CHAPTER 9: FAMILY

Annabeth

It was a rare school afternoon where there was very little homework or afterschool activities, and yet somehow Percy, Leo, and Nico found a way to land themselves in detention. Expected out of them, but Jason? Jason was also in detention, completely unexpected from Blonde Superman (yes the nickname caught on). Piper and Calypso wanted to stay to try out for some club or something. So, Amelie and I were home alone (with Sally of course) as we surfed channels on the TV.

BRRRRRING. My phone vibrated against the sofa. I answered the phone and walked into the kitchen.

"Hello, Annabeth?"

My blood warmed, "Dad?"

"I'm glad you can start calling. Your invention I presume?"

"Leo's actually. Why are you calling?"
"I just wanted to see how you are holding up after starting school."

I pursed my lips, "I'm okay. How are Matthew and Bobby?"
"They're the same. They broke my WWII airplane model, yesterday."

A faint chuckle left my lips. "I'm actually calling to see if you're thinking about school over here."
"I'm not sure," I really hadn't. College was on my mind, but with everything that happened recently it hasn't exactly hit me that I was really going to college.

"Well, I think you're smart enough to get into some colleges in California, the big ones. Wherever you go, we'll always be here in case you want to stay."

"I'll think about it." I glanced at the floor, already knowing the answer.
"Okay, tell Percy I said hello."

"I will. Bye, dad." I sighed and returned to the couch.

Amelie kept her eyes glued to the screen, but she asked, "You good?"

I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Sure? Not that I was eavesdropping or anything, but I noticed that you said 'dad'."

Uh huh, eavesdropping, sure. "Yeah, he lives over in California."

I reached for the pretzels on the table and broke off a leg off one and nimbled it.
"He have another family?"
"What?" Amelie turned towards me, her eyes piercing me, eyebrows furrowed. If not knowing her, I would have thought she was actually concerned.

I finished the rest of the pretzel, "Yeah. Wife and two kids."
Amelie nodded and turned back to the screen, "Do you miss him?"

"Why would I? I have Percy and everyone else."
"Doesn't mean you don't miss him." Amelie switched the television to the cooking show, a Martha Stewart pulling out a stuffed chicken casserole or something like that.

I ate a few more pretzels, "What about you? You miss anyone from Themyscira?"
Amelie laughed, "Fine, I'll bite. I do. I have a sister, named Savannah. She looks just like you, but she's so innocent despite living for so long."

I looked at Amelie and asked softly, "Does she know you're here?"
Amelie was silent for a moment. "I-I hope not," her voice shaking, "But knowing her, she's probably on her way here."

"Do you not want her here?"

Noticing she was not speaking and was surfing through channels rapid fire, I whispered, "You don't have to answer. There's so much I don't know about you." The TV settled onto the weather channel.

Finally, Amelie spoke, "Likewise. But someone told me to open up, so I'll answer."
She tucked her knees under her chin. "I don't want her here. I've made a lot of enemies in the past,, dangerous ones that could take over the world if they wanted to, the kind that don't die too easily. Like literally, this guy was around for most of history and is called a savage for just how brutal he truly is."

I nodded. "You don't want her to get hurt."
"She's family. I'm assuming you're not returning to your father because you're worried he would get hurt from your way of life."
My eyes widened, "How-"

"It was unspoken, but I can tell you miss him. He's family, and you would do anything for him, just like how you would do anything for camp. That's the same with Savannah. She's family, and while it hurts to abandon family, it's better to not see them get hurt."

"I guess we're more alike than I thought." I whispered.

The door banged open and Amelie and I stood up, reaching for our weapons. Percy came in with a grin, "Leo, that was genius."
I frowned and glanced at the clock, "You're early."

Nico whispered ominously, "That's because Leo did the impossible."
"You don't want to know," said Piper, shaking her head.

Calypso came in disheveled and her eyes wide. She frowned and smacked Leo in the back of the head.
He groaned, "What was that for Sunshine?"
Nico sneered, "Probably because you're so stupid."
"Like you're one to talk Zombie Dude."

The two started bickering nonstop on their way towards the rooms. Piper whispered, "What is their problem?" I shared looks with Piper and we both bursted out laughing.
Jason shook his head. Percy shrugged and took the pretzels from the table. "Pretzel, Sparky?"

Amelie

"So are you and Wonder Woman related or something? Did you know her when you were little? How does time work over there? Can males really not visit the island? Because that would be disastrous for your civilization, emphasis on the dis-. No way to actually grow the population-"

I seethed and held up a fist next to the kid. "Traffic lights don't usually talk this much."

Robin cackled and said in a monotone voice, "Wait. Wait. Wait.*"

"I'm not trying to cross the street here." I rolled my eyes and turned towards Artemis, "Is he always like this?"

She shrugged, "Pretty much."
I smacked my head against my palm, "Is it too late to quit?"

Wally zipped over and put a comforting hand on my shoulder, "Welcome to the team."

"Come on," M'gann grabbed my hand, "I made some brownies. I need someone to try them."

Robin whined, "I'm not done interrogating her yet."

Artemis sighed, "Wait your turn Robin."

I was brought over to the kitchen where gray blobs of matter were laying on top of a metal sheet. Superboy looked over the brownies and quickly went back to the sofa to watch static. Kaldur grimaced and took one. Wally gave M'gann a smile, "I bet this tastes amazing babe."

He took a bit and his face turned an interesting shade of yellow. Artemis smirked, "Here, have some more." She started piling more and more brownies into Wally's arms.

M'gann gestured and I took a brownie apprehensively. I nimbled a piece and my eyes shot up. I reached for some water and drowned out the burnt taste. M'gann looked at me expectantly, her face lit up, "How was it?"

Robin was behind her and made an X with his arms. Artemis shook her head.

I grinned, "It was pretty bad."

Everyone groaned and started trying to comfort M'gann as she looked at the brownies sadly. Artemis glared at me, "Why did you say that?"

I raised an eyebrow at her and shook her off me. I turned towards M'gann, "Hey, tell me how you made the brownies. I'm sure I can help you with the next batch."

M'gann lit up, "Really?" Superboy glanced from his static and asked, "Really?"

"Yup," I popped the 'p', waving my hand over. I glanced at the empty salt bag and the interesting oatmeal mix. "Let's start with the actual box brownies."

M'gann frowned. I caught her glance and smiled, "It's going to be easier for now until we can get some more ingredients."
She bobbed up and down and started to grab another bowl. She freezed and turned back to the rest of the team. She asked, "What do I do with the brownies I made?"

I felt the tips of my mouth tug up. I gave them a menacing smirk and said, "They can eat them for you."

M'gann clapped her hands, "Okay!" The rest of the team froze and started making excuses, even Wally. "No, here, take the brownies while you go watch tv or train." I dumped the platter in their arms. I whispered towards them when M'gann wasn't looking, "Think of it this way. Maybe this batch will actually be edible. So eat these first in the meantime. Here you go Wally. Eat these and show M'gann you love whatever she makes, no matter what it is."

The speedster nearly dropped the brownies as he was pushed towards the door by Artemis. Once he left, she smirked and raised her hand, "Nice." I high-fived her with a grin.

Robin looked me straight in the eye, "You're going to war. You have no idea what you just got yourself into."
I looked back into the kitchen to see eggs and oil floating around M'gann. You should give up on her. I face-palmed, "I've done war before. This is even worse."

I walked back towards the kitchen, ignoring Robin's curious glance. I took the box of oil and the carton of eggs from the air and said, "M'gann, here. Let's get started."

She smiled and tried to open the box of flour. Suddenly, there was a poof and the whole kitchen was now a floury mess. I sighed, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

Artemis

"You're going down," Wally sneered. I gave him a smirk, "I doubt it."

Our hands rapidly flipped between different knobs as the little soccer men kicked around the foosball. Bam. Wally's hands went to his head as he cried, "No."

A smug look on my face, I crossed my arms, "You were saying?"

"Hey, guys!" We turned around to see M'gann floating with a new batch of brownies and Amelie towing behind her slightly dazed and flour all over her hair, "I made some more brownies!"

I glanced at them and they actually looked edible, hot to the touch and a dark brown. Robin shook his head, "Wally should try them first."

Wally paled significantly but shakily reached for a brownie. M'gann's expectant gaze was on him as he bit into the brownie. His face lit up and he gobbled down the rest. He took a few more in superspeed, and with a full mouth he said, "This is so good."

Robin and Kaldur took a brownie and nodded in approval. Superboy took one and merely shrugged before going back to his static. I took a brownie and it felt like my childhood, back when we were happy. It was nice. I smiled, "This is pretty good."

Robin nodded, "Tastes almost like Agent A."

"Thanks," M'gann smiled, "But you have to thank Amelie."

I looked over M'gann to glance at Amelie, "Is, um, is she okay?"

Amelie nodded meekly, "I-I'm fine. That was j-"

Kaldur walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, "You have saved us from countless baking failures. You have our thanks."

I nodded, "Yeah, not everyone can deal with M'gann's passion for cooking. You did great."

"Thanks. But I'm just gonna, um, yeah just gonna g-go sit down." She stumbled towards the sofa to watch the static.

M'gann talked to Wally adamantly about her next cooking venture. She went on and on about pastries and trying cookies again. We all visibly blanched and hurried away from the kitchen.

Black Canary came in with Red Tornado. She stood, hands on hips, "Gather around, Team."
We all convened at the holo computer. Robin smirked, "Mission?"

"Not quite. After hearing about what happened with your last assignment, I decided we need some team building exercises." She stared directly at me and Wally.
Robin whined, "Come on, that's not fair. I wasn't even there for that."

"No excuses. You're part of the team, you do the training." Canary said.
Kaldur asked, "What kind of training are you assigning us?"

She smirked, sending shivers down the team.

I smacked my face as Wally struggled against the piece of rope tied around his waist. Black Canary said, "This is simple. You are all tied together by a piece of rope. Your goal is to avoid getting hit by these tennis balls." She smacked the machine, turning it on with a whir. "Good luck."

She went over to stand with Red Tornado to watch the ensuing madness. Cause what else would it be?

The machine started shooting out tennis ball after tennis ball. I ducked, pulling M'gann with me as she tried to fly to avoid balls. I was suddenly pushed towards the right into a ball that went straight into my abdomen as Robin did some crazy acrobatic move, pulling Wally towards me. My eyes widened as we collided onto the floor, pulling everyone together in one giant bunch.

"Again," said Black Canary.

We pulled ourselves up and began again. Tennis balls flew past. We were holding up a bit longer but then suddenly Superboy had the genius idea of diving head-first into the ground to avoid a ball, pulling us all onto the ground.

"Again." We all grumbled and groaned. The next attempt was worse. A ball headed towards both Wally and I. I crouched, pulling Wally into the path of the ball. He groaned and then pulled on the rope, causing me to stumble right into another ball and an unexpecting Kaldur.

After literally five minutes we were all covered in bruises and tangled up in our own ropey mess.

Black Canary stood over us and shook her head, "Again."

I growled from my sprawled position on the floor as I struggled to get up as the heavyweights of the team were still tangled. A hand came into view. I glanced up to see Wally offering his hand to help me up. "Come on, Arty, truce?"
I scoffed but took the hand anyway. Soon we were all up and untangling the rope. Kaldur said, "Any suggestions on how to beat this?"

"Work as a team?" said Amelie. I stared at her in complete exasperation. She rolled her eyes and said, "Seriously. I feel like this team doesn't really trust each other, so we're just trying to save our own butts-"

"And get tangled up instead." supplied Robin. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, his sunglasses surprisingly still on, "Hate to agree with new girl but she's right. We have to watch out for each other and help out."

"There's no 'I' in team," I whispered, thinking about how my father grinded a 'me first' mentality into my head.

"We got this," said M'gann in all seriousness. Superboy nodded as did Kaldur and Wally.

Black Canary smiled, "Let's begin."

"Nice job. It took 2 hours but you finally figured it out." said Black Canary, smiling. Red Tornado left an hour ago to do whatever robots do as he deemed the training exercise pointless to him. Whatever the case, only Black Canary offered her congratulations when we finally survived 10 minutes of tennis balls and not getting hit once.

M'gann clasped her hands together as she levitated back to the ground, "I feel like I truly understand how the team works now."

"Our natural movements," I said.

"And our own style of flair," grinned Robin.

"That was the point of the exercise," nodded Black Canary, "Hit the showers. Get some rest. I'll see you guys tomorrow night."

Black Canary walked away towards the Zeta tubes. Kaldur said, "Good job team."

"Yeah," I pointed behind me towards Amelie, "All thanks to new girl here."

Robin grinned, "Welcome to the team." He moved towards her and inspected something on her face, "Interesting. You look nothing alike Wonder Woman."

Amelie's nostrils flared up as she tried to punch Robin only to touch air as he cartwheeled away.

I shook my head at his antics. "Ignore him."
"I'm going to gut that kid one day." She mumbled ominously, touching a bracelet on her left hand.

I frowned. Did she always have that? As I stared at the bracelet, Kaldur followed my gaze. He said, "Magic items?"

Amelie nodded. He said, "Monsters only?"
"Monsters only. Don't worry. Even if I wanted to kill that kid I can't. Don't want to go to Fields of Punishment." She shuddered.

Kaldur shared her sympathies. He glanced at the rest of us, "I'll escort Amelie to where she needs to go so she knows how to come back here. I'll see you guys later."

I nodded and then turned to Wally, who was currently eating up the remains of the brownies from earlier. I smirked, "When are you not hungry?"

He turned in confusion, "Truce over? And come on, Arty! I have a speedster metabolism."
Bits of chocolate were smeared around his mouth. I stared in disgust, "Remind me to never bring you anywhere."

Amelie

"Thanks for coming with me to Manhattan. Glad to know that the nearest Zeta tube isn't that far away."
The contraption was underneath a small red bridge, surrounded by silence. The bridge wasn't used much anyway and the area underneath was wide enough for the Zeta tube to be hidden in darkness despite the bright moon.

Kaldur nodded, "How are you liking the team so far?"

I shrugged, "It's alright."

"Your input today was very helpful," he pointed out, "I can see why Batman allowed you onto the team with no prior experience. Lots of quests?"

I rolled my eyes, "You think you have a lot of quests as the aid to the King of Atlantis? The gods treat us Amazons like dirt sometimes, completely expendable and push-overs. I've done a fair share of quests in my day, just nothing with a team this big."

"Yes, a team of this size is unlucky for godly quests," Kaldur pondered. "Well, I know I haven't said this yet, but." He put a hand on my shoulder with complete earnestness, "Welcome to the team."

I nodded and gave him small thanks. This team is a complete mess, but it looks fun.

"I can't believe you made me go shopping with you guys," I whined, my arms surrounded in bags and bags of clothes and random objects.

Piper sighed, "I don't like it either, but all your clothes were basically give to you by the Stoll brothers. You have know idea where it came from. Besides, I feel like you deserve more than just two shirts and a pair of jeans."

Leo nodded, "Listen to Beauty Queen here."

I shook my head, "Calypso could've made clothes for me."

She gave me a stink-eye and crossed her arms, "Not until you tell me why I had to make you that weird costume thing."

I froze and laughed nervously, "Leo, you better treat Calypso right."

"I already know that! I don't want Sunshine to blackmail me with all that stuff she knows or like murder me in my sleep," said Leo, miming being stabbed.

Nico sneered, "I doubt it. I would probably kill you first."

Leo glared at Nico. Calypso whispered to Piper, "What is their problem?"

She shook her head, "Nico blamed himself more than anyone for Leo's death. I think they're just at each other's throats after such 'mushiness'."

I chuckled. If I could, I would murder all seven demigods here. Even me? How dumb are you child. Of course not, you would be the one killing them. Not surprised.

We continued walking towards the apartment. Percy flung the door open and declared, "We're home mom! Huh?"

Everyone started pushing their way inside to see what was going on. I was on my tippy-toes as I tried to look over the demigods in front of me. I started hopping up and down. I heard Gaea chuckle and sneer at my antics. Seriously, I didn't ask to be this short.

Annabeth said, "Who is that?"

"Don't worry. She's just like you." said Sally's voice.

I finally made my way into the apartment and closed the door behind me. I squeezed in between them and emerged on the other side to see a muscular and tanned girl with blonde hair put into a bun. Her gray eyes lightened in amusement as she stood up and hugged me.

She said into my ear, "It's nice to see you again sis."

Flashback

"Are you sure about this?" Hippolyta's eyes gazed at Amelie as they walked out of the Olympus hall, "Because it's alright to change your mind right now."
Amelie shook her head, refusing to look at Hippolyta. "I'm sure."

Hippolyta sighed and watched as the Muses rehearsed for the nightly festivities. "What should I tell the Amazons?"
Amelie shrugged, "Anything works as long as they don't know the truth."

"You know that you won't be able to say goodbye. Are you okay with that?"

Eyes glistening, Amelie turned around to look at Hippolyta, "I'm fine. The sooner that I do the ritual the sooner the world is safer, right?"
"Let me rephrase. Are you okay with not saying goodbye to Savannah? Knowing you, you'll cut off all contact." Hippolyta gazed at her warrior with guilt. "Just like Diana."

"Don't worry. Think about it this way. I can get back in contact with Princess Diana."
"You didn't answer the question." The two walked towards the elevators and entered. Faint music played as the elevator beeped.

100. 99. 98.

"She's going to come no matter what I say." said Hippolyta.

85. 84. 83.

"Just tell her I died or something. No- wait, scratch that. She would probably seek revenge and kill herself trying to find my murderer."

71. 70. 69.

"Just don't let her get off the island."
"Of course."

60. 59. 58.

"Do you know where you're going?"
"Chiron said that his camp still exists. I'll probably go there."

52. 51. 50.

"Clothes and food?"
"They'll probably supply or something."

45. 44. 43.

"Weapons?"
"Never leave the island without my bracelet."

36. 35. 34.

"Your enemies?"
"Most should be dead by now."

28. 27. 26.

"But he isn't."
"I'll think of something. I mean, the plan was for me to die in the end, so maybe the gods won't feel bad if I die at his hands."

23. 22. 21.

"I've kept this from you in fear you would actually kill him."
"It wouldn't be my first time."
"Regardless. I hope you don't fall to that trap when you cross paths with him. But if so, there should be a weapon, dating back during the 22nd century BCE, when he first gained immortality."
"I get what you're saying. I'll ask the House of Life to search for it. They still owe me for last time."
"I heard your contact got promoted."
"Good for him."

15. 14. 13.

"Don't worry. I won't use the weapon, and I seriously doubt it still exists. But thank you for the tip."

8. 7. 6.

"I'll miss you and everyone else on the island."
Hippolyta turned and gave Amelie a faint smile, "And, we will all miss you."
"You were the first I've raised since infancy. You've grown to be a fine warrior."
It was Amelie's turn to give her a smile.
"We will still support you behind the scenes. If you need help, don't hesitate to IM."

3. 2. 1. The elevator doors opened and the two filed out into the lobby.

Amelie turned to Hippolyta, "Thank you. For being like a mother to me. You were a mother to me when my own mother neglected me. You were to all of us Amazons. You gave us lost kids another chance. So let me be the hero you taught me to be."

"Don't be a vlakas out there and get yourself killed," Hippolyta put a hand on Amelie. They hugged for a bit, knowing full-well this is most likely the only chance they would be able to do so.

Woo. I didn't really expect to post another chapter so soon, but I'm trying to procrastinate studying for my exams, but also don't expect a chapter next week because of said exams. The next two chapters are kinda important in terms of story development so I want to make it perfect.

For those of you that didn't get the reference of "Wait. Wait. Wait," in my country when you want to cross the street you press this button on a traffic light that lets the system know. Some traffic lights say "Wait" in response to being pressed.

Guest: Thanks for pointing out that little plot hole. I updated the last chapter so I addressed the discrepancy, but I'll say it here too:
For those of you confused about the 'plothole' in regards to Dr. Fate, I addressed that in Chapter 7. So basically, Kent Nelson abandoned the helmet a long time ago, but he had developed his own mystic abilities and created his own costume to continue the heroing act (looked it up on the YJ wiki website, so I'll consider it canon in this fanfic). So basically, since he bonded with Nabu so many times he could access some of Nabu's memories (hence the dialogue in Ch7). So hope that clears things up.
Anyway, guest. I'm glad you enjoyed the dEniAl chapter with magic isn't real.

Feel free to review! Here's the question of the chapter:
Q: Who do you think is being referred to in the latest flashback?

Eat. Sleep. Read. Repeat! Stay healthy!
-hope4all