Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Thirty- Opening Up

April 1, 2016. 21:15
Bludhaven
~~Willow~~

"I have got to stop these late nights." I muttered. To prove my point, I suddenly let out a long yawn and buried my face in Wolf's fur. Sphere let out a loud beep, making me jolt awake, much to Connor and Mal's amusement, as we landed by the docks.

I recognized this place. We were in Blüdhaven. This was the warehouse where Nightwing and I met Wally, Artemis, and Aqualad. But I couldn't let M'gann, Connor, or Mal notice my familiarity with the place. It was too late with Wolf. My old friend had already caught on.

I pulled myself out of Super-Cycle and landed gracefully on the dock as Nightwing tossed up the door.

"Perfect cover for our new digs!" Mal complimented, looking around with pleasure. "Sure, it looks nasty on the outside, but on the inside..."

Nightwing said nothing, only grinned mischeviously. Oh man, it wasn't going to look much better inside was it? I sighed as Connor helped me down from Sphere. Wolf jumped out along with Mal, and Sphere rolled herself up into a ball to follow us inside.

"April Fools, right?" Mal asked desperately. "This is the team's new HQ!?"

I looked around. It was no Mount Justice, that's for sure. A row of cots was against the back wall, with an assortment of secondhand drawers for personal belongings. There were also a set of stairs leading to a loft with a kitchen that looked like it was hardly sanitary even if it did work without setting the place on fire. Like at Mount Justice, the kitchen was also combined with the sitting room, and there were a few couches surrounding a flat-screen TV, about the only luxury we had here, aside from the zillion-dollar zeta-tubes that were a necessity to have if any heroes were nearby. Wolf barked approvingly, settling down onto one of the couches in the loft. I followed suit and collapsed on a cot next to the one Connor was sitting on.

"No April Fools," Nightwing apologized halfheartedly at the look on Mal's face, "This is just a place to crash- A very temporary place to crash! -For those of you who were actually living at the cave." He added as Mal made to object, "For now, the team will be operating out of the hall of Justice."

Unable to stop it, I let out a rather uncouth and loud yawn. Everyone looked at me as I turned my signature shade of red.

Mal shook his head, "I'm heading for the Hall' to make my own arrangements!" He headed for the zeta-tubes

Nightwing sighed, looking at M'gann and Connor, "You should go to, get your things that we salvaged from Mount Justice. Might make this "warehouse" feel like a "ware-home"." He chuckled at his weak attempt at humor.

"You're really going with that?" I asked, stretching out my arms.

M'gann sat in the corner Richard had curtained off for her and Rachel, not even shaking her head at Nightwing, almost like she hadn't heard him. In fact, she'd hardly reacted to anyone or anything since we rescued everyone from the Reach and...Aqualad.

"Tell them!" Scarlett screamed. I held my head. My conflicting multiple personalities always gave me a headache, sometimes were worse than others.

"You okay?" Connor asked, standing up and grabbing my arm to support me.

I shook my head, "Yeah, fine." I had promised Nightwing. I would keep my promise.

"Even if it hurts your friends?" Pyro taunted. I froze.

Connor's eyebrows furrowed deeper. "It's not Pyro, is it?" He asked.

"No!" I said immediately. In the back of my mind, Pyro snickered, and I could picture Scarlett crossing her arms angrily. I did not want anyone going all "over-protective" over me again. It was too suffocating, to painful, and I never wanted it again. I could very well take care of myself.