it's hard to be happy, even on days like today.
today, several new members are inducted into the hall of fame, including red arrow. despite my disdain for him, i applaud and congratulate him on his success. but even the new girl, rocket, notices my sour mood.
however, my mood is momentarily brightened when robin's watch beeps with details of our next mission; a plane crash. exactly what i need to take my mind off annabeth.
when we arrive to the site of the crash, m'gann concludes there is no trace of organic matter in the wreckage. the passengers are either missing or long dead. from the picture of the crash, we knew cheshire had been one of those passengers.
artemis averts her eyes, tears brimming beneath her mask. movement catches my eye from the ruins. voicing my thoughts, conner asks, "where are the bodies?"
"here's one. and it. is. stunning." cheshire's voice rings from the tree above us as she steps into the light.
a second voice pipes up from the base of the tree, where the riddler strides towards us. "i am flora, not fauna. i am foliage, not trees. what am i?" with a snap of his fingers, green lasers reach up and connect in a dome, trapping us in the valley.
the riddler's grating voice speaks up again. "hey, come on, you can get this. i am shrubbery, not grass. what am i? i...."
"ambush," robin groans.
at m'gann's psychic signal, we spring into action. zee casts a spell to make it snow, which i shoot at the riddler in shards.
superboy flies above my head. i do a double take, causing me to be sent flying into a rock wall. undeterred, i fire daggers of ice at the riddler, not caring to make sure they avoid cutting his skin as they pin him to the tree trunk behind him. zee balks at my uncharacteristic lack of compassion, but even then, i can't bring myself to care. the others find the same success we do, and we make haste flying back to the cave with an air of tension.
"tell me if this sounds familiar. you hacked league systems, disobeyed protocol, and endangered your lives," batman rattles. "and your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons proving warden strange runs bel rev as a cover for criminal activity." shaking everyone to their core, batman smirks. "well done."
the second the leaguers leave, my oh-so trusting teammates jump into arguing about who the mole may be. in the heat of the moment, kaldur brings up conner's change in powers.
suddenly, conner doubles over like he's about to transform into a fucking werewolf or something. just as quickly he straightens up and tells us there's something we need to know, launching into the story of how he had been meeting with lex, who promised him all sorts of powers as some sort of blackmail. artemis follows his story with her own, admitting her close ties with sportsmaster and cheshire, and m'gann follows that with a revelation of her true self.
which brings us to now; the three of them are at santa prisca, taking down the same people that had tried to blackmail them.
unfortunately for me, i am put on henchmen duty. i had tried to help zee and robin as they struggled with bane, but with a couple muttered words from zatanna, i'm held back as if running through jello. in a huff, i finish my task with ease, pulling the goons out to sea one by one, sinking them like concrete. my stomach sours with the realization that it wasn't even zatanna keeping me back, but robin's suggestion. he is a leader in the team, so him not wanting me to help would make more sense than her holding me back. why else would she stop me?
i watch from the sidelines as my teammates do the actual work, twiddling my thumbs like a fucking idiot. in every attempt i make to aid my teammates, my friends, i'm held back by something--zatanna's spell, or artemis yelling to me that she's fine, or anyone else giving me instruction to help somewhere else.
