Mount Justice July 20, 2010, 21:45 EDT
Alex was relaxing in his room when someone knocked on the door. Getting up to check, Alex saw Megan and said, "Hey, do you need something?" looking confused by why she was there. "Oh, sorry to disturb you, but Wally has a great idea of going camping. Would you like to go too?" She said she looked like she wanted everyone to go. "Sure, it'll be fun." After that, I meet up with the others when Wally comes in carrying one tent. Alex realized that Wally thought he would go one-on-one with her, not knowing Megan would invite the whole team.
Wally comes running, saying, "I can't wait for just the two of us?"When he saw the rest of the team and Alex, Wally shut up and looked confused.
"We're going to need more than that if we're all going camping," Dick says with smugness in his voice.
"I hope you don't mind. I invited the rest of the team to join us." Megan tells him, not knowing she crushed his fantasy. Alex was laughing inside.
Later, we were all around a campfire relaxing, with Megan and Kuldur furthest from the fire. All of us thanked Wally for the great idea. Wally was annoyed with us, saying he wanted to go with a special someone, looking over at Megan. "Dude, it's kind of bordering on creepy." Robin tells him. "Yes, and it's something that should stop before I need to step in." Alex tells Wally, gripping his shoulder, "Ow, Dude." Wally complains. "She doesn't seem to mind." Wally gestures to Megan. "She's still new here and doesn't want to make you cry." Alex tells him, making Dick laugh.
"Thanks to Wally, I get to try s'mores for the first time," Megan said, getting us to settle down. Wally wanted to say something, but a look from Alex caused him to close his mouth.
Superboy suddenly asked, "So, this is what you do when camping? "Sleep in flimsy things called "tents" and sit around the fire?"
"Pretty much it, so why don't you all go back, and I'll stay with Ms. M. alone?" Wally tells him. "Subtle dude as a train wreck, you know that." Robin mocks him. "You're not going to catch any fish if you don't go fishing." Wally tells him to look at Kuldur. "Sorry, no offense." Kudur looks like he is confused, not getting the reference. "Except for your way of fishing, which is crude and barbaric with very little chance of success."Alex tells Wally, causing Robin to laugh and Wally to look down.
"No, usually you sit around and tell campfire stories," Robin tells Superboy.
"Oh, I would love to hear your story, Kuldur. Can you tell us how you became Aqualad?" Megan asked.
"Ooh, I thought ghost stories, but that's better," Robin says.
"I suppose I could do that." Taking a moment to think, he starts telling them his origin. "I came from the Atlantean city of Shayeris, where I was raised by Sha'lain'a, my mother. I completed my education and began my mandatory military service at age 12. At 14, I was transferred to the Conservatory of Sorcery in Poseidonis, where queen Mera is the head; 'she's King Orin's wife.' There, I made friends I knew would be with me for a lifetime. Then a horrible day came when the Ocean Master attacked Atlantis and defeated Aquaman. Garth, a fellow student, followed me to intervene on the king's behalf. Not thinking of the danger, we charged in and attacked Ocean Master, quickly getting defeated. But it gave Aquaman time to recover, triumph over Ocean Master, and drive him away. In gratitude, King Orin asked if we would want to become his proteges. My friend Garth considered it but stayed at the conservatory, while I went on to become Aqualad and had the chance to see so much." Kuldur finishes his story and looks at us. "The rest, you know."
"Wow, so you wanted to be Aqualad?" Megan asks.
"Yes, the opportunity arose, and I could think of no other path," Kuldur tells us.
"You think he wanted to be Aqualad so bad? Let me tell you about how I got started, Walsh says.
"Oh, let me guess, you were chasing a girl, and you fell in a pit full of electric eels." Alex jokes
'Dude!." Wally complains while everyone chuckles.
"No, my story goes back generations of The Flash, starting with a bang, literally. The first Flash, Jay Garrick, was in a lab accident that transformed him into the Flash, and he rose to be a hero in the '40s and 50s. He was the fastest man alive during that time. He met a young man who wanted to know everything back. Jay didn't hide his identity, and the young man went as far as recreating the accident. Boom, there's a new Flash, not the original, but The Flash we now know, faster than the old Flash, taking up the mantle." Wally starts telling us excitedly, "Okay, get this: as The Flash, 'the second one, was a fan of the first Flash, I was a fan of The Flash, 'the second one.' Long story short, looking through my uncle's house, I found his old notebooks. I got a great shock when I found out my uncle was the Flash. Getting past the shock, I looked tough the whole notebook, seeing experiment after experiment that made him the Flash, 'the second one,' not the first. We get it,' ok, so I tried to convince the Flash that he needed a partner. I've got to admit he was resistant at first." Wally said, telling the story really fast.
"Does this sound confusing to anyone else?" Superboy asked.
"Just let me finish," Wally complains, "so having seen the journal, like the previous Flash's, I try to recreate the experiment with my own chemistry set, and what do you know? I was able to do it," he said as he described the explosion that happened.
"The experiment actually worked?"Asked Kuldur.
"Well, not at first, actually; my uncle blamed himself. But a few weeks later, I was running, and what would you know? I started going faster and faster, running to my uncle's house to show him. You should have seen his face when I showed up, and the Flash couldn't wait to have a partner; he was so excited to have me there, why do you ask?" Wally asked
"Just for the record, we didn't," says Robin.
"I don't think anyone would," Alex adds.
"That's the day the world got Kid Flash." Ignoring Alex and Robin "You. Are. Welcome."
"Yeah, we're all thrilled you're so speed-capable." Robin snarkily replies.
"What, jealous of me?" Willy replies.
"Can you tell us about how you got started, Robin?" Asked Megan.
"Ha, like Bats will let him. He won't even tell you his name." Wally jokes at Robin. Making Robin upset. "You'll probably get more out of Supey here," but you already told me you three rescued him from Cadmus." Megan said. "Yeah, we did." Wally says. "Yes, chronologically, Superboy is only 16 weeks old." Kuldur tells Megan.
"And you have no memory of being rescued?" Megan asked.
"I have some memories from the G-gnome; it would teach me about the world outside while I was in my containment pod, "Superboy tells her. "So you can remember things?" Megan asked. 'I guess so." He replies. "What did you think about when they fed you information?" Megan asked."When asked. in the containment pod, I was fed... ...information. I really didn't think for myself until after I goinformation." says. "Well, what kind of things do you think about now?" Megan asked." The asked. ing..." superboy tells us then with a serious look."That's always on my mind: destroying Superman."
Everyone got worried and looked at Superboy with concern.
"Seriously?" Wally asked
"That's what it feels like; that's what it feels like sometimes; that's the only reason I was created, "Superboy tells them, calming them down.
"That's not possible!" Megan tells him
"Yeah! Look at all the good stuff you've done so far!" Wally adds
"What would be the reason for thinking that?" Kudur asked.
"Sometimes thoughts happen. I don't know what I feel, "Superboy says.
"Those are silly thoughts; I would put them out of your head," Megan tells him.
"We don't really know what Cadmus did to Superboy, so he could have a valid point, "Robin tells them.
"We know he's one of the good guys, and we know he's part of the team," Wally says.
"In my world, actions speak louder than words, and Superboy has proven his intentions with his action, Kudur adds.
"Yeah! Put those thoughts out of your head. Supey." Wally tells him, giving him a s'more.
"Know this, Superboy, you're not alone here, and if you need it, Black Canary has helped me in therapy. She can help you sort it out yourself." Alex tells him.
"Thanks, everyone, "Superboy says.
"Hey, why are you so out of it?" Wally asks Robin.
"I guess Superboy isn't the only one lost in thoughts tonight," Robin replies, thinking about his past, the circus, and the death of his family before becoming Robin.
"What about you two?" Wally asked Alex and Megan.
"Hello Megan, you guys already know that I'm from Mars; Martians live in caves under the surface of the planet as the surface is inhospitable. The planet has an active society where communication is almost entirely telepathic. The green and red Martians look down on the white Martian minority. The planet is ruled by a royal family that is distinct from the other Martians by possessing red skin. I have eleven sisters and seventeen brothers, as well as an extended family of 300 cousins. with the Martian Manhunter being my favorite uncle. I grew up watching Earth television and following Martian Manhunter's adventures on Earth." Megan tells them.
"How did you come to earth?" Kudur asked her.
"When Uncle John returned to Mars, he was celebrated as a hero. Seeing the other proteges of heroes, he started a game worldwide to select the next martian to come to earth, and when I won, my heart soared; I was coming to earth, and this has been the most exciting time of my life, and now here with the team, I truly love it." She finishes excitedly.
"We're glad you're here, Megan, Kudur says.
"You could say that again!" Wally said, staring at Megan.
"Yes, it's been nice having you here," Alex tells her, slapping Wally on the head.
"Dude!" yells Alex. "Fine, what about you, Alex? What made you want to be a hero?"
With that, everyone looks at Alex. Robin knows what happened, but not everything.
"Well, my story isn't a happy one." Alex tells them, looking into the fire. "I was born an orphan and never knew or cared to find out about my parents; life at the orphanage was horrible; all money given to the orphanage was taken by the matron, leaving us scraps, so I ran away and lived on the street for three years."
"How old were you?" Wally asked
"I was 8 years old when I left, "Alex tells them.
"How did you live?" Kuldur asked.
"I work the worst kinds of legal jobs; I could barely make any money if they even paid me, "Alex tells them.
"Oh no," Megan says with tears in her eyes.
"How did you get your powers?" asked Wally, who gets hit by Robin.
"Dude," Robin says.
"It's ok, Robin, "I tell him. "On the last day living on the streets, I returned to where I was staying and got hit with superhero fights between Batman and three other heroes and a demon, "Alex tells them.
"A demon? Ya, right." Wally said
"They exist, Wally," Alex tells him.
"Superpower that can do weird and unexplained things—aliens all throughout space sure, but demons' no way, Willy tells Alex.
"And magic," Alex tells him.
"Sure, advanced technology can seem like magic to you, but it's not real," Wally says.
Using a chi spell, Alex shot out a green beam using his dagger, hitting a tree branch and breaking it.
"That's a chi spell used to hurt demons," Alex says to them. I do not want to use the shadow khan as a party trick.
"It could be an energy blast." Wally stubbornly held onto his belief that there was no magic.
"Alex just continues to ignore Wally, "Robin says, wanting to know more.
"Anyway, the fight between the two sides ended when they opened a portal to the Nether Realm. When they did that, it sucked the demon in, and with me being close to it, I got flung in as well. Even though Batman tried to save me."Alex tells them
"How long were you trapped there?" Kudur asked.
"Almost four years," Alex tells them.
"How did you survive?" Superboy asked
"One of the 'heroes' sent me off with a dagger that I used to kill and take the powers of the demon, and with that power, I went through a rift to a place called the shadow realm, where I had to fight and search for a way out, killing three of the realm's residents before using what I'll call the shadow nexus that allows you to go anywhere you want." Alex finishes telling them. and they are all thinking.
"Ok, I've had enough S'mores, and I'm ready for bed," Robin says, breaking everyone out of their thoughts.
After that, we went to bed with Wally trying to share a tent with Megan but getting dragged to the other tent. leaving Superboy standing by the fire. Alex goes next to him. "I know you are a good person, so anything that Cadmus tried to teach you about Superman, they did it to get power or would use his death as a way to hurt innocent people. Now you're free; never let anyone control your free will." Alex tells him, walking to the tent and yelling at Wally, "Next time, let's not camp five feet away from our front door." Alex says, looking over at the open entrance of Mount Justice.
Back with Superboy, he's thinking of the memories that we've put in his head about killing Superman. "I was created for more than killing." Superboy says, turning and going to bed.
Ok, with this chapter, I'll have 15,000 words, and that means I'll be on the rankings, so I would like to ask you to give me your Power Stones to let me know you want more so that I can get more people reading my work. Thank you for reading.
The next chapter is The Team's First Mission.