Metropolis
August 3
"I had that," Superboy says as Superman lands in front of him, finishing up rescuing civilians from a school bus.
"I didn't want to take the chance. As it is, your landing could have destabilized the entire bridge," Superman scolds.
"It didn't," Superboy defends
"But it could have. We don't yet know the limits of your powers," Superman tries to reason.
"But maybe you could, you know, help me figure that out," Superboy asks slowly.
"Batman's got that covered," Superman avoids.
"He should be paying more attention to Wonder-Bat than me-" Superboy says, crossing his arms over his chest.
"-Superman!" Superman answers into his comm. "Wait, Arrow. Slow down. What's attacking? No, I'm definitely available. Coordinates? Acknowledged. On my way. Sorry, Superboy. Duty calls."
And with that, Superman flies away to Green Arrows coordinates.
His comm. link beeps again.
"Already got the alert, Bruce." Superman says into the comm.
"I know Clark. But we need to talk," Bruce Wayne's voice sounds off in Superman's ear.
August 3
"Recognized. Superboy, B0-4.
"Hi, Superboy!" M'gann greets as he storms through the cave, and through the holo-screen game Kaldur and Wally were playing. "How was Metropolis?"
Superboy gives no reply.
"Ready for training, everyone?" A voice says from the bay doors.
A woman with long, blonde hair walks in with a man I assume to be Martian Manhunter.
"Is that who I think it is?" I wonder.
The woman wears a dark blue jacket, a black sleeveless leotard, black nylons, black choker, and a pair of black boots.
"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!" M'gann greets, hugging Martian Manhunter.
"So this is Black Canary," I think as I feel myself start to -and quoting Nash here- fangirling in her presence.
"M'gann, I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting," The Martian explains.
"A few bumps, but I'm learning," M'gann says honestly.
"That's all I can ask," He smiles.
"Stick around," Black Canary says, noticing Superboy leaving the room. "Class is in session. I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I've learned from my own mentors," She continues, removing her jacket to reveal a large bandage on her upper arm. "And my own bruises."
"She's going to teach us how to fight more baddies? This is so cool!" I 'fangirl'.
"What happened?" M'gann asks worriedly.
"The job. Now, combat is about controlling conflict, Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner," She says.
I went to raise my hand, but Wally interjects.
"Right here. Yeah! After this-," Wally says, flashing over to Black Canary. "I'll show you my moves."
She doesn't even give him a chance to get ready. She throws a punch, which he dodges, but he didn't dodge the kick that was coming round his feet.
"...Hurts so good…" Wally groans as the floor blinks with his failure status.
"Good block. But did anyone see what he did wrong?" Canary asks.
"Ooh, ooh!" Robin waves enthusiastically. "He hit on teacher, and got served?"
"He was being overly confident?" I add right after Robin.
"Dude!" Wally complains
"He allowed me to dictate the terms of-" Canary begins.
"Oh, please," Superboy interrupts. "With my powers, the battle's always on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time."
"Prove it," Black Canary challenges.
Wally steps off of the lighted circle holding his arm.
Superboy and Canary glare at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
He throws a punch, but Canary grabs hold of his arm and launches him back to the other side of the circle.
"Ha ha ha!" Robin laughs before Kaldur elbows him in the ribs.
Superboy stands up, growling.
"You're angry. Good. But don't react. Channel that anger into-" Canary tries to instruct.
He charges at her once more, but she blocks his attack, and sweeps his legs out from underneath him, making the floor light up with his second failure.
Robin is now not the only one trying to contain his laughter.
"That's it. I'm done," Superboy announces.
"Training is mandatory," Canary informs him.
The Holo-screen beeps before the face of the Dark Knight appears.
"Batman to the cave. Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying, then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant," He explains.
"Whoa," Wally gasps. "One guy with the powers of the entire League?"
"In the end, it took eight 'Leaguers' four hours to defeat and dismantle the android," Bat-Man reports.
"An android? Who made it, T. O. Morrow?" Robin asks.
"Good guess, Robin, but Red Tornado doesn't think so," Bats' says.
"The technology bears the signature of professor Ivo," Martian Manhunter informs.
"Ivo? But Ivo's dead," Kaldur states.
"So we all thought, or hoped," Canary replies.
"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R. lab facilities in Boston, and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion, in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks," Bat-Man informs.
"Yes! Road trip!" K.F celebrates.
"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy asks aggravatedly.
"You had something better to do?" Bat-Man asks.
"Coordinates received. On our way," Kaldur says as his holo-device beeps.
"When you're ready, I'll be here," Canary says to Superboy as he walks out.
"Err… Miss. Canary?" I address, as the team leaves.
"Yes? Wonder-Bat?" She asks.
"Oh, please, call me Adeline, or Addie. Whichever you prefer," I say, feeling a little star-struck. "I was wondering if we could spar sometime? I know I train with the Amazons, but you're kind of my Idol, other than Wonder Woman, of course!"
She smiles softly as she picks her jacket up, off the ground.
"Sure," She replies. "I'd love to. Plus, I'd get to teach you some moves, and maybe you could sneak in an Amazonian move here and there."
"Yeah! Yeah, no problem! I'll see you next training session!" I wave running to catch up with everyone.
"Hey," Wally asks. "Does anyone know where Nash is?"
"I think he had some sort of business to attend to on Oa with Green Lantern: Jordan," I say.
"OooooOOooohhh," Wally sounds. "You gettin' cozy with the green bean?"
"Are you trying to describe your attraction to M'gann?" I ask innocently. "He just told me before he left yesterday."
"I think I've decided that I don't like your humor anymore," K.F pouts as we make our way to the coordinates.
Litchfield County
8:08 P.M
We all met near a large crater. I suspect this is where the fight went down with the android.
As Bat-Man said, there were four transport trucks waiting there.
We all saddle up on our Motorcycles, and turn our comms. on.
We were told to wait in the underbrush in case someone was watching.
So, we sit there, ready to go while Superman, Bat-Man, Red Tornado, Flash, Green Arrow, and Captain Atom load up the trucks.
"S.T.A.R. Boston is a go," We hear one voice say.
"S.T.A.R. Manhattan is go," Another confirms.
We see Bat-Man give them the signal to move out, and we all move to our respective spots behind the trucks.
But what I didn't hear could've been the most interesting thing for me to listen in to.
"I told you, we need to talk," Bat-Man says to Superman right as he was about to take off.
30 minutes later...
"If dislike is the opposite of like, Is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right!" Robin asks.
Silence.
"Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong?" He asks when Superboy doesn't respond.
"Canary, and what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?" Superboy asks.
"You're just cranky because she wiped the floor with you," I say.
"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig. Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman and, well, me," Robin tries to comfort.
Superboy doesn't listen. He revs up his engine, and catches up to the truck.
"Robin, Superboy, our truck is under attack!"
"Kind of figured," Robin answers as our truck becomes bombarded with small little robot-things.
"Monkeys?" I ask myself.
"I hate monkeys," Superboy growls.
The Robo-Monkeys start to crack through the windshield, and the driver tries to shake them by swerving the truck around.
"Robot monkeys! Ha ha! Totally Ivo's tweaked style," Robin laughs, pressing a button on his cycle that detached the back wheel from the front. It flies up in the air above Robin.
"Hey, hey. Switch your ride to battle mode," Robin offers.
"No point," Superboy growls.
"He seems to be doing that a lot. Growling," I think to myself.
"Or not," Robin backs off as Superboy leaps off of his cycle, only for it to come crashing towards us. I ditched my cycle and flew over to Robin to grab him out of the way.
I did just in time too. The cycles all crashed together moments after I grabbed Robin.
"Thanks, sis," He smiles, shooting some sort of grappling thing out from his wrist, reeling him towards the carriage of the truck.
Superboy is up top, kicking and punching the robots off, while Robin seems to be trying to stop the robots from getting in on the back.
I decide to fly above and watch to make sure none get in from the sides.
Robin's detached wheel flies up behind us, and starts shooting at the monkeys, only for them to realize that it was a threat, and take it down.
I notice some of the robots cut into the cabin, so I untie my lasso, and start picking them off.
Once I got one, I swung it around, making it hit the others flying around me, and on the cabin.
When I look back, Robin has moved to the top of the cabin with Superboy, and he pulls out some type of batons to hit them with.
I see a few of them go down to the side, and they popped the truck starts to swerve and I see Robin up top losing his balance.
I don't worry about Superboy, he's durable, but Robin is still just a human with above average abilities. He can't walk away from a crash this big.
he jumps down to the roof of the driver's seat. He puts his face near the windshield and yells:
"Get out!"
I fly next to the driver's door, grab him, then I swoop up and grab Robin.
Just in time, too. The truck flips over multiple times, and stops upside down.
The monkeys in the cabin break out, and fly away with the android parts.
"Superboy!" Robin yells, noticing him jump off to go after the monkeys.
"Aqualad to Robin. We've lost our cargo. Did you- ,"
"- It's gone. And so is Superboy,"
"Aqualad to Superboy. Radio your position. We'll help you,"
"I don't need help, don't want any!" Superboy's voice yells over the comms.
"Superboy?"
"I think he ditched his comm," Robin deducts.
"Super!" Wally's voice rings in. "Now we can't even track him."
"He's out of my telepathic range," M'gann states sadly. "This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. M-maybe w-we should contact Red Tornado?"
"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves, and the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled," Kaldur says.
"Well, that's a great plan! Except for the part about us not knowing where to look!" Wally interjects.
"Maybe we do. We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked. So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?" Robin asks, disassembling a monkey left behind. "Ha! The parts have GPS. The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track them with the one I captured."
"This is why I'd rather be on your squad for these types of missions," I remark. "Oh! no offence to everyone listening!"
"It looks both sets of parts are converging on... Gotham city," Robin whispers with a frown.
"That far south? M'gann and I won't get there anytime soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out," Kaldur issues.
"Definitely a disaster, heavy on the 'dis'," Robin says.
"Well," I say. "At least you won't have me carry you into Gotham! That would defiantly ruin your reputation."
Metropolis
August 3
"Apple pie," Clark Kent orders from the waitress.
"The 'Devil's Food'," Bruce Wayne orders.
"Something tells me this isn't about dessert," Clark deducts.
"The boy needs you," Bruce gets straight to the point.
"No. He needs you. He needs Red. I'm just a constant reminder of what he's not," Clark disagrees.
"Sorry, Clark, but you're dead wrong. Look, I know he troubles you, but he's here. You have to get over the how and why. Trust me on this. This boy needs his father," Bruce states.
"And I suppose you're one to talk? You don't even acknowledge Adeline's existence. You told her to her face that you didn't want to be a part of her life," Clark counters.
"What I said to her was to protect her from the Amazons. You know that," Bruce glares.
"That doesn't make up for the fact that you still told her that you wanted nothing to do with her, Bruce. I think you should take your own advice before you go out and tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm not his father, and you're not hers. When you decide to accept Addie into your family, then I'll think about Superboy and I's relationship," Clark glares back.
"Adeline has Diana. She doesn't need a father," Bruce defends.
"You know that isn't true. Who is going to scare the boys away when they get too close? Richard? She needs you, Bruce. She deserves a good father figure in her life," Clark tries.
"You do realize what you're saying, right?" Bruce glares again.
"I do. Maybe we should both work on this whole 'father thing'," Clark points out. "I'll take that pie to-go."
Outskirts of Gotham City
On our way to Gotham, Robin and I decided to change into our real uniforms. Big biker jacket and leather pants are not my style.
As Robin drives down a hill, We see K.F come up beside us.
"So you changed, too?" Robin asks amusedly.
"You kidding?" Wally asks. "I feel naked in civvies You still tracking the parts?"
"Nope. We decided to ditch them and now we're just cruising down the road!" I reply sarcastically.
"They were heading through Gotham, but they veered," Robin reports. "Wait. Dude, they're at my school!"
We glance at each other, then silently agree to run/fly/drive as quickly as we possibly can.
Gotham Academy
As we arrive at Robin's school, we don't really need to go in search for Superboy and the android. We just follow the path of destruction. Literally. We follow the path into a large area of the school. A-ehhhrmmm… the place where the teacher blows a whistle… and where the kids throw things at eachother…
"Access Superman," The Android says, beating the harpie out of Superboy.
Just as the Android is about to land the final blow on Superboy, K.F swoops in and grabs Superboy.
"Yoink!" He exclaims.
"What now?" I wonder as Superboy is at our feet.
Robin throws a few Bird-arangs at the android.
"Martian Manhunter," It calls out, letting the Bird-arang faze right through him.
"Access: Red Tornado," It continues. It's bottom half turned into a red tornado as it moved towards us.
It blew Robin and Superboy into the -err sitting-steps?- and K.F and I into a wall.
I stand up holding my head, and then I hear:
"Access: Captain Atom."
I look up to see the Android's arm charging, then I feel myself get rushed away as the wall explodes.
I look up to see my savior.
"I got'cha Princess," Wally says, holding me bridal style.
"Uhgg! Lantern got you into that, too?" I complain as he stands me up.
"Eh, what can I say?" Wally shrugs. "It's got a ring to it!"
He runs off to charge at the Android.
"Access: Black Canary," It says.
It let out a high-pitched scream. One only Black Canary can duplicate. It blew Wally back before he even got the chance to get close to it.
"Superman," It says, grabbing Superboy's fist before it hit the Android. It then threw him back with another big punch.
"Martian Manhunter," The android says, elongating it's arms to hit away Robin's Bird-arangs.
Wally runs at it again, only to be caught up in the Android's arms.
"Superman," I calls, squishing Wally to it's chest.
"Martian Manhunter," It calls as a green arrow flies through it's head. It was enough to allow Wally to fall out of the Androids grasp and back away.
"Access: Black Canary," It says, sensing Superboy come out from the sitting-steps. It then takes his arm and throws him into the other sitting-steps across the wall.
Robin throws more Bird-arangs at the Android, but it dodges them easily.
"Superman," It says, eyes glowing red.
"Robin!" I yell, flying in front of him, cuffs crossed over my chest to deflect the laser eyes.I feel a blast of wind behind me, signaling that Wally got Robin out of the way. My cuffs work to an extent with the blast. It does deflect the blast, but it pushes me back into the wall, crushing it under the force of my weight.
"This is almost too much to bear… I don't think I can hold on much longer…" I think as it blasts me through the wall and into the hallway filled with lockers.
"Oh, yawn. Normally, Amazo would study and mimic Your abilities during battle, but what's the point? You're all such poor copies of the originals," I hear Ivo say from his spot on the sitting-steps.
"Wait…" I think. "Amazo cannot be at two places at once, so if Superboy distracts Amazo…"
"So everyone keeps saying. It makes me angry!" Superboy yells, launching himself at Ivo, who has just barely dodged Superboy's fists.
"Want to see me channel that anger?" He yells at Ivo.
"Great. He's gone ballistic again," Wally states, helping me up.
"Maybe not," Robin notices.
"Amazo, protect your master. Priority alpha!" Ivo calls out to Amazo in a desperate attempt to change Superboy's focus from Ivo to Amazo.
"Captain Atom," It says, blasting Superboy with the power of Captain Atom.
"Anyone want to play keep-away?" Robin asks, kicking Ivo in the spine, sending him across the floor.
"Me, me!" Wally says, speeding past Amazo.
"Access: Superman," Amazo says, stomping the ground, making a chain reaction of floor boards, tripping Wally. But with his speed, it tripped him up and away.
"Martian Manhunter," Amazo says, fazing through A Birdarang.
"Superman," It says right after Superboy had his fist in Amazo's head. The head starts to spark with Superboy's fist planted through it.
It stops sparking for a moment, then, it explodes.
"Help me disassemble him now!" Robin orders.
"Dude, the guy has no head," Wally states.
"Don't take any chances," Aqualad says running into the room with M'gann flying just behind him.
"Superboy, are you alright?" M'gann asks.
"I'm fine. Feeling the aster," He smiles.
"Hey, where's Ivo? Wally asks, holding his arm.
We all look around.
He's gone.
"I'll go look!" I announce, flying off to surround the building.
"No! Wonder-Bat, we don't know what else he has up his sleeve. You could be flying into a trap." Aqualad warns me before I fly out the window.
I glance outside, then sigh.
"You're the boss," I say, landing next to Amazo's decapitated body.
I start helping Robin take it apart.
"Be careful that you don't-"
I tear it's arm off, wires sparking as I do.
"-Rip out the wires…" Robin finishes slowly after seeing what I did.
"Oh… My bad!" I smile sheepishly, using the arm to wave it off.
Mt Justice
August 4
1:00 A.M
"The Amazo android is in pieces again, Safely being analyzed at the two separate S.T.A.R. labs, but Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android," Kaldur reports.
"Capturing the professor will be a League priority," Black Canary assures.
"But we understand your mission encountered other complications," Martian Manhunter brings up, he and Canary crossing their arms over their chests.
"Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League," Bat-Man adds.
"The whole League?" Superboy asks.
"Including you?" I ask, arms crossed over my chest.
"Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads. Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists. Because there are some problems even we can't handle individually," Bat-Man says, completely blowing me off.
"Please. If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask," Robin says, pulling out a green arrow from his cape. "Look familiar? You were following us! Babysitting! You still don't trust us."
"We didn't follow you," Bat-Man says, while Green Arrow pulls out one of his own arrows to match the tip of the one taken from Robin.
It doesn't match.
"And that's not your arrow, but that means-"
"Speedy!" Wally exclaims with a smile on his face.
"He has our backs," Aqualad joins in, sporting one of his own smiles.
"Souvenir!" Wally calls, taking the arrow from G.A, and running off to put it on his wall.
Oa
Sector: 0
Star system: Sto-Oa
"Green Lanterns: Hal and Nash Jordan," Kilowog addresses us as we arrive on Oa.
He's a Bolovaxian, and sadly, the last of his kind.
I don't know the exact details of it, but his race was moved to a planet when their original one was destroyed, but Sinestro destroyed it when he went rogue.
He looks kind of like a Warthog, mixed with a cow, mixed with an ox, mixed with an alien. He's pretty cool once you get to know him past all of his brute force and Drill-Sergeant attitude. Super smart too. He told me that he was a geneticist once.
"Hey Kilowog! What's happening bro?" I ask him, going in for one of his rib crushing hugs.
"Had to smash in a few rookies heads, but you know how the training goes," He laughs.
"Ah, boy do I know," I say, scratching the back of my head where I had to get some stitches from the time when we were training a bit too hard.
"So," He begins. "What's her name?"
If I had a drink I would have spit it out.
"What?" I ask. "Who's name?"
"I could spot your smile from light-years away kid. So who is she?" He asks again.
"I don't know who you're talking about," I try.
"Aww," Kilowog laughs. "You don't even know you like her yet! How cute."
"What? No, no! Addie is just a friend!" I defend.
"Aww… immediately regrets decision…" I cringe.
"Oh? Addie, huh?" He teases as we walk to the Lantern Room. "You knew who I was talking about when I said 'crush', didn't you? So you do know that you like her!"
"And some friend she is, Nash. It's not like you take her out to burger restaurants and have her try different things every time," Dad adds on. "Oh, and don't even get me started on when she had to leave to train with the Amazons on Paradise Island. Or when she came back looking, and I quote, 'Like a Princess, with blue converse and a lasso'? I might be paraphrasing."
"Hey! Stop that! I mean, sure she's pretty, and strong, and naive, and really pretty-"
"You said 'pretty' twice, Nash," Dad laughs.
"Oh," I say. "I-I did? I-I didn't n-notice."
"So what's keepin' you back?" Kilowog asks.
"How about a certain dynamic duo by the name of 'Bat-Man and Robin', and an Amazon named Wonder Woman?" I laugh nervously. "And the fact that she's now a princess of Paradise Island, because Wonder Woman is next in line!"
"How is it their business?" Kilo asks gruffly.
"Heh. Bat-Man equals Father, Wonder Woman equals Mother, Robin equals Brother. Makin' any sense yet?" I ask.
"OoHoo… you picked a tough family to try with! I wish good luck to ya'!" He laughs.
"It's not funny!" I argue.
"Kinda is, pal," Dad says, ruffling my hair.
"Is not!" I whine, folding my arms over my chest.
"Listen, kid," Kilowog says. "Don't wait too long to tell her. And try askin' her out. If not for you, then how about for your Uncle Kilo? Huh?"
"You only call yourself 'Uncle Kilo' when you want me to do something for you…" I pout.
He gives me the biggest puppy-dog eyes that he possibly can.
"NO! I know that trick! I've become immune to your 'puppy-dog' eyes!" I state.
"You have?" He asks sadly.
I look back at him.
"Aww… brooooo… now he looks like a sad puppy… that's even worse…" I think to myself.
"Mmmmmmmhokay fine! I'll ask her out. But I'll do it on my time!" I give in.
"That's all Uncle Kilo could ask for!" he smiles pulling me into a bear hug.
"Okay… lost feeling in my… spleen…" I wheeze.
"Oh, alright, kid. Go on ahead of us to the Lantern room. Your Dad and I'll catch up," Kilowog says.
I smile, and take off ahead of them.
"Does he still think that his mother is-" Kilo asks Hal as Nash flies out of sight.
"He does," Hal replies.
"Hal," Kilo says. "You have to tell him soon. If he finds out from someone other than you,-"
"I know, I know. But how can I tell him right now? You saw how happy he was! I can't just take that away from him by telling him about his mother!" Hal argues.
"He'll be more upset the longer you wait to tell him, Hal. He'll think that you've lied to him his whole life! Would you be able to accept the fact that he might hate you for keeping this from him?" Kilowog asks.
"I just need to tell him at the right time," Hal says.
Lantern Room
"As I am sure you are all aware," An announcer says from the stage. "Sinestro is gaining more power. More fear. So far, our attempts to detain this fear have been unsuccessful. And I , sadly, did not call you here to bring you a new, better plan. You were summoned here today because we have no plan. Our Green Lanterns are being picked off in droves by Sinestro and his *echem* Yellow Lanterns. And we have discovered a plan. His plan. It's to drive the Galaxy into an untamable fear. Sinestro has a list, and we are on it, no doubt. So we must be prepared! Now is the time to prepare yourselves for a war. There's no use in sugar-coating it. And I do warn you, prepare yourselves for the worse. We must still protect those in our Galaxy, but our home comes first."
"With that being said, let us join in for our oath," A second announcer states.
"In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's, LIGHT!" The crowded room chants, throwing our ring hands up towards the sky, illuminating the night.
