Location: Mount Justice
Date: July 5, 2010
Time: 18:17
Emmy woke up in an uncomfortable metal chair in a rectangular room with white walls and a one-way sheet of glass to her right. She frowned. Where were the kids?
The door opened. Batman walked in.
"Where are the children?" She asked immediately.
"They're safe and playing in the next room," came the gruff reply. No way his voice actually sounded like that. He definitely deepens it, so people don't recognize his normal voice. I'll have to keep that in mind.
"So, what is this? You hear to read me my rights before I get shipped to Belle Reve? Or do you turn me into the Corps?" Emmy had been dreading this day her entire life. The day that her hiding would not work anymore. The day that she would be found, her past would be unearthed, and she would spend the rest of her days in prison while God knows what happened to the kids.
"I'm not here to arrest you."
She raised a hopeful but suspicious eyebrow. "You're not?"
"No," he interlaced his gloved fingers and put them on the table. "I'm here to offer you a job."
You could have knocked Emmy over with a peacock feather, as Hunter would sign. She stared at the Caped Crusader, unblinking and unable to process the information she had just received.
"I understand that you became a Green Lantern on February 14th of this year."
She nodded.
"Then you went off-world to train for four months."
Another nod.
"You returned June 14th, found your siblings to have been sold, and tracked them down on your own without any resources."
She shrugged one shoulder.
"Your work needs much refinement," he paused. "But overall, it's impressive."
Did Batman just compliment her?
"You were under extreme pressure. Your loved ones were kidnapped, but you kept a level head and found them in twenty-one days across four states."
"Level head?" She scoffed and leaned back in her chair. "I didn't exactly play doctor with anyone I interrogated."
"True, but you never crossed the line."
"The line?" She huffed and crossed her arms. "What you mean I never killed any of them? I thought about it."
Batman nodded as though he already knew that information. "Yes, Edgar Ramirez, your old landlord. He was found dead in his apartment with your fingerprints bruised into his neck."
"I'm sure the autopsy showed that was from alcohol poisoning and not asphyxiation."
Batman gave a small grunt of acknowledgement.
"I should have killed him. I may be a Green Lantern, but I'm no hero."
"Then why did you save all ten of the children instead of just your siblings? Why did you stop to help the four strangers you had just met safely leave the collapsing building? Why did you tell the men at the motel to drop their weapons 'so no one else got hurt' instead of just killing them all?"
Tears pricked the corners of Emmy's tightly shut eyes. Never in a million years would she have guessed that her 16 years of decisions would lead to Batman, The Batman, giving her a pep talk about her ability to fit the hero description.
"I don't know," her voice was quiet. "I guess I'm just the typical monster with a family. I take care of Sage, Hunter, and myself, and that's it, alright?" Why was she trying to get Batman to condemn her? What was wrong with her?
She thought she saw a flash of sympathy in his eyes, but she couldn't tell with the mask and the batman-ness.
"I believe you said that five seconds before you risked your life to help an alien whose name you didn't even know."
Emmy shut her eyes against the tears again. She had become a watery mess since the relief of finding her siblings swept her down to Weepy-ville. Why was Batman making her emotional? "Look, the ring made a mistake and so did you, okay? I'm not a hero. I can't be a hero. My blood won't allow it."
"I am well aware of your parentage and the true identities of you and your family, Emerald. That is the name you go by now isn't it? The fingerprints are linked to a girl who allegedly died in a house fire in 2005. You did an excellent job faking your deaths considering your age at the time."
Emmy's stomach lurched. She dug her fingertips into her biceps.
"If you know who I really am, then you should know that you don't want me anywhere near you or your team."
"You will not be punished for the sins of your parents."
"What about my sins?" Her voice was scratchy, and a single tear fell. Gosh, what if this was really the end and she really went to prison after this? What if she got put on death row?
"The crimes you committed before the age of 11 were done under duress. The crimes after 11 were done to protect your family," Emmy had been dying to hear someone tell her that her entire life. And even though she didn't believe him, her chest shook with repressed sobs at the notion of someone seeing her as innocent. She avoided Batman's gaze and stared at her hands in the center of the table as tears slid down her cheeks. "The ring did not make a mistake," a gloved hand touched hers. "And neither am I."
Emmy's shoulders slumped and she put the palm of each hand into her eyes as she sobbed. She was so, so tired. She had lived in fear of being blamed for what she had to do to survive and here was the head of the Justice League, absolving her of guilt. Five years of hiding from adults and assuming the worst, and now she was sitting across from Batman while he offered her a job. It was too much at once. She went numb. She still hated herself, but this stoic man was offering her more compassion than her father ever had. Her broken heart ached. She took a few seconds to calm down and wiped her face on her sleeve. The white masked eyes were staring at her expectantly.
"I am forming a team of former sidekicks," he paused, and she put on her blankest face. "The four boys you helped will be included, as will a Martian girl, and yourself."
"If I agree," she interjected, embarrassed to have cried in front of the unshakable man and trying to assert herself. Batman sent her a withering look at the implication she might refuse.
"Do you think you will be able to make an acceptable salary as an ASL interpreter when you have no official education, no legitimate documents, no safe place to live, and an underground bounty out on your head in six states?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "I'll figured something out." The response was weak even to her own ears.
"The team will deal exclusively with covert operations," he continued. "I believe it will benefit both on and off the field by having you as a member."
"Why?" She could not be more confused.
Batman looked roughly into her bared soul and thankfully found whatever he was looking for.
"Robin is my son," yeah, no shit, she thought to herself. "The world has a way of ripping the joy from your lungs before you have a chance to finish inhaling it. The team will be full of teenagers. Many of them think that they have seen the worst horrors of the world, but they have not. You have." He looked into her core again. "I need someone on the team I know won't break when faced with situations the others will consider unthinkable. I need someone I can trust to take care of them. Someone to handle the darkest sides of the job, in 'brightest day and in blackest night', if you will."
She nodded at him, appreciating his reference to her Corps' oath. "You need a constant variable. An anchor. I don't see anything in the field I haven't already experienced some version of before."
"Yes," Batman nodded. "I can offer you help in return. A monthly stipend. A safe place for you and your siblings to live. A guarantee that when an opportunity presents itself, Bobby Sparks will be taken down and you will be free of your bounty. I also have a doctor willing to do the cochlear implant on your brother you tried to schedule a few months ago, and I know of fantastic schools for the lot of you."
Emmy bit her lip. "You know why I hid us for five years?"
Batman nodded. "Your mother was the only parent to die in the fire. Your father is a known antagonist of the League. He will not be able to find you when you are under my protection."
Emmy nodded absentmindedly, not fulling trusting anyone but herself to protect her family. "As long as I get final say on what is safe for Hunter and Sage, and you recognize that I don't need your authority to conduct Lantern business, then I'm in."
Batman stood up, offering his hand for her to shake. She took it and squeezed a little harder than she should have in an attempt to gain back some of the ego she lost when she cried in front of him.
"I had the items from your apartment moved into this facility," he walked to the door and motioned for her to follow.
"How did you know I would agree?" She was surprised.
"You didn't have another option."
Location: Mount Justice
Date: July 8, 2010
Time: 20:08
Batman had moved Emmy and her sibling's stuff into the mountain before she even agreed to join his new team. They each had their own room now, and they would need to go shopping for clothes and things eventually, but they had just spent the last three days catching up and getting used to being a family again.
Emmy could tell that Sage was hurt that she had been in Oa for four months, and Emmy couldn't blame her for it. She shouldn't have stayed that long, but she had to. At least that was what she told her siblings and herself. A good chunk of their days had been spent playing with her ring. When she told them about calling to her ring when she was in the pod and how it wasn't normal for a ring to come to a Lantern like that, they had started a new game. "Mountain Ring Hide and Seek". Hey, Hunter named it, not her. The kids would take the ring to a far corner of the mountain and she had to focus on feeling where it was and calling it to her. They never got tired of seeing the ring fly to her, and it actually doubled as really good practice for Emmy.
She hadn't heard anything from Batman. He told her to get used to the mountain until he had the team there and ready to meet her. She was supposed to head to a certain room at 8:10pm today. Hunter and Sage were in the living room watching Transformers, and she had been walking around the mountain listening to 'Ain't No Rest for the Wicked' by Cage the Elephant. She felt connected to the lyrics and the way they addressed trials of life without going in too much detail. She walked toward the room Batman had mentioned, wearing her telepathy t-shirt and jeans. The shirt was getting a bit ratty. She'd definitely have to get some new clothes soon, but she didn't have the mental energy to think about shopping yet. She heard voices and stopped to survey her new teammates from the shadows, pulling her right earphone away from her head.
"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman told the four boys she had met in Cadmus. "We're calling it into service again. Since you four are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms."
The boys watched Batman walk to the center of the room. "Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."
A sunglass-clad Robin raised an eyebrow and voiced his concern. "Real missions?"
"Yes, but covert." Batman confirmed.
"The League will still handle the obvious stuff." Flash jauntily spoke up from behind Kid Flash's right shoulder. "There's a reason we have these big targets on our chest."
"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," Aquaman continued, then turned his head back toward Batman to continue the sentiment.
"The six of you will be that team." Batman stated.
"Cool! Wait," Robin did the basic addition. "Six?"
Batman looked over his protégé's shoulder and the group turned to see Martian Manhunter stepping out of the shadows with a green skinned, red haired, teenaged girl. "This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian."
She's cute, Emmy thought. She didn't have a ton of Martian knowledge, but she was pretty sure she'd read in a book on Oa that most Martians nowadays were white instead of green. Miss Marian raised her hand in a small wave and smiled before shyly saying hello.
Kid Flash looked down at Robin happily, "Liking this gig more every minute." He stepped in front, blocking the Martian's view of Robin and Superboy. "Welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash," pointing at himself with a thumb. "That's Robin," the raven-haired boy nodded and threw up the Rock 'n' Roll sign. "and Aqualad," the Atlantean nodded politely. "It's cool if you forget their names." Ugh, he's one of those guys. Emmy was still leaning against the wall in the shadows, the song in her left ear that felt disturbingly applicable to her life was ending.
"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian said sincerely, clasping her hands in front of her.
"That's still only five," pointed out Robin.
Guess it's time to introduce myself. She kicked off the wall and walked into the light. The three sidekicks, now in normal clothes but still easy to identify, turned toward her. Miss Martian smiled at the new entrance, and Superboy was still hanging back but didn't seem surprised. I bet he heard my music and humming. It would be useful having a teammate who could hear danger coming from a couple miles away.
"You!" Kid Flash yelled scandalized. "How are you- why are you here? I thought you were done "babysitting" us?" He put his hands on his hips.
She flipped the hair out of her eyes. "Guess not because now that I'm your sixth teammate, I'm not going anywhere, Kid Fallacious. Nice to see you all again," she turned to the other boys. "You look different when a building's not falling on you."
Kid Flash sputtered.
"I didn't know another girl would be on the team!" Miss Martian clapped. "This is so exciting! What is your name?" She raised one of her green hands, giggling at the instruction on Emmy's shirt. "I like your t-shirt."
"I'm Emerald East," she shook the green hand. "You can call me Emmy."
Robin grinned and nudged Kid Flash with his elbow, murmuring something Emmy didn't hear to the scowling redhead.
Emmy noticed Clone Boy staying in the shadows. "Hey, Pod Brain, how's it going?" She smiled good-naturedly at the attractive teen to let him know she wasn't attacking him with the nickname.
The other three boys had walked closer to the girls, but Superboy lagged behind with a downcast expression. The clone looked up sharply when he heard Emmy's voice. Robin must have noticed that the clone needed an invitation because he also called out to the taller boy.
"Hey Superboy come meet Miss M and Emmy!" A pause. "Well, officially meet Emmy without her cursing at you from a pod, I mean."
"I might still curse at him," Emmy winked at Superboy. "It's pretty early in the interaction."
Superboy eventually walked over to the rest of his team. Miss Martian shapeshifted her shirt from white with a red X to black with the same red X and removed her cape. That's cool.
The Martian looked down at her change before speaking to the clone, "I like your t-shirt, too."
Superboy gave her a small smile, which caused Robin to nudge his elbow into the clone's chest with a lopsided smirk on his features. Kid Flash zipped to Pod Brain's other side, glared at Emmy for a millisecond, and then sent a bright smile to the rest of the group. Robin tilted his head at Aqualad as an invitation to step into the partial huddle.
"Today is the day," the Atlantean stated proudly. Emmy quirked an eyebrow. It was weird that they all had the same thought.