|Mount Justice
|July 20, 21:34 EDT
RECOGNIZED, ASTRA B-00.
The only warning Kamila got was a faint Whoosh! Before Wally ran right up to her.
"Sparky! I just had the best idea!" The ginger exclaimed, his hands were on her shoulders and he was practically bouncing up and down.
They hadn't been able to talk much, just the two of them at least, they just hadn't been able to get any alone time. Whether it was patrol with Barry, or hanging out in central while Kamila had to watch her half-siblings, there was always another person with them. it made it hard for the two to confess their feelings for each other before school started like they'd been planning.
(of course, not that Wally knew that Kamila knew he likes her... that's confusing, wally is oblivious and Kamila is impatient. there.)
"What's up KF?" She asked.
"So I was watching TV and Megan walked by, and I was bored so I went to see what she was doing, right? She was going to go baking or something, I don't know. Anyways, I asked her what I should do, because I'm bored and there is nothing-"
"Walls. The point?" she said with a smile while rolling her eyes.
He blushed slightly. "right. So I had the amazing idea of going outside and having a campfire!"
Kamila's face held a look of confusion for a second before she tilted her head and asked "Wally, you've never even been camping before, and you want to camp outside of the cave with the team?"
"I've been camping before!" he put a hand on his chest as if he were offended, "We were in your backyard, Kam."
the blonde girl laughed as she responded, "Wally, that wasn't camping, that's just a bonfire. Camping is like, actually sleeping outside."
he tilted his head, like a confused puppy, "Didn't we stay to sleep in the tree house? that was outside! boom! Camping!"
Kamila was about to correct him, explain that there are no tree houses when you go camping, when M'gann walked in with the rest of the boys, using her abilities to carry what looked like five tents, six chairs, eight bags of marshmallows, three boxes of gram crackers, what looked like 20 chocolate bars (all for s'mores, Kamila guessed), two drink coolers, enough snacks to feed an army... or a speedster and his friends if he wanted to share, and a reluctant superboy being dragged by his ear.
"I got everything! Let's go camping!" the green girl said with the brightest smile on her face.
⚡︎
"HEY M'GANN, DID you bring the speaker I told you about?" Kamila asked, looking through one of the bags the Martain had her grab (...blankets, bed rolls, pillows...), she moved on from that bag and onto the next, (Flash-branded flashlights, Batman Batteries, and-) "Never mind! found it!"
It was a small Black Canary Karaoke Box, one of the many gag gifts Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, had gotten for each member of the Justice League when they had just become public and a few weeks before the hall and watchtower were made. Kamila was looking around for any old tech parts that weren't cleared out of the cave when she felt the unfamiliar pull of the Wonder Woman Weaponised Tazer falling off the Martian Manhunter Microwave and accidentally turning on...
...barry's notebooks never mentioned how badly painted the gifts were.
Anyways, she quickly grabbed her phone and plugged the aux cord into the speaker. she could feel M'gann floating over her shoulder as she unwrapped the cord from around the speaker.
"um, Kamila? how are you going to plug it in? we're in the woods?" M'gann asked.
"huh? oh! right, so-" Kamila was about to start explaining her powers when a speeding blur raced up to her and the Martian. Once her eyes finally registered it was Wally, he handed the two some s'mores.
"Here you go beautiful! A perfectly burnt s'more," he handed Kamila her s'more as she thanked him, then turned to M'gann to give her the only slightly melted marshmallow. "and now for Ms. M's first s'more!"
the green girl took her first bite and her eyes widened. Next thing Kamila knew, M'gann managed to eat three more cooled-down s'mores and the central/keystone duo moved closer to the fire to make more. Wally sat next to Robin on one of the logs they found fallen over in the woods, and Kamila sat on the ground beside him, close enough to rest her head on his leg.
a few moments later, Robin started making sarcastic comments as usual. "This was a great Idea Wally, don't you think? camping in the great outdoors!"
the ginger rolled his eyes "Hey, I didn't say anything about camping! I said campfire. big difference. I don't like camping.. outside... in tents.."
Kamila tried to hide her laugh as she spoke, "I remember when we went 'camping' in my backyard and my step-dad told this story about Batman from when he lived in Gotham. You refused to sleep in the tents after that so we took a lamp and slept on my treehouse floor."
"Oh! we should tell stories!" M'gann said excitedly, "I would love to hear everyone's story of how they became a hero! what about you Kaldur? how did you become Aqualad?"
The Atlantean had a slightly homesick look on his face, "I suppose I could do that if you do not think it will be too boring."
"dude, you grew up underwater and ended up being the king's protege, it won't be boring. I'm surprised you never told me this before..." Kamila said. they'd been friends for a while, since the beginning of his surface-hero career even, but only recently had gotten close. still, it was quite surprising.
Come to think of it, Kamila had only told Wally about how she became a hero... huh.
Kaldur began his story.
"Well, I grew up in the city of Shayeris, which is a city in Atlantis. Surface dwellers think all Atlanteans are the same, but our kingdom has many cities, many people, and many cultures. When I was twelve, I completed my education and began my mandatory service in the Atlantean military, which was standard for all at that age. After a while, I was transferred to the prestigious Conservator of Sorcery in the Atlantean capital of Poseidonis.
"Queen Mera is the headmistress of the conservatory and wife of King Orin, Aquaman. It was a very different time for me. It wasn't easy, as it would be for anyone at age fourteen, I suppose, but also a time in my life when I met friends that I knew would be with me for a lifetime. Then came a day... a horrible day when Poseidonis was attacked by the Ocean Master. I can remember it vividly, only yesterday. It was the day Aquaman nearly met his end.
"Aquaman and Ocean Master fought for what seemed like hours. When Aquaman and Ocean Master clashed, it seemed to shake the city's very foundations. Ocean Master had gained the upper hand and nearly defeated Aquaman. Correction, Aquaman was defeated." His face morr=ffed into one of remembrance, the day had an effect on him and the memory probably wasn't a happy one for the moment. he took a breath then continued,
"Garth, a fellow Atlantean, intervened on the king's behalf. It was the only thing we could think of doing. The danger did not occur to us; the only thing that mattered at the time was that our king was in trouble. It may have been one of the most foolish things Garth and I have ever done. We nearly met our end.
"We had no hope of defeating him whatsoever, but the time we spent engaged in battle against the Ocean Master was time enough for our king to recover. Aquaman finally triumphed over Ocean Master! He was able to drive him away from the city and save us all!"
"Realizing that on the surface, both Batman and Green Arrow had taken on apprentices that could one day take over their respective mantels, and the flash training a new hero just a few months younger than I, King Orin had been contemplating the same idea. With this in mind, he approached both Garth and myself with the possibility of becoming his protégés. I must admit the possibility intrigued me immediately. I had never been to the surface world, and I am the first to admit that I am a bit of an adventurer. Many days in class I would dream of visiting distant oceans and possibly one day even the surface world. Both Garth and I seriously considered the king's offer."
"Garth ultimately chose to continue his studies with Queen Mera at the Conservatory of Sorcery. For me, however, the chance to visit the surface world was a dream come true. So at the age of fourteen, I became Aqualad." He continued with a sad smile, "I miss my friends. Garth. Tula... but the chance to work with my mentor and king was an opportunity I could not pass up. I like to think the work I am doing makes a difference."
"and you are, kaldur," Kamila said. He nodded in accordance and concluded his story.
"The rest of the story you know. Aquaman brought Aqualad to the surface world, and now I am here with you."
"Wow," M'gann said in awe of the story, "so you wanted to be Aqualad?"
The blonde boy nodded his head, "Yes, the opportunity arose, I could not think of another path," he said with almost a false certainty like there was one thing that still kept him regretting or longing for back home.
"you think he wanted to be Aqualad badly? kid Idiot over here blew himself up so he could become Kid Flash!" Kamila said with a laugh and let out a sharp 'Ow!' when said speedster hit her in the back of the head.
"Hey, that was kind of an accident!" the ginger defended himself, before he addressed the group, "Okay, so, the story of how I, the one and only kid Flash got started.... well it goes back generations. The first flash isn't the one you know today, he's the second. the first Flash was Jay Garrick, and like every generation of Flash, his story started with a bang! He was everywhere in the 40s and 50s, the fastest man alive! Well, not anymore, that's the flash, the second, not the first. the easiest way to tell the difference is he's my uncle, the second flash is I mean-"
"walls, the point?" Kamila interrupted, "And if you make this any more confusing I'm telling the story."
"Yeah yeah, I'm getting there sparky. Anyways, one day this guy comes along and wants to know everything about this Jay Garrick guy. They didn't try to hide secret identities at the time, so it was easy for him to get in contact with him."
Kamila snorted because the thought of Barry Allen, the man who could barely cook without causing a fire if he didn't have 'adult supervision' in the kitchen, was stalking an old man who ran fast.
...
kinda creepy now that she thinks about it.
"Eventually, they met up and spent hours talking about his adventures and the accident that turned him into the Flash. Now, this guy wasn't any normal fan. No, he had access to a high-tech lab and decided to recreate the accident under proper Laboratory conditions. He set it all up, and BOOM! An even bigger explosion! But he ended up getting supper speed himself!
"he decided to become the Flash! Not the original one, but a New Flash! the one we all know and love, my uncle!"
"I still don't know why Barry didn't just like... chose a new name? Didn't Iris call him The Scarlet Speedster in a few of her earlier articles? what was wrong with that?" Kamila asked the rhetorical question because if she didn't know and Wally (who would have told her) didn't know, none of their team knew.
proving her point of Wally not knowing, he just shrugged "Maybe to pay homage to Jay? I don't know, we can ask him on our next patrol," he shook his head and continued the story, "anyways, this time, he was even faster than the flash! the first one I mean, not the current one... you get it by now!"
Kamila picked up the story from there, "anyways, during The Flash's first few years as a hero, he grew a big fanbase throughout central, where I'm from. one of those fans ended up getting a spot as his sort of sidekick. He trained her and they went on patrol together, shit like that, but not a sidekick because of their different powers."
"Yeah yeah, we'll get to that later!" the speedster waved her off jokingly, "anyways, great minds think alike, right? well turns out I'm one of those great minds," Kamila couldn't help but laugh, and Wally glared slightly, "because I was also a fan of the Flash, the new one not the old one... well, I'm a fan of his now that I know him, but still. when I saw that he was training a girl around my age, I decided that I needed to get powers like that! A few months later, my aunt Iris got married to this guy named Barry."
"That's where we met, I was the flower girl and he was the ring barrer," Kamila said happily. that was one of the best days of her life post-powers, she still has the old Polaroid-style photo of them from that day on her bulletin board above her desk.
Wally nodded, and continued his story, "Yup! And long story short, after they moved in together and a little while later, I went over to visit and found out that my uncle had maybe 50 notebooks, filled and dated. I read through a few of them and got the biggest shock of a lifetime! My uncle was The Flash!
"After the shock passed, I read the earliest one and it was filled with all his experiences and experiments! the most detailed ones were about the flash experiments, y'a know, what gave him powers to become the flash! the second one, not the"
"dude, we get it," Robin said, M'gann nodded in agreement. the consent clarification must have gotten her confused, and Kamila knew that in her situation, she would be too.
Wally rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, after that, I was kinda hinting at him that he needed a partner, one with the same powers as him! I tried to convince him that another partner would make life way easier! I mean, yeah sure, he already had one, but Batman and Robin and Green Arrow and Speedy had the whole 'nighttime vigilante' and archer things going for them, but the only thing similar about The Flash and his partner was the lighting that followed them! But he wasn't changing his mind."
Superboy crossed his arms, "does this sound confusing to anyone else?"
"Basically, he found the Flash's notebooks, found out it was his uncle, and started begging to join our little team of two," Kamila simplified. the clone simply nodded in understanding.
the speedster rolls his eyes, "you can't just sum up greatness in a single sentence like that, Kam. Anyways I tried to re-create the experiment with my own chemistry set!"
The one weekend I was too busy to talk, you blew up your garage, Kamila thought.
"The experiment actually worked?" asked the Atlantian in disbelief.
"Ha!" Kamila laughed out, "No it didn't! all he managed to do was put himself into a coma for a week! I'm still convinced that the only reason he got his powers was because when I visited him, I shocked him because of how worried I was! he figured out who I was after that."
"Whatever sparky, believe what you want. But after I got out of the hospital, I was off and running! And this time, we both asked Barry if I could be trained by him, and Boom! Mark that day as the greatest in history, why you ask?"
Robin put his hands up as if to show he didn't have anything to do with this, "just for the record, we didn't."
The boy rolled his eyes again, "That was the day the world got kid flash!" he concluded, "You. Are. Welcome."
"Yeah, we are thrilled you're so speed-capable."
"What's the matter, Rob? Jealous?"
"Sheeyeah, right! Jealous of you?"
"Can you tell us how you got started, Robin?" M'gann asked, speaking around her s'more that she was enjoying. Seeing it made Kamila make another for herself. Before she did, the words that the martain spoke began to process and she let out a laugh.
"Ha! Yeah, no, batman wouldn't even let him tell me his real name even after we've known each other for years! Same with Roy, now that I think of it." Granted, she and Wally know about his past and his real name, but at the time it was very annoying.
"Oh, well, can I know a bit more about your story? I mean, how did you end up being trained by Flash?"
"Yeah, sure! Okay, so this all started about eight years ago...
⚡︎
I REMEMBER THE day like it was yesterday, the day I found out my dad was gone.
He was working on a case with a unit of detectives and definitely should've called for a SWAT team for backup instead of going in alone undercover. It was a series of bank robberies, and the forensic scientist working the case helped nail down some pretty solid evidence of who the culprit was. But something that they overlooked was the fact that there was a bigger group than anticipated, and my dad was easily taken at gunpoint. He was shot and killed before the emergency evacuation team, which was the rest of the detectives, could even kick open the door, a second too late. He was gone.
After that, I convinced myself that if I became a hero, an inspiration to others, I could make a difference and save a little girl's dad before it was too late.
A hero like the Flash, who was always at the right place, at the right time.
I was still a kid at the time, so I knew it would be hard to help people. At the time, Batman never had a Robin, so I thought there was no way an eight-year-old could be a hero, let alone an eight-year-old hero with no powers and no training.
The next year, my mom met this guy, and they got engaged. They worked together and even went to high school together. So I knew that Alex Fisher wasn't going to hurt my mom. They ended up having two kids over the next few years, Gemma and Daniel Fisher.
For Daniel's second birthday, my mom and stepdad took us out to get some ice cream during the hot August afternoon. None of us could have predicted that a new villain would be attacking the streets of Central City that day.
I had managed to slip away into the crowd, knowing that the Flash would be the one to step in and save the day.
Just a twelve-year-old girl, wrong place, wrong time. Then ZAP! I was hit by lightning, straight to my chest.
It was more the shock of being hit that made me pass out. The doctors said that I was so convinced I was going to die that my brain forced me into a coma.
When I woke up in Star Labs a few months later to a music artist I'd never heard before, a woman with ice-cold hands checking my vitals, and the Flash without a mask standing outside the room on the other side of the glass.
Turns out, my DNA has some... weird genetic mutations from my dad's side of the family, which laid dormant in me until I was struck by lightning. And with the Flash carrying me in his arms to (what I can assume was) his 'secret base,' I began to absorb the energy from the lightning trailing after him.
That only caused my mutation to become stronger, and after a few months of training my powers in the lab so I wouldn't hurt anyone, I started begging the Flash to let him train me properly, to ask my parents if I could be his protege.
Eventually, he did.
Turns out, he knew my dad. He was the forensic scientist who helped him with the case that eventually killed him. My mom knew to trust him.
After a full year of training with Barry, I was given a little... internship of sorts with Black Canary to learn combat training because I couldn't fight at my fastest without being completely lost.
Two months later, only a few days after Batman had announced he had a protege, Astra made her first appearance on the streets of Central City.
⚡︎
"... AND THAT'S THE story of how I became Astra." Kamila finished as she whipped an already-dried tear from under her eye.
The team was quiet for a moment, Wally mindlessly rubbed her shoulder knowing that she still had a hard time talking about her dad, and then M'gann spoke up.
"I'm sorry about your dad... are you a hero now to honour him?" she asked innocently, and Kamila brushed off the apology before responding.
"Yeah, I wanted to be a hero because of him. Even my hero's name is after one of his phobias from when he was a kid. Astraphobia is a fear of lightning and thunder, and I want criminals to hear my thunder or see my lighting flashing and feel the same fear my dad did when he was younger," she shrugged, "Plus I think Greek Mythology is cool and Astra was a minor goddess of thunder and lighting."
And everyone is depressed now, yay.
Kamila made herself a s'more and asked M'gann about what led her to be Miss Martain, but she couldn't pay attention. Not with Wally moving onto the ground next to her and laying his head on hers.
Her thoughts weren't along the lines of 'Omg girl, that's so cool! welcome to earth' and more like 'Oh my fucking god, oh my god-' and 'What the hell is wrong with me, it's just Wally? So what if I like him? he's done this before?!'
However, she did catch the end of M'gann's story, "Now, I'm here with all of you, and I'm a part of the Team! I truly love it!"
"We are happy you're here with us as well M'gann," Kaldur said.
Kamila stood up with Wally as she spoke, "Yeah! I mean, finally, there's another girl around here! thank god!" she joked.
The green girl let out a laugh which quickly turned into a yawn, "I think we should get to sleep, I'm excited to sleep in an actual tent!"
"Already one step ahead of you!" Kamila was making her way over to the girls' tent, yawning a bit as she did.
In a few short minutes, she was sleeping peacefully and as comfortably as you can on a forest floor.
A/N:
Word Count: 3910
I'm backkkkk
I don't know why, but the thought of writing M'gann and Kaldur's stories made this chapter come out way later than I thought it would.. like I could not write Kaldur's story and just did a little cheating and copy-pasted it from the comic and skipped M'gann entirely-
Also~~
A few life updates; I turned 16, I can drive now, I have a boyfriend and I have a social life now <3
So yeah. November is my month lmao
Thank you for reading and I'll try and post sooner (no promises tho)!!