January 1, 2012. 03:21
Watchtower
"Something else is wrong," Aqualad observed as Wildfire, Black Canary, and Green Arrow escorted Red Arrow, the clone of Roy Harper, out of the Watchtower. Dragonfire gave Kaldur's hand another squeeze under the table, hidden from the eyes of both their mentors.
She shared a look with her brother and Batman. Robin pulled up something on his private screen and moved it to the center screen so that everyone could see.
"The entire League was under Savage's spell for just over a day. We've accounted for most of the time, but these six went missing for a full sixteen hours we can't account for," he pointed to the six profile pictures of Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, one of the Green Lanterns, Wonder Woman, and Hawkwoman.
"Sixteen hours. What did we do?" Batman asked the room at large.
December 27, 2015. 15:00.
(FIVE YEARS LATER)
MountJustice
A lot can happen in five years.
You can grow up, finish high school, head off to colledge and get your dream job.
You can become a leader of a team that's more like a family.
You can meet new people that have a lasting impression on you
Your family can grow.
You can learn to love complete strangers like your own siblings
But a lot of bad things can happen in five years too.
Someone you love can leave you forever.
People can die.
People can change from the person you first knew.
Your life can get dark beyond all hope of light
But even a spark can chase away the dark.
~~Emma~~
It's hard to believe that it's been almost five years since the team was formed. My brother and I are now leading the team, which has nearly doubled since Batgirl joined. I'm not Dragonfire anymore, I'm Nightingale, and Richard has become Nightwing, with two more boys taking up the mantle of Robin within the space of just three years!
Jason came first. He was a bit rough around the edges, but he was genuinely sweet. The Joker got the drop on him when he was trying to protect his mother. We found him beaten to death by a crowbar.
A few days after Jason's death, I came across Timothy and Mara Drake. The same two kids Wildfire and I had helped when the adults disappeared five years ago. They were still as brave as they were that day, and I immediately petitioned Bruce to adopt them. It didn't take much to convince him, and I think two youthfully energetic kids around the manor helped all of us recover quickly.
Tim is now Robin, and Mara took up my old role as Finch. Richard seems to have taken to them just like I have, and I can see Bruce's face soften whenever he's around Mara.
I still live with Bruce, working as a part-time reporter for the Gotham Gazette, but Richard moved to Bludhaven, which is just across the river from Gotham, and does his hero thing there.
We've had so many new additions to the team, it's hard to keep track of them all!
After Batgirl came Bumblebee. M'gann, Connor, and Willow all knew Karen from school, and I remembered her from the Halloween party and liked her relatively well. She brought her boyfriend, Mal, who stayed behind to serve as ops manager during missions, usually alongside me or Nightwing.
Rachel and Garfield Logan, the twins of M'gann's childhood idol, were orphaned and recieved strange animal shapeshifting powers that came from the blood donation M'gann gave them. They became Beast Boy and Beast Girl, and became very good friends with Tim and Mara.
Tula and Garth, a couple of Kaldur's childhood friends, joined the team as Aquagirl and Tempest. When Tula was killed trying to stop a mythical monster named Tiamat, both Kaldur and Garth left the team. Garth understandably, and Kaldur because he decided he needed to find out more about his past after a cryptic message from Black Manta. I missed him. So much.
Lagoon Boy came next. Honestly, he's your cliche over-concieted jock who's rude to anyone and everyone and does not listen to orders at all. I really hoped that Kaldur would come back and take his place back on the team so that La'gaan could go home, but Nightwing has informed me that he "seriously doubts that."
The two most recent team members were Wonder Girl, the energetic apprentice of Wonder Woman, and Blue Beetle, a normal boy who happened to stumble upon the prize invention of Ted Kord, a late member of the League. Cassie seems to like Tim, and Mara and Rachel both look up to her like a big sister. Jaime is awkward and adorable at the same time- adorkable, in Mara's words -but he seems to fit in just fine.
Wally and Artemis left the team soon after the incident where Tula died. They're going to college together, which is kind of cute. I miss them, a lot, but I will respect whatever choices they make.
Connor's going to college too, though he's not as into it as Wally and Artemis are. Once Superman finally started paying more attention to him, they formed a sort of "partnership," and refer to each other as brothers. M'gann seems to be doing well with her friends on the team, and looks over Garfield and Rachel like she's their real big sister. Similar to the way I do with Tim and Mara.
Willow and I are as close as ever. She lives with Black Canary, Green Arrow, and their daughter, Olivia, and works as a lab assistant to Adam Strange at STAR Labs. She thinks about her old life as Scarlett occasionally, and I can tell that it bothers her. She says she just can't seem to find time to go into an in-depth investigation about her parents, her brother, and her friend Connor. I think she might be scared of what she'll find. I mean, come on! Her family is dead! She's still crushing on Superboy, I can tell that too. And now that "SuperMartian" is broken up (La'gaan has started dating M'gann, and they kiss at every opportunity. Did I mention what a jerk he was?) I have my fingers crossed for Willow getting brave enough to at least tell Supes how she feels.
-------
I pulled up to Mount Justice in my sleek red maserati, a birthday present from Bruce, and looked into the backseat. Mara and Tim sat on either side of a box that contained Justice, my lazy fat cat, his mate, a bengal cat that belongs to Garfield and Rachel, and their three kittens. Rachel named the bengal Leafpaw, since she is a huge fan of the Warriors books, and once we found out that Leafpaw was pregnant, we brought her to Wayne Mansion, where she could give birth in private. Mara wanted to keep the cat with a spotted back and orange legs, but Nightwing, who sat in shotgun next to me, kept telling her to let Rachel and Garfield pick first.
"Remind me why we didn't take the zeta-tubes?" Tim asked as we all got out, me balancing the box containing the cat family on my knee.
"Because we look cool in the car!" I grinned at him.
Richard leaned over and whispered in his ear, "And because Emma wants to show off."
"I heard that!" I yelled over my shoulder as Mara and I headed for the living room.
Willow was there, babysitting Olivia, who was watching "Hello Megan!" with Gar, Rachel, and Wolf.
"Are those the kittens?" Rachel asked, standing up the moment Mara and I entered.
"Yes!" Mara squealed. The two freaking out brought Cassie, M'gann, and Connor into the room, and Olivia wanted to hold a kitten too.
Justice jumped out and sat down next his long-time friend, Wolf, who immediately got up to inspect the new arrivals.
"As soon as you guys are done here, there's training in the mission room," Nigtwing poked his head in the room momentarily before continuing on. Tim looked torn for a moment, but stayed behind to watch us play with the kittens. Cute kid, he looks up to Nightwing like he's his personal idol.
"What are you gonna name them?" Olivia asked, echoing Marie's question.
Garfield shrugged, but Rachel picked up each kitten carefully, examined it, and put it back inh the box, just like her mother used to tell her.
"Holly," She pointed to the one Mara wanted, "Jay," a young female who looks mostly like Justice, "And Lion," she pointed to the only male, who looked mostly like his mother.
"You took that all from your book, didn't you?" Garfield asked, tugging on one of his sister's green ponytails. Rachel shoved him off, but all of us ended up laughing.
"Can I have one?" Olivia blurted out.
Willow picked her up and balanced her on her hip, "You have to see what Rachel and Garfield want, okay sweetie?" She asked gently.
"So, which ones do you want?" Connor pressed the green twins.
Garfield held up his hands in surrender, "I don't want any of them," He protested. This left Rachel to take Holly, Mara to take Jay, and Olivia to take Lion. At Tim's reminder, and leaving Wolf to guard the cat family, we all headed for training.
Wildfire, Nightwing, and I handled training now, being the most skilled. Richard and I were taught by Batman, and Willow was taught very closely by Black Canary, who comes a close second in the League's top hand-to-hand combatists.
Olivia sat on the sidelines and watched in awe as Nightwing and I, in full uniform, demonstrated maneuver seven. Yup, definitely a momma's girl.
After training was finished, Willow took Oliva and Jay home via zeta-tube, Mara and I collected Justice and Lion and put them back in the car, and Rachel held Holly's paw so that she waved to us as we drove away.
As soon as Batman had Robin and Finch on the scene with him, I took the night off. I walked out onto the rooftop of the mansion into the crisp December air and felt the wind blow through my hair. I let my ponytail down and spread my wings from being cramped all day.
I closed my eyes, took a leap off the edge...
And flew.
This is what gives me my spark.