Young Justice Reborn
Arc One: Origins & Unity - Part 1, The Aqua, Green, Girl
12/21/16 (Date started and finished) 8/2/2021 (Re-Upload)
~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~ September 23, 2016, in National City ~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~
Her name is Karanizu "Kara" Zor-El or Kara Danvers to the human family she lives. This young woman is one of the few remaining survivors of the planet Krypton. Zor-El and his family are lucky enough to survive in Argo City, a city floating in space that survives the destruction of Krypton and continues under a protective dome. Born twelve years after her homeworld destruction, Kara is now on Earth to avoid the extinction of her people. Hearing Kara's pod land on Earth, her cousin Kal-El, also known as Superman, helped her find a human family that he believes in enough to trust with raising her, the Danvers Family. This family previously helped Superman in the past, so it was an easy choice for Kal-El to make. However, those events were six months ago. Although her English is relatively good, learning all American customs and blending in are things Kara struggles.
As of yesterday, she's a fifteen-year-old young woman, a sophomore in National City Technical High School. For the past month, Kara's been slowly learning ancient methods from what she believes to be a flawed education. For now, she finds herself being bored nearly to sleep from chemistry class at the end of the school day. In Argo City, back on her homeworld, Kara's grades are perfect in advanced courses with many generations of further research. She is likely to be the valedictorian of her class on Argo City. That's all different now as she finds herself with elementary science and struggling with her studies.
In front of her sits a tall, portly young man sits, spitting his gum up in the air and snatching it in his mouth. Then, noticing she's struggling to stay awake, he takes an extra piece and offers it to Kara. "Strawberry gum?"
"Jason Price, do you have enough gum for the rest of the class?" The teacher catches his offer of gum to Kara.
The young man quickly looks in his fanny pack and sees it's full of candy. "I do have enough for the class."
The class snickers as the teacher write a note and place it on his desk. "Make sure you share it with everyone after class today."
The bell rings, and the students start getting up almost in unison. As Kara stands up, several girls push past her shoulder 'accidentally' as they leave the room and knock Kara's belongings out of her hands. For most of Jason's life, he's been the victim of bullies; not liking how the young ladies are treating the new girl, the young man helps out.
Handing her the Chemistry book, Jason looks at Kara. "Don't let them get to you. They picked on me too."
"Thanks, but they're not getting to me." Replies Kara as she grabs her backpack.
Hoping she accepts his advice, Jason shrugs his shoulders then pulls out the gum once again. "Whatever, want one? Offer's still open."
"No thanks." Pushing his hand aside gently, Kara smiles politely and walks past him.
Looking at the new girl, Jason looks at Kara's brunette hair that hangs almost to her waist. A young white man with emerald green eyes walks up behind him and pats his shoulder; Jason turns as black hair gets into his eyes. "Sorry about that, Jay. At least I'm not alone in detention today."
"What did you do this time, Kyle?"
"Late too many times, come on. Let's get this done with so we can go do something, okay Tons-Of-Fun." Kyle and Jason are heading down the hall into a room marked "DETENTION."
As Kara walks away, she thinks about Jason, and a smile slowly appears on her face. With a quick turn of a key, Kara opens her locker, takes her jacket, and starts to leave. Up ahead, she sees three girls waiting to pick on her way home, just as they did in class. Perhaps worse than in class. However, today is a bad day to be sad. Something she didn't expect to happen did. One of the local aliens made an offer of kindness towards her, presumably from his heart. Knowing that there are so many other prettier girls around, it's a pleasant and most welcoming surprise to Kara. As she leaves the school, Kara begins thinking to herself.
'Jason Price... he's a nice guy. It doesn't seem to be harmful and doesn't outright show desire for me. Maybe I'll talk with him sometime.'
~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~ Adventure Time ~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~
Despite the girls from school pestering her most of the way, Kara manages to get home and finds a note from her stepmother Eliza waiting for her on the door. Kara speed reads the message as she walks inside.
"Jeremiah and I are working late. Alex will be home tomorrow night. Be safe. –Eliza"
A few hours alone, Kara has been waiting for this time. With a burst of energy, she runs upstairs, into her room, and quickly changes out of her school clothing. Her brunette hair turns blonde with her changing into a costume she's had for some time. It's the perfect time to test some of her powers in her outfit and not have to worry about the Danvers' family raining on Kara's parade. Kara did admit that her special clothes look great, even if this included red boots going well past her knees. A matching her knee-length skirt and cape, a blue long sleeve shirt extended to her knuckles, and her Kryptonian family crest on her chest and cape. After quickly admiring herself, Kara runs to an open window, dives out, and flies off.
Being a Kryptonian, Kara's senses are much stronger than any human while under a yellow sun. The levels of her enhanced senses are so significantly greater; it's difficult to measure or match. Yet in six months, she's always finding a way to keep her wits about her as she can hear Kyle drawing. Jason writes the same words, constantly, repeatedly in detention. At the same time, on the other side of the world, she can hear lions stalking prey in Africa. In China, she can listen to a cat walking. With all the world's sounds hitting her constantly, Kara manages to stay calm and focus her hearing on a much smaller area. This time, it's just National City. Finally, however, she hears something.
Sounds of water sloshing, grunting, and men fighting brutally, with a sonic boom, Kara hastens her speed towards the sound and uses her microscopic vision to see a pier. Six men in black manta suits are fighting a young black man. He's barely able to hold onto his own as his opponents are attacking all sides. Two of them have harpoons, while the others use pipes and chains. The young man grabs two hilts from his back, pulls them out with twin streams of water, and blocks the pipes as the water becomes hard. Two men carrying chains swing at his back; the young man kicks his legs forward, knocking the first two down. He then turns his hard water weapons into water maces and strikes the chain welder's into the water. As he recovers, one manta hits the young man's knees with a pipe. The young man yells out in pain as Supergirl goes faster. The two men with harpoons are inches from stabbing him when suddenly Supergirl drops down and breaks the tips of the harpoons off with her bare hands.
Seeing a new ally gives the young man the hope he needs to keep fighting. The young man quickly throws his hilts back, smashes both men with hard water shields, and knocks them down. A look of relief is on the young man's face; as he looks up to see Supergirl landing, one manta hits her in the back of the head with a pipe, but the pipe snaps cleanly in half while she's unaffected. Kara grabs him and throws him to the young man, who drives his elbow in the manta's face and knocking him out. The remaining manta sees the two, fearing the two of them, and puts his hands up.
"Don't hurt me! I give up!" His voice is shaking.
The two young adults look at each other. "Are you okay, miss?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, that didn't hurt. Are you okay?" Kara looks at him as he stands up slowly.
"I will be fine. I didn't move fast enough to stop the one behind me. Thanks for the help." The young man's voice is grateful for Kara's assistance; he then sheaths the hilts with the water.
Slowly, the young man walks over to the man fearing for his safety and takes the manta mask off. "Where is the ring you stole?"
"We don't have it, I swear!." The guy tries to keep calm.
Using her X-ray vision, Kara can see the man's circulatory system. Although his heartbeat is racing, he's too afraid to lie to them. The other three groan and try getting up, but as they stand, Kara runs around them quickly with a rope and hogtie the three together. Everyone, including the mantas, cannot believe the young woman's speed. Supergirl returns with the young man in questioning.
"Then where did you put the ring?"
"The damn thing sprang to life and flew off. I'm telling you it's the truth!" He looks at his friends. "Ask them. They'll tell you the same thing."
The young man thinks a moment, but Kara interrupts him. "I don't know who you are or what's going on completely, but I'll help you find this ring. I'm Supergirl."
"My thanks, Supergirl. I am Kaldur'ahm but you may call me Aqualad. Where did you see the ring go?" Kaldur'ahm looks to the mantas; the one free one is the only one to speak.
"It was too fast like it was possessed. But, then, it just flew around here just before heading towards the cultural district."
Knowing where to go, Supergirl levitates up and offers her hand to Kaldur'ahm. "I'll show you the way."
"What about us?" One of the hogtied men ask.
Taking Supergirl's hand, Kaldur'ahm steps up with her as she locks her hands around his waist. "You guys look like new henchmen for Black Manta, do yourself a favor. Get out before you're in too deep." With that, Kara flies off with Kaldur'ahm.
~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~ After School ~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~
While Kara is going about her business and helping
Kaldur'ahm, Jason Price and his friend Kyle finish detention with their chemistry teacher. The two young men chose to silence the entire time, Kyle drawing quick artistic works such as trains morphing into planes. At the same time, Jason writes "I hate chemistry" over three hundred times. The only thing keeping them both from being completely bored is the sugar rush that Jason's gum and candy they've been secretly eating.
The bell rings as the teacher looks up at the two. "Well, Mr. Rayner and Mr. Price, that's it for detention. Please don't come back."
Quickly, Kyle slides out of his seat and struts past his friend. However, Jason stands up too fast and, instead of getting out, knocks the desk over with him still in it. Laughing as he hears the crash, Kyle runs back to help his friend out, and the two leave, laughing about it. On their way out, they BELIEVE they see something with a human shape flyby; the two stand outside the school in utter silence for a few minutes.
Breaking the silence, Kyle speaks up, "Are we on drugs?"
"Not that I know. I'm a fatty, I enjoy deep-fried pickles, wrapped in bacon, slathered in mayo and all, but I don't think any food we've eaten is a drug." The two look at each other and slowly walk away.
"That... sounds delicious. Want to go make some deep-fried pickles wrapped in bacon and slathered in mayo?"
"Oh God, no! The last thing I need is to make fatty food with my brother at home. He's the one that would make that disasterpiece. Instead, want to find Homeless Tom? Guys always crazier than a rat in a tin porta-potty." Counters Jason as the two enter a bus.
~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~ Investigation ~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~
Putting Kaldur'ahm down softly, Kara lands with him near National City's cultural district. Several homeless people walk around to their little shanties or cardboard boxes. The two look at each other and think about the best way to conduct their search. Of course, the easiest way to find something is to ask the people who live in an area. Homeless people are surprisingly everywhere and nowhere. Seen but not seen. Lastly are someone and no one; Kara knows police sometimes ask them about crimes in an area they're frequently live.
Kara speaks up first. "So, what does this ring look like?"
"It's small, dark green with a symbol that looks like a circle in the middle of an I." Kaldur'ahm walks over to one homeless man and explains it again, but the man tells him to get lost rudely.
"What's so important about this ring?" says Kara as she checks with a homeless couple but gets nothing from them.
After being turned down by another homeless person, he answers Supergirl. "A tiny meteor found its way to my home, which contained a ring on it. Our sorcerers were trying to find out about the energy the ring contained when it came to life and left. My queen asked me to recover the ring."
While Kaldur'ahm and Kara Zor-El were questioning homeless people, Kyle Rayner and Jason Price get off the bus. So it was easy to find the homeless man they usually visit. Currently, he's drunk out of his gourd and cannot move very far, but the two sit next to him. "How much have you drank today, Tom?"
"Ahh, I drank enough to drown the streets!" He barely manages to slur out.
Smiling at Tom, Kyle moves away some as his Eau de Scotch is very strong. "That's quite a bit."
"Did you little kids bring me anything to eat or got a little scratch on you?" With glassy, drunken eyes and a flushed face, Tom looks to them. Kyle and Jason dig in their pockets then give him two dollars each.
"Sorry, don't have much on us today." Both young men apologize.
"God bless, you're good kids to help a bum like me. I also heard something tasty if you boys want to hear about it."
"We're listening. You always have fun and interesting tales." Taking a deep breath, Jason leans in towards Tom as Kyle does the same.
"I saw this green thing fall out of the sky and crashed into the old AM Track warehouse. It flew around like a great big green firefly! You boys should go and check it out, and I'm too damn drunk to do it myself!" With that said, Tom pockets the cash, grabs his newspaper and what few things he owns, then slowly crawls into an alley to sleep.
Previous advice from Tom had always led Kyle and Jason on some fun mini-adventures. They shrug at one another, exhale and start walking when one of them looks up to see the bright green light. He taps the other on his shoulder as they see the "big green firefly." Inside Kyle, something is speaking to him, saying 'Come and get me' who slowly walks towards the light and, in turn, the voice. At the same time, one of the homeless people that Supergirl and Aqualad notice the same thing Jason and Kyle had.
"Kyle, where are you going, man?" So spoke Jason with some trepidation in his voice.
Kyle doesn't answer him right away and walks to the light; his head turns back to face his friend as Kyle keeps going to the light and voice. "Don't you hear that?"
"Hear what? I just see that big green light. I don't know about you, but green things tend to be radioactive. says TV."
"You don't hear that voice? That voice saying 'Come and get me.' over and over again?"
Following behind with interest, Jason runs up to Kyle. "I don't hear it, but if you think this is a good idea-"
"It is. Please trust me." Whatever the voice is, it persists in the young man's head.
"Okay, fine. Let's check it out and pray we don't get cancer."
~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~ The Fast and the Blue ~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~
He is running from his home in Central City, a young man running several times faster than the speed of sound, leaving a trail of yellow energy behind him. Never before has a human run as quickly he's going, and in his ear, the entire time, is a voice speaking to him. A young entrepreneur following in the steps of his mentor, Dr. Daniel Garrett, his name is Theodore "Teddy" Kord.
"Bart Allen, this Ted Kord. Do read me, Impulse?" Even with the wind blowing past his ears, Impulse could hear him.
"Loud and clear, Ted. I'm running to National City as fast as I possibly can."
A few miles away, Ted Kord is in a large aerial craft in a giant blue beetle shape. "Excellent, Impulse, you got the EMP charges on with you, right?"
Bart looks at his legs and notices two soccer ball-sized electrical, magnetic pulse bombs. "Yeah, they're still with me. Why?"
"Wanted to make sure you didn't lose them; I know how you kids are."
"Just because YOU'D lose your balls if they weren't attached doesn't mean I am."
Both Teddy and Bart chuckle. "Well, in my defense, YOU have my balls."
"So tell me again what I need to do?"
Teddy brings up a small holographic visual map of National City in his blue beetle ship. "A little bird told me that some advanced battle armors had been shipped into National City through an old AM Track Warehouse. I need you to investigate the warehouse, see if the battle armors are there and if they are, eliminate them with the EMP bombs I gave you. I'll send in Kord Industries' special "REPO" department if they're there. Any other questions?"
During his quick debriefing, Impulse runs to the AM Track Warehouse. Part of the benefits of being a speedster is eidetic memory, allowing Bart to quickly glimpse at anything from maps and pictures or quick flashes of something. Then his supercharged brain will enable him to process it much faster than an average human mind and, in turn, remember what he saw perfectly. Noticing his pale yellow and dark red costume is just right, he quickly sneaks in through a door.
~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~ Together At Last ~*O*~ ~*O*~ ~*O*~
While Impulse uses a side door and gets the elevation advantage, Supergirl and Aqualad land on the top of the building. The two sneak through a skylight and Kyle Rayner and Jason Price sneak through an open sliding door. The teens slowly make their ways inside, and the ring that everyone but Impulse follows shot into an open area. Six men walk around, armed with AK-47's as they patrol around large suits of armor.
Bart takes several pictures of the suits and sends them to Ted Kord. "Yeah, that's them, plant the bombs and get out. I know you're faster than a bullet. Just play it safe. Okay, Impulse?"
"Roger that." Whispers Bart as he grabs one of the spheres. Just as he's about to drop it down, he sees three more men enter.
The ring finally fades and lands near two suits. Kaldur'ahm is about to sneak out when Kara stops him, hearing several other footsteps around them. "There are at least ten other people here." Whispers Kara very lowly.
A tall, stocky man walks up with a briefcase and hands it to another man. The former speaks in a thick Ukrainian or Russian accent. "Here's the cash, do the Termination suits work?"
The other man laughs. "Of course they do, Sergei. My employer always ensures his deals go down perfectly. Each suit is equipped with thermographic, night vision, motion sensors, shoulder-mounted M134 mini-guns with laser optic tracking, and near bulletproof chest compartments. You want unstoppable killing machines; what says unstoppable like two shoulder mini-guns with 5,000 rounds. Each one, my employer, will sell to you at three million dollars apiece."
Sergei walks over, admiring each suit, taking notice of each death machine. All of them are perfect to his specifications. "Well, Drake, you have a deal."
"Mind if I ask what your plans are?" Drake opens the briefcase and begins to count the cash.
"My bosses would prefer to keep that private." Several of Sergei's men, including himself, start to get into the suits and read the instructions.
"Supergirl, I believe we may want to intervene." Aqualad reaches his water pack and grabs the two hilts.
Knowing they need to act now, Kara nods at Kaldur'ahm. The two charge in, catching two men off guard. Swinging a sizeable hard
water war hammer, Kaldur'ahm knocks the two out right away as Drake runs off with two of his men. Sergei shuts the cockpit with most of the others. Dropping off his bombs quickly, Bart Allen runs down as Supergirl punches one suit hard enough to knock it over. Several of the suits open fire on Supergirl, but the bullets bounce off her and tear apart the warehouse. Kaldur'ahm protects himself with a thick hard water shield while Jason and Kyle jump behind containers and keep moving.
Using his connection with the Speed Force, the source of his powers, Bart Allen grabs Kaldur'ahm and helps him on top of metal crates. Before the two can exchange words, Bart runs and jumps off the containers and starts to punch on one machine's cockpit rapidly. Seeing the others fighting the suits, Kaldur'ahm jumps off and makes two hard water swords and stabs through one machine. As bullets fly around the room, Jason and Kyle quickly decide they need to escape. One thing stopped them, the voice in Kyle's head. The 'big green firefly' is a small green ring, less than a yard away from him.
While Jason is looking for a safe escape, seeing that no one is paying attention, Kyle makes a break for it. Bullets whiz by him as he runs to the small green ring and grabs it. The screams of his friend fall on deaf ears as Kyle puts the ring on his right hand. A large burst of green energy throws Supergirl, Aqualad, and Impulse into crates. In contrast, the EMP bombs are moments from going off short circuit as Kyle's now wearing a green domino mask with a matching full bodysuit.
Green energy flows from his hands, covering his entire body as the ring speaks to him. "Kyle Rayner of Earth, welcome to the Green Lantern Corps!"
"Green Lantern Corps?" questions Kyle as Sergei grabs him.
"Damn, kid!" The machine's arm raises Kyle and slams him hard into the ground. As Sergei follows up with a loud stomp, Bart Allen recovers, runs over, grabs Kyle, and puts him on his feet.
"Hey, keep moving, kid!" says Bart as he speeds off and drops kicks one machine's cockpit hard enough. Then, finally, he breaks through and knocks out the man inside.
Two of the armors open fire on Kyle; he raises his hands and thinks about a stone wall between him and the bullets. Kaldur'ahm jumps on one machine and can separate the power source from the machine and shuts it down, but the battle armor fires away at Kyle. As he braces for impact, Kyle hears soft thuds on the ground, lower one arm to see the stone wall he's thinking about is in front of him. Meanwhile, in the distance, Jason looks at the sight before him, not saying a word. Eyes wide open, jaw-dropping at his friend.
Seeing that his allies are falling left and right, Sergei arms a smoke screen fail-safe. "Wretched kids, you've won for today. But you have not seen the last of Sergei Gorbachev!"
Loud klaxons go off, nearly deafening everyone in the room as the sound of an explosion erupts. Sergei's machine flies off, breaking through a skylight. Supergirl blows all the smoke out using her super-breath with a deep breath, but it's too late. The ringing in her ears makes it hard to figure out where Sergei is. Kyle starts to imagine a giant hamster running in a wheel, turning a fan; in turn, they see a green light construct matching Kyle's thoughts. Coughing as he walks over, Jason stands next to Kyle and looks at Aqualad, Impulse, and Supergirl.
"That was awesome, Kyle!" Coughs Jason as he tries to get his breath back.
'Great, Kyle and Jason from school... keep calm, Kara. They shouldn't recognize you with blonde hair and no glasses.' thinks Kara as she joins the boys.
"I know Jason. This ring is pretty damn SWEET." Kyle holds his hand up as Kaldur'ahm approaches him.
"That ring you have belongs to me." Kaldur'ahm sheaths his blades, not wanting to provoke a fight.
"Possession is nine-tenths of the law, Dennis Rodman." Jason lightly nudges Kaldur'ahm with his elbow.
"Who's Dennis Rodman?" Bart, Kara, Kaldur'ahm, and Kyle speak in unison.
Facepalming them, Jason slowly pulls on his face, cheeks, and chin fat. "Dennis Rodman is an NBA legend, and he's black with blonde hair like Mr. Red sleeveless shirt here."
Both Bart and Kaldur'ahm shrug it off. "You need better material."
Waving his hand around, Kyle tries to make something with his new ring but can't figure out how he did it in twice before. Then Jason catches eyes with Supergirl. Just as she is about to panic, they hear police sirens in the background. Running to a window quickly, Jason looks out to see at least a dozen swat vans outside.
"Oh... sheet on my face, we're in trouble."
Suddenly a sizeable blue beetle airship lands on top of the warehouse. The police begin shooting at it, but the bullets don't do damage. The loudspeaker fires up, alerting all those around, luckily the voice of Ted Kord is distorted.
"Attention, all children! Your time in the pool is over. It's now time for adults to swim!" Then, a loading door opens and breaks a skylight allowing them in.
"Hmmm, going with a strange man who might have premarital with me or go to jail and be a victim of premarital... Not a hard choice." As Jason looks up, only one person waits for him: Kyle Rayner, who starts to levitate off the ground with his newfound flight ability. At the same time, everyone else stays on the loading ramp.
"Yeah, the only reason I'm still here is I'm still learning what this ring can do." Kyle nonchalantly says as he grabs hold of Jason's hand and pulls him into the ship.
The ramp and doors shut once all five of them are aboard. Each of them looks around at each other as the ship goes into stealth mode and starts to fly. All of them look at one another and say nothing. More curious than scared. All of them are unsure how to talk to one another after a fight and escape like that.
To break the silence, Kyle walks forward. "Okay, I think we should introduce ourselves. I mean, we're all in the same room and fought the same guys. I'll go; first, Tons-Of-Fun behind me is-"
"Before you start, allow me to go first. I'm Ted Kord. You can call me Theodore, Ted, Teddy or TK but not Mr. Kord. That was my dad."
Everyone turns to see a young buff man, his blue eyes shining like beacons filled with optimism. Walking to Impulse and Ted puts an arm around his shoulder. "Well then, where do we start?"
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Note: With the announcement of Young Justice Season 3, I SO hope they put Supergirl in it since her popularity is bigger now than ever before. So I'm doing my best with a whole new style of work. I hope you guys enjoy it and the coming chapters. Please submit a review and/or comment :)