AN: Finally…I FINALLY GOT THIS OUT! Sorry guys, but my job has been kicking my butt, and since I work the 8 hour night shift, I'm usually asleep for most of the morning which doesn't give me a lot of time to write. I can't change my hours until my 90-day-trial is over which is in December, so, unfortunately, my updates will be slowed drastically. My dad is okay now (or as okay as one can get with what's happening), but he is doing better.
Very VERY special shout out to The Guest Girl (aka Guest Person) who has been constantly reviewing and even PM'd me to get this chapter out. And who is also semi-predicting the future of this story and posting it publicly in comments *stare* Yes. Yes, I am staring at you creepily because of it. And thank you lots for the virtual cookie!
But I also want to thank all who've faved/reviewed/followed and those silent readers who have stuck with me in this and randomly thought, across your day, "When the heck is this chick gonna update?" I give this to you J.
Oh and just a heads up, this chapter took a lot outta me so I didn't feel like editing. There will come a time when I will go back to this chapter and correct all my mistakes and possibly change a few things, BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!
Disclaimer: If I owned Young Justice, there would be a heck of a lot more scenes where the male team members plus Roy were shirtless. I no own song(s) either. I only own Faith, Emily, Joe, and any other OCs that I create.
Summary: Faith Evans, a 16-year-old girl, was just trying to make sure that she and her little sister got by in the world. "She was prepared to die when she took that bullet. So can someone explain to her why a dead guy's ring just decided to hitch a ride on her finger?!"
Genre: Humor/Adventure/a little Angst/a little Drama(cause you always need just a bit of Angst/Drama in every story)/Romance(?)
Song(s) used: none
Word Count: 6,988
"Mind link"
"Communicating through something (ie: communicators, phones, rings, etc…)"
"Thinking"
Dreams/Flashbacks
"Talking"
Quotes/Lyrics
Chapter 12: Being Part of a Team
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. –George Bernard Shaw
It had been a little over a week since the team had been created (10 days to be precise), and Fae was starting to feel the antsy. She was usually a patient person (she had to be in order to care for her sister. Fae inwardly shuddered thinking of the "terrible twos"), but she was getting restless from lack of activity. It was like the bad guys had just decided to up and go on a vacation! Even when she went on patrol with the other Green Lanterns there was nothing. To say she was suffering from a lot of pent up energy would be an understatement.
But finally, after 10 agonizing days of not doing anything (working at the hotel didn't count in Fae's mind), the team would finally see some action.
The thought both excited and scared her.
Fae walked through the Zeta tube trying not to focus on the latter part of her feelings as the female computerized voice announced her arrival.
"Recognized: Green Lantern, B-04."
She was greeted by the sight of Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy standing around a holographic monitor, no doubt waiting for Red Tornado's arrival.
The Martian girl flew over to her, a wide smile spread across her face.
"Green Lantern! It's good to see you again. It's been over an Earth week…"
The Martian girl trailed off towards the end of her welcome in hesitation. It had been over a week… What if she had been too forward, too familiar? (Not that she was, calling her by her title and all. But this was Earth, and greeting her so excitedly when they weren't truly friends yet might be frowned upon?) But the female Lantern had seemed nice enough when they'd met (even if it was brief). So maybe it was okay?
The girl in question, practically seeing the waves of apprehension coming off the Martian (really, all she did was say an excited "hello". There was no need to get so worked up about it… But maybe she just really wanted to make a good impression?), eased her fears by giving her a smile, albeit smaller but no less friendly.
"Hey Miss Martian. It's good to see you too. The days have seemed longer, especially with my mentor. I swear if I had to listen to one more story about the glory days, he would've been flying through a wall via giant green fist."
Here she sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes in an over-the-top manner for added effect which caused the female Martian to giggle.
Looking over at Aqualad and Superboy, Fae sent both teens a smile in greeting, the Atlantean returning it while the latter nodded in acknowledgement with just a hint of a smile (she was a little surprised she hadn't gotten just a grunt but was happy nonetheless).
"Sooo, what're we doing?"
Fae gestured toward the holo-monitor that they were currently crowded around. She knew, of course, but it didn't hurt to keep up pretenses.
"We are awaiting Red Tornado's arrival in the hopes that we will receive a mission."
Aqualad answered as he motioned to a blue dot on the screen that was apparently the android's signal. It was almost at the cave so Robin and Kid Flash only had a little more time to get here.
"Recognized: Robin, B-01. Kid Flash, B-02."
Speak (think?) of the devil(s)…
All of their heads turned as the two youngest team members (barring Superboy for obvious reasons) ran into the meeting area, both dressed in civvies as well. When they made it to the rest of the group, Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Kid beat him to it.
"Did you ask him? What did he say?"
Aqualad briefly glanced at the monitor to check before returning his attention to his eager teammates with a smile.
"He's arriving now."
"Then what are we waiting for?!"
With that, the two ran out towards the hangers, the rest of the team following at a more sedate pace, though they were no less eager. All except one…
As they walked, Fae was left to her thoughts for a bit since everyone else was thinking on the possible upcoming mission (not that they would get one).
She knew what was coming, was even prepared for it (just because nothing had really happened the past week, didn't mean she'd slacked off on her training. John made sure of it), and yet, she found herself stiffening at the thought of the team fighting.
"Everything's pretty much the same so we'll definitely win. But…"
The memories of how the original sidekick trio deviating from the plot came to the forefront of her mind unbidden.
Aqualad not going out into the hall.
Kid Flash almost being crushed by the gigantic genomorph.
Robin not finding the terminal.
And the one that concerned her the most:
No one speaking up to investigate Cadmus.
Was it now her duty to make big decisions? To watch out for them all? To save them?
Then came the self-doubting questions.
"What if 'm not fast enough? What if I can't remember what happens in time? What if something "new" happens?"
The last thought made her inwardly shudder. It was better to know what would happen (even with the added burden) than to go in completely blind.
"Ugh! Stop psyching yourself out Fae! I'll just have to be ready when the time comes."
Her hands were balled into fists with her jaw clenched in determination. If any of the other members had looked back at her, it would've looked like she was marching into war instead of welcoming their "den mother".
They got to the hanger just as Red Tornado landed. Fae was able to calm herself by breathing deeply while the android walked towards them. He was puzzled over the appearance of the clearly enthusiastic team of adolescents. What was the purpose of them being out here?
"Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"
Aqualad, designated spokesman of their group, answered.
"We hoped you had a mission for us."
The notion was immediately shot down just as Fae had predicted.
"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility."
The rest of the conversation went much like it had in the show: them trying to convince the android to give them a mission, said android rebutting with them being tested soon enough with the suggestion of touring the cave for team bonding, the group becoming enraged as Red Tornado walked away, and ending it with Miss Martian's failed attempt to read an inorganic's mind.
"I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind."
KF sidled up next to her in the hopes of not only getting her to cheer up, but also to get his mind off the sting of being treated like an inexperienced kid.
"Nice try, thought. So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin' right now?"
"We all know what you're thinkin' now."
Robin intervened by smacking the speedster upside the head, eliciting a loud "OW" from the injured party.
Beside her, Aqualad released a sigh, eyebrows furrowed, not in the mood to deal with the two after what'd just happened.
"And now we tour the clubhouse."
Fae nudged him playfully with a sympathetic smile.
"Don't sweat it. We'll see some action." "Sooner than you think."
The troubled look eased from his face a bit as he returned her smile with a small one of his own.
Miss Martian, not discouraged at all by the android's words (after all, she had come in after everything went down), thought the idea of a tour was great.
"Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides."
Everyone looked over to the clone, and Fae had to suppress the sudden urge to laugh at the put out look on the clone's face.
"Don't look at me."
She hid the smile with her hand.
The speedster saw this as the perfect opportunity to get some alone time with the female Martian and perhaps, if he was lucky enough, the resident Green Lantern too.
"We won't. A private tour sounds much more fun. You know, you, me, and GL of course."
Fae shook her head with a little smirk on her lips. She was beginning to learn, first hand, how persistent KF could be.
However, the others were not as amused as she was if Robin's sputtering was any indication.
"Sh-she never said private! And there's no way GL would agree!"
Aqualad backed him up, looking like a stern commander.
"Team building. We'll all go."
As they went back into the cave, Miss Martian starting the tour by pointing out the front door, Fae couldn't help but think that Aqualad looked a little more agitated than he did in the show.
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life, you will have been all of these. –George Washington Carver
"And this would be the back. The cave is actually the entire mountain."
Miss Martian ended the tour with a flourish of her hand as they arrived at the back entrance. She'd been pointing out various rooms like the kitchen, living room, training room, and even the bedrooms that the team had if they decided to stay over.
Kid Flash decided to show off his knowledge of the place in hopes of impressing the two females on the team.
"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the earlier days of the League."
Too bad for KF, Fae'd already known that. Even without the show, Hal had told her the history of the cave when he informed her that the team was a go.
Superboy had a new interest in the conversation when he'd heard that his…"father" had helped in making the Justice League's first HQ, though he did his best not to show it, he couldn't help asking questions.
"Then why abandon it for the hall of justice?"
Aqualad answered the clone, albeit hesitantly, not sure how the two new heroes would react to the information.
"The cave's secret location was…compromised."
The clone looked like he was starting to doubt the Leaguers common sense as he crossed his arms.
"So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah. That makes sense."
Miss Martian didn't take it nearly as well as Superboy, and looked around as though they would be attacked at any minute.
"If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert."
Before Robin could go into his confusing spiel about the good guys knowing that the bad guys know and KF stealing his thunder, Fae went over and put her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Everything's fine. Just think of it as "hiding in plain sight"."
Miss Martian looked relieved while Robin looked a little sulky, which means she had successfully ruined his attempt at confusing word play.
She sent him a little smirk.
He returned it with a determined smirk of his own.
The little bird definitely wouldn't go down easily.
Superboy broke up the moment when he stated that he smelled smoke which sent the green-skinned girl into another panic.
The group followed after the Martian who flew into the kitchen and walked in just in time to see her levitating a batch of extremely burnt cookies onto the island table.
"I was trying out Grammy Jones recipe from episode 17 of…umm…Never mind…"
Fae had zoned out on their responses as she went up and lightly poked one of the rock hard cookies.
Sure she'd seen her fair share of burnt food when she'd been living in the orphanage, and even a time or two when she'd first started working at Grandpa Joe's restaurant, but never had the food been burnt to the point of possibly being a lethal weapon…no exaggeration.
She would definitely have to give the girl pointers some time.
Fae came back to the current conversation as the others introduced themselves to Miss Martian.
"-Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."
Kid Flash introduced himself next.
"I'm Wally. See? I already trust you with my secret I.D., unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here." He jabbed his thumb in Robin's direction, who stiffened at the accusation.
"Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."
Fae shot Wally a disapproving stare.
"If Batman's forbidden him from saying anything, then he probably has his reasons. It won't stop me from putting my trust in him."
She gave the Boy Wonder a smile, and he gave her a grateful look in return.
Wally mumbled a "sorry" to the acrobat under his breath, but you could tell he truly meant it. He hadn't known the comment about trust (a careless comment now that he thought about it) would bother his friend so much, but he'd make sure not to do it again. He trusted Robin with his life after all.
To get away from the rather sudden somber mood, Fae introduced herself.
"Well, my name's Faith but call me Fae."
"Mine's no secret. It's M'gann M'orzz. Like , you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."
The girl was clearly excited about being on Earth and acting like an Earth girl. Fae could only smile wearily at her. Earth wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
There was a reason it had heroes running around.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
Superboy's shout startled her out of her musings, and she only had a second to brace herself when she suddenly remembered what was happening.
Fae now understood why the guys had been so upset in the show. When Megan invaded her mind, it was not a good feeling. At all.
It felt like an invisible force pushing through her skull and into her brain.
Can you say instant migraine?
Megan, obviously not understanding what she did wrong to warrant Superboy's response, was trying to communicate with the rest of the team.
"What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."
Kaldur pushed the pain in his mind away as best as he could in order to stop the clueless Martian.
"M'gaan, stop."
Said girl, shocked by the harshness in the Atlantean's voice, quickly withdrew from their minds.
The relief was immediate as they let out small sighs while massaging their temples.
Fae really hadn't been expecting it to be like that. And the way she'd done it so casually, without even concentrating, she'd been able to push into all of their minds. Granted, none of them had really been prepared for it, but it hadn't been like their minds were completely open. It was a little disconcerting…
While she thought on this, Kaldur took the time to explain to Megan why using her powers like that on Earth was wrong, leading to Wally giving a short explanation of Superboy's plight with telepaths, Megan's attempt at an apology, and said clone storming into the connected living room to ignore her.
Not wanting to put up with an awkward silence, Fae addressed the stunned Martian girl.
"Soo, is there anything else that you can show us?"
Megan shook herself out of her stupor.
"Hello, Megan!"
"Uuuuggggh…"
"I know what we can do!"
Everyone started towards the exit except Superboy. Megan hesitated a moment, wanting to ask him to come, but couldn't bring herself to do it. What if he just yelled at her again? She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see Fae standing next to her.
"You'll never know unless you try."
Fae gave the other girl a little shove in the clone's direction.
"It can't hurt to ask."
Megan gave her a grateful smile before slowly approaching the agitated teen.
Fae let out a soft sigh and turned around, heading back to the others.
"You better come Conner. I'm not above dragging you via constructed chains."
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. –Harvey Fierstein
Superboy did, indeed, decide to come, which Fae was thankful for. She couldn't yet tell which events she would actually be needed for (maybe it was only the big ones?), but she had long decided that she wouldn't take any chances when it came to keeping the team together.
When everyone was in the hanger, Megan showed them her Martian Bioship which was much more impressive in real life, after she woke it up of course. After they were all in the bioship, Megan summoned 5 more chairs (the captain's seat was already there) for them to sit. Fae chose to sit in the extra seat that was in the middle-front, between Aqualad (to her right) and Superboy (to her left).They all headed off after Megan asked Red Tornado to open the bay doors.
It was silent for a few minutes as everyone took in the bioship and the sights outside. Fae had to admit that it was pretty cool, but she'd been in a constructed jet and traveled through space, so she wasn't too amazed.
"Incredible."
The same couldn't be said for the others as Robin voiced most of their thoughts.
"She sure is."
Fae nearly snorted when she heard Wally's voice. She was sure that if she turned around, she would see the same "love-struck" expression on his face that he had when he'd first seen her.
He must've realized that he'd said it out loud because he tried to recover.
"I-I mean the ship! Which, like all ships, is a she!"
Robin must've found this as funny as she did; either that or he just couldn't resist making fun of Wally.
"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth!"
"DUDE!"
Fae let out a short bark of laughter that she quickly smothered until it was just little giggles when she felt everyone's eyes on her. What was so weird about her laughing?
Wally on the other hand was mortified. Not only did he look like an idiot in front of the hot new girl, but Fae was laughing at him! Laughing! At him! He would get Robin for this later.
After getting her giggles under control, there was a moment of silence before she glanced over at Superboy. He looked deep in thought, agitated about something. And she knew what that something (or should she say someone) was.
Fae shared a look with Kaldur, whose train of thought followed hers just with added thoughts, most concerning her laugh (not that she knew). She turned back to Superboy and addressed him.
"It's okay to be angry, but you have to realize that you blew it out of proportion."
He seemed to relax at the beginning but looked up at her sharply towards the end. Why was it that his anger was over-the-top? Everyone else had been angry too when the Martian girl had forced her way into their minds. And he had a more of a right to be upset than any of them since his whole life had been other people forcing things into his head.
"I'm not gonna say I know how you feel since what happened with Megan is only a taste of what happened to you." His eyes widened a bit. "But the difference is that those people did it with evil intent, to control you. Megan just made a mistake based on cultural difference. You can't fault her for it."
Superboy looked away. He hadn't really thought about it like that, and even though he was still a bit upset, it was considerably less than before. Now he just felt…awkward? Guilty? Yeah, that was the one…
Kaldur took over, wishing to help his new friend with his predicament.
"You overreacted, and you don't know how to apologize. Just say "sorry"".
Superboy looked at the two of them, glanced back at Megan, and then faced forward.
Kaldur sighed a little, thinking that the clone wouldn't listen to them, but Fae nudged him and smiled knowingly. After all, she knew for a fact that the clone would come around. Hopefully…
Apparently Robin, Wally, and Megan already had their small conversation because the next thing she knew, they were all turned around, watching as Megan shape-shifted into Robin and Wally (both imitations kinda failures since she shifted into them with her –ahem- assests…). But then she shifted into a perfect replica of Fae and the girl herself was impressed with the amount of detail that Megan was able to copy.
While Fae was impressed with the amount of detail, Wally was impressed by something else entirely.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?"
"Seeing your own self as the opposite gender? Probably…"
Unlike his best friend, Robin was able to stay on track.
"Impressive, but you know you're not exactly gonna fool anyone with those."
For her part, Megan looked sheepish.
"Mimicking boys is a lot harder."
Kaldur was more interested in the how.
"And your clothes?"
"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."
"So anything organic equates to possible mind control. Got it."
But apparently that was the wrong thing to say on Megan's part since Superboy's anger decided to show.
"As long as they're the only ones."
"And there goes the progress I thought we made…"
There was another awkward silence, a bit longer this time, as no one knew what to say to comfort the hurt Martian girl.
Fae sent the clone an angry, disapproving stare. Hadn't they just gone over this?
The teen turned away.
Robin, being Robin, tried to divert the attention away from the awkwardness.
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?"
This seemed to work since Megan now had something else to focus on.
"Density shifting? No. I-It's a very advanced technique."
Robin took it in stride now that he had an opportunity to make her feel better and tease Wally at the same time.
"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall. Heh heh heh. When he tries it," he jabbed his thumb in the speedster's direction. "Bloody nose!"
"DUDE!"
Megan giggled a bit before announcing that there was something that she could do and proceeded to put the bioship in Camouflage Mode.
Just after she was done, Red Tornado radioed in and told them about an emergency alert that'd been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant and told them to investigate it. Covertly, of course.
While everyone grumbled about the android sending them on a while goose chase to keep busy, barring Fae who knew what was waiting for them, Megan reminded them that anything could happen with the example that a simple fire led them to Superboy.
After changing course, they arrived at Happy Harbor and began looking for the disturbance. Just like in the show, Superboy was the first to spot the cause, a rather fierce looking tornado, which promptly slammed into them and forced Megan to land the bioship.
Fae didn't bother to wait around for the rest of the team to ask Robin about the commonality of tornadoes in New England since the kid was already running inside the power plant. Instead, she transformed into her Green Lantern persona and flew after him, intent on making sure he wasn't harmed.
She got there just in time to catch Robin in a giant baseball mitt and lower him safely to the ground.
By that time, the rest of the team had caught up and ran into the facility, Superboy looking more than a little excited to finally release his pent up frustration.
"Who's your new friend?"
"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kinda rough."
He gave a quick nod to Fae in appreciation for the catch before returning his attention to their opponent who stepped towards them.
"My apologies. You may address me as Mr. Twister."
Before anymore words could be exchanged, Wally ran at him and was promptly thrown back by a tornado (twister?) as was Superboy when he tried to attack him.
"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children."
"WE'RE NOT CHILDREN!"
He definitely hit a nerve in the Boy Wonder, not that Fae could blame him since he just so happened to be the youngest.
"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite…disturbing."
For someone who was supposed to be monotone, he'd said it in such a condescending tone that Fae had to stamp down on the urge to fly over there and wipe off the figurative smirk on his metal face.
"Well, we hate to see you "disturbed". Let's see if you're more "turbed" once we kick your can."
Megan, who had quietly entered and was floating silently behind Fae, used her telekinesis to rip a lid from a vent and used the steam to create a smokescreen that Superboy rushed into to attack the android. Unfortunately, Mr. Twister used his power over wind and blew him and the steam away. While Superboy crashed into Megan, Robin and Fae took this time to attack.
Robin threw some bird-a-rangs which were deflected by Mr. Twister's tornadoes. Fae flew at him, creating a shield to push her way through the ones he sent at her. When she got close enough, she created a thick bow staff with a hammer head at the top and slammed t into the android, making him fly into the wall with a nice sized dent in his body.
Not wanting to give Mr. Twister a chance to regroup, she flew at him again with the elongated hammer only to be knocked to the side by a sneak tornado.
Fae stopped her momentum before she could crash into the wall only to be knocked through a window when Mr. Twister rushed her, using the wind to boost his speed.
Back painfully connecting with a rather sturdy pole, Fae could've sworn she heard a crack and hoped it was just her imagination.
"I can practically feel the bruise forming…"
She got back to her feet in time to see Megan catch Wally in mid-air after he got caught in yet another tornado.
Taking the chance to attack while his back was turned, Fae trapped the android in a giant fist and slammed him into the ground before then throwing him towards the ocean and away from her team.
Fae flew over to the rest of the group, silently checking them over behind white lenses. They were a little banged up but nothing too serious so she could relax a little.
All of their heads whipped upwards when Mr. Twister rocketed out of the water and began to hover above them.
Wally was the first to snap.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"
The android was unperturbed.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero."
Quickly becoming agitated over the escalating threat, Kaldur tried to come up with a plan, ending up rounding on Megan.
"Read his mind. Find a weakness."
Megan was obviously confused and a little frustrated with this change in mind.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that!"
Robin, finally reaching his limit as Wally had before, snapped at the Martian.
"It's OKAY with the BAD GUYS!"
Fae made a mental note to smack Robin upside the head later when she caught Megan's flinch.
Closing her eyes and focusing for a moment, they all watched as the concentrated look on Megan's face turned into a distressed frown.
"Nothing. I'm getting nothing!"
Her eyes snapped open as though she had a sudden realization, and she lightly tapped herself upside the head with the palm of her hand.
"Hello, Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?"
Fae felt her stomach sink as she watched the rest of the team voice their agreement and frustrations at having Red Tornado trick them and "keep them busy". Honestly, did they just happen to forget that when he called the alert in that their "den mother" had been in the cave?! Unless Red Tornado could use instant transmission like Goku, he could never be Mr. Twister.
As they started to walk towards the psychotic android, Fae decided to make her opinion (the truth) known.
"Guys! We have to rethink this. There's no way that that's Red Tornado! Why would he cause this much chaos just to "keep us busy"?! He would never do something like this!"
They hesitated a moment, deliberating if their designated guardian would actually do something like this. They hadn't known him for long, but he was part of the Justice League. And no matter what type of lesson they would need to be taught, he would never go to such extremes as putting civilians in danger, would he?
But Megan had just confirmed that he was, indeed, an android. And there were no other androids, other than Red Tornado, that could control, well, tornadoes.
Wally voiced these thoughts.
"But Megan's already said that he's an android, and Red Tornado is the only one who has that ability! This is definitely Red!
The others agreed with his logic and, unfortunately for Fae, confronted "Red Tornado" before she could say anything to the contrary.
And it went exactly as it had in the show.
Mr. Twister practically laughed at their assumptions and proceeded to show them that he was, in fact, not Red Tornado by attacking them with, not only tornadoes, but lightening as well.
Superboy was the first to fall, quickly accepting that the android was their enemy and needed to be disposed of. He leapt into the air , ready to pummel him into the ground, and was promptly struck back into the ground by a lightning bolt.
Just as Mr. Twister sent another powerful bolt to wipe them out, Fae flew up and shot her own blast of green energy.
The two collided and exploded upon impact making each of them fly in opposite directions. Unfortunately, Fae got the brunt of it since it was closer to her and therefore ended up hitting the ground. Hard.
Her ring might've protected her from being fatally injured from energy-based attacks and partially absorb physical ones, it still hurt like hell to be hit, especially when she collided with something.
While she was trying to fight her way through the sudden daze she found herself in, Megan was able to put her camouflaged bioship between the two opposing sides.
Mr. Twister looked at the spot they were in, bemused when he saw no one there.
"Fine, then. I won't deny you children have power, though it seems the Green Lantern is the only one with potential, but playing hide-and-seek with you would not help me achieve my objectives, so stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy."
He flew off, leaving behind 4 teens who were more than a little confused (Fae didn't count since she'd known what would happen, though she couldn't really focus enough to comprehend that through the pain radiating from her back, and Megan was the one who did it).
Wally, once again, voiced the group's thoughts.
"Uhh…What happened?"
"I placed the bioship between us."
Megan's statement was met by the hostile glare of Superboy who was getting angrier by the second. Did she think that just because she distracted the pile of scrap metal that it was okay?! She'd tricked them!
He caught sight of Fae who was slowly getting up from her own crater (though smaller than his own) and felt himself get even more enraged. The mind link might've been an accident, but this was too much, and now Fae was hurt because of it.
"And that's supposed to make it right?! You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!"
Fae got to her feet while rubbing her back as she listened to her male teammates berate and question Megan's usefulness. If only they knew that her mind link would be the key to many successful missions. Too bad they didn't.
"Are you alright?"
She turned her head to see Kaldur looking concerned as he scanned her for any serious injuries. She smiled a little. Not all her male teammates were jerks.
"I'll be fine. Been through a lot worse."
"Thanks to giant pink muscular guys who think that all his trainees should be able to withstand being thrown through walls…"
One particular memory made her wince internally.
"Stay out of our way."
They both turned around in time to see Superboy jump away, heading in Mr. Twister's direction, Robin and Wally following close behind.
They heard a soft thudding sound as Megan's knees gave way and she slumped to the ground, tears in her eyes.
"I was just trying to be part of the team…"
Fae and Kaldur shared a look, both feeling bad for the Martian girl who was still trying to get used to this world.
"To be honest, I'm not sure we really have a team."
With that, Kaldur inclined his head to Fae, gesturing that they should leave, but she shook her head, telling him that she'd catch up. The Atlantean nodded before taking off after the rest of their dysfunctional team.
Looking back at Megan, Fae found the girl quietly sobbing into her hands, clearly hurt and disheartened by the words of her team.
Sighing softly, the Green Lantern knelt down in front of the girl before gently taking her hands and pulling them away from her face.
The Martian was distraught, more so than she had been the first time around. Fae was sure that if her uncle had seen her like this, Justice League or not, they'd all probably get brain-blasted…
"It's not your fault."
Fae raised her hand to stop Megan when she saw the other girl was about to protest.
"Yes, you're inexperienced but that's to be expected. You're new to Earth, you're still learning, and the others should've taken that into account. That being said, you shouldn't have jumped to conclusions when you found out Twister was an android, since you couldn't possibly know every villain out there."
Here she gave the Martian a slightly disapproving look, and the girl had the decency to look sheepish if not embarrassed, but it soon turned into a frown.
"But it's still my fault! If it weren't for me, the team would've kept fighting instead of giving in, and then we would've-"
"Still been in the same position. Our opponent was overpowering us with no weakness to be seen. We would've eventually had to regroup and think of a plan. If anything, your little stunt helped us."
At her disbelieving stare, Fae elaborated.
"We now know that he's a robot, not just a human wearing armor. The way we have to fight him will have to be different now. We'll need a plan."
Fae looked at Megan expectantly, and the girl looked confused before she fully comprehended what was being asked of her.
"You can't expect me to-! I can't! You said so yourself, I'm inexperienced. You should be the one to do it. After all, you're the only one Mr. Twister even acknowledged as a threat."
The Green Lantern just gave her a cheesy smile, completely disregarding what she said in favor of giving her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
"I know you can do this. I have complete trust in you."
She could see that Megan was utterly shocked by her statement, but Fae didn't give her the time to comment or protest as she took off in the direction of their wayward teammates.
Hopefully that would be the push the Martian needed to come through for them. If not, they would be pretty screwed if they didn't have someone to trick Twister.
Before her mind could catch up with her body, she found herself catching an irate Superboy that had been thrown by, surprise, a tornado.
"Can't keep yourselves out of trouble, huh."
There was a chorus of "GL!"s and "Green Lantern!"s when they'd seen she'd showed up, and Fae was a bit surprised to hear the amount of relief in their voices, though they were probably trying, and failing, to hide it.
She lowered herself and Superboy, who surprisingly looked less agitated, to the ground next to everyone else.
Then all of a sudden, they all felt a pressure invading their minds. Knowing what was going to happen, Fae had already opened her mind (not too much as to give her access to what she knew, but enough to communicate) in order to keep from getting a headache.
"Listen to me, all of you!"
Fae was proud to hear the commanding and determination in the other girl's voice.
"What did we tell you?!"
Superboy didn't quite share her feelings, and looking at the rest of their faces, they were probably with the clone, but Fae was happy to hear that Megan's voice didn't falter.
"I know, and I know I messed up, but now I'm very clear on what we need to do. Please trust me."
Their attack this time around was much more effect. Megan had shape-shifted into Red Tornado and distracted Twister, who'd tried to reprogram her (which obviously failed). That led to Twister being taken down systematically by the team. Fae was even able to blast off a leg (she couldn't determine if this made her sadistic or not…)
When the android was defeated, its chest promptly opened and a cowardly looking man with mouse brown hair stumbled out.
"Foul. I-I call foul!"
While the boys of the team prepared to take him into custody, Megan and Fae weren't as forgiving.
When Megan looked at her for confirmation, Fae just nodded and the Martian proceeded to levitate a boulder over the seemingly "poor man". There were horrified shouts for her to stop, but Megan simply dropped it on him.
Being trained by the Batman and being taught never to kill, Robin was the first to overcome his shock and angrily rounded on Megan.
"Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!"
The Martian and Green Lantern just shared a look.
"You said you trust me."
She raised her hand and lifted the rock off of the "man", revealing broken pieces of the android.
"That's why I couldn't read his mind."
The boys were obviously feeling awkward in having not only doubted her, but criticizing her abilities.
Kaldur, being the humble person he was, admitted to his mistakes first.
"We should have had more faith in you."
"Yeah. You rocked this mission. Get it? "Rocked"."
Fae couldn't help but raise a brow at the horrible pun, but at least Megan was taking it in stride.
Robin was used to it and decided to give her some advice.
"Ignore him."
Fae couldn't help but think that he'd wanted to say "idiot" instead.
"We're all just turbed you're on the team."
"Not a word, Robin. That is not a word."
He just smirked at her.
"This infuriating little troll."
Megan giggled.
"Heh. Thanks. Me too."
While everyone moved to gather the pieces of the destroyed robot, Fae suddenly jolted. How could she have forgotten that the bad guys were spying on them through it?!
As discreetly as she could, Fae crushed each eye under her foot and scanned the rest of the body with her ring to find and destroy the tracking device. Once she was done, she allowed herself to relax just a bit and hoped that it would be enough to stave off the attack on the "Reds" attack on the cave.
"It's all I can do, for now anyway."
They'd flown back to the cave, Robin and Wally enthusiastically recounting the events of the fight, embellishing a bit here and there.
When they arrived, Red Tornado was shown the remains of the android sent to capture him. The team told him of their concerns and questioning him on why he hadn't helped them.
"This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me."
Before any protests could be made, he turned on his heel and left, telling them to "consider this matter closed".
Before Wally could set up Robin to insult their den mother by commenting on what their own mentors would've done, Fae slid up to Megan, put an arm on her shoulders, and gave her a huge smile.
"I knew you could do it."
Megan looked sheepish but she did manage a smile.
"Thanks for believing in me."
"No problem."
Robin, having caught on to their little conversation, turned to Fae.
"Wait. You KNEW?"
It was her turn to smirk at the younger boy.
"I have no idea what you're talking about boy wonder."
As the two bickered, everyone who didn't live at the cave, plus Superboy, started to walk towards the Zeta tubes to go home, some thinking on how a certain wayward friend had been completely wrong about their team.
Fae glanced back when she noticed Superboy hesitate for a moment, and watched as he said a simple "sorry" to the Martian girl. The Green Lantern smiled briefly before turning back to Robin and explaining the difference between making up your own words and utterly demolishing the English language.
"Maybe being here won't be as hard as I thought."
It's not about what it is. It's about what it can become. –Old Onceler
Chapter 12 End
And there it is, the longest chapter I've ever written for this story (so far)! If any characters are OOC, I apologize. I'm just trying to highlight different aspects of their personalities that make them react the way they do. Hopefully I accomplished this. Once more, if you spot any grammar/spelling mistakes, I apologize. This chapter was very hard to write for some reason and I honestly didn't feel like going through all of it again. Maybe one day…
Concerning the Poll:
It will probably be closing when I update this story again. Since it's been almost 2 months since I've updated, I figured that was plenty of time for people to get their votes on the different pairings. (It's pretty clear what they're gonna be, but then again, I said that last time and there were a ton of votes that made it pretty close). Sooo…yeah!
While we're on the topic of pairings, I apologize for the lack of romanticness but you have to realize that the main themes of this story is Adventure and Humor (though I don't know how well I'm doing with the latter theme) so I hope there will be no complaints. Realize that I have to build up bonds between the team before anything like that can happen. Love doesn't bloom outta nowhere people (unless this suddenly became a Disney movie without my knowing).
And that is all!
Review my lovelies! It honestly makes my day to hear what you think :3
I hope you all have a wonderful day/week!
-SP13