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Disclaimer- I don't own YJ only OC's and plot changes.
Italics- telepathic communication
Dawn's POV
I felt a weird sense of déjà vu as I laid on my bed looking up at the star shaped stickers on my ceiling.
I was in this same position just a few weeks ago contemplating the fact that my presumably deceased brother is actually alive and undercover in one of the biggest criminal organizations in the world. Now instead of focusing on my brother my mind's occupied with the fact that one of my closest friends is officially one of the most dangerous criminals I know, and for some unknown reason has a personal grudge against me.
When the team returned from our drug lord mission in Gotham City, and ultimately my first encounter with evil David, I immediately made a beeline for my room and haven't come out since.
That was three days ago.
For a majority of the time I've been in my room doing extensive research on David and his powers trying to find out as much as I possibly could by using my computer. I even started to dig into the BlackKnights and how David got involved with them.
Even though I've spent hours going through every single scenario possible it still doesn't make any sense to me.
One second David's a normal happy teenage boy who wouldn't hurt a soul unless you mess with his family or friends, and then the next he's shooting black beams of energy of out of his hands and slashing whips at me with expert precision. That's not a transformation that happens over night unless something drastic or traumatic happens to cause it.
It might take me a while, but I'm bound and determined to figure out David's trigger was.
However, after two and a half days of searching and coming up with nothing to show for it all I want to do is bang my head against the wall after chucking my computer to the floor and smashing it into a million pieces. It's like before middle school David has no records.
His mother's name is nowhere to be found nor a picture of her anywhere. He has no siblings, ex convict family members, or any other family members at all other than his father.
Seeing as how he's David's only living relative I did take some time to look into the man, and as I researched I realized that I've never met, seen, or heard about the guy from anyone. David never mentions him and he never goes to any of the school's events so I haven't met him either.
I guess David and his father don't have the best of relationships.
David's father, aka Jacob Cage, is one of the wealthiest men in Gotham, which is another reason why I'm surprised that I've never heard of him before. Apparently he's Bruce's biggest competition in the business industry and the second largest company in the world.
From what I could dig up it doesn't look like the guy does very much in his spare time.
He's a killer businessman and knows everything you could possibly think about that's related to business and enterprises, but mostly tends to stick to himself. He doesn't go to many social events unless it benefits him or his business in some way, shape, or form, and he doesn't seem to support David in any of his activities other than pay for them.
Overall he seems like a terrible father, but not an overall bad person. He has no history of a criminal record of any kind, bad history with drugs or alcohol, family gang members, or records of ever learning how to fight.
If David was recruited into the BlackKnights recently it wasn't through his father.
After using the Batcave's, Watchtower, and mountain's programs to hack into every known source of information on the planet I officially gave up my search. I eventually came to the conclusion that the things I want to know aren't going to be found on the Internet.
If I want answers I'm either going to have to get them from David himself or another member of the BlackKnights. My best bet is relying on the first option, but if David continues to believe that I'm the bad guy then that's never going to happen.
As for my second option, the only BlackKnight I know who will actually talk to me isn't even a full BlackKnight and hasn't contacted me in weeks.
A couple of days ago I promised BlackBlade that I wouldn't call him or try to initiate contact unless he contacts me first. I never know when he's on a mission, in a meeting, with other people, or when he's alone and able to talk so 9 times out of 10 me trying to call him is always going to end badly.
The only way I can get in contact with him is if he contacts me first, and due to everything that's been going on the past few days I doubt that call is going to happen any time soon.
The last time we spoke was immediately after his first BlackKnight recruitment session to tell me about the groups leaders. Before he hung up he told me that since he's finally in the recruitment stage he probably won't initiate contact until he knows that he's in and isn't being watched.
No one wants want to run the risk of blowing his cover so communication with him is officially off the table.
All of this leads me back to what I said earlier about me laying on my bed and looking up at my star covered ceiling. After finally giving the search a rest I laid back on my bed and stared up at my fake twinkling stars in silence.
I groaned and pushed both of my hands through my tackled tresses before hearing a sharp knock on the door. I turned my head to face the sound, but decided to ignore whoever it was.
The person knocked once more and again I ignored them.
"Dawn I know you're in there so open up or I'll just hack the doors and force them open" Robin warned from the other side, but again I didn't move knowing he'd actually follow up with his threat and just hack the doors to get in anyway.
I heard an exasperated sigh on the other side and a few quick key taps before a soft clicking sound as the door slid open. Robin walked in with a paper plate in his hand and he closed the door behind him before walking over to the bed.
He leaned over and placed the plate on my right as he sat down on my left. I continued to ignore him since I pretty much already know what he's probably going to say.
Robin stared at me for a while without saying a word before finally speaking "you look a mess."
I cracked a small smile and scoffed.
"Gee thanks for the blatant honesty Rob. You really know how to make a girl feel better," I drawled sarcastically as I turned my eyes in his direction.
He's in his full Robin getup but when he stepped inside the room he took off his mask leaving his sparkling blue eyes open to the world. Since his eyes were uncovered I could fully see the worry swirling around as our eyes met and he looked at me expectantly.
"When was the last time you ate?" he suddenly asked.
"Yesterday" I quickly answered and he raised an eyebrow.
"I meant a proper meal Dawn; not half a chewy granola bar," he corrected as he saw the granola bar wrapper sitting on my desk.
"I'm not particularly hungry Rob," I defended, but my stomach decided to release a howling growl at that particular moment revealing my major lie.
"Well your stomach says otherwise. You need to eat," he sternly declared as he leaned over my stomach and grabbed the plate from the comforter, which had a large turkey sandwich on it, before placing it on my stomach.
I glanced up at him and he narrowed his eyes while folding his arms across his chest to show me that he wasn't giving up until I did as he said.
"Fine" I huffed in submission as my stomach growled once again.
Robin's face formed a satisfied grin as I sat up and ate the sandwich. I started off slow at first, but after taking a few bites my hunger rose to the surface and I devoured the rest of the sandwich in seconds. I placed the empty plate on the bed once I was done before turning back to Robin.
"Alright I'll admit I needed that. Thanks," I admitted softly and he playfully bumped his shoulder against mine.
"What are friends for" he answered casually before getting serious once again.
He glanced around the room before his eyes locked in on my open computer screen, which was frozen on a page I was using to research David's family records.
"You find anything new?" he asked while staring at the screen.
I reluctantly shook my head and ran an exasperated hand down my face in frustration.
"Not a single ounce of information. It's like there's no record of him before he moved to Gotham and started middle school. I can't even ask Jake if he knows anything because he hasn't contacted me in about a week and a half due to this stupid recruitment week. And on top of all that Priscilla isn't helping because she's not answer my calls or making an appearance like I want her too. It's like she's either not hearing my summons or just deciding to ignore them. It's all just so frustrating!" I growled before rubbing my temples as I felt a headache coming on.
Robin slung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side.
"We'll figure it out Dawn, we always do" he reassured me as he wrapped his hands around my upper biceps and rubbed my arms soothingly successfully release the tension from my body.
"But right now you need a break and a good shower to get yourself together. Your time of holing up in this room is officially over" he ordered before gently pushing me off the bed.
I stood on my feet and faced him as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees while holding his face in his hands.
"I'm not leaving until you do as I say" Robin proclaimed while patiently waiting for me to get dressed.
I looked down at the old and wrinkled t-shirt I'd thrown on when I got to the cave and my loose black short shorts that I wore to bed. I rolled my eyes and swallowed my protests before heading for the bathroom.
"Alright I'm going, I'm going," I sighed while throwing my hands in the air before grabbing my Shade costume from my bag and taking it with me.
"Just know it might take a while," I said before closing the door on him.
"I've got all day," he answered cheekily and I could already imagine the grin on his face as he spoke.
I smiled and laughed to myself before grabbing a brush and combing out the tangles in my hair. I then hopped into the shower as my earlier unpleasant mood completely disappeared.
I stayed in the shower for a good twenty minutes washing my body and hair and soaking in the hot water before stepping out and wrapping myself up in a towel. After making sure it was wrapped tight and wouldn't fall off I went over to the sink and thoroughly brushed my teeth before taking a comb and running it through my wet hair.
Once my hair was combed out straight I used my powers to draw out all of the water leaving it styled and ready to go. I then dried myself off and slipped into my Shade uniform before opening the bathroom door releasing all of the steam in the room due to the heat of the shower.
Robin looked up from his glove computer when he heard the door creak open.
"Now there's the Dawn we all know and love" he chuckled lightly as I rolled my eyes and he slid off the bed.
He was just about to say something when Batman's voice sounded over the intercom.
"Robin, Shade, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Miss Martian. Report for mission briefing."
Robin and I stared at each other for a second before grinning and moving towards the door. We ran into the main hanger to see the others and Batman already waiting for us with a ton of holographic screens behind him.
The team smiled at me as they saw me beside Robin and I smiled back before focusing on Batman.
Behind him is a picture of a man who I immediately recognized and a picture of Quarac.
"Rumaan Harjavti is the democratically elected President of Quarac. Harjavti has been praised as a fair, wise leader. A humanitarian" Batman stated as another holographic screen appeared showing a video clip of Harjavti and Bruce shaking hands.
"Sure, any friend of Bruce Wayne's" Wally whisper teased to Robin, but low enough to where no one else could hear him.
Everyone in the room knows Batman's identity but that still doesn't mean Bruce wants people saying his name out loud when he's in costume. Robin and I decided to ignore KF and continued to intently listen to the debrief.
"But five days ago Harjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation of Bialya, Queen Bee" Batman continued as the map of Qurac expanded to show Bialya as well.
"Not a fan" Superboy remarked drily before folding his arms and glaring at the screen when he heard the name.
"Few are, but Harjavti suddenly backs Queen Bee's baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times and has announced the countries will reunify in two days at a ceremony in Qurac" Bruce explained and a large video screen popped up showing a video of Harjavti resigning his position as president.
The screen then switched to a different news feed showing Queen Bee talking to her people about how she's happy that Qurac and Bialya are going to be unified under her rule.
"And the Quracies are ok with this?" I asked highly incredulous that they would just sit back and watch their country get taken over by a crazy dictator.
"Hardly" Batman uttered as another screen replaced the video showing pictures of the Quraci people protesting in the streets.
"They're well aware of the brutality of Queen Bee's regime, but Harjavti has censored the press, silenced all legitimate protesting, and invited the Bialyan military into his country to enforce martial law" he continued after staring at the picture for a second.
"Queen Bee has to be controlling Harjavti. Doesn't she have the power to enthrall most men? Robin asked as he tried to think of a logical reason behind Harjavti's sudden surrender.
Batman nodded "and some women, but not long distance and we have confirmation that she hasn't left Bialya. Something else is at work here. Find out what. Robin, you're team leader."
Hearing Batman's words Robin's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open, but with dread rather than happiness. He clenched up and froze like he'd suddenly been tossed into a bitterly cold ice bath, which caused a slight frown to appear on my face.
After the simulation disaster Robin confided in me and told me all about his fear of becoming like Batman and being a leader. He's terrified by the fact that not only did his friends "die" during his first term as leader, but also that he feels responsible for my quote on quote death by explosion.
I understand where he's coming from because we all had fears brought to the surface as a result of that experience, but I tried to make him see that none of it is his fault. No matter who was leading at the time the situation would have gone bad because that's what the simulation was designed to do.
However it seems like our little chat didn't completely get rid of his fears due to the way he's reacting.
Wally, obviously not seeing the way his friend wasn't ecstatic about the new promotion, smiled and whooped.
"Promotion! Sweet!" he cheered while raising his hand expecting Robin to high five it, but Robin either ignored his hand or simply didn't see it.
"Me? What about Aqualad" Robin asked as he took a step forward.
"Busy helping Aquaman. You're the next logical choice," Batman firmly defended.
"Great" Robin sighed, but the way he said it made it sound more like he was upset rather then excited like the word implied.
He placed his right fist on his hip and looked down at the ground.
"Dude! You totally left me hanging" Wally complained as he pointed to his still raised hand.
I rolled my eyes and slapped his hand away so he'd stop waving it around in the air.
"Quit it Wally, he's obviously not in the mood" I whispered to the speedster as he lowered his hand.
"Alright guys lets head to the bioship and get this mission over with" Robin huffed as he turned to the rest of us.
Everyone nodded and made their way to the hanger where the bioship is resting. Once everyone else was gone and out of earshot I placed a hand on Robin's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"You're stressing out for no reason Rob, you're gonna do fine" I assured him, already knowing what was bothering him.
"Yeah you say that now, but you know what happened last time" he protested while staring at the door the others just left through.
I tugged on his shoulder and forced him to look at me.
"Rob that wasn't real and it's in the past, you have to move on. Plus if you really want to make up for the mistakes you think you've made then start right now by being a leader when the team needs you to be one and redeem yourself" I told him before looking up when I heard Wally calling our names from the doorway.
"Hey are you guys coming anytime soon? We're ready to go" Wally yelled from the door and Robin and I nodded before following after him to the bioship.
Megan flew the bioship into space to make the trip faster so we made it to Qurac in half the time. However by the time we got there the sun was already gone and the moon was shining high in the sky.
"We're right above the Quraci-Bialyan border. A border the Bialyans are in the process of ignoring" Wally said as he looked out of the window and saw a group of tanks bulldozing over the barbed wire fence marking the border.
The tanks scared a heard of grazing wildebeest creating a stamped as the group ran away from the tanks.
"No opposition. I guess Harjavti really is in bed with Bialya" Conner noted as he saw the tanks cross over without any resistance.
"I wouldn't expect opposition here, it's an animal sanctuary" Robin added as he looked down at his glove's holographic screen projection.
M'gann peered over his shoulder and gasped when she saw the name on the screen.
"The Logan Animal Sanctuary?" she gasped in disbelief and I raised an eyebrow at her.
"You've heard of it?" I asked surprised she knew anything about a Bialyan animal sanctuary.
Two days ago the girl didn't know what a Baskin Robbins was, but somehow she knows an animal sanctuary half way across the world from where she lives. Who would've guessed?
Before she could answer Wally quickly interrupted her. He had his goggles on and was looking out of the window in what I assume is his night vision setting.
"Guys tanks have caused a stampede with civilians in harm's way!" KF announced and his voice rose a little as he said the last part.
Conner stood from his chair and peered out the window before using his super senses to see what Wally was talking about.
"I see them. A women and a small boy" Conner confirmed.
"We have to help them!" Megan yelled.
"We're way off mission here," Robin stated with a firm tone to his voice before turning to look out the window.
I stared at him in shock and disbelief and was just about to reprimand him for even thinking about not helping just because it might blow our cover until he returned to look at the team after taking a few seconds to think.
"Deploy, but stealth mode!" he commanded sternly "if the Bialyans know we've hit them this becomes an international incident."
Everyone nodded and KF changed his suit to stealth mode as Megan flew the camouflaged bioship closer to the ground before opening a small hatch in the floor allowing the rest of us to hop out. I flew in the air and stayed low to the ground so the people controlling the tanks wouldn't see me coming.
Megan stayed in the bioship while everyone else ran on the ground.
She shot a beam at one of the bialyan tanks causing it to swerve into the one beside it successfully taking them both out of commission.
As the rest of us got closer we noticed that there were a few soldiers walking beside the tanks as extra protection so Robin threw a few gas batarangs at the floor. The batarangs released a cloud of smoke to distract the guards long enough for KF to run in and take them all out before anyone saw him.
I glided with my stomach just a few inches above the ground before throwing out my hand and lifting the earth beneath one of the tanks wheels. The tank tilted due to the earth's movement and became unbalanced causing it to tip on its side. The soldiers operating the tank could still crawl out, but there was no way for them to set the tank back on its wheels.
I returned my hand to my side and quickly gained speed while remaining close to the ground so the soldiers wouldn't see me as they clamored out of the tank.
KF ran in behind me and knocked the three men out as they crawled out of the tank.
I looked to my right as I passed by the tank and saw the stampede gaining on the two civilians. The women wrapped her arms around the child as she saw the stampede coming knowing they wouldn't be able to outrun it in time. I picked up the pace but called on Conner for some backup since he's the closest.
"I'm on it," he confirmed through the link as he jumped over the civilians.
He jumped in front of them and grabbed the horns of the first wildebeest successfully stopping it from impaling the two people. He then slammed it into the ground creating a small dent in the earth, but not big enough to deter the stampedes path.
I quickly flew in and landed in front of Superboy before raising my hands so my palms were facing the ground. I then pushed my hands down causing the earth to sink and create a large crater around the four of us as the rest of the herd ran forward.
Seeing the deep crater in their path the rest of the herd immediately split into two groups and ran around the hole avoiding it and the people inside of it.
I sighed in relief knowing everyone was safe until the animal that the two civilians were treating before we got to them suddenly stood as the wildebeests' passed. The animal then jumped into the moving herd before anyone could stop him.
"Oryx!" the boy screamed as he saw the animal go.
The boy tried to go after the animal knowing Oryx would be trampled to death if he left, but the women who I assume is his mother held him back.
Hearing the little boy's cries I immediately raised my hand and lifted Oryx into the air before the herd could do any serious damage.
"Whoa!" the boy gasped as he stared at the floating animal like it was the coolest thing in the world.
He was so focused on the floating animal that he didn't notice the stampede pass by or the fact that he and his mother were no longer alone.
I lowered Oryx to the ground after the stampede passed.
"Are you both alright?" Robin asked as he landed in a crouch behind the women and her child surprising them both since he was facing their backs when he spoke.
The two turned around to see who spoke just as KF ran over and tossed the handful of guns he'd confiscated from the soldiers to the ground. He then lifted his goggles off of his face uncovering his forest green eyes as Robin stood from his crouch.
After releasing Oryx I floated over to Robin's other side so I stood beside my friends as we faced the people we just saved.
The thrilled and astonished expression on the kids face caused me to crack a small smile.
"Mom. Mom! Mom!" the boy yelled in excitement while tugging on the end of his mother's shirt when he saw the three of us.
"We were just saved by Robin, Kid Flash, and Shade!" he screamed while staring at the three of us like he thought we'd disappear if he looked away.
" 'Course Superboy and Miss Martian helped too" Wally added as Conner walked up and I sensed Megan floating behind us in camouflage mode.
The boy turned to see Conner and smiled when he saw his animal back on the ground safe and unhurt.
"Oryx" he cheered as he ran to the creature before falling to the ground to give it a hug.
His mom moved to join him, but remained standing unlike her son.
"We diverted the Bialyans around the sanctuary. You should be safe now" Robin assured her as the woman walked over to us.
"Uh yeah. Coast is clear Miss M, you can decamo now" Wally said as he sensed her presence behind him as well.
After a second or two M'gann lowered her hood and decamouflaged revealing herself for the first time.
"H-hi" she stuttered as her voice shook when she returned to view.
I raised an eyebrow and looked at her in confusion when I heard the way her voice shook. If I didn't know any better I'd say M'gann seemed a little nervous about meeting these people, but why?
Unbeknownst to everyone in the group the boy's eyes widened in shock and surprise when he saw M'gann's face for the first time.
"You may have made things worse. Bialyan border crossings are a way of life here. Usually they wreck a few fences and move on. Engaging them might have made us a target," the woman retorted in a clipped tone while folding her arms across her chest.
"Mom uncool!" the boy whined at his mother for scolding the heroes that he adored and just saved their lives.
The woman sighed and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry" she apologized.
"I should thank you. This is my son, Garfield" she introduced as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm-"
"Marie Logan! I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person!" M'gann suddenly blurted out and took a step forward as she cut Marie off before she could properly introduce herself.
"Someone's overexcited," I whispered to Robin with a small smile and a tiny grin tugged at his lips as he nodded in agreement.
The wildebeest Superboy dragged to the ground earlier hobbled out of the crater while releasing a sound of pain when it moved. Hearing the animal's cry Marie ran over to it.
"The Oryx is sick and I think you injured this wildebeest," she said to Superboy after inspecting the animal.
"Uh sorry?" Conner apologized, but it was more like a question since he didn't really know how to respond to that statement.
"I suppose it was unavoidable, but both need to go to our clinic" Marie declared.
"The boys and Shade can do that!" M'gann offered before saying "You and I can…fix the fences!"
"That's not exactly our-"
"Robin!" M'gann pleaded quickly cutting off Robin's objection at the same time Garfield turned to his mother and did the same thing.
"Please Mom!" he pleaded.
Both Marie and Robin sighed after taking a look at M'gann and Garfield's faces before caving.
"Fine" they both relented at the same time.
"Yes!" Megan and Garfield simultaneously jumped for joy since they got their way.
"M'gann you can go with Marie to fix the fences while the rest of us help Garfield bring the animals to the clinic" Robin offered and Marie nodded.
"Since we don't know the way you mind leading us to the clinic Garfield" I asked as I floated into the crater beside him.
Garfield gave me a bright smile and vigorously nodded his head.
"Of course!" he agreed and I smiled at his excitement.
Marie and Megan walked off to fix the fence while I lifted the wildebeest into the air. Superboy picked up Oryx and carried him on his shoulder.
Everyone walked out of the crater and we started to make our way to the clinic when I paused and slapped my free hand to my forehead.
"Oh wait I forgot something" I yelled at the group causing the four boys to stop and turn back.
I lifted the hand that wasn't focusing on keeping Oryx in the air and tapped into my elemental powers causing the earth underneath the crater to return to its normal state. The earth rose and became level with the rest of the area around it. There's less grass then there was before but other then that you would've never guessed that there was a large hole in the ground just two seconds ago.
I turned on my heels and smiled before floating over to the boys.
"Alright now we can go" I chirped and Garfield just stared at me while muttering "that's so cool!"
It didn't take us very long to reach the clinic and Garfield immediately led us to the outside barn where they treated the animals so Superboy and I could lay the animals down. When we walked out of the barn it was morning time since we left the mountain late at night and have been on mission for a couple of hours now.
Garfield ran ahead while the rest of us followed behind and walked towards the house. Wally opened up his suit's food compartment and took out a protein bar to snack on as we walked under a tree. Suddenly some leaves rained down on us and Superboy looked up with scrunched up eyebrows.
We all heard an ear-piercing screech as a small monkey fell out of the trees and landed on Superboy's shoulder before swinging over to KF.
"Hey, get it off" Wally yelled as the monkey climbed over him and grabbed the protein bar from his hand before springing forward to latch onto Garfield's back.
Garfield laughed as the monkey climbed up his back and perched itself on his shoulder before taking a large bite out of Wally's stolen protein bar.
"It's ok, meet Monkey" Garfield introduced as the monkey stared at us while chewing.
"Good name" Superboy admitted " but I hate monkeys" he sneered before getting hit in the face with the protein bar.
Conner glared at the monkey and growled as it screeched at Superboy like it was offended by his comment.
Robin, KF, and I chuckled as I placed a hand on Conner's arm so he wouldn't spring forward and attack the poor creature.
"Looks like Monkey hates Superboy's" Robin quipped in between laughs.
"Dude, be glad he only threw a protein bar" Wally joked before we all walked into the house, although thankfully Garfield left the monkey outside.
"So pretty weird about Miss Martian and my mom huh?" Garfield inquired as everyone on the team except for Superboy found a seat.
Robin and Wally sat in the two large chairs in the living room while I sat on the large armrest attached to Robin's chair. Superboy decided to stand behind the chairs instead of finding a seat.
"What do you mean?" Conner asked as he folded his arms.
"I mean she looks exactly like Marie. You know except greener," Garfield answered.
"She does?" Wally asked surprised by this new information.
"Well duh! Especially back when Mom was a TV star in Hello Megan" Garfield stated causing all of our eyes to pop out of our heads.
"Wait, Hello Megan is a TV show!" I asked incredulously.
"I just thought it was something she said all the time," Robin admitted before turning back to Garfield.
"Yeah on the TV show. Way before we were born, only one season. You can't even find it online. I know Mom has a tape somewhere," Garfield proclaimed as he looked through the pile of DVD's under the TV before finally finding what he was looking for.
"Hello Megan, the pilot episode" he cheered before moving to turn the TV on.
"Whoa you still have VHS! Where's your 8-track?" Wally asked sarcastically as Garfield popped the DVD into the TV.
"Wait!" Superboy yelled interrupting their conversation before Garfield could start the video "Aircraft, headed this way!"
I quickly stood from the armrest along with Robin and KF before we all ran out the house. Robin turned around as the rest of us left the building before pointing at Gar.
"Gar stay put!" he ordered before leaving the house.
We all ran onto the front porch just as Megan and Marie started to walk up from the other side.
"What is it?" Megan asked when she saw our serious faces, but before we could answer a plane dropped down and fired at the two.
Marie started to run away and dodge the bullets, but when one was about to hit her in the chest Megan flew forward and tackled her to the ground so she wouldn't get hit. She then covered Marie with her body as Superboy ran over. He hunched over them as the plane started to shoot protecting them from the on slot of bullets. Once the plane passed by the three stood up and Marie grabbed Superboy's shoulders in a panic.
"Where is my son?" she demanded.
"I ordered him to stay inside" Robin divulged trying to assure her that he's safe, but it didn't work.
"He's eight! He doesn't do orders!" she yelled at Robin before we saw the barn's door open. Oryx and the wildebeest ran out as Garfield yelled at his mom.
"Mom! It's ok I got the animals out!" he yelled and waved as the animals ran out of the barn.
He stopped waving and looked up at the sky when the plane swooped back around and started firing again. My eyes' widened when I saw the tank of gas next to the barn and was already on my way towards the boy when one of the bullets hit the tank and exploded.
Superboy held Marie back when she called Garfield's name and tried to run forward to make sure she didn't get caught in the explosion as well.
"Garfield!" Marie yelled with tears in her eyes as she saw the barn explode and her son get tossed into the air.
I grabbed Garfield from the air before he hit the ground and held him bridal style in my arms. He's unconscious and some of his clothes are ripped and torn, but thankfully he's still breathing even though it is faint.
I quickly returned to the ground and handed Garfield over to his mother who ran over to me when I started to get closer to the ground.
The three planes from before swooped back around for another attack and Superboy and M'gann ran towards them ready to intercept. Robin, KF, and I stayed behind and Marie rounded on Robin.
"I told you there'd be consequences!" she yelled at him and he remained calm on the outside although on the inside I can tell he's blaming himself for Garfield's circumstance.
"Always" Robin responded dejected but serious "Let's get him inside."
Marie grabbed her son and ran inside with Robin while I turned my head to see Superboy jump up and smash his fist into one plane while M'gann floated in the air behind him.
I ran into the house with KF knowing the two had the planes under control. When we got to the room Garfield was hooked up to an IV and his head was bandaged in gauze.
I walked up to his side and scanned his body with my eyes. He has a few cuts and scraps and is unconscious and weak, but still alive.
"He's in shock. He needs a blood transfusion now. Are any of you O negative?" Marie asked hopefully.
"No" Robin said as he pulled up a holographic screen of all the local hospitals and their current blood supply stocks from his glove.
"Sorry" Wally said and I shook my head no while placing a hand on Garfield's arm.
"Neither am I, it's the hardest to match. I've kept a supply in the clinic," Marie confessed.
"I can run him to the nearest hospital" Wally offered, but Robin quickly shut down that suggestion.
"The nearest hospital with this type of blood supply, half an hour away at your top speed. Longer by Bio-ship!" Robin said before pausing and looking at me.
I saw the look in his eyes and immediately knew what he was thinking.
"It's not a blood transfusion Rob it won't help him much," I stated, but he shrugged his shoulders.
"We don't really have any other option at the moment," Robin pointed out and Marie looked between the two of us before asking what we were talking about.
"I can use my water powers to heal him slightly but its not going to have the same affect as a blood transfusion. It'll heal his cuts and other injuries and give him a boost of energy, but it won't wake him up" I explained, not wanting to get her hopes up too much.
"Well its better then nothing, and maybe it will buy us enough time to get him some blood from a nearby hospital" Marie said before turning to Robin.
"What's Superboy's blood type?" she asked.
"He's Kryptonian and Miss Martian-"
"Might be able to help with Shade's assistance" M'gann softly interjected as she and Conner walked into the doorway.
Robin deactivated his hologram screen as he lowered his arm.
"My shape-shifting occurs at the cellular level. I think I can modify my blood to match his, but I'll need Shade around to keep him stabilized with her healing water in order to make sure he doesn't get too distressed or fatigued during the process" she explained as she walked over to Garfield's side.
"Please, try!" Marie pleaded with M'gann as she grabbed the girl's arm.
Megan glanced at me and I nodded agreeing to help.
"We'll need to concentrate. No distractions" I said knowing we'd both need silence and extreme focus to do this.
Marie nodded and turned to the boys.
"Out! All of you out!" Marie ordered while pushing the boys out of the room.
The three looked at us from the doorway before Marie slammed the door in their faces.
I glanced at M'gann before floating into the air and lifting my feet so I'm siting Indian style in the air.
"Can you please stand back Marie?" I asked the women politely since I needed space to work.
"Of course" she answered as she stepped back and leaned against the door while watching me intently.
I smiled at her before lifted my hands and waving them around to create a decent sized circle of water from the air. The water circled around me for a second while I closed my eyes.
I focused on the water while Megan took two fingers and wiped a few drops of blood from Garfield's head onto her fingers before staring at it. Her eyes glowed green as she started to copy Garfield's blood and I opened my eyes, which were now glowing blue.
I moved the water towards Garfield and it slithered around his body until his entire body except for his eyes, nose, and mouth, were covered in a thin layer of water. I then tapped into the waters healing powers and the water started to hum as a soft blue shine appeared in it.
I felt Garfield's injuries start to slowly heal themselves. The injury on his head took the longest to heal since it's a deeper injury then the others. The small burn on his right arm also took a while to heal but after a minute or two I managed to heal most of his physical injuries and make him more stable then he was before.
In the background I vaguely heard Megan tell Marie that she's ready and Marie quickly started the blood transfusion while I continued to keep Garfield stable. My job became a lot easier as fresh blood was pumped into his system and his body started to aid me in fixing him up.
After a few minutes the blood transfusion was complete and I'd successfully healed all of his wounds. The water stopped glowing and I pulled it off of Garfield's body before evaporating it into the air once again.
My eyes then stopped glowing and I lowered myself back to the ground.
I've been practicing my healing so I've gotten a lot better, but it still makes me a little woozy after a large job.
"He should be good now. I healed his injuries and the blood transfusion was a success. I felt the way his body reacted to the procedure and even though we didn't bring him out of his coma his body is recovering fast. He'll wake up in a few hours," I told Marie and she smiled with happy tears in her eyes.
"Thank you girls, I truly thank you!" she said while giving us both a smothering hug.
I smiled at her and M'gann and I left the room while Marie stayed behind.
We walked into the living room and M'gann was staring at the ground when we first walked in so she didn't see what the boys were watching. I couldn't help but notice the title of the show was labeled Hello Megan and I couldn't deny the fact that M'gann did look exactly like Marie when she was a teenager.
"It's done. All we can do now is wait," M'gann revealed as she finally started to look up.
Failing to realize that she'd entered the room the boys jumped and freaked when they heard her voice since they didn't want her to see the show.
Wally jumped up and the remote flew out of his hands. He fumbled with it for a second trying to catch it before pressing random buttons to try and change the channel as quickly as possible. Finally before M'gann noticed the show he managed to change the channel to a news station and the boys sighed with relief.
"Is that Harjavti?" M'gann asked as she walked forward and saw Harjavti on the news.
We watched the news feed and saw how Harjavti claimed that Queen Bee is the rightful leader.
"Hey that guy in the back I know him!" Conner claimed while pointing to a guy in the back of the crowd.
Robin lifted his wrist computer and zoomed in on the guy Conner pointed to until he filled the entire screen.
"It's Psimon! The psychic we fought last time we were in Bialya! He was working for Queen Bee then, he must be controlling Harjavti for her now" M'gann concluded suddenly putting the pieces together.
"I still remember the headache from when he brain blasted us," Wally grumbled as he slammed a hand over his face.
"We have to get Harjavti away from him" Robin said and he narrowed his eyes and deactivated his wrist computer as he returned to work mode.
Marie walked into the room and told the team that Garfield is in fact stable.
"Good, because we have our mission" Robin said and we thanked Marie for her hospitality before heading for the bioship.
We all took an hour nap on the way there since we haven't slept in about 24 hours and didn't want to be tired for the mission.
We arrived in Dhabar where Harjavti's palace is and when we got there it was nighttime once again.
M'gann guided the bioship to the top of Harjavti's home and we all silently jumped out.
Robin and I located an air duct off to the side and I quietly pulled off the cover before Robin crawled in first. I followed after him and the rest of the team came in after us while Megan placed the cover back over the air duct so no one would ever know we were there. Robin pulled up a map of the building and led the way to Harjavti's office.
When we got there Robin peered through the air duct covering and canvased the room.
"Harjavti is alone" he said through the link before bursting through the air duct and landing on the floor in a crouch.
I jumped down after him and landed beside him before quickly moving out of the way so KF and Superboy could jump down as well. Megan remained in camouflage mode and floated down instead of jumping.
Robin walked around Harjavti's large desk and faced Harjavti. Harjavti looked at Robin blankly for a few seconds before clutching his head.
"Where's my daughter? Where is Psimon?" he whispered before looking up at Robin confused.
"Forget him lets get you out of here" Robin said to Harjavti just as the door to the office burst open and a group of soldiers wearing weird and high tech looking gear ran in.
The guns attached to their chests were pointing at us.
Robin pulled out two batarangs when he heard and saw the soldiers come in while the rest of us got into defensive stances.
I stood in-between KF and Superboy with my hands on fire.
"Well well, American heroes here to assassinate the President. Such a shame we arrived too late to stop them" the Bialyan leader said sarcastically basically telling us the story that he's going to tell the press so everyone will think we killed the president.
"Those are Apokoliptan weapons," Superboy proclaimed through the link.
"Which they'll use to kill Harjavti, we get blamed, and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac! Form up around the President" Robin ordered and we all quickly followed his direction by taking a few small steps closer to him and Harjavti successfully creating a barrier between the soldiers and the president.
"I found Psimon" M'gann claimed before leaving the room to go after the telepath.
"Wait!" Robin tried to stop her, but she was already gone.
"I'll get her" Superboy offered and was about to take a step forward when Robin stopped him.
"No! The mission is Harjavti" he reminded everyone and Superboy begrudgingly let M'gann go.
"Kill them!" one of the soldiers ordered and that was our queue to attack.
I created a wall of fire in front of us burning all of the bullets they fired protecting everyone from getting shot. I lowered the wall a second later and we all attacked while the soldiers were still distracted by the unexpected defense.
Wally intercepted most of the soldiers on the left while I took the middle and Superboy took the right. Robin stayed by Harjavti and took down any soldiers who drifted from our sections or got past our initial perimeter and tried to go for Harjavti.
Taking down the soldiers didn't take very long and after a few minutes we managed to take down everyone and keep Harjavti safe.
Harjavti's daughter ran into the room as I threw the last unconscious soldier to the ground and she ran to her father's side.
"Thank you for saving my father. We will take care of him now" she assured us and we all nodded before leaving the room and running out to find M'gann.
"M'gann we're coming" Conner informed his girlfriend through the link as we ran down the hall, but just after the words were said we all felt a strong mental blast.
I grabbed my head in pain and tried to fight it, but couldn't overcome the mental power of the attack and ultimately collapsed to the floor along with the rest of the guys.
"Ugh my head" I grumbled as I started to come too and slowly sat up while grabbing my head.
"And there's the headache" Wally groaned as he placed a hand on his head.
"Psimon?" Robin asked as he stood and rubbed his temple.
"He brain-blasted you. I stopped him," M'gann said solemnly and I stood before glancing in the direction she's staring at.
I raised an eyebrow when I saw Psimon lying in a pile of broken chairs and glass completely incoherent.
"Well I'd count this mission a success then" I stated as I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes.
"Not quite yet" Robin said before telling us the plan.
The next morning M'gann transformed into Queen Bee and pretended to be her while walking up to the palace with a hoard of press around capturing every second of her arrival.
Harjavti revealed to the people that he was being mind controlled and M'gann made it seem like Queen Bee was furious that her plan didn't work out before threatening that Qurac would be hers one day then storming off.
Harjavti came back inside of his office where the rest of the team and his daughter were waiting for him after the fake confrontation. M'gann walked in a few seconds later and dropped her Queen Bee disguise returning to her normal martian state.
"Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that, but I couldn't think of any other way to convince the public Queen Bee was behind this" Robin apologized to M'gann and she nodded in understanding.
"Dude saving a country is pretty big for your first turn as leader" Wally said while lightly punching Robin's shoulder.
"Yeah thanks" Robin said unenthusiastically as he rubbed his shoulder.
He looked down at the ground sullenly before saying we had to get going. We returned to the bioship and went back to Marie's house to make sure Garfield was ok before going back home.
We watched the news feed in Marie's living room of Bruce Wayne and Harjavti shaking hands while Bruce promised to help rebuild Qurac until Marie turned off the TV.
"Gee, Bruce Wayne sure got here fast. Almost like he knew-"
Robin discretely elbowed Wally in the ribs when he realized where he was going with that statement before putting his hands behind his head in a leisurely fashion.
"Don't you have a souvenir to collect or something" Robin quickly interrupted changing the subject and Wally tapped his head like M'gann usually does.
"Hello Megan" he said before zooming over to the TV and grabbing the DVD from the shelf.
He then waved it in M'gann's face so she could see what he had in his hand.
"Something you'd like to tell us" he asked while waving the DVD around and M'gann looked around the room to see everyone looking at her as if waiting for an explanation.
Seeing our expecting faces she sighed before explaining herself.
"Growing up on Mars was…not a happy time for me, but I started watching the broadcast my uncle sent from Earth to teach us about our sister planet. When I saw Hello Megan something just clicked. Maybe it was the similarities in our names; maybe it was the way all Megan's problems could be solved in 22 minutes. All I know for sure is that Megan helped me smile through a lonely childhood. So, when I came to Earth and had to adopt a human form I chose you…well Megan" she confessed sadly, but honestly as she looked up at Marie.
Robin and Wally gave each other a look knowing they were discovering something new about their teammate and both suddenly had the same question pop into their minds.
"Which begs the question, what do you really look like?" Robin gently inquired knowing this was probably a sore subject for his friend and didn't want her to clam up on us.
M'gann stood up and her hair disappeared leaving her bald. Her freckles disappeared as well and her usually red lips turned green. Her eyebrows disappeared and her eyes became a duller green then their usual brighter color.
"Bald M'gann, still hot" Wally commented and I rolled my eyes at him.
Conner stood up and walked over to his girlfriend before grabbing her hands.
"You know you don't have to put on a mask for me" he told her honestly and M'gann gently pulled away before changing back into her "normal" appearance.
"I do it for me" she softly corrected while putting her hands on her arms like she's shielding herself from us.
"This is who I am inside. Please don't be mad," she said, but this time referring to Marie.
"Mad? I'm honored. M'gann you saved my son. He says he's your blood brother now and I agree. You're family" Marie confessed and M'gann jogged over before wrapping Marie up in a firm hug.
"Thank you! You can't know what that means to me," M'gann said before releasing the women.
M'gann then went to Garfield's room to check up on him and I watched her leave while having this feeling that she isn't telling us the full truth about her past.
Once she finished talking to Garfield we got into the bioship and went home with another successful mission for the books.