Chapter Eleven
The Soft Gig
"Guys, we've gotten a last minute addition to our team." Robin announced as he and Morgan strode up to the Bio ship where Blue Beetle and Lagoon Boy were waiting.
Lagoon Boy groaned. "Great, now I know this will be a soft gig when she's going."
Morgan paused and frowned at him. "Excuse me?"
"You're a rookie." Lagoon Boy pointed out. Robin flinched; probably halfway expecting Morgan to use her telekinesis powers to blast Lagoon Boy through a wall for calling her that.
Instead, she shrugged. "You got me there."
Blue Beetle chuckled and clasped her shoulder. "Welcome to team Gamma."
Morgan smiled at him and then she walked up to the Bio ship, studying it. "Now, how does this thing actually work?" She questioned. "I've never been in it before."
"We'll explain the finer workings of the Bio ship along the way." Robin promised as the ship's latch opened.
Before long, Morgan found herself inside the ship, and the four teenagers were headed for New Orleans.
She studied the controls in front of her, wishing she understood how they worked. Everything was bathed in a low purple light, and Morgan found herself studying the way it changed her usual colors with fascination. The dark blue suit was practically black in the low light. Her blonde hair was a light purple color, her skin a slightly darker shade.
She was practically bobbing up and down in her seat with excitement, not quite yet believing that Nightwing had let her go.
"We're there." Lagoon Boy announced, and Morgan looked up and out the window, spotting what appeared to be a junk yard right ahead. The Bio ship flew closer.
"A tool shed?" the Atlantean sounded positively affronted, like the shed had done him a great disfavor. "There's barely even room for a single Zeta tube in there!"
Morgan felt her spirits dampen slightly. The mission was apparently a lot less exciting than she had hoped for.
She told herself that it was probably for the best. Besides, what had she expected? Nobody had tried to deny that this would be an easy mission, so she was only getting exactly what she'd been promised.
"I knew we'd been saddled with the soft gig." Lagoon Boy groaned, slumping back into his seat in defeat.
Blue Beetle looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. "And yet, I am strangely okay with that." As he leaned back in his seat too, his arms resting behind his head, his face took on a defensive look and he suddenly started rambling, seemingly to himself. "Yes I am!" He repeated three times, sounding more and more aggressive each time. Morgan and the two remaining boys looked at him weirdly.
Robin sighed and pressed a button on the controls in front of them. "Gamma squad to Cave."
Morgan turned in her chair and watched as a round screen appeared in front of Robin, Mal's face in the middle. "We're in position."
"Acknowledged, Gamma." Mal responded. "All Team squads and Justice League units are in place and ready. Go time."
Robin, Blue Beetle and Lagoon Boy all stood up and assembled with practiced ease. Morgan rose and followed after them a second later, not entirely sure what they were supposed to do now.
Lagoon Boy punched in a command, and a hatch opened in the back of the ship. The three boys all jumped out and landed safely on the ground.
"Well, here goes nothing." Morgan muttered before leaping off the ship, her wings spread out to let her glide unhindered to the ground. The others were crouching behind a pair of beat up, scrapped cars. Morgan made to tiptoe as silently as possible up behind Blue Beetle, but she her boot got snagged in a piece of wire, and she tumbled to the ground, bumping into him instead. Robin flinched when her tumble created quite a racket.
"Sorry." She whispered sheepishly, ignoring Lagoon Boy's eye roll.
Robin nodded at Blue Beetle, and it was with a small sense of awe that Morgan watched as Blue Beetle's arm morphed into a cannon of sorts and obliterated the rusty old tool shed.
The four of them approached the remaining scraps of the small building. Lagoon Boy jumped down and kicked over an old tool-box before fixing Blue Beetle with a sarcastic look. "Good work Blue. You took out the tool shed."
Morgan rolled her eyes, totally not in the mood for Lagoon Boy's attitude. She wished Robin would tell him to shut up.
It wasn't that she disliked Lagoon Boy, she actually usually got along with him pretty well, but her nerves where on high alert and her heart was beating rapidly in her chest. This was her first mission, and it did make her feel both nervous and excited. She didn't need his degrading comments to dampen the mood.
Robin put a hand to his ear. "Gamma to Cave. There's no Zeta tube here." He sounded just as disappointed as Morgan felt. She'd been so ready to kick some alien butt. "No Kroloteans, no hidden entrance."
A second later, Mal replied, "Watchtower sensors still read trace of Zeta radiation from the site."
"Confirmed." Robin acknowledged. He looked at his tracking device, a look of realization dawning on him. "But the radiation is coming from below the water!" he exclaimed, sounding vaguely excited. Morgan felt herself grow excited too. She might still get to kick some alien butt!
Robin looked at Lagoon Boy who was still standing below them amidst the remaining pieces of the poor, innocent tool shed. "Your turn."
Lagoon Boy nodded and, together, they walked to the edge of the junk yard, facing the water. Morgan shivered just by looking at the cold, dark mass. She suddenly hoped that there wasn't anything down there and she wouldn't have to dive in. She'd never been a good swimmer. In fact, after her wings had first started growing, she'd stopped swimming altogether – it was difficult to hide wings in a bathing suit – which meant she hadn't tried swimming for five years. She wasn't even sure if she remembered how anymore, or if her wings would weigh her down too much.
"If you find anything, contact us." Robin ordered. Lagoon Boy saluted him and back-flipped gracefully into the water.
"We need to be ready in case he finds anything." Robin immediately went on, turning to the two teenagers behind him. "Blue, your suit has its own oxygen supply, right?"
"That's right." Blue confirmed.
"Good, because I've only got two of these." Robin pulled out two small black mouth pieces. "Here, Morgan. You just place it in your mouth like this," He demonstrated, "and you can breathe underwater."
"Oh, um, okay." She hesitated, her worry over having to swim ruling out her enthusiasm at how cool this gadget was. "Listen guys, I'm not a very good swimmer.." She admitted, feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment.
Blue fixed her with an 'are you serious' face, and Robin stared blankly at her.
"But, you know, I'm not sure. I just haven't tried it in five years because of," she pointed a thumb back at her grey wings, pressing her lips together. "Yep.."
"Okay, uh," Robin scratched the back of his head. "Just stick close to me, I'll make sure you don't drown."
Morgan smiled at the boy, feeling her affection for him grow. "Thanks, Robin. I'm sorry I'm such a lame superhero right now. I'm working on that."
"Hey, we're all pretty new at this." Robin pointed out before he stiffened and pressed a hand to his ear. "That's the signal. We're good to go."
Blue Beetle jumped into the water untroubled, but Morgan found herself hesitating. Robin took hold of her arm. "It's gonna be fine." He promised, and Morgan nodded doubtfully at him, mask covered eyes finding his.
Together, they jumped.
The water was even colder than Morgan had imagined it, and she let out a gasp of surprise at the temperature, taking in a mouthful of water. Forcing herself to stay calm, she spat the dark water out and took a deep breath through the oxygen mask Robin had handed her.
He was still grasping her forearm, and met her eyes briefly before pointing after the others. Morgan nodded at him and they started swimming after them. It was easier than she had imagined. In her early years, she'd been swimming a lot, especially with her dad, so she supposed her body remembered what it should do.
Directly in front of them, in a small tunnel-like cave shielded from view by a wall of seaweed, there was a small circular metal door. As they approached t, Morgan noticed how it kept opening and closing at a rapid speed, almost like a heartbeat.
They halted when they were halfway there. Morgan's wild hair floated around everywhere, covering her vision, and she batted it away from her eyes just as Robin motioned for Lagoon Boy to force the small door open.
She'd only seen him do it once before, so Morgan watched with fascination as Lagoon Boy sudden grew to double size, looking more like an overgrown toad on steroids than the slim boy he usually was. He swam up to the metal doorway and, using brute strength, forced it open fully, allowing for everyone to pass through unhindered.
On the other side, the tunnel no longer looked like it had been made by nature, but rather the walls were covered in smooth steel, blue lights illuminating the sides.
At the end of the tunnel and above them, Morgan saw a greater light source, and she rejoiced at the prospect of getting out of the frigid water. Her muscles were staring to clench uncomfortably with the cold.
Feeling more confident, she motioned for Robin that she was fine, and he let her go as they swam for the opening.
A moment later the four of them resurfaced inside a huge room, illuminated with a green light source. Next to her, Robin's eyes grew huge and he spat out his oxygen device. Morgan handed hers back and turned her head to see what had him looking so startled.
Morgan's own mouth popped open at the sight of the huge, underground facility. It was swimming with aliens and bustling with activity. Up ahead of them, there was a tower-like formation with a platform near the top. Giant screens circled the platform where everyone could see them.
"Oh my god." Morgan breathed. "Nightwing is going to kill me." She added, remembering how he'd only let her go because he thought it would be a soft gig.
"Yeah, right after he strangles me." Robin agreed. "Come on."
They swam to the surface, the four of them hiding behind a small outcrop near the water. Morgan pressed herself to the concrete wall next to Blue Beetle, inwardly cursing. She was way out of her league right now. Her wet curls stuck to her face and neck and weighed her down, creating a small pool of water underneath her.
"Gamma to Cave." Robin whispered. "We hit the motherload."
He looked around as he started to describe what they were seeing. "It's a huge base underground. Lots of alien tech, and multiple Zeta, ah, platforms. There are more Kroloteans than I can count."
A second later, Mal replied. "Acknowledged." He said. "I've sent for backup." His voice turned authoritative. "Until then, you have to lay low."
"Uh," Blue Beetle interrupted. "That might be a 'problema', ese." He pointed up at a screen, placed in the heart of the base. Morgan leaned in over him to see it better, and spotted a broadcasting of them, along with a whirring siren that grated at her ears. The aliens had spotted them and were letting the entire facility know it.
Blue turned to Lagoon Boy. "You're right, this was totally a soft gig." He dryly commented, almost sounding like this was Lagoon Boy's fault.
Morgan clenched her teeth and hissed out a curse. "Nightwing's really gonna kill me."
"Not if they get to us first!" Blue exclaimed helpfully.
An entire squad of the little green aliens crawled down from the upper platform. Morgan felt her heart clench in fear but squashed it down.
Robin suddenly leapt up and started shouting orders. "Form up!" He said with authority. "Blue, remember maneuver six!"
To be honest, Morgan had no idea what that last part meant, but apparently Blue did, because he quickly confirmed. "Si, hermano!"
Morgan jumped up next to them, feeling her fear give way to determination. Lagoon Boy shouted a word of encouragement, and then they charged the aliens. Morgan quickly found that she was better served with staying at a distance, where she could use her telekinesis to throw the aliens around like ragdolls. The Kroloteans were obviously not meant for fighting, as their attacks were pretty weak, and Morgan, despite being quite new at this, didn't have a lot of trouble with dealing with them. Truly, the only thing they had going for them was the sheer size of their numbers. They just kept coming!
She did her best with her telekinesis, but the aliens were unknown organisms, and her power wasn't as effective on them as it was humans.
"Of course I get a selective ability." She groaned to herself. A thought entered her head. When they had made her suit, Nightwing had asked her if the gloves would hinder her abilities, and at the time she'd said she didn't know. Maybe that was what was wrong?
Using one hand to knock an alien into the wall behind it, she used her teeth to shrug off the glove on her other hand. She shifted hands and could immediately feel a difference. "Aw yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" she smirked, dropping her gloves on the ground. Her telekinesis worked much better now. It was like she got a quicker grasp on the Kroloteans biology, letting her throw them around as she pleased.
Once she'd incapacitated the half a dozen Kroloteans that had charged her, she ran further ahead, watching the others. Robin was a force to be reckoned with as he pulled one gadget after another from his person and used them cleverly against the small aliens. Lagoon Boy relied on his strength as he swelled in size again and pummeled any krolotean that was dumb enough to approach. Morgan skidded to a halt, realizing that the initial danger was gone when Blue Beetle used the same cannon he'd used earlier – was it a sound wave cannon? Morgan wasn't entirely sure but she wanted to know – and sent the rest of the Kroloteans running.
"Wow, they really do not like you!" Lagoon Boy laughed as he watched the small Krolotean army run for a Zeta platform and disappear. "I'm almost jealous!"
"You said what!?" Blue Beetle suddenly exclaimed. Morgan narrowed her eyes at the floating boy, wondering what he was talking about now.
A Krolotean jumped her from behind suddenly, and she let out a small squeak in surprise before pulling it off and kicking it in the face. A new wave of the small annoying creatures seemed to have snuck up on them.
"I said I was jealous, no need to rub it in!" Lagoon Boy repeated, throwing a Krolotean away from him.
"Not you, hermano," Blue Beetle responded, "Him!" He pointed and Morgan followed his finger with her eyes, spotting a Krolotean that was standing in front of a command screen up on the platform.
"Wait, you can understand them?" Robin exclaimed, jabbing his metal staff into the face of an oncoming Krolotean. "How?!"
"I'm not sure, exactly." Blue pondered, sounding uncertain. "But that hefe over there is ordering all Kroloteans to Zeta off-world."
Blue Beetle paused and let out a small gasp of horror, which, Morgan assumed, really couldn't be good.
"He's set the base to self-destruct in four minutes!"
"Åh nej." Morgan whispered, swallowing nervously to herself. "Åh nej, åh nej, åh nej.."1 There just had to be a bomb, right?
She shuffled closer to the water, meeting the others there.
"We're getting out, then." Robin ordered. "Do you know anything else of importance?"
Blue Beetle landed next to him right as Morgan arrived herself, kicking a Krolotean away from her and into the water.
"He said something about leaving behind the playthings?" Blue Beetle informed him.
Morgan felt her blood run cold, guessing right before Robin what exactly that meant.
"Playthings.. Oh, man!" Robin looked at the others, slight panic on his face and in his voice. "The abductees!"
"Three minutes and thirty seconds, ese!" Blue Beetle immediately said, unnecessarily reminding everybody that they were on a very tight timeframe. "Then 'BOOM'!" He threw his hands in the air, mimicking an explosion.
"Yes, thank you for reminding us," Morgan bit tersely. She felt fear flutter in her heart again, and she took in a deep gulp of air to squash it back down.
"And Nightwing said 'no necessary risks to the squad'.." Robin groaned, hard determination on his face. Morgan already knew what he was thinking before he said it. "But this is necessary!" He decided, his jaw tense and brow furrowed. "We have to get below!" He shouted out, looking around for a way down.
Lagoon Boy thankfully had the answer. "There!" He pointed. They all looked to the wall across the large underground pool of water, spotting a row of round tubes that presumably led underneath the facility. Kroloteans were leaking from the tubes, running in a mad dash to get away from the doomed cave.
"Blue Beetle!" Robin said. "Go!"
"Right, going," Blue Beetle flew off, the armor on his arms morphing into something large and flat, allowing him to mow down any Krolotean that got in his way. Morgan, Lagoon Boy and Robin followed in his wake, slipping down the tube right after him.
They found themselves in a new section of the underground lair. It seemed less professionally done, with crudely done walls and hard concrete floors.
Blue Beetle apprehended one of the Kroloteans he had knocked down the tube before. The ugly creature squirmed in his grasp and screeched in its own language.
"Is someone there? Hello?" Came a scared male voice. Morgan looked up and spotted a cage at the very end of the room. With a start, she saw that it was full of people. People whose fate the barbaric Kroloteans hadn't cared about at all.
Robin ran over to it and the people inside rejoiced when the recognized him as one of the good guys. Despite their dire situation, Morgan felt a small smile tug at her lips at the complete and utter trust the hostages seemed to have in them, just because they were heroes.
As she, Blue Beetle and Lagoon Boy approached, the hostages gasped and cowered in fear at the sight of the green Atlantean and the blue-armored boy.
"More aliens!" One of the shrieked and they all backed away.
"Hey!" Blue Beetle stopped in protest. "We're not aliens!" He denied, sounding affronted. "Okay, well, he is." He pointed to the alien in his grasp, which hissed at him in that hideous language it spoke. The sounded grated on Morgan's ears. "But we are not!"
"Open this cage!" Robin ordered Lagoon Boy.
As he grew in size – a trick that never ceased to impress Morgan – the people in the cage started screaming all the more, apparently not believing Blue Beetle's denial. Lagoon Boy paid their fright no mind as he proceeded to rip the door of the cage open, freeing the abductees.
There was silence for a moment as the hostages seemed to come realize that Lagoon Boy wasn't one of the bad aliens, but one of the good guys. They started running out of the cage, eyes wide with fright and relief.
"Tha- thank you." A man in a grey suit gasped, still eying Lagoon Boy with fear. "We didn't mean-"
"It's fine," Lagoon Boy interrupted, uncharacteristically taking their accusations lightheartedly. Morgan figured he didn't want to frighten them more than they already were. "I get that a lot, chum."
"Okay guys, let's get out." Morgan spoke up tensely, all too aware of how little time they had left.
Robin turned to Blue Beetle who was still holding a Krolotean in his grasp. "Ask him the fastest way out."
"Dude, I can't speak-" Blue Beetle paused for a moment before seemingly speaking to himself, again. "You can? Then what are you waiting for?!"
Morgan raised an eyebrow slowly at the crazy display, wholeheartedly agreeing with Lagoon Boy when he wondered, "Blue's an.. odd little fish, isn't he?"
Morgan nodded slowly, her eyes focused on the boy in question as he suddenly started speaking in that hideous alien language. The alien responded to whatever he said and he turned to Robin, still a constant stream of throaty noises leaving his mouth. He stopped and shook his head. "I mean, this way!" He pointed to their right and started running. "Come on!"
The other followed after him, and Morgan waited until everyone was in front of her before she joined them. She figured someone needed to guard the back and make sure they didn't lose anyone. "Kom så videre folkens!"2 She ordered loudly, wondering a second later why on earth she was speaking Danish to a bunch of people that couldn't understand the language. Maybe it was the stress. Her heart hammered loudly in her chest, making her feel slightly ill.
Blue led them out of the main room and down a small tunnel that lead them into the water. The tunnel was so slim they had to run in single file, Morgan going last. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she mentally counted down until the underground facility self-destructed.
They were underwater when the explosion went off, and the force of it was enough to push Morgan the rest of the way out of the small, under-water tunnel. She gasped in surprise, letting all the air out of her mouth and replacing it with water. She panicked for a moment because she didn't know which way was up anymore, but the light of the fire above her made it easy to figure out. She swam towards the surface, gasping in deep gulps of air when she reached it. The junk yard had been blown up, and the parts that still remained were on fire, casting the black night sky in an orange hue, thick black smoke rising high into the air.
Doing a quick head count, Morgan found that none of the hostages were missing. She couldn't find Lagoon boy, however.
She swam towards Robin to ask him where La'gaan was when Robin asked the exact same question out loud. "Where is La'gaan?"
Morgan had almost reached Robin when suddenly the Atlantean broke the surface right between them, splashing water into their faces. "Wohooo! That's right!" He cheered. "Gamma squad rules!"
His enthusiasm was infectious and Morgan found herself smiling and cheering along herself. "Woohoo!" She shouted, high fiving the green-skinned boy, cold water momentarily forgotten. "That. Was. AWESOME! I mean, I totally forgot my gloves in there and they're probably blown to smithereens by now, and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for a second, but that was still AWESOME!"
Robin breathed out a sigh of relief when he knew that everyone on his team was safe and well.
"Uh, guys?" Blue Beetle suddenly cut in, and Morgan noticed with a slight snicker that he was still clutching the Krolotean to him.
The other looked at him and the followed his gaze up into the night sky. Morgan's heart skipped a surprised beat when she saw the squad of Superheroes approaching from above. Mal had mentioned something about sending back-up, but she'd forgotten all about that in the heat of the fight. She knew she was in trouble, she'd just hoped to avoid that trouble at least until she was back at the Cave.
"This is the part where Nightwing kills us, right?" Morgan whispered, leaning into Robin. He nodded wordlessly, swallowing dryly.
Nerves pulled at her when she saw the sheer number of superheroes. Practically the entire League, and some from the Team had arrived. She felt her cheeks heat up in a blush as she imagined her drenched appearance. There were many of them that she hadn't met yet, and this was not the circumstances she'd wanted to meet them in for the first time. Not the first-hand impression she'd hoped to make.
Her eyes fond her mentor and she tried to read him. Nightwing fixed them with a blank stare before he smiled slightly. "Dude," he said and leaned casually over the controls of Sphere. "Way to get your feet wet!" Robin relaxed next to her, obviously not getting the scolding he'd been expecting, but when Nightwing's gaze found her, Morgan didn't miss the way his jaw and shoulders tensed, and she knew she was not in the clear. He was not happy with her.
Morgan had already started planning out her defense in her head, which mainly went along the lines of 'you were the one that let me go, how was I supposed to know this place would be filled with aliens'.
Either way, she was already cringing with the bruises she knew she'd be getting during their next training session. Whenever Nightwing was displeased with her, he'd go harder on her during fighting. She didn't think he even noticed this himself, it was more of a natural reaction that he wasn't in control of.
She still rued the bruises, though.
But it was so, so worth it. Tonight had been the best adrenalin rush she'd ever experienced in her life, and she knew she'd have to nag him about going on missions more often.
More importantly, the fact that she'd helped save other people's lives made her cheeks hurt as she smiled impossibly wide and made her heart pump furiously with pride in her chest. This superhero business was getting more and more attractive by the minute
1. "Oh no" (repeated a couple of times)
2. "Get a move on folks!"
Sorry this is late you guys! I've been away all week on this conference thingy and only got back late last night. I hope this action-packed chapter make up for it!
Also, to the review saying they unfortunately feel like they can't ship Morgan and Nightwing because they seem to have more like a brother-sister relationship, I'm sorry you feel that way! I hope I'll be able to change your mind as the story develops, but if not, I hope you'll still read it and enjoy it nonetheless, and I thank you so much for your wonderful review.
And to the other review wishing for more romance, don't worry! There will be romance at some point, but this is a long story with a lot of details and a lot of drama. The romance is some ways off, but I promise it'll be worth the wait.
Fun fact: I literally dreamt about this story a few nights ago. In the dream, Morgan had feelings for Nightwing, but he was in a realitionship-thing-y with this other girl, leaving Morgan pretty sad. It became apparent throughout the dream that Nightwing would, eventually, see the light and return those feelings, but I didn't get to that part before my alarm woke me up. Stupid alarm.