Disclaimer: I do not own YJ, they belong to DC. I own Mia!

Mount Justice

October 23, 17:21 EDT

Everyone waited in the lounge for their turn to talk to Canary about what happened. M'gann was in the kitchen mindlessly stirring batter, Wally slumped over on the counter, Robin sat close to the TV, Artemis leaned up against the opposite couch, Kaldur leaned against the counter and Mia sat on the floor with Lola. As she slowly pets Lola's head, Mia began to remember her encounter with the assassin within her. "That wasn't really me, was it? There's no way that that is who I really am. I mean I'm not a cold blooded murderess, right?"

Meanwhile in the mission room, Tornado, Marvel and Manhunter were watching the Team.

"Recognized: Batman, 02."

Batman walks up the trio asking "How are they?"

"I am still shaken by what you and I wrought. One can only imagine how these youths fare" Manhunter responds.

"I know our virtual reality training simulation went badly, but I'd hoped the Team would have rallied by now."

Manhunter and Marvel gave Batman the Are you serious? look.

"Trauma tends to linger, as I know you know, my friend" Manhunter counters.

"Black Canary?"

"She has her work cut out for her."

The four of them looked back at the monitors to watch the Team. Narrowing his eyes, Marvel notices that Lola was alone.

"Where did Mia go?"

The others looked at the monitors and Batman sighs while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"She couldn't have gone far."

"I may have an idea as to her whereabouts" Tornado suggests.

"Go" Batman orders.

He nods and went to find Mia.

"I can only imagine how devastating it was. Losing your friends, in essence, your family, convinced all the time it was completely real. I'm sure it must have been horrible for you" Conner remained silent "I understand. You're Superboy. You're not supposed to have feelings of sadness or vulnerability."

Conner stood up "You don't know what I feel!" and he turns to leave.

"Conner!"

"Just leave me alone!"

Tornado reaches the top of the mountain and finds Mia sitting there with her legs close to her chest staring out at the ocean. He walks over and sat next to her not saying a word. They sat there for what seemed like hours when finally Mia spoke.

"T, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do I look normal to you?"

"I do not understand. Please elaborate."

"I don't know how to explain it. I-I don't feel like my usual self, like the person I see in the mirror is just a mask hiding who I really am."

"Perhaps you should tell Black Canary about how you feel."

Mia looks over at him raising an eyebrow "Seriously? Nuh-uh, there's no way I'm telling Canary any of this."

"Why is that?"

"I know what she's going to do. I tell her how I feel, she tells Ted and Ted will start fussing over me like I'm a newborn baby."

"She is a psychologist. You are protected by doctor patient privileges."

"It won't matter. Ted taught her everything she knows and she tells him everything, especially if it's about me."

"I see."

They fell back into a comfortable silence. After a few more minutes, they hear the rev of a motorcycle. Mia turns to see Conner flying away on a flying motorcycle. "So he gets to leave and I don't. That's messed up." She turns her gaze back to the ocean and continues to watch the push and pull of the waves.

"Look, me dying during the exercise might have started things going south but I was coma girl. Missed out on all of the fun. Getting it wasn't real, so, no trauma. No need for the shrink rap" Artemis states.

"You're too tough to need help."

"Whatever" Artemis pulls her legs up "Maybe."

"Or maybe too tough to admit you need help" Canary leans in "Artemis, it's not a sign of weakness to open up to your friends."

"I know that."

"But you still keep secrets from them."

"And you won't tell them! You can't!" Artemis freaks out.

"I won't. But you should. You could start by admitting you're not really Green Arrow's niece."

"Great. Can you imagine what Wally would do with that?" "That wasn't supposed to come out"

"Interesting. So, the person you're most worried about is Wally."

Artemis silently gasps then the whole room got quiet.

Back on the top of the mountain, Mia watches the sun slowly set while Tornado gets up.

"I believe your session with Black Canary will begin soon."

Mia sighs "Fine" and she gets up to follow him.

As they head back inside, Mia stops when she thought of something. "What would everyone think of me if they find out I'm a killer." Tornado looks back and sees Mia had stopped walking.

"Is everything alright Mia?"

"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Here goes nothing" "Hypothetically speaking, what would you guys do if you found out that I'm some cold blooded murderer with no remorse and enjoys killing people."

Tornado took a bit to respond "Naturally we will send you to prison and make sure that you never escape."

"Oh" Mia frowns.

"However, since this is a hypothetical situation and we know what you are really like, we would do what it takes to ensure that you get the help you need. Although we do not know what happened in your past, we will do our best to understand how you came to be."

Tears started to form in her eyes and she rushes over to hug him. Her sudden movement threw Tornado for a loop and he doesn't know what to do next.

"Mia, what are you doing?"

"It's called a hug silly."

"I see that but why?"

Mia laughs a little "Sometimes humans just need a hug to feel better. It's the human thing to do."

"I see."

Tornado wraps his arms around her and hugs back. Mia hides her smile as a few tears escaped. "Maybe I'm not a lost cause after all."

"I was the general but behaved like a soldier and sacrificed myself. I am not fit for command and must resign as team leader" Kaldur states.

"Who do you recommend to take your place?"

"Artemis is too raw and untrusting. Kid Flash too rash and impulsive. Miss Martian remains too eager to please. Superboy carries too much anger."

"Making Robin and/or Mia as the logical choices."

"But she is so vulnerable and he is so young."

"Kaldur, you're all young and vulnerable."

"I cannot shift this burden to him. Not yet."

"What about Mia?"

Kaldur sighs "Speaking the truth, Mia is the perfect candidate to be team leader. She is tough but fair, she gets the job done by looking at it from a different angle, she cares about our well being well before hers. Mia takes charge and everyone listens to her even Batman and she is wise beyond her years."

"What's stopping you from picking her?"

"We do not know much about her. She helped us rescue Superboy from Cadmus and somehow became part of the Team. How can we trust her?"

Canary leans in "During her time with you, has Mia done anything to make you lose your trust?"

"No."

"Do you have to know someone's past to trust him or her?"

"I suppose not. Perhaps I will consider in the future but for now it appears I must withdraw my resignation."

Mia stopped by her room to grab her sketchbook, mp3 player and pencil before waiting in the lounge for her turn. She lays against Lola and starts sketching everything she remembers from the training exercise to seeing Labiwa in her head. As she finishes the sketch, her mind starts to wonder when she hears a familiar voice.

"Look who it is, little naïve Mia. Did you come back to learn the truth?"

Mia gasps and looks around the room hoping everyone else heard her too but they didn't.

"Get out of my head."

"No can do sweetheart, I'm a part of you. You can't get rid of me that easily even with Danny boy's help."

"Leave me alone!" Mia yells out.

The others looked over at Mia in concern. She looks away and goes back to her sketches. "I can't think about her. Gotta drown out my thoughts." Mia puts in her headphones and listens to music. When Kaldur came back, it was Wally's turn. He looks over his shoulder at Mia and silently sighs. "I hope she doesn't hate me."

"So, you want me to believe that after everything you went through, including your own death from fiery explosion, you're peachy?" Canary asks not believing Wally.

"I'm, uh, fairly certain I never used the word peachy" he chew some popcorn "But I think you got the gist."

"So you really have no interest in confronting your extreme reaction to Artemis' death?"

Wally chokes on the popcorn causing him to sit up straight. After swallowing the popcorn he was back to "normal."

"I'd rather talk about you, babe."

"Wally, you're in denial."

"I'm comfortable with that."

Canary leans back thinking "Maybe talking about Mia will help him open up" "Wally, let's talk about Mia."

"Uh, sure. Don't know why you want to talk about her but ok."

"Flash is going to adopt her thanks to you."

"Of course. I want her to be happy."

"I know you do, so tell me why you yelled at her after Artemis died?"

Wally got quiet and looked away. He wanted to avoid that topic for as long as he could. After the exercise, he felt so guilty and ashamed by the way he acted out towards her that he avoided her when she came back to the cave.

"I-I never meant to yell at her" Wally looks down in shame.

"Wally, it's ok. All of you were mourning Artemis' death."

"But that didn't give me the right to call her heartless, not after what she's been through."

"He knows what happened to her?" Canary looks at Wally in disbelief.

Wally left the therapy room and heads for the lounge. When he arrived, Wally sits next to Mia without her noticing. He would steal glances at Mia's sketches and a faint smile would appear on his face every time he saw a sketch of either himself or one of their teammates.

"At least she sketching again" *internal sigh* "I need to apologize to her. Here goes nothing" "Hey Mi."

Mia didn't hear him so he taps her shoulder. She jumps at the sudden contact and takes out her headphones then looks over at Wally.

"What's up Wally?"

Wally scratches the back of his head "I, uh, I want to apologize for yelling at you and calling you heartless. I was out of line."

Mia slowly shakes her head "No Wally you're right, I am heartless. I went numb and became cold, that's no way to act towards you and the others. You don't have to apologize to me Wally, I'm the one who has to apologize. Wally I am so sorry, will you ever forgive me?"

Wally stares at Mia in shock "Why is she apologizing? She didn't do anything wrong" "I'll forgive you on one condition."

"What's that?"

"If you forgive me too."

Mia taps her chin "Hmm I guess if I have to."

She gives him a sly smile and Wally returns it with a grin. The two of them hugged and before they finished, Wally accidently spills the beans.

"I'm so glad Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris are adopting you."

"What?"

"Oh shit" "Um nothing?"

"That wasn't nothing. Wally what did you-"

"Who wants hot chocolate? I'll go make us some."

Wally quickly got up and heads for the kitchen to make two mugs of hot chocolate.

"Wally, we're not done talking about this."

"Hurting? Try traumatized. I finally become leader and wind up sending all of my friends to their deaths. And I know what I had to. But I hated it. When we started this team, I was desperate to be in charge. Not anymore. And that's not even the worst of it" Robin slouches "You can't tell Batman."

"Nothing leaves this room."

"I always wanted, expected to grow up and become him. And the hero bit-I'm still all in. But that thing inside of him, the thing that drives him to sacrifice everything for the sake of his mission, that's not me. I-I don't want to be "The" Batman anymore."

"Poor Robin" Canary thought as she watches him leave the room.

Robin came back from his session and sat next to Mia at the counter. Seeing that both Mia and Wally had mugs of hot chocolate, he made a quick batch for himself. M'gann left the kitchen and went to her session with Canary. When M'gann was gone, Robin took the opportunity to talk to Mia.

"Mia I need to apologize."

Mia looks over at him in confusion "What's with everyone apologizing to me?" "For what?"

"For not letting you save us. It was selfish of me to do that. I never gave you the opportunity to get us out of there" Robin turns his gaze down at the mug.

Mia sighs and sets down her mug. She pulls Wally and Robin in using her arms surprising the duo.

"Mia what are you doing?" Robin asks.

"Not that we don't like it but why?" Wall wonders.

A small smile appears on her face and her voice was soft when she spoke.

"You two deserve hugs because you need it. Even though you guys are a bit immature, you still care about everyone on this team. The two of you are stupid but you're my Stupids and I'm so glad that you let me join the Team. You don't know how much that means to me."

A few tears escaped and the duo heard her soft sniffles. They tightened their hug with the same thought on their mind "We love you too Mia."

"It was all my fault. Hello, Megan. Who else could take a simple exercise and turn it into a nightmare that terrorizes everyone she cares about?"

Canary notices M'gann's skin color changed "You've turned white."

"Oh no!" she looks down at her hands "Oh. You meant Caucasian. Yeah, I'm fine being Megan. But I can't be trusted to use my other powers."

"M'gann, you're a Martian. Not using your natural abilities is like me refusing to speak. Which, by the way, I tried for a while, after my very first Canary cry nearly deafened my entire first grade class. So I get how you feel. But not being yourself is never the answer and won't make your feelings of guilt go away. Learn from what happened. Your uncle would be happy to train you. Practice until you gain control and regain your confidence."

"That's easy for you to say. I'm not strong like Artemis and Mia" but M'gann never said that out loud. M'gann leaves the therapy room and Canary is alone for a bit until her next appointment shows up.

Her biggest challenge of the day walked in and sat across from her with Lola by her feet and a sketchpad on her lap. When Mia finished settling in, Canary began the session.

"How are you feeling Mia?"

"Like I just found out that I'm a cold blooded murderess who enjoys the feeling of blood flow between her fingers but other than that I'm just swell" Mia thought but never said out loud so she just shrugs.

Canary sighs and presses "Let's talk about how you told everyone that 'you're an emotional wreak wearing a mask of happiness and smiles'. Why would you call yourself that?"

"Because it's the truth" "I plead the 5th."

"At least she's talking" "Mia is everything alright?"

"Does it look like everything is alright?! Batman puts us through a traumatizing training exercise that will scar us for life and I found out that I have an alter ego who enjoys spilling blood for sport. You tell me if that sounds alright to you!" Mia shrugs again.

"She's not opening up. Just like Ted said. How can I…Roy" "Mia" she looks over at her "Why did you kiss Roy?"

"I-I-I" Mia stutters looking away.

"Does she like him?" "It's perfectly fine that you like Roy."

"I-I don't like him. He's a jerk and only cares about himself."

"Roy isn't self-centered. He cares about the people in his life and I know that you are one of those people."

Mia scoffs "I'll believe that when hell freezes over."

"Is there a reason why you and Roy bicker?"

"I don't know, we just rub each other the wrong way. It's been like that since 4th of July."

"I see."

Mia went silent after that and Canary watches Mia's next move. Unknowingly, she starts to sketch her entire family while Canary continues to psychoanalyze her and telling her that she should open up more. When Mia finished the sketch, a very faint smile appeared and tears started to form in her eyes. Canary notices but doesn't say a word hoping that Mia would speak to her soon enough.

Mia's smile turns into a frown when the memories of her family's death came back and when her brothers tortured her back in the Bayou, everything came crashing back and the dam broke letting out all of her tears. Just as the dam broke, Labiwa starts talking to her.

"Well aren't you a hot mess? You know, when I get out I need to thank the Martian girl for damaging the barrier enough to make me influence you. I think I'll do it after I kill everyone you love."

"No!" Mia abruptly stands up catching Canary's attention.

"Mia are you ok?"

"I-I need to go" she whispers.

Mia leaves the room in a hurry, leaving her sketchpad behind. Canary took a quick look at the sketch and became confused as to why Mia drew the sketch. "This couldn't possibly be her family, could it?"

Mia leaves the room and heads to the hanger ignoring Robin and Wally on the way. "I need to get some air." Just as she made it to the hangar, she overhears a conversation between Batman and Manhunter. Mia got close enough without being detected, most likely Batman already figured it out but he didn't call her out.

"What exactly do you expect to find, Batman? According to Conner, Sphere has proven quite useful. Wally has already rechristened her "the super-cycle"."

"By any name, the sphere merits further investigation. As does everything in Superboy's report. Speaking of, where is he now?"

"With Black Canary."

Batman nods and leaves. He passes Mia's hiding spot then stops midway.

"I know you're there Amelia."

Mia sighs "Nothing gets past you Batman."

She stands up and walks over to him. He turns around and looks at her with an emotionless stare.

"Is there a reason that you were eavesdropping?"

"That was an accident, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation" Mia looks down in shame.

Even though it didn't show, Batman internally flinches at Mia's action.

"She's never acted like this before. I think I can change that" "Amelia" she looks up at him "This belongs to you."

He hands her a small package and she cautiously takes it from him. Looking at the handwriting, Mia covers her mouth in shock as tears began to build.

"This can't be his handwriting" "Is this…." her voice breaks.

"Yes. It belonged to your foster brother, Jack."

"H-how long have you had this?" Mia's anger starts to show.

Batman didn't answer.

"How long?!"

"Since September."

"Why? Why would you keep this from me for so long?!"

"You didn't need the distraction. It was nec-"

"A distraction?! The last connection to the Rogers is not a distraction. You don't know how it would have affected me, you had no right to have kept this from me!"

Her anger went through the roof and she was so done with him. Not being able to handle Batman anymore, Mia walks away from him and heads to her room. Once she locked her door, Mia sat down on her bed and was scared to open the package. Noticing Mia's nervous state, Lola walks over and places her head on Mia's lap gently purring.

Mia sighs "I know you're worried about me but you shouldn't be Lola. It's going to be ok" she looks at the package again "Might as well get this over with."

Mia braces herself and gently unwraps the package. Inside the wrapping was a box and inside the box was not what she expected. The sight of the objects caused Mia's heart to stop for a few seconds. Before picking them up, she opens the letter and reads it.

"Hey Lil M,

There are two possibilities as to why you're getting this. Either I'm coming home and sent this ahead just in case or I'm dead, hopefully it's the former and not the latter because that would suck. Anyway, I just want you to know how much I've enjoyed having you being a part of the family. It's nice to have a sister to pick on and I will continue to do so no matter where I am. In order to keep my promise, here are some guidelines for you:

1. Smile more, you have an amazing smile.

2. Go out and see the world, live a little sis.

3. I know that you have powers and I plan to bring that to my grave. I don't think Mom and Dad know about it so that's good, it stops them from worrying about you.

4. Use your powers for good and make the world a better place for everyone.

5. You're not allowed to date until you're 18. Do I make myself clear?!"

Mia lightly chuckles and continues to read the letter

"6. If you do start dating, put the fear of God in him so he knows who he's messing with.

7. Whatever happened in your past, you need to let it go and live.

8. Make new friends and soon they'll become your new family.

9. Now this is the most important guideline and I want you to read it over closely. Don't keep your heart guarded and your walls up, bring them down so the people in your life can enter. Let yourself be open to the idea of loving someone and being loved by someone.

10. For the love of God, don't do anything stupid. I know that you'll deny it but you know deep down that you're the one who has the knack for getting into trouble wherever you go.

Promise me that you'll keep these guidelines with you. I think that pretty much covers it…wait, there are two things left I need to tell you. The objects in this box are a locket and a tape recorder. I know what you're thinking 'Seriously Jack? A tape recorder? You're completely old school' but trust me when I say that you should keep this recorder close to you, it has something that you need to hear. Wear the locket, you'll like what's inside of it. Now I'm pretty sure I've covered everything I've wanted to tell you. Enjoy your life Lil M, you deserve to be happy.

Love, your goofy big bro Jack."

Mia wipes away her tears and decides to open the locket first. She opens it and even more tears sprang from her eyes. Inside the locket held two pictures, one of Jack and the other of Will and Rose. Mia quickly wears the locket and got ready for bed. She puts the tape recorder someplace safe so she could listen to it at another time. "I love you too Jack and I miss you so much" was the last thought on her mind as she drifted to sleep.