HomeFront
Disclaimer- I own no rights to Young Justice or its characters. Only own Shade and plot changes.
Italics-telepathic communication
Shade's POV
It's the second week of school and I was leaning against a pillar overlooking the front of the school searching through the groups of people crowding around the area for a single person.
Finally I spotted the person I'd been searching for as they walked through the gates and stood in the front courtyard. She fiercely pulled on her skirt trying to make it longer just like I've done countless times.
I grinned and walked over to her as she continued to tug "you might as well give up on the tugging it won't stretch, trust me I've tried to force it for the past two years of my life" I said laughing.
Artemis spun around and looked at me surprised. "Dawn? What are you doing here?"
"Well since this is my school I believe I should be the one asking you that question," I said putting a hand on my jutted out hip.
"You go here?" she asked.
I raised an eyebrow "I'm pretty sure I just said that. I guess your ears aren't as sharp as your eyes Arty."
She folded her arms in irritation, but a small smile crept onto her face as I looked over her shoulder and saw Bette walk around the corner and start heading in our direction."
"Well it seems like the official welcome wagon's arrived so I wish you luck on your first day and I'll see you later tonight" I said giving her a hug.
"We can leave school together and go to the cave afterwards" she offered.
"On any another day I'd agree in a heart beat, but unfortunately I'm leaving early today so that won't work. It just so happens that my last period teacher decided to make her class an optional study session so I decided to skip and go to the cave early, but we can definitely leave together tomorrow. I'll meet up with you at the cave tonight and then you can tell me all about your first day at Gotham Academy, good luck!" I said giving her a thumbs up as Bette walked up and introduced herself as Artemis' student liaison. I returned to the pillar I was leaning on earlier and stood against it.
"Dick if you want that picture you might want to hurry up before she leaves the courtyard or see's and recognizes you," I said without looking at him.
"Don't worry I'm going" he said briskly walking out from behind the pillar towards Artemis. He draped his arm around her shoulder and pulled out his tiny camera saying, "we'll laugh about this someday" before taking the photo.
Artemis was temporarily blinded by the flash providing Dick with enough time to slip out and hide behind the pillar before Artemis could regain her wits. She whipped around searching for him, but quickly gave up when Bette ushered her away to her first class.
"You get it," I asked turning to face him.
"It hurts to hear you doubt my skills Dawn. Of course I got it" he grinned victoriously showing me the photo.
I laughed and hooked my arm through his "Ah this year is going to be so much fun, I can just feel it."
(break line)
After the 6th period bell rang I expertly weaved and squeezed through people down the hall trying to get to my locker as fast as humanly possible. I'd already told Dick that I was going to the cave early and would just meet him at the cave later.
I grabbed my backpack and rushed out the doors of the school. I ran to Bruce's house, said a quick hello to Zaphira and Alfred before changing into my Shade uniform.
We've been training Zaphira for the past few weeks and she is now ready to be;' an official part of the team. She'll be able to join the team on a mission real soon, which I'm thrilled about.
I flew down to the cave and teleported to the mountain. The computer announced my arrival as I walked through the zeta tubes.
I flew through the halls searching for one of my teammates when I came up behind Wally walking down the hall happily munching on a sandwich. I silently snuck up and tackled him in a hug making him shout out in shock, drop his sandwich, and twirl around ready to attack. I quickly stepped back and caught his sandwich before it could fall to the floor.
"Whoa chill there tiger it's just me" I yelled holding up my hands.
"Dawn! God don't sneak up on me like that, you know I hate it when you do the ninja thing" he grumbled snatching the sandwich from my hand.
I laughed and flew up to his shoulders plopping myself down on them. He brought the hand that wasn't holding his sandwich up to my knee to stabilize me so I wouldn't fall off, even though that wouldn't happen in a million years.
"You comfy up there" he asked sarcastically continuing to walk down the hall towards the hangar.
"Yep very comfy, thanks for asking" I joked leaning my chin on the top of his head.
Once we were almost to the hangar Sphere speed past us not stopping to give either of us a chance to say hello.
"Wonder why she's in such a rush," I said as Wally walked into the hangar. We walked up the steps and saw Megan and Conner standing by his motorcycle looking down at Sphere.
"Hey guys, you two sure spend a lot of time working on his bike. Obviously you need the Wall-man's expert help" Wally said as I jumped off his shoulders.
Conner and Megan looked at each other knowingly and patted Sphere thanking her for warning them that we were coming.
I walked up to Conner and gave him a hug before giving Megan one as well. I pulled away, but paused as I caught sight of Conner's face. I squinted looking closely and noticed that Conner had a slight shimmer to his lips like there was…lip-gloss on them.
I raised an eyebrow and looked at Megan noticing her lips had the same shimmer to them, but hers had more like she'd put it on herself.
I grinned putting the pieces together and internal squealed with joy "I so called it" I screamed in my head.
I leaned over to whisper in Megan's ear knowing Conner would still hear it since he had super hearing "once we're alone you two have some serious explaining to do on why I wasn't immediately notified when you two became an official couple."
Megan blushed and nodded, but Conner just grinned to himself.
Wally walked over to the motorcycle and started working on it oblivious to our conversation. Wally was surprisingly really good with vehicles, which is the only reason Conner actually let him work on his bike. KF was working underneath the motorcycle when Aqualad walked up. I was standing beside Conner watching Wally work.
"Torque wrench" he called out and Megan floated the tool into his hands. "
Thank you green cheeks," he responded flirtatiously.
I rolled my eyes and laughed to myself thinking about how Wally was going to take the news when he found out Megan was already taken.
"I have been meaning to ask, any problems juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?" Aqualad asked everyone.
"No" Conner answered folding his arms.
"Juggling's just one of my many talents" Wally answered cockily before asking for a socket wrench which Megan provided.
"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge. Oh but my first loyalty is always to the team…this team, not the bumblebees" she quickly clarified seeing Aqualad's raised eyebrow.
"And you Dawn" Aqualad asked.
I shrugged "school's difficult and time-consuming, but nothing I can't handle."
"Artemis starts school today, do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?" Aqualad asked.
"Ok something's up with Aqualad today" I thought to myself. "He's acting like he's conducting an interrogation by playing good cop and asking us questions about our life to make it look like he cared, when he really didn't."
Surprisingly it was Wally who stood up for Artemis "Nah, she'll manage all right," he said standing up from underneath the motorcycle. "I mean how much more hostile and annoying can-"
BOOM!
Wally was cut off by an explosion going off blowing up the wall next to us which sent us flying through the air.
I skidded across the floor and moaned in pain from the impact. I quickly picked myself up from the floor and flew over to KF and Superboy as a huge wave of water sprang up and flew towards them. I threw out my hand deflecting the water, but was met with some resistance like someone was controlling the water on the other end. I focused on keeping the water at bay as more and more water rose up to push against me.
I felt heat coming from behind me and turned my head to see a wave of fire being thrown at my team. I threw out my other hand and multitasked on keeping the fire and water away so they wouldn't hit my friends. I was able to keep the two elements away from my team but unfortunately in order to do that the water and fire surrounded us cramming us into a small circle.
"Guys this isn't regular fire and water, someone's controlling them. I'm meeting some resistance from the elements like their trying to decide whom their going to obey, and right now I'm loosing. I'm trying to control both elements so I can't put all my focus into pushing back one or the other" I said as the water and fire closed in on us.
"Just keep it up a little longer Shade we'll figure out whose behind this and stop them" Wally encouraged as Megan flew up to see if she could see who we were fighting, but flew back in the circle to avoid a fire blast coming her way.
"I can't fly out" she said shuffling over to the side with more water than fire to escape the heat of the flames. I pushed harder against the wall of water and fire and made the area around us larger giving us more space.
All of a sudden a red android came out of the water and tackled me around the waist pushing me back into the water on the other side.
"Help!" I managed to scream before being dragged into the water. I thrashed against my attacker and tried to command the water around me to help but it wasn't responding to me anymore. The android had gained full control over the water.
I wiggled and twisted trying to escape his grip but he wouldn't let go. He held me under the water until my lungs screamed for air and my body went slightly limp from lack of energy and just before I was about to pass out the water surrounding us receded.
The android released me and I fell to the ground gasped for air and choking up water. Usually I can breath under water like its normal air, but this water just felt...wrong. It burned when I tried to breath it in like it was rejecting to work for my body. I probably have the android to thank for that.
My vision stopped swimming and I was slowly getting my energy back, but I wasn't able to enjoy it long before the android grabbed me by the hair and slammed me into the wall knocking what little air I had obtained out of me. He released my hair and let me fall to the ground with a groan.
I faintly heard Wally scream my name in the background as I collided with the ground. I looked up to see Wally and Conner trapped in some weird metallic goo that had hardened around them making it impossible for them to move.
Sphere was stuck in the wall and her lights were dimmed like she was replenishing her energy. Aqualad and Megan were above me on the platform over looking the entire hangar trapped in a cage made of fire. A female android was standing close to their cage watching everything from up high.
I took a second to get a good look at the androids and realized they looked a lot like Red Tornado. The male android was a little bulkier than RT and had a different decorative design on his body but other than that he could've been RT's twin. The female was basically the women version of RT. She was slim and curvy with fire cascading down her back as her representation of hair.
"Since when did RT get siblings?" I thought shaking my head to clear it.
I struggled to stand, but the male android put his heavy metal foot on my back slamming me back into the ground to keep me from moving. I screamed out in pain as my body painfully collided with the ground.
My teammates looked at me concerned and struggled vigorously against their restraints as the android reached down and grabbed me by the neck. He picked me up until I was eye level with him. My feet were dangling above the ground making it hard to breath. I kicked fiercely trying to break free, but he wasn't affected since he's made of metal and couldn't feel my kicks.
"Let go of me you stupid overgrown water gun," I yelled spreading my hands to split the earth underneath him so he fell through the floor until he was chest deep. He lost his grip as he slide into the ground and I fell on my back. I scrambled up from the floor and rolled to the side avoiding the fire blasts thrown at me by the female android.
I flew up into the air and threw a blast of air knocking her into the wall. I put my hand up to my ear activating my earpiece to contact the League, but all I got was static.
"Uh great the androids must be scrambling our signals," I groaned to myself as I flew over to Aqualad. I was almost to their cage when Aqualad yelled out for me to watch out, but it was already too late. The female flew over, grabbed me around the waist and dived down.
"Of course they can fly too, that's just great" I grumbled while trying to escape her grasp.
She flew me into the ground and straddled my waist to keep me pinned. The male android broke his way out of the hole I'd put him in and walked over to help his partner. He pinned my hands above my head so I couldn't use them while the other pinned my legs so I couldn't kick them off.
"Let go of me you stupid hunks of scrap metal," I growled as the male forced my hands together and pulled me into the air by my wrists. I tried to kick him away but he'd learned from our first encounter and kept me at a safe distance so I couldn't reach him.
His partner flew over to the corner of the room and grabbed two long chains and two weird blocks of metal. She placed the blocks of metal over my hands and when they came in contact with my skin they melted over my hands molding around them so I couldn't move my hands to use my powers. It wrapped and slithered around my hands until they were completely covered in metal before hardening into solid cuffs. The metal was the same material caging Wally and Conner to the floor.
The android forced my hands above my head and small loops formed on the top of each cuff. They wrapped a chain through the loops and the male grabbed the ends of the chain while the other flew up to the ceiling with two extra blocks of metal. She placed the metal on the ceiling and they formed two sturdy chain holders. She flew down and grabbed my chains from her partner before flying back up dragging me with her.
"Hey I don't like being man handled," I yelled thrashing around. My struggling was ignored and my chains were wrapped in the chain holders. She made sure they were tight and secure before floating away.
My arms were shoulder width apart and I was hanging by the cuffs but they weren't extremely tight so I wasn't in pain while I hung from the ceiling. Luckily the ceiling wasn't very high and the chains were long so I was still close enough to the floor to talk to my teammates, but high enough to see where everyone and everything was in the room.
"You ok Shade" Wally asked looking up as far as his restraints would allow him.
I swung on my chains to see if they would break, but they held firm so I gave up.
I growled in frustration and stopped swinging before answering, "If you call being helplessly chained to the ceiling ok then yeah, I'm just peachy."
I took a deep breath and calmed my nerves so I could assess the situation with a clear head. Megan was unconscious in Aqualad's lap; she'd passed out because of the heat coming from the fire cage she was in.
Aqualad was sweating but other than being a little hot he seemed fine. He'd be ok for a couple of hours as long as the cage didn't grow any larger. Wally and Conner were on the ground in their metal prisons trying to break free, but were having little success.
I looked down at the androids as they stood on the edge of the platform looking down at their handy work.
"You know if someone's going to attack me in my own home I'd at least like the courtesy of knowing who I'm fighting" I said as they turned to me.
It was the male who answered my question "I am Red Torpedo" he said before pointing to his partner "and this is Red Inferno."
"Red Torpedo, Red Inferno, and Red Tornado. Huh, all they need now is a sibling that can control earth and then they'll have a complete set" I muttered to myself before widening my eyes in realization.
"Crap! I just jinxed myself. I take it back, the world doesn't need a crazy earth-controlling android sibling running around. Nope that wouldn't be good at all," I thought quickly.
I tried to think of a way to escape my cuffs when a light bulb went off in my head and I had a sudden revelation. "Oh no, Robin and Artemis will be coming to the cave any minute now cause they have no idea that the cave's been compromised. I need to warn them before they come to the cave. If they can stay out they can contact the League and ask for back up."
I closed my eyes and opened the link to contact Robin.
"Rob, Robin are you there!" I called out in my head
"Hey Dawn you called me right as I'm teleporting into the cave so give me ten seconds and I'll come to you."
"No wait Rob don't come to the cave, it's not safe. I repeat do not come to the cave we've been attacked! We've been compromised" I yelled trying to warn him but it was too late.
"Robin B01" the computer announced his arrival as he teleported into the cave. The Reds ran down the hall towards the zeta tubes to capture Robin and Artemis.
"Robin listen to me you have to run, the cave's been attacked and the enemies coming for you as we speak. You can't let them capture you, you have to leave now," I screamed in his head.
I heard fireballs and the sound of water swirling in the distance right as Artemis' arrival was announced.
The Reds found them, I warned them too late.
"Hey guys as you know Robin and Artemis are here. I couldn't warn them in time to keep them from entering the cave. I'll keep in contact with Rob to help them out as much as I can from here" I whispered down to my team.
They nodded and Aqualad turned to me going into leader mode "good if anything important happens inform us if you can, but your first priority is to help our teammates without tipping off the enemy. You're our only connection to them since Megan is incapable of establishing a link at the moment."
"Understood Aqualad" I said before trying to contact Robin again.
"Rob can you hear me? Where are you? Are you guys ok?"
"Artemis and I managed to lose the enemy by disappearing in the air vents. Now if you don't mind could you please enlighten me on whom the enemy is? I couldn't get a good look at them since the room was full of smoke. I could only tell that it was a man and a female from the outlines of their shadows."
"We were attacked by two androids who could practically be RT's twins they look so much alike…well you know, if RT was a girl. Anyways the same person that created RT must've created them or had the same designs. The male calls himself Red Torpedo and he has the ability to control water. The girl goes by the name Red Inferno and she controls fire. Their powers are strong. When they attacked I had a difficult time taking control of the elements away from them. I had to settle for using the other two elements to give myself an advantage and even that wasn't enough."
"Since when does RT have siblings?" Robin asked confused.
I shrugged as best I could with my hands chained to the ceiling "beats me, I thought Red was born an only child…or should I say created since he's an android? You know what never mind that's beside the point."
"Ok so getting back to the matter at hand how are you? Are you hurt? Injured? How's the rest of the team, where is everyone?" Robin spat out question after question not giving me a chance to answer.
"Robin! You've got to slow down; you keep asking me questions but you're not giving me time to answer them. Now no I'm not hurt or injured and I'm with the rest of the team in the main hangar. Everyone's ok for the most part, but we've all been captured and restrained. Megan's unconscious which is why she didn't answer if you tried to contact her earlier and Aqualad's with her trapped in a cage made of fire keeping them subdued for now.
Wally and Conner are trapped in these weird metal encasings on the ground, but are otherwise unhurt. As for me my hands are covered in metal cuffs and I'm chained to the ceiling. I lasted the longest in the fight because of my ability to control the elements, which kept the Reds at bay for a while, but together they were able to overpower me."
"They chained you to the ceiling?" Robin said in disbelief.
I rolled my eyes and scoffed "Of course that's all you heard from that long explanation I just gave you and yes I'm chained to the ceiling don't act so surprised" I snapped in irritation. If I could I would've folded my arms, but that was basically impossible at the moment. I grumbled as I heard Robin's soft laugh fill my head.
I looked down when I heard heavy footsteps and saw Red Inferno walk back into the room without Torpedo. He must still be searching for Robin and Artemis. Torpedo obviously wasn't able to find them because a few minutes later his voice boomed through the speakers of the cave "attention Robin, attention Artemis. You have exactly 10 minutes to surrender or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished."
After Torpedo turned off the speakers Inferno walked over to the fire cage and made the fire bigger causing Aqualad to wince from the heat and pull Megan closer to his chest to block her from the heat as best he could. Torpedo walked out of the water by Wally and Conner and lifted his hand making the water rise to their chests. The Reds looked up and I smirked down at them.
"Sorry to disappoint but that won't work on me. I'm impervious to fire and I'll just use my telekinesis to push the water away from me," I taunted as Inferno flew up to face me. She pulled her fist back and quickly brought it forward painfully punching me in the gut. I gasped but kept a small grin on my face not wanting to show them how much that hurt.
"I guess you can still do that, that works too," I muttered lowly coughing to regain my breath from the hit.
"8 minutes" Torpedo announced walking back under the water. A couple of seconds later I saw Robin and Artemis surface in the water below coughing and gagging. I noticed Inferno throwing a fireball at them and yelled out to warn them.
They went under the water right before the fireball hit and swam over to KF and Conner.
"You guys ok?" Robin asked them.
"Forget us. Help M'gann" Conner yelled. Everyone looked up at Megan concerned.
Artemis' eyes dimmed "Aqualad is she ok."
"She is unconscious. I fear she…we cannot survive much longer" Aqualad answered panting lightly. I noticed that he was sweating a lot more than he was before and was hunched over like he didn't have enough energy to sit up straight.
Robin looked up and our eyes met "you ok Dawn" he asked through the link.
I nodded "I'm fine Rob you just focus on keeping yourself safe."
Robin shook his head and spoke with determination "we're a team Dawn, one for all and all for one remember. I'm not leaving or stopping until we're all safe."
I smiled and nodded in understanding "then you take em down and take em down hard. Show them why they should never have messed with us." Robin grinned and gave me a thumbs up.
"Artemis, Robin look out," I yelled warning them just in time for them to avoid a fireball. They swam over to the stairs and ran up but were cornered with an android on both sides.
"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis said getting her bow ready.
"Distract her now" Robin ordered before running down the steps toward Red Torpedo. Artemis fired a smoke arrow at Red Inferno and ran down to Robin as he threw two batarangs at the android. They bounced off of his chest and one stuck itself in the metal next to Wally's face making him yelp in surprise. The other whizzed towards me and imbedded itself in the rock beside my head. Robin and Artemis dived into the water and swam away to avoid the androids attacks.
I looked up at the batarang and grinned noticing that it was a communication batarang.
"That sneaky little bird" I thought smirking.
"You know I love it when you actually do something smart" I said to him. "How are you and Artemis?" I asked getting serious again.
"She's a little freaked out about taking down the Reds so I told her our motto" he replied. I smirked knowing what phrase he was talking about. It was the motto we used when one of us needed to calm the other in a stressful or dangerous situation.
"Get traught or get dead," I said.
"Get traught or get dead," Robin confirmed.
I couldn't see him saying the motto, but it was still nice to hear. I could already feel my body relaxing hearing him say it. That was the one thing that can always calm me down in almost any situation. As I thought about this Robin had an idea and hit his forehead for being so stupid.
"Uh duh their machines and one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range," Robin said although this time I heard him through the batarang communicator.
"Great" I heard Artemis say sarcastically "except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt because I know I don't have one in my quiver."
"I'm fresh out," Robin admitted "but I'm betting we can make one. What do you say KF? Doable?"
"Totally doable" K.F said smiling now that a plan was forming.
"5 minutes" Red Torpedo announced through the speakers.
"You know if you had more time," Wally said loosing some of his earlier enthusiasm.
Robin and Artemis went to the med lab and Wally walked them through step-by-step instructions on how to make an EMP since he was the science nerd.
"Med lab, X-ray machine. You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high-energy pulses. Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from X-rays to EMP's with the cascading energy vector directed outwards" he explained quickly and Robin did as instructed.
"A ripple effect, like dropping a stone in a pond" Robin said in understanding.
"A stone with 10 to the 12th power of wattage, yeah" Wally agreed making me laugh to myself.
"So I'll need to hook it up to the cave's main generator" Robin announced and I lost my grin knowing he'd have to come to the hangar to do that.
We quickly formed a plan and waited for Robin's signal. "Okay make with the distraction," he said through the communicator.
"Hey Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend Red Onion" Wally yelled grabbing the androids attention.
"Yeah and by the way worst death trap ever. We can escape any time we want" Conner added.
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two" Wally taunted.
"Yeah" I cut in "I could escape these cuffs whenever I feel like it, but I'm having too much fun watching you think you're in control. It's absolutely hilarious that you think you've won," I laughed for affect.
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Robin slide down to the main generator and start hooking up the EMP.
"And you can't drown a Kryptonian dumb bots, we don't breathe air" Conner yelled.
Wally laughed "and Miss Martian I can't believe your buying her act."
"Rerouting power now" Robin informed hacking into the system.
"Yeah you know how hot it gets in the caves of Mars?" I yelled.
"It's not working" Robin whispered frustrated.
"That cage is just making her homesick" Conner said.
"Duh!" KF and I drawled at the same time.
"The circuits incomplete. I need…something conductible. A piece of metal or- " Robin's ranting was interrupted by Artemis screaming his name.
He looked up just in time to see a massive wave of water crash into him. Artemis fired an arrow at Torpedo, but Inferno threw a fireball at her causing her to miss the shot to avoid getting hit. She turned and ran back into the vents to come up with another plan.
I frantically searched the room for Robin and choked up when Torpedo lifted a stream of water in the air with Robin inside. He was limp, his eyes were closed and his mouth was hanging open. I didn't see his chest moving so it looked like he'd…drowned. Torpedo released control of the water and let Robin fall to the ground in a heap.
I struggled against my restraints with new vigor and cried out "ROBIN!"
What I didn't realize was that my eyes were starting to glow and my powers started to go into overdrive. I pushed down the full power of the crystal not wanting to unleash its power and destroy the cave so instead I let the extra energy flow into my elemental powers making them get a temporary upgrade. When in this state my powers are multiplied ten times over and apparently I don't have to use my hands to use my powers. Conner and Aqualad looked up at me in shock since they'd never seen me in this state before. I wonder what they'd say if I told them this wasn't anywhere near how bad I could get.
I yelled out in anger and felt the wind violently swirl around me and slash my chains and cuffs to bits making my fall towards the water. I fell through the air and landed on the water in a crouch like it was solid ground. I picked myself out of my crouch and started running almost Wally fast on the water over to the androids.
I jumped up bringing a wave of water with me and slammed it into Red Inferno sending her flying into the wall. I stomped my foot on the floor and sent a ripple through the rock sending Torpedo flying into the air. I flew up at record-breaking speed so I was above Torpedo as he flew up into the air.
I brought my hands above my hand and clenched them together bringing them down on his chest as he flipped up to me and hit him with the strength of hurricane winds backing up my punch. He pummeled into the water like slamming into a solid wall creating a wave in the water from the impact. I lifted my hands and created whips of water to wrap themselves around the androids waists bringing them up to my eye level in the air before freezing the water whips.
I leaned down and glowered at them "No one and I mean no one hurts Robin or my team without personally dealing with me and trust me you don't want to see me angry. I held back earlier but now, now you've gone and pissed me off! You really shouldn't have done that!"
I lifted my hand and slowly clenched it together slowly crunching their metal and creating large dents in their bodies. While one hand was focused on slowly crushing their bodies I lifted my other hand and broke off a hug chunk of rock from the wall. I waved my hand across my chest and threw the rock into the androids sending them flying across the room and into the opposite wall. I returned my hands to my sides, but the wind continued to violently whip around me causing my hair to fly around wildly and my eyes continued to glow.
"Shade you can calm down now" KF yelled above the wind trying to calm me down, but it didn't work. I was too consumed and overcome by my powers and emotions. KF thought quickly trying to think of something that would calm me down and then had an idea.
"Shade remember your motto get traught or get dead!" he yelled.
I looked down at KF and my anger slowly evaporated. That phrase broke through my walls and brought me back to the real world. The wind died down, my eyes stopped glowing, and I slowly floated back to the ground beside Aqualad's cage.
I looked down at KF and he nodded at me knowing I was thanking him without having to say it. I turned to Aqualad and was about to free him when the same rock I'd thrown into the androids earlier hit me in the side knocking me to the ground.
I looked up my eyesight swimming and saw the Reds walking over. They were banged up and dented all over. Some of their wires were even protruding from their bodies and they walked with a slight limp as parts of their legs were broken or twisted, but they were still functional.
"Uh stupid androids! I knew I should've checked to make sure I crushed you when I had the chance" I muttered as they walked up.
Red Torpedo picked me up from the ground and Red Inferno punched me in the gut hard as pay back for throwing them into the wall. Torpedo slammed me into the ground a couple of times before kicking me in the side sending me rolling across the platform. I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from screaming in pain, but that was hard to do when every breath I took made me feel like I was sending a hot iron down my throat and chest.
Torpedo stalked over and picked me up by the hair before punching me in the face knocking me unconscious and let me drop to the ground. Before I passed out I saw my teammates watch me fall to the ground worried and screaming my name.
(line)
"Shade, Shade! Dawn can you hear me. Please Dawn answer me" I heard a familiar voice yell while shaking my shoulder. I groaned and blinked my eyes open.
My vision was blurry and it took a couple of seconds before I was able to see clearly, but once it cleared up I saw Robin leaning over me his face inches from mine eyes filled with concern and worry as he looked down at me. His eyes twinkled with relief when he saw my eyes open.
"Robin? Robin!" I yelled excited and sprang up smothering him in a hug sending him falling on his back with me on top of him.
"Oh thank god I thought you were…you were…" I couldn't bring myself to finish that sentence. Robin lifted himself up so he was leaning on his elbows with me slightly leaning on him while sitting on his knee.
"Shh it's ok Dawn I'm fine. What about you? You've got a nasty bruise on the side of your face and when I came over you were having trouble breathing and weren't responsive when I called your name. You had me worried," Robin said staring at the bruise.
"I'm fine just a little exhausted from my power overdrive and my ribs hurt like hell. The Reds probably bruised them, they sure do pack a punch," I admitted finally feeling the pain from my ribs and the exhaustion from the day's events as the adrenaline wore off.
"Power overdrive? What are you talking about?" he asked.
"When I thought you were…dead I freaked out and my powers responded by going into overdrive. The power of the crystal wanted to surface but I wouldn't allow that to happen since I probably would've destroy the cave if I did, so I let the extra energy flow into my elemental powers. I broke free of my restraints and attacked the Reds, but I made the stupid mistake of not checking to make sure they were destroyed before turning to help me friends and while I was distracted they snuck up on me. They beat me up a little before knocking me unconscious.
I've noticed that when my powers go into overdrive like that I get really tired since I use up a lot of my energy. I'm sure you can see my awesome display of power on the camera feed later" I said trying to stand but my legs protested and buckled underneath me.
Robin caught me before I could hit the floor, but I gasped in pain as his arm hit my side. He quickly removed his arm from my side as I brought a hand to where his arm used to be.
"Ok that hurt more than I thought it would. Stupid over grown water gun's kicks are no joke" I joked trying to lighten the mood while staying still so I wouldn't agitate my ribs anymore.
Robin looked at me with concern and whispered a soft sorry as he brought an arm under my knees while putting the other under my back to pick me up bridal style.
I scrunched up my eyebrows as my ribs screamed in protest but the sharp pain went away as I settled in his arms.
"Robin you know I hate when you do this, I can walk just fine on my own" I complained trying to step down, but I didn't have enough energy to fight him.
"You know you're too stubborn for your own good Dawn. You obviously can't walk and I'm not going to let you fall down these steps just so you to injure yourself even more, so I'm carrying you. You won't look weak if you let me help you down the steps you know" Robin said carrying me down the steps.
When we got to the bottom of the steps I saw Megan had her arm around Aqualad's shoulder for support and was holding Conner's hand.
"So what happened when you got hit by Torpedo's wave and who got the EMP working?" I asked Robin as he walked.
"Artemis pretended to surrender, but surprised everyone by shooting an arrow in the exact spot where the EMP needed a piece of metal causing the EMP to work and shut down the Reds. As for me I figured my only shot was to 'surrender' and pretend to drown before I actually did…blacked out though" he shrugged and I punched him lightly in the arm.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again?" I told him seriously "you almost gave me a heart attack."
He smiled sheepishly "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, but it comes with the job Dawn you know that. I can't promise that it won't happen again all I can say is that next time I'll be more careful.
"That's all I can ask for," I said turning to the team as we got closer.
"Dawn that was so cool what you did back there to the Reds. A little scary, but still cool" Wally said as Robin walked up to join the rest of the group.
"Yeah Dawn where did that come from? Its like your powers became a hundred times more powerful" Conner said raising an eyebrow.
I smiled shyly "yeah I'm sorry about that. I kind of snapped and my powers went a little crazy. I'm sorry if I freaked you out" I said looking down at the ground.
Robin gently placed me back on the ground and loosely wrapped his arm around my waist to keep me steady, but was mindful not to hurt my sides anymore. I leaned into his chest so I wouldn't collapse.
Aqualad placed a tender hand on my shoulder "you didn't freak us out Dawn we were just surprised. What you did was nothing to be ashamed of, your powers are growing and that's something to be proud of" he said trying to cheer me up.
"Yeah" KF said nodding in agreement.
"Being powerful is cool and all, but I was almost unable to control it. If it wasn't for Wally I don't know if I would've been able to stop myself from continuing" I said lowly. "What's the point of having all this power if I'm only going to hurt people with it."
"All you need is a little practice and we'll work on it together, as a team. You're not in this alone Dawn" Artemis reassured making me smile when everyone nodded in agreement.
"You guys are the best," I said grateful for my friends support.
Once our sentimental moment was over everyone went back to normal. Artemis started fiddling with the ray gun in her hand that was going to be used to free Wally and Conner.
"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already" Wally yelled at her.
"It's not working genius. EMP shuts down all machines remember?" she snapped back.
"All machines present at the time" Red Tornado interjected making me jump slightly as he flew in.
"What has occurred" he asked looking at the damage.
"Had a little visit from your family" Robin answered looking at the disabled Reds.
"Your extremely nasty family" Artemis clarified putting her hands on her hips.
"I was not aware I had relations" RT said walking over to his "siblings."
"Where have you been?" Conner asked.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower. When it became clear cave communications were down I attempted to investigate, but your zeta tubes were also nonfunctional. I transported to providence and proceeded here," Tornado answered crouching down next to Inferno.
Sphere beeped from the hole in the wall and was finally was able to pull herself free. She jumped over to Superboy and beeped excitedly.
"Hey, boy" SB greeted.
"I'm telling you Superboy Sphere's a girl," I corrected and he rolled his eyes.
The ray gun Artemis was holding in her hands suddenly fired and Robin and Wally looked at each other eyes wide "the pulse has worn off" they said.
It was then that RT flew up and started sucking the air out of the room. I clutched my throat struggling to breath. I collapsed beside Robin and once again blacked out.
(break line)
"Shade. Shade can you hear me" someone said trying to wake me up.
"Talk about déjà vu" I thought blinking my eyes open. This time though instead of Robin it was Batman who was standing over me in concern. Robin was standing next to Batman looking down at me.
"Ok seriously how many times am I going to be knocked unconscious today because let me tell you it's really not as fun as it sounds" I mumbled as Batman helped me off the floor.
"Are you ok?" he asked bringing his gloved hand up to the bruise on my face, which I received from Torpedo's punch.
"I have a nasty bruise on my face that'll last about a week or two and probably bruised all my ribs, but other than that I'm just peachy" I said grabbing my side.
Batman bent down and started checking my ribs to see how bad they were. I sucked in a breath and bit my lip to keep myself from screaming when he touched a very sensitive spot on my side. He pulled his hand away and stood back up.
"You have a few badly bruised ribs, but fortunately you didn't break any. You'll have to take it easy for the next couple of days but you shouldn't need major medical care," he said.
I looked around the room to see that all the mentors plus Superman, Black Canary, and Captain Atom were in the cave. The mentors were individually talking to their partners while Flash and Captain Atom were working on freeing Wally and Conner from their metal prisons. Superman was crouching next to a passed out Artemis trying to wake her up and told us she was ok when she finally came to.
"What happened here?" Superman asked helping Artemis stand. I growled and clenched my fist at the question. Batman looked at me and raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
"What happened? The Reds happened! Tornado and his… wait where are they?" Artemis asked looking around the room for the Reds, but they were already long gone.
"Gone, all three of them, gone" Robin said darkly narrowing his eyes.
"I knew I should've destroyed those two scraps of metal when I had the chance" I snarled punching the wall beside me leaving a large hole and huge crack in the wall as the earth reacted to my anger. I ignored the pain in my side as all the adults in the room looked at me surprised and confused by my aggressive tone.
"You'd understand if you saw what they did," I muttered looking around the room at all the damage.
"They weren't very considerate of the amount of damage they could do to a nonmetal body when you hit it repeatedly with metal fists and feet" I growled causing Robin to place a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. I huffed exasperated and let my anger dissipate.
Not wanting to hurt my ribs anymore than I already had I slowly flew up to the camera hidden in the corner of the room, which surprisingly hadn't been destroyed during the chaos and pulled out the tape from the camera. I flew back down to the ground and winced, but only for a second, upon landing.
I tossed the tape to Batman as I walked by "here you can see for yourself how crazy they are and why I should've torn them apart when I had the advantage" I said walking over to Black Canary to have her wrap my ribs.
And that night that's exactly what the League did. Everyone met at the Watchtower to watch the tape several times analyzing how powerful the so-called "Red's" were and how the team faired against them. Everyone winced when they saw how harsh the Reds were to Dawn when she fought back. They could all feel the headache and pain she must have received from being slammed into the ground and kicked multiple times. But what everyone was the most interested in and kept replaying was when Shade went full force after Robin was captured. Everyone stared at the screen in disbelieve watching Dawn's demonstration of ferocity and power.
"Did you know she was that powerful?" Ollie whispered to Barry from his chair in the meeting room.
Barry shook his head "not even close" he whispered back.
GA turned back to the screen "remind me to never piss her off" he whispered to Barry. The speedster just nodded not knowing what to say.
"Batman when did Shade become so…powerful. I know her powers have always been strong, but this is on a completely different level," Hal asked.
Bruce didn't look away from the screen and continued to watch the video intently capturing every detail, but was aware of the entire room turning to face him waiting for his answer.
Bruce sighed, but not loud enough for anyone other than Superman to hear "believe it or not this isn't even anywhere near how powerful she really is" he confessed pulling up the video feed from the night Nelson died. He showed the League the day Dawn learned about her crystal powers and everyone was once again surprised at how powerful she was.
As they watched the video Bruce thought back to the Reds fighting Dawn. He growled to himself and clenched his fists under the table. He couldn't wait to get his hands on those androids and tear them apart wire by wire for what they did to not only Dawn and Robin, but the whole team.
"How about you explain everything from the beginning" Diana said to him.
Bruce looked around the room and leaned back in his chair getting comfortable before explaining everything that's happened in the past few weeks.
I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and an awesome new year. I'm sorry I haven't posted earlier but I've been visiting family and catching up on my sleep, but I promised I'd have something up before the break ended so here it is.
So what did you think? For a while I was conflicted on if I should let Dawn be captured along with the rest of the super-powered teammates or if I should let her stay with Robin and Artemis, but I thought this made more sense. If she went with Robin and Artemis that would make it too easy for them to defeat the Reds since most of their problems were just facing the elements in the first place. Please R&R!