Justice League: Vertigo

Chapter 11 - The Talk

"So, Connor; what did you see?" asked Adam.

"I saw Superman. He looked at me in disgust. Like I was some type of monster. Then he attacked me. He said he was the spawn of his worst enemy, so I didn't deserve to live. He started to beat me to a pulp. Then Supergirl joined him and before you know it the whole of Krypton is calling me infidel, clone, counterfeit..."

"Good, good. You need to get it all out of your system. We are here to vent every hidden emotion that we have buried deep inside our hearts. Artemis, how about you go next?

"Sure. Mine was about my sister, my mom and my dad. You guys already know their various notorious aliases. Well, they attacked all of us. They made me watch as they tortured all of you."

"That must have been quite horrifying. Please overlook it. We will always be here with you. By your side." said Adam

"Thank you, Adam."

"Please, M'gann. Would you mind going next?"

"Okay. At first it was darkness. Then there was screaming. Then the darkness started clearing like...like a black fog. I found out that I was on Mars. I saw a green martian, stabbing a white martian in the back. It was horrible. Then J'onn stepped in. He grabbed me. I could see the hatred in his eyes. Then he stabbed me..." she said.

"That must have been traumatizing. You know J'onn would never do anything to hurt you. He's the Martian Manhunter not the Martian White Martian Hunter."

No reaction.

"OOOOkay whose next? How 'bout you, Robin."

"I'd rather not."

"Whatever Mr. Secret. How 'bout you Aqualad. Would you like to share?"

"Of course, my friend. I was rejected by the surface people and my people, the Atlanteans. The surface dwellers called me a freak, while my people called me a traitor."
"Sorry man. But we'll always be three for you. Remember that. Kid flash. You wanna go?"
"I'd rather not."
"If you keep your feelings bottled up, they will all burst out at the slightest push."
"You sound like my mom when she gave me 'The Talk'."
"Fine then. That leaves you Zee."
She sighed. "OK. My father was brought back from Dr. Fate's hold and everything was finally going back to normal until he punched me. He completely betrayed me. He wasn't the same man that put on the Fate helmet. He was different."
"I'm sorry. But it's good to open your heart like this to your friends. I can't imagine going through what you guys went through, but if you work through the pain, our team will get better in no time. Now group hug!"
"No."
"Wow, tough crowd."
The Next Day, During Training
"Hey Superboy." Said Adam."We never did finish our little skirmish that we started the first time I got here."
"You're right. How bout we do this now?"
"I'm game."
They both got to the training area. And then the sparring match started. Superboy tried to punch Adam in the face but Adam ducked and swept his leg. Adam tried to step on his face and Superboy grabbed his leg and threw him to the side. Adam quickly got up. Superboy punched him in the stomach and then the face. Before Superboy could throw another punch Adam had manoeuvred behind him, grabbed him by the waist and slammed him unto the ground. As the fight went on, a crowd with all their teammates and some Justice League members had come. Watching and making bets on who would win. Superboy had just gotten the upper hand by throwing Adam over his shoulder. Superboy jumped into the air and tried to land on Adam but Adam rolled out if the way and as Superboy landed, Adam hit him with a dropkick to the kisser.
"Break it up, you two. I think we've had enough carnage for today." Said Black Canary. "As you all know, tomorrow's Halloween so you guys will have the day off. Probably. And just so you know, it was a draw" Everyone cleared out whether to their rooms or homes. Adam brought out a canvas that Zatanna and Robin had picked out for him and started painting.
Before all of this, painting was a hobby of his. He drew visual representations of his friends nightmares and although some of them were quite graphic, he thought it explained exactly what his teammates were feeling. He put them all in a backpack and started distributing them to his teammates, hopefully to make them feel better.
When he gave Superboy, all he got was a glare and a grunt. M'gann and Zatanna screamed at him for being insensitive.
Maybe he wasn't as good a psychologist as he thought. He played the guitar and sharpened his swords then went to bed.
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Halloween
It was quite an empty day until M'gann had invited all the whole Team to a Halloween party. Adam wasn't really a party person so he decided to skip out and go on patrol. Clear his head maybe. When he came out of his room, he saw everyone getting their costumes ready. Then he saw Artemis and Zatanna storming out of the cave. Maybe she was still angry about the picture. Who knows these days with humans. So emotional. He zetaed out to Gotham and made his way to the docks. Something good (or should I say bad) was always happening at the docks. He dived behind a box when he saw some armed men unloading crates of Vertigo into a ship. If that stuff got out of Gotham it would really suck. Adam threw the box he was hiding behind at one of the men and took out the other with lariat. Their friends had seen him so before they could shoot he created a smoke screen. And like any blinded criminal would do, they became trigger happy. Adam used his Dragon Vision and took out the rest easily, but he left one for interrogation. He grabbed the man by the collar.
"Who gave you this shipment?"
"I ain't telling you nothing."
Adam set his hand on fire and showed it to the man who was now trembling.
"Do I need to ask again?"
"Lex Luthor."
"If your lying, I'll break the other arm."
"The other.......Arggggh!" The man screamed as Adam jammed his foot onto his elbow, making it bend at an awkward position. He called the police on a payphone and got on his bike. As he was riding away from the scene he heard the scream of one of his teammates. He couldn't tell if it was Artemis or Zatanna, but he immediately turned his bike around and started riding in that direction. Double time.
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500. 5 freakin hundred. You don't know how much I appreciate this guys. Although I don't post as much as I should I tried to make this one long. And I'm think of giving Adam a different person, you know besides Zatanna. You can tell me what you think or you can just leave the comment section empty.....like you've done the whole time...