What would I do without your smart mouth,
drawing me in and you kicking me out.
You got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down.
What's going on in that beautiful mind?
I'm on your magical mystery ride,
and I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright.
~All of Me ~ John Legend~
...9:40am September 26, 2010...
Right now, I'm sitting at the top of the Statue of Justice with Robin right beside me. Both sitting in complete silence.
"You know, Batman was really mad after you left," Robin says.
"Was he?" I chuckle.
"When we got home he wasn't visibly mad because he never shows his emotions," Robin says. "It was more in his actions."
"Like what?"
"When he arrived to the Batcave he was slamming things and picking things up in a huff," Robin chuckles.
I giggle. "I can see him doing that. I wish I could've seen it."
"Anyway, he eventually thought about it and calmed down, knowing that you were right."
"Wait, Batman admitted to being wrong?" I ask.
"Well, he didn't admit it but he made me go to school the next day instead of going on a mission with him," Robin says.
"Did he?" I chuckle. "That's interesting."
"The team couldn't believe you talked that way to him either," Robin continues. "They were so shocked. Kid Flash of course thought it was incredibly hot."
"Did he?" I ask. "You know, he's actually kinda cute. I might just fall for his charms."
"Pssh, y-you'd really fall for that?"
"Jealous?" I quirk.
"W-what?! No! I—Why would I be jealous?"
"I don't know, you tell me," I smirk.
"Well, you wanna go do something?" Robin asks.
"Like a date?" I flirt.
"I-I never said anything about a date!"
"I'm just messing with you," I laugh. "So, what would we do on our date?"
"It's not–" he begins but is cut off by the ringing from his communicator watch. He answers the call and Batman appears on the hologram. "Hello?"
"Hey, Batsy!" I say, leaning next to Robin and waving.
"What are you doing?" Batman asks, giving a stern glare towards Robin.
"We're on a date!" I exclaim with a bright smile.
"No, we're n-not!" Robin fusses as I giggle. "What is it you need, Batman?"
"You're going with the team to shut down The Brain's operations," Batman says. "You are welcome to come too."
"Not an ideal first date, but I am part of the team," I say. "Besides, it's Sunday. No school today."
"Great," Batman says. "Meet at the cave." He hangs up.
"Well, I guess we better go," Robin says.
"I'll race ya," I joke.
"Haha, very funny," Robin says. "I'm not going to do something I obviously can't win."
"You might if you tripped me," I joke. "Want a ride?"
"You know, it's supposed to be the guy that sweeps a girl off her feet?"
"So you want to sweep me off my feet?"
"Don't twist my words around," he huffs.
I drape my arms around his neck. "But you know you love it."
He smirks. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"If you didn't like it you would've pushed me away or told me to stop by now. Admit it, Boy Wonder, you totally like it," I tease.
"Maybe a little," he admits.
I smile as I lift him up and speed to the zeta-tube. "I knew it."
"I told you I could take myself," Robin huffs.
"You're too slow," I say with a grin, stepping into the zeta-tube.
"Recognized. Bolt, B08. Robin, B01."
We greet Megan and Connor in the mission room.
"Hey, Megan! Supey!" I greet with a large smile and notice the large white wolf and the large man with a lightning bolt symbol on his chest. "Who's this?"
"Wolf," Connor answers.
"Plain and simple. Nice," I comment, heading over to him. "Hey, Wolf! You haven't met me but I'm Bolt. I'm a member of this team too. I wasn't here before because I had to go to school."
~It's nice to meet you.~
"Nice to meet you too," I say, giving him a scratch behind the ear.
~You can understand me?~
"Of course," I respond.
"Of course what?" Robin asks, looking at her confused.
"Oh! I forgot you didn't know that about me," I sheepishly say. "I can speak to animals."
"Really?!" Megan squeals. "That's so cool!"
"I never knew that," Robin says.
"There's a lot about me that you don't know," I say. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"
"Then let me know," he responds with a smirk.
I smirk back. "You remember."
"I'm Captain M-M-Marvel. It's a pleasure to m-meet you, Bolt," Captain Marvel stutters. "We didn't get to be i-introduced last time. You're r-really pretty!"
"Nice to meet you and thank you, Captain."
"Captain Marvel is our new den mother," Robin says. "Since Red Tornado left us."
"Recognized. Artemis, B07.
"I will never get over that strange feeling," Artemis says, rolling and rubbing her neck. "Bolt, nice to see you joining this mission."
"Recognized. Aqualad, B02."
"Greetings," Kaldur says. "I am surprised to see you here, Bolt."
"Well, Batman interrupted Robin and I's date," I sigh.
"You were on a date?!" Artemis says, directed toward Robin.
"What, really?" Megan asks excitedly.
"I-It wasn't a date!" Robin fusses.
"No, it wasn't," I say. "We were about to go on a date."
"I never said date!"
"You insinuated it," I tease, turning to Kaldur. "Anyway, did you all resolve your problems?"
"Yeah," Kaldur says with a smile.
"I understood why you kept it a secret. I would've too if I were leader."
"Thank you," Kaldur says.
"Recognized. Batman, 02."
"Is everyone here?" Batman asks.
"Missing KF," Robin responds.
"Recognized. Kid Flash, B03."
"Yo," he greets and looks at the stares of everyone. "Aww, man. Am I the last one again?"
"Yep," I answer, grabbing his attention.
"Beautiful, you're here!" he says, whipping over to me. "You're looking good as usual."
"As are you, freckles," I say, earning a grin in return.
"Let's get started then," Batman says. "The Justice League has analyzed your reports on The Brain's operation in India and we believe it's only the tip of the iceberg."
"Is this what I missed from that mission when I decided to go to school instead?" I whisper to KF.
"Yeah."
"Common criteria in the Bwundan Jungle suggests The Brain has another Kobra-Venom operation up and running," Batman says.
"And you want us to shut it down," Kaldur says.
"Exactly," Batman says.
"Sounds like a blast! Let's prep the bioship and go!" Captain Marvel says excitedly.
"How old is he, 10?" I whisper to KF.
He laughs as we head toward the bioship. Captain Marvel doesn't get to go with us. We get in the bioship and head straight to the jungle. I sit between Robin and Kid Flash. I change my costume to all black with silver accents.
"So, babe, want to go to the movies or something one day?" KF asks me, only so I could hear.
"A movie would be nice," I admit, glancing at Robin, who's trying to act like he's not listening.
"Cool, let's do that tomorrow."
"We'll see," I say. "We might have a mission."
"Sweet."
After awhile, we all land and begin to run. After a few minutes, I feel a weird sensation in my head.
"What is that?" I ask aloud.
"Sorry, I haven't established a connection with you before," Megan says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"We telepathically communicate," Robin says.
"Uh..." I say.
"You seem to be able to block me out... You need to open your mind to mine," Megan says.
"I'd rather not open my mind to anyone," I admit. "My mind isn't the place anyone but me should be. It could be totally overwhelming."
"Then she'll try to stay whelmed. It's how the team works," Robin says. "I trust her."
"I won't read any of your memories or anything. I still don't know who Robin really is. I won't find your secret," Megan says.
I sigh. "Fine. Work your magic."
'Link established,' Megan says.
'Babe, if you want to establish a link, I can help,' KF says.
'Wally, you know everyone can hear you, right?' Megan asks.
'S'okay, babe, Wally West never misses an opportunity to advance the cause of true love.'
'You're name's Wally?' I ask. Does he not know Megan and Connor are dating yet?
'I didn't tell you?'
'No.'
'So, Connor... How 'bout after the mission we go to a movie or something?' Artemis asks.
Well, damn, Artemis... Does she not know either?
'Uh, sure, be a great team building exercise, you know, for all of us... Um, does anyone else smell monkey? Cuz this jungle reeks of monkey... and I hate monkeys,' Superboy responds.
Wolf growls.
~Can we trust them?~
Who said that? That wasn't Wolf... I become cautious and look around.
'Hey, Artemis, how's the new school year treating you? Meet anyone interesting?' Robin asks.
What's that supposed to mean? Has he encountered her at the school? That makes me annoyed...
'Enough,' Aqualad says. 'I know we are all adolescents, but we do not have to be clichés. We must focus on the mission at hand.'
Suddenly we're surrounded by gorillas.
'Yeah, I see your point,' Robin says.
We engage in battle.
'Remove their inhibitor collars, and they will break off their attack!' Aqualad shouts.
'Just one problem with that... they're not wearing any!" I fuss.
Superboy gets thrown into a tree, snapping it in half.
'Miss Martian camouflage mode. You will be our secret weapon in case this goes wrong,' Aqualad says.
'Acknowledged," Miss Martian says, going out of sight.
'We must escape and regroup, Robin, lay down cover!' Aqualad commands.
I duck a punch from a gorilla.
'Way ahead of you, bossman,' Robin says, throwing down a smoke pellet.
'Switching to infrared. Looking for a clear path now...' KF says. 'Got it! Follow me!' He hits a gorilla bigger than the rest. 'Where'd this hairy wall come from?! What is... this... thing...' He gulps. "Oh God..."
"Not God, Grodd," Miss Martian says then screams in pain.
Grodd smacks KF into a tree and Artemis aims an exploding arrow above everyone.
"Guys, I think we're offline!" Artemis shouts.
"She must be unconscious and still camouflaged," Aqualad says.
"Scanning for her with infrared now," Superboy says.
Grodd pins Superboy and Aqualad. Artemis' arrows are crushed in a gorilla's hand and she breaks her bow over it's body. Everyone is quickly taken down and get inhibitor collars put on them. Wolf gets smacked into me and we get sent far into the forest. Wolf gets up, throws me on his back, and runs us off away from everyone.
"Wolf, we have to go rescue them!" I fuss with him.
~Not in the condition we're in.~
I sigh. "I know. Let's head back to the bioship."
We return to the bioship and I strap a thing of arrows and a bow on my back for Artemis.
~What's the plan?~
"Survive," I reply. "I'm going to turn off the electricity and free the others."
~Doesn't seem very appropriate.~
"I'm not the leader," I scoff. "It's what I got for now. We play it as we go."
Wolf gives me a nod as we stock up on what we might need and begin walking back.
~We're not alone.~
"What?" I whisper. Then we're surrounded by gorillas. I feel the familiar pounding in my head for access to my mind. "Miss Martian?"
~It's the gorillas.~
"What?" I ask, turning to Wolf. I look back at the gorillas who aren't attacking. I let the pain enter.
'We have the Miss Martian you speak of,' one gorilla says.
'You better not hurt her! Where is the rest of my team?!'
'The others are imprisoned by The Brain.'
'Why aren't you attacking?'
'We need your help.'
'Why should I help you?' I ask, skeptically.
'In return we help your friends escape.'
'Where is Miss Martian?'
'We'll take you to her.'
"How do I know this isn't a trap?" I ask aloud.
'If it was, we would've taken you down already, telepathically.'
"Touché. Fine, take us to Miss Martian." They lead me to a containment building and I find Miss Martian passed out on the floor with Grodd hovering over her. "Miss Martian!"
'We will wake her,' a gorilla says.
She slowly sits up, gripping her head in pain before I'm added onto the telepathic range again.
'Grodd, human,' Grodd says. 'And Grodd demands your help.'
'Manners, my love. We desire the human's help. We do not demand it,' a female gorilla says, shaking hands with Miss Martian.
'I'm... I'm not human. I'm Martian. Miss Martian.'
'I'm not sure I understand. Our vocabulary expands rapidly, but there are still gaps,' a white gorilla says.
'It... probably doesn't matter,' Miss Martian says.
'I am Solovar,' the white gorilla says. 'The alpha of this troop. This is my mate, Boka.' He points to the left of him then to the right. 'This is Primat, Grodd's mate.' He directs us to the largest gorilla. 'And this, of course, is Gorilla Grodd.'
'But where are we? Why is it so dark? How are you capable of telepathy? Why did you attack us?' Miss M asks.
'All these questions all at once... like an infant," Primat says.
'Well, she is young for her species,' Boka says.
'We will strive to enlighten you, but time is short...' Solovar says. 'The strangers arrived two years ago... An old woman, a thin man, and their borrowed shadows. They constructed a single cave of metal a kwan-zett to conduct their experiments. They captured Mallah, a young male of our troop... and operated on his brain. Mallah... approved. Even betrayed his own kind to his new masters. Good Tolifhar was the first to fall. They murdered the ape we knew, replacing Tolifhar's brain with the old woman's... The result was that abomination, the Ultra Humanite. But the horror continued... Ultra Humanite and Mallah extracted the brain from their thin human companion and placed it within a hollow metal tree stump. This new thing wanted complete freedom from the distractions of the physical to simply be The Brain. They built more metal caves and called their new kingdom 'Gorilla City.' It is their little joke for here they have enslaved every gorilla of our troop. Only the Holy One escaped.'
'They put us all in their inhibitor collars... and performed their enhancement surgery on our brains,' Primat continues. 'We gained in intelligence, awareness, sentience, but neither happiness or freedom. More recently, they injected us with their Kobra-Venom. The process was very painful... but it made us larger and stronger.'
'But they are ignorant of our greatest strength! The telepathy their enhancements have provided. And thus have they scattered the seeds of their own end!' Grodd shouts.
'But you no longer wear collars? Why do you still aid your oppressors?' Miss Martian asks.
'They have an even greater hold on us,' Solovar sighs.
'Our children,' Boka says.
'If we do not obey all commands, their lives are forfeit,' Primat says.
This makes me angry. How dare they do this to animals!
'That's horrible!' Miss Martian gasps.
'They have your troop as well. All in collars,' Grodd says. 'We will rescue them. You will secure our progeny, and together, you and I—That is, you and Solovar... will lead the revolution.'
'Wait, I don't lead our team!' Miss Martian fusses.
'How can that be true? Your mind is clearly the most powerful!' Grodd huffs.
'Really? You think so?'
'We deal with an underling, who cannot even guarantee her alpha's cooperation!' Grodd complains.
'And yet we have no choice but to trust her,' Solovar says. 'And to demonstrate that trust, we return you to the physical plane...' The black disappears and we return to the containment unit. 'And return a friend and your beast to your arms.'
"Wolf! Bolt!" Miss Martian says, hugging us both. "You're okay!"
"For now," I say. "We still need to rescue our team."
'Agreed. Okay, we're on board, and I promise my team will be too, but we need a plan!' Miss M says.
'Oh, we have a plan...'
They tell us the plan and we get straight to it. Wolf and I both act defeated and they take us to the others while Miss Martian goes to retrieve the babies. We get on inhibitor collars that aren't activated as we are taken to the others. Wolf and I are dumped on the floor by Grodd.
"Well, here's your Wolf and Bolt," Grodd signs with his hands.
"But where's the martian?" Humanite asks.
"Le Grodd signs that Solovar still searches ze brush pour elle," Brain says.
Robin escapes and causes a big panic.
"The Boy Wonder! He's gone!" Humanite shouts.
"Comment c'est possible?! Ze door is sealed! Where could he have gone?" Brain shouts.
Smoke pellets hit the floor and the room is turned to smoke. I get up and race over to let the others out. I zap the inhibitor collar off Superboy and KF.
"You know, for a first date, Robin, I didn't think I'd have to be saving your ass," I comment.
"I didn't need saving, if you didn't notice, I got out on my own just fine," Robin retorts.
"Wait, you guys are on a date?!" KF shouts.
'Solovar, a human hostage has escaped and his actions threaten our plan,' Grodd says, snatching Robin in his grasp.
'No, Grodd!' I shout.
'Negative, Grodd. Our ally would not approve. Adapt. We are on our way,' Solovar responds.
I sigh in relief.
'Miss Martian, are you in range?' Aqualad's voice rings in my head.
'I heard that! The link's up! M'gann must be–" Artemis says but is cut off by Superboy.
'No! It doesn't feel right! It's not M'gann! It's–'
'It is Grodd, now, listen, humans...' Grodd says and tells everyone our plan.
The smoke begins to clear.
"The ventilation's finally kicked in," Humanite says, aiming a gun at us.
"And I have summoned ze reinforcements," Brain says.
"Good! Cuz you're gonna need 'em!" KF shouts.
"Grodd, destroy them," Humanite says.
"Zat may not be necessary, mon ami. Notre Solovar has la martien and will wring her neck if zese enfants do not stand down!" Brain says, noticing Solovar walking in with Miss Martian.
"Then you leave us no choice... start the revolution!" Aqualad shouts.
I hand the bow and arrows to Artemis and Robin's extra things.
"Thanks," they both say and engage in battle.
'Djuba! Malavar! Take the shadows!!' Solovar commands.
Megan shifts into a green gorilla.
'M'gann, do you have to take that form? You know I hate monkeys!' Superboy fusses, punching the gorilla with a red beret.
'But it seems so appropriate...' Megan speculates with a laugh.
'And do not call us monkeys, human. You might as well state your hatred for all primates!' Solovar huffs.
'Dude, don't give him any ideas!' KF advises.
Artemis shoots an arrow of smoke at The Brain.
"My optical sensors!" Brain laughs. "Imbeciles! You cannot blind ze Brain!"
"But I bet I can give it indigestion!" Robin shouts, placing an electrifying exploding disc on top of the Brain's dome.
'This is for Tolifhar, human!' Grodd shouts, punching Humanite.
"Brain, the apes! They are telepathic!" Humanite shouts.
"Indeed. Un development interessant. Mais zis is not ze time for study," Brain says. "Attention, revolutionaires! I have activated ze self-destruct! La ville de gorille is doomed! Vous avez cinq minutes!"
'Grodd, we must go! Now!!!' Solovar says. We all hurriedly rush out of the building. 'Hurry. This way. We're almost out of time!'
I pick up Robin, as he's the last one, and speed ahead before the explosion goes off.
'Solovar, thank the Holy One! With the explosion, we feared–' Boka says.
'We are fine, my love. No casualties. I believe even our tormentors escapsed,' Solovar says.
'Where is the Holy One?' Grodd asks.
'Gone...' Primat says. 'He has seen us liberated, but we are no longer his to protect. Our time with Congorilla is done.'
'Will you be alright?' Megan asks.
'Yes, we will start anew... perhaps build our own Gorilla City,' Solovar says.
We bid them a farewell as we head to the bioship.
"So, let me get this straight," Wally voices. "This was a date?"
I begin to giggle as Robin sighs.
"I-It wasn't a date, per say," Robin jeers.
"So, you're not dating?" Wally asks, turning to me. "So, you're still available?"
"Yes," I admit.
"So, we're still going on our date?" Wally asks.
"It's a date?" I ask.
"If you want it to be," he grins.
"I don't see why not?" I reply.
"For real?" Artemis asks. "You're really going to go out with Bay Watch?"
"What, you want to?" Wally teases. "You can have a piece of the Wallster too."
"N-O," Artemis says.
I chuckle. "He's cute and funny. Why not? He's also a speedster like myself."
"You hear that? I'm cute and funny."
I laugh as we head back to Mount Justice, realizing I will only have 2 hours to sleep before I have to get up for school.
...
Oh Artemis... I ship you so hard with Wally... Next chapter will be fun! Besides Bolt and Wally are cousins by extent.