Chapter Text
Anita was extremely excited about meeting the rest of the Teen Titans. While she and Greta had done a few things with the Team before, it was with the knowledge that there would be more people joining sooner rather than later. It was like they were in a holding pattern, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the other shoe completed a pair of limited edition Jordans. So, it was a good shoe, an excellent shoe.
Greta had practiced portals a lot since they first joined the Teen Titans. Valerie had either gone with them, or dropped them off every meeting after that, even for the January 1st party. But this time they were all on their own. Greta opened the portal like a dream and beamed when it worked exactly the way it was supposed to.
Greta was nearly vibrating with excitement, and Anita was grinning broadly under her mask. The pair of them walked confidently through the portal, arriving in the TT living room. When they arrived, only the other ladies were present. Cissie was sprawled upside down on the sofa, with Cassie at her side, arm over Cissie’s legs to keep her stable (whether she needed it or not, and Anita was certain she didn’t.) Next to them sat Spoiler, similarly sprawled, but right-side up.
“Hey guys,” Greta chirped, flying over and floating above Spoiler, who tipped her head back to look up at her.
“Hey, GG,” Spoiler said, which stood for “Ghost-Girl”.
“Hey, HGG,” Greta said, meaning “Half-Ghost-Girl”.
“It’s good to see you, Anita,” Cissie said, waving to her as she rolled into a more upright position. Anita felt a jolt of warmth in her stomach. She walked over and sat down next to her inspiration.
“Hey, what are you guys up to?” she asked, pulling off her helmet.
“Debating about visiting some of Robin and SB’s friends,” Spoiler said, reaching up and booping Greta’s nose as she said this.
“Really?” Greta asked, scrunching her nose. “Aren’t Bats and Supers like super-secret on their IDs?”
“Well, kinda,” Spoiler said. “More than kinda,” she added. “Thing is, you guys are Amity Park kids. We know you know how to keep secrets.”
“Plus, we’re not getting any more girls with this batch,” Cassie added with a heavy and overdramatic sigh.
“Really?” Anita asked. “Four new full members, three part-timers and no girls?”
“It’s just the way it shook out,” Cissie explained. “So, we aren’t talking about inviting everyone to meet SB’s civie friends, but the rest of the OG team and Spoiler knows them already, so it sort of feels weird to leave you and Secret out.”
“And SB’s sister comes to hang out sometimes,” Cassie added.
“Really? He has a sister?” Greta gasped.
“Adopted. She’s human, and not at all interested in being involved in hero stuff. She knows, but she’s not like, you know, part of us. The other friends don’t know,” Spoiler explained quickly.
“Well, they don’t realize that their bestie is SB, and they know he’s dating R, but doesn’t know R is Robin,” Cassie added. “They know SB and R are friends with us, and it does make sense why they’d think part of the Teen Titans is just friends with some civilians. But explaining why it makes sense to you would give too much away.”
“I want to meet them!” Greta said. “Wait, can I go?”
“They’ve been to Amity Park before,” Spoiler said. “Hell, one of their members lives there now.”
“Would we know her?” Anita asked.
“She’s at APU,” Cassie explained. “Her boyfriend’s friends are in the high school. You know Ace or Takehiko.”
“I know Takehiko- wait, is it Hera?” Anita asked. “Oh my god! Hera’s awesome! I’ve used APU’s library for projects, and she helped me find books. We talked for ages about the magical practices of the African diaspora.”
“It’s Hera,” Cassie said, grinning now. “And yeah, she’s really cool. The whole group is talking about going back to Amity Park for Spring Break again. So, you might meet them eventually anyway.”
“We’d totally love to hang out,” Greta said. “So, what do we have to do?”
“I have to convince R, which shouldn’t be too hard, and we tell SB and Lili- Lili’s the sister,” Spoiler said. “It’ll be like a weekend hang out.”
“It’s so cool, you’ll get to meet Team Gay,” Cassie said brightly.
“You are? That’s great!” Superboy’s voice cut in. Anita turned her head and watched SB floating over their direction, with a couple teen boys walking behind him. As she’d never seen them before and they were suited up, she could only assume they were some of the new guys.
“You’re introducing more of your civilian friends to your hero friends?” Came the deeply sarcastic and judgmental voice of one of the boys.
The asshole boy in question was a little taller than SB, with the Super Symbol on his chest and a golden helm covering his face, reminding Anita a lot of her favorite Elden Ring character. From the strip of skin showing on his arms, he had the same white skin tone as SB. The other boy was Asian, with bright pink hair and a cool looking teal and blue suit.
“Just Secret and Empress,” SB soothed, turning around in a move reminiscent of a swimmer turning in water than flight. There was a touch of anxiety to his words, as well as appeasement. “They’re friends, and they’re Amity Park kids.”
“You’re very lax with your secret identity,” the other Super admonished, and not in the nice Superman way.
“You’re sounding like Batman,” Spoiler said. The other Super visibly full body flinched.
“Wow, low blow. Accurate, but low blow,” the Asian kid said with a snicker, bumping the other Superkid with his hip.
“Goss,” the Super whined, taking advantage of the bump to lean on the Asian kid. A lot of the stiff unhappiness faded from his body language when he leaned against the other boy.
“Come on, Superboy and Superman aren’t dumb. They’re not about to be shouting their secret IDs to the heavens.” That made the other boy duck his head a little. “And it’s not like we don’t have the space to host,” ‘Goss’ said. Then, smirking like he’d won, he turned to face the rest of them. “Hi, I’m Gossamer. This grumpy loser is my boyfriend, Shadrao.”
“Shad’s my cousin,” SB said by way of explanation. Despite Shad being a little bit of an asshole, SB didn’t look offended at all. “He and Goss have been doing hero stuff for a while, but like secretly. They had their proper debut recently. They’re two of our new permanent members.”
“Neat, do you know who else is coming?” Anita asked. She pulled her helmet back on, since she didn’t know these other people yet, and more were coming. There was something about the stiffness around Shadrao that really did remind her of Batman. She liked and respected Batman, and he was all about professionalism, so she could be too.
“That would be me,” a new deep voice said from under Shadrao’s helmet. A dark shadow slipped out, falling to the ground before forming into a young adult man made of shadows. “Ebon. One of the other new permanent members.”
“Wow, I didn’t even hear your heartbeat,” SB said, sounding starstruck. “How long have you been there?”
“It’s something Ebon and I have been working on,” Gossamer said, sounding smug.
“That’s awesome! Shad and Goss told us me about how well you all worked together for that mission. Your powers sound really wicked! I’m looking forward to working with you.” SB thrust is hand out to shake.
Ebon appeared like he was raising a brow. He glanced back to Gossamer and Shadrao, who gave twin little shit smiles and thumbs up. Ebon let out a heavy sigh, turned and took SB’s hand, giving a handshake.
“This will be interesting,” was all Ebon said.
“Ebon? What are you doing here?” And there was another new voice.
Anita twisted her head around, noting two new teenagers approaching. These heroes she’d heard of, at least. Even if Val hadn’t introduced the idea of the Dakota Bang Baby Health Program, her dad and Uncle Ish had been sent to investigate Alva Corp when all those metas started popping up. Anita had a bad habit of digging into her dad’s notes, learning to break the codes he used, and then doing her own research. And an even worse habit of looking deeper when she had reason to be interested, like the DBBHP. She knew about Static Shock and Gear.
Static had been the one speaking.
“I’ve been invited to join the Teen Titans,” Ebon said like he was gloating.
“By who?” Static demanded, doing a great impression of an angry cat getting all puffed up.
“By us,” Shad said.
“We worked really well together,” Goss said, raising his hand. “And Val put in a good word for him.”
“To be fair, all they had to do was ask Superboy and it was basically a done deal,” Spoiler interrupted. She waved. “Hey there, fellas.”
“Good to see you again Poleris,” Gear said.
“It’s Spoiler when I’m Purple,” Spoiler said.
“Ah, whoops, sorry,” Gear said. “Good to see you though.”
“So, is Ebon a reservist?” Static asked, his voice filled with the very purposeful innocent curiosity of a kid trying to be slick asking their mama for something they knew they shouldn’t have.
“Full member,” Ebon said, smug as a cat. “Looks like I’ll get a team jacket, and you won’t, sparky.”
“There are jackets?” Gear asked.
“Oh! We should totally get jackets!” Cissie said.
“I concur. Robin!” Spoiler shouted, using a little ghost-boosty to power her voice to carry further without breaking anyone’s ear drums.
“What is it?” Robin asked, arriving as if from the shadows, just like a Bat should.
“We need team jackets!”
Despite Robin often doing a good impression of being the serious one, Anita had already learned that the boy was always up for Shenanigans™. As such, it wasn’t even a surprise when a smug smile appeared on his face.
“Nightwing’s going to be so so jealous he didn’t think of it first,” Robin said with all the deviousness inherent to a Bat. “How do you feel about a standard team logo on the back and a specialized logo on the front for each member, plus the year they joined?”
“Let no one say you don’t have fashion sense, boy wonder,” Spoiler said.
“So, are reservists also getting jackets?” Gear asked.
“We’ll make it a different color, but I don’t see why not,” Robin said.
Superboy was looking at Robin with the fondest expression Anita had ever seen in her life. Shadrao pushed him over toward Robin.
“Just go kiss him already,” he said.
And just like that, Anita could see the teen under that stiff demeanor Shadrao came in with. Yeah, that was totally an older cousin giving shit to a younger relative. SB flushed for a second before grinning and zipping across the short distance and grabbing Robin up in his arms and dipping him into the type of kiss most people reserved for the end of WWII.
“So, is that a requirement to join now?” A new voice joined. When she turned her head, she was greeted with the sight of a tall black boy with blond hair. Standing next to him was one of the Green Lanterns.
“Pretty sure it isn’t,” said GL said with a grin before letting out a wolf whistle.
Rob was blushing when Superboy set him down. He quickly wiped his mouth, composed himself and strode over to the stranger with the quiver of arrows on his back and the Green Lantern.
“It’s good to see you, Green Lantern,” Robin said with the sort of gravitas all of the Bats learned eventually. “And this is…?” he trailed off.
“Connor Hawke,” the boy said. “I’m surprised you didn’t know.”
“I wasn’t certain what name you would be going by, or if you wanted anyone to know your real name.”
Connor gave an easy smile. “I appreciate that. I’m going with Green Arrow.”
“Welp, nothing confusing about that,” Spoiler muttered quietly.
“Shhh,” Cissie shushed. She stood, brushing the wrinkles out of the front of her pants. She strode over, looking extra tiny, even as she held her head high. “Hello Connor, my name’s Cissie.”
“Arrowette, I presume,” Connor said, his expression pleasant, but the earlier smile set aside for something more neutral.
“You presume correctly,” Cissie said. “I’d love to have a contest at some point. Today if you have time.”
“I cleared the whole day for this,” Connor said. He looked up past her head at everyone else. “Okay, GL, I think I’m good.”
“You sure?” GL asked. Anita was a little frustrated with herself. This wasn’t John Stewart or that red-haired one. And he wasn’t the first one, but she didn’t know his name and felt like maybe she should. She just didn’t pay that much attention to the intergalactic heroes, Superman aside.
“I’m sure,” Connor said. “Now go. I can get back on my own.”
The Lantern hesitated before patting Connor’s shoulder and seeing himself out, back to the Zeta tubes.
“You staying with the Lanterns right now?” Superboy asked. “You can call me Kon. By the way, my name’s also Conner, how’s yours spelled?”
“Connor?”
“Er for me,” SB said with a relieved smile. “Anyway, just Kon is good for me.”
“It’s good to meet you, Kon,” Connor said. “And yes, I’ve been staying at the GL HQ for a couple months, running joint missions with them.”
“Now that Arsenal is moved out, will you be returning to the other Arrow?” Robin asked.
“I’d prefer not to. You know how he gets,” Connor said, waving his hand dismissively. “You know Arsenal?”
“He was living with my brother. I don’t know him, but I remember when he was in the Teen Titans back in the day, and I’ve met him a good bit. I’m pretty sure he’ll be reaching out soon.”
“So I heard,” Connor said. “Now, how about everyone introduce themselves?”
“Right,” Robin said. “You good if I do the honors?” he asked, looking to Cassie.
“Fine by me. Cap’s going to be here in like two hours for the showoff time and joint training practice, by the way.”
“Captain Marvel is our den mother,” Greta said, floating over where the others could see her better. “Now go on Rob.”
“Right,” Robin said before clearing his throat. “Our current roster is Wonder Girl, who’s our leader, myself, Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Arrowette, Secret, Empress and Spoiler.”
“I’m Cassie. Rob and Spoiler don’t share real names, but rest of us do.”
“I’m Cissie, and the streak running in and out is Bart.”
“Yo!” Bart said as he sped by.
“I’m Anita,” she said, leaning farther over the sofa so she could look at the new boys better. A lot of them were really cute. Shad and Goss were clearly taken with each other, but the others were really cute, Anita was pretty certain she had a shot. “And Secret’s name is Greta.”
“I’m already dead, so I don’t have a secret ID to worry about,” Greta said, floating past like she was kicking her way through the water.
Static’s eyes were fixed on Greta, pain written in his expression. Gear had to bump into his side more than once to make him stop staring.
“This is Shadrao, my cousin, and Gossamer. They’re a matched set,” Superboy said. “And- uh-”
“Ebon.” The one word was said shortly. “These two invited me.”
“You’ve got great powers for espionage,” Robin stated. “To be entirely honest with the group, Ebon was considered a supervillain in Dakota city. But he wouldn’t be the first or last member of the Titans who was or will become villains. The line’s a lot more fluid than most of us would like to admit.”
“Man, you really sound like Batman,” Static said. “I’m Static Shock, and this is Gear. We’re heroes from Dakota. We’re one of three reserve members. Our third, Rubber Band Man, is still recovering and couldn’t be here today, but asked us to say hello for him.”
“Is he okay?” Ebon asked, stress entering his voice, erasing the smugness he’d come in with.
“Well, the good news is we can really vouch for how good the JL doctors are,” Gear said. “He’ll probably be fine in another week, but they asked us to keep him from going back to heroing until February.”
“Sharon’s on it,” Static added. “My name is Virgil, by the way.”
“And I’m Richie,” Gear added. “It’s great to meet all of you. Me and Static have got an idea of the powers of the Teen Titans members from a couple months ago, but I can’t say I know a lot about Empress or Secret.” He spoke with an apologetic smile.
“How about we go show off now?” Anita suggested.
“You think?” Greta asked, lighting up at the idea.
“It’s not like Cap has to be here for us to use the practice rooms,” Cassie pointed out. “He’s going to have our new members each run a test with their powers. But we can go have fun before that.”
“Hell yeah we can,” Spoiler said. “I’ve barely gotten to show off my new skills yet.” Then she pointed to Greta and Gossamer. “Ghost Gang!” Then she pointed to Anita. “Honorary member. Let’s roll out.”
“Yipee!” Greta said, speeding away.
“Wait for me!” Bart shouted, running after her.
“Wanna race?” Gossamer asked, looking at Spoiler.
Rings formed around her middle, running like a copy machine, changing her suit from the purple and black to green and white.
“You bet. I’ll even run it this time,” Poleris said, but took off before she even finished speaking. Unfortunately from her, Gossamer had started running before she started speaking. Even being further from the door, Gossamer got a little head start. “Hey!” she shouted.
The pair of them ran right through the walls and were just gone.
“Do they do that a lot?” Connor asked.
“Yes,” Rob and Shad with twin deadpan deliveries.
“Even before Gossamer knew about the ghost powers,” Shad added.
“I think Spoiler just likes holding it over my head that she can do things now that I can’t,” Robin said.
“Eh, let her,” Anita said, standing at a more leisurely and refined pace. “A half-death isn’t an easy thing. My mother had a principle of finding joy where you could.”
“It’s actually nice to see him playing with someone who can keep up with him without ruining buildings,” Shad said, his voice and the expression she could see around that helmet going soft.
“Is… do they like being ghosts?” There was something so tight in Virgil’s voice that Anita came to a sudden realization of what had to be wrong.
“Did you witness someone who you knew living become a ghost recently?” she asked, putting careful sympathy in her words.
“We did,” Richie said, while Virgil’s expression became tight. “We haven’t seen Maureen since then. I mean, we got an update from Red Huntress, but it’s not quite the same.”
“Even if you see them again as ghosts and spirits, it’s difficult to bear the grief. There was a story my Grandmere told me, of a faith of our ancestors, who believed that the world of the living and the world of the spirits were connected. They were two mountains, connected from base to base, with the divider being a horizon of water. The move from the land of the living to the land of the spirits meant a physical separation. Even though the ancestors and spirits could influence the land of the living, they were not part of it. Death is painful, as we are forcibly moved from one plain of existence to another, even if it’s natural. Even if the ghost of our loved ones live right next door, there is still a loss.”
“Can you explain what you mean by “a loss”?” Cissie asked, coming to stand next to her.
“There’s a large contingent of ghost children in Gotham,” Robin said. “They have a leader and a community. But even though they can change and learn and grow in their minds, something about them is forever halted.”
“Change is easier in life,” Anita agreed. “A dead child will never become an adult, no matter how long they exist. And seeing a dead loved one isn’t the same as holding them. Our bodies naturally reject death as something antithetical to what we are. It’s not bad, it’s just instinct. So, touching the dead never feels right compared to touching someone alive… with ghosts, the change doesn’t have to mean the end of the relationship, but you must learn how to accept the differences in your loved one, and yourself, and your circumstances. Maureen, did you know her well?”
“Not enough,” Virgil admitted bitterly.
“You can fix that now,” Anita assured. “In a way, it may be easier, since you will have more time to know her as dead than living. There are plenty of people, even in Amity Park, who cannot stand to exist near a dead loved one. But the good thing about Amity Park is that it gives you time. Does Dakota have a zeta tube?”
“It’ll probably get one soon even if it doesn’t have one,” Shad said. “Especially with all of us going back and forth.”
“Then you will have an easier time visiting Maureen,” Anita said.
“Excuse me, what do you mean about us going back and forth?” Connor asked.
“My apologies,” Robin said. “Everyone else is either already part of the project or aware. I didn’t thinkto explain. Because of the way Dakota’s meta population came to exist, the metas, or Bang Babies, can’t trust regular hospitals to take care of them, so the JL is sending doctors, and our team is helping facilitate the whole process. It’s part of why so many Dakota heroes are part of the roster now.”
“I like that idea,” Connor said. “We all spend so long fighting back the dark and evil of the world that sometimes it’s a good balance to simply help just to help, rather than fight.”
“And we could certainly use the help,” Gear said. “We’ve had a number of Bang Babies disappear lately.”
“A lot of us are poor, homeless or in gangs,” Ebon stated. “So, no one official cares when we disappear.”
“Then we’ll work to change that,” Anita said.
“We’ve all be undergoing first aid training in part to assist. Every one of you are going to have to be first aid certified before long,” Robin said.
“We do advanced training for field medicine too,” Cassie said, just in case. “Now let’s get going before our racers get bored and come back.”
That was less of a threat and more of a certainty if they kept standing around and chatting. Plus, they all really were all itching to go play. It wasn’t exactly difficult to herd them out and down to the training room, where the so-called Ghost Gang and Impulse were chatting.
“Took you all long enough,” Bart complained, zipping over and stopping right in front of Cissie. “I want to see the Arrows have a shooting contest.”
“And we all want to show off,” Anita said.
“Unoffical-like,” Cissie agreed.
“If it’s official, we go more all out, and anyone not currently fighting goes up to the observation room,” Cassie explained, pointing right up to the glass room that was above them and movable based on how dangerous training was.
“So, we’ll go light, Goss and I actually want to try some stuff out,” Poleris said.
“It shouldn’t take too long,” Gossamer added. “My abilities allow me to move through anything, even sound and light. I’m untouchable. And I’ve found out recently that even ghost attacks pass through me.”
“And my abilities allow me to be functionally unbreakable,” Poleris said. “We’d like to test if Goss can pass through me if I’m trying to stop him.”
“So, it really won’t take too long,” Shad said. “I really have wanted to see your abilities up close, Poleris.”
“Oh, I’m Spoiler when I’m human, and Poleris when I’m a ghost,” Poleris said, pointing to Connor. “The others already got to hear that.”
“Understood,” Connor said. “Shall we stand back?”
They all did take a few steps back, while Poleris transformed into her crystal form.
“Wow,” Gear whispered. Anita couldn’t help but agree. It seemed like every time she saw it, the crystals just got prettier.
The pair started to spar. It was clear very quickly that every time Poleris tried to hit Gossamer, her punches passed right through. But Poleris was also faster than Gossamer and kept getting out of the way of his hits. Finally, she slowed down purposefully, and Gossamer hit her, but ended up jumping back with a light step, all while shaking his hand and hissing
“That really is like punching a rock,” Gossamer said.
“Probably harder,” Robin added. He looked at the rest of them. “We actually have been testing it at home. Her crystals do break under pressure, but she can melt and reform them instantly, so even something strong enough to continually break the crystals would have a very hard time actually hurting her.”
“That’s so cool,” Greta said wistfully. Anita’s heart hurt for Greta a little. What she explained to Virgil and the others earlier was not something she would have said in front of Greta, who, despite her best efforts at shoring up her own self-confidence, often felt self-conscious about being dead.
“Hey, Goss, you think you can try that move you did on that scientist?”
“You don’t exactly have a heart right now,” Gossamer said.
Anita felt the blood drain from her face. Poleris couldn’t really be about to ask for what it sounded like she was asking for, right?
“I’ve got a core,” Poleris said.
“Hey, don’t-” Greta started.
“She needs to know how strong it is,” Robin interrupted. He turned to look at both of them with an unreadably bland expression. “Gossamer is going to be the best way for her to safely test this.”
Ah, he didn’t like this much either, but he also trusted his fellow Bat enough to not stop it.
“Okay,” Gossamer said. He walked closer until they were less than and arm length apart and inserted his hand through her chest. He paused his hand halfway through. Poleris gasped, a shocked noise, not quite pain, but still ready to be a scream. It was the sound of a ghost who had their very essence touched.
Anita squirmed unhappily. Greta had turned away and gone to hide behind Superboy and Robin.
“What’s he doing?” Connor asked, his voice quiet and near Anita. She hadn’t realized he’d gotten so close.
“A core is the very essence of a ghost. The way they look, that’s just like… it’s like an illusion built around the core. Or better to say a projection or hologram. Ghosts often can’t touch the living world, but unless they’re really weak, they can touch each other. But ghosts normally can’t just reach into another ghost and touch their core… if you break a ghost’s core, they’re just gone forever.”
“Is he hurting her?”
“No,” Anita said, her eyes fixed on Poleris and Gossamer, who seemed to be standing very, very still. “She’d be screaming if it hurt. But being touched like that at all is a huge violation, even though she gave her permission. That’s why she gasped.”
“A-anything?” Poleris’s voice came out rough.
“You’re got crystal formed around your core,” Gossamer said. “Maybe I could get through if I was stronger, but I think my abilities limit me on this one. I can’t promise that a stronger ghost wouldn’t be able to get you.” He finally pulled his hand out. “But you’re extremely protected.”
Poleris let out a sigh of relief and started to wobble.
Superboy had picked her up in less than a second and flew her over to Robin who’d rushed part way over.
“Really guys, I’m fine,” she said with a weak laugh. “No need to fuss like my mother.”
“Yeah, let’s not repeat that experiment any time soon,” Robin said, his voice teetering between anger and distress.
“Yeah, that sucked.” She rubbed her chest. She turned to look at Gossamer, who Shadrao had gone to, but who was still standing where they’d been sparring. “That scientist still deserved it.”
“Thanks, Po,” Gossamer said. He allowed Shad to guide him back over to their group, but a little ways off.
Cassie and Cissie frowned. Anita was frowning too. All three of them exchanged a look. It seemed like those two separated themselves from the others, especially if one of them felt guilty. Well, that wasn’t going to work for long with them, absolutely not.
“You up for a match?” Ebon asked, rising from out of the floor near Anita’s feet.
She took a step back but was smirking behind her helmet. “I’d love to. Any reason you picked me?”
“Curiosity,” he said. “And we’re both going in blind.”
“Sounds fun,” Anita said. They walked out to the center. Well, she walked, he sort of glided.
They didn’t call start or anything, they just started. Anita quickly found out that Ebon’s power was darkness. He didn’t just pool from the shadows, he was the shadows. He could grow and twist and shrink and move any manner he wanted. Shadows and darkness were malleable. If she really wanted to hurt him, she would need to attack him with light. She bet he and Static had a hell of a time fighting each other.
But she wasn’t trying to hurt Ebon, and he wasn’t really trying to do more than test her. She got the sense that he could probably sense in her what she could sense in him: a connection to something besides the world of the living. Shadows and the ability to move between them were closer to the abilities of spirits or ghosts than living beings.
They were merely sparring to start. It was more her martial arts and him twisting and moving to try and pin her down or keep from being pinned.
But then he struck out, aiming for the darkness on her person: through the shadows in her hair, into her helmet, and then into her mind.
Immediately everything went dark. An awareness touched her mind. He could create a nightmare just for her. But he didn’t want to.
“You could be real good at harming,” Anita said inside this dreamscape he’d created.
“I’m good at making people hurt,” Ebon’s voice said just behind her ear.
“Not hurting, harming,” she said. “Power like that would have made you powerful among conjurers, even if it’s not quite the type of power Vodou conjurers actually use. It’s close enough. Most people wouldn’t know.”
“Is that what you are? A conjurer?”
“You could say that,” Antia said, smirking in both the nightmare world, and in the real world. “Let me go. Get out of my head. Get out of my helmet.”
And then the lights came back on, and she was alone in her mind and body and suit. Ebon stood across from her, shaking off her mind control.
“What was that?” he demanded
“A little bit of my own power,” Anita said. She pulled her helmet off and smiled at Ebon. “I think you and I may have an interesting time working together.”
“I can see that,” Ebon said, eyeing her with wariness and curiosity.
Anita felt exactly the same way about him. That darkness in him was strong. There was a lot of big, bad, dark feelings in him, and that melded into his powers. A thing like his powers would call to dark spirits easily. She had mind control, he had nightmares. She fought with the emperor’s staff; he could twist himself into any shape he wished. He could travel through shadows, she could teleport. And that was only what she’d witnessed. That didn’t even get into her other abilities, or whatever other tricks he had up his non-existent sleeves.
“You good for now?” Anita asked.
“I am,” Ebon said. He slipped down into the shadows before reappearing near Shad and Gossamer.
Well, it looked like those two weren’t the only ones who liked to withdraw from others. Still, it would be a work in progress very soon.
Anita moved back to the group and Greta, who basically wrapped around her once she was close enough, still disturbed from the rough play the rest of the Ghost Gang got up to earlier. She stayed wrapped around Anita while Gear and his gadgets got his ass handed to him by Robin.
“You good, G?” Anita asked as Static teed up to try fighting both Cassie and Bart.
“I will be,” Greta said quietly. She was different from the average ghost, but that didn’t change how disturbing it was to watch Gossamer and Poleris run dangerous experiments on themselves.
“You sure?” Anita said quietly, with concern.
“They’re just… way more intense than I realized. I can’t help but wonder if maybe it’s because they remembered how they died and I… just really don’t.”
“I think it may be their personalities. Plus, Poleris is a Bat. They’re all about knowing every aspect of their own and everyone else’s abilities so they can figure out the best solutions. And I don’t have a clue what’s going on with Gossamer, but he’s boyfriends with Mr. Super Grumpy Pants over there.”
That won a giggle from Greta.
“You’re friends with Spoiler. And honestly. I think you should just go talk to them about it. Ghost Gang, right?”
“Yeah,” Greta said, relaxing enough to drift away from Anita. “Ghost Gang.”
She floated off, leaving room for Cissie to sidle up to her side.
“You nervous about your match?” Anita asked.
“Kinda, but in an excited way,” Cissie said. “I’m starting wonder just how much I love knocking people around, but I love archery. It’s exciting to get to compete against someone at a level good enough to be called Green Arrow.”
Anita turned to look at her, tearing her eyes from the spar in the center of the room. “What’s brought you over here?”
Cissie shrugged. “I’m just always so impressed by how levelheaded you can be when it comes to ghost stuff.”
Anita shrugged. “Hard not to be, with how I was raised around it.”
“Yeah, but still,” she said. “What did Ebon do to you? He sort of disappeared and you just froze.”
“He was the power to take people’s minds into nightmares. I was able to order him out with mind control. Our powers are sort of contradictory, but that’s what makes it exciting,” She admitted. “So, what do you think of the new team?”
“I think I like them,” Cissie said. “It’ll certainly be interesting. And we can probably do a lot more intense missions.”
“And smaller ones too where only a few of us have to be around,” Anita said.
“Less burn out if we share,” Cissie said.
“You heard the latest podcast then?”
“Yeah, you got me onto it, Nita,” Cissie said with a smile. “I hope we can go to the sleepover. Kon’s sister’s really nice.”
“Oh? How nice? Oh, you’re blushing!”
“Shhh,” Cissie hissed. She cast a glance toward Superboy who was busy cheering Bart on. He was distracted. Unfortunately, Shadrao wasn’t so much. He leaned over and whispered into his boyfriend’s ear, who suddenly flashed them a smile and thumbs up.
Cissie groaned.
Anita laughed and patted her back. “Don’t be nervous. We all know how to keep a secret.”
“Only when we feel like it,” Cissie grumbled.
Anita chuckled, shifting to put her arm around Cissie’s shoulder and gave a side hug while Cissie dealt with getting her blush under control.
Anita couldn’t help but feel really, really excited for the future.