Chapter Five
1616 Words
July 18 11:16 EDT
KF texted me last night about him, Robin, and Aqualad going to see Speedy. I was busy with Green Lantern, so I couldn’t join them. But today, we are all together at Mount Justice, everyone is in their civilian clothes, except for me. The six of us meet Red Tornado at the forest entrance. Wally waves greeting him as he lands.
Kid Flash: “Red Tornado!”
Red Tornado: “Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?”
Aqualad: “We hoped you had a mission for us.”
Red Tornado: “Mission assignments are the Batman’s responsibility.”
Robin: “But it’s been over a week, and nothing-”
Tornado cuts him off.
Red Tornado: “You’ll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other’s company.”
Aqualad: “This team is not a social club.”
Red Tornado: “No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave.”
He walks past us into the cave.
Kid Flash: “Keep busy.”
Indigo: “So he’s treating us like children too.”
Robin: “Does he think we’re falling for this?”
Miss Martian: “Oh, I’ll find out. [Tries to read Red Tornado’s mind.] I-I’m sorry. I forgot he’s a machine, inorganic. I cannot read his mind.”
Kid Flash: “Nice try, though. So, uh, you know what I’m thinkin’ right now?”
Robin: “We all know what you’re thinkin’ now.”
Robin elbows KF. I roll my eyes at Wally’s antics.
Aqualad: “And now we tour the clubhouse.”
Miss Martian: “Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides.”
Superboy: “Don’t look at me.”
Kid Flash: “We won’t. A private tour sounds much more fun.”
Robin: “Sh-she never said private.”
Aqualad: “Team building. We’ll all go.”
Indigo: “Sounds good to me.”
We turn to head inside and Miss Martian starts the tour. We finish outside the back entrance.
Miss Martian: “The cave is actually the entire mountain.”
Kid Flash: “It was actually hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League.”
Superboy: “Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?”
Aqualad: “The cave’s secret location was compromised.”
Superboy: “So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah, that makes sense.”
Miss Martian: “If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert.”
Robin takes her hand.
Robin: “The bad guys know we know they know about the place, so they’d never think to look here.”
Indigo: “Of course. Makes perfect sense.”
KF takes Robin's hand off of Miss Martian’s.
Kid Flash: “Uh, he means we’re hiding in plain sight.”
Miss Martian: “Ah, that’s much clearer.”
Indigo: “I thought it was obvious.”
Superboy: “I smell smoke.”
Miss Martian: “[gasps] My cookies!”
She flies off and we run after her, to find her in the kitchen pulling out burnt pucks from the oven.
Miss Martian: “I was trying out Grammy Jones’ recipe from episode 17 of…uh, nevermind.”
Robin: “I bet they’d have tasted great. He doesn’t seem to mind.”
We turn to see KF chowing down the cookies. With his mouth full, he looks up at us sheepishly.
Kid Flash: “I have a serious metabolism.”
Miss Martian: “I’ll make more?”
Aqualad: “It was sweet of you to make any.”
Miss Martian: “Thanks Aqualad.”
Indigo: “I’ll help. I love baking.”
Miss Martian: “That would be great. Thanks Indigo Lantern.”
Indigo: “Please, call me Erica when we’re off duty.”
Aqualad: “You can call me Kaldur’ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur.”
Kid Flash: “I’m Wally. See, I already trust you with my secret ID…unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. [Gestures to Robin.] Batman’s forbidden boy wonder from telling anyone his real name. [Robin is clearly glaring at Wally as if he’s telling him to shut up.] Oh and Green Lantern has forbidden Erica from removing her ring, so you’ll never see her take off that ring.”
Miss Martian: “Well, mine is no secret. It’s M’gann M’orzz. But you can call me Megan. It’s an earth name and I’m on earth now.”
Superboy starts walking away but suddenly stops and turns to us.
Superboy: “Get out of my head!”
She telepathically communicates with all of us.
Miss Martian: “What’s wrong? I-I don’t understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.”
Everyone, except for me, holds their heads, not used to this.
Aqualad: “M’gann, stop. Things are different on earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy.”
Kid Flash: “Besides, Cadmus’ creepy little psychic genomes left a bad taste in his brain.”
Miss Martian: “I-I didn’t mean to-”
Superboy: “Just stay out.”
He leaves the kitchen.
Indigo: “I’m used to it. On Nok I ran into many aliens and not everyone communicates the same way, so we mainly communicated telepathically with our rings. I probably should’ve thought to warn you about that.”
She mentally thanks me, before lightly bumping her head with her hand.
Miss Martian: “Hello Megan, I know what we can do.”
She flies out of the room while the rest of us follow her to the hangar, even Superboy joins us. As we enter the hangar, she gestures to a strange red and black object.
Miss Martian: “It’s my Martian Bioship.”
Kid Flash: “Cute. Not aerodynamic, but cute.”
Miss Martian: “It’s at rest, silly. I’ll wake it. [She makes a hand gesture and the bioship grows and morphs before turning around and opening for us.] Well, are you coming? [We join her on the ship. As we enter, it creates enough seats for all of us.] Strap in for launch.”
As we take our seats, seatbelts form around us.
Robin: “Woah.”
Kid Flash: “Cool.”
Miss Martian: “Red Tornado, please open the bay doors.”
Although he doesn’t say anything, the bay doors open and Miss Martian flies us out over the bay.
Robin: “Incredible.”
Kid Flash: “[Sighs] She sure is. I-I mean the ship, which, like all ships, is a she.”
Indigo: “[Sarcastically] Sure you did.”
Robin: “Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth.”
Kid Flash: “Dude!”
Giggling at his outburst, I feel an unexpected wave of guilt coming from Superboy and nervousness from Miss Martian.
Robin: “[whispers] He’ll come around.”
Miss Martian: “[whispers] He doesn’t seem to like me much.”
Indigo: “[whispers] I’m sure you two just need time to get used to each other.”
Kid Flash: “You guys remember he has super hearing, right?”
That stops us in our tracks as I feel a wave of agitation coming from Superboy, making me shudder.
Robin: “Hey, how ‘bout showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?”
Miss Martian stands up and shape-shifts into a female version of Robin, then twirls as she shifts into a female version of Kid Flash.
Kid Flash: “Is it wrong that I think I’m hot?”
Indigo: “A bit.”
Robin: “[Claps] Impressive, but you know you’re not exactly gonna fool anyone with those.”
She shifts into an exact copy of me.
Miss Martian: “Mimicking boys is a lot harder.”
Indigo: “Well, if I wasn’t here, I’m sure they would think you are me, right now.”
She turns back to herself as she retakes her seat.
Aqualad: “And your clothes?”
Miss Martian: “They’re organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands.”
Superboy: “As long as they’re the only ones.”
His statement brings down the mood instantly, but Wally is quick to break the tension.
Kid Flash: “Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?”
Miss Martian: “Density shifting? No. I-it’s a very advanced technique.”
Robin: “Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall. [chuckles] When he tries it, bloody nose.”
Kid Flash: “Dude!”
Miss Martian: “Here’s something I can do. Camouflage mode.”
Indigo: “Cool, I want to see it from outside.”
I focus on my staff and make a ghost version of myself appear beside me.
Miss Martian: “Woah, how did you do that?”
Ghost Indigo: “It’s a unique ability for the Indigo Lanterns. It leaves my body vulnerable though, so it’s not something I can do without a partner nearby.”
I fly through the front of the ship and turn around to see I can’t see it, but end up back inside it, because she flew into me. I make the ghost-me disappear back into my body.
Miss Martian: “That was totally amazing.”
Indigo: “Camouflage mode is pretty cool too. I couldn’t see the ship at all from outside.”
The radio kicks on and we hear Red Tornado’s voice.
Red: “Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor power plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I’m sending coordinates.”
Miss Martian: “Received. Adjusting course.”
- Writer
