Winter's Ballad: Growth & Love

by Cinderella Girl626

All her life Samantha Freya has quietly followed the instructions of those above her. But when the world gives her the chance to be the leader of her own life, will the poise sidekick of Ice Maiden, Winter, break out of her pod of obedience and listen to her own wants? Perhaps, if she gets some help along the way. -Sort of Back-

8. Welcome to Happy Harbor Pt 2

Yay, new chapter! Hi, everyone! Hope your days/weeks are going well. I'm still trudging through the tough battle of a full-time college student. Loads of fun. XP

I'm pretty happy, though. My followers for this story has actually gotten past 50! I couldn't believe it at first since I haven't written too much actiony content yet, but here we are. Thank you for being so kind to follow my work. I know it takes a bit for me to get out to all of you and sometimes it isn't up to par than some other writers, but I do really appreciate the follows and favorites you guys tag for my story.

I'll try my best to bring out more content as fast as I can, as well as work to better my writing. It's a little tough with all the homework and things I'm balancing, but I'd love to make this story my best work and keep it going.

Oh, and once again if you can, please post a review to tell me any criticism or such you think should be worked on. I also still need some answers to which word you like more. Peppermint or Valentine?

Totes important. Really. ;3

Well, without further ado, let's get this next chapter started!

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. It's owned by DC, but I do wish I could add some stuff to it. TAT

---

Perfection.

It was a word that Samantha Freya, not Winter, knew all too well.

It was the epitome of what a human being could become, achieve, set out and accomplish. Perfection allowed people to look up to you, see you as someone that could be trusted, mimicked, admired.

Her father expected that of her ever since she was young. To be perfect. Become an expert in whatever subject she was studying, strive to be the best in her fencing lessons, hold herself high as the perfect daughter of Nikolai and Aiko Freya, a girl who could climb higher than those before her with just as kind a heart. It was hard trying to become something so unobtainable, so abstract.

But she tried, even if she knew she could not attain it easily, and unfortunately for others who knew her like her mentor or Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad, it meant she expected things to go a certain way.

She planned out everything in her mind, how an event would unravel itself, the right thing to do or say, how a certain movement or placement of something should make someone react, and how specific efforts and meticulous planning would help overall and successfully work in her favor. From party outfits for her father's functions, patterns of attack during hero work, and ways to impress her father. She always thought of the longterm goals, rather than thinking in the moment.

Everything was planned in advance, and sadly, this was why Samantha felt like her heart and confidence was crushed.

It was naive to think that their first day as a team was going to go off without a hitch. She'd planned out everything the night before, laying out the details of making cookies for the group to enjoy, talking with one another about their work as heroes to bond, and surely by the end of the day or sooner be given a mission from Batman.

None of it panned out, though, just like all the other times she ever tried to plan ahead. It was both a strength and weakness of hers.

The mission she thought the group was going to go on? Batman hadn't even shown up or said a word.

The cookies she and Miss Martian had baked for a fun ice breaker for the team? Burned to a crisp and inedible. Well, for most. Wally was still Wally, and he'd eat the cookies both for his stomach and for his new crush.

And the bonding? That had gone badly. While all of them begrudgingly had accepted that a mission wouldn't be handed to them, the group had decided to continue a tour of their new base and chat amongst one another for a time. Everything seemed to be going well, that is until Miss Martian had made an honest mistake that had made Superboy explode at the new girl.

And her.

That was the worst part out of all of this. Not the mission, not the cookies, not even the awkward spouts of nonsense she'd said to Superboy during the day. It was not realizing how stupid she was to think she could control everything in advance.

It was naïve to think everything would just fall into place with enough effort. Go well without a hitch. She may have been smart and meticulous when planning out how to use her time and effort to get something done, but Samantha never took into account how things could sporadically change on the fly. Life wasn't some business plan or society dinner she could work out in advance in her favor. And neither was this team or their emotions.

That moment, that one moment where she had to choose whether to try and calm Superboy down or simply let things go their course and work themselves out. It was better to simply let Superboy cool down, let his anger drift away for a while before confronting him, help him understand that anger wasn't always the answer. She had done the opposite, though, her overthinking mind believing that if she stepped in and talked to him, just because she'd spent the most time with him and he knew her, he'd calm down, relax, and realize that his anger at Miss Martian was a mistake.

She tried to plan ahead, thinking her influence would help calm the Superboy down, but it backfired so badly.

He had pushed her away, yelled at her to not get near him. And even after when the whole event had simmered down, when she had stayed calm, and walked over to him as he sulked over what had occurred to try and mend the situation, help him understand he...

"Just leave me alone."

'Was it wrong?' She thought. Her eyes lazily looked up from where she sat, showing a mirrored reflection of a stressed teenager. Her eyes narrowed in an irritated glare at herself, the frown reflected back only reminded her of how badly she was confused, unsure. 'Should I have not gotten in the way of the situation? Would it have been better to just let Superboy vent? Be angry until he cooled off on his own?'

"Win-"

'No, that would have been wrong. I was just trying to help. It would have been terrible to not help fix the situation. If not to calm Superboy down, to at least help Miss Martian. She didn't deserve that. It was a mistake.'

"-ter"

'I didn't plan for any of this. This was supposed to all go well. The mission was a bust and the cookies burned to a crisp, but we're all supposed to bond. Be a team.'

"Hey Wi-"

'The way he looked at me. Talked to me. I want to fix this. I don't want to lose another friend. I want Superboy to be able to trust me, not push me away. Should I talk to him again? Will he be okay with that? Should I wait longer? I could-'

"Hey Winter!"

"Wah?!" Hastily jumping out of her seat from the loud yell of her codename, Samantha blinked her eyes quickly, adjusting her vision to remember where she was.

She remembered. She was in the Bioship, Miss Martian's spaceship. The group had decided to take it out for a spin, go fly around the Happy Harbor to get a feel for their "base of operations" of sorts. She'd receded to her thoughts right after take off so quickly that she'd forgotten where she was. How long had she been quiet?

Realizing she was still losing herself to her thoughts, Samantha squeezed her hands into fists at her sides and turned her body, a glare towards the one who had yelled at her.

Wally, of course, it'd be him.

"What in the world gave you the smart idea to yell in my ear like that Wally?" Samantha asked, irritation slowly raising in her voice.

Raising his hands up in defense, the Speedster shrugged his shoulders. "We tried to get your attention before. You weren't answering. Next best thing was yelling in your ear."

"You were pretty out of it, Winter." Robin chimed in from his seat, his visored gaze turned to her, a small smile on his face.

"I-" Miss Martian spoke up from her seat at the helm, her focus on her fellow heroine. "I just wanted to know if you were okay? You looked really sad."

'Of course. I probably was looking like a sad sack thinking about all of this.' Samantha thought, remembering the ill feelings she'd felt during her momentary reflection.

Smiling at the kind gesture M'gann spoke, Samantha turned her gaze to the martian. "I'm...fine." She answered hesitantly, unsure if she wanted to reveal the truth of her thoughts aloud. Crossing her arms over chest, the ice user lets her eyes wander slowly to the seat of Superboy.

He sat ahead of the others in the front, on the left of Aqualad and simply kept staring out at the sky the group flew through. He didn't make any move to turn around, to see what the group was talking about in the back.

'It's not like I want him to look over here.' Her thoughts spoke up, pushing the awkward feeling she was experiencing away and closed her eyes. To think she was trying to lie to a mind reader of all people. M'gann surely had to know what she was really thinking about. Or rather who.

"I'm just mad still. About not getting a mission from the League. That's all, but thank you for the concern M'gann." Samantha spoke, looking to her fellow team mate with the best smile she could muster in her state, taking a seat back down in her chair and facing the others.

"Are you sure? I thought it was more about...you know." M'gann whispered, her eyes shifting from the ice user to Superboy who sat beyond the group's conversation. "He yelled at you because of me and I used my telepathy even when you told me before it was a bad idea."

Hearing M'gann's response, Samantha couldn't help but feel the frown that left her lips slowly return. "It's okay M'gann. I didn't explain further so that's on me. Superboy's actually a really nice person once you get to know him. A little rough around the edges, but he's still learning." Samantha reassured the martian, shrugging her shoulders that now felt as heavy as lead. "I'm sure he didn't mean what he said to me either."

'If your so sure how come you still feel so nervous about it?'

"He'll come around," Robin whispered back, making Samantha look over to the boy wonder. "Like Winter said he's still learning. Just give it some time."

"Are you sure? I don't think he likes me very much already." M'gann spoke sadly, sharing a worried gaze with Winter.

"You guys do know he has super hearing right?" Wally whispered quietly, looking to the three other heroes and pointing to the back of Superboy.

Understanding it was Wally's nature to jump in with a comment here or there, Samantha still couldn't help but let her eyes stare the speedster down. "And you do know what the word tact is right, Wally?" Samantha asked back, an irritated glare in the redhead's direction.

"Hey. Just pointing out the obvious." Wally answered with a shrug.

Watching the two heroes argue from the other side of the ship, Robin shook his head and looked over to the driver with a smirk, hoping to break the tension in the ship. "Hey, about we see some of that martian shapeshifting?"

Looking to Robin after his suggestion, M'gann stared at the boy for a few moments before smiled, getting out of her seat. "Sure. I'll be glad to show you."

"Me too. I'm a little curious." Samantha answered a well, watching the rest of the team all turn to keep their eyes on Miss Martian.

Standing at the center of the ship and the team's eyes on her, Miss Martian gave an optimistic smile as she activated her powers. Nothing had happened at first, but as Samantha observed Miss Martian work her magic, the girl looked down and noticed her skin change color. Turning black from her feet upwards, the color crawled up her body, gaining speed as it reached up to her torso where it shifted to red and yellow.

The colors colliding with one another, Miss Martian's appearance slipped away from her face, and her clothes began to morph in shape until the revealed an outfit very closely resembling Robin. From the color scheme, gloves, utility belt, and cape, Miss Martian finished off her change with the familiar domino mask covering her now light caucasian skin, her hair now a short style like the boy wonders and black.

At first, Samantha was shocked, to say the least. Just seeing the shapeshifting process up close in such a way blew her mind to no end, especially since her team mate had looked so differently seconds ago. However, as she looked closer at the transformation she began to notice some small details that were off.

'She still looks like a girl, though. It's almost right, but a bit off.' Samantha thought, her eyes scanning over Miss Martian's "Robin" form as she twirled on her heel.

"Wow, nice impression." Robin complimented, clapping at the female version of himself standing on the ship.

Letting the image sink into her team mates eyes, Miss Martian shed this disguise as well and activated her powers again, this time letting the black, yellow, and red of the costume morph away and change her body further. Her body growing a few inches taller and becoming a bit more shapely, the clothes that were on her caucasian skin became a tight yellow jumpsuit around her body, and once the newest transformation took hold of her, the martian girl smiled to reveal her newest form of Kid Flash, green eyes, red hair, and the famous red lightning bolt on her chest.

Striking a pose, Miss Martian looked to Kid Flash to show off her work. "Does it look good?"

Eyes unable to keep themselves off the disguised martian, Wally had a dreamy look in his eyes, goofy smile included. "Is it wrong to think I'm hot?"

"A little weird, yeah," Samantha spoke, distaste evident on her face while looking at the speedster. "They're great, but they aren't perfect. They might need a little more work."

"It's a bit hard trying to mimic boys." Miss Martian replied, fidgeting a bit with her disguised hands. "But girls I can do perfectly. Watch."

Taking another opportunity to show off her shapeshifting powers to the group, Miss Martian twirled on her toes and let her powers wash over her disguise of Kid Flash. The colors melting away bit by bit and watching her clothes and body morph to the next mimicked form, Miss Martian's skin became bit lighter in tone, while her body shrunk just an inch to fit what she needed.

The jumpsuit she once wore washed away, slowly morphing until it clung to her new body in the form of an all too familiar dress shirt, bolero jacket, combat skirt, and boots. Letting the colors of white splash the outfit along with hints of red and blue at the insides of the clothing, Miss Martian finished her alteration as the short red hair she sported earlier grew to a longer length and was tied into a neat high ponytail of pure white strands.

Opening her now ice blue eyes and gracing a smile upon the soft features on her newly made heart shaped face, the martian twirled on her feet gleefully to show off the newest disguise, a perfect copy of Winter.

"How about this? Does it look good or what?" Miss Martian joked, the copied form of Winter smiling and striking a cute pose to the others.

Looking at the perfect copy of his team mate standing in the room, Robin nearly let his sunglasses slip at the awe on his face. "Now that's a perfect copy."

"I'll say," Samantha answered, a bit of shock running through her system. Getting out of her seat and rushing over to Miss Martian, the ice user excitedly began to inspect every bit of detail. The combat uniform she mimicked looked exactly the same. From the color, the fabric, and even the way she tied her hair. And she couldn't even fathom the craziness that was seeing an exact copy of her own face staring at her. "It's fantastic M'gann. You don't know how much I've wished I could be in two places at once."

Her own face staring back at her, Miss Martian lowered her head a bit as she felt a blush rise in her cheeks at the praise. "Thank you. It's nothing, really."

Awed by the sight and his jaw dropping to the floor, Wally couldn't help but stare at the sight of two Winter's standing together in front of him. "I think I've had a dream like this once."

"Your clothes? How do they change like that?" Kaldur inquired, jumping into the conversation while he looked over the perfect details of the mirrored form of Winter.

"They're organic," M'gann explained. "Like the Bioship. They respond to my mental commands." She replied cheerily.

Hearing the casual comment from M'gann, Superboy turned his chair around to face back to the window. "As long as their the only ones." He coldly commented.

Taking note that Superboy still wasn't over what happened between him and Miss Martian, Samantha looked over to her fellow heroine and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. It'll work out."

Ice blue eyes staring back at her, Miss Martian gave an affirmative nod and smiled, letting her shapeshifting powers dissipate and change her back to normal.

"Oh!" Wally called, trying to lighten up the situation. "Can you do that cool ghosting through walls thing manhunter does?"

Taking her seat back at the controls of the ship, M'gann looked over to Wally. "You mean density shifting? Oh, no. It's too advanced for me right now."

"Don't worry about it. Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall." Robin commented, laughing a little as he continued. "When he tries it, bloody nose."

"Dude!"

"What they're trying to say," Samantha spoke up, looking between Robin and Wally as she headed back to her seat. "Is that we all have some work to do, but we'll get better." Falling back into her seat, Samantha lifted her leg and rested atop the other in a casual position. "I'm still having trouble with my Frost Step technique."

"Like that one time, you tried it and ran right into a wall." Wally joked, giggling alongside Robin as the two reminisced over the memory.

Blushing at becoming a joke, Samantha huffed. "Not everyone here knows how to control super speed like you."

Laughing alongside the others, M'gann looked out to the window and began typing down on a few keys on the controls. "Here's something I can do."

Placing her finger on one final button and pressing it, the group examined the color and form of the Bioship from the window and watched it disappear out of thin air. Feeling it wash over the entire spacecraft, the martian beamed at her work. "Camouflage mode."

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at Happy Harbor power plant." Red Tornado's voice rang through the ship, making all of the teens sit up, alert and ready. "I suggest that you investigate covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

"Received," M'gann answered firmly, looking down to the piloting screen, lights blinking on and the map on her interface slowly showing a path to the alert. "Adjusting course now."

"Tornado's keeping us busy again." Robin huffed, his glare facing to the window on his right.

Looking out the window and watching the scenery change with each passing second, Samantha spotted the power plant the coordinates had pointed out. Steeling herself for whatever danger that may have been ahead, the ice user turned her head back to look at Robin. "If the Cadmus fire got us to Superboy, maybe this fire will show us something too."

"Let us hope it is not as dangerous as before," Kaldur mentioned, scanning over the damage the power plant was taking from the fire.

"C'mon. It can't be that dangerous. Anything could have caused the fire. A short circuit, a match, somebody left, some cigarette still lit-" Wally listed, pointing to each finger while he listed ideas off.

"Tornado," Superboy added, making Wally look over to the clone.

"Uhh...I guess. What gave you that idea supey?" The speedster asked, eyebrow raised at the guess.

"That." Superboy curtly replied, turning his head to look out the Bioship's window. His stare going past the glass in front of the heroes, a few feet away was what appeared to be just that. A tornado.

Winds raging at high speeds and curling together into a fast vortex of speed and destruction, the large tunnel of wind swiftly moved back and forth in directions around the power plant, taking in whatever cars, streets lamps, signs, and plant life was in its way. And while it looked to be destructive and unpredictable, the winds looked, or rather felt like it had a mind of its own. Especially when it began to head straight for the group without stopping.

"That thing is coming right for us!" Samantha hastily said, fear slowly crawling up her stomach and clung to her chair for safety,

"Know any evasive maneuvers?" Robin called, gripping onto the seat belt of the chair.

"Hang on!" M'gann called to the group, each team member holding tightly onto their chairs. Focusing her mind to will the Bioship on moving as fast as it possibly could, the group jolted a bit in their seats, the ship picking up speed and heading in the opposite direction the strange cyclone of destruction was coming from.

The strange rage of wind, however, wouldn't let the group get away that easily. Taking off towards them with the force of a speeding truck, the cyclone sucked the ship into its grip, taking the spaceship and the teens within it into its sharp winds.

The ship spinning in circles at the same speed the winds had them locked in, the young heroes inside gripped onto whatever they could to keep themselves steady.

"Somebody do something before we get flung out the ship!" Wally cried out, trying to pull himself upright as the gravity of the spinning was keeping his body bent back.

"I'm trying!" M'gann forced out, doing the best she could to keep her thoughts straight as she too was feeling the effects of the rampaging winds that trapped them. Gripping her hands tightly onto the controls and forcing her mind to go into overdrive in the Bioship, the spaceship began to turn up right within the cyclone and rode the winds. Spinning at the same speed the wind was yet keeping itself steady, the ship finally emerged from the claws of the tornado and rushed outwards to safety.

Taking the moment the team had to prepare themselves for the battle of them, M'gann ordered the ship to descend to the ground below, landing in the open space of the power plant parking lot. "Is everybody okay?"

Mumbles of pain and groaning answered back to Miss Martian, with Robin, in particular, taking off his seat belt and adjusting the sunglasses on his face. "What was that?"

"A tornado, like I said," Superboy answered back, shaking his head to rid himself of the dizziness inside his mind.

Groaning in her own seat, Samantha unbuckled the seatbelt off of her body and held her head in pain. It was bad enough when it felt like the room was spinning, but if you were spinning at such a fast speed, in a vehicle, in a tornado well...

"I am going to rip whoever put me through that to shreds," Samantha spoke up but hissed at a dull pain striking through her skull. "Ugh, once I stop seeing two of everything."

Unfortunately," Aqualad spoke, rubbing his own tired eyes and getting out of his own seat. "That'll have to be now. We need to get moving and find the cause of that wind."

"I'll get us out of here." Typing in a few keys into the Bioship's controls, the floor of the ship began to morph with life, receding away from itself and stretching out to become a large hole to the outside world. "Ready when you are."

"And I'm getting up." Samantha groaned, pushing herself out of her chair and rubbing her sore head. Doing her best to focus her senses for the battle ahead, Samantha let her powers slowly activate as frost began to coat her fingertips, while her breath began to appear in a light fog. "Okay, I'm ready now."

One after another the team jumped out of the Bioship, the group landing on their feet onto the asphalt ground of the parking lot. Each teen looking around to assess their own idea of the damage caused, their combined attention turned back to the source of the destruction, going I for another rampage at the power plant.

"Robin," Aqualad spoke up, trying to keep his voice loud above the roaring winds. "Are tornados common in New England?" Not hearing any sort of response, the dark-skinned Atlantean turned his head back to face to detective. "Robin?"

"He's already gone. He's got to stop doing that." Winter commented with a frown, looking to where the boy wonder had once stood alongside the group. How did he have the time to disappear so fast without anybody noticing?

"Is he already inside?" Miss Martian asked, her voice carrying worry at the idea of their team mate going on ahead of them.

*Boom*

Loud explosions carrying through the air, the team turned their heads to the source of the sound, watching as the glass windows of the power plant began to explode and shatter into shards one by one.

"I think that means a yes." Kid Flash surmised, running off towards the power plant entrance way with the rest of the group.

---

"Ahhh!" Robin yelled, feeling his body being pushed back by an extremely strong gust of wind. Slamming back against a stone pillar, the boy wonder fell to the ground with a heavy thud, rubbing his head and staring back at the culprit of the destruction.

Standing at a very tall eight or nine feet, the large villain seemed to not only tower over the boy wonder but also have the body to crush him. Their arms, legs, and body larger than the average human being and covered from head to toe in dark red armor, the villain's outfit was complimented with a strange array of tubes strapped to their gauntlets and headed backward into sockets based at their shoulders. Large dark gauntlets covered their wrists and ankles, with the wind seemingly pouring out from these devices and swirling with energy at their command.

Soon enough the rest of the team ran in, eyes darting every which way to find the culprit to the destruction going on until all eyes landed on the large form ahead of them.

Superboy taking the initiative jumped in first, using his strength to vault off the ground in a high jump, landing hard next to the downed Robin who was rubbing his sore head.

"Who's your new friend?" Superboy asked, not taking his eyes off the large armored man until taking off towards him in a sprint.

"Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough," Robin warned, lifting his upper body off the ground to glare at the group's common enemy.

The large armored being watched the group, only chuckling at the confused looks on each one of their faces. "My apologies. You may address me as Mister Twister." Finishing his short introduction, the robotic arms of Mister Twister rose up, calling upon the winds that stormed around his body to use against the oncoming boy of steel. Raising the speeds and power of his wind even further than before, Mister Twister moved a single hand in the air, directing a large tunnel of wind at Superboy.

Stubborn to keep moving forward despite the situation he was getting himself into, Superboy still ran toward the red armored foe but felt his assault suddenly slow down as rushes of wind pushed his body back inch by inch. Holding his arms up to shield his face from debris getting caught in the wind, Superboy growled at Mister Twister, gritting his teeth towards him as he kept trying to push through the impenetrable force of air.

"I don't have time for simpletons like you." The deep voice of Mister Twister concluded. Wanting to finish this first challenger quickly, the robotic arms of the villain rose up once more, and with a flick of his fingers made the tunnel of winds being pushed at Superboy morph together and go beneath his feet, lifting the enraged boy into the air. With one final swing of his wrist, Mister Twister commanded the wind trapping Superboy to throw him and watched as the larger teen was thrown to the back of the room, slamming into a wall on the way down.

"S-Superboy!" Miss Martian cried, worry evident in her voice. Her eyes looking back at the downed hero and turning back to the rest of the team, the martian looked to Winter. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine," Winter muttered though she wasn't sure she wanted to believe what she said herself. Obviously, she was worried, but the situation they were in right now called for them to take action against this new enemy. "He's strong. Right now we need to take care of wind bag over there."

"Agreed. Try to focus on combined attacks. He won't be able to ensnare all of us if we attack him at different angles." Aqualad suggested, looking to each member and getting a nod of approval from each.

"I'm ready when you guys are," Wally added, taking out his iconic red goggles and placing them over his eyes, suiting up into his Kid Flash persona.

Getting up from the ground and holding his aching side, Robin groaned a little and glared towards Mister Twister. "On my mark...Go!"

Like lit fireworks each member of the team sped off towards Mister Twister, some taking the initiative to head in first into the unknown. While some actions had some effect, others failed terribly, and nothing seemed to be working.

Winter, keeping back to try and analyze just what this new found enemy could do stood by next to Robin, watching Aqualad and Miss Martian head in to take on Mister Twister.

"You got any ideas?" Robin asked, gritting his teeth at the sight of Aqualad and Miss Martian being flung in random directions from the wind.

"Not really. But how about we try something long range?" Winter asked, her hands glowing and frost materializing on her hand. The familiar light exploding into snowflakes, small needles of ice sat between her fingers, and with careful precision propelled the tiny projectiles towards her target.

The sharp needles flying towards him, Mister Twister retaliated back, creating a wave of wind to push the needles off to the side, each sharp object stabbing into the ground around his feet.

"I hope this is the least amount of effort you can do. I was prepared to challenged by heroes. Not children." He spoke a sense of smugness in his tone.

"We're not children!" Robin retorted back, a projectile hidden beneath his back. Taking aim towards Mister Twister's chest, the boy wonder called upon his target practice training and flung a projectile bomb towards the robotic man.

A tornado coming in to block the way easily latched onto the bomb, letting it explode into a fiery demise in the wind. Letting his guard down for a moment, Mister Twister dismissed the wind away, not noticing another ice needle heading in his direction thanks to Winter.

The needle hitting its mark and lodging into Mister Twister, Winter held out her hand toward the needle and called upon her ice to start making quick work of the robotic man. The needle glowing a soft light slowly crumbled bit by bit, almost disappearing before it started freezing the android's suit, bits of ice crawling in random directions like cracks in a wall.

Noticing the freezing temperature that was taking over, Mister Twister raised his arm up for just a moment before slamming it down at the center of the affliction. The force clanging hard and making a loud ring from his armor, he removed his hand away, revealing the ice that had been crawling on his suit crumble into shards, falling at his feet.

"Objectively you are. Have you no adult supervision? Your presence here is quite disturbing." Mister Twister answered back.

"I'll show you disturbing! Take this!"

Rushing around Robin and Winter at an inhuman speed, Kid Flash with a face that could only be described as plastered with determination headed right towards the imposing form of Mister Twister.

"KF, you idiot! Don't go in head first!" Winter yelled at the speeding red-head, trying to warn him of his mistake.

Ignoring the warning from his team mate and using his speed to vault off the ground, Kid Flash flipped upright and moved his body, using his speed to slam his feet right into the chest of his target.

An easy target soaring his way, Mister Twister obliged Winter's warning well, a twister rushing in and stopping the speedster midair. Holding the boy in a prison of wind for a few more seconds, Twister pushed the speedster hard into another direction, Kid Flash skidding out of the power plant into the empty parking lot outside.

'This guy is destroying us.' Winter thought annoyed, her hands clutching tightly into fists at her sides. There had to be something they could do to take this guy down. A new strategy, anything better than just going at him from all directions.

Hearing the rushing footsteps of Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian rush back over to the sides of Robin and herself, Winter hastily moved her eyes across the room. To find something that could give them the upper hand. It was after some rushed searching that her eyes landed on a ventilation pipe just above the ominous villain.

'That could work.' She thought, turning her attention to Miss Martian.

"Miss Martian, take that thing out above air head." Winter ordered, pointing out the structure to her fellow team mate.

"I'm on it." Acting on the best training she could muster and focus her telekinesis onto the pipe above, Miss Martian held her hands up towards the pipe and swung her arms downward, the force of the action causing the vent to break open, a large flurry of steam shooting out down onto the unsuspecting villain.

"Raahhh!" Heading right back into the thick of things, Superboy jumped up into the air with all of his strength and descended down towards the blinded Mister Twister, a cry of anger releasing from his form as he rushed downwards at Mister Twister.

His powers pushing the steam out of his gaze, Mister Twister simply looked up to the rushing form of Superboy, and with a single flick of his wrist backhanded him hard towards the rest of the team and into an unsuspecting Miss Martian.

Aqualad and Robin heading in next to try their own team attack were too caught up by the unknown man's wind. Both boys pushed off the ground and no longer able to run or get away, screamed in confusion as the mini twister spun them around senselessly until colliding them hard against one another. The force too tough for the two teens to shake off, they fell tiredly to the groan, groaning in pain.

"Have you all had enough failure for the day?" Mister Twister asked Winter, the only one left standing in the room.

"Not even close!" Winter yelled back, her hands glowing before shooting a ray of ice towards Mister Twister.

Creating a small tornado of wind to shield himself, the ray of ice shooting towards Mister Twister was caught in the winds, the ray shooting out into different directions and missing him completely.

Realizing that plan wasn't working, Winter continued her assault, creating more ice needles and began throwing them at rapid speeds, only to watch as they shattered from the gauntleted hand of the villain.

"You're not getting away with any of this!" Winter proclaimed, anger swelling up in her as she tried to glare down the masked assailant.

"As courageous as you think you may sound, I've already won this battle child." Mister Twister spoke, the violent winds surrounding him growing larger every second. "Why don't you go back home and play hero somewhere else?"

….

…

..

.

That was it. That was the last straw.

Tired of seeing so much of the mistakes the group had made, the failed attempts at her own retaliation, and the condescending words of the unknown villain, the stress levels Winter had tried to keep in check weren't balancing out like she hoped.

Those words...The words that made her feel so weak, unprepared, useless. Everything that had made her so mad these past few days was just flooding back into her mind now like water from a broken dam.

Her father's expectations? They were getting worse.

Her confrontation with Roy? Their friendship may never recover.

Their first mission as a team together? A bust.

Trying to all become friends with one another? Ruined.

Her friendship with Superboy? It was nothing but rocky now.

And now here she was getting her butt seriously kicked by the likes of some guy who'd just popped up in their new base of operations, spewing out the nonsense of them being just kids and not putting up much of a challenge.

Who did he think he was?!

"You don't know me!" Winter cried out, her teeth gritting tightly against one another and a glare so heated that it contrasted with her entire being as a cold ice user. Materializing a rapier of ice into her hand and gripping it tightly, her hand, usually so calm and poised for battle, shook with anger coursing through her being and pointed it at Mister Twister.

She was pissed. With everything!

She'd never felt so angry before, not able to recall the last time she felt like this. She couldn't figure out a moment like this where she wanted to forgo all of her training, all of her practice to control her emotions, her brain, and just let her emotions take over instead of pushing them away.

If there was any time to let herself go and let loose, this was it.

No longer listening to the rational part of her mind, the part she'd followed for so long, Winter activated her Frost Step, and in a blur of speed and ice trailing behind her rushed head on at the imposing foe and jumped into the air towards him.

Her body finally appearing in a flurry of snowflakes and speeding at the figure, Winter, her ice blue orbs burning with the uncontrollable fire of rage she caged for so long, raised her rapier of pure ice to her side, the pointed tip directly in the line of sight of Mister Twister's chest.

"I'M! NOT! PLAYING!" Her voice echoed through the room, its message never losing its rage or meaning directed at the villain.

She was a hero! She was! She had to be! This was the only thing she knew she could control herself, with her own two hands and mind.

What...what else was she without this?

Making no move for just a few seconds Winter rushed at Mister Twister, the robotic man finally raised his hands up into the air, and a large tornado sprouted from the ground and froze the enraged girl in its grasp.

"Children. Always so prone to act on their emotions."

Those words, feeling her body get flung like a rag doll, and the sound of shattering glass were the last things she remembered before darkness encroached her vision and she blacked out.

---

Pain.

A burning, stinging pain was the first thing Winter felt as her senses returned to her. It hurt terribly, to say the least, but her body all over felt a little bit worse.

"Hey, I think she's waking up."

"She looks really hurt."

"Give her space."

Disembodied voices invading her ears, Winter groaned in pain, and slowly she opened her eyes. Colors swirling a bit as her eyes tried to make out the things she was starting to see, Winter blinked a few times and found herself staring at the blue sky. Was she outside?

Her senses slowly returning along with her vision, Winter could feel the soft feeling of grass underneath her body. As much as she hated how itchy it was at times, it felt like pure bliss on her sore body, stings of pain still shooting through her form.

She tried her best to move her eyes around, to see if she could see anything that could indicate why she was laying on the ground, hurting like she'd been hit by a truck. Standing just a bit away from her she could make out the worried form of Miss Martian, nervous face of Kid Flash, and Superboy with a face she couldn't describe. Worry? Or was It fear?

The forms of Robin and Aqualad were the first to appear to her, the two leaning on each side of her to check her out.

"Don't try to move." Aqualad spoke, resting a hand on the hurt hero's shoulder.

"What...happened?" Winter croaked out, coughing a little while trying to ignore a banging feeling inside her skull as she turned her gaze from Aqualad and Robin.

"You got flung into a window by that Mister Twister guy. You've been out for a couple of minutes." Robin explained, worry noticeable in his voice. "Does anything hurt?

"That's a stupid question." Winter retorted back, sarcasm strong in her response. Slowly lifting her hand up to rest it on the right side of her head, the part that seemed to be hurting the most, her fingers recoiled for a moment when she felt something wet on her fingertips.

Great. She was bleeding.

"My head's cut." Winter answered, rubbing the blood on the grass and willing her hurting limbs to move.

Tired and adjusting herself to keep herself steady, Winter let her eyes wander to her aching body, noticing many cuts that weren't on her skin before now beating intensely with pain. A few scratches covered her hands and cuts were on her arm, most likely from glass that had lodged themselves during her impact.

'My head feels lighter.' She thought, noticing her head felt more weightless. Moving her hand to touch her head, the ice user felt the strands of her white hair comb into her fingers, and soon enough two and two had clicked together, her eyes looking at the ground and seeing the pools of white hair rest on the grass below her. 'I must have lost my hair tie in when I got flung through the window.'

She had really messed up if her condition was any evidence.

Getting up back to her feet with the help of Robin and Aqualad, Winter groaned at the pain still lingering all over. Knocked out from being flung through a window.

'How could I have been so stupid?'

"Please tell me we at least won." Winter asked, looking to each member of the group for some sign of victory.

But no sign came. Only looks of defeat, annoyance, and shame.

Had...Had they messed up that badly?

"We would have if she didn't trick us!" The voice of Superboy yelled, breaking the silence between the members of the group.

Eyes turning to Superboy, Winter frowned, not sure what he was talking about until she followed his gaze to Miss Martian, the girl giving an apologetic look to the group.

"W-What happened while I was out?" Winter asked.

"She tricked us, that's what!" Superboy accused, his anger the group knew him for coming back once again.

"I-I didn't mean to. I thought it really was Red Tornado testing us." Miss Martian admitted, trying to defend herself. "I-I couldn't read his mind."

"None of us knew supey. We would have thought the same thing too." Kid Flash added, speeding over to Miss Martian's side.

Anger still fueling his decisions, Superboy angrily stomped to a large rock nearby and with a swing of his arm, smashed his fist into it, causing the rock to explode into small pieces. "And that makes it all okay?!" He roared, turning his head back to look at the martian.

"Superboy, stop it!" Winter yelled, making the clone turn his glare in her direction. "Don't just pin all of this on her! We've all made some pretty bad mistakes today, myself included. She didn't know. That's it."

"She nearly got all of us killed! You killed!" Superboy retorted back, anger swelling in his voice as he tried to argue back with the ice user.

"I would have been fine! I'm still living and breathing now aren't I?" Winter asked, her weak hands trying hard to squeeze into fists.

What was she doing? Why was she getting angry all of a sudden like this? Had this loss really effected her that badly? Or was it what Mister Twister said to her before she'd taken that reckless move.

This wasn't what she wanted. To take two steps back from the small friendship she thought the two shared and watch it crash and burn.

Growling underneath his breath, Superboy just turned away from Winter's gaze. "It was a bad idea listening to her."

"But Winter's right. We all made mistakes today. Miss Martian made a rookie mistake. She's still new to this." Robin chimed in, easing himself back into the conversation to try and diffuse the argument that had formed.

"You are pretty inexperienced." Kid Flash said, resting a hand on his head to think of his next words. "Hit the showers. We'll take it from here." He said, motioning for Miss Martian to go.

Superboy, glancing at Miss Martian's saddened face from behind his shoulder huffed. "And stay out of our way." Superboy growled to the martian. Turning his head back to head in the direction Mister Twister flew off to, Superboy, for a split second, shifted his gaze to Winter.

Seeing his eyes on her, Winter felt her body jolt a little at the eye contact, rather than the pain she should have felt.

'Why is he looking at me like that?' Winter wondered, her own orbs staring back at Superboy.

Maybe...this was a chance to try and patch things up? God, she didn't know. She wasn't sure about anything anymore. But that look in his eyes, something about it called to her. Told her that it maybe, just maybe, could have been a chance.

Sadly the contact broke a second later, Superboy turning away from the group and vaulting forward, launching high into the sky away from the rest of the team.

"S-Superboy, wait!" Winter called out, reaching a hand out to try and stop him, but winced in pain from a fresh cut on her arm hitting open air. Hissing in pain she pulled her hand back, knowing she was already too late to stop him and cradled her sore arm close to her chest.

And like that the chance was gone. How could all of this happen in the span of a single day?

And what about this team? Her own actions? None of this seemed to reflect the mentality she'd wanted to portray as a hero, someone to take seriously.

'Sigrid was right. I really am missing something. We all are.' The tired ice user thought, her thoughts reminding her of days prior and the conversation she had with her mentor.

"You should stay behind to Winter." The voice of Kid Flash spoke, putting on his goggles again and speeding off in the direction Superboy went.

"What?" She asked, suddenly realizing what she'd just heard. Watching the speedster run off, Winter shook her head and looked to Robin and Aqualad. "No way. I'm not being put on the sidelines. I've got a score to settle with that bucket head."

"In the condition you're in?" Robin asked, motioning to the cuts on her body, the strained look on her face, and the gash on her head. "You can barely stand up."

"I'm fine." Winter spoke, wincing a little from a cut on her arm. "S-See? Perfect."

"No, you aren't."

"Yes, I am!" Winter pushed further, a small headache rang in her head. Gritting her teeth, the walls of her confidence and anger slowly began to crumble away, and she sighed heavily and looked down to the ground.

"I-I'm a hero dammit." Winter muttered quietly, her voice cracking a little. "I need to prove it."

"You are a hero Winter, trust me," Aqualad spoke, a conviction in his voice and the maturity the group came to knew pouring from his being. "But heroes know when it is a good time to go into battle and fight. This isn't your time. You did well, but right now you need to take a step back and rest. For yourself and for the rest of us. We'll handle the rest on our own." Aqualad lectured, placing a comforting hand on the shorter teen's shoulder.

Shaking a little at the conflict of emotions swirling inside her, Winter said nothing before nodding quietly, keeping silent in fear that she'd start to cry. She couldn't argue with Aqualad. He was like a big brother to her. Someone who cared about her wellbeing.

The hand disappearing from her shoulder and hearing the sounds of Robin and Aqualad run off towards the battle ahead, Winter stayed where she stood, letting everything that had happened sink in.

'This is almost the worst day I've ever had.'

Lifting her head up and doing her best to not cry like a small child, the ice user brushed a long strand of hair away from her face, sighing at the sight of most of her "team" gone.

Turning her head to look to the only other team mate still with her, Winter frowned at the sight of Miss Martian, the poor girl, leaning on her knees and sprawled on the grass, her head lowered in shame.

"I...I just wanted to be a part of the team." Miss Martian whispered, her voice so quiet Winter nearly missed it.

"I know." Winter spoke, keeping her own voice quiet like Miss Martians'. Bending down to lean on her knee, muttering an 'ow' beneath her breath as she did so, the ice user rested a cut hand on the saddened girls' shoulder, in the hopes of making her feel better. "C'mon. We can't stick around like this. If the others are going to take care of this, we should go wait for them back at the cave."

Sniffling and wiping a small tear from her face, Miss Martian raised her head up to look to Winter, nodding in agreement to the suggestion. "Y-Yeah. I guess so."

The two working together to help one another back to their feet, they slowly headed back to the Bioship. Miss Martian taking the helm once again and Samantha taking a seat that morphed next to Miss Martian, the ship took off and slowly made its way back to base.

---

It was a quiet ride.

No sounds, remarks, or questions for a time. All that could be heard was the sound of the wind rushing past the flying spaceship and the soft hum of the machines. Miss Martian had spent a good chunk of the time helping to bandage some of Winters' wounds, thankful her uncle had placed a first said kit on the ship for a case such as this and taught his niece some minor medical knowledge.

"Thank you M'gann." Winter spoke, her a small smile forming on her face, watching the martian clip the last bandage around her head to seal away the cut that had plagued her.

"Your welcome." She quietly replied, not much energy in the response. Though it wasn't in her usual energetic and sweet tone Samantha had been accustomed to, she didn't hold it against her. Everything M'gann has een through that day had to have worn her out.

"I...I think I'm going to quit the team."

'W-What did she say?' Her eyes sparking with concern, the ice user turned to look over to Miss Martian, the young alien looking down at her hands resting in her lap. "W-What? Why?"

"I don't deserve to be here." Miss Martian responded, shaking her head and frowning. "I've been so excited to come to Earth, see a planet so different from my home. I was given a chance to help out like my uncle, be a hero. But, everything I've done today has ended in disaster. I put everyone in danger for my mistake."

"M'gann," Winter spoke, trying to get the martian's attention. "None of this is your fault. We all make mistakes."

"But I nearly got everyone hurt with that one mistake. I thought Mister Twister was Red Tornado and almost got us hurt worse than before. I invaded all of your privacy with my powers. Superboy is furious with me. I...I don't deserve to be on this team. You'd be better off without me." Miss Martian concluded, trying to fight back with reasons to undermine herself.

Watching the girl next to her begin to break down again, a few small sobs coming out from her shaking form, Winter let her mouth form into a thin line, thinking over what the girl had said.

Taking a moment to try and gather up the most knowledge she could on being mature and wise, Winter...no, Samantha took a deep breath and spoke.

"You know, I'm bad with working with other people." Winter said honestly.

Sniffling, Miss Martian wiped the tears running down her cheeks and looked up to her team mate, confusion written all over. "N-No, you aren't. You were amazing out there."

"I'm not. Really. All that stuff I did out there was thanks to a lot of practice, hard work, and falling on my face. You really think the rest of us just knew how to be a hero when we first started?" Winter asked, a smile on her face at the silly question. "We're only human. Well, Superboy is half human, but that's besides the point.

We all make mistakes M'gann. Some bigger than others and some that end up being so trivial we forget about them. If we all thought about every single thing we did wrong and how we could have done something else, we would have quit being heroes a long time ago."

Resting her own hands in her lap and looking out at the front of the ship to the sky outside, Winter let out an icy breath, watching sparkles of ice glitter in her breath.

"A couple of days ago, I ended up getting into a fight with some really weird villains with Superboy. We tried to go after them, take them down before they hurt anyone else or stole what they could, but we got our butts handed to us. Badly. My teacher Ice Maiden, saw the battle and told me the reason we got beaten was because I was missing something. Something important that I needed if I was going to show that I had what it took to be a hero.

I didn't understand what she meant." Winter spoke, frowning, uncertainty morphing her features. "I thought it was just bad luck, that I was fine, but the more I kept thinking about it throughout the days, I realized she was right. As much as I did not want to admit since I'm sort of stubborn." She joked, chuckling a little.

"Did you find it? What she was talking about?" Miss Martian asked, curiosity replacing the look of despair she had previously.

"Yeah." Winter said, nodding her head a little. "It was teamwork."

"T-Teamwork?" Miss Martian repeated, puzzled by the answer. "But how? I saw you fight with the others. You knew what you were doing, even if we weren't exactly winning."

"Because some pretty amazing people I knew helped me along the way." Winter explained, smiling to the martian before shifting her gaze to her lap."When I'm with Kaldur, Robin, heck even Wally, I know I can do well because they have some of the best tactical skills I've ever seen. They know how to work a battle, come up with plans of attack, find ways to hit an enemies weak spot. I follow their example, not the other way around. When I'm by myself...I can't seem to get it right.

It happened like that with Superboy when we were fighting together. It was just me and him and I thought I could make a plan, find a way to beat the enemy, but in the end I completely disregarded some of the most basic training when fighting with a partner or on a team, and it costed us. As much as I want to be able to lead and think I know what I'm doing, I'm not even close. I still have a lot of growing up to do." Winter noted, a sad smile forming on her face as she fidgeted with her hands.

"So," Winter spoke, raising her head up and looking to the martian. "Don't quit okay? We all make mistakes, but we learn from them. You can too. Nobody can hold it against you. We've only just started to work together as a team after all."

Listening to the inexperienced yet heartfelt words of the white-haired ice user, Miss Martian shook a little in her seat, feeling another fresh wave of tears threatening to come out. Nodding vigorously, the martian hugged Winter tightly in the hopes of conveying her gratitude. "I-I won't. Thank you, Winter."

A bit surprised by the sudden hug from her fellow team mate, Winter mirrored the action back, wrapping her own arms around her friend. "No problem. And...It's Samantha."

"S-Samantha?" Miss Martian repeated, not sure what the ice user had meant.

"My name. I know my dad said not to tell anyone about my identity, but he didn't say anything about just my first name." Winter joked, chuckling as the two broke the tender moment.

Smiling at the poor excuse her team mate, Miss Martian couldn't help but join into the laughter, her voice once so quiet rising in volume as the two laughed together in the small spaceship.

(A Few Minutes and One Call Later)

"C'mon Red Tornado. You're supposed to be watching us, you should come over and give a hand." Winter urged, sitting alongside Miss Martian and staring at the screen expanded on the windshield of the Bioship.

The two heroines able to overcome the insecurities they felt and the situation they were in, both agreed that despite the mistakes that were made and the condition they were in, they needed to do something to help the guys in their battle.

After all, they were a team. It wouldn't be right to leave them with the mess.

Unfortunately for both the super human and martian, their luck was beginning to run thin with her den mother, their stance on helping a bit...perplexing.

"The team really needs your help. Please?" Miss Martian added, her gaze glued to the monitor showing the video call to the red android.

"If I intervene, it would not be to help. Still, it is an odd coincidence that this...twister shares my elemental abilities. And my immunity to telepathy." Red Tornado noted.

"An immunity..." Winter spoke, letting the information roll off her tongue. Now that she thought about everything over again, Red Tornado was correct. Mister Twister had wind powers just like Tornado and looked similarly to him, and though she hadn't been awake to see Miss Martian try to read his mind, she knew that the facts pointed to both the hero and villain having quite a few similarities between each other.

With so many traits matching, could it be possible...

"Hello, M'gann!" Miss Martian spoke out, lightly tapping her head in surprise at her realization. "Mister Twister has to be an android like Red Tornado! That's why I couldn't read his thoughts."

Happy to know Miss Martian had found the answer like she did, Winter nodded and got up from her seat. "Now that we know that, we can take him down. And I've got an idea. As long as we work together and use teamwork, we just might pull it off. Can you contact the others with your telepathy again?"

Getting up from her own chair to stand beside the ice user, Miss Martian smiled and gave a nod of approval to Winters' suggestion.

"Just tell me what to do."

---

(A Few Minutes and Badass Plan Execution Later)

"The reprogramming won't take long." The deep imposing voice of Mister Twister spoke sinisterly, his large body standing over the short circuiting form of Red Tornado. Their fingers releasing what looked to be cables and wires to plug in, the large robot place the wires into Red Tornado's helmet, awaiting the next phase of their plan.

Red Tornado said nothing at first, their body most likely too broken down and degraded to make any movement or sounds to respond. But suddenly, like lightning Red Tornado moved and struck, grasping onto the wires that had been planted onto his head and turned their head towards Mister Twister.

"Longer than you might think." A female voice spoke. Slowly morphing their face into a green color and the metallic surface of Red Tornado disappear, Miss Martian's true form, or rather just her head appeared on Red Tornado's body, and with a smile confronted the villain.

Taking the villain by surprise, Miss Martian swiftly moved her disguised hand upward and focusing her telepathic abilities against the large body, used her mind to push a wave of energy at Mister Twister, flinging him off of her and towards the pier.

Flying into a random direction, Mister Twister didn't fall or catch himself, but rather a tornado of wind caught him instead. Caught up in his own game and spinning around out of his own control, the red giant was flung into another direction, the mini tornado dying down to reveal Kid Flash.

"Superboy, catch!" The speedster yelled, motioning for the muscled teen to go in.

"Raahh!" Rushing out into the field and into the direction of the body of Mister Twister, Superboy grabbed onto the armored enemy as quickly as he could, and taking his opportunity to keep him in place and wail a flurry of strong punches into his chest. One coming after the other, each punch shattered metal off of the villain, smoke rising from their back at broken parts taking their toll.

With one final punch and letting go of the villain to let them be pushed back, Superboy let his fist connect into Mister Twister's chest, the collision throwing him into the ocean.

Aqualad was next to be featured in the plan. Now in his territory and swimming at a high speed known for Atlanteans, Aqualad grabbed hold of a broken piece of metal material from the battlefield, using it as a makeshift weapon for attack. Unable to get away due to the heavy armor making him sink, Mister Twister felt yet another weapon connect into their body, the hard feeling of metal being stabbed into their right arm, a large wave of electricity from the Atlantean's magic shocked their system. An explosion from the combo attack detonating, Mister Twister was flung out of the water and back into open air.

Not giving Mister Twister any chance to recover, Robin went in next, taking out his signature batarang projectiles and threw them at the robotic man falling towards the ground. Watching them connect, the air rang out with a large explosion, fire and smoke covering the battlefield in a gust of obliteration.

Falling hard to the ground after beat down he went through, Mister Twister, his voice groaning at the shape their body was in, slowly tried to get back up, their legs, while bent and broken like most of their body, still working and trying to move the figure.

"We can't have you getting away now can we?" The voice of Winter spoke.

Mister Twister, unable to move much of his head after the aftermath of the team's attacks, only stood in silence before a familiar flurry of snowflakes appeared in front of his face.

Suddenly appearing out of thin air nearby Mister Twister, Winter, holding a small scythe of pure ice, rushed past the villain thanks to the push of her Frost Step. Moving past the villain and taking the opportunity to catch him in her grasp, Winter moved the blade closer and closer with each inch she danced through the air.

Dropping to the ground behind the villain, Winter pulled on the shaft of the weapon with all her strength and swung an arc of ice through the air. The blade already connecting with Mister Twister's legs, the blade sliced straight through the metal easily before the entire weapon shattered to pieces, causing the android to fall face first onto the ground below, defeated.

"Who's playing now?" Winter sassed to the broken form of Mister Twister, dusting her hands off of the leftover ice on her fingers and having a smirk of satisfaction grace her lips.

"I can't believe that actually worked." Robin called out in surprise, him and the rest of the team rushing over to take a look at the villain who had beaten them earlier now defeated at their feet. "I wonder who built this thing."

Miss Martian, using her telepathic powers, helped to move the broken body of Mister Twister up to rest it on the leftover parts of its own legs.

Left to its own devices and unable to make anymore moves to retaliate, the broken body of Mister Twister suddenly began to shake. Unable to do anything more, steam released from the chest cavity of the robot, and its chest opened up to reveal the inner workings of the robot.

Cameras, wires, buttons, and monitors, the final piece that revealed the identity of the culprit was that of an older man. Sitting in a plush chair at the center of the robot, the man dressed in a strange jumpsuit pushed himself out of the broken robot, falling face first into the ground from his own blunder.

Fear showing on his face and looking at all of the angry looking teenagers in front of him, the man shakily spoke. "F-Foul. I-I-I call foul."

"Not likely. Go for it Miss M." Winter replied, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at the man groveling on the ground.

Getting the OK to take care of the rest, Miss Martian nodded and turned her head to a large boulder off to the side, raising her hand upwards to lift the rock into the air.

"M'gann, no!" Aqualad cried out rushing to the girl in an attempt to stop her.

Moving her gaze back to the man on the ground, Miss Martian swung her arm downwards in front of her, commanding the boulder to land on top of the man, crushing him beneath its force.

The echoing sound of a crash from the boulder still ringing through the ears of the team, Robin was the first to speak, a glare clear behind his shaded eyes. "I don't know how you do things on Mars, but on Earth we don't execute people!"

"And what was that about 'go for it Miss M', Winter? You knew she was going to smash that guy to paste!?" Kid Flash spoke up, flailing his arms at Miss Martian and then to the boulder that sat in front of the group.

Wincing at the screeching from Kid Flash, Samantha huffed and covered her right ear that felt like it was exploding. "Hey, don't yell in my ear. And I know what I'm doing. I wouldn't let somebody kill like that."

"And you said you'd all trust us." Miss Martian responded, a smile on her face at Robin and the rest of the group. Moving the palm of her hand out to the boulder in front of the team, the martian concentrated and slowly lifted the rock off of the mini crater.

Rather than seeing a mesh of blood, broken bones, organs, and other disgustingly gross images the boys had thought would appear, they were shocked instead to see...more wires? Metal limbs?

"That's why I couldn't read his mind before." Miss Martian answered in a matter of fact tone, the group walking closer to inspect the damage that had been done.

"We put it together after you kicked us into the sidelines. We knew it would have been a good idea to tell you ahead of time...but, we thought it'd be funnier for you to find out this way." Winter said, sharing a knowing smile with Miss Martian while Kid Flash and Robin looked over the remains.

"Cool, souvenir." Kid Flash commented, grabbing what appeared to be the mechanical eyeball of the android pilot.

"We should have had more faith in you." Aqualad added, walking over and resting a hand on Miss Martian's shoulder. "You did good work today." Smiling, the Atlantean moved his gaze to Winter who stood off to the side. "The both of you."

Realizing the attention and praise she was receiving, Winter hastily turned her face away from the others, a blush creeping up on her face. "O-Of course. I'm a hero after all. It's only natural that my plan would succeed."

'That's total lies and you know it.' Samantha's thoughts scolded herself, sighing at feeling her body finally getting a break from the turmoil they'd been put through. In the end everything worked out well for them, at least by pure luck.

"Yeah," Kid Flash agreed, a joking smile spread across his face. "You two really rocked this mission. Get it? Rocked?" The speedster asked, snorting at his own terrible pun.

Again, Winter couldn't help but sigh her stress away.

'It's better than hearing another ice pun.'

---

"Ow! Not so hard, will you?" Samantha complained, wincing at the feeling of a piece of glass being pulled out of her shoulder.

The team had thankfully fully completed their "mission" after a long day of failure, getting their butts handed to them, and quite a bit of fighting on some levels. After taking the remains of the broken form of Mister Twister and the remains of the unknown android pilot, the team and Red Tornado had decided to put investigation into the hands of Batman, knowing he would surely get to the bottom of it.

And in the end, the group may have slowly helped to patch things up with one another. While they all knew they had some work to do on being an actual team, the trust Miss Martian had thought was lost forever had been regained and she was now officially accepted into the team with open arms.

And now Samantha, thankful the worst was now over, was stuck in the med bay of Mount Justice sitting tiredly one of the patient beds while a robot assistant went to work on her. After such a long battle of not getting checked out officially from her injuries, Red Tornado had made it a priority that she got medical attention, along with strict orders that she'd have to stay at the base for the night for rest and observation.

"Ah! I said not so hard!" Samantha said again, swatting her hand at the mechanical claw of the robot. Her hair falling at her sides and pooling on the soft bed behind her, the ice user had removed her jacket to reveal her exposed arms and shoulders, showing the cuts and bruises she had received from Mister Twister.

"If you don't move around much, maybe it will get the shards out easier?" M'gann suggested, standing at the entrance way of the medical bay and watching the procedure go on.

"That's easy for you to say, M'gann. You're not the own getting glass pulled out of them. Or claws dug into your skin." The ice user muttered, frowning at the sight of a shard of glass in the claw of the robot.

"Just, be careful." The martian warned, a smile appearing on her face. "Um...Samantha?"

"Yeah?" The white-haired heroine replied, looking up to the martian who had called to her.

Blushing a little at the attention, M'gann fidgeted in her spot for a moment, just enough until she looked back at Samantha. "I...just wanted to say thank you again. For talking to me and helping me."

"Oh," Samantha answered, using her free arm to scratch the back of her head, an embarrassed smile appearing. "I-It was nothing. I just wanted to help you and make you feel better. There was no reason you should have been singled out for the mistake you made. We've all made them, trust me."

"It was though. If it hadn't been for you, I might not be here right now, still on the team. You encouraged me and stuck by me when I thought I had nothing to offer. And thanks to you everyone believes in me and trusts me now. Even Superboy apologized to me." M'gann exclaimed excitedly, jumping a little with energy before stopping her actions. "B-But don't tell him I said that."

He...apologized? To M'gann?

She...She hadn't heard anything like that from him. Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn't talked to him at all since the group had fought back at the power plant. Why did he talk to M'gann?

Wait, why was she caring so much about that? Thinking something so petty like that about him and M'gann?

Shaking the confused thoughts from her mind, Samantha gave a weak smile and nodded to M'gann. "I...won't say anything. But see, I told you he's a good guy. He's just a little rough is all. So, don't hold it against him if he gets mad easily. He's still learning, so just try to be his friend. It'll work out."

"Will do! I'll get out of your way so you can finish up. If you need me I'll be in my room just down the hall. Good night." M'gann finished, sending back one more thankful smile to Samantha and waving good bye before disappearing down the hall.

The weird medical robot pulling out the last of the shards of glass in her body, Samantha grabbed the bandages that had been provided for her and began placing themover parts of her shoulders to cover her cuts.

"If this keeps up I'm going to have to wrap myself up like a mummy." She muttered quietly, groaning in pain as she began putting her jacket back on.

"Hey."

Freezing in her motions to adjust her jacket back on her body, Samantha stole her gaze away from the trivial fixation of her jacket and looked up to the entrance of the medical bay. Rather than Miss Martian who had been standing there before, the form that had taken her place was...

"Superboy." Samantha spoke, confusion written on her face. Just when she had been caught thinking about him, there he was all of a sudden. "Uhh...Hey."

Ice blue orbs and dark blue staring back at one another, the two let silence engulf the room, saying nothing to one another for what felt like hours.

Samantha though, decided to cut the tension. Anything was better than awkward silence. "D-Did you need something?"

"Yeah, kind of." Superboy said, yet his eyes said different. He turned his staring away from Samantha, moving it downward to observe the white tiles of the medical room, as if the words he wanted to say were written for him to read. "I...I just..."

"Take your time." Samantha commented, lolling her head to the side while she awaited Superboy to figure out what it was he wanted to say. She could see the way he was holding himself, unsure and hesitant. "You don't have to force yourself."

If this was what she thought it was, what was her answer going to be? Superboy, as complicated yet new to things as he was, had sort of hurt her feelings.

She knew in the back of her mind he hadn't meant to, even explaining to Miss Martian that his anger towards her was just the backlash of abuse Cadmus had put him through.

He was still learning, and like everybody else he too could make mistakes. She had to understand that, and this was one of those moments that she had to prove it.

Looking back up to gaze at Samantha who simply sat quietly to let the teen think his thoughts through, Superboy nodded, a mix of perplexity and uncertainty showing while he spoke up.

"I'm...Sorry." He finally answered, forcing the apology out like it had been the toughest battle he'd ever faced. Shutting his eyes and his hands gripping tightly into fists at his sides, the cloned boy turned his face away from Samantha to try and not look at her reaction.

'He...He apologized. He really did it.' Samantha thought, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of the hesitant young hero looking away from her.

Surprise was the first emotion she felt creep up inside her. Surprise that what she had just witnessed and heard had actually happened.

Relief was next. Just knowing that Superboy was remorseful about the way he had yelled at her earlier that day helped the fears in the back of her mind subside, knowing that despite the setback that moment had for them, the two wouldn't be on thin ice as friends.

Pride. She was just so happy that Superboy, the boy she'd only met a few weeks ago and unknowing of the world beyond the pod at Cadmus he lived in, was learning. He was understanding, growing as a person. He was finally getting the life he deserved. As crazy, hectic, and a little chaotic as it was at times.

And...something else. She couldn't place the last emotion. It warmed her entire being, making the lingering pain from her injuries disappear like magic. It was strong like confidence and pride, yet it felt sort of squishy around her heart and made her shiver at the same time. Was it those crazy teenage hormones messing with her again?

Or, maybe that was the medicine she'd gotten kicking in?

In any case, Samantha smiled, a genuinely happy smile to Superboy and leaned forward on the bed, hoping the teen could hear her next words. "I forgive you."

"Y-You do?" Superboy asked, raising his head up from his attempt at hiding from the ice user.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"N-No." Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Superboy shifted his gaze away once again, his eyes darting around the room to try and make sense of what he was supposed to say next. "B-But why?"

"Because you're still learning Superboy. And I could hear it in your voice. How genuinely sorry you are." Samantha commented, her smile never faltering. "You may not know that much about emotions or how to keep them in check, but you do know how to look back on your mistakes and fix them. Not a lot of real humans know how to do that part right."

"Really?" Superboy asked.

"Yeah, really." Samantha replied back, nodding and staring at her unsure team mate. "As long as your genuine about what you feel and are willing to fix whatever outburst that may come out by accident, you're learning in my book and I'll forgive you. Count on it."

Blushing a little at the explanation she gave, Samantha crossed her arms in a defiant manner and pointed to the boy. "But...Don't think I'll just forgive you if you apologize to me. Especially if you do something really stupid. I'm not a pushover."

The tension breaking away at the relaxed tone she held, Superboy let the weight in his shoulders melt away, and smiled at the face Samantha was making. "I'll try not to." Giving a nod to prove her understood, Superboy turned back to the hallway to head back to his room, but stopped momentarily to look back at the ice user. "Samantha?"

Lowering her arms to rest in her lap after making the playful gesture, Samantha straightened herself to sit properly and turned her head to look at the retreating Superboy. "Y-Yeah Superboy?"

"...Thank you." And with those last quiet words spoken, Superboy moved back to his path down the hallway, disappearing from the ice user's line of sight.

Sitting silently and finally alone in the medical room, Samantha said nothing at first. Nothing seemed to come to her mind but the words she had just heard uttered to her. Words she never thought she would hear from Superboy for a long time.

It wasn't just a simple and casual 'thanks'. No, it was a real authentic 'thank you' from Superboy. No jokes, no curt tones, no sense of hesitation. It was heartfelt. She could feel it.

Then, she slowly maneuvered her body to slowly lay down, letting her tired form rest on the soft mattress of the cot she took residence. Making herself comfortable and sure she wasn't going to get up again for anything else, the ice user slowly moved her right hand up to her mouth and slowly covered it.

Her body was heating up all over.

She felt her form shaking despite it not being cold.

It felt like it was hard to breathe suddenly, like her breath had been stolen from her.

All of these feelings went into overdrive in her body. Just because Superboy had said thank you? Were hormones and puberty that powerful that it could make her feel like this?!

Her face flushed at the memory just moments ago playing back in her mind, she gave a muffled groan into the palm of her hand, thankful nobody was around to see her having an internal conflict with her own emotions.

Was it bad? To wonder if it was now okay to start having a crush on Superboy? Those words he spoke, the bonafide emotions he had when he apologized, the way he shined when he smiled.

God, that smile.

She wanted to be rational, keep a lid on her emotions and ignore any semblance of rash decision that wanted to surface. Acting on her emotions had gotten her thrown out a window for God's sake!

She knew that eventually anger could break out, burst everywhere like an explosion if kept in too long. It was appropriate to let anger out when needed and others times it was important to ignore it.

But, this feeling that was inside her...It was different, not even close to anger. It didn't feel like it was hurting her in any way, hindering her process to think, stopping her hero work, lose control of her actions.

It was warm.

It was fast.

It was constricting.

Made her hands shake a little, but it made her happy too.

She'd never met anyone that made her feel...like this. Like she was on top of the world.

Curling up into the covers of the bed she laid on, Samantha wrapped herself neatly into a soft cocoon and slid her hand away from her mouth to rest it close to her chest with the other, curling up protectively with her hands over the spot she knew her heart was beating rapidly beneath her skin.

'I...don't know if I want to ignore this feeling.'

---

Yay, I got through the next chapter! Sorry that the end kind of got choppy with the scene changes. I really wanted to get this out to you all, so I had to get a little weird and switch scenes back and forth so I didn't have to take longer with this.

Now that this chapter is over, I hope to try and start the next one during my spring break. So, please look forward to it. ;3

Some extra notes to make mention of before I sign off.

-A super cute commission I got from the Tumbler user jooblesbeebles and the artist tag Jubblier has now taken the face of this story. I love it so much and am so happy with how it turned out. If you want a closer look, just click the pic. Not only is it a cute pose, but you may notice a little something extra if you look closely at Winter and Superboy.

I wonder who will spot it first, and what you'll think it means? X3

-Second note, since writing this chapter, I've created a separate story using Superboy and Winter as the main pairing and characters. I wanted to try and play around with their relationships and story ideas without having to halt writing or changing the main story, so instead I made an AU! fic series called Changing Seasons!

I already got two chapters posted, each a different idea, so if you'd like to read them, see some fun interactions in different situations, or suggest one, please go to it and review.

And I think that's all. Hope you guys all have a great day/night.

Next Chapter: Dropzone Pt. 1