3rd POV
"I thi-think I might have overexerted m-myself," Astra gasped.
The team stared at her, stunned that Astra had admitted to that. She swayed and collapsed. Kid Flash was the first to realize what was happening .The speedster raced forward and caught her before she could hit the ground. The Team gathered around Astra as she was lowered to the round.
"Kid Flash, get a medic," Aqualad ordered. Wide eyed, Kid Flash raced off and returned a minute later.
"Medics are on their way," the ginger informed them.
"Good. Artemis, how is she?" Aqualad asked.
"She's alive. Her pulse is fast," Artemis said as she examined her.
"Move back!" The medic snapped as he approached the group. The Team moved back, but was still extremely close. The medic sighed and began to examine the unconscious girl.
"Pulse and breathing are elevated," he said to the rest of his medical team, which had finally arrived, "Her temperature is at 99.7 degrees fahrenheit."
The medics continued checking Astra over. They eventually had to check her eyes. Kid Flash and Robin moved so the rest of the Team couldn't see as Astra's mask was lifted up. When they finished, Robin and Kid Flash moved to stand by the rest of the Team.
By this time, Martian Manhunter and Superman had heard that Astra had collapsed and flown over to them. They listened as the medic rattled off information on the current state of Astra's body. They winced as the medic asked Robin questions that the boy just couldn't answer. It seemed that Astra had kept to herself, even among the Batfamily.
"Exhaustion," the medic finally gave his diagnosis, "Her body seems to have been overwhelmed from stress and the use of her powers. I would have her taken to the Watchtower, but I feel like she would be better off waking up in an environment she knows and "
"Right, let me just check with Batman," Superman pressed his hand against the comm unit in his ear.
"Superman to Batman," Superman paused and waited, "Astra is fine. It seems like she collapsed from exhaustion. Yes, she has a fever and no, she doesn't have a concussion or anything dangerous. The medics want her moved to an environment she recognizes. The Team can transport her in Miss Martian's ship...alright."
"It's okay if Astra is taken back to the base by Bioship. Batman will be waiting there," Superman nodded to the Team and flew off. The medics quickly packed their equipment up and left after giving the Team instructions for Astra's care.
"Green Lantern, what is it?" Martian Manhunter pressed a button on his comm unit, "I can be there in five minutes."
"Will you be able to get back to base safely?" Martian Manhunter asked.
"Yes," Aqualad confirmed. The martian man nodded and flew in the direction of the closest Zeta tube.
"The bioship is nearby," Miss Martian announced. Aqualad knelt and picked Astra up, marvelling at how light she was.
"Ready to face Daddybats?" Kid Flash joked as they walked to the bioship. The group collectively groaned at the memory of the last appearance of a protective Batman.
Aqualad carefully carried Astra out of the Bioship. Robin walked next to him, keeping an eye on his adoptive sister. The Team hurried out of the medbay and into the training area. Batman, Red Tornado, and Black Canary stood in the center of the room. They were watching multiple news reports about Hugo Edmund's crimes. Batman seemed more serious than he usually was, while Black Canary and Red Tornado acted normal.
"What happened?" Batman growled as he stalked over to the Team.
"Several armed men managed to reach the rooftop of Edmund's house. They opened fire on us. Astra used her powers to shield us from the bullets. Without her, we would be dead," Aqualad tiredly said.
"I want the mission report finished by tomorrow," Batman hissed. The Dark Knight carefully took Astra and walked towards the Zeta tubes, "Robin, with me."
The Boy Wonder waved goodbye with a small smirk and walked over to his mentor.
"Recognized Batman 02, Astra B10, Robin B01."
Kyara's POV
"Get up!" My guard shouted at me. I shouted curses through my tears as the guard yanked me to my feet. My mother had died yesterday because of these people, of course I would resist my guards.
"Guess what? You get to meet the boss," The guard laughed at me. Two other guards joined us as I was dragged through dimly lit hallways. They stopped before a door and knocked.
"Come in," An unfamilar voice called. The guards opened the door and dragged me inside. An old, but fit man sat behind the desk situated in the center of the room.
"Hello, Kyara Wayne. My name is Ra's al Ghul. I have a proposition for you," the man rose out of his chair and held out his hand.
"You killed my mother! Screw you," My head whipped to the side as a guard slapped me.
"Understand that rudeness will not be tolerated. As you may not know, I am the head of the League of Assassins," I threw back my head and laughed, too upset to care.
"That sounds much better than the League of Shadows," I mocked. I cried out as a guard punched me in the stomach,
"We are shadows," A woman hissed as she melted out of the shadows behind Ra's.
"Talia," Ra's warned. So this was the daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Talia frowned but remained quiet.
"You are to be inducted into the League of Assassins," Ra's stated, "You cannot escape your destiny, Miss Wayne. You will be taught how to obey, how to kill."
"Never! You little son of-" I fell as Ra's kicked me in my stomach. I gasped and curled into a ball on the floor.
"It is such a shame that you are so similar to your grandmother. She had your talents, but let them go to waste at the circus. I was so disappointed when your mother didn't inherit her powers," Ra's pulled out a remote and pressed a button.
I screamed as electricity coursed through my body, courtesy of my inhibitor collar. My hands scraped at the collar before falling as my body writhed in agony. Ra's held the button down for another second before releasing it.
"Take her to her cell. She will learn to obey," Ra's coldly stated. The guards nodded and hauled me to my feet.
I slowly came back to consciousness. My eyes refused to open due to a pounding headache. I wrenched my eyelids open to see a mass of black hair next to my shoulder. It was Bruce, he must have fallen asleep while sitting next to me. Dick was gently shaking my father's shoulder while telling him to wake up. I opened my mouth to say hello, but a raspy sound was the only thing that came out. Dick's eyes widened as he glanced at me.
"Guys, Ky is waking up!" He shouted as Bruce jerked awake. I smiled at him, my eyelids beginning to slide shut again. I heard the sound of footsteps running before I was pulled back into sleep.
"You still fight back, even after being tortured. Why?" Talia asked curiously. I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes. I couldn't find the strength to raise my head. I was on my knees with my arms stretched to their maximum length due to the chains encircling each wrist.
"Because I don't want to wear the stupid ninja clothing," I spat blood from my mouth. I only wore a sports bra on the upper half of my body. My back burned from the lash marks I had received.
"And you still haven't learned how to address your superiors," Talia smiled, "Perhaps Psimon can help with that."
As she spoke, a man stepped into the room. He drew back his hood to reveal an alien face. In two smooth steps, he reached me and pressed his fingers to my forehead.
"Do not struggle," He laughed. I arched my back and screamed as an unfamiliar presence invaded my mind. It twisted my memories, warping me into someone else.
"No, no,no, no. Stop! Please stop. I can't take it," I babbled. Tears coursed down my cheeks as I struggled to twist away from the man. It was no use, his mind held me in place.
"Just relax," He commanded. I closed my eyes as pain coursed through my mind. I couldn't take this anymore. Please just make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Oh my God, make it-
"Stop!" I shouted. Something in my mind snapped. It wrapped itself around Psimon's mind and tore at it. The man wrenched his fingers from my head and fell backwards, unconscious. I immediately relaxed as my body began to recover from what it had just endured. Talia walked over to me and tilted my head up with the tip of her sword.
"It seems like you have a new power," Talia muttered, "What are you?"
I moaned and closed my eyes. My head dropped forward as Talia's sword left my chin.
"Whatever you are, you will make an excellent member of the League."
My eyes flew open as I yanked myself into a sitting position. I glanced around wildly, how long had I been asleep? Judging by the soft sunlight filtered through the curtains, it was early morning. According to my phone, it was 8 a.m. on May 16th. Great, I had been asleep for 3 days. I reached for the cup of water that someone had left on my nightstand and downed it in one gulp.
My legs buckled the moment I put my full weight on them. I swore as I caught the side of my bed. I waited as my legs adjusted to my weight before hobbling out to the hallway with my blanket wrapped around me. It was cold in this mansion.
I peeked into Dick's room. He was sound asleep with his blankets twisted around his body. Huh. He must have had an bad nightmare last night. I continued my search for someone who was awake. The limo was gone, which meant Alfred was too. Perhaps Bruce was in the manor.
Bruce wasn't in the Batcave or the garage. He wasn't in the library either. The last place I could think of was his study. For some reason, I rarely saw him use it. The door to his study was open. I could hear the sound of rustling papers as I neared the doorway.
"Good morning," I greeted as I walked into the room in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. Bruce glanced up in surprise at me.
"You're not supposed to be up," Bruce stated.
"Well, I woke up and everyone was either sleeping or gone so..." I shrugged and yawned.
"Alfred had to pick up some blueprints from Fox. By the way, I wants to run some more tests on your powers in order to see if I can create an easier way for your suit to allow light to filter through. That should reduce some of the energy wasted while going through the suit," Bruce scrawled his signature across the bottom of a piece of paper.
"That would be helpful. I'm wasting way too much energy on pushing light through the suit," I grimaced. My suit was designed to allow light through, but the design was very basic. Half of my energy output was wasted as light passed through the suit.
"Speaking of energy, we need to talk about what happened on Wednesday. You pushed yourself too far," He lectured.
"I pushed myself too far? In case you didn't realize it, I prevented them from getting shot! I knew exactly what would happen if I used my powers again." I shot back.
"That's my point. You knew your limits and you allowed yourself to go past them. When you do that, you become a risk to yourself and those around you. This is the second time in the past month that you have taken a risk that could have potentially resulted in your death or injury." My father replied. I rolled my eyes at him.
"But it didn't. Bruce, you're forgetting that I've had my powers since I was eight. I know how far I can go. It's not like this is the first time I've pushed myself over-" I abruptly stopped before I revealed too much. Bruce's eyes narrowed at the sound of my unfinished sentence.
"What?" My father's tone was deadly.
"Nothing. I think Alfred's home. He probably needs some help," I turned and rushed for the door.
"Kyara, stop," I froze in my tracks and turned around, "Sit down."
"Yes?" I innocently asked as I plopped myself in a chair on the opposite side of his desk.
"Explain."
"Explain what?" This could not be happening right now. I did not want to explain this.
"You know exactly what. Explain yourself, now," Bruce commanded. I shrank under the weight of his stare.
"Right. Umm...Well, you see," I gulped and struggled for a way to make this sound okay, "There were times when I lost control, of course. Some of my mentors didn't really care if I collaped, my mom usually pulled me out when that happened."
"Go on," Bruce ordered. It looked as if he already knew what I was about to say.
"Sometimes, I wondered how far I could go. With my powers, I mean. I thought that by doing this, I could become stronger. I thought that if I became stronger, that my mom and I could stop running. That my mom could have a life instead of dealing with me. Clearly, I was wrong. It was just my way of coping, I guess." Right now, it would be nice if I didn't exist.
"Dinah would be more than happy to talk-" He clearly regretted asking me to explain.
"I'm fine, I got over that," I interupted. Bruce eyed me warily before switching subjects.
"You're suspended from patrol until Friday. Furthermore," He ignored my look of outrage, "You may not do any heavy training until Tuesday and no missions until next Monday."
"What? Why?" I gasped.
"You're exhausted. You would be a liability to the team and on patrols," Bruce stated.
"I'm fine!" I argued.
"No, you're not. You've been asleep for three days. Alfred had to remove your I.V. drip after a day because you couldn't stay still. You need rest. End of discussion. I'm sure you're hungry and thirsty. Alfred would be happy to make you some food," I frowned at the horribly disguised dismissal.
"I'm sure a night's sleep will have me back to-" I began.
"End of discussion. Go get something to eat," I got up and made my way to the door. I stopped at the door and looked back at my father. He was already back to signing paperwork.
"Oh, and Bruce," I called. He hummed in response, "You never asked why I was so tired."
I hurried from the room. A guilty expression crossed my face as I remembered the look of alarm and confusion that had flashed over his face at my final words.
May 25, 2011
"Recognized Astra, B10," The computer announced as I entered Mount Justice. The training area was empty, but I could hear footsteps. I was dressed in civilian clothes: shorts, an off the shoulder black t-shirt, and converse. I was also wearing sunglasses and multiple bracelets, of course.
"Astra!" I was engulfed in a bone-breaking hug from M'gann. I flinched in surprise before giving her a small hug in return.
"I can't breathe," I gasped out. The martian immediately let go and began to babble apologies, "It's alright, M'gann. Oof! Wally!"
The speedster had practically bowled me over with a hug, He pulled me upright and slung an arm around my shoulders.
"Glad to see you're okay. Arty was was super worried and you should have seen Kaldur! If there had to be an example of an overly worried leader, it would be him," Wally laughed and opened his mouth to continue.
"Kid," Kaldur interrupted, sending him a look that clearly told him to shut up. I was curious to hear what the speedster had to say, but I decided to let it go for now. The rest of the Team, excluding Zatanna and Rocket, gathered around.
"It's nice to see you guys," I laughed. It really was nice to see them. Lately, all I had done was rest and run experiments on my powers. Crime had also picked up the last three nights I had gone on patrol.
"You're glowing," Artie pointed out. I glared at my hands and concentrated. The glow dissipated after a couple of seconds.
"My suit was redesigned to make it easier to conduct light through it. I'm not used to it yet," I hastily explained. That was partly true. I was also having trouble controlling my powers lately. This was normal. Whenever I over used my powers, they tended to be finnicky for a couple of weeks.
"M'gann, didn't you have cookies in the oven?" Robin gently reminded her.
"Hello, Megan!" The martian rushed into the kitchen. The rest of the team and I followed at a slower pace. M'gann telekinetically pulled the cookies from the oven.
"How long were you unconscious?" Artemis asked.
"Three days. I wanted to visit, but Batman banned me from Mount Justice until today," I sat on the back of the sofa, easily balancing on the thin cushions, "I heard that you guys made sure that I was okay. Thank you."
"Astra, you don't have to thank us. You're part of the team. We would have done the same for anyone," Connor took a seat behind me as he talked.
"You are our friend," Kaldur gave me a soft smile.
"Yeah, you keep on forgetting that for some reason," Wally snatched a cookie off the pan.
"Thanks, I guess I'm not used to all this," Robin shot me a sympathetic look. He knew that being constantly on the move left little room for friends.
"Careful, they're hot," M'gann said as she set a plate of cookies on the living room table. Everyone took a seat as Conner switched the TV on. I allowed myself to fall backwards, staring at the now upside down TV.
"Bruce Wayne took a little time in between meetings with Japanese company owners to have a late lunch with his children. Richard and Kyara looked like they were dicussing something rather serious. Maybe Bruce decided to adopt another child," The news reporter laughed as a picture of my family and I popped up on the screen. What kind of news show was this?
"Kyara, I hate to break it to you, but long sleeves in the summer are just weird," A seperate picture of me appeared. I was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt that was thin enough to keep any extra heat from building up. Of course, this was a celebrity gossip show.
"Nope," Robin said. He grabbed the remote from Conner and flipped the channel. Artemis was staring at me with a thoughtful look on her face. I stared back through my sunglasses.
Author's note: Please don't kill me for not posting when I said I would. I've got a busy schedule this year with high school and college work, the symphony, and marching band. I can't promise that the next update will be within this or the next month. Bye!