Young Justice: Recruit
Chapter 2: Bad Memories
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters involved except Li Owens
A brick wall slid open in front of Li, Tigress, and Superboy. Revealing a hidden bunker with a zeta-tube.
"Whoa…" Li's jaw hung open as he entered the bunker, his eyes flitting from one piece of equipment to the next.
The door hissed shut behind them as Tigress took off her quiver and laid it on a console near the controls for the zeta-tube.
"So Li, before we let you meet Superman, there's something we need to do first," She explained.
"What's that?" he asked absently, still examining some of the weapons and equipment in the bunker.
"We're taking you to our friend M'gann, she's going to look you over and make sure those jerks didn't do anything else to you."
Li jerked back from the weapons at the mention of the name. "M'gann? That's a Martian name. Am I going to be meeting The Martian Manhunter too?!"
"Not quite, you'll be meeting his niece, M'gann M'orzz. You might know her as Miss Martian?" Superboy offered.
Li shrugged, "Sorry. That doesn't ring a bell."
"Not too much of a shock given she's in charge of The Team," Tigress added.
"The Team?" Li asked, tilting his head.
"Not important," Superboy held up a hand to Tigress as a cue for her to stop.
She nodded before returning to the controls for the zeta-tube.
"So, I'm going to meet Miss Martian, she'll look me over. Then I can meet Superman?" He asked.
"Sure, if there's time. He's a busy guy after all," Superboy replied, "And besides. I'm sure you'll want to get home. We can-"
"No."
Li cut him off before he could continue, "I'm not going home. Not back to that, not back to… him…" Li had put his hands on his arms as he spoke and gripped them tightly as he finished.
The two heroes looked at each other, then back at Li. Tigress continued to work on the zeta commands while Superboy stood up and walked over to him. He placed a hand on his shoulder, which made Li look up into his face.
"Hey, it's ok. We'll find you somewhere else to go, alright?"
Li nodded.
"Let's relax, it'll make it easier for M'gann to look you over if you aren't flustered and freaking out, ok?"
Li nodded again.
"Got it! The dumb thing always takes forever to boot up. I swear this is our worst zeta-tube in service," Tigress called to them.
"C'mon, let's get going," Superboy nodded toward the large, tunnel-like structure in the back of the bunker.
Li nodded and followed after him.
An electronic, female voice echoed throughout the bunker.
"Recognized: Tigress, B-07. Recognized: Superboy, B-04. Unrecognized individual."
"Override, exemption code: Guest," Superboy called out.
"Recognized. Override code: Guest, now in use," The voice replied.
"What was that?" Li asked.
"Our system is designed to only turn on if it recognizes everyone in the group. It's to make sure we don't have any unwelcome visitors at the Watchtower."
"The Watchtower!? I'm going to the Watchtower!?" Li asked, his normal enthusiasm returning.
"Yep, it's where we operate from nowadays," Superboy answered.
A thunderous boom echoed through the bunker as the zeta-tube opened.
"C'mon," Superboy waved a hand toward the portal.
Li nodded and followed, with Tigress taking up the rear. The trio entered the portal and disappeared. After a few seconds, the golden light faded, and the base went dark again as the lights went out.
On the Watchtower, the electronic voice echoed near the zeta-tube area.
"Recognized: Tigress, B-07. Recognized: Superboy, B-04. Recognized: Exception Code – Guest,"
M'gann had been waiting for their return, and she had perked up as the system rattled off the names, then her face contorted into a look of confusion at the third moniker.
"A guest? They weren't supposed to bring anyone back with them," she said to herself.
The portal opened and the trio stepped out. Superboy smiled as he saw M'gann, Tigress sighed as she took off her mask once the portal closed. Li was, similar to the bunker, in awe of what he saw. His jaw practically hit the floor as he looked around. His eyes fell on a window and widened even further before he rushed over to it and looked out into the vastness of space laid out before him.
"This is awesome!" He shouted as he turned back to Connor and Artemis.
"Who's that?" M'gann asked.
"That's Li. He was the only one we could find from the metagene testing facility we raided," Artemis replied.
"Why's he here? You were supposed to take him home after making sure his metagene wouldn't cause any trouble."
"That's where the hiccup came in," Connor jumped into the conversation now, "His metagene… it lets him… summon people. During the raid, he summoned a copy of Superman to fight off their enforcer. From what we can tell, his summoned copies act like he thinks the original does, and any damage they take, he takes to a reduced degree. As for taking him home, well…"
Connor turned to look at Li again, who was still in awe of the view of space.
"We think he was being abused, which is why he ran away," Artemis took over again, "When we mentioned taking him home, he was pretty adamant about 'not going back to him'. We didn't want to force him, and we kinda offered to let him meet Superman. And we wanted to bring him here to have you take a look at him. See if we can get a handle on what all his powers can do. I was thinking they might be some kind of mental ability, like your telepathy."
M'gann nodded at the explanations. "I'll do what I can. I'll set up in med bay one, can you bring him there in a few minutes?" She asked.
Artemis nodded.
"Thanks, M'gann, we appreciate it," she said.
"No trouble, c'mon. I'll need some help making sure everything's cleared away," She said to Connor as she took his hand and led him away.
Artemis moved to join Li at the window and the two gazed out into the void of space for a few minutes before Artemis' earpiece buzzed with M'gann's voice. They were ready.
She guided Li to the med bay, and as the doors slid open, he saw M'gann waiting for him with a smile.
"So, Li. This is the part that Superboy and Tigress were telling you about. I'll just take a look at you and make sure everything's working as it should be, ok?" She asked.
Li nodded as he entered the med bay and hopped onto the table.
M'gann nodded and closed her eyes, extending her hands around Li's head.
"I'm going to enter your mind if that's ok with you?" She asked.
Li nodded, then realized she had her eyes closed. "Yes ma'am, that's fine," he answered.
"Polite," Connor whispered to Artemis
"Why wasn't he like that on the boat?" She whispered back.
M'gann's brow furrowed as she began to concentrate, "This'll feel a little weird at first. Just relax and roll with it ok? I promise I won't do anything to hurt you," she said.
Li nodded again, then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and let his body go limp.
Inside his mind, M'gann appeared, it was a small apartment living room. Li appeared next to her.
"Li! What? How are you?" She asked.
"What? In my own mind? I do this kind of thing all the time, I read some forums about what monks do to attain their enlightenment. I imagine myself being in my memories a lot. You were right, it is kinda weird to feel like someone else is in my mind," He said as he looked around the apartment.
"Well, if you're here. That'll help me figure out what they did to you," she said.
"Oh… that," Li said as he walked into the small kitchenette that was attached to the living room.
"Yes, I'm sorry to bring up bad memories, but I'll need to see exactly what happened," She said.
Li nodded, as he opened a cabinet. "Better than being back here I suppose," he said.
In a flash, the two were watching the scene of Li being strapped to a table. His face was a mix of fear and confusion as he looked at the two men who were strapping him in.
"Is this when it began?" M'gann asked.
"Yeah, this was when I first woke up. They told me I was getting superpowers, I thought it was too good to be true."
The past Li began to scream as lightning arced into his body from the device attached to the medical table to which he was strapped.
The present Li closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out the sound.
M'gann nodded and her eyes began to glow green as she swiped a hand, the scene slid away. They now found themselves at the moment where Superboy and Tigress were rescuing him.
Avalanche had Tigress in the bear hug when they both saw past Li stand, his eyes wide with fear. Then suddenly, Superman appeared next to him, floating a few feet off the ground. The conversation was replayed before Superman charged Avalanche.
"I see what they mean about your powers," she said.
The two watched the fight play out and then the subsequent escape. As the past team arrived at the boat M'gann nodded.
"I've seen enough," she said.
The two disappeared in a flash and were back in the med bay on the Watchtower.
"Well, they didn't do anything more than activate his metagene, which is good," She said, "I can tell why you don't want to go home either."
She had peeked into his memories while they watched the battle play out, and she did not like what she had seen.
"So now what?" Li asked.
"We'll figure something out. For now, you can stay here at the Watchtower. I'll get permission from the League as a special case."
"Can I… join you?" Li asked.
The trio looked at each other.
"You want to join the League?" Artemis asked.
Li nodded, "I've always dreamed of being a superhero, to be someone who could help others… and stop people like Him."
The trio looked at each other again.
"We'll mention it to them," Connor told him, "Let's get you to your bed, have you get some rest."
Li nodded and slid off the table and followed Connor out of the room.
Artemis and M'gann watched them before turning to each other. They both had an idea, but they knew they would need the ok from the League first.
"He might just get his wish after all," M'gann said with a smile.