"Xavier, what does it mean to ask someone out?" I sat on the table-mat in the Central City office a couple of mornings after the mission with Doctor Fate. The blond teen was working at the desk doing homework, his back to me. He turned to answer my question.
He looked confused at first, then scratched at the back of his neck. He seemed to do that often. "Well, it's like another way to say going on a date." He answered. I was still confused.
"And what's a date?"
"Uh, well, it's…" he trailed off. "It's ah, it's sort of like going somewhere special with someone special to you, someone that you, y'know, like. And you take them somewhere so you can spend time with them." I got the feeling it was a touchy subject by the way he turned away from me and stumbled over his words.
"Have you ever been on a date before?" I was curious to see what one was like.
"Me? Uh, no, actually. I haven't." He answered.
"Well, that makes two of us." I remarked, smiling. He turned his head to me and smiled back. I thought I heard him say something else, but I couldn't pick it up.
"Xavier?" I asked again.
He turned to look at me with a curious expression.
"How do you dance?"
He looked confused for a moment. "Well, there are lots of kinds of dances. Why do you ask?"
"I saw it last night. On Doctor Who. They put on some music and they swayed with it, like this," I hopped down as I explained, and took his hand in mine and tried to mimic the swaying motion I saw on the TV box. I laughed in embarrassment as I found out I'm not very good at swaying.
Xavier laughed with me as well. "Hold on," he said as he pulled out a small tablet-thing, breaking the motion. After a minute, there was slow music playing through the device, as Xavier took my hand and showed me how to dance. "Well, uh, for one thing, you usually let someone else lead."
I put my other hand on his shoulder as he led me through some easy steps. Step, turn, step, turn. "I think I'm getting the hang of this," I remarked. I hadn't even realized that the music had stopped. Or that Xavier's hand was on my waist. I didn't really want to stop dancing, but Xavier broke the spell first by stepping away.
"You're, umm, you're doing great," he complimented before going back to his work. I was disappointed for some reason, but I said goodbye anyway and went back to the Zeta tube.
I returned to the Cave shortly after. I had a sandwich for lunch, and then once I had done that, I got into my hero uniform to do a fly around the city.
I exited through the bay doors, carrying my mace with me as it somehow made me lighter when I had it.
I flexed my wings, and took off into the air. It was a beautiful day. I skimmed near the water, enjoying the feeling of the sea spray on my face and wings, before banking and climbing above the town's buildings.
I paused to look around. The humans on the ground seemed so small from up here. I dove back down, winding through the streets. I slowed to wave at some pedestrians, before climbing up into the clouds.
They looked much different then they felt. By the time I reached above them, the temperature had already dropped some, and my wings now had ice crystals forming. I let my wings fold in as I embraced the feeling of falling back down to Earth.
Before I hit the beach, though, I spread my wings like a parachute and let the wing carry me back to Mount Justice.
Landing by the doors to the garage, the computer scanned me as I entered and announced my arrival. Out of breath, I collapsed on the couch in the living room as I turned on the TV box. Some sort of animated show was playing. I didn't really pay attention.
Soon after, though, I was called to the main room along with the rest of the team minus Robin and Artemis. I wondered where they were, but then saw Robin sitting next to Batman on the screen. They were both covered in mud.
"Attention, team," Batman called. "Take a Zeta tube to Gotham City immediately and rendezvous with Robin at these coordinates."
"What is the mission?" Aqualad asked.
"Shouldn't we wait for Artemis?" Kid Flash wondered.
"Yeah, where is Artemis?" I turned to the kid in yellow. He shrugged in answer.
"Don't wait. There's a creature loose in my city." Batman interjected.
"If it's your city, then why are we hunting it?" Superboy questioned the Leaguer.
"You are not to hunt it or engage. Track it until I return with the solution." Batman seemed to dodge the question, but gave us the mission nonetheless.
Pretty soon the team, in stealth suits, were tracking down the sewers of Gotham City.
"So, what does this creature look like? How are we supposed to track it if we don't even know what to track?" I asked over the psychic link.
We're looking for something made entirely out of clay, like a living statue." Robin answered. That didn't help. I stepped for the fiftieth time into a puddle of who knows what looking for this monster down on here.
"Kaldur?" Miss Martian asked. "Kaldur…Aqualad! Are you linked up?"
"What…?" Aqualad answered. Even his mental voice sounded far away. "Oh yes, Miss Martian, your psychic link functions perfectly."
"That's a relief. We couldn't hear you."
"Like your every thought was a million miles away." I added to Miss Martian's statement.
All of a sudden, I was grabbed and hit the side of the sewer forcefully, held in pace by some kind of mud creature.
I struggled against my captor, trying to break free, but I couldn't get a hold on my mace. I decided to go with the second weapon. As the others started to escape as well, as I slashed the creature's arm with my sai, making me drop to the ground.
"That was unpleasant, like tangling with a rabid Ma'alefa'ak on Mars." Miss Martian commented at the still pile of mud on the ground.
"Unpleasant, sure, but kind of a pushover. What exactly was Batman so worried about?" Kid Flash wondered.
Before I could answer, the thing attached is again, shifting his form. Wait a minute...this is what we're supposed to be tracking! I was knocked against the side again. My shoulder exploded in pain beneath my armor. I fell back down on my stomach into the rotten-smelling sewer water.
"Yes, Batman. Although the encounter was far from successful." Aqualad said. I guessed he was talking through his comm.
"If that's Batman, ask him where Artemis is. And how does she get to skip out on this so fun sewer party?" Kid Flash asked Aqualad as I worked on getting the mud from my outfit. It was difficult.
We walked back through the sewers in defeat as I thought about what to do next. We clearly underestimated that creature's power. The question is, could a thing that can change its shape into anything really be defeated? Was it just toying with us now, waiting and watching from the shadows? I shook my head to clear the questions from my head. Now wasn't a time to ask questions. Now was a time for action.
We returned to the Bio-Ship as everyone changed into clean costumes. As Superboy and I only had the one, we remained covered in muck, but I cleaned myself off the best I could.
"I mean, what's the point of putting on a clean costume if I'm not...fresh?" Kid Flash mused.
"Oh, Wally, you're always fresh." Miss Martian said, which was oddly uncharacteristic.
At least you have a clean costume," I told Kid Flash, showing all the places I still had mud. Superboy agreed with me, as he still had his mud-coated clothing on.
"Yeah, an old backup! No stealth mode! It stinks!" He replied, pressing the symbol on his chest.
"I think that's me, actually." I said about the smell.
"But what about the creature?" Robin asked. "Batman asked us to track it."
"Why settle for that?" Kid Flash asked. "Okay, sure, it got the drop on us, but now we know its tricks!"
"Yeah! We split up!" Robin decided. "Whoever finds old "Clayface" first radios the team…"
"We converge and kick some clay-butt." Superboy finished.
"Are you sure splitting up is the best action for a guy who can shift form?" I asked. Robin just smirked.
"Relax, Hawkgirl. It's not like he has Martian shapeshifting powers or something." His answer didn't quell the uneasiness in my stomach.
"What do you think Aqualad?" Miss Martian asked. The Atlantean had been silent the whole time. I wondered why his mind seemed so far away. Now was not a good time to be having second thoughts.
"What? Oh, yes. It seems like we have a plan." He stood as Miss Martian levitated the Bio-Ship, making hole in the underside, where we were dropped off into an abandoned warehouse.
I stalked around, keeping above the main paths in case Clayface was setting up a trap. I crawled on all fours around the bars on top of the building, looking for any sign of the monster.
I dropped down silently as I spotted a trail of clay leading farther into the compound. I tracked it carefully, stepping lightly as to not alert him to my presence, and listening carefully to any sign of danger.
"Guys, I found the creature! Rendezvous at my coordinates!" Superboy's voice shouted through my comm. I clutched my head in pain and cried out as the loud sound hurt my ears.
That seemed to alert whoever left the trail of clay, as I was ambushed by the creature. I swung my mace at his head, but it got stuck in the clay and he just absorbed it into him. Well, I don't need that to kick clay-butt, I thought as I rushed him.
He knocked me to the side as his hand formed into the head of the mace and hit me upside the head with it. I got up after only a moment, but the monster encircled me in clay. I fought back with my sai, slicing the clay as I had done earlier, but Clayface also seemed to learn from our previous encounter and dodged my attacks.
It looked as if I couldn't beat him. Every move I made he either dodged or just absorbed into his muddy body, as the clay around my feet began to swallow me up. I was fighting until the very end, when his clay overcame my whole body. I still tried to escape, struggling against the liquid, but it came at me from every direction.
It was sticky and hard to move. I still tried to escape, but with every move I made I sank deeper into the clay. I tried to take in air, but the mass around me blocked most passages as the creature began forcing the clay tighter around me. I began to lose consciousness as the clay blocked air from entering my lungs. My eyes were shut tight against the clay, as my thoughts began to dim.
And then, I was spit out. Too weak to do anything but lay there beside my mace, which he also spit out, I took one last look as Aqualad was thrown against the wall of the building, closed my eyes, and fell unconscious.
A/N: A little bit of filler and comics before the first part of Downtime. I plan on trying to continue the trend of having two chapters per episode, even though I've been writing them in one long chapter the past few times. That way, I may be able to update a little faster than if I typed out a full episode in one chapter.
Although, the next chapter is probably going to be more filler as "Downtime" is pretty much all Aqualad.
As always, reviews, followers, and favorites are greatly appreciated here.
