The Cave 5:30 p.m.
Ally POV
The team gathered in the mission room. So far, the team consisted of a southern belle, a juvenile delinquent, a boy too flirty for his own good, an Indian ballet dancer, an Amazonian, a girl who could only make portals, and a girl who had phased through a bowl of corn flakes, though she wasn't here. Oh, and me.
Yeah, this 'team' seems entirely functional. Well, except for the fact that for the past fifteen minutes, everyone had been arguing.
Cassandra and Braydon were arguing about privacy in rooms or something, I noticed. Anaji and Adam were arguing about if ballet was a sport or not, and poor Nora was getting bombarded with questions by Kenny, who only moments ago arrived in. There was so much chatter!
Robin is next to me, hand on his staff. He stares at them and gives me a side glance. "Um… are we gonna start, or?" Suddenly, Anaji bursts out in Hindi,
"Hē bhagavāna, basa cupa rahō!"
I jump, but everyone shuts up and stares at her. Anaji clears her throat. "Go ahead, Robin."
"Um, thank you for that, Anaji." Anaji gives a nod.
"Okay, so… I guess welcome to our first Team meeting?" he says, unsure. Kenny raises her hand.
"Um, go ahead, Kenny."
"So, do we have a team name, first off?"
"Um, no. We're just 'the team'."
I can't help it, and give a little snort/laugh. "More like Teen Girl Squad plus Two." Kenny giggles, but covered her mouth when she sees Robin's glare.
Robin sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "For now, we're just 'the team'. To get us started, why don't we all introduce ourselves? I'll go first."
"What is this? An AA meeting?" I mutter to myself.
"My name is Robin, I'll be the 'Den Mother' of the team. I don't have any powers, and probably will not be fighting with you. Ally?"
I sigh. "I'm Ally Queen, aka Catgirl. Um… I'm like, part cat or whatever. There was this charm and this happened and that happened, and you know. For now, I'm the Team leader. Nora?"
Nora gets caught a little off guard. "Oh, okay. Um, I'm Nora Cassidy, also known as Portal… um… My power is making portals through the space time dimension… so…yeah…. Want to go, Cassandra?"
Cassandra nods, her black hair bouncing. "Hey people. My name is Cassandra Mignonette Le Rouge. Just Cassandra, thank you." She glares at Braydon who gives a little shrug. "I'm a Physic …so… Psionic manipulation, I suppose. Braydon, would you care to go?"
Braydon gave Cassandra a death glare, but spoke up anyways. "I'm Braydon Matthews. I'm lucky, so don't play poker with me."
Kenny smiles at us. "Hey everybody! I'm Kenny Burgess! I'm and Amazonian, so the basically covers my powers! Next?" she says cheerfully.
Adam gives a charming, playful smile. "Hey guys. I'm Adam Johnson. My power is Molecular manipulation, and I can't wait to work with all of you." Cassandra face palms as Anaji gives a little smile.
"I guess I'm last. My Name is Anaji Bhatti. I was born in India, as you can probably tell. I dance ballet, which is a sport you Bihari." She says, looking at Adam, who shrugs. "My power is… is a little different then all of yours."
Robin raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Anaji bites her lip. 'So, you know about Cadmus and all that stuff?"
"Yeah."
"Well… I wasn't born with these powers… they were genetically forced into my DNA. I was taken from the slums in India and to Cadmus. Well, you know the rest. So… um…"
"Yes?" I ask.
"Uncontrollable? That's how I got this." She points to her face.
"But… what can you?" Kenny asks. Anaji taps her foot nervously. "Technically I can control fire… but in order to prevent a nuclear meltdown, I'll just use my own resources."
An uncomfortable silence hangs in the air for a view moments. "So… where are Black Canary and Zatanna?" asked Adam, helpfully changing the subject.
Robin replies before I do. "Zatanna is in the apartment upstairs and Black Canary had to meet Kid Flash and our tech expert in Nepal."
Kenny nods. She jumps up a little and hovers above the ground out of pure boredom. "So, what are gonna do? I don't think the two of you can train us by yourself."
I frown at her comment. "Why not?" She shrugs. "You've never dealt with someone like me before, and all the delinquent over there can do is be lucky."
"Hey!" Braydon exclaims.
Nora frowns at him. "He has a point." Robin puts out his hands. "Okay, okay, you've got a point. But who can we get who knows about-." He stops for a moment, then looks at me. I don't understand him, until it hits me like a wave.
"Yes." He says.
"No." I say.
"Yes!" he says.
"No!" I exclaim. "We are not dragging her through this!" I argue. "She'll do it!" he insists. "She will when she knows the reason!"
I give a frustrated sigh. He can't be serious! We both know that she's been a drunk for nearly two years.
"I swear to god, Robin…. No."
Central City 6:45 p.m.
Ally POV
"I can't believe we're doing this." I mutter as we climb the second of three flights of stairs. I'm wearing my casual clothes, as is Robin… er… Tim. He shifts his hand ground the brown bag in his arms. "Ally, listen. I've known you a long time. But I've known her for more. I know the last time you two met it didn't turn out well-."
"She chucked a wine bottle at me!"
"Okay, true. But she's changed since then."
"Fine, but she throws one thing at me…" I warn. He smiles as we turn onto the third one. "It's alright, I've got it covered."
We walk up the rest of the way in quiet. We reach the top of the stairs and head down the hall. We reached a shoddy apartment door. He pulls a key from his pocket and unlocks the door. When he opens the door, the intense smell of vomit and booze stinks up my nose.
"Oh my gosh…" I gag. The apartment is pitch black with the shades drawn. "Hey! Are you still alive?" Tim asks into the dark, turning on a light. There's a groan from the couch.
"Mmmm… turn off the light, Tim." The person mutters, and puts a blanket over his head.
"No. Wake up." Tim walks over to the table and put the bag down. He begins to take things out of it. I notice the floor is covered with trash. Old food containers, bottles of wine, liquor, beer… something I hope that's vomit.
"You need to take a shower." He says. He moves around the small kitchen, opening and closing drawers, knowing the area so well. It makes me realize something; he's been taking care of her. Of course he's been! She'd be dead without him.
She pulls herself from the couch and moves into the small bathroom, not noticing me at all. Tim opens a cupboard and throws me a trash bag. "Can you clean up? She's made a mess of the place."
For the next half hour, I clean up the filth from the floor while Time cleans up the kitchen and makes some food. I hear the water stop from the bathroom when Tim puts on some coffee.
She drags herself from the bathroom and slums onto the couch. I set the full trash bag down next to the door, she notices me and focuses her bloodshot eyes at me.
"Oh. You're here."
I cross my arms and roll my eyes. "Nice to see you too, Artemis." The blonde looked thinner than before, and she had cut her hair up to the nape of her neck, but as otherwise the same, personality and all.
She gives me a sigh, and Tim comes into the room and hands her a coffee. She mutters some words of thanks when he also gives her some medicine. He also sets a plate of dry toast and some fruit in front of her.
She nibbles a little on the toast. Tim comes out into the living room and sits next to her on the couch. Artemis is wearing a pair of dirty blue jeans and a black shirt. "So, what do you want?' she asks him. She pulls a little flask from her pocket and pours it into her coffee. She takes a deep sip from it.
Tim takes the flask from her and she frowns a little. "Hey…" Tim grabs her hands and looks into her eyes, his sunglasses boring into her glazy, bloodshot eyes.
"Listen. We need your help. We've re-started the Team. We're going to end the war."
"I'm listening."
For the next hour or so, she listens to his plan. When he finishes she sighs. "You want me to train the newbies?" she asks him. I'm leaning on the door, crossing my arms.
"Why don't you want to? Or maybe you can't." In a millisecond, a knife flies past my head and into the wall behind me. I feel a little trickle of blood from where the knife nicked my ear.
"Don't underestimate me, hairball. I'll do it."
Huh. Even drunk
Tim gives her a little smile. "Really?"
Artemis waves her hand. "Sure. As long as Miss Pussy Cat doesn't get in my way."
I clench my fists. "Don't push it, smartass."
She gives a laugh that smells like booze, and I realize that she has such a confident voice that she isn't already wasted. "Already have."
What do you guys think? Let me know if I should go into further about Artemis.
Thank you SpunkyGirl6487 for being a huge help! Go check out her story The Targets! I'm still accepting Villains, by the way. (PM me!)
DO NOT say you can't wait for your character to show up, cameo or not. I will make them wear a bra and panties in public, regardless of gender.
I'm serious.
Thanks to again SpunkyGirl6487 for all of her help! She's the best! Until next time my dear readers… *evil laugh*
REVIEW OR DIE!
Peace and Mist,
Rlb190