Robyn sat on the roof of the massive archive building, goggles resting on the top of her head, a thin sandwich in her hands, listening to the dull thrum of the city below. It had been about three weeks since she left the Legion, and she had almost scrapped together enough money to buy her way onto a ship. Of course the media had picked up quickly. Practically every headline read "The Queen of Thieves Returns To New Metropolis."
And of course she had to change her patterns up drastically, as the Legion was hunting her down like she'd shot their collective mother. She sighed, slid her unfinished food into a small bag, and leaned back on her hands. The stars winked down at her, and she couldn't help but smile. She'd seen a lot of the stars lately.
While she had been out collecting materials, one of her alarms had gone off. The Legion had found her crashed aircraft only four days after she left, so she had been staying in various back alleys and abandoned houses. Today she was lucky to have a spot with a view, and sat only a few feet away from the forgotten tool shed she planned to spend the next few hours in.
A large transport ship suddenly came into orbit above her, quickly making its way to the dock. Robyn couldn't help but remember the last time she had been on one of those.
Five Years Ago
She had been younger then. Thirteen, if she remembered correctly. Her eyes were covered by hastily made goggles, and instead of gloves, she had tight metal clasps around her wrists equipped with small lasers, prototype energy fields, and repair tools.
The Legion of Superheroes. Politically speaking they were sandwiched somewhere between the President, the Science Police, and some sort of private task force. But they were strong, everyone knew that. And they had a positive public opinion, so Robyn had heard.
It took her about two hours, but she eventually found her way to the tower. There was a flood of people outside. The Legion had only been in operation for about five years, but the public response had far surpassed anything anyone could have guessed.
Robyn pushed her way through the crowd. She was already late. After a few minutes of shoving she finally made her way to the now empty sign in line. There was a girl with split purple, white, and orange hair packing up.
"Wait!" Robyn called out. "Wait please!" the girl looked up. She must have been about fifteen.
"Sorry," she gave an apologetic smile. "All the slots are filled up." Robyn felt her heart drop to her stomach.
"No, no, no, please," she walked up to the table, feeling smaller by the second. "Isn't there anyway? I can't be too late…" the girl looked startled, and maybe a bit confused. After a moment she sighed and sat back down.
"Give me your information," she pulled her tablet back out. "If an opening shows up I might be able to squeeze you in." Robyn nearly melted in relief.
"Thank you," she smiled. "Thank you so much." the girl nodded.
"Your name?"
"Robyn An-" she paused. "Robyn Talvra." best not to take any chances. The girl nodded, typing her name into the form.
"Your tag?"
"My what?"
"Your code name," the girl chuckled. "We all use them, both for privacy and professionalism."
"I don't… I don't have one." Robyn looked down. The girl hummed, looking over Robyn's attire.
"I'll put you down for Specs," she said, typing that in as well. "But you can change it whenever you want." Robyn nodded."And your power?" Robyn froze. She really hadn't thought this through.
"I don't… I don't technically... have any," she started. The girl opened her mouth. "But I'm really good with technology!" she explained quickly. "It's always just sort of clicked for me. I made... I made these myself from scratch!" she gestured to her goggles. The girl thought for a moment, as if fighting with herself.
Suddenly a second version of her appeared, solid orange, and Robyn noticed the original consisted of only purple and white now. The orange one ran off into the building.
"Wow," Robyn watched after the orange girl.
"That's my power," the girl smiled and reached out her hand to Robyn. "I'm Triplicate." Robyn smiled and shook her hand.
"Hi." the girl pulled back her hand and suddenly frowned.
"We usually don't audition people without powers," she explained. Robyn's smile faded. "And I'm not sure how far 'a natural affinity with technology' will get you, especially since we got Brainy last year."
"Brainiac 5?" she knew that name.
"You've heard of him?" Triplicate smiled. "He's quite impressive. Now I don't see any problem in having more than one genius around, but," she paused and looked towards the building. "The others might not share my position." Robyn looked down and nodded. A quiet moment passed between them. "You're not from around here, huh Robyn?" Triplicate leaned her elbow on the table and rest her chin in her hand. Robyn shook her head.
"I'm from… I'm from Venegar." it wasn't a lie. Triplicate sat up straighter.
"That's quite a ways away," she looked down at Robyn. "Did you and your family move here?" Robyn tensed.
"You could say that." Triplicate didn't ask any more questions. Another minute passed and the orange triplet returned.
"They said they'll let her audition if there's time," the orange one smiled. "Saturn suggested treating it as a technician interview rather than an audition." Robyn was practically bouncing in place. The orange triplet joined back to the original as the other two (Robyn assumed there was one for each color) scanned a number onto a sticker and handed it over to her. The sticker read O.F. 001.
"That means you're the first in the overflow line," Triplicate explained. "There's a lot more people here than usual this year, so we considered an overflow line. You were the first to come up after all the time slots were taken." she finished packing up her things. "If you don't get an audition today, try coming back tomorrow, we may need a few days to get through this many people."
"Thank you, Triplicate." Robyn nodded. Triplicate smiled in return before flying inside.
Robyn turned and walked back into the center of the large pool of people gathered in the courtyard. She sat down on a rock, performing check-ups on all of her equipment. She had only managed to finish a few of the programs she had been working on before she landed on Earth. Night vision was functional, echolocation was glitchy, but considering it was a back up that would be fine, and the database she'd put together was working like a charm, taking notes on things based on her eye movements.
"Nice suit," she heard someone sneer next to her. She turned to see a boy, maybe only a year older than her, smirking down at her. He was wearing a skin tight suit, like pretty much everyone but her, with several bright colors that didn't match at all and honestly kind of hurt her eyes. "Pull it out of the trash?" another kid, probably younger than Robyn, chuckled from behind him. Robyn looked down at her clothes. A long sleeved dark blue sweater, jeans, and shoes, she wasn't sure if they were a specific kind. She'd had these as long as she could remember.
"You don't look any better, tough guy," she smirked. "Trust me, no one wants to see those scrawny arms. What's your power, turning into a toothpick?" they boys face turned bright red, setting off the colors of his suit even more.
"I'm the fastest man ever!" his friend took a step forward, trying and failing to look intimidating to back up his partner. "That's better than whatever your dumb power is!"
"Intelligence," she turned from him, continuing to run her system checks. "Clearly never something you've had to worry over." suddenly her goggles were snatched from her head. "Hey!" she stood and glared at the boy, stood in the same spot but now holding her goggles.
"Bet you're not so tough without the- what the?!" his eyes met hers and she quickly looked away. She tapped the bracers around her wrists together and thin energy fields surrounded her hands.
"She's a freak!" his friend squeaked in. "No humans got those eyes!"
She quickly moved forward and punched the colorful boy in the chest, sending him flying back and catching her goggles before they hit the ground. The boy hadn't even stood up by the time the familiar tinted lenses were back in place. He stood and glared at her. She quickly had her goggles analyze how fast he had been going. He charged at her and at the last second she stepped out of the way, holding her fist out to punch him in the chest again. He started to fall down but she grabbed his arm and used it to spin him around so he landed on his stomach. Robyn held him down with her foot on his back and his arm held out behind him.
"Get off me you freak!"
"That's enough," a voice said behind her. It was the first time she'd noticed the small crowd gathered around them. A boy pushed his way through. He had green skin, short shaggy blonde hair, and the legion emblem clipped to his belt. A small breeze passed and Robyn saw three circles detailed on his forehead. She let go of the boys wrist and removed her foot, stepping a few feet back. The colorful boy stood and glared at her. "There is to be no fighting between auditioners. I will have to add this to both of your files." he walked over to the colorful boy and held a hand out in front of the sticker on his chest. The image went fuzzy for a moment before returning to normal. He then walked over to her and did the same.
The boy and his friend scoffed and glared at her before walking off. The blonde boy looked over his shoulder at them as they walked off.
"Would it be inappropriate for me to ask what that was about?" he turned back to her and tilted his head. She squinted at him for a moment and shook her head. They were almost eye level, she was slightly taller.
"There is fine line between being confident and being an asshole," was all the explanation she gave. He chuckled as she turned to walk away.
"H-hey wait," he jogged to stand in front of her again. Did an android just stutter? "You're the one Triplicate told us about. Specs." Robyn cringed.
"Just Robyn," she sighed. He smiled and held out his hand.
"I am Brainiac 5,"
"So I heard," she looked down at his hand and hesitated before shaking it.
It was a pleasant surprise that he hadn't assumed the fight was her fault. She had noticed that people had a tendency to get mad at her for no reason other than existing too close to them. It was a nice change to have someone eager to interact with her. Even if he was maybe a little too eager.
She made a mental note to start assembling a health monitor. Her heartbeat had sped up, though she had barely moved at all in that 'fight'. Maybe Earth's atmosphere was slightly different than she was used to.
Her goggles were supposed to take notes on things based on how long she looked at them, therefore determining how important they were. But they must be malfunctioning, because she kept getting notes on how his hair looked like it changed color in different light, or how long they held eye contact, and her goggles made extra sure she knew he was walking backwards to face her while she walked. Maybe because he was an android, and therefore mostly mechanical, her equipment was glitching out around him. He opened his mouth to speak but a loud chime from the tower sounded throughout the courtyard before he could.
"I have to be going," he seemed almost sad. She only nodded and offered a small wave in response. "See you around!" He left and her heart seemed to beat even faster.
The next few hours passed by rather slowly. Robyn found herself sat by the pond skipping rocks, or trying to make shapes in the clouds. She had heard some children on the ship she had been on talk about how fun it was to make pictures with the clouds, but she could only see blobs and quickly decided to go back to skipping stones.
The courtyard slowly thinned until it was just her, the boy (he'd been bumped to the end of the line for fighting), and his friend. The sun was slowly setting and the courtyard was quiet, which Robyn much preferred over the unintelligible roar it had been.
She sat on a bench by the main door, avoiding looking at the boy in grey and waiting for his multicolored friend to finish his audition. A quiet hum began to emanate from the sticker on her chest. She stood and waited in front of the door, heart beating quickly again, though this time she knew why.
The door slid open and the boy in the colorful suit walked out. He glared at her and rammed his shoulder into hers as he walked passed. She took a deep breath and walked inside. The door slid closed behind her with a quiet hiss.
Inside was a tall wall, with several people sat behind it. There was the android, Brainiac 5, and the three colored girl, Triplicate, among two others she had seen pictures of on her way here. There was a girl with short blonde hair dressed head to toe in bright pink, making Robyn wince, and a boy with bright red hair and a lightning bolt symbol prominently displayed on his chest.
"Robyn Talvra?" the boy with the red hair asked. She noticed that her gaze had lingered on the android again when her goggles let her know that he smiled and sat up straighter when he saw her. She quickly turned off her database display before turning to the red head and nodding.
"We usually don't audition anyone without powers," the blonde girl stated. "But Triplicate insisted."
"It says here you got into a fight with Speeder outside," the redhead looked at a holoscreen in front of him. Robyn opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off. "We just auditioned him. Trust me, whatever he did he probably deserved it. But we'd like to hear your side of the story." Robyn nodded.
"He came up to me while I was running equipment tests and made fun of my clothes," she crossed her arms. "I did the same, continued what I was doing, and then he stole my goggles right off my head. Then he called me-" she paused. "He called me a freak. I assume because of my… appearance. I received some scars in an accident when I was younger." not a lie.
"What kind of accident?" the blonde girl leaned forward, as if concerned.
"I'd rather not discuss it," Robyn said bluntly.
"Of course," the redhead nodded. "How old are you, Robyn?"
"I'm thirteen,"
"Tell us about those goggles," he gestured to them. "How long did it take you to make them?"
"Three months," she said. "But only because I didn't have the pieces I needed. If I had it all now I could do it in three days at most." Brainiac 5 sat up straighter, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise.
"That is actually quite impressive for a human," he said. "What features do they have?" Robyn went through her checklist in her head, holding the younger boys gaze.
"Not everything is fully functioning right now," she explained. "Again simply because of materials. But among what is: night vision, with a prototype echolocation system as a backup, and scanners linked to a database I'm in the process of compiling."
"Is there anything you plan on adding?" Brainiac 5 seemed intrigued. Robyn was almost worried he would fall over the ledge with how far he was leaning forward.
"I currently have plans for a health monitor and have been designing upgrades for these." she held up her arms to show the braces around her wrists.
"You seem very intelligent," the blonde girl said. "Why come to us instead of the Institute of Technology, or something similar?"
"I have my reasons." mainly legal reasons. Paperwork. The Legion bent enough rules simply by existing, and Robyn hoped that might extend to her. The girl nodded.
"Could you give us a demonstration?" she asked. Robyn nodded and tapped a button on the side of her goggles. A low beep was all she received in response.
"What?" She tapped another button. The same response. "I don't understand, I checked everything a dozen times." she tapped more buttons on her wrist guards. Nothing was responding. "No, no, no, no, I swear this was all working ten minutes ago!" she looked up. Her heart dropped when she saw them all looking down at her sadly.
"If you can't give us a demo-" the girl in pink tried to say.
"No!" she was pushing every button, trying to get it to work.
"I'm sorry," the girl said. "But we were already out of time when you came in here." Robyn slumped. This couldn't be happening. "You're more than welcome to come try again next year." she turned back towards the door and left without another word.
This couldn't be it. It couldn't have been for nothing.
"How'd it go in there Specs?" she heard a familiar voice next to her. Speeder, as she now knew he went by, and his friend were leaning against the wall. His friend grinned and a few sparks flew from his fingers.
"You... " her voice caught in her throat. "You sabotaged me."
"You accusing me?" he stomped up to her. "Do you know who I am? My dad is the governor of Earth." he was only inches away from her now. "You're just a weird-eyed freak in broken glasses." she looked down and walked passed him, ignoring the names he spat after her.
She found herself in the park on a bench. The sun had set nearly an hour ago, and her goggles were clenched tightly in her hands. Her knees were pulled to her chest and her head rest in her arms. She had stopped crying a while ago.
Auditions wouldn't be for another year, and she'd used all her money to get here. There must be someone else here, another group she could join, someone who could keep her safe. Someone who might stand a chance against him, at least half as well as the Legion could have. She looked up and finally noticed the stars above her. The hunt for another group would have to wait. She needed to find somewhere to stay the night.
Present Day
Robyn stood from her place at the edge of the roof and stuffed the rest of her forgotten sandwich into the small brown bag at her hip. She walked over to the tool shed and stepped inside. When the door closed she stuck a small device to it. A green energy field covered the side of the door she could see. She cracked opened the window and threw another, slightly larger, device out. It hovered for a moment before zipping over to the next closest building. She pulled up a small holoscreen from her gloves to make sure the camera was working.
With a bit of effort, she managed to move enough things around to tuck herself into a corner. A few minutes passed, and she had almost managed to fall asleep, when a small shock to her arm alerted her that someone was approaching the shed. She quickly pulled up the screen and swore under her breath at what she saw. Lightning, Superman, Saturn, Bounce, and Brainy were all stood on the roof where she had been sat only minutes before.
"According to our scanners she was just here," was all she heard Superman say before shutting down the screen. She looked at the device on the door for a second before deciding to leave it. Maybe it would buy her some time. She quickly activated her soundproofing and a green haze covered her body. As quietly as possible, she opened the window and jumped out. On her way down she shot a chord from her glove. The gripped end embedded itself in wall and she pulled herself to it. After activating the energy fields around her gloves she quickly scaled down the building into the alley below.
A deactivated waste collection machine was parked up against the far wall. Robyn ran to it. She managed to squeeze under it, and pulled herself up into a tube that had split open. She pulled it closed around her and used a few small devices to hold it in place. Her fingers twitched and she held her breath when a screen opened in her goggles. The Legionaries were nowhere to be seen. She held her hand out in front of her and moved it slowly, causing the camera at the top of the building to lower itself so it was crawling, rather than flying, and peered over the edge.
The Legionaries were floating down into the alley. She quickly deactivated all of her equipment except for a small green dome around her head, and the green haze around her body. She heard footsteps. Several, almost painful, moments passed, and she even felt the disposal machine she was hiding in lift from the ground temporarily. Probably Superman. She wasn't sure why they were so determined to find her. The most likely thing she could think of was they were angry she had started stealing again.
"She couldn't have gone far," she heard Lightning's voice. A minute passed.
"Brainy?" Saturn's voice was soft. Robyn imagined him standing there, staring down at the ground, and she had to stop herself from leaving her hiding place. "We'll find her, don't worry." more quiet. Saturn sighed. Robyn sat, frozen, for another five minutes before reactivating enough of her equipment to look through the camera again.
They were gone. She collapsed against the tube and took in a deep breath. After reactivating the rest of her equipment, she carved a small hole in the tube so she could breathe.
It was nowhere near ideal, but she couldn't risk moving again tonight. She counted the credits she had. Just enough for a ticket. She would have to make due with what food she already had with her. She couldn't afford to stay here any longer.
They were getting too close to finding her. Tomorrow would have to work.
Robyn was back in the tower. A breeze hit her bare arms and she immediately realized all her equipment was gone. She looked around the room. She knew she was in the lounge, although nothing looked quite right. Things had been moved, added.
She turned and saw Brainy. Her hands darted up to cover her eyes.
"Shit! I can- I can explain!" she felt hands on her wrists and opened her eyes to look down at him. He was smiling at her. "Brainy?" she took a cautious step forward. He slowly lowered their hands laced their fingers together. Robyn looked down at their hands then back to him. He seemed relaxed. "Brainy what's going on?" it felt like her heart was trying to escape her chest. She heard footsteps behind her.
"Hello, pet." She spun around and nearly fell to her knees. It was him. He was holding a gun to Brainy's head. "I think you've had enough play time now, don't you?"
"Let him go!" she felt energy radiating off her body. He chuckled. Gold and white eyes met black and green.
"I'm afraid you're too late, Ila." suddenly Brainy was on the floor, a hole through his head.
"No!" she fell to her knees and pulled him to her chest. That's when she saw the others. Superman, Saturn, Lightning, Phantom, Triplicate, Timberwolf, Bounce, all scattered across the floor.
"This could have all been avoided, Ila." His voice came from behind her this time. She spun around and the room dissolved into a familiar dark grey room. "If you had just stayed here, played along like a good guard dog, no one else would have had to-"
"No!"
The world dissolved again and he was nowhere to be seen. There was a hand on her shoulder and she spun around ready to attack. He caught her hand.. He didn't look like anything, but she knew who it was. He was older. And she wasn't hiding anymore.
Brainy placed his hands on her shoulders, and she slowly started to reach for him.
There was a loud bang. Robyn looked down and saw a hole through his chest.
"No," another bang. "Stop it!" she pushed him away.
She opened her eyes. The air was too warm, too stale. She was dizzy. Her hands hit the walls as she tried to break through. It was too small. She couldn't breathe, she had to get out. Without thinking she charged up the laser cannon in her glove and shot a hole clean through the top of the collection machine. She climbed out and pulled herself onto the hood, hand clutching at her heart.
Not tomorrow. She had to leave tonight.
