Shadow's Dance| 2nd Version

Chapter 6: Hobbies

She saw the small shape of the jet blasting off into the distance. Roaming the halls of Mount Justice with no one in it seemed empty. Everything seemed larger and she hadn't taken a step back to actually see much of the base. By the third hour Jane memorized the entire thing, still no team. Deciding that there wasn't much else but to train she ended up in one of the obstacle course where surprisingly Black Canary was.

"I thought you went on the mission hours ago, why are you coming down here?"

"I don't know what to do in my free time." Jane responded in a small voice as she rubbed her neck.

"Well lets go to my office and maybe we can figure this all out."

A little confused at what she meant Jane nervously replied with a simple ok.

Sitting in a bright green chair she looked at the layers of rocks that served as a wall. The entrance had a pair of potted plants and the room had small light brown tables. Canary sat down in the couch across from her.

"So, you don't know what to do with your free time?"

"It probably pretty weird, I was stuck for over 4 years and you'd think I had a bucket list a mile long but... I don't." Her chuckle died off into a sigh.

"Not at all. You decided to train instead of doing a hobby, why?"

"I know what to do in training, I need to get better incase..."

"Because your scared. Scared that history will repeat. You feel like a failure so you do things to make you feel like your not."

"You guys have done more than I could ask, I want to make myself useful and repay my debt. I'm causing nothing but trouble."

"You don't want to be a burden."

"I want to be a hero."

"And what do you think that means?"

"To not be afraid to do something that may end your life but save another in return, I think that's what it means to be a hero."

"Something a hero needs a break just to take care of themselves. Your forgetting that your still not health enough to go on mission, mentally and physically."

"Your evaluating me to see if I did turn into a weapon."

Sighing Canary changed her sitting position. "I know it's not easy to readjust to a more normal life but if Conner managed to do open up then why can't you?"

"I forgot how to. It's like I'm desensitized to the world around me. I want to make friends, I know I can but it's like something is holding me back, becoming more defensive."

"That's what happen in the end, you blame yourself for getting your friends, your school and parents killed. It's not your fault."

"I slipped..."

"What do you mean you slipped?"

"I was moving fast w-with my powers and I did a slide stop like I practiced a thousand times over but it went wrong. Phantom had attacked us, surrounded by loyal, well trained agents we fought with all of our might and I made a terrible mistake.A butterfly effect happened and caused three of the most prepared on our team to get knocked out and in turn killed. I screwed up and caused 16 to die, 16 lives that were taken all because I was too foolish and inexperienced. I didn't protect them, that's why I gave up on escaping. All I do is screw up."

"When I first developed my canary cry back in the first grade I almost cause my entire class to go deaf. I took a vow of silence because I was too afraid of what I'd become. Back at training you had no hesitation in your attacks nor movement. Setbacks and casualties are part of the job, we may not like it but we must move past and learn from our mistakes."

"D-do you have a string instrument? Like a guitar or violin?"

"I'm sure someone has one, Flash battled the Fiddler and has saved her violin .The team should be heading back by now. Go meet them in the hanger, they'll be here soon."

"Thank you for the chat."

"I'll be here whenever you need to talk."

---------------------------

"She's been trained to lie, conceal the truth and to be a heartless marksman. All the signs are there and it's even in the fucking report what she was brainwashed to do."

"If Jane was a killer we've given her enough opportunity. She never pulled a weapon or showed aggression to us."

"You said it yourself Canary, she's scared and unsure. Bruce knows what this kid is going through. Maybe if she's introduced to an actual home then she could adjust better than living in a base."

"I agree with Oliver, more than any of us he's the closest to her situation. She just got introduced to a life on the outside and should at least have a halfway normal live. Even a regular, normal house with real people as neighbors would do her some good."

"Alright... next week I'll have her live with me. There she can get her heath and strength back. No missions, no training. She will see a therapist no doubt to relieve some of what this group whom are known as Phantom have done to her but no longer Canary."

"You never liked therapists, why force her to? We have made progress."

"Progress that has affected the the team's effectiveness."

"Jane is pushing them, she knows that they are capable of completing that course. Studying them for just a couple of days and she's picked out how to work with them without a psychic connection between them. Sure they had a little disagreement but so do we especially at first."

"Jane still has the mentality that she needs to conceal things look at this video."

"She bolts off, so dose M'gann and Wally."

"Robin and the rest of the team seem confused, they didn't tell Jane to scout so what caught her attention?"

"That's the crazy part, nothing is caught on camera. She said it was a bird that caught her attention but that's impossible."

"When she's knocked down by that blast the cameras short circuit just as the attacker approach's in view. It could be another experiment from another lab."

"Another reason to relocate her, if they find that she isn't here then the team will be safe."

---------------------------

"You are not sending me to some shrink." Jane scorned and gave a glared at Batman as the two of them stood in the door way.

"It's someone I know, they can be trusted even if you aren't-"

"Aren't what? Human?"

"Aren't ready to talk you need to get some of it out. She could help readjust to a more normal life."

"Why should I have one? I will never fit in nor pass as a normal human, I'll never get a job, I'll only scare off people and they will only assume I'm trouble."

"The league has agreed to let you live with me only if you see Dr. Hussar the psychiatrist."

Glancing at the med bay bed that had her suit at the foot hanging low then back at Batman. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"I've already scheduled for us to leave in a little over a week."

"Do the rest of them know?"

"No, I thought you might want to tell them yourself."

Sighing she ran her fingers through her