Peace of the Jedi [Sequel to Sword of the Lanterns]

Chapter Seventeen- Presence

"Big night tonight?" Jaina asked Mal.

Mal grinned, motorbike helmet tucked under his arm. "I thought I'd go surprise Karen in Ivy Town. We haven't gone out in a long time."

"Everyone's going out," Jaina shook her head, "Jessica went over to Jaime's, and M'gann's out with La'gaan," she made a face, resisting the urge to gag.

"Yeah, it's spring, and hormones are in the air," Mal chuckled. "See you later?"

Jaina waved him towards the garage, "I'll be here. And if you're interested I think I could make your bike fly."

Sphere whistled, sounding slightly offended. 

"Sorry, girl," Jaina winced, "no offense." 

Sphere made a sound like shrugging it off and rolled herself down to the garage.

"I'll think about it, Jay," Mal promised with a chuckle, heading after Sphere.

Jaina sighed, turning back to the computers.  "So, anything happening in the big, bad world tonight?" She asked Nightwing. "Jessica's gone, and so are all the girls, so I'm bored."

He shrugged, bottom lip sticking out. He looked just like Anakin did when he lied.

"Nothing much, you could take the night off if you wanted." He said, not looking up from his screens.

Jaina shook her head. "Nah."

"What about Coast City?"

"Carol's got that tonight."

"Then why don't you just sit around the cave eating ice cream and watching bad action movies?" He said, sounding agitated.

"Good idea," Jaina watched his back suspiciously, wondering what had him on edge.

Unfortunately, Wolf had appropriated the entire couch for himself, and a certain junior speedster had eaten the last of their ice cream for a second breakfast that morning, so that was out of the question. Gar was watching some cheesy sitcom that made Jaina want to barf, though it did star a girl that looked supicously like M'gann did five years ago (she made a note to ask M'gann if she had ever been an actress). Superboy was moping around in the grotto with all their memorials to their fallen heroes like Artemis, so Jaina marched back to the mission room, deciding to interrogate Nightwing on why he was acting so strange, arriving at the same time that Power Ring, Blue Beetle, and Impulse did.

"Left them in the dust!" Bart cried, punching a fist in the air. Jaime had an arm around Jessica, almost supporting her.

"Left who in the dust? And what is that?" Nightwing pointed at the device with dozens of glowing buttons held in Bart's fist. 

"Souvenir!" Bart announced, as if that were obvious.

Jaime sighed, "Souvenirs are Beast Boy's thing, ese."

"Really? I thought it was Kid Flash's?" Bart shrugged.

"Are you guys okay?" Jaina asked, placing a hand on Jessica's shoulder. 

"Shaken, but I'll manage," She nodded slowly, leaning against her mentor.

"You sure?" Jaina asked.

"Can we get back to the point?" Nightwing snapped. Jaina glared at him.

"Sorry," Blue apologized for Bart. "Impulse, Power Ring, and I were attacked by Aqualad, Icicle Junior, the Terror Twins, and a ninja girl I didn't recognize."

"They were using this to follow Blue! I made sure they couldn't do track him anymore," Bart bragged.

"Nice-" Jaina started, but then Nightwing interrupted.

"So you brought foreign, possibly alien tech to the cave? Rookie mistake!" He groaned.

"Excuse me?" Jaina snapped. "Look at my ring, look at Jessica's ring, look at Sphere, look at Bee!" She exclaimed, pointing to her droid, who stood innocently watching the whole exchange like a perfect little angel who could do no wrong.

"Sorry," Nightwing said, not sounding very sorry. "Give it here." Drooping miserably, Bart handed over the device.

"What is up with you today?" Jaina shouted at Nightwing, following him over to the computers. He ignored her, holding out the device to be analyzed.

"You're more cocky as the leader of this team than you were when I knew you five years ago, but today you're snapping at everyone and pushing them away even further, what is up with you!?"

"Scan it with your ring, would you?" He asked. Jessica, Jaime, and Bart stood off to the side, watching Jaina shout at Nightwing like kids watched their parents fight.

Jaina did as he asked, but she wasn't done. "It's giving off a signal matching Blue's scarab, but don't ignore my question!" She said

"I've just got a bad feeling, okay? And when I get a bad feeling, it's usually right!"

Jaina looked Nightwing up and down. "When did you become so cynical?"

Nightwing swiped something on the computers to the side, turning to face Jaina, looking her in the eyes. "Two years ago my brother died. I think you know how that feels, Jaina Solo."

Jaina's face fell, and Nightwing turned away, back to his precious computers.

Jaina started marching back to her room, Bee on her heels, but she stopped, at the edge of the training ring, her eyes closed.

"Jaina, are you okay?" Jessica and the boys ran up to her.

"I...I feel something, I presence I haven't felt since..." Jaina's eyes shot open.

"Blue, Impulse, Power Ring, get to the tubes! B-88, call for backup!" She barked suddenly, her ring glowing brightly. The Cave's alarm blared. Jessica bent over, covering her ears. Jaime comforted her as best he could.

"The tubes are down!" Bart announced nervously.

"Augh! I'm an idiot!" Nightwing hit his head, spinning around only to get a face full of Superboy.

"That's them!" Jessica cried, pointing with her ring. Impulse ran up the side of the wall to take out Icicle Junior, in the loft above the mission room, and Blue Beetle and the Lanterns took on the Terror Twins.

"Power Ring! Get Beast Boy out of here!" Jaina instructed.

"Y-yeah, easier said than done," Jessica panted heavily. Tuppence Terror grinned as she casually punched Jessica in the direction of her brother, followed by Impulse, who tried to come up on her from behind. She did the same with several of Jaina' constructs, quickly shattering them.

"It's okay Jess! I'll getcha outta there!" Bart promised too soon, trying to hit Tommy with everything he had. But even at super-speed he was no use against Terror's invulnerability.

"My hands! What are you made of?" The boy groaned.

Tommy Terror grinned, "Snips and Snails and puppy dog tails." Tuppence placed shock collar power dampners on their two trapped heroes, like the one already on Beast Boy, and her brother punched Power Ring and Impulse across the room, but was quickly taken out by Blue Beetle's sonics. Jaina made similar work of Tuppence, and then they turned to face the last villain, a skilled ninja female who wore a cat mask resembling a tiger's.

"Don't have the advantage now, do ya?" Jaina smirked cockily as she and blue aimed their various weapons at their last opponent. The woman said nothing, but squared up to fight, and something about the way she positioned her body for a fight made Jaina's smirk falter.

"Enough!"

Jaina felt her blood run cold, like a wet blanket had descended over herself and the entire room. She made sure Blue kept his focus on the ninja lady before she turned, and pointed her ring at Kaldur'ahm.

I love writing this book because Jaina does things differently than my other characters and experience different parts of season two than characters like Emma and Willow and Katrina.