"Hi everyone!" I say cheerily.
"So what happened to the every Monday updates?" A reader asks while shoving a mic right up in my face.
"I... Um... Er... No comment..." I reply while trying to escape the too close mic.
"Come on, I'm being serious here! What was so important that you just couldn't update until now, almost four days late!" The reader insists and somehow manages to push the mic closer into my face.
"That would be, circumstances being what they are, nothing. Hehe." I say nervously and try to slink away, before a spotlight lands on me so that there's no where to go.
"What? Nothing? Are you kidding me?" the reader asks in disbelief and anger, their face starting to go slightly red.
"Nope. I just got lazy and totally forgot that it was Monday (I actually did)." I reply nonchalantly while inching my way away from the reader.
"Well, this chapter better be worth the wait." the reader says threateningly
"Oh it is! At least, I hope it is... Anyways, without further ado, the disclaimer and the story!" I reply while sprinting off stage holding a sign that says:
DISCLAIMER: DC does not belong to me.
When morning comes, I'm unsurprised to see Dick come into my room to check if I'm ok. He was probably a bit surprised to see me designing a costume.
"Um… Morgan? What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Designing a costume."
"Congratulations! You got it right!"
"Who's the costume for?"
"Me."
"You?"
"What? You don't think I could be a hero?"
"I…"
"You don't do you?"
"You've spent your whole life as a bad guy Morgan; it's not easy being a hero without that, let alone with."
"I want to be a hero. I don't want to be known as the bad guy anymore Dick. I was put on this planet for a reason. I'm the hidden Angel for a reason! I'm not going to sit around any longer. Once I defeat Slade, I'm not just going to stop! This world is so full of evil; it needs all the help it can get. By defeating Slade, I'm helping Thanagar, but Earth still won't be fully fixed. Sure, a huge problem will be out the way, but there are still people out there working against earth and I was put here to stop it."
"She's ready now dad. She's finally accepted it all." Dick says and I notice Bruce standing in the doorway, smiling.
"What? Dick?"
"You're destined to be a hero Morgan, but until you were ready to accept it, there was nothing we could do to help you." Bruce says.
"You- you want me to be a hero?"
"Of course we do" Dick laughs. "You're already so powerful, having you as a hero would be a huge blow to the villains. Besides, you're heaps of fun!"
I feel a smile almost split my face in half and for once in my life, I don't care about the blatant emotion I just revealed.
"Let's see your designs then?" Bruce says and I promptly blush and become uncharacteristically shy.
"Oh come on, they can't be as bad as what I drew when I was coming up with an outfit." Dick says in exasperation.
"What did you design?"
Dick blushes.
"He wanted to wear a bright green leotard and pixie boots, a bright yellow cape and a bright red vest. He looked like a traffic light." Bruce says, smiling
"I was nine and they were my favourite colours, ok!" Dick sulks.
"Well, they're not as bad as that…" I say and then trail off.
Dick rolls his eyes and snatches the book away from me and shows it to Bruce.
"Not bad, not bad at all" Dick says, looking impressed.
"I'm still working on it…"
"Not anymore" Bruce says, "It's perfect for you. It represents you, it's practical, it won't get in the way and it looks good."
I blush again. I hate blushing.
"I'll see if I can get Alfred working on it sometime soon. For now though, I think we're due for some breakfast."
My stomach then decides that it's a good time to growl embarrassingly.
"Not a moment too soon either!" Dick laughs and I blush again before I shove him off the bed.
He hits the floor with a thump and the look on his face is priceless. I laugh and Dick scowls before dragging me off the bed too.
We look at each other and burst into laughter again. I swear I see Bruce roll his eyes before he leaves the room.
Still giggling, Dick and I get up and brush ourselves off before heading down to a breakfast of bacon and eggs, my favourite.
"These designs are very nice Miss Morgan, certainly better than the designs young Master Dick first had."
Dick blushes.
"Why can't anyone let that go?" he whines.
"Because it's too hilarious!" I giggle.
"Traitor" he mutters.
"I live to please" I say poshly and then mock bow.
Dick just rolls his eyes and fails miserably at hiding his smile.
"We're going back to the mountain today. Shayera needs to know about what happened last night."
"Does that mean sunnies again?"
"Yes."
I groan. I feel stupid wearing sunnies.
The meal finishes and I get changed into a pair of dark jeans, black Volleys, and a dark red shirt. I drag a brush through my hair and eventually give up. Since becoming 'curlyish' it's become a nightmare.
I can't help but feel grateful for Alfred for putting holes in all my shirts and jumpers and whatnot. Wings don't exactly fold after all. Well, not mine anyway.
We arrive at the mountain to find a very distraught Wally West.
I can't help but panic, did something happen to him? Is he alright?
He says something but he's speaking too fast for me to understand.
"Wally! You need to slow down and tell us what's going on." Robin says. Even though he's not technically in costume right now, it's easier to think of him as Robin and not get him mixed up.
"Artemis is gone! Slade came in here and he had giant black wings and he could use the same black coloured magic that A does except it was so much more evil than hers!"
"Artemis is gone?" I ask, eyes wide behind the sunglasses.
"Yes," he whispers, "He came and he took her after saying something about making you pay."
I take in a deep breath and then let it out shakily.
"I'm going in after her." I say.
"No you're not. You're not ready yet." Batman immediately counters.
"If I don't show up, he'll kill her."
"And what'll happen if you do?" Robin asks, "He'll either just kill her anyway to break you or force you to submit to him again. You can't go this time A. If you get hurt again, you're going to break. We'll go and get her back, she'll be safe but you have to stay here."
"No! It's my fault she's there; I have to get her out."
"It's not your fault A, it's Slade's."
"It's always my fault. It always has been, it always will be."
"No it's not!"
"Yes it is Robin! Stop trying to be nice, we both know that I've caused all these problems!"
"You're being stupid A; it was never your fault!"
"Do you want a list? Here, I'll give you a list of all the problems that are my fault! My parents, Artemis nearly dying, that little girl from the circus losing her parents, multiple people from Gotham and around the world-"
"A." Wally interjects "They weren't your fault. The blame was never yours. Everyone else can see that except you. No one blames you anymore. I don't think they ever did."
I don't understand why his words give me so much comfort and reassurance so instead, I do what I do best.
I lie.
"Fine, I'll stay behind. But if she gets hurt or dies, I'll never forgive myself."
"That's all we ask of you" Batman says before turning to Wally.
"Get the team together, we're going; now."
# # #
Once they had all left, I broke into Robin's mostly unused room and stole a grappling gun from one of his drawers. I don't know how to fly yet and quite frankly, I'm not willing to die just yet.
I arrive at the place where Slade held me for those couple of months after he took me from the Batcave. Unsurprisingly, he's not there.
Any clues that might have been left behind have already been taken away by Batman so there's no help I'm getting from being here. Not that there'd be any clues in the first place.
Where would Slade go? The most unsuspecting place, somewhere where no one would look.
I'm about to leave for Slade's previous hideout when I notice something strange.
The concrete in the corner of the room doesn't look quite right.
Stepping cautiously towards it, I ever so slowly lift it up.
A trap door! That definitely wasn't here last time!
It's my last chance to call Batman and the others before I go down. Or maybe I shouldn't go down at all?
No. I have to go down and save Artemis. There simply isn't enough time to tell Batman, there'll just be a big fight about me promising to not go and Artemis doesn't have that long left, I'm sure of it.
I open the trapdoor fully and stare down into the inky darkness inside it.
I start to second guess myself. Maybe I should warn Batman, this is Slade after all.
No. I have to do this. I have to prove my worth and I have to save Artemis.
I jump down into the darkness and land softly on the concrete floor.
The lights suddenly flick on and I'm temporarily blinded.
I see Slade standing there with Artemis pulled up against his chest, knife against her throat. I can't help but see a flash of Dick's death from the nightmare when I see them.
"Hello Morgana" Slade purrs.
It's then that I realise just how big a mistake I just made.
And that's a wrap!
OK, not really. We still have about five chapters to go.
I'd just like to apologize for my lateness, I actually did forget all about this on Monday, but I never got around to updating until today, which is really slack of me. I'm sorry.
Guess what time it is? Story time with JuliaPossum!
Actually, it' more me complaining about something that happened during Soccer.
I was left defense (like usual) and the opposing team had gotten to the very edge of the field, right near the goal on the left side.
I think I managed to get the ball or something and was about to kick it back to my team when I suddenly see this giant torso sprinting at me and next thing I know, I'm on the ground and almost rolling over backwards.
Ouch.
Turns out some giant meanie decided that instead of stopping like she should have, she'd keep sprinting at the tiny, light as a feather defender known as me.
My wrist still hurts and I'm kinda worried about it. I'm hoping it's just a bruise.
So that's my horror story.
Oh! reviews! Here are the replies:
piggythelaw: Thank you so much for your reviews, they always brighten my day. I'm glad that you found the chapter that good, I'll try to keep writing at the same standard. Did I scare you when you thought Alfred was dead? Mwahahahaha! Oh and please, have a virtual cookie!
Bdnboy1 (Guest): You are my favorite guest. Literally, you are! You keep reviewing as if you have an account, but you don't. That's dedication for you! Thank you so much for the helpful reviews, you always give me something to think about, something to change just slightly. Thanks for the review, you can have a virtual cookie too!
So that's it, please favorite, follow and review and please go check out the trailer for this story on my YouTube account!
Have a lovely rest of day!
JuliaPossum