Alpha Male

- - - September 23rd - - -

"Hello Miss Turner! A wonderful morning to you, too! I was wondering if you could pass me on to Mr Carr, please, if he's in already? He is? Perfect thank you, I'll hold."

Mary stepped further away from the cave's entrance, hoping that the low rumbling noise from within was not audible on the line. Shortly after the team and Captain Marvel had left with the bioship, J'onn and the dark-skinned Green Lantern called John had started restoring the cave. Apparently, they were both early risers. Captain Atom and the Flash would join the reconstruction efforts later.

"Mister Carr? Good morning! This is Janet Kent, Conner's mother. No, the pleasure is all mine! I'm calling about that history project your class is preparing at the moment, about World War II? Yes, Conner told me all about it this morning. Now, I was just about to drive to New York for the weekend today, to visit my old aunt Helen. She's originally from Birmingham, you know? And I was thinking, maybe I could take Conner and his project partner – that's Megan Morse, right? Yes, I was wondering if I should take them with me. You see, Aunt Helen lived in England during the Blitz, and she has so many stories to tell about that time… But it would mean to take them out of school today and tomorrow, so I thought I better call to hear what you'd think about that? Yes, she's almost ninety, but fit as a fiddle. Oh no, it wouldn't inconvenience her, she loves having family over, and the house is far too large for her anyway since Uncle George passed away… Yes, I am sure it will be very educational for them! I'm so glad you understand… Of course, I will talk with Mister Morse myself, I just wanted to see first if you had any reservations… Perfect, thank you very much, Mister Carr! Farewell and have a good day, Mister Carr!"

Mary pocketed the phone and strolled back into the cave, where the men were busy clearing out the debris.

"J'onn?", she called out.

"Yes?", both men answered in unison.

"Sorry about that", she chuckled, realizing that 'I meant the green one' wouldn't clarify matters at all. "It's about Megan's school. Our idea with the history project went well with the teacher, so nobody will bother them about missing two days of school for that mission in India. They are interviewing Conner's great-aunt Helen, if anyone asks."

J'onn nodded.

'They are getting along well, aren't they?', he added mentally.

'They both seem quite happy', she replied in the same manner.

They shared a knowing smile.

- - - September 25th - - -

It was half past midnight. Robin was just about to fall into bed at the Manor when he noticed the alert on his wrist computer.

Mary had turned to stone again.

He groaned. After the android attack, two trans-continental flights and a strenuous mission of overcoming Venom-enhanced vultures, wrestling with wolves and freeing mind-controlled guerrilla gorillas, didn't they all finally deserve a break?

Not to mention the very stern lecture he'd received from Batman about how you should never compel a team mate to reveal her secret identity. He'd have to apologize to Artemis tomorrow.

First things first. Robin fumbled with his League communicator. "Hey Supe, still awake?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you check up on Mary? Her petrification alert was just triggered."

"Sure." Conner sounded just as tired as Robin felt.

At least he was closer to the scene. That's what you get for wanting to sleep in your own bed for once.

Robin put on his glove computer. The freshly repaired Zeta station at the cave was still online, he'd be able to get over there in a few seconds if the need arose.

"She's standing in the middle of the kitchen", Conner reported. "I don't know why she turned though, there's nothing to hear or see. Megan doesn't sense any intruders, and Wolf seems perfectly calm as well. Should I turn her back?"

So apparently Miss M was up just as late as Conner… He filed that information away for now.

"Is Mary making any hand signals?", he asked.

"Yeah. Left hand's fingers are spread out, with only the ring and middle finger touching. On the right hand, all fingers are curled, like claws."

"The first means she turned to protect herself. The second is none of the signs we agreed on, but…" Robin stifled a yawn. "Did anybody actually tell her that we brought a giant white wolf back to the cave with us from India?"

Conner's embarrassed silence was answer enough.

- - - September 26th - - -

It was a glorious Sunday morning. Kaldur stepped out of the cave into the golden light. Below him, the bay gleamed crystal blue, above him the cloudless sky stretched widely. The wind already held a trace of Fall, but today would still be reigned by Summer.

The idyllic view was somewhat disturbed by the butchered sheep that Mary had just dropped onto the bare ground outside the hangar doors.

Wolf was watching her intently.

Mary held the giant beast's gaze for a moment, before nodding and gesturing at the carcass on the floor.

"You may now eat."

Wolf followed her invitation.

Mary averted her eyes, wiping her hands with a towel. "You couldn't have adopted a canary or a pet bunny instead?"

Kaldur sighed. "I believe the only viable alternative would have been a Bengal tiger."

"Hah! Well, I suppose he is rather well behaved. Conner has agreed to take him through the Alaska Zeta station tomorrow morning before school, to let him hunt deer for himself. I'm sure he'd prefer venison to mutton..."

"I do apologize for the inconvenience. I heard you were not even informed?"

"Don't worry about it, that wasn't your fault."

Of course it was. He was the team's leader, the others had reconfirmed that choice in India. Which meant that of course he should have considered all possible repercussions of bringing Conner's canine friend back to the cave. He should have given the respective orders...

"Kaldur, it's fine."

She met his eyes firmly, like she had just met Wolf's. Then her gaze softened.

"You're all going to be fine."

He sighed. Clearly, Megan was not the only one who could read his thoughts.

"We do not yet function as a team", he admitted. "I have not led them well so far. We are still far from reaching real coordination."

Would he be up for that task?

"What are your plans for today?", Mary asked softly.

Captain Marvel had put Kaldur in charge of choosing the weekend's activities. His first, rather popular decision had been to let everyone have the Saturday off. After the android invasion on Wednesday and the two-day trip to India immediately afterwards, the team had well earned a rest.

They had agreed to meet here at ten this Sunday morning, two hours from now.

He still hadn't chosen his next steps.

"It will have to be some kind of team-building exercise", he answered vaguely. There were some drills he had learned at the Conservatory that might be suitable, but would certainly require adaptation to surface world conditions...

"May I make a proposal?", Mary asked.