A/N: I love you guys, seriously. Reaching 20 reviews had me bouncing up and down on my chair this morning. My friends are probably sick of hearing me brag about you guys. I'm such a review whore, too, and I apologize for demanding reviews last chapter. This time around, I'm not sure how long chapter 6 is gonna take, since I just started working on #8. Anyways, here is chapter 5, also known as the beginning half of episode 3. Enjoy and review! :D
Roy may have been wrong about a lot of things, but he was right about one thing; The Cave did, in fact, act as a babysitting center for us, considering Canary dumped me off there when she left for work in fear that I would go out again by myself and get into trouble like I did the night before. Her words, not mine, considering I didn't even get in trouble. Ugh.
"Recognized; Echo, B05."
"Hi Echo!" Megan greeted, flying over to me as I walked into the Cave. I smiled at her and slung my backpack over my shoulder, before following her into the common room, where Superboy was sitting on the couch, staring at the blank TV.
"Uh, hey Superboy," I grinned uneasily. "Do you want me to turn that on for you?"
He shrugged, "No." Well, alright then.
"Superboy and I have been so bored these past couple days. Aqualad and the others visit often, but we don't have cable or anything else to do..." Megan explained, sighing.
"We have a fully stocked kitchen, right?" I asked, walking in to aforementioned kitchen.
"Yeah..."
I opened up the fridge and started pulling out eggs and butter. "Do you want to make cookies?"
"Hello Megan!" she giggled, slapping her forehead. I rose an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Martians were a strange race. "Of course I want to make cookies! Good idea, Echo!"
"You can call me Tess, just about everyone else does," I smiled after I told her what ingredients to pull out. "Tessa Flynn is my real name."
"Oh! Well in that case, you can call me by my name, too. It's M'gann M'orzz." She frowned, "Do you think I should have an earth name too, Tess?"
I thought about this for a moment, and realized that eventually, she and Superboy would eventually have to go out and go to school like the rest of us, and she couldn't exactly introduce herself with her very alien-esque name. "Yeah...you and Superboy should definitely have earth names eventually, M'gann...Wait, your name sounds kinda like Megan, which is a fairly popular name, so why don't you go with that? And your last name could be Morse."
"That's perfect!" she gasped, pulling me into a hug. I froze at the sudden contact. "Sorry."
"'S okay." I reached into my backpack and pulled out a cookbook. Inside, since I figured I would be spending a lot of time at the Cave now that Canary doesn't trust me at all, I also had my xbox and four controllers, along with posters and stuff to decorate my room with, because it's plain-ness was bugging me. Opening the cookbook, I skimmed a couple of pages until the stray sheet of paper stuck out. It was a cookie recipe from a cooking show that I had written down for a bake sale to support my gymnastics team a year ago. "Here we are. Okay, we need two cups of flour...you know what, make it four, Wally's gonna piss himself when he's sees these cookies and they'll be gone in a second."
"Why?" Megan asked, surprise evident on her face. I suppose I could've phrased that better...
"He claims to have a fast metabolism," I explained, cracking a couple of eggs and putting them in the mixing bowl after I pre-heated the oven. "But he's really just a pig."
She giggled and poured oil in after I was finished. "He would seem like the type," she mused. Oh, this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, I could tell.
"What are you making?" a voice said over my shoulder, and I jumped, whirling around and placing a hand over my chest.
"Jesus, Superboy! Don't scare me like that!" I gasped, glaring at the clone. He smirked for a moment, but it was hardly noticeable, and asked his question again. "For your information, we are making cookies."
"Cookies?" he repeated.
"Did Cadmus not give you any information about cookies?" Megan asked timidly, and he glared at her.
"They did," he growled, and she blushed, then he turned back to me. "I wanted to know why you were making them."
"We're bored," I whined. He rolled his eyes. "You wanna help us make them?"
"No."
"Then get out of my kitchen!"
Supey scowled, obviously not finding this nearly as amusing as I was. Jeez, it was a joke, take a chill pill. "Don't tell me what to do," he warned, but sulked back to the couch and actually turned the TV on. He channel surfed until he reached a reality TV show with a bunch of fake-baked people arguing in Jersey accents, making me roll my eyes. Of course the first show he finds is Jersey Shore.
"He's mad at me," Megan sighed, beginning to scoop form balls of dough with her telekinesis and dropping them on to a pan.
"Superboy is Superboy, he's not really mad at you," I assured her while she slid the pan into the oven. "Cadmus may have force fed him information, but one thing they didn't teach him was how to be social. He's just...he doesn't control his anger. And it doesn't really help that he is the clone of one of the most socially awkward superheroes of all time."
She smiled. "Thanks, Tess."
"No problem." I set the timer just as the computer chimed in, in it's robotic woman's voice.
"Recognized: Aqualad, B02."
"Why don't you and Superboy go and meet Aqualad? I'll clean up the rest of this mess and meet you there," I offered and Megan thanked me, before flying off with Superboy at her heels. What? Did somebody actually take orders for once? Miracles happen every day, you know.
Five minutes later, after I washed the bowl and spoon and had put away the leftover ingredients, I made my way into the training area, where the others were standing, looking at a map that was projected from the computer. "Hey Kaldur," I greeted, and he smiled at me briefly and nodded his head. "What are you guys doing?"
"We're waiting for Red Tornado to get here so we can ask him if he has any missions for us," Megan explained, and I nodded.
"Recognized: Robin, B01; Kid Flash: B03," the computer announced as the two boys teleported in and ran over to us.
"Did you ask him?" Robin asked eagerly.
Kid Flash was wearing an excited expression similar to his friend. "What did he say?"
"Nice to see you too," I drawled, rolling my eyes.
"He's arriving now," Aqualad stated.
"Then what are we waiting for?" KF grinned, before running off with Robin following behind. Aqualad and Megan walked calmly after them.
I turned to Superboy. "Explain to me again why we are bothering to intercept him outside of the cave?"
He shrugged. "Beats me."
We arrived in time to see Red Tornado fly down on a – you guessed it – Red Tornado. The wind whipped my hair, which I decided to tie up today, around my face, and I spit out a few strands when they caught in my mouth.
"Red Tornado!" Wally shouted, jumping up and down and raising his hand.
"Greetings," Red Tornado said in his robotic monotone voice. "Is there a reason you've intercepted me outside the cave?"
"We hoped you have a mission for us," Aqualad explained.
"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."
"But it's been over a week and nothing –" Robin began, but Tornado held up a hand to silence him.
"You will be tested soon enough," he stated cryptically. I hate it when adults do that. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company." I honestly don't think it's possible to enjoy Wally's company for too long, but I wisely chose to keep my mouth shut on that matter.
Aqualad frowned, sharing a look with all of us. "This team is not a social club." Damn right it's not.
"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave." That was all he had to say on the matter, obviously, because he simply walked through our group and into the cave without another word.
"Keep busy," Kid muttered angrily.
"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin asked.
"Oh!" Megan gasped. "I'll find out." She turned and narrowed her eyes at Tornado's retreating back, attempting to read his mind, before sighing. "Sorry, I forgot he's a machine – inorganic. I cannot read his mind."
"Nice try though," Wally praised. "So...you wanna know what I'm thinking right now?"
"We all know what your thinking now!" Robin growled, elbowing the redhead, who winced.
"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad said bitterly, and I almost winced at the reference to Roy's words last night. We hadn't talked since then – it's not like I expected for him to show up at my door and beg for forgiveness, but a girl could dream – but I didn't feel bad about what I said. He deserved what he got, and he needed to hear them from someone, and it just had to be me. If he comes to terms with it, it's his decision.
"Well...Superboy and I live here, we can play tour guides," Megan said, and we all turned to look at Superboy, who scowled.
"Don't look at me."
"We wont." KF turned to Megan and got up in her face, giving her a suggestive look. "A private tour sounds much more fun." I made a face, muttering an 'ew' under my breath at this.
"Cheh!" Robin scoffed. "She never said private!" Looks like the little birdy is jealous, I mused, and hid my smirk. Leave it to Kid and Rob to fight over the naive alien girl with green skin – not judging, of course, but I'm just saying. Well, I suppose if you seem to repel girls like Wally, the alien is the only chance you've got. And Robin is...well, Robin. Who knows what goes on in his devious mind?
"Team building," Aqualad said. "We'll all go."
Megan shot him a relieved look before leading us to the entrance of the cave. I saw Robin shove KF out of the way, and tried to fight back the laughter that bubbled in my throat. "So...this would be our front door..."
"And this would be the back." Megan had led us onto a platform jutting off the side of the mountain. It was above all of the trees and looked out over the ocean, which was blindingly bright because of the sun. I gasped at the beauty of it all, and automatically knew I would be spending a lot of time up here. "The Cave is actually the entire mountain," she explained as we went back inside towards the entrance from the water, which Aqualad usually took to get in.
"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," Wally added.
"Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asked.
"The cave's secret location was...compromised," I answered.
"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah, that makes sense."
I frowned. Jesus, Supey, why do you have to be so mean?
Megan gasped. "If the villains know of the cave, then we must be on constant alert!"
Robin grabbed her hand and held it in between his – considerably smaller – ones. "The bad guys know we know they know about this place so they would never think to look in –" Wally pulled their hands apart, looking extremely jealous (ha ha), and clarified, while I snorted at Rob's angry expression.
"He means we're hiding in plain sight."
"Oh. That's much...clearer," she frowned, still looking confused.
Superboy sniffed (his super senses are tingling!) and announced, "I smell smoke."
Megan and I gasped. "Our cookies!" she flew off and I sprinted after her. Skidding to a stop in the kitchen, I caught sight of the cookies that she pulled out of the oven with her telekinesis and groaned. They were black and smoking, and altogether basically looked like hockey pucks. Thank god we didn't use all of the batter.
"We were trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of –" my eyes widened, and I made a gesture that told her to shut up, and she blushed. "Heh, nevermind."
"I bet they would've tasted great," Robin shrugged, grinning at KF, who was stuffing his face with the practically inedible cookies. "He doesn't seem to mind."
Wally froze. "I have a serious metabolism."
"Right..." I drawled, rolling my eyes at him as he shot me an offended look.
"We'll...make more?" Megan suggested nervously.
"It was sweet of you to make any," Kaldur said. I smiled my thanks as Megan sighed,
"Thanks Aqualad."
"We're off duty; call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."
"And I'm Tessa," I grinned, before adding. "But I'm pretty sure most of you know that already. You can all call me Tess if you want."
"I'm Wally," KF sighed dreamily (...can't believe I just used that adverb). "See I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here," he gestured to Robin, who was scowling at him with his hands on his hips. "Batman's forbidden him from telling anyone his real name."
"Mine's no secret, it's M'gann M'orzz," Megan announced. "But you can call me Megan – Tess came up with it – it's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."
Superboy stood up to walk away, hands in his pockets, but he suddenly grunted and whirled around, fixing Megan with a glare that could peel paint. "Get out of my head!" he roared. Oh, Megan, I really need to teach you more about Earth –
What's wrong? I don't understand... Megan's voice was suddenly projected in each of our heads, and I doubled over and grabbed my temples. Oh my god what the hell was that? Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.
"M'gann, stop," Kaldur ordered, and her eyes widened. "Things are different here on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."
"Besides," Wally added, gesturing to Superboy. "Cadmus' psychic G-Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain."
"I-I didn't mean to –" she stuttered, but Superboy cut her off,
"Just stay out," he growled, stalking off and sitting down on the couch angrily. I fought the urge to roll my eyes as the room went silent.
We all stared at each other for a moment, until Megan hit her forehead for the second time today. "Hello Megan! I know what we can do!" She flew off down the hallway and I looked at the others, shrugging, before following her. The Martian led us to the cave, before gasping and flying back. We had forgotten Superboy, after all.
When she reappeared with Superboy in tow, we went over to the elevator, which took us to the hangar where a strange pink ovular thing was sitting. I rose an eyebrow as she announced, "It's my Martian bioship!"
"Uh..."
"It's cute," Wally stated. "Not aerodynamic, but cute."
"It's at rest, silly!" Megan giggled. "I'll wake it."
"Oh right, the ship is sleeping, why didn't I think of that?" I muttered dryly under my breath as she waved a hand and suddenly the sphere morphed into a giant pink ship. It whirled around so the back was facing us, and the door opened up. "Whoa."
"Well, are you coming?" Megan walked inside, with me following close behind.
The inside was incredibly high tech and spacious, but there were not other seats. I was about to make a comment on it, when out of nowhere, six seats appeared out of the floor. Tentatively, I sat down in one in the front, and farthest to the left, leaving two seats open beside me, which were soon occupied by Kaldur and Superboy. Seat belts suddenly wrapped themselves around my body in an X and I went rigid. "This is so freaky..." I muttered, staring down at the seatbelt.
"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," Megan requested, sitting in the captain's chair. Two glowing spheres came out of the floor and she placed her each of her hands on one. The doors opened and the ship started up, flying out and over the ocean below us.
My face was practically pressed against the glass in my amazement, as I watched the calm ocean below us ripple from the disturbance in the air created by the bioship. "Amazing," I breathed, and Megan pulled up from a dive and spun around before zooming off towards Happy Harbor.
"Incredible!" Robin grinned.
Wally smiled, staring at Megan. "She sure is..." he sighed, and when we all turned to look at him, he blushed. "I-I mean the ship, which like all ships is a she."
"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth."
"Dude!" I had to shove my fist inside my mouth to stop my giggles, and Kaldur shot me a look, apparently not finding this as amusing as I did. Well, he really didn't partake in joking at others expense, so I suppose it was to be expected. Didn't mean I didn't admire him for it, at least, not really. He just needs to loosen up a little, I decided, and I would be the one to help him with it...whether he liked it or not.
The Atlantean turned to Superboy, who was staring out the window silently. "I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking; you overreacted and you don't know how to apologize."
Superboy looked at us out of the corner of his eye, and I leaned over Kaldur. "It's easy; just say 'sorry.'"
I could hear the three behind us muttering to each other, but I didn't say anything, choosing to watch the scenery instead. There were geese flying next to the bioship in a V, and I eagerly pressed my hands against the window as they looked over at us confusedly. I beamed at them and waved, but they flew away, leaving me pouting in my chair. Kaldur chuckled at me, and I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at him childishly.
"Hey, how about showing us some Martian shapeshifting?" Robin suggested eagerly. Megan stood up, and we all turned our chairs to watch body morph into a female version of Robin. She twirled and posed, now a female Kid Flash.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally asked, staring at the Martian, who had turned into my exact twin, with a dreamy smile.
Robin clapped appreciatively. "Impressive, but," he paused and held up his hands. "You're not exactly going to fool anyone with those." I snorted, hard pressed to tell whether he was talking about the forms or her boobs. It was a toss up.
"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," Megan said, resuming her seat.
"And your clothes..." Aqualad trailed off, puzzled.
"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands," she explained.
Superboy scowled, turning away and grumbled, "As long as they're the only ones." We all heard it, though, and I glared at him, he returning it easily. We were stuck in a glaring match until Wally spoke up to ease the tension.
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?"
"Density shifting?" she asked, and then frowned. "No...it's a very advanced technique."
"Kid Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Robin grinned deviously, snickering. "When he tries it – bloody nose."
"Dude!"
I released a shrill giggle, twirling around to face the – quite scarlet – speedster. "What the hell?" I guffawed, Robin laughing along with me. Kid pouted moodily and crossed his arms, glaring out the window.
"Shut up, Tess," he grumbled. "Do I need to remind them the time you lost your voice?"
"You wouldn't," I warned, pointing a finely painted black finger at him.
"Try me."
Kaldur frowned at us. "That's enough, you two."
"Here's something I can do!" Megan brightened up immediately, and the ship suddenly turned invisible on the outside. "Camouflage mode."
"Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at Happy Harbor power plant," Tornado's monotonous voice announced throughout the ship. "I suggest you investigate, I'm sending coordinates."
"Received. Adjusting coordinates."
"Field trip!" I called, waving my hands in the air. I was in a decidedly better mood now that I got to make fun of Wallace.
Robin scoffed, "Tornado's keeping us busy again."
"At least it's something," I shrugged.
"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy," Megan said, hovering over a parking lot outside the plant. "Maybe we can find out what caused the alert."
We all turned our heads as we heard a tornado roaring in the distance – whirling right toward us. Superboy frowned, "I think I know the cause."