Disclaimer: I do not own anything...
So here's a new story, I hope you enjoy... Truth or Dare Batstyle should be updated soon...
ENJOY!
R. E. D.
Chapter 1: Alive
Groaning, Owen Mercer felt himself coming back to consciousness. His eyes shot open only to be closed again due to the blinding white light that was shining directly above him. His hands instinctively moved to block his eyelids. Trying to comprehend what was happening and where he was, Owen was suddenly aware of a cold hand touching his wrist. Luckily, even though he was currently blind, his reflexes were still as fast as usual, allowing him to grab the arm and shoot up to a sitting position. He cracked his eyes opened to see the vague figure of the person who the arm belonged to. Then out of nowhere, he felt something press him back down to lying position, forcing him to let go of the wrist.
"Where the hell am I?" Owen demanded as he struggled to get up but his arms and legs were now pinned to the bed he was lying to. He did not like this at all. And how did he get here anyways? The last thing that he remembered was that he was witnessing the Blackest Night... A suddenly flashback crossed his mind and made him alert. "Am I alive? Aren't I'm supposed to be dead?"
"That can be arranged," a deep, sly voice stated and Owen could hear the evil smirk in his tone. There was a slapping noise and a thud of something mechanical falling to the ground. Owen's eyes widened as he realized that it probably was a gun.
"Red," an oddly familiar female voice reprimanded sternly.
"Stop it, woman, let me do my business, dammit," the first voice snapped, obviously annoyed. All the coolness and smugness in his tone had vanished and had been replaced by a slightly whiny undertone.
"RED," she repeated, louder and sterner than the last time.
"Fine," the male conceded reluctantly. Owen felt a sudden wave of relief, but it didn't last long as he realized that he was still being held captive by the binds on his arms and legs. Binds that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere… "I can't do nothing. And I run this joint…well, co-run…You know what I mean."
"I know what you mean," another voice popped up. It was softer and calmer, and Owen thought for a second, even maybe had some niceness in it. Well, more niceness than the other two had.
"Shut it, suck-up," the female snapped and Owen felt like it was déjà vu. He shook it off just as the first voice spoke again.
"Owen Mercer –" He began in a slightly deeper and more dramatic voice but was cut off immediately by the red head who had a million questions roaming his mind. That was the problem with super quick thinking: there was always just so much more going on in his brain than he could put into words.
"Who are you? Why the hell am I here? Why did you bring me here? What have I ever done to piss you off? Are you on the villain's side or the hero's side? What happened to the world in Blackest Night?"
"Stop interrupting me, dammit!" He growled angrily, he was really pissed now. The girl gave him a warning cough and he calmed down a bit. A bit. "Any more questions, or do you want to wait until I start again so that you can interrupt me?"
"Just one: Why am I alive?" Owen felt the need to ask this. The last thing he remembered was getting his heart torn clean out of his body by the Black Lantern version of his father.
"I can help explain that," a fourth voice spoke. It was soft but still harsh but had a slight feminine gentleness to it. There was also a monotone aspect to it. As if she really didn't care if she was there or not. "We found you after your incident. Luckily, your heart was still beating when we found you. We were able to keep you alive with some magic and othermethods," Owen was sure he did not want to know what the other methods was, "and we transplanted your heart back in."
"Impossible," Owen muttered.
"In theory, but not in concept," the second male voice added.
"We'll explain more later. And by that I mean, the ones who actually care will explain it you later," the one called 'Red' seemed irritated. "We have come to ask you something: will you join our team?"
"I'm not villain anymore. If I have a chance to have my life again, I'm going to start making the right decisions," Owen explained without hesitation. "No matter why I was saved." He suddenly felt arms wrap tightly around him and pull him into a hug.
"Welcome back, Owen." The redhead blinked a few times before returning the hug, noticing that his arms and legs were free again. He was starting to get his eyesight back and could make out a red helmeted figure glaring daggers at him, a Green Lantern, and a darkly dressed girl looking at him. He pulled away from the hug and immediately recognized the blonde young woman in front of him.
"Kara," he smiled warmly at her and hugged her again, this time with more emotion. "I missed you."
"Me too," she murmured into his shoulder.
"Kaaaaaaraaa," 'Red' drawled out in an almost whiny call for attention.
"So you're in?" Kara inquired, ignoring the request for her attention. She looked at Owen hard and expectantly, like she was searching for the truth of his goodness in his facial features.
"Do I have a better choice?" Owen joked.
"Not really," the Green Lantern piped up and Kara rolled his eyes.
"Rhetorical question," she said bluntly.
"I knew that," he pouted, crossing his arms. "Kara, you make me so sad." A green construct of a tear formed on his cheek. The blonde girl walked over to him and punched him lightly in the shoulder while chuckling.
"Mercer, now that you have joined the team, you need to know that you answer to me and to me only," 'Red' informed him in his 'obey-me-or-die' voice that he had been working on for a while now.
"Red…" Kara trailed off, knowing that the young man had caught the gist of what she was thinking.
"Fine, you answer to me and my co-leader," he turned to Kara with a glare that was visible through the helmet. "You happy?"
"Very." Kara was smirking smugly.
"So who's the co-leader?" Owen asked, thinking that it might be Kara given her control over the boy.
"You'll meet him later," Kara waved the subject off quickly. "He's pretty busy at the moment."
There were loud shouts and curses from outside the room. The other four in the room looked straight at Owen, unfazed, but the redhead looked alarmed. "Shouldn't we…?"
"Nope," the Green Lantern shook his head.
"Okay," Owen shrugged, feeling content with that answer.
"Damn it all to hell," Red Robin sneered as he exited the hospital room, slamming the door behind him. Across the hall, leaning against the wall and staring at him, amused, with her head cocked to one side, Stargirl chuckled.
"Sorry I missed the show," she joked and he just aimed a glare at her before stalking down the hallway. Raising an eyebrow, she jogged to catch up with him, slowing down when she fell in step with him. "So what happened? How did youget stuck with Mr. Anger Management?"
"It was Red Hood's idea." Red Robin clenched his fists as he thought of his older, pretty messed up brother. "He said we should draw lots and then tackle each potential new member alone. He said it was better that way for the patient. And I quote: 'It would be too much to have two people attacking him about joining the team.'"
Her arched eyebrow rose higher as she inquired in disbelief and doubt, "And you bought that crap?"
"No," Red Robin replied like it was obvious and that it was blasphemous to suggest otherwise. "But it's hard to argue with a crazy delinquent with a gun."
"You know he's not going to shoot you on purpose for some stupid reason, right?" Stargirl asked after they walked in silence for a few moments.
"Of course," Red Robin cracked a small smirk. "But knowing that trigger-friendly bastard, you can never be too careful." Stargirl laughed loudly and Red Robin couldn't help but stifle a chuckle. Her laughs were contagious, even to the Batman trained teenager.
So what did you think? Stay tuned for more and don't forget to Review!