Life Ore Death
* December 12 [M'gann PoV]
I stretched out my mental senses as soon as I got in range of the Mountain.
[
I'm back, I'm back! Sorry I'm late, everyone,] I broadcast to everyone.
[
You are not very late,] Kaldur sent back, [
and we do not begrudge you your time with Marie and Garfield.]
[
I'll let Black Canary know you're here,] Conner sent as I waited for the hangar door to open.
[
Thanks, guys!] I parked the ship I got from Uncle J'onn safely, fed her like I'd promised to when he let me pilot her, and flew through the halls at top speed, wishing under my breath that I'd get to start on density shifting soon.
"I'm back!" I announced out loud as I flew into the training room.
"So I heard. Try to be more on time next time," Black Canary said, but she left it at that. Wally raced over beside her, though.
"So, ahh, Black
Canary," he opened with, giving that grin he thought made him look sly, but Artemis said she thought made him look smarmy. "With Megalicious back, we've got uneven teams. Are you going to split us up into three," he asked, "or are you going to join in?"
"Hey Kid Mouth," Red Arrow called over as I hesitated, still floating on the sidelines. "If you keep hitting on my mom, I'm going to help Artemis hide your body." She spun around to eye him in mild surprise, but my attention got caught by the sudden surge of embarrasse-but-brilliant affection I felt shine from Black Canary as she blushed at the title.
[
Oh, you called her mom! That's so sweet,] I gushed, before realizing this was probably another one of those Earth things I wasn't supposed to share out like. [
Um, sorry, was I not supposed to...?]
"Well! Thank you, Roy," Black Canary said firmly. "It's always nice to hear that from you. As for the teams, I think I
will join in."
[
Oooh, someone's going to get served,] Robin crowed as Black Canary gave Wally a… I think it was a 'stink eye'.
[Hey, hands off the boyfriend; reminding him of his manners is my responsibility,] Artemis sent, hands on her hips.
[
Just as long as he doesn't keep calling her Greencheeks or Sweetness,] Conner threatened drily.
"New teams, because we might as well get some leadership practice in," Black Canary decided, taking one of the strap-belt thingies with Velcro tags as I grabbed the other one Robin had tossed over.
[
C'mon, guys, don't be like that! I don't mean them like that, and Miss M totally doesn't mind,] Wally protested. Then, [
Um. You don't, right?]
Conner being jealous was a little sweet/cute, but that thing tended to end badly on TV, with the moral to learn to trust and let go, so…
[
Don't worry, I can tell he doesn't really mean it flirtatiously now,] I assured them. [
I like Megalicious, and Greencheeks; Sweetness or Hot Stuff might be a little bit much though,] I added, because I'd got a bit of Conner's unhappiness about that. He settled down with my declaration.
"Artemis, you're leading Alpha Squad, composed of Aqualad, Red Arrow, Kid Flash, and Zatanna. Superboy," Black Canary continued, "you're leading Beta Squad, consisting of myself, Robin, Miss Martian, and Jericho."
[
Does anyone else see a little shipping going on?] Wally asked. [
Both team leaders are with their boyfriend/girlfriend.]
[
I think she just wants an excuse to dump you on your butt, instead of sending Artemis to do it on her behalf,] Joey suggested cheerfully.
"I know both squad's leaders are in charge of members with more command experience, but this is meant to be an opportunity for you to learn and improve, and you won't do that if you use your teammates as a crutch. That means I don't want anyone to give undue suggestions to Artemis or Superboy. Is that understood?"
"Should I still use my telepathy for my team?" I asked.
"Given the difficulties Jericho would have in communicating without it, yes, but not in every round. We'll start this exercise with it, and eventually I'll have you phase it out of use in later rounds. You can't do any unconscious links, can you?"
"Like keeping up a link for the other group that I don't overhear? No, that's still too advanced for me," I confirmed. Which, it wasn't anything to be ashamed of, that I was still learning, but I still had smile and bite down on that impulse of
not-good-enough that-
Wally flitted over, picked me up, and race back to drop me besides Conner in an unexpected rush.
[
Here, Supey, I think your girlfriend is feeling down again and needs some sugar from you,] he suggested with a smirk.
"Are you guys doing that private link thing again? Because I'm not hearing it," Red Arrow complained.
[
Oops, sorry! How about now?] I checked.
[
Better, but right now you should pull it back to be just your squad,] Black Canary suggested. I saw Robin's lips move silently, at least to me.
[
Backseat leadership,] Conner called out, deadpan. [
As her squad's leader, I am in full favor of us eavesdropping on you.]
[
Great. Either Miss Martian reads our minds, or Superboy hears what we say out loud, and Dinah is against us. This is going to suck,] Roy said.
[
Oh, don't worry. I can take care of that,] Zatanna promised wickedly.
[
You got your telepathy shield working?] I asked, excited that our project was finally paying off. [
Congratulations!]
___________________________________________________________________________________________
* December 12 [Jericho PoV]
Super-humans, superheroes, and especially the Justice League are hot topics on Internet discussion forums. I never spent a lot of time on them before I got kidnapped, but after that – after I found out I would be working with Black Canary, and again when Mom caved and let me go on Team missions – I looked around for a few hours to see what I would be getting into.
Some of it was useful and accurate, but one of the big misconceptions I ran across, as it turned out, was the idea of 'going on patrol'.
Which isn't to say that heroes don't do it. Superman is famous for flying around the skies of Metropolis and listening for trouble, Robin has confirmed that Batman and he swing around rooftops at least every other night or so, and the Hawks and Green Arrow do similar things. Even Ferris was a little famous for hopping around Metropolis rooftops, before she got a lot famous for stopping the Disappearance Disaster, though that's dying down now that she's been out of the spotlight for so long.
But Black Canary didn't do that. Green Arrow can rappel around rooftops, Ferris had powers to help her, but Miss Dinah and I don't even have Batman's grapple guns to swing around on. She mostly just kept an ear open for problems from the police or other Justice League members, unless she got a request to help out officially from the police or something.
It seemed this evening was one of those 'or something' events.
The motorcycle finally rolled to a stop, and I unwrapped my arms from around her waist to get off.
"Last chance to try on a domino mask," she teased as I took off the helmet and handed it to her.
I signed a 'no thank you,' since I'd felt a little silly wearing one, and Mom had made clear that she didn't care if I was made. I'd been taken out of school because I got left mute, and I was doing some cyber-school work mostly to make up for what I was missing. We'd moved to a house we owned on the edge of Las Vegas – Dad had made a lot of money over the years on his 'safari tours' and if we weren't using it we would rent it out as a cheap hotel for vacationers, which also served as advertising for the actual safari tours – and now the Team was most of my social interaction, except for text exchanges with Alicia, Davon, and a few similar friends I knew really well and stuff.
'
Besides,' I didn't bother signing, '
Dad always hid behind a mask as Deathstroke. I might as well be out and proud about it.'
"Not even going to change your hair?" she asked, holding up a treated comb that would make me a redhead for a few hours. I shook my head again. "Well, it's your choice. So." She nodded to the building. "That used to be Edelweiss Junior High, until it was closed down for health concerns. A few weeks ago, several of the windows were broken overnight, and there were reports of strange lights and movement. No one was harmed, but police officers who went in to investigate came out screaming about any number of ghoulish things."
I signed a question about whether she thought it was magic.
"Very possible, especially after the Disappearance Disaster. These," she continued, pulling two small, clinking bags from her motorcycle's side pack, "are recording devices we're hopefully only going to be field testing for police use. All we need to do is go in, stick them around somewhere, and kick the teeth in of anyone or anything that pops its head up. We shouldn't be in any major danger."
I roughly signed that it seemed safer than beating up biker gangs doing drug deals, unless there was a car-sized spider about to give birth.
"Well if Shelob shows up, this can be our little Sting," she hinted, showing me a Taser baton. There was a whine and a brief glow as it charged up, then she tossed it to me and produced a second one for herself.
I signed: A light and electric stick, useful.
"You see the buttons to make it shock?" she both said and signed. I nodded my head. "Good." Her eyes sharpened and her voice hardened into her rare no nonsense mode. "That said, if I tell you to get out and run-,"
'
I will get out and run, and call for help,' I finished mentally, signing the same. We hadn't needed to use that rule yet, but she and Mom had both been very firm on it from the start. Given the havoc of the Team's missions before I was a member, I didn't blame them.
Kaldur and Artemis were saying that I could match up and pull my weight, and I tried to believe them, but the biggest thing we'd done was the Ice Fortress fight, and I'd had Dinah-plus-teammates beside me the entire time.
I paused as we headed toward the empty school, and clicked my tongue to get Black Canary's attention. She turned back to me.
I signed a question to ask if she knew something I didn't about this.
She silently signed back that she knew nothing special, and it really was supposed to be a routine, regular mission.
We headed in.
'
The school probably hasn't been closed for very long,' I assessed as soon as we were in the front door. '
There aren't a lot of dust bunnies or cobwebs. Some bits of garbage in a corner… I wonder…' I saw Black Canary was watching me and signed a question/suggestion to her.
She pulled out a small flashlight, swept it around the edges of the wall, and went to try a light switch. I put my back to a wall, just in case.
No change.
She shrugged, stuck a recorder on the wall, and gestured for me to stick one on the underside of a railing beside the entry stairs.
We moved further in.
'
A dark school at night is a little creepy, but it's nowhere near what I was worried about. Doesn't feel too much like a horror movie….'
We stuck a few in a hall, one or two on main office desks, and one each in classrooms she decided on, seemingly at random.
We were about to head upstairs from the first floor when I clicked my tongue. She looked at me curiously.
I signed a question about why she was sticking them in which classrooms.
She replied that it was a little random, a little about size, and a little about which ones had good views of the hall.
I nodded and requested a brief pause. '
Okay,' I wondered, leaning my back against a locker.
'I don't doubt I'm going to have to go over this with Robin for touch-up detective lessons sometime later, so… what are we missing?' I bit my lip a bit, rubbed my chin, felt the pull of my muscles and spine against the cold metal of the locker, and the first possibility occurred to me.
I turned, opened an unlocked locker, winced slightly at the sounded of metal when I wasn't a soft enough touch, and looked inside.
'
Nothing. I'd almost been imagining some pulsing alien egg. …No offense to Miss Martian or Superboy. Is it worth checking any of the other lockers on this floor, much less every locker?' I wondered. I signed that question to Blacker Canary, just pointing to stand in for 'locker'.
She started off by signing back the gesture for locker, which it made sense that she knew since she'd been in school still when she started learning, and then a negative that it was too loud, and there were too many.
'
Well at least she isn't getting impatient with me over this stuff,' I reflected. '
I mean, going from the small grin, I guess she's impressed that I'm trying to think through all the options? I hope. I'm not all that sure who's time we're wasting if we take too long, but I guess she doesn't expect to have plans tomorrow. …Actually, I should check.' I started signing, got frustrated as three different things occurred to me, and grabbed my note pad and mini-pen to start scribbling.
Are we on a time limit to do this? Is there a reason you're not talking at all? Should we not make noise like by checking the lockers? I know you said you don't know anything about this in particular, but in your experience, what do you think it'll be? Magic? Drugs? Nothing, because whatever it was has already left? I keep imagining this is a horror movie, except it's not actually all that creepy.
She glanced over my shoulder, took the pad, and wrote back:
Our only time limit is how late you want to get to bed. I told your mother you'd be staying with me tonight, which she OK'd. I'm not talking because it's good to be stealthy, I need to keep my signing sharp to teach you well, and I don't want it to be about me barking orders at you.
We should avoid making noise in our 1st check of the building, but if we haven't found anything I'll let you decide if we want to go back and do a 2nd, less stealthy sweep. In case there is anyone or anything around listening, we should treat this like we need stealth to start. In my experience, I would have thought it's drug-dealers and gangsters setting up shop, but the whole FEAR aspect has me uncertain. Since no one has been hurt, I don't think it's any inhuman monster.
She flipped the page over and finished with a different confirmation:
I don't want you to get too nervous, but this is a bit of a test about working under uncertain conditions. I could have done this alone, or brought the Team along to look at everything all together, or we could have come in daylight instead of sunset.
I want to see how you handle the pressure in a low-danger situation. If you have any ideas or inspirations, I will listen and almost certainly go with what you suggest. I'm only leading by default because you still need experience and need to understand how this would generally work. If you have any thoughts, I'm all eyes. ☺
Oddly enough, I felt something unwind in me slightly at the idea that this was a test, and I was being judged.
'
At least now I know there isn't some alternative secret, or, I mean… ugh, I'm a little sleepy. Might as well see how she handles a complaint,' I decided, taking the pad back. Black Canary and I were still feeling out exactly what it meant that we were partners, but I was sure by now that she wasn't about to drop me if I pressed a bit, so it seemed a good chance to check how prickly she was.
I wrote:
Okay, next time, please tell me it's a test or stuff. If I'd known I was making these kinds of calls, I'd have stopped for some coffee on the way, and I'd have… actually, let me think for a second about what I would and will want us to do?
Black Canary read it over my should, frowned slightly, but then signed an affirmative with a bit of a forced smile. I signed back a request for her to keep watch, closed my eyes to think, and kept getting distracted by sounds and snapping my eyes open to see if anything happened.
'
Yeesh, I'm jumpy,' I admitted. '
Maybe the creepy is getting to me more than I thought.' Grant's insults about me being priss echoed in my ears, and I scowled at my imaginary version of him. '
You're not helping, Grant. Gawd, in situations as insane as the League gets into, fear and caution are totally rational responses. This shit is why you got shot in-,' I cut off that thought because I'd got kidnapped, so, you know….
'
Not helpful,' I reminded myself. '
Dad has probably done stuff like this,' I guessed, then forced away the images of him staking out a bunch of drug dealers in a dim basement through a rifle's scope to get back on track, '
but that isn't exactly useful either.'
'What would the rest of the Team do? …I don't think Aqualad would have any special tricks, Robin would be totally at ease – totally traught and turbed – and could hack the security cameras or slip through the vents because he's done this a million times, and Ferris would either use her senses or "try to turn it around" in her head, but that's require us to know what was here to decide what we think it would do.'
'Artemis would… probably start off by investigating the most likely area to find anything, which I bet would be the basement. M'gann would search for signs of minds or enhance her senses, or go through this in stealth mode, but that isn't useful. Superboy would probably just go through because he probably isn't in any danger, since he's invulnerable.'
'Kid Flash would… you know, he might like running with the horror story impulses I keep feeling; ignoring his super-speed, he'd probably make a lot of noise on purpose to lure out whatever it was or make it run, so that it can't crawl around and ambush us. Zatanna would… do some kind of divination to discover what it was, to start with.'
'
So, ignoring the powers… "Break it down," that was the other big piece of advice. Not just steps, but options. So, what could it be? 1) There could be nothing here anymore, and maybe vandals broke the windows and the police were scared by nothing in particular. 2) It could be gangsters and drug dealers doing a Scooby Doo monster trick to cover up their operations. 3) It could be some kind of monster nest.'
'If it's nothing, then there'll be no signs of anything, and we can be as loud as we want, etc. If it's a gang, then assuming they haven't left, they'll have stuff stashed in places, and probably cooking equipment to make meth or whatever; hallucinogenic drugs could explain the police freaking out. If they have the equipment… are the lights supposed to be off, or did they redirect the power to their stuff? And if it's some freaky monster, then it's probably nesting, and there's some magic or something, but maybe it doesn't eat humans? Or it's a boggart.'
I snorted at that idea, but after the Disappearance Disaster a lot of people were a lot more willing to admit that almost anything was possible.
Is the power supposed to be off, or could drug-dealers have hacked it? Where are the broken windows? If vandals there's probably rocks in the room, and monsters vs men break windows differently or there might be blood, etc.?
I handed her the paper, and I saw her eyebrow arch up as she read it, which made me wish I'd been a bit more thorough in my ideas, but she was smiling when she looked back up at me, so it seemed everything was okay.
She signed that the power was probably supposed to be off, and that she'd lead me to the broken windows, and good job.
It all probably would've been good we hadn't walked through the wrong hallway on our way and gotten a puff of gas in our faces.
Black Canary heard it first, and signaled me to stop. I listened.
'
Hissing? Some other sound, too,' I assessed. '
It's coming from…'
All of a sudden I knew, just absolutely knew, that something was behind me, about to eat me with dripping fangs in a toothy maw, and chow down and munch my bones to suck the marrow until I was all gone except for my head until crunch!
I spun around, hacking slightly as I tried to shout something on instinct and couldn't, and nearly staggered as Black Canary.
There was a blast of air pressure by my ear and I almost snapped around again, only to catch her hopping back.
"Jericho, don't startle me like that!" she snapped. "I only barely pulled that kick. What were you
thinking?"
'
I was thinking that we aren't alone,' I snapped back along our psychic link, only to remember that it wasn't active. '
And if I try to sign it means getting my hands out-of-readiness to fight whatever-the-frick this is,' I realized, gritting my teeth. '
Stupid damn disability!'
Black Canary's eyes shot wide as I seethed, she coughed through an attempt to inhale, and she uttered, "F-fear gas. Out!"
She reached out, almost shoved me if I hadn't cringed away at the last second, terrified that she was about to flip and
put me down like an unwanted
dog, and then what she'd said hit me. I twitched, and we both started rushing toward the far end of the hall.
In hindsight, there were many easier ways we could have gotten out, but we really weren't thinking very clearly.
A rush of ghastly, inhuman outlines exploded out of a stairwell door, at least five, and I was certain I saw countless millions crawling behind them, gnashing their gnarled teeth and screaming silent echoes of hate and madness for their master.
A hand closed around my upper arm, clawed and bony and chillingly numb, and I nearly hit my mentor in the face as she shoved me forwards, at the five men, whom I realized had to be her cohorts and she'd been replaced by an imposter and I was about to die-
A bodily
twist lifted me off the ground, my eyes blurred, I heard shouts of impact, and then I was airborne until I suddenly wasn't.
I rolled bruisingly to a painful stop. '
Oof, that's hurts. My aching head,' I groaned, and opened my eyes.
I scrambled away as Dinah smashed her leg into a guy's skull, got into a classroom and stuck my head out the window.
Deep breathes. Even breaths. I didn't know anything about fear gas, though I was certainly going to ask Robin, but it didn't seem to last long now that I was out of it. Behind me, I heard noise and shouts an electric crackle and 'Was that a gunshot? Shit.'
My head was clearer now. I grabbed the little emergency beacon to alert the League, turned it on, and turned around.
My mentor was in there. I took a deep breath and rushed back in.
Three of the distorted, ghastly figures were down, hard, but one of the two left was shooting electricity in Black Canary, who was twitching on the floor. Trying not to breathe, I threw my weapon at the head of the other one, who was turning-
It hit dead center and shattered on impact, but he staggered, even as the other guy spun away from his victim.
I rushed in, heart pounding as my sprint burned through my air – '
Note to self: ask Aqualad for swimming and breath-holding lessons, on top of everything else I ever have to do.' – and I twisted into a flying kick at his wrist. His device goes flying as well, but he's heavier set than I'd guessed under all wrapping that make him look monstrous. I half bounce of of him and he grabs me.
Big mistake. He was wearing a gas mask, but no goggles, and I was in arm's reach. We made I contact, and I flipped the switch.
It felt like flying, almost.
Then I was in, and I idly realized, '
I'll have to make a note that possessing someone detoxes my body of drugs, or however it works. …Of course, now I need to wonder if drugs in the person I'm possessing affect me, so I'll have to borrow some knockout gas from Robin.'
But that wasn't really important. What
was important was that I had a gas mask now, all but one of the other guys were unconscious, and Black Canary was in dire need of an extra gas mask off of one of them.
I kicked the only conscious guy a couple of times, stole his gas mask as well just to be vindictive, and strapped it around my mentor's face.
"Now," I purred, and I would
never get tired of being able to talk again so easily, "I suggest you tell me how to turn off the gas before it starts affecting you, too. Otherwise," I threatened as he started to cough, "I'm going to get not-so-nice on your ass. Do you understand?"
Embarrassing as it is to admit, not exactly. Mostly just a reference now.
