The Hunt ⋆ Young Justice (o.h.)

twenty-four : left behind

( CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR : LEFT BEHIND )

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"WHOA. I'M TOTALLY WALKING ON AN ALIEN PLANET!" Gar's smile was wide, his eyes even wider as he looked off the balcony towards Rann's glorious city. "Wow, sis, you must say that like every day on Earth."

"Actually, I kinda do."

Gar stopped short as she ruffled his hair. "Wait, we can breathe the air here, right?"

Hearne smiled slightly, but it fell as an alien woman ran forward, calling Adam's name and speaking in Rannian. The woman stood only a few feet from them, the scientist he had told them about right beside her. She was pretty, with blue markings under her eyes that made her purple eyes stand out even more.

"Um, great, I think." Adam gestured to the four of them standing behind him. "Zeta Squad, these are my Rannian friends. Sardath, and his daughter, Alanna."

M'gann, Connor and Hearne all exchanged a look--Adam and Alanna definetly had something going on.

Adam gestured to each of them, speaking Rannian, and Hearne could pick out all of the words, but they didn't piece together for her. She knew what he was saying, but she couldn't decipher the language.

Sardath spoke to them, and Hearne didn't understand his, only the last word, which was 'Zeta.' After he finished, they all looked to Adam expectantly.

"I'm still figuering out the language," he shrugged. "This is usually when we start playing charades."

M'gann's eyes glowed green, and Hearne's shoulders tensed. The mind-link was down, but something new was there. Something that included Adam and both Sardath and Alanna.

"Oh," Alanna gasped, "what was that?"

"Such an odd sensation," her father agreed."

Hearne looked to Connor, and it was clear neither of them knew what was going on, either.

"Wait, you're speaking English!" Adam excitedly said.

"No, they're not," M'gann explained, placing a hand on her chest. "But I linked us mentally. And I'm serving as a . . . psychic translator. They speak Rannian, they speak English. But all now hear the language they understand."

Hearne turned to Connor, tuning out both Adam and Alanna, something in her twinging at the sight of them. "This is weird, right? I'm not the only one that finds this weird?"

"Definetly weird," he agreed. "I'm not going to ask any questions, but does this mean we can hear them in several languages?"

"Let me try, you only know a handful of words in Latin and Spanish."

She focused on Sardath, and his words switched into Spanish. When she focused again, with a slight headache, she found his words turning into Latin. She knew other languages, but it had been so long since she properly spoke them she doubted she still knew enough for it to work. Only recently did she start speaking Spanish again, which took some time to regain.

Upon Sardath's suggestion that they should go inside, that they should use caution to harbor earthlings, they all followed him inside the building that they entered from.

When they reached the floor they came from on the elevator, Gar burst out, disappearing as he went to investiage a reptile-like bird that was resting on a perch.

"Sardath," Adam said, "have you learnt anything more about why earthlings are unwelcome in this corner of the galaxy?"

Sardath sighed. "The Rannian Science Command is xenophobic in general. Which is why my research into interplanetary Zeta Beam travel is being conducted quietly."