Young Justice

These kids don't worry about changes…the MAKE them…

Chap. 4

Sparks Fly

(NOTE: Due to the fact that I CANNOT find the right way to do "Brotherly Love", I'm just gonna skip it and save if for later, but for now, I'll post up Chap. 4 "Sparks Fly". You'll love this one! Oh and it might be a bit longer than usual chapters.)

Empress lay on her bed one early morning, reading a comic book. Ever since she had visited the comic book store with Impulse a few days back, she had become a bit interested in them. One of the titles she was entangled in was the "Static" series based on a superhero who could control the powers of electricity. Day and night and day and night she read these comics, not leaving her room for anything or anyone.

Nightwing, Ray, and Impulse would pass her room and listen to her screaming and shouting "NO! STATIC DON'T GO IN THEIR!" or laughing out loud.

Secret would complain that Empress was keeping her up and she couldn't get a wink of sleep.

The next morning Slobo and Impulse waited outside her door, wondering if she would ever come out. Just then, the door opened up and out walked Secret with the worst morning face they had seen.

"JEEZ!" exclaimed the two boys. "Empress?"

"Empress. She kept me up all night with that book," Secret then walked past them for the bathroom. "Oh, and if you thought I was bad, don't look at Empress."

Impulse and Slobo looked at each other nervously and then back at the door. Just then, Empress appeared at the door right in front of the two, with THE worst hair AND morning breath had ever seen.

"GASP!"

"I finally finished—yawn—finished reading all the issues of 'Static' three times in a row," she said. "Now I can finally go to the bathroom."

"Oh that is gross!" exclaimed Slobo.

"So are you and that's why I complain," she said as she walked for the bathroom door. She teleported inside and teleported Secret out, wrapped up in a towel and a tooth brush in her mouth. Empress then teleported back in.

"HEY! NO FAIR!" shouted Secret pounding on the door. "I wasn't done!"

"Just one of these days, Impulse," said Slobo as he turned around and walked off. "One of these days."

Nightwing stood in the hallway watching it all. He cracked the first smile in a while thinking about how this reminded him of an old friend of his.

Empress teleported right back out the bathroom, fresher than ever; her hair was back in a ponytail, and her skin was silky smooth again. She was back.

"AH!" she exclaimed while stretching. "I feel great."

"At least someone does," said an annoyed Secret as she walked into the bathroom.

"Well, I got the whole day ahead of me…so I'm up for Round 4!" Empress ran in her room and grabbed another issue of 'Static'. "Alright! In this issue he battles Tarmack!"

Just as she walked out of the room with the comic in her hand, ready to go stock up on food, Ray had called Young Justice to the main room.

Ray sat in Nightwing's seat on the computer. He pressed a couple of buttons and then on the screen appeared a man with a white mechanized suit. White glowing blasts of energy were fired from his hands.

"Who's that?" asked Impulse.

"The security cameras at Jump Bank picked this up," said Ray. "Bad guy robbing a bank, that's our cue. Let's go!"

Nightwing whipped out his staff and he and Ray led the others out to battle. Empress sighed and decided she'd read it later, so she rolled it up and stuck it in the back of her pants.

"Maybe later then…"

"HAHAHAHA!" laughed the villain that was robbing the bank of its possessions. "This is all too easy! No one can stop Rift! NO ONE!"

"I beg to differ," said Nightwing as he walked through the front doors.

"Young Justice, GO!" shouted Ray, as he, his mentor, and his teammates charged for the villain.

"I think I'll show you why they call me Rift," said the latter as he raised his hand in the air.

Nightwing and Young Justice stopped in their spots as they saw a small hole open up. Slowly, that small hole grew into a much larger one, making it a large portal. And something was coming through it. Something big.

"WHOA!" exclaimed the team as they saw a large reptilian beast emerge from the hole.

"Meet my pet," said Rift. "He's from the XYZ dimension and I call him fluffy."

"….Fluffy?" asked Impulse.

"How manly," joked Slobo as the two laughed hysterically.

"Grrrr, no on makes fun of Fluffy! Go get 'em my little pet."

"RRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!" went the beast.

"Perfect," said Nightwing. "The bigger they are…"

"…the harder we hit," said Ray as his fists glowed with energy and he flew for the beast, blasting away at his body, but to his dismay, he didn't do much damage.

"My turn," said Secret as she transformed into her Ghastly form and began to grow and grow to the size of Fluffy. She began to reconfigure her shape and form, and when she was done, she had become an ever fiercer beast! "Ahem—RROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!"

The two monsters then began to duke it out, while the others charged for Rift. Nightwing began swinging his staff at Rift, who kept dancing around him, dodging them. Nightwing mimicked his moves but still missed. Ray flew over them and began firing blasts of energy at them, but with them moving around, it made it hard for him to hit anything.

"Alright, Impulse," said Empress, pulling out her own staff. "This guy moves quick…"

"But we move quicker." Impulse grabbed Empress and speeded over for Rift. Nightwing and Ray backed up while Empress stood in front of Rift and grinned.

"NOW!" she shouted as Impulse ran around the two at super high speed, creating a tornado.

The two ended up floating on the inside, and Empress began going to his body with the staff. Rift couldn't take the speed, but Empress could as she teleported over and over again, hitting him. Rift was now dazed.

Impulse slowed down and finally stopped. Just then, Fluffy had fallen to the ground, knocked out. As soon as it fell, it began to glow and started to melt.

"GROSS!" shouted Slobo. All the members of Young Justice walked over to Nightwing and Secret, who had turned back into herself. "When could you do that?"

"Never tried. What happened to Fluffy? I didn't do that?"

"Ugh," said Rift as he stood up, dizzy from the spin. He then looked down at his feet, and saw Empress's Static comic lying there. He bent over and picked it up.

"Oh no!" said Empress. "GIMME MY BOOK BACK!"

"Hmmm," he said as he flipped through the pages. He then grinned and closed the book, but then opened it right back up, transforming it into portal that began sucking everything up. "HAHAHA! Try and stop me now!"

"OH NO!" shouted everyone as they began getting sucked up. Impulse ran as fast as he could they other way, but even then was the pull to powerful. Empress then began to run for her book.

"NO! MY BOOK!" she screamed.

"EMPRESS!" screamed Slobo. "DON'T!"

Slobo leaped for his teammate and grabbed her, and now the two were hurtling for the portal.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" they all screamed as they got closer and closer and closer and closer—until…

BLAM! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! A powerful blast of what appeared to be electricity came out of the portal and blasted the two backwards. Everyone stared at the portal as a glowing bright orb shot out of the hole and grew life size. A human figure could be seen in the orb.

"What the—AAAAAAHHHHHH!" screamed Rift as the figure released a full blast of energy from his body, sending him flying backwards and knocking him out, which closed the portal up.

Everyone shielded their eyes from the powerful shine of the electricity. Empress and Slobo got on their feet and stared at the figure. Finally, the electric orb that surrounded him died down, and the figure floated down on the floor.

"Wait a minute," said Impulse. "Is that…"

"Static?" said Empress.

The figure turned around. He wore a baseball cap over his head; wore dark blue tights with pictures of lightning bolts on them; and he wore an orange hooded trench coat. He was the hero Static.

"Uh," said Static, scratching his head. "Can someone tell me what's going on here?"

Empress gasped as she fell back, passed out.

She opened her yes and stared at her blurry surroundings. She was now in the Justice Cave. Slobo stood over her, just staring. She shoved him back disgusted and looked around for Static. She looked over by the computer and saw the rest of Young Justice with Nightwing and Static. She wasn't dreaming.

Poof! She then teleported over to them and began poking him vigorously. She saw that her fingers were making contact. She wasn't dreaming. He was really here!

"Umm, not to be rude or anything, but you're touching me—why?" asked Static.

"You—you're real? You're real!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe my eyes."

"Humph," said Slobo. "I don't see the big deal. He puts his tights on one leg at a time just like the rest of us."

"What's with him?" asked Static.

"He's just jealous of the fact that his costume isn't as cool as yours, Static." Empress stared into his eyes with a large googley gaze. "Can I call you Static, Static?"

"Uh, I guess."

"Oh brother," said Slobo as he walked off.

"How'd he get here, Nightwing?" asked Impulse.

"I'm guessing Rift had something to do with it. His dimensional transportation powers took affect to Empress's comic book, and I guess Static just got zapped here. Ignore the pun."

"Oh great," said Impulse. "The one time I don't have my Super Space Chix comic book on me. There are powerful forces in this world against me, I swear it."

"Did you find out what happened to Fluffy?" asked Ray. "Why'd he turn into goop?"

"Dunno yet. I took a sample of the goop and I'll be running tests on it soon. In the mean time, we have to find out what to do with Static here."

"Whaddya mean!?" asked Empress, who was too busy choking her idol with a powerful bear hug. "Why can't he stay here with us? He could be a new member to the team."

"We'll see," said Nightwing as he stood up. "We'll see. You guys can go out and do whatever, but be on the alert. I'll let you know if anything comes up."

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" screeched Empress. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Static, I'm gonna show you around! Let's go!"

"WHOA!" Static exclaimed as Empresses rushed him out of the Justice Cave. Ray, Secret, Impulse and Slobo trailed behind.

Nightwing turned back to the computer and continued analyzing Fluffy's DNA.

"So let me get this straight," said Static as he stood atop of a trash can lid and hovered over Young Justice who were all walking down to the mall, "I'm not really real?"

"Not in this dimension you're not," said Ray. "The dimension you're from is, I guess, the fictional world."

"So technically, I'm not real, huh?"

"No, you're real, just not in our world, but in your world, you're just as real as us."

Static slowed down a bit and hung his head low. The thought of him only being fictional somewhat got to him. He didn't know how to take the news.

"Don't worry about it, Static," said Impulse. "Cause if you die in your world, the comic creators can always bring you back to life through some odd turn of events. It happens with a lot of people."

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," he sarcastically said.

"And don't worry, we'll get you home in a jiffy," said Slobo with a big grin. "The sooner, the better."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Static, scolding Slobo.

"Exactly what it means. As soon as Nightwing finds a way for you to get home, then it's adios, amigo!"

"You know, you've been really buggin' since I got here! It's not like I wanted to come here, you know! I didn't ask for all this!"

"Don't let him get to you, Static," said Secret.

"Yeah," added Empress. "Slobo annoys everyone. That's why nobody likes him."

Normally, Slobo would take this as a joke, but for some reason today, he took it very offensively. He remembered when he helped Empress earlier today in the fight with Rift. Now he regretted it.

Just as the group entered a mode of silence, they heard a loud scream. They saw a group of Mutant thugs running from around the corner, holding a bunch of purses they just lifted, along with other jewelry.

"Mutants!" said Impulse.

"Mutants?" asked Static.

"A big pain in the shmegegy," said Secret.

"Young Justice, GO!" said their leader. The members of Young Justice leaped into battle, including Static.

Slobo charged ahead of all of them and punched the first Mutant he saw back into a fire hydrant.

"Oh no! Young Justice! Let's get outta here!" screamed the Mutants.

"Don't think so!" said Impulse as he speeded up for them and grabbed the back of all of their underwears and stretched them out and wrapped them up together. "Hit it Static."

"I'm right with ya!" Static released a blast of electricity and lifted them up curled together to look like a ball. "So what have we learned here today, kids?"

"YOU SUCK!" shouted one of the Mutants.

"Jeez, is everyone in this world so nice?"

"No," said Slobo as he ran up and punched the ball of Mutants away. "Just me."

The Mutants all crashed into the fire hydrant, breaking off the side bolt. A burst of water came gushing for Empress, who was to busy looking at Static.

"Empress!" said Ray.

"Huh?"

WAM! The blast of water hit her in the face and nearly knocked her out. She stood back up dazed.

"Slobo!" shouted Ray. "What is wrong with you? You could've hurt her."

"It's water. Calm down, Dad."

Ray and Slobo glared at each other, and then he looked over at Static who was helping Empress.

"Forget this. I'm out." Slobo turned around and walked off.

"Slo…" began Impulse as he began to follow him.

"No. Let him go, Impulse. He needs to cool off."

"What's gotten into him?" asked Secret as she walked up to Ray. Ray looked behind him and looked at Empress. He knew exactly what was going on.

For the past two days, Static had been hanging out with Young Justice, getting shown around Jump City. He was enjoying himself, but still couldn't shake what he was told earlier. Slobo still hadn't returned. Impulse and Ray went out searching for him, but no luck.

Later on that night Nightwing, Ray, Impulse and Secret were all in the main room looking at the computer. Nightwing had finally finished analyzing Fluffy's DNA. And he didn't like what he saw.

"What's up, Nightwing?" asked Ray.

"The DNA of Fluffy," answered their mentor. "The reason why he—she—it turned into goo was because its DNA decomposed from a negative effect of dimensional transportation."

"Say what?" asked Impulse.

"He wasn't from this dimension. He was from another. His DNA doesn't match that of the DNA that someone is supposed to have from this dimension, which is why it had a negative effect and then just broke down on itself, turning it into goo."

"Wait a minute," said Ray as he looked at Nightwing. "You mean that…"

"Yeah. Same thing for Static. Because he came from the comic book which was a bit closer to our dimension, he has a longer time than Fluffy did, but I still don't know when it will happen. Unless we can find a way to get him back into his world, then…"

The conversation went on, and unknown to them, Static was standing right outside listening to the conversation. He looked at his hands and couldn't believe it.

"But we can't tell him yet," Nightwing. "We don't want him to get scared."

Just then, Empress walked up behind Static and surprised him, not hearing the conversation.

"How ya doing, buddy?" she asked, smiling. Static looked at her, and then back at himself. He couldn't go on with this.

"I'm sorry," he then turned around and ran out the front door past the rest of Young Justice.

"What's going on?" asked Secret. "Wait—do you think he heard us?"

"Let's go get him," said Ray.

"What's going on?" Empress was confused. "I want to know what's going on now!"

Nightwing looked at her with a grim stare. He didn't know how to break the news to her.

"This was a pretty interesting day," Static said as he rode on his trash can lid high in the dark sky over Jump City. "First, I get blasted from Dakota all the way to some other dimension that's crawling with weirdoes; I got a girl (as hot as she is) that won't leave me alone; a guy that hates my guts and I didn't even do anything; and now I'm finding out that my clock's ticking. Yep, this is one vacation I gotta tell the guys back at home."

Static flew over to a skyscraper and sat down. "I don't think I've ever been this homesick before."

He thought about the fun times he had while with Young Justice; from Slobo snapping at him and running away, to Empress smothering him and taking him out to malls. In fact, he was starting to miss her already, and he was just complaining about her.

"I wonder how much time I got left. Oh, man. Why do these things always happen to me? I don't ask for these things. They just follow me. I'm like a freakin' magnet to these things."

As he sat on the rooftop, he gazed at the stars and thought about how things were going for him now. Just then, he heard the sounds of flapping wings. He looked over to the edge of the rooftop and saw a group of large winged creatures flap to the top of the building and spread out, revealing a tall dark man hiding in them. He wore a purple leather jacket and had long red hair. His face was somewhat hidden under his hair, but it was still noticeable.

"Yep, a supercharged magnet," said Static as he stood up and held his guards.

"Don't worry, Static," said the man. "Don't be afraid of me. I'm not going to bite."

"This coming from a guy who looks like he's a stunt double for Dracula. Alright then, whaddya want?"

"My name's Dante. I'm here to help. I know what you're going through, Static. Nothing ever goes right for you; for me. We've both become outcasts to society, and who knows when our time will come. No one knows. Only time will tell. But I can help you."

Static stood there, calming down, staring into Dante's eyes. He was beginning to understand what he was saying.

"You're confused right now; lost. But if you join me—help me—then we can make things better." Dante held out his gray skinned hand and grinned. He looked at Static.

"Why is this happening to me? I didn't ask for this. But maybe I did when I signed up for this superhero gig. This should really be in the fine print."

"All will eventually be explained, Static. I can make things easier on your life…or what's left of it…"

Static's eyes widened, and then he closed, entering his deep state of thought. And then, he extended his hand out to Dante.

"Good choice," he responded as he shook his hand. "Very good." Just then, a swarm of bat creatures flocked around the two, and when the bats split up and flew off, Dante and Static were no longer standing there.

"Nobody likes me, huh?" said Slobo as he walked down the dark streets. He kicked anything that lay in his path, including small puppies. He didn't care. He was angry right now. "Forget them. I don't need anyone of them. I mean, I try to help—really I do—but it's just not good enough for her. Nothing's good enough for little Miss Empress. I don't treat her any different than she does me, but still she jumps down my freakin' throat. Why? I have no idea! And thanks to her and her new boyfriend, I've been reduced to talking to myself, but I'll worry about that later."

He continued walking down the streets aimlessly, ignoring cars that were coming for him. He didn't care. Right now, he hated everyone and everything.

SMASH! ZZZZZZAAAPP!

Slobo froze in his place and stared up at the Wayne Enterprises building that towered over him. He saw one of the top windows break and a body come flying out. The person flew on a trash can lid that radiated with an electric force…

"Static," Slobo said. "This just made my day."

Static came zooming down the side of the building and landed on the ground. He looked over at Slobo who stared him dead in the eyes.

"….I don't have time for this crud, Slobo," said Static as he rose back into the air, ready to take off.

"Stay," said Slobo. "Stay."

Static scolded Slobo yet again, and then lowered himself back to the ground.

"We don't have to do this, Slobo. Just let me get outta here and get back to work…"

"What're you up to?"

Static quickly held up what he held in his coat pocket, which were blueprints for Wayne Enterprises' solar powered light engine. He then put it back inside.

"I'm guessing it's for a new car, huh?" asked Slobo.

"I know what you want, Slobo," Static said as he charged up his fists with his electrical powers. "But what I don't know is why?"

"I WAS looking for some puppies to kick around, but I guess you'll have to do. Too bad your little girlfriend isn't here to see this."

"Girl—Empress? You—you—oh. I see. Grey with envy."

"Dunno what your talking about," said Slobo as he charged for his opponent. He ran for Static as if he were a mad bull, but missed as his target leaped out of the way.

"You know what I'm talkin' about. You like her."

"SHUT UP!" Slobo swung again in fury, but missed. Static was moving to quickly. "STOP MOVING!"

"Don't let him stop you, Static," said Dante over Static's ear piece. "Bring me those blueprints. Young Justice cannot get in our way."

"Dante?" asked Slobo, as he stopped for a moment.

"HRAH!" exclaimed static as he electrocuted Slobo to his knees.

"Oh—oh please, Fuse Box! I can take a hit harder than that!"

"Static! Leave him! You must get here now! Forget him!"

"I'm—I'm sorry, Dante. But this needs to be settled. Come on, Slobo. Get up you--"

WAM! Slobo shot off the ground and slammed his fists hard into Static's chest and would not stop. He knocked him off his trash can lid and continued ramming his bones as hard as he could.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"AAAAHHHHH!" Static released a powerful surge of energy from his body that lit up the streets of the city, so much that it gave off a signal to the rest of Young Justice who were searching for their comrades. They were now on the move to that area.

Slobo went flying back into a car, and Static came flying for him, but the muscle bound teen leaped out of the way. He came back for Static with a full frontal assault, but to his dismay, he missed. Now the two backed away from each other and took deep breaths.

"Don't tell me you're done, Static."

"I don't tell—I show!" Static fired another blast towards Slobo, but the latter merely tilted his head over, completely dodging the attack.

"My turn…"

"SLOBO!" called someone from behind. It turned out to be Empress and the rest of young Justice. "Slobo! Static! What's going on?"

"Stay back, Empress," Slobo ordered. "This is between me and your thieving boyfriend!"

"Thieving?" asked Ray. "What's going on here? Static?"

"Don't start jumping down my throat, Ray," Static shot back. "You and your little club don't even deserve to ask what's goin on with me, when you guys are keeping stuff from me."

"What's he yaking about?" asked Slobo, confused.

"You guys were just gonna let me croak! But that's fine with me. I'm getting the help I deserve right now! Dante's helping me, something you chumps couldn't do."

"Dante!?" exclaimed Empress.

"Dante's not the guy you want to be messing with, Static," said Ray. "Please, Static, let us help you."

"NO! I just want you guys to leave me alone. Right now I'm gonna finish off Slobo here and I'm off. Please, I'm begging you to stay away!"

"Not gonna happen."

"No, Ray," said Slobo. "Let us finish up here. And then you can take to jail what's left of him."

"But there won't be ANYTHING left of him!" said Empress, as tears began to run down her cheeks.

"…Empress?" called Slobo and static, as they slowly calmed down. They stared at the sobbing Empress as she fell to her knees.

"Why are you guys fighting?" she asked. "Please, Slobo. LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

"I don't believe it! He's freakin' stealin' and I'm STILL the bad guy! Nothing I do is good enough for you, huh Empress?"

"…Slobo? Wha…?" She was truly confused, but then it slowly was coming together; the lashing out at Static; the rescue that he preformed in their fight with Rift. Everything was falling together. She then turned her attention to Static. "Static? What's goin…"

"I'm sorry, Empress," he said as he slowly walked over to her. "I'm so sorry. I—I'm just so confused with what's going on with everything. Things are hard in my life as it is, and now things have gotten even complicated. I always knew this would last forever, but not this soon. To be honest, I wanted to leave a long time, if I had the chance. But then I was getting used to everything—I was starting to like you. But—I'm just so lost right now. Dante is the only one that can help me."

"Don't believe him! Please don't Static. Stay here with us. Nightwing'll find a cure for you. I just know it…"

"Wait," said Slobo. "You mean—Static?"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the super charged hero as he fell to his knees. He looked at his hands and noticed how they slowly began to fade off, and then feel as if they were liquefying. It was happening. "Oh no! Not yet! DANTE!"

"Dante can't help you, Static," said Ray, grimly. "I'm sorry, but Dante can't help you."

Static looked at Ray, and then Empress and Slobo. Everything was slowly beginning to distort. It was happening. It was happening.

"Dante," Static said. He understood now. He looked over at Slobo who rushed over to him.

"What was going on with me!" said Slobo. "I'm—sorry…"

"Rematch, Slobo. A rematch when I get back—if I get back." Static cracked a weak smile and then zoomed off into the air, high above Jump City. He stretched out his arms and released all of his electrical energy. He felt his body weakening and weakening more and more.

Empress rushed over to Empress and hugged him as hard as she could, and Slobo stood there, shocked and lost.

Then, the whole team stared into the sky as they saw Static's body disappear into beautiful sparks in the sky as if it were Independence Day. Though the occasion was not a beautiful one.

"Off with a bang, baby," said Impulse as he stared at the lights. "Off with a bang."

"We'll miss you, Static," said Ray. "When you come back, we'll be waiting."

Slobo and Empress stared off into the sky together, but then realized that they were hugging each other and quickly let go.

Meanwhile, the dropped blueprints for the engine floated from the sky, and were caught by a winged bat like creature….