||Mount Justice
||July 18, 11:16 EDT
A knock at my door woke me up from my nap. When I told whoever it was to come in, I rolled onto my side so I could look at them. Miss Martian walked in, her usual smile on her face.
"Noire, Red Tornado's on his way back, we're going to ask him if he has a mission for us."
"All right, I'll be out in a bit," I mumbled.
After freshening up a bit I passed by Red Tornado who was on the way in. He pointed me in the direction of the team. I found them standing outside the Cave, all looking fairly bored since there have been no missions recently.
"So, what are we doing?" I ask them.
"Red Tornado suggested we tour the club house," Kaldur tells me.
"Well, Superboy, Noire and I live here, we can play tour guides," Megan suggests.
"Don't look at me," Superboy says.
"We won't. A private tour sounds much more fun," Wally suggests, eyes locked on Megan.
"She never said private," Robin argued.
"Wally, leave her alone. She literally just got here," I tell him. "I'd rather you didn't scare away the only other female member of the team with your incessant flirting."
"Team building. We'll all go," Kaldur finished.
Megan began leading the group, each of us following along as she gave the tour of the mountain. I mindlessly followed along, tuning everything out as my legs carried me wherever we went. At least until I heard Megan gasp and fly away in a rush.
The rest of us followed after her into the kitchen, finding her levitating a hot pan of burnt cookies out of the oven.
"I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode 17 of-uh, never mind," she chuckled sheepishly.
"I bet they'd have tasted great," Robin reassures her. "He doesn't seem to mind."
The loud crunching as Wally ate the cookies filled the silence. When he realized we were all staring at him, he paused.
"I have a serious metabolism," he mumbled, a mouth full of burnt cookie.
"I'll make more?"
"It was sweet of you to make any," Kaldur tells her.
"Thanks, Aqualad."
"We're off duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."
"I'm Wally," Wally told her dreamily. "See, I already trust you with my secret identity. Unlike Mr. dark glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."
"Mine's no secret," she says. "It's M'gann M'orzz. But, you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name. And I'm on Earth now. Noire?"
"Just Noire," I tell her.
Superboy started to leave, but stopped suddenly, eyes locking with Megan's. "Get out of my head!" He shouted.
"What's wrong? I-I don't understand," Megan's voice rang in my head, the others experiencing the same thing, gripping their heads in pain at the loud volume. "Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically."
"M'gann, stop," Kaldur ordered. "Things are different on Earth. Here your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."
"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-gnomes left a bad taste in his brain," Wally said, pointing to Superboy.
"I-I didn't mean to-"
Megan was cut off by Superboy's angry growl. "Just. Stay. Out."
Superboy walked off into the living room. I picked up one of the burnt cookies, wishing I would have been able to try them before they had been burnt.
"How come you didn't react to that?" Wally asks me.
"I'm not a wimp," I tell him, waving the burnt cookie around in his face.
He scoffed, turning his head away from me. Without thinking, I brought the cookie up to my mouth to take a bite, instantly regretting it as a sharp pain ran from my teeth throughout my mouth.
"Hello, Megan! I know what we can do," Megan says, floating off down the hall.
Everyone else followed after her, not questioning what her idea was. All except Superboy. I went up to him to see if he was coming. He was sitting on the couch, the two of us silent for a moment.
"Sorry for throwing you into a wall and... making you have to go through that experiment with Desmond," he told me, his eyes glued to the ground.
"That wasn't you... well, not entirely. And what I went through in that lab was all Desmond's doing."
"You still don't have your powers, do you?"
I remained silent, not wanting to answer. Instead, I changed the subject. "C'mon, I don't wanna go either but it'll stop them from bugging you. And, Megan didn't mean any harm, she didn't know. A little patience goes a long way."
He stood up, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "You're talking about patience?"
I chuckled, leading the way down the hall in the direction I saw the others go. "Doesn't suit me, does it?"
"Not really."
We rode down in the elevator, stopping on a certain floor. As the doors opened my eyes widened. At the end of the landing platform was a large egg shaped something.
"This is my Martian Bioship," Megan introduced.
"Cute," Wally said. "Not aerodynamic, but cute."
"It's at rest, silly. I'll wake it."
The egg molded into a ship right before our eyes. I couldn't help but smile as a ramp extended from the ship, a door open for us to enter. I chased after Megan, the others uncertain as they got closer to the ship.
We all found our seats as they morphed out of the ground, mine at the front at Kaldur's left. Megan brought us up into the sky and I was amazed by the view outside the window, completely distracted from the others until Robin spoke up.
"Hey, how about showing us a little Martian shape-shifting?" Robin asks.
I turned around in my chair while Megan stood up, transforming into Robin then Wally. She was nearly perfect copies of them, nearly meaning she still had female body features.
"Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" Wally asks.
"Only because it's you," I respond. "Yes."
"Impressive," Robin tells her. "But, you know you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those."
"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," Megan explains.
"And your clothes?" Kaldur mentions.
"They're organic, like the ship. They respond to my mental commands."
"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy grumbled, staring ahead out of the window.
"Then what about Noire?" Wally asks, trying to lift the mood.
"Do you really want two of me around?" I counter.
But Megan didn't complain. She easily turned into me, and it was weird. Seeing another version of yourself standing in front of you, and not through a mirror. I stood up and got closer, noticing a scar on my look-alike's right cheek, the one without my hidden tattoo. I reached a hand up to my own face, smudging some blood as it dropped from the fresh and mysterious cut.
"Did any of you notice this?"
"Maybe you fell on your way to the ship?" Robin suggests with a shrug.
"No. I'd know if I tripped."
While Megan went back to normal, my eyesight started to blur. That dizziness soon became light headedness, making it harder for me to catch my balance. My body started tipping when I tried returning to my seat.
Wally, who had been sitting in the seat behind mine, managed to get out of his seat fast enough to catch me before I hit the ground. "Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm-" another wave of dizziness washed over me. "Nope. Not fine."
Wally picked me up, setting me back in my seat while the others crowded around to check on me, Megan remaining in her seat as she flew.
"You look fine to me," Robin says.
"Well, you can't see what I see, which is the world spinning circles around me," I tilt my head back over the back of the chair, my hair falling behind it.
"Maybe we should turn back," Megan suggests.
"No, it's okay. You guys can keep going. I can suffer through it."
"Are you sure?"
"Mhmm. It should subside eventually. I think it might just be the beginning of a migraine. Nothing unusual."
"It's definitely not a migraine."
"I know that," I snapped. "But you think I'm gonna tell them that? Their first big mission is coming up, I don't want to ruin that."
"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing that Manhunter does?" Wally asks Megan, all of them returning to their seats after a brief silence, breaking the awkward pause.
"Density shifting? No. I-it's a very advanced technique."
"Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall," Robin tells her with a little chuckle as he pointed at Wally. "When he tries it, bloody nose."
"Dude!" Wally snapped.
"Here's something I can do," Megan says. "Camouflage mode."
"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," Red Tornado said through the speaker.
"Received. Adjusting course."
Robin scoffs. "Tornado's keeping us busy again."
"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."
"I think I know the cause," Superboy said, spotting a tornado headed straight towards us.
I squeezed my eyes shut as we got caught in a tornado, getting thrown around. Megan managed to get us out of there, landing next to the Happy Harbour power plant. They all ran off to investigate, leaving me in the ship.
"Hey, any idea why I had that sudden dizzy spell? Does it have something to do with my powers?"
I sat waiting for an answer but heard nothing.
"Umm, voice? Are you there?"
Again, no answer.
"If you're hearing this, remind me to give you a name at some point. Referring to you as the voice in my head sounds a little weird."
She didn't answer and I started to get worried. The dizziness had mostly subsided, allowing me to sneak through the power plant. Knowing how this episode went, I knew I should find them in behind. This was when they assumed Twister, the villain, was actually Red Tornado.
"We know who you are and what you want," Robin shouted up at the large red robot that floated in the air.
"So let's end this," Aqualad adds.
"Consider it ended," the robot told them.
It held up its hands, tornadoes growing above it in the sky. As clouds grew above it, getting bigger and bigger, lightning began to strike.
"An impressive show," Aqualad says. "But we will not indulge you. We will not engage!
"Can Red Tornado do that?" Kid Flash asked.
"It's not Red Tornado!" I exclaimed, rushing over to them. "Don't let your guards down!"
I ran in front of Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash who stood closer to the enemy as they confronted it. I went to push them back, trying to get them to run back closer to the power plant, but I wasn't fast enough.
As I tried to quickly herd them back, a lightning strike hit the ground behind us, the explosion from it sending us all flying back.
Everything went black for a moment. I didn't realize I had passed out until I woke up next to the others, all of us safely hidden underneath the camouflaged bioship until Twister flew off.
"What happened?" Kid Flash asks.
"I placed the Bioship between us," Megan responded.
"And that's supposed to make it right?" Superboy asks angrily, smashing a nearby boulder in two. "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado."
"She didn't do it on purpose," Aqualad defended.
"It was a rookie mistake. We shouldn't have listened," Robin says.
"You are pretty inexperienced," Kid Flash told Megan. "Hit the showers, well take it from here."
"Stay out of our way," Superboy ordered, running off on his own.
"Rookie mistake, hit the showers, stay out of our way," I grumbled mockingly. "God. You wanted this team, and now you're breaking it apart all over a simple mistake."
"Says the girl who can't do anything," Kid Flash countered.
"Excuse me?" I ask, angrily stepping closer to him. "Wanna say that again?"
He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could I had knocked him off his feet, making him land on his back on the grass.
"Why don't you shut up for once, Speedy?"
Before he could stand up, I pinned him to the ground, winding up to punch him in the face. However, Aqualad grabbed my arm, keeping me from swinging.
Knowing I wasn't going to be able to do anything, I stood up, glaring down at Kid Flash. "Why don't you go learn the meaning of a team? Maybe then I won't feel like punching you in the face."
He got up, not saying anything else as he quickly ran after Superboy, Robin soon following suit. Aqualad let go of me now that Kid Flash was gone and I had mostly calmed down. Miss Martian slid down to her knees in defeat.
"I was just trying to be part of the team," she sighed, her head hanging low.
"To be honest, I'm not really sure we have a team," Aqualad says, running off after the others.
"Come on, why don't we go?" I suggest.
"How's your head?" She asks, the both of us walking onto the ship.
"After that explosion, it just hurts. I think I should be fine after a nice nap."
I easily fell asleep after curling up in my seat, my body relaxing for the time being. However, that restless sleep full of nightmares was soon interrupted by a voice yelling in my head.
"Wake up. Wake up!"
I jumped awake, momentarily terrified as I quickly glanced around at my surroundings. My head was feeling better as I had hoped, and from the sounds of it the others were just getting back from their mission as well. I spun around in my chair when I heard them walking to the bridge.
"How are you feeling?" Kaldur asks, seeing I was awake.
"My head feels better, but nightmare filled sleep doesn't really leave you feeling refreshed," I answered, reaching up to check my cheek. The cut was there but it was no longer bleeding. "And I'm still weirded out by this cut."
Robin walked up to me, brushing his fingers against the cut. "It's odd. It should still be bleeding based on how deep it looks, but it's stopped. It's even started to scar over."
Wally quickly moved over and removed Robin's hand, wanting to look at the cut. "Maybe you have quick healing?"
I shook my head. "I don't. Or I shouldn't. Maybe we should head back now, Red Tornado will want to know what's been taking us so long."
||Mount Justice
||July 20, 13:45 EDT
I sat amongst a bunch of boxes, multiple books laid out around me. Since I was stuck in the Cave, Batman offered to bring me some things I wanted, to keep myself busy. Now I was sorting through a bunch of my books to place on the bookshelf of my new room.
"Hey, Noire, can I talk to you for a second?" Wally asked from the doorway.
I glanced up at him. "Come in. Don't touch anything."
He walked in, stepping around the books covering part of the floor. Then he sat down on the bed, staring at me as he remained silent.
"Well, I guess I'll start then," I mumbled, continuing my sorting as I spoke. "Sorry I lashed out at you."
"You're apologizing?"
"I... I don't know why I got so angry, but I know my personality isn't the best and I'm not so proud that I won't apologize for something I know was wrong."
"No, no, you don't need to apologize, I totally get why you did that. You were standing up for Megan. It wasn't just her fault, it was all of ours."
"Don't tell me it was your fault for listening and believing her or I'll actually punch you this time."
"It was a logical idea. We were all convinced. We just, in the moment, had to blame the problem on someone."
"And you chose the new girl you have a crush on. If that's how you flirt, I hate to see how you are in an actual relationship."
"That-that had nothing to do with it," he stammered. "She was just the one who brought it up."
I scoffed, standing to put the books away on the shelf. "Whatever."
"I wanted to say sorry about what I said, about you being useless."
I paused with a book in my hand, halfway to the shelf. "I was pretty useless."
He quickly stood up, taking the book from my hand to put it where I was going to put it on the shelf. "You're the one that snapped us out of it! Without you, we probably wouldn't have realized it wasn't Red Tornado in time and it could've ended a lot worse," he rushed.
Someone knocked at the door, drawing my attention away from Wally. "Noire, Batman wants to see you," Robin tells me, glancing between Wally and I.
"Mhmm," I hummed in response to Robin, walking towards the door. When Wally didn't move to leave, I turned towards him. "Wally, get out of my room."
He hurried out after Robin and I made my way towards the mission room, assuming that's where Batman would be. I found him next to the holographic computer.
"This is why I told you to remain inside the mountain," he scolded.
"But I didn't know I was going to receive a mysterious cut on my cheek. How would anyone be able to see that coming."
His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. "I told you the effects of the serum are unpredictable and to be prepared for anything."
"Oh, you did? Guess I've been so busy I forgot."
He looked at the cut then pressed a button on the computer, making it scan my cheek. A picture of the cut appeared on the screen while trying to search for how it could've been created. The search came up unknown. Batman tried the search again but same result.
"So, can we scratch ghost haunting off the list of reasons why this is happening?" I joke.
"There are no ghosts. I need another blood sample to check on the serum."
"Is my body rejecting the serum? Is that what this is? Please don't tell me I'm dying."
He took a blood sample and analyzed it. Nothing unusual showed up, which made me even more anxious. It was weird to see even Batman confused about something.
"The serum you were injected with has now blended in with your bloodstream. It's undetectable," he states.
"That means I might be dead soon, the serum could just take longer to kill me."
"Don't worry, you aren't gonna die anytime soon."
"Voice! I thought you were dead!" I exclaimed.
"I'll be dead when you're dead."
"So, what do you think?" I ask.
"I'm still not sure. Have you tried using your powers?"
"No..." I drifted off, attempting and succeeding to float above the ground. "Yes."
"Whatever it's doing to you, it doesn't seem to have any major effect so far. We can continue this another time. Go get some rest, you look very tired."