3 September 2010
Mount Justice, Happy Harbour

"Recognised Aqualad B02" The zeta tube sang as Aqualad stepped out onto the unforgiving solidness of the Cave's floor.

"Have you made your decision?" Batman greeted the boy, not even bothering to spare a glance up from the computer illuminated before him. Not that Aqualad minded, of course, Batman was a man of few words and even fewer courtesies.

"The decision is made" Aqualad affirmed as the Team—his Team—trickled out of the Cave's twisting tunnels, all done up in their brightly-coloured hero costumes and chatting amicably amongst themselves.

Upon spotting him next to Batman, Ms Martian visibly brightened as if she had been worried about him and a slight tension eased from Superboy's shoulders. Their two birds—Raven & Robin—seemed happy that he was back as well, and the Team's class clown (Kid Flash) and spitfire (Artemis) seemed to be far more at ease now that he was back, like a puzzle piece that had slotted back into place. A certain fondness swept through the atlantean at the sight of them and he knew, without a doubt, that this was the right decision. How could anyone in their right mind, give this up?

"I am here" Aqualad reaffirmed, nodding succinctly as if to prove it. "One hundred per cent"

"Good, then you're just in time for your next mission." Batman grunted, before turning to the Team as a whole. "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan Desert…"

4 September 2010
Bialyan Desert, Bialya

Katchhhhaa, s'nomoth…! [Ooh, my head…!] M'gann groaned as she cradled her head in her hands and tried to beat back the headache which pounded at her skull. Brain blasts were not fun. Soon enough however, she was able to look about without feeling like her mind was going to split open like a spoilt fruit, and when she did she found something even more puzzling than the (unknown) cause of the brain blast. K'azzar M'gann? N'da M'arrzz…Huh? Ah'lunzz? [Where am I? Huh? One moon?] Her puzzled gaze turned towards the sky where a single moon hung in the sky.

Next, her attention turned to the sand at her side. It was coarse of course (sand always was), but the fine grains were like little grains of snow that filtered through her fingers when she scooped up a handful to inspect beneath the moonlight. S'sess b'rakahzz? [White sand?]. Sucking in a deep breath then revealed more to the martian than just the starry sky and the sandy dunes, which she excitedly added to her list of observations. Hw'asheta! [Oxygen!].

"Hello Megan! I'm on Earth!" M'gann exclaimed in realisation as she switched to the spoken word of this planet. Quickly clambering to her feet, the martian began to make her way down the dune upon which she sat, intent on finding out exactly where on Earth she was, as well as answering a few more questions that were rattling around inside her brain. "But how did I get to Earth? Why am I wearing this costume? And why does my head hurt so much? Did…did I piss off Ma'alefa'ak again? Is that why my head hurts? I wouldn't put it past him, if I'm being honest. Eurgh…!"

Moving about in the dark made it hard for her to see where she was going, and so, it was inevitable that M'gann would trip over some sort of unseen obstruction and tumble down the rest of the dune, only coming to a stop once she reached the bottom. At least Earth's sand wasn't as hard packed as Mars' was, meaning that it didn't hurt as much as she it would've of had she fallen on the red sands of home. "Is this…is this a dream?" She wondered aloud, cradling her head once more, this time sitting up with less effort than before.

BOOM!

Suddenly the sand next to her exploded as something landed hard, and with all the subtlety of a constipated bull in a china shop. Once the dust cloud had cleared however, she was treated to the sight of a boy. He was about her age, tall broad and pretty. But it was the simply-styled t-shirt that he wore which captured her attention. "Wait…! I've seen that symbol! Are you…Superman?"

"RAAAAAAAHHH!" The boy suddenly dug his fingers into the cloth and tore through his shirt, ripping it to rags in an instant as a feral cry ripped through his lips. And then he came at her with an intensity that frightened the martian; as if being compared to Superman was the world's biggest insult.

"Ah!" M'gann gasped, eyes going wide as he suddenly lunged for her with features blazing. Quickly scrambling away from the feral boy, she leapt for the air where she knew she would be safe. Or so she hoped. Because no sooner had her feet left the sand, did the feral boy chase after her.

Legs coiled beneath him like taut springs and in a single leap, he launched himself upwards in a powerful jump that would've of easily knocked the martian out of the air had she not reacted (instinctively) and telekinetically bar the boy from coming any closer. Still, she hadn't been expecting the blowback from the bull of a boy when he'd charged headfirst into the invisible barrier and tumbled back to earth with the grace of a boulder. Both teens hit the ground some ways apart, though the kryptonian (for he must've of been) recovered first and, upon seeing her down, clearly decided that she was no more of a threat because he bounded away with another feral cry on his lips. It was all M'gann could do to curl up in a ball, in her little crater and try not to cry.

"No, not a dream, a nightmare!"

Robin was cooking by the time he awoke. It wasn't the only issue, but it was the main one. Being swaddled in so many layers was usually a good thing; good for protection, basic armour against most attacks and good at fighting off the ever-present chill that seemed to bite at Gotham. But for hot climates like this one? (Wherever this one was), not ideal. And then there was the headache; a lancing thing that pounded at his head like fists on a punching bag. He could probably have of ignored it, had he not already been suffering from the intense heat that seemed to be trying its best to drown him.

Wiping away the sweat on his brow, Robin leant up agains the rocky outcropping to his right and just barely paused to right himself when a disturbance on the horizon caught his attention. If he were any other person, he might've shrugged it off as a hallucination, but he wasn't any other person and so, moving more on muscle memory than anything else, Robin flitted up into the rocky outcropping that towered over him and hid inside one of the craggy holes that was just big enough to hide him.

And a good thing too, for no sooner had he hidden inside the blessedly shadowed and cool place, did an envoy of armoured trucks trundle past; each proudly baring the flag of this country and scores of soldiers who swarmed about like ants on a summer's day. "Those're Bialyan Republican Army uniforms…" Robin mused aloud as he brought up his holo-map in an effort to figure this all out. "But what are Bialyans doing in Bialya? Okay, better question, what am I doing in Bialya? In September?! What happened to March?!"

Confusion didn't even begin to cover what he was feeling, and so, collapsing the map once more the Gothamite then moved to contact his mentor for assistance (though he was loathed to do so. Batman could scowl with the best of them and the disappointed ones were the worst). "Better radio Batman—"

"…Maintain radio silence at ALL times!" Batman intoned, staring each and every one of them in the face until they got the picture. Behind him, a picture-perfect map of Bialya stood proudly displayed on the computer screen, only blemished by one single blinking tracer dot.

"Hey! Why're you only looking at me?" Kid Flash whinged, crossing his arms with a pout.

"Uh, maybe 'cause you can't keep your trap shut, Kid Mouth?" A blonde archer sassed back, hands on hips and a smirk on her lips.

"Oh, like YOU can talk, you—you—you—"

"—YES?"

"…Shut up"

"—Or maybe not" Robin amended as the memory of the mission debriefing flashed before his eyes. Instead, he waited for the Biyalians to pass before he jumped down from his hiding spot and made his way over to where a scrap of fabric had caught his attention before. It was a large piece, black and bore the symbol of Superman emblazoned in the center. The material wasn't thick nor sturdy like that of his own suit, so Robin could only assume that it was one of those tourist shirts that populated most cities. Though what it—or its owner—were doing out here, he had no clue. It was just another piece to the already confusing puzzle.

When Artemis woke (when had she fallen asleep?) sweat had already begun to bead on her brow and a strange boy was kneeling over her, gently trying to rouse her. Given any other situation, she might've of thought she had gotten lucky with some guy she'd picked up off of the street, or one of her Dad's lackeys that she'd used as a stress relief. As it was, the headache that lanced through her head and the earnest look in his eyes did little to distract from the rather decrepit shack in which she woke—no bed nor bathroom in sight.

"Hey, it's okay! I won't hurt you! I'm one of the good guys!" The boy cooed as she scrambled back in an effort to put some space between the two. However, she only got so far before her back hit the wall, but at least the familiar weight of the bow in her hands helped to calm her heart, some. "Y'know, Kid Flash!"

"Seen Kid Flash on the news" Artemis retorted, "He doesn't wear black"

"…A little unclear of that myself" He admitted, before gesturing to her own get-up. "What about you? A Green Arrow fixation?"

Green Arrow? Artemis' brow furrowed in confusion as her gaze turned towards the cheesy green get-up that she wore; complete with the green arrow plastered across her chest and equally green bow in her hand. "Who put me in this?!"

"Wow" Kid Flash blinked dumbly, "I am not touching that with a ten-foot—uh, so, do you know how to use that bow?"

"Yeah, my Dad taught me" She replied glibly, at least before recognition seemed to sink in. "Dad! He must've done this! Another of his stupid tests!"

"What kinda tests?"

"He probably wants me to kill you"

Kid Flash's eyes blew wide at that admission, but any further inquiries were squashed by the whistling sound of a missile headed straight for them. So, without further ado, the speedster grabbed a hold of the archer's hand and dragged her outside, leading the way at a moderate pace so that she could keep up. Not that it mattered much, the shockwave still knocked them off of their feet and there was little that they could do against their armoured attackers and their tanks. Still, Artemis wasn't about to go down without a fight and loosed a few exploding arrows that took out the front-most trucks that dared to come too close.

At least until Kid Flash returned to scoop her up and carry her away as they fled under the rain of gunfire (the missiles seemed like a bit much, for only two people, even to her). "Sorry, they've got bigger arrows" He replied to questioning stare.

"…Thanks" Artemis murmured as she blinked back the dust raining into her eyes and tried to not think about the way her stomach was doing flips at this speed.

"Hey, I told you, good guy" Kid Flash grinned as they wove in & out, "Now, not to pry, but what's your name? Oh, and what's this about you killing me?"

"Biat Azar…! Mad'a a'bani? [By Azar…! What hit me?]" Munin groaned as consciousness slowly returned to her. Her head lanced with the familiar ache of a telepathic touch and her mind instantly jumped to the last game that she had been playing with the twins, Eldian and Deucalion. She had stupidly challenged the trickster twins to a game of Blind Demon's Bluff and as per usual, any game with her petty telepathic siblings had ended in frustrated tears and a lancing headache. Which was why she sat cradling her head in her hands, practically bent in half as she pressed her forehead against the cool sand.

At least until the sensation of the cool sand seemed to register in her mind's eye and then she was jerking back upright and searching around her for a reason as why she was surrounded by such cool sands. Easily switching to the native language of this planet, Munin hummed to herself in thought. "Wait, sand? Since when was there sand in this place?…Hang on, where's the statues of Father? And the pits? And—and the fires? Wait—! No way! The sky's blue! Does this…? Is this…? I mean, it must be! It's…is this…Earth? It's pretty bland, isn't it? Why does Klarion like this place so much? Better question: why would Father wanna conquer this place? It's so boring! Why not somewhere fun, like, like the Dreaming or something? Now that place is fun! Well, as fun as a decrepit old place could be…"

As the harsh sun beat down on the little witch, her attention turned to her small hands which held a sort of novel interest for the girl. Hands—she had hands—and legs! And talons, and feet, and knees and feathers! These things were not the norm, and had not been the norm, for the little witch since she was eight years old. Sure, she'd had them in Azarath, but Azarath was of the fifth dimension, where such things were normal. For a being of the sixth dimension, something as novel as a body all her own was, well, just that, novel.

Those within the sixth dimension were contained within glistening red gems (like the one embedded in her forehead) and only took on bodily visages when they gained a familiar…A familiar! She must have a familiar that anchored her to this place! That's why she looked like this! "A familiar…!" Munin gasped in awe, twisting her taloned hands this way and that in order to study every inch of her new form. "I wonder if it's anything like Klarion's? But I'm not really a cat person…Oooh! Maybe it'll be a star whale like Larry's! Or—or a dog? Maybe a bird? But what kind? I couldn't do—what did Klarion call them?—peacocks? No, too uppity. Hmm…"

Munin continued to muse aloud, filling the empty space with white noise so as to avoid drowning in the silence that threatened to suffocate her. In Gehenna, there was always some kind of noise echoing about: the crackling of fire, the clash of swords, the screams of a disobedient/scared child, the bellow of enchantments and the thundering of hooves. This orchestral sound sung like a symphony in comparison to the deadening silence that filled the desert, pressing down with unrelenting heaviness.

Swaddled in her glee at having a body—a familiar!—it took Munin a moment to notice that she was not as wholly there as she had first thought. Instead, her body kept flickering like the static of a television caught between two frames. Glitching between her sixth dimensional home and this new place in the third dimension, it quickly became apparent that her anchor to this plane was in trouble. Something that caused a certain sense of righteous fury to well up inside her at the thought and she hadn't even met the creature yet! A jaunty little tune (that sounded just that tad bit sadistic) hummed in her head as promised images of pain and suffering fluttered through her mind, because the one thing she knew for certain was that whomever had hurt her familiar was going to pay.

"…Familiar ties will anchor them
Anchor them, anchor them
Familiar ties will anchor them
My dear Lord

Familiar ties will bend & break
Bend & break, bend & break
Familiar ties will bend & break
My dear Lord…"