Something Greater
Disclaimer: I own nothing here except the OCs, and there aren't many of them, so don't sue me.
The Martian and The Amazon
Another day in training, Kent arrived at the Hall, Frankie on tow.
"You know you don't have to do this everyday." Frankie said, a little timidity evident in her voice.
"Hey not everyone has the advantage of super speed or flight, or being rich enough to have their own cars. So, you deserve to have this. It's no problem for me, I promise." Kent reassured. Frankie simply nodded as they headed inside.
Kent noticed Clark and Oliver already there, readying another room that seemed to lead lined.
"Planning a surprise for us, you guys?" Kent yelled, getting Clark and Oliver's attention.
"Kent. Good Morning." Oliver answered. "And no, not exactly a surprise, it's your real life sparring room."
"Wait, sparring? As in we'll fight each other?" Frankie asked.
"Exactly. One of the best ways to know your power gaps." Clark said.
"Kent! Early again, I see." Kent turned to Irea's voice, seeing her, Jon and Josh standing there.
"Morning, Kid Kid Flash." Kent said, smirking at Irea. Jon snickered from beside them.
"Alright knock it off, guys." Josh said, playing the peacemaker.
The Hall doors opened, and the rest of the team walked in. Mia and Barbara were already in their suits, just with their hood and cowl down.
"Now that you're all here, come with me." Oliver ordered, leading them inside the new room. Entering the room, Kent noticed that the walls weren't just lined with lead, they were super thick and strong, enough to withstand huge blasts, as well as extreme temperatures.
"We are going to start sparring practices from today." Clark announced.
"Everyday, everyone will have one match, and the pairings will be randomized." Oliver added. "This is, probably the easiest way to gauge the gap of power between all of you, as well as good training for you on what you'd do in real fight against stronger or weaker opponents. It's not always the right choice to just punch them with everything you have."
"Sparring with each other on the second day? Bit rushy, aren't we?" Mia asked, looking at her father.
"The sooner you learn, the sooner you get to go out into the field freely. It's not like you don't want that, right?" Oliver said, smirking at his daughter, who was smirking right back.
"One further announcement, a few new members will be joining us today." Clark said. "Ahh Caitlin." He said as Caitlin came up to them.
"They're going be here any moment now." Caitlin said, before turning to Kent. "Hey Kent."
"Hey Aunt Cait." Kent smiled warmly.
"I think they're here." Jon said, and Kent agreed. They both had the same super senses.
The Hall doors opened once again, and a few people walked in. Leading them was someone everybody recognized. Queen Diana of Themyscira, also known as Wonder Woman. Another one of their predecessor, and one of the few that was still active.
"Hello everyone. Sorry if we're late." She said, her Greek accent a sharp change from everyone else. Following her were three people. "Allow our newest recruits to introduce themselves." She said, stepping aside.
The first was a young girl with black hair, in a red full body suit, with black boots and stars all over her suit. A golden lasso, similar to Wonder Woman's, hung off her golden belt, on her side. "Hello everyone." She spoke, holding barely any accentuation in her speech. "I'm Donna Troy. Queen Diana here is my older sister."
"Donna, how many times do I have to tell you to stop that? I'm your big sister, you don't have to call me Queen!" Diana said to Donna.
"It's worth it to annoy you." Donna smirked. Diana laughed.
A girl that was clearly a Martian, what with the green skin and an identical suit to Martian Manhunter's, only fitted for a girl, now spoke. "My name is M'gann M'orzz. You must be uncle J'onn's friends." She smiled fully. She seemed excited to be here.
The third one was a girl in plain clothes, and long black hair. "Hi. I'm Traci... Thirteen. I'm an Urban Magic user." She said, waving to everyone.
"Wait, Thirteen? Your last name's actually Thirteen?" Jon asked.
"Yeah." She said.
"Well, I think it's cool." Irea smiled. "Welcome to the team."
"Yeah. All of you." Kent added. "Well what's up first today, Uncle Clark? Sparring right off the bat?"
"No, first, we have a little simulation for you. Get to the VR room." Clark said.
"You guys heard him." Kent smiled.
Donna shot him a weird look. Kent noticed it, but ignored it for now. Everyone headed to the pods and strapped in, their bodies falling to sleep as their minds travelled into the virtual world prepared for them today. The team, this time including Donna, M'gann and Traci, stood in a street.
"Okay, big street, big city. What's going on here?" Frankie asked.
"You'll find out soon. Remember, we'll be watching how you act!" Caitlin's voice rung out in their ears.
Suddenly, there were multiple explosions in the vicinity.
"What was that?" Irea gasped out.
"Explosions… the buildings! There's people trapped! It's a rescue test!" Jon said excitedly.
"Irea, Jon, Frankie, get to that one, fast!" Kent ordered. "M'gann, Donna and I will take this one. The rest, provide support and first aid for the people we get out of the building." He finished, before running off to his building.
"You heard him!" Jon yelled.
"Yeah yeah." Irea said as she picked up Frankie and the three went to their assigned building.
M'gann quickly followed Kent, but Donna looked annoyed. "Who made him the boss?" she asked the others who were still there.
"Literally all the elders." Josh shrugged, before opening a breach to get to Irea and the others' spot. He also opened a breach to get to where Kent was, and Barbara went in, followed by Traci. Donna huffed and flew to help Kent.
Irea was already speeding in, getting people out. Jon was doing the same, although he was also using his super strength to stabilise parts of the building, holding up key structural points until the area was cleared. Mia and Josh were there on the ground, getting the people away, helping anyone who was injured or too shaken.
"Sir, just breathe." Mia said to one of them. "You have mild burns, they'll be completely healed in a few days. Ma'am, I need you to lie down, okay?" she kept going, as Josh did the same.
"Jon, don't break through anything if you can't get to someone. That might destabilize the building further. Ask Irea to phase in." they heard Kent's voice through comms.
"He really thinks of everything, doesn't he?" Jon said, as he saw Irea emerge through a wall, holding someone up.
"Speedster brains. We usually do." Irea shrugged, handing the person to Jon to get out of the building, while she went further in to look for people.
"Alright, Irea. Building looks clear." Jon said, using his super senses to scan the place.
"You sure?" Irea asked, looking a little out of breath. Jon nodded.
Meanwhile, Kent was speeding around, rescuing people, while Donna took on the role of stabiliser. She was strong enough and could fly herself. M'gann helped both ways, phasing through walls and preventing too much breakage on the building. Kent used his super senses to quickly find people, then jumped out the window, floating down and letting people off. Barbara and Traci handled ground support. Suddenly, there was another explosion, not far from either teams.
"Another?!" M'gann exclaimed. "The explosion is way bigger. The whole building is tipping over!"
"We have our hands full here." Irea said over the comms.
"None of us will make it in time. We could rush in, but we wouldn't able to catch the building without shattering it." Kent calculated.
"I can help! Get me close!" Traci yelled.
"Irea!" Kent yelled into comms, getting another two people out of the building. There was a flash of golden lightning, and Traci had disappeared. Kent surveyed the building, seeing only two people in the top floor. "Donna, M'gann, there's two people at the top! Get them out! I'll join Irea and Traci as backup!" he ordered, before speeding off, white lightning trailing behind him.
"Ordering me around." Donna muttered to herself, huffing, as she and M'gann got the remaining two out.
Kent ran to the third building, only to find Traci safely teleporting every single person out of the building, at a safe distance as the building was breaking apart, falling to the ground. Kent sped in, using his super speed and strength to destroy as many chunks of the building as he could, minimising the impact of the building, reducing the damage to the city. Once it was done, the simulation ended, and everyone woke up.
"Job well done, everyone. And good strats, Kent." Oliver said.
"You did well, everyone." Diana smiled. It was her first time watching them in action.
"Why is he the leader?" Donna asked.
"Again?" Jon said, visibly annoyed. "Kent's good at it. Everyone here said it, just yesterday in fact."
"And I'm inclined to agree." Josh said.
"I know how you feel though, it gets annoying." Irea said, chuckling a bit.
Donna huffed a bit, before quieting down.
The older people were a bit awkward just then, but they straightened up. "Well, it's time for the sparring practices. Let's see how today's pairings go." Clark jovially said.
Kent sat down on one of the few benches outside the sparring room, Irea and Josh beside him.
"How's it hanging, Mr. Leader?" Irea teased.
"You know I didn't ask for this, right?" Kent said, looking at Irea.
"But you're not gonna give it up either, are you?" Irea asked, smiling.
"Honestly, if the elders say someone's better than me at leading, I'd be happier than anyone to hand it to them. But until then, I have to step up, to keep you guys and all the people out there safe. It's my responsibility." Kent said, determined.
"Thought so." Irea smirked, patting his back. "I have to say, it's annoying that it's you, but also, you're pretty good at it."
"She's not wrong." Josh said.
An alarm rung out, and the first pair was revealed to be Kent and Donna.
"I feel like this thing's rigged." Kent sighed. "Well, I guess I gotta go." He got up and stepped inside the room, Donna walking in later. The door closed, and Caitlin's voice rung out.
"Remember, hold back. This isn't a fight. It's sparring. Also there's a time limit, so a fight won't go on a whole day. Begin anytime." She said, before going quiet.
"I heard you when you were talking to your friends." Donna said, cracking her knuckles. "I have to admit, your resolve is honorable, but you have to prove to me you're worthy of following. Defeat me." She said, getting her lasso off her belt.
Kent sighed, his eyes half closed. "You did hear them tell us to hold back, right?" just as the words left his mouth, Kent saw Donna lunge at him, a fist aimed straight at his face. He easily side stepped, avoiding her punch, then moved behind her, noticing her form as she hit the wall with her fist. He also noticed the wall had no dent of even a scratch. This was a real strong room.
"Fight me seriously, Kent Allen!" Donna said, readying another attack.
"We were literally just told not to that specifically." Kent said incredulously, eliciting a cry from Donna as she launched a haymaker at Kent. He easily dodged it, along with the knee that was coming at him from below. He moved further away from her until he was at a wall.
"Nowhere to run." She said, as she attacked again, only this time, her lasso accompanied her punch, spiralling out both sides. Kent could see her punch, close in on him. Of course, it was faster than humans, but it was still slow motion to him. He phased straight through Donna, going to stand behind her as her fist hit the wall again.
"Damn it! Why aren't you fighting?" Donna asked.
"I'm sure you can figure the answer out Donna. You've been trained as a fighter, after all." Kent shrugged, smirking.
She threw another punch at him, and he decided he'd had enough observation. He promptly caught the punch, his face showing no signs of effort. He then hit her with an open palm, straight to her abdomen, knocking her back a few feet. The room itself was several hundred square feet, so the fight was mostly unhindered by cramped space.
"Fight seriously!" Donna demanded again. Kent sighed.
"I don't want to hurt you, Donna. But if this is the only way to gain your respect and trust, so be it." He said, putting his left foot back, readying his stance. "Come at me." He taunted.
Donna obliged, letting loose a flurry of attacks. Kent, however, blocked every single one of them, before punching her square in the jaw. She flew into the wall, her back hitting it with a loud thud, before she fell to the ground, on her knees.
"It that enough?" Kent asked, kneeling in front of her, looking her over. Donna, however, was not done. She jumped up, throwing her lasso at him. Kent, however, went into Flash-time, took the lasso and wrapped it around Donna, restraining her completely. When time resumed it's normal speed, Donna fell, the lasso completely wound around her.
"I guess I win, huh?" Kent smirked, kneeling in front of her again.
"As they came out, Diana patted Kent on the back. "You show great control with your powers. You have promise." She then turned to Donna. "What did I tell you about not letting your emotions get the better of you?"
"I'm sorry." Donna said, looking down, a bashful expression on her face.
"Donna, can I talk to you?" Kent asked her. She nodded.
They stepped aside a little as the next pair up showed Mia and Barbara. Typical, Kent thought.
"What is it?" Donna said, her face still showing her negative emotions.
"Donna, I need you to be at your best. And not because I want my team to be the best, or because I want people to sing songs about us or something. It's to make sure everyone is safe." He said, his voice ernest. "I want you to step up to protect everyone in case something happens to me. In case I'm vulnerable, or captured, dead, or anything else."
"Me? Why? I thought you were way closer with Irea or Jon or the others." Donna said, surprised.
"It has nothing to do with closeness." Kent said, his expression serious. "Jon is strong, maybe stronger than you physically, but he's still a kid inside. Irea is faster, but in case something does manage to somehow hit her, she's only human. It has to be you. You're a strong warrior, and you're mature enough to understand what you're dealing with. I'm trusting you with protecting them, in the event I can't. Please." He said, his voice sombre. Donna hadn't expected this. This guy before her was way more mature and warrior-like than she'd thought. She'd decided. Kent Allen was worth following.
"I accept, leader." Donna said, extending her hand, a smile on her face. Kent shook it, a smile gracing his own lips, and they went back to the benches.
"How'd it go?" he asked, seeing Mia and Barbara already out of the room.
"Well Mia had the upper hand at the beginning, with her arrows. She was masterful with them." Josh began.
"But once she ran out, well, let's just say Barbara is better at close quarter combat." Irea finished.
"Well, Mia, you know your weakness. I want you to start practicing hand to hand with the others. Barbara, aunt Kate, can you help her?" Kent said, turning to the two 'bats'.
"We'll help." Kate said, smirking.
"And don't get too reliant on your arrows. They'll become crutches if you let them, then it'll hurt when they're pulled out from under you." Kent said. Mia nodded.
The third match was decided to be between Josh and Traci. Kent was curious to see how the two would do against each other. Josh's vibrational attacks packed a punch, and he was pan-dimensional. Couple that with his breaches, and he was a good adversary. However, he didn't know much about Traci's abilities. She'd said she used Urban Magic, and she'd teleported everyone out of that building, but that was it. This was going to be an interesting match.
Josh and Traci stood opposite each other.
"So, what does Urban Magic really mean?" Josh asked.
"City magic. I… you know what? Ask me after this is over." She smirked.
"Fair enough." Josh said, then shot out a vibrational blast, which hit straight into Traci, knocking her back.
"Your move." He said, staying in a defensive stance.
"So it is." Traci said, then shot her hand out. A ball of blue energy shot out from her hand, heading to Josh.
Josh dodged it, but it rebound back, heading for him again. He shot a vibrational burst at it, managing to dissipate it.
"Homing magic attacks. That's neat." Donna said, watching the match.
Traci attacked again, spreading her hands out. This time, her blue magic energy shot out in the form of a whip, spanning the entire length of the room. Josh tried to destroy it again, but the whip form was too thin for the vibrational blast to land a substantial hit. The whip crashed into Josh, knocking him to his knees.
"That's really cool, Traci." Josh said as he got up to his feet.
"Thanks." Traci said, before shooting another ball, while readying a whip. Josh destroyed the ball, then saw the whip coming. However, this time, he opened a breach and went inside, the whip cracking across thin air. Traci looked surprised, before she was sent hurling forward by a vibrational blast from behind, as she turned, on the ground, to see Josh standing there.
"That's cool too." Traci now said to Josh, who nodded. "Let's how this goes." She said, before launching into a flurry of attacks. Whips and spheres of blue magic shot out. Josh kept teleporting and shooting blasts, the fight rolling into a stalemate. Neither was gaining any real ground. Traci could teleport too, as she'd demonstrated, making it hard for Josh to actually hit her, but he was doing a good job of not getting hit either.
"This is going nowhere." Irea said.
"It's a question of endurance. Their powers are currently similar. We have to see who can hold out more. Unless, of course…" Kent trailed off.
"Unless what?" Donna asked.
"Unless either of them have a finisher move they can launch, and I think they're about to." Kent said, seeing as both had come to a standstill.
"It's time we finish this, wouldn't you say?" Traci said.
"Yep." Josh replied.
Traci winded back, before throwing her hands out, shooting a singular concentrated beam of magic energy. Josh wasted no time, and fired off his vibrational blast in a continuous beam. The two attacks met halfway, holding the other at bay.
"Fifteen seconds!" M'gann said, looking at the timer.
"City magic, right? That means you must draw power from the cities, right? High density population." Josh said, his voice straining. "Here's the thing, your source is limited. Mine? The energy that ties together the entire multiverse? It's infinite." He said, before yelling out, and his vibrational beams got bigger and bigger, until they easily over powered Traci's magic, cutting right through it and hitting her, carrying her and pinning her to the wall behind her. Josh stopped his attack, and Traci fell to the ground, panting on her knees. Then the bell rang.
"Good job, Josh!" Irea yelled, as the door opened. Josh helped Traci up, and let her lean on him.
"GG, Traci." Josh said they walked out of the room.
"GG Well Played, Josh." She said. "What? I play video games too." She added upon receiving a surprised look from Josh.
"Good to know." Josh smiled.
The next match up was between M'gann and Frankie. The two entered the room and waited until they were given the signal to begin.
"I'm very pleased to meet you, Frankie. Let's do our best!" M'gann said excitedly.
"Yes." Frankie said, awkwardly.
As the match started, Kent saw Frankie throw her hands forward, and an almost visible force field shot out, barely missing M'gann as she flew out of the way.
M'gann then started attacking, shooting a punch at her face, being blocked by another force field. However, the next punch she threw at Frankie, was a distraction, as she extended a foot through the floor. Soon, it emerged behind Frankie, hitting her in the side as she was knocked against a wall.
"Shapeshifting is pretty handy, you know." M'gann said, smiling.
"Yeah, it is." Frankie said.
M'gann then threw several more attacks, some direct, some phased elsewhere. Frankie was getting overwhelmed.
Kent felt sad. Telekinesis, as he'd clearly seen, was an incredibly powerful ability. But she couldn't wield it properly yet. He was just about convinced M'gann's control alone would win her this fight.
However, his eyes locked onto Frankie's. Not in the romantic way though, as he could see her eyes start glowing red as she slowly turned her gaze from the ground up to M'gann, her face contorted with rage. M'gann's attacks were no longer touching her, stopping short as if there were a completely radial force field around her. The ground shook, both inside the sparring room and outside. Frankie slowly floated up, hovering in mid air, her hair flying.
"What the hell is that?" Donna yelled.
"Frankie's brain waves are completely off sync!" Caitlin cried out from her station as Clark and Oliver hurried up to the window.
Frankie slowly raised one hand, holding it out as a massive telekinetic wave shot out, shredding the walls and nearly destroying the room, sending M'gann flying back at blinding speed.
"Open it up!" Kent yelled, and the door opened. He ran to Frankie. "Frankie snap out of it!" he exclaimed, as he approached her.
Frankie's eyes suddenly stopped glowing, and her expression of rage was replaced by an expression of horror and shame.
"Oh God. Who did I hurt?" she said, nearly sobbing.
"No one." Everyone turned to see M'gann, smiling, but with concern. "I can shapeshift. No problems." She added, addressing the rest of them.
"M'gann. What happened? Are you alright?" Kent asked her.
"Yeah, why'd you go all crazy on M'gann? It was sparring." Jon asked.
"That… wasn't me." Frankie said, confusing everyone. "It's time I come clean."
She took a breath, then began to speak. " I was the subject of an occult experiment. My mother, she… she just gave me up when I was about 6 years old. To a man with a strange red mask, horns and all. I don't remember much afterwards, but he and his people got some kind of spirit to give me powers, but it also… fractured my mind. I was locked up for 8 years of my life, until I was rescued by a woman named Zatanna."
"Wait, seven years ago, Aunt Zatanna busted the Cult of Blood. She said something about a girl who needed help. That was you? The spirit of Magenta?" Traci said.
"I didn't know about all od that, but yeah. She stayed with me for some time. Helped me stay calm and not let the other self out. But it wasn't enough. She broke out every now and then. I've barely started to control it, but…" Frankie trailed off. "Recently, Ms. Zatanna suggested I come here. Train to be a hero. Focus my abilities to a good cause. She thought maybe that would help, and personally, I wanted to. I want to help people with these abilities, but I can't control the person inside of me. Everytime I'm too stressed or too pressured, she comes out."
"I'm sorry, Frankie." M'gann said.
"No it's okay. You didn't know." Frankie replied.
"So what are we going to do about her?" Barbara now asked.
"Should she be off the team?" Mia said.
"She doesn't have to be off!" Jon cried out. "She's a good person!"
"Regardless, she's a danger to everyone if she can't control Magenta." Traci began. "Not just us, but the people we'll be saving."
"Kent." Donna now said. "What do you think?"
Kent was surprised, but smiled. She did say she understood now, and he was realising that he was right with his choice as well. Donna Troy was a fine teammate. Now he'd have to decide about Frankie.
The adults were silently watching from a distance. This was a good test for them as well. Handling crises within the team was an important skill to have, for everyone, especially the leader.
"So you guys knew about her being unstable?" Clark asked.
"You would have too if you didn't miss half your briefings." Oliver replied with a smirk.
"Hey you juggle a family and a job, why don't you?" Clark said.
"Boys, pipe down, let's see what happens here." Caitlin said.
"Frankie. You're not off the team." Kent said. Frankie breathed a sigh of relief. Mia and Traci looked like they were about to disagree, but Kent interrupt them. "Wait. I said she wasn't off the team, but she isn't going to be active for now either. We need to get this… Magenta under control. And I am going to help you." He said.
"Kent, I…" Frankie began but Kent interrupted again.
"You're incredibly passionate about helping people. Sooner or later it's going to break through your restraint. Trust me. I'm the son of two such people, aren't I, Aunt Cait?" he yelled, smiling at Caitlin, who smirked back at him. "The kind of drive you have to help people. That's what we need first. That drive that will help you overcome anything." He paused, turning to his Martian teammate. "M'gann, you're telepathic, right? Like Uncle J'onn?"
"Yes, Kent. I am." She replied brightly.
"Can I count on your help? For Frankie?" he asked.
"Of course, Kent." She said.
"Then it's settled. Starting tomorrow, Frankie, you are off regular training. We'll get Magenta under control." Kent ordered.
"Thank you, Kent." She said, clearly emotional. Kent nodded at her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, sparring is off." He continued, looking at the wrecked insides of the sparring room. "We should have a day off, right, Uncle Oliver?"
"Yes, go ahead." He said, sighing.
"We'll have to get this fixed soon." Caitlin said to the other adults as she went to her console.
"Come on." Kent said to Frankie, his hand still on her shoulder. "Let's go home." Frankie simply nodded as Kent picked her up again and ran off.
"Do those two look a little close to you?" Irea asked Josh.
"Yes they do. So?" Josh asked.
"Ugh, Goody Two Shoes over here." Irea groaned.
"So I should be Ms. Dramatic Gossip Girl? No thanks." Josh retorted.
Beside them, Jon just chuckled.
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Well, it's getting good, isn't it? Right? Or not…?
Anyways, review to let me know what you felt about this one. I'll see y'all soon. Peace!