Young Justice: Solstice

Eighteen

LOOK MAV KIRAN DID FIGHT SUNGIRL!!! LlamaBatgirl27 

So proud of my girl rn

"Come on, girl, up'n at 'em!" Artemis hollered, flicking my bedroom lights on and off. My poor nightlight in the corner was so confused.

Still sore from Light's lasers yesterday, I pulled my covers up over my head.

"Wakey-wakey eggs and bakey!" She said, pulling back my covers.

"Artemis, you know I'm vegetarian, right?" I asked.

"I know, that's why I brought you your chocolate chip muffins in bed for breakfast. You'll wanna be in top shape when Canary introduces you to your mentor today."

"My mentor!?" I sat up immediately, and by the look on Artemis' face, I didn't need a mirror to know that I had a bedhead a la Princess Anna of Arendelle.

"Eat up and get dressed. Meet me out in the mission room in about ten minutes." She instructed before shutting the door behind her and sprinting down the hall.

My new room felt a little more homier than Miss Martian's had, but I was still unpacking the boxes. At least I now got to sleep under my own comforter, the one with the horses that I'd had since I was ten. I had my own clothes in the closet and the drawers, I had my books and notebooks, waiting to be lined up on the shelves and the desk, an assortment of brightly colored gel pens, and all my other things waiting to be placed around the room, to be placed all around my room in an attempt to make it feel homier.

I put on my stealth suit, which still smelled okay after last night, and ate my muffin while I brushed my hair and pulled it back from my face in a partial ponytail. Artemis was the only one on the team who had hair as long as mine, and I suddenly understood why she preferred to wear her hair in a ponytail.

I was half flying, half running out the door, headed for the mission room. 

I shouted a hi to sleepy-eyed Beast Boy, who perked up suddenly in greeting. I waved to Lagoon Boy, who seemed surprised by the gesture and hesitantly returned it as I disappeared down the hall. Superboy grunted in reply to my "Good Morning!" to the breakfast hall, and Karen and Mal echoed it back to me.

I came to a light stop next to Artemis, who smiled and gestured to one of the younger, newer League members. "Solstice, meet Rocket."

"Call me Raquel," She gave me an easy grin and held out a gloved hand to shake.

"I saw your induction ceremony back in December! You joined the League with Zatanna and Black Lightning!" I said. Rocket's smile grew more proud.

Black Canary gave a polite cough and stepped up. "While Rocket's powers are more alien-oriented than...well, whatever yours are from, she can also turn into a beam of light and fly just like you, and she can help you control your powers." She explained.

"And if we do find out that your powers are magical, we can always get my girl Zee to help out with that."

"Cool, it's like I have three awesome girl mentors all at once!" I smiled at Artemis, who shook her head to hide her modest blush at the compliment.

"We'll leave the two of you to work out a routine together," Canary put her arm around Artemis in a gesture that seemed friendly, but gripped Artemis' shoulder in a trap. "I've been meaning to talk to Artemis for a while."

Artemis nearly groaned, but let Canary herd her down the hall.

"Aside from being the League Chairperson, Dinah's also our resident therapist. You can tell her anything, okay?" Rocket told me.

"Got it," I nodded.

"You can tell me anything too, if you feel like it," She added. We both laughed.

"So you work out of Dakota City, right?" I asked Rocket.

"Yeah, but a lot of us do. My mentor, Icon, and I patrolled the streets when we first started out, and now Black Lightning and Virgil are also helping out on the scene." The two of us were walking down another hall now.

"So slow nights?" I guesstimated.

Rocket shook her head. "Maybe not. You live here now, right?"

I rubbed the markings on my arm, a nervous habit I'd developed in the last month. "It depends on where I go for school."

"Where are you planning on going?"

The list rattled off my tongue automatically. "Harvard or Cornell. Or Delhi, in Inda." I added.

"Hmm, I'm trying to switch to a school with a better Liberal Arts program." Rocket bit her lip, deep in thought. "Cornell's in Ivy Town, and the Atom's got that place covered. Harvard might be a bit of a reach for me to get into, though. I've got no love of math or science," She sighed.

"You like writing too?" I asked, stopping in the middle of the hall. "I mean, I'm super good at math and science because my parents would use mythology to help teach me and made me study like crazy, but, I always wanted to write myths of my own, you know? Stories that would go down in history, and be read by people thousands of years later." I sighed, somewhat dreamily, thinking of tales like the Odyssy or the Illiad, the Ramayana of Western culture

Rocket punched me shoulder gently, slinging her arm around said shoulders. "Girl, I know exactly what you mean."

"So I guess I should ask you: do you wanna stay covert, or go public like the Bat-brats?" She asked.

I made a little spitting noise when I laughed as I realized she was referring to Robin and Batgirl. It wasn't that the two were brats, but that the nickname was funny because it rhymed.

"I think I want to go public." I told her once I'd composed myself. "I mean, I've already been seen by the news, they know I'm out there, and I told a couple people we rescued that I'm calling myself Solstice. Plus, my parents pretty much disowned me so I don't have too much of a secret identity at the moment." I bit my lip. Why did I have to throw such a pity party for myself any time the chance to talk about my family came up?.

"Hey, it's okay," Raquel placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Half my family had a fit when they found out I was expecting my baby boy. It hurt, but they got over themselves soon enough. "

"You've got a son?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound totally rude towards my new mentor.

"Yup," If I did, she brushed it off. "Single mom, two-year-old kid, in the middle of college. Who'd have thought?" She shook her head as we walked past Miss Martian, who nodded to Raquel, but quickly walked past me.

"It just takes times like these to find out who's really on your side." Raquel said as I watched Miss Martian walk down the hall until she'd turned the corner.

Holy crap are we really at eighteen chapters already?