Chapter Seven
Justice
Chloe heard the distant sound of the sound barrier being broken when a proud grin graced her face. "Wait for it," she said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Maya saw her friend's heads look skyward and she turned around stepping lightly into the yard in front of the house looking for the surprise that Talia had written down for her. She had just raised her head when a large figure dropped from the sky mere feet in front of her.
Her breath caught in her throat and she yipped. She jumped back and almost fell but the large figure caught her and set her on her weak legs.
"Sorry," Clark apologized. "A little closer than I meant."
All the girls stared open mouthed except for Chloe. "Clark?"
His eyes turned to his fiancé in question.
"You just lowered the intelligence quotient in the general area."
His face fell further into confusion. "Huh?"
"Clothes, Clark."
His eyes widened and he turned around bringing his bracelet up.
Mary gulped. "That isn't helping much."
"Casual Mode Home," he said and they all stared further as a blue, red, and white melted in reverse from his beltline to form a white t-shirt, red jacket, and blue jeans.
Mary shook her head and tried to distract herself. Looking down at Dee she laughed at the still stupefied pale face. "I think you broke Dead Girl."
Dee's eyes jetted to the ground. She jumped up and ran out to the barn trying really hard not to let Clark see her face.
"You really are an ass sometimes, Mary," Talia snapped and then followed the erstwhile young girl.
"What?" Mary shot back.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna see about breakfast. Clark, could you call Oliver and see if you can get the ball rolling?"
He nodded and raised his bracelet up. "Jor-el."
"My son," the com responded.
"Would you contact Oliver Queen in Star City and relay it through the com?"
"Contacting."
Maya hadn't moved an inch from the spot Clark set her down and she watched his every move. He looked at her briefly nodding. "Hi."
"Hi," she said back.
Mary rolled her eyes and spoke under her breath. "It's just a big gigantic guy who saved us from going to jail and it just so happens he can fly. I really don't see what the big deal is."
"You aren't looking deep enough Mary Walker."
Mary jumped and spilled her orange juice. "GEEAHH!"
Diana smiled whimsically. "My apologies for startling you."
Mary slung out her hand to rid herself of the sticky juice. "Uh, what the hell?"
Diana relaxed and clasped her hands behind her back. "Excuse me?"
"How do you know my name? They don't even know it."
"I know many things, Mary."
The girl squint her eyes. "Oh yeah. Well then what's the square root of 4236?"
"65.08456038… I could continue, of course."
"Right," Mary said as she gave Diana the evil eye.
0
"We all go through it, Dee," Talia pleaded.
Dead Girl paced back and forth wringing her hands. "But right in front of him like that … GRRRRRRUGGH."
Talia could see the girl's frustration. "It happens. My mom did the very same thing to my worst high school crush. Well not the same thing." She paused and thought back with muted horror. "I told her I wanted him to ask me to the winter formal in my junior year, and she embarrassed me in front of all my friends and went up there to find out why he hadn't asked me yet."
Dee stopped and spun around. "No way!"
Talia nodded. "I prayed that the car would just go ahead and explode or something so I didn't have to see him the next day."
"What happened?" Dee begged.
The blue girl shrugged. "I got my wish. I was kidnapped that night." She looked at her hands and turned them over. "And now I'm blue."
Dee slumped. "Guess you don't have to worry about seeing him again."
Talia shook her head. "Nah. Find a dress would have been a bitch."
0
"Boy Scout, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Oliver, did you ever come across any 33.1 activity at Belle Reve Sanitarium?" asked Clark.
He heard Ollie clicking away on his computer. "Nothing concrete, but then again the team's been overseas until last week. Did you have something?"
Clark nodded to nobody. "I have some people that escaped and well they seem to be right up your alley."
This seemed to peak Oliver's interest. "Really. Look I'll send Impulse ahead and have the rest of the team meet up at your place in an hour."
"Right, see you then."
He heard the connection break and he turned his head. "We need to get everyone together. Mary, could you go get…"
Mary turned and made her way to the barn. "Way ahead of you Steroid Man."
"Breakfast is ready!" Chloe called from the kitchen.
Mary turned around when she saw Clark about to say something. "Meet you inside."
Most of the girls wolfed down the eggs, bacon, and toast like it was the most wonderful meal they had ever eaten.
Clark leaned in and kissed Chloe's cheek. "Thanks."
"My pleasure."
A whoosh of wind blew through the kitchen and Chloe nearly jumped when a head leaned up against hers. "Chloelicious, you made me eats. Keep this up and I might have to propose."
The grinning vestige of Bart Allen waggled his eyebrows. "Someone beat you to it, Bart," she replied and flashed her ring.
Bart grabbed his chest. "Say it isn't so! My heart can't take it." His eyes roamed the table as he scanned the new additions. When they fell upon Talia he zipped around, bringing his chair and laid his head on her shoulder. "Hey blue belle, care to help a guy mend a broken heart?"
Chloe laughed and made a passing gesture to Talia. "He's all yours, T.J."
Clark stood and took his plate to the sink. "Let's take this out to the barn after you all finish. I think it might be easier to put on a demonstration out there."
Bart made himself a quick bacon sandwich and followed Clark while the girls finished their meal.
"Yo, stretch. Got some info about new girl that's makin' my heart go thumpity-thump?"
Clark shook his head. "Escaped mental patient."
Bart bobbed his head. "Alriiiight. Girls Behind Bars: The Escape."
"Take it easy on them, Bart. They just spent the last year of their life in Belle Reve being experimented on in a 33.1 lab."
"All the more reason to let off a little steam, big guy," replied Bart. "Speaking of which – have you been like eating your Wheaties or something?"
"I've been training."
"Me too," bragged Bart as he struck a pose showing off the exact same body he had a year previous. "Been bustin' up those proteins."
"Be still my heart," commented Chloe as she escorted the girls into the barn.
Bart grinned and leaned up against the stairs to the loft. "You had your chance mamasita. Now my heart belongs to the Indigo girl with the dark blue hair."
"Are we gonna ride cows again?" Dead Girl chirped from the back behind Maya.
Bart frowned. "Boy Scout, you wouldn't let me ride the cows. What's up with that?"
Clark ignored Bart's wit. "Ladies I'd like to introduce to you to Bart, otherwise known as Impulse."
The teen in red zipped around to each of the girls in turn and introduced himself. "Hiya --Impulse is the name -- speed's the game."
He ended up at Talia's side. "What's your favorite color, my blueberry muffin," he leered playfully, "As if I didn't know?"
Talia giggled slightly. "Um, actually it's red."
Bart's eyes danced as he twisted away and grabbed at his chest. "A girl after my heart," he sighed. A blur replaced where he once stood and a couple of seconds later he was back again holding a red rose for Talia. "For you meine frauline."
She gasped. "It's still winter. Where did you…"
Bart grinned in return. "There's a little shop at the corner of ninth and main in Metropolis."
Dee looked on in awe. "Whoa. That's far."
Clark intervened. "Impulse is one of the members of the …" he stalled and looked at Bart. "Did you guys ever come up with a name?"
Bart zipped up to Clark and whipped out a business card he took from his jacket. In blazing red letters was the word IMPULSE with a lightening bolt encircled on top. Clark flipped the card over and JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA with an internet address: have business cards?" Clark said with disbelief.
Bart gave a quick nod. "My idea, of course. Kinda like a calling card and a big 'bite me' to Dr. Evil whenever we shut down one of his underground lairs."
Talia stepped forward. "Hold on, there really is a Dr. Evil?"
Bart flipped out another card with a picture of Lex Luthor in the middle of a red circle with a slash across the middle. "Meet the villain of the story, the king of Siam, a.k.a. Uncle Fester, or as he's better known as the 'Billionaire in cell block B' Lex (what happened to my hair) Luthor."
The girls crowded around to get a look at the picture.
"He's most likely the reason all of you ended up in Belle Reve," Clark added.
Mary grabbed the card out of Bart's hand and her eyes narrowed in vengeful thoughts. "His ass is mine."
Clark gazed at the card from ten feet away giving it a short blast of his heat vision.
Mary jumped back dropping the fiery card in the process. "Whoa, what the hell?"
Chloe stepped forward. "We're not in the revenge business."
Talia looked deep in thought as she took a step back and popped a squat against a support beam. Maya set her face in grim defensiveness. Mary just looked ticked off. And Dead Girl was the first to speak up.
"You mean we can't do nothin'?" She spun around and huffed as she looked out into the pasture. "Can I shove one of these cows up his butt?"
Mary gave a bark of a laugh. "What is it with you and the cows?"
Dead Girl twisted her head. "I like cows, okay. And they're big and I'm sure it would hurt a lot if …"
Clark held his hands up. "We're not doing anything with the cows, okay?" He breathed in and set his mind in motion. "Chloe's right. We aren't about revenge. The League was set up for the specific reason of delivering justice to Lex and the people who were taking advantage of people like you."
He set his hands on his hips, straightening his posture as he looked off into the rafters. "I've been off for almost a year training myself so that I could come back here and make a difference in the lives of people like you and others that needed a little something other than what the average everyday hero could provide."
His gaze dropped to Diana standing by the barn door. She was wearing her shoulder harness and he could see the sunlight gleaming off her bracelets.
"I want to make a difference in this world, and I'm asking for your help." His eyes drifted from Bart to each of them in turn making sure they all had direct eye contact with him. "I'm asking you to use your powers in the pursuit of something greater than yourselves. One day Lex and all the wrong he has done will be a thing of the past and all of us will still be here. I'm asking you to look toward the future. Dig down and find that fire inside you that knows what is right and what is wrong and when you find it I want you to ask yourselves if you want to be remembered for the single act of revenge that will define your life thereafter or if you want to be part of something that will inspire anyone who yearns for justice, something that will inspire generations to come."
Clark's hands formed into fists on his hips. "There will always be injustice and those that would take advantage of power in this world, and I for one will be leading the way to put an end to it. Will you join me?"
"Can we get some of those neat business cards?" Dead Girl asked.
Maya walked forward, and stood dwarfed in front of Clark. "I'll follow you."
Mary turned to Chloe. "Wasn't she deaf a minute ago?"
The blonde girl nodded but her gleaming eyes and smile wouldn't cease from the elation she was feeling. "Clark has a way with people."
Diana weaved her way through the girls until she reached Maya's side. "May Athena bless you with the wisdom to lead us. I will follow you through Hades deepest hells; it is my quest."
Clark noted that Mary nodded her head from where she was. His gaze moved to Dead Girl.
"As long as we kick Luthor's butt first I'm with you."
Lastly his eyes dropped to Talia who still squatted in thought. Mary brought her out of her introspection. "Yo, Blue! You gonna be a Super Friend or what?"
Talia stood from her crouch without any effort. "For now. We'll see what happens after we take down Luthor for good."
Clark nodded. "Fair enough."
A familiar voice came from behind them. "More than doubled the membership in one day," Oliver Queen said as he entered the barn from the back doors. He was book-ended by Cyborg and Aquaman. "Looks like you're in charge of recruitment."
"Oliver," Clark said in greeting as he held his hand out.
Old friends met in a handshake before Clark was slapped on the shoulder by A.C. "Wow, brah, I knew you'd even out the t-juice before long."
"Uh, thanks?"
Victor took Clark's hand.
"T-juice?"
"Testosterone. Ignore him, it's all the kelp he's been ingesting; starting to go to his head," Victor clarified.
Clark felt a hand at his lower back and he turned to find Chloe standing there raising her hands to the back of his neck for a hug. Clark was more than happy to provide and when her mouth passed his ear she whispered. "A very inspirational speech, Mr. Kent. You can't imagine how hot I am right now."
He turned his lips to her ear. "So it's not all the muscles and dazzling smile that attracted you to me?"
She giggled a little. "Well that definitely helps, but I like a guy that knows how to express himself and you're nothing if not the kind of guy that wears his heart on his sleeve."
Clark looked over her shoulder at A.C. putting the moves on a reluctant Mary. "Time for a little intervention."
Chloe frowned and turned to see the embarrassing display A.C. was putting on.
0
Clark stood to the side watching Oliver putting the girls to their paces trying to figure out the extent of their powers.
"Seriously, I'm dead," Dead Girl tried to explain. "That's my power!"
"Oookay," he replied.
"Diana, could you give me a hand here?" asked Talia.
Diana moved to the indigo colored girl with an expectant look in her eyes.
"Your knife?"
Talia raised her shirt up to indicate the tape Clark had applied the previous night. "I think my ribs are okay."
"Clark, would you mind?"
He closed in and focused his X-ray vision to see a perfect set of not-bruised ribs. "Cool, you heal pretty quickly."
"That's my power?" she said with a slight indication of disappointment.
"That could be one of them," he answered as Diana began slicing away at the tape. "I've known people with a lot of different powers; A.C. for instance. He can heal in water. He can swim faster than me, and does this thing with water that feels like a cannonball when it hits."
A thoughtful look appeared on her face. "Oh, so could like shoot laser beams out of my eyes or something?"
Clark chuckled. "Or something." He thought on it for a minute. "You know, I know most people tend to develop powers that have something to do with what they were known for … like, um…"
"The bug guy," Chloe offered.
Clark looked a little squeamish. "Oh yeah, him."
"Bug guy?"
Clark offered an explanation. "He collected bugs and he was exposed to green kryptonite. He wound up turning into a human bug guy, molting, webs, jumping around. It wasn't pretty."
He saw the nauseous look on Talia's face and tried to bring the subject back around. "So what did you do? Anything that might set you apart from the average …"
"I was a cheerleader."
Clark blinked. "Um, okay."
She sighed in resignation. "Maybe I could cartwheel Luthor to death."
Chloe didn't seem to be as detoured. "Give it a go. Cheerleaders are very athletic and limber, maybe…"
Talia looked up hopefully and then she walked out of the barn to the dirt road and ran her hands together to warm them. She looked back at Clark then took off her hoodie. "Can you hold this? I don't want to get it dirty in case I flub this up. It's been a while."
Clark took the hoodie and draped it over his hands when Diana took a step forward.
"Talia, concentrate on your task and will yourself to exceed everything you've learned. You must push beyond what you think is your best. Only then will you discover what you are capable of."
The indigo girl nodded. She balled up each leg in turn stretching and loosening her leg muscles. After a moment she took off in a dash down the drive.
She felt faster than normal and when she took her traditional three bounds she leaped into a handspring which she would normally turn into a spinning flip and reverse landing, but when she leaped onto her hands she shot up about fifteen feet into the air. She was so shocked that she didn't realize she overcompensated and was about to land on her face.
"Uh oh," Clark yelped and he dashed to catch her.
"WHOOOOOOAAA!"
A red blur beat him to the scene and Bart smiled when he righted Talia to the ground.
She smiled widely. "Thanks!"
"Not a problem, my beautiful bluebonnet."
Clark stood there grinning at her success. "Guess we found something, huh?"
"Was that cool or what!" she replied. "I'm goin' again. I think I know what I did wrong."
Without another word she took off toward the barn. This time she completed the handspring and added a triple spin at the apex before landing on the roof of the barn.
"I could be Cheerleader Girl!" she screamed with excitement.
Victor looked up from the entrance to the barn. "I refuse to call her Cheerleader Girl. It's just not … right."