A/N: July 6, 2012

Finally! An update! Too bad this chapter stinks. I know I'm harsh on myself, but I can seriously tell you this chapter stinks. If you want, I don't blame you for skipping it. You can too, skip it I mean. It doesn't have anything in it anyway.

XXXHells Angel of DeathXXX: Well, I'm sorry that I made you break you're rule (no sarcasm intended), but I'm glad you enjoyed my story enough to!

Bluecrystalz7774: When you told me about my typo with Whisper's red hair, I'd read it at 10:30 p.m. on my iPod so I couldn't fix it. But I was panicking so much on the inside about the number of people who'd see it! Thanks for seeing that; I fixed it the morning after.

CHiKa-RoXy: I think I want to kiss you! Not literally though. I mean, imagine how surprised I was when I looked at my reviews and saw 81! Then I noticed that you'd reviewed for pretty much every chapter! Thanks so much!

JanelleL: For all your guesses, you got parts of their pasts. But, you got Whisper's mostly down on how he turned out this way. Thanks for reviewing!

WHISPER

"So, Rob," I say nonchalantly, 'What's the plan for Ugly?" I think I'm a very honest person, and when I can't tell the truth I make sure at least I don't' lie. Well, most of the time; matters on the situation. Anyway, when I refer a bad guy as 'Ugly' as you may have heard me in the past, I seriously mean I think he's/it's ugly. This 'Ugly' looked like some sort of ogre you'd see in some fantasy novel or shown. It was also looked like it was made of mud or wet cement. Its eyes had no pupils, and when it opened its mouth to roar, revealing jagged teeth that reminded me of broken glass, strands of his…skin? still remains together.

The ninja tapped his chin thoughtfully. Then he promptly grabbed my wrist. I had just enough time to think, Oh crap, before he threw me over my head to Ugly. I groaned and a drop of some sort of liquid dripped onto me. Once again I thought, Oh crap, and ran out of the way just in time for Ugly to roar in my face, sending spittle everywhere, and attack me. Now my only thought was, Man, its breath stinks! The ground shook as the giant lumbered after me. I glanced in the direction of the corridor the others were hiding in. "Nice of you to help with Ugly!" I called over sarcastically.

"Its name is Clayface, Speedy!" Oh, good old Artemis.

"Thanks for the concern, Arty!" I shouted back, "Feeling the love!"

"What love?"

I could practically hear Robin's sigh from yards away. There was a yelp and then Artemis was pushed into the middle of the… Um, what do you call a sewer section? That's right, we were in a sewer. As in the place our human waste goes after our little toilets go 'flush!' It actually didn't smell as bad as you'd think or look as disgusting as you'd imagine, but I was still wary of the river-like stream of water. Anyway, the middle of the long tunnel; how's that sound? Her ('Her' as in Artemis) eyes went wide as she saw me turn around so both Clayface and I were heading towards her. I zoomed over to her and picked her up bridal style. "Hey, Arty, what's shakin'?" She cursed me, and I tut-ted in mock disappointment of her choice of language. She then decided to just glower at me. I just laughed.

'Hey lovebirds!' I nearly tripped over my own feet. Then there was a cackle. Stupid Robin. I'd forgotten that he could speak via the mind-link. I did like his voice though. It was on the higher side, but still pleasant. It reminded me of those younger teen singers when they were, you know, singing; except Rob wasn't singing.

Okay, off the subject of Rob's newfound voice.

'WE ARE NOT LOVEBIRDS!' Artemis and I yell simultaneously.

'Could've fooled me.' Came Robin's immediate response. 'Anyway, you guys have two objectives.'

'Well, don't keep us waiting!' Artemis said, "Get on with it, brat!'

Robin growled and murmured his nickname in discontent. 'Objective one: don't die.'

'NO DIP!' Cue evil cackle.

'Objective two: keep Clayface busy for two reasons. I need you guys to do that so he won't attack me so I can focus on finding its weak spot.'

'Wouldn't it be easier to just wait for Batman? He did say that he was going to find a weak spot as well.' Artemis asked.

'I suppose it would be easier,' Robin said. Artemis got ready to prolong the fight. 'but who said that I liked taking the easy way?' Artemis closed her eyes whispering something about not killing a brat and to stay calm. I had predicted this so I found this amusing.

'Artemis, Whisper, just attack Clayface,' Tempest interrupted in a tired voice.

'Right-o, Temp-o,' I said and gently placed Artemis down. The archer immediately nocked several arrows and fired. Cue explosions and angered roar. I chuckled and started circling Clayface. The giant's head whirled around and around trying to keep up, but he couldn't. I really didn't know what to do. Randomly, my mind thought of a rap song called "The Motto" by Drake. I shrugged. You only live once. "YOLO!" I screamed and ran through Clayface leaving a nice Whisper-shaped whole through its gut, laughing. When I exited, goop covered me in patches and dripped off. I flicked some off my hands with a "Meh,"

"YOLO?" I nearly jumped out of my skin. "What does that mean?"

I turned around. Miss Martian had been in camouflage mode and had discreetly flown over to me. "YOLO means you only live once."

The Martian cocked her head. "Humans only live once?"

"What, Martians don't?" I asked her.

"Hmmm," she frowned in concentration, "Well, we believe in reincarnation." (A/N I'm not sure if this is true.)

"Heh," was all I said.

"Whisper look out!" Artemis shouted. I yelped and dodged out of the way just in time for Clayface's foot to smash down where I was. The hole that I'd made was slowly melting back together like sand does when water hits it.

"Oh, c'mon!" I complained. I sighed and ran back to our hiding place. Superboy took my place in a flashy entrance of roaring and jumping on Clayface. In our hiding place, Rob was sitting cross-legged in a meditative form. Tempest was peering out the corner, watching the battle from afar. I grin. "It's the three of us," I say, "The sidekicks are the ones fighting." That made Robin frown.

Without opening his eyes he pushed Tempest into the battlefield- far more gently than he did to me- and said, 'Artemis, take a break and come back.' Then an eye cracked open. 'Ha, I spoiled your fun.' I crossed my arms and 'humphed' in mock anger at the ninja.

"What are you talking about, Superboy? It's me, Miss Martian!" The voice that said that… it sounded like Miss Martians, but something was off. It sounded like more than one person talking at once! I looked over to corner. Sure enough there were four people out there instead of three. There was Tempest and Superboy of course, but there were two Miss Martians. Tempest was shifting his eyes between the two; deep in thought. Superboy had a frustrated look on his face and his eyes kept darting. Robin stood up. 'I see…' he murmered, 'Clayface has the power to transform its qshape; kind of like Martian shape-shifting. It uses that to trick its opponents- or us in this case.'

'Can you track which one is Clayface?' Tempest asked, his voice was like steel, calm but dangerous.

Robin tapped his chin thoughtfully. 'Clayface made a mistake. It chose a Martain.' Rob stepped out and stopped next to Superboy. The two Miss Martians instantly had their attention directed to him. Robin was silent. Then an angered look appeared on his face. He reached in a pocket and withdrew a taser. In one fluid motion he shocked one Miss Martian and slashed the other in half with his tanto.

Superboy grabbed his scruff roughly and lifted his in the air. I got prepared to run, but Artemis grabbed my arm. "Why'd you do that?" the clone asked in Robin's face. The ninja calmly flicked spit off his face, but didn't say anything else. Superboy growled and shook him.

"Superboy!" Tempest said sharply. The clone turned to him, and he gestured to the remains of 'Miss Martian.' They'd melted into a pile of grey goop. I broke from Artemis's grip and ran forwards, jumping through it again. But instead of being covered in more goop, I was perfectly dry. I looked behind me to see two replicas of me, and felt my eyes widen. Superboy let go of Robin, a slightly guilty look on his face. Robin dropped down to a crouch, and looked at the Whisper clones with his eyes narrowed. Tempest had shifted his body to a fighting stance, and Artemis had an arrow nocked. Across from me the two copies grinned mischievously and grabbed me arms. They then spun me around and around. When they were done playing Ring around the Rosie with me, we were all in different positions and scrambled with me dizzy. Good thing I don't have motion sickness. I instantly took notice of my dampening clothes, and flicked my wrists in disgust. Ugh, this was probably toilet water.

It was then that I noticed the fact the four others had surrounded me in a circle.I gulped nervously. Superboy and Artemis I could handle, but Robin and Tempest would pulverize me!

"I don't want to be pulverized!" I screamed in mock fear. Artemis and Superboy gave a look that said, "What the heck?" Tempest looked at Robin with a slight nod, and said ninja smiled slightly. Tempest put his hands in the water- cue wince from me, we don't know what's in that water!- and electricity zigzagged through it towards me. Instead of shocking me though, it hit the clones. Their backs arched as electricity ran through them. Then they fell limp, and melted to the grey lump like before. It started reforming, but Robin leaped down from God knows where and dug a taser in it. Then he activated it, making sure to jump upwards, so he looked like he was in some sort of handstand but his hands were attached to the taser, so the electricity didn't touch him. Electricity, once again, spread through Clayface. Ugly let out a guttural roar and then collapsed to mush, but this time it didn't get up. Robin stared dwon at the mush- which let out a bubble in return- and then flipped over, missing the mess completely.

That was when Batman jumped through the window, a taser in hand.

TEMPEST

"Ugh, too many tasers." Whisper half groaned, half complained. Said speedster had patches of grey on his and the edges of his clothes were wet. "I hate sewers," he mumbled. Robin sighed and then disappeared.

Batman looked around. "What happened here?" he asked, "Where is Clayface?"

"We fought it while Robin figured out its powers," Artemis explained, "and then Tempest and him finished it off."

The dark knight looked at me. "Really?" he asked, "How?"

"I used my electricity to travel through the water and hit Clayface." I answered, "Before it could recover, Robin tasered it."

Batman looked away. "I see," Robin appeared next to me, supporting an unconscious Miss Martian. Superboy walked forward- his face showing the strain for not just running over to Robin. He gently took the Martian and carried her bridal style. Batman then turned to Robin and me with Whisper running over to join us. "Your test is to be taken tomorrow," he said, "Tomorrow you'll have the day off."

"Really?" Artemis beamed. Batman nodded.

"What do you mean by test?" I asked.

"Whisper didn't tell you?"

Robin and I glowered at the said speedster. He raised his hands in defense. "Would you rather take a test or go to school?" he asked. Robin and I looked at each other simultaneously.

I crossed my arms. "You could have at least told us before hand."

"I forgot?" Whisper offered sheepishly. Robin rolled his eyes and put a hand on my shoulder. Just drop it.

I stretched, my muscles cracking from the disuse. It was officially the next day. Whisper, Robin, and I had the great fortune of being woken up by an over hyper speedster at 5:00 a.m. No, the over hyper speedster was not Whisper- at least not this time. It was now 9:00 a.m. Yes, we spent four hours taking test after test. Robin had already been ready. Flash had woken me up first, so when he went to Robin's room and found a kunai lodged in the doorway not even a second after he'd entered, was very amusing. The look on Flash's face… I thought he was going to... do a Number One for lack of better words. Whisper was the second one woken; I thought he was going to collapse from laughter. Robin and I managed to compose ourselves: me giving a small smile and Robin smirking.

The point is, in a simplified version: we had to wake up at five a.m and when woken, our waker was given a scare. Then we spent four hours taking numerous tests.

Robin looked ready to murder someone; he was practically radiating in killer intent. The ninja had stormed out of the room as soon as he'd finished stretching. His face was unreadable because of his mask covering over half of it, but his eyes were sharp and focused ahead. Not even Whisper's waving in his face made Robin even blink. The speedster was now meekly following Robin, albeit several feet away in order to raise his survival rate. I think I just looked tired, and I was positioned between Robin and Whisper. "Well that was a waste of time!" Whisper exclaimed, trying to break the ice. His response was an instant, sharp glare so hard I could feel the daggers in it, and the glare wasn't even directed at me! Whisper cowered making a pathetic sound that reminded me of a mewl.

I think I knew why Robin was so… murderous. I'm sure he passed the tests with flying colors, but he hates wasting time. If it was one hour he probably would've been more forgiving, but it was four. "Whisper," I say, "I suggest you spar with Robin for the next hour on half power." The speedster cut the façade for a second and sent me a knowing look. Then his coward act was back, and he grabbed Robin's hand running to the sparring platform using superspeed. I shook my head sighing.

I walked into the kitchen. The kitchen was simple: the usual things you'd find in one; a granite, dark island and countertop; and lights like mini spotlights. It was surrounded by walls, so if you were at the island, looking straight ahead, you'd see the back of a green couch facing a large, flat-screen TV. Superboy was occupying the couch, but what he was watching on TV was what caught my attention. He was watching nothing. The screen was fuzzy- the black and white dots- with the words "No Signal" at the bottom of the screen. Even though the scene was definitely different, I merely gave it a raised eyebrow- Robin trained it in me to not be prejudice- and walked to the kitchen where M'gann was cooking or trying to.

It was silent. The only sounds were the sizzling of the frying pan and the buzz of the TV. "Are Robin and Whisper okay?" M'gann asked breaking the silence. Superboy glanced over in the corner of his eye, and I looked at her. "I wasn't reading their minds!" she said raising her hands in surrender, a thin spatula in one, "It's just Whisper ran by not too long ago and he seemed kind of serious but sad too. Maybe even a little tired. I don't know. And Robin was with him and he seemed tired as well but also angry and a little regretful."

"That's a very descriptive description of their emotions." Instantly her face turned as pale as it could get being green and a look of guilt washed over her face. Then she noticed my smirk. "It's alright, M'gann, I know you didn't read their minds. It's just we had to wake up early for a some tests the Justice League wanted us to take, and we're a little tired and annoyed." She nodded in understanding, whether she actually did or not I really didn't care.

Designation: Artemis B07

"Hey, where's Speedy and the brat?" came a feminine but kind of rough voice. Looks like Artemis was here, not that I could tell by the fact that a computer had announced it out loud.

"Good morning, Artemis!" M'gann said brightly. Superboy looked in the archer's direction and 'huh'ed then turned back to his static.

"Good morning," I said, practically echoing the Martian, "Whisper and Robin are relieving stress." Artemis raised an eyebrow and I sighed. "They're sparring," She nodded and walked off, presumably to the sparring platform.

I heard a disappointed sigh and looked in its direction. The sigh had come from M'gann. She was looking forlornly at a mush pile that was light brown but had white patches of its original color there as well. The edges looked burned to a crisp, and some parts of the mush looked like it had a yellow tinge to it. My mind interpreted the mess as a ruined egg. The Martian used her spatula to carry it over and throw it in the trash can. As I peered over the island I winced at the many other eggs all in identical states as the previous.

"Do you want me to teach you how to cook an egg?" I asked her. She looked at me, hope practically beaming off her face. I walked over to the other side of the island and told her the simple steps of making an over easy egg.

1: Spray the pan with a thin sheet of cooking spray, and turn the heater on for low. Never to high!

2: Crack the egg carefully and let it into the pan at a close distance in order to avoid yolk breakage.

3: As it turns white use your spatula to prevent it from sticking to the pan. If you want spices (i.e. Salt and Pepper) then now is the time to put them on.

4: Carefully slide the spatula under the egg and turn it over when it's completely white. It does not need to be flipped; just turned so it's on its other side.

5: Wait at the most a minute and then serve.

Pretty simple.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I nearly dropped the burning hot spatula on my foot. Then I sighed, recognizing the voice. "IT'S ARTY FARTY!" There were several crashes and then a black blur ran past the kitchen, leaving a fading zigzag path as it avoided furniture. Then Artemis appeared with several arrows in hand, a furious expression on her face, screaming, "MY NAME IS ARTEMIS, SPEEDY!" Robin followed the two with an nonchalant expression on his face. He went to the fridge and retrieved two water bottles, throwing one at me. Superboy looked stunned. Whisper appeared in front of him as soon as Artemis passed and said, "Hey, Supes!" Then he ran over to M'gann, Robin, and me saying the same thing. Robin simply flicked him while I ignored him.

An hour later leads to Whisper dangling from the ceiling clutching one of the lights for dear life and Artemis sitting at the island red-faced, downing water, and panting. The corner of the archer's mouth twitched as she gulped down another water bottle; Robin placed another next to her. "That little brat is good at running away," she growled. Robin made a motion of mock hurt. I thought my nickname was 'brat!' Artemis caught the gesture. "Oh don't worry, you're still a brat as well." Robin cocked his head as his to smirk at her. Artemis then started to stare at him. Then she whirled to me and finally Whisper, who was still attached to the light. "Don't you three have any other clothes than those?" she asked.

I looked down at my normal garb. I didn't see what was so wrong with it. "We're comfortable in these clothes." I responded politely.

"You three wouldn't fit in in public." She continued on ignoring me, "So I'm thinking we got to the mall and get you new clothes."

"The mall?" M'gann shrieked, "I've only heard about it! It's really popular for humans right?" We all stared at her with incredulous faces. "Can I come as well?"

"Um, sure," Artemis said. Then her face broke out in an evil grin. "You can help me force them to come."

"Okay?" M'gann agreed unfortunately.

I waved my hands in surrender. "I was going to agree to come." I said, "Your reasons for getting us proper attire are reasonable."

"What about brat and Speedy?" she asked turning to Robin who had to be the unfortunate one and be closest to Artemis. He sighed and nimbly climbed to the light Whisper was on. The light wobbled with the extra weight.

"Uh, hey Rob," Whisper said looking at the ninja uncertainly. Said ninja grinned and promptly hit Whisper's hands. The speedster hissed and let go. Robin then kicked Whisper's chest with enough force to knock him off. Robin then grabbed the speedster's wrist in order for him to not fall onto the island. Robin then threw Whisper onto the couch. After that he jumped off the light and landed in a crouch next to me. He then nodded at Artemis as he was standing up.

"Good," the archer said, "looks like physical force is not needed on my part."

ROBIN

"HE-E-E-E-E-E-LLO-O-O-O-O-O-O!" Whisper yelled over the balcony. Customers on the elscalators turned and looked up with confused looks. "GOOD AFTERNO-O-O-O-O-ON! WHAT'S U-U-U-UP-?" Whisper was cut off from saying more by Artemis grabbing his hood and yanking him backwards.

"Idiot!" she screamed at him, and started beating him.

"What is this, a lover's quarrel?" I heard a pedestrian say. I smirked. Lover's quarrel? 'Looks like you two are an official couple.' I said.

I let Artemis biff me. "Shut up brat."

"So where are we going now?" Tempest asks. The look Artemis gave was frightening. By no means is Artemis a 'girly girl' but she must have some liking towards shopping. I mean, I think everyone has some liking towards it; it doesn't have to be clothes, it can be anything. Anyway, after looking at Artemis's evil grin she grabbed Whisper's hood and ran off in the direction of some random store among the many others, ignoring Whisper's choking sound.

I didn't know the name of the mall we were in, (A/N: Please don't blame me! I don't live in Rhode Island and I like to keep my facts right; so no making up fake malls. I will though make up what it looks like because as I said before, I'm not from Rhode Island.) but it was big. There were two floors with four sets of escalators for customers to ride up or down. The balconies were glass and there were large glass windows for display, and random long leafed plants in pots dotted the mall as decoration; sometimes singular and other times in bushes. Several parts of the ceiling were glass, and on the first floor was a food court that had a fountain. We were currently on the second floor. The atmosphere of the place screamed kind of a light yellow. All in all though there was a lot of glass, and it seemed like your average mall.

M'gann ran after Artemis and Whisper clutching Superboy's hand. She'd gone under the disguise of changing her skin color to Caucasian so she looked like a teenage girl with long, red hair; several freckles; brown eyes; and wearing a pink cardigan with a white under shirt and skirt. To complete her pink theme, she had the same color in a headband that was outlined in a darker shade. Superboy looked like he always did nowadays: jeans and black T with red Superman 'S;' very original.

The store we'd entered had a soft golden feel to its light and color. Black spotlight lights hung from the ceiling, and circular racks of clothes dotted it. The walls had shelves lined along the majority of it holding more clothes. Several mannequins stood as display for an article whenever there was a new section. There were also class short shelves like display cases holding jewelry. In the center of the madness, was a group of the display cases forming the outline of a square. In the square were a couple of workers acting the cashier. A fairly long line of customers had accumulated from the cashier. Other customers were spread around, wandering.

The girls looked like they'd been turned to speedsters. They were zooming around the store and by the time they'd come back, Tempest and Whisper were so bored that they were playing chess. Well, more like Whisper was bored. I was meditating and was rudely interrupted by the feeling of something hitting my head. I opened my eyes to see clothes. I took them off my head to see Whisper and Tempest in a similar state. Then I examined the clothes in my lap. Immediately I noticed something missing, and I ran off the grab the missing accessory. When I came back, I instantly felt the M'gann using her telekinesis to push us to the changing rooms. The changing rooms had a curtain to separate them from the rest of the store, and the stalls were like those of a public bathroom.

I sighed. Was there any way out of this? Hmmm... I looked around and considered my options. Well, I could easily climb over but there was a chance that Artemis and M'gann might see me. Also, if I exited through the front M'gann would just push me back in. And I vaguely remember Artemis packing tranquilizing arrows in her backpack. Looks like I had no choice.

It was then that I noticed what Artemis and M'gann had chosen for me to wear. I flat out refused to come out. "Robin, are you okay in there?" I heard Tempest ask me.

"Oh, does wittle Rwobby-Twobby need help putting on his clothes?" Whisper asked in a mocking baby voice. My humming via mind-link was the only warning he had before I threw a shuriken at him. I knew he'd saw it by his yelp.

'I refuse to come out in this attire.' I said stubbornly.

"Please, Robin," M'gann implored. I could practically feel her want through the mind-link. I sighed and came out. The first thing I noticed was the outfit Tempest was wearing. He wore a simple dark blue, unbuttoned button up revealing a dark red T. His pants were jeans. Whisper wore the same jeans but his shirt was a loose black T with an electric blue lightning design on it. I was wearing a brown plaid, short sleeved dress shirt with jeans. On my face I'd tied a chocolate brown bandana to cover it. All of our outfits, I noticed, seemed to compliment out figures just a bit. Not that we had bad figures from my perspective. Not that I'm gay or that I have anything against homosexual people.

Artemis put her hands on her hips. "I don't see the big fuss on why you wouldn't come out. You look good."

I tugged at the bottom up by shirt. 'It's just so weird. I don't remember the last time I wore normal clothes like this.'

M'gann clapped her hands together, delighted. "Are we going to buy these clothes?" she asked. I looked us over. Yes, we looked good, but were they the most practical? No, not really. I shook my head and turned around, walking back into the changing room. There I changed into my previous outfit, and then exited and started wandering for clothes. Now, if I was a pair of cargo pants, where would I be?

I threw the piles of clothes at Whisper and Tempest in the similar fashion Artemis had to us; albeit I threw the clothes at Tempest so they slid off his face to his lap. Then I went into the changing rooms. When I'd exited again, Whisper and Tempest had changed as well. Artemis whistled in appreciation. "Not bad taste for a boy."

"You guys look so good!" M'gann beamed. I had chosen to wear a simple thin, dark blue hoodie unzipped to reveal a dark brown shirt. I'd wrapped a soft white, thin scarf around my neck and up to cover the lower part of my face. For pants I'd taken a pair of dark brown- darker than my shirt which was more of a chocolate color- cargo pants, and I'd grabbed a pair of dark Nike running shoes.

For Whisper, I'd gotten him a pair of silver and dark blue Nike running shoes; black and dark grey camouflage cargo pants that were looser; a light blue guayabera shirt that I'd purposely chosen to not look too vacation-like, but more regular day; and to top it off, a grey, thin black plaid Fedora hat- for 'fashion's' sake. Tempest was wearing jeans, a dark grey dress shirt that came to his elbows, and combat boots.

I think his was the most simple.

I looked us over. I'd purposely chosen Whisper's shirt and pants for their pockets and his shoes for him running. His Fedora… well I could always use another weapon. Everything is a weapon someway, somehow. Anyway, Tempest wasn't as agile as Whisper and I, so I focused his clothes on protection and durability. I admit, a dress shirt probably isn't 'durable' but it would probably keep Artemis and M'gann from going against his outfit. His jeans were thick and tough but not overheating and the combat boots would last. I'd chosen a T so I'd also grabbed a hoodie for warmth and its pockets as well the same reason as the cargo pants. I could add more pockets to the inside of the hoodie discreetly later. Also, the scarf was excessively long which could provide tourniquets and bandaging.

Tempest looked down at himself and then at Whisper and me. He instantly caught onto what I'd been aiming at. "Good job, Robin." He said, "These seem appropriate for the public." I caught his message: Good job, Robin. You chose useful clothes white being subtle about it.

Thank you very much, Tempest.

"Now are we done?" Whisper asked impatiently. Shopping was not his favorite thing to do if you couldn't tell already.

Artemis and M'gann looked at each other simultaneously, and the three of us knew we were far from over. Whisper groaned and banged his head against a pillar.

WHISPER

It's official: I hate shopping. I don't understand girls. Just figure out what you want, go to a store, and buy it! Simple! If you want to see what looks good, then you search it online before you come to the store! But no. We have to spend seven hours searching for more clothes! You'd think after the first two outfits we'd be done but we weren't. At first it was for Tempest, Rob, and me: annoyed. Then it grew to Artemis and M'gann: angered. Then the girls added Superboy into the mix: unexplainable in censored language! Ugh, I'm so happy to be a boy. I did over-exaggerate on my loathing for shopping. I had more endurance than I'd shown.

Anyway, when we got back, Artemis and M'gann took the from-hell-carrying-bags-of-torture and yelled they were going to put them in the hall. As they left, Superboy looked at them with a longing expression, made a pathetic grunting sound like he was having inner turmoil, and then went to the TV. I grinned. Supermartian!

Tempest, Rob, and I stayed in the sparring/briefing room. What is that room called: a multipurpose room? I don't know. We were in the first outfits Robin had gotten us. We stayed in there for two reasons: Batman and Aquaman.

I swear, though, that Artemis said 'thanks' to Bats as she passed him. It must be because he must've paid for our expenses. Speaking of Artemis, I noticed she looked much happier today. Maybe M'gann's influence is finally working on her.

"Where's Flash?" I asked warily, crossing my arms. If Batman and Aquaman were here, Flash should be too.

"Not here," Batman responded. I had to restrain myself from saying some creative language to him. He was such a… smart-mouth to put it kindly.

"Care to elaborate?" I offered my voice cold. The earlier atmosphere of carefree-ness was gone.

"No," Cheeky man. "but I will." That caught my attention. Maybe he wouldn't be such a prat after all. "He's gone on family matters." Never mind, I take those comments back, he is a cheeky prat. Realization dawned upon me. I knew why Flash was missing. It was his birthday. I didn't hate Him, not God if that's who you're thinking I'm thinking of. But He is the reason why Flash is missing. Now that I think about it, it's a good thing I asked where he was. Bats doesn't think now that I know more than he thinks I know. Man, that sentence was confusing.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Robin look at me for a split second. Fear ran through me. I loved Rob to pieces but sometimes it seemed superficial, fake. I think Robin knew more about Tempest and me more than he let on. I don't think he knew everything but I was scared of Robin. He was always hiding his strength and I was afraid one day his skeletons in his closet would be unleashed and all his strength would be unleashed with it.

"While you were gone, we went over your test results." Batman continued, "You three all passed with about 90% for each test." Wow, that was a shocker. "We have deemed that you do not have to attend school, but you will have to take lessons online ever now and then to stay with your age group." Seemed reasonable, a pain, but reasonable.

Aquaman stepped forward a guilty look on his face. Tempest visibly tensed. "Kal- Tempest," he started. Ah, nice save. Almost called Tempest by his dead skin's name (A/N: A reference, look back to chapter 2, paragraph 1.). "I know you don't trust me, but I'd love for you to trust me again. I apologize for leaving you. I have no excuse for my actions." Then he turned and left with the flash of the light from the Zeta Beam marking his departure. I turned back to see Batman in front of Robin.

"I was thinking, and maybe you'd like to come to Gotham sometime." I felt my eyes widen. Why was this affecting me? Maybe it's because Tempest and Robin were finding a bit of redemption while I was still in Hell and they were rising to Heaven. Maybe it was because of the others finding some kind of new family. Maybe I was afraid of them leaving me. I could see it in Tempest's eyes. He was starting to forgive Aquaman a bit. Robin was an orphan from what I could tell. I didn't want Robin to replace Batman as his family! I thought Tempest and I were his family!

"-isper? Whisper?" My head jerked up to meet Tempest's worried pale green eyes. I was just below hyperventilating and Robin and Batman were also looking at me with worried eyes. I backed away slowly. They wouldn't leave me… Would they?

Just as Robin stepped forward, an arm raised, I did what I do best.

I ran.

THIRD POV

It was night in Central City. The moon was shining, and the only other lights were the ones coming from inside the houses. In one particular house was a group of adults. Three males and three females. Two of the females were red haired, one male was a brunette, and the other male was blond. The last female and male adults were elderly. There were gathered around a table with a banner above the doorway leading to the kitchen saying "Happy Birthday!"

"Happy birthday, Jay," the blond haired man said to the elderly one.

"Thanks for coming, Barry, you too, Iris," Jay said gesturing to the blond man and the red haired women wearing her hair in a pony-tail.

"I'm just glad you let Mary and Rudolph come." Iris responded, "I should be thanking you."

"I just wish Wally could be here as well," Jay sighed. A melancholic air thickened and weighed heavily over the group. Then he looked up at Mary and Rupdolph, the brunette. "Oh, god, I'm sorry-"

Mary, the other red haired woman, smiled ruefully. "It's okay, Jay." She touched her husband's arm to comfort him. A grieving look had appeared on Rudolph's face. "We miss him, but we have to face the facts. There's a good chance Wally is dead." There was silence after that.

Barry clapped hands in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Have I told you guys about the three boys who came and got us to form a team of the younger generation of heroes?"

"You've mentioned it, tell us more." Iris prompted.

They never noticed the figure just below the dining room window curled in the fetal position, silently crying.

A/N: I have no excuse for this late update. It is entirely my fault. I apologize for the lateness, the constant POV changing, the awfulness, and Artemis's OOCness. I do think though, that it is better at the end.

You know how Whisper started hyperventilating? Well, at first I was going to make it a fight, but then I realized I didn't know how to create a convincing enough fight for Whisper to leave, so I decided to make it seem like he was starting to suffer from a fear of abandonment. I know it wasn't the best.

Some questions I'd like you guys to answer (these are just questions that I thought up of and got curious about; you don't have to answer them):

1) Is there some noticeable humor in this story that makes you guys laugh?

2) Who's the funniest character: Whisper, Tempest, or Robin?

3) Which chapter is your least favorite?

4) Which is your favorite?

5) Is there a noticeable difference in personality when I switch POV's between Whisper, Tempest, and Robin?

6) Is this chapter crap? (I really don't care if you say yes; if you noticed before I myself think it is.)

7) Do you drink TruMoo chocolate milk?

8) Do you think the word 'squiggle' looks funny when written down?

I think that's it.

Review please!

-wolfeclipse25

p.s. I don't own the brand of TruMoo or any of these clothes! I also never knew the types of the clothes listed until I searched them. The designs are all my own works so that's why they'll stink.