Justice League Fan Fiction ❯ Speed of Lyght ❯ Redemption ( Chapter 12 )

She was nearing the end of her treatment but felt like there was no improvement on her situation. While she hadn’t been put through anything to trigger her rage, she had this feeling that the daily sessions with J’onn, learning how to meditate, even talking with the other founding members was in vain. It saddened her whenever she thought about it; she had learned to like it up there in Watchtower, roaming around without her head wrap, getting to know the other League members. She had to get used to seeing them in their superhero outfits all the time; she learned that since no one knew when a mission would come through, it was the sure safe way of being ready when it happens.

The founding members had actually grown attached to Tabitha; each one really hoped that she completed her rehabilitation successfully: they all looked forward to having her as a team member. For Bruce to praise her, they knew that she was very talented (for him to have even took her in as a sidekick spoke volumes in itself). Only he, J’onn and Superman witnessed her go through one of her blackout phases and all three had to admit that she was nearly unstoppable when she reached that peak. J’onn really wanted to see her use that power and not go through a rage in order to achieve that level.

She was walking with J’onn to a training room. She had been around him for so long that she no longer blushed in his presence; she had gotten used to the Martian and his mannerism. While walking, she suddenly looked at him.

“Yes?”

“Umm&hellip ; I hate to tell you what to do…”

“I’m always up for suggestions.”

“It may be a good idea not to go through doc’s mind whenever you see her!” she advised. He quickly glanced at her but then back ahead.

“… I will have to agree with that…” his response made her stop dead in her tracks. She sighed heavily.

“So… you know…”

“I see why you are good friends with her; she is very loyal to you. However, her thoughts are… very provocative whenever I am around her…” he admitted. If the Martian wasn’t capable of blushing, Tabitha did it for him, “Her last thoughts had something to do with honey… I would rather not go into details…”

“Oh… my… God…” her cheeks ached, “I’m gonna kill her! No; not literally!” she saw that J’onn looked at her. He gave her a smile.

“It’s quite alright. She has done nothing wrong.” the two continued to walk.

“So… how I’m doing?” she wanted to change the subject.

“I don’t know; what do you think?” he looked down at her. She looked straight ahead and shrugged.

“I think… you’ve been wanting to send me back to Gotham since week one!” she admitted but he laughed a little.

“You’re too hard on yourself. I hope this will help loosen you up.” he said as they entered the room. She knew that there would be some sort of training involved in her treatment however she raised an eyebrow as she was face-to-face with Wonder Woman. She folded her arms and smiled at Tabitha.

“Well; I hope you’re ready!” she simply said. She could only blink back at the woman.

“Ready for……”

“Fighting me.”

“W-wait; say what now?! J’onn…” she turned around to face the Martian. He was against the wall.

“This is part of your final phase of your treatment.”

“B-but… I can’t…” she knew that she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of it through him. She looked back at Wonder Woman, “Wonder Woman…” she tried but the woman shook her head.

“Call me Diana. And… if you’re going to be a part of the Justice League, this is one of the things you’ll have to do on a regular basis, anyway.” she took a fighting stance. However, Tabitha shook her head and looked down at the mat.

“Then, to hell with that; I ain’t hitting a Justice League member!” she proclaimed. In his mind, J’onn was proud of her and already passed her for this part of the treatment. He found it to be true; she would not fight someone innocent. He knew that she would have to get over it because Diana was right; training and sparring with one another was as vital as going on missions.

“Suit yourself.” Diana shrugged. Tabitha thought that was the end of that and turned to face J’onn. When she saw his faint smirk, she immediately turned back around and saw a fist closing in on her face. Thinking quickly, Tabitha grabbed Diana’s wrist and stepped behind her, holding her arm behind her back. She yanked her towards her but then pushed her away, hoping that the show of force would deter her from another attack.

She was wrong. Diana came after her with a kick this time around. She grabbed the red high heeled boot and flipped her onto the mat. One of the triplet’s favorite wrestlers came to mind as she cradled Diana’s back. She grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms towards her, trying to keep her in place.

“Diana, please; I don’t wanna fight you…” she tried. The reply was a swift kick to the back of the head. Tabitha immediately let go of her arms and rolled off, more in shock than in pain. She had to roll out of the way of a heeled boot coming down on her and knew that she wasn’t safe on the ground.

While Tabitha was busy being defensive, Superman, Bruce and Green Lantern had joined the Martian on the wall, watching the sparring match.

“She’s not fighting back…” Bruce noticed. J’onn finally let his smile come out.

“Yes. I know.”

“Does she know that this is what you wanted to see?” Superman asked. J’onn shook his head.

“No. She honestly doesn’t want to fight Diana. I told her to try to provoke her as much as she can. She hasn’t gone into a rage…” he was happy to see. The three saw that Diana was very persistent and Tabitha reluctantly threw a stream of lightning towards her. It wasn’t a potent one; she was still trying to ward the woman off. It was blocked by one of her gauntlets and Tabitha quickly sighed for relief. Diana finally landed a hard punch to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her slightly, and ended the attack with an uppercut to her face. The two blows were enough to put worry onto Bruce’s face; they were hard enough to knock her away. When Tabitha glared at her, the other two men held their breaths. She did a quick Lightning Cloud to be face-to-face with the woman and retaliated with a fierce punch to her face, adding lightning to her fist.

“Wow… that was… quick…” Green Lantern noticed. Bruce nodded.

“She threatened to follow me around all night before I agreed to make her a sidekick.”

“Seems as though she clearly has the advantage…” J’onn noted. Bruce didn’t know if he was making fun of him so he could only slightly glare at the Martian.

“I wonder who would win between her and Wally…” Green Lantern wondered aloud.

Regardless of how fierce the punch was, J’onn saw that Tabitha was actually sympathetic about hitting Diana. She grabbed Tabitha and threw her almost across the room. She landed on her feet and saw Diana charging after her yet again. She narrowed her eyes but took off in the other direction, running away from her. She did a Lightning Cloud off the wall, ricocheting herself to right in front of Diana, and gave her feet a quick sweep. Tabitha put all of her weight on Diana and started to charge up, despite Diana grabbing a hold of her wrists.

“That’s enough.” J’onn ordered. Not that he was worried that she was about to injure Diana; he was quite proud that she hadn’t shown any signs of blacking out. Diana smiled and released her hold on Tabitha. She helped Diana up but gave J’onn a sorrowful look.

“I’m… I’m sorry…”

“For what? That was very good.”

“Very good? But… I didn’t even fight back…” she looked down. He gave her a warm smile and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“That was the point…” he clued her in, “Now, are you ready for the second part of the final phase?”

She took a quick look around the room and took deep breaths before the program started. When it did, she saw that she was in Metropolis, according to what Superman had told her; the sign for The Daily Planet loomed high in the sky as she looked up. Tabitha figured that she would have to go up against Lex Luthor, a known enemy of Superman’s and thought that it would be unfair; as far as she had been told, he possessed no superhuman abilities whatsoever: she would have to take it easy on him. Then again, she reasoned, it was the simulation program; he would probably be injected with something that made him powerful.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a white-haired man appeared in front of her.

“We meet again, Tabby…” he spoke. She knew that it was just a simulation; it just shocked her that whoever was running it would throw Tony into it. She shook her head sadly; she should have never listened to Jamila and opened up fully to J’onn.

She was steadily approaching him until another surprise was thrown into the program; Tony dragged someone into the scene with them: Ethan. Another reason why she had been determined to go through the therapy; she would be back in his arms. She thought long and hard about things while up in Watchtower and made the decision that once everything was done, she would tell him the truth about herself.

“Your new boyfriend, huh? You know it should’ve been me; it will be me!” Tony surprised her. She gave him a confused look; what type of program was J’onn running? Before she opened her mouth to question it, Tony charged up and electrocuted Ethan. It seemed to have gone on in slow motion; she watched in fear as his limp body fell to the ground. The waft of charred human skin stung her nostrils.

“NOOOOOO!!!” she cried, tears immediately running down to her cheeks. Something had snapped inside of her; she no longer thought of this as s simulation program. This hit her too close to her heart and she couldn’t move. What finally grabbed her attention was the laugh. It started as a low chuckle but finally erupted into a sick and sadistic cackle. She switched glances from what used to be her boyfriend to the man who stood above him, smiling at her, taunting her to make a move. Tears still streaking down her cheeks, she glared at him and did a quick Lightning Cloud towards him. She hit him with all of her might, sending him flying into The Daily Planet building. She followed him with another Lightning Cloud and kicked him in the back of the head.

Bruce raised his eyebrows at J’onn.

“That was a bit harsh…” he had to make his feelings known. It was one thing to bring her friend back from the dead so that the two could battle; it was another to make him kill her boyfriend.

“I needed her to forget that this is a program.” he simply replied. Bruce could only shake his head at the Martian; it was almost as if he wanted her to go through one of her rages. As she pummeled her former friend throughout the entire city of Metropolis, J’onn decided to up the difficulty to level 12. She wasn’t going through her rage just yet… but she was very near it.

She was surprised that Tony finally got up after a series of hard and brutal hits, actually laughing at her.

“You’ve gotten soft, girl. Maybe I should break both of your hands…” he smiled. She had enough. Her eyes misted over as she screamed at him and charged up. She hit him with a wave of lightning, knocking him back a few feet.

“And, there it is…” Bruce sadly noted. However, J’onn shook his head, checking her vitals through the monitors and going through her mind.

“She’s not raging. She’s simply… upset.” he almost smiled. She was on the edge but he was happy that she wasn’t letting herself go past it.

The white-haired man kept getting up after she hit him, laughing at her. It started to anger her; how could he sit there and laugh at her after all that he had done? He had killed Wyatt, he had threatened Jamila and then he had killed Ethan; it infuriated her that he had the nerve to laugh, not even fight back. As she grabbed Tony by the shirt and charged up to the maximum of her ability, that’s when it dawned on her. He wasn’t fighting back. Not once did he attack her. Her mind cleared and she looked down at him. He was a bloody mess; his clothes were torn, his right eye was swollen and blood seeped out wherever it could. Yet, he still smiled and laughed at her.

“Go ahead; do it, Tabitha. Hit me; kill me again!!” he almost insanely laughed. It was enough to make her stop charging up.

“N-no…” she weakly said. More tears streamed down her cheeks as she gathered him into her arms and hugged him, “No…” was all she could say. She buried her head into his chest and began to sob, finally coming to terms of what she had done.

“That’s enough…” Bruce had seen all that he wanted to see. The Martian had to admit that he had as well and stopped the program. They entered the room and looked at Tabitha dropped to her knees and continued to sob. J’onn approached her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Tabitha…” he tried. She looked up at him, shaking from crying so hard.

“I… I killed him. I never meant to…”

“It’s okay…” Bruce answered for J’onn. It only made Tabitha shake her head.

“W-who kills their best friend? A-a-and children… oh, God; they were just kids! I can’t… I can’t bring them back…” she continued to cry. It was enough to make J’onn almost regret putting her through that program; the last thing he wanted to do was have her doubt her intentions of being a super heroine.

“Let’s… take a break…”

It took almost two hours for her to calm down. During their sessions, J’onn had never asked how she had felt knowing that she killed her best friend; he figured that it was something that she really didn’t want to confront at the moment. She had felt awful, almost like a part of herself had died as well. Not only because he was her best friend… but because she didn’t remember it. She didn’t remember what her mind was going through when she electrocuted Tony or the teenagers; all she felt was remorse whenever she thought about it. Going through that program brought it all out to the surface… and she had to admit that after breaking down like she had, she felt a lot better.

Bruce went alone to get Tabitha from her room. When she opened the door and the two left, she could barely look at him.

“… I feel like an ass…” she finally admitted. She was supposed to be tough super heroine and they weren’t supposed to show any kind of weakness. He looked at her and sighed.

“It wasn’t your fault.” he told her. He was upset still that J’onn made her go through a program like that.

“Don’t be mad at J’onn; he was just trying to make me forget that it was a program…”

“It was too extreme. He could’ve left a few things out. It was like he was trying to make you black out.”

“… He had to push a few buttons…” she had this urge to defend him. What sense would it had made to make her go through a regular program, she wondered. The Martian had to come up with something creative and extreme to make her face her bottled up emotions.

Bruce sighed when he realized that regardless of how he felt about it, what was done was done… and Tabitha didn’t put any fault on J’onn.

“How do you feel?” he decided to change the subject somewhat. She slightly smiled and looked at him.

“Better.” she admitted. They made their way to the control room and joined J’onn and Diana by the transporter pads. She glanced at the golden gauntlets around her forearms and noticed a slight scratch; she at first thought that it was just how the light shined on them. When she moved, Tabitha knew that it was definitely a scratch, probably where she had blocked her lightning attack, “I… can fix that if you want, Diana…” she almost mumbled. She gave the white-haired woman a strange look but then looked at the scratch. She looked back at Tabitha and laughed.

“While it’s just a tiny scratch and I’m not worried about it but these were hand crafted by Hephaestus…”

“… who…?”

“Blacksmith to the gods.”

“Oh.” Tabitha slightly nodded. She continued to stare at the imperfection, “… I can fix it…”

“Are you saying that you’re better than Hephaestus?” she slightly raised her eyebrows. Tabitha shrugged.

“I ain’t saying all that; just saying that I can fix ‘em…”

“You’d be surprised at what all she can do…” Bruce smirked at Diana. She gave her a thoughtful look.

“Are you ready for the final part of your treatment?” J’onn asked. He wanted to ask if she was okay after what he had put her through but seeing that she smiled gave him that answer.

“Cocked, locked and ready to rock!”

The only thing that she was told was that they were going down to Earth and so she should wear her head wrap. She was surprised to see that they were transported to New York, in front of what looked like a massive office building. She tensed up when she noticed the sign on the tan building: Bellevue Hospital Center.

“What’s this…?” she firmly asked. Bruce and Diana shrugged.

“I don’t know. We were only told that we were accompanying you here for the final phase of your treatment.” Bruce said as J’onn shape shifted into a human form. They went inside and spoke to one of the receptionists. She pointed them to an elevator and the four got off on the fourth floor, Tabitha nervously noticed the sign that stated Mental Health. J’onn spoke with another receptionist and she clearly heard him when he told the older woman that they were there to “visit Gary First”. It wasn’t fair, the thought thundered in her head. She was willing to face what she had done to Tony and the White Hairs; she was not ready to face Alpha: not now and probably not ever.

They were escorted to a visiting room by a guard; it was more like a containment room to Tabitha. She was in too much shock to protest this visit; she sat in silence as she saw two guards escort someone inside; Alpha. Gary First, she corrected herself as she could do nothing but glare at the pitiful sight in front of them. His hair was no longer a jet black, his skin no longer shone with a metallic glow. He definitely was not the dominating Alpha that had paralyzed her with his ionization. His salt and pepper hair was almost fully grey and unruly. He had a beard and his once beautifully sculptured features had eroded, making him appear older, much older than what he really was.

The former general slowly looked up as the guards actually confined him to the chair across from the four. At first, his eyes were dull and lifeless. But as they set on Tabitha, a small shine started to appear. Her heart raced as the feelings of betrayal and revenge swept through her all over again. She wanted to react; she wanted to attack him but she stayed in her seat and stared coldly at the man.

“Sergeant…” he started to smile. How could he even smile at her, she angrily thought. It was enough to make her narrow her eyes at him.

“Not in the military no more…” she continued to give him a hard stare. It was enough to make him look back down. She wondered if that was remorse that made him not look at her. she remembered vividly how he taunted and teased her, staring at her with those hazel eyes, mocking the fact that he had her dumped in that alley in Memphis.

Now, he was quiet. He couldn’t even look at her, didn’t dare to open his mouth. It made her fume as she leaned in closer to him; it was her turn to mock and intimidate, “Got nothing to say? Do you even care what you put me through; what you put Tony through? I deserve an apology…” she told him through half-clenched teeth. She didn’t know whether she actually wanted an apology; it wouldn’t bring Tony back or even make her back normal, she sadly realized. It would’ve been the thought that counted but even then, it made her blood boil that she even had to ask for one; it should’ve been the first thing that came out of his mouth when he laid eyes on her.

He was numb, just as he was when he was first brought into the institution a couple of years ago. So, it was fitting that he had nothing to say to her, didn’t want to acknowledge that she was there; maybe if he ignored her long enough, she would leave. He didn’t want to say anything to her; he knew that whatever he had to say would not make any sense to her, wouldn’t bring her closer to understanding why he did what he did.

It angered her more that he wouldn’t say anything; hot tears rolled out of her eyes.

“You… bastard; you fucking bastard! Everything that you fucking put me through and you won’t say shit?! You left me for dead… in a fucking alley… three hundred miles away from my gaddamn home!! You didn’t even have the fucking decency to dump me in Chattanooga?!?!” it surprised everyone when she started to yell. He finally looked at her, a hint of tears in his eyes. He had seen something as he tried to look at her; the usual light from her eyes was quickly starting to fade.

“Tabitha…”

&ldqu o;No; don’t you fucking dare!! You don’t give a fuck; you never did!! You’re powerless; what’s stopping me from taking you out right now?!?!” she started to rage and stood up. She didn’t care who saw it; lightning started to form around her clenched hands. The guards were taken aback at first but started to move in. J’onn signaled for them not to move, all the time using his ability to control their minds. She banged her fists into the table, nearly bending it in half and glared at Gary, “I… should fucking kill you right here… right now!!!” she started to charge up. Bruce and Diana prepared to take her down; it was getting out of hand quick. She had felt the rage coming on and had blanked out for a second. Tabitha didn’t care anymore; he had to pay. As soon as she thought it, something else happened. She started to think about the program she had just gone through hours before. She thought about what all she and J’onn had talked about for the month that she had been on Watchtower; there was a reason for her presence there. What was she really to gain if she let her ability fly loose right then and there? Sure, Gary First would be dead… but she would have to face the consequences… and the looks she would receive from not only Bruce but the Martian as well. All of his work would be in vain… and it would be unfair to him. As she started to come out of her rage, she started to take deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. If she killed him, she wouldn’t be able to see Jamila or the triplets, her family... or Ethan again. A few more breaths and she stopped charging up, “No. No. I can’t. I won’t. I won’t stoop to your level. Not no more. I’m done…” although she still glared at him, she calmed down enough to turn to leave. J’onn released his hold on the guards’ minds and they looked as if nothing happened. The three Justice League members had silently sighed out of relief as Bruce guided Tabitha towards the door.

“T-Tabitha…” Gary shook. She stopped dead in her tracks.

“Go to hell…” she didn’t want to hear whatever he had to say.