Third Person POV
M'gann groaned, trying her best to sort out her thoughts, mainly to alleviate the throbbing pain in her head After a moment she finally regained rational thought, and realized she had no idea where she was.
She quickly bolted up, off of what she recognized as desert sand. At first, she wondered if she had fallen asleep again when taking some alone time, but that idea was dashed when she realized that this sand was not native to her home world.
She observed her surroundings, thinking to herself in the Martian language. 'Where am I? Why am I in this form… and this looks like Uncle J'onn's outfit! Could I be…'
She smacked herself in the forehead, "Hello Megan! I'm on earth! But how did I get here? And why does my head hurt so much?"
She had started walking through the sand dunes toward … well she wasn't sure yet, but she soon felt her foot slip, leading to a short tumble down the dune. As soon as she stopped rolling, she mentally chided herself, for forgetting that she could levitate.
She sighed, "Could this be… a dream? "
Boom
She yelped as something crashed into the sand next to her. The sand cleared to reveal aa teenage human male, or at least it looked human. He was hunched over with a strange look in his eye.
As she eyed him, she noticed a red S symbol on his black shirt. "I've seen that symbol… are you… Superman?"
As if to answer, he ripped the symbol off of his shirt and yelled at the top of his lungs before pouncing on her. she quickly dodged, flying out of his path before he could crash down where she once was.
She felt her heart beating rapidly as she watched him turn towards her again. He was fast. Too fast for any humans. He must be something else, though whether he was Kryptonian… he didn't seem to take being called one every well.
As she was thinking, he pounced again. Too caught up in her thoughts to notice, she realized he was going to hit her. she clenched up, gritting her teeth as she prepared for impact. She may be young, but she was still a Martian, she could take a great deal of punishment.
However, the impact never came. Instead she heard a strange thumping noise that seemed reverberate over the desert in every direction. She looked up to see the feral boy desperately on some kind of glass…wall. Black glass. Or was it… shadows?
She then noticed a beam extending from the wall and meeting the hand of a strange pale girl in a dark cloak, and a rather tight-fitting outfit underneath, not that M'gann could talk.
She snapped out of her thoughts with a blush and looked at the girl who was gritting her teeth has the boy banged on the shadow wall. She seemed to be straining to keep it up, until finally he seemed to lose interest and jump away.
M'gann took a moment to catch her breath before looking at the new girl "T-Thank you."
The dark cloaked girl nodded to her after regaining her breath, "Don't mention it… any idea who that was?"
M'gann frowned as she looked to where the boy went, "I… thought it was superman. Though now that I think about it he seemed a lot older on tv… uh… who are you?" The girl raised an eyebrow at her forwardness, making M'gann blush, "Sorry! Uh that was rude. My name is M'gann, I should have started with that…"
The girl hummed thoughtfully "It's fine. My name's Raven. You're... from Mars, right?"
M'gann nodded quickly, "I am… though I can't remember how I got here."
Raven studied her, "Do you remember what the date is? In earth time?"
M'gann had to think about it for a moment before nodding, "It would be March, right?"
Raven sighed, "So it happened to you too huh? That's the last thing I remember too, but in reality, it's September."
M'gann's eyes widened before they narrowed in confusion, "But how do you know? Do you have watch or something?"
Raven shrugged, "I know a basic time telling spell. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to learning a location spell, so I can't help you there."
M'gann barely paid attention to that last part, she was already in awe, "So that was magic back there? I wasn't sure but… that's amazing! It must have been incredibly difficult to learn such..." Raven gave her a pointed look "Sorry, I just... I've always admired the masters of the mystic arts on Mars, and I've heard amazing things about the magic users on earth and…. I'm rambling aren't I?"
Raven simply nodded, "Yeah but it's okay. I think we should probably try and find something to explain why we're here right?'
M'gann nodded determinedly, "Right! Uh… which way..."
Raven looked around before pointing, "Let's try north for now." Can you fly?"
M'gann lifted into the air to answer, and the pair were soon flying above the desert, looking for any sign of why they were there.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the desert
Wally was having a weird day.
I mean waking up in an abandoned house, in the middle of a desert, with an unconscious girl with what looked like a green Arrow fixation would be considered weird for anybody. But even then, it got weirder. The colors of his suit were changed from yellows and reds to grays and blacks. He didn't remember even considering such a costume change.
Nevertheless, he wasn't alone, he didn't have time to freak out. That being said, he also couldn't help but speak his mind when waking her up.
"Hey beautiful, wake up." He generally nudged her arm, causing her to groan unhappily, before slowly opening her eyes open.
He smiled down at her, "Hey."
Her eyes widened, and she crawled backwards three feet until her back hit the wall. "W-who are you?! Where am I!"
Wally held up his hands to calm her down, "Woah there it's okay. Unfortunately, I don't really know where we are, I'm foggy on that as well, but as for me," he struck a pose, "I'm Kid Flash!"
The girl simply looked at him, not at all impressed, "I've seen the news, Kid Flash doesn't wear black."
He faltered for a moment before chuckling nervously, "Yeah I'm not sure abo8t that myself… what about you? judging by your outfit you're what… an up and comer?"
Artemis looked confused, "And up and comer…" she looked down, before growing enraged, "Who put me in this!"
Wally's instincts screamed not to get anywhere near that, but for some reason his mouth didn't agree, "No idea, cross my heart, but if it makes you feel better, you definitely make it work."
As soon as it was out of his mouth he was reeling with shock. Had he really just said that? He was about to apologize to the shocked blonde, when her look of surprise slowly turned into a sly smirk as she stood up, taking another look at her outfit "Well, I guess I can't argue with that."
She looked at the now shocked wally who was wondering if he was dreaming, as that would honestly make more sense. Sure, he flirted a lot during hero work, but the most he's ever gotten was a shy giggle from the occasional damsel. I mean calling himself 'Kid Flash" wasn't exactly helping his case. The archer rolled her eyes, and made her way to the door, "Wake up Speedy! We should probably find out what's going on."
He shook himself back to the present with a slight pout, ready to correct her, as it always annoyed him when he was called that, when a far-off noise got his attention. It was deep, but also whistling? The girl seemed to hear it to and was also confused. Luckily Wally had a faster thought process with his powers, so he realized what was happening before it was too late.
He called out a quick apology before activating his superspeed and scooping her up in his arms. He managed to get them to a safe distance outside the house, right as it exploded."
He as looking at the scene in bewilderment when he heard the girl in his arms say, "Wow… thanks but can you put me down now?"
He yelped a bit when he realized he was still holding her and quickly put her down. not noticing the smirk, she had at the sound he made. "Uh yeah… sorry."
She shook her head in amusement before looking around, "Why are we in a desert?"
Wally gulped, "Uh, I think we should worry more about those guys?"
She turned to see who he was referring too and went pale. Military uniforms, assault rifles, a tank?! She had been toying with the idea that this was another one of dad's "tests", but she didn't think even he could set something like this up.
A second later they were spotted, and they had to hide behind a couple of boulders to avoid gunfire. Grimacing, Artemis too a few shots with her bow, taking out several men at a time, with well-placed trick arrows, but Wally was more focused on the tank that was slowly turning towards him.
He sighed and turned to the girl, "Sorry again!"
The next thing she knew they were away from the cover, with her in the speedster's arms yet again. She gave him a slightly annoyed look, "How many times are you going to sweep me off my feet without permission?"
He simply blushed, not answering as the tank fired a second later on their previous position, exploding the boulders and definitely killing them if they were still there. The girl stared for a moment before patting his chest, "I stand corrected, good work." She then raised an eyebrow at his surprisingly firm but compact pectoral muscles.
He chuckled, "Yeah… I don't usually do that without even knowing a girl's name…"
She took the hint and smiled "I'm Artemis."
He smiled back, "Nice to meet you Artemis, I'm W— well actually you should stick to Kid Flash. Secret identities and all that you know?"
She raised an eyebrow before growing a mischievous look, "I don't think I'm real big on that name. How about I call you… Handsome?"
Wally had to fight to keep his eyes ahead as a blush blossomed on his cheeks, "T-that works too!"
Artemis laughed beautifully at him as they sped off into the desert.
Elsewhere
Robin was confused. He didn't like it.
He's had some pretty weird experiences as batman's protégé, but so far waking up with six months' worth of memory loss in Bialya was not one of them.
He didn't actually know he was in Bialy until he saw Bialyan soldiers marching through the dunes, apparently hunting something. It was. Confused he checked his computer and found that he was in fact in the Bialyan desert. And also that it was six months since his last patrol.
It got weirder when he tried to radio batman. An image of his mentor telling him to do the opposite flashed through his mind, causing him think better of it.
Having nothing better to do, he settled on following the convoy through the desert, hoping to go he wasn't the one they were hunting. After a while, one of the soldiers spotted something in the distance and barked orders to his comrades, before opening fire. What Robin assumed was the "target" soon rushed into view, moving incredibly fast. All Robin could see was a black shine, before the first guy's head found itself detached from his body.
What followed after was a level of brutality that Robin had ever had the displeasure of witnessing, even in Gotham.
The figure was tearing through his opponents like a hot knife through butter, either punching opponents so hard limbs went flying, slicing through the with unidentified blades, or snapping various appendages, sometimes all the way off to use as a makeshift weapon against another opponent.
In a matter of seconds, the squad was decimated, all either dead, or so hurt they wished they were, and the figure was finally still enough to get a good look at.
He was younger than Robin expected. Too young to be butchering full grown men in such a manner. He was handsome too, with raven black hair, piercing sea green eyes, and an eerie smile, that sent shivers down the Boy wonder's spine.
His eyes were framed by a strange dark blue, three-pronged domino mask that he would normally assume to see from a Hero. He was wearing a strange suit consisting of a dark blue under suit covered by black high-tech armor plating that looked incredibly mobile for how much they covered. Something that didn't look all that heroic was the strange collar thing protruding around his neck. Eight stirps of fabric stuck up like spikes, adding a dash of sea green to the outfit, and having round metal disks in the middle of each one. it looked like something an evil overlord would wear. And of course, the large, razor sharp fins on his forearms added to the image as well. Robin suspected they had something to do with heavy bleeding his opponents were suffering.
The most alarming piece of equipment however was a familiar looing utility belt around his waist. It was colored black to match his armor. That was one of Batman's utility belts! Altered to suit him of course, with a strange winged sword symbol. Despite all of the brutality however, there was something about the outfit that seemed… aesthetically pleasing to Robin. Not that he would admit it.
Before Robin could decide what to do, the somewhat crazed looking man laughed hysterically and called out, "IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO PERSES? YOU FUCKED UP BITCH! I AIN'T EVER GOING BACK INTO THAT CELL!"
Robin wondered if Perses was some kind of codename for someone in the Bialyan government. Maybe this guy was an escaped test subject?
Robin really didn't want to approach the guy, after what happened to the soldiers. , but if this guy was actually a victim of some kind… well he was a hero after all.
He reluctantly made his way down the dune, making sure the guy saw him coming as he did so. He didn't think sneaking up on the guy would end well. He held his hands in the air as he approached, but the guy still tensed up as if expecting a fight.
When he was within regular speaking distance, the guy sneered, "Well this is a new one. I didn't think your kind ever knew when to give up."
Robin raised an eyebrow at that comment, but shrugged it off and waved, "Take it easy man. I'm not a threat. I just want to talk. My names Robin."
The man narrowed his eyes at him but didn't seem to actually focus on the boy wonder. After a moment he muttered, "What are you anyway?"
Once he was closer, Robin noticed something else. The guy was favoring his right leg, the pupil in his left eye wasn't responding to the sunlight, and his right arm was completely limp by his side. He didn't take out all those men single-handedly did he?
Robin had to ask, "Is your arm okay? Do you need help?"
The response he got was not what he expected. The man growled at him, "Is that a joke? You think that's funny?"
Robin's eyes widened, "No! I… what?"
The strange took a threatening step forward, clenching left hand, "You're one of his aren't you? you think I'm dumb enough to fall or something so stupid?"
The hero started backing away, for the first time in a while, feeling intimidated by the fight ahead. "Dude I don't even know who he is!"
The man simply smiled, "I'm through listening monster." Then with a sickening smile he said, "Prepare to die."
Robin threw down a flash pellet to distract him and got the hell out of there.
In yet another part of the desert
Raven and M'gann have been Soaring over the desert looking for answers, for almost half an hour now, with nothing to show for it. Occasionally M'gann would question her impromptu partner about her magic, unable to restrain her curiosity. Sometimes Raven would answer, basic questions mostly, but sometimes she would simply ignore her until she got the point that what she was asking was off limits.
Now however they were both frustrated, and Raven could feel her wall breaking. "If only we could just remember!"
M'gann frowned, before speaking up, "I… I could try something. I don't know if it will work, but—"
"Try it!" Raven said, rather forcefully, and M'gann could feel an aura of darkness sweep over. Sweating slightly she nodded , "O-of course! Let me just…" SHE FLEW TO THE ground, with Raven trailing after.
She sat on the ground in a cross-legged position, taking a meditative pose, before closing her eyes. She focused her psychic powers inward . inspecting her vast memories, until she found the six month gap still missing. Steeling her resolve, she focused all her power into one action: remember
The team stood at attention in front of Batman. "A large energy signature has been detected in the Bialyan desert. Unfortunately Bialya has not been signed in to the UN
S Justice League Charter, so any interaction from the league could cause an international incident. That's why you will infiltrate under the radar. You must maintain radio silence at all times." He looked at Supergirl, "You will not take part in this mission."
The teen's eyes widened, "What? Why?"
Before Batman could answer, Percy spoke up first, "Actually Kara I was thinking the same thing. It's nothing against you, promise, but for something this important, we need to be sure no mistakes will be made. That means sending in the ones with the most experience."
Kara grumbled to herself for a bit before sighing, "Okay…"
M'gann smiled sweetly at her, "Maybe you could help Tyson with his prototype! I'm sure you'd make it easier for him, and afterwards I'm sure he'll help you with you suit design if you want."
Kara lit up a bit at that as Batman moved on, "You will investigate the signal. Once you determine the cause, it will be up to you to decide how to go from there. I'm trusting you with the final say here Percy. I trust that you won't let me down."
The team leader nodded, "You can count on me. Also, what prototype?"
He looked this team curiously, narrowing his eyes as they just laughed nervously.
She felt her head spin as she burst the mental lock on her memories. Once she had a moment to sort through it her eyes opened, "We're on a team!"
Raven looked at her with her usual face, while also managing to convey just how little she believed her, "Really?"
"it's true! You, me, Robin, Kid Flash, Artemis, Aqualad… Aqualad! He's Atlantean!"
Raven got the idea, "He probably isn't having a good time. Should we focus on finding him then?"
M'gann frowned as she sifted through more memories. Her face turned to one of horror, "Superboy… he had no memories sixth months ago! All he has now is animal instinct!"
Raven raised an eyebrow, "So we focus on him?"
Then M'gann's eyes widened impossibly wide and she bent over to throw up."
Raven, unsure of what to do, awkwardly pat her on the back, but M'gann was finished sooner than she anticipated and snapped upright, declaring, "We need to find Perseus!"
Raven, not recognizing the name, sighed in disbelief, "Oh? And why is his predicament more important than the other two?" She then noticed her skin turning a bit pink and clamped down on her emotions, luckily M'gann didn't seem to notice, as her eyes were filling with tears as she said, "He spent years in… in a hell, being tortured every day… in his mental timeline, sixth months ago would have him still there!"
Raven felt her irritation make way for worry, "Oh… okay maybe that takes precedence… can you put his memories back?"
M'gann nodded as she stood up, "I can, I can do it for you too, if you just let e enter your mind—"
"No!" Raven stated, causing the Martian to step back," Uh… sorry but my mind isn't a nice place. Can you just tell me how to do what you did? I actually have a bit of psychic power myself?"
M'gann frowned, not remembering Raven ever mentioning that before, but nodded reluctantly, "I can try..."
She then went on to try to explain the process, trying her best to translate the Martian words for it into English, though she wasn't sure if she was doing it well. Apparently, it was enough however, because even though she took three times as long, she managed to do the same as M'gann, her eyes growing wide before narrowing with determination.
As they were about to go find the others however, she looked at M'gann, "Uh… about the psychic thing…"
M'gann was frowning, but shrugged, "It's okay Raven, I… I remember how secretive you are."
Even though they were meant to soothe, they couldn't help but sting.
With Wally
Kid Flash was really considering changing his name after this. He a kid physically, but kids shouldn't have to see things like this.
He had set Artemis down to take a break after the were far enough away from the soldiers, when she had walked to the top of a dune and screamed.
He was by her side in a second and proceeded to dry heave next to her. In front of them was a massacre site, consisting of a squadron of Bialyan soldiers, or what's left of them. Some were dismembered, others were disemboweled, almost all of them were dead or wishing they were.
"What could do this?" Artemis asked in disbelief."
"More like who."
The pair jumped as they heard a young voice behind them but calmed down when they saw who it was. "Rob!" Wally exclaimed.
"KF," Robin acknowledged grimly, "Nice to see a friendly face" He turned to Artemis, "And you are…"
Before she could respond Wally answered, "She's cool man, she's in the same boat as us…well me, you having memory loss problems too?"
Robin nodded, "Sixth months. It's September by the way."
Wally's jaw dropped at that, but he shook it off and got to the matter at hand, "Do you know what did this? Think it's connected to the amnesia?"
Robin sighed, "I know who did it, but I don't know if he could have pulled the memory trick. He's definitely a meta though, and definitely unhinged. He keeps calling his enemies monsters and yelling at some guy called Perses."
Wally was about to ask what that meant, Artemis spoke up, "That's from Greek mythology, Perses is the Titan of Destruction." After some raised eyebrows she rolled an eyebrow, "What? my names Artemis, I was bound to get obsessed with it at some point."
Robin activated his gauntlets computer and looked it up, "She's right, damn, I need a refresher on this stuff. And come to think of it, he had a strange symbol on his belt, a sword with wings, the shape of the sword was distinctly Greek style, that and the fins…"
"Fins?" Wally asked, "Are we dealing with one of Aquaman's rogues here?"
Robin frowned, "I've never heard of him, and he was young, like 17 maybe. But definitely a meta, his speed and reflexes were ridiculous, I don't think I would stand a chance in a fight. Wally, you know I hate to ask you to try and fight a superpowered psycho-murdered but-"
Wally sighed, "I don't know man, I'm running on fumes, "He checked his cupboard, "And I don't have any fuel, looks like we've been out here for over 24 hours. Maybe if we attacked together."
Silently they all looked at the entire squadron of trained military and decided it wouldn't do much good."
"I haven't even told you the worst part." Robin exclaimed, "He had a utility belt, you know, like mine."
Wally's eyes widened while Artemis didn't see the significance, "How much like yours?"
"Well aside from some cosmetic. Changes I would say he ripped it straight out of the Batcave."
Wally gulped.
Artemis decided she had enough of story time, "Okay, so do you mind telling us with the super dangerous super powered killer is now?"
Before Robin could answer, the sound of an angry scream and gunshots were heard and the trio wordlessly ran in its direction to see the source.
After a few minutes they were crouched on top of a doom to see a young shirtless man screaming savagely as his arms were tied to ropes, which were pulled by an entire squadron for each arm.
"Definitely a meta," Wally murmured."
"That's not him." Robin stated.
"What?" Artemis asked, "Then where—"
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
A black blur shot into the fray, quickly slicing through the ropes holding the crazed teen, before stopping next to him, apparently checking on him. Wally noted that hi seemed injured, only one hand was moving, before Robin stated, "That's…. him?"
The boy seemed to be mummering comforting words to the shirtless guy, and it seemed to by working, until the soldiers fired a few shots, which bounced off shirtless' skin and crazy's armor. It still pissed them off though. They split up and took a squadron each.
The heroes couldn't help but wince at the treatment shirtless' squad got, but by the looks of it, most of them would walk away with a few broken bones and concussions. Crazy's squad on the other hand… well they wouldn't be walking anywhere.
Wally couldn't stand by and watch as men, innocent or not, were slaughtered mercilessly. Ignoring Robin yelling at him to not to, he sped forward, pushing himself to his limits as he raced to save the last man, who was about to have a fist pushed through his face.
He managed to speed him out of there before the first came down], before collapsing next to the guy in the sand. The soldier seemed to have already passed out.
Wally was struggling to catch his breath, when a shadow fell over him. He gulped as he stared up at the killer teen, but to his relief, he looked more… curious than murderous at the moment. "Well today is just full of surprises. I thought it was every monster for himself. What are you? are you like the one from before?"
Wally decided he should start talking before guy got bored, "I-I'm not a monster! I'm a hero! What you're doing is wrong! Whatever they did to you it doesn't warrant slaughtering them!"
What happened next send shivers down the speedster's spine. He started laughing, not a regular laugh mind you, this was a laugh that could only come from mental instability, it reminded wally way too much of the joker. Before the kid stopped, "You have got to be new here. New breed maybe? Do monsters even fuck? Oh well, if you are a new breed, I think I'll put a stop to you before you cause trouble for the others." He raised his fist.
Before Wally could beg for his life however, the guy stumbled back as an arrow hit his face, exploding into green gas. He stumbled and coughed, waving his hand to blow away the gas as Artemis and robin rushed to Wally's side, helping him up."
Wally kept his eye on the disgruntled teens they helped him walk away but received a reassuring pat on the chest from Artemis, "Don't worry, that one was labeled "Heavy Duty Knockout Gas" I think It might do the trick."
Robin scoffed, "No offense but it's important to me that you know this: in hero work, you should never stop worrying."
As if to prove his point, as the knockout gas dissipated, the guy was still standing, only looking a little woozy, and a lot pissed. The trio was worried he was about to attack again, that was a mistake, they forgot about the other crazy teen there.
Robin saw him coming first, and started moving, but Wally caught on soon after. Again he had to muster energy out of nowhere to tackle Artemis and push Robin out of the way so the shirtless guy didn't land on them as he cratered the ground where they stood.
Artemis growled, "Seriously! What is your problem with us?" she had turned to yell at the two aggressors, but afterwards realized that the shirtless one was stopped as the crazy one put a hand on his shoulder. He was staring at Artemis with gut wrenching hatred. Artemis gulped as he said, "This one is mine."
He advanced towards her, "Do you really think that's going to work? She's dead Perses. You can't fool me again."
Artemis' eyes widened, and she drew her bow as she backed away, "don't come any closer." He didn't listen. She started losing arrows, but all were either caught in his hand or smacked way by the back of his hand.
He seemed to tower over her as he came closer, you will regret trying that again. He raised his arm to backhand her and she felt herself fall back as she backed into a dune.
His arm swung, she closed her eyes, but nothing happened.
To her that is.
Wally, being the heroic idiot, he always strived to be, had jumped in front of her, his arms raised to block the strike. The only problem was, the large, razor sharp fin attached to the hand.
Though no one noticed, the crazed teen had a flicker of confusion on his face as his backhand somehow sliced both of the speedsters hands off.
Wally, fortunately, didn't feel it at the time, falling into the blessed throughs of shock, but Artemis had a front row seat, and felt her own heart clench painfully as they boy who had saved her three times before this lost his hands on the fourth.
Before he or she could react, Robin flew in, flash pellet already hitting the ground as he kicked Artemis into gear., literally, and scooped up Wally's hand while she grabbed the frozen wally. Robin threw down several smoke pellets just in case as they made their escape. It was as sound tactic that should have worked.
It didn't work.
"where DO YOU THINK YOU''RE GOING?"
The teen leaped out the smoke, followed shortly by the shirtless one, and for a moment, it looked like there would be no stopping them from landing fatal blows, when fate decided to take pity on them.
Well in this case, fate's name was M'gann, as she got in-between them at the last second, blocking the two aggressors' attacks with a wall of psychic power, before her eyes began to glow as she shouted, "STOP!"
When everyone regained their senses, they were no longer in a desert. Instead they were in a dark… room? field? Domain? It was hard to explain. Surrounding them was a spiderweb of memories, visons of past event, some that they didn't recognized.
Wally was not concerned with that however. He, like everyone else there, was staring at the crazy guy, or what was left of him.
The raven-haired teen still looked as crazed as ever, but now it seemed he had a reason. His entire right arm was missing. ,, nothing but a bleeding stump remained at his shoulder. His left eye was gone as well. His right leg had a massive hole in his thigh. As if someone had drilled right through. to add to that as a thousand cuts and bruises covering his, now naked, body.
Everyone else were exactly as they were before, Wally, Robin, Artemis, even the shirtless guy. The weirdest part was that Crazy looked like he was simply ignoring his wounds. As if they didn't exist.
With a flash of green light, the Green girl who had stopped them before had arrived, with a grim look on her face.
"What did you do to me! Where in Tartarus is this?" Crazy shouted, already advancing on the newcomer, only to hit an invisible wall in front of her, while the girl just looked at him, nothing but sorrow on her face.
She pulled herself together however and spoke confidently, "I know that this isn't easy to believe but, you are not enemies. None of you. We are all a team!"
There was a moment of silence before robin spoke up, "Uhhh… I don't know if you noticed, but I'm a hero, I wouldn't team up with a murderer like stabby here." He gestured to Crazy."
"His name is Percy," M'gann snapped, "And he's a hero too, a great one."
Percy sneered, "Once maybe, but, and you know what heroes do to monsters like you! so I suggest you get out of my way!"
M'gann lowered her head, "Percy… I'm so sorry… but you aren't there anymore. You aren't in Tartarus."
He blinked at her. winked? Whatever. Are you fucking stupid?"
M'gann wined, "Listen—"
"No, you listen! Who the hell do you think you are! You say I'm not in Tartarus, then why does the air burn my lung? why does the ground stab my feet as I walk? Why does the heat blister my skin?"
It's all in your mind Percy
!' M'gann shouted back, you aren't there, you just think you are, it's your mind unable to process the memory gap. Let me help you. I can unlock your memories if you let me into your mind. All of you."
That got some uncomfortable looks, "You want to poke around inside our heads?" Artemis asked , while keeping an eye on Percy and the shirtless guy. M'gann noticed this.
"That's Superboy, and yes. It's the only way. Superboy is a clone that was grown in sixteen weeks a couple months ago, sixth months ago he didn't exist. The only reason he's acting that way is because he has nothing but primal instinct driving him."
"Yeah? What's Percy's excuse?" Robin asked.
M'gann narrowed her eyes, "Look at him! What do you think? He's been tortured for over a hundred years by now!"
Robin didn't have come back to that, but Percy had something to say, "139… you really believe that this is fake?"
"I know it is." M'gann stated firmly.
He seemed to think about it for am moment before sighing. "Fine. If whatever you want to do can get me out of this… go right ahead."
"Seriously?" Artemis exclaimed, "One minute you're prepared to kill everyone in sight now your fine with this? And what makes the shirtless wonder so specially anyway?"
Superboy snarled, though he had no idea what she said, while Percy eyed her with disdain, "Not all monsters are bad."
Robin threw his hands in the air, "What!? I told you that we were good guys, monsters or not!"
Percy glared at him, "You can talk, which means you can lie. I don't' know what he looks like to you, but to me he looks like a newborn Cyclops."
"Aren't Cyclopes bad though?" Wally asked curiously."
Percy rolled his eyes, "Some. Others are peaceful, some even friendly."
"Like Tyson." M'gann spoke up, causing Percy to freeze, and turn to her his one eye filled with suspicion and fear. "How do you know about him?"
The Martian gulped, but steeled herself. "He's part of our team as well. He's waiting for you back home."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "Home? I lived in New York with my Mom. I doubt you moved in, there's no room."
M'gann tried to find something to say to that but ended up with, "It'll make sense when I 'show you. do I have everyone's permission?"
Robin and wally nodded, as did Percy. Artemis frowned before saying, "Just make sure you don't poke around anywhere else."
M'gann nodded, "I will respect everyone's privacy, I swear on the Styx" Thunder seemed to rumble in the far-off distance. While this phrase didn't mean much to the others, Percy found great comfort in this. as was her intention.
With a deep breath M'gann reached out to each other their minds at once and began to unlock their memories. It took a few minutes, with them wincing some stronger memories flashed through their minds, before finally it was done.
For most it was a bit of a relief, as they looked at each other with familiarity instead of awkward unease, but Percy was an entirely different matter. He had long since fallen to his knees as the memories flooded in, and now he simply sat here, numbly, as he struggled to process the information he had received.
The only fortunate thing was that his mangled image had reverted to the outfit he was wearing outside, but M'gann was still concerned. She was about to step forward to comfort him, when he noticed something on his arms. "My fins…. That last attack... "
He jumped up and looked at wally, "Dude are you okay?
Wally looked at him in confusion, "Yeah? Why?
"That last attack, I didn't know about my fin blades, you could have bee hurt pretty badly!"
At this, Artemis, and Robin stiffened while M'gann looked like she was trying hard not to. Wally on the other hand was confused, "I'm fine man, I don't remember feeling any…"
realized he did feel a sharp pain at one point, followed immediately by nothing at all. "Guys…. Why can't I remember what happened?"
Robin sighed, "Wally… I'm sorry man, that strike took both of your hands off."
Artemis practically hissed at Robin's bluntness, but he didn't car, "I'm not going to sugarcoat it for him this is serious! Which is why we need to get out of here and get him treatment!"
"We're in the middle of the desert, where are we gonna find someone to reattach is arms?" Superboy asked, crassly, but honestly.
"We'll contact the League!"
"Batman ordered complete radio silence." Robin stated solemnly.
Artemis glared at him "Really? You are going to suck up to him at a time like this? Wally is your friend!"
Robin narrowed her eyes, "I would disobey him in a heartbeat if I could, but there was a reason he gave the order. If Bialya finds out the League sent us in it could turn into an international incident. I hate myself for saying this but… all the deaths that could cause are more important than Wally's arms."
Artemis didn't seem to agree and looked ready to beat the shit of out the younger teen, but M'gann stopped her by stating firmly "Raven is out there right now treating him. I'll reach out to her right now and see what the situation is."
After a moment of concentration, the hooded magic user appeared in the middle of the group, looking as solemn as she usually does.
"Well?" Artemis asked expectantly.
Raven ignored her, looking only at Wally, who had been staring at his hands this whole time, not making much noise, "I'm sorry Wally… I tried every healing spell I know, but I don't know any advanced enough to reattach your hands. The intricacy of the veins and arteries connecting requires practice that I don't have. I'm sorry."
Everyone was silent after that, as they tried to process what that meant. Wally felt his usually fast thought process move at a snail's pace as he considered this, "You mean… I won't have my hands when I wake up?"
"What if we froze them?" Percy asked, surprisingly calm, "I'd bet anything that Robin has an ice bomb o something in his belt, if we—"
"That won't work." Robin snapped, before wincing and. Giving Wally an apologetic look," The cold would cause lasting damage before we reached a doctor who could reattach the limb."
"I've managed to seal the wounds and make sure you won't feel any pain when you wake up," raven added, "But it still won't be easy… I should go out again, it's not wise for all of us to be unconscious at once. M'gann?"
The Martian nodded and waved her hand, causing the girl to disappear. The strange realm now held a new kind of darkness, one emanating from everyone involved. Robin gulped and said, "Maybe we can figure something out when we get. Back. When we wake up we'll head straight to the ship, Zatara might be willing to help, if we hurry—"
"What about the mission?" Wally spoke up, interrupting the Boy wonder and causing him to recoil with surprise.
"I don't think that's the priority right now!" Artemis exclaimed in disbelief."
"No, he's right." Percy spoke up, before acknowledging the glare he earned form Artemis, "This is my fault, I know, and I. Intend to make up for it."
M'gann sighed, "Percy you didn't—"
"That doesn't matter!" He snapped, before turning to wally, "But Wally is right. A mission this important has to go on, even if someone gets injured along the way. And we know it's important, or else there wouldn't be tanks and soldiers after us… I'm assuming that's what those were. I thought it was odd that the Giant Crab monster had a cannon on its back."
"So, we just continue on?" Artemis asked, "What about Wally? He can't—"
"I'll be fine." Wally stated, "I only need my feet to use my powers I'll just have to focus on evading and distracting more than attacking." He looked up at Artemis with a pleading look in his eye, "I'm not helpless." He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself it was true.
Artemis softened immediately and went to the speedster, resting a hand on his shoulder, "Right, sorry I didn't mean..."
After another moment of silence, M'gann drew a shaky breath and sad, "We should wake up then. Wally, I'll let you stay here until you're ready, but raven will need backup if we get attacked."
Wally nodded in understanding, as she began to send the others away, but just before she sent away Artemis, he called out , "Wait!"
M'gann complied, leaving her and Artemis with him alone. Artemis looked at him with concern, "Wally?"
He took a deep breath to speak, before letting out as he lost his nerve. Then he said, "I don't know what's going on outside, but right here right now, I still have my hands, I can feel things with them and…"
Artemis stared attentively at him, "Yeah?"
He swallowed, before speaking again, though unable to meet her eyes, "I might never get another chance, so… I just have to ask… could I... could we hold…"
He mentally kicked himself as soon as the words left his mouth. So much for being voted the flirtiest male superhero in the tabloids, right now he couldn't even say three words without losing his voice. "I mean-ugh… never mind, I'm just being—"
BEFORE HE could continue he felt a pair of smaller, softer hands grab his, for a moment he was lost in the warmth before remembered to look up at their owner, who was staring at him with tears in her eyes, "It's not stupid wally, I understand! I promise, whatever you need, just ask."
He felt relief flood through him, and for a moment tried to muster his old self, chuckling awkwardly as he grasped her hands a little tighter, as if holding on to his very lifeline, "Hehe… anything?"
He made sure to add as much joking tone as he could into it so she didn't pull away. The eyeroll he expected, what he didn't expect her to match his grip and move closer, moving their hands down to their sides so she could lean in beside his hear and whisper, "Within reason… handsome."
Wally's eyes had never grown so wide in life.
It took a few minutes before Wally was ready to come out. That left lots of time for the others to stare at his body in horror. Both hands were sliced off halfway down his forearms. Due to Raven's assistance, both had been sealed up, his skin stretched over the stumps, but it was still raw, wrinkled, and unpleasant.
When Wally finally woke with a start, his eyes were instantly drawn to his stumps, causing him to make a strangled noise in the back of his throat, before taking a deep breath to calm down. he then sneered at the state of is uniform, which was covered in his own blood. "Gross…. hey Percy, could you...?"
Percy was immediately at attention, and wasn't sure what he meant until it hit h . just before they left for Bialya, he had discovered a new power: water generation. Well technically he was condensing the water molecules in the air, but it had the same effect. He nodded firmly and held out a hand, concentrating. After a moment, a sizable spew of water seemed to come from it, though hit was only a focal point for him to condense the water. He used the spout and sent it all over Wally's suit , cleaning it completely of blood before sending the dirtied water into the sand.
"Thanks." Wally nodded, "that could be really useful for…"
Everyone suddenly realized, "Aqualad!"
"Where is he!" Percy asked, turning to Robin, "He won't last much longer out here without water."
Robin was already tracking his teammates comms, sighing in relief when he got his location "Hs not far, but he's not moving, he's probably passed out form the heat by now."
Percy nodded "Alright, Wally, Robin and I will go get Kaldur, I should be able to revitalize him, then I'll get him back to the ship, while the rest of you investigate the energy signature. M'gann, I remember you had it in your sights, what was it?"
M'gann frowned, "It was some kind of spherical machine, with a consciousness of some kind. They had it captured, they were experimenting on it, and it was in pain."
Percy nodded, "Then your mission is to free it and bring it to the ship. What erased our memories."
"There was another telepath there, he sensed me… I won't be able to sneak in again"
"Can you prevent him from doing what he did again?"
M'gann looked thoughtful, before glancing at raven, who simply nodded, "I think so. It will definitely be easier if I see it coming.
Percy nodded and they all went their separate ways.
After a couple minutes of the three teens walking though the desert. Percy spoke up, "I think we should address the elephant in the desert."
Robin seemed uncomfortable, "is now really the time?"
Wally sighed, as he walked with his arms crossed against his chest, not sure what else to do with them. "Percy, you don't have to—"
"No, I do. What happened to you was my fault. I hurt you, permanently. We can't just not address—"
"Why not?" Wally aske, slightly irritated. "You've gone through far worse, you've had your arms cut off several times over, and you don't complain."
Percy kept calm, but the others could hear the tension in his voice as he explained, "I've had my limbs cut off thousands of times. I got used to it. I had to, to stay sane. However, the first hundred fucked with my head every time. It was wrong, and scary, and sickening. And just because worse things have happened to me, doesn't mean that your pain is any less important."
Wally was thoughtful about his, while Robin just led silently, keeping his eye on his computer.
"So, what?" Wally asked, "Are you asking for forgiveness? Because you have it man, I mean I can't really blame you in the first place—"
"You can." Percy stated, "But I appreciate that. I guess I just want you to know, if you ever need someone to talk to, or anything for that matter, I'm not sure I' not the one for talking, but anything at all, just ask me. okay?"
Wally looked at him for a moment before saying, "I think… I need…"
Percy looked over at him, to see what was happening, and instantly jumped into action to catch Wally from falling to the ground. Robin was by his side in the next instant.
"Di immortales!" Percy cursed, "He's weak from blood loss."
"And overall exhaustion." Robin commented, "We've been out her a long time, he hasn't had many chances to eat, and you know how his powers work. Come to think of it I'm amazed he had enough energy to defend against…. well "
Percy sighed, "Don't dance around the subject Robin, that doesn't' make it any less awkward."
"Right."
Percy willed his tentacles to emerge and used them to grab wally and put him in their clutches, kind of like a makeshift bed that he could lay in as Percy dragged him behind.
With that they continued on to Kaldur's position
M'gann's POV
This is bad. Everything awful, and M'gann knew it was all her fault!
She was the only psychic on the team (or so she had thought), so she should have been on the lookout for such an attack!
That was what was stirring around in her brain as she led the others to the research tent. The other was of the girl flying beside her. she had always known Raven was a mysterious person, with lots of secrets, the end, she was much needed company in a home full of guys. There are some things only girls can understand.
Now though, as she looked at her, She couldn't help but be a bit suspicious. She had kept such an important ability as psychic powers a secret from everyone. What else could she have up her sleeve?
However, she wasn't the only troubled girl in group. Artemis floated on M'gann's other side , held up by her telekinesis, a look of confused contemplation on her face. I knew what it was too: her relationship with Wally. They ha d gone through some rough patches, mostly with wally being wally, but overall, they were on fairly good terms. Then they woke up in a room with no memories of each other. That might seem like a reset button to some, but M'gann knew better. Even without the actual memories, people leave lasting impressions on each other. When the memory was taken away, it left an indentation of that person, and when it was filled, it brought feelings of familiarity that one wouldn't have with a stranger.
That might be why they were so… familiar, in such a short period of time. And now that the memories were back, they were both confused. Luckily or unluckily, neither were having deal with that at the moment, Wally had his injuries, and Artemis…. Well… her guilt over the injuries...
M'gann didn't have to read her mind to figure that out. Wally had lost his hands taking a strike meant for her, and if put in her situation, SHE would probably feel something similar.
Due to all of that, the trio of girls soared through the desert in silence, only speaking up when they sighted the tent, surrounded with military security.
"I infiltrated last time using my camouflage," M'gann spoke up, "But that won't work for all of us. This is a rescue mission so…"
"Go in loud?" Artemis finished, "Perfect, I have some aggression to work out."
Raven hummed, "The psychic will likely be our biggest issue. Confronting him will likely require intense mental concentration, rending her body useless. If we clear out most of the guards beforehand, it will make it easier to get in, while I protect her body."
M'gann had several things to say about that plan, not much of them nice, but she settled with, "You want her to distract the whole camp by herself? Without backup?"
"I'll be okay." Artemis stated, "I'm not going to start fighting everyone in sight. I'll probably use some well l placed flash arrows to draw them out, while sticking to the shadows. Then I'll take them out silently. Trust me," she looked at me with a dangerous glint in their eye, "It's going to be fun."
The Martian sighed, still not happy, but nodded reluctantly, "Just… call us if things don't go to plan."
She nodded and took off towards the camp, keeping low to avoid detection. As M'gann waited with Raven for her distraction, she couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever been in a psychic battle before?"
She shrugged, "No. You?"
M'gann winced, "Only spars, this will be different. If we lose we will risk our minds being destroyed, resulting in a catatonic state, the key is to focus your force of will, never waver, and of course, be creative with your attacks."
"I'll keep that in mind… M'gann, I'm sorry I didn't—"
"Now is not the time." M'gann stated calmly, though she really wanted to get into it at the time, "We need to be focused. But we will discuss it back home… privately."
Raven nodded to her, just as a loud explosion went off somewhere in the camp. Soon the guards were running from every direction, including from the research tent."
"There's our cue." M'gann stated, flying forward in camouflage mode, while raven kept to the shadows in her hood, expertly avoiding enemy contact as they made their way to the tent.
As expected, the enemy was nowhere to be seen when they entered, only a few startled scientist who looked ready to call for security, only to be knocked out by some well-placed shadow blasts and telekinetic strikes.
Once they were all down, an incredibly smug voice sounded in their heads, "You've returned, and with friends no less. Why, you must be a glutton for punishment"
In an instant, a tall hooded man stepped out from behind some equipment. He threw back his hood to reveal. Pale man with a translucent head, revealing his brain.
"Second time's the charm I guess." He smirked, "Psimon says… FORGET!"
Just before the psychic attack hit, M'gann grabbed Raven's hand, before their consciousness were drawn into her mind.
They awoke floating in the air above a lush green landscape. A moment later, Psimon's head appeared several times larger than it should be have been, "You resisted, very good. It's been a while since I had multiple opponents, but I can tell what I lack in numbers I more than make up for in experience. Now, let's begin, shall we?" e
Before the two could answer, he started unleashing what appeared to be white energy attacks. They quickly separated in different directions, dodging their attacks and returning their own
M'gann's attacks were significantly stronger than Raven's from the start, while Raven's were much darker, not like her shadow magic, but more of an indigo, while M'gann's were pale green.
Unfortunately, neither of them were making much progress form the star, which Psimon noticed, "Why look at you two! So much confidence with nothing to show for it. Though you are interesting, so different yet so similar at the same time. Shall I tell you why you're losing?"
Raven remained silent in her attacks, but M'gann as was getting irritated, "We haven't lost yet!"
Psimon chuckled, "Well of course you have! Not to me yet, but to yourselves! I may not know what it is yet, you still insist on blocking me form your minds, but I can get impressions. Both of you are hiding who you really are from everyone. So, who are you really? Liars? Cheats? Or something worse… OH! I have an idea!"
The next moment, the giants head emitted a powerful wave of energy all around it, leaving no room to dodge. The moment It touched the girls, their worlds faded away.
When M'gann awoke, she was back on mars, somehow walking without thinking about it, through the streets of her village. She was going to get ingredients from the market. She covered herself with a large hood, so that she appeared only to be an adult green Martian, not some freakishly tall white Martian child.
Unfortunately, it didn't work. She felt something shove her from behind and turned to see a group of green martians her age, mostly males. They started shoving her around, laughing and taunting her like always, calling her a freak, a monster. It would have been easy for her to shove them away, despite being the same age she was already twice their size, but if she did the would just run home and tell their parent, which would cause trouble for mother and father.
So, she just stood still, and tried to appear as small land harmless as possible, which only made them push harder until she was lying on the ground, dripping both blood and tears.
For a long while she wanted to just lay there, wait for them to leaves so she could finally go home, when she heard something. Faint screaming, very faint.
For a moment she wondered if someone was getting the same treatment as she elsewhere, when she started feel that the scream was somehow familiar. Where did she know that voice?
Raven
She sat up in an instant, throwing her aggressors off with ease and forming back into her usual human like appearance. She remembered what was happening.
She mustered up her psychic energy and blasted it straight towards the scream. In an instant it was if a hole had been torn through reality, when in fact she had ripped hole through memories. Where she stepped into next however, made her want to run back to the bullies.
The cavern sky, the toxic air, the ground meant to piece her feet, this memory should only belong to one person. Why did Raven have it?
Then she heard the scream again, a pain filled wail. She flew towards it, over the hell scape she thought was Tartarus, until she found the source.
A clearing, or at least a section of the ground that was smoothed out not to stab people's feet, held a terrifying sight. A demon, there was no other word that came to mind. Standing taller than even Tyson could, rippling muscles were covered in thick crimson hide. His face seemed to be stuck in a permanent snarl, underneath four glowing yellow eyes. His air was long and white, with a pair of enormous black horns stuck out of the sides of his head.
He only wore a simple loin cloth around his waist, showing off the resto f his physique with pride as he stared down at Raven. There she was, screaming in pain on the ground beneath her as an arc of red energy flew from his eyes and met her body. but she too was… different.
Her skin was red, not as bright as his, but red all the same. She too had four glowing eyes, though hers glowed bright red. She wore her signature cloak, but underneath M'gann noted a significant increase in musculature with her more demonic from.
Despite that she was completely helpless, flailing miserably under the demon's attack. As he did so he bellowed down, "YOU WILL COOPERATE!"
She opened her eyes and glared at him, screaming in pain and defiance, "NO!"
With an angry grunt he stopped the attack, "Perhaps some time with your siblings will change your mind. Wrath! Envy!"
A pair of much smaller male demons appeared at h his call, snickering at the fallen girl as he ordered, "Do not let her get comfortable but, do not break her."
"We'll try." Wrath chuckled.
As the larger demon walked away he state, "You cannot resist forever… daughter."
M'gann decided she had seen enough and rushed in blasting the large demon first with a mental attack, dissipating him instantly, before doing the same to the smaller ones. She then landed in front of Raven, ignoring the smoldering heat of the ground as she tended to her exhausted and apparently demonic friend. Come on Raven, it's not real snap out of it."
Raven began to sob, which somehow scared M'gann more than the demons, "It is real! Look at me! look at what I am! I'm disgusting!"
M'gann grimaced before taking a deep breath and shifting back to her true form. One she had she told her friend, "Look at me."
Raven complied, and all four of her eyes widened at the sight before her, "It's me Raven. This is what I truly look like. I'm a White Martian. We are treated as freaks even on mars, so I hid. But I'm not a freak! And neither are you! I don't know what all of this means, but you are still my friend, okay?"
Raven continued to stare at her, until suddenly something clicked. Her sobbing face turned calm and collected, and the world around them disappeared, revealing the original battlefield, with Psimon, now down to their size with a body, laughed down at them, "Well, this is unexpected. I must say I understand though! If I were as ugly as you two I would hide too!"
M'gann bit back a remark about his brain and instead called out, "You've lost Psimon!"
He chuckled a bit more before humoring her, "Oh and how is that?"
"Because now that I don't have to focus on my appearance," Raven started, powering up her dark energy in her red hands
"we can focus all our energy into doing this." M'gann finished.
Together they readied their attacks, shouting, "Get out… of our… HEADS!"
Together they fired their attack, purple energy mixing with lime green as they struck Psimon's head before he could react. He screamed in agony as his body seemed to crack and break, before finally he exploded.
In an instant the three were back in the real world, with a now unconscious Psimon laying on the ground, and raven and M'gann catching their breath.
It was only when they looked at each other that they realized they were still in their true forms. For a moment they just stayed like that, staring at each other, before they grimaced and returned to their human forms.
"We should talk about this..." Raven stated uncertainly.
M'gann nodded, "We should… later."
"Later." let's check on that sphere.
They walked over to the strange whirring device, and found it making excited noises as they approached. Raven looked at M'gann, who nodded before they began dismantling its restraints, allowing it to run free. However, it only rolled around in excitements a few times before stopping before them expectantly.
M'gann couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "It's kind of… cute."
Rave nodded, before saying "Right now we should probably check on Artemis."
They exited the tent to see that Artemis was in fact fine, if a little tired. She was hunched over, panting heavily as the unconscious bodies of everyone in the camp surrounded her.
The two could only stare at her in awe before she said, "I think I'm feeling a bit better.
Then she collapsed.
Later, in the bio ship.
The flight back was mostly quiet. Kaldur and Wally were both laid out on beds M'gann summoned from the floor of the ship. Kaldur was surrounded in a shroud of Water, courtesy of Percy, and was mostly conscious.
Wally on the other hand was sleeping blissfully. His arms were now covered in arm slings, keeping them crossed over his chest so he didn't hurt them on accident. Artemis was sat by his side, sometimes staring at his sleeping face, sometimes unable to look at him at all.
The others were in their usual seats, with Percy near the front, looking out the window, keeping an eye on het seas horizon both to keep his stomach form churning, and to keep his mind off of all that occurred.
The new sphere thing was hanging beneath their ship on a tether, whirring happily as it flew through the air.
Once they had flown out of Bialyan air space, Robin radioed batman.
"Glad to see you all made it out." The gruff voice announced, "What did you find?"
No one wanted to explain all that happened, bur Percy did it anyways. "Some sentient mechanical sphere thing. We're bring it back. That's not important though, the enemy had a psychic, he erased all of our memories for six months."
The teammates could practically hear Batman grimacing, "… I can imagine that was quite a problem for many of you."
"I'm fine, Superboy seems alright, but I… lost control. I thought I was back, I couldn't see anything but monsters… I killed a lot of soldiers. when Artemis showed up I was going to kill her too, but Wally stopped me. he lost both hands in the process."
Batman immediately went to work, "Use clean cloth to stop the bleeding, do not remove it if it bleeds through just add more. You will need a clean damp cloth, do not use water or ice, that will only cause damage. I assume—"
"It's too late Batman," Percy stopped him, "We were stranded in the middle of the desert when it happened…. There's no saving them. We saved the hands but…"
"… I see. In that case, just get back here as soon as possible. We'll deal with it then."
"Got it." Percy replied dryly.
"This wasn't your fault Percy."
"Yeah… I know."
When the ship was flying towards the hanger at mount justice, the team was startled as a brown and red blur burst a cross their vision, laughing joyfully as hit did so.
It was followed soon after by Kara, who was flying after him in her makeshift uniform. She stopped in front of the ship with a smile "Sorry! H's still getting the hang of slowing… down…" She trailed off as she saw he scene inside, "Oh Rao…. I-I'll go get him.
Wally WAS immediately taken away by the flash when they got home, not before the Leaguer shot an icy glare at Percy, one he simply met with acceptance.
Tyson flew in soon after, in a bit of a crash landing, but still eager to show off his new wingsuit, which Percy wanted to admire with all his heart, but now was not the time. As soon as he heard what happened to Wally, tears were already pouring out. Fortunately, he didn't bawl as he usually does, he managed to restrain himself a little bit, but it only got worse when he was denied access to his injured friend.
The days following were brutal for everyone. Trips to Black Canary that everyone knew wouldn't change anything., trips to see Wally that always ended in tears.
The worst one, in Raven's opinion, was when she was walking through the mountain, and heard something strange coming from Percy and Tyson's room.
it was midday, when Tyson is usually downstairs, and Percy is usually on patrol, though he had skipped the day before.
The noise she heard was a rhythmic thumping. Normally when one hears thumping coming from a teenage boy's room, you stay out, but Raven didn't think Percy would be one to do ah. Especially now. Unable to stop herself, she cracked the door open as quietly as possible, and peaked in.
Liquid gold splattered on the floor wand walls. For a moment fear flew though Raven's chest that Percy had taken the easy way out, but as usually, nothing was easy about what Percy was doing.
He stood in front of the wall, punching a rater into it one fist at a time, every hit elicited a slight cry of pain and anger from him, but he kept on. Not caring as his knuckles split with every hit. Though she couldn't see it from behind, his faced was scrunched up in anger and frustration, d
Raven stood there for a moment, watching, unsure of what to do. She idly noticed a bucket and some soap, indicating that he was prepared for the mess. She didn't know how to proceed, f went to stop him, for all she know he could round on her. Actually, she threw that thought away the moment it came to her. He wouldn't hurt her. she was fairly certain.
She turned her attention to her powers. Usually she tried to ignore her empathy, though it was often hard with Percy. When she checked this tie, she winced as the storm of emotions radiating off him surpassed even the first time she met him.
After a few more moments she decided he wasn't going to stop any time soon unless she did something. So, she decided to do something she assumed she would regret immediately after.
Percy, who had been doing the only thing in his currently irrational mind that would make him feel better, slowly started to feel a little better, which he wasn't expecting.
After a while he finally stopped punching, allowing his split knuckles to heal as he breathed unevenly. He still didn't feel content, he doubted he ever would, but he didn't feel like his world was about to explode anymore. The thoughts of how useless, how much of a gods damned screw up he was, slowly became a little quieter.
And that was progress in his book.
The day after that, he was summoned to the briefing room, where he met Batman, and no one else."
Percy looked around for am moment before saying, "So, are you finally going to kick me off the team?"
He meant it as a joke, kind off, but of all the responses he didn't' expect: "Close… tell me, do you know of the ice villain incident that occurred the day you arrived?"
"Uh… no?"
Chapter 15
Okay so this took longer for a multitude of reasons. The one I'm going to cling to is my new job, it's great by the way, better pay, better hours, better everything really… but I'm getting up at 3:30… nothings perfect.
Next chapter will be a different rendition of the next two episodes. I'm aware of more events happening in the comic, but I'm really only going to integrate the tv show, unless there are some events in the comic Cyou would like to be in here. Let me know and I'll consider it.