Location: Caribbean Sea
Date: July 22, 2010
Time: 20:08
Emmy and her new team were in the Bioship flying to their first official mission. Her siblings were watching a movie with Red tornado. They had taken an instant liking to the android and were trying to teach him as many things about movies as they could. She felt bad for going out late, and it was summer, so she was letting them watch movies with him all night. She couldn't control when they went to bed tonight anyway, so she might as well give them permission to sleep whenever they feel like it and get some 'cool points'.
"We're approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian announced.
Emmy thought back to Batman's debrief. They were going to the island to find out why a factory which usually shipped Venom was at a standstill. Then they would report back to the League to 'let the adults handle it'. Emmy doubted that this still largely untested group could pull off a covert observe and report mission, especially since they would be split between two-drop sites, but she was more interested in Batman's final comment.
"So, who's in charge?" Robin had asked before the team left for the bioship. Batman and Red Tornado exchanged glances.
"Work that out between you," Batman had ordered, making Robin smile slightly.
Emmy looked over at Robin and saw the dumb lopsided smile still on his face. There was no way he really thought he would be the one leading, right? Sure, he started at nine, but he was only 13 now, and Emmy couldn't take him seriously.
"Drop Zone A in 30," Miss Martian called out.
Aqualad stood up. The harness straps receded, and his chair dissolved into the floor of the ship. He hit the symbol on his suit. It changed from red and navy to black and grey.
"Ready," he looked at Miss Martian.
"Putting Bioship in camouflage mode," she confirmed. They could clearly see the island now. A hole in the bottom of the ship opened. Aqualad jumped out of it, diving into the water below.
Emmy thoughts of leadership turned Aqualad. He was the eldest of the group, so it would make sense for him to have more of a leadership position. He also already had the habit of giving out small commands when he felt they were necessary. That had become evident during the Cadmus debacle and was also present when they fought Mr. Twister a few days ago. But, in Emmy's opinion, he seemed almost too calm and level-headed to lead. You need to have some inner fire if you're going to excite the troops and convince them to follow you. A leader needs to have passion and willpower if you will. She smirked to herself at her reference.
Maybe she should think about being leader? She had tactical training from Daddy Dearest, and she had years of experience with violence and making battle plans on the go. Robin had been in the field for four years, but she had four and a half years where her only job was fighting grown men (who were all criminals in at least one way or another) and half a year experience as a Green Lantern. Not to mention, Batman recruited for her the team specifically because he thought she had crucial real-world experience and other important qualities to contribute to the team. She had also been the 'leader' of her family for years. Leading a team couldn't be that different from taking care of her siblings. You make the plans, explain them, and make sure that they're followed as well as they can be. That's basically just parenting.
Megan's voice cut off Emmy's musings. "Drop Zone B."
She stopped the ship over a break in the tree canopy. The rest of the team stood up, their chairs receding into the floor. Emmy had offered to go underwater with Kaldur, but they all seemed to think that Drop Zone B needed more attention. Miss Martian raised a hand and lines shot from the ceiling for Robin and Kid Flash to attach to. Kid Flash attached his carabiner and hit his lightning bolt symbol with his hand. The vibrant yellow and red suit turned to dark grey and black with a few red accents.
"How cool is this?" he smiled at Miss Martian.
"Very impressive," Miss Martian said politely, before changing her blue skirt, white shirt, and blue boots into a black body suit. Only her red X and blue cape remained the same.
"Um, that works too," the speedster admitted, stunned.
Emmy sent Megan a wink for showing up the redhead. Her Green Lantern suit didn't really change when she needed to be extra stealthy. It wasn't created by humans or Martians or Atlanteans like her teammates' uniforms were. The colors were already dark, but Emmy did notice that her ring could feel when she was trying to hide and would decrease the light traveling between the fibers of her suit and turn her neon hair to a midnight green. The speedster turned to Superboy who was still wearing his typical black Superman t-shirt, black pants, and boots.
"Hey, Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech."
"No capes, no tights. No offense," he crossed his arms, mildly offended by the idea.
"I hear that," Emmy cracked her shoulders and started flying a few inches above the floor. She still thought it was crazy that she could fly, and she wasn't sure she would ever really get used to it.
"It totally works for you," Megan swooned mildly. Superboy glanced at the flushing Martian leaning on her hand. The green girl noticed his look and straightened her spine instantly. "In that, you can totally do good work in those clothes." Emmy snorted. That was a horrible cover.
Superboy looked away, and Miss Martian brought her hood over her head, made herself go invisible, and dropped out of the ship. Emmy chuckled to herself, so the Martian liked the clone, huh? Poor Flash Boy never stood a chance. The Lantern couldn't blame Megan. Superboy definitely qualified as hot, even if his personality did leave something to be desired. Black hair, blue eyes, muscles for days.
He had walked in on her training in the gym yesterday, asking why she always sang when she worked out. She explained that it over-trained her lungs and made it easier for her to fight for long periods of time in the field because her body had more oxygen than it normally did when she exerted herself. The clone found that interesting, and she had invited him to work out with her. She couldn't convince him to sing, but she had been able to get him to hum slightly as he worked his way through the gym. She admittedly started hitting on him the second his shirt came off and he started throwing weights around.
He didn't seem to understand that she was hitting on him, but she figured he would start to once he was exposed to more of the world. Definitely a prime specimen for a Martian's first Earth crush. Emmy would have asked him out sooner or later, but she'd back off if Megan was interested. She had spent a couple hours baking with the Martian each day since the Happy Harbor incident, and she really liked the girl. M'gann was effortlessly funny, ridiculously sweet, and she needed a friend on Earth she could count on. She was as clueless as Superboy was though, so Emmy might have to teach her a little about flirting at some point. Chicks before dicks and all that. Hey, maybe they'll start dating and want the occasional third. Emmy refocused her wandering mind before it went too far into the gutter and flew down to the ground, landing softly next to Miss M, Kid Flash, and Robin.
Superboy's absence was noticed. The foursome glanced up and jumped aside with a yelp at the clone's rapidly approaching body. Emmy threw a circle beneath Superboy's feet a second before he hit the ground, but the noise of his landing still echoed loudly.
"Knew I didn't need a line." he confidently smirked at Emmy.
"You were about to crash into the ground! That would have been very loud and very not covert!" Emmy glared slightly. He is definitely out for possible leader. As a clone created from stolen Superman DNA, he had too much to prove to himself.
"Seriously! It was still loud, and almost creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the 'covert'," Robin grumbled, standing at the base of the tree he had knocked into when jumping away from the clone's landing. Kid Flash appeared out of some trees, and Miss M flew back to the group.
"Aqualad, Drop B is a go," Miss Martian said into a transmitter.
"Head to the factory. I'll track your GPS and meet you ASAP," Came the Atlantean's reply.
"Roger that," Robin looked at the map of the island on his hologlove, the rest of the group crowding around the youngest member to get a glimpse. Emmy floated over Kid Flash's shoulder, still mentally tallying who should be leader. They broke into the vegetation on the quickest path to the factory. They had just passed through a waterfall when Robin stopped to check their route on his glove again.
Superboy snapped his head to the side. "Did you hear that?"
"Uh, no," Kid Flash scoffed. "Wait. Is this a super-hearing thing?"
"You do have great ears," Miss Martian sighed, wistfully staring at Superboy.
Emmy sent the Martian a pitying look. "Girl, what even?"
"Okay, Rob, now what?" Kid Flash asked, but, as usual, Robin was nowhere to be found. "Man, I hate it when he does that." Yet another strike against the Boy Wonder.
"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked. Lantern, fly up and see if you can identify any insurgents," Aqualad commanded through the commlinks.
One point for Kaldur. Emmy flew up and surveyed the island.
Kid Flash pulled his goggles over his eyes with a smirk. He saw heat signatures further down in the forest. "Got a squad of armed bozos incoming."
The three teens still on the ground ducked behind rocks and a fallen tree. Superboy looked in the opposite direction. "Two squads, but they should meet each other before they find us."
"I'm going to lead them to each other faster so we can see if they're the same group or not." Emmy relayed before making vine and bush structures in each group's path so that their only option was to walk into one another. She saw the gunfire flashes before she heard them. "Definitely not on the same team."
She flew back to hers.
"No super-hearing required now," Kid said.
"Swing wide, steer clear," Aqualad stated as Kid stepped next to Superboy.
"Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob." Kid replied before vaulting over the tree and zipping down a trail.
One strike for Kid Flash. Finding Robin's current location was unnecessary and a waste of time. The trail was too wet, and he slipped, sliding down the hill into the middle of the firefight. Emmy sighed as she watched the redhead lock eyes with a momentarily shocked Bane. Yeah, definitely not him.
"So much for the stealthy," the redhead said while lifting his goggles off his eyes.
Bane's surprise wore off and he started shooting at the speedster. The super speedy bullet evasion only succeeded in gaining the attention of the Kobra soldiers. Superboy tried to tackle Bane, but it ended with the clone being thrown into a tree.
Emmy flew toward the fight sounds and began fist fighting some goons while Superboy handled the big guy. She was still a little uncomfortable with her ring and preferred to use her years of martial arts as her primary defense and offense. It also helped her ring stay charged longer. If she only used it to fly and make the occasional structure, she could get it to last for days and maybe even weeks. Kid Flash continued evading bullets until Robin jumped from the shadows and knocked out the two most active shooters.
"What is wrong with you guys?" he asked, still fighting the soldiers. "Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?"
Kid Flash hit an insurgent before using another one as a springboard for a backflip. He turned to Robin. "That's what you were doing?"
Emmy tackled a guy who was closing in on the speedster from behind.
"Lack of clear communication is a sign of immaturity," she commented from atop the goon's back.
"Yeah!" Wally agreed with her for the first time. "Way to fill us in! We're not mind readers you know."
Miss Martian threw two more attackers into the tree behind him telekinetically. "Well, I'm not anyway," he corrected, watching the girl land on the ground.
"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," she teased him.
"It's also okay if it's a guy you really want to bone," Emmy smirked at the green girl.
"Bone?" Miss M tilted her head in confusion at the colloquialism while Kid Flash frowned at the Lantern.
"Do not sully her beautiful, sweet mind!"
"Oh, please that's what you've been trying, and failing, to do since you first saw her," Emmy snapped and sent a jab-uppercut combo at her tenth hoodlum of the night. The fight lulled when they had the majority of their attackers unconscious and tied to the trees surrounding the clearing.
"I recognize those uniforms." Robin looked at the tied-up men. "They belong to the Cult of The Kobra." Emmy frowned. The Kobra people were part of the reason her siblings had been kidnapped in June.
"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Aqualad turned to the Boy Wonder.
"Agreed," Robin nodded once. "And since there's no love lost between the cultists and those goons," he puts his hand on his chin in thought. "I'm betting they came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."
"We get it. Kobra wanted super cultists." Kid Flash said confidently. "Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for-"
"These cultists aren't on venom." Robin cuts him off. "Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave. Not until I know why."
"Until you know why?" Kid Flash narrowed his eyes at the raven-haired gymnast.
"What you need something extra juicy for your diary?" Emmy frowned at the bird child's implication.
"This team needs a leader," Robin stood up straighter.
"And it's you?!" Kid got in Robin's face. "Dude, you're a thirteen-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word."
"We need a mature leader whose voice doesn't crack and who isn't in need of two growth spurts," Emmy joined in Kid Flash's protest.
Robin laughed obnoxiously for few seconds. "And you're a mature fifteen, KF? You blew our cover first chance you got." He wheeled to face Emmy. "You aren't even tall! And what makes you so mature? All you've done was fly into the sky and punch a few people."
"I don't need to be tall when I can fly, Hummingbird," she put her hands on her hips. "I am a parent, of course I'm mature. Not to mention that I was the one who pushed those morons together" she threw a thumb toward the assailants tied to the trees, "so they'd fight in the first place. 'All I've done is punch a few people?' Puh-lease, we all know that as a GL, I'm the strongest person on this team so of course I should do the brunt of the physical fighting. What have you done other than disappear?"
"You didn't check with anyone before you shoved the groups together!" Robin snapped. "You could have gotten us killed if we had been three seconds slower getting ready for them."
Miss Martian and Superboy observed the three-way argument in silence. The green teen eventually spoke up, "Don't you want to lead?"
The Kryptonian shook his head with a scoff before looking at Megan out of the corner of his eye. "You?"
Miss M waved her hand, physically pushing the idea away from her body. "After the Mister Twister fiasco?"
Superboy smiled at her. "You did alright."
The green cheeks shifted to the opposite end of the color wheel and she tucked some hair behind her ear. Superboy's attention turned away from the girl to the person he could hear approaching behind him. Bane and one of his lackeys were talking to each other in Spanish. Good thing the Genomorphs taught him more than English. Bane was planning to pretend to work with the teens then double cross them when he had what he needed. The Kryptonian smirked before Kid Flash's voice pulled his attention again.
"Yeah? You don't even have superpowers!" the redhead snapped before trying to walk away from the conversation. Green Lantern stepped in his way and the Boy Wonder followed close behind.
"Neither does Batman!" The bird retorted.
Kid Flash stopped glaring at Emmy blocking his path to turn on his friend. "Duh," he laughed harshly. "You're not Batman."
"Duh, closest thing we've got." Robin jabbed his thumb at himself.
"Oh really?" Emmy quipped. "Because the whole reason Batman asked me to join this little team was because he wanted someone with real world experience he could trust to take care of you guys and handle the "darkest parts of the job" for you. And," Emmy hummed to herself and tapped a finger on her chin with fake contemplation, "I'm pretty sure the one taking care of everyone else is the leader!"
Robin's shoulders slumped and she almost felt bad for a second. "He really said that to you?"
Kid Flash took up the rage baton his friend had dropped. "Is it hard to breathe with your green head that far up your green ass? You hardly have any experience as a hero, because you're the only one of us who was a criminal, but you STILL think you're babysitting us!" Robin nodded aggressively, his anger returning.
"And yet," Emmy fumed at the mention of her past. She let her hand make the ASL sign for 'three people' and swept it between the arguing group, "I'm also the only one of us who has never been, and will never be, a sidekick. I have jurisdiction throughout all of sector 2814 and any other sector that calls for my help, and none of you can even take a piss unless Batman gives you permission and pulls your pants down for you!"
The boys each looked like they were half a second away from taking a swing at her head when a snapped twig sent them all turning toward Bane as he gave away his location.
"Such clever niños, but you only know half the story," Bane taunted. The whole team converged in front of the intruder. "Let me show you the rest. Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
"There is a secret entrance," Miss M knelt next to the man, hand on her temple,
but he's also hiding something." Her eyes glowed white for a second.
"Ah, ah, ah Chica. Bane is not that easy," he retorted smugly.
"I can make you that easy," Emmy threatened and stepped forward, but Kaldur motioned for her to stop.
Miss M's eyes stopped glowing and she pulled out of the man's head with a groan. "He's mentally reciting fútbol scores en Español," she looked at the group over her shoulder. "This could take a while."
"It's not complicated," Bane spoke up first. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
The boys exchanged glances with each other before eventually giving in and nodding. Emmy put her hands on her hips.
"Seriously?" the team turned to her. "You want to trust Nacho Libre over here? Why don't I just erase his memories and we use him as bait for whoever's in the factory?"
Bane frowned at the mention of erasing his memories. "Green Lanterns can't do that."
Emmy made her temporarily green eyes glow aggressively. "Sí, podemos."
Superboy got her attention. "It's our only option, GL." He winked at her with the eye Bane couldn't see. She was surprised at the unexpected motion but relaxed. He must know something. The group moved to the top of a cliff where they could clearly see the factory. Bane pointed and they all turned to see a forklift and containers sitting by a helipad.
"Look at all that product." Robin was shocked. "A buy is going down." Emmy watched Bane walk away from the team and followed him with narrowed eyes. "But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then-."
"We need to identify that buyer," Aqualad declared.
"Just what I was thinking," Kid Flash agreed, standing up straight and fiddling with his goggles.
"Yeah. You're the thinker," Robin snarked.
"Sarcasm?" Kid Flash questioned clearly annoyed. "Dude. A real leader would focus on getting answers." The group turned around at the sound of grunts to see Emmy glaring at Bane while he moved a massive rock away from the cliff side and revealed an old mine entrance. Miss M and Superboy exchanges a confused look.
"Answers are this way." Bane gestured down the mine tunnel, before heading in himself first with the Lantern close behind.
"So now el Luchador is our leader." Emmy heard Kid's half sarcastic and half annoyed comment behind her and huffed a laugh through her nose. Robin stalked past the speedster, smacking him with the back of his hand. The rest of the team shrugged and followed.
"Have you ever been to Bludhaven?" Bane called back to the Lantern hot on his trail. The team saw the way her hands automatically clenched into tight fists.
"Not since the last time I rocked your mom's world," Emmy kept her voice at a deadpan so she would not reveal her concern, grateful that Wally's quiet snort distracted her. Bane glared at her over his shoulder.
"My apologies," he looked at her from head to toe. "I thought you might be someone else." Shit, shit, shit. She had dark green hair, and a dark green uniform, and a dark green mask, and he still partially recognized her? Emmy kept her face impassive, but her mind was racing. Had she ever seen him in or at a match before? She knew "The Little Nightmare" had never fought him personally, but what if he had seen her? She had been a fighter for four years it was very possible he, a villain, had seen her at some point. Maybe she needed to try to make a full-face mask? Her ring should do that if she asked. Megan subtly put her hand on Emmy's lower back in a gesture of comfort. Emmy relaxed imperceptibly and stopped her mental spiral. They reached a metal door. Bane unlocked it with his fingerprints. The door opened onto the factory floor.
Robin looked into the room. "All clear," he confirmed before running into the room. The group followed to the next hiding spot, but Rob had vanished again.
"Has that little fool already been captured?" Bane questioned.
"No," Aqualad's voice housed an annoyance identical to Bane's. "He just does that."
Kid Flash slid his goggles over his eyes. "Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before Boy Wonder."
Aqualad tried to reach out for Kid Flash but the boy was already running. "Wait, Kid!"
Bane watched the boy disappear in a streak of grey and red. He smugly looked at Aqualad, "Great chain of command."
"How long did it take us to beat your guys again? Three minutes? Or was it four?" Emmy crossed her arms and looked down her nose at Bane as he frowned. She would have preferred to get away from the guy who possibly recognized her, but the last thing the team needed was another AWOL member flitting about. The group of teens moved to crouch behind an unused assembly line, but Bane hid in the shadow of a crate. Emmy kept her eyes on him. It did not escape her notice that he chose a spot away from her team.
She nudged Superboy slightly. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She tilted her head at the masked giant, "You have that under control?" she asked under her breath with a raised eyebrow, knowing the clone could hear her regardless.
The blue eyes turned toward her, and he nodded subtly. Damn, he's pretty. Aqualad's voice brought her back to reality.
"It's a massive shipment."
"Yeah, but they're only taking new product off the line," Superboy pointed out. "They're not touching this Venom."
"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss M guessed.
Superboy tilted his head away from the group. "Helicopter's coming."
They all looked out the small skylight in an attempt to see the offending rotorcraft. A few seconds later they heard the telling sound of helicopter blades. Miss M went invisible and flew to find the identity of the buyer in the helicopter. Bane, Superboy, and Emmy kept watch in the factory while Aqualad closed his eyes and waited for Miss M to telepathically send him the image of the buyer.
"Sportsmaster." Aqualad's eyes flew open and Emmy's back went rigid. No way. He couldn't be here. "He is the buyer?" he looked at Lantern and Superboy shocked. He touched his ear. "Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read?" He huffed. "Can't reach the League, Robin, or Kid. Comm's jammed. We need a plan. Now." He looked at Emmy, but she was still frozen in place. Eyes wide and unseeing, staring at a distant spot on the wall.
"I have a suggestion," Bane smiled darkly before jumping over the rail with a battle cry. A couple Kobra agents looked up, shocked to see Bane. He landed before them, easily incapacitating the men. The sound of gunshots outside the factory cut through the air.
"What is he-"Aqualad was cut off by another battle screech as Blockbuster crashed through a window and yanked down a catwalk. The group of teens dodged the falling debris, but so did the 'roided and roaring beast.
"This guy again?" Superboy complained.
"Destroy them," a man commanded, Emmy distantly recognized him as Kobra. Blockbuster charged at the factory's infiltrators. Emmy shook her head. So Sportsmaster was the buyer. So what? He wasn't here right now, and a beast was charging at her team. Get it together, East. She knocked Blockbuster back with two comically large fists. Superboy chased after the flying Blockbuster and punched him into a wall before he hit the ground. Kobra agents were shooting at Aqualad and he blocked the bullets with a water-shield. He sent water-projections at their chests, knocking out the shooters. Emmy saw Bane hiding and laughing to himself. She sent a lasso around his waist and slung him into the opposite wall. Miss M flew into the factory, still invisible, and flung some of the agents away from her team.
Superboy, Aqualad, and Emmy kept fighting the Kobra cultists closing in on them and the screaming Blockbuster. Something exploded next to Miss M, her camouflage fell, and she started falling to the ground. Emmy flew to catch her friend before she hit the floor. Megan clutched her head. Emmy gently stood her up.
"Thank you," Megan smiled slightly. Emmy nodded at her, still helping the girl stay on her feet. The Martian was swaying, and it concerned the Lantern.
Superboy and Blockbuster continued their boxing match while Robin cackled and ran across the catwalks above their heads. Kid Flash ran back into the factory, sliding to a stop to watch the chaos for a second. Kid Flash and Robin ran off in separate directions. Aqualad was being cornered by a few Kobra agents, but Kid crashed into the two cultists, roughly knocking them off their feet. He ducked behind a pillar to avoid getting shot by three new agents, and Emmy used the hand not around Megan's waist to send fists to knock out the newest assailants.
"Miss Martian, radio is jammed," Aqualad yelled at the Martian. She stood up on her own at hearing her name, and Emmy removed her hands. "Link us up!"
"Everyone online?" The green girl asked with a hand to her head.
"Yeah," Superboy replied gruffly, still disliking the mental obtrusion.
"You know it, Beautiful," Kid replied, smiling while dodging bullets.
"Yep," Emmy flew at Blockbuster and sent him crashing into a stack of crates.
"Good. We need to regroup," Aqualad stated.
"Busy now," Robin's said shortly.
"Robin, now!" Aqualad demanded. He turned to his team, creating whips with his water-bears and sending more Kobra cultists flying. "Strategic retreat. Kid, Lantern, clear a path." Another point for Kaldur.
Wally and Emmy ran and flew forward, respectively. Emmy knocked out everyone on the left while Wally took out the agents on the right. They were blasting their way back into the secret tunnel. The rest of their team following behind them while Superboy kept fighting Blockbuster.
"Superboy, the support beams!" Aqualad commanded. The clone destroyed three pillars, eyes widening when the building immediately started to fall. Miss M yanked him away from the debris by his shirt. The Kobra agents were separated from the teen heroes by a thick pile of rubble.
Emmy called a green fire to her left hand so they could see in the dark mine tunnel. Robin was looking into the cave, facing away from Aqualad. Kid was heavily leaning on the wall, and Superboy and Miss Martian were standing near the opposite wall.
"How can my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked with his head in his hands.
Emmy shrugged slightly. "Maybe because we never fully agreed that you were in charge?"
Aqualad walked to the youngest member. "You do have the most experience, but perhaps that is exactly what left you unprepared." Kid stopped gasping for breath against the wall and stood up, looking at the bird. "Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are clearly defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new, and a leader needs to be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play part in an unknown plan."
Robin turned around quickly. "Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Emmy frowned at the implication that a leader shouldn't be helpful. "Ah, who am I kidding?" his voice was a little pained. "You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can."
"Please!" Kid yelled indignantly. "I can run circles-"
"Wally, come on," Robin cut his friend off. Emmy raised an eyebrow at the boy's use of yet another secret ID. They better hope no one else is in the tunnel with them. "You know he's the one, we all do."
"Hello Megan!" Miss M smiled with her hands on her hips. "It's so obvious."
"Coulda told ya," Superboy conceded with a smile. The clone leaned against a support beam and sent Wally a threatening glare.
Wally shrugged his shoulder before putting his hands on his hips and smirking, "Okay."
"What do you think, Green Lantern?" Kaldur turned to Emmy, the last person not to sing his praises. "You were not incorrect when you pointed out that you have the most power and jurisdiction of all of us." Emmy thought to the immature insults she had thrown at her teammates. Strike against her for leader.
"Look, I'm used to being on my own, and that automatically means I'm used to being in charge," she looked at the team. "But I don't have the group dynamic experience to lead a team, and it also doesn't make sense to have the one person who could get called away to another planet at a moment's notice be giving the orders. Kaldur is the only one who makes sense."
She put a hand on the back of her neck and avoided eye contact with Kid Flash and Robin. "Also, I'm sorry for implying that I'm doing you guys a favor by being here." She bit her lip thinking about how she had frozen at the mere mention of Sportmaster's name. She might not have snapped out of that in time to avoid being killed if she had been on her own. "The truth is, I want to be here. And you're all doing me a favor by letting me be a part of your team even though I'm still new to this side of the law." They all smiled at her, even Wally and Rob. Megan flew to her and gave her a big hug, which Emmy actually reciprocated with a small smile.
"Plus, Kaldur won the mental tally of leadership qualities I was keeping by a landslide," Emmy smirked.
"Wait," Wally flashed to her side. "How many points did I have? Was I number two?"
"I think a lot of people would happily to refer to you as 'number two'," Emmy replied to the now frowning redhead. Aqualad ignored the interaction and gracefully adjusted to his new position.
"Then I accept the burden," Aqualad said, placing his hand on Robin's shoulder. "Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon." Robin smiled through the Atlantean's speech and nodded. I mean, I don't know about that.
Aqualad turned to his team and they gathered around him. "Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving the island."
Robin laughed with crossed arms and a speedster-like smirk, "Funny. I had the same thought."
"Sportsmaster is the supplier and buyer," Robin explained while the six teens ran and flew down the mine tunnel. Emmy breathed out her nose slowly and tried to calm her racing heart at the casual mention of him. "But it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or get Kobra to do his dirty work."
Kid was running at normal speed to stay in line with Rob in the front of the pack. Aqualad and Superboy jogged behind in the second row, while Miss M and Emmy flew in the back.
"And neither of them has the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom," Kid agreed. "That took some major nerdage."
"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'," Aqualad halted when they saw Bane blocking their exit. A long, metal item hanging from his hand. There were a dozen more metal objects on the ground.
"Halt, niños." Bane ordered, a bright green stick in his left hand. "I'm feeling explosive."
There were explosives covering the support beams. They wouldn't be able to run out in time. Emmy rolled her eyes, unsurprised by the betrayal.
"You betrayed us. Why?" Aqualad asked, confused.
"I want my factory back," Bane stated.
"Kid, you'll need a running start," Aqualad called through the mind link, the redhead took a few steps back.
"So, I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying," he smirked cockily before continuing. "If the latter, the Justice League would certainly come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared Santa Prisca would be mine once more." He waved the trigger at them. "Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect."
Emmy threw a structure along the interior of the tunnel so that if the bomb went off nothing would hit them. Bane was so distracted by the green forms he didn't notice the grey blur that shot past him. He tried to hit the trigger button. His thumb only hit air.
"With what?" Kid Flash asked from behind the villain while he smugly leaned against a nearby tree. "This trigger thingy?" He shook the trigger at Bane tauntingly.
Bane tried to punch the speed demon, but Meg's telekinesis held him back. Emmy dropped her structure now that they weren't in danger. Miss M held Bane ten feet above the ground and the team converged into a semi-circle around the masked moronic machismo.
Superboy dropped into a fighting stance with a dangerous twinkle in his eyes, "Finally." M'gann looked to the Kryptonian and he nodded at her, smirk growing. "Drop him."
Miss M looked up at Bane innocently. She pulled her hand back and let the villain fall straight into the clone's vicious uppercut.
The team jumped through the trees surrounding the helipad. The cultists were loading product onto the helicopter.
"The helicopter is operational, Exalted One," an agent stated to Kobra.
Emmy saw Sportsmaster walk toward the chopper holding a silver box. An invisible hand strangled her stomach, and her knees shook slightly. She couldn't inhale. It had been six years. Six years since she last saw her father. But there he was. Lawrence Crock. The Sportsmaster. Her heart was pumping so fast she wondered if it would burst. His blond head started to turn in her direction, and she collapsed behind a crate. She couldn't do this. What if he recognized her? Her breathing was dangerously close to hyperventilation. She reverted to the terrified child she had been during their last meeting. She curled her knees into her chest and put her hands on the back of her neck, face buried in between her legs. There was a ball in her throat. She couldn't swallow. She couldn't breathe.
She heard her team engaging in the fight, but she couldn't move to help. If he saw her, he might realize that she was his daughter who supposedly died in a house fire six years ago. If he saw her, he could recognize her. And if he recognized her, he could figure out that Sage and Hunter were still alive too. And if he figured out that Sage and Hunter were still alive, he could track them down and-
A breeze blew her hair. She looked into naturally green eyes with her artificial, panicked ones.
Wally started to tease and chastise the usually cocky Lantern for hiding, but when he saw the dread and unshed tears in her eyes his demeanor shifted to concern. Emmy may have been a caustic pain-in-his-ass, but she was still a girl and his teammate, after all.
"Are you okay?"
Emmy gulped and sat up, her knees still against her chest and her hands still clasped behind her neck.
"I-" she stuttered. "Sportsmaster." Her voice cracked halfway through her father's moniker. She squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hey," Wally knelt down next to her. "What about Sportsmaster?"
Shit. I shouldn't have said that. Emmy tried to slow her breathing and focused on not revealing one of her darkest secrets to the teammate she barely knew. She didn't have the mental power to form a lie right now. Half-truths. Combine half-truths.
She slammed her head back into the crate behind her, livid that her father still sent such a strong current of fear through her core. "I fought him once." Wally's eyebrows rose underneath his mask. "Six years ago," Emmy blinked away the tears before they became too obvious in her eyes. "It was," she hesitated. There did not seem to be a word that could fully describe her hatred for the man and the hell he put her through. She settled on the first adjective that came to mind, "Brutal."
"Sportsmaster fought in Bobby Spark's fight club?" Wally was surprised. It didn't seem like something the villain would bother with.
Nope. "Yeah," she breathed. "Broke my spine." Nope again, that was 'Python Whip', "And then shot me afterwards." That part was true at least, her countenance darkened at the memory. She shouldn't have said that last part either.
"Wow," Wally breathed. An explosion boomed in the background. Emmy twitched when Sportmaster's voice yelled a threat at their teammates.
"Ugh," she groaned and put her head in her hands. "This is humiliating." She was supposed to be an unbeatable force. Hell, she had a magic ring because she supposedly never gave up and never gave into her fear.
"Hey, GL," Wally shook her shoulder. Nothing. "Emerald," his voice turned stern and she looked up at the mention of her name. "That is horrible, but guess what?" She blinked at him. "You're not a 10-year-old kid anymore. You survived. You're a Green Lantern." He leaned in a little closer, eyes holding a shocking amount of determination. "I've seen you blast your way out of a collapsing building while taking ten kids and four teenagers with you. I've seen you rip the arm off a crazy powerful android that took our whole team an embarrassingly long time to defeat. You and I both know that you can kick Sportsmaster's ass without breaking a sweat," Emmy squared her shoulders and her breathing returned to normal. "So why don't you get your green head out of your green ass, and we'll go help our team complete this mission?"
Emmy nodded, her willpower tearing through her fear. The speedster stood up and offered his hand. She took it and pulled herself to her feet. He quirked an eyebrow, asking if she was good to go. She smirked in return and flew to join the battle without warning. Kid flashed after her and knocked out the final agents with guns, grabbing a mask and yelling, "Sweet! Souvenir".
"Nice of you two to join us," Rob yelled as he back flipped over Kobra and punched the guy in the back of his neck. The two continued their fight.
"What's wrong boy? You look disconcerted." Kobra taunted.
Emmy looked around the battlefield. Kid was taking down more Kobra lackeys. Aqualad was pushing Blockbuster back with a strong water stream. Superboy and Miss Martian were chasing after Sportsmaster. Emmy quickly threw a small opaque structure in front of her face in case her looked at her. Robin was fighting the Kobra guy.
Sportsmaster knocked Superboy and Miss M over and jumped into the helicopter, taking off quickly. Emmy was about to fly after him when she saw Megan pull out Bane's trigger with a smirk. The next second, the helicopter partially exploded and Sportsmaster jumped into the water. A problem for another day.
"I'm going to destroy the factory unless anyone has any objections," Emmy opened her mind to the group link, asking for permission.
"Excellent idea," Aqualad conceded. With a smile, Emmy created a giant person-shaped structure around herself and started punching and kicking the building while her team took care of their fights. She was too busy to notice, but they had all stopped to stare for a second at the massive display of Green Lantern power in slight awe. The building was leveled to the ground in two minutes. Emmy let her structure dissipate and flew down to the center of the tarmac where the team was gathering.
"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin confessed to Aqualad. Sincerity lasting only a second before he yelled, "Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman!" and walked away laughing.
Aqualad's shoulders slumped slightly.
Location: Mount Justice
Date: July 23, 2010
Time: 12:26
"A simple recon mission." Batman entered Aqualad's personal space threateningly before walking down the rest of the lined-up teens. "Observe and report!" he berated. "You will each receive written evaluations detailing your many mistakes," Batman passed the teens standing at full attention.
Emmy was at the end and threw her fists on her hips, quirking an unamused eyebrow at Batman. She didn't answer to him. She answered to the GL Corps. And other than fighting with her teammates and having a meltdown over her father's appearance, she hadn't made any mistakes. Okay fine, so maybe those two were big enough mistakes on their own. She would need to talk to Batman about Sportsmaster possibly recognizing her.
Batman paused in front of the Lantern at the end of the line. "Until then, good job." Emmy blinked in surprise while her teammate's heads popped up in shock.
"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy," they all relaxed and Emmy let her hands fall from her hips to her side. "How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads determines character." Robin and Aqualad smiled at each other as the Bat left the room.
The team started to huddle up to congratulate each other. Emmy bit her lip and stared at the retreating redhead. She grabbed his hand before he got too far away. He turned around shocked, looking at their connected hands. She dropped his like it was on fire. His green eyes looked at her questioningly.
She rubbed the back of her neck for a second and stared at the ground. "Look," she glanced up and swallowed her pride. "Thank you."
The sincerity in the clear blue eyes threw the speedster off, but he recovered quickly.
"No problem, that's what teammates are for," his voice oozing smugness. "You should add a tally to my leadership score. Inspiring pep talks are a must for any magnanimous and handsome leader." Emmy snorted and shoved her shoulder into his lightly as she passed and they joined the quick group huddle. Megan was inviting the team to come back to the mountain for dinner later this week.
"Emmy and I will cook!" The Martian beamed at Emmy when she agreed with the green girl. The boys happily accepted the offer.
Emmy cracked her back and started to leave the huddle. "That reminds me, I need to go make Hunter's and Sage's lunch." Her ring beeped. Hal's urgent voice called to her.
"Green Lantern 003 of Sector 2814, report!"
"Yes?" Her spine straightened and she prepared her another fight.
"I'm hungry," Hal whined. She pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance as her teammates laughed behind her.
"And I give a shit, why?" She asked sharply.
"Harsh! Hunger is no joke," Wally chuckled.
"You take care of your sister and brother, and you and I are brother and sister through the Corps so you should really bring me a sandwich and-"
"Make your own damn sandwich you impotent little motherfu-"
"Emmy! We finally got Red Tornado to admit that he likes the Transformers movie!"
Emmy cut herself off as Hunter and Sage came rushing down the hall and jump-hugged her. Emmy depowered her ring, returning to a long sleeve black shirt, jeans, and her typical aqua converse.
"Hey guys," she signed with a smile. "I missed you. Good job with Red Tornado. Transformers is a classic."
They both pulled back a bit, the team waving hello to them before they all went their separate ways.
"What's for lunch?" Hunter asked.
"That depends on what you two want," Emmy stopped for a second. "Homemade pizza?" They both nodded excitedly. She would make the crust from cheese, cauliflower, broccoli, and almond flour. It would be healthy, and they would never know. She mentally congratulated herself.
"What was the mission like?" Sage signed.
The image of their father returned like a kick in the face. Emmy took a deep breath and obliterated her fear at seeing Lawrence. They were safe in the mountain. He would never find them. He didn't even know they were still alive.
She answered as they walked to the kitchen.
"It all started with us entering the jungle..."
Did anyone call that Sportsmaster was their father? Also, a huge shoutout to Yoduvanchik for drawing their mental image of Emmy aka my new account avatar! The picture is gorgeous, and I'm still not over it.
-TheDarkAbyss