HAPPY HARBOUR - MAY 25th
7:01PM
Desmond cried out in bewilderment as his visor suddenly went black. He flailed around on his chair, his arms flapping and flexing as far as his restraints would allow. It wasn't long before two voices started arguing, causing his heartbeat to quicken with fear.
It was unbearable, like his heart was going to smash through his chest plate. He couldn't see who was talking, but their voices quickly raised, a tell-tale sign their chat was turning into an argument. The volume of their argument was unsettling, but the fact that they WERE arguing filled Desmond with the hope that he might get out of here alive.
"Batman!" a voice pleaded. "You can't kill him! He hasn't done anything wrong!"
Desmond's panicked heart froze when he heard that name.
Batman?! The guy from the Justice League?! What the hell was he doing HERE?!
"Miss Martian!" another voice (which Desmond assumed to be Batman's) said sternly. "I told you to stay in the lounge room with the others!"
The two voices degenerated into protests and arguments, both of them verbally grappling for a moral high ground over the other. While the argument was taking place, Desmond resumed his panicking, pulling at his restraints with even more desperation.
"What's all this about killing me?!" he screamed as he pulled sides of his blindfold. "I'm right here, you know!"
The voices suddenly stopped arguing, just as a voice echoed in Desmond's head.
"Don't worry," the voice assured. "You'll be OK. Just give us a minute and we'll have you out in a jiffy!"
Desmond raised an eyebrow. Was that the girl from earlier?
"Great." he groaned. "Now I'm hearing voices in my head. Always wondered when I'd go crazy..."
The disembodied voice that Batman called 'Miss Martian' let out a small, girly giggle. But her snickering was cut short when a rush of wind flew through the room, almost knocking Desmond off his recliner.
But it wasn't just any wind. Whatever it was, it made the hairs on Desmond's arm stand on end and turned the air hot, as if it had been full of electricity.
"Don't go soft on this guy, Megan!" a hyperactive voice snapped. "He destroyed my couch!!"
Desmond looked in the direction of the voice.
"It was an accident, Wally!" the female voice (M'gann? Miss Martian, was it?) said. "His powers were out of control when we brought him here!"
The hyperactive voice gave up on winning Miss Martian over, letting out a sound between a sob and a groan.
"I oughta run around the world a gazillion times and punch you square in the face!!" he snapped in Desmond's direction.
Desmond couldn't tell if that was a threat or not. What the hell was going on here?!
"Enough yelling!" he finally screamed out. "Will someone get me out of this thing and tell me what the HELL is going on!?"
The echo of Desmond's voice lingered in the room a few more seconds before another footfall resounded from the next room. This footfall was different from the others, no electrical winds, no silence beforehand. Just calm, restrained footsteps and a very heavy sigh.
"Batman," a gentle voice inquired. "Will you just let him out?"
Batman showed no resistance to the voice, at least nothing more than a murmur of exasperation.
"Take it off him very carefully, Zatanna"
Desmond's ears pricked up. Zata-what? What a weird na-
The helmet finally slid off, and was now in the hands of a smiling girl before Desmond's eyes. She was a little shorter than he was, but her height wasn't a feature that caught his attention. She had a lightly tanned complexion (Italian or Greek if he had to guess) with deep, cyan-blue eyes and the most intense, raven-black hair Desmond had ever seen in his life.
She was breath-taking...
"Hi." the girl smiled. "I'm Zatanna, nice to meet you."
A smile formed on Desmond's face as she moved for his wrist-bindings. Oh, she had no idea how nice it wa-
"Agh!!"
Zatanna winced as the binding tightened on Desmond's left wrist, causing the boy to jolt in his chair.
"Ah, sorry!" she apologised quickly.
Desmond groaned with pain as the binding came off, holding his wrist for a few seconds with a sigh.
Guess that will teach me to be a pervert...
"So..." Desmond began. "I guess that means you aren't going to kill me..?"
Everyone looked towards Desmond with confusion, then to Miss Martian, who rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead with a small laugh.
"Hello Megan!" she said loudly. "Batman doesn't kill people!"
Batman didn't seem happy with what she said.
"You are aware that no-one in the League does, right?" Kid Flash remarked.
His head flicked towards Desmond, his eyes blazing.
"But I don't care if they welcome you!" he growled. "I still don't like you, couch-hater!!"
With another huff, he bolted away from the room, his despaired sobs echoing down the hallway. He was screaming so loudly, Desmond couldn't tell if Kid Flash was devastated, or being dramatic.
"What's his problem?" Desmond asked.
Miss Martian smirked. "How much time have you got?"
"I HEARD THAT!" Kid Flash yelled from down the hall. He didn't sound very happy, but his reaction caused everyone to laugh anyway.
But Desmond didn't laugh along with them, his eyes were too fixated on the room around him. After he took in the cavernous, computer-riddled environs around him, he suddenly realized that he hadn't asked the most important question:
"Where am I?"
But then he realized: Superheroes? Sidekicks? All the secrecy? A mountain base?!
How could he not have noticed it yet?!
"Is this-?!"
Zatanna smiled and nodded her head. "Welcome to Mount Justice!"
After such a long and horrible day, Desmond was now beyond ecstatic. Chewed out by the gym coach, stuck with cleaning duty, attacked by a crazy mud-monster, numerous panic attacks and most weirdly of all; laser beams. But as the universe is want to do, he was rewarded for his hardships.
And being able to hang out with the Young Justice team?! That was time and a half compensation!
But it was not entirely fun.
While the boy had received a warm reception from Zatanna and Miss Martian, Desmond found himself on the bad side of both Superboy and Kid Flash. If their folded arms got any tighter, Desmond thought they would snap off!
Then there was Batman, who in keeping with his stoic demeanour, didn't seem to be showing any empathy towards Desmond at all. If he asked any questions about Desmond's wellbeing, they seemed more out of scientific curiosity than concern.
"Here," Miss Martian offered. "I'll help you up..."
The alien girl flew over to Desmond with a gentle grace, a wide smile strewn across her mouth. As she put her blue-gloved hands on his arm, Desmond got a closer look at her face.
She had auburn eyes, both radiating with joy and contentment. As her smile got wider, Desmond could see some light freckles on her cheeks, marks that would have been unnoticeable from a distance. In all fairness, she was quite beautiful, but the green skin was a bit of a buzzkill...
As she pulled him up from his chair, Desmond felt an warm, but odd wave of energy flood down his arm.
"What?"
He looked up to Miss Martian, wondering if she felt it too, but all he could hear from her was a gentle humming.
Weird...Maybe it was just hi-?
Suddenly, Desmond felt a dark, crushing feeling at the back of his neck. He swallowed anxiously and turned his head towards the rest of the Young Justice and immediately locked eyes with Superboy, the latter's face wrinkled with jealousy.
Man, if looks could kill...
"He'd better let go of my girlfriend..." the clone warned.
Desmond let out a frightened squeak and threw his arm up dramatically, his heart hammering with fear.
"Hey!" Miss Martian cried out. "What's wrong?!"
But Desmond's eyes were still locked with Superboy's. He heard Superboy's threat as clear as day, but the young hero seemed confused by Desmond's reaction.
"Didn't you hear him?!" Desmond asked Miss Martian. "He said I should let go of you!"
Superboy's scowl came back immediately. "What?! I did not!"
Now everyone was confused.
"But Desmond," Aqualad said. "Superboy didn't say anything..."
Batman seemed to be analysing the situation.
"But I heard him!" Desmond defended. "I heard him all the way from over here!"
Kid Flash scoffed and folded his arms. "He's probably trying to break us apart..."
"I am NOT!!" Desmond yelled at him. "And not to sound rude at all, but can you please talk with your mouths OPEN?! Are you guys ventriloquists or something?!"
Batman looked up, like he had solved a problem.
"But we're not saying anything!" Kid Flash yelled again. "What's wrong with you!"
The team looked like they were about to start arguing as and Miss Martian held out their hands at everyone to defuse the situation.
But Batman looked towards Kid Flash.
"Miss Martian is what's wrong with him." He said abruptly.
Everyone looked at him in confusion. "Huh? Me?" Miss Martian asked.
"Let go of his arm." Batman told her. "Kid Flash, I want you to help him over the rest of the way."
Kid Flash looked at him with refusal. "He can do it himself!"
Batman glared at him.
"Fine." the speedster groaned. He walked over to Desmond and pulled him off the floor, begrudgingly helping the boy to his feet.
"Better make it qui-"
But Desmond pulled his arm away from Kid Flash's, quick to return the animosity.
"Thank you," he said as he stepped forward. "But I can do it by mys-"
But when he took a step, he suddenly found himself rushing forward at an impossible speed, colliding head-on with a rocky wall.
"AGGHH!!!" Desmond fell flat onto his back, his hand clamped to his face as his forehead turned red. "Was that wall...already there when I moved?"
Batman didn't answer him, instead he made a curious murmur, as if he had solved some kind of mystery.
"Just as I thought..." he said. "It seems you got more than just a wound from Parasite..."
"What do you mean?" Desmond asked as Aqualad helped him up.
"Superboy and Kid Flash..." he explained. "You didn't hear their voices, you heard their thoughts..."
Zatanna's eyes lit up. "...Right after Miss Martian touched him!"
Batman nodded. "And then after Kid Flash grabbed you, you moved almost as fast as he did..."
Desmond was still missing the point. "What are you saying?"
Aqualad looked at him with disbelief. "You can copy our powers...Just like Parasite!"
Desmond looked at Batman worriedly.
"What?! Are you saying I'm turning into Parasite?!"
Batman grumbled and shook his head. "I doubt that."
Desmond was about to speak again, but Batman ignored him and began to walk off.
"Where are you going?"
"To the Missions Room." he replied. "Desmond, I think it's time you met someone..."
Desmond has finally met the team and been shown Mount Justice!! :D
Way to go for him, huh? :D
But questions still remain: Why is he at Mount Justice?
Why was Batman interrogating him so harshly?
What was going on with the powers he showed earlier and where did he get them?!
Find out in the next chapter of "Young Justice: The Mimic Contingency", coming out tomorrow!! :D
As I've said before, please, please PLEASE don't forget to vote and more importantly COMMENT if you enjoyed the story :D
-Kai-Shiro :D