Beautiful. That was the only way to describe Atlantis. Beautiful, peaceful, serene...
And utterly wrong.
Everywhere in the city of Poseidonis that Kaldura'ehm went, the statuary, the murals, and most of all the people were reversed from what they should be. There was a school of mer-children that she would often pass in the Coral Gardens - they were here too, every last one, but each was different. Many times, she received odd looks from people, those who she was sure would have recognized her male counterpart, and the effect was disconcerting, to say the least.
Kaldura almost wished Robyn of Kid Flash was here to make some joking remark, and help take her mind off of it. But that was selfish thinking, a needy remark from a leader who needed to be strong.
When she eventually returned to the Royal Palace, Kaldura was officially sick of this Atlantis. The guards had been instructed to give her the same respect as they would Aqualad, so there were no covert stares here, but that hardly made her feel any better.
At home, the majority of palace guards were female - and here, they were not.
Unbidden, the powerful strokes of her legs began to slow as she approached the quarters of Queen O- no, King Orrin, and Queen Meera. Both of the monarchs had shown her such kindness, Kaldura was not sure how to tell them she wished to return to the surface so soon. Voices from the chamber had her slow even more, the unfortunate habit of eavesdropping she had picked up from numerous Team missions.
"... Think you can help?"
"Of course, my queen, we'd be honored to!"
"Is she really just Kaldur, but in different form? Ow!"
"Be nice, Garth." Despite the new sinking feeling within her gut, Kaldura put on a burst of speed to enter the chamber.
It seemed that her best friends had indeed changed as well. The two sorcery apprentices were speaking to Queen Meera by the balcony at the far end of the room. Now in the clear stages of pregnancy, the monarch had been spending fewer of her days teaching, and more of them simply relaxing within the palace as the child within her grew.
At home, it was her own Queen Orina who had only recently accepted that she needed to take a step back from League missions and focus on running the queendom until she gave birth to the desperately needed heir. King Meer had rarely left her side, and it was falling more to Aqualass to represent Atlantic upon the surface world.
She decided that this, at least, seemed to be slightly different between worlds.
"Ah! Kaldura'ehm! I did not expect to you return so soon. How did you find the city?" The queen called to her, the pair of apprentices turning in surprise.
"As lovely as my own, Queen Meera, though to differences were enough to cause me to put an end to the sight-seeing for today."
"Of course, my apologies. I had wondered if you would know these two, by any chance."
"Indeed, my lady. Although, I know them as Graeth and Tulon." The girl laughed and swam over to her.
"Well, I want to hear everything about your world, Kaldura, but first you should know: my name is Tula, and this is Garth." The other Atlantean nodded as he moved a little closer. "Now, are the schools of magic really the same at your home as here?"
Kaldura felt a twitch of a smile at the genuine wonder in Tula's eyes. "From what I have seen so far, yes."
"Amazing," She breathed. "What about the cities? The different peoples? Oh! And the surface world, as well! I've been trying to get our Kaldur to tell me more about it, but I promise that if you are as tight gilled as he, this will not go well."
Now Aqualass could not help but chuckle. She's thought that meeting the couple in this world would be painful, which was part of the reason she did not speak to them as much at home, but now... Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to share some stories.
And for the next several hours, Kaldura felt no desire for the cheerfulness of her teammates - she had more than enough of her own.
-CC-
When the zeta tubes announced Rocket's arrival, Zetenni and Mar'gann glanced at each other in surprise. They weren't expecting any of the others back until that evening.
As it was, the martian was in the process of pulling out various supplies for lunch, while the magician was resting his leg on the sofa. He clicked off the television just as their teammate came stomping into the kitchen area.
"Hey Rickon, what's..." Mar'gann trailed off as the teen did nothing but march around the island counter, silently fuming. "...Wrong?"
"That woman!" He finally yelled. "Every time I turn around, it's: how are your grades in school, dear? Have you had enough to eat? Are you sure you don't want seconds? Didn't you like the food? What's a nice boy like you doing in that superhero business anyway?"
The other two exchanged a glance as Rocket continued to spew out the massive list of questions and inquiries he'd apparently gone through in the last half a day.
"Um, Rick, doesn't your grandpa bug you the exact same way?" Zetenni finally asked.
"Yeah, but at least from him I'm used to it! I can't connect with this woman! I don't know how the me of this world managed it!"
"Probably with time and patience the same way you did back home. That is how, right?"
"Well. Yeah. I just kind of got used to it over the years. But I don't want to be here that long!"
"And I'm sure these people want their own Team back just as badly as we want to get back to our own world!" Mar'gann threw right back to him. "Red Tornado told me this morning that this League is already examining the plant ruins to see if they can figure out everything that was involved in the explosion."
"So, what, are they gonna reverse engineer the residue on some twisted metal scraps?" Despite the heat in which it was delivered, all three boys deflated at that statement.
Mar'gann returned to fixing lunch, Zetenni turned the T.V. back on, and Rocket sat on the sofa beside him with a sigh.
"Sorry, guys," He eventually said.
"It's okay." They chorused. About an hour later, the teleportation device sounded again, and it was Apollo who next entered the kitchen.
Mar'gann nearly dropped his plate of sandwiches. "Whoa. For a second there, I thought you'd gotten back your usual outfit!"
"Not quite, but it's close enough." The archer agreed. "Paula is one seriously awesome woman." He didn't notice the quick exchange of grins between the others as he opened the cabinet for a mug. It wasn't until he was halfway through making a cup of tea that Apollo halted his movements and blinked.
"Daaang. I didn't even slow down to check where this stuff was."
"I know! Isn't it awesome?" Mar'gann beamed. "She has everything I do back home, and in all the same spots too! I'm planning on fixing a big dinner tonight to use up all her perishables, and tomorrow when Cailin gets back we'll go into town to get more."
Apollo chuckled. "And here Willow was worrying about just surviving on energy bars if she stayed at the Mountain. So, who else is going to be coming for this dinner?"
"Just us, I think. Cailin's visiting the Kents right now, Kaldura's still in Atlantis, Flash called and said Willow would be staying in Central until tomorrow morning... And I have no idea about Robyn."
"Hope the kid's alright." Rocket muttered from the couch. One of Mar'gann's spoons levitated through the air to gently whack him on the back of the head. "Ow! What gives?" He shut up when Apollo looked pointedly at Zetenni, who had gone from watching the television to staring mournfully at the bandage on his leg.
"Everything's been the same for us so far, why shouldn't it be the same case as with her?" Reasoned Mar'gann.
"But the Bat here doesn't seem to be any more emotional than the one back home." The young magician murmured. "I just hope she's got someone to lean on a little."
-CC-
After trying and failing to get some sleep in the guest bedroom that first night, Dixie had decided to switch the the more familiar setting. At first, it was fine - when she'd crashed with sleep deprivation, anyway. Now, sometime in the early morning hours, a big thunderstorm had rolled in and Dixie was very much on edge.
It was her room- it was, but at the same time, it wasn't.
Dixie tried to repress another shudder as the lightning flashed again outside her window, but couldn't help the muffled squeak as the roll of thunder shook the walls of the mansion. Whenever there was a storm this bad back home, and they weren't out on patrol, she'd usually creep down the hall to Breanna's room and curl up by the foot of the woman's bed for an hour or two. Sometimes, when she was younger and still working at moving silently, her foster-mother would awaken at Dixie's light footsteps. Secretly, the girl had liked those occasions best, as Breanna would then scoop up her small form and deposit her under the covers. Then the two of them would fall asleep in each other's warmth, easily able to block out the storm raging above.
But that wasn't an option here.
So, Dixie settled for the next best thing. Slipping out from the tangled sheets and comforter, she headed out the bedroom door and in the direction of the study.
Entering the darkened room, Dixie approached the massive grandmother clock, and reached up to adjust the hands on its intricately decorated face. She breathed a sigh of relief at the quiet click, before the entire thing slid on hidden tracks to one side and revealed the stone passageway.
Another thunderclap prompted her to hurry down the steps, bare feet not making a sound. Finally, she burst out onto the main floor of the cave, not noticing the pair of figures who fell silent by the computer.
Different levels of the water-carved rock served as resting places for everything from spare equipment to trophies to the multitude of vehicles. A shaky sigh of relief fell from Dixie's lips as she decided to stay down here for the remainder of the storm - her home beneath home.
But a stab of despair lanced through her with that thought again: it was, but it wasn't.
Shoulders slumping in defeat, she was about to turn around and go back upstairs, storm or not, when a quiet set of footsteps behind her caught the girl's attention.
"Hi there... Dixie, right?" She stiffened, turning slowly to face the owner of the voice. The woman standing there, just a few feet away from her, looked so much like Breanna it made Dixie's heart ache with a new level of pain and frustration and grief. Her catsuit was pretty much skin tight, a coiled whip and leather utility belt both hanging from her thin waist, though neither looked as dangerous as the clawed gloves she wore. But despite the weapons, the woman's warm eyes boring into her made Dixie think that there was a soft side to this cat. That thought caused to her realize that this must be the female version of Cedric, especially if the almond shaped goggles resting on the pointy-eared cowl were anything to go by.
"My name's Selina, and I understand you've been having a hard time lately...?" Catwoman trailed off, looking expectantly at the slim, dark-haired girl who wore an expression caught somewhere between longing and apprehensiveness. Bruce had asked her to come provide some emotional support, but how on earth was she supposed to do that if this girl acted even more closed off than Dick had in his early days as Robin?
"Look, I get that you're still trying to take it all in, but if you need anything, feel free to- oof!" Selina barely had time to register the small body hurtling towards her before the impact. Then there were thin arms wrapping themselves around her, and mournful sobs making their muffled presence known, and the shaking, shivering form pressed against her that just needed to be held.
After only the barest moment of hesitation, Selina returned the hug wholeheartedly, letting the overwhelmed bird cry to her heart's content. And in the end, that was about all she could really do.
-CC-
"The League arrived too quickly for us to seize the eight other anomalies, but we were able to recover the ninth." Luthor explained as he walked down the hall of the underground facility. "Apparently, none of them thought to check that the children were the only beings transported here.
Vandal Savage nodded, understanding easily just how distracted the heroes could be when their precious Team was involved. He'd received the call earlier that day from his fellow member of the Light, and had come now to see just what his scientists had found.
Deranged laughter echoing down the hall did not phase him in the slightest.
When the two men reached a room that looked more like a waiting area than a lab, Savage refused to let himself be disturbed by the owner of the laughter, either.
"Hello, boys! So sweet of you to come visit Auntie J!"