MOUNT JUSTICE - MAY 25th
7:09 PM
Within a few moments of arriving, Black Canary had ordered the Young Justice members into two teams. At first, it reminded Desmond of the first, agonizing ten minutes before Gym Class, when everyone had to choose members and left him last. But when he saw the icy glare in Canary's eyes, he knew that the woman wasn't so much gym teacher as she was a drill sergeant. When the teams were formed, she looked over to Desmond:
"You." she said. "New kid."
"Desmond!" he replied instinctively. "Um...Ma'am!"
"Desmond. I want you to train with me."
She looked to the others.
"You guys sit on the side-lines and watch. I want you guys to assess Desmond's fighting ability."
Desmond folded his arms as he watched everyone walk out of the circle, their mouths curling into smug smiles.
"What am I?" he remarked. "A freak show?!"
The Team promptly stood around the circle's edge, all with an eager expression, except for Zatanna, Dick and Miss Martian. For some reason, the three of them looked incredibly worried...
Desmond raised an eyebrow, a non-verbal 'What's Wrong?' in their direction. Dick answered by inclining his head towards Canary.
"Watch her." the expression seemed to say.
Heeding Dick's advice, Desmond quickly turned back to Canary, who glared at him with her hands on her hips.
"Take off your clothes." she ordered.
Desmond's face flushed. "W-What?!"
Canary rolled her eyes.
"Not like THAT, kid." she said calmly. "Your jacket and shirt are going to restrict your movement..."
She pointed to the edge of the circle.
"Take them off and throw them to the side, please."
Not wanting to waste any more time, Desmond reached for his hoodie and blue t-shirt, peeling them off like you would a Band-Aid. When he finished removing his shirt, he heard Kid Flash make a mocking wolf-whistle.
"Take it off, Des!" the speedster laughed.
Desmond blushed again, thanking God that he decided to wear a singlet today. He folded the clothes neatly and put them on the edge of the circle's light, the Cave's cooler temperature chilling his shoulders.
"What now?" Desmond asked.
Suddenly, another hologram appeared next to him, causing him to jump aside like before. The turquoise static slowly changed shape, turning into two zeroes, one red and one blue. A scoreboard, Desmond guessed.
He was about to ask Canary about the exercise, but she ignored him and pulled out two, small black rods, each with a flat end. She handed them to a confused Desmond and looked at him with a steely gaze.
"This another one of those monitors?" he asked.
Once again, Canary ignored him. She produced another pair of rods and made a quick slashing motion down to her left. With a quiet 'click' they extended outwards, turning into batons.
"Defend yourself." the heroine warned.
But Desmond was too busy marvelling over the batons. He had always abhorred weapons, but holding these filled him with excitement and empowerment.
"Cool!" he said with awe. "But Batman didn't say anything abo-"
Suddenly, Canary brought her right baton onto his knuckles, leaving a big red mark along his fingers. The boy cried out and fell to the ground in pain, dropping his left baton.
"Aghhhh!!" he gasped, nursing his bruised fingers. "What the hell was THAT?!"
"I told you to defend yourself." Canary reminded him. "You didn't and let yourself open to an attack."
A hot numbness began to fill Desmond's knuckles. "Owwwwww..."
Canary sighed with exasperation. "I'll warn you AGAIN, defend yourself!"
Desmond looked back to the Young Justice members. Kid Flash and Superboy looked like they were about to burst into laughter, while the rest looked absolutely horrified.
Desmond clenched his teeth and snatched up his batons, yelling with anger as he lunged at Canary...
...Who hit him on the back of the head without any effort.
"OWWWW!!" Desmond screamed again, dropping both batons to the floor. "You crazy BITCH!!"
Then he stopped, realizing what he had just said.
Desmond looked back towards the Team, their faces resembling a mix of terror and the Three Wise Monkeys, even Artemis and Aqualad, who had remained stoic the whole time.
Then he looked back to Canary, seeing an expression that almost made him wet his pants.
He didn't know what to call that emotion, but it looked like something between hurt feelings, shock and sheer, bloody rage. Her bloodthirsty eyes twitched as her grip tightened on her baton.
Desmond swallowed nervously. "I'm sor-"
But Canary's baton swatted him across the face, nearly breaking his jaw and nose on impact.
The force of the hit caused Desmond to pirouette twice, blood flying from his nose and teeth as he finally hit the floor.
His vision began to blur and distort as the Team quickly ran over to him, towering over him in a circle of blurred colours.
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh, Canary?" Aqualad asked.
The bloodlust in Canary's eyes still hadn't waned. "He'll live..."
Desmond made a small groan as Kid Flash leapt down onto his batons, his eyes lighting up like a kid in a candy store.
"Souvenir!" he grinned.
The reactions amongst the Team were mixed. Dick, Zatanna and Miss Martian looked at Desmond worriedly, while Artemis and Superboy looked at him with indifference. Kid Flash was too busy marvelling over the batons, but he didn't seem to care at all.
"Well, one thing's for sure..." Artemis sighed. "What he lacks in fighting abilities, he makes up for in bravery..."
"TOO MUCH bravery..." Canary scoffed as she slid her jacket back on.
Miss Martian knelt down next to Desmond, gently turning his head to examine the darkening bruise on his face.
"He's...going to need a doctor..." she said awkwardly.
And as she finished speaking, Desmond finally lost consciousness.
Desmond sat on a cream-coloured sofa in the lounge room, flinching every time Miss Martian dabbed a cotton bud onto his bruised cheek and nostrils.
"Ah!" he winced.
What a hell of a day. Most of the time, Desmond would have called a bad day failing a maths test, or getting chewed out by the gym teacher, but today had been a whole other beast.
Getting attacked by some power-slurping mud monster? Being strapped down and restrained by one superhero? Getting the snot beaten out of him by another? Even after that, the embarrassment didn't stop.
Now, he was covered in more bandages than a mummy, made into comic relief in front of sidekicks and having an alien girl smear a foul smelling disinfectant on his skin.
And just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, Black Canary invited the whole Justice League over, asking them for their opinions on the sparring session between her and Desmond.
Which she took the liberty of recording...
Canary asked them to weigh in, but the League's shared expressions of disbelief said it all.
Superman watched the recording on the lounge room's TV with a look of amazement, but not the proud kind. Wonder Woman watched attentively until Desmond's recording started talking. She didn't remove her palm from her face until the video finished...
Aquaman just looked disturbed.
Martian Manhunter had no reaction at all, which Desmond couldn't tell was a bad thing or not.
Shazam seemed more emotional. Throughout the whole video, he couldn't stop laughing.
Flash and Green Arrow watched the whole thing with their mouths agape, especially when Desmond insulted Canary.
Green Lantern shared Wonder Woman's reaction, but was less obvious about it.
And finally Batman, who just watched it with a flat, apathetic face, like he already knew what was going to happen.
Desmond hung his head. Why couldn't Canary have just killed him in the circle and saved him all the embarrassment?
After three, painfully embarrassing replays, Canary turned the TV off.
Aquaman stood there, awkwardly scratching the end of his beard. "That was...disappointing..."
"I've seen infants put up a better fight..." Wonder Woman groaned in agreement.
Desmond clenched his teeth. Infants?!
Flash leaned over to Martian Manhunter, his eyes carefully watching Canary.
"D-Did he..." he stammered. "Did he really call Canary a b-"
"Yes, he did." Canary growled with folded arms, her nails digging into her sleeves.
"Whoa...." Flash looked over to Desmond. "You're a seriously brave kid..."
Shazam was still laughing, one more giggle from falling face first on the floor.
"Did you see the way Canary hit him?!" he cackled. "It was like 'ka-boosh!!'!"
Desmond's eyes narrowed at Shazam, a pit of anger rising within his core. "What are you, a child?!"
Shazam went quiet as the Young Justice members cleared their throats nervously.
"But, yeah..." the hero noted. "That was some pretty sucky fighting..."
Desmond's fist curled up on the armrest. God, if he wasn't on this chair right now..!
The Justice League members turned around and faced each other in a circle, discussing what they had just watched.
"Too un-coordinated..." Green Lantern remarked. "He lacked combat focus."
Desmond's fist was shaking.
"Lacked FOCUS?!" Wonder Woman scoffed. "He wouldn't be able to punch a Themyscirian pot off of a small column!"
Desmond wasn't sure what she meant, but his rage kept growing.
Suddenly, Superboy's hand came down onto his, temporarily halting his anger.
"Calm down..." the clone whispered. He inclined his head towards Miss Martian, who nodded in agreement.
"Maybe he shouldn't be with us..." Flash whispered.
Desmond's ears pricked up, as did the rest of the Team's.
"He just doesn't know how to use his powers properly." Superman added.
Desmond's anger resumed it's slow rise, causing him to clench his teeth again
"Maybe if we were to do a field test..." Superman mused.
"Just send him on his way." Canary interrupted. "We'll just keep a close eye on-"
But before she could finish, Desmond bolted up from the chair, slamming his hands down on the armrests.
"SHUT UP!" he screamed at them. "Disappointing?! Worse than an infant?! UN-COORDINATED?!"
The whole room couldn't have been quieter. Everyone watched as Desmond marched towards Superman, his eyes flaming with unbridled rage.
Kid Flash suddenly stood up with a nervous chuckle. "Okay, I'm staying out of this!"
He disappeared in a rush of wind as Desmond reached Superman, the hero giving Desmond a stern gaze.
"You need to calm down, Desmond." the Man of Steel warned. "We've been more than hospitable!"
Desmond's eyes widened.
"Hospitality?!" he snapped. "I've only been in this Cave for a few hours and already I've fallen unconscious, been interrogated like a criminal, been in fear of my life and got beaten senseless by a woman I DON'T EVEN KNOW!!"
He jabbed a finger at Superman's chest.
"If THAT'S hospitality, then you're a pretty sucky host!"
Even Wonder Woman seemed taken aback by Desmond's outburst.
"I'm sorry, Desmond, but we don't know what to do." Aquaman suddenly said. "You're exhibiting powers we barely understand and with no sign of weakness..."
He stepped forward, putting his cold, pale hand on Desmond's back. "We are all trying to help you, son..."
But Desmond swatted his hand away.
"YOU?! Help ME?! Two hours ago, I had to help THEM!!"
He pointed to the Young Justice members, causing the League's eyes to widen with shock.
Desmond scoffed. "Oh, didn't Batman tell you? When he pulled me out of the mall, your little sidekicks were getting their butts KICKED by Parasite and his thugs! If it wasn't for me, they would have been roadkill!!"
Guilty expressions formed on the faces of Aquaman, Shazam and Wonder Woman, just as Desmond turned to face Superman.
"And you want a field test?"
Superman was about to answer, when suddenly, Desmond spun around and lunged at Superboy, his hand tightening around the clone's wrists.
Desmond yelled as a surge of power rushed up his arms, his hair crackling with energy and his eyes turning a fiery red.
"Then let's HAVE ONE!!"
With a cry of effort, he flew at Superman with incredible speed, so fast that he caught the Man of Steel off guard. With another cry, Desmond slammed his fist into Superman's chest. The force sent shockwaves throughout the cave as the hero tore through the TV and the mountain wall, sending him spiralling into the forest outside.
The fire in Desmond's eyes intensified as he leapt through the hole in the wall, stopping just before he reached Superman's dazed form.
The Man of Steel groaned and looked up, just in time to see Desmond's scowling face.
"Now.... the boy smiled, cracking his knuckles. "Let's try this again, shall we?"