WASHINGTON, D.C.
December 30, 09:16 EST
I shoved my hands in my coat pockets before saying
"Urg someone explain to me why we're here again. I don't do the cold" Dick put his hand on my shoulder before saying
"We're here for Roy. Once this is done you can go back to the cave and warm-up" Even though we're inside the hall of justice, It's still cold, really cold. Anyway, after Dick said that we went back to watching the screen just as Superman began talking
"The Justice League was formed for two reasons. First, as an acknowledgement that no single individual no matter how powerful, can solve all the world's problems alone. And second, to uphold the values of truth, liberty and justice...That, uh, last one's even in the name" The crowd laughed slightly before he continued
"These five heroes have sworn to uphold those values"
The camera then moved away from Superman and back onto the reporter, Cat Grant
"You are watching live coverage of the Justice League's induction of its five newest members. Looks like the entire League has shown up to welcome the new blood. Everyone from Batman to Captain Marvel" As the camera lingered on Captain Marvel, Wally said
"I'm glad they didn't kick Billy out. And I love the fact there's a 10-year-old on the League." Raquel looked at him and said
"There is?" I then kicked Wally's leg at the same time Dick elbowed him in the ribs
"Ow" Dick then said
"Way to keep a secret, genius" Wally looked between us and said
"Hey, she's on the Team now, right?"
No one answered him as we looked back to the screen
"Superman is now handing out official League membership cards starting with Doctor Fate…" At the mention of Fate, Zatanna had to look away. As I sign of comfort Robin placed his hand on her shoulder.
"The Atom...Plastic Man...and Icon" At the mention of her partner, Raquel said
"I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place. I should be celebrating with him. Not hidden away in here" Kaldur then said
"Welcome to our world" She looked at him, smiled and said
"Well, I suppose there's an upside too" I had to hold back a laugh.
My attention was then drawn back to the screen as Green Arrow handed a card over to Roy
"Finally, Green Arrow welcomes his former protege, Speedy now known as Red Arrow, to this roster of heroes" Wally fist-bumped the air and said
"Way to go, Roy" Kaldur then said
"At last, he has his wish" Dick then said
"The first of us to make it" I then said
"And hopefully not the last" Dick then said
"No one'll call him a sidekick anymore" Raquel then stepped forward saying
"Wait. Since when is being a sidekick a bad thing? You sidekicks were my inspiration" I scratched the back of my neck and said
"It's a long story involving hacking the JL, explosions, oh and us nearly dying. So the usual" Dick then said
"Well, see, six months ago…" He was cut off by his communicator beeping.
"Guys we just got a new mission…"
SMOKEY MOUNTAINS
December 30, 10:48 EST
"Are you sure it's her? I mean are you absolutely positive?" Robin proceeded to pull up CCTV footage as he said
"See for yourself...This is the security footage from the Asheville Regional Airport. Facial recognition confirms that's Jade Nguyen" I looked at Artemis and said
"Arty you've seen her without her mask. What do you think?" She looked down and said
"It's Jade. Cheshire" Kaldur then spoke
"Agreed, but focus on what she carries. Is that the case you saw in New Orleans? The one that got away?" Artemi replied
"Yes" Raquel then spoke
"Okay, I'm guessing from the mug shot that this Cheshire's the bad guy. But what's so important about that case?" Robin answered her
"Remember the Injustice League? "
"And their giant evil plants? Uh, yeah" Kaldur then took over
"The Team and the League put them in prison, but their allies still scheme and whatever is in that containment case seems important to their plans" Wally then spoke
"We had a chance to grab it in New Orleans, but someone screwed up" As Artemis glared at him I muttered
"So not the time to bring that back up dude" M'gann then said
"Approaching Cheshire's jet"
We all looked out the window of the bioship and were shocked at the site that greeted us. The jet was in pieces, no human could have survived that.
"Looks like there were no survivors"
We the disembarked the Bioship to look around.
As we were searching through the rubble, Kid spoke
"How come Homeland Security and the N.T.S.B. Aren't all over this?" Looking up from the black box he had found, Robin said
"Cheshire's ID was a League alert. Authorities didn't pick it up, and her jet didn't follow its flight plan. Flew under the radar, literally. The Watchtower auto-tracked the jet and recorded the crash" Rocket then said
"Then why isn't the League here?" Zatanna then spoke with a smirk on her face
"Because our Boy Wonder has hacking skills and arranged to get the alert first" I then said
"And because Cheshire and that case represent our unfinished business. Not the leagues" Connor threw a piece of rubble away and growled
"Where are the bodies?"
"Here's one"
We all turned and saw Cheshire standing on a rockface nearby
"And it is stunning"
"I am flora, not fauna" We then turned to the other voice and saw a lot of shadows with appocalipton weaponry. Standing at the top of the cliff was riddler, shimmer and mammoth.
"I am foliage, not trees. What am I?" Riddler then clicked his fingers and multiple pylons popped up suddornding the cavern. One by one the whirred to life putting a force field around us.
"Come on, you can get this. I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I? I…" I then said
"Ambush" Riddler laughed before saying
"Didn't you think we'd be tipped you were on Cheshire's trail? We're tired of your interference, kiddies. This is the end game. Ordered from above and executed by their master strategist, moi"
"Miss Martian, is everyone linked?"
"Yes"
"Go!"
"Ekahs sight ebolgwons!"
Thanks to Zatanna we had somecover.
Considering these guys are meant to be shadows they were easy to take down. I was trying to avoid using my powers just incase I they glitched out again.
"Superboy, the pylons"
"Working on it" After knocking down three goon, I did a trippleback flip away from the others and landed back to back with Robin. He then said
"I forgot how good your hand to hand is"
"I had a good teacher" Wally then ran over, knocked the goons around us off their feet and said
"Fight now. Flirt later" I just ignored his comment as I saw something unusual. I pointed up at connor and said over the mind link
"Urm is anyone else seeing this?!" Robin Followed my gaze and said
"SB, you're flying" Superboy was indeed flying whilst holding onto mammoth.
Superboy was going to town and mammoth. I've never seen him fight like thos or be this angry. As Superboy was beating up mammoth the top of the cliffface shifted. Without a seconds hesitation I put a barrier up stopping the impending avalanche, but I could feel I couldn't hold it for long.
"Guys get clear! I can't hold this" As I said that something sliced my side. Next thing I knew Wally had grabbed me and ran away from the path of the avalanche.
Once we were out of the way, he looked at my and said
"You okay?" I just pressed onto the gash on my side and said
"I will be, thanks" He just smiled and proceeded to wrap my arm around his shoulders. As we walked to join the other I heard Rocket say to Zatanna
"Is it always like this?"
"Yeah, pretty much"
"Hguone htiw eht ebolgwons"
MOUNT JUSTICE
December 30, 15:45 EST
"Tell me if this sounds familiar. You hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol and endangered your lives and your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons proving Warden Strange runs Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity…`` None of us knew what to say. We all just kind of stood there not making eye contact. "Well done" after he said that we all looked at eachother in shock. Happy shock but still shock. Batman looked at the items in the case and said
"And then there's this. Bio-technology integrated with some form of nano-circuitry" Icon picked one of the up and said
"Though I am unfamiliar with the species, the bio-component is clearly not of Earth" Batman closed the case and said
"We'll take it to the Watchtower for further study"
"Recognize Batman…"
Rocket went to talk to icon before he went through the Zeta tube. As he did I couldn't help but scratch at the bandage covering my side. M'gann slapped my hand away and said
"Stop scratching you'll pull the stitches out" I took my hand away just as Robin looked at me and said
"Wait stitches? Since when do you need stitches?" He's got a point, 90% of the time I just heal but recently with everything that's been going on with my powers my healing factor is now next to nothing
"Black Canary one-three, Icon two-zero"
I then quickly changed the subject
"You realize we were set up, Right" Kaldur replied
"Yes. Cheshire and Riddler were tipped and ready for us" Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose and said
"Not the mole thing again!" Raquel rejoined us whilst saying
"Mole thing? Again?" Wally then spoke
"We had intel that there was a traitor on the Team" Connor then took over
"Namely Artemis, M'gann or me" Kaldur placed his hand on Connors shoulder before saying
"It is more complicated than that" Connor shook his hand off immediately and started to storm out when Kaldur said
"But your recent behaviour does concern me. Your attack on Mammoth nearly got Wynonna and Artemis killed" Connor did stop
A high-pitched squeal then filled my ears. I hunched over and pressed my hands over my ears. Within seconds there was a hand on my shoulder and I could just about make out Robins voice
"Wynonna!" The noise then stopped. I took a deep breath and said
"What the hell was that!?" I stood up straighter as Robin said
"What was what?" I looked at him and said
"You didn't hear that" Kaldur then spoke
"Superboy?"
Connor hesitated but turned around and said
"There's something I need to do…something I need to tell you. Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus, found a few things out. When I was cloned, only half the DNA was Superman's. The other half was human. That's why I don't have, will never have, full Kryptonian powers" Robin then said
"You sure? Because you sure seemed to have them today" Connor lifted his sleeve revealing a black thing on his arm. He then said
"I've been using these. Shields. They suppress my human DNA. I get the flight, the heat-vision, but I think I also get angry. Well, angrier. I'm sorry" Kaldur then said
"Where did you get those?"
"From my human father, Lex Luthor" As we all stood there in shock, Robin said
"Lex Luthor is your dad?" I then said
"Huh I did not see that coming" That earned my an elbow to the ribs from Wally but in doing that he caught the edge of the wound on my shift. I just growled in response. As I looked round at him he mouth
"Sorry" Connor then said
"He's summoned me to Santa Prisca"
At the mention of Santa Prisca, Artemis spoke
"Ah Listen. Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad DNA" She proceeded to pull up the holoscreen and three villion profiles, she then said
"My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. The rest of my family aren't even ex. My dad's Sportsmaster and he's sending my sister, Cheshire to fly me to Santa Prisca too" Wally then said
"That's why…" Artemis cut him off
"Yeah. I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out…" Robin cut her off by saying
"I knew" We all looked at him as Artemis said
"You knew!"
"Hey, I'm a detective. But it never mattered. You aren't your family. You're one of us"
After Robin said that, Wally walked over and put his arm on Artemis shoulder as a way of saying sorry. He then said
"So who's next?" It was quiet for a second before M'gann broke that silence
"I am" almost immediately Wally held his hands up and mumbled
"I swear I was kidding" M'gann then ebgan explain
"Queen Bee's been blackmailing me. She wants me in Santa Prisca too" Kaldur then spoke
"Blackmailing? How?"
"She knows my true Martian form" Robin then said
"Bald M'gann? Who cares if...?" She cut him off
"No"
She sighed before shifting form. I've never seen a true martian form but I never imagined it would be something like this. Honestly kind of creepy. Without even realising we all subconsioly took a step back, well all but Connor
"Wow" M'gann then began talking again but this time telepathically.
"I realized you would never accept me if you saw what I really am" Kaldur then said
"M'gann, did we truly seem so shallow?" I then said
"I mean look at us. A speedster, and atlantian, A Patrovan, A half Kyrptonian, three Humans and a magician. We arent exactly your average group of people"
"I couldn't take a chance. Being a white Martian among the green on Mars, I endured constant rejection. I couldn't face that from…" Connor cut her off
"From me?"
He walked over to her and held her hand. The rest of us just kind of stood there awkwardly as they had a Psychic conversation. Wally then muttered
"Huh so this is what that feels like?" As M'gann shifted back into her human form, I said
"So can all stop pretending that we don't know you're a couple now or what?"
I just got nudged slightly before Robin said jokingly
"Anyone else?" I just scratched the back of my neck. He looked at me and said
"Oh come on not you too!" I folded my arms and said
"Whilst we're on the subject of sharing…" They all turned to look at me.
"Ever since I came here, Star labs regularly took blood samples to try and understand my DNA. The day we met Zatanna Star labs told me that they found something in my blood at the time they didn't know what it was" M'gann then said
"Well do you know now?" I put my hands in my pockets and said
"Uh yeah, I'm half human and I think I'm losing my powers" the room went silent for a minute before Wally spoke
"Wait what?! How is that even possible? You've got memories of Patrovia. Your parents were Patrovan"
"I don't know. All I know for sure is that my powers have been on the Fritz ever since my coma and they're glitching out more frequently. Hence the shitty attitude and the flake out when the adults got sent into another dimension" I then looked at Wally and said
"I promised id tell you if it happened again and I'm sorry but I didn't"
He took a step towards me and said
"How many times?" I closed my eyes and said
"3. One at school" M'gann then said
"That day you skipped class. You told us you got called for extra training" I scratched the back of my neck and said
"Okay yeah, that was a lie. I went to the tower of fate" Zatanna then said
"What for?"
"He knows who I am. Who I really am" Connor folded his arms and said
"Whats that meant to mean?"
"Smith is the name I chose. Petrova is my true last name. I didn't tell anyone that but he knew. He knows more about my species and about me than I could have ever imagined. My human side and my Patrovian side are at war with each other and I don't know what will happen depending on what side wins…" I dropped my eyes to the floor and said
"After everything we've been through this year… I am terrified about what comes next"
SANTA PRISCA
December 30, 18:15
"Guys, reinforcement time"
Rocket and Kid Flash were the first to make there move. Swooping in and knocking down most of Banes goons. As Bane powered up Luthor scooped Queen B up and said
"Time to go"
"Aqualad he's headed your way" Kaldur jumped out from the tree landing in front of the trio
"Luthor! Neither you nor Queen Bee is going anywhere"
"Young man, if you expect to detain me, contact my attorney" Mercy shifted her arm into a gun and fired on Aqualad. The three of them then made their escape.
Robin and Zatanna then made their entrance . Robin took down two guys with ease but before he could get to the third Zatanna cast a spell
"Ekoms dna srorrim" The gun turned into a massive snake and wrapped around the goon.
"Egnahc stoic otni sgnidnid" The snake then turned to rope and gaged to goon. Bane then tackled the pair.
I joined in the fight just as Superboy got tackled by desmend. Luthors helicopter took off and Rocket followed
"I got this" A bunch of rockets were then fired at her. She put a force bubble up and once they were clear she said
"I can still…" Aqualad cut her off
"No. You are needed here"
As Robin was thrown again another helicopter, Zatanna streched out her hand and said
"Etaerc Nibor snoisulli" Multiple copies of Robin the appeared out of no where. He laughed and said
"Huh? Gotta love an army of me" He's got baned covered.
Kaldur and I picked up some apocalytpon tech and went over to Superboy and Miss M
"Superboy, Miss Martian, move!" They got out of the way and I sent 5 apocalytpon tech disks towards Desmend. He cried out in pain before Aqaulad punched the ground letting him sink under. With desmend in the ground, Superboy went up to him and said
"You should really learn to channel that anger" He then punched him knocking him out.
We then turned towards Artemis.
"Artemis, now!" She jumped up and grabbed hold of a branch. Aqualad punched the ground again but this time it was Sportsmaster that got sucked in. He lifted his arm out and called out for Cheshire who was on the other side
"Jade!"
"Sorry, Dad. In this family, it's every girl for herself" She turned and walked into the trees
"Jade!" Artemis went up to her dad and didn't hesitate to knock him out with one kick.
She then took his mask off and turned to face the rest of us
"Hey Kid" She threw the mask at him. He caught it and said
"Cool, Souvenir" Rocket then said
"It is always like this" Zatanna replied
"Told you" Robin then said
"Hey, disaster averted. Feeling the aster"
"Agreed, this has been a good day"