Chapter Twenty-Eight
May 15:
Lavender woke up early, before the sun even rose, and had a quick shower and breakfast before leaving her friends in the apartment Lex Luthor provided. Prior to closing to the door, she peered back in the living room to see her four friends fast asleep. Lavender smiled softly.
"Don't worry. I'll keep my promise." She whispered before quietly closing the door with a click.
A couple of hours passed, the four teens Lavender left started stirring awake to a wristwatch on the coffee table beeping loudly.
"Ugh…Hermano…Virgil, turn it off." Eduardo groaned as he turned onto his back on the floor.
A moment later, the wristwatch exploded from the overload of electricity.
"Who set up the alarm? And what time is it?" Virgil groaned as he sat up in the chair he had fallen asleep in.
Tye leaned from his comfortable position on the couch to look at the clock hanging in the kitchen. He groaned as he laid back down.
"It's nine o'clock." Tye replied.
"Nine o'clock? That's usually when Lavender wakes up. Right, Lav?" There was no response. "Lav?" Virgil looked at the spot Lavender had occupied the night before, but it was empty.
"She's gone! Great, she's probably gone to tell her friends where we are!" Eduardo shouted.
"Hey! Lavender wouldn't do that, man! I'm telling you, when she promises she keeps it!" Virgil argued back.
He hated when anyone talked bad about his best friend, it just made him so angry to hear the negative about his friend when he knew it wasn't true.
"Then where'd she go?!" Tye shouted.
"Let me try her cell, will ya?" Virgil questioned as he pulled out his cell phone.
Dialing the number to Lavender's cell, Virgil closed his cell a moment later.
"Well?" Eduardo questioned.
"Voicemail." Virgil replied with a sigh.
In Ivy Town, Black Thorn appeared in a small garden outside an old complex. Looking around, no one was around. She rushed over to the middle of the dirt parking lot, a spout pushing through the ground. Thorn kneeled on the ground, covering the small plant with her hands.
"Don't worry. I won't let Ivy get you…or destroy you." Thorn whispered.
Her hands glowed slightly, black light engulfed the spout. A moment later, Thorn removed her hands and the spout had become a flower. A single dark blue rose, no thorns. She gently picked it.
"This will help…hopefully." Thorn said to herself.
She looked around again, no one around. She rushed back to the zeta tube nearby and zeta-ed out of the complex lot. Back at the apartment, the four had been freaking out a little for the last half an hour.
"Great! Now we'll be sent back to Star because we let her stay with us!" Tye shouted.
"Hey, last time I checked, you were all over Lav! You wouldn't care if she sent us back there!"
"I'm not all over heranymore! Not since I found out why she said no."
"What do you mean?"
Before Tye could answer, the door clicked opened. Lavender backed into the apartment with one paper bag in her arm, and trying to pull three more into the apartment. Then she saw the three awake and stopped in the door way.
"Morning, guys." Lavender said.
"Lav? Where were you?" Virgil questioned, standing from his seat.
"Well, let's see…I had to talk to Nightwing, don't worry. You're locations secret. He thinks I'm staying at the hospital with Aster."
"Aster? She's still in the hospital?" Virgil questioned.
"Yeah…But the doctors said she should wake up soon. I went to go see her and Mirabella. I told no one, don't worry. And then, obviously, I went to the store for food." Lavender explained as she tried to get the bags into the apartment with one hand. One bag was stuck, and as Lavender pulled on it, she fell backward after the bag torn open. "Stupid me…"
"You okay?"
"I had to drag five heavy bags of food all the way upstairs, Virgil. Really…?"
"Right, sorry."
Asami ran over, picking up a couple of bags, and carried them into the kitchen.
"Arigato, Asami-san." Lavender said as she stood up, then she noticed the other three staring at her. "Well? Are you just going to let the two girls get all of this or what?" She snapped as she picked up the items from the broken bag.
The three guys walked over, carrying the rest of the groceries into the kitchen and setting them on the counters.
"There. You want some help putting them away?" Tye questioned.
"Sure. Thank you, Tye." Lavender replied as she started putting cans into a cupboard.
The others left to do whatever, Asami stopping around the corner, but no one saw her. She was listening in on Lavender and Tye's conversation.
"So…How long have you and Jaime been dating?" Tye questioned, breaking the deadening silence.
"Oh…Um…For a couple of months…" Then Lavender looked down at the necklace she had been wearing.
"Is that Jaime's mom's necklace?"
"Yeah…She gave it to me…She said it was a reminder that their door is always open."
"Huh…" Tye replied, picking up another can and setting on the counter again. He sighed heavily. "How's…your relationship? I mean, since you found out about Jaime being…controlled…"
"I…don't know…" Lavender replied, a little surprised that Tye had figured it out. She didn't want to tell him, hurt his feelings in the process. "I waited for so long to find someone like him and the only way we met was because the Reach took me first. Now…he's gone and…Mah!"
Lavender was cut off by a pressing kiss. Her sudden surprise was drowned into affection. She wrapped her hands around Tye's head, curling her fingers into his hair. Pulling him closer, Lavender deepened the kiss. After a moment, they pulled apart gently.
"Uh…" Lavender slipped from Tye's arms. "…What did we…just do?"
"I…don't know. I'm sorry." Tye replied, hitting his forehead with the side of his fist. "I shouldn't have done that. You obviously like Jaime."
Tye started walking away, Lavender grabbing his hand. Pulling him back, she managed to spin him around in the process, and kiss him again. Asami was watching this time, feeling her heart break slightly. Asami, unable to obtain the pain anymore, walked away to her bedroom. Back at Gotham Hospital, Bart and Mirabella were sitting in the room. Stardust was hiding between the window and Mirabella's body, resting on the seat. Roy walked back into the room, holding two cups of hot drinks, handing one to Bart, who looked up at him in surprise and question.
"You need something to eat. I couldn't get anything from the vending machine, so I got a couple of drinks." Roy explained, noticing the confusion on Bart's face.
"Thanks." Bart said, taking the drink carefully.
Roy walked over to Mirabella, handing her the other cup.
"You looked cold." Roy said, smiling slightly.
Mirabella took the cup, holding it with both of her hands. Taking a small sip, she carefully set it next to her on the chair.
"Thank you." She said.
Roy ruffled her hair a little, making Mirabella smile. It reminded her of what Lavender used to do after training at the Cave, ruffling her brownie colored hair a little in happiness that she was doing better. The moment broke when a groan echoed from Aster. Mirabella got up, Stardust climbing on her back, and ran over with Roy in follow. Bart had stood to his feet in hopes that Aster was finally waking up.
"Aster…Come on, Aster. Please, wake up." Mirabella said, gently touching Aster's hand.
After a moment, Aster's eyes begun to flutter open, wincing in the bright lights of the room. Bart gripped her hand, tight but not too tightly. Aster's eyes finally adjusted to the lights and looked around, seeing Roy and Mirabella. Aster took her free hand, caressing Mirabella's face gently, happy tears running down Mirabella's face faintly.
"Sunshine…?"
Aster looked to the other side of the bed, seeing Bart standing there. She smiled, running her fingers along his chin line, stopping when Bart held her hand.
"Hey…" She said almost too quietly.
Bart gently ran his fingers, with his free hand, down Aster's cheek. The four just sat there with Aster, a doctor coming in a little while later.
May 23:
At Base, Nightwing had been training Aster to catch her up on her skills, getting her back on her feet. Hand-to-hand with Nightwing was hard, and no one's ever beaten him.
"Hi-ya!" Solara shouted as she threw Nightwing on the ground, pinning him with his arm in a chicken wing. "Tap out, Nightwing." Solara smiled.
Nightwing struggled to not tap out but was unable to counter Solara's pin, resulting in tapping on the floor. Solara released her grip, standing up.
"Nicely done, Solara. No one's ever been able to do that to me." Nightwing said, Solara helping him to his feet once more.
"Thanks, Nightwing." Then the holographic screen came up, showing the news. "What's that?"
Back in Taos, Virgil, Tye, and Eduardo had left the two girls alone in the living room. Asami had begun to understand English, as well as try to speak English. Asami was lying on the couch, playing a game on her cell phone while Lavender had started reading a book. Then Lavender had an idea, closing her novel and setting it on the table.
"Asami?" Lavender questioned, getting her friend's attention from the cell phone game. "Wanna play a video game?"
Asami sat up, interested.
"What game?" Asami questioned, trying to speak English clearly. There was a little anger laced around her voice, but Lavender didn't seem to notice it.
"I have this dance game. We could play it if you want. It's only two players or more, and my sisters never wanted to play, so I thought I'd ask you."
Asami thought it over. She was kind of jealous of how Tye was looking at Lavender, and not her. She knew him, trained with him, and knew his weaknesses and strengths. After a while, the guys came out, Asami making up her mind.
"I'll play." Asami replied.
"Sweet! Oh, hey guys." Lavender said as she got up to set up the game.
"Hey…What are you two doing?" Virgil questioned.
"Asami and I are playing this dancing game I have. No one ever wants to play it so…I asked Asami."
"Cool." Tye said before pecking a kiss on Lavender's cheek and plopping on the couch.
Asami's anger grew worse than before, jealousy overcoming her. Lavender picked a song, giving Asami a controller.
"So…how do you play this game?" Asami questioned.
"You just follow your character. Actually…I see you as the other character, so switch places." Lavender said as she switched places with Asami. "Okay…so…now we can start."
"What song did you pick?" Ed questioned.
"It's called Oath…It's by Cher Lloyd and Becky G. I love this one. Ready, Asami?"
Asami nodded and was prepared for the dance contest. But as she started listening to the song, her anger decreased to embarrassment. When the song ended, Asami had beat Lavender by two points.
"Wow…No one's ever beat me at this game before. Alright, Asami." Lavender said as she high fived her friend.
Asami excused herself and walked out.
"Huh…Wonder what's got her." Lavender said before her phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hey, Nightwing. What's up?" There was a little bit of silence before Lavender grabbed the remote and turned on the news. "I'm watching, I'm watching. I'm coming. I'm right around the corner from a zeta tube; I can be at Star in five to ten minutes. Black Thorn out."
Lavender hung up her phone and started for the closet.
"Hey, what's going on?" Tye asked, going after her.
"There's a war world heading for the Earth. Stay here, and stay safe, please. I have to go and stop this thing. I'm being debriefed at Star; Green Beetle's informing us on everything." Lavender gave Tye a quick kiss. "I promise, I'll be back soon."
Lavender enclosed herself in a leaf bulb and revealed herself again, now wearing her uniform.
"Lavender!" Virgil called before she disappeared.
"What's up, Virgil?"
Virgil hugged her.
"Just be extra careful."
"I will be." Lavender said before releasing. "I will be back."
Then Lavender left her four friends in the apartment together, going to stop a giant small moon-sized weapon from destroying the entire planet.
May 27:
"As long as the Ambassador refuses to allow an attack on the Justice meat guarding the key chamber, the crystal key is useless to us." Black Beetle ranted, putting a crystal in a small holding unit. "And the War World will never truly belong to the Reach. Mongul is to blame. By bringing the War World to Earth, he cost us half our fleet."
"67.3 percent, actually." The Reach head scientist corrected.
Black Beetle didn't like that any better, growling lowly in the process of hearing the corrected news. The two walked into another room, where all but three of the team members were being held in some kind of frozen state, but not inside ice.
"And alerted the human meat to our hidden invasion force." Black Beetle continued.
"The Ambassador has ways of handling the humans. And though we have endured set-backs, the Earth heroes have lost so much more." The head scientist added. Glancing through the heroes caught, the only three missing were Solara, Arsenal, and Anima. Black Thorn had been captured as well, all captured by Blue Beetle. "All considered, things progress quite well…except for three loose ends."
"Those loose ends will soon be cut off." Black Beetle replied.
Running through the ways of the War World, Solara and Arsenal were being chased by guards. Solara was carrying Anima in her arms. With Stardust captured with the others, Anima was passed out, weakened by her unknown-to-herself familiar being trapped in a frozen time. The two were trying to shoot the guards off, but nothing seemed to work. Solara was starting to weaken, not fully ready to be in the field without the team to back her up yet.
"What do we do?" Solara questioned, trying to escape the guards.
"Just keep running!" Arsenal shouted back. Jumping over a small barrier, Arsenal tried to contact the Watch Tower, with no effect. "Code red!" Arsenal whispered into his com-link before throwing a grenade at the guards, smoke flashing around them in a second later. "Come on, Solara."
"Take…Anima…I can't." Solara said, breathing heavily.
Arsenal picked Anima up, carrying her like Solara was.
"Okay, now come on. We have to move."
"You go…I'll catch up." Solara said, still trying to catch her breathe.
Arsenal growled, looking towards the guards, the smoke was starting to clear. Arsenal bent down, grabbing Solara and carrying her on his back, Anima in his arms. He shot a rope up, hooking onto a ledge above and disappeared with the girls as the guards followed.
"No way am I losing you again." Arsenal said before continuing his tries to contact the League. "Arsenal to Watch Tower. Arsenal to anyone, come in!"
May 29:
New York City, the Reach Ambassador was meeting with the people who he secretly called meat. Blue Beetle right behind him.
"I still can't believe what we did. How is Black Thorn ever gonna forgive me…forgive us?" Jaime thought.
"The Black Thorn is no longer a problem. She is…gone. She, like the other humans, will be deleted or turned into a slave of the Reach." The scarab thought back.
"I thought we were being double agents for the team, scarab. What are you talking about?"
"Jaime Reyes…We are of the Reach. We shall be the greatest warrior for the Reach. The human meat will become slaves of the Reach or die. Either way, the Earth is doomed."
"How can you say that?"
The scarab chose to ignore Jaime's voice, listening to the Ambassador talk to the news media and the citizens around.
"And in addition to our joint scientific advancements, the Earth has also gained a new hero. One part human individual, one part Reach technology. Blue Beetle is the living embodiment of the peaceful union between our peoples. Plus, he saved us all from the War World. Not too shabby." The Ambassador announced.
The crowd cheered for Blue Beetle, in thoughts of influence that Blue Beetle really did save the Earth all by himself. Which, of course, was a lie considering the entire team helped him stop the giant weapon from destroying the Earth.
"And this is only the beginning. Just imagine what the future holds, when together we reach for tomorrow." The Ambassador added before a young girl walked up to him, holding a Wonder Woman doll tightly in her hands. "Greetings, young one. Do you have a question?"
"I—Uh—I thought the Justice League protected the Earth. Why didn't they stop the War World?" The little girl questioned.
The Ambassador sighed heavily, pretending to be disappointed in the League, an act for the people.
"I wonder about that too. Just as I wonder why they seem to attract so many outer space bullies to your planet. Maybe the War World was a bully too big for the Justice League to handle. Good thing your new friends, the Reach, were here to protect you." Blue Beetle walked over, picking the girl up on his shoulder, as she dropped her doll. Picking her up just like Jaime had done thousands of times with his sister back home.
"The threat, that was the War World, is now a new hope for mankind, a weapon to defend your planet. We, the Reach, will safe-guard this weapon without boarding it until such time as humanity is ready to assume control. The War World is our gift to you." The Ambassador finished.
Later that night in Taos, New Mexico, the four teens were out. They were practicing their powers against anything that had to with the Reach. Tye ending their training by smashing a water tower with a picture of Blue Beetle across it on the ground. The other three regrouped with him.
"Oh-ho, nice one, Tye. You are seriously getting a handle on your power."
"Thanks, Virgil, but I'd rather get a handle on the scarab that turned my man Jaime into the Reach's little Blue puppet."
Virgil was going to say something, but then Eduardo's phone started ringing. Answering it with a video call, Lex Luthor appeared on the screen.
"I wonder if the Reach can appreciate the irony of their own creations working against them." Lex said without as so much as a hello to the teens.
"Hey! They did not create us. They kidnapped us…"
"…and experimented on us against our will." Tye finished for Eduardo.
"And with that in mind, if you truly want to hit the Reach where it hurts, I believe I can show you the way. Where's Lavender?"
"She went to stop the War World days ago. She hasn't come back yet. You don't think she's…" Virgil trailed off.
"I don't believe so." Lex replied shortly after.
Back on the War World, Solara was resting, Anima in her lap. Arsenal was trying to hack into a computer of some kind, failing in the process and smashing it to only make things worse for them.
"Come on, come on, you dumb machine. Just give me a line to the team, to the Watch Tower, to the warehouse, anywhere." Arsenal struggled at the controls, only in efforts of scaring his biological sister a little.
"Arsenal, you're scaring me. Calm down." Solara said, almost sounding like Anima.
"We're stuck on here with no way of communicating with the League or the team. How am I supposed to calm down?"
"By trying not to be so…hatsful and a little more content would be nice." Solara sighed. "It's happening all over again."
"What's happening all over again?" Arsenal questioned, continuing with the controls.
"The reason I ran away in the first place. Arguing with you being a hot head and being hatsful. I'm scared Roy and all you're doing is making it worse."
Before Arsenal could say anything else, two guards walked through a door.
"Great, and me basically out of ammo." Arsenal said before the guards saw him. Arsenal rushed behind the machine, hiding next to the girls. The machine got hit a couple of times, beeping loudly and making Arsenal grin. "Ha! That's what you get." Then the machine beeped again, lowering into the floor. "Aw…now you're just being petty."
"Note to self, don't taunt machines, they can get back at you." Solara said.
"Is this really the time for jokes, Solara?" Arsenal questioned.
"You started it!"
Just as the machine was low enough, Arsenal used the last of his power left in his arm to blast the guards unconscious, at least one anyway. Arsenal rushed over to the guard as he was grabbing one the laser shooters, dodging several attempts to shoot him and kicked the guard unconscious.
"You'll never pod me again! Never!" Arsenal shouted.
Solara watched him, scared of her brother now more than ever. Grabbing the laser shooters, Arsenal grabbed Solara's wrist and pulled her. Solara was able to grab Anima into her arms in the sudden movement. She was scared and didn't know what else to do but follow him.
Back in Taos, the four teens were sitting in front of a laptop, chatting with Lex Luthor about a strange box next to the laptop.
"It's called Father Box. It can open a boom tube, or gateway, to the War World and back again. It has also been programmed to locate Kryptonian DNA." Luthor explained.
"Kryptonian? You mean you're sending us after Superman?" Virgil questioned.
"Superboy, actually. One of ten young heroes captured by the Reach."
"Those guys saved us from the Reach."
"Exactly. Care to return the favor? And in the process, strike a critical blow against the Reach?"
"Dude, you're asking us to go inside the War World and super heroes. If they got caught, what chance do we have?" Tye questioned.
"I guess you don't want your friend back after all."
"What are you talking about?" Virgil questioned.
"Lavender, or…Black Thorn I believe they called her. She was one of the ten captured teens I showed you."
"Wait, what? Black Thorn's captured too?" Tye questioned.
Asami, hearing the sudden worry in Tye's voice, shook her and angered her. She wanted to tell him off, but couldn't bring herself to do it. The four thought it over, thinking of their chances and of their trusted friend, Lavender.
