canaryrose

Saṃsāra: A Divine Reckoning

Tentatively interested.

Young Justice

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Location: Mount Justice, Communications Complex Interacting with: Pretty much everyone

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The last two weeks had gone swimmingly for Alisa. She had spent most of her time getting to know her new teammates and making new friends. Hiking and talking with some of the others had been enjoyable and she was starting to feel like she understood her new teammates a little better. Many of them, like Aleen’a, Daphne, and (sometimes) Ja were kind, fun, and easy to speak with. Others, like Viktor, weren’t quite as enthusiastic, but Alisa still found herself befriending him. While the other girl was shy, Alisa found hanging out with Kassy enjoyable, and while he could be annoying, Alisa had connected with Zach over some of their similarities- specifically, their hometown. In particular, though, she had spent a lot of time hanging out with Aleen’a and having short chats with Viktor. There were others she had spent time with, but those were the two she had connected with the most so far.

Alisa had appreciated Daphne’s gift very much and had been wearing the hairpin around often. After she had realized it was from Daphne, she had tried to hang out with her more but found that she was more often than not either training with Martian Manhunter or hanging out with Casper and Talon. Those two… well, Alisa was the least friendly with those two. It wasn’t that either of them were outwardly unfriendly to her or that she was to them. Talon, with his explosive temper and threatening silence, scared her a bit. And Casper was just strange. Simply put, he gave her bad vibes. He seemed to be friendly and downright kind to many of the others, but Alisa just couldn’t connect with that part of him yet.

Besides talking to others, Alisa spent much of those two weeks either doing combat training, learning how to fly a jet, or working on projects in the lab. Flying the jet was downright incredible. It was probably one of her favorite things she had done so far- something about ascending into the sky in an intricate metal machine just appealed to her. It certainly helped that she was good at it. Combat training was… less enjoyable. Her fighting lacked any sort of comprehensive skill or tactics and moreso relied on brute strength and speed. Simply put, combat challenged Alisa. She could memorize the best places to hit and when to strike as much as she wanted, but that split-second application would ultimately be the thing that stood between her and an unfortunate end. Meanwhile, in the lab, she had spent time working on various augments for herself. Included among these was a hand outfitted with a small yet powerful blaster cannon that was ready today. Upon requesting it over email, Cyborg had sent her the schematics for his own and several other pieces of offensive technology that outfitted his body. It had taken a bit of configuring and it still looked rough around the edges, but it worked. That was the important part.

Now, on the long-awaited day of their first mission, Alisa stood in the communications complex with all the others. She was wearing her costume for the first time. She looked ridiculous. She felt ridiculous. Her hand, which usually looked human, was bare metal with the blaster core clearly visible. She hadn’t had much time to pretty it up. She was standing next to Aleen’a, listening to Batman talk attentively. Holy shit, Batman is talking to me. That awe of working with superheroes had diminished over the past few weeks, but it was still fucking cool to talk to Batman.

A covert recon mission? With Talon as leader? Alisa could barely disguise her wide-eyed staring. Him? Really? While he was certainly an incredible fighter, Alisa had hardly heard him utter a word to anyone else, much less a friendly word. But there had to be a reason he was being picked. Was there something she was missing? Talon began to divide the teams, and Alisa nodded at her assignment. Muscle. Right. Evidently, Talon hadn’t seen her lackluster combat skills at work yet. She would’ve said something if she hadn’t wanted to avoid embarrassing herself. Hopefully, he just meant strength, and there wouldn’t be a reason to get into a fight. The rest of the assignments made sense, as far as she knew. Kassy, Ja, and Zach would all be fine to work with.

“Sounds good!” Alisa told him.

She slid her eyes to Aleen’a as her friend spoke, and cackled at her question. “He’s a hologram, Aleen’a,” Alisa explained as soon as she stopped laughing. “He’s not actually here, he’s just projecting himself. Here. Let me show you.” Without thinking, Alisa went up to the hologram projector and waved her hand through it, distorting the image of Batman.

As soon as she realized what she had just done, however, she hurriedly backed away from the hologram, blushing. Oh God, I just touched hologram Batman’s butt. “So sorry,” she squeaked. “Mission sounds good. G-go team! Woo.”

Young Justice

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Location: Mount Justice, Teleporter Room Interacting with: Pretty much everyone

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Talon. That couldn’t be his real name. Was he trying to be funny? Obstinate? Alisa couldn’t tell, but he looked dead serious. She stared, scrutinizing his face for any apparent emotion. Talon was a puzzle she had yet to figure out. He scared her with his volatile temper, sure, but he also interested her. Everyone on the team did. If she had to live and work with them, she might as well understand them. She barely noticed Viktor silently leaving the room, but she gave a friendly wave goodbye anyways and a smile.

Alisa’s eyes were drawn to Zach as he ran into the room sobbing, making a beeline for the fridge, and pulling out ice cream. Her brows raised and her mouth parted in confusion. What was wrong? Had something happened on the course? Again? He didn’t look hurt… Alisa moved forward to comfort him, but Talon got there first. Comfort was a strong word for what Talon was doing. Getting… peanuts for Zach? Nutrition was important, she supposed- although it always slipped her mind- but it was still strange.

At nearly the same time, Red Tornado and Kassandra came in, Red Tornado in his traditional calm manner and Kassy running to go talk to Zach. So she was the one who hurt him. Alisa hadn’t thought that the other girl had it in her! Red Tornado put a UV lamp over Daphne, which made Alisa want to facepalm. Of course she photosynthesized. Why didn’t I say anything? She was such an idiot.

Alisa observed the situation in the lounge for a moment more, but it was clear she wasn’t needed right now. So, with that, she made her exit.

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Four hours later, Alisa arrived in the teleporter room. Red Tornado had said they were going out on a social outing, whatever that meant. She stood next to Daphne and wrung her hands. Yet another new thing to her- going out with friends. If she could call these people her friends yet, that was. She wasn’t entirely sure yet. She had known even the early comers for only a week, and she knew so little of them!

Alisa had taken the chance to change out of her exercise clothes into some more comfortable outing clothes that didn’t expose her robotic parts. Now, she was wearing her painted floral bootcut jeans from the day prior, a flowy white blouse, and the same tennis shoes from earlier that day. Her hair was down, resting at her collarbone.

A shopping trip?! Alisa smiled, suddenly gleeful. Awesome! She needed art supplies, and more clothes, and shoes, and books, and decorations… decorating was her jam. Would Red Tornado allow them to have candles in their rooms? She glanced at Daphne, smiling. It would be fun to shop with another girl. She knew that girls in movies did things like this, but she had never actually gone shopping with friends. Would it be as fun as it looked? She hoped so.

Then, Alisa’s “heart” plummeted as she remembered something. She was hopelessly broke. Shopping required money, didn’t it? The smile fell off her face, and she looked at her feet, suddenly embarrassed. Maybe the others had guardians or mentors to provide money for them, but she didn’t have anyone she could ask. Again, she was swept with homesickness. Money had always been short back home and her mom would never have let her do anything like this, but she would’ve given her money if she’d asked. She supposed she could ask Cyborg, but she barely knew him. He could barely be called her mentor- she had known him for two weeks and met him a total of once. She had his number in her phone and he had been checking in periodically, but she didn’t dare ask a guy she barely knew for money. He had seemed friendly, but that would be humiliating.

Even though she couldn’t buy anything, Alisa decided that she would still go, if only to window shop and chat. It would still be fun! Sort of.

Alisa turned to the group. “I think I’ll take the Zeta Tubes and walk.” She wanted to avoid the embarrassment of having to talk about what she was going to buy when… well, she couldn’t buy anything. “Anyone wanna come with?”

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy), Daphne (@Dreamingflowers), Talon (@Courtaud), Casper (@Shard)

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Alisa gazed at Daphne laying on the ground and raised a brow. She didn’t think that was a normal spot for a human to sleep, and Viktor going to pick her up confirmed it. Why had she decided to sleep on the ground of all places in her transformed state? Wait… her transformed state. As a plant. Was it possible that she photosynthesized like an actual plant? She did have plant parts and green skin at that moment. But she was also a human being, something Viktor was probably more familiar with than her.

“That seems like a good idea,” she told Viktor, although unsure. He was probably right, after all. Alisa, while she knew them, had no real familiarity with sleep or the biological needs of a human. Viktor knew better than her.

The two of them walked back to the base in silence, their conversation turned quiet by the presence of the sleeping Daphne. Alisa contemplated how their morning had gone. It wasn’t even 9:00 AM and it had already been maybe one of the most eventful days she had ever had! While she knew it had been months since she had been home, it felt like only a few weeks had passed. The difference was jarring. Life back home was comfortingly familiar but excruciatingly dull- a sheltered life for a girl who shouldn’t exist. But here, with the team? In the week she had been here, everything had been so different. She had met people who were like nothing she had ever seen before and just in the past hour she’d been expected to do things she had never done before. And, if their teachers were to be believed, the future would be even more different. It was almost overwhelming, the sudden change in her life.

They reached the base just in time for Alisa to shove aside a growing feeling of homesickness. She would deal with that later, in private. The mountain admitted them and they walked into the lounge, Daphne in tow.

Alisa was a bit surprised at what she saw coming in. Casper and Talon were speaking to each other. I didn’t take either of them to be chatty. She hadn’t spoken extensively to either yet, but they both managed to spook her in their own ways. Casper with his ghost-ness and Talon with his seemingly uncontrollable temper. “Hi, Casper, Talon.” She acknowledged them both with a slight smile. She turned back to Viktor. “I’ll go get her some water and a snack for when she wakes up,” she told Viktor, and walked off to the kitchen.

True to her word, Alisa filled up a cold glass of water and got a bar of chocolate out from the pantry. Then, she came back to the lounge and set the stuff on the table. She looked back at Talon and Casper.

“Oh, we’re introducing ourselves again?” She completely ignored most of Casper’s ramble (it made her very uncomfortable) and focused on the name bit. “Blackwood is a nice last name. I’m Alisa Fields. I don’t think I included the Fields bit before,” she told them. She knew others had issues sharing their secret identities (she supposed Talon was among those considering he was wearing sunglasses indoors), but she really didn’t see the point in hiding it from their teammates.

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy)

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Alisa watched as Daphne, Talon, and Casper went their separate ways. Her brows knitted together in concern. Everyone would be alright. At least, she hoped it would be so. She hadn’t known these people for long, but they were all superheroes. They were strong, resilient, and brave. They might have been a little shaken up after a strangling incident, but they would come out the other end alright. It was only a training incident, after all.

Still, she worried, arms crossed as she watched Daphne run off. The other girl seemed oddly fragile, yet powerful and volatile at the same time. And Talon… well, while quiet, he seemed angry at everything. Standing still, thinking, Alisa came to the conclusion that everyone on her team today had been odd. Casper was dead and stoic, while Viktor was just stoic. She was odd too, although she had always known that. It would be fair to assume everyone else was the same way.

Viktor yelled from behind her, and she turned around, briefly surprised at how loud he was. "A!" He leaped across the pit in an impressive bound. She could hear the impact from where she was standing, a benefit of her mechanical hearing. "Let's go."

Alisa took that as the invitation it was and started to walk with him back toward the mountain. She wasn’t sure yet, but she liked Viktor so far. He seemed nice and sparring with him had been fun. Maybe they could be friends. The thought made her happy, but she still stared off at where Daphne had gone, chewing her lip.

"You were satisfactory today, A. You also learned something," Viktor said.

Alisa found herself happy at that compliment. She wasn’t very good at reading people, but he seemed like a person of little praise. She smiled, her mood buoyed. “Thank you,” she said. “So did you, I think. But that was mostly just not to underestimate me.” She stuck out her tongue playfully and laughed. Friends were supposed to poke fun at each other, and she intended to do just that. “I still have a lot left to learn, though. But that’s what Black Canary and Green Arrow and Red Tornado are for, I guess.”

“For now, I just hope Daphne and Talon will be alright. The both of them seemed really shaken up, don't you think?”

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy), Daphne (@dreamingflowers), Talon (@Courtaud), Kila (@DClassified), Kassandra (@Mistress Dizzy)

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Oh god. He… he’s falling! Alisa watched in horror, frozen in place as Talon tried to grapple across the pit and… fell. As he clung to the cliff side, she watched, considering her options. Daphne and Casper were over there, and they could help, right? As they did just that, she was briefly relieved. The two weren’t strong like her and Viktor, but Daphne had her vines and Casper had necromancy. They’d get him back up. Crisis averted.

Except things quickly got worse. Alisa’s horror only doubled as she saw Daphne freak out, shapeshift, and wrap her vines around Talon’s neck, choking him. Alisa didn’t need oxygen, but Talon did. Alisa glanced at Viktor, her jaw slackening and eyes widening. She didn’t know what to do, but she needed to be there to help. He looked almost disappointed. Why does he look like that? Talon could die! She understood that this could have easily been avoided if he had only let Viktor throw him, but still.

“Vik, you n-” Before Alisa could voice her request, Viktor had already grabbed her by her limbs, swung her around, and chucked her across the pit. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Oh, this was scarier than she thought. Alisa landed with a crash in the ground on the other side, creating an indent. Ow. That was a hard and painful impact, and she felt her nerves firing, but she still rushed over to the scene to help.

Kass and Ja had gotten there before her, thankfully. Alisa sighed in relief as Ja let the ladder drop and pulled his legs over the edge and Kass cut the vines. She rushed forward and broke the remaining vines (well, Daphne’s hair) in a few quick and hard movements, separating the two. Hopefully Talon could breathe better now. “M-make sure he’s okay!” she told Kass and Ja, trying to sound strong but still reeling a little from the sudden crisis. “I’ll handle Da- Nymph, I mean.”

Alisa took the elbow of the still-crying girl, pulling her away from the pit and everyone else. She hoped Daphne’s vines weren’t still overreacting, but if they were… well, she would be the best stress ball for them. Since Talon was already out of the pit, this was the best way to help, before Daphne's out-of-control body hurt anyone else. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? I think... I think everything's going to be alright. It's okay."

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy), Daphne (@dreamingflowers), Talon (@Courtaud)

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So we’re throwing them, huh? Hopefully I don’t drop Daphne… It was certainly an inelegant method, but Alisa supposed that it was really their only option. Viktor, Talon, and herself might have been able to jump, but she wasn’t too sure about Daphne or Casper. For all intents and purposes, Alisa and Viktor were yet again taking the lead on an obstacle. They would just have to be really careful about not dropping anybody. As Viktor picked up Casper and tossed him across the gap, Alisa approached Daphne.

Unable to speak, Alisa tapped Daphne on the shoulder, waited to get her attention, and then picked her up. It wasn’t much of a strain, but she was heavier than the tires. And… it was a bit awkward. Alisa blushed as she tried to get her hands in the right, least awkward position, while also trying not to drop Daphne onto the ground. Sorry, she mouthed while shifting her hands around to get the best grip. Her hands were noticeably cold and hard when placed on Daphne’s skin, almost like a mannequin’s, except flexible and mobile.

Alisa ended up getting Daphne into a sort of bridal carry position. Now she just had to actually throw her. Oh, this was going to be hard. Throwing Daphne without any momentum behind her would result in her falling into the pit, but getting momentum would be difficult. Alisa chewed on her lip for a moment, contemplating, before turning to her side and starting to rock Daphne back and forth like a baby. Her head was on the pit side and her feet were facing towards the tires. Hopefully, with this method, the other girl would land head first on the other side. Gradually, the rocking started to pick up in speed until Alisa offered her a comforting, nervous smile and chucked her across the pit with all the force she could muster.

Oh, please don’t fall please don’t fall please don’t fall… Alisa crossed her fingers and closed her eyes, unable to watch.

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy), Daphne (@dreamingflowers), Talon (@Courtaud)

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When Viktor clapped at her and held out his hand, telling her to stop, Alisa rooted herself in place. She was a bit confused. Did he have a better idea? She had thought flipping the tires was pretty good, but if he had something faster…

Oh! Alisa smiled big and gave a thumbs-up to Viktor as he rolled the tire towards her. This was much better. And faster. As the tire rolled towards her, she stopped it with her hands, hefted it onto her shoulder, and put it on the pole with the other tire. They repeated the process of Viktor rolling the tire over to her and then Alisa hefting it onto the pole four more times until all the tires were on the pole.

Alisa stood back to admire their work for a moment. It hadn’t taken very long- a perk of having super strength was, well, super strength. Viktor and she were strong, although she wasn't sure who was stronger. Maybe they'd have an arm-wrestling match later! Although given Viktor's stoic personality, she wasn't sure he'd agree. With the tires finished, Alisa waved Talon, Casper, and Daphne over and began to jog towards the hole. Now how are we going to cross that? While Alisa and Viktor were strong, none of them could actually fly. Maybe they could throw the rest across? The monkey bars didn’t look like they’d be an issue since the other team was in the process of crossing them and they’d probably meet up in between the two obstacles. Well. Since she couldn’t speak, it was Daphne’s choice. She looked expectantly at the other girl as they got to the gap, waiting for instructions.

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy), Daphne (@dreamingflowers), Talon (@Courtaud)

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A small smile replaced Alisa’s ashamed expression. Viktor didn’t seem shocked- he seemed intrigued. She had been worried for a moment there- his brows had narrowed as though he disliked her explanation. “I’d like that a lot,” she told him. “Maybe catch me later and we can talk. I don’t mind explaining, and it would be great to learn some more.” While Alisa didn’t desire to fight, she would have to while she was stuck in this role. She far preferred being useful and a good teammate over refusing to learn and being a burden.

Before Viktor got a chance to respond, Talon approached them. Did he sound… angry at Viktor? For “holding back” in their spar? Alisa frowned. She had won fair and square! It had been because of her tactics that she had won, not Viktor taking it easy on her. She was about to say so when Viktor started talking, and then Talon… woah.

Alisa’s eyebrows climbed up high into her forehead. Seriously? Threats? Despite herself, she felt a bit scared of Talon at that moment. He clearly had a temper, and given that they were superheroes… well, he probably had a skillset to back that temper up. It was such a little thing to get mad about, too, and while it wasn’t directed at her, it was certainly a bit disconcerting. They were a team. From what Cyborg had told her, a superhero team was supposed to be friendly, if not friends with each other. She shot Viktor a concerned glance from where she was standing next to him.

There was certainly a fight brewing here, but before it could escalate, Black Canary announced what they would be doing next- joining the others on the obstacle course! Alisa smiled. That sounded like a fun game. Unfortunately, only Daphne could speak, which would make it a bit hard, but still! Fun! This was much better than beating each other up. Alisa followed the rest of her teammates to the obstacle course.

While they were walking, there was a tap on her shoulder. Alisa turned around to see… Daphne! She grinned broadly. She had been wanting a chance to talk to the other girl, but she hadn’t yet gotten one. She laughed lightly at what Daphne had to say and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. It was sweet of you to worry, but I’m a lot more durable than, well… you and Talon. I don’t go down easily.” Before Alisa could get a chance to elaborate further, they arrived.

Before they started, however, Alisa wanted to do something. With a significant amount of trepidation, she walked up to Talon and tapped him on the shoulder. She didn’t want things to go sour between him and Viktor later because of Viktor and her’s fight. “Hey,” she started, awkward, in a quiet tone. “Don’t be angry at Viktor for “pulling his punches” or anything. I don’t even think he did, but even if that did happen, I didn’t win because of that. I won because he underestimated or forgot or didn’t know my physiology and thought oxygen deprivation would kill me. So please chill out. Okay? We’re all friends and teammates here, I promise.” She smiled broadly at him as she finished, and then walked off.

Without waiting for a response, Alisa walked off. She gave Daphne an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a smile- she couldn’t talk, after all- and waved Viktor over so they could start lifting the tires onto the poles. Alisa picked up one with only a little difficulty, flipped it, dragged it over to the pole, and set it down. They were heavier than they looked, but not too heavy.

Young Justice

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Location: Happy Harbour Interacting with: Viktor (@FunnyGuy)

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Alisa squirmed uncomfortably under Viktor’s scrutinizing gaze. She looked away, a blush coming to her cheeks. If only he had asked something else! It was a loaded question, that what are you. It spoke to irrefutable differences between her and other people, that otherness that many believed made her less of a person. She supposed that she was. People needed oxygen, food, water, and sleep. People had blood and organs and organ systems and all sorts of fleshy bits and complicated, organic things. Living things. Alisa had none of those things. She was a computer program at her core, with a mechanical body dedicated entirely to her. Yet, deep in her, she believed that that made her no less of a person than Viktor or Jack or Daphne were. No less of a person, but certainly not human.

Unfortunately, many did not believe that. Before all this, she had been safe in her own world. Safely a person. An inhuman person, but a person. But there were those who thought of her as an object- a thing. That way of thinking had nearly led to her death. The thought made her simultaneously furious and ashamed. Hopefully, Viktor and their other teammates would not be like those people.

“Well,” she began, tearing her eyes away from the ground to meet Viktor’s, “I’m not a typical human. I don’t think I’m human at all. I guess the most simplistic explanation is that I’m a robot.” She giggled, nervous. That was certainly the most simplistic explanation. It was nowhere near her full truth. “That’s too simple, though. I’m an artificial intelligence system. My body is completely synthetic, made mostly of stainless steel alloys, copper, and silicon, with a smattering of other materials appropriate to my functions. I have a metallic skeleton like you noticed, yes, and posts that are mostly for charging and checking out vital stuff. I have no need for oxygen, food, water, waste discharge, or sleep, besides for a 4-hour charging period every 72 hours. I don’t have most of the organ systems that organics might. That’s why you felt no pulse and didn’t see me breathing. I don’t have lungs, a heart, arteries, or veins, among many other things.” Alisa listed off her rote functions in a friendly voice before she realized she was sounding a bit too robotic. Idiot.

“Simply put, I’m a walking, talking, very sentient computer! A… machine. It gets a bit more complicated than that, but the more technical stuff is sort of boring. Does that… does that answer your question?” Alisa rubbed the back of her neck, sheepish and anxious. When she put it all out there, her biology- no, anatomy- was embarrassing. She hoped that her teammates would understand, that they wouldn’t fear or hate her. It was what she was, and she couldn’t change how she had been made.