Chapter 4

The explosion had been some gas leak in a factory, and CJ had helped evacuate any survivors, being immune to the heat of the fire. The building had collapsed on her, but she had insisted to the medics that she was fine. She had been out the rest of the day, and had bruises all over from being buried under some metal. But she hadn't broken any bones, and she was glad that she could help her city. There had been reporters at the scene as well, but CJ did a good job of avoiding them.

CJ went home and immediately went to her room. The study door was closed, which was a rare sight. CJ didn't dare go in to check on Ted. He was already upset with his work, and didn't need to be bothered.

She went into her room and stripped from her fireproof clothing into cotton ones. She immediately felt more comfortable, but she still hurt from battling Willow. She crawled into bed, not without a few quiet grows of discomfort, and fell asleep.

She woke up the next morning in even more pain. She figured taking a hot shower would help, but the water wasn't hot enough, and so she turned up the temperature. Within minutes, she heard the bathroom door open with a slam, and she covered herself up instinctively, even though there was a shower curtain in between her and Ted.

"CJ! You're steaming up the whole apartment!"

"Sorry!" she told him. "I hadn't noticed."

He left, mumbling something, but was waiting outside for her when she finished and got dressed.

The steam had mostly cleared, but was still present. He was in a plain white t-shirt and in gray sweatpants, his hair messy and rumpled. She had never seen him in sweatpants before.

"Are you alright?" She looked up at his face, and he looked away, but still waited for an answer. He looked upset, angry, and guilty, all at the same time.

She waved him off. "Yeah, fine." She turned away from him and headed back to her room, trying not to limp as she did.

"CJ." He was at her back in seconds, lightly touching her on the shoulder. "You look hurt."

She stopped, turning to him. She ignored his worry, and narrowed her eyes at him. She was sorry to do it, but she did. "You look worse than me." His eyes widened in slight shock, but she continued. He had been straining himself for too long, and CJ hated it. Plus, she didn't want him to worry about her. She was fine, he wasn't. It was simple. "You wake up early, now, and you still stay up late. You're not getting anywhere in your work, and it's making you stressed. You need to take a break, but your definition of a break is to go out and get drunk, which only made it worse. You need to sleep a full eight hours, eat more regularly, and maybe go out for a walk.

"I know that this research is half your life, but it can wait for a few days. If you're angry, go to a gym and hit a punching bag, or do some yoga, or go meet someone new. Don't pace the living room, working on your research. Don't even think about your research. You need to forget about it completely."

Instead of shock, he now held anger again. "I know I need a distraction. The problem is, I can't find one. The ones I want won't work."

She was about to ask him what he wanted, she felt like he said those exact words on purpose and didn't know why, but then she saw a red beeping to her right. She could see through her doorway, and on her bedside table was her comm. The beeping meant that the League was trying to contact her. She glanced back at Ted. "Hold on."

She stormed into her room and picked up the comm. "This is Firebug."

CJ was shocked to hear Batman on the other end. "You're needed at the WatchTower. Now."

She looked back to Ted, who was waiting outside her door, glaring in at her, but didn't get a chance to say anything to him or to Batman. White light surrounded CJ, and in the next moment, she was on the WatchTower.

Mr. Terrific was at the monitors, and Batman was waiting just outside the teleporters for her when she arrived. "Let's go," he said once she spotted him, then turned and headed to the doors, not looking back or pausing to see if she'd follow. CJ, knowing that she had no choice- for the short period that she had been here, she knew that his orders were to be listened to, not out of fear, but because he always had a good reason- jogged to catch up and follow him.

She wondered about Ted, if he wondered what happened to her, that she was safe with the League. She thought about what he last said to her and the expression on his face didn't sit well with her.

"What's so urgent?" She asked once she fell into step beside Batman, only a little upset that she was forced up to the WatchTower, pulled from her conversation with Ted. She looked around curiously and confused, but found no one rushing in commotion or any cries of pain. She was here to help, wasn't she? Was her conversation with Ted interrupted for nothing?

He didn't say a word, and CJ barely registered where they were until they arrived in some kind of lab. The walls were still all white, and there was a window into small five by five room with nothing in it. There were table and equipment, along with another staff member at a computer. When Batman walked in, the staff member, not a superhero because he was wearing the civilian jumpsuit uniform, nodded to Batman and told him that he was ready.

"Good," Batman said, pausing by the small window into the small room. He hit a button at an almost invisible panel, and a door opened into the small room. He turned to CJ. "We're going to test your abilities."

CJ visibly fell in disappointment. She thought she was here to help save someone, not be some guinea pig. But she had been meaning to see how hot she could get, and knew that that was what this room did, somehow.

With a small glare at Batman, she stepped in and faced the window. The door closed behind her, and she saw Batman's through the window, and could hear him from some speakers or something. "The glass and walls are fireproof, as well as air locked; the heat will be contained to that room."

CJ nodded. "Alright. So…. what do I do?"

"Grow as hot as possible."

CJ's eyes widened. "I put a crater in New York City. This can hold it back?"

Batman nodded. Well, it wasn't really a nod, more like just lowering his head. One had to be watching him in order to catch it. Good thing CJ was. She blinked a few times. She didn't want to burn the WatchTower down. "A-are you sure?"

The usual glare returned, and CJ held up her hands. "Alright, okay. Fine." She took in a deep breath. She wanted to test her abilities, but she didn't want to burn through the walls. She also didn't want to feel weak and cold when she came back down to normal temperature.

But she did it anyways. She rose the temperature within her, until fire broke out all over her, and kept getting hotter. She did this slowly, still worried that the walls would melt. When she saw that they didn't she was still cautious, ready to stop if Batman said to.

The temperature got hotter and hotter, and soon enough, she couldn't see through the fire to the window or Batman. But she still had her fireproof comm, which she was grateful for. As the fire got hotter, it also got thicker, and soon was a thick liquid. She was now controlling lava-like temperatures.

It was silly for CJ to be worried. The walls were not melting, and she didn't think they would. So she kept it up.

Like the time she created a crater in the Big City, CJ felt strong. The heat brought her warmth and safety, and she felt confident. All her worries were gone, but she still knew why she was here, unlike last time. Last time, she had forgotten that there were others that she could harm. Now, she was still conscious that she could hurt the others, and was ready to let the fire go. She told herself that she would in a heartbeat, even if it felt so good.

"Firebug," she heard in her ear. "You may stop now."

CJ let out a long breath, and with it, some heat. If she thought she had been slow bringing it, this was snail walking. She knew what would come if she let it all go; she would be cold. CJ's worst fear was cold, but she had made a promise to herself that she would rather die of the cold than hurt others. It didn't mean she couldn't be afraid of it.

So after a few more minutes, she was finally able to leave the chamber and step out next to Batman. To her, it felt like she was stepping outside in the middle of winter without a jacket on. Of course, it was the average room temperature of 72 degrees. He was at the monitors, studying the lines and numbers, statistics that CJ didn't understand. Hearing her step up next to her, he told her, "From these readings, we can assume that you can reach temperatures hotter than the sun."

CJ's jaw fell open. "What?" She couldn't have grown that hot in the chamber. And she didn't think it was possible.

"It may even be possible to actually turn into heat, without a physical body."

Her eyes widened. More like bugged out of her head. "How is that even possible?"

He ignored her, which angered CJ because she was confused and surprised, but this was Batman. Even if she hadn't actually known him, she knew that he was not to be messed with. She was still allowed to think about stabbing him in that stupid mask.

If she could become fire- not just control it, but be fire- then why hadn't it happened yet? Why hadn't she arrived in this world as fire, instead of human-ish? The questions would never be answered, and so she forced herself to just accept what he said.

She turned away, to face the door, but still felt like she had to ask. Maybe he wasn't done with her, maybe he was. She never knew with Batman. "Can I go now?"

He turned and gave her a glance. Since he said nothing, she took it as a yes and left.

She didn't go back to Genocian. She didn't want to confront Ted again, with him looking sick without any sleep. Instead, she decided to go for a walk.

In the hallway, she met some league members for the first time. Some…. diverse members.

"I told ya once before: This is a dollar."

"You say this is currency, but it merely looks to be a piece of parchment."

The one with the accent- well, both had accents- the one with the western/southern/cowboy accent stopped their walk and glared at his companion. The first thing CJ noticed was the rather large white cowboy hat he wore upon his head. Then the red bandana around his neck that was pulled up to cover his face from the nose down, then the gun holsters at his sides, and lastly the cowboy boots on his feet. After a long thought, CJ recognized him as Vigilante.

At his side was a man in shining gold armor, with a gray helmet and a red vest with a black bird crest on it, with a sword sheath at his side. This man exactly resembled a knight, like in the medieval times, and his accent was close to that; kind of like a European. CJ knew that this had to be Shining Knight.

Vigilante had stopped the two from walking, and seeing and hearing their conversation, CJ slowed, intrigued.

He continued to glare. "Yeah, it's paper, but it's still money."

The knight shook his head, refusing to accept what the other man was telling him. "How is this parchment worth anything? Surely gold or silver has more value." Before Vigilante could respond, he went on. "You've shown me the coins. How come they are not worth more than this paper?"

Vigilante shook his head, then spotted CJ. Despite his frustration, he touched his hat as he nodded to her out of respect. "Mornin', Firebug." At his side, the medieval man bowed at the waist in greeting.

"Good morning," she said quietly, giving them a small smile. She was glad that he knew her name. She shook her head at the confusion of the knight, and pulled her phone out to check the time. After a quick glance, she stuffed back in her pocket.

Before she could pass the two heroes, however, she stopped at the sound of Shining Knights voice.

"Excuse, miss. What was that that you held in your hand?"

CJ paused and looked to him. He was indicating her pocket.

Vigilante threw his hands up again. "I already tried to explain it to ya, Justin! It's a cell phone."

After CJ escaped the sounds of Vigilante and Shining Knight arguing, she literally bumped into another league member as she turned the corner. She let out a shriek as she felt the solid body of the man, and jumped back, startled.

The man, instinctively, reached out and steadied CJ by holding on to her arms. He looked down at her with worry and slight amusement.

She was startled because he was a rather large, shirtless man with a golden helmet that covered his face. He was buff, as buff as a man who worked out nonstop, and wings sprouting from his back. CJ knew that this was Hawkman, a Thanagarian. She didn't know much else about his story, other than he was reincarnated and may or may not have a face underneath the mask. The man looked like a man-hawk. A hawkman.

"Uh, sorry, wasn't watching…."

"Do not allow yourself to worry about it. It is an incident of little importance." He gave her a small smile of kindness as he dropped his hands from her and stepped back.

CJ immediately thought that this was sort of how Ted talked when he was in one of his nerd moods, talking all smart and scientificy. If he did it in a sort of medieval way, CJ would like it even better.

She mentally shook her head, clearing all thoughts of Ted away. She nodded to the shirtless man in front of her. "Right. I'll just…." She pointed behind him, and slowly and awkwardly stepped around him.

Yup, she thought. Just another day at the WatchTower.

If you didn't know: As per request from a certain Trickster, CJ has now met Vigilante and Shining Knight! I really enjoyed having Vigilante try to explain how the modern money system works. And I know I exaggerated a little on Hawkman, I know he doesn't necessarily talk in bigger words, but he's not of Earth, so I feel that all "aliens" should speak more formally. Hope you enjoyed it!

I am really trying to make CJ a part of the team, and by doing that she must have her own villain/enemy/difficult person to defeat.

But it will have to wait, because next chapter will change the course of the story. CJ had a hard time with Ted, but she'll have an even harder time with this. Stay tuned!