Chapter 5 - Schooled

The next few days passed quickly. Since my kiss with Kaldur, I had avoided him as much as possible. Thankfully, that wasn't hard since he didn't live at the cave. It wasn't as if my feelings for him were gone, but my pride had been hurt when he didn't reciprocate mine. I guess the best thing I could do was wait until he made up his mind, it wasn't as if there was someone else I was interested in.

My apparent mood change did not go unnoticed at the cave. Megan sensed my confusion right away and I was forced to tell her what happened. She had been sympathetic when she realized I didn't want to dwell on it, and over the last few days, she had been a welcome distraction. We went shopping and out for coffee, things that normal girls would do.

When Kaldur was at the cave, I usually remained quiet. I sensed his eyes on me when we were in the same room, and it frustrated me that I still felt butterflies when I looked at him.

Superboy also concerned me. He came back one morning unusually angry and whenever I tried to talk to him, he would blow me off and walk away.

The only good thing about this week was our training with Black Canary. Since we were operating as a working team, she decided it was time to step up and oversee our specialized fighting training.

As we gathered around the large sparring ring, Canary pulled her denim jacket off, revealing a bandaged shoulder.

"What I'll be showing you is what I have learned from the team, and my own experiences as well. Battle is all about taking initiative, and you must never let your opponent dictate the terms."

"Please," Superboy grunted from the back of the room, "With my strength, I'm always dictating the terms."

Canary smirked. I was quickly growing to respect her. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order."

"Ooh," Wally bounced up and down like a rabbit, "Pick me. I also can show you a few moves, sweetheart."

I hid my laughter in a cough as I watched Wally stalk forward, expecting an easy match. In less than five seconds, Canary had him pinned on the floor with the wind completely knocked out of him.

"Would anyone care to tell me what just happened?"

Robin nudged Aqualad's arm playfully. "He hit on teacher and got served?" Wally grumbled unappreciatively from the ground.

"It's like you said," my voice rose, "he let you dictate the terms."

Canary regarded me with a smile. "Good, Essence. You're correct. Kid Flash allowed me to manipulate his movements and was easy to defeat."

"Oh, please." Superboy was still not amused. I watched with growing discomfort as Canary challenged him. As he ran forward, going for a direct encounter, she easily threw him over her shoulder and he landed on the ground with a loud thud.

The cave was silent and Megan and I made eye contact. Her expression was just as worried as mine from Superboy's apparent rage.

"That's it," Superboy growled, standing up. "I'm leaving."

"This training is mandatory," Canary countered, placing her hands on her hips. "And we are not finished."

The entire team was uneasy now, but the blare of sirens rung overhead and Batman's face appeared, breaking the tense moment.

"Team, a new threat attacked earlier today, engaging Green Arrow and Black Canary in a fight." I sent a quick glance, noticing as she clutched her shoulder. "The android had a capability of learning its enemy's powers and grew stronger with every new league member we threw at it. It took eight league members over four hours to defeat and dismantle it."

"Android?" Robins stepped forward. "Is it from T.O. Morrow?"

"Good observation," Batman regarded his protege proudly, "but Red Tornado has already ruled that out. Martian Manhunters believes it is the work of another, Professor Ivo."

I saw Kaldur and Wally exchange a silent interaction.

Batman explained, "We believed Ivo to be dead, but we cannot entirely rule him out. The android was dismantled and separated into two different locations. We need to safely relocate the parts to STAR labs facilities in Boston and Manhattan, with additional trucks acting as decoys. The league will escort the decoys, but I need you to escort the real trucks safely to their destinations."

Batman ended the transmission with a brief 'good luck' before leaving the team alone in the cave.

As Canary took her leave, Kaldur circled the group up.

"We will need to split the team up with balancing strengths." Kaldur looked around the circle. As his eyes lingered on mine for a moment longer before finishing the sweep. "I believe it's best to have Kid Flask, Miss Martian, and myself at one location and Robin, Superboy, and Essence at the other."

He waited for any opposition, but when none arose, we split up and prepared for our task.

The trucks were waiting in a rural field in Connecticut. We were dressed in riding suits for the motorcycles that the league equipped us with. Even though Megan and I could fly, they preferred we ride as not to appear too threatening. Still, I thought as I tugged on the color of the suit, I wouldn't say my skills with riding motorcycles were up to par.

Starring at the small, gray comm link I got, I placed it in my ear as I heard a slight burst of static before the voices from the rest of the team.

"Is everyone ready," Kaldur asked. We nodded our heads in agreement. "Then good luck."

Twenty minutes later, I lost myself staring into the cornfields as we sped past. We had been riding past the same field for some time, and the lack of diverse scenery bored me out of my mind.

I rode directly behind the grey, metal truck while Robin and Superboy brought up the rear. I heard their casual chatter but decided not to join in. It was best that someone had their eyes on the truck at all times.

My ears twitched at a rustling I heard from the large stocks by the road. A flash of green rushed past near the truck and mechanical…monkeys volleyed out of the brush.

"Robin! Superboy!" I screamed, catching their attention. "The truck!"

The black and green monkeys laughed melodically as they stuck to the side of the vehicle. Sparks burst from their hands as they began sawing their way through the exterior. Realizing my disability with the motorcycle, I rose off of the vehicle and launched myself at the monkeys, ripping them off one by one with my hands. They were heavier than they looked, and several abandoned the truck and started scratching at my face and hair. One of the monkeys got lucky and I winced as its fingers cut a deep gash in my forearm.

I dropped back, fending off the attackers at I threw bursts of wind at them before picking up several pieces of earth and sent them spinning in a protective circle around me. If a robot got too close, it would be ripped up by the sharp rocks.

I regained the distance I lost on the truck and saw Robin and Superboy both in similar positions as monkeys flew around in chaos. The driver swerved the vehicle back and forth across the road as his view was blocked. I rushed forward to help at the same time as Superboy was lifted by four of the robots. Seeing his cries of protest, I made the split decision to fly after him. I sent a burst of pressure at the monkeys around him and he dropped to the ground.

"Are you alright?" I yelled over the sound of an explosion. We both twisted our heads to see the large briefcase flying off with the monkeys' cruel laughter echoing in the breeze.

Robin stopped beside us. "Great, there's goes our parts."

I watched the wave of anger that went through Superboy and I fell back slightly as he burst up, following the disappearing speck of the monkeys in the distance.

"Superboy!" Robin yelled to no prevail. Turning towards me, he shook his head. "What's with him? Seriously."

I stood up and brushed the dirt off my outfit. "I better follow him. Maybe I can figure out where they're taking the parts."

"I'll see if I can find anything with the spare robots left over." Robin looked at the large mess behind us. "You go. I'll contact the team and we will rendezvous at your location."

I was off before he could utter another word. Ignoring the wind whipping my hair over my face, I followed the large craters in the ground left by Superboy every couple of hundred yards. I didn't like how the trail led towards the large city in front of us.

As the discussion of the team blasted in my ear, I heard Robin announce that the parts were diverging towards Gotham City.

"I'm the closest beside Superboy," I shouted, pressing my finger to the commlink. "I'll head there and stall as much as I can until you arrive."

A short while later, I saw an explosion at the high school and heard the loud yells of Superboy come from the opening in the roof. Flying as fast as I can, I slipped through the large hole in the ceiling to see Superboy engaged with a large android in the gymnasium. A small man in smartly dressed clothing clapped from the bleachers at his apparent view of entertainment.

I watched as the android loudly announced, "Superman," before hitting Superboy in the gut with a well-placed punch.

Dropping to the ground, I crouched low and pressed both of my hands to the ground. My eyes glowed as a torrent of flora burst through the polished ground, snaking their way towards the android before wrapping him up tightly.

"Martian Manhunter." To my utter amazement, I watched the automaton phase through my plants and turned to look at his newest contender.

"Get her powers!" The small man yelled from the bleachers.

Oh shoot, I thought as the android flew at my with incredible speed. I narrowly dodged his grasp as I flew up to the ceiling.

"Activate, Black Canary."

It was too late to realize what was happening before the sharp burst of energy hit my body, crushing me against the ceiling before I free-fell to the ground. At least, almost to the ground. At the last second, strong hands caught me as we moved at light speed to the other side of the gym.

"I got you, babe." Wally set me down gently, grinning from behind his mask before he dashed off towards the android. I took a moment to compose myself as I saw Superboy fly at the smaller man. A random arrow came from nowhere as it momentarily distracted the automaton.

The man panicked, calling out new orders to the automaton as he tried to avoid Superboy's fists. I sent a burst of wind at the man, hitting below his knees and he crashed to the floor.

"Martian Manhunter." The automaton phased as Robin threw a boomerang through its head. Just before it phased back, Superboy landed in front of the automaton and pushed his fist into its face. When its body moleculed back, Superboy's fist was firmly embedded in its head. With a yell, Superboy pulled back and the android's head came clear off. In almost slow motion, the body fell to the ground with a thickening crush and rested dormant on the floor.

I glared at the body with disdain as Miss Martian and Aqualad finally arrived.

"Secure the body," Kaldur ordered, but Wally quickly countered that there was no use since the body didn't have a head.

"Where's Ivo?" Robin's voice rang out. I huffed, knowing the small man was long gone along with his monkeys. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="font-kerning: none;" "We should head back to the cave."

I was surprised to see Batman in person at the cave. After seeing him on the screen for so long, I had forgotten how imposing his large figure was under the dark hood. Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado stood behind him.

"Good job, team." He looked around at the battered heroes. "Even though the situation changed, you handled it well. But in the future, don't be afraid to call the team for backup. That's what we are here for."

"It wouldn't matter even if we did," Robin snarked, reaching to grab something from his belt. He held out an arrow with green markers at the bottom. "–the League is still around to babysit us. You don't trust us to take care of things by ourselves."

Batman looked at Green Arrow and then to Robin. Green Arrow stepped forward and pulled an arrow from his quiver. As he held the tip to the one in Robin's hand, it was clear that the arrows did not match.

"But if you didn't shoot the arrow," Robin said slowly, turning to look at Wally and Kaldur.

"–That means Speedy's got our back!" Wally said excitedly. He sped forward and grabbed the arrow from Robin's hand. As he announced it as a souvenir, I felt a soft touch on my arm.

"You're hurt." Kaldur's voice was low.

I quickly drew my arm close to my body. "Yes, it was one of Ivo's monkeys. It got me before I had the chance to stop it."

His fingers rested on the dried blood. His eyes stared down in pain. "Does it hurt? Do you need to bandage it?"

I shook my head. "It feels fine now, it was only a scratch."

We stand still for several seconds as the group dispersed around us.

"I should probably get some rest…"

"Amara," he held me back, "I wanted to apologize for the other day. I was quick to react and I think you got the wrong message." I waited for him to explain. Taking a deep breath, he was slow to speak, taking great care to process his words. "It's not that I don't think of you as more than a friend. I do, and that scares me. I've denied any personal feelings since joining this team and when I started thinking about you, it only brought up the unresolved feelings I left for my friend back at Atlantis." His hand brushed against my cheek for a soft second, pulling back to not make a scene. "The last thing I want to do is hurt you, and if I can't stop thinking about the other person, it's not fair to you."

Though his words brought pain, I wasn't mad. If anything, his honesty made me like him more and it would be selfish of me to hold anything against him.

"It's okay, Kaldur," my voice surprisingly strong. "I appreciate your honesty and I won't press you until you are ready." My lips curled in a small smile as I looked at his face. "Besides, I value you as a friend and I am grateful for your presence in my life regardless of your decision."

There was a strong emotion in his eyes as he squeezed my shoulder. Hearing voices in the lounge area, I turned my back and headed in the direction. I felt Kaldur's eyes on me until I was out of sight.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll post a new one tomorrow:)