Hi, readers! I hope life is going well. Mine is-ish. Honestly, I'm really just tired with the workload I have for school. I'm taking five college classes now, which I've never done before, so my homework load is a lot bigger and takes up a lot more time. Especially since one is a statistics class and three of them are different English classes.
Ugh, so many papers. TAT
Anyways, here's the next chapter. I'm hoping to try and get these out much faster, but with school work that may be a bit hard. I'll try and make the chapters a bit shorter, maybe make episodes two parters if need be to get content out, so don't be confused to the smaller length in chapters. ;3
Thoughts = 'Thoughts'
Telepathic Thoughts = 'Telepathic Thoughts'
Memories = "Memories"
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or anything of the DC Comics franchise. It'd be sweet if I did own something though.
-Star City
July 17th, 2010, 23:15 PDT-
Jumping atop a large metal shipping crate, Winter dressed in her hero uniform and wrapped in her pure white hooded cloak looked out at the shipping docks of Star City. The night sky alit with stars glittering like diamonds and the moon lighting the sky above, it made the usually noisy dock feel peaceful despite the smell of oil and the cold wind catching the salty air of the sea around the clock.
'I hope he's doing okay without me.' Winter anxiously thought, her mental energy focused on Superboy of all things. She'd honestly felt like she'd gotten closer to him since the Cadmus missions, letting him stay at her house, and their training practice before Batman had called them to become an official team. They had become friends during their time together, being on her own again after having someone around for so long...the separation felt like a part of her was missing. It sounded silly in her head, but she'd never felt an empty space like this before.
Everything was fine. It was, as much as her worries made her think. He was with Miss Martian after all. Their new team mate and the niece of Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian was the newest addition to the "team" after the group had met up at a secret base in the town of Happy Harbor. It had become their new fortress after Batman and the League had fixed it up, and the group was now being tasked with recon missions to do for the League while they did the more obvious saving the world things.
Well, they hadn't had a real mission yet, but it would happen soon. Samantha was sure of it.
But that was beside the point. What she felt mattered at that moment was that Superboy was fine. Miss Martian, from what she had gathered, is a kind person, though a bit naïve and a little new to being "human" similarly to Superboy. However, her heart (Martians had hearts right?) was in the right place. She was kind, energetic, helpful, and patient from what the ice user gathered when she had become the recent target of affection for Kid Flash. At least more-so than herself when it came to his flirting.
'The poor girl. I'm going to have to make sure Wally doesn't scare her away off the team.'
Quietly jumping off the crate to a ledge below her, Winter silently stalked through a small passage of stacked shipping crates, staying close to the shadows and as silent as a phantom. As much as she wanted to keep thinking about Superboy, there were more important matters the heroine needed to focus on.
Reaching the end of the hidden passage and staying low to the ground, Winter looked out from her hood and stared at a small gathering off in the distance. A couple of guards, armed and hiding their faces, stood out at the nearby dock awaiting a crate that was being lifted down to them. Off to the side, a larger man dressed in a well-made suit supervised the situation, a smug grin on his face as he waited for the results. He was known as Brick on the streets. An enemy of Green Arrow and known for his criminal record in smuggling, it was a given he'd be back on the streets after getting off on a recent charge.
Winter had heard of Brick every now and then in Star City, always finding some way to crawl into some money and get the best weapons from the most illegal sources. Ice Maiden and Green Arrow though always took care of him, with Speedy on back-up if need be.
Never her, though. Ice always giving the excuse that she didn't want her "little snowflake" getting seriously hurt from a bullet or something, usually pulling the father card on her and making her round up the lackeys and any stolen goods.
'I'm not being left out this time.' Winter thought, her eyes looking over every detail of the situation. It was still hard to believe that there was an activity like this going on in her own hometown. Nobody wanted to think such things were going on in the shadows, but here it was happening right in front of her. 'You start crime in my city, and you've got to answer to me.'
Keeping to the shadows and clasping her right hand closed, Winter, let her powers build up in the space between her fingers, ice solidifying into thin ice needles between her fingers, ready to strike whoever she threw them at.
A few moments later, the plan began to set into motion. Speedy, standing at a higher vantage point atop a shipping crate shot an arrow and began his onslaught at Brick, the muscled criminal taking the hits like a solid wall.
Seeing their boss in trouble, some of the goons headed to the smuggled goods to give a helping hand. Unfortunately, an annoying and talkative speedster was ready for them, speeding in as a blur of yellow and red, punching some of the hired guns off their feet.
The few who had grabbed their newfound weapons turned to try and shoot at Kid Flash, but could already tell their aim was nowhere good enough to get him when he was running circles around them.
However, he was the least of their problems.
Glints of metal catching off the moonlight, small batarangs flew through the air and collided with the hands of the leftover goons, knocking their guns out of their grasps. Gasping in pain and clutching their pain filled hands, the street clothed men looked towards where the tools had come from, their eyes spotting the form of Robin, laughing and swinging off towards a shipping crate to land on.
Taking this opportunity to take the goons by surprise, Aqualad appeared from around a shipping crate and took out his water bearers. Using his Atlantean magic to form an arc of water, the Atlantean swung heavily in the hired helps direction, the water flinging in a solid motion towards them and knocking all of the goons in his path into the solid metal walls of the van.
"How about you try some of this fish boy!" Kicking the drivers' door open and gun in hand, a leftover goon looked towards Aqualad and pointed his weapon at the boy, aiming to shoot.
"Not so fast!" Appearing from the shadows in her hooded glory, Winter raised her arm up and kept her gaze on the shooters' arm, sure to aim properly. Wasting no time to retaliate, Winter flung her created ice needles towards the shooters, watching her projectiles fly through the air. One making its way towards the gun, it lodged itself into the barrel of the gun, leaving the weapon useless as the other three landed their mark into the shooters' sleeve, pushing his arm back and pinning it into the door behind him.
Turning his head to look at the man who had almost gotten a shot at him, Aqualad lightly glared and turned his head back to Winter and gave a thankful nod. "Much appreciated."
"No problem," Winter replied back, giving a two finger salute before turning her sights onto Brick and Speedy. "Better go help him out. He looks like he could use it." Winter mildly joked, catching her breath for a fleeting moment.
Steeling herself, Winter ran off towards the main event, keeping low and quickly moved past Brick who was pulling literal concrete off the ground to chuck at the teens. Heading towards Speedy's point, Winter moved closer and cartwheeled, using her speed to vault off the ground and landed next to Speedy who was notching another arrow and shooting at the angered Brick.
"Got a better plan than just shooting him with arrows?" Winter asked, a small hint of attitude laced in her voice as she held her hands out, gripping the air for a moment before a medium sized battle hammer made of ice appeared in her grip, icy fog lifting from it.
"Hey, I got this handled. The only reason I called you here was because this guy was moving product in your hometown." Speedy retorted, his eyes narrowing at Brick from below. "And I thought you'd be coming alone, not bringing the rest of the sidekicks along."
Shaking his body to help dissipate the smoke around him, Brick gripped the large boulder of rock in his hands and looked back up to where Speedy and Winter stood. Moving his arms back, Brick flung the large projectile towards them, the mass of the rock taking up a wide area.
Speedy, taking the opportunity to roll out of the way of the boulder and shoot another arrow, Winter stood her ground despite the oncoming threat. Gripping the hammer in her hands firmly and turning her body back, the petite ice user turned her body and swing the hammer towards the boulder, feeling the weapon connect with the rock before both it and the hammer exploded into pieces of rock and ice respectively.
A sting shot throughout the ice users' body, making her grit her teeth in pain. However just as fast as it appeared, the sting disappeared, masked by the rush of adrenaline she was feeling. Opening and closing her fists for a few moments to regain feeling in her hands, Winter turned back to look at Speedy, her eyes steeling into a glare.
"Hey, it wasn't my idea. I came here to take Brick down. They tagged along because they wanted to convince you to join the team. I'm still against it." Winter answered, her glare narrowing further as she turned away and huffed at the boy.
Jumping off a nearby crate, Aqualad stood up alongside the bickering teens, his eyes looking to Speedy. "Despite some of our member's reservations, we would be happy to have you on the team. The cave has everything the team will need."
Flipping down to land next to Winter, Robin smiled and nodded in agreement. "Yeah. For covert missions. You know, spy stuff." He explained, excitement evident in his voice.
"And wait till you see Superboy and Miss Martian." Kid Flash exclaimed, the same excitement in his voice as he ran up the shipping crate and stood next to Aqualad. Just as he landed, the red-headed speedsters pointed a thumb towards himself. "But I saw her first."
Groaning at the unneeded comment from Kid Flash, Winter shook her head. "Pretty sure you can't call dibs on someone who isn't interested in you."
Smirking at the response, Kid Flash combed a hand through his hair. "Oh yeah? What woman wouldn't be interested in a piece of this?"
"A smart woman." Winter answered back in a matter of fact tone, turning her gaze back to Brick who was beginning to recover from the arrow smokescreen Speedy shot at him.
Coughing and waving his large hands around to clear the air, Brick growled at the group of teenagers above him and stabbed his hands into the ground, once again pulling out a large slab of concrete to throw at the nuisances in his way. Pulling his body back and throwing the large rock, the heavy projectile made its way towards the group at a fast speed.
"Time to move!" Robin yelled, the teens scattering to parts of the shipping dock. Robin made his way to another shipping crate for safety, while Kid Flash rolled off to the far end of the shipping dock, keeping low to the ground and speeding off to keep his distance. Aqualad, keeping his ground, summoned his water morning stare weapons and swung at the large boulder, being the one to break it this time while Speedy moved to the far right and shot another arrow, hitting its mark and creating another smoke screen.
Crossing his arms over his chest to take the hit, Brick laughed loudly at the newest attempt to slow him down, his arms lowering to smirk at Speedy. "Hahaha. Tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job."
"And girl, you sexist!" Winter's voice yelled back, a sudden ray of ice shooting out from behind a shadow.
Yelling in pain at the sudden freezing temperature his back felt, Brick moved his arm back to touch his cold back, frost, and ice covering his fingertips. Growling and swinging his arm in a fast motion behind him, Brick turned around, moving his head back and forth to try and find the source of the ice that now coated his body. "Come out little girl! If these kids can't take me down, what makes you think you can?!"
Hidden behind a nearby crate, Winter bent low to the ground and pulled her hood, hoping to focus her nerves on to ready her next move. She hated this guy, but he was right. She needed something to stop him or slow him down significantly...
There was always that.
'I haven't perfected it yet, though. I can't control where I go still.' Winter thought, the rational part of her mind stopping the teen from going out.
'But it doesn't matter if I can't control where I go. Just as long as I rush past him at a fast enough pace, everything will be fine. Even if I run right into a metal wall if it works it works.' The impulsive side of her retorted, making the girl grin with satisfaction.
"I'm pretty resourceful. Not to mention I'm a bit smarter than those guys." She retorted back, smirking a bit at her little jab to her friends. Well, her three friends and not so much friend.
Placing herself into a low to the ground running starting position, Winter made sure her hooded cape was clipped to her body and took a deep breathe, steadying her powers for her next move.
It was simple on paper. She was an ice user that could create ice and use it to her advantage. But that wasn't her only skill. Besides her ice craft, one other skill she was proud of creating was something she coined herself, Frost Step.
A strange power for an ice user to have, especially since it was a speedy move. Her body able to dash at a speed unlike Kid Flash, Winter could rush in any direction she faced, along with a large wind of ice and frost freezing whatever was in her direction and made her look almost invisible. It reminded her of how those myths of Jack Frost would appear during the cold season to freeze things or nipping people on the nose with ice.
The only downsides were that she couldn't control it and that she could always get caught using it. With slamming into walls or not being able to stop just right, it was the reason why she never used it.
But if she could aim this just right, she'd be able to freeze Brick right in his place.
She was ready in one...two...
'I hope this works.' Winter thought hesitantly.
"Three!" Taking off as fast as her legs could take her, Winter focused her mind on using her secondary power. Feeling her body begin to lower its temperature, the ice user could feel the temperature around her get colder and colder, small specks of frost appearing on her clothes. Just as planned.
Feeling her body dash faster than she could normally run, Winter steeled herself one more time before pushing past her breaking point and willed her body to dash forward. Feeling her body almost lift into the air, Winter watched behind her as frost coated the ground below her and snowflakes trailed in the air behind her as she rushed towards Brick, evidence of her power working. Eyes glued to her target, Winter was ready to collide with the smuggler and freeze him in his place...
That was until he moved.
'What?! But how!?' Winters' mind screamed, watching as the heavy body of Brick moved just a step to the side as she headed his way. How could he see her?! She was a blur when she was using this power. Nobody human could see her, not unless they had fast reflexes like Kid Flash or Superman. Her thoughts were still running rapidly while she watched herself speed past Brick, everything feeling like it was falling apart.
And it only got worse when she felt that tug.
"Think you can catch me off guard?" Brick exclaimed proudly, moving his hand out and grabbing onto Winters' cape, pulling it upwards into the air.
The motion tugging her throat in a painful manner, Winter didn't have much time to recover before she felt herself being pulled back for a split second and flung upwards into the air. Her hands trying to pull the cape away from her hurting throat, Winter watched as her body flew upwards and spotted her newfound position.
Up the air.
Enough momentum from the tug to fling her upwards at a high speed.
Brick was too busy being full of himself to think he could be stopped now.
Hastily reaching for the clip of her cape at the neckline, Winter unclipped her cape and felt her body fly upwards into the sky further, the momentum of Bricks' tug and flinging motion of her cape accommodating her plan.
Taking a few deep breathes to try and ignore the pain rushing in her head, Winter flipped her body in the air to move her body right-side-up and ready her next, and hopefully, final attack. Gripping her hands tight into fists and calling upon her powers more time knowing she'd hit her mark, Winter turned her gaze down to Brick, keeping her eyes on her target.
"What the heck?!" The cape he had gained a grip on suddenly feeling lighter than usual, Brick looked down to see it was no longer attached to the teen ice heroine. Looking back and forth for her, it wasn't until he decided to turn his head upwards that he finally spotted her in all of her young glory.
Her features illuminated in the pale light of the moon and ice crystals shining around her, the teenage ice heroine known as Winter had her gaze dead set on him. Hair as white as snow, irises lighter than any ice, and a glare that was colder than any blizzard he'd ever been in.
It literally looked like the cold darkness of mother nature was glaring right down at him.
Laughing at the strange position he seemed to be in, Brick raised his arms out, hooded cape still in his hand as he smirked at Winter from above. "C'mon! Hit me with your best shot kid."
"Plan on it!" Winter yelled back. Seeing Brick wasn't going to back out of her attack this time, Winter called upon her powers once more and dashed straight down, becoming a blur of white. Heading towards Brick as planned, Winter collided into the large smuggler, the impact creating a large explosion of rubble and dust to overtake the shipping docks.
Raising their arms up to cover their eyes from any dirt from the impact, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Speedy lowered their arms to see the result o the attack.
The dust finally settling, the young heroes found themselves staring at Brick, his body frozen solid in a crystal prison of ice. His arms still outstretched from his previous claim, most of his entire body was encased in frozen water, that is except for his left hand which held Winters' cape.
Bent on the ground and keeping a hand planted to regain her breath, Winter sighed and got back up to her feet. Cleaning herself off of any debris, Winter turned to look back at the frozen Brick, lightly glaring at his frozen form as she reached for her cape and pulled it out of his unfrozen hand.
"And that's for bringing crime into my city." Winter proclaimed with pride, hooking her cape back on and beating off any unknowing dirt Brick could have gotten on it.
"Woohoo! That was awesome!" Kid Flash yelled, smiling at the cool display Brick had now become.
"And we get to do some cool stuff like that. Probably." Robin added, smiling to Speedy who was examining the newfound popsicle that Brick had become.
Nodding at Robins' attempts to try and persuade Speedy, Aqualad set his gaze on Speedy. "What is your answer? Would you like to join us?"
Looking back at Brick one more time, Speedys' eyes narrowed behind his mask, turning away from the scene and walking away from the group. "Pass."
Hands gripped tightly onto his bow, Speedy turned back to the four heroes. "I'm done letting Green Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hangout with the other kids. You're junior Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy and in your place."
Hearing the condescending tone in Speedys' voice at their offer, Winter could feel her teeth grinding and her hands tightening to fists despite the energy she lacked. This felt just like last time. Speedy was acting upon his emotions and fighting with them, going against the League.
Not that she didn't understand his reasons the last time, but he wasn't being lied to this time. This was an actual opportunity rather than something fake. He could make a difference on the team, really help out. Why was he just dismissing it all?! Especially after they were trying to be nice to him about it?
"Why do you have to be such a jerk?" Winter retorted back, anger flaring up in her voice, a glare pointed in Speedys' direction.
Eyes narrowing behind his mask the archer frowned in Winters' direction, her words catching his attention. "And what does that mean?"
"I'm talking about the way you're acting. We're...the guys are offering you a chance to be on the new team. To help the League and do some real good and be together. And what, you'll just deny it because you don't want to be ordered around by your mentor again?" Winter asked, walking over to stand in front of Speedy face to face.
Frowning at the verbal fighting scene going on, Kid Flash shifted his gaze to Robin and nudged the smaller boy. "Hey Rob, do we get out of here?"
"Not sure dude. I'm a little unsure what will happen if we move." Robin muttered, not sure whether he should leave or wait for Winter and Speedy to stop yelling.
Seeing his fellow comrades look unsure of what to do, Aqualad motioned Kid Flash and Robin to follow him. "Why don't we make sure our new prisoners are accounted for?"
"Good idea," Robin replied, following alongside Kid Flash to help Aqualad, leaving Winter and Speedy to continue by themselves.
"Yeah. I'm tired of being ordered around by some adults who think they know more than me and how I should go about helping and saving people. I'm tired of being lied to and being pushed to the side saying I'm not ready for something just because they think I can't handle it. I thought you wanted out of that life too." Speedy retorted, mirroring a glare back at Winter as he pushed.
"Not by cutting ties with everyone! I'm not going to kick everyone out of my life just to try and prove something. That's isn't the way to show you're ready to be part of the League Speedy." Winter pointed out, pushing her view on the issue.
Moving her hands to clasp on another, Winter spoke in a hushed yet calm tone, as if their conversation could be heard for miles. "I...I know what you're trying to say. I wanted to join just as much as you do. Maybe not as strongly as you, but you know I'll never give up on working my way there. I'm stubborn like that, from what Robin and Kid Flash tell me." Winter explained, the once defiant and confident ice princess now deflating into her more insecure self.
Speedy knew her. He had for a long time.
Ever since she'd been taken in by Ice Maiden and started at the young age of twelve, Speedy had been someone that she could trust. Meeting him after taking on her first mission and teaming up with Green Arrow to take on some bank thieves, they'd become what Samantha thought as friends.
They worked alongside one another like partners.
Gossiped about their mentors behind their backs for laughs.
Despite the two year age gap, the sidekicks were mature with one another and respected the other for their skill rather than their age.
Heck, Samantha was even able to help convince Speedy to make combination attacks with dorky names for only them to use, only proving how strong their bond together was if the mostly stoic archer was willing to be okay with something so silly.
So how could just one day ruin their friendship like this? Make it so hard to communicate between one another?
"Speedy," Samantha spoke up again, trying to find her voice. "I wasn't happy with what happened either, but I got around it by finding a way. My way, and now we're making a cool team to do recon missions and other things, even if it means working with the League. I'm still not sure if everything is okay after what happened, but our mentors realized their mistake and they're giving us a real chance now." Winter exclaimed with a shaky passion, hands curled up into fists beside her.
"We're finally being recognized by them, after all, we did weeks ago. Something you wouldn't know because you had to be a jerk and...y-you had to-"
Her voice ghosting away as her emotions escalated, Winter turned her back to Speedy and kept her gaze low, her eyes beginning to water a bit from the argument. She'd been sitting on all of these emotions since Speedy had left since he yelled at her. What was it she wanted to get off her chest?
She was angry that he had left in such a way days ago, never answering or coming back to explain what had happened. However, her heart had been ripped out and stopped on at the verbal lashing he gave her too. Of all the frustration and stress she'd felt throughout the years, whether it was from home or training to be a hero, nothing had hurt her more than the animosity she'd felt radiate from Speedy when he'd left.
So which was it? What did she want to tell him?
'No. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to cry like some little girl. He needs to hear what he did wrong.' Samantha professed mentally, intending to keep her next words grounded and firm.
Raising her hand up to her face and quickly wiping away the evidence of her crying, Samantha took a deep breath, clenched and unclenched her hands at her sides, and turned back to focus her intensified crystal blue eyes into the masked eyes of Speedy.
"You hurt me Speedy, that day where everything was turned upside down. I know the League lied. They did to all of us, but you took it so personally and felt so much hate for them because of it that you said terrible things. Things I never thought I'd hear you say to anyone." Winter stated, keeping eye contact with Speedy. "Not even me."
"Winter, I-" Speedy finally spoke, hoping to get his piece.
"No." Samantha firmly spoke with an authoritative voice. "You don't get to defend yourself right now. Not until I'm done talking."
His mouth hanging for a few seconds after hearing the younger sidekick suddenly take the conversation by the reigns, Speedy closed his mouth shut and stayed silent.
Surprised a little at Speedy's acceptance of the situation, Samantha kept ahold of her backbone and spoke up again, saying, "Speedy, I'm glad to know you've found out the path you wanted to take. Get away from the League, help people on your own, be your own boss and fight crime. Good for you that you get to wear your big boy pants and prove the Justice League wrong. " Winter listed off in an annoyed manner, resting a hand on her hip.
"Right now, all I care about is this. You don't get the right to call any of us out for the choices we made. Not Robin, not Aqualad, not Kid Flash, and certainly not me. We may be in a new situation where we work for the Justice League, but that certainly doesn't make us jokes. While you went off insulting the League, pushing your friends away, and insulting my resolve as a person before storming out, the rest of us grabbed our opportunity. We fought against experimental weapons, crazy scientists, and freed Superboy from Cadmus while escaping close death. We proved ourselves to the League that night by doing what we chose to do rather than let our emotions take control and push everything...and everyone away."
Her speech coming to its climax, Samantha gained a determined, yet angered glare on her face, walking step by step until standing face to face with Speedy, raising her head up to look at him in the eyes. "The only reason I came here tonight was because Brick was making trouble in my city and the guys wanted to convince you to join our team. I didn't want to see you, not since back at the Hall after everything you said. The things you still haven't apologized for or taken back. So let that macho attitude take a back seat for a minute and listen to me loud a clear Roy." Samantha spoke, letting the use of his real name sink in to prove the severity of their conversation.
Raising her hand up and pointing her right index finger into Speedy's chest, a leer cold as any ice was sent to Speedy. "I don't care how much older you are or how much more experience you may think you have over me. I don't want you on the team. I won't accept letting someone who disregards their friends and team mates like the way you did just to make people feel bad about not agreeing with you. And I won't accept any person who calls out their friends for trying to help. Our team doesn't need someone selfish like that."
Taking her finger off his chest and stepping back, Winter turned around to head back with her team to the base. Giving a side glance to Speedy, Samantha's eyes narrowed and she frowned before turning her attention away from the archer and facing the sight of the moonlit water in the docks.
"I hope everything you did was worth it." Winter spat out with regret, the ice user taking a step forward and leaping upwards off the crate and fell downwards to the docks.
Alone in the spot where he and Winter had the first conversation together since their argument, Speedy couldn't help but notice the grip on his bow had increased significantly and a heavy feeling like lead had buried itself in the pit of his stomach before finally answering a response.
"...What have I done?"
-Mount Justice
July 18th, 10:47 A.M. EDT-
"Am I doing this right Winter? I'm still not exactly sure how you cook on Earth." Miss Martin spoke up, her arms covered a bit by flour and dough, her head turned back to get the ice users attention.
Standing at her own little countertop in the team's new base kitchen, Samantha, her snow white hair tied neatly into a ponytail, was scanning over a small slip of paper in her hand, her crystal blue eyes shifting from ingredient and cooking supplies before moving back to the slip of paper.
If Samantha had ever told her past self she'd be baking cookies with an alien from Mars, she was sure she would never have believed something so...farfetched. Or rather a bit specific, given the crazy things she saw in her line of work. But here she now was, apron neatly tied above her black blouse and blue jean shorts to keep them safe from any stray ingredients, standing in a brand new base made just for her and the other sidekicks, and now a part of the Justice League.
Well, that was still sort of debatable from what Batman explained.
'Now if only we could get a mission assigned already. It's been so long since we all got put on the team together, but nothing has happened yet.' Samantha mused within her mind, scanning over the necessary directions to ignore slowly resurfacing memories.
"You're junior Justice League is a joke."
"Why do you have to be such a jerk?"
No, she was not going to go back to that again. It had been eating at her for the past couple of nights since that argument had come up with her and Speedy and she was standing by what she said and not backing out of it. Speedy had been wrong to say their group was a joke.
He'd been wrong to make fun of her and the others for still working with the League.
And he was wrong for not apologizing to her.
This new team the group had made was going to work out in the end and become the hero team they'd wanted since that day at the Hall. But that wasn't going to come to fruition if a mission hadn't been assigned-
"Winter?"
"Huh?" Samantha answered back, the sudden familiar sound of her hero name being called snapping the girl out of her thoughts and looking up to the green-skinned girl. Scolding herself mentally for being distracted and ignoring her new team mate, Samantha shook her head and looked to the martian. "I-I'm sorry Miss Martian. I didn't hear you. What did you say?"
Smiling, Miss Martian pointed to the dough messily squished and kneaded on the floured counter. "I wanted your opinion on this. I'm still new to the whole cooking on Earth thing, so I wanted to make sure I was doing all of the instructions correctly."
"Oh yeah, sure. I can take a look." Walking over to the counter and giving the dough an inquisitive look in inspection, Samantha smiled and gave her nod of approval. "Yeah, everything looks right to me. Given I'm not an actual cook or master at the art of baking, but I don't see it moving on its own, so it should be okay to use. When you're ready you can start pulling apart the dough to make pieces for cookies and place them on the spare tray over there next to mine." Samantha instructed, casually moving an index finger to point towards her own tray of cookie dough ready to be backed.
Shoulders relaxing at the critique, Miss Martian breathed a sigh of relief and smiled even wider, if that was possible. "Thank goodness. I was worried I was messing this up. I really wanted to get this right. After all, I'm sure the rest of the team is hungry from the long wait."
Shrugging her shoulders, Samantha nodded and looked back at the paper in her hands. "You're doing just fine. Picking this up a lot faster than I did when I first baked, that's for sure. But I'm curious, what recipe are you following? I'm making chocolate-chip, but I've never seen this kind of recipe you're using before. Did Martian Manhunter give it to you?"
Working on the dough she had just finished, Miss Martian's body jumped a little at the question, her hand squeezing a piece of dough in her hand to mush. "Um...N-Nowhere special. I just found it on the internet and wanted to try it out. I thought it would make this more fun by trying something different and surprise the others."
Eyebrow raised at the hesitant look on the martian's face, Samantha smiled to calm the alien girl. "Well let's hope we have enough. I'm pretty sure Kid Flash is going to eat a whole tray on his own. He can have yours. I'm sure he'd be happy to have them." Samantha commented, rolling her eyes at the thought of Wally trying to stuff a tray of cookies down his mouth.
'He's probably going to do that. I better make sure he doesn't eat all of them or there won't be any left for the others.'
Cleaning up the leftover dough she had procured and continued her work to place pieces neatly on her tray, Miss Martian brought up another topic of interest. "So, since I'm on the team is there anything I should know? Like a secret password or anything that may help the team work together?"
Placing the directions down on the counter and heading towards the oven to start preheating it, Samantha shook her head at Miss Martian's inquiry. "There's nothing for you to worry about. If we had a secret password, Kid Flash blabbed about it a long time ago by now. And about helping to team work together, well I'd say just be yourself. You don't have to do anything special for us just because you're new. Just do your best to work on the team together and give it your all on missions. That's what you can do to help."
Pressing the final button and watching the oven light up inside with a heated orange glow, Samantha smiled proudly to herself before moving her face away from the oven door window and looked to Miss Martian's work. "And the oven is done. Your cookies almost ready?"
"Just about." Miss Martian answered back, placing the last piece of dough on the tray and raising it up off the counter with her telekinesis. Casually moving the tray through the air, the martian let the metal sheet fly to the oven before focusing her powers to open the oven door and pick up Samantha's own tray. A quick succession of moves with the ease of her mind, the two heroines watched the trays fly themselves right into the heated oven before the door closed behind them, signaling their work was done.
Her blue eyes still staring back at the oven from the display she had witnessed, Samantha looked back over to Miss Martian and chuckled. "I'm going to have to get used to that. But again, it's good to have you on the team, Miss Martian. I'm sure you're going to do an awesome job here with the rest of us."
Feeling her cheeks warm up a little from the praise she was receiving, Miss Martian smiled back and nodded. "T-Thank you. I promise I'll do the best I can. That is once we go on a mission. When exactly are we getting one by the way?"
"A mission?" Samantha repeated the question, hearing the martian girl's inquiry. Rummaging through her mind for an answer, Samantha felt two and two click together and hummed. "Batman is the one who is supposed to send us on missions, but I think he's been busy with League matters so far. That's why Robin and Kid Flash have been waiting around for Red Tornado."
Grabbing the many dirty utensils the girls had used, Miss Martian listened to the tidbits of information Winter was giving her, remembering some of the details from a week ago. "So, since Batman is too busy to give us a mission like he promised, Robin and Kid Flash think Red Tornado will when he gets back?"
Ready to answer back to whatever the alien was going to reply back with, Samantha frowned a bit and thought over just what exactly Miss Martian had posed.
Now that she heard the idea out loud, it really sounded sort of desperate. But what were they going to do? They'd wanted this for so long and there was no way they were going to sit around and wait again like before.
Everything was going to be different starting today. Samantha could feel it.
Shrugging her shoulders, Samantha lazily moved her head side to side to muse over the martian's question. "Yeeeaah. Pretty much. I think that's what everyone is thinking, at least a little. I can't read minds, so that's just my guess from my own perspective."
"Did you want me to see if that's what they're thinking?" Miss Martian asked casually, smiling to the ice user.
A bit taken aback by the casual question, Samantha blinked a few times at Miss Martian, trying to register the offer she gave. "W-What? You can do that?"
Nodding, Miss Martian spoke again. "Of course. My Uncle J'onn and I are both Martians, so we share the same powers. If you'd like I can read everyone's mind to find out if they-"
"That's probably not a good idea," Samantha spoke up, cutting off the alien teen.
Frowning at the fast reply, Miss Martian spoke up, her voice coming out a bit softer. "I don't understand. We talk telepathically all the time back on-"
"Hey! Red Tornado's back!" Robin's voice yelled through the hallway, stopping Miss Martian from finishing her sentence.
Turning her head to look down the hall the boy wonder had notified them, Samantha looked back to the still confused martian and gave a reluctant smile. "I'll explain it later. Let's just say for now that a lot of people on Earth prefer their privacy.
C'mon. We better hurry outside to greet Red Tornado back." Motioning Miss Martian to follow after her, the two young girls ran and flew down the hallway towards the opened hatch leading outside the base.
Heading up the ramp and taking a few steps to slow down, Winter took a moment to squint her eyes slightly to adjust her eyes to the sudden rays of the sun, stopping next to Superboy and Kid Flash. "Does anybody have an update on that mission we're thinking he's going to give us?"
"I'm sure the metal man has something up his sleeve. Tube arm thing." Kid Flash spoke, correcting himself every few seconds. His eyes scanning the sky for the red hero, Kid Flash waved his arm to signal the robot of their presence. "Hey, Red Tornado!"
Gusts of wind increasing with each inch of descent to the ground, Red Tornado in his flurry of red gales carefully placed himself on the ground below, landing perfectly in front of the group of teens looking expectantly. With no bone structure to show any signs of facial expression, the lone cut holes of his eyes and simple straight line of what appeared to be a mouth were they only cosmetic features that gave the robot any sort of emotion to go by.
Samantha still was not exactly sure as to why Red Tornado had volunteered to watch their group. Or rather babysit. Not that she was questioning a senior member's orders or choices, but the idea of a robot having the responsibility to watch a bunch of super powered teenagers, it seemed pretty weird to her. Especially since the hero had no emotional capacity.
At least from what she'd heard or seen.
"Greetings," The metallic voice of Red Tornado spoke out to the group, his face blankly staring to the teens. "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"
'He gets to the point, that's for sure.' Samantha thought, her blue eyes gazing to the literal cold, steel emotionless face of the veteran hero.
Taking a step forward to speak for the group Aqualad gave a respectful reply. "We hoped you had a mission for us."
"Mission assignment are the Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado plainly responded, giving the group an answer right off the bat.
Feeling anger at the long wait bubbling up, Robin adjusted his sunglasses and argued back."But its been a week and-"
Raising a metal hand to signal the detective to calm down, Red Tornado spoke up to iterate his point. "You will be tested soon enough. For the time being simply enjoy each other's company."
Hearing Red Tornado circle back their argument, Samantha raised an eyebrow and raised a hand up to get the hero's attention. "And as great as that sounds, we've sort of been doing that for the past week. We can't just talk and sit around forever. We've done enough of that as it is."
"This team is not a social club." Aqualad added, his voice projecting a calm yet aggravated tone.
"No, but I am told social interaction is an important team building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave." Red Tornado suggested, his metallic legs slowly moving to make his way down into the cave's entrance.
Seeing the hero walk off, Kid Flash looked over to Robin and lightly jabbed at the younger teen's arm to get his attention. "Keep busy."
Sharing the same disdain for the situation and remembering to Speedy's words just the night before, Robin shook his head and turned to look at the group. "Does he really think we're falling for this?"
"He probably does. But it's not like we can just ask him any more questions. He'll just stonewall us again." Winter replied, irritation creeping onto his face, lightly glaring at the ground and crossing her arms over her chest.
Perking up at the sight of her team mates opposition of Red Tornado's instructions, Miss Martian raised her arms up energetically and smiled. "Oh, I'll find out!" Turning around to face the direction Red Tornado was heading, Miss Martian activated her telepathic abilities and pushed them towards her target. Careful to not look too obvious, the martian slowly began to sink her powers into the form of Red Tornado, hoping to get some sort of response.
Unfortunately, no sound, words, or thoughts seemed to appear in her own mind. Knowing the silence was obvious after thinking it over, Miss Martian shut down her powers and sighed in defeat. "I-I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine. Inorganic. I..cannot read his mind."
Moving over to stand next to Miss Martian, Kid Flash gave a reassuring smile. "Nice try, though." After giving his own two cents on her effort, Kid Flash non-nonchalantly placed his hands in his pockets and moved a bit closer to the female martian, a smile on his face as he spoke in a smooth tone. "So uhh...you know what I'm thinking right now?"
The tension in the air subsiding at the sound of Kid Flash's usual flirting tone, Robin lightly whacked the red-head on the back of his head to snap the boy back into reality. "Pfft, we all know what you're thinking now."
"Ow! You didn't have to hit so hard." The speedster spoke back, rubbing his slightly sore head.
"Would you have remembered the rest of us were here if he hadn't?" Winter spoke up, a light drop of sarcastic wit dropping into her tone. While she was still annoyed over the situation they were now stuck in, the least Samantha could do was try to be more upbeat. If she delved anymore into what Speedy said and the situation she was in, she was going to add way too much gloom to this team.
'And that means pushing all of this Roy gloom and doom business to the side. I don't have to worry about what he said. Just focus on myself and my work. Not what he thinks. And that means having a little fun with me new team mates.' Samantha lectured mentally, letting herself ease into a relaxed position and smile.
Standing off to the side and taking in the events that had transpired, Aqualad stared down at the ground for a moment before looking back up to the group. "And now we tour the clubhouse." He replied, a defeated, yet still angered tone coming off his words.
Taking this moment to try and ease the worries of her new team mates, Miss Martian smiled and raised her hand. "Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides."
Seeing Miss Martian was trying to bring out the good in their new situation, Winter smiled a bit and like the other teens and turned their attention to Superboy who hadn't actually said much since the Red Tornado fiasco.
It wasn't until Superboy had noticed all of the pairs of eyes on him that he finally spoke up, a look of nervousness she'd never seen before on his face. "Don't look at me."
"I don't see the problem. You look fine to me." Samantha chimed in without hesitation, her eyes resting a soft gaze onto Superboy.
Like a car screeching to a quick halt, Samantha's mind sling-shot back to being its more rational self, picking up what she'd just said.
'Wait, did I just say that out loud?' Samantha thought, feeling her face heat up from the lack of control of her own inner thoughts. At first, she had wanted to just say something encouraging to Superboy, help him relax at the stares of his newfound team mates. After all, they'd all be working together, so there was no need to be nervous. He was in the company of friends.
But then for some reason, her mind wandered off in those few split seconds. Her eyes had been on him and for some reason, she'd taken notice of his newfound clothes she'd helped to buy for him. How nice he looked in them. The way they showed off how tall he was and his musc-
'Wow wow wow! Bad teenage hormones! Stop making me think those things! Just because he may look nice in some clothes and you've been getting along with him doesn't mean you can look at him like that. He's barely had time to experience life on his own or have any experience in relationships. You're going to be working together. It's wrong...right?'
Not to mention that everyone seeing her look at Superboy the way she had ought to be something awkward. For all she knew they were guessing why she'd spoken the way she did. And now that she'd thought of it, couldn't miss Martian read...
Oh God, what had she done? Had Miss Martian heard all her thoughts? Was she still listening in?
Wanting to quickly catch her slip of the tongue, Samantha coughed in her hand to try and clear her throat, hoping to keep the blush that starkly contrasted with her white hair at bay. "Uhh...W-What I meant to say was-"
Holding in a snort at the poor attempt of catching her slip up, Kid Flash smirked and moved back to stand near Miss Martian. "Well, while Winter here talks about how she likes looking at Supey,"
"I did not say that!"
Ignoring Winter's remark, the speedster continued. "We can continue that private tour you were talking about."
"Hey, she didn't say it was private." Robin piped in, his eyebrow raised in a knowing look to his longtime friend.
"Well make it team building," Aqualad added, keeping a neutral tone while everyone spoke their own points to the idea. "We'll all go."
The group for a while staying quiet, each one gave an understanding nod of approval, agreeing to the suggestion posed by Aqualad.
"Alright then. If you'll follow me then, we can start this tour guide." Miss Martian joyfully spoke, smiling to everyone and motioning them to follow her back into the cave.
"Aw man. I wanted that private tour." Kid Flash mumbled, pouting a little while he walked inside.
"You've got time to try and woo her later Mr. playboy." Robin joked, following alongside Kid and Aqualad.
One of the last to follow yet again, Superboy stopped for a moment and turned back around, noticing the form of Winter standing off where the group had been before. Seeing she hadn't noticed them all leave, Superboy called out to her. "You coming?"
Her mind still lost in a spiral of shame from her teenage hormones, Samantha jolted in attention when she heard Superboy call to her. Trying to remedy the imbalance inside her, Samantha coughed again to try and compose herself and nodded. "Y-Yeah. I'm coming."
Catching up to the rest of the group and heading to the tour with Superboy, Samantha looked up to look over at Superboy in the corner of her eye. Thoughts rushing back to her slip up, her gaze shifted back in front of her, and the blush she'd taken so much time to get rid of bloomed like a flower on her face again.
If this was her only chance to clear up the misunderstanding she'd made before, she had to take it. Who knew what Superboy was thinking about her. But she'd never been great with giving guys compliments. Or at least to guys she thinks she liked more than a friend. This was a new territory and she had to play it cool.
No pun intended.
Mustering up what little courage was in the pit of her stomach, Samantha looked up to Superboy, her hands clenched into nervous fists to her chest. "Umm...Y-Your clothes look good. On you, I mean."
His eyes looking over to Winter as they walked, Superboy showed a look of what appeared to be shocked, not sure how to take the random compliment. "Thanks?"
Smiling a bit to calm her nerves, Samantha continued her conversation, letting her mind produce her next words without much thought. "N-No problem. I mean I don't see why they wouldn't look good on you. Not that you'd look bad without them on. You'd look great without them on."
"What?" Superboy inquired, a puzzled expression taking his features as he looked over at the white-haired heroine.
'You idiot! You were in the clear before you screwed up again!'
"Uhh...N-Never mind. Just ignore whatever I say for the rest of the tour." Samantha answered back, sighing in defeat and deciding it be best to keep her hormone controlled mouth shut before she further dug herself into a hole.
-30 Minutes Later-
"I've got to say that was the best tour I've ever had." Kid Flash complimented, leaning his body on the metal railing of the cave's hanger.
"I'm sure that's the only tour you've ever been so quiet." Winter muttered back from the back of the group, eyeing the speedster who was standing next to Miss Martian.
The group now finished off with most of the tour, they'd all taken a small break at the cave's hanger area, looking out at the docking area and space that future vehicles for their missions would. At least that was the hope of all the teens.
"I can attest to that. I'm surprised his voice isn't echoing throughout the entire mountain from all the talking he does." Robin joked, laughing a bit at his own joke.
Eyes scanning over the newfound hanger bay, Superboy placed his hands in his pockets and spoke up. "If this place is so big, why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?"
"The cave's secret location was...compromised," Aqualad answered cooly.
"So they traded it in for a tourist trap?" Superboy retorted back, scoffing at the comparison. "Heh, yeah. That makes sense."
Taking note of everyone's explanation of the cave's origin and compromise Miss Martian frowned and placed a hand on his chin, thinking over each piece of information. "But if the villains know about the cave, we must be on constant alert." She surmised, a small bit of fear appearing on her face.
Taking this moment to try and get his own moment with Miss Martian, Robin stepped in and took Miss Martian by the hand in a semi-suave gesture. "The bad guys know that we know about the place, so they'll never think to look here."
"What he means," Kid Flash poked in, moving Robin's hands off of Miss Martian's to break the hand contact, "Is that we're hiding in plain sight."
"Oh." The female martian spoke, rubbing a hand through her red hair in thought. "Ah. That's much clearer."
As a quiet lull began to fill the hanger, it was the sniffing sounds from Superboy that brought up another sort of...situation. Careful to smell the air for whatever the strange smell was, Superboy frowned and looked to the group. "I smell smoke."
A look of doubt crossing her face, Winter shook her head. "Smoke? What could possibleeaaahhhh! Our cookies!" The ice user yelled in response, her memory slowly reminding her of the baked goods she and Miss Martian had made earlier. That had to be what Superboy was smelling. "No no no no no no no no no no no!" The girl muttered to herself taking off down the nearest hallway she could remember that lead to the kitchen area, leaving the group behind.
"W-Wait for me!" Miss Martian called from behind, flying off and following Winter in hopes of saving her own baked delights.
Making her way into the familiar denizen of the kitchen, Samantha quickly chilled her hands with frost to keep them cool and pulled the first oven open to check her own cookies. Smoke bellowing out of the kitchen appliance, Samantha could already feel her heart squeeze in worry at the cloudy sight she was seeing. Or rather not seeing.
Grabbing onto the tray with her icy hands, Samantha pulled the tray out into the light and felt her heart, like the cookies on her tray, crumble to dust at the sight. The dough, once a pristine light brown and dotted with the most delicious of chocolate chips had now been baked into oblivion. Now round like any normal cookie, the color was completely baked into an extremely dark brown and the chocolate chips now burned so much that the flavor was surely gone.
Letting the tray drop onto the counter, Samantha groaned and placed her head on the countertop next to it, letting her arms lean onto the countertop around her. "Why the cookies? They didn't do anything wrong."
"I'm guessing yours didn't come out well either?" The kind voice of Miss Martian wondered, pulling out her own tray with the help of her telekinesis. Her venture had turned out even worse than Winter's, the cookies hardened like rocks and so black that any semblance of flavor had been baked out long before. "How are we going to serve these now?"
"Serve what?" Aqualad asked, walking into the kitchen with the rest of the guys. Swatting smoke out of the air of the kitchen, the Atlantean took notice to the two trays of mostly destroyed cookies. "I am guessing these were the source of the smoke."
Kid Flash heading into the kitchen to check out the supposed cookies the girls had made, the redhead's smile slowly drifted into a frown at the sight of the ruined goods. "Wow! You guys really-"
Taking notice to the other's entrance, Samantha lifted her head up and turned her eyes to Kid Flash, giving a silent yet deadly glare in his direction. "What?"
Feeling his run a cold at the glare, Kid Flash shut his mouth for a moment and quickly moved his gaze off to the wall, trying to avoid the ice user's stare. "R-Really did a good job! And you made enough for all of us." Using his super speed to hastily move around the ice user, Kid Flash halted to the other side of the table and gave a thumbs up to Miss Martian. "They look delicious beautiful."
"Ooh, nice save." Robin commented, smiling at the close call his friend nearly caught himself in with his fast mouth.
"This is what you guys freaked out about?" Superboy asked, still trying to ignore the smell of smoke invading his senses.
"You don't have to say it so plainly." Samantha commented from her laying position on the countertop. "I don't get to cook much back at my house as it is, so Miss Martian and I thought it would be fun to cook something for us to have together. But, most of them didn't make it." She explained, inspecting a few that seemed to have survived a little better than most.
"I'm sure they would have all tasted great. He doesn't seem to mind." Robin commented, motioning the two girls to look over the other side of the room where the speedster was hoarding the burned up cookies Miss Martian had made.
Stuffing two more cookies into his mouth, Kid Flash looked up and noticed the eyes of the others on him and chewed his contents before swallowing, a grin showing up on his face. "I have a serious metabolism?"
Taking the silly action as a kind gesture from the speedster, Miss Martian felt her lips curve into a smile. "I'll...make more."
"It was sweet of you both to make any at all." Aqualad commented, turning his gaze to both Miss Martian and Winter.
"It's no big deal. We just thought it would help relax everyone." Samantha responded, lifting her head off the counter and moving back to lean on the counter behind her next to Superboy.
"It's just like Winter said. So, thank you Aqualad." Miss Martian replied, letting her hesitation melt away.
"We're off duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur." The Atlantean greeted, smiling to ease the martian's worry.
Finishing another cookie in his hand, Kid Flash swallowed the bits in his mouth and leaned his chin into the palm of his hand, speaking in a suave tone. "I'm Wally. See I already trust you with my secret I.D., Unlike Mr. dark glasses. Batman's forbidden boy wonder from telling anyone his name." Wally explained, jabbing his thumb to point to a scowling Robin.
"What about Winter? She still looks the same way she does when she's fighting." Miss Martian asked, curious to why the white-haired girl hadn't introduced herself yet.
Deciding to take the initiative on this part, Winter rubbed her neck. "My dad wants me to keep my hero identity and my real life I.D. secret too, so I have to keep my powers active to change my features. It's not too bad, though. Superboy at least knows my identity, so it isn't fully a secret." She concluded, shrugging her shoulders as if trying to make sense of what she'd just said.
"What? Why does he get to be the only one to know?" Kid Flash complained, looking over to the super teen standing in the corner.
Rolling her eyes, Winter shook her head. "Because he stayed at my house duh. He was going to find out at some point. I've already asked him not to tell anybody, so don't think you can try to ask him, Wally."
Taking that moment to chime in, Superboy simply nodded with the same bored expression on his face. "What she said."
"Well, my name's no secret." Miss Martian added, smiling at the fun interaction the group was having. "I'm M'gann M'orzz, but you can call me Megan." The alien said, placing a hand on the cool countertop to stabilize the excitement she was feeling. "It's an Earth name. And I'm on Earth now."
'At least she feels like she's fitting in here. That's good.' Samantha mused, letting her eyes wander to everyone in the room who conversed about themselves. From M'gann's excited face, Wally's obvious flirting eyes, the hidden gaze of Robin and his usual smirk, and Aqualad's mature yet sociable demeanor, it seemed like everyone was getting along despite the previous setback they'd had that morning.
That was until her light eyes landed on the boy next to her, the still stoic and silent force that was Superboy.
His gaze still unfocused on something else in the room, a stern frown on his face, and arms crossed over his chest, it looked like the boy was almost ignoring what was going on around him. Or that's what she thought until the ice user noticed his gaze move downward to the floor, eyes focused and unfocused with each word spoken from the others. He was listening, but why wasn't he having fun like everyone else?
"Superboy?" Samantha whispered quietly, trying to get the taller boy's attention.
It seemed like it had worked, for just a moment, as the eyes of Superboy moved to look at her in the corner of his eyes. However just as soon as they looked at her, they moved back to avoid her own. Not sure how to take the reaction, Samantha didn't notice Superboy slowly make his way out of the kitchen, heading towards the closest exit to get away from the conversation the group was having.
'Do I go after him?' Samantha thought, finally taking notice to the retreating form of Superboy. Was it the right thing to do? Go after him to ask what was wrong? Or did he want time alone to think? Why was he leaving in the first place? Was it something the group was talking about.
For a moment Samantha simply lets her actions speak for themselves, slowly moving off her leaning position on the corner of the counter to ready herself in case she did decide to follow Superboy. However, just as she was about to start heading after him to check up on him...
Did he turn around suddenly?
A look of confusion, as if somebody was yelling or talking to him appeared on his face. Samantha wasn't sure what was going on, but when she took notice of his eyes and where they were staring, she followed his line of sight and saw he was looking at Miss Martian. What was going-
"Get out of my head!" Superboy roared in a loud voice, breaking the silence that had filled from the group's latest conversation.
Jumping a bit at the sudden outburst, Samantha turned her head to look at the angry looking super clone in confusion, until turning her eyes back onto Miss Martian. From what Superboy had just yelled and from the way he'd looked at Miss Martian just a moment ago, had she...No. She couldn't have, could she?
'What's wrong? I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.'' The voice of M'gann asked, her voice somehow ringing in Samantha's own head. Moving a hand to grip her skull suddenly, the ice user groaned tiredly as she tried to control the sudden confusion and pain she felt ringing in her mind.
"M'gann, stop!" Aqualad commanded, his voice booming over the quiet voice Miss Martian, causing the alien to halt her telepathy. Letting the situation cool down for a moment, Aqualad spoke again, keeping a neutral yet lecturing tone. "Things are different here on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."
"I...I'm sorry." Miss Martian apologized, a wave of guilt washing over her body. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble. Winter said that my telepathy probably wasn't a good idea to use. I just forgot. Honest."
"Don't worry about it beautiful. Accidents happen, but just be careful not to do it again. Cadmus's creepy little psychic G-Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain." Kid Flash pointed out, moving a hand to make it seem like he was whispering to Miss Martian, casually pointing to Superboy.
Watching the poor excuse Wally was doing in being a bit more careful to Superboy's feelings, Winter lightly swatted away Wally's hand. "Don't be insensitive Wally." Watching the Speedster rub at his stinging hand, Samantha walked over to the still angry Superboy. Perhaps if she tried to talk to him, he'd calm down? Listen to reason?
Moving a hand to rest calmly on his shoulder, Samantha spoke carefully to ease the teen's anger. "Superboy, just relax. She didn't mean to-"
"Don't touch me!" Superboy yelled, recoiling at the ice user's touch. Stepping back from Winter, Superboy just continued to glare, his anger still evident from the look on his face. Only this time, it was directed at both M'gann and herself.
'Why? Why did he just yell at me? I was only trying to help.' Samantha thought, her fingers clenching into a fist close to her chest at the sudden glare of Superboy's eyes on her. The last time she'd seen anger like that on his face was when he was fighting back at Cadmus against enemies chasing after them.
As strange and as sad as it made her feel, the anger she witnessed reminded her of Roy. The way Superboy glared at her, pushed her away, yelling at her to back off. It felt similar to how Speedy had yelled at her for not taking his side at the Hall, pushing her away for the choice she'd made and supposedly making a mistake.
Of all the times to be reminded of those memories, why did it have to be now? Would every chance to try and do the right thing only blow up in her face?
Unsure of how to respond, if she even could, Samantha just frowned while her shocked eyes stayed locked onto Superboy.
"And you," Superboy exclaimed, shifting his gaze from Samantha to M'gann. "Just stay out!" The super clone stated harshly, turning around to walk out of the kitchen and take a seat on the couch away from the others.
The entire outburst breaking what little peace the group had found with each other, none of the teens tried to utter anything, letting silence slowly fill the room to avoid the awkward situation.
"Hello, Megan!" Miss Martian suddenly called out, lightly tapping her head to brighten up the situation. Smiling to the rest of the team mates still in the kitchen, the martian motioned them to follow her. "I know what we can do." Taking the opportunity to float off the ground, the martian flew off down the closest hallway, letting her team mates follow her lead.
The boys still a bit confused and a bit unsure of what had just happened, Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash quietly filed out of the kitchen and followed the martian girl down the hall to whatever it was she wanted to show them.
Unlike the others, Winter still stood quietly on her own in the kitchen, her mind still trying to go over what had happened. Everything was going so well, she thought. No problems had come around except for the issue with getting a mission, but the team just talked and had fun like normal kids to remedy that situation.
And now all of a sudden it felt like everything had step back.
How had it gotten so bad so quickly? She was just trying to help Superboy, explain the situation to calm him down and make it better for Miss Martian. But just from that act alone, she became an object to direct Superboy's anger at. Had he really meant what he said to her or was it just talk? A reaction from his invasion of privacy at the telepathic hands of M'gann's slip up?
'I...I need to go with the others.' Samantha thought to herself, trying to keep her emotions calm from Superboy's outburst. If she wasn't focused enough, her powers were gong to get hectic in their base.
Her small hands clenching tightly into fists at her sides, the ice user shifted her gaze over to Superboy who was keeping his head turned away to stare at the wall, letting his body hunch in his seat.
'Would it be a bad idea to approach him? He still looks angry but...He's still a part of this team. There has to be some way to fix this.' Samantha concluded while gazing at Superboy from afar. Slowly letting her body adjust itself to relax a bit and take a few steps out of the kitchen, Samantha stepped past the threshold and headed towards the hallway before stopping in the living room.
Looking over to the quiet boy, Samantha spoke in a hushed, yet sincere tone. "Superboy? Please come with us. She...M'gann didn't mean to do what she did. Trust me, okay?"
Not taking any time to turn around to look at her, Superboy kept his reaction hidden and only clenched his hands further into fists in his lap. "Stop butting into my business." He spoke harshly, yet this time it sounded a bit quieter than the last time he'd spoken. Gritting his teeth and pushing the waves of anger in his system, Superboy sighed in defeat. "Just...leave me alone."
Her eyes widening at just the simple words Superboy spoke to her, the ice user felt like she'd just been punched in the chest. All the time she'd spent with him had been so much fun. Helping him understand the outside world, having someone to talk to, someone she could have real conversations with.
She'd been so used to being considered a friend to Superboy and helping him that now when she was in a situation where he was against her, angry with her...it hurt.
No, it crushed her.
'Maybe...this is just one of those things I can't fix on the spot.' The heroine surmised, feeling her stomach drop at the thought. If that was the answer, Samantha needed to take a step back from all of this. At least for the time being, think about herself before thinking about Superboy.
"Fine." Samantha finally answered back, her tone not taking any angry or harsh emotion. Instead, it sounded more tired, frustrated. "I was just trying to help. Go ahead and be angry for all I care." And with that said, Samantha quietly made her way out of the living room, walking down the hallway to leave the super clone to his brooding.
Their first day as an official team had begun, and yet already it was blowing up in their faces.
Heh. Welcome to Happy Harbor? More like welcome to...not happy harbor?
That was supposed to be a lot funnier than that. But who cares? I finally got a new chapter posted! Wanted this to be the full mission, but I guess it'll have to be a two-parter again. And a good reason to do so too. There seems to be too much drama going on to try and push it all into one huge chapter, that's for sure. So let's hope some things gets resolved and people can forgive one another.
Please remember to review. Any comments whether it is just how you liked a moment in the chapter to creative criticism, anything is okay. Reviews help the writing process more, so the more I get the faster I may get chapters out. XD
And to help you give reviews here are some questions to think about and answer. If you'd like, of course.
How do you think Speedy and Winter's relationship is going to go from here? Should Winter forgive him or is he in the wrong?
Should Winter try to be more open about her feelings with Superboy? Or try to keep them hidden for the sake of letting Superboy learn on his own?
Was it wrong of Superboy to lash out at Winter for trying to help? Or should Winter have stayed out of the conflict?
Which word do you like more? Peppermint or Valentine? (This is important. Please answer honestly.) ;3
Until next chapter, stay cool.
Next Chapter: Welcome to Happy Harbor Pt. 2