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mochegato · 3 years

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Capturing a Dream

Chapter 11 – That Keeps Out the Danger

Chapter 1 Chapter 10

“How are we supposed to eat? We’re going to starve. You’re leaving us to starve. To wither away into nothingness.” Wally collapsed dramatically onto the kitchen island.

“Oh my God, drama queen. You don’t even live here. Go home and eat.” Chimera threw a kitchen towel in his face. He grabbed the towel as it hit him and fell back off of the barstool in an exaggerated drop, crying out as he fell.

“Yeah, Wally. You don’t even go here,” Robin grinned reaching to grab the cupcake left unguarded on his plate. He grumbled when Wally was able to get back up, get onto the barstool, and swipe it back again before he could take a bite. Chimera giggled at the reference until Robin turned his mischievous grin on her. Her giggles quickly quieted and her expression turned apprehensive. “And we don’t want to interrupt Chi’s date.”

Chimera rolled her eyes. Robin and Wally had been teasing her relentlessly since they found out she was going to be out of the Cave for the weekend and wouldn’t give them any details. They made the completely logical leap to claiming it was a date with Roy. She honestly wasn’t sure if it was intended to annoy her or Conner more, or more likely both. She was positive Robin’s ultimate goal in life was to antagonize every member of the Team and the Justice League with one comment, like the annoying, teenage menace he was. Honestly, she liked seeing it; a glimpse of normalcy in his life. But, that didn’t mean she appreciated it when it was turned on her.

“Yeah, you sure you won’t tell us where you two are going?” Wally teased, his words obscured by the bite of cupcake still in his mouth. “Roy won’t tell us anything.”

Chimera gave him a flat look. “Roy’s in India this week.”

“Ah, so that’s where you’re going. Guess portals have their advantages,” Wally snickered, waggling his eyebrows at her.

“Funny how she knew exactly what his plans were for this weekend, don’t you think, Conner,” Robin commented in exaggerated innocence, laying his arm on Conner’s shoulder.

Chimera’s mouth dropped, scandalized by the accusation. “You’re the one that told me.”

“I have no recollection of that conversation…” he answered seriously. He looked at the floor and shook his head, his hand stroking his chin in thought. “Actually, I do.” The grin he shot her was nothing short of terrifying. He leaned across the island to get in her face. “You asked me where Roy was going to be. You were very insistent,” he grinned, pushing into her face.

“I hate you. And if I had to ask you, that means I didn’t ask him, dork,” she pointed out, shoving Robin’s head away.

“Hey!” He cried out. “My hair!” He automatically reached up to fix his hair.

Chimera raised an eyebrow at him, a feral grin spreading across her face. “Oh no. No, no, no. Chi…” he warned, moving off the chair and backing slowly away from her. Once he got to the door, he took off running at full speed. Conner and Wally watched as Robin jumped the railing to drop down to the floor below. Chimera raced after him, jumping the railing with just as much grace as Robin. They could just hear their footsteps as they ran and accidentally collided with different objects.

“Really hope they don’t accidentally destroy anything,” Conner observed casually, swiping his own cupcake and taking a bite, “…again.” He smiled at the sound of Chimera and Robin’s laughter echoing off the walls.

“If they do, it won’t be accidental,” Wally noted as he stuffed his fourth cupcake in his mouth, glaring at Conner for taking one of the cupcakes Chimera had made for everyone. He turned sharply back toward where the two had run off to when they heard a loud yelp and even louder cackle. He shook his head and leaned back, waiting for Robin’s walk of shame back into the kitchen. He never outraced Chimera. She always caught him. He wasn’t sure why Robin even tried instead of just accepting his fate.

It only took a minute for Robin to slope back into the room and slouch back into his chair, pouting the entire way. He tried to subtly fix his now extremely ruffled hair. Chimera was only a few steps behind him, trying incredibly unsuccessfully to hold in her giggles.

“I hope your date sucks,” Robin grumbled into the floor.

“Not a date,” she singsonged and booped him on the nose.

“Hope Roy feels that way too,” Wally smirked, but his eyes were on Conner with an amused gleam at his scowl. Conner took a deep cleansing breath. He knew they were just teasing, but he really didn’t appreciate the joke.

Chimera pulled at Robin’s hoodie pocket, looking in it with a furrowed brow. “What are you doing?” Robin demanded, slapping her hands away.

“I’m looking for the brain call you two share. Someone has to have it,” she shrugged. “I figured it was your turn with it today.”

“I have it today, thank you very much!” Wally objected around the mouthful of his fifth cupcake.

Chimera stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Robin rolled his eyes and slumped against the island. “Idiot.”

Chimera shook her head. “I can’t believe they’re letting you guys go out unchaperoned,” she muttered

Robin scoffed. “I’m from Gotham. And I do this,” he motioned around them. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m from Gotham,” Chimera mocked him in a poor imitation of his voice. “Being from Gotham doesn’t automatically give you better judgement than people from other places.”

Robin glowered at her, but before he could retort she continued in a softer tone. “I know you can take care of yourself and you’re responsible… on missions. But this isn’t a mission and you’re a kid. You should get to be one, which means making stupid decisions that adults try to talk you out of and they,” she motioned toward Wally and Conner, “don’t count. They’re more childish than you.”

“Hey,” Wally objected again. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Roy’s never going to kiss you if you keep being so mean.”

Chimera rolled her eyes. “I’m meeting my best friends.”

“Wow, already introducing him to the family. You and Roy are really moving quickly,” Robin quipped.

Chimera groaned and looked to the ceiling for patience. “You are such a little dick.”

Robin froze momentarily. Conner looked down to hide his grin, but there was no hiding his chuckles. Wally, however, was laughing so hard he was bent over holding his stomach, his body shaking with laughter so violently, he almost fell off his chair. Chimera gave him a concerned look, but Robin glared at him. After a few minutes of unbroken laughter, he finally tamed his laughter enough to pat Robin on the head and gasp out, “You really are… such a little Dick.” Robin lunged for him but he sped out of his reach before he could make contact.

Conner shook his head and focused back on Chimera. “Can you say where you guys are going? Or will that compromise your identity?”

Chimera cocked her head to the side in thought before quickly shaking her head. “I don’t think so. We’re going to Metropolis. My best friend wants a tour of the Daily Planet… and to try to meet Clark Kent or Lois Lane.”

Wally perked up. “You don’t say.”

Chimera grimaced. “Yeah. She’s a huge fan of them. She desperately wants to meet them.”

The boys started laughing at her. Robin finally spoke up with a devilish grin. “You know, you could make that happen.”

Chimera threw her arms out in defeat. “I know! But not without compromising my identity. And even if I could, how would that even work? Hey Supes, totally unrelated to me or my identity in any way, could you meet with this person I absolutely do not know on a very personal level for many years? Ugh. This is going to be awkward as hell. I’m going to be on his home turf… where he works… his territory. I’m going to have to pretend I don’t know him and didn’t go all Electro on him.”

Conner smiled at her catastrophizing. “He likes you. You remember that, right? And at the time, he was the bad guy so, if anything, you went all Storm on him.” He chuckled at the deadpan look she gave him. “If it makes you feel better, he’s off-world today and tomorrow.”

Chimera perked up with a hopeful grin. “Really?” Conner nodded. She bounced on her toes in excitement.

The action was so adorable on her Conner couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. “Yes,” he reassured her.

Her smile suddenly turned into a wary look. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

Conner moved closer and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I talked to him. We’re trying to make time to hang out so we can get closer. So incredibly awkward but… anyway. He said he couldn’t do anything this weekend because he’ll be off-world.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile and moved under his arms to give him a hug. She lessened the pressure and rested her head on his chest, keeping her arms around him. He returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around her as well. “I’m glad to hear that. Not the he’s not here part, the he’s trying part… well, actually, both parts. I’m not going to lie. I’m really happy he won’t be there when I am. But I’m sad you guys can’t hang out this weekend.”

Conner smiled into her hair. “It’s okay. There’ll be other weekends. At least I know he isn’t trying to avoid me this time. It just means we get to have a boy’s weekend instead.” His expression turned concerned and he pulled back just enough to try to look her in the eyes. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay though? Last time you hung out with your friends it… you didn’t exactly come home happy.”

She smiled up at him. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. I’m excited. It’s going to be a lot of fun.” She gave him an extra squeeze before starting to pull away. “I won’t be in P… home,” she quickly corrected herself, “this time, so it should be good.”

Conner pulled her back into a tight hug. “Okay, well… if you need us, I’m only one call away… or you know just show up wherever we are,” he whispered.

She craned her neck so she could rest her chin on his chest and look at him with a smile. “Portals have their advantages.”

“You two are disgusting! Get a room,” Wally groaned dramatically. He threw the towel Chimera had thrown at him earlier back at her. Chimera squeaked and jumped away from Conner, while Conner caught it before it could reach her. “You’re going to make Roy jealous if you keep it up.” Conner sent Wally a vicious glare that Wally completely ignored.

“Right. On that note…” She reached down for her bag but rolled her eyes at Robin when she saw he’d already grabbed it. “I’m stronger than you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, don’t care,” Robin shrugged. “Wouldn’t want to disappoint Agent A with bad manners.”

She snorted and shook her head. “Sounds incredibly sexist, but whatever. Unless you’re planning on doing the same for them,” she motioned to Conner and Wally. Robin furrowed his brow at her, but kept his grip on her bag. “Then it isn’t manners, it’s sexism.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m going to tell A you said that.”

“Go ahead, I’ll own it,” she shrugged. “And he’ll agree with me.” She turned toward Wally and Conner with a small wave. “Okay, you guys have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Conner scoffed. “That doesn’t narrow it down much.” He grinned at her when she let out an offended scoff.

“Don’t worry, we won’t accidentally destroy anything. Can you say the same?” Wally grinned.

“I don’t destroy everything I touch,” she groused, “just almost everything,” she muttered the last bit to the floor with a frown. She quickly recovered and looked back up at him with an exaggerated smile. “But, with the three of you going out unsupervised, I highly doubt something isn’t going to end up destroyed intentionally.” She narrowed her eyes challengingly at Wally. “In fact, I bet my trip is less destructive than yours.”

Wally sat up and grinned back at her. “Oh, you’re on. Two dozen cupcakes every day for a week if I win. My choice of flavors.”

“And no eating any food I make for a week if I win,” she smirked back at him.

“You know, there’s more than just you two in on this bet,” Conner reminded them.

“Oh? And what is it you want from Chimera when we win?” Robin asked with a devious smirk.

Conner glared darkly at him, but his cheeks turned a bright red. “I get to choose what we watch for a week.”

Chimera groaned and dropped her head. “Nooooo.”

“Backing out?” he grinned, raising a challenging eyebrow and moving closer to tower over her.

“Never,” she scoffed. “Just trying to imagine a full week of exclusively Conner-chosen programming.” She pretended to shudder. “The horror.”

He grinned down at her and took a step closer again until he was almost chest to chest with her. “Better not lose then.”

Chimera matched his grin and straightened up. “Oh I don’t intend to. There’s no way you guys will be able to stop yourselves from getting involved in any and every drama you walk in on. By the way, getting into a fight counts, even if you don’t destroy any property.”

The moment was broken when Robin spoke up. “I want chocolate macarons.”

Chimera shook her head and gave a sweet smile to Conner as she made her way to the door. She bumped Robin’s shoulder as she passed him. “Dream on, Bird Boy.”

Wally watched her leave the room with Robin and turned to Conner. “Whatever happens this weekend, we absolutely cannot allow anything to get destroyed because of us. Agreed?”

Conner nodded. “Agreed.”

Robin watched Chimera closely as they walked. She was quieter than usual. Normally she’d still be trash talking with him about the bet. She was extremely competitive and her personality flourished when there was a challenge. But now, she had a carefully crafted neutral expression on her face that he would have absolutely bought if he didn’t know her better. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked.

She smiled at him. A fake smile that he didn’t buy for a second. “Of course. You just heard me tell Conner, it’ll be fine.” She looked back forward quickly.

“Are you upset about us teasing you about Roy?”

She huffed out a laugh. “No. It’s fine. Honestly, less teasing than my friends back home would do. I’m tough. I can take it.”

Robin looked back toward the kitchen. “I don’t know that Conner feels the same way,” he said carefully.

Chimera eyed him suspiciously. “Robin…” She pursed her lips and took a breath. “Then maybe you should stop doing it around him.”

“Maybe you should put him out of his misery, and yours,” Robin snapped back a bit harsher than he meant.

“Robin, you know I can’t,” she shook her head and looked down.

“I just want to… you two just seem so… are you sure?” he tried again.

“Robin…” she repeated, but her voice was considerably sadder this time. She pursed her lips and looked back forlornly toward where Conner and Wally were waiting for Robin. She let out a deep sigh that became a boom sound and expanded her fingers out, miming an explosion. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Does it really matter if you’re officially together or not when things like that,” he motioned toward the kitchen, “happen so often? You guys are… you’re perfect for each other. You make each other happy. I can’t believe you’re not meant to be together.”

“Yes, it does,” she answered sharply. “It matters. That’s what I’ve learned. That’s what the universe taught me.”

He took a deep breath to prepare himself for this. He’d been working on what to say for a few weeks. Just the right way to phrase it so it hit right, so she thought it was a matter of helping him, not herself. Because that was her weakness, if you could call it that; protecting the people she loved, whatever the cost to her. “I just… the result of being a hero can’t be to be miserable. I need to believe that you can still be happy, that I can be happy, but between you and Batman...”

“Of course you can be happy,” she jumped in instantly, just as Robin had been hoping she would. ��You and Zatanna are happy now. And even if that doesn’t last, you know you still can be. And Batman…” she grimaced unsure how to sell a happy Batman. “Wally! He and Artemis are adorable.”

“Oh come on. Wally’s going to mess that up, you know him,” Robin scoffed.

Chimera rolled her eyes. “And Artemis will knock him back into shape. You know her. No, I think they’re in it for the long haul. ‘Til death do them part.”

Robin shook his head. He needed to focus it back to her and him. “I need to know that someone like you gets to be happy too, or what’s the point? We’re constantly in terrible situations. We constantly see miserable things. That’s a part of our lives… but we can still be happy… right?” He was laying it on thick. He knew he was laying it on thick and he knew that if anyone else was doing this other than him, Chimera would have picked up on it all of two seconds into the conversation. But he needed to get to her, to make her stop and think. And if that meant manipulating her into it, he’d do it… again. But she was like a sister to him. She was family. And when it’s family, it isn’t manipulating, it’s meddling. And meddling is okay. Meddling is the way family show they love each other.

“Being in terrible situations doesn’t mean your personal life has to be too. But, it’s different for me, Robin. Things… things get destroyed when I fall in love; buildings, monuments, countries, moons, planets… The universe made sure I understood my lesson well. But you!” She gave him a bright smile and set her hands on his shoulders. “You have a heart so big. It could....”

Robin gaped at her. “You know he was just teasing right?” he interrupted before she could finish her sentence. “About you destroying stuff everywhere you go. Chi, you… you don’t… Chi, that isn’t anywhere near the truth. Terrible things happened, but that isn’t your fault. That’s the situations you were forced into. It isn’t you!”

Chimera nodded at him and gave him an utterly unconvincing smile. “Yeah. I know.” She gave him a quick hug and pulled away almost as quickly. “You guys have fun, okay? And if you need anything, just give me a call, okay?” She ruffled his hair again before punching her destination into the Zeta tube interface. “I’ll get notified even if I’m not transformed.”

“Chi,” Robin started again, but she was already standing in the Zeta tube platform. There wasn’t enough time to finish that conversation, so instead he answered with, “yeah, okay. I will.” He continued to stare at the Zeta tube for a few seconds before making his way back to the kitchen.

“Did you tell her?” Conner asked as soon as Robin made it back to the kitchen.

Robin shook his head, still looking back toward the Zeta tube. Conner nodded at his response. “That’s probably for the best. She'd freak out if she knew. She’d be looking over her shoulder the entire time.”

“Yeah, what are the odds we'd run into them anyway?” Wally grinned. “Now come on! We need to get going too. We just need to make sure we go to the Metropolis entrance she didn’t use.”

“Right,” Conner nodded and started walking to the Zeta tubes. “You got our bags, right Robin?”

<><><><><>

“And just twenty minutes ago, I was so happy Superman isn’t in town this weekend,” Marinette sighed and banged her head against the wall she was leaning against.

“He’s what!” Alya whisper yelled. Adrien and Nino shushed her while Chloe scoffed at her. “Go ahead and announce our presence, why don’t you?” Nino put his hand on Alya’s shoulder to keep her from pouncing on Chloe.

Marinette tried to tune them out as she assessed the scene in front of her. There were at least three figures on their floor, but there had been at least four more that had taken any people they saw back down to the toy store’s main floor with the rest of the hostages and she spotted a different three coming up as the others were going down. That was ten, but they had no way to know how many were in the store. The marionette looking villains were holding everyone they caught in an area that was out of their line of sight.

“Don’t know if the Bat is covering for him, but he is off-world. We are likely on our own,” Marinette whispered distractedly. “Trixx, can you peek at the main area and see how many captors you see and estimate how many victims there are.” Trixx nodded in understanding and phased through the floor.

“Oh well that’s just brilliant, isn’t it,” Chloe groused. “This was your idea, Agreste. I wanted to go to a spa, but noooo. We had to visit the giant toy store. ‘It’ll be such a fun end to the visit,’” she groused in a poor imitation of his voice. “And now we’re in the middle of yet another attack, without magic protection. And there’s no miracle cure for this. If anything happens, just know, I blame you.”

“You’re welcome to hide, you know,” Adrien pointed out quietly.

“No, I’m going to help. I’m just going to complain the entire time,” Chloe groused again.

“So, no different than usual,” Nino nodded, keeping his eyes on the situation in front of him.

Chloe glared at him, but before she could retort Trixx popped back up. “I counted nine doll-looking guys downstairs, Guardian. And at least twenty-five people being held by them,” Trixx reported quietly.

Marinette nodded, silently processing all the information she had. “Got a plan?” Adrien asked barely above a whisper, keeping his eyes on the main aisle.

Marinette ignored him, running scenarios through her head. “They’re moving strangely. Their movements are stunted. Either they’re not human or someone else is controlling them.”

“Or both,” Adrien added quietly.

“Or both,” Marinette agreed. “What do you think the odds are that they are… like robotic marionettes?”

Nino nodded along with her train of thought. “I’d say high. They all walk too oddly to be human and there’s too many to each be remote controlled, so robot seems most likely.”

Marinette gave a single nod. Her face morphed into a determined look, ready to go into battle. “We can use that against them.”

“Suit up?” Alya asked.

Marinette’s body tensed at the thought. Finally after a few seconds, she took a deep breath and let it out. “Not unless necessary. There’s an awful lot of cameras around here and I don’t have extra miraculous for you guys. We’re going to have to figure out a way to lure some away from the main group without the others noticing anything. Chloe, think you can work something out?” She stared at the stairway as she spoke.

“Can I get someone’s complete attention and manipulate them into doing what I want? Are you seriously asking me that?” she scoffed.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Well then get on it. It would help if we could find something to fight with.”

Alya cleared her throat lightly. “Anyone feel like channeling Harley Quinn?” she asked with a smirk, twirling a bat in her hands.

“Yes!” Adrien whisper yelled.

“Fine, but I’m not dying my hair though or doing the pigtails,” Chloe grunted.

<><><><><>

Marinette had always had an appreciation for stuffed cats. She’d had one on her bed for years before she became Ladybug and after she did, she had an affinity for Chat Noir themed stuffies. She still had one on her bed in the Cave. But she can honestly say she has never been as thankful for them as she was right now.

She rolled off the large stuffed cat she had landed on when she tackled the marionette doll, causing both of them to fall over the railing. Her smartest move? No. But it was trying to drag an unconscious Chloe away. She had to stop it and maybe she had some anger issues lately resulting from violently repressing any slightly negative emotions for years, a fact which she was not willing to admit to anyone else currently.

“I’m counting that for me as a save,” Adrien whisper yelled down to her.

“It’s pink,” she called back. She raised her hand as she spoke, narrowing her eyes toward Adrien. She grabbed the bat Nino threw to her in one seeming effortless motion without taking her eyes off of Adrien. She used the momentum from the catch to smoothly swing the bat back up, connecting to the marionette robot’s head. She didn’t knock it completely off, but she managed to sever enough wires and connections in the neck to make it collapse on the floor. “… that makes it count as mine,” she finished.

“Bullshit,” Adrien pouted.

Marinette smirked at him quickly before her face turned serious. “How many are left?”

“I think they’re all gone, at least the ones in here,” a voice answered.

Marinette’s head snapped to the familiar voice. “Con… can I assume you took care of a few of them as well?” she winced internally at the extremely awkward transition to cover her gap.

“We got four of them,” Robin confirmed, coming up next to Conner. Conner kept his focus on Marinette. There was something incredibly familiar in her eyes, but he couldn’t place it, but whatever it was, he was having a hard time looking away.

Marinette nodded. “We got six, I think.” She turned up toward the second level. “That sound right?”

Nino nodded. “We each got one and that one makes two for you.”

Marinette nodded in understanding and started reviewing what she knew. “That’s ten. There were at least twelve. Are you sure…”

“That’s only five,” Wally interrupted her looking from her friends to her.

Marinette looked back up to her friends and realized the confusion. “No, we have another friend. She got knocked out.”

“Where?” Adrien asked.

Marinette gave him a confused look. “There?”

“What?” Nino asked, coming up next to him.

“There. It knocked her out right before I tackled it. That’s why I did it. She was right next to where I went over,” Marinette explained slowly.

“She’s not up here, M,” Alya said.

“Son of a…” Adrien growled, taking off to look for her. The rest followed suit, running down different aisles to find Chloe. Marinette ran up the stairs two at a time to help look.

“Who are we looking for?” Wally asked. “I mean what does she look like?”

“Blonde, blue eyes, yellow shirt, pissed off scowl,” Marinette answered over her shoulders, feeling completely confident he would use his powers to search for her. Her suspicion was confirmed when she felt two rushes of air at her side. She strained her ears and was just barely able to hear him tell Robin that he didn’t find anyone like that. She mentally cursed and started trying to figure out a plan before she even reached the top of the stairs.

“I didn’t find her,” Adrien announced, walking back toward them.

“Me either,” Alya and Nino chorused coming from their sections of the store.

“Damn it. Are you sure there aren’t any more of those robot things in here?” Marinette asked the Team.

Wally nodded. “We’re positive.”

Marinette nodded and started moving toward the far wall. “Did any of you see an exit up here?”

“Yeah, over there,” Wally motioned toward a back corner.

“You think she was taken?” Conner asked.

Marinette nodded moving quickly toward the exit. “She got knocked out. Even if she’d woken up, she’d be too weak to leave on her own, especially without notifying one of us. She knows the protocols.”

“You guys have protocols for going after villains?” Robin asked skeptically.

Alya scoffed at him. “You don’t?”

Robin blinked at her a few times. “I’m from Gotham, of course I have protocols for it.”

“You guys should stay and talk to the police. We’ll look for your friend,” Wally promised, giving the other Team members a look of understanding. Conner and Robin nodded in agreement.

“We’ll go with you,” Marinette stated with finality.

“No, we got it,” Conner stated in the same tone.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Okay, we’ll go separate.” She shrugged at him. She turned back to Nino and Alya. “Can you listen to the police gossip and do some research, see if you can figure out who might be behind it and let us know along with anything else you find.”

“Will do, L… Dudette,” Nino stuttered. He grimaced internally at the almost slip up. “We’ll talk to the police while you go get our girl.”

With her attention on Nino, she missed the Team slipping out the door, though Adrien watched them with a curious look. Marinette turned to Adrien. “You don’t have to come with us… if you’d rather stay with Alya and Nino.”

Adrien shook his head and gave her a supportive smile. “I’m with you, ‘til the end of the line.”

Marinette gave him a flat look. “You realize the guy that said that almost died, got his mind wiped and turned into a super assassin, killed Tony Stark’s parents, and tried to kill the person he said it to. Maybe not the bar to go for.”

Adrien shrugged and let out a noncommittal grunt. “Worked out in the end. I have complete faith in you. I always have.” He gave her a meaningful look. She gave him a guilty look that he couldn’t allow to continue. “You want to tell me about…” he motioned to the door where the Team had escaped through, changing the focus of the conversation away from their past and onto her present.

Marinette held her finger up for him to wait and typed out a text she didn’t send. ‘I’m not allowed to say.’ His eyes widened and he motioned toward the door with his head. He mouthed ‘really?’ She nodded in confirmation.

“What the hell… Are you sure this is a good idea?” Adrien gave her a dubious look.

She smiled at him. “I’m not sure, but I’m not going to not get Chloe. Can you imagine the fallout from that? Leaving her rescue to someone else?”

Adrien grimaced. “Valid.”

“And I really want to. I mean I’m,” she motioned to herself, “and they’re,” she motioned toward the door they had gone through. “I’ve never gotten to… they’ve never… I don’t know if this will happen again.”

Adrien nodded and gave her an understanding look. “Yeah, I get that. Okay. Let’s do this.”

She gave him a wide excited grin, and started bouncing on her toes. “Yay!” She focused back on her phone and started tapping rapidly.

“You got her?” he asked coming up next to her to look at her screen.

“Just a second.” She tapped her screen a few more times. “Got her,” she said tilting her phone to show Adrien.

Adrien nodded and pulled his phone out. He pulled up his messaging app and followed her example, typing a text he didn’t send. ‘You let Batman know?’

Marinette smiled and nodded as she typed a response. ‘Already sent him her phone’s info and who’s looking for her… as civilians. Wish was a video call. Know he would have smirked.’

They pushed through the exit, almost running into the Team, who were talking in hushed tones. Robin tucked his phone in his back pocket.

“I told you before, we got this,” Conner insisted. “The way you took care of that robot before was impressive, but this is likely to get a lot more dangerous. We can handle it.”

Marinette cocked her head to the side, opening her eyes wide in exaggerated innocence. “Thank you, but… then it’s dangerous for you too, isn’t it?” She looked at Robin and Wally and back to him. “I mean we’re all in the same boat here, right? Experience wise?” She ignored the coughing fit Adrien faked to cover up his laughter.

Robin spoke up, “I’m from Gotham. We’re used to villains kidnapping people. We know how to handle it.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow and shared a look with Marinette. “And we’re from Paris,” he intoned. “It was a lifestyle for a few years there.”

Marinette quirked her lip to the side in an amused smirk at the boys’ confused stares. “Look, it’s our friend who got kidnapped and it’s our drama you’ve walked in on. We’re going. If you guys are so insistent on getting involved with our drama, we won’t stop you.” Robin opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get it out, Marinette continued. “So Gotham, try to keep up, because we’re able to track her,” she held up her phone which showed a map with a dot moving on it. “…so unless you have a bloodhound in that hoodie pocket, we’re leading the way.” She ruffled his hair as she passed him to get to the stairs. Was she being a terrible older sister? No. She was being an amazing older sister, pushing all his buttons. Isn’t that how all families showed love? And the best part was he didn’t know to get her back for it. Free harassment. What kind of sister would she be if she passed that up?

Robin glared at her and Conner didn’t look much happier, likely upset because it meant they wouldn’t get to use their superpowers, but still followed her down the stairs. She was right. They had no way to track their friend without their help. They would just have to hold off on the superpowers until they got closer and hope they could break off to where the two couldn’t see them rescuing their friend. Wally however, was grimacing as he brought up the end of the line behind Adrien on the stairs, thinking about the cupcakes he was about to lose. Maybe if they didn’t cause too much more damage, they could still win.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve had to rescue Chloe from a villain’s hench… thing. I swear if I had a nickel for every time she’s gotten kidnapped… I’d only have like fifteen or twenty nickels but still it’s strange that it’s happened that many times.” Marinette looked back over her shoulder with a smirk, like she was in on a private joke.

Adrien set his mouth and pursed his lips. He refused to laugh at her comment, no matter how badly he wanted to. He looked between the guy behind him and the two ahead of him with an overly bright smile. “Hi, I’m Adrien. If we’re working together, we should probably know each other’s names.”

“Wally,” Wally offered with a chuckle. Unlike Adrien, he had no issue laughing at her comment.

“Robin,” Robin stated diplomatically, still trying to figure out if her comment was correct. He’d been the victim of kidnapping attempts multiple times both as Dick and Robin, but he didn’t know why her friend would have been so often.

Conner continued to stare at Marinette mutely, trying to figure her out better. If he stared long enough, maybe he could place where he’d seen her beautiful eyes before. Marinette gave him a bright, warm smile. “Oh,” Marinette paused and turned to look back at them as they all got onto the ground with a bright, warm smile, “Marinette. My name is Marinette.”

Conner looked away. Marinette thought she saw his cheeks darken slightly when their eyes met, but that could have easily been the taillights from the car that just parked near them. “Conner,” he grumbled.

Marinette nodded at him, giving him a sweet smile. “It is really nice to meet you,” she said earnestly, looking at the other Team members, “all of you.” She took a beat to look at them without a mask and nodded. “Okay, let’s get going then, before Chloe breaks a nail and we have to hear about it for the next six months,”

“Or you know, someone dies,” Conner argued, following her down the road.

Adrien shook his head behind him. “I don’t think we have to worry about that. She won’t kill anyone.”

“Probably… unless they mess with her hair,” Marinette added.

“Most likely,” Adrien agreed with a nod.

Robin gave Wally a confused, questioning look as they followed behind. Wally returned the look. Who the hell were these people?

Chapter 12

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@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @glastwime859 @fan-writtenen @stackofrandomstuff @jalaluvsu @ultimatetornshipper @charme-de-malchan @lozzybowe @deathwishy @too0bsessedformyowngood @kokotaru @ichigorose @nathleigh @dorkus-minimus @ira-sairain @jayjayspixiepop

#maribat #Capturing a Dream #connette #connerette #konmari #marikon #conner x marinette #Marinette x Conner

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 1 - Meeting the Team

This was it. She was excited. No excited wasn’t the word. Terrified? Yeah, that was closer. Marinette was about to step into the Young Justice base for the first time and meet her new teammates. What if they don’t like her? What if they don’t let her join the team? What if they let her join the team but they exclude her? What if they get mad at her because she won’t expose her identity and they think she doesn’t trust them? What if she messes up and she ends up getting someone killed? What if she gets one of her teammates killed? What if she gets someone else killed? What if… No!

She wasn’t going to do that. She wasn’t the same 14 year old girl who spiraled into anxiety-induced, worst-case-scenario, death spirals. She was 17 now. She was in her final year of school before college, nearly an adult, legally, she was an adult. She was the Guardian. She was a hero. She was already in a prestigious internship with one of the biggest names in fashion. She was working with the Justice League, well Young Justice, but that was better because there wasn’t as much of a time commitment, which was really good because she didn’t have much to spare… where was she going with this? Right! She was smart. She was competent. She was confident(ish). She was… standing outside the zeta tube opening staring at it like an idiot, and she was going to be late.

She took a deep breath and ran her free hand over the costume she wasn’t quite used to yet, trying to find comfort in the feeling and focus her mind. She could do this. She may no longer be able to be Ladybug for secrecy reasons, but Ladybug wasn’t her only option. She was Chimera now and Chimera was not linked back to the miraculous. So this new and completely un-miraculous affiliated hero definitely wasn’t unifying the fox and horse miraculous. Chimera was a separate and unmiraculous hero. She was a new heroic entity; a powerful amalgamation of divergent parts; an illusion, who uses illusions; a dream that can never be captured. Chimera was just another magical hero working in the background.

Gone was the flashy, bright suit of a central hero. She was a shadow now and her suit reflected her new role. The base of the suit was a brown so dark, it almost looked black. Her knee-high boots and gloves that reached to midway up her bicep were both black, meeting with the brown core of the suit with a strip of deep orange. Her mask was the same dark brown color with deep orange at the corners. She no longer had her yoyo, but in its place was a rope that responded to her like her yoyo did. Her flute across her back completed her weaponry.

She was still a hero, just not a miraculous one, as far as anyone else knew. She was still protecting people for now, she just wasn’t on the front lines anymore. She was still protecting the miraculous and would for the rest of her life. And she was still… standing outside the Zeta tube opening, staring.

She closed her eyes, and walked through the portal. Before she let out her breath, she could feel a difference in the air around her. She heard a digital voice say “Recognize Chimera B12.” She opened one eye tentatively and jumped back with a quiet squeak when she saw Batman standing on the other side giving her an amused smile next to Black Canary and a red figure.

Black Canary stepped forward, “Welcome to Mount Justice, Chimera. You’ve already met Batman. This is Red Tornado. He supervises the cave here.” Chimera nodded to him but before she could say anything Black Canary continued speaking. “We are very excited to have you here. While you are training and on missions, this will be your home. I know you have an apartment near your internship, but if you ever want to get away, you are always welcome to stay here whenever and however long you want to.” Her voice was warm and welcoming. She leaned over and lowered her voice, “lead lined walls and no bugs or cameras allowed in the personal rooms in case you want to drop your transformation while you are here.” She gave her a nod and started walking, motioning to Chimera to follow her.

“As discussed before, your team knows nothing about you. What you choose to disclose is your decision. Only Batman and I know anything more. The team is used to people hiding their identities so there is no pressure to give your personal identity. I mean, there might be teasing, but you are under absolutely no obligation to divulge and they will respect that. Especially since Robin is under the same requirement.”

They entered into a small sitting area that appeared to be their common room. The first thing she noticed was a kitchen that was almost as nice as her parents’ kitchen in the bakery and significantly bigger. She let out a quiet “Wow” without even noticing she had done it. She would have to try that out as soon as she was able to get back to it.

“Pretty nice, huh?” She heard from behind her. She whirled around and finally noticed the other half of the room were a few couches and chairs were clustered in front of a television. More significantly, there was a red headed boy talking to her, standing in front of four other teens. They were looking at her with uncertainty and a slight bit of curiosity except the red headed boy who looked excited to meet her, and the larger black haired boy who looked a bit hostile.

“Uh, yeah. It’s… um, a really nice kitchen. It looks… really professional.” She stammered, trying to keep the nerves out of her voice.

The red head smiled brightly at her. “Only the best for the Justice League.”

“Alright team, it’s nice to see your smiling faces.” Black Canary started with more than a hint of sarcasm. “I would like to introduce you to your new team member. This is Chimera.” Chimera gave an awkward wave to the Young Justice members. “She was recruited by the Justice League. Her identity is secret and will stay that way, am I clear?” She stared at each of the team members one at a time. “Good. She is here under an outside deal so she may not always be available for missions, but she will be here whenever she can be.”

The red head raised his hand. “Wally, you don’t have to raise your hand.” Batman said tiredly.

“What is the outside deal? What does that even mean?”

“It means something else brought her to our vicinity and she is only available to us because of that. The details of the deal are not important. Only that she is a hero on your team and every bit as dedicated to the team as the rest of you.”

“How is she as dedicated if she can’t commit to being here?” Artemis snarked quietly to Superboy.

“We all have outside lives that demand our attention. There are times I can’t go out with the Justice League. One of the others cover for me. Are you suggesting I am not committed to the Justice League?” Batman stared harshly at her.

“No, sir.” Artemis shrunk back.

“I’m sorry, I have school and… other obligations, but I promise I will give you as much time and attention as I can spare without going insane. Learned that the hard way.” She looked down as she muttered the last part under her breath. She quickly looked back up hoping nobody heard her. Everyone seemed to have the same expressions on their faces except Superboy who was giving her a quizzical look. “I am committed to the team. I want to be here, I promise. Um… here, I brought macarons!” She said with forced cheeriness, attempting to placate their suspicions and hostility. She opened the lid to the box of macarons she had brought with her.

Chimera’s hair blew back as Wally rushed forward. He had already grabbed three macarons before she even saw him move. “These are delicious! Where did you get them?”

“Thank you. I made them. I like to bake.” She smiled broadly at him.

Wally stared at her with his jaw open, the macaron close to falling out of his mouth. “Marry me.” He said dreamily.

Chimera giggled at him. “How about I use the only-the-best kitchen to make something else for you a bit later instead?”

Wally gave her a bright grin. “That will work.” He looked at the rest of the macarons longingly then back at his teammates. “Uh…. These are absolutely terrible and you shouldn’t have to be subjected to them. I’ll just finish these off so you don’t have to.” He reached back toward the box but Chimera closed the lid and raised an amused brow at him.

“Move over,” Robin pushed Wally to the side. “Thank you Chimera. That was sweet of you.” He took a bite and looked back up at her with a smile. “Hey, Wally was right. These are delicious. Artemis, Kaldur, Superboy, get over here and try these.”

Kaldur and Artemis came over, Artemis shoving Wally again for no apparent reason. Superboy stayed where he had been and continued to eye her suspiciously. Wally looked at them with a pout. “Hey! Leave some for me.”

“You’ve already had a bunch. The rest of us get some too.” Artemis rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I have a fast metabolism. I need to eat.” Wally whined.

“Thank you… I’m sorry, I didn’t get any of your names.” Chimera said apologetically.

“Tall, blonde, and hostile is Artemis. Tall, blonde, and aloof is Kaldur. Tall, dark, and broody back there is Superboy. You already met Wally, aka Kid Flash. And I’m Robin.” Robin gave her a charming smile and shook her hand.

She gave them all a brilliant smile. “It is nice to meet you all. I’m really excited to work with you.” Wally smiled broadly at her and gave a lovesick sigh. Artemis groaned and turned away.

Kaldur moved forward and extended his hand to her, “Welcome to the team.”

She shook his hand and gave him a warm smile. “Thank you.”

“Okay, now that everyone has introduced themselves, let’s get to the training area. I’m interested to see how Chimera’s powers work with the rest of yours.” Black Canary announced.

“The training area is just this way,” Robin said with a suave smile, sweeping his arm out toward the direction they were supposed to move.

“Thanks,” Chimera smiled anxiously at him.

Wally came up on the other side of her and bumped his shoulder gently into hers. “Don’t worry, we’ll take it easy on you.” He said with a wink.

Chimera looked at him blank faced for a few seconds before throwing him a sassy grin. “It’s not me I’m worried about, speedy.”

“Oh no, Speedy was someone else.” Artemis threw in, moving past the group.

“You’re kidding.” Chimera stared at her.

“Nope.” Artemis responded popping the p. “A whole different hero. Not even fast either. Makes no sense.”

“Good to know.” Chimera nodded absentmindedly.

“Oh, she can never meet Speedy.” Wally looked at the other heroes with wide eyes.

“Is he that bad?” Chimera asked, concern seeping into her eyes.

Artemis turned back to her and grinned wickedly, “No, he’s afraid you’ll start dating him.”

“Ahh. I don’t date teammates so, don’t worry.” Chimera reassured Wally with a clap on his back. Artemis barely contained the chuckles that were fighting to spill out.

Wally gave her a distressed look, “But, teammates are great. They are supportive and understand you… They’re… They’re the ideal dating material.”

“You make some interesting points.” She nodded as though contemplating his words. “Luckily, you have very pretty and interesting teammates, four at least from what I can see. So you have a wealth of dating material at your disposal.” Chimera gave him a wink and walked ahead of him. Artemis cackled loudly and threw her arm over Chimera’s shoulders, walking along with her. “I think I’m going to like having you here.”

Chimera smiled at her. “Good. I hope so.”

Black Canary gave them a serious look and stood in the middle of the sparring area as the team lined up around the edges. “Let’s get started. This is an exhibition sparring match. We want to see what you can do and what your teammates can do and see how you can mesh.”

“You don’t know what she can do?” Kaldur asked.

“I know. It’s you I’m concerned about. You’re going to be working with her and leading her. You need to know what she can do. So, Chimera? Go full force. We want to know what to plan for in the field.” Black Canary commanded.

Chimera looked at her unsure. “Full force? Are you sure? I don’t want to… That can be really dangerous.”

Black Canary nodded in understanding. “I get that, but I assure you it will be fine. We just need to see where you are in your skills, so we need you to give it your all.”

Chimera eyes got even bigger, “I’m not going to kill someone to prove a point. I can do a demonstration instead.”

The rest of the team looked at her insulted. Robin finally spoke up to scoff at her. “We can take it. We’ve dealt with worse. Don’t worry.”

Ladybug looked back at him with wide eyes. “It isn’t… I don’t think I’m a better fighter than you. I’m positive you all have better training than I do, especially since I don’t have any, it’s just… I’ve brought down the Eiffel Tower with one hit before. Thank god for miraculous ladybugs. But you all look a bit more…” she struggled for an appropriate word to finish her thought, “…vulnerable. I really don’t want to hurt any of you.” She shot him a pleading look.

Superboy stepped forward with a determined look on his face. “Then try me. I’m less…” he paused as if thinking, “what was that word you used… Vulnerable.”

She looked at him uncertain then looked over to Black Canary, taking note of her stern expression. She nodded and stepped onto the mat. “I’ll make it work.” Chimera offered uncertainly.

They faced each other for a few moments before settling into a fighting stance. When she was ready, Chimera nodded to Superboy. He rushed at her and extended his arm at the last second to deliver a haymaker punch. Chimera bent backwards and twirled in a semi-circle so she was standing behind him and kicked him in the butt, sending him sprawling on the floor. He got up and glared at her. He rushed her again, this time aiming for her waist so she couldn’t duck under him. She stared at him coming at her like a deer in headlights. Superboy got a smug glint in his eye as he closed in on her. At the last second, Chimera jumped up and rolled down his back, landing on her feet behind him, the wide eyed expression long gone.

“We need you to try, Chimera. We need you to actually fight, not just dodge.” Batman stated sternly.

Chimera looked over to him to nod at the instruction. The momentary distraction was enough for Superboy to land a hard hit to her stomach. The force of the impact sent her flying across the mat. The team winced and groaned in sympathy as she hit a wall with a hard thump. Superboy moved over to her to check on her but stopped half way to her. Chimera stood up and cocked her head to the side, examining Superboy. She raised her brow and asked calmly, “So… super strength. Invulnerability?”

He nodded at her. “Okay then.” She smirked at him, walking back to the central area of the room. “Let’s do this.” He smiled slightly and nodded. She immediately launched herself at him, catching him by surprise. She punched him hard enough to send him across the room in the opposite direction. He slid toward the wall but was able to regain enough control to use the wall as a springboard to launch himself back at her. She saw him coming and twisted at the last second, using his momentum against him to push him off balance. He recovered quicker than she expected and swept her legs out from under her. She used her momentum to turn the fall into a flip, leading to a series of flips and twists taking her away from him, giving her some space to think.

They circled around each other trying to plan their next move. Suddenly Chimera stopped and looked like she just realized something. “Oh I forgot. I’m supposed to be showing my skills…” she started innocently. Superboy took advantage of her apparent distraction to jump at her again but that was the moment she had been waiting for. “Voyage” she whispered and created a portal behind her. She stepped out of the way at the last possible second, sending Superboy through the portal at full speed. The portal ended close to the rock wall on the other side of the room. Superboy almost slammed into the wall with his full force but she had left him enough room to bounce back off the wall and launch himself back through the portal and back in front of her, throwing a punch toward her sternum that she was just barely able to twist away from, rolling along his arm until she was in the perfect position to elbow him in the back of his head. He grunted and turned back toward her, circling around her again.

“Full force, Chimera,” Black Canary chastised her.

“Not going to make him bleed on purpose for a game, Ms. Canary.” Chimera responded, still focused on Superboy. “Besides, we’re not done yet.” She turned to Superboy, “Right?” He nodded at her, an amused glint in his eyes. “I haven’t even showed off all my skills yet.”

“Well, let’s see those skills you keep talking about.” Superboy taunted her.

“If you say so Superboy.” She smirked at him then frowned. “I don’t appreciate that your actual name is the name I would have called you to taunt you. You’re making my job harder.”

He frowned at her, the amused look that had been in his eyes dropping. “So sorry my name is an inconvenience. You can call me The Weapon like my makers did if you prefer.”

Chimera stood up straight, fidgeting and frowning at him. “That’s… really?” She looked around to the other heroes. They all nodded solemnly.

She looked back at him with softer eyes. “What do you want to be called?” She asked in a kind tone.

“I… Superboy.” He said stiffly, not exactly sure how to respond to the shift in atmosphere.

Chimera nodded and gave him a warm smile. “Superboy it is. No nicknames unless you approve of them.”

“As heartwarming as this is, you are supposed to be sparring.” Black Canary reminded them.

“Right,” Chimera said shook her head to refocus herself. “Sorry.” She whispered “Mirage,” bringing her flute up to her lips. As soon as the notes were heard, a dozen replicas of her appeared and began running around the circle. Superboy tried to scan them but they all looked identical even with his infrared vision. He stilled to listen for a heartbeat or breathing, but he couldn’t detect it in any of them. He looked around wildly. It was a sea of dark brown and bright orange. He nodded to himself calculating the possibilities. Most likely she managed to split herself. So either they are all fully sentient or there is a central figure controlling them. He’d have to hope for the latter.

His eyes flicked to one of the figures running at him. The figure jumped into a flying kick. He dodged out of the way and rolled to his feet, looking around again for the next attack. He didn’t wait long. Another figure ducked low to sweep his feet. He jumped over her but felt a sharp pain in his side as one of the replicas body checked him with enough force to knock him into the far wall.

Superboy shook his head to clear it. When he took more than a few seconds to recover, the replicas looked at him concerned. One of them finally moved forward and asked “Are you okay to continue?”

He stared at the replica for a few moments before nodding. “We’re not done yet.” All the replicas smiled at him and moved into new positions, waiting for him to indicate he was ready. As soon as he nodded two replicas moved to attack him, one went high, one went for his legs. He lunged for the one going high, jumping over the one going for his legs. As soon as he reached her, she disappeared. Not meeting the resistance he had expected, the force of the lunge caused him to lay out flat on the floor. He grunted and jumped up before any of the replicas could attack again.

As soon as he was up he looked around with a grin. “Mirage,” he repeated. They were all an illusion. He just had to find the real one. Two attacked him again. He hit one causing it to disappear but the other one hit him with her flute, knocking him to the side. He shook his head again and turned back to them and backed away, giving himself space. He just had to find the one. There had to be an indication of which one was the real one. He couldn’t use his infrared vision or hearing. Maybe there was something about them. He stared at them as they circled around each other. There! There was one with a different shade of orange, the shade Chimera had before the match. All the replicas had bright orange but the real Chimera had deep orange accents.

He kept his eyes moving so she wouldn’t know he’d made her. He moved forward toward one of the replicas moving to punch her. Chimera attacked from the side again, coming at him before he could touch the replica and make it disappear. He grinned to himself. At the last second, he changed his trajectory and sent another haymaker toward her. He jerked back in pain as the replica he had been moving toward originally made contact, knocking the air out of his lungs. He grunted in anger and confusion as a rope was tied around him, pinning down his arms. His legs were swept out from under him causing him to land hard. He trashed with all his strength as he felt her tying his legs too. He kept thrashing against the rope, but no matter how hard he pushed and pulled, the rope showed no indication of weakening.

After a few moments of him pointlessly struggling, Black Canary walked over and declared Chimera the winner. She smiled excitedly at Chimera. “Now we know what we’re working with and we can plan how to incorporate your skills into missions and approaches to your training.”

Chimera nodded in understanding and looked over to the team who were still watching her in various degrees of surprise. Kaldur nodded in approval. Wally and Artemis stared at her in shock. Robin was pointing and laughing at Superboy. Chimera glowered at him and turned back to Superboy, releasing the rope so he could get up.

As soon as he was freed, Superboy jumped up and rubbed his arms, glaring at the floor. Chimera smiled nervously in his direction, but he refused to look at her and had turned his body away from her. She sighed and looked down too, shifting nervously. After a few moments, she started gathering up the rope to tie it back around her waist. She furrowed her brows at the sound of Robin still laughing, which seemed to upset Superboy even more. She narrowed her eyes at him and whipped the rope out in his direction. It snapped a few inches away from his face with a crack so loud it reverberated throughout the cave. Robin jumped away awkwardly and fell backwards, landing on his butt.

Superboy looked from Robin to her. He let out a small laugh and gave her a smile. Chimera took it as a good sign and smiled back at him. “That was a lot of fun. You are really good at picking up on details, otherwise that color trick wouldn’t have worked.” Her voice was soft, like she was addressing a scared child.

He nodded at her and quietly said, “Thanks. It was fun.”

“Does that mean we can do it again sometime? I need practice sparring and I’m usually afraid I’ll hurt someone when I’m in the suit and when I’m not, it isn’t as effective. I mean, helpful still, but not as effective.” He stared at her for a few seconds but finally nodded at her.

“That was a pretty good introduction but it’s getting late now. I think it’s time to call it a night. Red Tornado, can you take Chimera to the room she will be using so she can recharge?” Black Canary asked.

When Chimera returned a few minutes later, the group smiled at her and gave their goodbyes. They made plans for everyone to return the next day for more training. One by one, they all left through the Zeta tubes except for Superboy. Chimera looked at him confused. “Are you not leaving too?”

“No.” He stated coldly.

“Why not? I mean… if you don’t mind me asking.” She stammered out.

“Because I live here.” He grumbled back at her.

“Alone?” She gasped.

“With Red Tornado.” He corrected defiantly.

“But no other… people? In this big, empty, cold place?” She looked out over the cave, the empty, cold, inhospitable place he was going to call home.

“I like being alone.” He stated in an annoyed voice.

Something that looked like anger flashed across her face transforming into a determined look before she smoothed it out and gave him a cheeky grin. “That’s a shame.”

He narrowed his eyes looking at her suspiciously, “Why is that?”

“I’m moving in.” Her smile grew bigger.

He furrowed his brow and frowned, “What?”

“I’m moving in. I have school and, uh… stuff during the day, but I’ll be here in the mornings and at night, most weekends.” She nodded at him. “It will be like a sleepover every night… except we’ll be sleeping in separate rooms.”

He stared at her for a few seconds, unsure how to react. “Whatever,” he grunted walking back toward the residence area. “Dinner is usually in like 30 minutes.” He called over his shoulder. She smiled in his direction. It wasn’t a warm welcome but it was better than nothing.

“Are you sure about this? It isn’t required for you to live here. Most of the members don’t.” Black Canary reassured her.

“That’s why I’m doing it. I’ve already had one teammate who had to live essentially alone and isolated in a big, empty space. He hated it. It messes with your self-worth and your ability to interact with other people, no matter how badly you want to. It scrapes away at your humanity. I couldn’t really do anything for his living situation, but I can do something for Superboy.”

“It will make keeping your identity more difficult.” Batman warned her softly.

“I know, but he’s my teammate. I won’t abandon him. And I need a friend here too. I’ll be all alone otherwise, so… it will be mutually beneficial… I hope.” She added tentatively.

Batman and Black Canary shared an approving look with each other and turned back to her. “Okay. Let us or Red Tornado know if you need anything. We really think you are going to fit in amazingly with this team.”

Chimera smiled at them and shifted slightly to look out over the rest of the cave. “I think so, too.”

Chapter 2

#connette #connerette #konmari #maribat #Marinette x Conner #marikon #capturing a dream #conner x marinette

355 notes · View notes

mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 - First Mission

She was late. She was late. She was sooooooooo late. Stupid last minute fabric misorder that caused a backup in production, which left everyone scrambling and rushing to figure out a solution. Bright side, they figured out a solution that was better than the original and Marinette was a huge part of it, gaining her accolades from her supervisor and the director of design. Down side, Chimera was now extremely late for the mission briefing. Her first mission briefing. She would be lucky if she made it there before it was over.

Marinette ducked into an alley close to the zeta tube and transformed. She grimaced as she stood in front of the opening. There was no way to make this discrete. It was going to announce her lateness for everyone to hear. She couldn’t portal in just to avoid embarrassment because that was considered “personal use” and she didn’t know how much time they would have before they had to leave so she couldn’t take the chance that she would have to detransform, feed Kaalki, then retransform. So she was just going to have to deal with the extreme embarrassment. She took a deep breath and walked through the opening.

“Recognize Chimera B12”

Chimera let out a deep sigh. Yeah, there was no way they didn’t hear that. She looked at the Team and noted their expressions. Not as bad as she had been expecting, but she still felt terrible. She rushed over to the Team, standing behind everyone and trying to give Batman’s image on the screen her full attention.

When Batman paused to pull up a schematic of the area they were focusing on, Superboy leaned over to her. “You’re late.” He said in a quietly gruff voice.

She looked up and scowled at him. “I’m aware,” she hissed back. “Couldn’t get away.”

“Right. It’s not like we’re doing anything important here.” He sniped quietly.

“I know we are. But my personal life is important too. If I don’t keep my… outside deal happy, I don’t stay here. I get sent home and I am no longer on the Team.” He furrowed his brow in surprise. She frowned at him, feeling guilty for not being faster and looked back toward Batman. “It’s a balancing act. A balancing act I’m clearly failing at. Sorry.”

He watched her for a few more seconds before returning his attention to Batman as well. “Sorry,” he grumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“Now that Chimera has arrived, I’ll review roles. Aqualad, Artemis, Kid Flash, Robin, and Superboy, you will all be on tracking duty. You will work together on the ground to track the subject.” They nodded at him.

“Chimera, you will be on distance reconnaissance, observing the team from a distance. I don’t want you interacting unless necessary. Nobody knows about you yet and I want to keep it that way. I want you calling out positions when needed and using mirage if necessary.” She nodded at him. “When you find him, report in, and I’ll recover him. DO NOT ENGAGE. If at any point you need assistance, CALL IT IN. Don’t try to prove yourselves by doing it on your own. Everyone needs help sometimes. Make sure you are reporting your movements.” His voice made clear there was no room for argument or leeway in his statement. He stared at each of them to make sure they all understood how serious he was. “You leave in 5.”

The ride to the site was shorter than Chimera expected. As soon as they landed, they tested out their coms and moved off the ship. Aqualad and Superboy led the way off the ship. Artemis and Chimera followed behind, with Kid Flash and Robin bringing up the rear. After a few seconds they heard Kid Flash over the coms “What do you think I need to do to get Aqualad to pair me up with Chimera on the next mission? I’d kill for some alone time with her.”

Everyone froze immediately. Kid Flash’s eyes went wide in embarrassment looking at each of them as they reacted. Aqualad shot him an exasperated look. Superboy stared daggers at him. Robin chuckled and moved away from him, leaving him to deal with the repercussions on his own. Chimera stared straight ahead, her eyes wide in shock. Artemis continued looking straight ahead as well, but instead of staring at nothing like Chimera, she stared at Superboy. “If he gets alone time with you, I get alone time with Superboy.” She grinned at him when he gave her a confused look.

Chimera groaned and let out a frustrated breath. "Are you guys kidding me?” She exclaimed loudly looking at them. “It’s like Felix all over again. Can we focus on the mission, please?"

Robin stopped walking and turned back to her. "Felix?"

Chimera’s eyes bugged out for a second chastising herself for giving away that clue to her identity, before her face went slack. She turned away from the group and started walking away. "How about we agree whatever personal information we find out about one another during a mission we ignore? Now let's track this guy down. I’m moving to my position." The rest of the Team looked at each other and nodded. They would table that conversation until later. Right now, they needed to focus on the mission. Once Chimera was in her position, they’d move to their own positions.

After about 5 minutes Chimera still hadn’t checked in. The Team gave each other anxious looks. They were ready to get moving and didn’t appreciate having to wait to move. “Chimera, are you in position?” Aqualad asked through the coms.

There was a full 20 second pause before her response came. “Having a bit of trouble getting into position. I’ve come across a problem.” She grunted.

“If you are lost, you should be able to follow the map on your flute. Get in position. We can’t start until you are.” Aqualad chastised her.

They heard a few noises coming from Chimera’s com but no response to Aqualad’s question. “Chimera! Stand down and get in position.”

“Your first mission and already disobeying orders?” Artemis snorted. “Damn, I’m not even that cocky.”

Chimera’s com finally crackled to life again. “To be clear, you want me to stop fighting the guy that jumped me and is currently trying to kill me?”

“There’s a guy attacking you?” Robin whipped around toward the direction he thought she was in.

“You thought I was making these noises for fun?” She huffed at him.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Superboy demanded starting to run towards her position.

“I’m just getting my breath back. He caught me by surprise and got in a lucky hit.” She grumbled.

“Who is it?” Aqualad asked sternly moving toward her as well, but slower than Superboy.

“I’m not sure. Hey scary looking guy trying to kill me, my teammates want to know your name… uh huh. Really? I would have thought… I mean, not to criticize,” she grunted a few times as she jumped away from him or struck him, “but isn’t that a little… You know what, I really don’t have the right to critique names as being too on the nose. He says his name is Killer Croc.” She paused for a few seconds giving a grunt before speaking again. “He says to say hi.” She said slightly strained.

“Damn it.” Robin cursed.

“We’re on our way.” Aqualad assured her and nodded to the Team to start moving.

“Here already.” Kid Flash reported. “He’s not even part of the mission! How did you find him?” He asked incredulously.

“I didn’t go looking for him! I’m just lucky apparently.” She chuckled out wryly. “Look out, Kid Flash!”

“I’m almost there.” Superboy called to her.

“Take your time. We’re just getting to know each other. He said he wants to have fun with me later.” Chimera commented with a fake casualness.

“I think your definitions of fun might not match.” Robin remarked drolly.

“Only one way to find out.” She shrugged.

“We’re super excited you’ve decided to come out from the sewers. We’re looking forward to chatting with you.” Kid Flash added coldly, running to hit him. Killer Croc turned just out of his reach and caught him with his tail instead, sending Kid Flash flying down the street.

“Kid Flash!” Chimera yelled moving toward him.

“I’ll be there in about 20 seconds.” Superboy stated.

Chimera nodded even though none of her team could see it and turned back to Killer Croc. “I’ll have him ready for you.” She whispered to her coms. “Hey evil killer guy, I heard you were difficult. You’re really embarrassing yourself here. I expected better.” She loudly taunted Killer Croc.

“What are you doing?” Superboy yelled into the coms.

They could hear Killer Croc growling at Chimera before she whispered, “Mirage…” but nothing around her seemed to have changed. Slightly louder she said, “Superboy, expect him from above you in 3, Voyage…. 2, 1.”

Killer Croc lunged at her, throwing his full weight at her in an attempt to break as many bones as he could with his impact. Instead of hitting her, he found himself falling from a portal in the sky a few stories up. He braced himself to hit the ground, but it never came. Instead, he got hit from the side with the force of a building collapsing. He hit a nearby building with a sickening crack. The force of the impact crushed the bricks where he hit and caused cascading cracks radiating out from the impact site.

Killer Crock shook his head as he fell to the ground on all fours and looked over where the first hero had been. Everything looked exactly the same until suddenly she disappeared and a portal stood where she had been. She reappeared a few feet away at Kid Flash’s side. He shook his head to try to make sense of the change and looked back to the building that had hit him. He barely had time to take note of a boy in a black shirt and red ‘S’ stalking toward him, eyes glazed with rage, before the boy raised his arm and punched him again, knocking him back into the building.

Superboy hit him again and again until Killer Croc passed out from the beating. Superboy raised his arm again but stopped when Chimera laid her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said softly but firmly. “He’s down. He isn’t a threat anymore.”

He lowered his arm breathing heavily, still glaring at the villain.

“Where do we want him to go, Aqualad?” Chimera spoke quietly into her com. “I need a destination to move him.”

“We’ll do it the old fashioned way today and call the police. I’ll make sure they show you Arkham later.” Aqualad stated calmly coming around the corner to observe the scene.

“Guess you’ll never know if your definitions match up now.” Artemis commented coming up next to Chimera.

“Shame. He looked… interesting.” Artemis let out a quiet laugh.

“How’s he doing?” She asked nodding toward Kid Flash as she moved to check on him. He was now starting to push up onto his knees, though he was still swaying a bit.

“He seems okay, more dazed than anything. We’ll have to give a better checkup when we get back.” Chimera reported. “I have to recharge anyway. Should I take him back to the ship?” Chimera asked Aqualad. He nodded.

“Artemis, go with her. Robin, I want you here to deal with the police. This is your town, I’m sure you know them. I’ll call it into Batman and see what he wants to do with the original mission. Superboy, I want you to keep an eye on him until the police get here. Do not hit him again unless he wakes up.” Superboy nodded, never moving his glare from the villain’s collapsed body.

Superboy waited restlessly to check on Chimera, his hands curled into white-knuckled fists the entire time they spoke to the police. After about an hour, Superboy, Aqualad, and Robin returned to the ship. Superboy automatically sought out Chimera. She was sitting with Kid Flash and Artemis, Kid Flash talking and making wild gestures while Artemis and Chimera laughed at him. Superboy looked up to meet Chimera’s eyes and kept eye contact for a few seconds. When she smiled at him, he let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding since she was first attacked and relaxed his hands. Chimera walked over to him and gently laid her hand on his arm. “You okay?” Her eyes were filled with concern.

“I’m fine.” He growled. “Are you okay?” He looked her up and down, searching for any signs or injury. “How could you let him get you like that?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse and still won the fight.” She gave him a small smile. “He hits hard, but not as hard as some super teammates I’ve gone up against.” He huffed at her, his eyes still furrowed and frowning at her. “He got a lucky hit in. It happens. I recovered and I had teammates there to help. Thank you.” Her eyes were shining with gratitude and softness. Superboy’s eyes softened too and nodded at her.

She could see he was still tense. Watching a teammate get hurt had that effect on people. She certainly had that reaction when Adrien or Alya or Nino or any of her old team took a hard hit. “Can I give you a hug?” She asked tentatively. Hugging her friends after the fight had always calmed her down. She hoped it did the same for him.

He stared at her uncertain how to respond for a few seconds but finally nodded again and opened his arms to her. She smiled at him and walked into his embrace, holding him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her firmly to his chest. He rested his head on hers, holding her close for a few minutes, slowly relaxing in the knowledge she was safe and close.

<><><><><>

Superboy watched Chimera as she sketched in the common room. She sat with her back against the armrest of the couch, her legs stretched out across the couch. Luckily, she was short enough that it still left room for Superboy. She had turned on some old looking movie she was barely paying attention to.

He walked in, sat on the free cushion, and watched the movie for a few moments. “What even is this? This is terrible.”

She looked up startled like she hadn’t noticed him sit down. “Hey. This is Highlander.” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She gave him a sheepish grin. “One of my friends is a movie guy. He thought I might like it. Good period costumes, he said. Fun sword play and light shows.”

He nodded and looked back to the movie. After a few minutes of glancing at Chimera from the corner of his eye he finally asked the thought that had been on his mind since their mission. "So… who's Felix?" He didn’t look away from the movie when he asked.

Chimera glared at him. "I thought we agreed we forget any personal information we find out during a mission."

He finally looked over at her with a dubious look. "No, you suggested that. None of us agreed to it." He leaned back and rested his elbow on the back of the couch. "So, tell me about Felix and how do I find him? I just want to talk to him."

She snorted. “You’d be the first. Most want to punch him in the face. Which is exactly what I did and I can assure you it is in fact as gratifying as you hope it would be.” She gave him a grin. He huffed out a laugh before turning his attention to the movie.

After a few more moments, she looked back up at him. “So… are you excited for school?”

He groaned. “No.”

She furrowed her brow. She really wished she could go with him to help him at school. She was nervous about making friends in her new school too, but at least she was used to school. This was going to be Superboy’s first time going to school at all. She really wanted to forget about the whole identity issue and go with him, or get them to send him to her school so she could keep a covert eye on him, but they wanted to keep him close. “Sorry,” she mumbled instead. “Do you know what you’re going to wear?”

He looked at her for a second or two as he thought about it. He motioned to his shirt and gave her a confused look. She looked back at him in horror. “You can’t wear that! Secret identity. You have to wear something different.”

He groaned and huffed at her. He thought for a second then took off his shirt, turned it inside out, and put it back on that way. Her eyes opened wide in surprise and she blushed heavily before turning back down to her sketchbook. “Yeah, um… No.” She stammered out, focusing solely on the blank page in front of her and willing her blush to go away. This is not how teammates react to other teammates. “I’ll come up with something else for you. What colors do you like? “

He furrowed his brow and looked down at his shirt. “Black… red…dark.”

She nodded, “Broody colors. Got it.” He scowled at her. She gave him a cheeky grin. “I’ll have something for you tomorrow. We’ll work on what your style is as you decide what you like. I should get your measurements though.” She looked down at her notebook and started sketching again. After a few moments of sketching, she looked over shyly. “But, so you know, maybe don’t do that at school.” She said motioning toward his shirt.

He frowned at her, “Why?”

She stared at him incredulously for a few moments, trying to decide if he was serious or not. She finally realized he was when he continued to frown at her, confused about her concern. She wasn’t sure whether his innocence was incredibly sweet or concerning. “Oh, my sweet summer child, I really wish I could be there to protect you tomorrow, but… identity, you know? So I’m going to need you to protect yourself.”

“I’ll be fine.” He grumbled, turning to the movie.

She continued to stare at him a bit longer before speaking up again. “You know you’re handsome, right?”

His head whipped toward her, his eyes wide. “You think so?”

She let out a disbelieving laugh and smiled at him. “I know so. Extremely handsome and broody. A bad boy with a good heart.” His cheeks started turning pink as she spoke. Every word turned them darker. “People are going to be falling all over themselves to get close to you. Boys, girls, thems. You’re going to get all of their attention. Some will show it like Artemis, some more subtle, some less subtle. You’re going to get a lot of attention at school, people wanting to get close to you because you’re handsome, not everyone, but some.” She paused to look at him earnestly. “Just be careful. Make friends with people who make you feel better, happier, lighter. You don’t have to make friends with anyone, but if you meet someone you like, you should. Although if it seems like something someone says is too good to be true, it probably isn’t.” She warned him with a dark look crossing her eyes quickly.

“I don’t need more friends. I have enough friends. Friends who think I’m extremely handsome.” He grinned at her.

She burst out laughing not expecting him to be that bold. She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need more friends, but more friends can make life better sometimes. If it’s the right people.” He grunted and turned back to the movie.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, Chimera sketching different outfits for Superboy, Superboy watching the movie and frowning occasionally. The silence was broken occasionally with Chimera asking him if he liked some element of a character’s costume or not. About half an hour into the movie Superboy grumbled, “This movie is depressing.”

Chimera looked up from her third sketch and took notice of the movie again. “What makes you say that? The effects aren’t that bad, not for that time anyway. I mean the sword fighting could use some work and the accents are terrible, but… I think it’s fun.”

Superboy continued to watch the movie for a while longer. “I don’t age either.” He said quietly. Chimera looked at him questioningly. He sighed and looked down. “I’ll be this age, physically at least, for the rest of my life. Part of the cloning process.”

Chimera gave him a sad look and reached out her foot, the only part of her body that was close enough to touch him, to pat his leg. “At least you’ll be hot.” She offered with a sympathetic smile. He huffed at her and returned to watching the movie, but he couldn’t help the small smile on his lips.

She watched the movie with him for a while longer watching as the main character’s wife died of old age in his arms while he was still the same age as when they met. She frowned at the screen and said quietly, “I’ll age, but much, much slower than everyone else.” Superboy looked over at her in surprise. She offered him a mirthless smile. “It’s part of the powers I have now. I’ll live for centuries if I want to.” She looked back to the movie and frowned as the main character buried his wife. “I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.”

Superboy nodded at her. “At least you’ll be hot.” He offered with a smile.

She laughed out loud at him. Once she settled down she gave him a crooked smile. “I’d take that more to heart if you had any idea what I look like.”

He gave her a small smile and watched the rest of the movie in silence. When it was over, he looked over at Chimera to find her examining him with her eyes narrowed as though sizing him up. “What?” he demanded.

“You should use the name Conner for school.”

“Like the guy in the movie?”

“Yeah. You need a name. Conner’s a good name. I think it suits you.” She nodded as she said it, like it was decided.

He fought the blush that wanted to appear again. If she liked the name, that’s what it would be. “I can live with Conner.” He nodded nonchalantly, trying not to give away how significant he thought it was.

“No, I live with Conner.” She gave him a cheeky grin and started laughing at her own bad joke. He groaned and threw a pillow at her. Thankfully, she was in her suit because he threw it with enough force to burst the pillow open when it hit her. She laughed harder as the fluff rained down on them.

“But, so you know, maybe don’t tell jokes like that at school.” He said in mock distain.

She smiled wistfully at her sketchbook. “Yeah, I think my old partner rubbed off on me. He would have loved that joke.”

“Old partner?”

“Yeah… um… I don’t think… identity secrets, you know?”

“Okay. Can you say, is he still alive?”

“Yes, he is.”

“What happened? Why isn’t he your partner anymore?” He paused for a few seconds to gauge her reaction. “If you can say.” He added quickly.

“I can’t…identity.” She gave him an apologetic look. They sat without looking at each other for a while. “He’s not a hero anymore.” She whispered after a few minutes. He looked up at her with wide eyes. “Oh, no. He didn’t become a villain.” She rushed to reassure him. “He just… he went through a lot and decided to walk away.”

“Do you miss him?”

“Um…I miss…” She thought how to word her response. She wanted to answer him honestly, but it wasn’t safe for anyone to know they were still close. “Yes.” She answered instead.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. He was my teammate, my best friend. I’m happy he did what he had to do to take care of himself. He’s happier now, or he will be eventually. And now I have a new team and more friends. We both did what we had to do.”

Conner nodded and looked around the room trying to figure out how to make the air feel less awkward. His eyes landed on the end of the credits. “He’s not the guy that recommended this movie is he? Because that is not a good friend.”

She barked out a laugh. “He’s not. But the one that recommended it is like a brother, so watch it.” She narrowed her eyes at him and pointed her pencil at him in mock threat.

“Maybe I’ll get to meet him someday then.” He kept his voice light but gave her an uncertain look.

She gave him a brilliant smile and nodded. “I hope so.” He smiled back at her and helped pick up the pillow fluff that surrounded them.

Tags:

@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion

#maribat #marikon #connerette #connette #konmari #conner x marinette #capturing a dream

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 9 – Who Do You Know

Chapter 1 Chapter 8

*Note: Most of Batman’s dialogue and all of Red Tornado’s is from the show, so, not my words.

This had passed frustrating several rooms ago. Now, Conner was straight up annoyed. He searched each room as they passed by them from the hanger to the communications center, searching for any indication of what time it was. Had there always been this jarring lack of clocks in the Cave? He could swear he had always been able to tell the time before. Or maybe it was just that time hadn’t mattered until he was counting down the minutes to Chimera’s return. As soon as he got the chance, he was going to put a clock in every room in the Cave and start wearing a watch.

She was supposed to be back anytime now. She was scheduled to fly ridiculously early that morning into whichever city she was supposedly staying in instead of the Cave and Zeta tube into the Cave as soon as she could. He absolutely had not been pushing to get the Team back as soon as possible after their mission wrapped up so they would be there in time to greet her. Okay, so maybe ‘absolutely’ was not the correct word there… or ‘not’.

He hadn’t seen Chimera in person for a little over a week now and he missed her, so nobody can really blame him for being excited to see her again. But more than missing her, he was worried about her. She had been extremely apprehensive going home. She had tried to cover it, but he knew her better. And eventually, after much wearing down as a result of a coordinated effort by him and Robin, she admitted she was nervous of being reminded of the final battle. He didn’t know how bad the battle was or exactly how badly it had scarred her, just that it had, but if her reaction to the failure exercise was any indication, it was severe. Being back there without anyone to talk to about it, anyone who could understand her reactions, could be devastating for her.

On top of that, the trip came within a few weeks of Robin’s breakdown after the Haley’s Circus mission and her discovering that Conner had been using shields Lex Luther had given him to enhance his powers. He had never seen her so angry. He didn’t think she was capable of that amount of rage and he prayed to whatever god or goddess responsible for watching over them, that she never directed that anger toward him. He was honestly concerned for Superman the next time she saw him and Conner had kept a close eye on her after she found out to make sure she didn’t go after Lex by herself. After the anger receded, he could see the disappointment set in. That was more disturbing than the anger. While the anger had been jarring, seeing the disappointment in herself for having missed that he had turned to the shields was heartbreaking.

She looked like she was barely holding it together before she left. Her phone call on Christmas had done nothing to calm his fears. She had tried to cover, but he could hear how empty her voice sounded no matter how cheery she tried to make it sound. He could almost convince himself he imagined it but Robin had been there for the call too and he heard it as well. He needed her to get back so he could be assured she was okay. Conner wanted to see her, hold her, feel her in his arms, hear her laugh, so he could make sure she was okay. He wouldn’t believe she was okay until he could.

Superboy was knocked out of his concentration by Batman’s gravely voice. “… The mole was Red Arrow.”

“Rolly?” Robin exclaimed in shock.

“No way,” Kid Flash insisted.

“Batman that cannot be,” Aqualad spoke up. Roy was his best friend. He would more easily believe himself capable of betrayal than Roy. “He was Green Arrow’s protégé. We have all known him for years.”

“Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Project Cadmus clone,” Batman informed them calmly. Superboy froze, staring at Batman in shock. Roy was another clone, like him.

“We have learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced immediately after becoming the Green Arrow’s sidekick. The clone was preprogrammed with the drive to become a member of the League.” Superboy furrowed his brow. Had that been their plan for him as well? If the Team hadn’t rescued him when they had, who knows what they could have made him do.

“We believe when his mission was taking too long, they enlisted someone to help him speed up the process. With her help, he was finally admitted into the League, at which point his secondary programming kicked in and he attempted to betray the League to Savage,” Batman continued.

“Who was helping him? Was there a second mole or was it someone assisting from the outside?” Aqualad asked.

“It was a second mole. His girlfriend, Chimera,” Batman answered unemotionally.

“What?” Superboy exclaimed louder than he meant to, shock and hurt quickly flashing over his face before turning to a glower.

“I was unaware they had started a relationship,” Aqualad stated carefully, a slight furrow in his brow. Roy had mentioned he was getting very close to Chimera, but had not mentioned that it had progressed to that level. Not to mention he had thought Chimera was closer with Conner than Roy, but then again, he tended to misread romantic overtures. But, the idea that Chimera may have betrayed them was disturbing, but then again if Roy could be a mole, could he really be certain of anyone. Certainly the timing of Chimera’s introduction to the Team coinciding with evidence of the mole arising was suspect.

“Chimera isn’t a mole and she isn’t dating Roy,” Robin insisted, whirling on Batman in shock.

Batman nodded. “We are not certain she was assisting him, but there is more than a little evidence to support the idea that she was. I’ve been keeping an eye on her since she joined and facts seem to match up. As for dating, I’m sorry to say she is. We didn’t tell anyone because she claimed she didn't want to cause strife within the Team, but with this new information, it seems like there was something more to it. We believe she may have been his handler. She joined the Team to help Red Arrow get into the League and sabotage the Team’s missions subtly.” His voice was cold. “Red Arrow has gone into hiding, but we don’t think he’s been able to contact Chimera about it yet. When she comes back let us know immediately. Do not alert her that we are aware.”

“There is no way…” Artemis interjected loudly.

“She would never!” Kid Flash exclaimed at the same time.

“Chimera would never betray us like that,” Conner insisted angrily. How dare Batman suggest Chimera would betray them! She was like a daughter to him. She might not realize their relationship was like that, Hell, Batman might not realize it was like that, but Batman treated her like he treated Robin and Conner wasn’t blind enough to miss the protective pats and hair ruffling. He certainly hadn’t missed how Robin treated her like a sister. And after all that, Batman would so easily believe the worst of her.

“The clone Roy and Chimera, the Team will apprehend them,” Aqualad stated gravely.

“Negative. Red Arrow is a member of the Justice League and Chimera was working with him to betray us. We will handle them both,” Batman answered. He suddenly turned away, bringing his hand to his ear. “I’m needed in the Watchtower. Tornado, watch the kids.” He strode away without further discussion.

“Okay, but we’re going to get to them first, right?” Kid Flash spoke up quietly, so Red Tornado couldn’t hear him.

He looked up quickly, apprehension on his face when Red Tornado hurried toward them before suddenly stopping midstride. They all stared in confusion. “Tornado!” Kid Flash exclaimed, moving to check for any outward signs of a cause.

“What happened to him?” Rocket asked.

Zatanna raised her hands to her temples. She could feel something strange. Something was off about the whole situation. “I’m sensing a low level mystic force at play. I don’t know if it caused his shutdown, but… come to think about it I was getting the same buzz off Batman.”

“Magic… like Chimera?” Artemis asked.

Zatanna shook her head. “No. It feels different than Chimera’s magic.”

“Could it be different because it’s a trace, not the full impact?” Aqualad asked.

“No. I’ve sensed Chimera’s faded magic. All the Cave is steeped in it. I haven’t sensed this before. Not to mention, Batman said he hadn’t been around Chimera. How would her magic be on him if he wasn’t and why would she implicate herself?”

“That wasn’t Batman,” Robin said aggressively.

“Robin…” Aqualad started calmly.

“He can still be Batman and wrong,” Superboy growled. “We don’t know if he is being lied to. We just know Chimera isn’t betraying us.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know she’s doing it…” Rocket hedged. “Batman said Red Arrow didn’t know.”

“That might be an option except he said she’s his handler. That means she knows what she’s doing. She’s aware. It isn’t programming. And he said she’s dating Roy. Chimera isn’t dating Roy and she isn’t a traitor… And Batman never calls us ‘kids’,” Robin insisted, turning his focus back to examining readouts on Red Tornado.

Aqualad shook his head sympathetically but firmly. “Roy has said he and Chimera were getting close and they wanted to keep the fact secret, which confirms at least that part of what Batman said. We know very little about her personal life.”

“You know less about mine,” Robin challenged, brooking no resistance. He knew Chimera. Maybe he had only known her for a few months, but he knew her and trusted her. She couldn’t do this. She just couldn’t. “I would know if she were dating, especially a team member or hero. There's a reason she told us she doesn't date teammates. There's…” He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how to phrase what he was thinking without revealing Chimera’s secrets. She did not like to talk about this part of her life. “…deep seeded trauma there. She didn't just get over that in a few days. She wouldn't start dating Roy without talking to someone. Without NEEDING to talk to someone. Since it's a hero, that means taking to one of us, specifically me or Conner or Artemis. She didn't talk to me. Conner?”

Conner shook his head. “She’s only ever repeated that she can’t date teammates.”

“Artemis?” Robin prompted.

Artemis shook her head and sent a smug look to Aqualad. “Never said a word. Never even indicated. Zatanna, Chi, and I had a girl’s night the other day and we had a long talk about dating. She never mentioned him.” She glanced over at Zatanna. “Did she give any indication of dating anybody or liking anyo… Roy?” she quickly corrected herself.

Zatanna looked between the Team anxiously before swallowing and straightening her back. “No. No, she didn’t talk about Roy. And Robin’s right. She doesn’t date teammates. Even if she wanted to,” her eyes flicked over to Superboy so quickly anyone not looking for it would miss it, “she doesn’t. We would know if she went against that.”

Superboy’s head whipped over to them, eyes wide. Artemis said him, meaning she had mentioned someone else. Zatanna emphasized that she didn’t talk about Roy, meaning she talked about someone else. He silently urged either of them to continue talking about that night, release some clues on who she may have mentioned. Instead Artemis cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. “She hasn't been acting different either. Chi can't keep a secret, other than her identity, to save her life. Remember Kid Flash’s ‘surprise’ party? And let’s be honest the identity is probably only still a secret because we haven’t met her in person. We would know something was going on, even if we didn't know what.”

“Not if she’s been deceiving us from the beginning, if her whole supposed personality was an illusion,” Aqualad noted stoically.

Conner’s brow furrowed in frustration. Aqualad was seriously proposing Chimera was their enemy. Chimera had almost died for them. She’d risked her life and her sanity for them, more than once. And Aqualad was just turning on her. One statement and none of what she had done for them mattered. He clenched his fists and stepped forward to yell at Aqualad when Kid Flash’s voice interrupted his movement. “He’s taken her to the Batcave hasn’t he? Multiple times?” He glanced up from staring intently at a spot on the floor to look at Robin inquisitively.

Robin nodded in agreement. “He has. And he doesn’t let anyone he doesn’t trust completely come into the Cave.”

“So,” Kid Flash started, “he’s trusted her deeply from the beginning. He hasn’t ‘been keeping an eye on her’. And her behavior hasn’t changed… but his has.”

Conner nodded in agreement. “Which means she’s not the one we have to worry about.” He glared pointedly at Aqualad, making sure he understood their point.

“Maybe not about her but for her,” Zatanna offered carefully. All eyes turned to her waiting for her to explain. “He singled out Chimera for a reason. So either they want our whole team here so they can do to us what they did to Batman, or they are targeting Chimera specifically.”

“Why would they target her?” Rocket spoke up again.

Superboy kept his glare at Aqualad. “If we’re being honest, she has more power than the rest of us. They could want to put her at a disadvantage, isolate her.”

“Isolate who?” The voice floated into the chamber like a kitten’s purr, but cut through the air like a fog horn.

“Chi!” Superboy exclaimed, rushing over to her.

“Hey.” Her smile beamed as she hugged him.

He examined her face quickly. She was smiling, but she looked exhausted, like she’d been through a grueling mission, one that isn’t dangerous, just draining. His expression turned concerned. “How was the trip? You look tired.”

Her smile weakened. “It was good. I missed my friends and family so much.” She slumped against his chest. “Being back was just… a lot.” She took a deep breath and straightened up. “But it was good. I’m good. It’s all… good.” She let out a defeated sigh, but looked back up with a plastered on smile that lasted until she examined his face, morphing into a concerned frown at the sight. She raised her hand to run it over his face, but quickly realized what she was doing and dropped it to his shoulder instead with a faint blush. “How was it here? How have you been? How is Robin? How was the mission?”

“I’m fine. Robin’s fine. It was fine,” Superboy hedged with a strained smile, slinging his arm over her shoulders and guiding her over to the group.

“That was too many ‘fines’ to be true,” Chimera commented apprehensively, looking at him questioningly.

“You really want to throw that stone Ms. ‘all good’?” he commented back with a pointed look.

Her face went slack, her eyes widened at the call out. “Uh… no,” she admitted turning back toward the group, eyes flicking between them under her lashes. “Can we not discuss this… now?”

“Later?” Superboy asked hopefully. He knew her natural inclination was to bury things deep down, until they were so hard to see, she could pretend they never existed. Internalizing every emotion, every let down. It was the opposite of his way of handling things. Letting them simmer on the surface, where the slightest touch sent them radiating out into the world around him, usually with screaming or punching. Chimera hummed noncommittally in response, absolutely no intention of bringing up memories and emotions she wished would disappear.

“It was after the mission that was enlightening,” Aqualad stepped forward. “We need to talk about Roy.”

His voice was serious and laced with a significance that Chimera didn’t understand. Superboy’s arm tightened incrementally on her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. She looked up in time to catch the dark look he was giving Aqualad. She turned back to Aqualad with a quizzical expression. “Like, Rogers?”

“Rogers?” Aqualad repeated.

Artemis tried to stifle her laugh. “No, Chi. Not like Roy Rogers.”

Aqualad looked between them, his brow furrowing in confusion, before he returned his gaze back to Chimera. “No, Roy Harper.”

“Oh!” Chimera nodded in understanding. “Okay…” Her brow furrowed faintly and she looked to the side in thought before looking back at Aqualad with a wince. “Is that… another actor? I haven’t really seen many… any westerns. I really only know who Roy Rogers, John Wayne, and Woody Strode are. Well, know is a stretch. I’ve heard their names.”

Aqualad blinked at her a few times, unsure what she was talking about. “No. Red Arrow.”

Realization rippled across Chimera’s face. She nodded, her eyes going wide. “Oh! Okay. Yeah.” Robin and Kid Flash talked about Red Arrow a lot, but by his code name, rarely by his real name. She would never have been able to remember it if she wasn’t prompted first. Her eyes darted over to Robin to see if he held any answers, but instead of looking back at her, he was glaring at Aqualad as well. She looked back at Aqualad, noticeably more apprehensively. Her brows furrowed in confusion. “What about him?”

“Batman said he’s the mole,” Aqualad informed her, watching her reaction carefully.

Chimera’s face immediately fell, her eyes darted back to Robin again. “Robin,” she whispered. Her eyes moved over to Kid Flash, next to Robin, and turn pained. She looked back to Aqualad. “Is he sure?”

Aqualad nodded. “Batman said he’s actually a clone of the real Roy Harper programmed to infiltrate the Justice League, but was discovered by Batman before he could do any damage.

Chimera gasped, eyes entirely focused on Robin and Kid Flash. “What happened to the real Roy Harper?”

“He didn’t say.” Aqualad answered. She tensed to go over to hug Robin and Kid Flash. Robin and Kid Flash always talked about Roy like he was one of them. They understood each other in a way few others could. They would tell stories about him and laugh like their lives weren’t constantly at risk, like they were just normal teenagers. Those times were some of the few she got to see Robin like the kid he was.

Artemis’ voice cut through her thoughts before she could move. “But we have reason to believe that isn’t true.”

Chimera turned to her with a hopeful smile. “Really?” A flash of relief appeared in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine the toll it would take on Robin and Kid Flash if it was true and she didn’t want to have to see it. They’d all been in this for a long time together, grew up in it together. They were like family. Not to mention she knew he and Aqualad were close as well. If there was a chance Batman was wrong, they had to investigate it.

“I wanted to let you know because… we know you're dating him.” Aqualad informed her carefully.

Chimera’s eyes snapped back to Aqualad, her mouth hanging open in shock and her body turned rigid. “That I’m what?” Her voice came out an octave higher than normal.

“Batman told us,” Aqualad informed her calmly. “And Roy has mentioned it as well.”

Chimera flinched back and shook her head. “What? I've never even met Red Arrow. Why would he say that? Why would Batman?”

“That’s why we have reason to believe Roy isn’t the mole. Because Batman told us you were dating Roy at the same time he said Roy was the mole. He said they thought you were his handler,” Robin bit out bitterly.

Chimera’s heart stopped. She gaped at Robin. Batman… Batman said he thought she was betraying them. Batman thought she was a traitor. Batman was her mentor, as much as she had one, or at least she had thought of him as hers. She had thought he might be more than just a mentor as well, but that must have just been her. More than that, he was a League founder. If he thought it, the rest of the League must as well. They would all believe she was a traitor. They would all turn on her, even her team.

Her breathing picked up. She couldn’t handle this. But she couldn’t even blame them for it. This was her fault. This is the price of anonymity. This was the tradeoff of keeping yourself guarded. You keep people from knowing you, but then they don’t know you. They don’t know who you are, so they don’t know who you are and who you’re not. She never let them know who she is, so of course her team will believe Batman.

She was going to lose them and even if she proves herself, there will always be that doubt and once you’ve lost that trust, it never fully recovers… as her trip home proved. Everything seems the same on the surface, but if you pause to examine it more closely, everything is different. The way they look at you, the way they relate to you, the way they see you, has changed. Robin wouldn’t trust her anymore. He’d put up a wall between them, the same one he put up with anyone he didn’t fully trust, keeping them at a distance with a false smile. And Conner! He’d pull away too. Still friendly, but not friends. Still there, but not the same…

“…imera! Chimera!”

Chimera felt a squeeze on her shoulder and a hand on her cheek, bringing her back to reality, stopping her descent into panic. She slowly moved her eyes to the arm belonging to the hand on her face and followed it back to its owner, looking up to see Superboy’s soft, concerned eyes. He gave her a supportive smile and nod to let her know they were on her side. “That’s why we knew he was lying,” Superboy assured her.

Chimera let out a shuttering breath and buried her face in Superboy’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her protectively, nuzzling into her hair. “We know you better. We know you would never do that. No matter what he said, we know you,” he whispered into her hair.

Aqualad looked between them and nodded once, satisfied for now with her innocence. “Roy… Red Arrow is the key. We need to find him and see what he can tell us. If Chimera is innocent then he may be as well. Regardless, we need to find him before the League does. Artemis, Superboy, Zatanna, you’re with me. The rest of you, see what you can do about Tornado.”

“Wait, what’s wrong with Red Tornado?” Chimera’s eyes peeked out from Superboy’s chest.

“I’ll stay here,” Superboy responded with a sharp edge to his voice.

“We’re potentially going up against Red Arrow. We need you with us to bring him in if…” Aqualad took a breath. “If he decides to fight us.”

“I thought you didn’t think he was the mole,” Chimera asked uncertainly, subconsciously clinging a bit closer to Superboy. If they still thought Red Arrow was the mole, did they really still think she was his handler as well?

“I don’t…” he looked away in contemplation. “I don’t know. But we need to speak with him to figure out what is going on. Hopefully peacefully and it is best to be cautious,” he added. His voice was even, but anybody familiar with him could hear the strain in it.

Chimera gave him an understanding smile. Although he didn’t speak about Red Arrow often, and almost never with Chimera, she knew they were close. Believing his friend capable of something like this must be hurting him deeply. She looked up to Superboy. “You should go,” she whispered.

“They can handle Red Arrow,” he argued back quietly. “I can stay until you’re… I can help with Tornado.”

Chimera shook her head. “I’ll have Robin. I’ll be okay until you come home.” She glanced subtly over to Aqualad. His shoulders were more tense than usual, his grimace more pronounced. He was trying to hold it together, but he was suffering. “Aqualad needs you more right now.

Superboy huffed and looked over to Aqualad and the others Aqualad had singled out for a moment before looking back into Chimera’s eyes. “Fine. But I don’t like it.”

Chimera rested her head back on his chest, watching the rest of the Team. “Nobody likes what’s happening right now.” She closed her eyes and squeezed him for a moment. “Be safe.”

She stepped away from him, avoiding his eyes. “You too,” he whispered, letting his fingers linger on her as she walked away to join Robin, Kid Flash, and Rocket.

“The problem’s hardware, not software,” Robin mused, examining schematics on a holographic display. He didn’t even look up when Chimera stopped next to him. He reached out, giving her a one armed hug. She slung her arm around his shoulders, returning the squeeze. “But where do we start?”

Zatanna paused on her way out of the room. “I have an idea.” She glanced quickly behind her to see how far away the rest of her group had gotten. She bit her lip nervously, not wanting to upset Aqualad with her tardiness. “Chimera, you remember the android he had in his quarters?”

Chimera perked up immediately. “Yes! New hardware for his existing software. Brilliant idea, Zatanna. Good luck with your mission,” she called to Zatanna as she ran to catch up with the rest of her group. “Hey, Rocket, do your force bubbles move? Might make moving the body easier.”

<><><><><>

“I heard we’re dating,” Chimera started out with a sarcastic smile, extending her hand to shake Red Arrow’s. “It must have been a terrible relationship if I can’t even remember you. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I don’t think this relationship is working out for me. I think we should see other people.”

Red Arrow huffed out a laugh and smiled against his will. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked up at her sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

Chimera shrugged and moved past him to sit on a bulkhead. “Not your fault. And not the worst end to one of my relationships, so...” She offered him a smile. Red Arrow smiled back and moved to sit next to her for the planning meeting, but was cut off by Superboy taking the spot before Red Arrow could sit.

Red Arrow raised an eyebrow at him, but backed down. He wasn’t looking to start a fight with the only heroes he knew that weren’t under mind control. Instead, he took a seat between Robin and Kid Flash.

“Would anyone care to enlighten us as to why you have Black Canary tied up and gagged?” Aqualad asked, bringing the conversation back to the issue at hand.

“Yeah, about that…” Kid Flash started with a grimace, warily eying the hero that was bound and gagged at their feet.

“Can we start from the beginning? I don’t think I’m the only one who doesn’t have a clear picture of everything that’s going on,” Chimera requested.

“The entire Justice League is under the complete mental domination of Vandal Savage,” Red Tornado spoke up from his android body. “Red Arrow seems to have been his means. His method was something Savage referred to as Starotech. An alien bio organism infused with nano technology and magic. It shuts down the mind’s autonomy allowing Savage to reprogram the individual to suit his needs. Even my inorganic brain was not immune.”

Chimera straightened up in surprise. “Wait, so Red Arrow was the mole?”

“I was the mole,” Red Arrow confirmed with a grimace. “I just don’t know why. If it was the Starotech, then they wouldn’t have needed to have a handler for me or key phrases that would shut me down and ready me for new orders.”

Superboy watched him curiously. “Batman and Tornado said you were a Cadmus clone, like me.”

Red Arrow sighed and looked down. “That explains it. I must have been pre-programmed to infiltrate the League. I was probably given occasional new orders as well. I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion on Artemis and Superboy. More recently, I think Chimera was added to the list, in a much more explicit way.”

“Why?” Superboy straightened, glaring at Red Arrow. His arms twitched to circle around Chimera and pull her closer to him.

“They didn’t tell me,” he shrugged. “I never knew why I did any of it. I wasn’t part of the team, I was a tool.”

“I’m an easy target,” Chimera spoke up quietly. “He was already implicating Superboy and Artemis. Robin, Kid Flash, and Kaldur have known each other or of each other for years and see each other regularly enough to know if something was off. Zatanna and Rocket joined after Kaldur started noticing indications of a mole. That leaves me. And since you know almost nothing about me, I don’t even have a mentor to vouch for me, it makes doubting me easy.”

Superboy ran his hands up and down her arm to comfort her. Chimera leaned into his side slightly, keeping her focus on the conversation. Superboy looked over to Kid Flash and Red Tornado. “So where does Black Canary fit in?”

“Oh! Riiiiiight.” Kid Flash awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “We were transferring Red Tornado’s consciousness from his regular body to his android body when she interrupted us. She attacked us and we had to stop her.”

“So she’s infected as well,” Artemis observed.

Aqualad frowned at the ground in concentration. “If it’s an infection, then we need a cure. I will contact Queen Mera about creating an immunization based on Starotech. We have Black Canary we can test the cure on. Let’s move.”

Robin wormed his way next to Chimera as they moved to the communications hub for the ship. He pulled her into a quick side hug. “You know, we don’t need to know everything about each other to trust each other. And I do trust you.” He spoke quietly so only she could hear him.

Chimera closed her eyes as she hugged him back. “I trust you too, birdbrain.”

Robin rolled his eyes and shoved her away. “I take it back. I hate you.” Chimera cackled with laughter. Robin reluctantly joined her, trying to keep his annoyed facade. They tried unsuccessfully to school their expressions when Aqualad glared at them until Queen Mera answered, drawing his attention away.

<><><><><>

Waiting was torture. It always was. Waiting for something to happen when there was nothing you could do until then except think about the upcoming event, was agony. Chimera looked around the room. The Team was scattered each in their own space, waiting for Black Canary and Red Tornado to finish their preparations so they and Red Arrow could go in first and distract Savage, while the Team put the vaccine patches on the rest of the Justice League one member at a time.

Everyone was in their own head, bodies tense, and emotions on edge. They were going up against people they’d looked up to their whole superhero careers, parental figures, mentors. People who taught them how to fight, how to strategize. They knew more than the Team did and it was still unclear how much of their previous fighting knowledge they retained or if the person controlling them would have to come up with their own moves and techniques.

The Team was clearly dreading the former option, including Chimera. With so many different powers to go up against, she had cleared out the miracle box so she would have options for which powers to utilize. Changing was going to be tricky and she was going to have to keep Trixx well fed so she would be able to keep up her illusion of her suit not changing, but there was too much of a possibility for failure not to at least try.

She hoped she was hiding her apprehension better than the rest of the Team. No matter how much they tried to hide it, Chimera knew their tells. She knew Artemis set her jaw like that when she was anxious. She knew Aqualad clenched and reclenched his fists like that when he was nervous. She knew Kid Flash held his arm like that with his other hand when he was afraid. She knew Robin stared intently like that when he was apprehensive. She knew Zatanna bit her lip like that when she was unsure. She knew Superboy glowered like that when he was worried. It was slightly different from his many other glowers. And she didn’t need to know Rocket and Red Arrow to see their nerves in the darting of their eyes.

She looked between them and furrowed her brow until she perked up, something occurring to her. “So… it’s like a video game, right?” All the eyes in the room darted to her with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance, but she continued on undeterred. “I mean, they’re like characters in a video game, being controlled. That means there’s someone with some kind of controller.” She looked over to Aqualad. “Do you think there's any way that we could get our hands on that controller?” she asked with a devious glint in her eyes. “Just for a few minutes?”

“Oh my God! Yes!” Kid Flash exclaimed, immediately seeing where she was going and excitedly bouncing. “Can we? Can we, please?”

“We will not take advantage of our compatriots and mentors in such a demeaning way,” Aqualad answered sternly.

“Yeah, yeah morally reprehensible reshmensible. But, do you think we could?” Kid Flash asked again, his eyes bright. In an instant he was next to Chimera, both giving Aqualad overly wide smiles.

“No,” Aqualad said firmly.

“Angelic smiles aren’t working,” Chimera noted in a stage whisper. “Deploy kitten eyes.” She and Kid Flash immediately switched to sad, pleading eyes, aimed directly at Aqualad who barely noted them before rolling his eyes. Chimera harrumphed when she realized hers wouldn’t work since she had sunglasses hiding her eyes. Instead, she elbowed Zatanna who looked confused for a second before grinning and schooling her face to offer her own kitten eyes.

Superboy quickly looked to the ground to hide his smirk, but Artemis and Robin made no attempts to hide her laugh that echoed throughout the room. “Oh my God, you guys are such dorks,” Artemis eked out between laughs.

“Yes,” Kid Flash agreed, “dorks who love video games.” He turned back to Aqualad. “Pleeeeeeeeease.” He held his hands out in front of him in supplication.

“Are you two going to take this seriously?” Red Arrow snapped.

Chimera rolled her eyes and offered a kind smile. “Come on, tell me you don't want to see Batman punch Green Arrow.” Her smile turned enticing. “We can make that happen,” she singsonged at him.

Red Arrow scoffed. “I don't need remote control to do that. I just have to tell Batman any of the things Green Arrow has said behind his back and then suggest a spar between them.”

Chimera waved him off. “Fine. Green Lantern or Wonder Woman punch Green Arrow,” she offered instead with a knowing smirk. “I’m not even a protégé and I definitely have JL members I’d like to see get punched a few times.” She shrugged in an overly casual way. “Or, you know, one member anyway.”

Red Arrow cocked his head to the side considering the image of Wonder Woman decking Oliver. “Now that you mention it...”

“Oh my God!” Chimera exclaimed, eyes widening in excitement. “Dance Party!”

“Yes!” Kid Flash jumped on to her thought process, mirroring her excitement. “The Flash breakdancing. Hawkman doing the Carlton.”

Red Arrow looked over to Chimera with an analytical look. After a few seconds, his face broke into a reluctant smile. “Batman doing a scene from Phantom of the Opera, that’s angsty, he’d like it.”

“Yes!!” Chimera exclaimed, jumping with excitement that he had joined.

“Green Lantern and Aquaman doing the Kid ‘n Play,” Robin gave a small smirk, nerves still there, but lessening.

“Do you think we can get Martian Manhunter to do the Macarena?” Superboy pondered, coming up behind Chimera and resting his arm on her shoulders.

“It’s our imagination. We can get them to do whatever we want,” Chimera laughed.

“I would pay to see Wonder Woman do the worm,” Artemis smiled coming up next to Zatanna and bumping her hip with her own.

“Can we get my dad to do something? What should we get him to do?” Zatanna added with a hesitant smile.

“How about the Running Man?” Rocket offered, joining the rest.

“Green Arrow doing Gangnam Style dance,” Red Arrow gave Chimera a playful smile, joining the group to stand next to Chimera.

“My flute records. I can take video for posterity,” Chimera grinned back conspiratorially.

“I’ll take you up on that,” Black Canary grinned as she came up behind them. “I think it sounds like fun. Plus, I need more blackmail material. If I come across the opportunity, I’ll let you know.” She winked at them before turning to Aqualad with a serious expression. “We’re ready to go.”

Aqualad’s expression immediately transformed from light to serious. He stepped forward to address his team. “It is time. Are we ready?” He looked around to the Team waiting for nods from the group. Once he received them he watched Black Canary, Red Tornado, and Red Arrow step up to the Zeta tube. With them in position, he turned to Chimera. “Open the portal.”

*Note 2: The android body is from the show as is Queen Mera and some scientists coming up with a vaccine in a few hours, so those cheap cop outs are theirs not mine.

Chapter 10

Tags:

#maribat #Capturing a Dream #connette #connerette #konmari #conner x marinette #Marinette x Conner

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Chapter 3 – Betrayed

“I don’t understand American pies.” Chimera mused as she pulled an apple pie out of the oven. “It’s like a tart but not as good. Just make a tart.”

Conner looked up at her in annoyance. “If you don’t want to make it, don’t make it. Why are you complaining? And why are you even wasting time making it instead of sleeping? Today was the first day in two weeks you could have slept past 6 and you’re doing this instead.”

“I’m in America, I want to try making an apple pie. I just don’t understand it. And I’m making it because I like baking and I promised Wally I’d make him one a few weeks ago and he keeps asking.” She hummed examining the highly decorated crust. “Maybe I’ll understand once I eat it. And I’m fine.” He looked at her disbelievingly. “I am. I’m fine.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “A little tired… and stressed… and anxious… and tense… and thinking is hard… and… yeah.” She looked down and let out a quiet sigh before snapping her eyes back up to Conner with a strained smile. “But that’s normal for me. I’ll be fine.” She downed the rest of her double espresso with a wince. “Blaah. That tastes horrible. I wish I could taste the pie now to get that taste out of my mouth.”

He huffed at her annoyed by her refusal to take a nap. “If you want to know what it tastes like, take a bite. And if you’re tired, go to bed.”

“No! It has to cool down first. I’ll try it after I get back, along with sleeping.” She looked over at the clock and sighed. “Speaking of which, I need to get going or I’ll be late.” She took off her apron and turned to Conner with a stern expression. “And don’t let Wally eat it before I get back. I mean, don’t let anyone, but Wally’s probably the only one you have to worry about.”

“Fine. But you’re sleeping when you get home.” Conner stated firmly. She rolled her eyes at him and started moving toward the exit. Conner moved to intercept her, looking at her with softer eyes. “I’m serious, Chi. You need to sleep. You’re not thinking straight anymore. You almost forgot oven mitts when you got the pie out just now. You’ve been getting home really late and leaving really early for two weeks now.”

“Who knew you were a mother hen?” She smiled wanly at him. “You better watch it, I’ll tell the rest of the team. You’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Then I’ll tell them why, then you’ll never hear the end of it.” He threatened with a smirk.

She looked up at him scoffed. “Pfft. Artemis won’t care. Kaldur will speak to me about the importance of sleep, but will trust me to know my own body. Robin will warn me about how dangerous it is to go into a fight without the proper amount of sleep and will keep an eye on me during our missions from now on, but other than that will not mention it. Wally is the only one that will be a problem, but I can buy him off with baked goods. You however, you they’ll make fun of constantly.” She grinned smugly at him but her smile faltered when she saw the deeply concerned look in his eyes.

She sighed lightly and looked at him earnestly. “It will all be better next week, I promise. I just have to make it a few more days. Everyone I’m working with is in the same state. This is just a really rough time of year. We knew this was coming, that’s why I’ve been off missions the last week and a half and I’ll be off missions for another week. But once this week is over… It’ll be better. I’ll be better. I’ll sleep. I promise. But right now, I need to go.” She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile and left to change.

Conner scowled at her but moved out of her way. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He yelled over his shoulder to her retreating back.

She closed the door to her room quickly and locked it behind her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her teammates, but accidents happen. If one of them got too excited or concerned and forgot to knock, her identity could be outed and she would have to leave. She looked longingly at her bed. She wished it was as simple as Conner made it seem. She would love to take a nap, there just wasn’t enough time right now. It was Fashion Week starting in two days and they showed in three. There was no sleep for anyone in the fashion industry right now, and that included her. She sighed and looked away from the bed calling her like a siren with the possibility of beautiful, peaceful dreams. “Trixx, divide.”

Trixx did a few summersaults in the air and started searching around the room. Again, not that Marinette didn’t trust her teammates, but mind control was a thing and maybe, just maybe playing Among Us with the rest of the team had made her paranoid, so it had become common practice for Trixx to do a sweep of the room for any bugs before Marinette completed her detransformation. It was a ridiculous precaution and she felt stupid doing it and annoyed because it cost her time when she needed it, like now. But the overwhelming guilt she would feel for not doing her due diligence was far more threatening to her. But in moments like this, it played in her favor.

“Something is not right. Someone’s here.” Trixx whispered in her ear.

Marinette wasn’t sure if he was referring to her room or the cave, but either way, she needed to get out now. More importantly, almost the whole team was here. She needed to warn them now. “Eat now, as quickly as possible.” She mumbled under her breath, scanning the room, ready to fight if the infiltrator was hiding in her room. Trixx made her proud by eating his cookie in one bite. “Trixx, Kaalki, Unify.” She called out quietly. As soon as the light washed over her she grabbed a handful of treats for the kwamis, throwing them into her flute as she bolted from the room to find Conner.

She finally found him after only a few minutes. Conveniently, he was with Aqualad and Kid Flash as well. She ran at him and jumped into his arms. He stood stock still, unable to move due to the shock of the unexpected closeness. They touched… occasionally, but not like this. He was utterly unsure how to respond to this. Not that it was unwanted, he would love for them to do this more often, but this had come out of nowhere.

Kid Flash stood up and watched uncertain. He definitely wasn’t a fan of this, but knew enough to know something was going on. He scanned the room searching for an indication of the impetus for it.

Conner opened his mouth to ask Chimera what was wrong but she spoke before he could. She whispered quietly enough for just him to hear her. “Something is wrong. Someone is in the Cave. Someone who shouldn’t be. We need to get everyone out. Now. Without raising any suspicion in case they are watching.”

Conner’s eyes darkened to a dangerous glint and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. He whispered “Got it” quietly into her ear. He pulled away from her just slightly and looked to the others, “Chimera’s been stressed lately. I think a walk would help. You guys coming?” If anyone had been watching them that cover story would match with their earlier conversation and not set off any alarms. Hopefully, Chimera wouldn’t kick his ass too hard for outing that she had been stressed.

Kid Flash jumped forward, “That sounds fun. I’ll go. What are you stressed about? What can I do for you to help you? I mean… is there anything I can do to help?”

Chimera gave him a strained smile. “Sounds good. Aqualad?” She turned to him and gave him a pointed look, trying to communicate the secret to him with her eyes.

Aqualad gave her a questioning look and slowly nodded at her. “An outing sounds calming.”

She smiled anxiously at him. “Great, let’s go… now.” She immediately started speed walking backwards toward the exit, refusing to wait another second for all of them to get out of there and silently urging them to hurry as well. The rest of the Team only got a few steps before an explosion rocked the cave.

Conner’s world went into slow motion as he watched the fire ball burst behind Chimera. Her hair fanned out around her head in what would have been a beautiful effect if it wasn’t due to the pressure of the explosion reaching her first. He watched in horror as she was lifted off her feet and thrown across the cave.

Conner raced over to her, kneeling down next to her. He pushed her hair out of her face to see how badly she was hit. He felt the back of her head to see if there was any identifiable damage there. She had no outward injuries but she wasn’t opening her eyes. “Chimera! Chimera come on. We’re not done yet. Chi!” He yelled at her. His heartrate rocketed even higher when she didn’t respond.

They were under attack and Chimera was injured, unable to protect herself. He cursed under his breath and picked her up, holding her close to his chest to protect her if another attack came. He looked over to Aqualad and Kid Flash. They were in defensive positions already scanning the cave for threats.

“She knew someone was here. Did she say who?” Aqualad asked, darting his eyes around the cave.

“She felt something was off, but didn’t know what. She wanted us safe while we figured it out.” Conner answered, still focusing on Chimera, looking for any signs of her status and pulling her even closer to his chest when she didn’t give one.

“How is she doing?” Kid Flash asked looking around the cave for anything that might be a threat.

Conner looked back down at Chimera, willing her to wake up. As if in response to his desire, she groaned slightly and reached her free hand up to her head. “Chimera, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.” He reassured her in a strained voice. She looked up at him and gave him a weak smile, closing her eyes and falling limp again. Conner opened his mouth to urge her to wake up again but never got the chance. A wall of water hit the team. The force of the water ripped Chimera out of his arms and pushed him in the opposite direction.

<><><><><>

The room was hot. Not just hot, burning. It felt wrong… and blurry. How were things blurry when her eyes weren’t even open? Why was everything hot and fuzzy? Why did her lungs burn? Chimera groaned and tried to open her eyes. It was harder than she expected. It was like her body knew she didn’t really want to see the situation she was in, which just meant that she really needed to open her eyes so she could deal with the situation, whatever it was.

Her eyes finally jumped open when she felt something move under her. She jumped only slightly, not nearly as much as she would normally, her body was still fighting her. She wanted to prepare to fight whatever was moving under her but her body wanted to continue resting. She cried out in pain and scrunched her eyes closed again as the effects of her movement hit her. She heard a scream that sounded vaguely like her name from somewhere far away but couldn’t manage to turn towards it.

She fought to process what she had seen in the short time her eyes were open. Kaldur, she had seen Kaldur, and… orange? Fire? Why would there be fire? Maybe she was by a fireplace. She should move away from it, her mind hazily advised. She tried to move away from the heat, but it seemed like it was coming from all around her. She moaned in pain again at the effort’s effect on her body.

“…mera, can you …e?” She could hear someone talking, but they sounded… no wait, they sounded close? She tried opening her eyes again. But her body was still slow to respond. Maybe if she just opened one eye? That might work. She concentrated on opening one eye at a time. The images seemed to come to her on delay, or maybe it was her mind that was on some kind of 5 second delay. Kaldur filled up her vision.

He was touching her head gently. It felt wrong. Why was he doing that? She tried to scrunch her face in confusion but she wasn’t sure if her face was responding correctly. “Chimera? Can you hear me?”

Oh, that’s why he was touching her head. She had… something had happened. She was hurt. He was checking her. “Chimera! Can you create a portal?”

She stared at him blankly. Why would she create a portal? That was what Pegasus did. She was… Chimera. She was Chimera, her mind hazily supplied for her. She wasn’t Ladybug anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could use her voice yet so she attempted to nod instead. Surely she could, right?

“You need to create a portal under us to somewhere safe. Can you send us somewhere safe?” He looked at her urgently. They must be in trouble.

She looked around, or at least tried to. “Superboy and Kid Flash are captured too, but safe for now. We need to get out so we can help them. Robin and Artemis are running around trying to fight the Reds, but if we can get away, we take some of their leverage.”

She looked blankly at him again. That probably made sense but thinking hurt right now. Her ability to process things logically was severely impaired, but Aqualad was their leader. She trusted him to think for her. “Somewhere safe, Chimera.” He repeated.

She thought about the words. Safe. Somewhere safe. Not home though. Not with friends. She couldn’t compromise her identity. Somewhere safe Aqualad could see… “Chimera! I know it’s hard, but we need to move!” He urged her.

Safe…

“Voyage,” she whispered in a broken rasp.

She whimpered in pain again as she landed hard on Aqualad from their 6 foot drop onto a hard metallic floor. She wasn’t even sure where she had sent them and it was too bright to look around.

“Lower the lights!” Aqualad yelled to whoever was around. “Good job, Chimera. You brought us to the Watchtower.” He reassured her gently before turning away to yell again. “We need help in here!”

“Chimera, do you have enough strength to create an illusion of us so they won’t know we’re gone?” Aqualad asked gently. “I know you want to sleep and you can as soon as our teammates are safe. Chimera, I need you to try. Can you do it?”

She kept her eyes closed as she processed what he was asking. Could she create the illusion? What if she needed to create another portal? Would she have the strength? Could she take the time to transform? “Need to see where,” she croaked. She would detransform and retransform while they were getting the video set up. “Need to detransform. Secure. No cameras.”

Aqualad nodded at her, not that she could see it. “I need a secure room, now!” he yelled at whoever he was talking to. “And water or an IV.”

He picked her up and headed to a room she could use. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get see if we can communicate with Artemis and Robin.”

Chimera reached out for him and grunted to get his attention, talking seemed like so much effort. She grabbed her flute, took an earpiece and some of the treats out of it. She tossed the earpiece to him and set the treats on a nearby desk. He looked at her surprised. “Magic” she responded simply. She didn’t have the time or inclination to explain further.

Aqualad nodded to her and left the room. She gave Aqualad a few seconds to communicate with Robin before she detransformed, taking the earpiece with it. Kaalki popped out as soon as she detransformed and looked around the room unimpressed. “This facility is not befitting one as glorious as me.”

Without the second suit to help prop her up, Marinette’s legs gave out under her. She fought to stay conscious. The explosion she could handle, normally. She’d experienced far worse fighting akumas. However, wearing two miraculous was draining already, add to that all the stress she had been under in her civilian life, the little sleep she’d been getting the past two weeks, the explosion, the fire she had been sitting too close to, whatever had caused her lungs to burn, and using her powers before she was ready, and she was struggling to keep the push to oblivion, a long dreamless sleep, at bay.

But, her teammates needed her. Conner and Wally were still at the mercy of whoever had invaded their cave. “Hurry” she rasped out. Kaalki looked at her bored before seeing her state and snapping to attention, rapidly eating her sugar cube.

“Ready, Guardian.” She stated firmly.

Chimera didn’t even bother wasting energy nodding in response. She quietly whispered “Unify”. As soon as the transformation took effect, she felt a fresh wave of energy rush through her. Not a lot, but enough, she hoped. Enough to get through this. Enough to save her teammates. She pulled out her flute and played a melody. “Mirage” she mouthed.

God, she hoped this would work. She had never tried a mirage from this distance and without any visual reference, but she was trusting her familiarity with the cave and the fact that she had just voyaged from that spot to ground the magic. It made sense right? Actually, nothing made sense right now. She was going to go on blind faith for this one.

She stumbled out of the room she was in and wandered toward where she thought Aqualad might be. She was sure he wouldn’t be too far. Once he spotted her, Aqualad rushed over to her side, assisting her to where he was talking with Superman. “Are you sure it is a good idea?” Aqualad asked in a tone that suggested he had asked this before and still hadn’t received a response he liked.

“Yes. We’re coordinating with Black Canary. We will both come in through the zeta tubes at the same time. Once there we will be able to fight the Reds. They will be entirely focused on us, giving Robin and Artemis the opportunity to free your friends.”

Chimera frowned at him. Her brain might not be working full speed yet, but she knew that was a bad idea. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew it was wrong, she just needed to figure out why. Superman turned when Black Canary appeared on a screen behind him. Chimera couldn’t follow their conversation. She was too focused on the screen next to it, showing Conner and Wally chin deep in water and two figures that looked similar to Red Tornado attacking Robin and Artemis and almost hitting Wally and Conner in their attacks.

Chimera gasped and grabbed Aqualad at the sight. He followed her line of sight and muttered under his breath, “They know we’re here. Robin set up a video for us.”

“We need to leave now.” Superman stated, moving toward the tubes.

“NO!” Chimera yelled with as much force as she could. As soon as the word came out of her mouth she faltered and fell back into Aqualad. “Robin patched in?” She asked Aqualad.

“Yes.”

She turned back to Superman. “Retribution. Punish them.” She said raspingly.

Superman glared at her. “We know our jobs, Chimera. We can handle them.”

“She’s right. We should trust Robin and Artemis to handle this.” Aqualad responded supporting his teammates. “We can coordinate with them and they can execute it.”

“We don’t have time to play games.” Superman chided them. “We need to act now.”

“Act wrong.” Chimera said quietly.

“With all due respect…” Superman started bringing himself to his full height before getting cut off by Batman.

“I agree with them. The Reds have shown they are willing to kill the Team. They have tried several times already. The only reason Superboy and Kid Flash are still alive is because they need them to draw out Artemis and Robin. Once it becomes clear they have lost that leverage, they will have no reason not to kill them and no reason to hold back. They could raze that entire cave and everything in it if they feel threatened. Robin and Artemis might be able to escape but Conner and Wally won’t be able to escape it.” Batman stated firmly.

“You don’t know that.” Superman retorted.

“You don’t know they won’t. You hope they won’t, but they have shown every indication that they will. We should work with Artemis and Robin to come up with a plan.” Batman argued.

“I think we have a way to do that,” Robin added. “If we can create an EMP emitter, we can short circuit them.”

Batman nodded at the suggestion, “That should work. Good thinking, Robin.”

“And you have one of those on hand?” Superman asked doubtfully. “We don’t.”

“No, but we can make one, right KF?” Robin answered with a smirk.

“Totally doable… ya know, if we had more time.” Kid Flash responded with a wince.

“How is Chimera?” Superboy called loudly enough for them to pick it up but quiet enough not to attract the Reds.

“She is weak but awake.” Aqualad reassured him.

The voices around her kept talking, but Chimera was having trouble keeping up with them. She slumped into Aqualad and let her teammates do what they needed to do. She focused on maintaining the mirage. After a minute she heard someone say ‘distraction’ and she perked up. She knocked her hand into Aqualad. “Illusion will disappear in a minute. Need to go back to the room.”

Aqualad nodded at her. “Chimera says she will make our illusion disappear in a minute, or on your mark if it’s sooner.”

There were more words but Chimera wasn’t listening, it took too much effort. She wasn’t sure if she could make it through detransforming without passing out, but her teammates weren’t safe yet. Conner wasn’t safe. She could and would stay awake. She set her jaw and looked up at Aqualad. He picked her up and carried her to the room. “I’ll let you know when to drop the illusion.” He said quietly.

She didn’t respond as he closed the door. She just needed to make it through the next few minutes. Just a few more minutes. She could do that. “Now, Chimera.” Aqualad called to her.

Instead of calling off the illusion, she called off her transformation, serving both purposes and saving a tiny bit of energy. “Hurry,” she begged Trixx before he could complain. Trixx didn’t bother responding, he just ate the cookie Chimera had pointed out as quickly as he could. “Ready,” he announced in record time. She quickly called on her unification again and felt the energy surge through her. A few more minutes then she could sleep.

She opened the door to find Aqualad waiting on her. He gave her a tight smile before picking her up again and carrying her to the screens. “Every little bit helps,” he affirmed.

She grabbed his arm again when she saw Robin laid out by the Reds. Superman said something to her but she couldn’t waste the energy to listen to what he had said. She was too focused on Conner and Wally.

“Artemis is still out there,” Aqualad reassured her. “Robin got close but got caught before he could complete…”

He was cut off by Chimera screaming “Voyage”. He turned back to the screens to see Artemis surrendering and the water rising over Superboy and Kid Flash’s mouths. He couldn’t see where the portal she had created was at first, but then noticed the water draining slightly. He looked to the corner of the screen and saw a hole appear in the water. He looked over to Chimera to see her concentrating hard on the screen.

It wasn’t enough and Chimera knew it. The portal she had created wasn’t enough. The water was draining, but not fast enough. At this rate they were going to die. Conner was going to die. She clenched her hands into fists and touched them together in front of her then slowly pulled them apart, muscles straining like she was pulling elevator doors open. She groaned and her body started shaking under the strain of pushing the magic in ways it wasn’t intended.

Aqualad looked back to the screen and watched the portal expand slowly, mirroring her movements. The water started ebbing quickly and within a few seconds, Superboy and Kid Flash’s mouths were above water again. The Reds snapped their heads to the portal, trying to figure out what had caused it. It was all the distraction Artemis needed to fire her arrow and complete the EMP emitter that Robin had started.

As soon as the arrow connected, completing the circuit, the video cut out and Chimera fell to the floor, breathing hard. Aqualad kneeled down next to her to check on her while Batman and Superman tried to raise the Cave. “You need to go to the infirmary.”

Chimera shook her head at him. “Imposter.” She rasped out.

“She thinks there’s an imposter here?” Batman asked.

Aqualad looked at her for a few moments before responding slowly as he figured out what she meant. “No, it’s a game. She means she doesn’t feel safe here.”

“This is the Watchtower. If there is anywhere safe to be, it is here.” Superman commented coolly.

“We thought that of the Cave.” Aqualad responded in the same tone.

“I’ll take you to the infirmary and stay with you.” Batman offered. “Superman and Aqualad, meet up with Black Canary and go to the Cave, free Superboy and Kid Flash. Check on them and see if we can figure out what happened. Aqualad, I will keep you updated on Chimera.”

Aqualad waited for Chimera to give him a nod indicating her agreement before he acquiesced as well. Batman stepped forward and pulled Chimera into a princess hold to carry her to the infirmary.

“You’ll have to detransform so I can give you an IV, unless your suit can somehow become penetrable. But even so, I need to see how you are doing without the magic supporting you.” She looked around the room analytically. “I’ve turned off the cameras.” He reassured her. She nodded slowly at him and called off her fox transformation, allowing Trixx to make a pass around the room, confirming Batman’s statement. Once Trixx confirmed the room was safe and surveillance free, she dropped the last transformation, collapsing sideways on the bed as soon as she did.

He rolled her on her back and gave her a quick check over. “I’m going to give you some pain meds too, Marinette. I’m pretty sure it is mostly exhaustion and over exertion, but I want to be safe, you took a bad hit and a lot of strain on your body rescuing your team.” She nodded at him. “You should feel it pretty quickly.” She nodded absentmindedly again.

He waited a few minutes for the drugs to take effect. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel like I can see colors.” She slurred drunkenly.

“Between the exhaustion and drugs, you might be able to.” He smirked at her. He looked at her appraisingly morphing his face into a stern look. “If you’re going to stay on the Team, you need to figure out a balance.”

“Not my strong suit. I was supposed to be on vacation this week.” She tried to give him a pointed look but the effect was lessened by the slight blur in her words. “You promised a week off. This was not a week off.”

He smiled wanly at her. “No, it was not. But I meant you’ll have to find your limits. You saved your teammates, but you could have gotten yourself killed with that last stunt. You can’t do any good in the future if you kill yourself today.”

She stared at him as though she were trying to make sense of the words he was saying. “But I was fine. I did stay within my limits.”

“Barely. The mission is greater than one incident. If you’re going to last in this business, you’re going to have to sustain yourself.”

She glared at him, or at least she was trying to, she wasn’t sure if she actually was. She took a deep breath and gathered the rest of her strength and focus to respond to his chastising. “But still within them. How do I learn limits without pushing them? You say I can’t do any good if I don’t survive today, but neither can they if they don’t survive. And my teammates will always be my priority over the mission. I won’t let the mission become my priority. Ever. I trust my teammates. I will treat them as important and their input valuable, because it is. I will treat them as the family they are and make sure they know they deserve love and respect and have mine, that they are more important to me than a mission. I won’t ever become you. I won’t ever lose my heart. I won’t ever become the darkness to defeat the darkness.” She gave him a lightly repelled look before blinking a few times. “Oh,” she said softly as her eyes closed.

Batman watched her as she slept and patted her head with a bittersweet smile. “Good.”

Tags:

#maribat #capturing a dream #marikon #connette #connerette #Marinette x Conner #conner x marinette

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 10 – Who Do You Trust

Chapter 1 Chapter 9

*Note – Savage is working with Klarion for his plan. Klarion is the one controlling everyone, but the Team doesn’t know that.

After a prolonged encounter with Firestorm, Chimera ran out onto the platform freshly recharged and ready to fight. She had already used Mullo, Roaar, and Stompp and was now on Pollen. She was beyond curious to see what cataclysm would do to one of Green Lantern’s creations but she was afraid of what it would do to his ring and, well, the power of cataclysm on a floating rock in space seemed like a poor decision, so Plagg had stayed with Adrien.

She hadn’t had time to feed any of the kwami after using them except Trixx, who she needed to keep up the illusion of her suit, so for now, each kwami was only used once then put back in the flute. She’d make sure to give them all extra treats and thanks after the fight. Taking the time to recharge Trixx had been risky and time consuming, but necessary. Didn’t mean she liked it. She had to hide and do nothing while the rest of the team were getting attacked. She hated it.

Taking time to hide and recharge meant her team had to fight on their own and cover their own backs. It lead to situations like the one she ran in on, a possessed Batman throwing Robin across the platform and kicking Rocket into a buttress. The force bubble that had been around Wonder Woman disappeared as Rocket’s focus was forcibly removed. Robin’s focus remained squarely on the threat in front of him. He stood, facing Batman, the apprehension in his stance was clear to Chimera. It likely would have been clear to Batman as well, but hopefully whoever was controlling him only saw confident defiance. Despite the façade, Chimera knew this particular fight was the worst for Robin; fighting the man who had become like a father to him. Even knowing he was being controlled, she could see the strain in Robin’s eyes.

She rushed forward to assist Robin. He threw a handful of smoke pellets before jumping at Batman, kicking at where he knew he had been, the kick designed to deliver maximum impact to sensitive areas. He landed roughly in an empty space instead. Robin turned around just in time for Batman to punch him with enough force to knock him back a considerable distance.

Chimera took advantage of the distraction to attack from behind. She almost made contact with the still distracted mentor when she was roughly yanked to the side. She landed on the concrete with a grunt. She looked down to see Wonder Woman’s lasso around her chest, pinning her arms to her side. Her eyes trailed the lasso back to Wonder Woman’s hands. An unnatural predatory glint was in Wonder Woman’s eyes. “Now, tell me,” she implored in an eerily cheery voice. “Who. Are. You?” She pulled the lasso tighter, drawing Chimera closer. “The Lasso of Hestia compels you.”

Chimera’s breath hitched as she took in the lasso. Wonder Woman’s eyes narrowed in glee. She would not be able to resist the Lasso of Truth. Any second now Klarion would know who Chimera really was, and more importantly, what she was. And once he knew that, he would know how to defeat her. Their next encounter would go very differently with that information.

Chimera looked over her shoulder to gauge the fight between Batman and Robin. When she looked back toward Wonder Woman, it was more a look of amusement than fear. Whoever was controlling them was clumsy. A novice at UMS could do better than this amateur. Their strikes were wild and indelicate. Not taking full advantage of the fighter they chose. She raised an eyebrow at Wonder Woman. “A weapon of subjection and dispelling illusions? Really? You think this has power over me?” She pulled on the lasso, easily pulling the normally well prepared Wonder Woman off balance, causing her to stumble toward Chimera as the lasso fell uselessly at her feet. Wonder Woman kicked off Chimera, using the momentum she gained to flip away from her, putting necessary distance between them.

But, the movement caused her to lose sight of Chimera for a few seconds. A few precious seconds that were all an expert UMS player, like Chimera needed. She spun her top out, just barely grazing Wonder Woman’s exposed upper arm. But, a touch was all she needed. Wonder Woman froze in the last moments of the flip. Unable to adjust to land, she crashed inelegantly onto the concrete in a way that Chimera was sure was going to bruise in the morning. Chimera slowly walked up to her, confident the person controlling her was still listening. She knelt down next to Wonder Woman’s ear and whispered, “You want to know who I am?” She pulled Wonder Woman’s face toward her so whoever was controlling her could see Chimera. “I’m a goddamned goddess.”

She dropped Wonder Woman’s face so she could no longer see Chimera and winced. It was kind of true in the cock your head to the side and squint kind of way. Like a 3-D picture, you had to look really hard and focus on what was behind what was presented. Okay, it wasn’t true, but there was a goddess involved somewhere and whoever was controlling the Justice League was listening. It would be nothing but beneficial for their enemies to have the wrong idea about her. It meant they not only didn’t know about the miraculous, but they would focus on the entirely wrong weaknesses, making them less able to figure out how to fight her.

Chimera gently laid the inoculation patch on Wonder Woman, watching it as it merged into her body. Chimera let out a small breath, laying her hand on Wonder Woman and wishing a silent apology for the pain she would feel in the morning. She looked over her shoulder, Robin was still holding his own against Batman. He still had some tricks he could pull out. She however was on a timer. Trixx would time out any second now. She looked toward where Rocket had been thrown earlier to see if she was moving yet. She could see some movement, but not much.

Chimera rushed over to her to see if anything was seriously wrong. “I think my head’s going to be ringing for a few hours, but I’ll be okay. I can still create bubbles. Just point me where to go,” Rocket stated confidently, but the urge to hold her head in her hands was evident.

Chimera gave her an understanding smile. “No. You’ve already taken out quite a few members. Go hide somewhere until you feel better. We have almost everyone by now, just a few more. It wouldn’t help anyone if they caught you in this state. Once you feel up to it, check with Aqualad to see where he wants you,” Chimera ordered her. Rocket nodded and shuffled to another room to recover.

Chimera let out a breath and found an alcove and hid herself… again. She huffed at the thought and vowed to make the transition as quick as possible. “Trixx, Pollen, separate,” she whispered, causing Trixx to come spiraling out of her necklace. She tossed a cookie to Trixx. “Eat quickly. Robin needs us. And I have no idea where Superboy is.” She tried to glance back nervously.

“Done, Guardian,” Trixx chirped after only a few seconds.

Chimera gave her a relieved smile. “I think you’re getting faster. Thank you so much, Trixx. Trixx, Pollen, unite.” Before the wave of light had completely engulfed her, she was already pulling Longg’s choker out of the flute. “Pollen, Trixx, separate. Great job, Pollen. I will feed you as soon as this is all over,” she promised, moving to tuck the comb into the flute. Pollen nodded in understanding and disappeared into the comb. Longg spun out of the choker to face her the moment it was secure around her neck. “Good evening, Guardian.” Longg bowed to her.

“Good evening, Longg. I hope you’re ready to fight. Longg, Trixx, unite.” She was blowing her melody in the flute before the light was done. “Mirage.” She was running the instant the word left her lips, her costume changing as soon as she finished the word.

She narrowed her eyes at the still ongoing fight between Robin and Batman. She corrected her course toward their fight but skidded to a stop just in time to see Superboy burst through the ceiling and the floor right in front of her. “Superboy!” She tensed to jump down to check on him, but got hit by Superman and knocked through the wall into the main meeting room before she could. She shook her head to clear away the fog and moved quickly back to the fight, still a bit hazy from the hit.

She got to the hole she had created in the wall just in time to see Batman kick Robin through the hole in the floor Superboy had created. She quirked her lips to the side as the unbidden thought that they were going to be doing a lot of reconstruction when this is all done occurred to her. Seriously, she and Superboy alone had been thrown through at least four objects, leaving gaping holes.

She jumped when Wolf hit the wall next to her with a loud thump. She whipped her head around to see Martian Manhunter stalking toward them. She will deny to her death that she yelped when Sphere came out of nowhere to knock him out of the way. She shook her head again to focus on Batman and Superman. She crawled through the hole in the wall and ran to the floor hole.

She peeked over the edge in time to catch Superboy swing Robin in a circle before launching him into Batman. Robin deftly placed the patch on Batman as they fell, rendering him unconscious before he hit the ground. Chimera took the distraction as an opportunity to drop down through the hole, landing behind Superman, who was charging at Superboy.

He heard her land and twisted mid-charge to swing at her instead. She jumped back at the unexpected move, just barely missing the hit. She dropped to miss his next kick and kicked her leg out instead to sweep his legs out from under him, but he floated up just enough to miss her leg, without having to resettle himself as he would if he had jumped. Instead, he could leverage his new height into a dangerous body slam. “Cheater,” she grumbled, flipping out of the way before he landed with enough force to create a crater right where she had been a second before.

Whoever was controlling them was clearly more familiar with Superman’s strengths than he had been with the others’ she’d come across already. She flipped out of the way his punch, but it passed by closely enough that the low pressure created interfered with her trajectory just slightly, throwing her a bit off balance, just enough for him to grab her arm and throw her into Robin. They landed in a heap of tangled arms and legs and bruises.

Superboy punched Superman from the side, knocking him over a few feet. Superman returned the punch, but Superboy blocked it. He kicked Superman in the stomach, causing him to double over, but not as much as Superboy had been hoping. Superman used the change to add power to his uppercut that connected with Superboy’s jaw with a sickening smack. Superman kicked him, launching him into a wall. The wall folded under the pressure, a spider web of cracks emanating from his point of contact. Superboy fell, landing on his hands and knees, muscles shaking with the strain to get up again.

Chimera kicked Superman’s knee from behind, forcing him to fall back slightly. She was at his side in an instant with a well-placed punch, knocking him to the side. She rose up her leg to kick him back, but he grabbed her leg. She tried to kick him with her other leg but he floated up into the air with her. He spun around a few times and let go of her, launching her through a buttress and out of Superboy’s sight.

“Chimera!” Superboy screamed, searching for any indication of her status. Not seeing any, he switched his focus back to Superman, who was still watching her to see what she would do. Superboy’s face was contorted in a dangerous grimace, eyes narrowed and glaring at Superman. He kicked Superman in the back, sending him sprawling forward just enough to almost put him off balance. He whirled on Superboy, using the momentum to increase the impact of his punch. Superboy deflected the punch only allowing it to graze him. Superboy delivered an uppercut of his own, knocking Superman back a few feet. Superman stopped his backward momentum and flew forward with both fists in front of him, sending Superboy flying into the wall.

Robin tried to sneak up on Superman but he sent his fist out behind him, swinging his body after it, to backhand him. Robin flipped back in a series of perfectly executed back handsprings. Missing the entire volley of punches Superman sent his way. The distraction gave Superboy the opportunity to grab Superman from behind and latch onto him, pinning down his arms.

“Sure about this?” Robin double checked, pulling a box out of his belt. Conner had agreed to it when he’d gotten it out of the Batcave, but now it was actually happening. Now he would have to actually feel the pain of it. Now it was real.

“Do it!” Superboy yelled in confirmation, bracing himself for the pain. His face was set in a determined frown. He needed to check on Chimera and this was taking too long.

Robin nodded and opened the box, slowly advancing on the two supers as the tell-tale green glow of kryptonite emitted from the box. Superman and Superboy both groaned in pain and slowly started curling in on themselves. Robin had almost reached them when he was knocked into the wall by Martian Manhunter. He reached down and placed the shard of kryptonite back in the box, easing the drain on the two supers before turning back to Robin. He moved quickly to attack, but Robin had jumped away before he could reach him.

Superman recovered quicker than Superboy. He grabbed onto Superboy’s arms, which were still wrapped around his chest, securing them and Superboy, into place. He launched himself, or more precisely Superboy, into the wall behind them over and over again until Superboy was barely standing. Superman turned and kicked Superboy in his sternum with enough force to knock out the already weakened super.

“Superboy!” Chimera screamed. She watched him, waiting for him to show any indication of movement. Seeing none, she turned her focus to Superman, glaring at him with an intensity that would have put Batman to shame. Superboy just couldn’t get a break from Superman. It didn’t matter if he was being controlled or fully in control of himself. No matter the situation, Superman kept making Superboy suffer, and for what?

She stood slowly, her entire body tensed like she was bracing for an impact, her arms hanging by her sides, but ready to spring at a moment’s notice. She started walking slowly toward him. She looked down so Superman couldn’t read her lips and silently mouthed “lightning dragon”. She slowly twisted her wrists as lightning crawled over her hands. Her fingers crackled with the electricity surging over them. Yellow sparks flared dangerously from her fingers, in short, controlled bursts. “How bad can I make him hurt?” she asked sharply.

Robin’s eyes widened in surprise, almost not jumping out of the way to miss Martian Manhunter’s grab for him. He’d never heard Chimera speak with such coldness. Even when facing enemies, she was rational and never used excessive force. The look in her eyes showed she was holding back now, the desire to hurt him warring with her natural inclination to protect. “He’s still our friend,” he cautioned her between jumps and kicks. “He’s being controlled.”

“Right. Just don’t kill him,” she nodded curtly. She brought her hands in front of her, wrapping them around each other, forming a large ball of yellow lightning coursing through it. Veins of electricity traced the invisible barrier she’d created and reinforced with her movements. She controlled the power’s path. She set the route and the destination.

Superman’s eyes narrowed and his body tensed to rush her. She gave him a second to demonstrate his super speed, allowing him to get closer to her before she struck, flicking her hands forward to direct the lightning at him. He froze in pain. He tried to move through the force of the lightning, but couldn’t get his body to function properly. Electricity trailed over his body, around his legs and arms, over his chest, holding him in place, interfering with the internal electrical impulses controlling the muscles, pushing them to contract. He screamed out in frustration and pain, trying to push through the restraints, but barely able to keep all his muscles from contracting and forcing him to curl into a ball.

Chimera’s face contorted in concentration and strain. She had not used Lightning Dragon before and utilizing it at full strength while maintaining an illusion of her regular costume, was quickly draining her energy. She focused her full attention to Superman, trying to increase the strength until he passed out. Her focus was distracted when Robin grunted loudly. Chimera spared a quick glance to Robin.

Her lightning almost faltered when she saw Martian Manhunter holding Robin strong enough to break bones. She looked back to Superman, trying to run through her options. She couldn’t drop lightning. Once she dropped it, Superman would start moving. She faltered for a second before deciding on her only option. She moved her right hand toward Martian Manhunter, splitting the impact of her lightning.

Martian Manhunter immediately dropped Robin in surprise and pain. Robin fell into a crouch, quickly moving away from Martian Manhunter while he regained his breath. He watched the scene before him. Chimera was holding the two heroes at bay, but just barely. Sweat had started dripping down her forehead from the exertion. With the force of her lightening split, Superman had started making progress toward her, though it slowed as he got closer and the strength of the lightning increased. But, even slowed, it was still there. He needed to act quickly to get to Superman before he got to Chimera. Martian Manhunter was closer, so he would have to be first.

“Hurry up, bird boy,” she grunted. “I’m starting to feel like the Emperor.”

“Drop Manhunter’s!” Robin called out as soon as he had positioned himself behind him.

Chimera moved her hand so they were both directed toward Superman, halting his progress only a few feet away. Robin quickly placed himself behind Superman as well. “Cut it!” He yelled out.

Chimera turned her hands up with a sharp flick, cutting the lightning’s path. She gasped for air, her chest finally feeling like it could fully inflate, as Superman collapsed on his hands and knees. Before she could take a full breath, she was already on the move to check on Conner, trusting that Robin had placed the patch on Superman’s neck the moment the lightning cut.

“Conner!” she called to him, gently repositioning him to lay down on his back and lifting his head into her lap. She gave him a quick check over to see if she could see any grievous injuries. There was nothing that stuck out, but he would likely have bruises and maybe a concussion. He may be invulnerable, but she wasn’t at all sure if that still that still held true against another Kryptonian. They could kill one another after all, that had to mean it didn’t, right?

Robin crouched next to her. “How’s he doing?”

“I’m not sure yet. X-ray vision is his thing, not mine,” she motioned toward Superman. “But he’s breathing, so there’s that. Go, help the others get Savage. I’ll stay here with Superboy. I’m going to need to recharge anyway. Let me know if you guys need help.”

Robin nodded in agreement. He laid his hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it to give her silent comfort before running toward the Observation deck, where he was sure the rest of the team was heading as well.

Chimera brushed Superboy’s hair away from his forehead. She quietly cooed at him, trying to urge him to wake up. “It’s okay, Conner. You’ll be okay. We’re not done yet,” she reassured more for herself than for him. She anxiously ran her hands through his hair, in what she hoped was a comforting ministration. “I just need you to come back now. Come back… to me… please.”

She took a deep breath and looked around her to make sure nobody was looking before pulling out a few treats from her flute. “Trixx, Longg separate.” Trixx twirled out of her necklace with a tired smile.

“Guardian,” he nodded at her.

Chimera smiled back at him and tossed him a cookie. “Thank you, Trixx. Eat up. We might have more fighting before we rest.” Trixx nodded and started eating the cookie. “You did really well again, Trixx.”

Trixx smiled at her and twirled in the air. “It’s al…”

“Was that a light?” Conner muttered, scrunching his face and clamping his eyes shut to block out the light.

“Conner!” Chimera immediately brightened. “How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

“I feel like a human hit by a truck,” he groaned. “Repeatedly.”

Chimera chuckled. “That’s probably about accurate. Hopefully fewer broken bones though.”

“How are you?” He tried to open his eyes but the brightness hurt. Instead he slowly sat up and hunched over, trying to put as little strain on his aching muscles as possible.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “That spin move definitely looked a lot more fun when you did it to Robin than when Superman did it to me, but he didn’t hit me nearly as hard as he hit you, or as much.”

He hummed noncommittally. He didn’t believe her, but he was in no position to argue currently. He needed to focus on opening his eyes. “Is it over?” he asked, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. He slowly opened his eyes just a bit, blinking repeatedly to try to make them accustomed them to the light.

“I think so. I haven’t heard anything over the coms yet. The League have all been immunized. The Team is just making sure Vandal is gone.” Trixx floated in front of her with an urgent look, glancing back and forth between Superboy and Chimera. Chimera’s eyes widened in realization. She looked down at her suit, her distinctly not normal suit. Once Superboy turned her way, he would see her in a very different suit from normal. He would know that her powers made her appear differently.

She looked down at Superboy again and let out a long breath. Would that be so bad? Would it be so bad for Conner to know that her suit looked different depending on what power she was using? She wasn’t going to tell him everything, just… more. And this was Conner. She trusted him with her life, and more importantly, she trusted him with her loved ones’ lives. She trusted him and he deserved to know that, in a way that he would understand. And there were just so many lies, she really needed there to be fewer. She needed someone to know more, someone who could understand her.

She motioned to the kwami to hide and looked back at Superboy. “Hey, Conner?”

“Yes?” He kept his eyes closed, but inclined his face toward her to show her he was listening.

“Want to see something nobody else has ever seen?” There was a distinctive edge of vulnerability in her voice.

He scrunched up his face in confusion. What could there possibly be on the Watchtower that nobody had seen. “Okay?”

“Open your eyes,” she softly instructed.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. His brows furrowed for a few seconds in confusion, letting his vision adjust before realization set in. His eyes widened and he snapped up into a sitting position, swaying slightly from the change in blood pressure. She reached out to steady him, watching him carefully to read his reaction. He was staring at her in awe, mouth slightly agape.

When he didn’t react for more than a few seconds, she looked to the side, nervous under his scrutiny. “It isn’t… I can’t drop…” She took a deep breath and looked back at him with a nervous smile. “You know I said I draw on different powers?” He nodded mutely, too shocked by the change to be able to formulate words. “I draw on two main ones, but occasionally add a new one if I need it. Each new power changes my appearance to enable the power. I use mirage to hide it so nobody knows. But I’m not doing that now.”

His eyes raked over the new costume and hair. He reached out to touch her face dumbfounded. His fingers traced her mask. The new shape felt odd, but didn’t seem out of place. Her hair was still pulled back, but in an elaborate French braid, that trailed down her back and flared out like a tail. The red and black of her current suit seemed to fit her much better than the brown and orange or her regular suit.

But the thing that absolutely captivated him was her eyes. They were blindingly, brilliantly, beautiful and visible. For the first time since he’d met her, he could see her eyes. “Your eyes are blue,” he breathed out. She smiled gently at him and nodded. He stared at her entranced trying to memorize every aspect of her like it might be the last time he would ever see it, which if what she said was true, it very well could be. “Why?”

“Why what?” she cocked her head to the side. “Why are they blue?”

“Why are you showing me? I thought… I thought you couldn’t,” he answered breathily, still staring in her eyes, trying to memorize the exact color, a deeper shade of blue than his own yet still bright.

“I’m not supposed to. It’s still not me, not me me. It’s another suit,” she babbled. Superboy nodded distractedly, only partially taking in everything she was saying. His eyes kept jumping from one detail to another, subconsciously comparing what she looked like now to what she looked like normally, searching for commonalities and differences to come up with a more complete picture of what she looked like.

“Nobody has ever seen me in just this suit,” she continued. “You’re the only one. I wanted you to see… well, I want you to see more, but…” she furrowed her brow in consideration, trying to force out the words she wanted to say while at the same time trying to keep the tears in. “There’s too many secrets. I hate it. I can’t… How close can I get to anyone when it’s all lies?” she stuttered out, trying to organize her thoughts, but there were too many coming too quickly for her to divulge them in an orderly manner. “How can you build trust when everything is built on lies? How can I expect you guys to trust me when you don’t know me?”

Superboy shook his head adamantly. His eyes became hard. “You’re being stupid again,” he growled.

She looked up at him shocked and furrowed her brow. “You know calling someone stupid, isn’t as comforting as you seem to think it is.”

“Then stop being stupid.” He flicked her forehead. She pouted at him and rubbed her forehead. “You don’t get to blame yourself because I screwed up.” She opened her mouth to object but he cut her off before she could say some ridiculous, insane reason it was her fault. “And what lies? What you look like? You’ve never lied about it. We know that isn’t what you look like. I know this isn’t what you look like.”

She opened her mouth again, but he cut her off again, more aggressively this time. “No! That was Savage’s mistake,” he argued, brows furrowed in frustration. “He underestimated us. We may not know the details, but we know what we need to know. I know you. And you do know me. You knew what drove me to use the shields. I didn’t have to tell you. You never suspected me of making a deal to get them. You never doubted me. Because you do know me.

“And I know you.” At some point during his speech he had started yelling, but he couldn’t stop now. It was too important that she understood this. “I don’t know who your parents are, but I know they love you and you love them. I don’t know your friends’ names, but I know you think of them like family and would give everything you have for them, for us, without hesitation. I don’t know what you want to do for a career, but I know you’re creative and have a drive and determination that whatever it is you want to do, you’ll succeed. And I know that you’ll drive yourself into the ground doing it unless you have someone there forcing you to sleep and take care of yourself.” He gave her an annoyed look.

“I don’t know how powerful you are or will be, but I know you’re scared because you want to protect people from getting hurt, not cause it. And I don’t know the names of all the people who broke your heart, but I know you use it to guide you in everything you do.” He took a deep, calming breath and looked at her tenderly. “I don’t know everything, but I trust you.”

She stared at him, frozen as she tried to process his words. He started to question if he had broken her somehow when she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. The hug both calmed her and set her skin on fire. She buried her face in his shoulder to hide her blush and so she didn’t have to look in his eyes, because if she looked in his eyes, all of her resolve would fade and she would do something dangerous, for her and Conner and everyone else.

They broke apart before at the sound of Robin’s voice over the coms. “Savage is gone. How is Superboy?”

Chimera took a deep breath and pulled away, keeping her eyes on the ground. “He’s awake. I’ll send him over while I recharge.” Superboy frowned at her, but nodded in understanding. He didn’t want to leave. It felt like they were close to something, but he wouldn’t force her into anything.

“Come on, our other teammates are waiting on you.” She gave him a strained smile, swallowing down the bile that pushed up her throat. The word was bitter on her tongue and she hated it. She reached out her hand to help him stand up, keeping a close eye on him to make sure he was stable enough to stand on his own. While he kept his eyes on her to make sure she was okay as well.

She nearly jumped when the New Year was announced over the internal system. “Happy New Year, Justice League.”

She let out a breath and chuckle. She looked up at Superboy, feeling vulnerable under his soft gaze. She smiled ruefully and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Happy New Year, Conner.” She patted his chest and walked away to a more private area to recharge and catch her breath.

Recharged, refocused, and back in her normal suit, she joined Superboy on the observation deck, standing on the other side of Wolf from him, letting Wolf act as an emotional barrier for her. She crouched down to pet Wolf and quickly check him over for injuries. She cooed at him a few times and fell over laughing when Wolf accidentally knocked her over in his excitement.

Superboy smiled at her as he watched her play with Wolf. Laughing, he helped her up after Wolf knocked her down. His arm twitched to be slung over her shoulders, but she seemed like she needed space and as much as it killed him not to touch her right now, he would never not give her the space she needed. She suddenly straightened up. “Oh my God! How much did I miss?”

Superboy looked down at her, a confused furrow in his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Look at Robin and Zatanna. The way they’re standing. Their body language is completely different now. There’s no way they didn’t kiss at midnight. Look at those goofy smiles and blushes. And look at Kid Flash with his arms around Artemis. They must have gotten together too!”

Chimera was jumping with excitement and tugging on his arm. Superboy grinned at her enthusiasm and closeness. He looked back to the group. “Aqualad is looking a bit flustered too.”

Chimera cocked her head to the side to examine him, her eyes widening. “Oh my god, you’re right. Do you think Rocket kissed him, too?” She grinned at the couples, but suddenly wrinkled her nose in disgust. “They’re all going to be making out all over the Cave now, aren’t they?” She looked back at Superboy. “I’m happy for them and all, but I have no interest in seeing them making out.” Especially when she wasn’t able to herself.

Superboy laughed for a moment before he stilled, the idea hitting him too. He scrunched up his face. “Me either,” he agreed. He wouldn’t want to see that in the first place, but seeing them do it and knowing he couldn’t do the same with Chimera was going to suck. “We could always start carrying water guns around for whenever we see them making out,” he offered with a smirk.

Chimera’s eyes went wide, a mischievous smile spreading on her lips. “Next time I go to the store I’ll get a few super soakers and a ton of water balloons.” They started giggling at the idea until they felt a presence behind them.

They turned around slowly, eyes widening at the sight of Superman, standing stiffly behind them. “Hello Mr… Man,” Chimera scrunched up her nose. “You know, you supers really have a problem with your names. You make it hard to mock you based on your name. It’s rather annoying.”

Superman chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry about that… I guess. I’ll try to work on it.”

“Wouldn’t be my priority of things to work on, but you do you, I guess,” she muttered wryly, knowing full well both of them could hear her. Superboy smirked, but hid it with a downturned face. Chimera looked back and forth between Superman and Superboy, almost laughing at the awkwardness. They both looked extremely apprehensive and nervous, looking anywhere but each other’s eyes. She was starting to wonder if the inability to process emotions was genetic.

She studied Superman closely as she waited for him to say why he had approached them. He kept tensing his jaw like he was getting ready to say something before sending her a furtive glance and looking away. “Riiiiight,” she drawled, rocking back and forth from her toes to her heels. “Oh look! It’s Red Arrow… all alone… I should go check on him. Let me know if you want me.” She gave Superboy a supportive pat on the back and walked over toward Red Arrow.

She felt slightly guilty about abandoning Superboy to speak with Superman, but it looked like Superman really wanted to talk with him and wouldn’t with her around. He looked contrite, which was a really good sign for them starting to move toward a relationship, and that was something that Conner desperately needed. She grimaced slightly at the thought that it might be all in her head, just wishful thinking that Superman had finally realized how much he was hurting Conner and that he was blaming Conner for being created. If that was the case and he wasn’t going to try to make amends, she would personally recreate their earlier interaction… for scientific purposes, of course.

She glanced over her shoulder to check on their progress. Her steps faltered as she saw Superboy reel back in mortification. Superman reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder with an awkward smile, calming Superboy immediately. They spoke a bit more then both looked her direction. Superman’s expression was indecipherable. Bemusement, maybe? But Superboy was giving her a proud smile. She squeaked and turned back to Red Arrow, focusing on the task at hand.

She smiled slightly as she sat next to him on the steps. “Hey. Good job earlier. You were really brave going in like that, serving yourselves up like that for Savage.”

He shrugged and looked up with a wry smile. “It’s what I was programmed to do.”

“No, you were programmed to betray us,” she corrected him. “You chose to help us. You chose to protect the innocents from Savage and whoever he was working with. You chose to risk your life. That was all you,” she insisted firmly. She watched him for a few moments. Her determined set lips turned sympathetic. “How are you feeling now that all the adrenaline is wearing off?”

He huffed out a bitter laugh. “I have no idea. I don’t know what is me and what is programming.”

Chimera nodded looking away, staring at the great abyss of space beyond the barriers of the Watchtower. Her brow slowly furrowed in deep thought until the lines seemed etched deep enough they would never leave. “I mean… we’re all programmed in a way. Most of us not so literally, or so malevolently” she granted. “But memories we wish we didn’t have. Events we wish we could forget. Involuntary reactions we wish we could control.” She looked down at her hands, glancing over to him furtively every so often. “I break out into sweats and start hyperventilating when I see either a butt… certain insects. I can no longer function correctly. It’s in my head now and I can’t get it out no matter how hard I try or how logical I am about it. I can’t control the reaction. It’s just there and I can’t make it go away. I can never see them the same anymore. Which is terrible because I used to love them. They used to make me feel calm one kind of insect used to make me feel powerful.”

He stared at her for a few moments. “What happened?”

She shifted her gaze to the floor for a few moments considering her answer before waving her hands like she was waving away his concern. She looked back at him with a supportive smile. “It doesn’t matter. My point is we all have things in our heads we can’t control and can’t get out no matter how hard we try. Things that were put there against our will. But… that’s what makes us who we are. It’s all a part of us. We wouldn’t be ourselves if we didn’t have it there.” She looked at him for a second before her face fell. “But, I mean… that’s a stupidly simplified comparison. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be dismissive of what you’re going through. I do realize it is much worse than that. And if you wanted it out, I’m sure Martian Manhunter could work with you to get it out.”

Red Arrow shook his head and laid his hand on her shoulder. “No, no. That helped. Thanks.”

She gave him a supportive smile. “You know, if you need a place to stay while you’re dealing with everything, you can stay with us. Even if you’re staying somewhere else but need a break, we’re always there. Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash are there all the time so they’d be there to hang out with. Or, if you need space, Superboy and I can run interference,” she rushed to assure him. The Cave was a sanctuary for her. She wanted him to know it could be one for him as well.

“And you?” he asked quietly.

She quirked her head at him. “Me?”

“Will you be there to hang out with?”

“Oh! Yeah, well, mostly. I mean, I have school and other obligations, but yeah. I live there so I’ll be there. We’ve tried to make the Cave home for all the Team members. Even if you aren’t technically a member of the Team, you’re still our teammate and we watch out for each other.” She offered him a bright, reassuring smile.

From across the room, Superboy let out a satisfied laugh, his concerned frown from a few moments before turning into a smirk. Roy had just been teammate zoned, and he didn’t even realize it. He could continue to flirt with Chimera as much as he wanted, he wasn’t going to get anywhere. He made his way over to Chimera and Red Arrow. He took a seat next to Chimera, close enough that their hips were touching.

“Couldn’t help but overhear…” he started.

“Was that because you were eavesdropping?” Chimera asked with a pointed look.

He avoided her eyes, leaning forward to look past her toward Red Arrow. “Super hearing, can’t control it.” He pointed to his ear and shrugged innocently.

“Uh huh,” Chimera mumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Anyway, we have lots of rooms in the Cave. If you want one permanently or for a short term, feel free to take one,” he offered.

Red Arrow noted how close they were sitting and nodded, looking away. “Thanks. I don’t think I can rest yet though.”

Batman walked over to the trio, focusing on Chimera. He opened his mouth but quickly closed it, seeming to think better of whatever he was going to say before trying again. “You did good today.” He glanced over to Superboy. “You both did. You two… work well together.” Chimera blushed and looked down, not noticing Superboy do the same and Red Arrow roll his eyes and look away.

“Red Arrow?” Batman stepped forward to catch his attention. “We would like to discuss today’s revelations with you.”

Chimera could see Roy tense at the invitation. He nodded to Batman. “I understand.” He stood and started following him, but Chimera stopped him, grabbing his wrist as she stood and pulling him into a tight hug. “Good Luck,” she whispered. “Don’t forget if you need us, we’re here. That goes beyond just a room.” The corner of Roy’s lips quirked up in a reluctant smile as he hugged her back. He nodded to Superboy and followed Batman out of the room.

Chimera sighed deeply, watching him leave with Batman. She wrapped her arms around herself feeling impotent. “I can’t imagine how hard this has to be for him. I really hope he asks for help if he needs it.”

Conner stood and joined her, watching her with concern rather than Red Arrow. “He knows we’re here. You made sure. Now it’s up to him to decide what he wants to do.”

“I hate it,” she grumbled. She watched the spot where he disappeared for a few more seconds. If the Team hadn’t rescued Conner when they did, that could have been him, or worse. They could have made him into anything they wanted. He would have had nobody there for him, no support, just people criticizing him. Speaking of which, “Oh, hey! How’d it go with Superman?”

He startled for a moment with the new topic. “It went okay. He said we did good,” he hesitated before continuing. “His last name is Kent, too.”

Chimera reeled on him in surprise. “That must be why Martian Manhunter suggested it… He didn’t seem mad that you had the same name,” she hedged.

“He wasn’t. He said it fit,” he assured her with an uncertain smile.

Chimera squealed in excitement. “That’s great Conner!”

His smile turned bright at her excitement. “Yeah, I guess it is. He said he likes you.”

Chimera stared at him wide eyed. “Seriously?”

Superboy nodded with a chuckle. “He said he’s glad I have someone like you watching out for me.”

She looked away at nothing. “Who knew Mr.… Wait… Kent? Like Clark Kent? He’s Clark Kent?” she whisper shouted.

“Yeah? You know him?” He cocked his head to the side in confusion.

“I know of him. Oh my God, if my best friend ever found out I electrocuted Clark Kent, she’d flay me.” She looked toward where Superman had been standing and grimaced at the thought of Alya finding out.

Superboy furrowed his brow. “Is he famous?”

“Eh,” she made a so so gesture with her hand. “He’s famous in journalism. Especially among those who report on superheroes.” She quirked her lips to the side in thought. “Huh, I guess that’s how he gets all those exclusives with Superman. Cheater,” she grumbled but with no real heat behind it. She knew exactly why Alya had gotten all the exclusives she had gotten with the miraculous team so she really had no right criticizing someone else.

Superboy chuckled and looked over their teammates. He let out a long breath. It had been an extremely long few weeks and he was ready to do something relaxing for as long as they were allowed to. “Ready to go home? Maybe watch a movie or just… sleep for a few days?”

Chimera slumped against his shoulder. “That sounds amazing. I just want to sleep until school starts in a few days. What do you think are the odds they’ll let us?”

Superboy chuckled and shook his head, not wanting to admit the very low likelihood of it happening. He slung his arm over Chimera’s shoulder and pulled her into his side as they walked. “So… fall asleep watching a movie?”

She smiled up at him and hugged him around the waist as they walked. “Definitely.”

Chapter 11

Tags:

#maribat #Capturing a Dream #connette #connerette #konmari #conner x marinette #Marinette x Conner

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 5 – Kobayashi Maru

“Why are you wearing that thing?” Conner teased Chimera with a playful lilt to his voice and pointing to her pink apron. She had wanted to make some treats for the team and roped him into helping her despite his objections. Apparently, sitting and watching Wolf attempt to play with Sphere wasn’t considered an adequate way to spend his morning.

Chimera raised an eyebrow at him. “To keep clean. Things can get messy when you’re baking.”

“Just don’t get dirty.” Conner responded easily. He leaned over to her with a mischievous look, “Bake better.”

Chimera gasped in fake offense and glared at him as she finished pouring the flour into the mixing bowl. “Whatever, oh kitchen guru.” She moved to get the buttermilk and looked over at him with a slightly too innocent expression. “Hey, can you turn on the blender for me, please?”

Conner grinned smugly from his apparent win and moved to the mixer to turn it on. He accidentally switched it to the highest level. He wasn’t able to move before a wave of flour flew out of the bowl and coated him in a thick coat of white. He fumbled for the off switch before turning toward Chimera with a questioning look. She doubled over in laughter as soon as she saw him. He groaned and started trying to shake and brush off the flour, but that just seemed to make it worse, spreading it further and pushing it into his shirt and pants. Chimera was now gasping for breath from laughing so hard until she fell on her butt, making her laugh harder. “That… that’s… that’s why I wear an apron,” she choked out.

“You…” Conner stared incredulously at her. “You did that on purpose.”

“No. I would never.” She tried to defend herself, but the wicked look in her eyes and the way she was biting her lip trying not to laugh as she leaned against the lower kitchen cabinets, gave her away.

“Is that so,” Conner asked, the mischievous glint back in his eye as he picked up the mixing bowl.

Chimera’s eyes widened as she realized his intention. “No, no, no. Conner.” She held up her hand in a placating gesture and tried backing away from him but she was already pressed against the cabinets so there was nowhere to go. Conner threw the contents of the bowl at her with a roguish grin. She squealed loudly as the ingredients hit her legs and her forearms that were protecting her head. “Conner!” she chastised him with no heat in her tone. “I cannot believe you just did that.”

“Then you’re really not going to believe this,” he grinned as he picked up the bowl of sugar they hadn’t added yet and threw that at her too.

Chimera was barely able to dodge out of the way in time and grabbed the container of baking powder and flicked it toward him. He just dodged it but the baking powder was just a distraction from the cocoa powder she threw at him next. The cocoa powder caught him in the neck and hair, the impact spreading it to his face and shirt. He recovered quickly and searched for something else to throw, coughing slightly from the cocoa powder that hung in the air.

“Okay, okay. Truce!” Chimera yelled holding her hands out placating. “The only ingredients left are wet ingredients and I really, really don’t want to clean that up. Truce?” She eyed him suspiciously, the same way he eyed her. He reached his hand out to her but his body was guarded in case she tried to go back on her word. Chimera tentatively reached out her hand as well, suspecting a counter strike, but their hands met without incident. They smiled at each other breathlessly.

Chimera pulled Conner into a hug and Conner wrapped his arms around her just as tight until he felt something granular sliding down his shirt. He looked at Chimera and groaned. She was shaking her hair out on his shoulder causing the sugar that had caught in her hair to fall on him as well. Chimera laughed even harder, her face turning red in the process. Conner laughed too in spite of himself.

After Chimera had calmed down a few minutes later, she surveyed the damage around them and glanced over to Conner. “Okay, do you want to help me redo this and we can clean together while it’s in the oven or do you want to clean while I bake?”

Conner surveyed the kitchen as he considered his options. “I’ll clean. It’s probably safer that way.” He sent her a mock glare that she laughed off.

Chimera hummed as she remixed the ingredients for the chocolate cupcakes. She was enjoying the moments of normalcy and lightness between missions. Things were just starting to settle down again into a routine after the last few weeks had rocked the Team to their core. She needed this reprieve and she was confident that Conner did too after everything that happened.

After the cakes were out of the oven and the kitchen had been cleaned with only themselves left to clean off, they grinned at each other. “I’ll frost those tonight after they’ve cooled. We both should probably get moving.” She smiled at him as she headed out of the kitchen. “Probably should take a shower first though.”

He smiled as he looked down at his clothes and raised an eyebrow at her. “And whose fault was that?”

She looked back at him with wide eyes, the perfect picture of innocence. “You could have just not gotten dirty, right? So… yours.”

He narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled back brightly. Conner fought it, he really did, but he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up and the chuckle from working its way out. “We’ll settle this later.” He waved at her as she left, his eyes following her until she was out of sight.

<><><><><>

The team watched in shock as Artemis’ body disappeared in a flash of light. That was… less than optimal. “Everyone get in the ship!” Aqualad called to them as he whipped out his water bearers to destroy the downed ship that had just eliminated their teammate.

As soon as the ship was destroyed, Aqualad joined Superboy, Robin, and Wally on the ship. “We need to rethink our approach to this. I still think a plan is needed, but going against them even as a sneak attack cost us Artemis and Wolf. There has to be a different way to address this.” Aqualad stated calmly.

“Head on didn’t work and sneak attack hasn’t seemed to work better.” Kid Flash added in the same academic tone as one would considering a word puzzle.

“Back to the Cave to regroup?” Robin asked from the ship’s controls.

“No, to the Hall of Justice. We need to consider the effect this is having on the people here as well. The people need to know there are still heroes out there.” Aqualad responded flippantly, keeping his focus on the horizon. His mind was still running through possible approaches. What had worked, what had failed, what they hadn’t tried, what had the most success and might work if it was reworked.

Suddenly Kid Flash gasped and pounded his fist on the ship’s controls. “Artemis is dead!” He jumped up. “They killed Artemis. Artemis died right in front of us.”

Aqualad put his hand on Kid Flash’s shoulder. “Her sacrifice will not be in vain. We will avenge her.”

“I’m going to kill every last one of them.” Kid Flash vowed looking out to the skies, searching for any he could shoot.

“Has anyone heard from Chimera?” Conner asked, his eyes suddenly looking frantic.

“No, she hasn’t contacted the Cave since the aliens attacked.” Aqualad confirmed.

“Robin, check the communication in and out of the Cave. See if there is a message from Chi in there.” Superboy commanded anxiously.

Robin connected to the Cave. “Nothing at the Cave. I’m checking the Hall of Justice right now.” He kept searching but his eyes were getting more and more worried as he did. “Nothing… there’s nothing. The Hall’s communication networks have been destroyed so we wouldn’t know even if she had tried.”

Aqualad placed his hand on Superboy’s shoulder, just as he had for Kid Flash. “I’m sorry.”

Superboy jerked away like he had been burned. “No. We don’t know that anything happened to her. She could be fine. There were no reports that she was killed.”

“That’s right.” Robin encouraged him. “We’ll keep fighting to find her. The quicker we end this attack, the quicker we can find her.” Aqualad grimaced at Robin who responded with a dark look of his own. “We’re coming up on DC. It looks like we’re not the only ones.” He said indicating the alien ships that were heading toward the Capitol Building.

“Let’s destroy these bastards.” Kid Flash growled already aiming the weapons systems on the closest one.

“We can’t shoot them all. Superboy, you think you can take one on your own?” Aqualad asked, keeping his eyes on the screen and formulating a plan.

Superboy gave him a feral grin. “Absolutely.”

“Good. We sneak up on them, drop Conner on the closest one then start moving onto the next and work our way through. Once they’re all taken care of we start working with the army to combine forces and assess our assets.”

Conner took a deep breath, bracing himself for his next move. They had already lost the entire Justice League, Wolf was dead, Artemis was dead, and nobody had heard from Chimera. He didn’t want to think she was dead, but… the odds were not in her favor. But she was magic and had already survived attacks he didn’t think anyone could survive. And she was a strategist. If anyone could come up with a plan for her and for them, it was her.

“Ready?” Robin called out to him.

“Just give me the sign. I’ll take them out.” Superboy turned back to the hatch below with a determined stare.

“Opening the hatch. I’ll count you down. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Jump!” Robin called out.

Superboy jumped and landed directly on the alien ship with enough force to create a massive dent in the ship. He ripped off the canon and began punching the ship as hard and rapidly as he could manage. He was too laser focused to notice the Team’s ship firing on the ship that came up behind his, destroying that ship, leaving three more ships. The Team’s ship started firing on the next ship, bringing the other ships’ attention to them.

Conner whipped around to assess the situation. His ship wasn’t completely destroyed yet, but disabled. If he could jump on another, he could disable that as well, making it easier for the Team’s ship to destroy them. Before the ships could start firing, a portal opened immediately in front of one of the ships. The ship flew in and suddenly the next ship over exploded and the two ships crashed, followed almost immediately by the third ship exploding from the Team’s fire.

Superboy’s ship glided down, crashing on the National Mall, skidding to a stop just in front of it. Superboy jumped just before it came to a stop, landing in a crouch in front of the army forces stationed in front of the Capitol Building, the Team’s ship landing just behind him. Superboy looked up to the army and stopped short, his breath catching in his chest.

Standing in front of the army forces was Chimera, standing tall, a little disheveled, a bit bloody, but standing and smiling brilliantly at Superboy. Superboy’s eyes lit up and he started running to her. Chimera jumped in his arms, laughing heartily in relief. Superboy hugged her tight, spinning her around in his excitement to see her. Chimera looked down to brush the nonexistent hair out of his face, cupping his face in the process, her grin growing impossibly bigger as she did. Superboy’s eyes were crinkling from the large smile spreading on his face that only got larger as Chimera leaned down to touch her lips to his.

Her lips were soft and yielding and everything he had been dreaming they would be... not that he had been dreaming about her... he just... had been... repeatedly. The kiss was exactly everything he had dreamed it would be. It filled him with warmth and comfort at the same time, making his heart race.

They broke apart, gasping for breath after what felt like no time at all and forever at the same time. Chimera smiled sappily at him, not letting him move his face too far from hers. “I don’t want to wait until the next world ending event to do that again.”

Conner looked back at her with desire and shook his head. “I don’t want to wait at all.” He whispers heartily, capturing her lips and letting the emotion sweep over him again. The kiss was hungrier than the first, more assured in their mutual desire. A reprieve from the devastation and loss. A dream in the middle of a nightmare.

They broke apart when they heard someone clearing their throats. “She’s kissing Superman.” “That’s not Superman. He’s too young. And where’s the cape?”

“He’s better. He’s Superboy.” Chimera responded without sparing the interrupter a glance, keeping her eyes on Superboy’s.

He twined his hand into her hair, gently setting her down to cup her face with his other hand and keeping her close. He pulled away slightly, still touching her, not willing to give up on that reassurance that she was still there, that she was alive and by his side. “So this is where you go to” he said with a smirk but eyes still showing how relieved he was to see her.

“Guess my secret is out,” she smiled at him, cupping her hands over his. “I’m glad you finally know. I hated keeping it from you.”

Conner rested his forehead on hers and let out a deep shuttering breath. “We thought you were dead. Don’t ever do that again.”

Chimera squeezed her eyes shut and nuzzled her face into his hands. “The zeta tubes I knew about were down and I was fighting here. I couldn’t abandon them.”

Kid Flash broke free from Robin’s grip and stalked over to them. “So this is where you have been this whole time. We could have used your help. We were fighting alone. Artemis was fighting alone.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to Artemis.” She looked at him with guilt and compassion in her eyes. “I wish I could have been there for you, for my Team.”

Kid Flash moved so he was only a few inches from her face. “But you weren’t. And now Artemis is dead.” He growled at her.

A guilty, hurt look spread across Chimera’s face and she backed away from Kid Flash, seeming to shrink at his censure. Superboy moved in front of her, pushing Kid Flash away. “That’s enough. She was saving civilians. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. What happened to Artemis isn’t anyone’s fault but the aliens’.”

Aqualad walked up to them and placed a hand on Kid Flash’s shoulder. “He’s right. Circumstances were extreme. We are a team. We need to start acting like it and focus on taking down the aliens, not each other.”

Kid Flash glared at Chimera before looking away. He knew, he knew it wasn’t her fault, but that didn’t stop a part of his brain from blaming her. But, blaming her wouldn’t help the situation. It wouldn’t bring Artemis back. They needed to stop the aliens before they killed more people and they needed her for that. “So what’s our next step?”

Aqualad looked over the wreckage formulating a plan, and trying to keep his anger in check. “We’ll salvage as many of the alien’s cannons as possible.” His face morphed as his anger took over. “Then we take back what is ours.”

<><><><><>

The Hall of Justice didn’t offer any particular insights, just a sense of familiarity and fleeting safety in their decidedly unsafe and insecure position. It wasn’t the Cave, it wasn’t their home, but it was a symbol of hope to people around the world and had been to them. And hope was something they all needed more of today.

Aqualad sat with the army general talking tactics while the other army men watched the perimeter and tried to take a second to themselves. Kid Flash and Robin were running tests on the alien cannons to learn more about them. A look of frustration and concentration set on Kid Flash’s face. They were going to figure this out. They needed to avenge Artemis and their mentors. Robin watched the results of one test come in and launched into the next test with calm and determined eyes, his mouth set in a thin line, the very picture of traught. He would deal with the emotions later. Right now, the priority had to be their analysis. They needed to figure out how to defeat the aliens or they were all going to die. There was no time for emotions right now.

Superboy and Chimera stood sentry at the main entrance, no longer holding hands now that the initial wave of relief had passed and they were on a mission, but standing close enough that Superboy could feel the heat from her body. Both had their eyes trained on the skies, but he occasionally darted his eyes to her just to reassure himself that she was there. “I’m sorry about Wolf.” She said quietly, eyes still on the sky.

Superboy’s eyes moved to her for longer, focusing on her. He could see the sorrow in her eyes as she said it, even though she refused to take her eyes off the skies for even a moment. Every bit the professional as he expected from her, pushing away her emotions until the mission was over. But too worried and grieved for him to wait to say something. “He died protecting me.” Superboy grumbled looking back to the sky. He wouldn’t cry. There had been so much death and destruction. It was ridiculous to cry over one pet.

Chimera nodded solemnly. “That’s what you do for the people you love, you risk your life for them. Sometimes you lose it for them.” Superboy could see the tears trying to escape that she held tight to. “And he loved you.”

Superboy opened his mouth to say something too fast, too deep, something he knew she wasn’t ready to hear, but before he could Kid Flash yelled out saving him from himself. “Guys! Look what I found! Look at this!”

The Team along with General Eiling moved over to him. “What did you find?” Aqualad asked, unmoved by Kid Flash’s excitement.

“Zeta-beam radiation!” Kid Flash exclaimed excitedly. “The cannons have zeta-beam radiation! The same as our zeta tubes.” He was nearly bouncing with excitement. “They aren’t disintegration beams, they are teleporting beams. Do you know what that means?” He grabbed Chimera by her shoulders to make sure she was entirely focused on him, the one person on the Team who could match his levels of excitement. The one person who could mutually indulge in extreme emotions. His smile was so big and bright, it almost brought hope back to the structure all on its own. “They’re alive. They aren’t killing people, they’re taking them hostage! We can save them.”

Chimera smiled widely at him. “We can save Artemis.” Kid Flash started giggling with happiness as he nodded at her words, hugging her tight. The hug he gave her turned into a dive for cover when the building was rocked with an explosion, Chimera covering his body with hers. As soon as the rocking stopped, the Team and soldiers popped their heads up assessing the situation. “We’re surrounded, sir.” One of the soldiers at the entrance reported. “At least twelve ships out there, sir.” Another soldier called back.

“There’s no way to make it to our ship,” Robin commented.

“We need to move to the Zeta tubes. Robin, I need you to run ahead and hack the system to get authorization for the soldiers.” Aqualad called over to him as he wrapped one of the soldiers’ arms over his shoulders.

“On it,” Robin calls already running toward the zeta tubes. By the time the rest of the Team, each supporting at least one soldier, got to the room he had the system hacked and was already scanning soldiers. They all braced themselves and jumped out of the way of falling chunks of ceiling as more explosions rocked the building.

Superboy searched out Chimera after the latest particularly bad explosion, breathing a sigh of relief when he found her standing unharmed near the zeta tube. “That one sounded like it came from the inside.” He reported loudly.

“They appear to have breached the perimeter. They will be here soon. We need to move.” Aqualad stated gravely. “Chimera, you go through first and signal us if it is safe.”

“What? No! You don’t know what you’re sending her into,” Superboy objected.

Aqualad shook his head. “Chimera has a nearly indestructible suit. If there is something on the other side, she will be best equipped to withstand it.” He nodded to Chimera to signal her to move.

Chimera nodded back and gave Superboy a weak smile. “See you on the other side.” Superboy nodded back. He would see her. They would see each other and he would kiss her again. He watched as Chimera disappeared through the zeta tube, holding his breath until they heard a signal come through to Robin.

“She’s okay. She says it’s safe.” Robin reported. Superboy let out the breath he had been holding.

“Everyone start moving.” Aqualad commanded. “Soldiers first.”

“No,” General Eiling countermanded. “We cannot risk losing more heroes. You go first.” Aqualad squared up against him ready to argue. “We don’t have time to argue. This is non-negotiable. You. Go. First.”

Aqualad grunted in displeasure but nodded. “Kid Flash, you go through next, Robin, you next, followed by Superboy. I’ll go next, followed by the army soldiers. Time is a factor. Move quickly.” Kid Flash looked between them, but moved to the tube quickly. Robin frowned at Aqualad, but moved to the tube to wait his turn.

The Team and the soldiers in the room waited impatiently for their turns to make it through the zeta tube. It didn’t take long for each person to go through, but they didn’t have time to wait. They could hear the explosions and the destruction nearing them quicker than they had. It went against their natures to just stand by and do nothing, but there was nothing to do, not until the room was breached.

Robin had just made it through the tube when there was a flash of blinding light and everything seemed to freeze for a few moments before returning to normal. Aqualad and Superboy shook their heads in confusion, the light having done something to their heads, causing momentary confusion. When they looked back up, the door to their stronghold had been blown apart and the aliens were entering in droves. The room erupted into a cacophony of yells, screams, weapons’ fire, and fighting. “Superboy, get in the tube.” Aqualad yelled to him as he attacked an alien.

Superboy opened his mouth to object but quickly dived out of the way of an oncoming shot. “Now!” Aqualad yelled again. Superboy moved quickly to the tube, keeping an eye on the aliens as he waited for the tube to recognize him and shoot him with the zeta beam energy. He gasped as an alien aimed at him. It was a race between the zeta beam energy and the alien’s weapon. He closed his eyes and braced himself for the hit that never came.

When he opened his eyes he saw Chimera’s grinning face. He exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her neck. He pulled away just enough to kiss her again, weaving his hand into her hair to pull her closer.

“The tube is down.” Robin reported gravely from his position at the zeta tube controls. The rest of the Team turned to him in question. “The Hall of Justice tube entrance is not responding. Likely destroyed. We should not expect survivors.”

Kid Flash and Chimera gasped at the declaration. Chimera buried her face in Superboy’s chest. He could feel her tears soaking through his shirt. He pulled her closer and rested his head on hers, trying to whisper comforting words, but there were none. There was no comfort in this situation. The only comfort he had found in this entire situation was her, so he hugged her closer like the symbol of hope she was to him.

Chapter 6

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#maribat #capturing a dream #connette #connerette #marikon #connor x marinette #Marinette x Conner

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