2011
Another mission had gone awry. At least that was how it seemed. Kaldur had entered the lounge after debriefing with what looked like a lot on his mind. His eyes were downcast and he was worried Most of the others had gone to their rooms or returned home. Zemirah had remained. She strolled into the den and offered Kaldur a biscuit from the packet she had on hand. He declined. She sat down at his right side and stared at her lap.
"You know, for a pair of soulmates, we don't talk all that much."
"Forgive me, but at the moment I do not feel like talking."
Zemirah reached over and took Kaldur's hand into both of her own. She began absentmindedly rubbing circles and lines into his palm and fingers.
"Zemirah, what are you doing?" Kaldur asked.
"Something," Zemirah answered quietly.
Zemirah continued her motions and smiled when Kaldur gave a mild shudder. She got the reaction she was looking for.
"You…" Kaldur said. "You are very good at that... Whatever it is."
"Thank you."
"What are you doing though?"
"I'm massaging your hand," Zemirah answered plainly.
She continued her motions until she deemed her work complete. Then she turned his hand over and began working there. She massaged the parts just beneath the webbing on his hands and she heard a relaxed sigh. She giggled.
"Glad you're enjoying it."
In less than a few minutes, she finished her work and rested her hand in his lap. He lifted his hand up and flexed his fingers slowly.
"If I were to go into battle right now, I would be at a disadvantage," he said with a gentle smile.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It was… May I ask where you learned that?"
"Nowhere. I sorta just… Figured it out. My friend Talia says I should charge people."
"Really?"
"Yes, really."
"Perhaps you should."
"If you liked it that much, I'll charge you for the left hand then."
Kaldur laughed. Zemirah smiled, his laugh was a very pleasant sound. Deep and calming, much like his normal voice.
"If you must."
"I might. C'mon, give it here."
Kaldur obeyed and gave his left hand over. She began again, rubbing circles into his palm and lines into his fingers. Then turned it over and repeated the motion on the back of his hand. Eventually, he relaxed completely, and leaned back into the couch a bit. She finished up and gave his hand back, then rested her head on his shoulder.
"Do you… Do you want to tell me what went wrong tonight?"
"You have clearance to access mission reports, you can read it."
"I wanna hear it from you."
"This is not up for debate is it?"
"Do you want it to be?" Zemirah asked sitting upright to face him.
"Very well…" Kaldur sighed. "We were supposed to drop off the finished part of a prototype medical device at Star Labs.
"Medical device?"
"The description was too vague for me to guess what it is. It's purpose is medicinal, that was all could surmise."
"Fair enough."
"We were to prevent it from being stolen. A group of thieves on motorcycles that attempted to take the mechanism intercepted us. Easy enough, correct?"
"You tell me."
"Not really. Artemis attempted to puncture a few of their tires, but one of them sped up. She struck their engine instead of a tire."
"Oh no."
"Yes, and apparently, that specific bike had been rigged with some sort of device to ignite fuel."
"It blew up, didn't it?"
"Not quite. It burst into flames and forced the riders to dismount. We then had to rescue them before it actually exploded."
"And did you?"
"Yes."
"And everybody got out in one piece?"
"Yes."
"And the device made it out okay?"
"Yes, however we were a bit late in it's delivery."
"So… what was the problem?"
"The problem was that mid-way through, Kid Flash and Artemis began arguing."
"Well, that makes no sense."
"It does," Kaldur amended. "You did not see them before they began dating. When Artemis first joined the team, Kid had a grudge against her."
"Why? Hadn't they just met?"
"Yes. However, Kid had felt that she was replacing Red Arrow. And that was something he would not stand for."
"I- uh… I'm sorry. Who's Red Arrow?"
"You probably know him better as Speedy."
"Speedy… Oh! You mean Green Arrow's partner— well, former partner, now."
"Yes. After an… incident; he dropped most, if not all connections with the League and only associates with them when absolutely necessary."
"Oh… Well, then I suppose I could see why he felt like Speedy — Red Arrow or whatever his current code-name is — was being replaced."
"And of course, she took none of his nonsense."
"But instead of ignoring him, she took him on."
"Also correct."
"So tonight… They argued and it sort of just escalated from there?"
"Yes."
"But what in the name of Ateia were the arguing about in the first place? Her aim? Wally wouldn't stoop so low."
"No, but I was a bit busy trying not to fall off a moving truck to catch the beginning of their spat."
"Fair enough."
Zemirah took a biscuit from the packet and took a bite. Again, she offered one, and this time Kaldur accepted. She quashed a victorious smile.
"So aside from that, no other disasters?"
"No, none."
"Well, there are worse things that could happen."
"Such as…?"
"Well for one thing, they could have been a group of high profile thieves who were hired by some rival pharmaceutical company to steal the device for them. Or: someone hired them to take it and completely destroy it. Or even a group of assassins under orders to take you all out for revenge against the League or something."
Kaldur had to agree that any one of those would have been potentially exponentially worse. He nodded with a look of understanding.
"True, however, as annoying as those thugs were, having Kid and Artemis going at each other like that did more harm than good."
"So? You're their leader. Just tell them to shut up and save it for when the team's safety isn't being threatened."
Kaldur went strangely quiet. Zemirah looked over at him with a curious look, before it softened to a look of happy understanding.
"You're too nice."
"I am not. I would just rather not get between a lovers' spat. You should have seen them before they started dating."
"Oh, please don't tell me it was worse."
"Very well, I shall tell you nothing."
"You see you? You're terrible."
"Would you prefer I leave the room then?"
Bringing herself to sit on her knees on the sofa; Zemirah turned and kissed his cheek. He looked to her, mildly stunned but altogether pleased.
"No, no I would not. Now I made tuna, do you want any?"
"…Are the others in the cave?"
"No, why?"
"No reason," Kaldur answered cryptically. He got up and held his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"
"We shall," she giggled.
[Marks]
Chokichi and Bankori had just returned from another hunt. Bankori moved to flop onto the couch when his younger brother stopped him.
"Look before you leap you idiot," Chokichi snapped.
"The hell are you talking about?
Chokichi reached over and pulled back the blanket and revealed a sleeping Alex. Bankori's eyes widened comically.
"What the hell is he doing on our mother-"
Chokichi slapped his hand over Bankori's mouth, knowing his loudmouthed brother would wake the other boy with his swearing.
"He was up all night so keep your trap shut!" He hissed out before grimacing suddenly. "Did you just lick me?"
Chokichi pulled back his hand and sure enough, his palm was damp. He shuddered almost violently and held his hand out, staring at it disgustedly.
"I don't even want to know where your tongue has been."
"You say that as though I don't brush my teeth."
"Do you?"
"Of course I do you moron. I know I'm not the cleanest person on the planet, but I'm not that bad."
"That's debatable."
Suddenly Alex stirred and the other two froze. Alex murmured in his sleep before settling again.
"What was he up doing anyways? He's not allowed to have guests last I checked," Bankori whispered.
"Trying to find his sister. Wait, why would he need guests to have been up all night? He could've had an anime marathon for all we care."
Bankori gave his brother a look and Chokichi rolled his eyes.
"You are an over-sexed pinhead. I'm going to bed. Good-night."
"Hold on, we can't just leave him there!"
But Chokichi was already gone. Bankori looked back at the sleeping teen and quietly cursed.