Electric Flame

1.8

It was cold and pitch black, but there was no wind, no breeze to make it that way. There was no sun, no light, only a bleak emptiness that sat there and waited in the pit of my stomach.

The feeling in my hands and feet were gone, but I knew I wasn't dead. Death feels different, it has to; it can't possibly be this easy. It's a nuclear reactor, absorbing everything in its path until all is none.

I stood there, in a room consumed by the darkness, in solitude, within myself. Within the most secluded part of my imagination. I was locked in from the outside, and the key was nowhere to be found.

Still, in the deepest part of my consciousness, I heard voices. Though they spoke in low whispers, I could decipher their foreign words.

"(y/n)?" I heard someone call out before the ground beneath me began to shake in a swift pattern, like swaying.

In the utter blackness, another voice echoed. "I told her not to absorb this much energy. But she did it anyway."

A third one stepped forward, monotone and sounding bored and uninterested. Wisdom intertwined itself between each word. "She is not dead. I can feel her heartbeat, though she is close. She is hanging on by her own will."

"Wait." A high pitched squeak ricocheted off the interior of my ears. A girl, probably my own age. "She risked her life for us."

"She was the one who froze us," said another, much deeper and angry. 

"No, you don't get it." It was Kid Flash. After spending hours alone with him, the sound of his voice implanted itself in my brain. Plus, he was talking a lot faster than the others. "It was all an accident. She didn't mean to freeze you. She was just overwhelmed, that's all. Rob, don't even mention that stupid whelmed thing." He paused to catch his breath. "Batman has been on her tail for months without her even knowing why. How is that even fair to her? Huh?"

"Kid Flash, Robin, Miss Martian, Superboy, Artemis, may I speak with you?" another voice addressed, more mature and bold. It was more of a statement, not a question. "I want (y/n) to join the team. I've studied her moves, her powers, and it would be wise, according to Wonder Woman, that she be admitted so that we may acquire further information. And possibly provide rehabilitation and a safe exit from a life of villainy."

"Seriously?" half a dozen younger voices asked.

The last thing the man said before his footsteps receded was, "She risked her life to save us all, to fix her mistake. If that's not what a hero is, then you don't deserve a place on this team."

"Then let's take her to the cave." This was Dick. I could separate his voice from anything. It's the one thing that hasn't left me alone in the last twenty-four hours. No person has ever kept me so preoccupied in my entire life. He's not a normal boy, I'd discovered, and not just because he paraded around in tights and a cape when all the other teenage boys are sleeping or playing video games all night. "Team, we have a new member."

With that, I drifted off once more, the darkness consuming me entirely as I slowly faded, the ladder to escape getting farther and farther away from my grasp. It wasn't until I awoke who knows how long later that I truly understood how much that last sentence would change my life forever.

I slowly began to feel my consciousness return to me, although I hadn't yet opened my eyes. I remembered the experience that I had just gone through, the unbearable, hideous agony from the lacerations and torment that I would never forget. I groaned, mentally grabbing my chest which still throbbed in pain.

"She's awake," I heard someone exclaim, eager and anxious. "Guys, come on, she's awake!" was followed by dozens of heavy footsteps approaching me quickly like a rush of animals.