104Hello there. Welcome to my new FanFiction! For any of you who are reading my IRON MAN FanFiction, don't freak out! I haven't abandoned that story! I just wrote this when I couldn't watch the movie. You have to remember, to write that story, I have to sit in front of the movie the whole time, and sometimes that just isn't possible. So this is what I wrote to fill the time. I hope you like it.
ENJOY!
Neutral POV
It was Monday morning, 8:45 am, and the Team had gathered at the Cave for a special training session. It was a normal morning; Wally and Artemis were bickering, M'gann was clearing up after a rather unsuccessful attempt at breakfast, Aqualad was relaxing with Superboy, who was watching his favourite TV programme; static. Robin was messing around on his wrist-computer, hacking into God knows what.
It had been announced yesterday that there would be a special training program for the Team to follow for the next week or so.
"Team, report to training hall," Batman's voice echoed through the cave, and everyone jumped upright.
The Team sighed and stopped whatever they had previously been doing and headed over to the Training Room. Much to their surprise, when they entered, all their mentors where there, even Superman, much to Superboy's pleasure. Batman and Robin had finally talked him into bonding with Conner.
"Uhhhhh..." Wally said as he entered the room. "What did we do?"
"Nothing," Batman replied coldly. "You are here for the training program. Red Tornado will explain."
The Bat returned to the shadows and Tornado stepped forward, addressing the team with a monotone voice.
"The training program that has has been organized will last for exactly seven days. In each day, you will train with a different mentor. For example, Kid Flash and Flash. The Team will complete whatever training regime that mentor and partner complete that specific day. Including patrol's at night."
The Team raised their eyebrows at each other. This was going to get interesting.
"This activity will allow you to take an insight on your teammates lives; understanding the way they live, train and fight. This is the order of who goes first:
Monday (today): Ms. Martian and Martian Manhunter.
Tuesday: Aqualad and Aquaman.
Wednesday: Artemis and Green Arrow.
Thursday: Kid Flash and Flash,
Friday: Superboy and Superman.
Saturday: Robin and Batman."
"Great, we get the Bats for last," Wally grumbled, but shut up when Robin shot him a warning glance.
"On Sunday," Red Tornado continued. "You and your mentors will take part in a team-building exercise that will develop your skills as partners, and others will watch and learn from it too. But you will learn more about that when the time comes."
Tornado nodded and stepped back, signaling to Batman he was done.
"Okay, Team." The Dark Knight ordered. "You will do whatever Martian Manhunter wants. You will behave. You will only leave when dismissed. Understood?"
The Team nodded.
The mentor's, waving goodbye to their partner's left by zeta-tube, all except Martian Manhunter.
"Well," Martian Manhunter cleared his throat. "Since M'gann and I don't actually have a schedule that we usually participate in, we will work on mental strength."
M'gann's face lit up. This was something she specialized in.
"You will think of a number between 1 and 100. I will enter your mind and attempt to see what number you are thinking of. You will attempt to slow me down, putting up mental barriers that I will try to get through. If you are unable to put up a mental barrier, you can think of any other method to slow me down."
Conner shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like the idea of someone diving into his head, have total control, and breeze through his memories.
He wasn't the only one.
Artemis and Robin glanced at each other nervously. They both had identities to protect, and neither of them had very... pleasant backgrounds.
Catching the anxious looks, Martian Manhunter laughed. "Do not fear, my friends. I will not look through your memories, search for your identities, or read your emotions in anyway. I will lock in on the number that I want to find out and block anything else."
The Team still seemed hesitant.
"I promise you I won't do anything. It is an invasion of privacy, and I know and understand that. Besides..." The Martian glanced at Robin. "I don't want to die at the hand of a bat."
The Team laughed and decided that, yes, they would trust this man. He was after all M'gann's uncle. And no one wanted to get killed by a Bat.
"So where will we practice, sir?" Kaldur asked.
Martian Manhunter smiled at him. "Right here! I do not have a suitable training facility on this planet. So I have decided to just use this training room."
The Team relaxed. For a moment they were worried that they were going to have to fly out into space.
Martian Manhunter passed Robin a stopwatch. "Time how long each team mate can last until I find out their numbers."
And so the work began.
Martian Manhunter vs Ms. Martian was first, Martian Manhunter insisting that M'gann show the Team how it's done. M'gann had hesitantly agreed, blushing.
Superboy smiled at her, urging her on. Robin pressed the stopwatch button, and the timer began.
The two green Martian's faced each other, and their eyes glowed the trademark green.
M'gann POV
M'gann could feel Martian Manhunter's presence in her head. She could feel him pushing through her thoughts, through her emotions. She thought of her number, and pushed it far down to the back of her thoughts, the very bottom of the pit. M'gann thought of a nice, happy memory when her cookies hadn't burnt, and replayed it over and over in her head. She smothered the rest of her thoughts with it, and focused completely on that one memory.
But then she felt Martian Manhunter tear through that first barrier, so she forced up another barrier, this time a scary memory, from when they were fighting the Parasite. She forced the number further down her mind.
Martian Manhunter broke through that memory too. M'gann suddenly felt frustrated, and she could feel it directed towards Martian Manhunter, who was continuing steadily towards her number. Then without thinking, she let the frustration loose, and she let it wash over Martian Manhunter. She kept her memory barrier up, and then continued to put up others as he broke through each of them. The frustration that she was directing at him wouldn't stop him, but it would slow him down, and that was the whole objective of the exercise. She now understood that she wouldn't be able to stop him, but she could slow him down.
M'gann finished up her last barrier, just before where the number was hidden. It was a memory of her and Conner, cuddling on the sofa, with a strong feeling of love. She had only specifically picked memories that she was comfortable with her uncle seeing. J'onn was now on the third barrier away from the number, but he was progressing surprisingly slowly. So she focused her frustration, and directed it towards J'onn, but it wasn't working very well. She was reasonably pleased with herself; she was proud of her mental blocks! So the frustration was seeping away.
Suddenly she felt J'onn retract from her mind, having broken the last barrier. She felt herself being pulled away from the depths of her own mind, and back at the training room in the cave, with her teammates staring at her.
"Robin?" Martian Manhunter jolted M'gann from her thoughts. "Time?"
"Uh," The thirteen-year old glanced down. "24:46."
M'gann raised her eyebrows. She had thought it had been around 10 minutes, not 20! But J'onn beamed at her.
"Well done! You have a very strong mind," He praised, and M'gann could feel herself blushing. "Your blocks were very well done, very tidy. Next we will work on blocks without memories. Anyway, your number is 67, correct?"
M'gann nodded.
J'onn smiled at M'gann as she joined her team, who had been watching with interest.
Wally POV
Martian Manhunter gazed at the young heroes.
"Who would like to go next?"
No one raised their hands, unsurprisingly. Nobody really wanted a Leaguer snooping about in their minds. But Artemis shoved Wally slightly, so he took a step forward and hissed;
"You go, Baywatch!"
"Excellent! Kid Flash!" J'onn beamed.
"I, uh, no, I, see, Artemis-" Wally began.
"Nonsense! Come, my boy." Martian Manhunter gestured for Wally to stand where M'gann had done before.
Nervously, Wally approached the spot. He shot Robin a look, like, Help me! but the cheeky kid just sent him a thumbs-up and grinned.
"Look into my eyes," The Martian ordered, eyes glowing green.
Taking a deep breath, Wally did so.
And all of a sudden he was in his own mind. It was a strange feeling. He could sense his memories, his thoughts. He could feel the number hovering really close to the surface, so he grabbed it and tried to shove it down, deeper. He could sense Martian Manhunter entering his mind, and he could feel that it wouldn't take long for the Martian to see it; there were no blocks.
Wally attempted to put one up, but it crumbled only moments later. He sighed. There was no way that he was ever going to be able to hide this number.
He thought for a moment. How, in real life, did he usually hide? Well, he didn't usually hide. Instead of staying in one place, he would whiz around everywhere, and no one could see or catch him. Well, except Flash, of course. His eyes widened. That was it! He would just send the number flying around everywhere in his mind, like it was running with super-speed. J'onn would never be able to catch that!
So he did exactly that. The number zipped around his mind, and he could J'onn dashing after it. He sent it twisting through memories and thoughts, like an obstacle course. But only a few moments later, J'onn pulled away from Wally's mind, pulling Wally with him. Wally surfaced, and gazed around for a moment, trying to remember where he was.
Oh yeah! The training... with J'onn. And... yeah, he had been caught.
Martian Manhunter glanced at Robin for the time.
"4:56." Robin replied.
Martian Manhunter smiled warily at Wally. "A tiring but not very effective way of hiding your number. Next time, attempt to hide it instead of running away with it. Is your number 69?"
Wally blushed. He could hear Robin and Artemis choking slightly and snickering slightly. He nodded.
"You sicko!" Artemis called, laughing with Robin.
"What's so funny?" Kaldur asked, frowning.
This only caused the acrobat and archer to burst out laughing again at their team's confusion.
Kaldur POV
"Next?" J'onn called.
"I will, sir." Kaldur said, stepping forward.
Martian Manhunter smiled at him. "Okay. Stand where Kid Flash stood."
Kaldur did so.
"Look into my eyes."
Robin pressed the stopwatch.
And Kaldur was in his mind. It was slightly overwhelming, all the thoughts and memories clustering around him. Part of him wanted to sit back and look through all the memories peacefully, but the other part of him knew he had to stick to the objective. Slow down J'onn from finding his number. Speaking about J'onn, Kaldur could feel him entering the first layer of his mind. Quickly grabbing his number, Kaldur dived down into the depths of his mind.
He put himself to work, putting up his first wall. It was exhausting, but Kaldur forced himself to continue. He only managed to complete 3 walls and 1 partially complete one, but he had almost collapsed with exhaustion. He could sense J'onn tearing away at the first wall, but he was too tired to do anything.
Despite the quantity, the quality was impressive. The walls were thick with a few pleasant memories he had not minded sharing. One back in Atlanta, where he was training with his King, another with his friends, that sort of thing.
So it took J'onn quite a while to get through the walls, and when he had finally retrieved the number, the Martian surfaced, dragging Kaldur with him.
Kaldur blinked at the bright lights of the training room; his mind had been rather dark. J'onn looked at Robin pointedly.
"9:12." Robin reported.
Kaldur nodded. It was okay, considering Wally's and M'gann's time.
J'onn smiled. "You did very well. The walls you put up where very strong and effective. Was your number 13?"
Kaldur nodded.
"Well done."
Kaldur bowed his head slightly and headed back to his Team.
Conner POV
Martian Manhunter glanced at the team. "Superboy? Would you like to go?"
Conner glared at him.
"Okay," J'onn gestured to the spot where M'gann, Wally and Kaldur had stood.
Grumpily, Conner obeyed. He sent M'gann a look, and she beamed back at him.
"Look into my eyes,"
Superboy was in his own mind. He didn't like it. He didn't like the sensation of it. All the emotion and thoughts and memories, clinging to him like germs. In fact, he hated it.
Conner knew he was supposed to put up a wall. So that's what he did. But much to his frustration, the wall collapsed almost immediately. Conner growled. He wasn't going to bother with a stupid wall! He wasn't going to hide like a coward! He was going to fight like a man, head on.
He could sense Martian Manhunter in his head, and just that fueled him anger. He was in his head! Looking at his thoughts, watching his memories, reading his emotions! Conner snarled.
Suddenly J'onn's presence was there, Conner could sense it, but there was nothing there. He sent out a wave of anger, which swept J'onn to the side slightly, but the Martian replied with a bright flash that seemed to paralyze Superboy's mind.
And then he was out. Back in his world, back in his training room, with his team, with his friends. Conner forced himself to calm down.
J'onn smiled at him, almost pityingly. "Good try, Superboy. Is your number 88?"
"Yes," Conner growled, forcing himself to unclench his fists.
"You tried hard, but super strength doesn't exist in the mind. Don't try to fight me head on. Hide the number, conceal it. Well done. Robin, what was the time?"
"3:43."
Superboy sighed. He had been the fastest to fail. But his disappointment soon evaporated when he saw M'gann waiting for him, smiling like there was no tomorrow.
Artemis POV
Artemis was nervous. She didn't want anyone looking through her head. She didn't want them to see her past, who she really was. Sure, she was really trying to trust J'onn, but she just couldn't. It was too difficult. There weren't very many people on the earth that she trusted. She didn't even trust some of the Team.
As much as she liked the kid, Artemis couldn't bring herself to trust Superboy. He was too unpredictable.
Artemis partially trusted Wally. She trusted him with her life, but not with a secret, which was odd, as it usually was the other way round.
But there was no way she could ever trust J'onn.
"Okay," The older Martian said. "Artemis? Robin? Who would like to go?"
"Robin," Artemis said, just as Robin said, 'Artemis,'
The two sighed and faced each other. Artemis glared at him, which, now she thought about it was a very bad idea. Robin quirked his eyebrow slightly, like, Seriously? You're gonna challenge me? He gave her a strong Batglare, and Artemis flinched under it.
"Fine..." She grumbled. She didn't understand how such a small, thirteen-year old boy could have such a strong, unflinching glare. Sure, he was a Bat, but still...
She stood on the spot and growled at Wally, who winked at her. Robin gave her a knowing smirk.
"Look into my eyes."
Artemis gasped as she entered the first layer of her mind. She could feel all the pent up emotions, see all the memories and worries. For a moment she wondered whether or not she should try to cover up all her thoughts and emotions, but she dismissed that in almost a second. It would take way too much out of her. Kaldur had said it was exhausting just to put up 1 wall over 1 thought!
She was going to have to trust Martian Manhunter.
She dove down into the depths of her mind, weaving through thoughts and memories. Once at the bottom, she began to construct a wall, containing the memory of her and Green Arrow training. She had only partially built it, though, when it crashed down. Sighing, she tried again. She could feel J'onn forcing his way through her mind, deeper and deeper. The wall collapsed again. Artemis could feel red hot anger beginning to boil inside her. Stupid, stupid wall! The anger seemed to stick to her like slime, slowing her down, her moves getting sluggish.
That was it!
She would direct the anger to J'onn, and he would be the slow one, he would be the sluggish one! She grinned. She really was brilliant.
Channeling all her anger, she forced it over to J'onn, who stumbled in her mind with the impact. She could sense it. Slowly, slowly, through the wading pool of rage, Artemis could feel J'onn nearing the number, so she sent out another wave of emotion; frustration. J'onn slowed again. By the time the Martian reached the number, Artemis was exhausted. She was grateful when she was dragged back to the surface.
"Time?" J'onn's voice cut across the silence, and Artemis blinked.
"8:54."
Artemis smiled inwardly. That was a good time, second behind Kaldur. Ms. Martian didn't really count. She would of course win.
"Good job," Martian Manhunter said. "I know you were worried and I promise I didn't look at anything. You would've felt it."
Artemis nodded. That was true.
"Is your number 99?"
"Yes it is." Artemis confirmed.
"The emotions were good, they slowed me down, very effective. It would've been more efficient if you had put up a wall as well as the emotions, but good job."
Artemis smirked at Wally as she rejoined her Team.
Robin POV
Then it was Robin's turn. Inside, he was utterly dreading it, but he gave Wally a confident smirk as he walked up to Martian Manhunter.
The older Martian gave him a warm smile. Robin and J'onn had known each other for quite a while, seeing as Batman had introduced him to J'onn when Robin was only 9 years old.
Robin gave him a vicious Batglare, much to the surprise of his teammates. "If you so much as touch my secret identity, Batman and I. Will. Be. Your. Worst. Nightmare."
"Robin." Kaldur's eyes were wide, horrified that the younger boy would treat an elder with such disrespect.
But Martian Manhunter just laughed. "Do not worry, Aqualad. I am used to Batman's doubt and suspicions, and Robin is very much the same. Do not worry, Robin. Only an idiot would want a flock of angry Bat's on their tail!"
Robin continued to stay sullenly quiet, but he shot J'onn a small smile that no one else caught.
"Okay, Kaldur, can you time? Robin, look into my eyes..."
And then Boy Wonder was in his own mind. It was rather spectacular. Robin could sense the emotions he was feeling, which was slightly odd, to say the least. He could see his memories, his thoughts. And then he could sense J'onn in his head. For a moment, he was seized by panic, with only a single thought in his head - he's going to know. He's going to know.
But then he remembered he was Robin - Batman's protege. He could solve this, Batman had actually given him a lesson before. Robin plunged deep into his mind, pulling his number - and as a precaution - his identity with him. He placed a spherical wall around it, so there was no way around, with no memory. Just nothingness. The moment he created it, he could feel the energy being sucked out of him. How many walls did M'gann build? How did she do it?!
Then Robin placed a very thin layer of a block around everything else, something he knew he wasn't necessary, but he did it mostly out of instinct. It drained him even more.
He could sense J'onn digging hard into his spherical wall. Suddenly something leaked from his thin layer and for some reason Robin sent it to J'onn.
It was Joker's insane laugh.
(All though neither of them knew, back in the training room, J'onn visibly flinched and the Team sent each other worried looks.)
Martian Manhunter broke through the wall. He was about to pull upwards but stopped abruptly. Robin was thinking in Romani. Shocked, Martian Manhunter pulled back a little, about to enter Robin's personal memories and thoughts to find the translation, before he stopped himself. He had promised Robin he wouldn't do that.
Sighing to himself, Martian Manhunter surfaced, Robin dragged with him. That would have to do.
Robin blinked to himself when he found that he was back at the cave. Martian Manhunter was frowning. Robin gulped.
"Robin, that was... interesting. I could not find the number-"
"What!?" Artemis screeched.
M'gann's eyes widened with shock.
"-In English." J'onn finished, shooting Artemis an irritated look. "I could only find patruzeci si cinci?"
Robin blinked. "Um... yeah. That's the right number. It means 45 in Romani."
J'onn sighed. "I could've found the definition, but that meant I would have to look through your memories and thoughts, and I don't want to do that."
"Why was it in Romani?" Conner asked, gazing at Robin curiously.
Robin sighed. "I guess I didn't really realize what I was doing. It just kinda... happens when I freak out."
J'onn sent him a reassuring look. He wasn't going to push the boy for information. If he wanted to talk about it, he would've said so already. "Okay, Aqualad. What was Robin's time?"
"10:03, sir."
Martian Manhunter nodded. "The wall was good. You shouldn't have wasted your energy on that other wall - it wasn't necessary."
Robin nodded.
"Okay," Martian Manhunter turned to the rest of the Team. "Take a break. Get something to eat. I'll call you for the next excercise."
Neutral POV
That's how the rest of the day was spent; training their minds. The Team learned how to put up walls, disable walls, hide thoughts and direct emotions. It was a long day, but slowly the Team got used to being inside their heads, they began to understand and work harder.
J'onn dismissed them at around 5 o'clock, and headed back to the watchtower.
The cave Mount Justice 5:45 pm
"So, who do you think is gonna be the hardest mentor?" M'gann asked, as she and Conner sat on the sofa together, watching static.
"Batman," Conner replied without hesitation.
"Mmmmm." M'gann agreed. "What about Superman? How you feel about that?"
Conner shrugged. "Fine."
M'gann raised her eyebrows. "Really?"
"Fine!" Conner sighed. "Okay, I'm a little nervous. Just a little."
"That's only natural." M'gann murmured, cuddling up to Superboy just a little more.
Barry Allen's home; 6:04 pm
"Hey, Kid." Barry threw a bag of crisps at Wally. "How's the training go with Martian Manhunter?"
Wally groaned as he tore open the bag. "I swear my head is going to explode. All that telepathic mental stuff - it's not for me."
The Flash chuckled and sprawled beside his nephew on the couch. "So, who's gonna be the hardest?"
Wally stared at him. "Isn't it obvious? Batman!"
Barry laughed. "Thought you'd say that. You'll be okay. After all, Robs can do it."
Wally groaned. "That's not a good example!"
Somewhere on a rooftop in Star City; 7:56 pm
"How's your day go?" Green Arrow asked Artemis as they patrolled.
Artemis shrugged. "Not bad."
Green Arrow raised his eyebrow.
"Okay, fine!" Artemis threw her arms in the air. "It was kinda cool but scary. I thought J'onn was gonna find out and stuff..."
"Hey," Green Arrow rubbed the girl's arm. "You're not your father."
Artemis sighed. "Whatever. Anyway, I'm mainly worried about Saturday with the Bats."
Green Arrow laughed. "I would be too, if I were you."
Deep underwater, Atlanta; 6:35 pm
"How was your day, Aqualad?"
"Interesting, my King." Kaldur sighed. "I was not very good at the mental strength part. Barriers are very difficult to put up."
Aquaman laughed. "Well, tomorrow it will be our turn. Do not worry."
A small smile quirked on Aqualad's lips.
The Batcave; 9:24 pm
"Hey, Dick. How was your session with J'onn?" Batman asked as Dick approached him at his desk.
"Pretty cool, I guess."
"What did you do?" Batman tugged off his cowl, becoming Bruce Wayne, and swivelled round to face his adoptive son.
"Worked on mental barriers and blocking and stuff," Dick said, stifling a yawn.
"How'd it go?"
Dick went a little pink.
"Dick?"
"I may have accidentally thought things in Romani." Bruce sighed. "I didn't mean to though! It just happened! And seriously, J'onn's accent is awful..."
Bruce chuckled.
"You know everyone's worried about Saturday. You gonna take them on patrol?"
"Maybe. I'll think about it." Bruce smiled at his son. "Get some sleep. No patrol tonight - your mind is probably hurting. I know from experience."
The two laughed, heading back up to the manor.
There you go! Another Chapter of the Team's Tuesday should be coming out soon. Please favourite, follow and most importantly... REVIEW!