Green Lantern's Protégée

15: "You got me. It is I-Batman."

Mount Justice

September 24, 02:15 EDT

The Team was sitting around the living room while M'gann was in the kitchen making some cookies. The scent wafted into the living room, making everyone smile—including Cyra, who was rubbing her hands together as she sat beside Artemis on the sofa. Wally was sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the coach, making Cyra cross her legs behind him.

Robin was sitting on a chair and was stretching over the back of it in odd positions. Superboy and Aqualad took the other coach, leaving a space beside them for their Martian friend.

The Team waited until the cookies were given and Cyra and Wally practically raced to absorb them. Cyra's number was seven in a minute, while Wally got eleven. Wally laughed in her face with his mouth still full of cookies, causing Cyra to push him away grudgingly.

"You're a speedster. You cheated," Cyra pouted.

Wally patted his gut once. "Stomach of steel."

"And brain of mush," Artemis mumbled and everyone broke a smile.

"Rude," Wally muttered and Cyra patted him on the head like a dog, making him snap his teeth at her.

"Alright, lover-birds," Robin smirked. "Get on with the story already. Batman wants me home in an hour."

"Aww, does wittle Robin have a bedtime?" Cyra mocked him in a baby voice.

"Just get on with the story, Glowstick."

Cyra let out a puff as she started, "It all began about many years ago—"

"You've been a Green Lantern for, like, six months," Superboy said through a mouthful of cookie.

"You haven't even been alive for six months!" Cyra snapped. "Now as I was saying before I was interrupted, it all started seven months ago when the Puppeteer was doing his mind control thing in Coast City . . ."

Seven months younger Cyra Brion was walking home from Coast City high, coming from a basketball game when she decided to support her team. Her team lost, but Cyra could care less as Cyra wondered home—looking through shop windows and splashing upon any puddles she found.

The soon-to-be Green Lantern found herself walking down the boardwalk when Hal Jordan in all his green glory landed in front of her with a grunt. There was blood coming from the side of his head.

Cyra's amber eyes stared down at the pile of Green Lantern in front of him and nudged him with her foot. "Uh, you alright there, bud?"

"You run into a Green Lantern—who is on the floor in front of you bleeding—and you ask him if he's all right?"

"Shut up, Bird-Boy. Not everyone is abducted by their mentors!"

"Batman didn't abduct me! Stop saying that!"

Hal looked up to see a teenage girl looking down at her with an awed expression as he starts to get up and tried to put on a smile.

"It's alright citizen, the situation is under control," Hal speaks, his voice full of false authority. "Please return to your home."

"What situation?" Cyra asked, but her question was answered when an explosion shook the ground. Cyra looked to see a column of smoke rising from the streets near the boardwalk. "Oh. That is a situation."

Smoke spilled into the sky along with screams as people rushed from the damage—jumping into cars or just running away. Cyra could see the destruction from her place on the streets as police cars and ambulances showed up, only to stop. The sirens and yelling subsided oddly.