J'onn had been reviewing the scenes from Adriana's beatdown at the hands of the Legion of Doom members on the monitors and once Green Arrow had made the call to him, he was ready for action.
"Have the paramedics on the ready, we have an injured hero about to be beamed up." J'onn said into the comm system catching the attention of the heroes in the foyer which mostly consisted of junior members alongside Wonder Woman as the paramedics rushed to the teleporters to escort Adriana's body to the med bay.
Once Adriana's unconscious form was teleported up there was a collective gasp among the League members as the paramedics pushed through the crowd, in particular were Yuri, Kat, Marco, Pierre and Travis who immediately rushed to their friend's side as she fell backwards no longer having anything to support her weight, once the paramedics had loaded Adriana onto the stretcher Pierre and Wonder Woman rushed up to the control room. "J'onn, what happened to her?" Wonder Woman asked and J'onn looked up.
"She was led into an ambush by several Supervillains, by the time backup arrived she was barely conscious." J'onn responded as he monitored the situation. "Green Arrow made a judgment call, whilst Adriana is under suspension this is the fastest method for her to get the medical attention she needs."
"Why would they do that to her?" Pierre wondered as he glanced towards the med-bay. "She's barely been in this world a week she can't have enemies already."
"This doesn't seem to be a targeted attack, it seemed they planned to do this to whoever showed up at a staged robbery." J'onn responded as he shook his head. "Claudia was one of the first ones on the scene, I can only imagine what's going through her head."
*meanwhile*
Whilst Adriana was recovering on board the Watchtower the heroes who were still at Maximillian's were seeing to it that the villains who had perpetuated the attack on her were being sent off to jail, all except for Ultra-Humanite and Electro.
"So, you just jumped over right as that generator was going haywire, got arrested in short order, then got busted out of jail so you could randomly beat up a Superhero?" Green Arrow asked with a raised eyebrow as he approached Electro, Black Canary and Claudia were with them and Claudia was glaring daggers at Electro. "You realize you could've killed Lo Divino in the process? Or at the very least, cripple her?"
"You think I give a shit about that brat?" Electro scoffed as she locked eyes with Green Arrow. "Anyone with common sense would've known that trying to take on that many Supervillains at once is suicide anyway, if it weren't for your so called Justice League, we would've done your world a huge favour, by exercising our own brand of Social Darwinism."
"That's not what Natural Selection means, and you know it!" Green Arrow growled before he got a notification from his earpiece. "Arrow here."
"Green Arrow, Lo Divino was taken to the infirmary as soon as she was beamed up, though I must say that seeing one of the League's youngest members in such a bad state has had a profound impact on the League's moral." J'onn responded with a tone of voice that made him sound angry and Green Arrow nodded. "Ultra-Humanite has been taken in for questioning, Green Lantern wants someone from the ground team to assist in it."
"I'll ask Earthshaker if he wants to go up, Claudia might be a bit too emotional for something like that." Green Arrow responded before he walked off to fetch Ehsan alongside Black Canary, once she was alone Claudia walked over to Electro.
"Finally getting a say in this, huh sweet cheeks?" Electro taunted her as Claudia stood there, glaring at Electro. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue or are you mad that you failed to protect that whore you call…" Electro never finished her sentence as Claudia punched her right in the gut doubling her over.
"That, was for Addy's leg." Claudia said though gritted teeth as Electro got back to her feet. "This, is for all the pain you just put my sister through for the hell of it!" Claudia added as she punched Electro in the jaw hard enough to break it, the Supervillain tried to get away at that point, but Claudia wasn't about to let her as she pulled Electro to her feet. "And this, this is for almost killing my younger sister!" Claudia added as she went to throw a punch with all her might at Electro's forehead.
Fortunately for the villain, Black Canary had heard it all and rushed in to pull Claudia away from Electro. "Claudia, that's enough!" Black Canary said as she struggled to restrain the Mexican woman.
"Let me go Canary!" Claudia growled as she tried to break free. "You saw what she and the others did to Adriana!"
"Is this what Adriana would want? For you to sink to their level?" Black Canary asked and Claudia stopped dead in her tracks. "Right now, your sister needs you more than ever, do you think that killing Electro will make things right?"
"I…" Claudia said as she finally calmed down and Black Canary let her go. "I failed her damn it! I was supposed to protect her but no, because I didn't accompany her on the rest of her patrol, she got hurt!" Claudia added and her mask didn't need to come off for Canary to tell that she was in tears as she said that.
"I think we'd better have J'onn beam her up." Green Arrow responded sadly as he walked up to the two women. "Her sister will want to see her when she wakes up and J'onn has made it clear that the founding members want to chat with her about this."
"Off course they do," Claudia sighed as she as she folded her arms. "Better get ready to join my sister on the suspension list." Claudia added before she was beamed up.
*a few days later*
The past few days had blended in for Adriana as most of them were spent recuperating from her injuries and being visited by different League members but now that she could finally move on her own she was off to her first session with J'onn.
"I swear, if one more person says that it's good to see me back on my feet I'll scream." Adriana thought with a groan as she made her way through the halls of the Justice League's Watchtower, there was still a noticeable limp and most of the stitches hadn't come out yet but Adriana was back on her feet and looking like her old self again. "Okay yeah, getting pins and needles constantly was annoying as all hell but I just want to get this over with."
"Hey Adriana." Green Arrow greeted her, and Adriana closed her eyes with a sigh before she turned to the older hero. "Good to see you back on your feet again."
"And as much as I appreciate the sentiments, I've heard that phrase so many times since I was discharged from the medical bay that I'm getting sick of it." Adriana responded with an annoyed sigh as she folded her arms. "The fact that I'm still shaking off the concussion is not helping."
"Look, I get what your saying but it's not exactly often that a League member has to be rushed off to the medical bay after being teleported up, and that's not even counting the state we found you in." Green Arrow pointed out and Adriana nodded reluctantly. "You can't really blame the league members for being glad that you're on the road for recovery."
"I'm not blaming them, just got tired of hearing the same phrase over and over." Adriana admitted as she messaged her temples. "At least it can't get worse."
"Ahh, Adriana is back on her feet! Great!" Skeets' robotic voice rang out and Adriana immediately started to regret her choice of words. "Another life saved…..."
"By the incredible Booster Gold!" Booster added and Adriana groaned before turning to the futuristic Superhero. "Next time though, be sure to call Booster Gold!"
"Yeah, sure." Adriana said through gritted teeth as the futuristic Superhero walked off. "¡Jodida idiota!" Adriana muttered under her breath in Spanish once she was sure that Booster Gold was out of earshot. "On second thought, being told that it's good to see me back on my feet isn't too bad."
"I had a feeling you'd say that, and I'm not even going to ask for a translation." Green Arrow nodded with a chuckle. "If your looking for J'onn's therapy room, it's right here." Green Arrow added before opening the door for her and sure enough J'onn was sitting there waiting for her.
"Gracias, hopefully this won't be too painful." Adriana thanked Green Arrow before entering the room and letting it close behind her.
"I'll do my best to make this painless." J'onn assured her and Adriana limped over to the chair. "How are your wounds if you don't mind me asking?"
"My ribs are healing up nicely and aside from the limp, I'm definitely on the mend, I just hope that this limp isn't permanent, KGBeast and the other Supervillains were hell bent on making sure I couldn't get away." Adriana responded as she glanced at the leg she had been limping on. "Doc says it should be a couple of more days until I'm discharged, as for how long until I'm back in action as Lo Divino, well, sooner the better really because I feel like I'm going to die from boredom up here."
"Most would argue that that is preferable to dying painfully, as you almost did." J'onn pointed out and Adriana quickly nodded in agreement. "How these sessions will work is simple, I will read your mind for however long it'll take to assess your mental health, and discuss possible solutions once I am done, Claudia has already mentioned your struggles with anxiety."
"Now I'm not so sure." Adriana responded as she started to get nervous. "There are certain things that I'd rather keep private you know?"
"Off course, but if those things are what is affecting your performance than it can't be helped." J'onn pointed out and Adriana still hesitated. "The results from these sessions will be confidential, anything personal that I learn about you will remain between us."
"Fine, let's get this over with." Adriana nodded with a reluctant sigh and J'onn started to read her mind, it lasted a good ten minutes but it felt a lot longer as J'onn read her mind until he was finished. "Sorry if my mind was a bit of a mess, still shaking off that concussion."
"No need to apologize, but I believe I understand your recent issues now." J'onn nodded and Adriana hesitated. "This Rachel woman, do you love her?"
"I should've known this was coming." Adriana sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "But yeah, I love her, and I'm guessing by that you know that I'm a lesbian?"
"Indeed, that seemed to be the main source of your recent anxiety." J'onn nodded as he leaned forward. "You're afraid of rejection from your family and how the public will perceive you if you go public."
"It doesn't help that Rachel's parents threw her out when she came out, all I want is for the public to not treat me any differently when I do come out." Adriana sighed as she lowered her head. "No one else in the League will know until I come out right?"
"Like I said, these sessions are confidential." J'onn nodded and Adriana breathed a sigh of relief. "But I will say that you didn't have to lie to the League to keep your secret, only those with top level security clearance can view the real names on the League bios after all and that clearance is reserved for the League's founding members, if you had just told us then your secret would've been kept safe."
"If your goal was to make me feel like a goddamn idiot, congrats, you've succeeded." Adriana sighed as J'onn's words sunk in. "But even with that in mind, I can't risk it, what if some League staffer leaked it to the public?"
"Each League staffer is carefully vetted by the League and even if one did leak it, they would find themselves unemployed in record time." J'onn tried to assure Adriana but could tell from the look on her face that it wasn't having the desired effect. "We value secrecy here in the Justice League Adriana, that is a rule which is made clear to every new hire as you no doubt learned when you and your sister were invited to join the League."
"Yeah, but as the old cliché goes, rules are made to be broken and let's face it, I haven't had the best track record myself when it comes to obeying the rules." Adriana pointed out as she ran a hand through her hair. "Need I remind you why I was suspended from the League in the first place?"
"That was another thing I wanted to bring up." J'onn commented and Adriana bit her lip. "This seems to be a secondary cause of your anxiety but even after everything Raymundo did and what he planned to do to you and your family, that incident in Bludhaven is weighing heavily on your conscious." J'onn added and Adriana let out a deep breath.
"Much as I want to say otherwise, your right." Adriana admitted reluctantly as she shifted her weight. "Initially I just chalked it up to getting read the riot act by you and the other founding members, nothing puts the fear of god in you like Batman listing off the reasons why we never sink to the level of common thugs like Raymundo, right? But after a few days of thinking it over and especially during that beatdown, I realised that it was my conscious talking, much as I hate Raymundo for what he did to Jose, the fact that I was that close to taking a man's life has been eating at me ever since."
"I understand that in your home world, mutants like yourself and humans are considered separate beings, even if physically there's nothing distinguishing you or Claudia from any other young woman from Mexico." J'onn stated and Adriana nodded as she started to get the idea. "Even so, that is part of what makes you human, I did see a few happy memories in there with you and Raymundo from before Jose's death."
"Gods, how young was I in those memories? I was only fourteen when Jose was killed for gods' sake." Adriana wondered out loud as she stared at the ceiling for a good minute. "That feels like a lifetime ago to be honest with you J'onn, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a lot stronger than I was back then, physically and mentally."
"I have seen for myself how true that is, physically speaking." J'onn stated and Adriana started to get nervous again. "But what I saw in there was someone who tries desperately to hide their insecurities behind a veil of confidence, even arrogance." J'onn added and Adriana went to leave. "We are not done Adriana."
"You may not be done but I am." Adriana said as she glanced over her shoulder. "I didn't come here for a fellow Superhero to play Dr. Phil!"
"But that is the purpose of these sessions, is it not?" J'onn asked and Adriana hesitated before turning towards the Martian. "You may not want to believe it, but it is true, and the fact that you are clearly afraid to admit it merely confirms me theories."
"I…." Adriana trailed off before limping back to the chair and sitting down. "I've always been competitive, gaming, cooking, you name it, I've probably taking it way to seriously." Adriana admitted as she took a deep breath. "That only increased tenfold when I started my Superhero career, after years of seeing older Superheroes like Spider-Man and Iron Man make it look so easy I thought it would be a piece of cake for me and Claudia, she, off course, had a much more realistic outlook on the whole thing."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but many in the League consider Claudia to be the more mature of the twin sisters, and that you still have a lot of room to grow." J'onn pointed out and Adriana nodded in agreement. "We will work through your anxiety Adriana, I fear that it might be the one thing holding you back from reaching your true potential as Lo Divino and from what I saw, you haven't even begun to tap into your powers yet."
"Even though I've had them for a little over two years?" Adriana asked as she was clearly taken aback by this. "Just how powerful am I, exactly?"
"A lot more powerful than you realize and given that she's your twin sister I suspect the same to be true for Claudia." J'onn nodded as it started to sink in to Adriana. "You have great potential Adriana but unless you can overcome your anxiety issues you may never…."
"That's easy for you to say!" Adriana interrupted him as she stood up and walked behind the chair, she turned her back to him and folded her arms before closing her eyes. "I've been struggling with this shit since I was fourteen, I thought operating as a Superhero would make it easier! Instead all it's done is make my anxiety attacks worse when they do happen."
"I never said that it was easy, maintaining world peace never is." J'onn responded and Adriana glanced over at him. "That was part of the reason the League was founded, to give troubled Superheroes like you a support network for when you need it, it's never been perfect and we have asked members to leave the League when they have gone to far but that is the exception, never the rule."
"Yeah, and I came dangerously close to joining those exceptions when I almost killed Raymundo." Adriana admitted with a sigh before glancing over at J'onn. "This shit is going to take more than one session, isn't it?"
"Unfortunately, yes my goal was to assess your mental state after the ambush but it's clear to me that your issues run deeper than that." J'onn nodded solemnly and Adriana turned back to him. "Have you spoken to Claudia since that day?"
"Aside from when I woke up in the infirmary, not really, she's been busy with League work but whenever she gets a chance, she has been visiting me in the infirmary." Adriana nodded as she let out a deep breath. "Why do you ask?"
"You might want to ask her about her behaviour following the ambush." J'onn nodded and Adriana gave him a confused look. "She had to be pulled off Electro by Black Canary, otherwise she would've punched a hole through her head."
"Like what happened with me and Raymundo?" Adriana asked as she felt a lump in her throat. "What's going to happen to her?"
"She has been reprimanded but given the circumstances, we opted not to suspend her." J'onn nodded as Adriana turned to him. "She felt like she had failed to protect you as your older sister and was inconsolable afterword, in the end it boiled down to one question, what would we do if something like that happened to a loved one of ours?"
"Why didn't she say so when I woke up the day after?" Adriana wondered as she looked at the ground. "Lately she's been reminding me that I can tell her anything, regardless of how badly I fucked up or how embarrassing it was, yet here she is, keeping that from me?"
"There could be a number of reasons, if I had to guess, it would be because she didn't want you to worry about her." J'onn nodded and Adriana nodded hesitantly. "That'll be all for today, try not to put to much pressure on that leg, I can see from here that you are still favouring it."
"It's still better than it was during the ambush, I couldn't even walk on the damn thing." Adriana nodded as she glanced towards her bad leg before she went to leave the room. "In the meantime, I have a lot to think about."
"Once you feel up for it, I will see to it that you are given lighter assignments to get you back into form." J'onn assured her and Adriana looked up. "It'd be security detail and things of that nature, but you wouldn't be working alone."
"As long as I'm not working with Booster Gold I won't complain." Adriana nodded before leaving the room, as she limped down the halls the eighteen year old let out a deep breath. "That was a lot heavier than I was expecting, but can I really trust the League to keep my sexuality a secret until I'm ready? I have a lot to think about." Adriana thought before walking away.
*a few days later*
Adriana had finally been discharged from the med-bay and allowed to return home and whilst she was still favouring her leg, she was getting around a lot better now, but she still had some things to sort out.
"Addy, I'm so sorry I led you into that ambush!" Rachel apologized sincerely over the video call, Adriana was home alone for a while as Claudia was working a shift on the Watchtower and she had used the opportunity to contact her girlfriend. "I honestly thought it was just Ultra-Humanite and some thugs, if I had known better, I would've advised calling Claudia first!"
"And if I had known better, I wouldn't have spent the past few days with half the League babying me." Adriana sighed in annoyance as she glanced towards her leg. "In one respect, I'm glad that I couldn't call you at first because my face was still cut up and bruised from the beatdown for a couple of days afterwards, and yeah, I wish I had called Claudia." Adriana added before taking a moment to fix her ponytail. "Don't get me wrong, being served breakfast in bed by Claudia because she doesn't want me walking on my bum leg is great and all but having to face my parents after almost being killed? That was not fun."
"I can only imagine." Rachel nodded sympathetically before grinning a bit. "And if you wanted breakfast in bed, I could've come over at any point."
"Sad thing is? I'm not sure if that's a sexual innuendo or not, probably because I'm still feeling the effects of the concussion." Adriana responded semi-jokingly and Rachel laughed. "Speaking off, it'll be a couple of days until I'm able to come over again, Claudia doesn't want me to aggravate my injuries, she's even moved the PS4 we share into my room, TV and everything!"
"At least she cares about you, though I dread to think of what she's doing instead." Rachel responded with a chuckle before Adriana reached over to grab her Nintendo Switch.
"We both have one of these babies each, it's not like she's going to die from boredom in her room." Adriana explained before putting the Switch down. "There's also the elephant in the room, one of the league members knows that I'm gay."
"Yeah, you mentioned that in the e-mail." Rachel nodded as she brushed some hair over her shoulder. "I thought you were waiting until you were ready to come out?"
"I was and I still am, but it became inescapable because the League wanted my mental health assessed following the ambush." Adriana explained as she let out a deep breath. "The guy who was acting as my therapist was J'onn Jonzz, the Martian Manhunter? He can read minds and he read mine to open up the session, he learned of my new found sexuality through that but he has promised me that he'll keep it a secret until I'm ready to come out."
"Do you trust him?" Rachel asked and Adriana gave her a surprised look. "I know it's a terrible thing to think of regarding one of the League's founding members but Brittany was outed as bi by someone she thought she could trust, namely her younger brother, she doesn't speak to her family much these days."
"As if my anxiety about coming out wasn't bad enough already." Adriana sighed as she ran a hand down her face. "But yeah, I trust him, I mean he's trusted with the main monitoring duties up in the Watchtower and I'm not the first one he's acted as a therapist for, youngest? Probably, the first? Definitely not, I feel safe in the knowledge that I can trust him."
"If you feel you can trust him, then that's good enough for me, you know him a lot better than I do." Rachel nodded in agreement as she let out a deep breath. "Look, I know you can't come over to my place right now but what if I came over to yours whilst Claudia's on shift? You gotta be getting lonely up there."
"You would be gentle with me, right? I'm still recovering from my broken ribs!" Adriana responded with a grin before sighing. "I appreciate the thought but Claudia could come hone early from a shift at any point for any reason and if we're in bed together and she comes in without knocking then the whole lid is blown off the idea of me coming out when I'm ready."
"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Rachel nodded in understanding before an idea popped into her head. "Though if we're doing it under the covers and I'm going down on you, you can always act like your getting an early night's sleep."
"And you remain perfectly still?" Adriana asked and Rachel nodded. "Only problem there is that there's only one time I go to bed naked and that's when I'm having sex with you or any of the other girls, the sight of me covering up my boobs with the bedsheet would be enough to make Claudia suspicious even if she quickly closed the door to give us some privacy."
"We're going to have to think about this a bit harder, aren't we?" Rachel sighed and Adriana nodded before there was a knock at the door. "Sounds like I'd better go, but me and the girls are putting together a Get Well Soon card for you, don't worry, it won't have any explicit images."
"After the past week I've had, that sounds like just the thing I need to cheer me up." Adriana responded with a grin before easing herself out of her desk chair. "I'll talk to you later babe, it's probably a League member who Claudia asked to check on me."
"Will do, and I hope you'll be able to visit me sooner rather than later." Rachel nodded before blowing her girlfriend a kiss which Adriana returned and hanging up.
"My leg might be a lot better than it was following the ambush." Adriana though with a grimace as she limped towards the door to her bedroom and then to the front door. "But it still hurts like hell, the doc said I should see him urgently if I'm still limping after a week, but I hope it won't come to that."
"You will heal soon my child." An unknown feminine voice rang out from inside Adriana's head and she stopped just as she reached the door. "I will be watching over you."
"Ha-ha, very funny guys, you can come out at any time." Adriana laughed sarcastically as she looked around the apartment but when nothing happened, she laughed again, this time a lot more nervously than sarcastically. "Great, as if my anxiety weren't bad enough, I'm starting to lose my mind! I need to bring this up to J'onn in our next session." Adriana thought with a sigh before there was another knock at the door and she shook her head. "I'll worry about that later, don't want to keep the guests waiting." Adriana thought before answering the door.
Almost as soon as she did, a one year old black furred German Shepherd jumped onto her shoulders and started to lick her face, once the surprise wore off she quickly recognized the dog as Yuri's pet dog Kage and she patted it on the head before Ehsan pulled the dog off her. "Sorry about that Addy, you know how excited he can get." Yuri apologized and Adriana grinned.
"You guys I was expecting, what I wasn't expecting to get my face licked off by our four legged friend here." Adriana greeted the young couple who, like Adriana, were dressed in their civilian clothes and she let them in, she closed the door behind her and limped over to the couch. "Not that I'm complaining off course." Adriana added as Kage came up to her and she stroked his head.
"Yeah well, after the week you've had we figured you could use a cheer up." Yuri responded as she let Kage off his lead. "He's been living with my parents since they got a place of their own, but they allowed us to bring him here."
"It helps that today's our day off." Ehsan shrugged as Kage plopped down to the floor by Yuri's feet. "How are you feeling anyway? I haven't seen you since the ambush?"
"A lot better than I felt after the ambush, not that that's saying much." Adriana sighed as she glanced towards her bad leg. "I'm still limping on this damn thing but it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it did, the concussion has more or less passed and my ribs are healing nicely, I'm still not sure what the end goal was for those guys."
"J'onn wasn't able to get much out of Ultra-Humanite's mind after it was fried so we're just as clueless as you are." Ehsan shrugged his shoulders in response and Adriana nodded. "And we did notice the limp. I pulled Kage off you because I was worried that he would unintentionally make your injury worse."
"I can definitely think of worse ways to make my injuries any worse." Adriana joked as she glanced over at Kage. "Still feel like an idiot for not calling in backup."
"I'm still not sure what backup you could've called since the League confiscated your comm when you were put on suspension." Yuri pointed out and Adriana glanced up at her. "But I guess you could've called Claudia and she could've called J'onn for backup if needed."
"Yeah, anything would've been better than me going into something that, in hindsight, was an obvious trap." Adriana admitted before stretching her arms for a bit. "By the way, before I opened the door, did you guys here anything coming from inside the apartment?"
"Inside? Well, I thought I heard your voice for a second but aside from that, no." Ehsan responded as he shook his head. "Why do you ask?"
"I would say that this is going to sound weird but we're Superheroes, dealing with weird shit is part of our job." Adriana stated plainly as she thought back a bit. "But before I opened the door and was greeted by your fur baby, I heard a voice coming from inside my own head, something that sounded nothing like any of my thoughts before you ask, for one thing whilst it was a woman's voice it sounded older, I'd say around the same age as my mom."
"You sure you're not going crazy?" Ehsan asked and Adriana gave him a playful glare. "What did this woman say to you?"
"She said that I would be healing soon and that she'd be watching over me." Adriana responded before linking her hands behind her head and leaning back. "I'm not sure if it was a guardian angel or something like that but I haven't heard her voice since then, granted it's only been a few minutes but I'm still not sure what to think of it."
"Well, you are right, weird stuff and this profession does go hand in hand." Yuri nodded in agreement before Kage walked up to her for some fuss. "You and Claudia are religious right?"
"Si, but whilst the rest of our family is Catholic, me and Claudia are Polytheist, after meeting so many literal gods since becoming Superheroes we thought that it was ridiculous to just believe in one god." Adriana nodded as she got the idea whilst Yuri continued to fuss Kage. "If your asking if this voice had any religious connotations, I'm not sure, it could be an angel from heaven looking over me or a Valkyrie from Valhalla trying to guide me in battle for all I know." Adriana added before sighing. "I would ask one of my more religious relatives, but I don't know where they ended up thanks to the generator and me and Claudia haven't been on speaking terms with them since we dropped Catholicism for Polytheism."
"Even though you still believe in the same god, only that he's not exactly lonely up there?" Yuri asked and Adriana nodded sadly. "Well, it's not like the League's short on religious members, you could always ask Wonder Woman to see what she thinks."
"I won't be seeing her until I'm off the injured reserve list and there's still the possibility that she'll just think I'm losing it." Adriana pointed out before sighing. "I think the best place to ask about that is during J'onn's sessions, I don't know if he follows any religion but considering his powers, if he can't give me any insight then I don't know who can."
"Let's just hope that it's something religious and not you going mad." Ehsan responded with a nod before he and Yuri got a call from J'onn, after a few seconds he nodded before they turned to Adriana. "Hate to leave you so soon but we've got a League Assignment with Green Lantern."
"I thought you said that today's your day off?" Adriana asked with a confused look on her face and they nodded.
"I did, but apparently the League's short staffed due to a spike in jump overs." Ehsan responded as Kage looked up at them with his head tilted. "Green Lantern probably would've called you if you weren't recovering. You okay with looking after Kage for us?"
"I'm okay with it, might want to ask Claudia when you get up there though." Adriana shrugged before she lay down on the couch. "I don't think she'll be expecting to see a dog in the apartment when she comes back."
"True enough, and we'll stop off at our parents' apartment to grab his dog food and other bits." Yuri nodded before they were beamed up and Adriana sighed as Kage looked around for his owners.
"Sorry doggo, they'll be gone for a while." Adriana apologized to the dog who turned to her with a head tilt. "At least until they return with his food which shouldn't take too long." Adriana thought before yawning as she started to feel tired. "Why am I feeling so tired all of a sudden?" Adriana thought before Ehsan teleported back in carrying some carrier bags.
"Okay, this should be everything Kage needs." Ehsan commented as the German Shepherd walked up to him with his tail wagging. "He generally eats at the same time as the family, he's good on the lead though given how bad your leg is, you might want to leave that to Claudia, this carrier bag has all his favourite tennis balls and other toys and off course, his food and water bowls." Ehsan added as he put Kage's stuff on the kitchen counter. "Any questions?"
"No, I think you covered it." Adriana responded as she shook her head. "What's the mission anyway?"
"Monster sighting in Tokyo, Yuri's really excited to be going to her home country." Ehsan responded with a warm smile as he started putting everything away. "This is more for Claudia's benefit when she gets back but Kage's dog food is being put in the bottom cupboard, his bowls are on the floor and the lead is on the kitchen counter." Ehsan added before Adriana let out a yawn. "Am I boring you Addy?"
"No, I just feel tired as fuck for some reason." Adriana shrugged as she poked her head up from the couch. "It's not like I had a late night yesterday either, I was up till 1:00am playing GTA Online before I finally went to bed."
"Most would consider that a late night but whatever, if you need a power nap to get through the day then I'm not gonna stop you." Ehsan responded with a shrug and Adriana grinned in response. "Oh, before I forget, we talked it over with Claudia and she's happy to assist you in dog sitting Kage and that she'll be back in a few hours."
"Tell her that I'm looking forward to it." Adriana nodded as she stretched her arms. "Just don't mention how tired I am?"
"Deal." Ehsan nodded before he frowned. "Before I leave, you mind if I ask you something Addy?" Ehsan asked and Adriana blinked before nodding. "Me and Yuri were getting worried about how bad your limp is and I was part of the cavalry that saved your life, so I have to ask, how are you feeling?"
"As bad as the limp is, it's still a lot better than how my leg was after during the ambush." Adriana sighed as she glanced at her bad leg. "I couldn't even put any weight on it without collapsing to the floor, it was that bad! I honestly thought they had broken it after my initial escape attempt inevitably failed." Adriana added as she folded her arms. "Appropriately enough, the thing that clued me into the fact that it wasn't broken was the fact that I had previously broken my arm on the first day of summer break."
"Ouch." Ehsan winced with a sympathetic look on his face. "So, you spent the rest of summer with your arm in a sling?"
"Si, to make matters worse, that was my first summer as an American citizen after moving from Mexico, me and Claudia had been hyping it up to the high heavens and I ended up spending several months not being able to do much physical activity thanks to my arm." Adriana nodded before sighing. "Back on topic, I don't know what those bastards did to my leg but once the painkillers wore off, it hurt like hell, the pain's a lot more tolerable now but I still have to take the painkillers to get through the day."
"I bet that has to sting, knowing how strongly you feel about drugs." Ehsan nodded sympathetically and Adriana nodded back before Ehsan turned his back on her. "J'onn, I'm ready when you are." Ehsan added once he activated his comms and seconds later, he was gone again.
"If I had known that getting injured would result in me dogsitting Yuri's fur baby, I would've done it sooner." Adriana thought with a yawn before she grabbed the nearest couch cushion and used it as a makeshift pillow. "Maybe Ehsan's right, maybe a power nap is what I need." Adriana thought before resting her head on the cushion and before long she was fast asleep.
*inside Adriana's dream*
When Adriana opened her eyes again, she found herself in a white, narrow hallway that seemed to go on forever, the eighteen year old looked around and realized that it seemed to be the same in the other direction and started walking forward.
"Is this the afterlife?" Adriana thought as she walked along before shaking her head. "No, the cliché is "light at the end of a dark tunnel", not white tunnel that seems to go on forever." Adriana thought before realization hit her. "Wait, I'm not limping? And my head and ribs feel fine? Where the hell am I?!" Adriana thought before getting her pocket mirror out to check her face. "No sign of the cuts and bruises either and I bet that if I lifted up my shirt to see if the burns are still there then they'd be gone as well."
"It seems the time has come for us to finally meet." The same feminine voice from before rang out and Adriana looked up to see a woman appearing before her, dressed in white robes and looking to be the same height as Wonder Woman Adriana would almost feel intimidated by her if not for the warm feeling she gave off. "Adriana Alverez."
"Who are you? Where am I?" Adriana asked as she looked around. "And what happened to my injuries?"
"I cannot say who I am, as for where you are, you are in my domain." The woman responded as she stepped towards the teenager. "I have been watching over you and your sister since the day of your birth, you and your sister have been fated for great things since your birth."
"Fated?!" Adriana asked as she took a step back. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Tell me child, how do you believe that you and Claudia got your powers?" The woman asked and Adriana blinked a couple of times.
"We're mutants, our powers activated shortly after we moved to New York in 2018." Adriana nodded as she glanced up at the woman. "Right?"
"You are partially correct your powers did awaken at that time." The woman nodded before she knelt in front of her giving Adriana a better look at her gorgeous face and long flowing blonde hair. "But what if I told you that neither you nor Claudia possess the X-Gene?"
"Wait, what?!" Adriana asked her jaw hung agape and the woman put a hand on her shoulder. "Then, how did we get our powers?!"
"It is true that your powers awoke when you and your sister were sixteen." The woman nodded before embracing Adriana. "But your powers are magical, not genetic."
"This is a load of horsecrap!" Adriana said as she backed away from the woman. "You honestly expect me to believe that?!"
"Did you ever wonder why the X-Men never tried to recruit you or your sister?" The woman asked Adriana and Adriana couldn't find the words to respond to that question. "They tried to recruit Katrina, Marco and Yuriko but never approached you or Claudia, isn't that right?"
"Yeah, we never heard a peep from them." Adriana nodded as it started to sink in. "I just assumed that they stopped trying to recruit internship members after Kat and Marco turned down their proposal." Adriana said as she ran a hand through her hair. "What are you saying exactly? That you are the sauce of our powers?"
"I am the source of your powers and my associate is the source of Claudia's powers." The woman corrected Adriana as she stepped towards her. "And you have yet to fully realize just how powerful you are."
"I know, J'onn said as much in the interview." Adriana nodded s she rubbed her arm uncomfortably. "Just how powerful am I? Or Claudia for that matter?"
"All you need to know if this, you and your sister have been endowed with the power of gods." The woman responded as she stood up and turned her back to Adriana. "And it is only a matter of time before you fully realise your potential for good."
"Power of gods?" Adriana whispered to herself before the dream started to fade. "Wait, I have so many other questions!"
"We will meet again Adriana, and you should ask Claudia if she had similar dreams and experiences." The woman responded before waving at her. "Until then, fair well my child." The woman added before leaving Adriana.
*back in the real world*
Adriana awoke with a start to the sound of food cooking, after rubbing her tired eyes she sat up to see Claudia in the kitchen preparing some food.
"How long was I out exactly?!" Adriana thought as she started to straighten out her hair before Claudia looked up.
"Ehsan mentioned that you were having a power nap before he left, I didn't think it would last this long." Claudia commented as she glanced towards her younger sister. "Do you know what time it is?"
"I left my phone in my bedroom so no." Adriana responded as she shook her head. "I know Ehsan and Yuri came over at around two and left for that League Assignment fifteen minutes later, I dozed off not long after Ehsan returned to drop off Kage's stuff."
"Yes, I did notice the large dog salivating over my food." Claudia commented with a grin as she glanced towards Kage. "I got off shift at four o'clock and you were fast asleep, the doc said to keep your injured leg elevated so I put a pillow under it." Claudia added and Adriana looked up to see the pillow under her injured leg. "Surprised that didn't wake you up, you're usually a lighter sleeper than that."
"You're not just saying that because I control light energy, right?" Adriana commented with a grin getting a laugh out of her sister. "To be honest, I had a weird ass dream and I'm still wrapping my head around it, Claudia have you had any voices talk to you lately?"
"I've been working up in the Watchtower, your going to have to be more specific than that." Claudia pointed out and Adriana nodded.
"I mean from within your own head, and no, I don't mean your thoughts either." Adriana responded getting a confused look from her older sister. "Look, I know this is going to sound weird but before I answered the door to let Ehsan, Yuri and Kage in I heard a woman's voice in my head, she sounded older, like around the same age as mom? She said that I would heal soon and that she was watching over me."
"Okay, that is weird, especially considering our profession." Claudia nodded in agreement as she continued to cook the food. "But now that you mention it, yeah, I have heard a voice like that, namely when I was starting my shift but since it sounded like Wonder Woman's voice and she was nearby I put it out of my mind." Claudia added as she checked on something that she had cooking in the oven. "Is this tied to the dream you mentioned."
"Yeah, and I'm still wrapping my head around it like I said." Adriana nodded as she leaned back. "Here's the jist of it, I was visited in my dream by a woman who spoke with the same voice I heard, she said that she had been watching over us since birth." Adriana added as she let out a deep breath. "And that we have been completely wrong about the source of our powers."
"Excuse me?!" Claudia asked as she blinked a few times. "Adriana, our powers awoke while we were going through puberty, like most mutants' powers, are you saying that it was magic instead?"
"Got it in one." Adriana nodded and if Claudia wasn't confused before she was now. "In fact, it was more than that, she said that our powers had been given to us by gods."
"Gods?!" Claudia asked as she did several dozen double takes. "I have several questions, like why would a god chose two random Mexican girls who happened to be twin sisters to endow with their powers, and just how powerful are we exactly?!"
"The second question does tie into something J'onn brought up during my first session with him, that I had barely scratched the surface of my powers." Adriana responded after thinking back to the session. "And I was sceptical as well, but she brought up a good point, if we are mutants, then why hasn't the X-Men tried to recruit us?"
"They had a full roster, they stopped trying to recruit internship members after Marco and Kat rejected their offers." Claudia suggested with a shrug after thinking for a bit. "There are any number of reasons Addy, but if we aren't mutants and we are demi-gods or something then why us?"
"She didn't say, but I had so many things going through my head at the time" Adriana added, and Claudia was clearly taken aback by this. "Like the fact that we haven't even scratched the surface of our powers."
"Okay, sis, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Claudia asked and Adriana blinked before nodding. "I know this is a sensitive topic for you and I know you've been prescribed painkillers by the infirmary for obvious reasons, are you sure you weren't on drugs before you went to sleep?"
"No, off course not!" Adriana insisted as she eased herself off the couch. "I've been following the guidelines on the pill bottle to a t and besides, I know how easy it is to get addicted to painkillers, so I've been careful with my intake."
"I would go and check the pill bottle myself, but I don't want to leave food in the pan with a dog in the kitchen." Claudia sighed and Adriana started limping towards her room. "Where are you going?"
"To get my phone and the pill bottle, at least that way I can prove that I'm telling the truth." Adriana responded before she carefully limped into her room, seconds later she emerged with the pill bottle in one hand and the phone in the other and put the bottle next to the hob. "Go ahead, count the pills, I'll keep an eye on the food for you."
"Fine." Claudia responded before she picked up the bottle and Adriana kept an eye on the food like she said. "Okay, I believe you, the contents are consistent with you taking them twice daily since you were discharged from the Watchtower's infirmary." Claudia admitted defeat before handing the bottle back to Adriana. "But can you blame me for thinking that?"
"Not really, that dream was pretty out there." Adriana nodded in understanding before limping back to her room to return the pill bottle, once she had returned it to her bedside table she returned to the kitchen before looking at the pans. "Okay, I'm guessing the chicken thighs are for me and the veggies are yours?"
"My food's in the oven, the veggies in the pan have chorizo and bacon in them and are meant to accompany your chicken thighs." Claudia responded as she shook her head and Adriana nodded once she spotted the chorizo and bacon. "Wanted to do something quick and easy for when you woke up and this dish doesn't take as long as some of the Mexican dishes we know and love."
"I'm not arguing with that logic." Adriana admitted with a shrug. "What are you making for yourself anyway?"
"Vegan Mac and Cheese, got the recipe online and gave it a bit of a Mexican flare." Claudia responded with a shrug before checking on the Mac and Cheese. "And that was good timing, this Mac and Cheese is about done." Claudia added before grabbing the oven gloves and getting it out. "Your meal shouldn't be too far along either."
"I'm not a fan of vegan food but I'll admit, that looks good." Adriana admitted as she looked at the Mac and Cheese dish. "Did the website have a version for meat eaters like me?"
"Yeah, if you want, I can send you the link to that recipe so you can cook it once your leg's healed, I would've made you some regular Mac and Cheese but we only had enough ingredients for one." Claudia nodded before motioning to the table. "Go make yourself comfortable, you know the doc said to not stand on that leg for too long."
"Yeah, yeah." Adriana sighed in annoyance before limping over to the table and sitting down, a few minutes later Claudia put the Chicken Thigh dish in front of her sister and sat down opposite her with her Mac and Cheese and they started eating the food. "Say that this dream I had is right and we've been completely wrong about how we got our powers since we started our Superhero careers." Adriana commented as she finished the last Chicken Thigh and put the bone aside. "Who do we go too to confirm this exactly?"
"That's a good question." Claudia nodded once she swallowed her food. "If we were still back home, I would've suggested paying Dr. Strange a visit like Kat did when she was helping her dad with his unfinished business but he hasn't been found yet, saying that there are a fair few magic users in the Justice League itself, Zatanna and Dr. Fate come to mind."
"Zatanna's a stage magician who uses real magic in her shows, I'm not sure what good she could do for us." Adriana pointed out as she continued to eat her food. "Dr. Fate seems to be our best option since he seems to be this dimension's equivalent to Dr. Strange but he's even more aloof than Dr. Strange which is saying something."
"Shayera tends to hang around him a lot, if anyone can set up a meeting with Dr. Fate for us, it's her." Claudia nodded after thinking for a minute. "And that's if this woman that visited you isn't trying to mess with you somehow."
"That's the thing, I don't think she was." Adriana responded as she finished her meal and put her knife and fork down atop the plate. "If anything, she was motherly towards me, like she actually wanted to help me."
"We have a lot to think about, don't we sis?" Claudia asked as she finished her meal and started gathering up the plates. "I've got the day off tomorrow, so I'll be around to report to you on any weird dreams I have, did she say that she'll be visiting me?"
"No, she said that you got your powers from an associate of hers, guess that makes sense since you control dark energy." Adriana shrugged as she glanced over at her sister whilst Claudia did the dishes. "I'm going to be bringing up my dream to J'onn in my next session with him anyway, if he can't make sense of it, I'm not sure who can."
"I'm pretty sure J'onn's said before that Martians like him don't have dreams but if you think it'll help, then by all means." Claudia shrugged her shoulders as she did the dishes and Kage watched on. "I will admit, having Kage in the house is making me want to have a dog of our own."
"He has been good company." Adriana nodded in agreement before patting her good thigh to get Kage to come up to her and he did so. "Not sure how our landlord feels about dogs that are the size of Kage." Adriana added as she stroked Kage once he sat next to her.
"I'll ask Green Arrow if he can check for us, Kage's a sweetheart but dogs his size can be a handful." Claudia nodded as Adriana continued to stroke the dog. "Then again, we both have Super Strength so carrying around a dog his size shouldn't be too difficult for us."
"You realize that your talking to the same girl who couldn't knock out Killer Frost with a punch because she couldn't put enough strength behind it?" Adriana asked with a worried look on her face and Claudia winced. "I mean, looking back it was clearly because I was using most of my strength to support my weight after they did a number on my leg, but that memory has stuck with me." Adriana added before frowning. "Not that I'm complaining but I'm surprised they didn't try to break my leg."
"I'm not complaining either but maybe they didn't want you to pass out from having your leg broken?" Claudia responded before frowning as a thought occurred to her. "Which would mean that they wanted to keep you conscious for as long as they could whilst they "battled" you though in the same respect, I'm surprised that they didn't try to rape you." Claudia added and Adriana's frown deepened. "I'm not complaining about that either but if they wanted to do some real damage to you, what was stopping the male villains from dragging you to the back and, well, you know…"
"Thanks, I'm going to have nightmares about that." Adriana responded with a shudder before sighing. "There were three female villains in the shop, Killer Frost, Cheetah and Electro, Killer Frost is a sadist but I think even she would've objected to the men having their way with me, Cheetah is a member of Wonder Woman's rogues gallery and is a lot stronger than KGBeast, Shade and Ultra-Humanite and Electro may be relatively new to this but she's still a powerful Supervillain." Adriana added before remembering someone else. "And there's Ultra-Humanite, he may be a Supervillain but by all accounts, he's actually a decent guy and he was already uncomfortable with the whole ambush idea in the first place."
"So even if KGBeast and Shade wanted to do that to a female hero, they would've been out-voted four to two, not that we're complaining about that off course." Claudia responded and Adriana quickly nodded in agreement. "I think we need a pallet cleanser after that conversation, want to watch something on Disney+?"
"You read my mind." Adriana nodded with a grin before she eased herself out of the chair. "But maybe not Hunchback of Notre Dame, or do I need to remind you of the themes of that movie?"
"Good point, I'm still surprised they got half the themes they did get into the movie." Claudia nodded as she finished the washing up. "The Little Mermaid?"
"Fine but if I start singing along to Part of your World and I see you recording it, you'll be sorry." Adriana responded with a light hearted grin and Claudia laughed before the twin sisters sat down to watch the movie.
*a couple of days later*
It was another day and another session with J'onn for Adriana though this time, the Mexican teenager was getting around a lot better as her leg had healed up a lot faster than the infirmary staff had predicted, that didn't mean there was still a limp though but it wasn't as noticeable as it was the previous days.
"With any luck, I'll be back to normal in no time flat." Adriana thought as she limped through the halls of the Watchtower. "Still, the doc said that it'd be longer before I was back to normal, yet my concussion's gone and my ribs have almost completely healed up, I don't remember a healing factor being part of my powers though." Adriana thought before she approached the door to J'onn's therapy room.
However, as she entered the room, she realized that J'onn was not alone as sitting next to the Martian in his wheelchair was Professor X. "Good morning Adriana, I see your getting around better already." J'onn greeted her as Adriana sat down in the chair opposite him. "How are you feeling?"
"A lot better than I was before our first session, not that that's saying much." Adriana admitted as she made herself comfortable. "I didn't come at a bad time, did I? if you want me to wait until your done with Professor X I can wait outside."
"Professor X requested that he sit in on part of one of our sessions." J'onn informed her and Professor X nodded to confirm it. "His reasons for doing so were quite surprising."
"I overhead J'onn talking to Superman about the cliff notes from your first session with him." Professor X continued as he leaned forward. "What caught my attention was the fact that he referred to you a mutant."
"What are you saying exactly?" Adriana asked as she glanced between the two men. "And I thought you said that the sessions were confidential?"
"They are, Superman didn't ask for any details, only for a summery of your mental state." J'onn assured her and Adriana nodded as she got the idea. "Professor?"
"As I said, the fact that you were referred to as a mutant caught my attention." Professor X continued as he cleared his throat. "Do you remember what day you and Claudia get your powers?"
"Yeah, it was our birthday, the 23rd of May." Adriana nodded after thinking for a minute. "Why do you ask?"
"That merely confirms what I suspected." Professor X nodded as he frowned. "Adriana, on that day there was no new mutants detected."
"What?!" Adriana asked as her jaw dropped. "What are you saying?!"
"He's saying that there's no possible way that you and Claudia are mutants." J'onn continued and Adriana turned to him. "Batman had a look at the Cerebro technology that the professor uses to detect mutants, it is fool proof."
"Which begs the question, if you and your twin sister aren't mutants, then how did you get your powers?" Professor X asked and Adriana quickly recovered from the shock after thinking for a bit.
"There is one way I can think off." Adriana responded after thinking for a minute. "Even this is a stretch but on my first day back home after being discharged, I got a visit in a dream by some mysterious blonde woman, same height as Wonder Woman but older, at least as old as my mom, she said that she had been watching over me and Claudia since our birth, and that our powers came from a god."
"A god?" J'onn asked with a curious look on his face and Adriana nodded. "If you want me to go through this dream with you, I can, Martians don't have dreams, but I have done this before."
"If it helps me understand what's happening in my life, I'm all for it." Adriana nodded and J'onn started going through her dream.