "You wouldn't be in the way."

Superman was too busy grinning like an idiot to accept the invitation.

There were several plants currently in the botany lab that were electrochemical in nature, and previously they had been nurtured by the natural chemicals and energy in the soil of their native planet – but that made the roots too long for them able to be transplanted without great difficulty. The botanist had tried to minimize their nutrients to slow their growth but that had only caused the plants to start to shrivel prematurely.

Luckily for both the botanists and the plants, the natural energy surrounding Lightning Lad's body was like a bountiful feast to them. Under Sulu's instructions, Lightning Lad hovered his hands above the plants; feeding them without encouraging growth. Within minutes they had filled back out, their shriveled husks but a memory. One of the vines had even managed to wrap around the Winathian's pinky finger, almost as if thanking him.

"It would appear as though your theory was correct, Mr. Sulu," Spock commented, taking notes on the matter with his padd.

"I was just following a hunch, Mr. Spock," Sulu smiled to himself as he gave other plants some regular old water.

"I don't see the logic of humans constantly following their 'hunches'," Spock looked like he would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't Vulcan.

Brainy did it for him, "Don't forget about 'trusting their guts'."

"'Guts', as you refer to them, don't have the capability to think, thus negating their ability to have a good idea or certainly to communicate it to their host."

"Referring to the 'guts' is the human way of saying instincts. I believe it's because they believe instincts are deep within a person, such as guts are."

"That sounds like logical reasoning."

"Get a room, you two," Lightning Lad smirked at them, wiggling his eyebrows in an annoying fashion when Brainy turned to look at him.

"We are in a room," Spock pointed out.

"You're even less fun then he is," Lightning Lad suggested towards Brainy with his head before looking around at the other plants.

There was a potted plant relatively close to Lightning Lad that looked like a hand sticking out of the pot, with petals framing the stretched out palm, as if waiting for a high five. If Lightning Lad couldn't see the bags of fertilizer under the table, he'd think someone was under the table and had stuck up their hand into the pot as a prank. Phantom Girl had once done something similar to him when he was still getting used to her and her often mischievous use of her powers.

"Is that one a hand?" Lightning Lad asked, keeping his eyes on the plant.

"It's a plant," Sulu didn't even turn, his voice indicating that he had heard this many times before.

"It looks like a hand."

"It's a plant."

"Unholy sprock, it waved at me!"

The former legion leader's surprise sent a small shock of energy through the plants he was feeding, causing them to rapidly sprout up and out just enough to knock over the pots on either side of them, which started a domino effect with the other potted plants.

"Grab them!" Sulu shouted desperately.

As one side was falling more rapidly than the others, Spock and Sulu grabbed and straightened the left side as Brainy worked on the right. The last plant on Brainy's side had a clear plastic case on top, which toppled over and off of the table rather than the plant itself falling.

Brainy had knelt to pick up the case and was just moving to put it back on top of the plant, when he noticed the plant seemed to be reeling back, like a camel about to spit.

"Brainiac Five-" Sulu began, eyes wide as he ran for him.

But too late: the plant spewed spores into Brainy's face before Sulu grabbed the case from his hands and put it back on top of the plant.

"I'll kill whoever forgot to latch the case to the table," Sulu's voice was a bit shaky as he held onto the case, refusing to turn to Brainy and see the damage.

As Brainy tried to wipe the spores from his face, he could feel his heart rate quickening.

"His face looks fine! Well, no worse than normal anyway," Lightning Lad tried to joke, trying to get Sulu to turn to him.

"It's not his appearance we have to worry about," stated Spock gravely.