Young Justice 1. New Beginnings

**I revamped it guys! Slowly, but surely, I'm trying to get better.** **Special thanks to Spazmatazz53, who wrote the review I needed to rewrite that monstrosity of a story. I'd been thinking of rewriting it but they gave me the kick in the pants I really needed along with their amazing tips and advice.**

**The revamped and most definately rewritten story of Adrianna Grey...don't worry you'll get the same scene of her meeting the gang like in X, so there's nothing new there. But you will get a more detailed and indepth version of it.**

**I think I'm gonna leave up the other story just in case I need a foil to bounce ideas off of.**

**Anyway lets all read my new revamped version, yes?**

* * *

><p>The shadows of the city reached across her room in solemn silence as she sat on her bed, comforter wrapped around her like a cloak. Her artificially colored hair fell in tangles around her shoulders, shielding her from the encroaching darkness caused by the concrete jungle outside. Somewhere behind her hazel eyes bloomed the idea of running away; somewhere in her mind she thought of packing all her stuff and moving away from the drama, the danger, and the memories of this place she once called home.<p>

The TV was on in her living room, the only noise in the apartment coming from the static it emitted lowly and steadily. She thought of going to turn it off, but the notion was quickly stamped out of existence by the stubborn part of her consciousness; the noise was a welcome distraction from the depressing situation.

Adrianna should have seen it coming, she should have packed her belongings up, should have changed her name again, should have found another place to squat until she could find a more permanent and secure location figured out. There were so many things she _needed_ to do, but Adrianna was prideful, if anything else and she absolutely refused to even move towards her iPhone for fear that she would see that picture on the lock screen and cave in.

She would never call out to them for help, unless she was battered, bruised and possibly on the verge of death; and even then she'd still try to resist the consideration.

A vibration alerted her to a text message she had just received, and her finger twitched minutely towards it but she restrained herself, instead she climbed to her feet and stretched out her arms. She probably had thirty minutes until someone was at her door guns blazing and looking for answers she really wasn't inclined to give, so she needed to make like a banana and spilt.

She stretches her body in the way she used to, with her feet firmly planted on the ground and her hands right behind them. She does these stretches daily and she hasn't lost a single bit of her limberness in her inactivity. Oddly she feels as if she were just going about her daily business, doing her little exercise before she goes to her night classes; with her odd out-of-body experience is an almost welcome feeling amid her whirlwind of thoughts.

After her little warm up she strode over to her closet at a snail's pace, not really wanting to move in the first place, but noting that there was some need for urgency. Once there she yanked open the doors and pulled out her leather jacket along with a tank top, some leggings and the comfiest pair of shorts she could find. Adrianna wasn't only dressing for fashion — though she would like to say she has a killer fashion sense — she was dressing for practicality. Jeans were constricting around the knees and got caught on jagged edges very often and she found that her preferences for boot cut was rather hindering.

Another vibration sounds across her room and she falters on her path to her bedroom door, instead giving into the need to speak to someone before she did something extremely stupid. She quickly strides over to the device, which is sitting on her desk, and lifts it to stare at the caller i.d. while absently wondering where her glasses were.

**Contact: Red** glowed up to her from the touch screen and making a quick decision Adrianna taps the green button at the bottom of the screen, holding the phone up to her ear. "Adrianna." Came her curt answer before she heard nothing but silence on the other end. She made to pull her ear away from the cell phone to look at the display curiously. **MISSED CALL:** **(1)** glared angrily across the flat surface and she huffed before shoving it into her pocket without a second glance.

One look at the clock sent her swearing across the room towards the door.

She hurried to the section of her home she set up for her German shepherd, nudging him hard with her foot to wake him from his afternoon slumber. Wi-phi whined quietly and pushed his face against her bare foot with his wet noise; she held back a yelp at how cold it was and tried to hush his playful nature with a calming hand. After several seconds of trying and failing at that she searched around for his collar, which was hanging down from her key holder. After snatching it up, she yanked it down over his ears and around his neck, pushing him towards the front door while kissing his dark brown nose quickly.

She opens the door quietly and peeks out into the silent hallway, praying she still had time to get her gadgets and high tail it out of there. She gently took Wi-phi by his collar and ushered him out into the hallway, "Wi-phi, be a _good doggie_ and go _home._" The dog wagged its tail for several long agonizing moments before it took the command in. Turning towards the back stairwell, having been trained to open doors by himself.

Seeing Eye dogs made the perfect companions sometimes.

After making sure he made it to the stairs without hindrance, Adrianna closed the door and triple locked it. Upon returning to her room she grabbed her, thin rimmed, glasses and her sling bag while tugging on her boots, Adrianna rushed over to the window and yanked it open; taking one last cursory glance over the room, she took an extra half-second to turn her radio on and pushed the button on her remote to turn the noise up to unbearably high. With that done she lifted her feet out the window and settled on the fire escape, taking great care in closing the window back and securing it.

One look out at the city and the adrenaline washed over her, it had been so long since she had this feeling coursing in her blood stream; six months had passed since she was hospitalized, but only three had past from when she got out. She paused and closed her eyes as the memory came flooding back, there was blood on the concrete below her and the feeling of air rushing fast against her face, the feel of being yanked back at the last second. It was so vivid, right down to the sticky, slick and wet pain she felt in her right shoulder.

She absentmindedly tapped her tanned hand against the six month old bullet wound. The reminder of her old reckless life, a warning she unintentionally gave herself and a warning of what was to come if she didn't flee from her apartment at that moment.

Her gaze flickered down to the black van that had just pulled up to her building; she let out a sigh of relief. She still had a few minutes until they reached her door, and more still, until they figured out that the only way into the apartment was through force.

The window in the gritty brick wall across from her was yanked open by an angry looking older boy with vivid red hair and freckles. Adrianna had her radio turned up so loud that she couldn't possibly understand the words that were coming out of the fuming teen's mouth over the muted lyrics, of what could only be, a Brittany Spears song. The boy started making rude gestures at her from his perch ten feet away and, snidely, she sent red head a two finger salute and stepped onto the railing of the metal contraption before plunging over the edge.

It wasn't a long fall, in fact it was a rather short drop from the third floor and her jacket was like a little, _slightly ineffectual_, parachute. She landed lightly on the hood of a beaten up car and stepped down straitening her outfit as she did so and by the time she landed on the ground an explosion was heard from above, she glanced up briefly and could see the fire reaching out the window but she shrugged her jacket higher on her shoulders, fixed a pair of headphones in her ears and waltzed out of the alleyway without so much as a glance back, walking through the stunned crowd as if she hadn't actually heard it.

She turns the music to neigh unbearable and breaks out in a dead sprint once she's sure no one is paying her any mind. There was some type of freedom of doing what she loved again; free funning and parkour had no restrictions, no set of rules that must be followed. Just her and the wind whispering the sweet song of flowing air around her. Soon she's soaring through the air and over people's heads like she was born to move like that, like she just ran from dawn to dusk all day every day.

She is drawn deeper into her mind as the hypnotizing rush of colors and sounds override any of her other interests, she suddenly had all this pent up energy.

Then it was just her and the world; the smooth concrete of the city and its wild runner.

* * *

><p>An hour later she finds herself on the roof top of her friend's apartment building eating a burrito and chili fries. Mandark was barely able to pull himself up beside her but she didn't really feel the need to help him in anyway. After a minute or two of hearing his rasping voice stutter out swears, she started to examine her chipping green nail polish, deliberately ignoring the blondes sputtering noises in favor if thinking out what she needed to do next.<p>

They probably had forty minutes to evacuate his room, although Millie's apartment was already _alarmingly_ bare and empty by the time she got there, so Adrianna didn't worry about the older girl. Where said girl was is an entirely different problem all together.

She finished the chili fries fairly quickly and turned her attention to the struggling platinum blond. "Mandy you want a burrito? No? Then how 'bout you have about twenty minutes to gather all your 'computer geek' junk and get back to me before I get bored." Her voice was bland and came out blasé; not surprising seeing as she was waiting on his roof for fifteen minutes already and given the fact that she isn't very patient anyway.

She takes a bite out of her burrito and moans in pleasure. _Oh, the little things in life_.

"Oh, be a _darling_ and grab the ear pieces while you're at it, I'm gonna call Red and Jay's places ahead of time so they can get a move on, 'kay?" Her mouth was full but she doesn't care as she takes another bite from the delicous Mexican food.

It's gone soon enough and she kinda wished that she savored it a tiny bit more...that or she wished he had bought two.

Mandark was _still_ struggling to catch his breath and she became fed up with waiting after listening to it; standing up she pulls out her cell phone and scrolls down the list of names until she finds Desmond's name. Pressing the send button she nudges Mandark with her foot and eyes the ledge with deliberation.

She holds her phone away from her ear as some stupid Goth band sings a song about society and to rise against '**the man**' and fixes Mandark with what he liked to call the impatient stare. "_Not kidding,_ get your crap and go." He's up and moving in ten seconds tops, seemingly forgetting he was out of breath barely a minute ago. A click on the other end of her phone alerts her and she turns to walk around the rooftop.

"Adrianna? Um are you al—" she scoffs and scoots her boots against a loose piece of rubble, dislodging it and sending it skidding across the surface. "I'm fine you idiot, you called earlier remember?" he pauses as if he's trying to remember what exactly he had called for.

After he comments that he can't remember anything, she continues with telling him to hurry up and get himself over to Mandark's, and "I don't want any of that bull about how you saw a hot girl on the way over. You will get here in the next ten minutes or I will…" she lets the threat hang in the air but she hangs up.

When she turns around however her already sour disposition dampens heavily, upon seeing Jason's disbelieving and slightly inquisitive stare.

"I…I saw your apartment on the news…I thought you were..." His voice trembles slightly and she scoffs under her breath. He fixes his stare just over her shoulder like he's nervous and she's not there; she wants to shake Jay until he could look her in the eye like a damn _**man**_.

She's totally not bitter about the fact that he dumped her, _nope,_ defiantly _not_ bitter over the fact that he dumped her for his new, sweet, hot, blonde haired, blue eyed, bimbo of a girlfriend. Three long months had passed since Jason told her he was seeing someone else, so she wasn't bitter, she doesn't _do_ bitter. She doesn't do bitter because she doesn't get jealous, she didn't get jealous because she was non-replaceable. She was one of a kind, they _can't_ replace her; not with someone _better_, because she's the best.

Yet here she was looking at Jason, who dumped her three months ago, and she was feeling bitter. It figures that this feeling would pop up when she didn't want it to.

_And it _really_ figures he'd care_ _now,_ she thinks bitterly to herself as she glares at an office building across the street; obviously he'd care now, because it wasn't like he cared when they were dating, not when she was in the hospital practically dying from boredom and pain; no, he wants to start caring when he thought she was dead.

Mira, the cute adorable stupid bimbo, glides up to his side and Adrianna doesn't get jealous, she doesn't get envious, and she doesn't twitch with the need to tell the girl to _back off_, because she's _not jealous_.

She just…kind of wishes that the world was a little _less_ _unfair_.

"Jason… Mira." She nods at them numbly, "Nice to see that both of you are safe." She greets them with scarcely concealed malice. The tension is almost tangible and Adrianna is left wishing that this happened some other time when she wouldn't be concerned. There's movement and Adrianna focuses on a newly appeared Desmond along with Mandark instead of glaring down the couple across from her menacingly.

It seems Red sees her first, because he just lights up with the chance to see her out of her apartment for once. In three steps he's up close and hugging her like she was a mirage and he was trying to see if she was real. Then he looks up and register's the edgy feeling in the air and moves away.

"_Oh_." there are times when she thinks he's just dense and others when he's just being extra slow on purpose. "_Mira's here_...with Adrianna _and _Jason. _Awesome._" There's probably a story to the way he says that statement, but she's too irritated and frustrated to even think of what it could possibly be. Turning away frustrated, Adrianna twists her bag to the front for an easier time accessing the gadgets inside. Now that Red had made his appearance she wouldn't have to carry any of Mandark's stuff, seeing as the youngest member liked him more than her.

She digs around the inside of the pack until her hand landed on a condensed metal object within its confines and clutched at it, with a new found need to escape the uncomfortable situation. After pulling it out and examining it to make sure that no part of the mechanism was tampered with she closed her bag she turned back towards the others.

She was met with their backs turned in an obvious group huddle or discussion. She rolled her eyes and tried to look as if she wasn't offended by the notion that Mira took her position, of destructively challenging of others ideas, as well; though anyone could look at her and plainly see the hurt written on her face.

"If you're done playing football team." She calls out angrily, "I would like to leave now." The pitying gaze Mira casts at her is enough to make Adrianna see red—no pun intended—and send the African girl on edge. Mandark already passed out the ear pieces and there seemed to be a shortage of them for the group.

"Oh…" she casts her gaze away from them at the pointed look they pass each other, Mandark gives some excuse of giving hers to Mira and how Millie took hers with her when she took off. Adrianna waves them off and holds up her line launcher to fire at the highest building she sees, after aiming she checks to make sure the line is secure.

She twists back to look at each of them one last time and is surprised at how close Mira was at that moment. She's holding out her ear piece and Adrianna gives her the most annoyed look she could muster at the girl, who wavers for a moment but continues.

"You can have this, I'll be with Jason—" Adrianna rolls her eyes, but if Mira noticed she didn't acknowledge it, but Jason made a face behind her. "It's not mine anyway… It was yours first."Adrianna knows that somewhere her mother would have reprimanded her for the sneer she gave this girl. But she just couldn't find it in her to be nice to her; Mira took everything from her, her spot on the team, her boyfriend and her life. Under different conditions they might have been friends, might have been sisters from other misters.

Under different circumstances Adrianna might have even liked the younger woman. But, she had taken too much to be forgiven in her eyes and she just couldn't stand being anywhere in the vicinity of this person.

"Thank you." She states softly, though it should be noted that she had her teeth gritted the whole time. Mira's face lights up like Christmas lights, lips pulling back to give what has to be the most blinding smile she's ever witnessed. Adrianna reaches out for the device mostly just to get her eyes away from the luminescent smile. After that all she could do was offer a quick off handed goodbye, and avert her eyes as she hurriedly slips the ear piece in; there is probably a word to describe that feeling in her stomach but she refuses to call it defeat.

She doesn't want to believe that Mira did that out of well meaning intent and that wasn't a firsthand example of exactly why Jason left her; _that_ was Mira showing that she was better than Adrianna; or that's what she tried to tell herself at least. Tears prick the sides of her eyes because she _knows_ that other female was completely genuine.

As she swings away she wonders sullenly if she could ever smile like she had no cares in the world. Like she _wasn't_ being hunted by a terrorist organization, like she _wasn't_ a girl with mother issues and a broken heart. Somewhere in her mind she tries to convince herself that she could be _just _like that, but she knows she couldn't.

She might be better than Mira at so many other things, but when it came down to it Mira was better in all the things that _counted_.

And Adrianna doesn't want to acknowledge the voice in her head, that says rather mockingly, that she _knows_ Mira is better.

* * *

><p><strong>So that was my rewritten first chapter! Hope you liked it, I tried to be more descriptive and give more depth to Adrianna. Again another special thanks to<strong>** Spazmatazz53 for her comment on X.**

**Until next time guys~**

**And, remember Reviews are **_**super mega special awesome**_** love.**


	2. Welp this sucks Where am I again?

_Okay so I dropped off the face of the earth, Final exams can't make up for that cause school ended a month and a half ago, and I've suddenly found this interesting site called Tumblr that's sucked out my soul and is slowly pulling out more of it every time I log on._

_Anywho, the story has officially gotten a second chapter, yay because really I started it and then BAM EVERY AP TEST AND SHIT…yeah. Got my results too and I'm not surprised but happy._

_Anyway you guys can go read and I'll just die from _embarrassment_ for how long I made you wait. _

* * *

><p>At first she's swinging high above the heads of the people of Gotham and the next she's slammed into a solid wall of concrete. She howls at the impact and her feet don't move for a few seconds, holding her up as if she's stunned into stillness. Pain flutters up and down her spine making her gasp and shake involuntarily until her breathing stops, lungs refusing to expand while she loses all feeling in her hands and feet.<p>

She's numb, frozen, as she slumps down, supported somewhat by her feet, but ultimately still precariously close to the edge of a skyscraper, struggling for breath that won't come to her.

Things become hazy, there are things coming into and out of focus, bright and dark flashes pass behind her eye lids in sudden bursts, making her head pound and heart beat faster even with the lack of air.

She's dying, she's _going to fall_, she's going to fall and _hit_ the ground several stories below her and _oh god_ she's really _**dying**_.

She feels as if something just violently exploded in her brain, and as her air rushes back into her lungs, pain in her head receding into the far recesses of her mind, she shakily places a hand on the structure next to her.

That was strange for a moment she felt like...

Communications are up again—she didn't even know when they went down—and a crackling noise sizzles to life in her ear, signifies that. She forgets her last thought, mind going carefully blank. She has no idea as to what had just happened.

She shrugs, why was she up here again? Why did her side hurt? Why was she, anywhere near here?

Oh wait, right she was meeting someone...right?

"Oh yeah, dummy." Adrianna says as she hits her forehead, how could she forget? She was meeting everyone at the hideout.

She pulls out her grapple gun again and before long she's swinging from another building, headed directly for the other side of town.

She avoids the bay area though. It's quicker through there, but Adrianna's aversion to the place adds an extra twenty minutes to the trek across the city, and she never minds the extra time.

And after what just happened, she really doesn't care.

* * *

><p>Three hours later—seriously three hours, she can't even remember any of them—she's awake but much worse for wear. Her clothes are ripping in several places, like she had struggled or got into a fight at some point; her jacket was half off her shoulder, her leggings had long, jagged tears in them and her right leg<em> throbbed<em> with a budding bruise already turning her dark skin different colors.

Adrianna could instantly recognize this side of Gotham by smell, noticing the choking aroma before her body could really register what was going on. The stench of paper mills, sewers, decaying buildings, illegal drugs, power plants, and sewage dumping into Gotham bay were impossible to miss, as they dominated her senses completely, making her gasp and suffocate on the polluted air.

Seriously? She tried _avoiding_ this damn place.

On shaky and sore legs, she maneuvers away from the wall she had somehow ended up leaning against, waves of nausea crash down on her as she moves towards the low railing across the slanted rooftop; only stumbling twice on her trek over to it.

She grasps the cold metal in her hands firmly, leaning heavily against the rusted railing and sinking to her knees from exhaustion, she opens one hazel eye, wearily peering at her surroundings. Dark hair tumbles into her line of vision after a moment of seeing nothing but haze; she shakes her head and cocks it to the side, trying to make out the moving lines in front of her realizing rather late, that her glasses were missing.

From her vantage point all she could see was nothing, but dark colors. Things moved in the distance but she couldn't be sure what they were, so instead she stumbles halfheartedly back across the rooftop. Certain thoughts pushing their way to the forefront like: get to the ground, she has to get out of here, she has to remember to hold onto the edge _just_ right so she can drop down without anyone noticing, she has to keep her footing, she has to call for help.

Reaching up she noticed that her ear piece was gone as well, making this day even shittier than it was mere hours before.

Not that she could remember it very well anyway.

She slips on a puddle—or that's what she_ thinks_—and doesn't recognize the falling sensation, until she hits the ground.

Its awkward how she lands and the momentum should have killed her, the force should have done her in; no the impact. Because, as so many people have told her, it's not the fall that kills you but the landing; the sudden stop that ends it all. Yet, it's not any of those things but the sensation, the feeling of dread that comes with dropping out the sky, the feeling of losing your grip, life flashing before your eyes as you plummet.

She's fallen before, fallen down long drops, and came out of almost all of them unharmed. Of course it's only part of human nature, you learn from experience, she learned that sometimes landing hurts like a _bitch, _and taught herself to avoid it at any cost_._

But it's too late to take her own advice, too late to even try and slow her decent.

All she can do is brace for the impact, which actually, goes over poorly, as her head bangs painfully against the ground below her. Her left ankle skids across the pavement and throbs so bad she has to bite her lip in agony. And all the while her shoulder and elbow scream at her to stay still as they took the brunt of the force.

The ground was nice, _kind of_, when Adrianna's head stops spinning and clears. The pavement is cool against the bare, bruised skin, and felt soothing to certain aches. She shifts her hazel gaze upward, letting her body slip into a peaceful state where she couldn't even feel any part of her body anymore. She has an excellent view of the darkening sky above her and she thinks it's beautiful; in such a way that only the gloomy Gotham sky can be, when painted in wonderful purples and pinks.

She could have laid there forever. She _thinks_ she's being lying there forever.

Adrianna doesn't have enough energy to think of the dirt and grime, that's mixing with the blood from the cuts or about the infections and possible scars she might have now. She wants to lie on the ground and have a few moments of peace…even if she could be dying.

She'd gladly die here if she had the chance, broken and lost to the rest of the world.

This was truly a brilliant way to go.

Then there's someone there, standing over her, hips canted towards one side, face covered in a cat mask. She thinks she's seen that face before, and things flash behind her eye lids; a sword swinging down, a biting feeling coming from the cut on her cheek, the annoying taunting, haunting her when she tries to block out the visage.

The woman's reaching down towards her, and Adrianna knows that she has something the woman wants, she knew something and the woman wanted it. The only problem was that she didn't know what it was anymore. Yeah, anymore, like she knew at some point…like she had some type of idea about why the woman was there.

When something slams into her pursuer, a voice rings clearly in her ear, making her lift her protesting body and moving her forward. She tried to fight the itching feeling in her legs that begged her to move with all her might_, _but she_ couldn't. _She didn't have_ control _anymore_._

_Stop fighting me; I'll let you sleep soon. You just have to get away._

She wonders briefly if the voice knew where it was taking her, but her next thought is plagued with the thought of plunging into icy cold depths. Feet moving of their own accord, as she fought with whatever had taken control of her body, eyes widening with fear as she sees the water looming nearer.

If she found it hard to breathe earlier then she definitely found it hard to breathe now.

It's the bay; the water is chilling, even in the summer when things were smolderingly hot. It cold seeps into her bones, filling her mouth and lungs with water, as she tries to inhale oxygen that isn't there.

Ignoring the burn in her throat, she realizes that she has control again, flailing her arms and legs wildly; forgetting the pain almost instantly as she loses sight of the bright, inviting surface-light just out of reach. Fear over takes over all other thought, she's letting out muted screams, sinking deeper into the shadowy depths.

But that voice is still there, still beckoning, still saying what a great job she's doing and that soon all she'll have to do is _sleep_.

_But she doesn't _want_ to sleep _now…

Adrianna fights harder but this time she's much slower and sluggish. Water can no longer plug her lungs, they're already filled to the brim, and she's lost too much air.

She can't even kick anymore, she can't flail or scream or breathe and she's so scared and no one's gonna find her until it's too late and she's just _so_ _frightened…_

And that voice just _won't shut up_.

* * *

><p>There's a flicker or something behind closed eyes, it's bright and it brings pain crashing down over her body like a tidal wave. Adrianna can <em>feel<em> her existence slipping out, leaving her quickly, like something had burst and her blood had just flowed freely from her body, life essence spilling across some hard surface as she gazed up at the sky…

She sees—she's standing just a little off to the side, behind these figures that group around her other self—the shot wound, and can feel the piercing pain, the second shot ringing through the air, something catching her backpack, her lurching forward, then air and falling.

_Down, down, down_…

It blurs out to another scene, one she's much less familiar with.

He's there by her side, Desmond that is, shaking her, holding her tightly hand pressed against her chest while she fought to breathe through whatever blocked her lungs. He's shouting but she can't tell at who because her ears are clogged, causing all the sounds around her to filter in as if they were from a ways away. She can feel the rain falling from above, but when she turns her gaze towards the sky she doesn't see any clouds.

She's confused, turning to Desmond who has water running down his face and she thinks, _rain doesn't come from your eyes_, and he's too solid, too warm, he's too burning to the touch to be drenched but he is, clothes clinging at odd angles from his body, hair limply framing his eyes and nose. Everything goes white, her eyes roll into the back of her head, the shouting becomes frantic, there's a hard pressure on her shoulder that squeezes too hard, but Adrianna can't even grimace, can't even _breathe_.

She passes out somewhere in between his red hair popping just out of her range and a blonde pony tail swishing side to side.

Moments later white lights burst behind her eyelids, beeps pierce through the cotton feeling in her ears, voices mummer lowly while one voice shouts loudly, somehow causing Adrianna to become dizzy. Her eyes flutter for a few seconds, but it's enough to be able to see the arcs of light moving quickly overhead. Everything feels like it's in slow motion, and the light looks so pretty to her, warping and becoming the only thing she can really focus on.

They grow to be unbearably bright but she can't look away, eyes frozen open—or it feels like that anyway. It reminds her of a cathedral, beautiful light in intricate designs swirling around her head.

Sometime later she awakes in a room against as firm surface, Desmond tells her she was dead for five minutes, she thinks she's shouting, struggling against an unknown force, a stinging feeling around her wrists and feet, something pressing against her middle. There's yelling, some hands touch her and something slides into her arm. She drops back into the surface, spent and tired, gazing up at Desmond and the man with the brilliant blue eyes, losing contact to the outside world.

When she opens her eyes again, she's in the white room, the bed is like some type of table but and when she moves there's nothing holding her down again. Her bare feet touch the cold ground and, turning, she looks around. Her eyes falling on the single door, hyper aware of everything around her. There's no pain in her arms or legs, her mind is clear, not hazy like earlier and when she takes a step no pain causes her to stop like she expects.

So, she moves towards the door, swinging it open all the way before stepping out.

When her eyes adjust all she can think is that it's gorgeous; green grass covering her feet and twining in between her bare toes, giving the dream more of a heaven like quality. The air is prefect against her skin, there's no way to tell if it's hot or cold, the temperature just _is there_.

It's a pasture covered in flowers of all different colors, swaying in a wind she can't feel and dancing to some unknown tune. There's this big, blue sky overhead that makes her feel protected, and when she turns around to examine the place further she comes to find that there's just a door frame, nothing else. She peaks her head through the open entrance trying to see if she'll appear back in the room.

She doesn't.

Instead she sees an undersized sun on the other side, almost non-existent against the great blue landscape of the sky, which just makes the fact that there's a planet, Saturn—that takes up nearly a quarter of it—pretty damn surreal. She feels so far away right now, it's like she's floating in a sea of happiness and joy but also at the same time fear and dread. The last thing she truly remembers is death, death and water, a lot of water, closing in around her and then nothing.

Oh and bullets… But that's from a more… _repressed_ memory.

There's this tree that seems to materialize at the very edge of her vision, tickling at her curiosity, until she just _has_ to look in that direction. There's a girl, and of course a tree, at the edge of the field and she can't help herself, she moves without thinking.

The clone does as well; both walking towards each other when Adrianna notices the unnaturally, dark and long shadow the tree leaves. The sun is too far away and in the opposite direction to have such a shadow.

This puzzles her, or it should, and she tries to stop, tries to think about what she's doing, where she is. But, when she tries to stop herself from moving she can't, her legs move of their own accord and drag her to the very edge of the darkness. It's cold, like it suddenly turned into the Arctic, and even though she can see the sunlight bouncing off her skin and the endless sea of flowers blooming, she can also tell that they're dying, wilting as the presence of the girl, and shadow, that looms ever closer.

"We finally meet," The other girl says, and Adrianna finally sees the little differences in this woman, making Adrianna lean closer, _danger be damned_, examining her face until her eyes settle on the doppelgangers eyes.

They're this beautiful shade of grey, so bright they could be white in the right light. It takes a moment for her to realize that the other girl is moving, raising her hand, and resting it on her cheek as darkness slowly creeps up from the ground and wraps around her legs, numbing her and steadily climbing until it's in her vision, blinding her.

"I finally get to see you …"

It's so dark all of a sudden. She's scared, she can't see what's happening, she's frightened of the woman in front of her.

"Everything will be alright, just step into the shade." And she does.

She steps into the darkness.

* * *

><p>Adrianna's glasses were tucked away in his back pocket, carefully put there for safe keeping, until he found where ever she ran off to. He knew she really <em>couldn't<em> have gotten that far without them, but then again, he has been surprised before with how resourceful she could be. Adrianna has never been known to freak out or break down; she was calm and collected at all times, she wouldn't have it any other way…yet that scream…

He's only heard that type of scream once in his life, and it was when Adrianna was shot. She can't really remember it but he, when it happened, had an utter melt down. He mowed those men down like grass until he was close enough to hold her body against his, until he was able to rush her to the hospital.

It was an utter nightmare that he wishes hadn't been burned into his retinas. Her blood flowing from her body onto his hands and down on his shirt and jeans.

He shook his head lightly as his red hair framing face, sticking around his eyes. He's not too high but high enough to see clear across the bay to the Industrial district. It's a long ways away and personally he doesn't believe Adrianna would go anywhere near there, yet he can almost imagine _somebody __**taking**_ her there.

Fighting all his internal instincts he heads that way, swinging from the ledge with an unnatural ease that came with his job.

He would check…but only because he wanted to avoid one of Jason's fits again.

For a guy who swears up and down that he doesn't like Adrianna anymore, he sure has a funny way of showing it. Desmond gets that he's her ex, but having seen her other ex's, he's _fairly sure_ that most of them were perfectly fine with their break ups…_most_.

He still thinks that seeing Jason with a black eye is pretty funny, knocked that stupid grin right off his face.

Desmond he's only searching for a few minutes when he spots her, feet dragging sluggishly across the pavement, one arm clenched in an iron grip, slowly making her way towards the murky waters ahead.

He doesn't get down to the ground fast enough, and when his feet do touch the ground, she's completely gone.

He panics, ripping off his shoes without blinking, staring at where he's sure she'd gone, and plunges in after her, kicking hard and wildly against a phantom current. His limbs move around sluggishly and his vision blurs, stinging as he tries to gaze through the extremely dirty water.

He goes deeper, searching in near darkness for the African girl, trying to catch a glimpse of her somehow, even though the sludge fogs everything outside a three foot radius. His lungs burn for air, his head swims but he continues, not knowing which way is up and which way is down, swimming in any direction he thinks he sees something moving in. After what felt like hours he surfaces, gasping for breath before he dives again, ultimately repeating this process until he realizes he's too far away from the shore.

He wants to continue searching, but he knows that she _has_ to have drowned by now, left floating at the bottom of the bay.

His teeth clench, as he dives one more time before swimming back to shore, defeated.

As he pulls himself up his eyes land on her form, lying across the pavement in such a way that he could tell someone placed her there and, cautiously, he jumps closer, wet clothes clinging awkwardly against his skin.

She's paler than usual; her dark hair is drenched, clinging to the side of her face, as her clothes hung closely to her body. There's a girl with green skin and red hair kneeling on Adrianna's right side and a dark skinned boy moving on the other side of the limp girl, while four other people stand awkwardly to the side, seemingly with nothing better to do. The African boy crouches down to lean towards Adrianna's chest and panic makes Desmond barrel onwards, while the newer teens move around her.

"Hey!" he all but yells as he gets within striking distance, panic clear in his voice as he breaks into a dead sprint, five pairs of eyes swivel towards him, "Stop! She needs a hospital!" no one moves at first gazes still trained on the running boy. The dark skinned boy's arms glow as his arm moves in random erratic patterns. Desmond comes ever closer, reaching for his grapple gun in his bag, already knowing who he's going to aim at first, when he feels the impact of something thin slam into him. He tumbles towards the ground letting out a grunting sound.

His head throbs painfully from the impact.

The first person to approach is tall and tan, with the prettiest blonde hair he's ever seen and with eyes so dark they were almost black, and the second is a red headed male and looks absolutely frightening up close and personal. When he sees the girl though, he's almost certain its Mira in the outfit, until he sees the longer, lighter and straighter hair, the clinging outfit and of course those eyes, encased behind a green mask.

The red clad male nudges him with his foot, steadily aiming an arrow right at Desmond's head, though he really doubts the guy will actually use it.

"Desmond right? Desmond Kricker?" The girl's voice is lower than Mira's as well, he notes; raspier than the bell like tone Mira possesses. He nods dumbly at her, though his eyes drift back to Adrianna, who is moving just a bit and twitching violently. He can tell she's waking up just from the hitch in her breathing, and panic bubbles up inside of him as the two people next to her struggle to find a way to calm her down.

The binding doesn't hold him long, because he keeps a pocket knife in his jeans—they all do—for just such an occasion.

He springs up, surprising the archers as he races over to his friend, pushing people out of his way to get to her, the two helping her previously helping her getting out of the way quickly, as he all but lunges towards the shaking girl on the ground.

She's in his arms before he really knows what's happening and when he looks down, he's almost frightened. Her eyes are wide, frantic and wild, and her hands scramble for something to hold onto, while she struggles for an actual breath.

Her fingers grasp his water slick shirt, but her eyes focus on something beyond him, water dripping onto her face from his hair and eyes. He's so relieved that he cries, bending over her in a deep bow, cupping one side of her face as she moves her lips to form words. Time slows down and she seems to focus on his face, eyes studying him seemingly taking everything around her in.

She opens her mouth slowly, words perched on her lips, but dry gurgling comes out instead and she panics, eyes wide again only this time in confusion, as her mouth stops working and closes. Her pupils, once enormous, shrink to the size of pin pricks, rolling upwards until he can barely make out the hazel of her eyes. He shakes her, panicking himself as she turns lifeless in his arms.

He doesn't know when the dark skinned boy returned to his side, but when he does Desmond is in a flat out panic mode, shaking Adrianna wildly, shouting for her to open her eyes. A hand is at the small of his back, possibly trying to calm him but all he can focus on is his friend, eyes burning and hands shaking as he loses his grip on her shoulders and she falls flat on the concrete.

There's rapid movement in the corner of his eye, but Desmond doesn't turn; he simply sits there staring at Adrianna for lord knows how long, silently begging for her to wake up and say something stupid. The boy next to him has a hand on his shoulder, trying to break him out of his trance but he can't pry his eyes away from her body.

"Desmond," the boy says slowly as time speeds up again, and the boy in question finally sees the frantically moving people around him, "you need to come with us." People are buzzing around them instantly, saying things and moving Adrianna, shifting her body, pulling at things and tugging at others.

The things they say sound standard, hard, _practiced_, like they had stood in front of a mirror saying it a million times over, just to get the right type of professional to filter through their voices. He can tell almost instantly, because that's what Adrianna does when she wants to sound witty and confident, when she's going over a plan. She'll practice until she's sure that nothing could go wrong. He tries to focus on that, focus on an Adrianna long since gone.

But then there's this look that the two archers exchange and the red head is crouching down, arrow extended towards Desmond's face. Powder flows easily up his nose when he inhale,s and it takes him a moment to even know what it is.

Then two.

When he realizes it's there to knock him out.

* * *

><p>Adrianna opens her eyes to a dark room, and a comfy bed, blinking blearily through the darkness and towards the door directly across from it. There is a light shining just under the doorway, and she fumbles around for her glasses, wondering why she's at Desmond's home and not in her own.<p>

Her hand lands on her thin, crooked frames and she tugs them on, slowly kicking the covers off her legs, as she runs a hand through her curly hair. The room she's in looks nothing like her room at Desmond's apartment, there was normally a picture of his family sitting on the bed table next to…

She eyes the room again, mind racing as she actually _looks_ at her surroundings, taking in the blank walls and the clean floor. If she was at Desmond's then he must have done some serious redecorating; like _Extreme Home Makeover_ type, redecorating. Because the place she's in is completely foreign to her.

She heart pounds in her chest as she looks down at her body, smooth skin where there should be cuts, and no pain where she twisted and sprained her joints. She's also wearing different clothes, some shorts and a tank top, which sends her reeling into another bout of insanity at the thought of people—people she **doesn't know**—seeing her _naked_.

She _bolts_ for the door, slamming her body into it, for the door swings inward, not out, like Desmond's.

She's in a place she's never been in, eyes taking in the dark corridors as she moves through them, peaking around corners, and hiding from whoever's voice echo's her name. Even the voice is foreign and she has to calm herself, before she whimpers and cries for her friends out of confusion.

_She's been in worse_, she tries to tell herself, only this time she knows she's lying. She's **_never _**been in a situation where she is completely out of her range, **and** without her weapons. Or in a situation without her weapons, _period_; she always felt vulnerable without them on her in some type of fashion. And it didn't even matter if the gadget was useful, as long as _something_ was there.

She peaks around the corner at the end of the hall, taking in the kitchen with expert eyes.

She's been in enough places to know that the kitchen hints to who lives there and where she is, only when she examines the room for windows there are none, and when she checks the fridge the only thing she finds is a note, and it read in bright bold letters: **ANY FLASHES WITHIN THE VICINITY**, telling them that they were not under any circumstances to eat the cake she made, which also went for when they were out of costume, and yes that means Wally too, who should know by now that she will hurt him if he does.

The odd part was that it was written in her handwriting; or rather something close to her handwriting as the font was much, much neater.

She took a step back, hip bumping into the marble countertop and the back of her foot catching on the open cabinet, where a red headed boy poked his head out. She has to catch herself before she falls flat on her back.

"Oh, Sara! I uh…" his eyes traveled to the note tacked to the fridge, eyes guiltily trailing back to her. Meanwhile her gaze falls on his mouth, covered in frosting and still chomping away on that piece of cake, that he wasn't supposed to be eating.

Before he even has a chance to say anything else she's out the door, racing back down the hallway, mind whirring and thoughts flying through her head. Yet when she turns the corner he's there, the boy with red hair, staring at her confused.

"Sara? _Hey _look I'm sorr—" her hand collided with his stomach, making him double over as she roughly shoves him into a wall, breaking into a sprint down another hall, hyperventilating the whole while.

He could teleport, he was a hologram, he was a projection of her imagination, she was still dreaming, she was going to wake up. This was _not_ **_happening_**.

She takes another turn colliding once again with the boy, "Sara I'm sorry I didn't mean to! I was just so hungry and…what?" She's clutching at his shirt, shaky hands balled into fists as the boy rambles on about cake and stuff she really doesn't care about.

She slams him into a wall, forearm pressed against his throat, simply there as a precaution.

"Who are you? How do you know my name? Where are my friends? And, where in the bloody _hell_ am I?" he looks frightened, eyes looking anywhere but her face, confusion settling in as she presses forward on his throat. She's shaken and wide eyed, probably looking like a crack addict or something equally frightening, but she doesn't care as she presses up into his windpipe, eyes glaring up in determination, _"Tell me_."

"What's going on over here?" said a female voice over to her left; it's raspy and harsh, yet confused and defensive at the same time and rings somewhat familiar to her. Adrianna whirls on the girl, holding the boy flush against her as a shield.

The girl looks like Mira for maybe a split second before Adrianna actually _looks_ at her. She was not going to be taken by surprise.

She glares at the female, whose dark eyes go wide as Adrianna changes her grip, into something that could seriously injure the red headed boy. Hands firmly placed on either side of his head, pressure steady against his temples.

It's a move that could kill him in seconds, but she would never do anything to actually hurt him. He seems like a nice enough guy, if a little on the stupid side for perusing a confused, panicking girl.

"Tell me or he dies," she says, eyes dragging themselves up and down the girl's tense form, "where am I, who are you people?"

The girl steps forward, to which Adrianna tenses her hands and makes a show of taking a step back. Where she collides with yet another body, this time smaller and thinner.

Her head whips around.

The boy has black hair, and she recognizes him on the spot as Robin, the Boy Wonder. She shouldn't feel relief, but she does when her gaze lands on his uniform, pushing the other boy away so she can twist to stare down at him.

She drops to her knees and hugs him out of sheer relief, a familiar face, somewhat, even from the guy that tried to put her in jail multiple times, is enough to send her into a pile of mush.

"Batman knew this would happen, why am I _ever _surprised anymore?" he says while prying the African girl off of him. "_Adrianna_," he says voice determined as he focuses on her and her only, he holds her at arm's length, "What was the last thing you remember?"

She hesitates, eyes faltering as she tries to remember exactly what happened. Eyebrows furrowed and wrinkled she brings up a memory, the memory of her falling off that rooftop six months ago.

"I was shot…and…." The look he sent her said enough, so she thought harder, "No, wait, the last…thing I remember is…drowning…" she looks up at the raven haired boy, "and Desmond, and…that girl with the blonde hair, and… and blue eyes…and and and—"

He holds up his hand, effectively silencing her breakdown, looking rather serious. He moves his mouth slowly, as if trying t\not to frighten her, but the words that leave his mouth scare her more than any other thing in the world.

"_That_ _was_ **over five weeks ago**, Adrianna, _you drowned_ **_five weeks ago_**."

* * *

><p><em>This is four more pages longer than my final exam paper for my AP English class, and about six longer than it was supposed to be. The same amount I wrote for both my AP classes though, so this is totally a legit thing. I eat this many pages for breakfast swear to God.<em>

_I dropped off the face of the planet, but now I'm back. Feel free to review and show your buddies._

__It's three in the morning here... Night guys.__


End file.
