#speedbug

Wally wouldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t at least a little curious as to what their newest member was spending her time doing, but for now, he supposed that he shouldn’t expect any answers.

The Justice League did tell them to expect Abyss showing up today, however…

“Think she knows we don’t have a mission?” M’gann asked. “I’d feel bad if she showed up just because of that.”

“The Justice League would probably have told her there wasn’t,” Robin said, shrugging. “Though it would be slightly funny if she showed up in costume.”

The team had started to theorize on her powers a little bit, based on the costume she was wearing and what she showed during the fight. Most of them seemed to think she was like M’gann when it came to her powers and that they were more mind-based, what with her being able to shut M’gann out in a way that could hurt and how she seemingly controlled that blade feather with her mind.

The bird-like get-up had been interesting, considering Robin, the one on the team who actually calls himself by the name of a bird, doesn’t go as full out as she did, and she didn’t even call herself a bird name!

“Where do you guys think her name comes from?” Wally asked. “Abyss, that’s pretty random, isn’t it? I mean like, Aqualad, aqua, mentored by Aquaman etcetera,” Wally shrugged as the team looked at him questioningly. “Abyss just seems pretty random, doesn’t it?”

"I guess, but it probably ties into her powers," Robin said with a shrug. "I'm more curious about whether or not she will share her identity with us."

"Considering what happened last time, I doubt it," Conner said, rolling his eyes at the two. 

“B-09 Abyss”

Wally perked up in his seat at the sound of the zeta-tube. All conversation about the girl who had beaten Conner ceased and Wally could almost feel a shiver run down his spine at the thought of a possible confrontation between the two.

Still, he did turn his head to look, curious as to whether she would show up in her costume and-

He had to stop himself from doing a double-take. If it weren’t for the system saying her name, he wouldn’t have been able to tell it was the same girl.

The lightly curled, colorful hair from before was completely straight, and a dark black color, almost shining a midnight blue in the light. She wore a high-waisted pale pink a-line skirt, with what looked to be a velvet-like fabric, a tight white halter top, and a pale pink blazer that was long enough to reach the end of her skirt. She even wore a white medical mask that matched, along with a white purse. The only thing that really resembled the Abyss from before, was her striking bluebell, almond-shaped eyes. They were livelier than they had been when she was here before, sparkled as if she had been given new life. She had a brown paper bag in her hands, and her eyes darted around the cave nervously. She looked uncomfortable.

"U-uhm," Abyss visibly winced at her stutter but refused to meet any of their eyes. "I-I wanted to apologize, for what happened the last time I was here so I..." she took a breath, before finally meeting their gazes. "I-I've baked macarons. I, uh, I used to give my classmates macarons on the first day of school, so I thought maybe I should do the same for here, except for the fact that it isn't my first time meeting you all and I had a really bad first impression, a-and it's not like this is school, I mean obviously, I graduated early and uh, I-" she squeaked, as she seemed to realize she had begun to ramble, and her face reddened in clear embarrassment. "oh kwami," she whispered, her eyes widening as they once again darted from place to place.

Wally could see the clear mortification on her face, even if half of it was covered, though he would have been lying if he said that he hadn't found her ramble a little endearing.

The rest of the team blinked. This was nothing like she had been a few days ago, and it was hard to make heads or tails of.

"It's quite alright," Kaldur said, being the first to recover from the personality whiplash. "You said you baked macarons?"

Abyss nodded, hesitantly stepping forward and taking a seat, joining the others in the lounge. She pulled out a box from the bag and opened it to show a colorful variety of macarons.

"I uh- I didn't know if there were any preferences here so I made a couple of different flavors." She pointed at the colorful treats and told them the flavors; Strawberry (her personal favorite), coffee, passion fruit, pomegranate (an experiment, she told), and salted caramel.

"You said you baked these?" M'gann asked.

Abyss's eyes widened before she nodded hastily. "I have a habit of stress-baking, and macarons take enough time and concentration to distract me for a while, so," Abyss shrugged. "I wasn't planning on making this many different flavors to begin with, but then I just began thinking about this and before I knew it I had made a new tray, and then another, and then another until I had to back to the store to buy more ingredients for the filling," she paused, looking around awkwardly. "and new fruit."

"I love baking too," M'gann said excitedly. "though I don't think I could make something as complicated as this though."

"I've had a lot of practice," Abyss admits, bashful. "but I could teach you. It's not as hard as TV wants you to think it is." It wasn't clear, but even Wally could tell she was somewhat smiling under that mask of hers. There was an awkward moment before Abyss coughed, her smile gone. "Uh, what are we doing today?"

Conner still seemed displeased with her, Abyss shrinking in on herself.

“Today we’re simply bonding,” Kaldur answered, probably taking pity on the girl as she squirmed under Conner’s glare. “Maybe you could tell us a bit about yourself.”

“Oh, uh, sure,” Abyss said, hesitantly sitting down on the couch, as far away from any of the members as possible. “Uh, ask away.”

It was awkward, oh so incredibly awkward, but Abyss kept avoiding eye-contact and seemed to only curl more in on herself as the others looked at her.

“I couldn’t help but notice you have a slight accent, where are you from?” M’gann started asking, and Abyss’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Uh, Paris, France. Officially, I’m in the states for work.”

“Your English is pretty good!” M’gann complimented, and the tension seemed to leave Abyss slightly as she whispered out a quiet thanks.

The questioning continued like that, with the members asking Abyss questions, and her then answering, though some of her answers seemed more careful than the others, particularly the ones that could give hints to her identity.

“Why do you keep your identity secret?” Conner asked suddenly, the first question he’d asked the entire time. “We know why Rob does it, but why do you?”

Abyss looked around the group wide-eyed before focusing her eyes on her lap, where her hands were neatly folded.

“Um… it’s just always been like that, I guess. I’ve never… deliberately told anyone my identity before. The only people who know are the Justice League and my former mentor,” she answered. “So I guess I’m not really comfortable with sharing that kind of information. Maybe I will one day though.”

The last part was tacked on quickly, like she was afraid they would attack her for not doing something she wasn’t comfortable with, which was surprising, considering she wasn’t comfortable with M’gann being in her head, and she made that pretty clear. Not that Wally blamed her for that last one.

Conner was still angry at her, but that wasn’t a surprise either. He was an angry fellow most of the time, even if it was getting slightly better with some time.

“Why are you against the mindlink?” It was M’gann who asked, shockingly. Wally had expected it would have been Conner that would ask.

Abyss recoiled as if slapped, and the lights started flickering again. Her hands shook in her lap and she avoided the imploring eye contact of everyone.

“It- I-” she let out a sigh, took a deep breath, holding it, before letting out another sigh, the lights returning to normal and her hands stopped shaking. “I don’t know if you know about it or not but- uh- there was a villain in Paris for some years. He’s gone now, but he used to be pretty active. He would- He would turn people into akumas,” Abyss clenched her fists, continuing to avoid their gazes. She paused, realizing they had no idea what it was. “Akumas are… how to explain this, they are two things. Uhm, when Hawkmoth, the villain, would start an attack, he would send out an Akuma, a magical butterfly that turned people into akumas, like a villain or a monster.”

Her eyes welled up and the lights began flickering again.

“He would- He would target people who felt negative emotions. Any negative emotion would do. He would go into peoples' minds and promise to help them with whatever was wrong,” tears started to fall down her cheeks and she hastily wiped them away. “He akumatized a baby,” she laughed humorlessly, before calming herself down. “So uh, that’s why I’m not comfortable with someone else, uh,” she gestured to her head and laughed again. “In here.”

It was ghost-quiet in the base now. No one said anything, but Abyss didn’t seem too keen on continuing answering.

“I- I would never-!” M’gann started, but Abyss just shook her head.

“I know,” Abyss said. “But that doesn’t change anything for me.”

“Were you… ever akumatized?” Wally asked hesitantly.

“No, but a lot of the people closest to me were,” she said, as she started to fiddle with her fingers. “I started repressing my feelings after the first year or so, after I had almost been akumatized twice. I’d rather feel nothing at all than to have my feelings be used against me.”

There was something about the way she said it, with such finality, as if she would never budge on this. Wally supposed that it made sense, if she was with the Justice League, then that must have meant she was a hero and had some form of morals. Becoming someone who then hurt people…

Wally wouldn’t question it. He hadn’t gone through what she had, but he at least knew how to empathize.

A pin could have been dropped in the lounge, and you would have been able to hear it echo through the cave. Awkwardness filled the air as Abyss avoided looking at any of them, focusing instead on the walls and decorations of the cave. Her eyes found the kitchen, and Wally noticed that they seemed to light up, but as soon as she noticed Wally looking at her, her gaze snapped away, pink revealing itself just at the edges of her mask.

“Sorry, it looks like I’ve made things awkward,” Abyss said suddenly, the tension in the room only growing with the sound of her voice. “Uh, maybe look at things this way. I’ve learned a lot from my experience with Hawkmoth. Was it something I wish I could have lived without? Yes, absolutely, but thinking about things that didn’t happen won’t do me any good. So I’m fine, really.”

The awkward and stifled silence changed to stunned as Abyss rambled. She simply continued on, not noticing.

“If I let myself get stuck in all of that, I’m never going to grow from it, and I’ll simply be the same emotionless girl with pretend happiness who only existed to help others,” she seemed to catch herself, suddenly, her eyes widening as she registered what she said. Abyss started to cross her arms in front of her, her head shaking. “Not that I was never happy, of course, I was plenty happy, I’m very lucky and have gotten many opportunities, it’s just sometimes hard to enjoy that happiness when you can’t let yourself feel the sadness either, right? The negative side of your feelings are still important to feel, even if they aren’t as enjoyable as the positive ones but-” she cut herself off, taking in a gasping breath.

Wally found it impressive really, that she was able to talk for so long with a single breath.

“I have grown a lot from my experiences, and for that, I appreciate them, though I am very happy to now be somewhere I can allow myself to feel more freely, if only slightly,” Abyss said slowly, as if concluding her statement.

She felt weirdly wise for someone her age, though…

“How old are you?” Wally asked, and he could have sworn the glare sent his way from Artemis told him he could have had better timing.

Abyss just seemed to smile, if the way her cheeks pushed up indicated anything.

“I’m 16,” she answered gently. “I was 13 when Hawkmoth started attacking Paris.”

“3 years,” Kaldur said. “Did you have any heroes that could take care of it?”

“Two,” Abyss answered. “Ladybug and Chat Noir. There were others that came and fought on and off, but those two were the first to fight, and the only two who fought against him consistently.”

“You didn’t join them?” Conner asked with less sneering compared to before.

Abyss paused, looking at Conner calculatingly before answering. “I was asked to help a couple of times, but not because of my powers if that’s what you’re really wondering. I was the first Multimouse,” she explained.

"Wait, so if you didn't use your powers, how did you fight?" Robin asked, intrigued.

"Uhm, Hawkmoth got his powers from something called a miraculous, a magical piece of jewelry. Our heroes fought using those too. Ladybug asked me for my help, gave me a magical piece of jewelry and suddenly I was Multimouse for a bit."

"Why did you quit?"

"I didn't feel like it was safe to continue, I was worried someone would figure out I could more than I let on. I wasn't a main hero and someone else was chosen not long after. Either way, Hawkmoth is defeated and gone now."

"We didn't know there was a villain in Paris," Robin frowned.

Abyss paused, looking at them as if cautious, before looking down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. "Our mayor wanted to keep it on the down-low. Reports of every attack stayed in Paris."

Everyone could tell that Abyss was uncomfortable with the topic, but Wally was the one to take pity on her.

"So, have you ever played Ultimate Mecha Strike 3?"

-_-_-_-

“And no one knows why Batman wants to have a meeting with us?” Conner asked, his patience on the situation lost.

“Nope,” came Wally’s reply, popping the ‘p’ in the process.

“Great.”

The conversation came to a standstill again, everyone looking awkwardly at each other, before Conner was the one to break again.

“I’m not the only one who thinks its weird that they completely ghost us, refuse to tell us what happened, then just call us in to an important meeting?” Frustration laced his voice, his eyebrows knitted together.

“They wouldn’t keep just anything secret,” Kaldur reasoned. “If there’s something that they’re keeping from us, then they are doing it with good reason.”

“They’re treating us like kids,” Wally grumbled.

“We are kids,” Artemis snapped back, before they heard the zeta beam turn on.

“02 Batman, 13 Black Canary, B-09 Abyss.”

Batman and Black Canary walked towards them, Batman’s figure as tall and intimidating as always, despite the fact that he was just a normal human. It was impressive, really. With him and Black Canary was one other figure that none of the Young Justice team recognized.

The tension only rose, the members of the Young Justice team tensed. The other figure, Abyss they could only assume, contrasted with Batman in an almost comical way.

The girl wasn’t very tall, and her figure was petite. A white, wooden bird mask, beak and all, covered most of her face, save for striking bluebell eyes that peaked through the circular holes in the mask. Her short, lightly curled hair at first glance seemed to be a dark blue, but as she shifted her head to the side, they could see more clearly that one half of it shone green.

Batman let the tension settle in the room, let the Young Justice team get more and more uncomfortable for what seemed like forever, before he started to speak.

“Everyone, I would like for you to meet Abyss. She will be your new teammate from now on.” The onslaught of outcries and protests should have been expected, but it clearly seemed to irritate Batman nonetheless as he clenched his jaw. “This is not something I will argue with you about. The decision was made by the Justice League days ago, and it will not change. That’s final.”

It didn’t help the situation, but it made their protests seem to quiet down, if only slightly. The lack of information was what seemed to be the biggest issue as questions hit Batman from left and right.

“Who, exactly, is she?” Robin asked confusedly. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Batman’s judgment, but he wasn’t happy about having been left in the dark for as long as he had been.

Robin wasn’t the only one to ask questions however, as Wally quickly followed with, “and why exactly will she be joining our team?”

More questions followed after that, but it didn’t seem like Batman was all that interested in answering them all, as he mostly remained quiet and let the team talk over each other. It didn’t help that Abyss refused to say anything, making the team wonder if she could even speak to begin with.

“Agh!” M’gann suddenly cried out, clutching her head in her hands as she staggered back. “What was that?!”

The team huddled around the martian almost protectively, shooting accusatory glares at the girl in the bird mask.

Conner growled through gritted teeth, “What did you do?” a hand on M’gann’s back.

Everyone were quiet as two seconds passed in complete silence.

“She tried to read my mind,” came Abyss’s reply, and the team took a second to register her accent and how much softer she had spoken than they had expected. “I didn’t agree to letting anyone do that.”

For a moment, the lights in the base flickered, and their gazes turned to Abyss, but she seemed completely unphased, and just as quickly as the lights had begun to flicker, it had returned back to normal. Robin ended up asking before anyone else got the chance to, asking, “what was that?”

A couple of seconds later, Batman answered, “Abyss doesn’t have complete control over certain aspects of her powers.” It didn’t seem he was all that happy about sharing that tidbit of information, and Abyss shrunk at the tone, the first outward reaction the team had seen from her that wasn’t vocal.

“So we’re getting a complete stranger who can’t even control her powers and who has already hurt M’gann as a teammate?” Conner accused.

“Yes.”

The outcry should have been expected, but Abyss curled in on herself, the lights flickering more than before. It was clear that the yelling was only serving to distress Abyss more, and if her powers really were unstable, then that was the last thing they wanted.

Kaldur put a hand on Conner’s shoulder, Conner clearly being the one most dissatisfied by the news, understandably so after M’gann was hurt.

“You weren’t happy when M’gann did it to you the first time either,” Kaldur said, trying to reason with Superboy before he did anything too rash, then turning to look at Abyss. “It’s nice to meet you, my name is Kaldur and I’m the leader of this team.”

He extended a hand to her and hesitantly, she took it, shaking his hand slightly.

“I’m Abyss,” she introduced herself quietly, but Kaldur supposed that she didn’t feel the most welcome at the moment.

The team began introducing themselves, albeit some more reluctantly than others. An awkwardness settled in the base, but it seemed that nobody was all that eager to change anything about it.

“So…” Wally started, before trailing off, unsure of what to say that could maybe ease the tension. M’gann seemed to have regained her bearings, but now she looked at Abyss in a critical way.

“You’ll be sparring,” Black Canary spoke suddenly, the first time since she arrived. “I want to get a proper view of Abyss and her capabilities.”

“You mean to say you don’t know what she can do?” Conner asked, disbelief clear in his voice. “Who is even her mentor?”

Black Canary winced, realizing her mistake though she was quick to cover it up. “We know enough,” she snapped back at Conner, with a tone that clearly said that this wasn’t an argument that she was going to continue.

“So,” Black Canary started, clapping her hands. “Does anyone want to fight against Abyss?”

It probably wasn’t the best decision to let Abyss fight against anyone in the team currently, and it should not have come as a surprise when Conner gladly volunteered, but Black Canary took it all in stride and looked at Abyss questioningly.

“Are you okay with fighting against Conner?” Black Canary wasn’t sure how much Abyss knew about her new teammates, but she trusted the young hero as Abyss gave an affirmative nod. “Alright then.”

The team found it almost comical how it seemed the Justice League was babying their new teammate, but no one voiced these thoughts aloud.

They moved to the training area, Abyss looking around the cave with curiosity. She was hard to read, and with her mask covering most of her features, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. Mind reading was off the table completely, obviously, so they would have to settle for going in with this blind.

Conner and Abyss got ready and in position, though the team would hardly call how Abyss stood a position. Her arms were behind her back, her left leg behind her right daintily. Neither Black Canary nor Batman said anything about it however.

Conner seemed to be waiting for Abyss to take a different stance, but when she simply tilted her head to the side, he charged. The team had expected him to hit her swiftly, seeing as she seemed completely unprepared, so it came to their surprise when she simply stepped to the side and evaded just before Conner hit her, causing Conner to lose his balance for a moment. He charged at her again, but much like the first time, she evaded, her arms still behind her back. It continued on like that, until Abyss was back to back with Conner, moving alongside him so he couldn’t reach her. And then, she pushed herself away from him by bending forward slightly, snickering as Conner lost his balance again and almost fell.

“Abyss,” Batman suddenly called, and though she gave no outward indication, the team was certain she was listening. “Don’t play.”

The team, despite knowing that Batman would never, thought he was joking for a moment. But then Abyss changed position again, until she stood much like she did when the fight started.

Conner was starting to get irritated, and it showed in the way he charged at her with a roar, faster than before. It didn’t seem to phase her though, as she kept up with her evasions, sweeping under his punches easily. Then, Abyss suddenly grabbed the arm Conner was punching with, turned herself quickly so she stood side by side with Conner, and kicked him in the face. She let go of his arm quickly, and while he was disoriented, kicked him in the back so he hit the ground. Abyss jumped, twisting herself in the air to kick him again, but Conner rolled away before she managed to hit him.

Conner quickly got off the ground and tried to hit her again with a quick jab, but he failed as she jumped back, acrobatic skills showing clearly. Then, she charged at Conner and tried to kick him in the chest swiftly, but this time, Conner managed to grab her leg and throw her. It didn’t seem to do much though, as she landed herself elegantly in a crouch, her head tilted to the side as if amused by his attempt.

She ran at him again, this time faster, and rather than going for his chest again as Conner had expected, she jumped, climbing on Conner. The team couldn’t follow her movements, but they could see her legs in the air she twisted him around, disorienting him again, then used his momentum and weight to throw him, landing herself elegantly on the ground once again as Conner was high in the air, then hard on the ground, grunting at the impact.

Slowly, almost leisurely, Abyss walked toward him. A short blade, around the size of a short sword with the appearance of a feather, detached itself from her back, something that the team had previously thought was just part of her costume. The feather went flying towards Conner but stopped just short of his throat.

Complete and utter silence filled the cave as everyone took the scene in. Abyss’s right arm was extended, and as she lowered it again, the feather moved back to her. She had beaten Conner, and the fail which appeared beneath him proved as much.

“Well done, Abyss,” Batman said, breaking the silence.

Black Canary nodded, “I know what I have to work with now.”

Conner glared at her, but Abyss stayed quiet, just once again nodding in affirmation. It was like all the energy she had used fighting was suddenly just gone.

Black Canary looked at the rest of the team. “Anyone else up for fighting Abyss?”

They shook their heads. She was better at fighting than they had expected, though Conner didn’t fight with his head in the game, not really. Abyss probably knew that when they started.

It would be an interesting couple of days, no doubt about that.

-_-_-_-