Here we see a glimpse of the past for Luna and Robin discovers what he didn't know before...
Please enjoy Chapter 7!
"...She is not yours..! I won't let you hurt her like you've... me!"
"That... Not your decision... Anna..."
Slap. Drop. Cries. A child's cries. Another woman picks the child up.
"Christy... Run! Run with her!"
More abuse. More blood. More cries. Then it fades away, and the cold weather of the city outside. Running. Lots and lots of running. Then a doorstep, the face of a familiar old man answering... Then nothing.
Emerald green eyes shot open in the night. Callie was in her room, lying in bed. And though it wasn't typical for her, she was practically sweating through her pajamas. She sat up slowly and held her head, breathing slowly as if to control the hysteria threatening to control her.
'No.' she thought. 'I don't know what that is. And no matter what it is, I refuse to allow my emotions to take control of me.'
She swept a hand through her light, lavender locks and composed herself, as if trying to impress elders when there weren't any around.
'I refuse to be controlled by my emotions any longer.'
-l-
'This, however, was inevitable.'
Callie sneezed and coughed, grabbing a tissue and blowing into it. Diana took her temperature and checked the thermometer.
"Just what I thought. I'm pretty sure you've caught the flu, Callie." she said, ruffling her daughter's hair.
The teenager tried to ignore the now messed up version of her hair. "But mother, today is supposed to be the briefing for the mission in Santa Prisca."
"I'll just tell Bruce you're sick. We can't afford you collapsing on the mission, after all. Right?" Diana pointed out. She strongly wanted her daughter to stay home and rest.
Callie sighed and nodded. "Yes, I suppose you're right." she said almost begrudgingly. A difficult thing to do for her monotone voice, which was now stifled due to the mucus in her throat and nose.
"Good. And I'll call the academy and let them know you're not coming to school today." Diana left the room, leaving Callie to blow into another tissue.
'There goes my idea to distract myself from last night's continuous dream.' The teen girl blew hair from her face.
-l-
Click. Click. Rapid clicks. Rising volume. Callie was flipping through TV channels in the family room of her house while she laid on the couch.
"Callie." Diana peeked in on her. "Dick Grayson from school is here." she winked knowingly.
The sick girl sat up a bit straighter and put on her fake "nice-girl-who's-really-smart-and-popular" face on as a skinny, but relatively built boy with black combed back hair and baby blue eyes walked in with a small stack of books in his hands.
"Hey Callie." Dick grinned. "You look like crap."
"Way to use good vocab, Mr. Top-of-class-boy." She shot right back, smirking.
"Look who's talking. You're the 'top-of-class' girl, after all." he set the stack on the coffee table in front of the couch.
She got up from her spot and looked through her things, mentally noting what she was going to do later. Dick looked at her overall, lazy appearance and smirked, pulling on the long sleeve of her silk pajamas. "So casual, Callie. Jeez, I thought someone like you with all your fashion clothes and sharp uniform would be dressed a little more appropriately for visitors."
"I wasn't expecting anyone of your gender to be coming by and dropping off my work, Grayson." she replied, sticking her tongue out at him plainly.
"Pfft, whatever. I got somewhere to be. See ya, sicky!" he turned, waving back at her with a hand in his pocket as he left.
"'Sicky' isn't a word, Dick." She smirked.
He stopped dead in his tracks, glancing back at her, then left quickly.
Callie gave a smirking grin.
"How much longer are you going to mess with his head, Callie? I didn't tell you who he was just so you could toy around with him mentally." Diana scolded a bit, coming in from the kitchen.
"Until the game gets boring." she replied plainly, snickering a bit. "It's a fun thing to do, you have to understand."
"I will never get your version of 'fun', dear. Not in this way anyway."
"Hm, suit yourself." Callie shrugged, sitting back down and watching TV.
Diana shook her head, going back into the kitchen, but she smiled. 'If it makes you act like this again, so typical... Then I don't care.' She thought.
-l-
"Maaaaaan! Luna's not here today!" Lantress complained, sitting at the counter in the kitchen of Mount Justice with a bored expression.
"Really? Sweet! A day and mission without Luna harassing me about my word choice and actions!" Robin said with glee.
Lantress gave him a glare. "Dude, she's only like that 'cause-" she stopped. "Never mind. Point is, my best friend is not around it sucks!"
"Aw sis! You still got me!" Kid Flash zoomed in with an arm around his sister's shoulder. "Do we even know why she's not here?"
"She got sick! With the frickin' flu!" Kyra kicked the counter with a huff.
"Flu? There's no way..." Robin stopped and thought for a bit before coming to a shocking realization. "Is she-"
"Everyone, into the main room for briefing." Batman ordered over the intercom before it clicked off.
"Mission time! Whoo! Let's go!" Kid Flash sped off.
"Dude! Slow down!" Lantress complained, running after him.
Robin shook his head and joined the others hesitantly.
-l-
The phone rang at Callie's house. She got up off the couch tiredly and picked it up. "Hello?" she sniffed.
"Callie, it's Bruce." Batman went by civilian names.
"Oh, sir. Is there something wrong?"
"We've lost contact with the team in Santa Prisca. We need someone to go in as back-up and find them. Then contact us with news. Are you well enough to do that?"
"Yes sir." She answered.
"Good. Be ready in fifteen minutes, I'll be coming to pick you up."
"Understood." she hung up.
The teen took a paper and pen and scribbled a note to her mother. She left it on the table and rushed into her room to change.
Sure enough, 14 minutes and 31 seconds later, Batman pulled up in the Batmobile and Luna quickly jumped in the passenger seat. "What are the details?" she asked.
"The team went in on a covert recon mission on the factory that's producing venom in Santa Prisca. We sent them because shipments have inexplicably stopped and we needed to find out why. About twenty minutes after their arrival, we lost their signals and couldn't make contact with them. We need you to go in and find out their status." he explained.
"I understand." she nodded. "How will I be getting there?"
"Just the way they did. Through drop zone. Drop zone B for them to be precise. You'll be sent via airship by Martian Manhunter."
"Got it."
She was boarded immediately and they flew to Isla Santa Prisca speedily. The ship hovered over Drop Zone B.
"We're here. Find them and good luck to you, Luna." Martian Manhunter told her.
"Much obliged." she replied, jumping down on the ground lightly and quickly running towards the factory. She could hear the explosions and fighting sounds as she neared it.
Luna snuck her way in to see her team fighting with Kobra Cultists. "Interesting. What are they doing here?" she mumbled.
A familiar red, yellow, and black blur passed through the corner of her eye. At the same time a presence touched her mind and connected it with others. 'Everyone online?' Miss Martian's voice echoed through her head.
'Yeah.' She heard Superboy's and Lantress's begrudging voices in her head as well.
'As am I.' She decided to speak up.
'Luna! Man, am I glad to hear ya!' Lantress exclaimed telepathically with happiness.
'So I can tell.'
'Luna, where are you?' Aqualad asked.
'Outside by a helicopter. Hiding behind some crates. I can see Sportsmaster and Kobra by the entrance. Kobra is leaving, wait- Robin, you idiot, what on Earth are you doing?' she scolded at him telepathically.
'Robin! We need to regroup!' Aqualad told him.
'Little busy now!' was the reply as he stood in front of Kobra and his female minion.
Luna rolled her eyes under the mask. 'I'm going to keep an eye on him. Leave Robin to me.' she told the others.
'Good luck with that.' Kid Flash scoffed.
'We'll let you know when we have an escape plan.' Aqualad acknowledged.
'Understood.' Luna rushed over behind some more crates by the helicopter, listening to Kobra and Robin's conversation.
"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to task me." Kobra said sourly to the Boy Wonder.
"What's wrong Koby? You look disconcerted!" Robin commented with confidence.
'Thank you for using a word that exists.' Luna commented snidely.
'SO not the time, Luna! And I can handle this, so bug off!' he shot right back with a slight grimace.
'No chance.'
"Shimmer, take him." Kobra ordered the female beside him.
The woman was skinny and had dyed hair and piercings. She nodded curtly and ran at Robin. He smirked and easily dodged her.
'Luna, Robin, now!' Aqualad ordered.
Luna could see the Boy Wonder grimace. He pulled out a flash grenade and vanished and Luna soon felt a hand grab her arm and pull her back inside the factory.
"Finally." she commented icily.
"Shut up, Luna." he seemed to address her with some snideness. "We gotta talk about your identity later, too."
"Oh really now?"
"Yeah really. So stuff it!"
Luna didn't reply to that for her sake and his. They joined the others by running through an entrance into an old mine shaft. Superboy shut the door and ran with the others, only to have cultists ram through it and fire at them with guns.
"Superboy! The support beams!" Aqualad pointed out.
The former clone nodded and punched the old, wooden beams like they were styrofoam, knocking them down and caving in that part of the shaft. Miss Martian and Lantress both flew Superboy out of the way of the wreckage.
They all stood in the dark until red light glowed from the glow sticks Aqualad cracked to activate, engulfing the rest of the shaft in a red, almost demeaning glow.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin said aloud.
Before Luna could put a (offensive) word in, Aqualad spoke up. "You are more experienced, and perhaps that is what has made you unprepared for this role. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are more defined, you two do not need to talk. This team is new. It needs a clear leader, one that does not run off and expect others to play roles in an unknown plan."
"Oh so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin turned to face him, then sighed. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one that can." he smiled with realization.
Luna was surprised at how well he was taking it. "Please! I can run circles around-" Kid Flash got cut off.
"Come on, Wally. You know he's the one. We all do." Robin pointed out.
"Oh duuuuuh!" Lantress hit herself in the head. "Of course! You've practically been leading us the whole time!"
"Hello Megan! It's so obvious!" Miss Martian realized it too.
"Could've told you earlier." Superboy said with crossed arms and a pleased tone.
"I must agree. A clear, calm leader in the face of pressure." Luna also agreed.
They all looked to Kid Flash.
He smiled, knowing they were right. "Okay." was all he said.
"Then I accept the burden. Until you can lift it from my shoulders." Aqualad walked up to Robin, looking him in the eye with a smile. he put a hand on the younger one's shoulder. "You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now. But soon."
The Boy Wonder nodded and gave a confident smile at his new superior.
Much love, xoxo