Chapter 25: Connection
It doesn't take us long to find Aqualad. Though I wish we could've found him sooner. He was laying on the ground, dehydrated and muttering Atlantean in his sleep.
"Kaldur's been out in the desert too long. He needs water", I say.
"What about his memories?", Wally says.
"I can't restore his memories in this condition", M'gann says.
"He needs immediate rehydration", Robin states. "Call the Bioship."
"It's out of range, but you can get him there fast."
"He's too heavy, and I'm too low on fuel. Right now, I couldn't even carry her", Wally says, pointing to Artemis. She scoffs at his joke.
"Why not just levitate him back?", Artemis asks M'gann.
"I can't. I have to find Superboy. Six months ago, he didn't exist. He has no memory—just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him."
"Superboy's indestructible", Wally says. "Just ask those tanks. It's Aqualad who needs your help. Like, now."
"I still have enough juice in my ring to levitate Aqualad back to the Bioship. He won't be too heavy for my ring. And we do still need to find Superboy."
"Thank you, K—" M'gann stops as she holds her head in pain. "Superboy's in pain! I have to go find him!" She then flies off in search for Superboy.
"We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!" Robin yells to her as she flies away.
"I'm going after her", White Canary says.
"How're you gonna catch up to her?" Artemis says.
"I can help with that." I create a hoverboard construct. "You know how to ride a skateboard?"
"Yeah."
"Same rules apply for this. The more you lean in, the faster you go. You lean back, you'll slow down."
White Canary hops onto the hoverboard. She hobbles on it at first, but balances soon after. "Okay, here goes nothing." She then speeds away in M'gann's direction.
"Keep them alive!"
"Now what?" Wally asks.
"Now we get back to the Bioship. If we don't hear from them telepathically soon after, I'll go after them."
I create a gurney construct for Aqualad. Wally and Artemis lift him up onto the gurney, gently placing him. I gently levitate the gurney, having it stay in midair. "Robin, lead the way."
Robin, having the coordinates for the Bioship, leads the four of us back to it. For the next five minutes, we trek through the desert night. Robin walks in front, I follow behind him with Aqualad by my right, and Kid Flash and Artemis and in the back watching our flank.
We continue walking through the desert until Robin notices hostiles on his map. "Quick, over there." He leads us behind a giant, obscure rock just as armored cars drive through the area.
As we hide from the Bialyan forces, Aqualad lies still unconscious. He continues to mutter Atlantean in his sleep. I've picked up some languages, even alien. But I never learned how to speak Atlantean. But I do recognize one word in his sleep. Tula. Kaldur must be dreaming of being with her in Atlantis. It can't be easy, being here while she's back home.
"We can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KO'd like this", Robin says.
"It's not just him. I'm way out of juice", Kid Flash says.
"And I'm almost out of arrows", Artemis says.
"I'm using what power I have left for Aqualad. Not sure how much more I can pour out."
We all look around and find that Robin has disappeared on us. Not again. "I forgot how much I hate it when he does the whole ninja thing", Kid Flash groans.
"You and me both, KF", I say back.
"Hey, you never said why your dad would want to—", Wally crosses a line on his neck, "me." What in the world?
"I got confused by some old movie I saw the other night", Artemis says. "About a ninja girl whose ninja dad ordered her to killer her ninja boyfriend cause he was from a rival ninja clan." Romeo & Juliet: Ninjitsu Style.
"So, I'm your ninja boyfriend, huh?" Oh, for Pete's sake.
"Hey, amnesia, remember? Completely forgot how truly annoying you are."
"Oh, like you're the goddess of congeniality?"
"Seriously, guys? Now? Take it behind another rock if you're gonna keep this up."
"Yeesh. Get a room", Robin says. Thank you.
"Dude, where were you?"
"Breaking radio silence." What, why?
Right after, we hear laughter coming from a distance. Robin's laughter. The Bialyans follow to said laughter. From what I can see, they stop. Five seconds after, an explosion erupts right in front of them. Smoke billows from the epicenter of said explosion. Batarangs. Used his radio as a diversion and as bait to lure them in. Clever bird.
"That's our cure. Move!"
We all move away from the smoke, with me still levitating Aqualad along us. After about five minutes after, we reach the Bioship. The door opens as we walk closer to it. A table comes from the ship, sensing Aqualad's status.
"Robin, check the surroundings to be sure we weren't followed. Artemis, grab the medical kit. Wally, give me a hand with Kaldur." Everyone goes to their assignments, Wally taking one side of Kaldur as I take the other.
"You think he'll be okay?", Wally asks.
"I'm sure Kaldur will be good after we get water in his system." I just hope M'gann and Sara are okay right now.
The hoverboard Kyle made for me moves a lot faster than I thought it would. I'm glad it does though. Gives me more time to catch up to M'gann.
After she mind-melded our memories back together, it's all coming back together. I remember following Kyle, Robin, Wally and Kaldur into Cadmus. Meeting Kyle in Santa Prisca. Them all accepting me into the Team. My first mission. This may come off as corny, which I'm not hardly ever, but I really am grateful to be a part of this. Makes me want to do more, be more than what I have been before.
I finally reach what I'm guessing is the site we came here to investigate. There seems to be no security, no Bialyan forces keeping watch. Hopefully there aren't any inside the tent.
I step off the hoverboard. As soon as I do though, it stays as it is where it is. I guess Kyle assumed I'd need a ride back to the Bioship. Thanks, Rayner.
I put my back up against the tent. I take a peek inside the tent. I don't see M'gann anywhere. That's good, means she's in camouflage mode. I do see people in white lab coats. Scientists. That's going to make this easier. Still, I need to be ready for a fight. I take out my bo staff, breathe in and out.
I enter the tent, with my staff ready and waiting. I get a much better look of what's inside. There are five scientists in the room, two of them knocked out. M'gann's handy work. I look to the left to find Superboy confined to a platform, with a panel at its footing. Doesn't look M'gann has restored his memory just yet. Experimenting on Cadmus' 'weapon'. To the right of the tent is most certainly not of this world. It looks like a giant metal sphere in its own confinement. What is this thing, and why would scientists care about this so much?
But the strangest thing in the room would have to be the guy showing his brain. In the middle of the room, there stands a literal pale man with three red marks on each cheek, wearing a black jacket/hoodie. What sets him way apart from anyone is the fact that part of his head has his brain showing, along with a protective covering over it. It's as if his brain has been put in a jar. As Wally would probably say, a literal Chrome Dome.
"Step away from Superboy!" I yell to the scientists. But the pale man stands perfectly still. I move in closer to him. I snap my finger in front of him, and get no reaction. I look in his direction, and I see someone hiding in their surroundings. M'gann.
I look back to him. He's a telepath. They must be having some psychic fight. A battle of the minds.
Small objects start levitating in the room. Definitely a telepath. Whatever's going on between them, it's starting to affect the gravity here.
Superboy wakes up from his sleep. He looks over to M'gann, then me and the pale man. I look to him, glad to see he's awake. Partially glad. Like M'gann said before, he's running on animal impulse right now.
Out of nowhere, the sphere starts spinning at a rapid speed. It keeps going until it breaks out of its cage. The scientists dodge as it comes running their way. It crashes into the panel controlling Superboy's platform. Did that sphere just free Superboy?
Superboy lands on his feet, in front of the pale man. He jumps and punches towards him, only to be stopped by a black, psychic shield. Great, so much for attacking is body.
Superboy's hand touches M'gann in camo mode. His body stays motionless for a good minute. Must be in M'gann's head. If she weren't in peril danger, she'd be dying right now.
A Bialyan soldier comes into the tent. He aims his gun at M'gann. I rush over to him and knock the gun out of his hand with me staff. I swing it back, knocking him out in the face.
Superboy comes back to reality, showing movement. He places his hand on his head. I run over to him. "Superboy, are you okay?"
"I am now." He smiles at my question.
Two more Bialyan soldiers enter the tent. The sphere runs them down, knocking them a few feet over and out. The sphere stops, turns to us and makes a strange noise as a panel at the center of it lights up. An alien sphere just saved us. I'm okay with that.
"Um, thanks?" Superboy says.
More Bialyan soldiers come rushing into the tent. One soldier starts shooting at the sphere. Superboy and I go on the offensive. He starts smacking soldiers as they shoot him, and the bullets fly off him. I duck and weave the bullets while I knock them down with my staff and fighting moves.
Soon after the soldiers are knocked out by us, gravity around M'gann and the psychic gets weird. Scientists, soldiers and objects are thrown into the air as a whirlwind picks up around them. Superboy grabs a hold of the ground, while I dig my staff into the ground and hold onto it. The whirlwind even picks up the sphere.
Before we can even decide what to do, Superboy jumps into the whirlwind. What is he doing?
"Superboy!"
Within seconds of him entering the psychic ring, I notice someone being dragged along with the wind. Someone pale. M'gann won!
Right after, the whirlwind begins to grow bigger in size. That would be my cue to run.
I take my staff out of the ground and run outside the tent as fast as I can. I climb up a sand dune, at least a good mile away from the winds. I turn around to see the winds grow ten times, blowing the tent and everything around it apart. The winds keep going for a few more seconds until it implodes. Once that happens, items start dispersing to the ground. I look to the sky to see the psychic thrown a good three miles away from the site. Hopefully he gets a huge headache when he lands.
I look below to see at the center of all this mess is M'gann and Superboy. He holds her in his arms, being so gentle with him. M'gann and Superboy, together. Makes me want to get a handkerchief to dry my eyes.
Their faces move closer to each other, but they stop. Interrupting such a beautiful moment in their young lives is the alien sphere, rolling up to them. So much for their first kiss.
With the moment over, I decide to slide on down to join them. I look around and see that the hoverboard is not here. Must have gotten blown away by the giant tornado. It's not like I expected it to make it out. I then notice something racing towards me in the distance. Something green. No way.
The hoverboard slows down as it gets closer to me. It stops right at my feet. It must've flown away out of harm's away. I might have to keep this, if Kyle can manage it.
The sphere lights up and, I'm guessing, 'speaks'. Too bad Kyle isn't here to translate, if he could.
"Can I keep it?" Superboy asks.
"You wanna keep this thing as a pet? You can't be serious? We don't even know what—" I'm interrupted as the sphere spins sand and dirt my way. "You did not just do that!" It talks and lights up to me.
"I don't see any problem with keeping him", M'gann says.
I place my hand on my forehead, trying to comfort my now growing headache. "We'll still bring it back to the Cave for the League to examine it, figure out where it's from. As for keeping it, I think you'll have to take that up with Batman. Now, can we please go home?"
Both M'gann and Superboy nod in agreement. M'gann levitates, holding Superboy while she does so, and head towards the Bioship. I hop onto my hoverboard. Before I start going, the sphere nudges me, possibly teasing me.
"What? You think you can go faster than me?"
It lights up again, spinning rapidly.
"Oh, bring it on, Wheelie." I'm arguing with an alien sphere. This is my life now.
We speed off into the desert night, racing towards the Bioship. It may be weird, but we may have found a new friend tonight.
"The Martian girl escaped with both the Sphere and the Superboy", Psimon says.
"That hardly matters. What matters is the successful test of our new partner's delivery system. More tech will come, tech that will put the Sphere, and perhaps even the Superboy, to shame."