Happy Easter everyone! And happy April Fools! (I promise this isn't a prank, it's a genuine chapter. Over 10,000 words too, so hopefully that makes up for my extended absence!)
MOUNT JUSTICE
October 9, 15:46 EST
It was a slow, quiet, NyQuil kind of evening in the Cave.
The boys were off doing something ridiculous together, and Artemis, M'gann, and I were sitting on the floor of the mission room reading. Artemis was picking her way through Jane Eyre for English, I was on the last section of a book detailing the life of women in Athens during the height of Athenian culture, and M'gann was attempting to teach herself to french-braid out of an outdated issue of Seventeen Magazine.
I sat up as M'gann made a little huffy noise for the five millionth time, "you're using pieces that are too small."
She turned to me, utter bafflement on her face, "it says to use inch long strips."
"Well, it's lying to you," I said, ditching my book to scoot over to where she was sitting, "here, give me."
"Gimme, gimme never gets," Artemis deadpanned from where she was lying on her back, not even looking up from her book.
I flipped her off anyway, and dragged my hands through M'gann's hair a few times to take out the knots she had worked into it during her frustration. "You section off the top piece of your hair like this," I said, tugging on the layer of hair so she could feel how much I had sectioned off, "and then you do the motions of a regular three-strand braid once, and then you pick up bits. Tradition tells you to pick up hair and then cross it over, but I find it way easier to cross it over like a regular braid and then just pick up hair and do it again."
I demonstrated for her, braiding her hair back entirely and then letting her practice on me until she got the hang of it. Artemis had stopped reading about halfway through the process to watch amusedly, calling out little encouragements and pointers to M'gann like she was playing varsity football. When she finally managed to make a braid to 'Mis and I's satisfaction, she threw her arms around me with a squeal, "thank you Arabella!"
"Yes, well, while we're having this little moment of bonding, I have a favour I need to ask of you two," I said, letting M'gann settle into the crook of my neck.
"And what would that be?" Artemis asked, immediately suspicious.
I offered her my best grin, "can you guys come to Will-slash-Jessi's Halloween party with me on the thirtieth?"
Artemis' voice was horrified, "you want me to go where?"
"Jessi's Halloween party," I said, rolling my eyes, "calm down 'Mis, it's not like I'm asking you to go on a suicide mission with me."
M'gann's voice was bright, "I'll go! My first highschool party, can you imagine?"
I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. Watching M'gann navigate everyday human activities was like watching a little kid at Disney World. I turned on Artemis, dialling the puppy dog eyes up to a ten, "please Artemis?"
She crossed her arms, looking thoroughly annoyed, "you're forgetting one thing."
"And what is that?"
"I don't know how to dance."
I blinked at her before bursting into laughter. This only served to annoy her even more, and I forced myself to calm down, little giggles still escaping me. She actually looked pretty grave about the whole situation and I cocked my head at her, "wait, are you serious?"
"I really can't!" she said, cheeks puffed out in irritation.
M'gann smiled at Artemis, "I haven't been taught as to how humans dance either, but Arabella's a dancer! I'm sure she can teach us."
I felt my face soften, and I grinned at the both of them as warmly as humanly possible, "I can most definitely teach you both to dance."
Artemis had never looked so annoyed as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, shaking M'gann off me to stand up. I looked down to address the two of them, but mostly M'gann, "you won't need to know like, genuine, formal dance for this party. We have a more casual form of dancing for regular parties and stuff. You pretty much just move to the beat of whatever's playing, which because we're going to a white, rich-person party is mostly going to be in four-four time, which sounds like this." I stomped out the rhythm of something in four-four time, "the preferred method of movement is usually jumping or bopping to the beat, with little twists for flair."
I demonstrated both of the concepts for them, teaching them how bending their knees slightly and coming back up made an enjoyable, bouncy movement. M'gann laughed, and even Artemis looked a little less annoyed with the whole situation. Our lesson was interrupted as Wally's amused voice floated over from the entrance way to the mission room, "what are you doing, you crazy person?"
I probably did look more than a little strange, making weird dancing movements for seemingly no reason to no music. I waved at them happily, "I'm teaching Artemis and M'gann to dance, because I'm conscripting you all to come to Will and Jessi's Halloween party with me."
"Are you now?" Dick asked with a grin, and he settled against the wall, "I might videotape this for future blackmail."
"Well," I said with an eye roll, "does anyone else feeling like sticking around for less nefarious reasons?"
Kaldur smiled, "I think I'll watch, from what I can tell dance is quite similar to Atlantis on the surface, but you're the resident expert." Wally and Superboy made similar noises of acceptance, and I shrugged before turning back to Artemis and M'gann.
I pointed at 'Mis ponytail, "let your hair down."
She frowned, "do what now?"
"Take your ponytail out," I said, tugging my own hair loose from M'gann's braid in demonstration. It settled over my back, the gentle weight of it pleasantly reassuring.
"Why the hell would I do that?" she asked, voice dry.
"Because feeling your hair move around is like, half the fun. Also the pun is too good." She let her hair loose with an annoyed groan, and it settled around her shoulders and framed her face perfectly. I couldn't hold back a little grin as Wally sucked in a breath behind me, the boy had it bad.
"Good, now," I scrolled down through my library until I found a song that was suitably upbeat for my purposes and the kind of genre likely to be played at this party. I hit play and set my phone down at a safe distance, "we begin."
I tugged at Artemis as the song kicked into full swing, forcing her to bob up and down with me. She finally acquiesced, and I moved back so she and M'gann could observe me like one might a yoga instructor. I threw myself into the song as the chorus came on, jumping and twisting my feet and rolling my hips. M'gann caught on quickly, mimicking me perfectly, and as the second verse came on I popped over to the boys so they could join in on our little dancing fest.
Tugging them into the circle, I saw that Dick was in fact recording us for later use. I stuck my tongue out at him, dancing with him for the first two bars of the verse. He laughed, pointing his cellphone camera at me as I sang at him, grabbing his free hand to spin myself around. I shifted to dance with Kaldur, and while he had been a little awkward, my help smoothed out the roughness to his movements as he adjusted to moving like this out of water.
The song slowed for the first bridge, and I danced over to M'gann to show her how to move when it was so slow. She caught on just as quickly as before, and I handed her off to Connor, who was, in a surprise twist, actually goodnaturedly trying his best.
I danced with Dick as the song hit it's slowest, spinning back towards everyone else as the song jumped back into its new chorus. Wally was giving Artemis heart eyes, and she looked just as in love with him as the two of them danced kind of off by themselves to make room for his cast. The entire team was laughing as we danced around like crazy people, and as the song petered out, it switched into Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows.
Artemis wrinkled her nose, yelling a little over the music, "why do you have a song from Shrek on your phone?"
"Hey!" I said, pointing my finger at her, "this is a freaking 2000s bop, we can gloss over the Shrek bit."
I spun her into Wally's arms as the first line was sung, and we kept going through Accidentally in Love, and I showed our less human friends songs like Sugar We're Goin' Down, and Misery Business, and Don't Stop Believing and just about every other song I could think of that filled me with nostalgia.
In the end, we were all lying on the floor in a heap of sweaty, tangled limbs, giggling amongst ourselves like the teenagers we kind of were. Wally's voice came from the other end of the dogpile, "who wants to go get food?"
MOUNT JUSTICE
October 10, 16:58 EST
I ducked under Connor's legs, grabbing his ankle on the way out to trip him to the ground. I was admittedly not giving the fight my one-hundred percent, instead opting to observe as Captain Marvel waited on Wally hand and foot.
His ridiculous enthusiasm to be doing such a thing was almost childlike in its intensity, and I would have thought he was faking it if being Wally's personal slave wasn't entirely voluntary. He had dragged in an armchair for Kid to kick back in, so he could 'observe' the spars even though he was injured. This had devolved into Wally playing video games and eating while everyone else sparred, and I couldn't help but feel as though Captain Marvel was getting taken advantage of somehow.
He zipped off to go get Wally some nachos as Artemis got a truly great throw in on Robin, sending him careening into the ground with a fierce grin on her face. Black Canary smiled, approaching our spars with that smooth, steady walk she had mastered. Her voice was low and calm, "good work everyone. In fact, it's been a very productive week."
Connor and I slowed alongside everyone else, the spars drawing to a close, and Artemis turned to look at Wally, "yeah, for everyone except Kid Malingerer."
"Ooh, fantastic word choice," I said, pitching my voice down in imitation of Townsend's.
We shared a high-five as Wally looked thoroughly taken aback, "hey, arm broken in combat against the Injustice League here."
He waved the offending appendage in the air, and a soft smile bloomed across Dinah's face as she chuckled, "I've really enjoyed being your, uhh," her eyes dipped down as she searched for the right word, "den mother this week." Of course she had, Dinah's favourite activity was nurturing, right up there with psychoanalyzing people.
Before I could tell her that we liked having her around too, Glados' voice boomed out, "recognized; Zatara, One-One." We turned as one to watch Zatara appear in a burst of golden light, and he utterly ignored us in favour of swiping a hologram keyboard into existence. As he tapped away, Glados spoke again, "access granted. Zatanna Zatara, A-Zero-Three. Authorization: Zatara One-One."
I practically lit up like a Christmas tree. Zatara had said something about bringing his kid around to introduce her, and I had been excited about it all week. She appeared in the same burst of light, and I took a moment to assess her. She looked like she was about my age, dressed in some kind of private school uniform that was perfectly ironed and arranged neatly about her. She was a little taller than me, and probably about half an inch taller than Dick, and had a pretty lean stature. Her hair was a glossy black, kept in an immaculate side part, and she had sharp blue eyes that were just a little less pigmented than Rob's. She was wearing makeup, from what I could tell, and I really wanted her to teach me how she did her eyebrows because they were flawless.
Zatara stepped forward, shooting her a reassuring smile, "Zatanna, this is the Team," he turned to us, "Team, my daughter, Zatanna."
She approached warily, steps slow and cautious, and she almost looked like she was trying to analyze us, right hand reaching up to grab her left elbow in a protective stance that still remained passive. M'gann flew over to her, voice filled with all the cheeriness of a tour guide, "hi! I'm —"
Dick cut her off, jumping in front of M'gann with a yell, "Robin!" He cleared his throat, holding his hand up in a stationary wave and pitching his voice down in the way he usually did around girls he was trying to hit on, "I mean, I'm Robin." He turned to us a little, "uh — and that's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Connor, and Arabella."
I waited until she wasn't looking at me to roll my eyes. Teenage boys. If it was like this with every new girl introduced to the Team, I was going to rip my eyeballs out. Kaldur smiled warmly at Zatanna, "welcome to the Cave."
Her voice was quiet when she spoke, and it had a lower pitch than I had been expecting, "uh, thanks."
Rob, much too loud in contrast, turned to her with a nearly manic grin, "so, uh, y-y-y-are you joining the team?" He stumbled and stuttered and I was torn between the utter annoyance burning in my chest and face-palming in second-hand embarrassment.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara cut in, taking his top hat off, "this is strictly a visit." He turned to Dinah, "though I am sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatanna could benefit."
I catalogued that bit of info, she wasn't a particularly good fighter, as I leaned forward to speak to her with a grin, "either way, we'd be glad to have you." She smiled back at me, and I took that as her opening up a little, "as Boy Wonder here mentioned in his truly stellar introduction, I'm Arabella, but feel free to nickname me if you find that to be a bit of a mouthful. I call myself Catgirl when I'm kicking bad guys in the face, so a lot of people call me Cat. Ara's popular too."
She extended her hand and I took it, and her voice was warmer when she spoke to me, "my friends call me Zee."
Zatara was still prattling on about parent-y stuff to Black Canary, and M'gann's eyebrows lowered as a sudden mindlink bloomed between us, "do the rest of you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?"
"Not just Zatara," Connor said, gesturing to Wally, "I mean, why's Marvel still hanging around?"
"Because we like having him around," Wally said with a dopey expression.
Artemis turned to him, hands on her hips, eyes mischievous, "you like having him around because he waits on you hand and foot."
I made a 'that's what I said' face, and Wally raised his eyebrows at 'Mis, "and your point is?..."
"It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor," Kaldur said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah," Rob huffed, turning to Zatanna like she could hear him, "at least he trusted us."
"If you ignore the fact that we shouldn't have trusted him in the first place!" Connor growled, hand flying up in an angry gesture, "he was a traitor! That machine nearly got M —," he cut himself off, "all of us killed!"
Zatanna suddenly caught my attention as stepped forward with a very angry face, "are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Her voice was coated in disbelief. Everyone turned to look at her, including the adults, and she cocked a hip, "'cause... I can't decide if that's cool or... really rude." She had a point, but my hackles raised anyway, I felt chastised by someone I barely knew.
Before any of us could really react, Connor went and blew our cover, "alright fine," he said, like someone had been nagging him about it for hours, "we were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack, and the League hasn't told us anything."
Dinah regarded him with the kind of cool patience adults had when they thought kids were making a fuss over nothing, "the League is searching for Red Tornado, as well as the androids who invaded the Cave, and their creator, T.O Morrow. Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority."
Dick looked frustrated, "but you've found none of the above!"
"Not yet," Dinah said, "but Tornado is Justice League, the Team is not to pursue this."
"Ooh that was good, you should do the League's press conferences," I said sarcastically, resting a hand on my hip in a way that, annoyingly enough, I had picked up from her.
"Why don't you all take Zatanna on a, uh, tour of the Cave?" Zatara suggested weakly, obviously trying to pacify us.
I turned to where she had been standing next to Dick, only to find her a good few feet back laying against Wolf, who looked very content. Rob looked utterly baffled, and I realized someone had finally gotten the drop on him for once with a near-childlike glee.
She sat up as Wolf bounded towards Captain Marvel, who entered bearing a huge platter of nachos, "you're giving a tour? Cool!"
"Actually," Connor said, putting on his 'I'm-trying-to-seem-reasonable-and-smooth' voice, "I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside. He needs the exercise, we'll join you in a few!"
"Sure, sure," Cap said enthusiastically, nodding as he turned back around towards the back of the Cave, "I can do that. C'mon Wolf!"
I bit down a smile as Wally's face fell dramatically, "wh — wha — my nachos!" Connor, evidently done with his bullshit, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and we followed behind as he dragged Kid towards the kitchen. Wally struggled and twisted his way out of Connor's grip, "watch it, you're wrinkling my shirt!"
Artemis and I fell into step with him, letting Dick and Kaldur catch up with Connor. She flicked a crumb from the corner of his mouth, "yes, because you're so concerned with how you present yourself."
"Says you, Miss-I-Wear-My-Suit-Twenty-Four-Seven," Wally huffed.
I rolled my eyes at his admittedly pathetic comeback, "given that we're literally superheroes, I think wearing her suit would actually be considered professional. Y'know, instead of dressing like a character from a 90s teen drama that got cancelled after two and a half mediocre seasons."
Artemis grinned over at me, and Wally narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "I'll have you know that the layering of shirts is a perfectly respectable personal style choice."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," I singsonged. Zatanna brushed past us wordlessly, and I had to gape at her as she came up next to Rob wearing entirely different clothes as before. Her uniform was replaced by a pair of white, cloth capris and a pastel purple tank-top.
Rob, bless his heart, also did a double-take as she fell into step at his side, "when did you — how did you?"
She ignored the question, voice flat, sarcastic, and to my ears a little condescending, "we're not really taking a tour are we?" I couldn't shake the resemblance to girls from the Academy, bored and looking for adventure. My enthusiasm towards her appearance was starting to deflate — there was no way Zatara's kid acted like your standard prep school girl.
Connor turned to us, coming to a stop, "no." His voice was harsh and angry, in direct contrast to the smooth, almost charming tone he had been using with Cap earlier, "we're hunting down that robot."
He turned a little towards Kaldur, like he was daring him to try stop this. Kaldur just nodded, face solemn, "yes. We are."
We turned as a group towards Zatanna, the obvious question hanging in the air. Would she stay, or did we take her with us and risk Zatara's wrath? He hadn't seemed overly eager to have her out in the field, much less on a manhunt for an android gone haywire and a crazed scientist. "Oh wow," she said dryly, "out loud and everything."
Despite my slowly building dislike, I had to appreciate the sarcasm. Artemis was more cautious, "what about new girl?"
Rob shrugged, using the kind of 'duh' tone mostly used by people trying to convince other people of something when they had no real evidence to support the statement, "I'm sure she won't tell."
Zatanna turned to him with a sly grin, voice low and conspiratorial, "I can't tell, not if you kidnap me."
Artemis smiled one of her rare, genuine smiles, "oh, she's going to fit in great."
As much as I agreed with the sentiment, a small kernel of doubt niggled in my chest. Something about this girl was just... off. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly about her rubbed me the wrong way, but it was keeping me from throwing myself headfirst into my earlier excitement at her arrival.
I tried to understand it as we entered the Bioship and I was booted out of my usual seat between Artemis and Rob, he and Zatanna sitting down by each other so they could continue whatever conversation they had struck up while I wasn't paying attention. Irritation prickled away at me, and I let my eyes flicker around the cabin for a new spot when Kaldur called out to me, "agapía!"
A new seat had sprouted up next to him, it's presence messing with the layout of the cabin and sticking out like a sore thumb. I settled into it with a huff, feeling disoriented in the same way as when your teacher switches around the seating arrangement in class. As we lifted off, Dinah's voice came through an unseen speaker into the cabin, "M'gann, the Bioship wasn't authorized for departure."
"We're kidnapping Zatanna," M'gann said happily, mouth forming a little 'o' as she realized what she had just said, "to… uhh — show her Happy Harbour! Be back soon!"
"Roger that," Dinah said slowly, my stomach twisting as her suspicious-mom tone kicked into full gear, "uh, have fun."
I drew my knees up, trying to put my brain back on track towards what I had been thinking about before. I wasn't a fan of introspection, spending any kind of time poking around inside my own head made me feel ridiculously uncomfortable, but I wanted to understand my weird dislike of Zatanna so it could fuck off. Kaldur turned to me, speaking in slow, very, very antiquated Greek, "are you worried about the new girl?"
I felt a small smile tug at the corner of my mouth. It was clear that his knowledge of the language was cobbled together by whatever root words Atlantean had taken with it, and the brief study he had done of the language when I gave him untranslated versions of the classics. It was a sweet gesture, and I answered him in an admittedly more modern version, but as slowly as possible, "no. I just... does she come off as strange to you?"
His gaze flicked over to her for a brief moment, "I am cautious of all new additions to the team, especially after Red Tornado. But I have faith, you must as well."
"I'm not concerned as to whether she's going to go and betray us or something," I said stubbornly, "she just seems… immature? I don't know how to describe it."
We had apparently caught everyone else's attention, and Zatanna deadpanned from the other side of the cabin, "you guys sure love your secrecy. First psychic conversations, now foreign languages. What was that, Latin?"
"Greek," I said curtly, "Kaldur and I both love the classics."
She shook her head, "braver than I am, I hate old books. Anything written before like, 1980, was a mistake."
Artemis caught my eye, and we shared a moment of pure agony before I turned back to Zatanna with a shrug, "there's some good stuff there if you can stick around long enough to parse through the older language."
I didn't mean for it to come out as a challenge, but it did and now she was glaring at me like I had just insulted her mother. Dick sent me a 'what-did-you-do-now' look, and I resisted the urge to throw my hands up in the air. He very rapidly changed the subject, angling himself towards M'gann, "where are we going? Batman is the world's greatest detective, and he searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical location. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution." His eyebrows pinched together into his 'eureka!' expression, and he started to turn to face Wally with a smile, "a — a truly dumb idea."
We all twisted in our seats towards KF, who at first looked kind of put out, but he slipped into his usual attempt at cool confidence, "as a matter of fact…"
BELLE REVE
October 10, 18:35 CDT
M'gann leaned across the table like a detective in Law & Order, "Warden Strange owed us a favour for stopping last month's prison break. He's given us five minutes with you."
Connor's arms were crossed as he spoke from M'gann's side, "spill Ivo! How do we find T.O Morrow and his Reds?!"
"Now why in the world would I know how to find Morrow?" Ivo asked innocently, his typical too-high voice making me want to pitch him through a window.
"Because," Kid said, stepping towards Ivo with a swagger, "and here's a truly dumb idea. You're Morrow's biggest competitor in the evil android game. Who better to keep track of what he's up to, and where?"
"Ah, I see your point," Ivo said, clasping his hands together, "so let me rephrase. Why in the world would I tell you how to find Morrow?"
Kaldur strode forwards to stand next to M'gann, regarding her gravely, "he knows. Do what you must."
She nodded, turning back to face Ivo, her eyes glowing as she presumably did some kind of mind-whammy thing. He braced himself against the table with a laugh, leaning back in his chair, "oh please. As if I've never faced a telepath before."
Zatanna practically materialized next to Ivo, planting one hand on the desk and the other on the back of his chair. Leaning toward him menacingly, a mess of backwards words spilled from her mouth, "Trulb tuo S'worrom eurt noitacol!"
Ivo jerked up in his chair, speaking so fast I could barely catch it, "Morrow's in a secret underground base beneath Yellowstone National Park, one-hundred meters south of Old Faithful."
My jaw dropped alongside everyone else in the room, including Ivo. The hell? A sudden thought pierced me — if Zatanna could compel anyone to tell the truth whenever she wanted, that meant none of my secrets were safe. I didn't even have the assurance of M'gann's eager desire to adhere to earthly customs. Sure she could rifle through my brain telepathically, but I trusted M'gann with my life. There was no way in hell she would ever do that without my permission. But Zatanna? I didn't trust her as far as I could throw her, and now there seemed like there was bad blood between us. She had been coldly civil to me ever since our kind-of argument in the Bioship. Paired with the general sense of discomfort she had been causing me ever since she entered the Cave, I was scared.
I snapped out of it as Ivo reeled back, slapping his hands over his mouth, "wait — what just happened?!"
"I could damn well ask the same thing," I muttered, and a distinct feeling of dread settled in the pit of my stomach.
Safely seated next to Kaldur again, the pinch of anxiety in my chest had me leaning towards him as he addressed us. His voice was steady and calming, and I had the urge to lean my head against his shoulder for comfort. That was absolutely not something I could do on a mission, but the whim teetered at the edge of my brain. It made me miss Roy, with his assertive personality and big-brother air. Kaldur turned to M'gann a little, "lock out all external communication. Soon Canary and Zatara, Batman too I imagine, will know of our… visit with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time."
"Look," Dick said nervously, tugging a little at the collar of his suit, "I'm trying to be all nonchalant here —"
"Why?" Zatanna asked teasingly, "be as chalant as you like."
Rob looked floored, a slow smile creeping over his face at her backwards formation. His joy made me happy, but there was a hint of an emotion I couldn't riddle out tucked into the smirk on Zatanna's face, and it was making me uneasy. Artemis spoke calmly, "I think we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers. Could you teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender?"
"Or create peace on earth for all time?" Zatanna snarked, "Zatara couldn't even do all that, and I'm nowhere near on my dad's level." Her voice grew more serious, and I wondered if this was a soft spot for her, "I need to know a spell cold. Or else have time to prep it. Plus all magic requires energy, which usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will."
Connor spoke up from where he was slumped forward in his seat, voice angry, "what's our ETA to Yellowstone? I'm way past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor."
"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Kaldur asked, tone utterly serene in comparison.
"Aren't you?!" Superboy demanded, whipping around in his seat.
"I am not convinced," Kaldur said gently, "and even so, that makes him but the victim of his creator's programming." He turned his grave expression on Connor, "certainly he deserves a chance to prove he's more than the weapon others designed him to be."
If I was in a better mood, I might've whistled lowly with a 'shots fired' to lighten the mood. Instead, I regarded Kaldur cooly, voice tinged with disapproval, "Prostós."
He didn't turn to face me, and an uncomfortable silence settled over the cabin. What was happening to us?
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
October 10, 20:22 MDT
The Bioship landed without so much as a hiss, camouflage mode still on. Kaldur spoke commandingly, "stealth mode."
His shirt rippled to a dark black, and Rob and I waited as everyone else switched to less conspicuous versions of their uniforms. Kaldur approached Zatanna in the meantime, voice soft yet stern, "I recommend you stay behind."
She raised an eyebrow, "is that an order?"
"No," he said with a shake of his head, "you must do as you see fit."
"Good," she said with satisfaction, and she raised her arms as a blue-silver smoke began to curl at her feet, another spell spilling out of her, "Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool!"
The smoke billowed upwards, twisting around her before dissipating to reveal her in entirely new clothes. It was similar to her father's, a white shirt tucked into a canary yellow waistcoat, which lay overtop tight black shorts. She wore a black tuxedo jacket with coattails, paired with white gloves, a white bowtie, and some sheer black tights underneath the shorts. A pair of heeled boots reached halfway up her calves, made out of what looked like black leather. The overall effect was rather charming, and she looked very at home in it despite the fact that she couldn't have worn it out and about much before. I had never see Zatanna on the news, or mentioned at all really in correlation to her father, I had only distantly heard of her existence before now.
We poured out of the Bioship, Rob leading the way into the forest at a run. He came to a sudden stop behind a large pine, kneeling down to whip out his holo-computer. It made a soft whirring noise as it scanned the ground, and Dick stared down at the screen, eyebrows pinched together, "Ivo was right, something's down there."
Kaldur raced forwards, and we started to follow close behind as a sudden blast of wind whipped towards us, carrying dirt and sand. I was the first to blow back off my feet, practically flipping through the air with a startled yelp as the force of the wind slammed into me. I hit the ground hard, and as I lifted my eyes to the sky, I saw Red Tornado floating above us in his typical red blur.
He extended his hands, a series of crimson-tinged tornadoes beginning to billow towards us. I couldn't see straight, the wind making my eyes blur with tears. M'gann's voice rung out above the noise and chaos, "why Tornado?! Why are you doing this?!"
We struggled to our feet, and I caught something out of the corner of my eye, a faint message etched in the sand where a handful of tornadoes had travelled. PLAY DEAD. Any breath the wind hadn't stolen was ripped from my chest - there was no way. Red Tornado was on our side? M'gann's spoke through a hastily formed mindlink, "message received?"
Connor nodded, turning back to Red Tornado with an angry yell, "who cares why?! Nail him!"
He rushed forwards, Kaldur chasing after him with a shout, "Superboy! Maneuver seven!"
Twisting and lowering himself down a little to link his hands into a cup Kaldur could step into, Connor pitched Kaldur over his head and through the air with minimal effort. RT slammed a fist into Kaldur's face, and he crashed into Superboy on his way down, knocking them both into the ground in a heap.
Artemis raced forwards then, Rob at her side. Drawing back two explosive arrows, she let them fly towards the android only to have them quickly whip back around towards her by RT's wind. She and Dick jumped back with a cry of "look out!" from one of them, and the arrows exploded against the dirt in a loud boom of smoke and fire. I was momentarily concerned, but I caught a glimpse of them throwing themselves to the ground through the smoke.
Wally yelled from behind me, "that does it Red! You're not the only spin doctor around here!"
He started to turn faster and faster, until he was nothing but a blur of a black-tinged twister ascending into the air. M'gann flew at Red Tornado from behind, but he whipped around to catch her wrist. Pitching forwards, he flung her towards Kid's tornado, a scream ripping itself from her throat. They hit the ground hard, and Zatanna ran forwards, arms extended in front of her as she tried desperately to cast a spell, "Etaerc a... a... dleihs dnuora ym —"
She was cut off sharply as RT wrapped a hand around her throat, eyes wide as she was lifted off the ground. I raced forwards, my heartbeat thumping away in my throat, "get the fuck off of her!"
Red dropped her to the ground, turning to me with the hollow eyes that had once seemed affectionately expressionless, but now just struck me as being cold and empty. Did he mean what he had scratched in the dirt? He stuck out a hand, and I couldn't help a clawed hand from reaching up to my throat as all the air seemed to be sucked from my chest. My knees buckled beneath me, and as soon as I hit the ground the air returned to my lungs. It took everything I had not to gasp and choke for air. Instead I lay as still as I could, barely breathing with my eyes fluttered shut and my muscles utterly loosened to mimic unconsciousness.
A quiet fell over us, nothing but the steady whooshing of the wind flowing us filling the silence. A rumbling began within the ground and in my ears, and before I could discern what was happening a deep, mechanized voice spoke, "quite a performance brother. But we both know that's all it was." My mind flashed back to the PLAY DEAD, and I found myself aching for RT while wondering who this new 'brother' of his could possibly be. The android's voice took on a mocking tone, very Bond-villain monologue-y, "I have all your memories, Tornado. Plus a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do."
The rumbling picked up in noise, and my eyes snapped open as I peeled myself off the ground, heart still in my chest. The new android was shaped differently than RT, with orange glowing lines carved into the metal of his body. It all led to one glowing golden symbol in the centre of his chest, a triangle with a circle inside it, and little squiggly lines radiating off it. If I didn't know better, I would say it reminded me of the Illuminati. The android extended his arms upwards, ripping pieces of the Earth out of place. That chunk of earth Red Tornado had written in came up behind the new android, and he scoffed, "blowing a message into the sand?"
The rock shattered into a hundred, very large pieces as he clenched his fists, and proceeded to fly towards us as he thrust his arms out. I couldn't help raising my arms to my face in defense, and Kaldur and Superboy jumped into the air towards it, smashing the rocks apart before they could hit us. M'gann shoved a piece away telepathically, but couldn't deal with a somewhat smaller chunk that soon followed it. Rob dived off to the side, and I tugged Zatanna, staring up at it with her mouth curved into a perfect 'O', off in the opposite direction.
A small noise of surprise flew from her throat, and Rob's voice filled the mindlink instantaneously, "Zatanna?"
Smoothing over a lick of annoyance before it could make itself known, I internally praised M'gann for the telepathy lessons. The barest hint of her smile filled my memory, as well as what she had said, "you seem like the kind of person who would want to keep a few secrets."
Zatanna looked over in Rob's general direction, "I'm good. The Red Tornado's getting away!"
I followed her changing gaze to the sky, where RT was flying off into the distance. Artemis' voice filled my mind, "is he abandoning us?"
"I don't believe that," M'gann said with conviction, and I found myself agreeing with her. RT wouldn't leave us here, not when he had already tipped his hand about his working against the Reds from the inside.
A streak of black and red moved in the corner of my eye, and I followed Wally's run towards the new android atop his pillar of stone as best my brain could manage. As Kid leaned in with a punch, the new android reared back with a blow of his own, "you stand no chance against me —" the crack as his metallic fist connected with Kid's ribs, "humans."
Superboy and M'gann barreled towards the android at the same time, speaking in unison,
"We're not human!"
"We're not human!"
"Apologies," the android said, raising his hands. A cloud of dust billowed from the ground, and even my enhanced eyes couldn't pick out what he was doing. "I suppose the properly inclusive term is —" two stone hands rose into the air, squashing M'gann and Connor between them in a blow that sent fear straight through me, "meatbags."
The android's hand flew out, and the ground in front of him began to tear itself apart. Chunks rose up and fell away, and before I could even start running towards them, Artemis and Kaldur fell into the gaping chasm that was formed. I tore off in their direction, watching with some relief as one of Artemis's arrows flew through the darkness with a retracting cord attached, pulling them up over the side of the divide before it slammed back together again.
I helped them to their feet, staring upwards as Rob ran up a newly formed ramp and towards the android. A birdarang flew from his hand as my heart leap into my throat, and the android caught the projectile with ease. The following explosion didn't even phase him, and as the smoke around him cleared, he stared us down cooly, "Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move."
"Emoks emoceb a dlofdnilb!" Zatanna cried, and a wisp of the smoke surrounding the android curled around his eyes. His hands flew to his face, and he was at a loss.
Zatanna landed a foot away from me, right next to Dick, "Tornado never knew my moves."
"And I've bet you've got some good ones," Dick said, stepping forwards to come to her side. She turned to him with a strange expression, and he physically reared back, "whoa, sorry, that might have come off a little too Wally."
The look of reproach on her face curled into a fond smile, and she giggled softly, "I don't mind."
"Uh, guys?" I said, pointing over at the android, whose eyes were beginning to glow a bright red beneath the band of smoke, "think we've got some bigger problems."
A loud hum filled the air as he flung his head back, and a bright red beam of light that was very reminiscent of Clark's heat vision launched from his eyes into the night sky. I fell to my knees as a large explosion rocked the ground beneath me, and all I could do was stare at the column of fire and smoke billowing up from the some unknown point way behind the android. But it wasn't fire, it was lava. Surging straight up into the air and over the sides of what was, presumably, the same fucking caldera that had been represented as a ticking time bomb in the scientific community for years, and as one of the most likely harbingers of a global apocalypse.
Fuck.
The molten rock poured over the edges of the caldera, creating bright rivers of fire in the cracks the android had created in his attempts to kill us. Kid very narrowly escaped certain death as he rolled out of the way of literal burning rocks that the android chucked at him, and I knew we were well and truly fucked when I saw he had his grave face on. His voice was tense across the mindlink, "he's activating a stage two eruption. It gets to stage three? Kiss the hemisphere goodbye!"
"Not to be pedantic," I said brightly, "but which hemisphere? Like am I moving to Eastern Europe or Argentina?"
"Catgirl, not the time," Kaldur said, drawing his waterbearers. The soft blue glow was comforting amongst all the lava.
I shrugged, "you know what they say, nothing like witty one-liners to stave off fear of a global apocalypse."
Kaldur shook his head, but a spark of warm affection bloomed its way across the mindlink, followed quickly by calm severity, "hit him from all sides."
We darted away from one another, Kaldur and Connor flinging themselves at the android first, only to be quickly repelled. M'gann faded into camouflage mode, and I watched with careful eyes as she flew in behind the android, tugging at him telepathically. A spurt of lava boiled up beside her, and her scream echoed in my ears from feet away. Superboy was running towards her before any of us could react, her name tearing its way from his mouth, "M'gann!"
The android flipped off the rock he had been standing on, landing between them with enough force to rattle the ground. I was already running in their direction as the robot swatted Connor away, grabbing M'gann off the rock by the back of her cloak.
I didn't breathe, didn't think, I just threw myself towards the android. I could dimly register Zatanna yelling something, but all I cared about was the limpness of M'gann's body as she hung in the air like a ragdoll. The android's hand came up, flinging rocks at something behind me, and my hand came up to claw at his face. I tore across his eye, the feeling of my claws ripping through the metal reverberating all the way up my arm. The ugly tearing sound was like a gunshot in my enhanced ears, and I felt dimly satisfied as the android's hand flew upwards to the 'wound'. Turning my attention back to M'gann, I cut the cloth of her cape just in time for Kid to dash past and scoop her up into his arms.
Before he could make a return trip for me, the android's hand wrapped itself around my throat, the pressure of it effectively cutting off my airway. A choking noise issued from my mouth, and I couldn't do anything but strain for air and claw at the android's immobile hand.
My salvation came in the form of a blast of water coming out of nowhere, barrelling into the android with enough force to shake me from his grip as he fell backwards into the lava. I hit the ground hard, gasping for breath as the water dripped down my face. Turning to thank Kaldur, I was beaten to the punch by Robin, "nice hit!"
Kaldur stared blankly at his waterbearers, "the hit was not mine…" his face slackened in horror as he pointed to his left, "look!"
Red Torpedo stood there, one hand outstretched towards where his brother had fallen. As he rose into the air in a column of water, I scrambled to my feet and got the hell out of dodge. Wind tugged at my hair as Red Tornado flew over my head, and I stopped dead in my tracks to watch him plow through the pillar of rock the other android had been standing on. I broke back into a run as pieces fell around me, zig-zagging to avoid being smoked by one. I finally came to a stop at M'gann's side as Red Inferno entered the fight, lobbing fireballs at her new brother.
Kid cradled M'gann in his arms, and I laid a hand over her forehead. Her skin was feverish. She wasn't meant to be kept in such hot temperatures for so long, she needed fluids, and a cool bath before she got heat stroke. I spoke softly, "just keep going a little while longer M'gann." Groaning, her eyes fluttered open to rest on our faces as she came to her senses somewhat. Kid and I helped her to her feet, each taking an arm.
Red Inferno barrelled into her new brother, and they promptly entered a powerful grapple. He seemed utterly infuriated, "sister, brothers, stop!"
Red Torpedo jumped on top of him, resubmerging him in the lava. Red Tornado flew above it all, and then he suddenly stopped, pencil diving into the lava below. I couldn't make out what was happening, but Connor ran forward, grabbing RT by the scruff. He tore him from the lava with a shout, and I stretched out a hand to steady him as he jumped to land next to me. The bottom half of Tornado's body was absolutely decimated. His legs were melted away up past his knees, not even wires left to show what had been there.
Before we had the time to so much as process that, a deep rumbling echoed from within the caldera, and the ground beneath us picked up in frequency of its shaking. Wally whipped around, "Tornado, listen! We're on the verge of a stage three supervolcano eruption. There's no turning back from that, we need to vent pressure — fast! But the ash cloud will bring on a worldwide nuclear winter, unless you divert it!"
RT simply nodded, and Wally turned to Rob as soon as he got that confirmation, "triangulate around the pressure locus!"
Dick's fingers were already flying across the keyboard of his holo-computer, "right!" Little red dots appeared on the 3D map, "there, there, and there!"
Wally turned to Artemis, no words spoken or otherwise needed between them as she drew one of her new modified arrows. She pulled back the string, and the arrow flew perfectly straight, splitting into three separate explosive missiles in mid air. They landed exactly where they needed to, black smoke starting to billow into the air. The stink of sulphur was practically choking me now, and I had to blink back tears as I turned my eyes back to RT. With a little hiss and crackle of visible electricity, he flew into the air, as stoic as ever.
He flew onwards and upwards, and the sight of his red wind curling around the smoke downright apocalyptic. It should have terrified me, but instead I only felt relief. The tempest twirled the air around us too, and my already loosened ponytail flew out of its tie. My hair whipped around my face, both annoying me and blocking my vision with a wall of red curls. By the time I cleared it away, the ash cloud had vanished without a trace, and the lava was starting to cool.
Kid's excitement was palpable, and I watched with dim affection as he fistpumped happily, "yes!"
The victory was quickly tempered by the sight of Red Tornado falling to the ground none-too-gracefully. I was one of the first to reach him, throwing myself at his side as fear burned in my chest. Was he dead? Could he die?
He sat there, staring at us, and a heavy silence filled the air. I reached out with a shaking hand, entwining my clawed fingers with his metallic ones, "welcome home."
His mechanic voice somehow sounded tired, "it's nice to see you too, children."
Tucked into the little room that had been serving as T.O Morrow's workshop, we stood huddled in silence as Robin repaired RT's voicebox. The quiet snapping of RT's inner workings properly fitting together was all that filled the room, followed quickly by Rob's relieved voice, "there. That should do it."
"Yes," RT said simply, and his face slid back into place, "I can speak again."
Kaldur's voice was warm, and grateful, "you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet."
"The planet would have survived," RT said, "it was humanity that was saved. Though not by me, my sister and brother were the true heroes this day."
"My point is this," Kaldur said, laying his hand on Tornado's shoulder, "you were never the mole. Never a traitor."
"No," RT agreed. "I left to protect you from further attack, and to find my creator. Morrow."
Wally, unable to leave a sincere moment be, chimed in happily, "cool!" He lifted one of the new android's — Red Volcano, I had learned, recovered hands in the air, "souvenir!"
Dick lifted a leg, inspecting it with a grin, "Reddy! We can rebuild you! Better than you were before."
Red Tornado tilted his head ever-so-slightly away from us, "I do not believe I should be repaired."
My heart jumped and ached at the same time, but before I could say anything Connor lashed out, "why'd you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?"
"I was the pragmatic choice," RT said, "I do not require sleep, I have no secret identity or second life to live."
"But you do have advanced A.I programming," Wally said brightly, toying with the fingers of the robotic hand he was holding, "designed to learn, adapt, evolve!"
M'gann slapped herself in the forehead, "hello Megan, you wanted to become more human!"
Artemis grinned, "and you sure couldn't do that with the League, they're stiffs."
"You're sure not going to learn emotion from Batman," Dick said with a low chuckle, "trust me."
"Then the Cave was not a proving ground only for us," Kaldur said, "but for you as well."
"I do not know if these statements are accurate. But perhaps, they are true. And if I understand the term correctly…" Red Tornado trailed off for a second, "I believe I have come to… care about you all."
"See?" Connor said, the closest thing to a smile anyone but M'gann could wrangle out of him creeping up on his face, "practically a meatbag already."
"That reminds me…" RT said distantly.
I cocked my head to the side, "of what?"
"It is nothing," he said, and I approached his side cautiously.
"Well, I'd say this is a job decently done. Humanity saved, minimal damage considering the circumstances, Elpis remains in the pithos."
"Elpis?" Zatanna asked, "pithos?"
"Pandora's box," I said by way of explanation, "Elpis is the Greek spirit of hope, what remained in, well, it was translated as a box, but the original text had Pandora's particular mode of releasing all the world's evils as a pithos, basically a container for oil."
She blinked distantly at me, something hardening in her eyes, "you must be really smart."
I shook my head, "nah, Rob's the brains of the operation. I'm just a huge classics nerd, Kaldur and I geek out about it all the time."
"You two seem close," she said in a tone that I couldn't identify.
"As close as two people of differing species can be," I said with a grin, looping an arm somewhat awkwardly around Kaldur's neck, the height difference dragging him down, "isn't that right, prostós?"
He grinned down at me, "shove off, agapía, we need to go home."
We settled into the interior of the Bioship, RT flying off on his own with promises to get his damages seen to. I had to bite my tongue as Zatanna settled into my usual place again, and now that the shiny newness had mostly rubbed off her, the rest of the team seemed to realize the discrepancy.
M'gann shuttered the mindlink to everyone but her, Artemis, and I, so I could ruminate in peace. Her voice was cautious as she lifted us into the air, "are you alright?"
"Just peachy," I answered flatly, staring straight out the front window. An emotion I couldn't really pick out roiled in my gut and infested the mindlink. It was so unpleasant, I felt like I was choking on it.
Rob leaned forward in his chair to grab Zatanna by the shoulder with a grin, "so, good kidnapping?"
She twisted in her chair to face him, "actually, yeah." Her voice took on a teasing lilt, "best ever."
He huffed a little laugh, voice warm and soft, "first of many I hope."
"If my dad doesn't ground me for life," she said, adopting a petulant tone. Something about it made me want to roll my eyes and make some snappy remark, but I restrained myself, crossing my legs and desperately wishing I had a book to occupy my time with.
Instead, I unfolded myself from my chair, unable to keep a certain degree of coldness out of my voice as I lied, heading back to the cabin, "it's my turn to log the mission data."
Rob frowned, "wait, isn't it mine?"
I offered him my best fake smile, crinkling up the corners of my eyes just so, "you're having fun out here. I'll do it."
Heading back without a second glance, I almost found it even more irritating that he didn't put up more of a protest, especially because normally Dick was ridiculously anal about making sure everyone took their proper turns with it. Settling in at the little terminal, I started with the opening details of Zatanna's introduction to the Team.
MOUNT JUSTICE
October 10, 23:47 EST
Freshly showered and debriefed, the grand majority of the team had either gone home or were thinly dispersed around the Cave. Zatara had managed to contain the immediate tongue-lashing he clearly ached to give his daughter, but I had no doubt she had received an earful. It was pretty improbable that she would turn up again soon, and the fact that I felt relieved about it made me feel sick.
I was sitting on the edge of the 'back door'. The cold night wind that blew off the sea was refreshing after being surrounded by so much ash and sulphur. You could see all the stars here, Happy Harbour so small it barely gave off enough light pollution to even dampen the sky. I was shivering — the clothes I had left at the Cave were meant for summer, not autumn, and the the thinness of the material wasn't doing much to guard against the cold.
I tensed as the low hiss of the door opening filled the quiet, but relaxed as the green apple, tea, almond scent told me it was just Artemis. She settled down next to me, voice soft, "what's eating at you?"
I laid my head on her shoulder, sighing, "I don't like Zatanna."
"No shit, Sherlock," she said with a snort, "what about it?"
"I don't like that I don't like her. I was so prepared to adore her, and she's not even a bad person. I don't even know why, she just… rubs me the wrong way," I said with a frown.
"You're jealous."
I nearly choked on air, "of what?"
She shrugged, "I don't know, she's gorgeous, funny, talented, superpowered, Robin's obsessed with her. What isn't there for you to be jealous of?"
"Oh wow, thanks 'Mis," I deadpanned, turning to face her.
"Not that she's better than you, dummy. Just that her and Rob are pretty chummy, and I mean it's pretty obvious to everyone but you two that you like him. And now he's head-over-heels for some new girl."
"I do not," I hissed, "she just seems shady, okay? Not to mention she has that total spoiled, daddy's-little-princess vibe that makes me want to jump off a building."
She rolled her eyes, "you're really grasping at straws for a reason to dislike her for someone who's not being irrationally jealous. And I don't care if it's because you like Robin, even though you do. He's your best friend. Of course you're going to be rubbed the wrong way when he's bending over backwards to impress and hang around someone else, and ignoring you. It's human nature."
"Okay," I said flatly, "if we're talking about people denying feelings, you have literally no room to be criticizing anyone. Unless you've confessed your undying love for Wally and you didn't tell me."
"I'm not in love with Wally," she protested, and even in the dark I could see the way her cheeks turned pink.
I rolled my eyes, "right, and I'm a purple dinosaur named Beyoncé. You two are up there with Connor and M'gann these days."
"No way," she said, wrinkling her nose, "only they're capable of being that gross."
"Then you admit that you two are in love," I said teasingly, bumping her shoulder.
"I didn't say anything," she said, bumping me back. A slow grin creeped over her face, "he was kinda hot today though, when he was ordering everyone around."
"Ewww," I groaned, slapping a hand over her mouth, "never mind, we're never discussing this again. Keep your secrets."
Her lips curled up even further against my palm, her voice muffled but still clear, "victory."
I rolled my eyes, dropping my hand from her face to stand up, "let's go home, I'm exhausted."
Artemis nodded, "talk about it, I'm going to have ten million bruises tomorrow morning." Her face screwed up as she seemed to remember something, and I cocked my head at her in question. She shrugged, "don't worry about it, I just remembered me and my mom are in the middle of a fight. I'm gonna get the silent treatment."
"Do you wanna sleep over?" I asked, frowning. Artemis' home life was strange, and difficult, and confusing, but I wanted to do whatever I could to make her happier.
The fight must have been decently nasty, because she actually looked like she was considering it, "would your mom mind?"
"Sel? No she's been dying to meet you, she thinks you sound great. Grab some clothes from here, you can stay over the whole weekend."
She nodded, "okay, I think I actually will, if you're sure."
"Surer than sure, let's drop by your room and I'll text Cat."
So we set off back into the Cave, the warm air soothing my goosebumps, and Selina welcomed Artemis into the apartment with open arms. I set her up in my room, and Sel made sure she knew she was welcome here any time, setting us up with a takeout menu so we could eat for the first time since this afternoon.
It was when we were trying to fall asleep in my bed that Artemis rolled over to face me, voice soft, "Arabella?"
I cracked an eye open, studying the warm expression she was wearing. It was a rare one, and one I hoped to coax out of her more often, "yeah?"
She smiled, "thank you."
I shook my head, voice warm, "what are friends for?"
Hey guys! So it's been a while. Pinky promise I'm going to attempt to maintain a regular update schedule in the spring now. I'm on Easter break for a week, so expect another chapter before that's over! Sorry if the pacing of this chapter is a bit off, I wasn't perfectly happy with it, but I didn't want to just sit on it.
A lovely reader by the name of Dawn Racer drew up their interpretation of Arabella, so I mean I can cross that one off the bucket list. They have it on their Deviantart, and they use Avast-the-technician over there.
Responding to reviews!
HephaestusBuilds: Yes, I promise I still update! I'm just wildly inconsistent. Thank you so much, and I love Arabella too! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much, and I hope you'll keep reading!
C.B Weasley (Mar. 19): Oh my lord that is so validating you have no idea. I don't really know why, I tend to operate by the 'don't-like-don't-read' philosophy, so I can't say I understand. Thank you for your kind words!
C.B Weasley (Mar. 18): Thank you! Yeah, I adore slow burn stories so I love writing them too. I never want to just copy and paste the show, though I do try and preserve the original dialogue as much as humanly possible because it's freaking amazing. I love having Arabella bond with everyone, so I try and put cute little interactions in the beginning and end of every chapter. More of Arabella's flaws will definitely come to light the more we delve in, especially now that Zatanna's around. Some huge moments that are pretty altering to her character are coming soon, so be on the lookout for those!
Briezy23: Thank you! I really don't see them being together at the snap of my fingers because I decided it, that would be very forced. I'm glad you think this is more of a natural progession! (And I did do pretty well on my midterms so I credit that to your good luck.)
Catzillataco: Aww, thank you! I hope you like the new chapter!
KingTritium: I've been sitting on this review for a while, trying to come up with a proper response. Arabella overreacts. Arabella is dramatic af. Arabella only knew violence as a method of sorting out your issues for the majority of her formative years. She's an angry, violent person. She probably would have him disowned, living on the streets, and eating garbage. The way she sees it, Jessi is an innocent, sweet, gentle person. She's the kind of person that Arabella never had the option to be, and who she's the most driven to protect because she sees them as defenceless. She does things without thinking, and sometimes without considering how it might affect other people and their feelings. She's a flawed character, she's not always going to do what you or someone else might think is the right thing. As for the Tommy issue, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree over it. In my mind, the point is that despite herself (another character flaw) she trusts Tommy, even when she probably shouldn't. This will be a pattern, and it will come into play later in the story. I did try to add in more description this chapter, but this story does have a pretty fast-paced tone, especially during missions. I hope you like the update!
Guest: You're welcome! Thank you very much for reading!
Dawn Racer: Thank you as always, I hope to update again soon!
So that's the skinny guys! Failsafe is up next, and all I will say is that I have been looking forward to writing this chapter ever since I first published The Cat. See you next time!
