Secrets and Lies

Cornered

Chicago
April 2, 21:10 CDT
M'gann waited until she was behind closed doors to morph back into her usual self.  As she filled the watering can in the sink, her phone vibrated.  She saw it was La'gaan calling her.  She sighed as she hit "Decline Call". She didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now.  Except for Conner.  But he was a million miles away, probably swearing at her for brain blasting Kaldur.  She had just begun to water her uncle's plants when she heard a knock on the door.

"M'gann?  Its us.  We need to talk."  She bit her lip, thinking for a moment before letting Wally and Artemis inside and closing the door behind them.  "What do you wanna talk about?"  Wally rubbed the back of his neck.  "Nightwing told us what happened at the Hall today.  How you kept refusing to use your powers to help."  He looked at her, hanging her head.  "What's with you, M'gann?  Usually you're the first one to attack when danger strikes."

She bit her lip harder, tears falling down as she pictured Conner's disappointed expression, the tone in his voice horrified.  M'gann...what have you done?  She burst into sobs and fell onto a nearby chair, burying her face in her hands.  Artemis ran to her side.  "M'gann!  What happened?"  M'gann looked up at her.  "Conner's alive."  "What?"  "He's alive.  His death was faked.  Kaldur didn't betray us.  He's deep undercover on Black Manta's ship.  Or, at least he was, before I...before I..."  Wally and Artemis looked at each other with wide eyes before looking back at their Martian friend.  "M'gann!  What did you do?!"

M'gann lower lip trembled.  "I was so angry at Kaldur.  I thought because of him, I would never see Conner again.  That I'd never get to hold him again, to look into his beautiful blue eyes again, to muster up all my courage and finally tell him that..."  She choked back a sob.  "That I still love him."  She sobbed harder.  "I thought Kaldur had taken my true love away from me forever.  So when I came across him on the Reach ship, I...I...I..."  More tears fell down her cheeks.  "I left him catatonic."  Artemis gasped.  "M'gann!  How could you!"

M'gann wiped her eyes.  "Before he faked his death, Conner told me that my new ability was evil and wrong, that I was abusing my powers.  I told him that by using it, I was getting information for the Team and helping them, that the ends justify the means.  When I did it to Kaldur...I wasn't thinking of the greater good.  I was only thinking of revenge.  And now I see Conner was right all along."  Her lips quivered.  "How could Nightwing do this to us?!  How could he keep something like this to himself?"

Wally and Artemis didn't answer.  M'gann looked up to see they were shifting their eyes between the floor, the ceiling and each other. She felt guilt and stress come off them. Her eyes widened. She didn't need to read their minds to figure out what was with them. "Y-Y-You knew?" They whipped their heads towards her. "M'gann, please! Let me explain!" "You KNEW?!", she screamed, jumping to her feet. "You two knew, and none of you told me?!" Artemis grabbed her by the arms. "M'gann, I'm sorry, but-" "Sorry?!" Tears spilled down her cheeks. "You're sorry? Sorry doesn't cut it!"

"M'gann, listen!" "No, you listen to ME!", she shouted. "You both knew how devastated I was when I thought Conner had died! I couldn't sleep! I couldn't eat! All I could do was cry over him! It broke my heart to think he would never be around anymore! You were there, at his funeral, when I clung to his coffin! You were there when I spilled tears onto all of his pictures! You were there when I said that I would never love anyone else!" She shook her head. "And you didn't say a word."

Wally stepped forward.  "Megan...this deep cover mission is...or at least was, really important.  Nightwing figured, the less people who knew, the better.  And Conner knew you weren't going to be let in on the secret, and he didn't say anything, 'cause...he didn't know you'd care so much."  M'gann's eyes went wide for a moment.  "He was my boyfriend!  My first love!  My true love!  How could he think I wouldn't care that he died?"  Wally quirked an eyebrow.  "True love?  If you love him so much, ya have a strange way of showing it."

"What are you talking about?"  Artemis put her hand on her shoulder.  "M'gann...Conner was always telling us how you ignored him after you two broke up.  How you started dating Lagoon Boy only a few weeks later.  He kept saying that you didn't care about him, that when he 'died'-". She used air quotes.  "You'd act sad for the others, maybe force out a few tears, and then go on with your life as if he never existed."  M'gann slapped her hand over her heart.  "He didn't really think that, did he?"

Wally shrugged.  "He wasn't sure what to think.  He said you've changed so much, he's never really sure what to expect from you anymore."  He took his girlfriend's hand.  "Look, Megs, its getting really late.  Arty and I have class in the morning."  Artemis hugged her BFF.  "Just take care of yourself, okay?  Think about how you can fix this.  Because I know you can."  She and Wally left the apartment, leaving M'gann alone, their words echoing through her head.

He's never really sure what to expect from you anymore.  You've changed so much.  You'd act sad for the others, maybe force out a few tears, and then go on with your life as if he never existed.  Hanging on a wall nearby, her uncle's favorite mirror, the one he'd gotten while on a mission in Egypt, shimmered in the glass.  M'gann walked over and stared at her reflection.  Not only was her hair shorter, but she could barely see her freckles, and her eyes had lost their innocent shine.  They're right...I have changed.  She remembered when she told Superboy she didn't care.  Later, she had cried over telling such a thing. Oh, Conner...I'm so sorry.