"Darkness... When everything that you know and love... is taken from you so harshly... all you can think about is anger, hatred, and even revenge... and no one can save you."
The Cave
September 20
9:02 EDT
"You're late," Batman said impatiently. After the Team had come back from their mission the day before, Batman had told Olivia that she would be needed in the mission room at nine a.m. sharp the next morning.
"By two minutes, Batsy," Olivia sighed tiredly. She only fell asleep three hours ago. After brushing against Superboy, and gaining his powers in the process, she began the long and arduous operation of tunneling her way out.
How he and Robin could function with this little sleep amazed her, it truly did. "Chill buzzkill. What did you call me down here for anyway?"
He glared at her for a minute, but seeing it had no affect on the sleep-deprived girl at the moment began talking.
"Since the other members of this team will be returning to school and Red Tornado can't monitor you 24/7, you'll be attending Gotham Academy starting Wednesday."
Olivia hadn't really been paying very much attention, preferring to daydream about a nice, warm bed when she finally grasped what exactly the Dark Knight was saying to her.
"Wait what?" she mumbled.
"You heard me."
"Well, yes," answered Olivia, "but-"
"You'll be observed by members of this team while simultaneously getting normal interactions with law-abiding citizens your own age. It will be good for you."
"I don't see how that's necessary," she sniffed. "I've done just fine without going to some lame school- wait, Gotham Academy?"
That's where Robin went. Oh, this could actually be fun. Well, if it was for the sake of personal safety, she would sacrifice this small piece of freedom. It was for the greater good after all, how in high Heaven could she refuse this chance?
"Yes. You are already aware of Robin's civilian identity; this was the best choice without compromising the identities of the others."
"I see. Is that all?"
"No," Batman replied calmly. "You'll be attending therapy sessions with Black Canary; it is obvious there are issues that need to be worked out."
"Okay look," Olivia ground out, turning her head to the side. "I'm fine with you wanting to protect your little sidekicks, but there's no way I'm getting mind-raped by some chick in a leather jacket. I'll go along with your stupid school idea, but this is out of the question!"
"So . . . Where would you like to start? Let's start from the beginning. Would you tell me about your childhood?" Black Canary asked politely.
"No."
"Alright, then let's start with why you joined the team."
"No."
Canary sighed quietly. "Olivia, unless you let others help you, you can't help yourself. I can tell just by looking at you that something's eating you up inside. Let me help you. It's why I'm here."
Olivia glared at her feet. She didn't need any help, this was her problem. Black Canary wasn't doing this because she was her friend; it was so they could learn how to control her. Her past was her business and she wasn't going to tell complete strangers about it. Olivia could hardly bear thinking about, much less talking about it to someone and having them dissect it.
And she definitely didn't come here looking for a pity party. If Olivia could survive Cadmus she could survive anything. Her memories would get buried and she would move on in her life. But they couldn't get buried if somebody kept trying to dig them up every Monday at 9:30 in the morning.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. My life is totally and incredibly insipid." She knew that the Word-A-Day Calendar would be handy. It provided a challenge in her now otherwise boring day.
"Is that so?" Canary asked, leaning her elbows onto her knees and placing a fist under her chin.
"Yes."
Black Canary was experienced in fighting, and maybe just as much in reading people. This Olivia girl was hiding something, and Canary was determined to find out what. But, pushing her into giving an answer was only succeeding in pushing her farther behind the barrier she built around herself. She knew strategy, and she would let Olivia think she won the battle for now.
She wasn't going to win the war, not if Black Canary had a say in it.
"What do you think of your new teammates?"
Olivia looked up. "Uh, fine? I don't know them and I don't care to find out."
"I heard you spoke with Kid Flash the other day, want to expand on that?"
"Not really."
"Hmm. How about the others? Robin, maybe?"
"Robin?" Olivia perked up. Once she realized that she actually showed interest in the conversation she took up a bored expression again and leaned against the cushioned chair. "Nope, haven't really talked to them."
"I see. In that case, you're free to go."
Olivia blinked. "Really? Just like that?"
"Just like that."
"In that case," Olivia mimicked and stretched, "Adios."
"See you next week."
The simple phrase made Olivia's head drop in defeat. Batman sure was bossy, making her go to therapy sessions. The fact was only made a little better when she was told the other heroes had them too.
Since she supposed she now had free time she would go watch some TV or something. Without the access to internet, Olivia was finding it a hard time to busy herself. Soap operas weren't exactly the best teachers.
Maybe she did need to go to school. Olivia had only been taught the correct ways to successfully kill someone, political history, brief teachings of important people in society, and the occasional foreign language or two. Her education provided by genomorphs at Cadmus had been cut short with her release.
With her other ability, it was no problem to remember those lessons exactly and in perfect detail. But that was also sort of the problem. Olivia was trying to convince herself she could bury the painful memories, but they were seared into her brain. Just like everything else. She just couldn't forget, it was physically impossible for her.
With a forceful push of the remote, Olivia turned on the giant TV in the lounge.
"Wow, girl, you look so skinny! You have to tell me your secret," a happy brunette gushed at her friend, who was head cheerleader of their high school.
"It just comes, like, naturally, I guess," the blonde friend said smugly back. "Let's head over to the gym and practice our routine for the game tomorrow!"
Totally!"-
Olivia looked down at her stomach. Was she skinny enough? "Ugh," she groaned. Next channel.
The scene was a shot of a hospital clinic. The main doctor is wearing a blue button-down shirt and jacket. His patient was sitting in the room with a large bruise on his right cheekbone.
"I was in a car accident last month," the patient said in explanation. "I-I just ran out of pain medication for my orbital fracture. It's just taking ages to heal.
The doctor put down the patient file, "Take off your shirt."-
Hospital dramas aren't really her style. Would it be of any help to look for another channel? Probably not. She could hear someone messing around in the kitchen; it might be worthwhile to bother them. It's not like she had much else to do.
If Superboy was around then she would just borrow his powers to work on her tunnel. Unfortunately, he was out for some reason.
Shrugging her shoulders, Olivia walked into the kitchen to find the Martian girl, M'gann.
"Oh, hello," she said nervously as she noticed Olivia. "How are you?"
"Fine, I guess. Bored, there's nothing on the television."
"Oh, well . . . would- would you like to help me cook something?"
Olivia looked at her cautiously for a minute, but she couldn't think of anything sinister with baking. And it would be a new experience for her. From what Olivia could tell, M'gann seemed honestly . . . nice? It was weird.
"I uh, yes I suppose," She answered M'gann, "but I probably won't be much help, I've never cooked before."
M'gann smiled brightly. "It's okay! We can figure this recipe out together. It's a new one for me. What do you say?"
Her cheeriness was contagious, Olivia could almost feel a smile form. She could still back out, and yet-
"Okay. Where do we start?"
"The recipe says that the first step is to mix the flour and salt . . ."
"Hey M'gann, am I smelling something delicious or is it just my imagination?" Wally called out as he entered the kitchen. His carefree strolling stopped abruptly as he realized the new girl was in there too.
Kid Flash rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, although Olivia couldn't see what would have caused any discomfiture. "Oh hey, Olive."
"It's Olivia."
"What? Yeah, I know it's just- it's a nickname, you know?" he laughed nervously.
Olivia knit her eyebrows together in thought. Nobody had given her a nickname before. Whether she liked it or not, she wasn't quite sure. Did he give pet names to everyone?
"Oh, well, that's okay I guess," she mumbled. These people made her more confused with each passing day. "You must be smelling the cherry pie Miss Martian and I are cooking."
"Don't worry," M'gann piped up. "We made a second one just for you."
Wally sped up to the counter and rested against it while teasing, "You know me so well, baby."
He turned to Olivia, "So is cherry pie you secret weakness?"
"I couldn't say," she said, mulling it over. "I've never had it before."
"You've never had cherry pie?" Kid gaped. "Where have you been living your entire life? Have you had any kind of pie?"
"No."
"Oh my go- don't worry, we're gonna fix that right now. M'gann, quick, the pies!"
"Yes, of course!" she grinned. She levitated both pans, plates for each, forks, and a bucket of vanilla ice-cream from the freezer over to the island.
"Olive gets first bite," Kid Flash said animatedly.
The speedster looked more excited about Olivia tasting pie for the first time than Olivia felt about it. While it did look absolutely delectable, it couldn't be that special. Then she put the first bite in her mouth.
"Wow, I didn't know food could taste this good," she said. "It's amazing!"
Kid Flash grinned at her. Maybe he wasn't all that bad, Olivia considered. She would take a chance and say that maybe he was worth having around after all.
"Oh, you know," Olivia spoke up. The two other teens paused their eating and looked up at her. "There's this place down in Gotham that has the most amazing ice-cream. I bet it would taste really good with this pie. You guys should go try it out sometime."
"We will," M'gann promised, going back to her food. "Once you can come with us."
Oh those damn heroes! They were getting to her, they really were. Did they not realize what they were doing? How could she use these people if she actually starting carin- tolerating them? With their stupid nice-guy tactics and dumb monikers for each other.
Quickly, Olivia finished her (excellently made) pie and excused herself. Who knew what might happen if she stayed around them longer. This whole plan was going to the dogs and it hadn't even been a week.
How did they do it? Was is some secret power they had?
While it was nice that those two seemed to change their opinion of her, they changed their opinion of her! Using them was becoming less and less of an option. Then again, if she were their friend she could just ask for their help, right? Was that really so bad?
Olivia buried her face in her pillow. What a big mess, she thought. She just didn't know what to do. Nobody showed her what to do in situations like these!
She just didn't know.
M'gann glanced at Wally, who was watching Olivia's retreating form.
"It's kinda sad, you know?" she asked.
"What is?"
"She's so full of anger, hatred, sadness, confusion, it's all jumbled up inside. I don't even have to read her mind, I can taste the emotions from across the room."
"What happened to her?" Kid Flash asked, mostly to himself. She was hiding something. He wanted to find out what.
"You're kidding me right?" Robin asked hotly. Batman and Canary were standing across from him, although for Canary this was as much of a surprise for her as it was for Robin.
"I don't kid, Robin. This cave holds sensitive information. We don't know if she will attempt to steal them or not, that's why we have to keep an eye on her."
"But sending her to my school? My school? Isn't that pushing this whole thing a little too far?"
Robin couldn't wrap his head around it. What in the world made this girl, this slightly familiar girl, so special? He couldn't understand why Batman would be treating her this way, unless she possessed secret information or something . . .
"Batman, is there something you're not telling me?"
"Yes," he replied matter of fact. "I didn't see the need to worry you with this before."
"With what?" Robin was getting a bad feeling about this line of conversation.
"She determined our identities, Superman's included. It's the reason she's on the Team in the first place."
Robin blinked. Once, twice, and then closed his hanging jaw. "She what? You didn't find it necessary to tell me this before? This is kind of a big deal!"
Batman stayed silent, but Robin wasn't exactly expecting him to answer.
"At least it makes sense now, why you're treating a small-time thief like her like a high-class priority. Is it because she knows my identity that your sending her to Gotham Academy?"
"Yes. She'll share all her classes equally between you and Artemis, with whatever classes you two have together as well. She doesn't leave your sight."
"Doesn't that seem risky to you? She could tell anybody at that school who I actually am-"
Canary placed a hand on the young heroes' arm. "This will be good for her," she said strongly. "There's something she's hiding, and it can't be anything good. I honestly don't think she's had much interaction with, well, decent people."
"But-"
"She's young," Canary interrupted. "Impressionable. I can tell that much. And interestingly enough, she reacts to your name in a positive way. Maybe spending time around her will make her into an actual hero. It's never too late to change."
"I," Robin looked between the two adults, "I guess so."
A/N: Whoohoo! Guys? Guys?! The wait wasn't that long!
But don't get used to it, lol. I do have schoolwork to do you know. Let me know your thoughts and whatnot. PM/review, the usual. Or not, if you prefer I guess, but it does let me know whether you're interested or not. If you guys see any blatant errors lemme know and I'll fix it.
Do you guys want me to do Olivia's first day at GA with Robin and Artemis for the next chapter? Maybe I could have Barbara G. cameo or something if you want.
Anyway, thanks for reading! I just passed over 1,000 views so that's pretty cool :)
~Piggy out.