Chapter 8

"Black Canary!" CJ shouted, finally finding her in a hallway, walking with Green Arrow. The two stopped their walk together and turned around. She ran up to the two and stopped, panting. She had been running for at least a minute, trying to find someone she knew. She wasn't going to ask some stranger this. "Can you take me to the training room?" She didn't really know what it was, but she was hoping to train, to control her powers.

Green Arrow shook his head no. "You don't have authorization. You're not a League Member."

CJ glared at him, knowing that he was right. It made sense.

"Why do you want to go to the training room?" Black Canary asked, when Arrow had already told her no. Green Arrow looked down at his partner, disappointed.

CJ caught her breath. "I want to learn to control my powers already. There are League Members everywhere on this station that could stop me from hurting others. But if I had been down on Earth when I freaked out, no one would have stopped me. I would have hurt so many people." She looked from one to the other. "I don't ever want to hurt someone. I want to be prepared for anything. I want to use my powers for good."

The two looked at each other after hearing her speech. "Alright," Canary said, turning back to CJ. "Let's go." CJ bounced on the tip of her toes in excitement, but Arrow put a hand on Canary's shoulder. "Wait, we can't just bring her to the training room. She's a civilian."

Canary glared at him. "You don't have to come." She nodded to CJ, then turned and began to walk the way she had been originally walking before CJ had shown up. CJ smirked at Arrow before following her. Green Arrow sighed, and began to follow behind them.

"Why are you doing this?" CJ asked her as they walked. Green Arrow had said no, Batman would have definitely had said no, and Wonder Woman would have too, probably because she was thinking about keeping CJ safe.

"I know what it's like, not being able to control my powers." CJ nodded, understanding that she had probably felt this way at some time, too. It took a few minutes to walk to their destination, and CJ's nerves were bouncing all over the place. She was excited, nervous, curious, confused, and glad all at the same time. She didn't know if she'd be able to do it on her own, without some kind of trigger of fear. But she had done it before, and she was determined to do it again.

The training room was lined with white walls and was a very tall and wide cylinder room. One side of the room had a glass wall, bullet proof and probably everything proof. Canary had explained to her as they approached that there would be a robot that would try to hurt her, and that she would have to destroy it.

CJ was standing in the middle of the room, while Black Canary and Green Arrow were behind the glass, at some monitors. She stood, her nerves on end, waiting for something to happen. She had no idea what this robot would look like and if it was human looking or an animal or... robotic. It finally arrived when she heard a creaking behind her. She spun around to see a metal humanoid thing. It was faceless, shiny silver, and reached out to her as it got close enough, as if it was going to grab her. She didn't know where it came from.

CJ jumped away, frightened at the machine coming at her. She kept backing away as it walked towards her. She forgot for a moment the reason she was in there, with this thing coming at her. Then she remembered that she was supposed to use her powers to destroy it. Finally, she took a deep breath and pulled the fire out of her. She backed away still, raising the temperature. When she was sure it was really hot, she stopped and let the bot approach. When it was at arm's length, she grabbed its arms. Where she touched it, the metal started to melt.

But the bot wasn't that easy to destroy. It grabbed her by her arms and threw her. She skidded across the floor, and came to a stop. Pain she had never felt before raged through her, and she tried to blink through the haze. It felt as if she had fallen down some stairs, but twenty times worse. Maybe like getting hit by a baseball bat, but she didn't know what that felt like. She saw the edges of her vision begin to blur, and a high-pitched ringing sounded in her ears. She smelled something burning, but forgot what it was for a moment.

When she heard the creaking of the bot, she seemed to snap out of it. The pain was thrown to the back of her head, barely noticeable. What sprung to the edge was fight or flight. She did both. Jumping to her feet, she rose the temperature more than before, and stepped away from the bot, waiting for the heat to rise to deadly. Once she was on fire, literally, she laid her hands on it again. Like before, it threw her, but not without more damage being done to its arms.

The pain was doubled, and she groaned in agony. Despite the pain, she got to her knees. Again, fight or flight took control; she was too busy trying to survive to deal with the pain. She knew better now not to let it get close to her, or it would probably throw her again. Before the bot could get closer, she threw her hands out with a shout. It was annoying, and she knew that it wasn't human. She could use her full powers on it.

From her hands, fire shot out in a ball and sailed over to the bot. The ball flew by the bot, hitting the floor somewhere off to the side, but the heat still affected the bot a little. With the new ability, she threw another one, this time with better aim. It hit the bot in the chest, and the metal on it melted, but the fire died away after a moment. It wasn't there long enough to burn the bot all the way. It still stood, trying to walk to her.

She shot another one, this one at the head.

The headless bot fell to the floor, the chest charred due to the close proximity it had been to the fire. Exhilaration surged through CJ. "Another one," she said, hoping Green Arrow and Black Canary, who were monitoring the session, could hear her. The pain was forgotten, her accomplishment filling her with excitement.

Another one did appear, and CJ immediately shot fire at it, this time with more heat, and instead of a ball, she pushed all her might into it, creating a sort of beam. She did this for three more.

After that, instead of another bot, the room temperature began to drop. CJ immediately turned up the temperature, but then remembered what Fire had said. She had to deal with her fear, and in order to do so, she couldn't let it take over. To hurt no one, even though she knew there were no other people in the room, she had to let the cold in. She wondered if Black Canary knew, but then thought the whole space station knew.

Though she was reluctant to do so, she let the fire go, releasing it from her system.

The cold slowly creeped up to her, testing the air around her. She closed her eyes. If she let her fear take over, she would hurt someone. She would rather die from her fear than hurt others. Though no one else was in her harm's way, she let herself do that.

She cringed instinctively, trying to escape into herself. Tears sprang to her eyes, but it was too cold for them to fall. It felt as though the cold was clawing away at her, trying to rip her apart. It wrapped around her, squeezing her, making her feel claustrophobic.

She grew weak in the cold, and fell to her knees. She could see her own breath, she shivered, but she did not let herself use her fire, no matter how much she wanted to. She told herself that she would die first, and she thought she was going to. She was just about to bring forth her fire, but before she could, the cold was gone.

She sighed in relief and stood. She exited the training room and met up with Black Canary and Green Arrow. "Well done," Canary told her, and CJ thanked her sheepishly. She didn't know that CJ was about to give in. Guilt filled her, and she looked down and away, not wanting them to see it on her somehow.

"Does this mean that you've controlled it?" Green Arrow asked, and Canary elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!" He rubbed his side, but didn't bother to ask why she had done it. CJ had a feeling that he knew anyway. CJ wasn't sure that she knew, though.

The few minutes she had been in there had been fun and knowledgeable. The fire was a part of her, like one of her limbs. It was exciting to play with it, and discovering how far she could go and what she could do with the fire; she felt better about herself.

"Can I go again?" CJ asked, but Canary shook her head. CJ nodded. "I understand. Batman's gonna 'kill' you guys." She rolled her eyes. She put quotations around kill because he would only be mad. She didn't understand why Batman was so mean, and everyone either seemed scared of him or just didn't want to get on his bad side. CJ didn't know him, so of course she wouldn't know. He was mean, though.

"You got that right," Green Arrow grumbled, but Black Canary grinned. "Are you satisfied with what you've accomplished?"

CJ nodded vigorously. "Definitely."

Canary nodded. "Then I will be by your side, no matter what Batman, or any other member, says."

"Thank you. I…." CJ paused, looking away from the two. She didn't even know what she was going to say. Since the they were done, the three went out into the hall, and before anyone could speak, they saw Wonder Woman, and someone with her, approaching.

"CJ." Wonder Woman said, clearly stating that she was here for her. "I have someone here that would like to meet you."

Black Canary and Green Arrow said goodbye to CJ, then walked away together. CJ almost grinned at their backs. There was something between the two, something deeper than friendship, but CJ wasn't completely sure.

Wonder Woman introduced the two. "This is Doctor Theodore Wallace. Ted, this is CJ Stahl."

Wallace was very tall, or at least tall to her. He looked to be about 6' 2" or 3". Under his white button up shirt and tan slacks, he looked skinny and lanky, but it was hard to tell. He definitely wasn't buff. He had brown hair pushed to the side, but CJ thought that maybe he only did that to look professional out in public. He was pale, like he stayed inside all day, and his eyes were a bright, searching blue. He smiled at her in greeting. "Hi. It's great to meet you."

"Hi." She half smiled at him, unsure on whether or not she should exaggerate or ignore him. Both would be rude, in her eyes, but at least she acknowledged him with a half-smile. It told anyone who saw it that she didn't truly enjoy meeting them, but at least she was saying hi. She turned to Wonder Woman. "Um, could you walk me back to my room?"

Diana smiled. "Of course."

As they walked, Wallace asked her questions. "What did the portal look like? What were you doing before you walked through it? What do your powers feel like? Natural or a foreign presence? How hot can you get?"

"Who is this guy?" CJ asked Wonder Woman, glancing at him, but he didn't seem to notice that he was interrupted, or that she was being rude and talking about him with him standing right there.

"He's a friend of a friend," she told her. "I assure you, he can be trusted. He's here to help."

CJ nodded, but she didn't like how the guy seemed to know everything about her. Was he a League Member? All League Members seemed to know her. She turned to him. "You seem to know a lot about my... situation. So, what do you do? Why would someone tell you about me?"

"I'm a doctor," he told her, rolling up his sleeves. "Not a medical doctor. A science doctor. I study genetic material. Mostly mutations. I'd like to take a few samples, if you don't mind."

She took a step further from him as they walked. "What for?"

"Honestly, your situation is very unique. You were human before you entered the portal, but when you came through, you had powers. From what I'm told, we're not exactly sure if it was the portal that changed you or just being in this universe that changed you. I'm not one hundred percent sure that I can help figure it out, but I'd like to give it a shot." CJ could tell that he was the type of guy that was almost completely committed to his work. He seemed like he would always be doing sciency work or saying sciency things, but that he dumbed it down to not-so-smart people so they would understand. He may or may not have a social life, or even want one.

CJ shook her head in confusion, turning to Diana. "I thought Batman already did all these tests?"

She nodded. "He's still doing everything he can."

Seeing that Wonder Woman didn't really want to comment, CJ turned back to Wallace, who was staring at her. "Fire has the same power as me. I'm sure I'm just like her."

He shook his head. "If she went through that portal, she would most likely lose her powers, and from the little data I've been given, I think she and anyone else would have been severely injured. I'm certain that portal was meant specifically for you."

Both women's eyes widened. Diana spoke first. "What do you mean, Doctor?"

He nodded to CJ, as if she had asked the question. "I mean just what I said."

CJ blinked many times, trying to figure out what he was saying. "Why would someone want to send me through that portal? I'm no one." And how could it be made specifically for her? Why would someone do it? Why her?

He shook his head. "You're special, Miss Stahl. If you weren't, you wouldn't have been able to walk through that portal."

"How do you know this?" Diana asked. They turned the corner and were at CJ's room.

"I looked through the email that you sent me. Her cells and the portal have more enzymes than they should."

"So?" CJ asked.

"It's very difficult to understand. It took me hours to find it." He turned back to CJ. "May I have a blood sample? It may help in my research."

She put a lot of thought into his question, but could only come to the conclusion that he could help. He was a doctor, after all, and Wonder Woman probably wouldn't have brought him up here if he couldn't. CJ nodded. "Sure."

Diana went to the wall, hit a button on a panel, and a small drawer appeared. As she got out the supplies, CJ took a seat. "I still don't understand how a portal is made specifically made for one person."

The Doctor gathered up the supplies Diana handed him and stood beside CJ. "When I study your blood, hopefully I'll be able to tell you."

CJ removed her jacket and set it on the table next to her. Wallace glanced at her for a brief moment before wrapping the rubber around her upper arm.

Red Tornado suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Wonder Woman, may I speak with you for a moment?" Diana said she'd be back in a moment, and then stepped out in the hall with him. The door closed behind them.

Wallace brought the needle up and felt the inner elbow of her arm, looking for a vein. To distract herself, she turned away and asked, "So how does someone become a," she paused, not knowing what to call him. "A genetic material doctor?" She wasn't scared by needles, but instinct told her to jump away, like every time a sharp object was an inch from her skin. If she looked away, she wouldn't know when the prick was coming.

"I have an IQ of 143," he told her, and she felt her arm slightly numb without blood pumping to it. She nodded, encouraging him to continue. "I graduated high school at eleven, and originally went to school to become a mathematician, but I wasn't having fun with it. My mother always told me to go into a line of work that I enjoyed."

"And you enjoy looking at DNA?"

He chuckled, and she felt the prick of the needle. She cringed, but didn't move. She kept her head turned, not wanting to see the blood drain out of her arm. "Everyone's DNA is different. I see something new every day. In math, it's just formulas and sequences. In DNA, I see everything about a person. Not literally, of course, but by seeing the mutations…." He trailed off, pulling the needle out of her. When she looked back, he was holding up a vial to the light.

Wonder Woman returned then, pushing in a cart, with Red Tornado behind her, pushing a cart as well. On the carts were two computer screens, two microscopes, a large white board, some smaller machines that CJ had never seen before, and a few others things. "What is this?" Wallace asked. He asked CJ to hold the vial while he put a band aid on her. She did, looking at it. It was about half filled, and where the red liquid touched the clean glass, it stained it slightly. She wasn't the type to get queasy at the sight of blood.

"The science lab is being used at the moment, so we brought the equipment to you."

"In here?" CJ asked, standing to see her better. "But this is my room…. Never mind." It wasn't her room. This was the Justice Leagues, not hers. She was a guest here. She also had a small feeling that they wanted to keep an eye on both her and Wallace, and what better way to do that than to have them both in the same place? She still didn't like the idea of having to share with him. "So, you're going to be doing sciency stuff."

No one responded to her rhetorical statement. Wallace got very excited over the equipment, and as Diana and John left CJ with him, he quickly set up everything he needed on the table. As he did do, he explained to her on great detail on how he would find her mutations.

CJ clearly saw that he enjoyed his work, and though she didn't understand most of what he was saying, she saw that he also enjoyed talking. It reminded her of how much she enjoyed her work. If someone had asked her how she came to see flaws in writing, she could go on and on about it for at least ten minutes.

When he finally set up his screens, he set to work, and in no time, he had a line of…. something on his screen. It looked like a whole bunch of diagonal green and blue lines, but in one place, one line went the other way, curving around another line, making a sort of knot. He pointed this out, and it was so small, it probably could only take a trained eye to see it. She certainly hadn't seen it without his help. "This here is your mutation. I've never seen anything like it before." That explains how he saw it.

"What does it mean?" She asked, looking closer.

"Comparing it to some other Leaguers DNA, I'd say this is what allows you to switch your powers on and off. You also have the metagene, or the metagene in your universe. It's slightly different, and it looks like in your world it is dormant." He began typing, bringing up other pictures and studying them, without even bothering to explain what a metagene was.

She ended up talking to the scientist that was going to be sharing the rooms with her. She usually wouldn't have, but she was getting really bored being cooped up in the room. As they spoke about nothing and everything, she found out a little about him, and she guessed he found out a little about her, too. When they spoke of family, both got sad. She told him that she only had a sister, and he told her that he only had an elderly neighbor that he visited a lot. He didn't have many friends, and the only ones he had were at work or work related. He wasn't a picky eater, but CJ was. Ted Wallace didn't seem to care whether or not people liked him, or if he should like other people. CJ assumed that he liked her a little, or he probably wouldn't be carrying on a conversation with her. He was also a very good multitasker, or a really good actor. While she talked, though it was very little, or when he talked, he was all the while typing away at the computer or looking at papers or a microscope. She liked this about him, because both were comfortable while they talked. CJ didn't have to look him in the eye, and she could talk, and he would nod, encourage her, and ask questions for her to elaborate more if he was confused. He did look at her, though, or it wouldn't have been as relaxing. CJ thought that he enjoyed her company as well.

She sighed, sitting on her bed. She looked over at him, surrounded by the equipment. She had never met a science nerd before, but she was fine with him so far. He was fine with not having a conversation, and CJ definitely liked that. She wanted to test him out further. "So, you said you didn't like mathematics. So how did you get into this?"

He seemed like he was fine with answering her question. He could also answer it while he worked. "Well, my father had heterochromia iridum, which is when one of your irises is a different color than the other. It's a dominant trait, so I was surprised that I wasn't born with it. While in college, I met someone else with it, and that got me curious. I signed out many books and the campus lab, and researched all night. I discovered that I had a mutation that canceled out my mutation." He chuckled at that. "So I submitted my report as extra credit, and my professor introduced me to Dr. Shultz, who said I had a natural talent." He shrugged.

"And you had never done that before? Before you handed it in for extra credit?"

"Nope."

"So you do have a natural talent, if you could do that by yourself. And it helped to have a high IQ, right?"

He stopped in his work, and turned in the chair to face her. He stared into her eyes, and she began to feel uncomfortable, but not as much as she would with someone else, because he looked away after she shifted. He seemed to flex to her, like he knew how she would feel more comfortable. "Most people become self-conscious when they know that I'm smarter than them."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're not necessarily smarter."

He raised an eyebrow, somewhat shocked. She elaborated. "Just because you have a high IQ doesn't mean that you're smarter. It only means that your brain processes things faster, right?"

He grinned. "It could. I don't usually state that I'm smarter, but most people like to think that way. And yes, my higher IQ did help me. I became to determined to know why I didn't get the mutation. And discovering the other mutation, I became fascinated by mutations.

"Now, I work on my own. I kind of helped the Justice League last year, and so Wonder Woman sent me that email with your DNA in it, asking if I saw anything different."

"And do you?"

He shook his head. "I'm still trying to figure out the connection between you and the portal. I still believe that it was created specifically for you, and for only you to pass through. But I need proof to back it up."

She knew that he wanted to get back to work, so the two looked away from each other. After a few minutes of hearing him type away, she had laid down and fallen asleep.

If you didn't know: Dr. Theodore Wallace is an OC, if anyone didn't know, so don't go look him up. And I don't know any sciency smart words, so I didn't really make him sound all that smart.

Also, I want these two to be friends in the future, but it may seem awkward or too subtle. I'm not sure yet.

Does anyone want to see specific members? I'm willing to at least put them in for a few seconds. I already plan on having Atom, Vixen, Captain Marvel, Nightwing, and maybe even Poison Ivy or one of the Cold's (Captain Cold, Mister Freeze, Killer Frost), I'm not completely sure on the villains, but I want to put a few of them in. If there's any suggestions or requests, please review.