"So you couldn't decide what to get him, so you're giving him brownies?" Artemis said over the other line.
"I'm not good with birthday shopping, okay?" I asked, holding my cellphone between my shoulder and head as I put ingredients into the bowl. "Besides, what else are you supposed t give Wally? His favorite things are science, fighting crime, and food! I wanted to make cookies, but those have kind of become Megan's thing."
"Fair enough...Baywatch does have a pretty narrow-minded head." Artemis laughed, making me join in as I began stirring the batter in my bowl. "So how many are you making?"
"This is my...third and last batch?" I said.
"...you know what? I'm not even surprised." Artemis sighed.
"Have you seen the way Wally eats? I would've made another one but bakers chocolate is expensive!" I exclaimed. Artemis laughed for a while before I heard a loud thud.
"Artemis, you okay?" I asked.
"Ya...ya, just fell off my couch." She said, out of breath and I giggled lightly.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Trust me, takes more then me being clumsy to hurt me." Artemis said and I could practically see her smirking. "Hey, Lina, I have two random questions."
"What is it?" I asked.
"First, where did you learn English? You've lived in France your whole life, nobody in your family family is fluent, and yet: you're bilingual." Artemis asked.
"My mom taught me." I explained. "Well, and a couple school classes...but mostly Mom. She was a professional dancer and knew French, English and Russian from when she trained all across the world."
"Wow, that's cool." Artemis said. "Another question: I know your...abilities emerged while you were in your coma, but...do you know why? Like Conner and Megan have theirs because of where they're from, Wally messed around with science because of his Uncle, and Z and Kaldur have magic. So...why do you have your powers?"
I paused, putting my bowl down as I furrowed my brows. The question's always been at the back of my head but I'd never gotten any answers: not from the couple lab experiments the league made me do, not from the league itself, they just kind of...appeared.
"To be honest...I have no idea. I just woke up and everyone said I had formed a hurricane in my sleep." I shrugged. Artemis hummed in thought.
"Maybe there's something in your genetic makeup?" She thought. "Or maybe you're the next stage in evolution! A sign that humans are a thing of the past and you're the bridge to that new world!"
"...you're referring to those comic books, aren't you?" I asked, smiling.
"Maybe..."
We both burst into laughter.
"What's with all the laughter?" Calvin said, walking into the kitchen with only his pajama pants and bed head, he was rubbing his eyes from sleep.
"Who's that?" Artemis asked.
"My annoying older brother that sleeps until..." I looked at my watch. "2:45 in the afternoon."
"It's the weekend!" Calvin groaned, going to the fridge
"You need a girlfriend! Or a life!" Ilectured.
"You sound like Dad!"
"I can feel the sibling love." Artemis joked. "Hey, how old is he? He sounds hot."
"Artemis!" I yelled. "He's my brother!"
"What?" She asked innocently and I facepalmed.
"He's 21 and still lives at home when he's not at college doing his masters in graphic design or working at the nightclub as a bartender." I groaned,not sure why I was explaining this.
"Ooh, an artist..." Artemis muttered and I gaged.
"Older. Brother." I reminded. "Besides, you can't have him when you and Wally are madly in love." I heard Artemis choke on something and begin coughing violently.
"Me and Baywatch? May I remind you that we hate each other, and that he's the human embodiment of annoying?" She asked.
"Really? Cause from what Megan told me, you two seemed pretty close during the Byalia mission...and I think Rob said something about him saying something about 'Ninja boyfriend'?" I smirked.
"Wha-we lost our memories!" She yelled, causing me to laugh like a maniac.
"Whatever you say Artemis..." I smirked, pouring my brownie batter into the baking pans. "Hey, you want to have that movie date we've been talking about for a while? We can have it at Central so you don't have to deal with jetlag, I'm already used to it."
"Um...ya, sure." She said, something in her tone sounding off.
"Great, how's next week?" I asked.
"Sounds good, see you tomorrow for Wally's party." Artemis said.
"Yup, see ya." I said before hanging up.
"So...was that one of your friends?" Calvin asked. "Like...friends-friends?"
I threw an oven mitt at my brother, "No you idiot, now get dressed!"
Once I had woken up and taken my medication, I jumped out of bed to wrap up my brownies. Not really caring if anyone saw me in my pajamas. When I had placed the baked good neatly in a nice tin container and decorated it with ribbons, I went to shower and get dressed.
Stepping into my bathroom, I set my phone on the radio app and got ready to shower.
"Breaking news: All of North America has been paralyzed by a sudden continent-wide snow-storm."
I froze in the middle of taking off my pajama top and stared at my phone, before turning and running into my room (tripping over something in the hallway on the way) and collected my com.
"Zephyr to Batman." I said. "Is French radio mistaken, or is this freak snow storm seriously happening? And covering the whole continent?"
I didn't care if I was cutting into Batman's sleep! This was cause for concern!
"Batman to Zephyr. You heard right." Batman's gruff voice answered. "Don't worry about it, I'm investigating."
"But-""Zephyr, don't worry about it!"
And with that, the line died. I groaned and cursed Batman for being a pain in the ass.
What else were you expecting? The guy always does this! Might as well just standby and continue getting ready for the party.
I groaned at my inner consciousness, but decided it was probably for the best.
"It is really freaking cold!" I scream, running into the cave.
"...are you alright Lina?"Kaldur asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
"The zeta-tube took me to Providence and then shut down for a good ten minuets!" I exclaim. "France winters only go down to 5 degrees! So of course I wasn't prepared for freaking negative ten degree weather! How do you Americans do it!"
(As someone who lives in Canada, it physically hurts me to write this)
I saw the team laugh andI think I blushed? With my face frozen it was hard to tell.
"Want some hot chocolate?" Megan asked, handing me a cup.
"God bless you M'gann." I praised as I took the mug and hugged it to my chest.
"Surprise!"
The team, and a few members of the league jumped out as the lights came on. Wally jumped back and placed a hand over his chest in fake surprise.
"What? Aw, you guys shouldn't have!" Wally said, his acting skills terrible.
"Right, like you haven't been hinting for days or anything."
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Wally pretended and we all rolled our eyes before I flew over and grabbed his arm, slapping a birthday hat on his head.
"Come on Birthday Boy, there's food." I said, pushing him behind the table.
"We made two cakes!" Megan said happily.
"Awesome!" Wally smiled excitedly. "What will you guys eat?"
"We'll split the cupcake." The Martian girl joked. "Make a wish!"
"Way ahead of you..." Wally winked, blowing out the candles before Megan began cutting it.
"You know..." Wally said. "If I tell you my wish, it won't come true. But if you guess..."
Megan handed him a large slice of cake, making Wally shake his head (but take he cake anyways).
"Nope." The speedster said. Suddenly, Megan placed a peck on his forehead and wished him a happy birthday, causing Wally to deflate.
I looked to Kaldur and we both laughed quietly before going seperate ways: him to Flash and Conner as I walked over to Zatanna.
"How are you doing?" I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"As good as to be expected..." She muttered, rubbing her sweater-covered arm nervously. I smiled and enveloped her into a hug.
"Just remember: the whole team, plus the league is here for you. It'll get better, just you wait." I said. She smiled and nodded to me as Robin walked up to us.
"Beat me to the question?" The raven-haired boy asked and I shrugged, letting go off Zatanna as Rob handed slices to cake to her and I.
"I know this can all be new and intimidating..." Robin said to Zatanna. "But I promise...You will someday get used to watching Wally."
We all looked over to see Wally wolfing down cake and we all laughed.
"Do you think we should tell him?" Artemis asked, walking up to us and we all knew that she was talking about Conner and Megan's relationship.
"He is the only one that doesn't know..." Robin agreed.
"Not to mention his pickup lines are only getting worse." I joked.
"Then please," Artemis started her way towards Wally as Megan walked over to Conner with a slice of cake in hand. "Let me."
I leaned over to Rob and Zatanna, "Someone's jealous..." They both snorted and nodded.
For a moment, Artemis and Wally talked before Wally's gaze turned to Megan and Conner: the later wiping a smidge of icing off of the former's lips before licking it off her own thumb.
I swear if they get any cuter they're gonna turn into stuffed animals...Or clumps of sugar
"Aww man..." Wally groaned.
"Attention team." Batman's voice came over the PA system. " Suit up: polar stealth. Mission briefing in five."
We were all in the main section of the cave with Batman, awaiting breifing.
My uniform probably had the least difference between normal-mode and polar-stealth-mode: seeing as most of my uniform was white anyways. The only differences were my gold leggings, belt, and mask were a more grey-ish shade of white then my leotard, and my gloves were now full sleeves that covered my hands like gloves. While everyone else had their uniform's color scheme completely changed, sleeves were added, and Robin and Zatanna even had hoods.
"Where's Flash?" Wally asked.
"Flash and Red Tornado already have their assignments." Batman explained. "A massive ice storm has paralyzed North America from coast to coast. Satellite imagrey has detected five flying ice fortresses, source unknown." He pulled up a holographic picture of the fortress, a metal flying building. "Which seems responsible and must be stopped."
Don't worry he said! Why is that every time they tell us to do nothing: we end up saving the day?
"Why can't the Watchtower blow.them out of the sky or something?" Wally asked.
"What's a Watchtower?" Zatanna asked.
Oh ya...she doesn't know about that...
Batman sighed. "The League's orbiting headquarters is not weaponized, and with all Green Lanterns off-world: I need all hands on deck."
Wait...Does he mean..?
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Robin asked, voicing my thoughts.
"The league and the team fighting side-by-side, treated like equals?" I asked, excited.
"What? Really?" Wally asked.
"Superboy use the supercycle to rendevu with the Batplane at Ice Fortress 1 where you'll drop off Robin and Aqualad before continuing on with Wolf and Zephyr to Ice Fortress 2 and meeting with Black Canary and Red Tornado. Miss Martian, Artemis, and Zatanna: take the bioship and meet with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter at Ice Fortress 3. Leaguers will handle fortresses 4 and 5. Sending coordinates now."
"Um...Batman..?" Wally said, being forgotten.
"Kid Flash, a young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. With all air-traffic grounded by the storm, you need to pick up the donor heart in Boston and run it three thousand miles across country."
Wally's face dropped. "Who's the girl?"
"Does it matter?" Batman asked.
Wally huffed. "Well, no! Of course not! But can't we-"
"Zeta-tubes are offline because of the storm, and even if we did override: they'd malfunction halfway through the trip." I said, remembering my lovely trip to the cave this morning. "Sorry."
"Right...Then how can I say no? Well then, I guess I won't be needing polar-stealth..." He said, obviously bummed.
As we all ran out, Robin and I patted Wally on the shoulder before heading out.
I know it's a little cliché to make your OCs best friends with Artemis, but I just like the idea. And sorry: no Seabreeze fluff, but we got a little bit of Lina comforting Zatanna salty Lina!Sorry I won't be doing th polar mission because, well, it doesn't serve much to do with the plot of the overall series and I think it'd just be a useless chapter. And really, who likes reading useless chapters?