Entry 11:
DREAM 28:
I was on the street. I was Night Walker, and I could tell straight away by the way I felt – separated from reality – that I was asleep and dreaming.
Like I needed a reminder that I still didn't have proper control over my abilities.
It was the middle of the night, and I wasn't sure where exactly I was, but it was dark. There was nobody around, no-one nearby. I held my breath and turned invisible, looking around for any sign of trouble, as well as any rogue reflections of myself. There was nothing of either.
Why was I here?
I felt compelled to head to my left, so I did, skulking quickly down the street, keeping my eyes peeled for trouble. I rounded a corner of a building and the city suddenly ended: the road I was on extended into a vast expanse of open ground. The only buildings in front of me were about a mile away, and I caught my breath when I saw what they were:
A place I'd only ever heard about, a massive complex with huge smokestacks spewing fumes into the sky. The Star City Nuclear Power Plant. It was an awesome sight at midnight, with the huge moon overhead the pale buildings seemed to glow, and the smoke from the multiple towers were illuminated by the silver light of the moon. It was surreal, beautiful in a strange way.
I was impressed, I would have whistled, but instead I saw something that made me swear. Some people were trying to break in. Naturally, they weren't being discreet about it, though I'm not sure that they could: there's very little discreet about a huge guy in a black leotard and a massive white gorilla with a rifle.
I wasn't sure who they were, but they looked like trouble. I went to radio the cave, but realised I didn't have mu com unit on me. Stupid thing was sitting inside my desk at home. I bereted myself and made a note to keep it on my person while I slept.
I suddenly found myself back in my room. I grabbed my com, shoved it in my ear and moulded my mask over it. I found myself standing back on the street, in the same place I was before. I pressed my finger to my ear.
"Night Walker to cave." My voice came out steady and monotonous, a dead giveaway that I was asleep. "There is a break-in underway at the Star City Nuclear Power Plant. Villains are a giant white gorilla and a man wearing black. Do you copy?"
I teleported closer by about 100 yards to get a closer look, held my breath and turned invisible as the com crackled to life. "Copy, Night Walker," came Red Tornado's voice, "authorities will be alerted and backup sent."
"Who are they?" I asked, half to myself.
"The gorilla is believed to be Ultra-Humanite. Can you identify any discerning features of the man?"
I stared at him. The gorilla was busy working on the lock, and the man stood watch. They appeared to be trying to be discreet, seeming not to realise that they stood out like sore thumbs, and as I noticed this, the man turned to scan the land around him before turning back to the gorilla and saying something. I caught a glimpse of something on his outfit, and said to Red:
"He has a large gold lightning-bolt insignia on his chest."
Almost immediately, Tornado responded: "The insignia suggests he is Black Adam."
"Aptly named, I see." I mumbled. Sirens wailed in the distance and Black Adam scanned around him again as the gorilla opened the doors. They snuck inside.
Either they didn't realise how conspicuous they were, or they were trying to attract attention.
"I'm going in." I said to Red Tornado and teleported to the doorway. I glanced around, saw which direction the baddies had gone and took a second to make sure I was still invisible before heading after them.
I found them in a large room, Black Adam stood guard while Ultra-Humanite was crouched in front of a large metal door, trying to break into it. I wondered briefly whether to stop them there and risk a fight, or wait for backup to at least be close before making my presence known.
My decision was made for me when Black Adam looked straight in my direction, and then leapt at me. He took me by surprise and I barely had time to telekinetically swat him aside before a beam of energy slammed into my side. It burned, and the force of it knocked me across the room and I landed painfully and skidded across the floor, feeling extremely jealous of Superboy's invulnerability.
I was surprised to see I was still invisible, but I didn't dwell on wondering how they'd known where I was, because the smoke rolling off my smouldering costume was very visible. Black Adam leapt towards me again and I rolled aside quickly and his fist put a massive dent in the ground where I'd been a moment before.
I shoved him telekinetically, sending him flying backwards, away from me and into the gorilla. He swept Ultra-Humanite away from the door and they both slammed into the wall, leaving a dent even bigger than the one in the floor. I smiled wryly, glad that it had worked double: getting Adam away from me and also getting the monkey away from the door.
Unfortunately, my little stunt ticked off the monkey, and he swung his rifle round and pointed it at me. My smile vanished but before he could shoot, another beam of energy slammed into the crater Adam had left in the ground in front of me. I rolled away but the beam followed me, so I kept rolling sideways, unable to get up without being hit and unable to see who was shooting. I rolled behind some form of cover, must have been a something, and as the energy beam paused to blow it to smithereens it gave me a moment to jump to my feet and locate my attacker.
His energy beam came at me again, but I put up a telekinetic arm to block it, possibly not for long. I radioed the Cave. "Tornado! There's another guy here, he looks like a skeleton wearing a greeny space-suit with a funky helmet and he's shooting a massive golden laser at me!"
I leapt aside and stopped blocking the energy beam, at the same time thrusting my other hand towards the guy shooting it. I hit him and pinned him to the wall behind him, unfortunately, at that same moment he fired another energy blast at me, Black Adam leapt towards me and the gorilla pointed his gun.
Never mind stealth, they could see me anyway. I turned visible and ran, keeping the laser-dude pinned while at the same time dodging his and the gorillas blasts. I made it several steps and two rolls before Adam clotheslined me and slammed me into the ground.
Not my idea of fun, personally, but I felt the impact only dully and was relieved that I was asleep.
Red Tornado's voice came over the com, "Your description fits that of Atomic Scull."
"Good to know," I croaked, and then grabbed Adam in my telekinetic fist and slammed him into the ground a little way away. How do you like it?! I shouted at him mentally. I crawled to my feet, grinding my teeth and putting my hand to my ear.
"Tornado, what's the ETA for that backup you mentioned?"
If he responded, I didn't hear it as the floor in front of me exploded and Adam leapt at me again. What was with this guy? He was like an evil Superman . . . and that was a very scary thought. I caught him and threw him, but quickly had to focus on Atomic Scull, who had resumed shooting at me, and Ultra-Humanite, who was leaping towards me. I threw the monkey aside and ran, dodging the blasts as much as I could while trying to keep the villains – and their projectile weapons – at bay.
The energy beam blasted into the wall near me and left a crater through which steam poured, creating a large cloud around me. Taking advantage of this, I turned invisible and crawled quickly away from the area, underneath the steam. I glanced at my foes and was relieved to see that they were still focusing on the steam, thinking I was there. I telekinetically grabbed both of them from behind and slammed them into the ground, then into each other, and into anything until they both seemed to be at least a little dazed.
A group of people burst into the room: Superman, Black Canary, Green Arrow and a bunch of cops. I didn't feel relieved, I felt strangely detached, even for a dream. The heroes seemed a little shocked, but quickly rushed over and snapped Inhibitor Collars on Ultra-Humanite and Atomic Scull.
I felt dazed, I think I just stood there, and suddenly Black Canary was in front of me. "Night Walker." She said, calmly but sternly, "Where is Black Adam?"
I stared at her confusedly, before glancing around, and noting that the door Ultra-Humanite had been trying to open was torn off its hinges. "I think . . ." I said, as I pointed at it numbly, then I realised that he must have gotten away with whatever was in there. "I'm sorry."
I remember Canary reassuring me, and then telling me to go home. Then, nothing.
2011, MARCH 13, 5:13 AM
I woke briefly in a haze of exhaustion at about 5 AM, mumbled to myself "Thank goodness it's Sunday" and shoved my com into the pocket of my pyjama pants before passing out again.
2011, MARCH 13, 10:20 AM
I woke up hurting, all over it hurt. My muscles were sore, my side felt like it was on fire and a short inspection revealed – beneath my smouldering pyjama top – that I had a large burn on my side. Luckly, I suppose, it was a very minor burn despite its size, but it hurt like the blazes.
I was mildly disappointed that my adorable Pegasus t-shirt was ruined, but after a short, fake, over-exaggerated, melodramatic breakdown I quickly reconciled myself with it and threw it in the trash, wondering vaguely if it should be in an atomic waste bin instead. I was pulling on a clean, non-atomic-blasted shirt when my mom appeared in the doorway of my room.
"What was that all about?"
I looked at her blankly, my arms trapped above my head with the top half on, "What?"
"All that 'I'm sorry, no, goodbye, farewell, you've served me well but now we must part' that you were crying a moment ago."
"Oh, that. I had to throw out my top – it got ruined Night Walker-ing last night."
Mom gave me an exasperated look and sighed. "All right. So long as you're fine."
She turned to leave, and I called, "Um, mom? Can you give me a hand? I'm stuck: I can't reach my hands up the full way."
She rolled her eyes and helped me pull on my shirt. Her eyes lingered on the large pink mark on my side and narrowed. "What happened?"
"Got blasted by Atomic Scull."
She frowned, and several different emotions passed over her face in very quick succession, I could tell she wasn't sure what to make of that – maybe I sounded just a bit too blasé. After a pause, she said, with concern "Does 'Atomic' mean it's radioactive?"
I forced a cheesy smile, "Let's hope not!"
2011, MARCH 13, 11:00 AM
I'd been at the cave for about an hour. I was debriefed by Canary, who assured me Atomic Skull's brain blast thingies weren't radioactive, and then Martian Manhunter gave me a short physical examination and informed me of his suspicion that my skin-shifting (whatever) ability probably meant that my skin injuries healed very fast – which explained why my bullet-wounds were completely gone and why my burn was nowhere near as bad as my near-incinerated shirt suggested it should be.
I was chilling in the lounge with M'gann, Artemis and Aqualad, with the TV quietly playing in front of us, explaining to them upon their inquiry what had happened last night, and recounting what Canary had just told me: that Black Adam got away with a bunch of potentially-extremely-dangerous radioactive devices made from a synthetic element.
M'gann placed a hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry about it, we all get stuff wrong sometimes: I remember my first mission . . ."
Aqualad smiled, "We've all made mistakes." He looked at me seriously, "Though, you really shouldn't keep finding trouble in the middle of the night when you're not able to properly control your abilities."
I shrugged and waved my hands in a little helpless gesture, "Well, I find myself dreaming and I'm compelled to solve the problem so I can go back to sleep!"
"Have you tried just going back to bed and falling asleep again?!" Artemis asked absently, staring at the TV.
That stumped me. "Uh, no, actually, I haven't. Didn't even occur to me."
Aqualad smiled and went to say something, but was interrupted as Artemis swore vehemently. We all looked at her, then where she was staring as she reached for the remote.
The TV screen no-longer portrayed the documentary she'd been watching. Now, grinning maniacally at his audience, Joker's face filled the TV screen.
Thank you to all my awesome readers for following this story, sorry it's taken so long, but SCHOOL… Hope you enjoyed!
Please review coz it makes me happy and otherwise I forget to update!
