Justice League: Vertigo

Chapter 23 - Wrecked

It'd been a long time since Adam had gotten wrecked like that. Nobody had beating him up that easily since, well, Superman. He sat, cross legged on the infirmary bed. He'd been in bed for a day. At least he was supposed to be in bed. He had already narrowed down wear Astrid could have been to a 4 square kilometre radius. He had done the calculations on the wall of the infirmary because his teammates said he wasn't supposed to move around too much. They were in Antarctica again. They must have a base there or something.
"Is this magical math?" Asked a voice.
He stopped thinking and looked up, to see Zatanna walk in to the room.
"You really know how to take the fun out of things, don't you?" She groaned.
Adam laughed.
"How're you feeling?" She asked.
"Like a cowpat."
"Exactly how you look."
"Do you really want to play that game with me, Zee?"
She smiled and sat beside him on the hospital bed.
"Your tattoos...they're gone." She observed.
"Yeah. Just faded away after I lost my powers..."
"Where does it hurt?" She asked him, looking at his exposed chest.
He took her hand and placed it on his chest, then softly slid it down to his stomach. He winced a little at the feeling of her hand. He could feel the warmth of her hand radiating on his chest.
She put her other hand on his chest.
She looked at him and he looked at her.
Then there was a cough heard from behind them.
"I'm sorry to interrupt...whatever is going on here, but do we have a plan to save Astrid yet?" Asked Artemis.
They both blushed and Adam painfully got up from the infirmary bed.
"Well I made a 3-D model of Antarctica, that was supposed to be 'for my cast'." Said Adam, mimicking Robin for the last part.
And sure enough, at the corner of the infirmary was a white 3-D model of the continent of Antarctica.
"You're crazy." Sighed Zatanna.
"And you have way too much time on his hands." Said Robin.
"What am I supposed to do? Sit here and read Jane Austen?" Adam asked. He pointed out where the coordinates were and Robin took them down, and in a second, the same coordinates appeared on the holomap of his wrist computer.
"We'll go right now." Said Robin.
"Cool. Let me just get..." Said Adam, but he was cut off by Zatanna.
"You're not going anywhere in this condition." She said.
"She's right. You'll get yourself hurt even more."
"Ok. I agree with you. I'm not going for the mission to save my twin sister, and possibly get my powers back. And I totally won't sneak into the back of the bioship. No sir, I'm staying right here. All day." Said Adam. He saluted at Robin.
"I thought you might say that." Said Robin. He pressed a button on his wrist computer, and in a second, Adam was clamped onto his hospital bed by metal arms.
"Sorry. But we can't let you come." Said Artemis. They all started leaving the room.
"Guys! Don't leave without me! Guys!" Shouted Adam, as he struggled on the metallic arms. The infirmary door slammed shut and in some seconds, Adam heard the sound of the bioship taking of.
He felt helpless.
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Zatanna didn't feel good strapping Adam onto his bed. But frankly, it was for the best. She knew nothing else would stop Adam from rushing off and hurting himself. Hopefully, if everything went according to plan, they would get back Astrid and their powers.
She remembered a conversation she had with Astrid before:
"I haven't had a chance to say this yet, but I'm sorry for anything Adam did while I wasn't here." Said Astrid. She was sitting upside down beside Zatanna.
"Well, he is kind of antisocial."
"And crazy. That's because when other kids were at the playground, Adam was holed up in the basement, training to control the dragons."
"Playground? I thought you said that Superman had you guys under martial law.
"It wasn't always like that. There was a time when Superman hadn't taken over the world yet. All his heinous crimes were in secret. But our dad found out. He used to be a crime fighter too. He confronted Superman and tried to stop him, but when he did, Superman killed him." Astrid had clenched her fists. " Then he came to our house. And killed our mother. I was hiding in the closet, but Adam watched him, as he put his hand through her chest. He would have killed us too, but Ryder, our dad's friend, saved us. Since that day, Adam hasn't been the same. "
"I'm sorry." Said Zatanna.
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Adam was so bored. But he was strapped to a hospital bed. There was no use struggling, he'd already been trying. He saw Wolf pass across the door and idea dropped into his hear.
He whistled to Wolf, who came and sat beside him.
"So, would it take for you to free me?" Adam asked.
Wolf turned away, uninterested.
"If I'm strapped here, then I can't rub you on that spot on your tummy that you like." Ringed Adam.
Wolf looked at him, pondering the offer, but he looked away again.
"We can switch beds for today."
Wolf's ears perked up and he used his claws to rip off the metal straps.
"Thanks."
Wolf rolled over onto his back, waiting to be petted.
Adam smiled and rubbed the middle of his tummy.
He got his swords and climbed onto Wolf and they both zetaed to Antarctica.