"And then she was like: I was supposed to be on tour with Taylor Swift as one of her backup dancers, but my dad wants me to graduate high school first." I said in my best impression of Amelia, striking a mocking pose and pursing my lips outward.
Robin laughed, throwing his head back at my poor imitation. I paced and pounded a fist into my palm and shook my head.
"Sounds like you had a rough day. Is she always like that?" He asked and raised an eyebrow.
I groaned dramatically and dragged a hand down my face. From our spot inside the training ring, we took a few steps backwards to avoid the fight between Artemis and Kaldur. She yelled, flipping and kicking him in the chest. He seized her ankle, but managed to jump and twist out of his grasp before he could toss her away.
"Yes. But today, this girl was pirouetting over every single one of my nerves-"
"All 7 trillion of them? Impressive." Robin nodded.
"- if only I hadn't sprained my knee in Greece, I might have been able to audition for Dancing with the Stars." I mocked again, wiggling my fingers and choking back dramatic sobs.
Robin broke into a fit of chuckles again, covering his mouth with his gloved hand.
"Oh come on, Jackie." Robin smirked at me.
I pointed a finger at him.
"You better not be laughing at me." I warned.
"Oh so what? It's illegal to laugh?" Robin said to me, his same smile on his lips.
"Bluejay! Robin!" Canary called our names from the outside of the ring where she was observing.
She looked at us disapprovingly with her arms crossed. Casting a glance her way, Robin and I both got into sparring positions again like we were supposed to. I raised my fists and kept my knees bent.
"You can laugh with me, but not at me. When you ask someone how their day went, it's customary to actually listen and not agree with the brat who-"
"Jacks, I'm not laughing at you. And no I don't doubt that she's a brat, it's just you're really worked up about this." Robin grinned.
He ran at me first, going for a punch, then twisting on his foot to deliver a kick. I parried the first blow, but didn't dodge the kick. I stumbled back, but quickly recovered. I frowned.
"Am not!" I said through my clenched teeth and swung a fist at him. Robin dodged easily, ducking underhand and popping back up.
"Yeah you are. You coulda landed that if you weren't." He argued.
Robin jumped forward and twisted back to hit me with his elbow. I leapt out of the way and struck him in the small of his back in a kick.
"How was that, huh?" I asked rhetorically.
Robin swung back around and grabbed my arm. He hooked his foot around my ankle, yanking me off balance and wrapping his arm around my neck in a hold, though he was careful not to choke me.
"Better." He admitted.
Throwing all of my weight downwards, I let out a cry and flipped us over, using momentum to slam him on the ground. He grunted, and I felt his hold around my neck loosen. I grabbed his arm, twisting it and wrenching myself free. We sprung apart, rolling away from one another.
Before we could charge at each other once more, or before another snide comment could escape, Black Canary stopped the matches. She took a step forward, and Artemis and Kaldur halted their fight.
"Good work, everyone. In fact, it's been a very productive week." Black Canary complimented.
I got to my feet, straightening my jacket and tucking any stray pieces of hair behind my ear that had escaped my ponytail during the brief fight.
"Yeah, for everyone except Kid M'lingerer." Artemis said with a pointed look at Wally.
Wally had the audacity to open his mouth in shock. He sat in a cushioned, reclined chair with a glass of pineapple juice in his hand. Captain Marvel (who was still hanging around for some reason) was more then happy to be Wally's personal waiter, fetching him anything he wanted. (Even though it was his arm that was broken, and his legs functioned perfectly fine.)
"Hey! Arm broken in combat against the evil Injustice League here!" Wally said with a flourish of his arm.
I rolled my eyes, while Canary chuckled.
"I've really enjoyed being your, uh, den mother this week." Black Canary said. I gave her a cheeky wink.
I stuck out my fist to Robin, and he returned the fist bump.
"Nice choke hold." I told him.
"Ha. Surprised you didn't resort to biting my arm." Robin said.
I shrugged. "Thought about it for sure."
The robotic voice of the computer startled me for a moment when it came over the speakers. We weren't expecting anyone to visit today, were we?
"Recognized. Zatara 11." The computer said.
From the glowing light of the teleportation machine, the magician stepped forward, carrying his crystal topped cane and wearing his top hat and tuxedo.
I gave M'gann a plastic, wide eyed smile which she saw right through. M'gann shrugged. I sighed, blowing a strand of hair out of my eyes. You'd think we were toddlers by the way we were being monitored. Many of us seemed to share my same reaction, except for Wally.
Even though Captain Marvel's week to watch us had been over some time ago, he still insisted on sticking around. And for the moment, it appeared that Zatara was that way too. But my assumption was proven wrong when a second later, he swiped his hand across the holographic keyboard.
"Access granted. Zatana Zatara A03. Authorization: Zatara 11." The machine announced.
Thee was another bright flash, and then a girl stepped through. I blinked, surprised. She was very pretty, with dark hair and blue eyes. She looked about my age, and wore a school uniform not too much unlike my own.
"Zatana, the Team." Zatara introduced, gesturing his cane out to all of us. "Team, Zatana. My daughter."
The girl gave a small smile, holding her elbow with one arm. I felt a twinge of sympathy and remembered being intimidated by the Team when I first was introduced to them. So, I smiled brightly at her, hoping it might ease any discomfort she might be feeling. It seemed I wasn't the only one trying to make her feel more comfortable when I saw M'gann fly right up to her.
"Hi! I'm-" she began, but Robin quickly stepped in front of her.
"Robin! I'm Robin." He cut in, amending with a chuckle.
I blinked and looked at the spot Robin had been standing at only moments before. I hadn't been watching his reaction when Zatana had walked through the Tube, but he must have been eager to introduce himself apparently.
"She's M'gann, and that's Wally, Artemis, Kalder, Connor, and Jackie." He introduced.
"Welcome to The Cave." Kaldur kindly said.
She shyly glanced at the floor, still looking a bit nervous.
"Thanks." Zatana breathed.
"So, a-are you joining the Team?" Robin quickly asked.
Wait. Did Robin just stutter? I'd never heard him stutter before. I watched Robin. He nervously rolled on the balls of his feet a little bit.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Zatara quickly cut in, taking his hat off. "This is strictly a visit. Though, I am sorry we missed the training. It's something from which Zatana could benefit from."
The magician carried on, but his words became lost to my ears when I felt the familiar touch of M'gann's mind connecting me to a mind link between myself and the rest of the Team.
"Do the rest of you get the impression that we're still on probation with Zatara?" M'gann asked us.
"Not just Zatara. I mean, why is Marvel still hanging around?" Connor asked and threw his arm in the air, his tone a bit sharp.
"You'd think The League would be satisfied with one babysitter. Now we need three?" I grumbled.
Wally leapt to the Captain's defense.
"We like having Marvel around." Wally said.
"You like having him around 'cause he waits on you hand and foot." Artemis amended.
Wally didn't deny it, raising his red eyebrows.
"And your point is?"
"It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenures as our supervisor." Kaldur said, crossing his arms.
Zatana seemed to have caught on with some of our hand motions while we spoke. Her dark eyebrows narrowed at us.
"Yeah, at least he trusted us." Robin said grumpily.
"Guys, watch the hands." I said, watching the girl.
We all could feel a burst of anger from Connor through the mind link at the mention of Red Tornado.
"If you ignore the fact that we shouldn't have trusted him! He was the traitor all along! That machine nearly got M- all of us killed!" Connor caught himself.
"Guys!" I said again, but it was too late.
"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" Zatana asked. She caught the attention of the entire room. "Because I can't tell if that's cool, or really rude."
I wanted to smack my forehead. I resisted the urge to sigh with irritation- I tried to warn them. Black Canary and Zatara looked over at us, expecting an answer. Connor caved, sighing deeply and closing his eyes.
"Alright fine. We were talking about Tornado. It's been weeks since his attack and the League hasn't told us anything." Connor said.
"The League is searching for Tornado, as well as the other androids that invaded the Cave, and their creator T.O. Morrow. Batman's made tracking them down our highest priority." Black Canary defended.
I thought about arguing, but held my tongue. I wasn't about to start another meaningless fight with her again. Robin didn't share my decision and had no problem talking back.
"But you've found none of the above!" Robin protested.
She narrowed her eyes. I could feel her patience wearing thin.
"Not yet. But Tornado is Justice League. The Team is not to pursue this." She commanded.
Even without the mind link, I could tell we were all thinking the same thing. Sit this one out while there were metal people capable of wrecking entire cities? They'd tried to kill us once. Who knew when they'd try again? We all exchanged glances- the decision was made without any conversation.
"Why don't you all take Zatana on a tour of The Cave?" Zatara suggested.
"That sounds like a great idea." I flashed a plastic smile, pouring enthusiasm into my voice.
Captain Marvel flew down the hallway from the kitchen, a plate of nachos balanced on on hand.
"You're giving a tour? Cool!" He exclaimed.
Crap. I wondered if we'd ever be able to successfully knock out Captain Marvel and stuff him in a closet for a few hours or something, but Connor beat me to it.
"Actually I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside. He needs the exercise. We'll join you in a few." Connor lied smoothly.
"I'll never doubt your acting abilities ever again." I told him.
The Captain was all to eager to agree to play with the giant mutant dog.
"Sure sure! I can do that! Come on Wolf!" He smiled and flew down the hallway, Wolf trailing behind him, no doubt just wanting the food.
Wally watched them sadly as they left.
"What about my nachos?" He said dramatically. Connor grabbed his shirt and yanked him away.
"Hey! Broken arm?!" He complained again.
"Oh come on, it's barely fractured." Artemis yelled back.
"It is not!" He retorted.
I could feel Canary and Zatara's eyes bearing into our backs, watching us as we left. A plan was forming in my brain before I even knew it. If we left Zatana here- like in M'gann's bedroom with her TV or something- and left immediately, we'd have about two hours before Black Canary would notice our absence.
My thinking was startled as I felt a small breeze brush past me, filling the hood in my jacket. I looked over, and Zatana was wearing a whole new outfit- kaki shorts and a purple tank top. I blinked. I wasn't the only one who noticed. Robin stared at her with wide eyes.
"When did you- how did you-"
"We're not really taking a tour, are we?" Zatana smoothly asked, ignoring our looks of confusion.
Connor turned around, his obvious attitude and distaste for Red Tornado eminent on his features. His blue eyes were stormy with anger.
"No. We're hunting down that robot." He declared and looked to Kaldur for confirmation.
"Yes. We are." Kaldur said.
Zatana was impressed with our honestly.
"Wow. Out loud and everything."
Artemis and I shared a look, our lips pressed together- not thoroughly convinced.
"What about new girl?" Artemis asked.
"Yeah, how do we know she won't rat us out?" I chimed in, looking at the girl suspiciously.
I knew nothing about her. Who knew if she'd text her dad the moment we left her alone at the Cave?
"I'm sure she won't tell." Robin easily said.
Zatana smirked at him, her lips curling into a mischievous smile. My eyes flickered between Robin and Zatana, and my stomach began to curdle.
"I can't tell. Not if you kidnap me." Zatana suggested.
My jaw nearly dropped at her statement. I wanted to object as we knew nothing about this girl, but Artemis put her hands on her hips in approval of her statement.
"Oh, she's gonna fit in great." Artemis said proudly.
I tried to squash down the bitter feelings that were arising. This is ridiculous. Cut it out! I shook out my wrists as we got to the hanger. We all boarded the Bioship, who had created an extra chair for Zatana.
This was it. We were really going to track down the robots who had ambushed us. I grew nervous just thinking about how they'd almost fried our brains or drowned us. But that was precisely why we needed to find them. Who knew if they were planning another attack, either on us, or a city?
"Everybody, strap in." M'gann instructed as she took her place as pilot. She sat down and crossed her legs before placing her hands on the two glowing spheres that steered the Bioship.
As we sat down, and the seatbelts morphed themselves onto our bodies. Zatana gave a startled laugh as the strap secured her to the chair. I tried to let go of any of my stupid predispositions and allowed myself to smile at her reaction. I had one very similar to her when I went on my first mission to Bialya.
"You guys don't need to clap, I know you missed me." Wally emerged from the hold of the ship, now changed into his supersuit.
I rolled my eyes at him as he took his seat. I felt the Bioship lift out from the platform, and the back door opened to reveal the woods. We took off in camouflage mode, soaring quietly over the forest. I froze as an incoming call appeared on a holographic screen. It was from Black Canary. Everyone's eyes immediately shot to me. Artemis pointed frantically at the screen, motioning for me to handle it.
"What?! I don't know what to say! You answer it!" I hissed.
"She's your mentor!"
"Say we went for ice cream!"
"No, the beach!"
"It's October, idiot!"
"Do you have any better ideas!?"
They all whisper shouted excuses I could say. Panic was building inside me, but before I could decide on something to say, M'gann answered the call. We all froze, my blood running cold as we heard Canary's voice over the speakers.
"M'gann, the Bioship wasn't authorized for departing." Canary said.
"We're kidnapping Zatana!" M'gann announced cheerfully.
Kaldur winced in his seat and Artemis rubbed her temples.
"Uh, to show her Happy Harbor." She amended.
I bit the inside of my cheek, knowing there was no way she'd buy it.
"Jackie?" Dinah asked.
Wally shot me a mildly alarmed look. He mouthed something frantic to me, but I couldn't understand it and decided to just wing it. Putting on my best acting face, I replied as casually as I could.
"Yeah! We thought it'd be fun to show her around!" I said smoothly.
It dawned on me only seconds later. I wasn't supposed to really be outside the Cave, with the exception of school or the occasional mission that was never going to happen again. I had no idea how Canary would react. My eyes instantly zipped to Robin for reassurance- he was the only one who knew relatively anything about my situation. But he wasn't looking at me. His gaze was trained on Zatana.
"Uh, rodger that. Have fun." Dinah wished us and the line cut off.
I blinked. She bought it.
"Haha! Nice one, Blue!" Wally clapped.
I exhaled a breath through puffed cheeks and rubbed my knees.
"That'll buy us a few hours I think. But I wouldn't count on anything longer then that. What's the plan?" I asked.
Robin grabbed his chin in thought and spun around in his chair a bit to face us. He clasped his hands together and leaned his elbows on his knees.
"Where are we going?" He thought out loud. "Batman is the world's greatest detective- and he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every logical place. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution. A truly dumb idea." Robin turned his chair to look at Wally.
The rest of ur mirrored him. Instead of looking offended, Wally smiled.
"As a matter of fact- Captain Martian, set a course for Belle Reve Penitentiaries." Wally announced.
I felt the Bioship's course shift under M'gann's control as we headed to the prison house.
"Why Belle Reve?" M'gann asked.
Wally leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face.
"Morrow's got a buddy there that we might be able to squeeze some info outta." Wally explained. Wally and Robin grinned at each other.
I twisted in my chair towards Connor.
"You guys stopped the breakout there last month, right?" I recalled.
For that mission, Connor bleached his hair. Much to his gratitude, we were able to dye it back quickly after it was over. Honestly, that kid deserved an award or something for his southern accent.
"Yeah. The ice powered supervillains had a plan for a massive breakout. I'm sure the warden would let us talk to whoever we need to." Connor said.
"Let's contact them in advance- let them know we are on our way." Kaldur suggested and began to type away at his control panel.
"Ready to take a field trip to the country's biggest superhuman prison?" Robin asked Zatana playfully.
"Not exactly what I thought I was gonna be doing today when I woke up, but I'm down." She shrugged.
"Don't worry. We'll keep you safe." Robin said with a smile.
My heart jumped into my throat when he said that. It began to beat faster and my stomach began to curdle. He filtered I for we, I thought. At the change in my pulse, Connor glanced at me, no hearing it as loud as a drum. I ignored his look and sank into my seat. How on earth was I going to survive the next couple hours?