Young Justice: The Mimic Contingency (A Young Justice Fanfic)

To Beat A Canary Bird (Updated)

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.