This chapter is a two-for-one special :D We're halfway through the fic!

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Happy Harbor

October 15, 07:19 EDT

"Recognized: Siren, B-zero-two; Tigress, B-zero-eight; Halo, G-zero-three."

Jenna felt like she could relax once they left the Zeta-Tube. All morning, she had been practically dashing around her apartment. From her bedroom to grab her bag, to the kitchen to ensure Violet was finishing her breakfast, to the living room to make sure the girl's backpack was ready, then back to the kitchen to quickly pour a cup of coffee. Trying to ensure they weren't running late left her slightly frazzled, much to her best friend's amusement.

But they made it through the morning, finally teleporting to M'gann and Conner's (and Lucas') home where waiting for them were Brion and Forager.

Violet let out a giggle as they left the garage, shooting up into the air excitedly. "It's the first day of school!" she cheered.

"Uh, no flying at school please!" Artemis called up to her.

"That is one phone call I would not want to receive," Jenna whined, keeping her metal thermos close to her sternum. Violet listened though, dropping in front of the boys.

Artemis approached the bug from New Genesis. "Forager, Zatanna created this just for you," she said, digging out an item from her jacket. "Your very own Glamor Charm."

She held it out to Forager, but he just bent over halfway, ducking his head. Clearly, he was expecting Artemis to put it on him herself. The woman shared a look with Jenna who just shrugged, then placed the necklace over his head.

It was weird, to see the change happen in real time. Jenna wasn't a stranger to the magic–having seen it on Artemis when she was still undercover with Kaldur–but it still harbored some bad memories. Yet Jenna simply sighed, deciding to shove them back into the depths of her brain.

Forager had straightened back up and was examining his hands. "So...is Forager glamorous now?" he questioned, his voice sounding much clearer and human. He certainly looked more human too, appearing as a short, chubby teenager with a normal set of arms.

"You look human!" Violet said with awe. "...And considerably less naked."

Forager wasn't convinced though. "Is Violet sure?" he asked, looking down at his hands. "Forager still looks like Forager to Forager. And Forager still feels naked."

"Violet is sure. And it's Violet Harper now; I have a new last name!" she revealed.

"Forager is still Forager," he reminded.

"Not today," Artemis piped up.

"You needed a human name for school," Violet explained. "I helped Artemis fill out the forms and picked a name I thought you would like: Fred Bugg. With two 'G's."

That's a bit on the nose. Jenna hid her smile behind her drink as she thought about that conversation from the other night.

Fred mulled the thought over, tapping his chin. "Forager is Fred Bugg-with-two-Gs," he repeated. "Forager understands. No, wait- Fred Bugg-with-two-Gs understands!"

"I'm sure you'll fit right in," Brion piped up.

Jenna quietly shushed the prince, sharing an amused glance with him.

Violet turned to him, not catching the sarcasm as she usually didn't. "Isn't this wonderful, Brion?" she asked him. "Fred and I will meet so many new girls and boys!"

"Just be careful about the boys," Brion said with an odd urgency. "They only have one thing on their minds."

Jenna raised her eyebrow as she examined his perturbed expression. Interesting...

Violet, however, didn't understand what he was implying. "What one thing?" she asked innocently.

Jenna turned on Brion, warning in her eyes despite her smile. "Yeah, Brion, what one thing?" she echoed.

He quickly ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck. His awkward silence said everything.

"Uh, we can talk about that on the way to school." M'gann and Lucas had made it downstairs and were waiting by the car, witnessing the tail end of the conversation.

"And if we don't hurry, we're gonna be late," M'gann continued.

"Oh, this is perfect!" Violet exclaimed as she and Fred walked away. "When we drive up with the guidance counselor and the principal, all the other kids will have to like us!"

Oh, you sweet, innocent child. Jenna's smile dropped when Violet began to levitate again. "Violet! No. Flying. At. School!" she reminded, quickly following to control the chaos.

~/~/~/~

Star City

October 15, 08:23 PDT

There was a familiar ding as the register drawer slid open. Jenna lifted the cash organizer up to place the check she was just handed inside for safekeeping until the end of the day.

"Thank you so much, miss." Jenna's customer, a middle-aged man, clutched the bouquet in one hand.

She smiled. "You're welcome," she said. "And, uh, good luck with that apology dinner."

The man's smile looked strained. "Thanks, I'm gonna need it."

After he left–the bell that hung above the door ringing as he did–Jenna let out a puff of air that blew a strand of hair out of her face. "God help him for whatever he did," she muttered. "Or her to have to put up with his apology."

She stepped away from the register, turning down the narrow hallway that lead to her office. Trusting that she'd hear someone come in if she left the door cracked, she took a seat in the rolling chair waiting by her desk.

"I need to stop putting off ordering more inventory," she mumbled to herself, tugging her hair back into a tiny half-bun even though some of the shorter strands were stubborn.

She got to work, but it wasn't very long until her cell rang. Not even bothering to turn her head, she reached over to accept the call and place it on speaker. "Hey."

"Hey. Remember the mission that Batman, Katana, and Metamorpho were sent on?"

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "To go check out Santa Prisca? Yeah, what about it?"

Dick let out a sigh. "She was there. But by the time they went on the mission, she was gone, sent elsewhere."

Jenna had a similar reaction. "Great," she said, disappointed. "So any idea where she might be now?"

"No, not yet. It's a long story and Batman wants to talk about it in full soon so I'll let you know when we figure out a time to meet."

Jenna leaned back in her chair, head tilted up to stare at the ceiling. "Alright, fine. So what do we tell Brion?" she wondered.

"As a matter of fact, I'm on my way to talk to him now."

Dick wasn't joking when he said 'now' since the sound of a Zeta-Tube computer emitted from the phone immediately after. Jenna couldn't hear much for a moment as the loud voice announced his departure and arrival, but after it had, Dick spoke again, but not to her.

"Looking for something?"

The person that answered made Jenna's lips thin as she surmised that he had been trying to dig into the computer system sitting in Conner's garage. She kept quiet, choosing that she didn't want to be involved in the conversation, but she still wanted to listen in.

"Actually, yes," Brion said to the man that had suddenly shown up to catch him in the act, "because you won't tell me anything."

"There was nothing to tell until now," Dick told him. "That's why I'm here."

Jenna settled further into her seat, crossing one leg over the other. This ought to be interesting.

Dick continued. "Your sister, Tara, was on Santa Prisca but has since been shipped elsewhere. We're trying to track her now."

"So she was there," Brion growled. "And your delays cost us the chance to rescue her!"

Dick was getting frustrated having to deal with the temperamental teen time after time. "It's more complicated than that, Brion," he said with a tight voice. "I need you to be patient." Then there were footsteps on concrete that transitioned to gravel.

Jenna heard Brion grunt in anger. "Do not turn your back on me!"

There was the sound of a collision then a splash as Dick's body and his phone hit the ground. Jenna suddenly dropped her leg to place both feet on the floor, leaning toward the phone.

"Dick?" she called out, a spark of panic going through her.

There was another thud that sounded like a body was sent flying before rapid footsteps approached where the phone had fallen. An impact, almost like a punch or shove to the torso, came quickly after though, followed by one more fall. Then a tell-tale sizzle as Brion growled.

Oh fuck. Jenna's hand twitched from where it was tightly gripping the arm of the rolling chair, her body poised to jump up even though there was nothing she could do to control a situation she couldn't even see.

There was a slight lull before Dick spoke up again, seemingly okay and unharmed.

"So what's your next move?" he questioned the prince. "Roast me alive for suggesting you exercise patience?"

"Patience?!" Brion barked. "Patience, patience...what is the magic of patience?!"

The sound of bubbling lava was faintly heard as he ranted. "You preach patience! My brother preaches patience! Once upon a time, my parents sang the same song of patience! Where did all that patience get any of us?!"

Jenna slowly lowered herself back down, folding her arms on the desk. She held her tongue, trusting Dick would know what to say.

"Huh. Okay. Yeah, now I get it," he realized. "See, I think you know we're doing everything we can to find Tara. So, is this really about her, or is it about Markovia?"

That has shaken Brion from his blind rage. "What?"

Dick's voice grew fainter, likely as he approached the boy. "You've been online every day, every hour, obsessively following your brother's every move."

Brion stammered. "You hacked my phone?" he said incredulously.

Jenna rolled her eyes. Not like we wouldn't know that anyway.

"Stay focused, Brion," Dick said cooly, neither confirming nor denying the accusation. "Because, right now, you have a decision to make: Are you a man perpetually looking back at what he's lost, or a man looking forward to what he might become?"

The silence that drew out was enough for Jenna to quietly hang up, leaving the two of them to hash the rest of the situation out.

"Dammit," she muttered, running a hand down her face.

She wasn't worried about Brion. She knew Dick could take care of that problem. But his last words struck a chord in her, one she didn't want to address. Not at that moment anyway.

Luckily, she didn't have to as a ring was heard at the store entrance. With a sigh, she stood, leaving her phone—and the troubled thoughts it caused—behind.

~/~/~/~

Happy Harbor

October 15, 19:21 EDT

The first day. We couldn't even get past the first day. Jenna's brow was furrowed with worry as she walked out of the garage. Dick, Artemis, and Brion were waiting just outside.

"Sorry it took me so long," Jenna apologized. "Couldn't leave without closing up the shop."

"No worries, Jen," Dick assured.

The small group went to join the others on the patio. It was the typical crowd created after the mission in Markovia—and after Forager was brought back—but one particular person stood out from the rest, making Jenna's eyes instantly narrow in confusion.

"Okay, M'gann, we're all here," Dick said. "What happened?"

Artemis looked over at Violet with sympathy as she and Jenna approached her. "I take it your first day at school was a bit atypical?" the archer guessed.

Violet was confused. "How would I know? Maybe every day-"

M'gann cut her off. "I know. It was very atypical."

Jenna rubbed the corner of her eye. "So start from the beginning, please. What went wrong?" she wondered.

"And who is this?" Brion questioned, having approached the stranger in their midst.

"Victor Stone is Victor Stone," Fred piped up.

Victor held up his hand, showing that it was entirely made of metal. As was his shoulder, half of his face, and god knows what else.

"You guys really aren't freaked out by how I look?" he asked, glancing around the relatively normal-looking group.

"You...picked the right crowd," Conner convinced him. Understatement of the century.

Fred smiled, reaching for his necklace. "Perhaps...but is Victor Stone"—he pulled it off, revealing what he really looked like—"freaked out by how Forager looks?"

Victor glanced over at the bug, recoiling with a yelp at the sudden change. His foot slipped off the patio step and he tumbled to the ground.

Forager frowned. "Apparently, Victor Stone is," he surmised.

Jenna held back a smile. "Maybe don't reveal yourself so quickly next time?" she suggested lightly with a hand on Forager's shoulder.

"What does Jenna Lance mean? Why would Forager need to reveal himself to Victor Stone again?"

"No, I-" Jenna cut herself off with a sigh. "Never mind." She shook her head and moved back to her best friend.

Victor felt bad, rushing to explain. "I'm sorry. You've been great. You just...caught me off guard."

Jeff had gone to offer a hand to the kid with a knowing look. "Way off guard?"

Victor took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. "Way off guard," he agreed.

Dick loudly cleared his throat. "Uh, still haven't heard what happened," he reminded them.

Forager was the one to give the story. "At school today, Violet Harper opened a boom tube as if Violet Harper was a Motherbox."

Jenna and everyone else turned to the girl in question. "What?!"

"Mm-hm, it's true!" Violet said eagerly. "I didn't know I could do it until I did it. Then it seemed, well, natural."

Doctor Jace stepped forward. "But even for a meta-human of your abilities, how is that possible?" she wondered.

Jenna's eyes went wide as it dawned on her. Because maybe she isn't a meta at all. "Holy shit," she whispered.

"Maybe I know," Conner quickly spoke up.

Jenna turned to look at him with surprise.

He continued. "When we were at Bedlam Central, I spotted a dissected Motherbox."

"Of course! That must be the device Baron Bedlam gave to Doctor Ecks," Jace realized. "Simon tried to learn its secrets, but only succeeded in destroying it. There was a burst of energy, then the machine went dead."

"Not just dead. Murdered," Conner corrected. "Motherboxes are living computers. That burst of energy? It was probably Motherbox's soul escaping."

Jenna grabbed Artemis' arm as her friend smacked her own forehead.

"Hello, Megan!" Artemis cried out. "Doctor Fate sensed an old soul in Halo's very young body. And the first time Jen and I saw Halo, Vertigo's crew was burying her."

Jenna frowned. "Bedlam wouldn't ditch powerful meta-humans if they could make a good profit, so they must have thought she was actually dead," she added. "Gabrielle Daou did die that night."

Artemis turned to Violet. "But the Motherbox's soul energy—or whatever you wanna call it—merged with Gabrielle's body and resurrected it as-"

"As me!" Violet realized. "I told you I wasn't Gabrielle."

Jenna approached the girl, grasping her shoulders gently. "You did," she confirmed. "I didn't understand at first, but I wasn't going to take that away from you. You're Violet, no matter what."

The relief on the girl's face was enough for Jenna to get the urge to hug her, but she refrained for the time being.

"The trauma must've wiped their combined minds clean," Jace explained, drawing closer to them. "She'd get flashes of Gabrielle's residual memories, flashes of the Motherbox's knowledge..."

"Everything else she'd have to learn anew."

Violet looked over at Brion when he spoke. "It...doesn't upset you that Gabrielle is dead?" she asked, turning to face the prince and making Jenna's hands slip off.

Brion reached out, taking Violet's hand with a fond look. "Strangely, no. I suppose it's because you are the only you I've ever known."

He then chuckled lightly. "Besides, I have grown accustomed to such...strangeness."

Victor quickly raised his hand. "Yeah, well, newbie to strangeness here," he pointed out. "What does all this have to do with me?"

Jenna glanced back to the one who started the whole debacle. "Vi, what happened after you opened the boom tube?"

"Well, I went through it to see where it would lead me. When I stepped out, I saw Victor."

"Call me Vic. And it, uh, it was more than that," he said sheepishly. "I was attacking my dad and some other scientists he worked with."

Jenna raised her eyebrows, a million questions running through her head. But she decided to wait. "Then what?"

Vic looked over at Violet. "She did something weird that made me feel less...murderous. She was glowing purple when she did it too."

Jenna crossed her arms in thought. Her healing aura?

Artemis spoke up, "But, Violet, you've never been able to heal anyone but yourself."

"Well, she healed me. That's why I-"

Violet shook her head. "Actually I don't believe I did heal you, Victor," she told him. "I think I only made adjustments to your internal technology."

"More proof she's a living Motherbox," Conner mused.

"Whatever. Look, I just wanna get back to my actual life," Vic said. "I'm this close to a college scholarship, and maybe even a career in pro football. So I need one of you freaks to get this tech off me."

"We're trying to figure this out," Dick cut in.

Brion sighed. "And now, he'll tell you to be patient," he said dryly.

"Yeah, 'patient' is not gonna cut it. You can talk about all these Mother and Fatherboxes later-"

Everything seemed to explode.

"Hang on, what do you mean by-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said anything about-"

"-a Fatherbox?"

Jenna's and Conner's voices overlapped before coming together at the end. Jenna's eyes were as wide as saucers and, if she turned around, she imagined her Kryptonian friend had the same look.

But before anyone else could say anything, Sphere ran up to Vic, beeping frantically.

"Whoa!" Vic jumped, eyeing the sentient ball. "What's this now?"

"Sphere?" Conner called out.

Then Sphere transformed, rising into the sky to hover over Vic threateningly.

The boy glanced over at the others watching tensely. "What's going on?"

"Super-Cycle, what are you doing?" Conner snapped.

The Super-Cycle continued to freak out, trying to communicate the only way she knew how. But when she did, something happened to Vic.

The technology fused to his body seemed to turn on, glowing a violent purple. And as he spoke, his voice had an underlying demonic sound: "You dare threaten me?!"

He reached out with his robotic hand, firing a laser at Super-Cycle. She swerved, beginning her own attack.

Conner suddenly jumped in between, becoming the middleman since he was the only one who could physically handle both assaults.

He groaned as his body was wrecked. "Both of you! Stop!" he ordered.

Whatever had taken over Vic wasn't happy. "Fool! You seek to intervene? Then suffer for it!"

"No!" Violet took a step closer, throwing her own hand out.

She spoke again, but in an entirely different language that sounded nothing like anything modern-day. And her body began to glow violet just like when she was healing herself, but a similarly colored beam cast out of her outstretched palm to engulf Vic. After she was done, she looked around with confusion, blinking rapidly.

But it worked. Vic's technology shut down before rebooting as he woke back up.

Vic looked down at his hand, realizing what he had done. "Sorry! Sorry..."

Some of the group split as M'gann checked on her fiancé and Jeff checked on Vic.

"Conner!" M'gann said worriedly, resting a hand against his chest as he straightened up.

"I'm fine," he said, groaning in pain as he looked up at the Super-Cycle. "Super-Cycle, stand down!"

She was still unsettled though, clearly not trusting Vic even if it was just because of the technology. However, Violet flew over to her, patting her gently.

"It's all right now," she said soothingly.

As even more proof that Violet was a living Motherbox, Sphere balled back up, now at ease.

Jenna met Violet at the bottom of the steps, glancing over at the boy she 'cleansed'. "I swear, that wasn't me attacking," Vic said.

"No. It was the tech within you taking control," Violet agreed. "But I have cleansed you again."

"Yeah, well, clearly, a 'Halo Cleanse' is only a temporary solution," Dick said from the patio. "For the time being...you two had better stick close to each other."

Violet smiled up at him. "Understood. I will stick close," she said determinedly.

Jeff pointed something important out. "What about his father? Shouldn't we bring Vic back to him-"

Vic whirled around. "My father did this to me!" he snapped, holding up his hand.

"All the more reason."

Vic was steadily growing more frustrated, making it clear that he wasn't on great terms with his dad. "Look, I'm eighteen. You can kick me out, but you can't make me go back."

"No one's kicking anyone out," Conner interrupted.

Jenna couldn't stop the sigh that escaped her. "Yay," she mumbled. Time to figure out new sleeping arrangements.

She straightened up, looking back at Dick with an annoyed glance. He at least looked apologetic as he turned away, expecting her to follow. Which she did.

Once on the patio, she leaned against the side of the house next to Dick, keeping her body angled to where no one could notice what she was saying. "We need to figure this shit out," she said in a low voice.

"Jen, I'm sorry, but we need to keep Vic and Violet together in case something bad happens," Dick pointed out.

But Jenna shook her head. "I don't care about that," she corrected with a wave of her hand. "Fine, at the very least I can stick Vic on the couch and Violet can stay in my room since she sleeps six feet in the air anyway. I'm talking about this."

She gestured between the two of them. "This whole thing that we've got going on the side. We're still trying to find Tara but now we have to figure out how to help Vic?" she reminded. "And that's even assuming we can help him but I know he won't want to hear that right now."

Dick ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I know, I know. We'll figure it out. Together."

"Good." She reached out, nudging his shin with the toe of her shoe. "At least I don't have to chew you out this time."

His guilty expression faded when he looked up and saw her smirking. Then he rolled his eyes. "Thank god," he muttered, yelping when she kicked him a little harder.

Jenna pulled away, moving back over to the kids. "I'll take care of tonight and we'll go from there," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Dick. "But just remember, I'm housing a guy who might turn homicidal in the blink of an eye so you owe me."

She sent him a wry grin as she turned away. My grocery bill is going to be a pain in the ass.

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The episodes that are in this chapter were too important to skip so it just made more sense to combine them. There will be a couple more chapters that are treated the same way just for the sake of how important they are to Jenna's story.

I also decided to have Jenna house Vic as well because I always found it a bit strange that they said that Violet needed to stay close to him, yet they were still separated in terms of living arrangements. Sure they have the Zeta-Tubes but I felt like that was still putting people at risk should he be taken over again. And it's only temporary since Violet fully cleanses him soon anyway.

Next week! We finally get to see Tara! And we get to see the other side of things where they knew all along that she was working with Deathstroke since Jenna's involved with the little 'Anti-Light'.