MOUNT JUSTICE
SEPTEMBER 22ND 2010 19:11 EST
Honeybee was this close to having a conniption. First, she starts school after being homeschooled for like three years, which is enough to throw any normal, well-adjusted kid. But she was not a normal kid. Instead, in addition she gets attacked by killer robots in what is supposed to be their safe haven as superheroes. How much worse could this day get?
"Did you know Red Tornado had siblings?" Artemis asked the two of them as they ran. Robin shook his head and led them down the hallway the bookcase revealed to them.
"No," Robin said. They came to a fork in the hallway, and Robin checked his glove again to see which way they needed to go. "We need to go left."
Honeybee went to turn, but Artemis grabbed her and Robin's hands, pulling them back towards her.
"Hold on," Artemis said. "Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down two of them?"
"They do seem pretty user unfriendly," Robin said, and Honeybee chuckled despite herself. Artemis narrowed her eyes and released her hold on their hands.
"Don't joke," Artemis said. "They –"
"Attention, Robin." The robotic voice of the android's boomed through the Cave. "Attention, Honeybee. Attention, Artemis." All three of them shared a worried looks. "You have ten minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished."
Honeybee released her held breath. Her friends were still alive, for now. It lifted a weight to now that even if they were captured, they still were here, in the Cave at least. Honeybee and the others took off, figuring some distance would do some good until they figured out a plan.
"Nine minutes, forty-five seconds," the android intoned to them.
"Do we have a plan?" Honeybee asked. Robin looked over his shoulder and shook his head.
"Work-in-progress," Robin said. "Let's get to the hangar and figure out what to do from there."
"Eight minutes."
"We should be able to get to the hangar from here," Robin said. Honeybee heard the rushing of something from far away and the thin, clear smell of water wafting her way. Honeybee looked over her shoulder to see water headed down the hallway towards them. "Or not."
"Can you please stop saying that?" Artemis said, narrowing her eyes.
The water swept them up and reached the top of the hallway, completely drenching them into the pool of water. Honeybee held her breath and reached for her lasso, which had fallen off of her belt in the chaos of water. Honeybee pulled a rebreather out of her belt and put it on, taking a big gulp of hair before water could fill her lungs. Robin did likewise, covering his mouth with the rebreather.
Both made their way to Artemis, who was caught off guard and loosing her arrows quickly as she floated. Honeybee grabbed her arms and pulled her up straight, and Robin took a big gulp of air before putting the rebreather on Artemis's face. Artemis gave a big gasp of air and opened her eyes wide.
Honeybee widened her eyes as she saw the male android headed their way and gasped just as the android took hold of Artemis's ankle. He pulled Artemis back, yanking her out of Honeybee's hands. Honeybee and Robin swan after her, and Artemis flipped around and tried to kick herself out of his grasp. Honeybee frowned and swam forward, Robin at her heels. Robin grabbed an arrow out of the floating water and shoved it at the android's eyes, surprising him and he let go of Artemis's foot.
Robin sent a grapple upwards to guide them, littering birdarangs after them to explode and slow down the enemy. Honeybee grabbed Artemis's hand and they swam forward until they reached the hanger and could see light peeking through. All three swam up to the top, and Honeybee let out a huge gasp of breath, discarding the rebreather back in her suit. The air felt heavenly in her lungs, the fire in her lungs finally ending.
"Look out!" Kid Flash yelled, and the three of them dodged back under the water to avoid being hit with another fire ball. The three of them came back for air, and Honeybee noticed Superboy and Kid Flash encased in some kind of metal trappings, while Aqualad and Miss Martian sat trapped in a cage made of fire.
Honeybee and the others dodged a fireball just in time, sinking back beneath the water. This time they came back up a few feet away from where Kid Flash and Superboy was being held.
"Supe, KF, you alright?" Honeybee asked.
"Forget us," Superboy said harshly. "Help M'gann!"
They looked up at the cage on the landing above them. Miss Martian was unconscious in the cage, Aqualad holding tightly onto her while he sweated merciless.
"Aqualad, is she –" Artemis cut herself off.
"No," Aqualad called down to them. "She is unconscious. I fear she…..we can not survive this much longer."
Honeybee's fear spiked and she let it shoot through her body as they dodged another fireball. Honeybee looked at where the steps to the hangar landing were under the water. The three of them swiftly made their way towards it, and began to run up it until they were safely out of the water. This attempt for a break unfortunately left them unexposed, and the two red androids cornered them.
Artemis faced the fire android at the top of the stairs, notching an arrow.
"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis said.
"Distract her, now," Robin commanded. Honeybee turned to face the water android at the bottom of the stairs, lining up next to Robin. Both let loose some of their birdarangs and stingers respectively, but it was no use, as they simply ricocheted off of their exoskeleton. One of the birdarangs bounced off their chest and almost hit Kid Flash in the head.
"Whoa!" he called up, offended.
The android called up two columns of water, and the two of them backed up so they were back-to-back with Artemis. Honeybee took a deep breath, catching onto their plan. The three of them jumped out of the way as the two robots sent fire and water at each other, creating a spray of steam, and the three of them landed back in the water.
They made their way down to an air vent, and they push themselves in the moment that Robin yanked off the vent cover. They swam forward until the water finally ran out once they reached the vertical pipes, and they deposited themselves into a dry vent, breathing heavy and sopping wet.
"Six minutes."
"What do we do now?" Artemis said. Robin heaved a great breath and leaned back against the vent shaft, while Honeybee wiped at her hair to get the strands out of her face.
"We save them," Robin said, simply but angrily, "that's how it works."
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots already took out our four-superpowered friends," Artemis said. Artemis seemed far more distraught than the other two, and Honeybee supposed that was warranted. Honeybee herself was barely holding it together.
"You seem distraught," Robin said.
"Distraught?" Artemis screeched. "M'gann is dying. We have no powers and I'm down to my last arrow. Of course, I'm distraught!"
"Well get traught or get dead!" Robin burst out. Honeybee sighed and leaned back against the vent.
"Robin," Honeybee said softly. Robin looked up at Honeybee, still a little upset, but then he sighed and looked away. He began to crawl away from them, and Honeybee was the first to follow, Artemis after her.
"How can you two be so calm?" Artemis asked form behind them.
"Practice," Robin said. "I've been doing this since I was nine, and Honeybee since she was eleven."
"What good is that now?" Artemis demanded. "What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?"
Honeybee stopped and Robin shared a look with her over his shoulder.
"Robin, they're machines," Honeybee started.
"Which means we can take them out with an electromagnetic pulse!" Robin said. "It'll shut down any device in the area!"
"Well, I hope one of you as an EMP transmitter in your utility belt, because I know I don't have one in my quiver!" Artemis said. Robin smiled slyly and brought a hand to his ear.
"Fresh out," he said. "But I'm betting we make one." He smiled and began talking in his ear. "What'cha say KF? Doable?"
Honeybee figured that Kid Flash must be able to hear Robin through the birdarang that got launched by his ear. A birdarang, and batarang, for that matter could do a whole load of things. All her stingers could do were –
"Wait! We might not need to!" Honeybee said and pulled stingers out of her utility belt. "These let out low EMP pulses to shut down any technology it hits. If we manage to charge them –"
"We could use them to shut down the robots," Robin said.
"Couldn't have brought that up earlier?" Artemis said. Honeybee looked over her shoulder icily.
"I was more concerned with not dying," Honeybee said, but there was no real bite to her voice. She knew this was just the stress getting to them. Honeybee pulled out her stingers and laid them on the floor of the vent shaft they found themselves in.
"All you'll need to do it connect it to the Cave's main generator and switch the stingers to sending out a connected energy vector at 10 to the 12th power wattage," Kid Flash said loud enough through the birdarang to be heard by Honeybee.
Honeybee slid open the stingers down the middle and looked at the connected wires inside. She took one that was in the center and disconnected, connecting it to another, smaller wire, before sliding it back shut. She handed some to Robin and a few to Artemis but kept most for herself. She would need them again if this didn't work out. She only had a few left, after all.
"So where is the Cave's main generator?" Artemis asked. Robin sighed and pulled up the Cave's blueprints again.
"You're not gonna like it," Robin said, and it held it out fro the two to see. Honeybee cringed when she saw it was located in the main hangar, right where all the androids were holding court.
"Four minutes."
The three started towards where the vent for the main hangar was located and stopped at a vent panel that lead into the hallway just outside of it. They slid out of the vent and landed quietly on the floor. They wordlessly moved to the other side of the hallway and peeked out over the scene in front of them. Superboy and Kid Flash seemed to be mid-mocking the robots as a distraction for them, which should make their mission just the slightest bit easier.
"Hey, Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?" Kid Flash snarked.
"Yeah," Superboy added, catching on quickly. "Worst death trap ever! We can escape anytime we want!"
"Yeah, I can vibrate my molecules through this faster than your binary brains can count to two!" Kid Flash said.
Honeybee tied her lasso around a jutted-out piece of stone and swung it so that it connected onto the platform the generator sat on.
"Cover us," Robin told Artemis, who knocked her final arrow and nodded. Robin and Honeybee slid down the lasso to reach the platform and rolled onto it quietly. Robin opened the main hatch and Honeybee put in two stingers. Nothing happened and Robin frowned and began to search through his utility belt.
"We need a conductor," Robin said, "Like a piece of metal or –"
"Robin, Honeybee, look out!"
Honeybee looked up to see a wave of water headed their way, and she gasped instinctively as the water overtook them. She tried to find a way to swim out, but found no way out, the current far too strong. She looked to her side to see Robin floating limply in the water, his mouth opened. Her eyes widened and she tried to reach out to him.
Before she knew what was happening, the two of them were being lifted up by a stream of water. Honeybee tried to break out of it, but it was no use as she was brought before the robots. Robin remained in his water column, while Honeybee's was dropped and she fell to her knees, coughing up water.
The female-coded robot brought a hand down onto Honeybee's forearm, and she felt a burning sensation that grew worser as each second passed. She screamed and tried to yank herself free, but it was off no use. Their grip was just too strong. The second robot came up behind her and sent a swift hit to the back of her head, and she fell to the ground, the robot's grip on her finally stopping.
"Please…stop…" she whispered, and then she shut her eyes in pain, before everything went black.
My only one
My smoking gun
My eclipsed sun
This has broken me down
MOUNT JUSTICE
SEPTEMBER 22ND 2010 19:21
Honeybee groaned, trying to sit up. She saw Artemis standing over her, looking relieved. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the forms of the two robots on the ground, the lights in their eyes gone out. Honeybee winced as the pain in her arm came rushing back. She looked down at her arm and saw a thick, red leathery covering over her skin where the robot had touched her but it seemed that the wound had not gone any deeper than the first level of skin.
"Honeybee, your arm –" Artemis started, helping her to her feet.
"It'll be fine," Honeybee said, trying to ignore the searing pain. "How's Robin?"
"Feeling the aster," Robin said from behind her, and she turned to see her friend standing before her, wet but otherwise unbothered. Robin furrowed his brow and looked at her burn. "Honeybee, we need to treat that. It might get infected."
"Let's free the others first," Honeybee said. Kaldur and M'gann were already free, M'gann slowly coming too next to him. Superboy and Kid Flash remained encased in their metal prisons, arms and legs still trapped.
Robin narrowed his eyes and took a step forward, opening his mouth to say something.
"Yes, it hurts," Honeybee said. "But we have to help the others first."
Robin looked ready to fight her more on it but decided to let it go for the moment. The freed Team members, save Honeybee (who's arm prevented her mobility), dragged the robots to the bottom floor of the hangar, in front of the encased Sphere. Sphere had been turned off in the pulse, so they sat in the prison of stone they had been put in until they woke up and could free themselves.
While they worked, Artemis managed to catch them up to speed on what she had done to get the EMP to start working. She had tricked the robots into thinking she surrendered so they wouldn't attack her. Before she could hand over her bow, however, she used the arrow from the souvenir room to shoot at the EMP, which set it off and turned them off. Honeybee thought it was a pretty nice plan, after all, it had worked, hadn't it?
Artemis retrieved a ray gun to cut the metal of the boy's prison but couldn't turn it on from the pulse. They gathered around Kid Flash and Superboy until the pulse turned back on or they found another way to get them out.
"I figured my only shot was to surrender," Robin said. "Pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out though."
"I probably should have done that," Honeybee grumbled to herself. Then she wouldn't be saddled with a burn.
"M'gann?" Conner asked, looking at M'gann worriedly. She took his hand and gave him a sweet smile.
"I'll be alright," she said. Honeybee raised a brow but didn't say anything.
"What about you Kaldur?" Honeybee asked. "Are you okay?"
Kaldur nodded gratefully. "I will recover. Thank you for asking."
"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?!" Kid Flash said to Artemis, who was attempting to turn it on.
"It's not working, genius," Artemis said. "EMP shuts down all machines, remember?"
"All machines present at the time," a robotic voice said, and Honeybee flinched, thinking maybe another one of the robots had shown up. She looked up to see it was only Red Tornado and gave a sigh of relief. She brushed some of her still damp hair out of her eyes and smiled.
Red Tornado landed next to Wally and Conner.
"What has occurred?" Red Tornado said.
"Had a little visit from your family," Robin said, putting his hands akimbo.
"Your extremely nasty family," Artemis tacked on. Red Tornado walked past them; his head titled to the side as he went to the downed robots.
"Where were you?" Conner said.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower." Red Tornado kneeled by the robots. "When it became clear that Cave communications were down. I attempted to investigate, but your Zeta Tubes were also nonfunctional. I transported to Providence and proceeded from there."
Sphere whirred and dug himself out of the hole he had been stuck in, gliding over to Conner. He landed in front Conner, making a happy noise.
"Hey boy," Conner said, smiling softly.
The ray gun in Artemis's hand went off, sending a pink ray of electricity onto the ground below them.
"The pulse has worn off," Kid Flash and Robin said, a bit of worry in their tone.
Red Tornado turned from where he was kneeling by the robots, his eyes now glowing a vicious red, similar to that of the robots they just faced. Honeybee took a step back, and then Red Tornado called up three separate tornados, all of which spread out through out the cave.
Honeybee clutched at her throat, the pain in it stinging and scratching as she gasped for air. Red Tornado was sucking all of the air out of the room, and she saw her teammates clutch at their throats and start to fall one by one. Honeybee gasped for what felt like hours, searching for air anywhere she could. Then she fell over, and everything once again went black.
My best laid plan
Your sleight of hand
My barren land
I am ash from your fire
GOTHAM CITY
SEPTEMBER 22nd 2010 23:17 EST
Betty sighed as she opened the door to the apartment, her throat still sore and her arm throbbing. A bandage was wrapped around it and an anti-biotic cream in her a small bag Black Canary had given her, marking her as being injured, which would only upset Aunt Melody.
"Betty!" Aunt Melody said, popping up from where she was working on the couch. She frowned at the bandage and outstretched a worried hand. "What h—"
"Got burned in a training exercise," Betty said. The lie felt like fire in her throat (or maybe that was just the normal pain). But Batman and the other Leaguers had been very specific. This Team adventure was to be kept under wraps. Red Tornado was apart of the League, and a member of the League going rogue was something that no one could know. Red Tornado had left with his "siblings" following his abrupt face-heel turn and trying to kill members of the Team, and they were lucky that they left after they passed out and didn't stay to finish the job. "I'll be fine."
Aunt Melody furrowed her brow, and Betty held up the bag.
"League gave me some cream to help," Betty said. "Should be gone in a few days."
Betty put the bag on the table and went to move to the kitchen to get something eat. In all the chaos of the night, Betty hadn't eaten since lunch.
"We're supposed to report to the Cave at 0600 hours tomorrow," Betty said. Betty went to pass Aunt Melody but was stopped by Aunt Melody putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Uh…what about school?" Aunt Melody said. "It's only the second day. You can't really expect me to let you go."
Betty raised a brow.
"I don't expect you to let me do this," Betty said. "I'm a costumed hero. This is part of the deal. I signed up for it."
Aunt Melody narrowed her eyes.
"I didn't." Aunt Melody crossed her arms, and Betty felt like she had fallen into a parallel universe. Since had Aunt Melody ever had a problem with Betty doing Honeybee stuff?
"Look, it's not a big deal," Betty said, slipping past her and going to a bag of pretzels on the counter. "I'll just say I had a doctor's appointment – those absences are excused." Aunt Melody shook her head and brought a hand to her temple.
"It's not about that Elizabeth," Aunt Melody said. "It's about the fact that this is your education. You can't miss to go galivanting around in a bee costume."
Betty narrowed her own eyes and took a dangerous step forward.
"I'm not 'galivanting'," Betty said. "I'm saving people. I'm doing good work. And that's more important than sitting through a lecture on The Great Gatsby."
Aunt Melody sighed dramatically and leaned against the side of the counter.
"You're fourteen, Betty," Aunt Melody said. "You shouldn't be having this much responsibility. I'm not sure it's healthy. I'm not sure you should be doing this alone."
Betty was rooted to her spot, and she dropped the bag of pretzels back onto the counter with a large plop. After everything that had happened today, now this too.
"Are you taking Honeybee away from me?" Betty asked. She chuckled under her breath. "Don't make a threat you can't keep. I'll find a way."
Honeybee was Betty, and Betty was Honeybee. Aunt Melody could take that away from her. Betty was not some kid in a costume. Betty had been trained, she was apart of an elite team of the League's protégés, she had worked side-by-side with the Batman. Aunt Melody could not take Honeybee away from her by simply grounding her or hiding her costume.
"Do you really think your Mom would want you doing this by yourself?" Aunt Melody asked. Betty rolled her eyes.
"My mom trained me to do this," Betty said. "My mom would be proud of me."
That she knew. Her mom had made her into this, made her into a hero. Molded her from plucky kid that just wanted tag along into a hero that could keep up with the best of the sidekicks. Her mom would be proud she picked herself back up after Mom died. That she put the mantle back on, and that she decided to help Gotham from the inside out.
"I'm not alone, anyway." Betty crossed her arms. "I've got Conner and Robin and all the others."
Aunt Melody shook her head. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
"Whatever." Betty turned to go to her room, ready for this fight to be over. Her hunger could wait if it meant this conversation could be put to rest. "I'm going tomorrow, and you can't stop me."
"You're injured!" Aunt Melody said.
"It's just a first-degree burn!" Betty said, turning around. "I've had worse! You can't stop me, Aunt Melody! I made my choice a long time ago!"
Aunt Melody grabbed her by the shoulders, her stare and frown intense enough to finally make Betty shut up.
"I don't want you to stop," Aunt Melody said. "I want you to think about your future, Betty. How long can you keep putting Honeybee first? How long until you realize the choices you make now affect who you are for the rest of your life?"
Betty took in a gasp of breath. Betty knew the future existed. She knew it was coming, but for so long she couldn't think of it. The future seemed so big and scary without her mom there to guide her. It still did. To think of it scared her half to death; she couldn't fathom it. It seemed abstract, not something in her power to do anything about.
"Maybe I want Honeybee to be my future," Betty said slowly after a moment. Aunt Melody sighed and let go of her.
"I hope one day you realize what a bad idea that is," Aunt Melody said, and then she disappeared into her room. Betty wanted to call after her, but she was too…. too…. too angry.
How dare Aunt Melody judge her? How dare Aunt Melody assume that Betty didn't care about the future? Betty was not eleven years old anymore. She knew the stakes of her life, that being Honeybee would hurt Betty Bryons in more way than one. Betty was no fool.
All Betty knew about her future was that Honeybee was going to be apart of it. It was part of her DNA, the same way her hair was black, and her eyes were brown. To rip away Honeybee from her life was more painful than the burn on her arm. Being Honeybee was…was her. It defined her. More than perhaps anything else.
Missing one day of school was not going to be her undoing, no matter what Aunt Melody said. Maybe it wasn't ideal that it was the second day, but this was outside of her hands. Batman had plainly said the whole Team was to be there. This wasn't up to her.
What was Aunt Melody's problem anyway, Betty thought to herself as she turned on her heel to go to her room. Aunt Melody had never had a problem with her missing schoolwork when she was her aunt. She must have known Betty had lived a solitary life back with Mom. Why was it a big deal now?
Betty went to her dresser to change and decided that Aunt Melody didn't know what the hell she was talking about. Betty knew what she was doing. Betty understood the risks. Betty understood that this may hurt her, not just physically but socially. And she was willing to take the risk.
Stood on the cliffside screaming, "Give me a reason"
Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in
Don't want no other shade of blue but you
No other sadness in the world would do
Chapter Bible Verse:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1
Whoo, this chapter is shorter than most, but I really felt like this was a good place to leave off. I hope y'all enjoy. Let me know if you did! Reviews are much appreciated, and they help me know what's working and what's not! I hope all y'all are having a blessed day!
Review Replies:
MsRosePetal: Secret identities! Betty is not nearly as perceptive as Dick, so she didn't notice at first, but as time wears on we'll see some motion on that front. And Babs! Babs will be popping up more now that Honeybee has met her, and Batgirl and Honeybee shenanigans aren't far off! Batgirl is an easy favorite and I can't wait for her to come around. And Betty and Artemis being in separate grades won't come in contact with each other enough I think to warrant finding out Betty's identity. Otherwise I think Artemis would have figured out Dick in canon proper as well. And them being in the same school will most certainly lead to some interesting plots in the back half of Season 1. Thank you so much for leaving a review! Have a blessed day!
Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know! Have a blessed day!