Location: Mount Justice
Date: July 27, 2010
Time: 18:03
It had been a few days since their Santa Prisca mission, and the group had settled on tonight for their team dinner. Technically, Megan, Superboy, and Emmy had a partial team dinner every night, but that was just semantics. Emmy had talked to Hal and John, and they agreed to split calls evenly since her team was officially active. Now that the two full-time Lanterns were working again, Emmy hadn't been on a Code in three days. John forced Hal to admit that he had been sending extra Codes to her during her hazing period, and that most Lanterns only got a few calls a week. She would have been annoyed, but she was just grateful to have more time with her family.
She heard a peal of giggles from the couch. Superboy was next to Sage and Hunter trying to play Mario Kart. He had the habit of accidentally crushing the remote each time he lost, (which was most of the time), and it never ceased to amuse the two youngest Easts. Superboy's face had a hint embarrassment as he walked into the kitchen to grab his 5th Wii controller of the day from a drawer next to Megan. The Martian flew out of the way, brushing her hair behind her ear.
"You may not be able to tell, but you are definitely getting better," Emmy grinned at the clone while checking on the food in the oven. "Hunter said you got 8th place earlier."
Superboy popped batteries into his next victim. "Yeah, I'll get first eventually."
"It might help," Megan started shyly, "If you spent less time trying to ram into Donkey Kong, Jr. and focused more on staying on the course?"
Superboy glared at the screen as Sage and Hunter picked their new characters while waiting for him to return. "I hate monkeys," he grumbled.
The girl's exchanged amused glances while the clone returned to the game.
"Excellent suggestion, Megs," Emmy winked at her green companion. "If you ever want to lead, I will be more than happy to lead a coo so we can overthrow Kaldur."
"No thank you," the Martian shook her head with a smile. She was still figuring out the heavy Earth sarcasm and teasing the blonde used, but she recognized that comment as a joke.
Megan had wanted to make lasagna for their dinner. Evidently, it was a well-known dish on Mars widely renowned as the "most famous Earth meal". Emmy thought that was a generous description, but it was easy to make in large batches, so they went with it. They made enough for 20 people. Hopefully, that would suffice for the 8 normal eaters and Wally. Emmy was thinly chopping red onions to add to the salad dishes while she carefully watched Megan telekinetically move the 2-day toffee chocolate chip cookies from the baking sheet to the cooling rack.
The Martian had the ability to burn absolutely anything. It baffled Emmy. She had gone to the bathroom during the middle of helping Megan make her first batch of cookies after their Mr. Twister mission. She picked sugar cookies specifically because they were even easier than chocolate chip ones. Emmy had walked back into the kitchen four minutes later to a scene of utter chaos. The mixing bowl, full of only eggs, sugar, flour, and butter at that point, was on fire. Megan was ducking away from it in terror. (That was how Emmy learned the biggest Martian weakness was fire). Superboy's shirt, now on the ground as he stomped on it, was somehow also on fire. Sage was screaming and throwing handfuls of water from the sink across the room in the general direction of the bowl. And Hunter was eating a strawberry popsicle at the table and laughing like an evil pyromaniac.
"How did this even happen?" Emmy shrieked before powering up and throwing a box around the mixing bowl and slinging it underneath the sink faucet.
"I don't know!" the Martian yelled back in horrified confusion.
Emmy chuckled at the memory. It was funny now, but she hadn't left Megan alone in the kitchen since then. And she made sure she kept her ring next to her just in case the Martian got a little too overzealous and accidentally lit some fruit on fire. She glanced at the clock. The rest of their team should start getting here soon. The lasagna had another ten minutes left, so there wasn't a huge rush.
As if on cue, the zeta beam announced Robin's appearance and the boy walked into the kitchen with a wave, immediately flipping onto the couch and joining the game. Aqualad arrived a few minutes later. Ever the gentleman, he had asked the girls if they needed any help. Only joining the game after they shook their heads no. Emmy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the Martian as the Atlantean grabbed his own Wii remote. Megan giggled. She shushed Emmy as the shorter girl whispered about how attractive a man working in a kitchen is and that they should have Aqualad come back and switch his shirt for an apron. Superboy sent an unimpressed look at Emmy over his shoulder. He quickly looked away with pink cheeks when she whispered, "Hey, I'm just giving you tips on how to woo Megs."
The zeta voice announced the arrival of their final teammate. Wally zipped into the kitchen, bringing a breeze with him. He looked around and saw he was the last one to get there.
"Man!" he whined.
"Why are speedsters always the last ones to get everywhere?" Rob teased his friend.
"They rely too heavily on their powers, so they wait to the last second to do everything?" Emmy offered. The redhead stuck his tongue out at her and flashed over to Megan by the cookies. He had one in his mouth before the Martian turned to him.
"Oh my gosh," he moaned in delight. He had been expecting the worst after Megan's first batch, but these were delicious. "These are the best cookies I've ever had, Beautiful. Is that toffee I'm tasting? Is it too early to propose?"
The Martian poorly suppressed a smile. "Actually, Emmy made those, so you'll have to propose to her."
The redhead's smile dropped, and he turned to the smirking Lantern. "How?" he screamed dramatically. "How could someone so horrible make something so wonderful?"
The team laughed at his antics, and Emmy stopped slicing cherry tomatoes to point at the speedster with her knife. "The secret ingredient you're tasting is wit. That's probably why you don't recognize it."
"In case it's not obvious," the redhead scowled at her even as he grabbed another cookie, "my proposal has been retracted."
"How will my heart ever recover?" Emmy deadpanned and slid the onions and tomatoes off the cutting board into the giant salad bowl before moving it to the table. The oven timer dinged, and Megan opened the door. Emmy scooted closer to the Martian as she placed both lasagna trays on the hot pads on the counter.
"Why are you looking at her like she's about to light something on fire?" Wally asked.
The Lantern immediately started laughing while the Martian blushed and Superboy snorted through his nose. The group made their way to the table for salad while the lasagna cooled a bit, and the mountain-dwellers told the story of Megan's sugar cookie mishap. Everyone was chuckling by the end of Emmy's rendition, but when Megan and Superboy started telling it from their side they were all clutching their stomachs and wiping away tears.
"So, wait," Robin laughed around the lettuce in his mouth. "Superboy you saw that the bowl was on fire and your first thought was, 'I'm indestructible. I should hug the top to put the flames out'?"
The clone looked a bit sheepish. "I thought the lack of oxygen would make the flame die out, but instead my shirt just caught on fire."
Sage and Emmy were taking turns signing the dialog to Hunter so he could keep up, and the tiny boy started giggling at Superboy's sentence. He put his fork down for a second and signed quickly. Sage snorted and shook her head at her brother.
"What'd he say?" Wally asked.
"Emmy told him no more popsicles until after dinner, so he used the distraction of the fire to get another one."
"I respect the hustle," Wally offered the young boy a high five.
Emmy narrowed her eyes at Hunter. "I've got my eye on you, Punk." When it was just the East trio, they usually signed without speaking, but whenever the team or other people were around, Sage and Emmy would sign while simultaneously talking. It was a little bit of a pain to relay everything said in a big group, but neither sister wanted their brother to feel left out just because he couldn't hear.
"This dinner is excellent," Kaldur smiled at the two chefs. "Thank you very much for cooking for us."
Emmy smiled at the older boy. "Of course. Megan's improving really quickly."
The green girl blushed at their praise. "It only seems that way because I was so horrible the first few times."
The table smirked at each other, trying not to start laughing about the batter fire again. Everyone was done with their main course, so Megan flew the dishes into the sink and brought the cookies over.
"You know, Megs," Emmy turned to the Martian. "I think in a week or two when you have more experience, we should make something using only our powers."
Wally snorted. "Yeah, I won't be eating any green light hamburgers."
"I meant that we could fly around the whole time and use telekinesis and structures to mix everything," Emmy explained with an overexaggerated eyeroll.
"That sounds like fun!" The Martian smiled brightly. Emmy lightly kicked Wally's chair when he zoned out at the green girl's grin and almost drooled into the cookies.
"That would be a cooking show I would actually watch," the bird said.
The group started eating their cookies and moving through conversation topics. They told a few highlights of the past two missions to Sage and Hunter. Kaldur, Rob, and Wally told a few stories from their years in the field before the genesis of their current team. Emmy liked those stories. It was funny picturing 13-year-old Wally stopping bank robberies with his mouth aching from having his braces tightened. And the time 9-year-old Rob fell asleep in the back of the Batmobile without Batman knowing was hysterical. The Caped Crusader had the whole League looking for the boy for hours only to hear a soft snore from his backseat and find Robin under his cape asleep in a little ball.
And hearing about Atlantis was just insane. Emmy would love to go and see it sometime. The way Kaldur described how they spoke to each other and moved underwater and how they could almost talk to the animals was fascinating. Sage asked Kaldur if he ever had to run away from sharks and he ended up telling them about the time he got stuck inside a whale's mouth for 2 days when he was 14. He hadn't wanted to hurt the beast, so he had just waited until the next time it fed and swam out. Unfortunately, the whale had made it to an entirely different part of the ocean in the two days, and on his way home, Kaldur had run into a group of men attacking dolphins. He'd used his largely self-taught fighting skills to stop the poachers, and that was the first time his king noticed him and insisted that Kaldur be trained properly.
Eventually, the cookies dwindled, and Hunter and Sage started to yawn. It was about 9pm, so Emmy quickly put them in bed while her team did the dishes. Sage tried to argue that she should be allowed to stay up later than Hunter, but her argument fell flat the second she started snoring into her pillow. Emmy ducked out of her sister's room with an amused chuckle.
When she got back to the kitchen, the dishes were washed, and the other teens were in a circle on the floor next to the couch. Megan moved to the side and Emmy plopped down in between her and Robin.
"We were just explaining how never-have-I-ever works to Megan and Superboy," Robin offered.
"Is that the one where you put a finger down if you've done something?" Emmy asked. She was pretty sure she'd seen it in a tv show once or twice but she hadn't personally played it.
"That's the one," Robin smirked and held up his right hand. "We're doing five finger superhero addition where you have to give a brief explanation for each finger you put down. If you don't want to give the explanation you have to put down two."
"You only ask questions about hero related stuff," Wally explained a little further. "The loser has to fake sneeze loudly at the beginning of our next mission briefing."
Emmy looked at Superboy and Megan. "Well, as the newbies it's really our game to lose isn't it?"
They all held up their right hands and Kaldur started. "Never have I ever fought while being physically ill."
Robin, Wally, and Emmy put a finger down.
"I fought Joker when I had the flu last year," Robin smirked. "It was horrible, but his face when I hacked phlegm into his open mouth was priceless. I think that was the only time I've ever heard Batman laugh in the field."
They turned to a sheepish Wally. "I ate some bad chili right before Captain Cold started terrorizing a parade two years ago."
"Guess you had the runs in more ways than one," Emmy smirked at the redhead. He glared at her.
"When I was 12, I had a fight lined up with this "Hurri-pain" guy. He made a bunch of weather puns instead of trash talking. Anyway, I had my first period the morning of the match, so I go into it cranky, cramping, with chocolate smeared around my mouth," Emmy chuckled at the memory. "I made it to the second round with that guy when my stomach started churning, and I threw up on his feet. It grossed him out so much that he threw up, and then people in the crowd started getting sick too, and they had to cancel the match."
"Like that one movie with the blueberry pies," Robin called out while patting his friend's back, the speedster turning a little green from the mental image.
"Never have I ever had a villain kiss me to distract me while their team escaped," the bird looked pointedly at Wally. "Twice."
The redhead groaned and put a finger down to the amusement of his team.
"Really?" Emmy quirked an eyebrow. "Not surprised that worked on you."
Wally scowled. "I was thirteen, okay! I didn't even like Jinx. She came onto me."
"Jinx?" Emmy had seen her on the news once or twice. She had pink hair in a crazy horned shape and looked like a little twerp. "Gross. Even you can do better than her."
"I know, thank you," Wally nodded before sitting up. "Hey!"
Breaths of laughter left the group as Emmy tried to think of a good question. "Never have I ever fought while wearing a cape."
Robin and Megan glared at her jokingly and put down a finger. The group was surprised to see Kaldur lose a finger as well.
The Atlantean blushed slightly. "My king had me accompany him to a Halloween party in Star City last year. We stopped a mugging on our way to the event."
"Who were you dressed as?" Superboy asked.
Kaldur blushed a little more. He looked off to the side slightly and quietly admitted, "Superman. My king was dressed as Green Arrow. The three assailants were very confused by the ordeal."
Superboy nodded cockily while the team giggled at the idea of their usually stoic leader fighting off hoodlums with his water whips while wearing a Superman costume.
"Can you imagine how much crap they got when they tried to explain who put them in jail?" Robin laughed.
"Yeah," Wally grinned. "It was Superman! But not Superman. And Green Arrow! But not Green Arrow."
Megan struggled to think of a question. She was very new to the hero game after all. "Never have I ever been shot," she finally said, unable to think of something else.
"Does being shot at count?" Robin asked. The Martian shook her head. Emmy was the only one to put a finger down.
They looked at her expectantly. Everyone interested, except Wally who found out that little nugget during her Santa Prisca meltdown.
"It was only once. Fought the wrong guy. Flesh wound below my ribs on the left. In one side, out the other." Her father had wanted her to know what being shot felt like so if it happened to her during a job for him, she would know how to work through it. He put his gun against her skin, looked into her wide eyes, and pulled the trigger. She'd had to complete a fucking obstacle course with a bullet hole in her side before he bandaged the wound.
When she started crying, he told her she could either finish the course or he'd have Sage come down and tag her in. That had been the day she decided she was going to burn down the house regardless of who was inside. Emmy's jaw clenched as she remembered his threat to shoot Sage too. Who shot their child? And then made them climb a wall before they could get their wound cleaned? Her small tattoo was right above the bullet scar. A constant reminder that she could choose to outgrow the damage in her past if she worked hard enough. She had to be better. For Sage. For Hunter.
The team was mildly concerned at the dark look on Emmy's face as she glared at the table. Megan regretted her question. She thought they would all say no. Wally spoke up to regain some lightness to the floor even though it was Superboy's turn to ask a question. "Never have I ever ripped off a robot's arm."
Megan and Emmy each put down a finger. "That's not fair!" Megan whined playfully.
"Yeah, you were there." Emmy joined in.
"Don't hate the player, ladies. Hate the game," Wally said while brushing his shoulders.
Superboy thought to himself and looked at his teammates. Kaldur had 4 fingers up. Robin, Wally, and Megan had 3. Emmy was at two. He needed to do one specific to her that would still get the other boys.
"Never have I ever sneaked into Cadmus labs," he settled on.
The four teens who had been the first people he saw when he woke up put fingers down.
"Wow, Supey, wow," Wally exaggerated. "We save you and this is how you repay us?"
"I'm here to win. Not to make friends," Superboy deadpanned. He heard that on a reality tv show Sage and Hunter made him watch last week. Megan laughed at his reference, and the clone smiled slightly to confirm that it was a joke.
Wally was going again. It was his time to take out Emmy. He smirked.
"Never have I ever helped a Zolantian give birth in a distressed ship orbiting Venus."
Emmy's last finger fell down with a pout. "That was very detailed. Careful, or I'll start to think you actually listen when I talk."
"I'm sorry did you say something?" He pretended to clean his ear. "I couldn't hear you over the beating Batman's going to give you after you interrupt him with an obviously fake sneeze."
The night wrapped up after Wally ate the last three cookies, and pretty soon Emmy was waving at the three teammates who did not live in the mountain as they went home. She headed to her room and got ready for bed. There was an envelope on her pillow. When did this get here? She opened it and groaned. Batman had her scheduled for school placement tests starting at zero nine hundred hours tomorrow morning. She had to be ready at 8 so he could take her to the center and explain on the way. Just when I thought that this had been a good day. Emmy went to sleep dreading the tests of tomorrow.