Joining Young Justice

Chapter Four: Homecoming

I stayed at Wayne Manor for three days before we came up a plan for "infiltrating" my own household. It was down to Zatanna and I with the help of Miss Martian, who would be nearby in her bioship to facilitate psychic communication.

"Okay. I haven't told Dad much about Beverly, but we're both business students and we were both in Doctor Ryan Baits's Introduction to Marketing class last spring. You also took macroeconomics from Doctor Gabrielle Rivera last winter, the prof I just had. I'm in Pierce South Hall and you are in the McGovern Memorial Hall. You're from Coast City, you have two older brothers, and your parents are divorced," I explained. "That's the basics. I can feed you info through the mind link on the fly if I have to."

"Right," Zatanna replied, flipping her hair out of her coat collar as we prepared to step through the zeta tube. We each had a rolling suitcase and a backpack.

"Remember. Your primary mission is to locate the time machine," Batman reminded us. "Zatanna, you need to determine whether or not there are any mystical items in use. Chelsey, check old stashes that your father used before you left. Good luck and maintain radio silence unless it's a complete emergency. Miss Martian or the Martian Manhunter will be within psychic range the entire time you are in the house."

"Understood," Zatanna and I replied.

We walked through the zeta tube and exited a telephone booth in a disused alleyway near downtown Central City. We were just blocks away from the bus station where my father was scheduled to pick us up in twenty minutes. Tickets in hand, we started down the street until we were in position on the curb outside the bus terminal. Foot traffic was pretty heavy and we blended in as we waited.

"Psychic link established," Miss Martian communicated telepathically. It was a strange feeling, someone else talking in your head. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon, Chelsey."

Initially I'd been very against the psychic link. But Nightwing explained very thoroughly that the only information passed through the link was determined by me. If I presented a thought, the others could hear it. If I kept thoughts suppressed, they would never know.

"Oh, look, there he is!" I exclaimed, pointing to an approaching car. My arm shot up and I waved. I could see Ned in the front seat, a huge smile on his face as he pulled into the fire lane.

"Chelsey!" he exclaimed, climbing out of the front seat. We hadn't seen each other in a few months.

"Dad!"

I wrapped my arms around him and smiled. As I released, I introduced him to Zatanna.

"Bev, this is my dad, Ned. Dad, this is Beverly."

"Nice to meet you, Beverly. Thank you so much for allowing Chelsey to stay with your family for a few days."

"It's no problem. My family is actually headed this way for Christmas at my grandpas, so they didn't mind me coming over a few days earlier. Thank you so much for hosting," Zatanna added quickly.

"Not a problem at all. I wish Chelsey would bring people around more often. It's like she's ashamed of me or something!" he joked. I forced a laugh but quickly made myself busy stowing luggage in the car.

"Come on. I'm so excited to go home for a change."

Zatanna and I got into the back of the car and made small talk the entire way home. Pulling onto the street stirred a deep sense of nostalgia inside me which only intensified when we stopped in front of a pale yellow craftsman-style house.

Home.

I sensed the echo coming and tried to push it off, but lost my battle. A vivid recollection of my first day in Ned Engelmann's house came to me.