It had been a few days since Kat and Yuri had battled against Galatea and whilst they lived in different cities, the two women had something in common other than the fact that they were from East Asia, namely the fact that they couldn't get any sleep.
Kat tossed and turned in her bed for a good few minutes before she jolted awake with a scream, the Chinese girl took several deep breaths before letting out a big one. "Different night, went to bed a little bit earlier than normal, same nightmare of government goons restraining me whilst the Supergirl clone gives me a Heat Vision Lobotomy." Kat thought as she looked at herself in the nearby mirror, her hair was a mess from lying down in bed but that was to be expected, what wasn't expected were her bloodshot eyes.
"Same nightmare again?" Marco asked as he opened the door and turned on the light to Kat's room. "I heard you scream as you woke up."
"I'm fine Marco, it's just a nightmare." Kat responded as she shook her head before swinging her legs over and standing up. "A nightmare that I happen to be sharing with Yuri, I'd ask J'onn about it if it didn't mean me getting in trouble with the League for undertaking an unauthorised mission."
"I'm sure he'll understand if you word your explanation correctly." Marco responded before he got an idea. "Just an idea but maybe if your having trouble sleeping, why not sleep with me…..." Marco trailed off as Kat gave him a knowing grin and he came to regret his choice words. "I'm probably the first boyfriend to ever say this to his girlfriend, but I didn't mean have sex with me!"
"Oh sure, and those screams I hear coming from your computer are from horror films." Kat teased her boyfriend who laughed nervously in response. "I should be okay I usually only get that nightmare once a night so I should be able to get right back to sleep."
"And if not, then my bedroom is always open, and once again I'm not talking about sex!" Marco responded with the last bit getting a good laugh out of Kat. "Did you ever find out just what The Question wanted from that place?"
"Beats me, he and Green Arrow have been quiet about it since me and Yuri got discharged from the medical bay." Kat responded as she glanced down at her injured ribs before shaking her head. "Then again, considering we were breaking into a Cadmus building, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"Almost makes me wish that me and Ehsan weren't with Wonder Woman containing that Natural Disaster, it may have been our first official league mission but beating up members of some shadowy government agency sounds a lot more exciting that containing a natural disaster." Marco commented dryly as Kat got back into bed.
"Oh sure, if you don't mind fighting an evil clone of Supergirl." Kat responded and she watched Marco as he was silent for the longest time.
"You know what? On second thought, I'm perfectly content to help with natural disasters." Marco responded with a nervous laugh and Kat grinned. "I mean, you're still reeling from that fight and your one of the toughest girls I know, physically and mentally."
"I know, I still have several questions running through my mind though." Kat nodded with a grin as she laid down on her side. "You should probably get to bed I mean you're still up gaming at this hour?"
"It's not that late!" Marco asserted before checking the time on his iPhone. "3:45am, on second thought, it is pretty late." Marco admitted before leaving his girlfriend's room. "Good night."
"Night." Kat called out to her boyfriend before he shut the door. "If I can't get any more sleep tonight then maybe I should take up Marco on his suggestion." Kat thought with a sigh as she made herself comfortable. "What's the worst that can happen?"
*the next day*
Following the few days off Kat and Yuri had been given to recover from the fight against Galatea both were back on duty and waiting for their next assignment, regardless of what that would be.
"Are you sure about this Yuri?" Black Canary asked as she got ready to spar with the younger woman. "You know I was trained by Wildcat, right?"
"So, I heard, and until he comes out of the Superhero retirement home, you're the next best thing." Yuri responded as she got into a fighting stance. "And after I spent most of that fight on the side-lines the other day, I definitely need the extra training." Kat added before she glanced over at Green Arrow and Ehsan who were watching the exchange whilst popping popcorn. "You sure you boys don't want to join in."
"Well, it has been a while since I watched my girlfriend go at it with another woman." Ehsan commented as the door to the training room opened and Fire and Ice entered just in time to hear Ehsan say that, Green Arrow nearly choked on his popcorn and Yuri and Black Canary tried not to laugh as the two older heroes watched on. "Nor can I remember the last time I went at it with two women now that I think about but this should be long and hard whilst I watch Black Canary get on top….off…" Ehsan promptly facepalmed as he realized what he had been saying for the past few seconds and he closed his eyes as the other heroes (sans Green Arrow who was clearly trying not to choke on his popcorn) had a good laugh at his expense. "You realize that you could've stopped me at any time, right?"
"And miss an opportunity to see how deep you dug yourself?" Yuri teased her boyfriend and Ehsan shook his head. "At least I'm not the only one making those kind of slip ups, then again early on I used my autism diagnosis as an excuse for them." Yuri thought before she got into a fighting stance opposite Black Canary. "'I'm ready when you are."
"Just to reiterate the rules, no powers during the sparring match and the first one to leave the matt loses." Black Canary reminded her younger opponent and Yuri nodded. "Not really a problem for me considering the damage my powers can cause but you do tend to rely on your wind powers a lot, if someone knocks the wind out of you, no pun intended, then you're a sitting duck."
"My wind powers have gotten me this far, right?" Yuri asked rhetorically before she made the first move but each punch that she threw at Black Canary was easily dodged by the taller woman, until the last one which Black Canary easily caught in the palm of her hand.
"Maybe, but Kat said that you suggested to her that she took up martial arts lessons after encountering enemies that knew what they were doing in a fight." Black Canary responded before letting go off Yuri's fist and kicking her away. "Surprised that you never considered following your own advice."
"Kat's much more of a physical fighter than I am, she isn't afraid to get up close and personal with an opponent." Yuri responded before she charged again though this time when Black Canary sidestepped Yuri's punch, she took the Japanese woman down with a judo throw before pinning her down in a judo hold. "But me? Since I lack Kat's Super Strength I rely on either my Wind Powers or providing support from afar, not saying that I was ever bad at sports, but there's a clear difference between someone who was the captain of her school's track team with Olympics aspirations like Kat and someone who was usually picked last in team games like me."
"Even then, most League members agree that Kat still has a lot to learn." Black Canary responded before Yuri broke free of the hold. "In her case, the problem is finding someone who's willing to spar with a woman with Super Strength and Martial Arts training, what's your excuse?"
"I don't know, maybe the fact that my wind powers have served me well since I started using them as a Superhero? Or maybe it's the fact that I spend most of the day cooped up behind a computer screen." Yuri admitted before she charged in again, this time Black Canary simply sidestepped her, and Yuri fell out of bounds face first ending the sparring match. "Okay, maybe I do have a lot to learn." Yuri grumbled as she rolled onto her back and Black Canary offered her hand to Yuri, Yuri took it and Black Canary pulled the younger Superhero back to her feet.
"Don't feel too bad, the League thinks the same of you, Ehsan, Marco, Kat, Adriana and Claudia." Black Canary assured her before glancing over at Ehsan. "So, Ehsan, are you going to defend your girlfriend's honour or what?"
"Normally I'd jump at the chance, but I don't like hitting women unless I'm fighting them in a Superhero capacity, if we were talking about hitting on women, that would be a different story." Ehsan responded and Yuri gave her boyfriend a playful glare for that comment whilst Green Arrow gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. "But I'd happily take on your boyfriend instead."
"I'll try not to embarrass you too much." Green Arrow responded with a smirk before they took their spot on the sparring matt and Yuri and Black Canary watched on.
*later, elsewhere on the Watchtower*
She had tried to put it off as much as she could but as Kat was still recovering from her fight against Galatea she had been volunteered for monitoring duty my J'onn who had taken the opportunity to show her the ropes and as promised she had support due to her ADHD.
Unfortunately for her, there was only one hero available. "Ahh, the mighty Dragon Girl has finally met the even mightier Booster Gold!" The egotistical hero known as Booster Gold said as he walked up to Kat and she did her best to remain professional. "Don't fret, you are working with the greatest hero of the 31st Century!"
"Suddenly, going a few rounds with the Supergirl clone doesn't sound so bad in comparison." Kat thought as she worked the monitoring equipment. "So, all mighty Booster Gold, are you really as mighty as people say or are you just boosting your ego."
"I can assure you, it's the latter." Green Arrow's voice rang out as he was taken to the infirmary by Ehsan and Yuri.
"Wonder what that's about?" Kat thought as she watched the older hero being carried off. "Well? What say you?"
"What does Green Arrow know?" Booster Gold scoffed and Kat could've sworn she heard Green Arrow yell "I heard that" from the med-bay. "Whilst the rest of the league was off battling some evil wizard, I spent my "crowd control" duties saving the world!"
"Uh-huh." Kat responded as she gave the futuristic Superhero a sceptical look, she glanced over at J'onn who was busy on his monitoring station. "Is he actually speaking the truth?"
"We did put him on crowd control duty when we were dealing with a threat that required the attention of every member of the Justice League, yes." J'onn nodded as he turned to the Chinese-American hero. "But we have no records of him doing anything but slack off on his duties."
"Some gratitude!" Booster Gold scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "If it weren't for me, the whole world would've been sucked up in a black hole!"
"And that actually sounds preferable to putting up with this guy." Kat thought as she felt her annoyance levels rising with every word that came out of Booster Gold's mouth. "Are you sure there was no one available J'onn?"
"Technically this is Booster's turn on monitoring duty, however we needed someone who could keep his ego in check, and no one volunteered." J'onn explained to her as Kat continued to monitor League activity. "With your concerns about how your ADHD would affect your performance on monitor duty and your recent injuries, this seemed like a perfect fit."
"Gee, I can't imagine why no one wanted to put up with him." Kat grumbled under her breath sarcastically as she glanced up at Booster Gold. "So, Booster, you are going to continue to stroke your ego or actually help me with monitor duty?"
"Why, isn't my presence here enough?" Booster Gold asked and Kat bit her lip rather than lose her temper with him.
"This is my first time on monitor duty, if I screw this up by yelling at Booster, now matter how much it might tempt me, how will the rest of the league view me?" Kat thought as she tried to keep her mind occupied by concentrating on the task at hand. "Maybe thinking of all the things I'd rather be doing will take my mind off this, let's see, having sex with Marco is at the top of the list, being the personal punching bag for The Hulk is at the bottom of the list, let's just work my way up from there."
*sometime later*
Kat could be a patient person when she wanted to, however Booster Gold's constant boasting was getting on her last nerve by this point and whilst she tried not to lose her temper, it was slipping fast, that is until.
"Booster, I need you on this mission." Superman called out to the gold plated Superhero and Kat made sure to wait until Booster's back was turned before she let out a sigh of relief. "Dragon Girl, you know where we're going right?"
"Huh? Oh, right." Kat responded as she got back on track before checking the report. "More globe trotting Supervillains, this time in Australia, Atomic Skull, Killer Frost and Giganta have been running amok down there."
"Keep in contact, we'll back before you know it." Superman responded as he stepped onto the teleporters with Shining Knight, Vigilante and Booster Gold, once the four heroes were gone Kat let out a deep breath.
"How was your first day on monitoring duty?" J'onn asked as he turned to the Chinese woman and Kat shook her head.
"Would've been a lot more tolerable without him keeping an eye on me." Kat grumbled as she glanced up at the Martian. "Aside from that, I think I've got the hang of it, hopefully I'll be able to do this without someone keeping an eye on me eventually." Kat added as she kept an eye on league activity. "How do you think I did?"
"For your first time, you did well even as your patience with Booster Gold was wearing thin by the end." J'onn complemented her and Kat let out a deep breath. "Did you think that went unnoticed?"
"Considering that you've been right next to me for most of the day, not really." Kat responded as she shook her head. "At the same time, I was hoping I'd make a good first impression on my first monitoring duty shift."
"You'll get another chance." J'onn assured Kat as a younger female figure approached them. "Star Girl here will be taking over from Booster Gold for the rest of your shift, she should be a lot more tolerable."
"Not saying much J'onn." Star Girl responded as the teenaged Superheroine extended a handshake towards Kat. "Name's Courtney, AKA Star Girl."
"Kat, otherwise known as Dragon Girl." Kat greeted the younger woman as she accepted the handshake. "Don't you usually hang around that guy in the mech suit?"
"Oh, you mean S.T.R.I.P.E? That's my stepdad." Courtney responded and Kat winced a bit though she tried to hide it from the younger woman. "We've been working together since we took up the Superhero gig, even if he can get overprotective at times."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure he means well." Kat responded as she tried to hide how uncomfortable the subject was making her feel. "Another reason for me to be thankful for the fact that my mask covers my face, if she could see the look on my face things would get awkward in a hurry." Kat thought as she worked away at the monitoring station.
"So, any funny stories of your Superheroics back home?" Star Girl asked as she tried to pass the time and Kat had to think for a moment. "I mean, you have been doing this for two years haven't you?"
"Give or take a few days, yeah." Kat nodded once she had thought of some examples. "There was that first weekend as a Superhero when three villains who were considered jokes among the Superhero and Supervillain community nearly escaped me and Marco."
"I must admit that story has me curious." J'onn commented with a raised eyebrow and Kat shook her head.
"One of the guys who nearly escaped us was called The Walrus, I don't know the exact details, but he was a fairly powerful Supervillain who also happened to be pretty dim-witted, and that's me being polite." Kat responded with a laugh as she shook her head. "That bit of context is important for one reason, he bragged to us that he the proportionate strength, speed and agility of a walrus, no I'm not making that up." Kat added and it took the other two heroes a second to process that sentence in their minds.
And the next second was mostly Star Girl laughing her head off whilst J'onn merely chuckled. "That is wrong on so many levels!" Star Girl said in between fits or laughter and Kat chuckled to herself. "He's still around, right? I kinda want to meet this guy now." Star Girl added and Kat shook her head.
"At the time Target was running an organization that was killing off minor Supervillains, well, technically it was a revival of the same organization from the 80s but still." Kat explained as she shifted her weight. "Several of those so called villains had a meeting at a bar to discuss the threat, Walrus included, the organization approached their targets in disguise, take a wild guess at what happened during that meeting."
"Target was the bartender?" Star Girl asked and Kat nodded. "Sweet, got it right on the first try! But no one stays dead in our line of work, right?"
"That was two years ago, none of the villains who were killed in that bar have come back, nor have any of the villains killed by Target and his agents now that I think about it." Kat admitted before shaking her head. "To cap off that story, well, it gets worse for those three villains."
"Dare I ask, how?" J'onn asked as he turned to the young woman.
"They were running a dog fighting ring, they must've thought it was easy money, well except for The Walrus but we've already established that he wasn't exactly the smartest tool in the shed to put it mildly." Kat explained as she thought back to that battle. "As much as I'd like to say that me and Marco kicked their asses and sent them back to jail, that wasn't the case, they were subdued by a little old lady's dog."
"Well, points for poetic justice at least." Star Girl responded as she shrugged her shoulders. "So, what breed are we talking about here? Pitbull? German Shepherd? Rottweiler? Doberman?"
"I wish it was any of those breeds because at least then, that would've been somewhat dignified." Kat responded as she shook her head. "It was a Great Dane the gentle giant had tripped up the three villains with its lead, and accidentally tied them up." Kat explained earning her a dumbfounded look from Star Girl. "Yeah, seriously, it took me and Marco hours to wash the dog slobber from our costumes once it was done licking us."
"Wow, I never thought it was possible to make me feel sorry for a trio of Supervillains." Star Girl commented dryly as she leaned against the railing. "Purely because of their humiliating defeat, though I can't imagine the other heroes took you two seriously after that."
"Oh, they did, it just took a massive prison break out at a Supervillain Prison for it to happen." Kat responded before shaking her head. "But that's not something I'm comfortable discussing with someone I just met, so can we change the subject?"
"Sure, you were going to describe the other funny story?" Star Girl asked and Kat nodded.
"That last bit was a lie admittedly, but I was already uncomfortable when she brought up her dad being in the league, my dad was never a Superhero, but he still died in the line of duty." Kat thought before remembering a story. "The other story happened a bit later, me, Yuri, Ehsan, Adriana, Marco and another trainee were having a sleepover at my parent's house whilst my mom was in the hospital, we cooked some food, played some video games, well, they played video games and I watched but still, all good fun."
"And what? Did some petty criminals decide to break in?" Star Girl asked rhetorically, and Kat nodded, it took Star Girl a second to realise that Kat was being serious at which point her jaw dropped. "No way! That actually happened?!"
"Yeah, it actually happened." Kat nodded as Star Girl looked at her stunned. "You should've seen the looks on the cops' faces when we dropped off the criminals the next morning, the police captain was still laughing his head off as we left."
"You totally should've taken a picture of that, or the looks on the criminals' faces when they realised how badly they screwed up." Star Girl responded with a laugh and Kat shook her head.
"It was late at night and they had disturbed our sleep, we weren't exactly in the mood for that." Kat admitted with a chuckle. "Plus, you know what they say, there's never a camera around when you need one, all our phones were dead and charging by the time we got to bed."
"Pity, I too would've liked to see those pictures." J'onn admitted and Kat glanced up at him. "Your shift should be ending in a few minutes, after that it's Star Girl's shift."
"Already? Feels like I just started." Kat responded before she glanced over at Star Girl. "So, I take it you know that Superman and a few others are off in Australia, right?"
"Yeah, monitoring that shouldn't be a problem." Star Girl nodded before glancing over at J'onn. "Anything else I need to know before I take over from Kat?"
"Nothing right now, also Katrina? Wonder Woman wanted to put you through your paces in the holochamber once your finished." J'onn informed her and Kat turned her attention back to J'onn. "Don't worry, you won't be fighting Wonder Woman, just training against holograms of Supervillains under her supervision, given the calibre of villains you have fought since arriving here it shouldn't be too difficult."
"You say that, but the last time Wonder Woman put me through the holograms, my body ached for a week." Star Girl groaned and Kat raised an eyebrow at Star Girl. "Take my advice Kat, if she offers to turn it up to max, don't take her up on the offer."
"As I recall, you were the one who made the request." Wonder Woman's voice rang out and the two younger women glanced up to see the Amazon Princess waiting behind them. "But considering Katrina's recent injuries, I will be careful to avoid that."
"Appreciate it." Kat nodded as she wrapped up her shift on the monitoring station and let Star Girl take over. "It's just some holograms, how hard can it be?" Kat thought as Wonder Woman led her away.
*a bit later*
Kat was expecting a relatively easy time when she stepped into the holochamber with Wonder Woman, she quickly learned how wrong that assumption was.
"Seriously, psychic megalomaniacal gorilla from a place called Gorilla City?" Kat asked as she defeated the hologram of Gorilla Grod which promptly disappeared. "I'm almost afraid to ask what the League was smoking when they came up with that."
"We weren't smoking anything, Gorilla Grod is a now deceased Supervillain and one of our deadliest foes at one point." Wonder Woman assured her, and Kat just stared at the older Superheroine with a dumbfounded look on her face. "Besides, weren't you talking about a villain calling himself The Walrus earlier?"
"Well yeah but for starters, he wasn't a literal walrus." Kat defended herself as she folded her arms. "Didn't think I'd ever find myself in a situation where I began talking about a Supervillain with the sentence "he wasn't a literal walrus"." Kat added with a facepalm as what she just said out loud sunk in. "He was a former cab driver who got his powers through methods that I've never been that clear on, and anyone who would unironically call him one of their deadliest enemies was basically asking the rest of the Superhero community to ridicule them."
"Fair point." Wonder Woman nodded with a chuckle before turning to the holochamber's control room. "I think Katrina's ready for the challenge to be turned up a notch."
"Are you sure?" Green Arrow's voice rang out from the control pod. "She's still recovering from her injuries and the last thing we need is to aggravate them."
"I'm asking you to increase the difficulty, not turn off the safeties, unless that's what Katrina wants off course." Wonder Woman responded as she glanced over at the younger woman and Kat paused.
"Any other day, I probably would've jumped at the chance to fight in here without the safeties." Kat responded as she cracked her knuckles. "But Green Arrow's right, I still need to recover."
"Nice to know I'm being appreciated." Green Arrow commented with a grin before he turned up the difficulty. "Loading in enemies now." Green Arrow added as he punched in a few keys and the hologram started to load in.
"How bad can it…..." Kat trailed off as the hologram loaded in and what appeared to be Superman appeared in front of her, however she quickly realised that his costume was different, and it hit her. "That's not Superman."
"Your half right, this is a Superman from an alternate dimension where the Justice League took over the world." Wonder Woman explained as she walked up to the hologram. "Or should I say the Justice Lords?"
"Justice League, Justice Lords, it doesn't matter." Kat pointed out as her frown deepened. "Unless there's some Kryptonite laying around, how am I supposed to beat Superman?!"
"You're not." Wonder Woman explained to her as she stepped back from the hologram. "In this scenario you are fighting against Justice Lord Superman to buy time for some civilians to escape and backup to arrive, the fact that your impatient on missions hasn't gone unnoticed."
"You mean the incident in China?" Kat asked with a gulp and Wonder Woman nodded. "Okay, fine, I can do this, I think, how long do I have to last?"
"Twenty minutes, starting now." Wonder Woman explained and without much more warning than that Justice Lord Superman flew right at Kat.
"Fine by me, ex…..." Kat never even got a chance to order her wings to extract her wings before she got sent flying into the air by a brutal punch from Superman, she stopped herself from going through the hologram off a building and rubbed her aching jaw. "Ow."
"Your lucky, if the safeties had been off, that would've been a broken jaw." Wonder Woman responded as Kat ordered her wings to extract. "And by the way, that's one minute down."
"Oh crap." Kat groaned as Superman flew right at her, however Kat was ready for him this time and ducked right out of the way before she started to fight back, or at the very least try.
"Remember Kat, this isn't about winning, it's about biding time." Green Arrow reminded her as the door to the holochamber opened and he watched Kat try to fight against Superman. "Trust me, there's only a handful of beings that can beat Superman in hand to hand combat and you're not one of them."
"So, that's one of the newcomers." A new female voice rang out and Green Arrow glanced up to see Jessica Cruz, one of the newest members of the Green Lanterns and the newest inductee to the Justice League before Kat and her friends jumped over. "Seems like Wonder Woman's putting her through her paces."
"Yeah, Katrina's had some issues with rushing into battle without waiting for backup, so we devised this test for her." Green Arrow nodded as the young Green Lantern watched on. "As I was just saying, this is an endurance test for her."
"Last long enough for backup to arrive?" Jessica asked and Green Arrow nodded right as Kat was slammed into the ground by Superman. "Ouch, if the safeties are off, she's going to feel that for a while."
"Which is exactly why they are off." Green Arrow nodded as Kat peeled herself off the ground. "But I will admit that that looked painful." Green Arrow admitted before glancing at the clock. "As they say on MasterChef Australia, ten minutes down, ten to go."
"He walked in on me and Marco watching that show once and he thinks it's that quotable." Kat thought right before Superman picked her up by her top's collar and hoisted her up. "Great, he's going to do the heat vision on me, isn't her?"
"Burn." Superman responded before he got his heat vision ready, Kat started scrambling to think of a solution before an idea popped into her head.
Unfortunately for Green Arrow, that idea was equally as painful to him as it would've been to Superman. "Really Kat? You had to kick him in the balls?!" Green Arrow protested as Kat dropped to her hands and knees.
"Would you have preferred that I get burned instead?!" Kat protested as she fought her way back to her feet and Superman dropped to his knees. "Besides, a kick to the balls from me usually knocks down a male opponent for longer than ten minutes, far as I'm concerned, I'm good to go!"
"Just one problem." Wonder Women commented and Kat glanced back at her. "Have you ever tried that on Superman?" Wonder Woman asked as the hologram of Superman got back to his feet and was visibly angry.
"I just had to go and piss off Superman's hologram." Kat sighed to herself as she braced herself for the impending beating. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?"
"I think you already know the answer." Wonder Woman responded before Superman charged right at Kat and speared her through a nearby building. "Two minutes left."
"Good to know." Kat groaned as she managed to fly away from the Superman clone. "Okay, maybe I can lead him on a wild goose chase for the remaining time, hell I should've done that from the beginning." Kat thought as Superman emerged from the hole in the building. "Catch me if you can!" Kat taunted him before she started flying around the holochamber and Superman started flying after her.
"Taunting a pissed off hologram of Superman." Jessica commented as she watched on. "I don't know whether to praise her for bravery or point out how stupid the idea is."
"Well, in any case, it's working." Green Arrow pointed out as he motioned towards the clock, right before Superman finally got a hold off Kat. "Should I just keep my mouth shut before I jinx her again?"
"That's probably a good idea." Jessica nodded in agreement before Kat got German Suplexed into a building bringing it down atop her. "Okay, if she isn't out cold then I'm buying her a beer on earth."
"She's turning twenty one next month, think you can wait that long?" Green Arrow asked as Kat somehow peeled herself from the wreckage. "I'm not even sure if she likes the idea of drinking alcohol to be honest." Green Arrow added as Superman landed in front of Kat. "And that's time! Do your thing Wonder Woman!"
"On it!" Wonder Woman responded before she pounced on Superman's hologram with her sword and after a few good slashes it disappeared. "How are you feeling?" Wonder Woman asked Kat as she offered Kat her hand.
"Like I just went a few rounds with Superman." Kat responded as she took Wonder Woman's hand and let the taller woman pull her up. "Overall, how did I do?"
"Up until the last test, you performed admirably, however the last test left a lot of room for improvement." Wonder Woman responded as she went over her notes. "If you had tried flying around from the offset, you would've passed because as long as you weaved in and out of buildings, Superman wouldn't have been able to catch you, instead you fought him head on and as I said, your lucky that the safeties were off."
"He sucker punched me at the beginning of the fight!" Kat defended herself as she folded her arms. "If anything, the hologram started it."
"And you escalated it by kicking him below the belt." Wonder Woman explained and Kat went to retort but couldn't find the words. "If that battle had happened in a real city, people would've been seriously injured at best and that was before he brought that building down atop you, to say nothing off the injuries you would've sustained in a real fight against Justice Lord Superman." Wonder Woman added and Kat let out a deep breath.
"So, is this the part where you give me a failing grade?" Kat asked as she leaned against some rubble. "Destroyed half the city, got seriously injured and only lasted the full twenty minutes because this wasn't a real fight, sounds like a failing grade to me."
"Don't be so hard on yourself Katrina." Wonder Woman responded as she shook her head. "As I said, you performed admirably on the other tests and as you said, technically you passed the test." Wonder Woman explained as she started to walk off and the hologram city faded. "But we're not done here, not by a longshot, and we'll keep at it until you complete this training regimen as intended, you may not like it Katrina but the lessons you learned here will save your life someday."
"Right," Kat nodded as she lowered her head and once Wonder Woman left, she removed her mask and cried out in frustration. "Damn it, I can't get anything right!" Kat cussed herself before throwing her Dragon Girl mask to the ground next to her feet.
"That's not what Wonder Woman meant." Green Arrow corrected Kat as he entered the room with Jessica behind him. "She just meant that you have some room for improvement, and to be honest, it's not like the rest of the league doesn't agree with her or that it's only you that needs to improve between you or your friends."
"Really? I saved a man's life during the China mission and I nearly got killed for it, between that and this training session, I'm beginning to wonder if this will be worth it in the end." Kat sighed and Green Arrow put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be worth it, trust me." Green Arrow assured her, and Kat glanced down at the floor. "Your going to get frustrated, that's just a fact of life, but believe me Kat, when you and your friends return to your home dimension, you'll return as much better heroes than you were when you left, it's going to take time."
"How much time?" Kat asked with a frustrated grunt. "Me and my friends have been here for two weeks, the most I've heard from my mom in that time was a brief call during the China mission and since then the only way she's been able to contact me is through texts!"
"Superman said that this'll take time." Green Arrow reminded her, and Kat nodded reluctantly. "And whilst I can appreciate that you would've preferred to have gone home sooner, look at how much you've improved as Dragon Girl since joining the League."
"Yeah, but it's still taking a long time, and during that time, my mom has been worried sick about me!" Kat pointed out as she let out a deep breath. "I'm the only family my mom has left stateside, the rest of her family lives back in China and now I'm stuck in a strange dimension and it's been weeks since she's seen me in person!"
"All the more reason for you to get through this in one piece." Jessica chimed in and Kat glanced up at her. "I don't think we've met, I'm Jessica Cruz and I'm a member of the Green Lanterns." Jessica added as she offered Kat a handshake.
"Katrina Sheng Lao, or Kat for short, AKA Dragon Girl." Kat introduced herself as she shook Jessica's hand whilst being careful not to crush it. "Sorry if I made a bad first impression back there but I'll be the first to admit, things were a lot easier back home and I have been getting frustrated with how tough things are here."
"Don't worry about it, I'm still new to Super Heroics myself." Jessica assured her and Kat nodded just as Green Arrow got an idea. "Something on your mind?"
"Just a little something to take Kat's mind off things because after the training session you can definitely use a little R&R." Green Arrow responded before he walked out of the holochamber. "Meet me by the teleporters when your ready Kat, Jessica, your free to come as well." Green Arrow added before he left the room, Jessica left soon after him and Kat took a moment to pick her mask back up.
"Growing up I had two dreams, either make it as a professional athlete or become a Superhero." Kat thought as she looked at her mask for what felt like forever. "Only now that I've achieved one of those dreams, it's driven me further away from my mom than ever before, no matter what happens here I can't let it distract me from my end goal." Kat thought as she put her mask back on and let out a deep breath before leaving the holochamber. "Sit tight mom, I'll be home before you know it!"
*later*
Turned out that Green Arrow's idea was a meal out at one of his favourite restaurants in Star City, however Kat had opted to go home and get changed into her civilian clothes before she met up with Green Arrow at the restaurant.
"Okay, just one last thing left to decide." Kat thought as she stood at the foot of her bed and looked at the two tops she had picked out, she was currently halfway dressed having already picked out the jeans she was wearing but deciding on a top wasn't so easy leaving her standing there in her jeans, socks and bra, her hair was still braided from her activities as Dragon Girl though Kat still planned to let her hair down for the trip to the restaurant. "Crop top or off the shoulder look? It's not like I don't wear crop tops as Dragon Girl, but on the other hand I don't know what kind of establishment that Green Arrow's taking me too."
"Knock, knock." Marco's voice rang out and Kat barely had time to react before her boyfriend opened the door. "Hey Kat, I got word from the Watchtower that…" Marco said before barely getting his shields up in time as Kat threw the nearest pillow to her at her boyfriend. "Okay, I should've knocked first." Marco admitted before Kat quickly grabbed the red, off the shoulder top and put it on. "Seriously, I heard what happened during Wonder Woman's training session."
"You mean that one where I could've killed multiple people, including myself if it was a real fight, right?" Kat asked and Marco nodded prompting Kat to let out an annoyed sigh. "I got careless during a training session and it was pointed out to me! But what was I supposed to do when she sprung that evil version of Superman on me from out of nowhere?"
"Well, personally, if I was fighting an evil version of Superman, I'd drop to my knees and start asking for my mommy." Marco deadpanned and Kat gave him an annoyed look. "But from what I heard the idea was to just buy enough time for backup to arrive."
"And technically I succeeded, after causing a shitton of damage and nearly getting myself killed, all because I kicked Evil Supes in the balls." Kat admitted as she ran a hand through her hair. "Look, what's done is done and I got frustrated that I can't seem to do anything right in the league's eyes! Almost makes me wish we had rejected their offer to join." Kat sighed before looking around her room. "Then again, we are living the high life because we joined the league, so I guess it's not all bad."
"Just think of it like your early days in the Avengers Internship Kat." Marco assured her and Kat raised an eyebrow. "Only without you being kicked out, hopefully."
"Considering I had to fight The Hulk to get back in the internship and the fact that we know of several heroes who were kicked out of the league and never returned, I doubt it'll be that easy." Kat admitted as she shook her head. "Look, I don't know if Green Arrow's booked this as a date between us or not so if you don't want to come, I'll understand."
"I've been cooped up in here all day, at least Ehsan has his bartending job and Yuri has her work at the Daily Planet." Marco pointed out with a shrug. "So yeah, I'll come with you, maybe I'll call ahead and ask Oliver if he booked us a table for two."
"Sure, if not it should be easy enough to change." Kat nodded before Marco walked off.
*later*
By the time Kat and Marco had arrived at the restaurant, a small Italian place on the southern end of Star City, it was around half six and as it turned out Green Arrow had booked a table for two for that express purpose.
"He could've told me that his idea involved me taking Marco out on a date, but I digress." Kat thought as she looked at the menu, thanks to dating Marco she knew a bit about Italian cuisine but due to her family and heritage she was a lot more familiar with Chinese Cuisine and was relying on both Marco and the wait staff for recommendations. "I think the most I've had Italian food was when mom was in the hospital."
"And you had to resort to diner food and Dominos to get you by until we had that food intervention? I know a gentleman should never ask this stuff, but do you remember how much weight you put on after that week?" Marco asked and Kat shook her head.
"Since I got my wings, weighing myself has become tricky." Kat admitted as she glanced towards her wings. "They may look lightweight and all but these things have to be strong enough to support my body weight, and I'm not giving exact numbers because frankly, I can't remember but I think I weighed something like a hundred and twenty odd pounds before dad's funeral." Kat admitted with a shrug before glancing at her wings again. "Now that I mention it, I never did get these things weighed, mostly because they are attached to my spine."
"Yeah, I can imagine those things being awkward to weigh at best." Marco nodded in agreement as he checked the menu. "Though I know they are heavy from the times you accidentally whacked me with them."
"Great, Green Arrow's going to be asking for context once this date's over." Kat grumbled as she glanced over at Green Arrow, who was dating Black Canary in their civilian guises though neither of them seemed to be listening in. "This is supposed to be a date, right? Because unless we change the subject soon, this will be up there with the worst dates I've ever been on."
"Does that include dates that got interrupted by a Supervillain attack?" Marco asked and Kat raised an eyebrow. "Not saying that there's a Supervillain right behind you but still." Marco added and Kat glanced over seeing one of the wait staff behind her.
"If a villain did attack this restaurant, they'd have the worst luck ever." Kat pointed out as she decided what she was going to eat. "Granted, we're in our civilian guises, but Dragon Girl, Mental Boy, Green Arrow and Black Canary all eating out at the same restaurant? That's almost as unlucky as those burglars from when we had that sleepover."
"Oh man, I still remember the look on dad's face when I told him." Marco laughed in response as he thought back to that day. "Sophia basically spent the rest of the day laughing her head off, and now I'm missing my family."
"And you also know the root of my frustration, how long it's taking the League to get us, Ehsan and Yuri back home." Kat nodded in agreement as she glanced out the window, after a few seconds Kat took a deep breath before turning her attention back to Marco. "You ever wonder how our lives would've been different if we never ended up being mutants?"
"You do remember what would've happened if your powers didn't activate that day, right?" Marco pointed out and Kat blinked a couple of times before it hit her.
"Okay, let me rephrase that." Kat responded with a wince before a waitress came up to them, once they had ordered their appetizers Kat continued. "How different things would've been if our powers never activated, you weren't such a picky eater and you hadn't wasted the fuel in your dad's car." Kat corrected herself before shaking her head with a slight laugh. "In hindsight, that was an incredibly specific series of events that culminated in us getting our powers, wasn't it?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah it was," Marco responded as he thought about it for a sec. "But if we never got our powers and we just went straight home from school that day, well for one thing you'd probably be busy training for the Olympics." Marco added and Kat quickly nodded in agreement. "And I'd probably still be a weird computer nerd that ended up dating the smoking hot captain of my school's track team somehow."
"Yeah, that seems to be the one thing that was set in stone even before we got our powers, doesn't it?" Kat admitted as she could've sworn that she heard something driving towards the restaurant at high speed. "Did you hear something just now?"
"If you meant outside the restaurant, then yeah, I heard it," Marco nodded once he had trained his ears a bit, he put a hand to his earpiece and whispered the next part, "Arrow, I'm sorry to interrupt the date but do you hear anything from your table?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah, I do." Green Arrow whispered back into his earpiece as he glanced towards the window. "I'd say I'm hearing things but it's getting louder."
"It's probably just some motorcyclist." Black Canary chimed in as she shook her head. "Try to enjoy yourself Kat, Ollie told me about what happened on the Watchtower."
"That's going to become the talk of the Watchtower by the end of the week, isn't it?" Kat sighed to herself but before any of the other heroes in the restaurant could respond a car crashed through the front of the restaurant. "You were saying?"
"Well, at least things won't be too boring." Green Arrow responded as the four heroes turned to the car as a Supervillain emerged, one that caused Green Arrow to do a double take. "What the?"
"Keep your hands up folks, the Condiment King is here to relinquish you of your valuables!" The Condiment King called out to the crowd of restaurant patrons the four heroes just stared at the villain in disbelief.
"Arrow, the restaurant includes LSD in it's ingredients, right?" Marco asked with a deadpan expression on his face. "Because that's a lot easier to swallow, no pun intended, than any self-respecting villain calling himself the Condiment King."
"Kid, whilst I do agree with you about how ridiculous this villain is." Green Arrow responded as he looked at the villain dumbfounded. "Do you really think I'd recommend a restaurant with LSD on the menu? As for the Condiment King, this is an odd case."
"Are you trying to win the "Understatement of the Year" award by any chance?" Kat chimed in and Green Arrow shook his head.
"Not exactly, there was a Condiment King that popped up years ago in Gotham, Batman made short work of him to the surprise of absolutely no-one." Green Arrow responded as he kept an eye on the Condiment King. "But then he was revealed to be a Stand-Up Comedian as part of a scheme by The Joker."
"Okay that makes sense, not much sense but well, this is The Joker we're talking about." Marco responded as he shook his head. "I'm guessing that guy's retired, but that doesn't explain this guy."
"He is and it does, for some god-forsaken reason, several petty criminals have taken up the Condiment King's moniker, I think this is the fourth one." Green Arrow as he shook his head in disbelief. "I can't remember if it was the third or second one but at least one of them thought he could take on Superman."
"Please tell me Supes took pity on him and just flew him to the nearest jail without a fight?" Kat asked as she shook her head in disbelief and Green Arrow nodded. "What? Did he paint a rock green and make it glow before trying to pass it off as Kryptonite?"
"How'd you guess?" Green Arrow's clearly amused voice responded, and Kat nearly fell out of her chair from laughing. "We had better leave this to the cops, no point in wasting our time on this joke."
"That's it, come up, you had better ketchup." The Condiment King continued as the patrons surrendered their valuables not realizing that the waiter that Kat had noticed earlier was approaching him. "I have places to go so I mustard hurry up."
"There is only one destination for you Condiment King." An all too familiar English voice rang out and the four heroes' heads snapped up. "The grave." The waiter added before shooting the Condiment King in the back with a concealed shotgun, killing him instantly, Kat, Oliver, Dinah and Marco used the chaos caused by the fleeing crowd to get changed into their costumes after ducking into the Walk In freezer. "Justice is served, Condiment King."
"You call that justice Target?!" Green Arrow called out to the villain killer as the four heroes emerged from the walk in ready for battle. "Your coming with us, don't try to resist."
"I'm afraid I can't make it my work has only just begun." Target responded before dropping the disguise via the image inducer and throwing down the smoke pallets.
"Not this time Target!" Kat called out as she used her wings to disperse the smoke just in time to see Target escaping via the Condiment King's car. "He's taken the Condiment King's car."
"We'll catch up with you two but don't let him out of your sites." Green Arrow responded as he legged it with Black Canary to where they had parked Black Canary's motorbike, Kat flew out ahead of Marco who quickly joined her via his glider.
"Marco, his car's over there." Kat pointed out the car in question before the two heroes flew after Target. "Or the Condiment King's car for that matter, I don't know! Green Arrow, do you know if there's anyone available to back us up?"
"Superman and his group are still down under, last I heard they aren't expected back at the Watchtower until tomorrow morning." Green Arrow responded as he and Black Canary caught up with the younger heroes on Canary's motorbike. "Yuri and Ehsan are off duty but I'm sure they'll jump at the chance to catch Target!"
"Wouldn't hurt to ask." Kat nodded in agreement before Green Arrow contacted the Watchtower, meanwhile Target weaved in and out of traffic almost causing several crashes in the process. "What is Target doing? Is he trying to crash? But why?" Kat thought before a bright flash enveloped the street in front of them and Kat and Marco covered their eyes, Target took a sharp right turn and disappeared down a side street as Green Arrow and Black Canary came to a stop.
"What the hell is happening now?!" Green Arrow called out as he shielded his eyes, once Kat and Marco's eyes had adjusted to the light, they instantly recognized it.
"Marco, that's…..." Kat trailed off as the portal in front of them closed almost as quickly as it had opened. "That was a portal, we could've gone home right then and there." Kat sighed dejectedly as she lowered her head.
"We'll make our way back Kat, somehow." Marco assured her before he spotted several familiar figures, figures that made Kat and Marco's jaws nearly fell to the ground.
"Kat, Marco, do you know these guys?" Green Arrow's voice rang out breaking their train of thought as the two heroes lowered themselves to the ground.
"Know them? These are the guys who trained us back home!" Kat responded as she stared at the sight in front of her, Iron Man, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Spider-Man and Captain America, the other members of the Avengers. "How?"
"I appreciate that you have a lot of questions Katrina." Captain America responded as he walked up to the younger hero, "But certain circumstances back home have forced our hand." Captain America added before turning to Green Arrow and Black Canary and whilst neither of them knew Cap personally, the way he carried himself made them pay attention to him the most. "As Katrina has already said, my name is Steve Rodgers, back home, I go by the name Captain America." Captain America added as he offered them a handshake.
"The man himself." Green Arrow chuckled as he accepted the handshake. "Ever since these kids jumped over you've been the main topic of conversation among the other league members, they made you out to be some kind of living legend."
"Considering all that I've done for them, I'm not surprised." Captain America nodded with a grin before shaking Black Canary's hand. "And you are?"
"I'm Green Arrow, she's Black Canary, we've pretty much taken the Kat and her friends under our wing since they jumped over, well us and the rest of the league." Green Arrow added as he glanced over at Kat. "As frustrated as Kat can get, we've been forging them into better heroes, one step at a time."
"I trained Kat myself, I know how frustrated she can get." Cap nodded before folding his arms as he glanced over at Kat who grinned sheepishly. "But she still turned out to be one of my best students." Cap added and Kat's sheepish grin turned into an embarrassed one at the complement. "I know off the league from talking with Yuri and Ehsan, from what I can gather, it's your dimension's equivalent to the Avengers."
"Yeah, only on a much larger scale." Green Arrow nodded before putting a hand to his earpiece. "J'onn, some more people have jumped over, five in total, they will need to be debriefed." Green Arrow said into his earpiece and J'onn nodded on the other end.
"Have they been active as long as Katrina and her friends?" J'onn asked and Green Arrow shook his head.
"No, they've been active longer." Green Arrow explained as he looked the veteran heroes over. "A lot longer, these are the guys who trained Kat and her friends."
"I see." J'onn nodded once it dawned on him. "If they have jumped over than it must be urgent, they will be beamed up first."
"See you on the other side Kat." Cap said to Kat who, frankly, was too shocked to even protest her stolen line as the five heroes were beamed up.
"So, anyone object to calling this the craziest week ever?" Marco asked and the others turned to him. "And what the hell is happening back home that it brought the Avengers over?"
"I don't know, I think a better question is, why were they able to jump over as a group." Green Arrow shrugged before glancing over at were the portal was. "Target may have gotten away, but this may be bigger than him."