Ignite [Book Three In The "Fire And Lightning" Series]

Chapter Twenty-Eight- Phoenix

June 1, 2018. 17:38

Watchtower

~~Willow~~  

Surprisingly relaxed and strangely calm, I lay on one of the beds in the Watchtower Medical wing, trying not to think about the last time that I was here.

"Do we still have pudding cups in stock?" I asked Superboy, who was looking through the mini-fridge, filled with small plastic cups of Jell-o, apple juice, grape juice, and various other snacks for the patients.

"I think so." Victorious, he handed me a chocolate pudding cup.

"MINE!" out of nowhere, a green monkey swung down from the ceiling, snatching the cup out of my hand as I reached for it.

Threatened with losing my pudding cup, I stood up, spreading my wings to their full length and letting out a shriek like an eagle. Garfield was so frightened he changed back into his human form and dropped the pudding cup.

I sighed, grabbing the pudding cup that BB dropped and peeling off the top while Nightwing began to attach probes to me, to see what exactly had been changed, down to the last muscle.

"I'm not a lab rat, Nightwing." I muttered under my breath."

"I know, Willow." He apologized. "I just wanna help you."

I looked past him, to Superboy, who crossed his arms and nodded. "I'm right here." He promised.

"So am I," Artemis added, sitting in the chair next to my bed. I held her hand, grateful for the comfort of a friend close by.

"Artemis, I'm really sorry about-"

"Willow, it wasn't your fault." Artemis assured me. She smiled, but there was pain in her eyes at the mention of Wally. "There was nothing that any of us could have done. Wally died protecting the world. That's what he would have wanted." She held my hand to her cheek.

Was she already giving up? Nightwing was still searching for a way to bring him back. Just because none of them had found anything yet didn't mean it did not exist, right?

I felt my gaze wander over to the other cot in the room, where Emma sat with the collar of her uniform pulled down. Kaldur sat next to her, squeezing her hand tightly, a pile of gauze and medical tape in his lap. Kaldur leaned towards Emma, whispering comforting things in her ear to keep her from worrying about the pain, making my heart ache for Connor.

I glared at Kaldur, who was too busy looking at Emma to notice, telepathically trying to give him a hint.

Why in all things Batman hadn't he proposed to her yet?

Tammy held her hands up to Emma's neck, where she'd been slashed by Luthor.

"This won't heal it all the way, but it'll speed it up, and you probably won't have a scar." The fifteen-year-old with the blue-tipped hair explained. "I'm not perfect at it, but Mer- Queen Mera -has been teaching me."

"Aquaman's wife." Artemis mouthed helpfully at my confused expression.

"Oh..." I realized. Emma told me that Kaldur had been training with Kaldur. Good. She needed a mentor. Now if we could only find one for Terra...

I caught sight of Karen and Mal in the window, watching us with Robin, Finch, Impulse, and Brass Beetle in fascination. I gave them a hearty thumbs -up, which they returned with grateful smiles.

I could feel tiny electric zaps from Nightwing's probes scanning me every so often, and I saw a scan of me and my wings building up on Nightwing's computer display.