Electric Flame

1.9

My arms burned from dragging my bags for miles, and the way back felt twice as long as the run home. After what seemed like hours of walking in eerie darkness, using shattered lampposts to see, we arrived at the old phone booth that led to an alley I trained in when I was younger.

I dropped my luggage, bent over, and breathing heavily, asked the infamous question, "Are we there yet?" He smiled eagerly.

Hallelujah.

"See this special thing?" He pointed to the phone booth as we stood outside. "This is called a zeta tube. It's a teleportation system between the League Headquarters and the cave, but there are dozens across the country. It requires facial and voice recognition, so if you aren't authorized, you can't pass. Make sense?" I nodded. "Great. Ladies first."

And I carefully entered the zeta tube, letting the machine scan me. At first, nothing happened, and I glanced at Dick, confused. He crossed his arms over his chest, watching me like a zoo animal. I cocked my head, guessing, "(f/n) (l/n)?" 

Instantly, my limbs began to dissolve, and for a striking two seconds, I felt like a ball of nothingness. But the tingling sensation in my toes returned just as I appeared in the cave, many pairs of various colored eyes staring back at me, each with a completely different emotion.

"(f/n) (l/n) B09. Robin B01," said the cave computer system. 

A grin crept onto my face. Although I was going miss Mother a lot, now I had a real family. With kids my age. Nervousness ate up my insides, swallowing the butterflies whole.

My eyes wandered to the others, especially Kid Flash. They were actually really happy, surprisingly, except for a dark-haired, fair-skinned girl in a plain white corset, a white bow tie, and a black overcoat, its long tail reaching the back of her knees. She wore fishnet leggings, a black hat and matching tap shoes, and white wrist-length cotton gloves. Azure blue eyes glared holes into me, alive with a burning flame.

My head snapped toward Dick, now in his Robin suit. He was typing away on his hologlove.

I'll just ask him later, I decided.

I faced forward, about to ask where I might find my dorm when someone grabbed my arm and yanked me toward the center of the room. A not-so-subtle gasp escaped my lips and I tripped over my own feet, almost falling to the floor in front of everyone if Dick hadn't caught me.

"Everybody, meet Maelstrom, the newest member of the team," he said anxiously and gestured to me with his outstretched arm. He sounded as if he was about to start screaming and fangirling.

I heard a groan of annoyance come from the dark-haired girl, her appearance being that of a kid dressing up as a magician on Halloween. I directed my attention toward her and noticed that the others did as well.

"What?" she asked like she did nothing wrong. I tilted my head and furrowed my eyebrows, flustered and confused. She didn't look familiar, and I could have sworn I'd never seen her before. She rolled her eyes, scoffed, and left the room, taking the terrible aura with her.

"What's her problem?" whispered Dick.

Superboy shrugged and Wally spoke up, "Rob, can I speak to you, privately?" He got up and exited the room to the kitchen, and Dick followed hesitantly like he was checking out a dark cave. My ears zeroed in on their receding footsteps, their soft voices whispering to each other in the next room.

"What?" I heard Dick say roughly.

"Dude, you used to date Zatanna," Wally whisper-yelled. My heart stopped. I had no remorse for listening in. They could be plotting to kill me for all I knew. No one could be this nice.