Chapter 5: Faulty Wiring
I put my bag down and looked around at the cave. I had been there nearly ten hours ago and still felt like I had never seen it before, then again I was that way with my parents house.
"So you come early too, huh?" A deep voice asked. I smiled and turned around.
"Not usually. I like to be in...alternative places the least amount of time possible. If not then I either go partially crazy or.."
"Or what?"
"Or something else will happen."
"Like what?" I glared at Red Arrow.
"I'll leave that up to your imagination. You clearly have one since your an eighteen year old male."
"Being sexist, are you?" I laughed.
"I've always been a little...sexist to both genders, or at least that's what my last boyfriend said when I called out his faults and punched him in the nose."
"Ow, what a relationship."
"That's the least of my problems."
"Then what is?"
"You're very curious aren't you?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
"Curiosity is good...isn't it?" He smiled, not the good kind of smile. I frowned.
"Too much curiosity can lead to getting your ass kicked, which in your case isn't so good seeing that you'd get beaten up by a woman."
"Usually I'd tell you to call yourself a girl, but I like woman better."
"So do I." I picked up my duffel bag and set it against the wall of the gym. I slipped off my gloves and wrapped my palms up before putting them back on.
"So, what brings you here so early?" Red asked me. I looked at the punching bag in front of me and smiled as I positioned myself.
"Sleeping problems." I said honestly. It wasn't just my alarm that had woken me up this morning, it was partially the nightmares I had about...personal things.
"What kind? Nightmares?" I glanced to my right, watching as Red set up his own punching bag.
"Why do you want to know?" I asked. Red smiled.
"Curiosity." He said simply. I laughed. "What now?"
"Curiosity isn't a good thing, or at least it wasn't when I was a kid."
"Why, where your parents very protective or something?"
"You could say that." That wasn't the case at all though, but he didn't need to know anyway.
"Hm, you gonna punch that bag or what?" He said. I looked at the punching bag and realized I had been in a fighting stance the whole time. I rolled my eyes.
"No, you're going first." Red laughed as I stood up straight.
"What the hell, might as well show you how a man does it." He said as he punched the bag. It swung about a foot from its starting point and came back.
"I'm impressed. The man's got some muscles, but let me show you how a hard-working woman does it."
"It's so sad that you have to add 'hard-working' to the front of your label." I smiled.
"It's so sad that you actually label yourself as a man."
"I've got the muscles for it, as you said." I smiled.
"Muscles aren't what makes a man a man, if anyone should know that it should be you." I said simply. I smiled and got into my position, pulling back my arm and leaning back, giving my swing everything I got. My fist dug into the bag and it fell to the ground. I looked at Red who's eyes were wide.
"Holy shit!" He said, awestruck. "How the hell did your slim arms do that?" I laughed.
"I guess you've never heard of 'faulty wiring'." Red glared at me.
"So you cheated."
"Not exactly." I said.
"What do mean by that?" Red asked me suspiciously. I smiled.
"I might've snuck in a little anger management class with the bag between a few interesting events yesterday."
"You sneaky little-"
"We're here!" Kid Flash rushed into the room, cutting Red off and falling on one of the mats accidentally. "I meant to do that!" I left his lie alone, seeing that embarrassing him wasn't the best place to go at that moment seeing that I really didn't want show everyone my abilities just yet, even if they were just practically karate moves and street tricks I had learned over the years.
"You were saying." I said to Red, smiling slightly, knowing exactly what he was going to call me.
"Never mind." He said.
"That's what I thought." I smiled and looked back to the eight people who had just walked into the room. Most of them looked tired, with the exception of hyper Kid Flash and a fully awake Miss Martian. "Wow, if I would've know you'd all be so brain dead, I would've gotten up even earlier to get you all some highly caffeinated coffee."
"Ooh! That sounds good!" Miss Martian said.
"Except for you and Kid Flash. If I gave you anything like that I swear I'd never not see you bouncing off the walls." Miss Martian giggled even though I practically insulted her and Kid Flash seemed clueless. I rolled my eyes, seeing that even though the two were energetic, they were still brain dead. "Oh my God.."
"Good luck with that." Red said walking away.
"Don't you dare walk out of those doors, Red." I said in a threatening tone. That seemed to get everyone's attention, even Red's.
"Did you just threaten me?" He said smiling.
"I don't know, you tell me. You seem to know more about everything since you are the dominate sex."
"What does that mean?" Superboy asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Nothing that you need to know about." I said.
"I see your still being sexist."
"I have the right to be looking around this room. Mainly at you though." I said.
"Wow, your on a roll today aren't you?"
"You bet your ass I am."
"How much coffee have you exactly had this morning?" Red asked suspiciously. I smiled.
"None."
"What did you eat this morning?"
"The usual for me; Two carrots and an apple, which I don't think makes you exactly hyper."
"Is that seriously all you eat?" I frowned and glared at Red.
"Yep, and don't judge a book by it's cover."
"I wasn't." He said. I smiled.
"No, you were judging me in a different way."
"Okay, you two! Stop flirting!" Artemis said. Red and I stared at Artemis.
"We're not flirting!" We said in sync. I looked at Red and glared at him as he did the same to me.
"You two are already talking the same language!" Miss Martian squealed with joy and I sighed.
"Get a room!" I snapped my head at Superboy as everyone looked at him wide-eyed. "What?" He said. "I heard it on a movie." He folded his arms and put his attention back on me. I sighed.
"This is going to be one hell of a month."