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Okay so I know that is has been FOREVER since I've updated and I'm really sorry about that, but my beta has been busy and she wasn't even able to proof read this chapter, which is fine, but if you see a few grammar/spelling mistakes than that's the reason. I hope you all enjoy!
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"We'll start with a blood sample." The Batman spoke as he stepped inside but remained by the door, his walk was fluid and his cape wrapped around him when he stopped, covering most of his body and making him appear more dominant.
His demand made Shadow uneasy, although she kept it to herself. Why would they want a blood sample?
The Blonde set a glass of apple juice on the table as well as a couple packages of crackers. "These will help after we take the blood." She explained, her voice held no tone of anger from the recent incident with her shoes, but was more reserved and professional sounding.
Shadow hardly glanced at the food before watching as the woman went to one of the cabinets and pulled out a syringe and other materials.
Taking this time to address Batman, Shadow asked. "What if I refuse to give you my blood?"
He regarded her coolly yet with a hard tone when he replied. "Then we'll take it anyway. You are not in any position to make any demands or threats, you will do what we ask you to do and answer our question s honestly."
Clenching her teeth and trying not to let her pride and authority issues get the better of her, Shadow briefly thought about making a run for it but knew that would just be plain stupid. Who knows how many of them are out there, didn't Robin say there was a whole league of these people? How much is in a league?
By now the Blonde had come to her with the implement ready, but Shadow still wasn't one hundred percent reassured.
"We are your best bet at finding out what happened to you and getting you home," The woman explained in an attempt to reassure Shadow. "The more you cooperate the easier this will be."
Shadow's mouth twitched in skepticism but knew that she was outnumbered here and reluctantly eased her arm out to Blonde.
"You can call me Black Canary by the way." The woman told her as she wrapped a piece of elastic around her bicep.
No one spoke as Shadow's veins became prominent and Black Canary stuck a needle in the biggest one, Shadow didn't even flinch at the slight prick, but watched as they steadily took about half of an ounce of her blood.
"This should be enough for now." The silence was broken as Black Canary removed the needle, swabbed the area it was at, and took off the elastic. Once her arm was free Shadow brought it back closer to her.
Putting the needle in a metal container that was in one of the cabinets as well as throwing the swab and elastic away, Black Canary headed for the door but paused outside it and turned speak to Batman. "I'll take this to the Watchtower and have them analyze it, afterwards I'll come back."
He didn't respond and she didn't wait for one before she walked out of the room.
He walked closer to the bed, appearing like a gigantic statue and his voice held a menacing timbre. "Robin was able to relay some of the information you told him in Syracuse, but I am going to need more and for you to explain what happened after you were captured."
She kept a cool composure and took a moment to make her tired mind think. If Robin was able to recount even some of what I told him that must mean he is feeling better.
Shadow was not looking forward to telling Batman all what she did when she lost her memory for the second time; she never was one for reliving the past and she could feel all her tiredness doubling her frustration and irritation about her situation, but she dismissed the emotions to the best of her ability in order to give her a clearer mind to think.
"What sort of information do you need?" She asked him to try and get the scope of how much detail he wanted.
"Let's start with what the machine looked like."
Alright, simple enough. Shadow took a moment to recall the particulars before describing it, her eyes distancing a little as she remembered.
"There was a great rectangle shaped machine that I suppose acted as the doorway, many chemicals inside jars were attached to tubes that led to the machine. A lot of wires connecting from the machine led to the controls. I have no idea what all the wires and chemicals did."
"When I entered the room the controls had been turned on so the machine was starting up. One of our own was in the process of trying to disable the thing while the rest of us dealt with the other mutants."
"During battle the glass became badly cracked, I was thrown in it alongside a teammate, the machine was activating, I managed to get my teammate out of the way of the beam but…then I blacked out." She blinked before staring into the white lenses that concealed his eyes.. "That was the last thing I remember before waking up in that factory place and being in this world."
"What happened after that?"
She explained to him how at first she didn't realize she was somewhere else and was planning on heading back to New York, but instead was met by the Team.
"What made you blow a hole in the bioship?"
She had dreaded this question and paused before responding. Shadow remembered hardly cooperating in anything when she first met the X-men and the tension that it caused, she couldn't afford that here, not if she wanted to get back to her world and stay on everyone's good side while she was stuck here.
"Nightmare." She answered simply and could sense the skepticism that came off of him.
"You blew a giant hole in a ship, causing you and a Teammate to be thrown out while the ship crashed into trees and needed massive repairs setting the Team back a day from searching for you all because of a nightmare?"
Shadow nodded and prepared her answer for the next question, which was. "What was the nightmare about?"
"I don't remember." She said evenly, it was half-way true, she knew of the person in the nightmare but didn't recall the exact details.
"Usually when a nightmare provokes that sort of response out of someone they can remember at least one detail of it. Are you positive that you are not able to tell me something?
"The Professor says that adolescent mutants sometimes have a tough time with their powers, since the events of that night were so," She had to pause to come up with the word. "Drastic, it must have upset my powers."
With the little information he had about mutants, especially from other worlds, Batman had to accept that as a plausible explanation and decided to moved on. "This is the same professor Xavier you told Robin about?"
Shadow nodded again.
He asked what happened between her and Robin while separated from the Team and she told him.
Batman was mostly silent until she reached the part of them being captured, she had hoped on getting through this part as quickly as possible but when he spoke next it surprised her.
"Robin told me what they did to you." He said it with a little sympathy. "That should never be done to anyone."
She had thought Robin was unconscious through it all, didn't matter much though, the subject was still a bit touchy to her, it wasn't just the fact that she had experienced pain that she hadn't felt in a long time, she was just so powerless to do anything about it, not to mention the side effects caused by it.
Shadow would rather deal with the pain then the…meltdown.
"Well it happened to me," She said a bit harsher than she meant to, but she really didn't care. "And there's nothing anyone can do to change it. So can I just tell you what happened so we can move on?"
"Unfortunately," He had switched back to his darker tone. "We cannot move on from it as you would like. I have a feeling that whatever they did affected you. It affected you so much that you lost control and were unable to regain it until Miss Martian helped had to intervene."
Shadow couldn't say anything, for that was exactly what she had been thinking.
"What more can you tell me about this X-gene?" It was more of a demand then a question.
Giving small sigh Shadow replied. "Not much, just that where I come from, if your X-gene is activated, you gain powers, and then you're shunned from most of the society that's 'normal."
He tried to inquire further, hoping that she would be able to tell him something. "So you know nothing about the science of it?"
"If I knew the science behind it I would have told you, that is all I know about it."
Again, he had to take her word on it, he's have to wait until the analysis report came back, then he would be able to study the results himself and see what this X-gene was all about.
Shadow could feel her eyes growing heavy, Man she was tired! But instead of letting her mind go fuzzy she concentrated sharply on what the Batman was saying, so that in her exhaustion she wouldn't misinterpret the English.
"What do you remember when you escaped form the Light?"
"Nothing really, I just had the desire to escape." And accidently leave your partner behind…
"So you remember nothingat all, not even the smallest detail?" He pressed on.
Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance. "Neeyet, I already told you I only remember wanting to escape, I might have hurt some people in the process but I cannot remember."
His mouth formed a thin line, he considered pushing the argument further, but he could see how she had to make herself pay attention, the way her blinking lasted a half second longer then it needed to, and her responded to his questions a bit slower than she did at first.
But he needed this information so Batman pressed on with the interrogation even though he was dealing with his own fatigue and felt the need for some caffeine.
"After you escaped, tell me what you did."
Without hesitation Shadow launched into the convenient store that she stole from, the clothing donation box she pillaged, her night in the ally way, how she struggled using her powers and the weakened state she was in.
When she reached the part of joining the Team and fight that ensured with the villain, he asked for a lot of details. How did the place look, what was the layout, describe the surrounding area, every word the Joker said, what he used against her.
Shadow was on the edge of blowing up with all the questions he would pepper her with. It wasn't the lost-control-of-my-powers-thing more along the lines of I'm-sick-and-tired-of-speaking-to-you type of way, but she kept herself under control as she explained for the third time the devices that maniac used on her and the way the lights affected her powers.
It was hard to suppress a sigh of delight when Batman finally said. "I think I have enough for now, drink you juice and eat your crackers and you should feel better." With that he turned on his heel and left, and once he did it was like a great weight had left the room.
Shadow closed her eyes and fell backward on the pillow, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep and wish that Chamele would somehow reach her again with those weird powers of hers.
Thinking of Chamele and her powers Shadow remembered how at first they had completely baffled the Professor and Beast, Shadow overheard them one night talking up theories on how Chamele could be a mutation of a mutant or have gathered her abilities from somewhere else, it wasn't until they ran a DNA test that showed that Chamele's DNA wasn't even human, she was an alien.
Shadow gently opened her eyes, remembering the first time she saw Chamele and how strange yet terrified that little girl had been.
Bolting upright she rubbed her face with her palms, sitting here wishing for something that may or may not happen won't do me any good.
She now felt the need to something despite her weariness and decided on a shower. Grabbing her clothes from the nightstand she went to the bathroom, stripped out of the flimsy gown someone had dressed her in, carefully removed her bandages, then stepped inside the cream colored linoleum and blasted the water as cold as it would get.
Her muscles and skin froze and tensed at first, but then the coolness seeped in and she could feel a spark of energy come alive in her and leaned against the side of the shower, allowing a brief minute of relaxation to help clear her mind and become alert once again.
The Team, after successfully completed mission, locating their youngest member, and knowing that he was going to be alright, decided to do one of their favorite post mission activities which involved crashing in the living room in front of an old movie they brought up on Netflix.
So after reports and mission briefings they had changed into their normal clothes, made some popcorn and turned on the screen.
Ten Things I Hate About You played on as Wally and Artemis snuggled together on one of the couches, an empty bowl discarded on the floor. Artemis was tucked underneath the crook of Wally's arm, her own arms wrapped around him, while Wally had his head tilted back and snored loudly.
On the other couch was M'Gann and Conner, M'Gann nuzzled into the space between Conner's shoulder and neck while he used her head as a pillow for his own.
Zatana was on the floor, a brown blanket covering her and resting her head against her palm which was supported by a couple of pillows.
Kaldur leaned back in a recliner covered with a sea-green blanket, he fidgeted in his sleep.
Rocket had previously gone into the kitchen to put her popcorn bowl up when she had sat down on one of the stool with the intention of getting up but wound dosing off as well, her chin cupped by her hands. Her precarious position didn't last long though and her head soon rolled to the side, unbalancing itself and falling causing her to jolt awake.
She blinked her eyes a couple of times and checked the clock, it was late, she glanced over at her Teammates. She smiled at Kaldur and wondered what he was dreaming about, she also noticed a flashing rectangle in Wally's pocket and figured he forgot to call his parents when he came back.
She stretched and stood, "I need to go get home." She spoke to no one in particular; when she opened her eyes again though she jumped and gave a small yelp.
Shadow had silently walked in the entrance to the living room, having just gotten out of the shower her black hair was plastered down to her neck and her face looked even whiter form the lack of sleep she had gotten, dark circles were under her eyes making the blue stand out.
The yelp had made Zatana shift and the same scenario repeated itself with what happened to Rocket, her head fell off her hand making her snap her eyes open as she woke up.
Conner, thinking there was danger, instinctively put a protective arm over M'Gann , she had opened her eyes and moved forward a bit on the couch to see what was happening better, and placed a hand over Conner's arm.
Kaldur leaped out of the recliner, the footrest slamming shut and the blanket falling to his feet as he prepared for a fight.
Wally was bringing his head forward but got his nose hit hard by Artemis who's head sprung up into his.
"Ow!" Wally shouted before they all stared at Shadow who was a still as a statue as she watched the scene play out, but once it had finished she snarled "What?" at them, feeling pressure from the sudden stares. She hadn't meant to sneak up on them; she had just appeared in the doorway right when Rocket had looked back.
"What were you trying to do? Give us all heart attacks!" Wally yelled at her still while covering his nose.
"It was not me who yelled," Shadow said slowly through gritted teeth and narrowed eyes as she looked at Rocket. "You can blame the shrieking banshee for that."
Flustered and angry Rocket shot back, "I'm not the one walking in on people like ghosts!"
"Enough." Kaldur addressed them all, quelling the bickering before it escalated with one word.
The Team grudgingly quieted but their faces still showed resentments except Shadow who remained glaring at them with intensity as if it was their problem.
"It was not anyone's fault so there is no use in arguing." Kaldur finished glancing at both sides of the room before picking up the blanket and tossing it back onto the recliner.
"We could easily say it was somebody's fault." Wally muttered under his breath.
Artemis gently pulled his hand away to look at his nose. "Sorry babe." She told him apologetically.
"Nothing a kiss won't solve." He smiled cheekily at her, earning a playful slap on the arm from her.
"I will just leave." Shadow told them with clenched teeth and turned to go.
"Actually I'd say you were just entering." Wally told her trying to examine his nose as a bruise began to form.
"Wally." Kaldur gave him a dangerous look.
"Sorry," Was the quick non-apologetic reply, turning his back on his quick mouthed friend Kaldur addressed Shadow. "You do not have to go back to your room, you merely startled us is all, please come and join us."
Tentatively, Shadow moved back and gazed out warily. "I simply came out for a glass of water."
As she took cautious steps to the kitchen, M'Gann struck up the telepathic communication between the Team.
"Everyone okay?" M'Gann asked not knowing what else to say.
"No." Wally said starring at his nose.
"We need to remember what Black Canary told us before she left," Kaldur reminded them. "We have to try and include her into our group.".
"Kaldur's right you guys." Zatana agreed with their leader. "We should make her feel welcome."
"Girl are you trippin'" Rocket almost scowled at her. "She tried to kill me! She tried to kill all. Of. Us! Or need I remind you?"
"And she kidnapped Rob!" Wally piped up.
"She did not kidnap Robin." Artemis said, wanting to at least stick to the facts in this argument.
M'Gann defended Shadow to. "And it wasn't her fault the way she attacked us, when I was inside her mind, trying to help her out, it was dangerous and frightened her to. Like she didn't know what it was and couldn't control it."
"Well great that's just what we need," Wally thought sarcastically. "A person who can't control their powers and seems to have murderous tendencies, I feel a lot better now!"
"She obviously has some control since Batman's keeping her here." Zatana pointed out.
Wally couldn't find a good argument for that one, except. "Unless he's being mind-controlled by her."
They all mentally rolled their eyes and even to him it sounded lame.
"Well it doesn't matter now since I have to go," Rocket told them stepping out to leave.
"What? Why?" M'Gann asked, echoing everyone else's curiousness at leaving.
"First Red Arrow now you?" Wally added before Rocket could answer.
"Summer school…" Rocket groaned.
"I'm sorry." Zatana said, stating everyone's sympathies.
"I know what you mean, I hate them." Artemis told her, surprising Wally. "What do you mean about that?"
Rocket smiled at Artemis. "Ya well, I need to go. So see ya guys later."
"Wait!" M'Gann stopped her.
"What?"
"Don't you think you should say goodbye out loud so that way it doesn't look weird to Shadow?"
"Oh ya,"
How in the world did they forget about her?
"Um, guys," Conner finally spoke up. "I think it's a little to late for that." He looked at the kitchen and the rest followed his gaze to where Shadow stood by the refridgerator, a glass of water in her hand and observing them all.
That's when they realized that they had been using gestures and eye contact with each other as if they were actually caring on a conversation out loud, caught in the act none of them were sure what to say.
"Oh, do not let me interrupt you." She said coolly making her way out of the kitchen. "Carry on." She gave a half-hearted wave of her hand.
"How do you even know we were talking telepathically?" Wally asked in an attempt to dig themselves out of the hole they were in.
Shadow was in the middle of the living room by now and raised an eyebrow and the speedster. "It was a little obvious when everyone was pointing at each, elbowing each other, and glaring at each other."
"Hello M'Gann," M'Gann lightly bumped herself on the head. "How could we have been so rude?"
"It is a little obvious whenever we do telepathic conversation." Zatana said. "Remember when I first met you guys and you were talking about Red Tornado?"
Shadow turned to face them all better. "Do you people make a habit of this?"
Kaldur spoke in defense to the Team. "No, we don't. I am sorry that we did not speak out for you to hear also, unless you would like to join us, we could-get to know one another."
"Ya, it could be fun!" M'Gann stared eagerly at Shadow who merely turned her head to face her.
"Pass." Was her answer. "I think I already know enough about you people." She then stalked out of the room.
Wally opened his mouth. "What a bi-"
"Wally," Kaldur cut him off along with a glare that made him clamp his mouth shut. "We will not win Shadow over by insulting her once she has left the room."
"Well as fun as that was," Rocket said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I really gotta run, see ya later!" Rocket waved goodbye to them and she reluctantly left for the zeta tubes.
Everyone else stood and started picking up.
"I should get home to," Artemis stretched. "My mom's probably up and waiting for me."
Wally nodded, picking up the bowl. "Yeah my mom to- oh!" He pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead. "I totally forgot to call my parents when we got back." He pulled his cell phone out and groaned at the seven missed calls.
"Ooh, sorry babe." Artemis gave him a quick peck on the cheek before standing up to leave.
"Hey wait," Wally grabbed her wrist. "What did you mean about hating summer school, do you have to take classes this year?"
"Oh, no. I used to." Artemis turned her head away and tightened her ponytail.
"You did?" Wally was skeptical and he stood as well, sending a quick text to his parents.
"Ya, at my old school." Artemis reached to help Zatana fold her blanket.
"Huh, funny. I don't remember you talking about that." Wally thought for a second before rushing to set the popcorn bowl in the sink and coming back before the girls had finished the first fold of the blanket.
"Well it's late and we're all tired, besides it's not that important." Artemis told him, giving a warning glance to Zatana's knowing smile.
"Hm." Wally shrugged and waited for Artemis and Zatana to finish up.
"You can go on babe, I'll see you tomorrow." Artemis told him, handing the folded blanket over to Zatana. "I'm going to help them clean up.
Wally yawned, "Yuh sure?" She nodded and got a quick kiss on the cheek goodnight before he zoomed to the zetas and left.
The girls insisted on cleaning up and finally got the boys to leave, calling goodnight as they left.
"When are you going to tell him?" M'Gann asked, straightening the cushions on the couch.
"Never." Artemis said, folding Kaldur's blanket while Zatana picked up the kernels.
"Knis eht ot lenrek dnes. You're going to have to tell him sometime." The kernals flew to the sink leaving the floors clean.
"No, I don't." Artemis insisted as she let M'Gann's telekinetics send the blanket to the cabinet under the drawer.
"He could probably help you." M'Gann walked over and joined Artemis who had sat down with Zatana.
Zatana added. "You know how smart he is, especially in science and math, he'll be a great tutor."
Artemis tossed her back on the couch. "Argh! Do you guys have any idea what it'll be like, him trying to teach me math and all that?"
"He'll understand and go easy for you." M'Gann tried consoling her.
"It just wouldn't work for us with him being my tutor." Artemis brought her head back up and glowered at the floor.
"Why not?" Zatana asked, thinking that Wally would be a perfect tutor.
"Because he'll never stop asking me if I need help or if I understand my homework or if I have tests and-" She stopped there not wanting to continue.
"And what?" M'Gann and Zatana inquired at the same time.
"And he'll think I'm dumb." It was near mutter, but just loud enough for them to hear and they were taken back a little, neither one of them thought that Artemis was dumb, she just wasn't the type to care what people thought of her.
"He wouldn't think that." M'Gann reassured her.
"Oh yes he would," Artemis stared hard at her . "You should hear him talk about string theory, or the complexities of DNA, or the difference between the noble elements from the regular ones and all I can do is not my head and say okay!"
"Shhh…" Zatana warned her.
"It's so frustrating." Artmis switched to a whisper and went back to glaring at the floor. "Keeping up the hero stuff and switching to a school like Gotham Academy. I didn't even want to go there."
"We know." Zatana placed a comforting hand on her arm while M'Gann hugged her around the shoulders, Artemis had started trembling from her anger and frustration and both girls knew it was best to leave her alone until she stopped seething.
So after a pause, Zatana spoke. "Do you even know who your tutor is?"
"Some guy named Jordan Merold." Artemis answered glumly.
"Have you met him?" M'Gann wondered.
"No, but he's supposedly really smart, he has honors in the academic team and only a handful of people have beaten him in the tests they do."
"Who's beaten him?" Zatana questioned.
"Umm…." Artemies thought to a second before answering. "Zachary Rends, Jonathan Blake, Jessie Howards, Becky Smith…oh and Dick Grayson."
Zatana snorted. "Dick Grayson?"
Artemis smiled. "Yeah, his name's Richard but he likes to go by- Dick."
M'Gann was the one who started laughing and soon all three were laughing harder than they should while telling each other to keep quiet.
Finally, once the had quieted down, Artemis wiped a tear from her eye. "I shouldn't laugh though, he may be a weird freshman but he's a nice kid."
"Anyway, back on topic." Zatana said letting go of her stomach. "Do you have a picture of the guy?"
"No, why would I?"
"Well we can look him up." M'Gann held her hand out and her phone drifted towards her. "How do you spell it?"
Artemis recited off what she thought were the right letters and watched as Google as brought up over hundred Jordan Merolds.
"Wow. Maybe we should add Gotham Academy at the end of the search." Zatana suggested.
M'Gann agreed. "Ya, you're right. Let's try again."
Once she did that, only one popped up and they clicked on the first picture and all three leaned in get a better look.
He was tan; with light brown hair that swept to his eyes that had a deep brown color and sparked with intelligence, you could tell that he worked out underneath the light gray button shirt he wore.
The caption underneath the picture read. "Jordan Merold: Captain of the Quiz Bowl Team"
"He looks like he could be in a boy band." M'Gann commented.
"Like One Direction." Zatana added.
Artemis pressed the lock button on the phone, making M'Gann and Zatana give a cry of complaint, and stood up to stretch. "Whatever, I need to go."
The other two followed suit. "Alright, see you tomorrow?" M'Gann asked.
"Yeah sure."
"Before or after your tutor?" Zatana wiggled her eyebrows up and down earning a light punch in the shoulder from Artemis who protested. "He's not even that cute."
Zatana grinned and rubbed her arm. "Whatever you say."
Artemis rolled her eyes and said goodnight to her friends before walking to the Zeta tubes and on her way home; while M'Gann and Zatana walked to their own rooms, trying not to giggle so as to not wake the boys.
Shadow marched back to her room having accidentally woken everybody up. She could feel their hot stares on her back and felt the need to retreat.
Deermo, those idiots! She thought walking back to her room and slamming her unnecessary drink next her other water glass, sloshing it everywhere, causing some to get on the sheets; she wasn't in the mood to care though and sat on the bed.
If would have been honest with herself she knew that she was only embarrassed but it was much easier to be angry at that room fool of absurd teenagers.
Even though Shadow was probably right around their age, she always had considered herself older than everyone else.
With nothing else to do and wanting the nightmare of a day to be over with, she got under the covers, ignoring the wet spots, and willed herself to sleep.
Although she couldn't help but feel like she was back in Xavier's Mansion, hardly knowing English and believing that everything she said sounded like a child talking to everyone who heard her.
When in Russia she had a strong vocabulary and could speak better grammar than most, but at this point in time she didn't want to think about Russia; she just wanted to rest.
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So? What did you guy's think? I like to believe that I'm improving just the slightest in my writing; mostly due to AuroraShadowglen (Thank you!). I got the idea of using She's the Man from when I was surfing Youtube and someone made a YJ trailer for that, so go check it out if you want. Also I'm asking you guys to be more vocal about what you think of this story, (*cough* review *cough*.) Let me know if your interested about anything or have nay input you'd like to add. So with, I'm out, PEACE OFF!
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