Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice, DC, or any characters associated.
J'ann M'orzz was silent as she crept onto her Uncle's Bio-Ship. She had to get away from Mars; she was sick and tired of all the mocking and hatred she received, just because she was a White Martian. She hid in the back of her Uncle's ship and carefully shielded her mind so he would not detect her presence and waited.
After a while her Uncle finally showed up and after a short check of the ship they were off and she was away from Mars, hopefully forever. She felt a pang of sadness for what she was leaving behind, her younger also White Martian sister M'gann, but she was too young, she couldn't control her powers fully yet and so she couldn't risk bringing her with in case she accidentally revealed them too soon.
She had a plan though, hide until they reached Earth and then ask her Uncle to take her on as his protégé, since they were already at Earth he wouldn't be able to send her back, at least not for a while, and then in a few years once M'gann had complete control over her powers she could ask her Uncle to allow M'gann to come to Earth too, if not as a superhero then as a civilian just to get away from the torment they lived through on Mars.
She waited through the whole ride to Earth, making sure her Uncle never saw her, she had talked to the Bio-ship and it had decided to help her; she was sentient.
When she felt them land she waited until her Uncle left before removing the block on her mind before, suddenly, her Uncle stood before her.
"I suspected I might have had a stowaway," he said in a monotone and she flinched.
"Please Uncle J'onn, I can't go back, they just make fun of me because I'm a White Martian, please, let me stay, I'll do anything, I'll hide my powers, just please don't send me back!"
"I am sorry J'ann, but you cannot stay, not only are your parents unaware that you are here but the Justice League will not like you being here," he said and her hopes shattered as she fell to her knees, "I am sorry J'ann, I will return shortly, for now I must inform the League of the reason for my continued absence."
With those words he left and she began to cry, she simply couldn't believe it, all of her dreams of getting away from the prejudice of Mars and becoming a hero were crushed before she remembered, the Bio-ship!
Quickly she contacted her telepathically and explained the situation to her. After a moment of consideration the 'ship agreed and telepathically sent the location of a city to her before opening the bay doors and allowing her to escape to Earth.
"I wonder what Gotham City will be like?"
Roy Harper was pissed, like, really pissed. Not only had Phoenix taken away his arm and ruined his life, but they had implanted something in, not only his mind, but Chris and Ray's minds as well to control them. Dick had found out the other day when he was going through the files to discover why Chris didn't have all of the powers of Superman, although they expected he might get a few more powers as he aged. They had no idea what to do to get rid of it short of going to the League and asking the Martian to get rid of them but for now they were waiting until Ray arrived later that night so they could tell him about it and figure out what to do.
Instead of sitting around while Dick and Wally searched for ways to fix it, Chris stared off into space, and the others worried he had decided to take a walk around Gotham with his new arm. Dick and Wally had finished it about a month ago and spent the next three weeks testing it with him to make sure it worked, there were some bugs to work out still but for the most part it was like he had his arm back again, although he had to charge this one. That was the reason it had taken so long for Dick to research Chris's powers, Kat didn't have the time with covering Dick's shifts along with her own and watching Simon (not to mention she was one of the few of them that could cook although she was teaching the others) so she couldn't look through the stuff from Phoenix and none of the others could actually understand it (something they had since spent a lot of time in the library attempting to remedy).
He had announced to them that he was going for a walk and to use the communicator Robin had built if Ray arrived before he got back. They had all agreed although Kat was giving him some odd looks and about a block away from HQ he figured out why, she was following him. As they walked he grew angrier and angrier as he realized that she probably thought he was going to turn on them or something and after about half-an-hour he finally turned around and glared at the spot he knew she was and watched as she walked up to him before he pulled her into the alley.
"Why are you following me? Do you think I'm going to go report to Phoenix or something?" he hissed as he glared at her and she blinked in surprise, looking genuinely shocked.
"Why in the world would I think that? Honestly I saw you weren't taking the fact that even though Phoenix is gone they still have so much influence over your life and I was afraid you were going to go do something stupid and get yourself hurt," she stated and he blinked at her bluntness.
"What did you think I was going to do?" he asked, slowly calming down as he realized she did still trust him.
"I don't know, go beat someone up or be a smart ass to the wrong person probably," she said before blinking and leaning slightly to the left and looking over his shoulder further into the alley, "…Hi."
He whirled around and saw a girl, probably Chris's age with long dark brown hair, not as dark as Jade's though, reddish-brown eyes, pale skin, and freckles standing further in the alley.
"Hello," she said shyly and he had to blink, what the hell was she doing in the alley? She definitely wasn't a runaway since she was so shy her clothes weren't tatty.
"What are you doing?" he asked confused and she blushed slightly before looking away.
"I…kinda…live here?" she stated, more like questioned, but he was too busy wondering how she was still so shy.
"Oh…do you need a place to live?" Kat asked and he turned to look back at her incredulously before he remembered who had just spoken and sighed in exasperation and turned back to New-Girl who was blushing again and managed to stammer out.
"N…no, I'm fine."
"I don't believe you," Kat deadpanned, "come on, you can stay with us there's plenty of room and we can explain the rules on the way." She turned and led the way out of the alley New-Girl trailing behind, "what's your name anyway?"
"Umm…Joann," she said and Kat nodded before turning back to him.
"You coming Roy?" she asked and he blinked before sighing and following, that was just what Kat did, taking in Strays, it was how their family was so big.
Ray was not having a good day, he'd overslept for school, hadn't done his homework the night before because of patrol so he had gotten chewed out by his teachers twice, not to mention sprained his ankle on patrol causing Ollie to ban him from patrol for the night so he could recover. He'd already finished his homework and was plopped on the couch in front of the TV when the comm. Robin had given him went off and he saw a message asking him to come over and that it was important. He had then informed Ollie that he was going to spend the night at a friend's house before packing a bag. He had passed Ollie on the way back down who had asked the names of these friends (Dick, Wally, and Dick's sister Kat, you know the ginger and the black-haired kid with the blue eyes?) before nodding and wishing him a good time as he prepared for patrol. He had stopped by the kitchen and grabbed some food, they had some there but they always appreciated when he brought food over with him, they had a hard enough time feeding themselves especially since they had found Roy and Chris.
He snuck into the Zeta in the Arrow Cave (he still found the name retarded and Roy had laughed his ass off for a good ten minutes when he found out what Ollie had finally named the place) and quickly plugged in Dick's little device which hacked the Zeta's before pulling it out and Zeta-ing to the old telephone booth a block away from the apartment. As he walked down the street he saw Kat walking side-by-side with someone he didn't recognize while Roy trailed slightly behind the two looking exasperated and he chuckled to himself as he realized Kat had found another stray before jogging across the street to walk next to Roy.
"Who's Kat's new friend?" he asked and Roy rolled his eyes before replying, "Joann I think, honestly I don't know why she's out here, she's really shy and look at her clothes."
He did as instructed and noticed they weren't fancy, jeans a T-shirt, and a jean jacket but they were clean and not frayed.
"Hmm…maybe she hasn't been out here long?" he asked more than stated and Roy just shrugged.
"Dunno, but Kat likes her and you know Kat so here we are."
"Figures, why'd you guys call me anyways?" he asks and Roy frowns before speaking.
"It's about Phoenix and what they did to us," he says and Ray tenses, he doesn't like thinking about how he stole Roy's life even though Roy has assured him that he doesn't hate him and he's okay with what he's got, although he knows he's still rather pissed about the arm thing although he'd gotten better since Dick and Wally had finally finished his arm.
They walk in silence for the rest of the way as Kat explains the rules to Joann who nods along looking happy. When they arrive Ray keeps watch while the other three climb up before climbing up himself and pulling the ladder up afterwards. They made their way into the main apartment (where Jade and Artemis and Dick and Wally's rooms were) and after introductions and a promise that she would think about a codename they got to what they had called him for.
"There's a mental suggestion," Dick starts and Ray freezes while Roy glares and Chris looks thoughtful, "implanted in all three of your minds, if someone says a certain code-word your mind disengages and you pretty much become their slave, potentially you could give delicate information on League activities or betray us or your secret identities, you said you know the identities of a bunch of the Leaguers, that could be dangerous in the wrong hands."
He sits there still for a moment in shock, not only is he a clone but he's a potential traitor to the League, to Ollie who was kind of like an older brother, to Roy who had forgiven him for stealing his life, to the Renegades who knew what he was and had taken him in as their brother. He could betray them all, all because of stupid Phoenix.
"Can we fix it," he eventually croaks out, turning to Dick who looks apologetic as he shakes his head.
"We don't know, the only thing we could think of would be hypnosis or going to the Martian," they miss as Joann flinches, "but we're not sure if hypnosis actually works and going to the Martian would require explaining to the League and they wouldn't trust you, would probably want to experiment on Chris or something and make the rest of us either go home or go into the system. We don't know what to do, the best thing we can think of is maybe the rest of us leave and contact you after they remove the suggestion and if they don't accept the three of you then we could come break you out."
"What do you mean leave?" he asks and Kat and Dick look at each other before Kat speaks up.
"He means you, Roy, and Chris go to the League and explain while the rest of us run away, leave Gotham and find somewhere else, we don't know and we won't tell you until after they remove the mental suggestion when we contact you to see if we need to break you out. If they don't accept you or Chris or Roy we come in and break you out of their custody and find somewhere to live, somewhere without superheroes, and set up there, become their superheroes."
"Why?" Roy asks and they turn to look at him.
"Why what?" Kat asks in return and he looks up from where he was glaring at the floor.
"I can get why you're going to leave Gotham, the Martian can get where you're staying from our minds and if the Bat heard there were others playing vigilante in Gotham he would hunt you down, but why would you come get us?"
"…I thought that was obvious, you guys are part of the family, Ray may not stay here all the time and you and Chris may've only been here for a couple months but you're still one of us and we don't leave people behind. Honestly it shouldn't be that hard, we hack their systems easy enough, if we loop the cameras a bit and make sure no one sees us we can sneak in and out before they realize we're even there. Then we erase the coordinates from the system and they'll never know where we went, if they don't get an approximation apart from "no superheroes" then I doubt they'll be able to find us, the world's a big place."
"Wait, are we really going to go through with this?" Wally asks, "I mean; I know we need to get the mental suggestion out of your head but are we really just going to abandon HQ? Are you really sure we're going to be able to find a place just as good as this? And what about crime rates? If we go somewhere too good we'll stick out, if we go somewhere too bad we could end up dead or something. Plus what about food and shelter, I doubt we'll be able to find somewhere as good as here, at least not empty."
"I know, but we need to get them removed, its better the good guys know about us than the bad ones. Honestly, Phoenix could be working for the bad guys and if word gets out that we exist that could lead some…less desirable people here, Jade and Artemis's father for one, people who would want to use us for another, honestly, if they can make mental suggestions in their minds who's to say they couldn't kidnap us and brainwash us into working for them. With the Justice Friends at least they won't resort to kidnapping. Worst case scenario from them would be they want to send us into the system or back home; although, thinking back on it if we tell them what kind of homes we come from they probably wouldn't send us back. Best case scenario? Wally would probably go live with his uncle, Roy and Ray would probably go live with Arrow-head, Chris would probably go live with the Boy-scout, and they would probably want to keep an eye on the rest of us to make sure we wouldn't go back to 'the life of crime' so we would probably end up in half-way decent homes, hell, maybe even end up side-kicks or something."
"We were partners," Ray and Roy say in unison and Kat and Jade look at them before responding (also in unison) "whatever you say cowboys."
"And I was referring to the Aqua-kids," Kat adds referring to Aquaman's new protégé's Aquagirl and Aqualad.
"Umm, I might be able to help," Joann says timidly and everyone turns to look at her.
"What do you mean," Dick asks in curiosity and she looks around at them, not judgmental, just curious before taking a deep breath…and turning green.
They all blink in surprise before Artemis speaks, "well…that was…unexpected."
They all nod in agreement and Joann blushes red before speaking, "m…my na….name is J'ann M'orzz, I'm Martian Manhunter's niece. The people on my planet…they didn't really…like me, they said I was different…"
"Why?" Chris asks and she looks up scared and Jade frowns a little.
"Joann, we've only known you for a little while but there is nothing you can say that will make us turn on you…well unless you're some sort of serial killer who likes to kill people but I doubt that," Joann laughs a little at that and Jade smiles a little in victory before continuing, "anyways, we wouldn't know what was normal for Mars or not, it'll probably all be weird and we'll just accept it and move on. That's how we work or have you not been told what we are? Me and my sister are the daughters of two infamous assassins, Kaldur is the son of a well-known supervillain, Ray and Chris are clones, Simon, Kat, and Wally are Metas, Dick's a gypsy, and Jason's a street-rat, we aren't normal in any sense of the word so we really can't judge. Who knows? Maybe weird on Mars is normal on Earth and they'll get mocked for what they are."
Joann takes a deep breath before rushing out, "I'maWhiteMartian."
They all blink at her before Kat starts laughing.
"Oh my gosh, Jade you were totally right!"
"What? I don't get it?" Joann says confused and Jade speaks again.
"Not so very long ago here on Earth it was considered weird if you weren't white, there's equality now and it doesn't matter what color you are although if you're green you'll get funny looks and immediately labelled weird."
Joann blinks, "are you serious?"
Those who know their history nod and Joann huffs a little laugh, "wow, I didn't expect people to accept me so easily."
"Joann, I just want you to know that there's people out there who won't accept you. We do and we don't care what kind of Martian you are; hell, we don't care that you are Martian but there are going to be people out there who won't like you because of that and I don't want you to go out expecting everyone to be okay with what you are alright?" Kat says and Joann looks over at her with a sad smile.
"I figured there're always people who won't accept you just because you're different. But…I've never been accepted by anyone at all, everyone looked down on me at home because I wasn't green and to have anyone, anyone at all accept me is just…amazing. The only other person I have…had was my sister M'gann, she was a White Martian too but I had to leave her behind because she wasn't trained, she should be ready in a couple years though and maybe she can figure out a way to get here too."
"How'd you get here anyways?" Jason asks and she blushes before ducking her head.
"I might've snuck onto my Uncle's ship when he came to Mars last time, I had planned on him letting me be his protégé or something but he wouldn't let me, he was going to send me back to Mars and I just…I couldn't go back so I asked the Bio-ship and she let me go and gave me the directions to this city, I guess it's a city my Uncle doesn't come to a lot or something so he won't find me."
"You snuck onto Martian Manhunter's ship?" Dick asks incredulously and she nods her head meekly and he breaks into a giant smile, "WICKED!"
"So you really think you can get the mental suggestion out of our heads?" Ray asks and she turns to him with a smile.
"Yup! I believe the human saying is 'it'll be a piece of cake'!"
"Let's get started then!"
It took her three hours, one hour for each of them, to find and get rid of the mental suggestions. When it was over they each admitted that they felt a little different though they couldn't really describe it. The next item on their list of things to do then came up and they all returned to their spots in the living room.
"So what do you want your codename to be Joann?" Dick asked from his spot upside down on the couch in between Wally and Artemis. Jade and Ray were sitting on the loveseat while Joann, Chris, and Kaldur each had their own arm-chair. Jason was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Wally like Kat was perched on the arm of Roy's armchair and Simon sat at the coffee table coloring.
"I don't know, I never really thought about it."
"Hey maybe we could do something to play off your Uncle's name," Wally said and they all though about it.
"Yeah, but nothing with Martian in it, we don't want to be too obvious," Kat added in and Artemis wrinkled her nose.
"Manhunter? I don't know about you guys but she doesn't really look like a Manhunter to me."
"Womanhunter's kinda long though," Jason said.
"What about Girlhunter," Chris said and they thought about it before turning to Joann.
"Whaddya think, wanna be Girlhunter of the Renegades?" Jade asked and she smiled.
"I like it!"
"Welcome to the Renegades Girlhunter," Kate said with a smirk, "you're a part of the family now."
"I think that's one of the scariest things I've ever heard you say Kat," Jason said and Kat glared at him.
"You better be glad there aren't any pillows Hood."
A/N: Yay! Next chapter and it's on time at a halfway decent hour (where I am anyways). So, I may or may not be posting a crack-chapter this weekend, depends on if I get enough time to type it up if not I'll post it with the regular chapter next week. Until then,
~Miss Claw