"Let me be clear—you're suspended." Batman's eyes were narrowed from the very beginning. Ligeia, Jamie, Chad and Victor stood behind me.

"Hey, that's not fair! She was just helping people, like she's supposed to!" Chad argued before I could stop him.

"She is supposed to be working with her team, and only through covert missions—nearly killing people by turning them to stone is hardly her job." Batman rebutted, "And she certainly isn't supposed to bring civilians into the matter."

Good news: I hadn't killed James and his lackeys. It turns out my powers were getting stronger, so the stone effect lasted longer. When I brought the Justice League to them, they were simply lying on the ground, knocked out. Bad news: that didn't stop Batman from being silently furious at me.

Chad made a motion to continue his argument, but I stopped him as I lowered my eyes with a nod towards the Bat, "I understand. I take full responsibility." I looked up at him as he turned, walking away.

"What will happen to my brother?" Victor asked, stepping up. Batman turned slightly to look at the messy boy.

"Both you and your brother will be taken care of, and then sent to a facility." When Victor realized that was the end of the story, he made an aggressive motion towards him.

"You've got to be kidding me!" He screamed as we began to hold him back, "All that we've been through, and you're throwing us away like orphans?!"

"Victor, calm down!" I grunted, holding him with my still weak arms, "Yelling won't get you anywhere!"

"But he's going to leave us somewhere!" His voice cracked and I stopped holding him as I looked up. He choked on tears, "We've been through so much, and he's just going to put us in a mad house!"

He looked down at me, his eyebrows lowered in fear. "Angie, do something!" I stared at him, eyes wide with surprise before I lowered them to the ground.

What could I do for him? Batman always had the final word…but maybe I could do something—try something. "I want to take the brothers in." Batman, who had turned all the way towards us again, squinted at me.

"Take them in." I loved how he never asked questions. It was always factual, not to mention intimidating. I nodded lightly.

"Let them live with my father and I, for guidance. They trust me, and my father is a good man. We can help them."

"No." Victor once again charged towards Batman, who simply apprehended him with one arm. Victor squirmed on the ground and nearly foamed at the mouth. I covered my mouth as Batman looked at me. "He's too violent for your father and you to handle. There's no way. He's going to the facility and that's final—"

"W-wait, please..."

Victor stopped squirming, and I turned around in surprise. Ligeia wiggled in embarrassment and turned red. "I-I mean no harm, Batman, but I believe I have an suggestion. Would you listen to it?"

-…-…-

"You could have been killed!" I looked to the side, my eyebrows burrowed. Why was everyone so upset at me, when in the end I had done so well? I had even found a place for the brothers on Scope Island! There, they'd be able to be as angry as they wanted, and they'd be surrounded by people who didn't mind (and Ligeia would be there to help, too).

"It was for the mission. You more than anyone should understand that, Kaldur." The Atlantian shook his head as he paced in front of me in my room at the Cave. One hand was on his hip, the other was on his forehead. He turned, flicking his hand from his forehead and towards me.

"What about our promise?"

"I had no choice!" I argued, "What was I supposed to do—sit there and do nothing?"

"You most certainly weren't supposed to lie to me."

I reeled back, "Says the guy who hid the fact he knew there was a mole on the team and didn't tell anybody else."

We stared at each other for a long time, my heart racing every second. I was hurt by his lack of understanding; he did the same thing to me so many times by simply not saying anything, and he knew it. So why was it so hard for him to forgive one lie I did for the greater good?

"Because of your actions, you have been suspended." He said, changing the subject with a sigh, "You are required to stay in the cave at all times, so that the League may keep an eye on you. No visitors, no cell phones."

I nodded in silence as he made a motion to leave. He stopped at the door, and turned back to look at me, but I pretended not to notice. He only sighed again before leaving with a last comment, "We will have a new addition to the team in a week—hopefully that will be enough time for you to regain a little more sense and consideration for your team."

"Get out, Kaldur." I mumbled, standing up and walking to my bathroom, "I'm going to take a shower."

-…-…-

Everyone became silent as I walked into the kitchen. I made no motion to start any conversations with them seeing that they were obviously nervous to be around their suspended teammate.

Well, all of them besides Wally.

"What's up lady?" He asked, zooming beside me and leaning on the open refrigerator door. I stood up from the other side and gave him a weak smile.

"Hey Wally. Nothing much. Just…wandering around the cave, I guess." I looked to everyone else, who were staring at me still. They gave me small smiles, nervous smiles, and I found myself frustrated. Why was it that when Kaldur did something stupid, he was deemed a hero, but when I did it, I was in the wrong? What was the difference?

"I heard about what happened—we all did." Wally admitted, continuing the conversation, "I think you did a wicked good thing, even if it cost you some field time."

I smiled lightly and my shoulders shrugged down lightly. Finally, positive reinforcement. "Thank you...I really needed to hear that." I pulled him into a hug from over the refrigerator door before looking towards the rest of the team. They shared a relieved smile with me and I walked over, beginning conversation with them when Kaldur walked in.

"It is time to go support our friends. Come, today is the initiation of the new Justice League members."

M'gann shuffled, "Can we all come?"

I turned around, patting her on the shoulder as I passed. "It's okay, I'll watch it on the TV."

"Perhaps…it would be better if you came?" I turned slowly to look at Kaldur, who offered a peace-treaty smile, "We are meeting our new teammate, after all."

I stared at him, wondering if it would be better for me to bite my tongue or not. I couldn't help myself though—I was still angry at him. "I thought I was on lock down."

"We can always make exceptions—we always do!" Robin grinned as he pulled his holographic computer into view. I shook my head lightly before turning again.

"I think I'll just stay here. I don't want anyone to be angrier than they already are." Cough Kaldur cough.

"Angie…you don't have to be like this." M'gann insisted. Artemis nodded, crossing her arms.

"We're a team—it would be better for us all to go."

"But I'm suspended." I insisted, waving my hand as I backed into the corridor, "It's okay—really. I'll meet you guys here with the newbie as soon as you come in, okay?"

The girls nodded, and everyone headed off towards the ship. Through the small crowd, I found Kaldur standing in the same spot. I stared back at him before I grabbed my arm, the nervous habit returning. "You'd better get going." I turned and walked back to my room.

-…-…-…-

"If attitude had anything to do with the Justice League…you wouldn't stand a chance." I grumbled as Red Arrow was officially accepted into the League and shoved a scoop of popcorn into my mouth. Chewing with my mouth open, I did it to spite everything. "While he screws everyone on the team, he gets admitted into the big leagues. And I get suspended for bringing in a bad guy."

I threw a piece of popcorn onto the ginger's reflected face and spit in his general direction when a beep sounded from the mission room. I blinked, looking over from the couch before deciding to check it out. I walked in to find there was a hologram hovering in the center of the room—it was an alert. I pressed it to read more detail, and saw that it was about Cheshire. She had boarded a plane, and the system had caught her.

I grinned. No one was here to take the mission. And I most certainly couldn't let this information go to waste.

What a shame—I wish my communicator wasn't broken.

-…-…-

Once again, I asked Ligeia for her help. After a little convincing, she set up a portal for me to get near the plane. It was high in the Artic area—I couldn't fly all the way over there on my own.

"Thanks, Ligeia!" I said with a smile, embracing her quickly. Victor rounded the corner as I let go of her and he quickly walked up.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned. I grinned up at him—he was like a different person now that he was free of his father's grasp. He kind of reminded me of a certain Kryptonian I knew.

"Mission." I replied with a wider grin that made Ligeia worry.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You are suspended, are you not?" She pressed as I pulled my white hood over my ears. I nodded.

"If I capture Cheshire, I may not be suspended anymore!" With that I gave them a relaxed salute before jumping through the portal.

-…-…-

I regretted everything.

The plane Cheshire had been on had crashed. And if that wasn't bad enough, the rest of the team had come, too. I was hiding in the ridges of the rocky wall, praying that they wouldn't find me as they searched for any survivors.

And then it got worse. Cheshire revealed herself on a higher cliff, along with the Riddler, Mammoth and Shimmer, and a bunch of lackeys. The Riddler went on and on with his riddle, and eventually threw up a force field to keep us from leaving. I cursed—I was seriously stuck there now.

It was an ambush.

At first I stayed where I was, finding myself in denial that they didn't need my help, but when Zatanna made a snow storm, I decided to use my hair as a fighting force. I took out as many of the lackeys as I could. But then I saw the Riddler and Shimmer standing up on that cliff, unguarded. I pulled out my wings and flew up silently, hoping that no one would see me if I went quickly.

But someone did see me. Someone slammed into my chest and threw me down into the snow. I grunted, looking up in alarm. She must have been the new girl.

"What are you doing?" I screamed, "Get off of me, I'm on your side!"

"You must be a n00b at this, Mrs. Bad Guy, cause you're having a hard time foolin me!" She screamed back as we struggled. I growled, throwing her off and taking flight again. I didn't have time for this!

I looked down to see she was on my tail again. I turned to her and waved my arms. "Didn't they tell you I was the other teammate? I'm Medusa!"

But she knocked me out of the sky with a ball of power, and sent me down to the ground. I moaned when a shadow cast over me.

"It's about time you came out." Cheshire purred, "We needed you here, too! Can't leave Medusa out of all the fun!"

My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. Cheshire had lured me here, and I was dumb enough to take the bait. And now I was fighting against my own teammate instead of fighting the bad guys. I was helping them.

I should have just stayed at the cave.

The girl flew off to fight more people, and I took the chance to fly back up toward the Riddler and Shimmer. Miss Martian must have sensed me, because she added me to the mental link.

"Medusa? What are you doing here?"

"Not the time to ask questions! Can you explain to your new friend here that I'm on your side? She tried taking me out."

There was a pause.

"Whoops."

"While you're getting the n00b ready, I'll be taking out the Riddler and Shimmer."

I wrapped my hair around them and slammed the criminals into the wall. It was nice to get some of this pent up anger out—I liked it! I made a mental note to go robber-hunting later.

The Riddler continued to complain about his capture, and Zatanna helped shut him up by binding his mouth shut. I turned to her with a smile, but growled when the new girl floated down beside her.

"Hey, n00b." I called, crossing my arms and sending her a glare. She lowered her eyebrows.

"I'm so sorry—I should have listened to you. I guess I got caught up in the moment!"

"It is not completely your fault, Rocket." I turned in surprise to see Kaldur approaching me. "What are you doing here?"

"I got the alert in the cave, and figured it'd be an open-and-close case…so I came." I explained, shrugging my shoulders lightly, "How did you guys find out about this?"

"Wonderboy." Zatanna explained simply before they looked back to me in silence. I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I get it. I'm in trouble."

We made our way back to the ship, but Kaldur pulled me back. "We need to talk."

I crossed my arms and looked towards the ground. "Not right now. We're both angry—"

"I am not angry at you, Angie." He insisted, his hand resting on my shoulder, "I am worried that with your behavior, you will be taken off the team."

"There's no need to be that paranoid." I insisted, walking onto the ship, "I'll be fine. And besides, even if I was taken off the team...you'd have a new girl to take my place anyway."

"Angie!"

But I ignored him and got on the ship.

-…-…-…-

"So let me get this straight. You hacked League alerts, took the mission, and brought back three fugitive criminals." We stood in front of Batman, who glared at us as usual, "Good job."

Everyone grinned except me. I was waiting for the last comment I knew he'd make. "Medusa." I looked up at him and shuffled lightly.

"Yes, sir."

"Your suspension has been lifted." I blinked and stared at him with wide eyes as he continued, "Kaldur insisted that the team needs you when on missions. Seeing that you took down Shimmer and the Riddler, I'll grant you this one chance to prove it."

He paused, looking over to Kaldur who was smiling lightly in my direction, "I suppose a team is a team. You're off the hook for now, but one more slip up and it won't matter how much your boyfriend likes you."

I turned red and smiled at the ground with a nod. Rocket screamed her question that we were dating; when I nodded she moaned. "Aw man! Another one bites the dust!"

I raised a confused eyebrow as she and the Leaguers walked away and she went to say goodbye to Ion, her partner, but turned my attention to my boyfriend. He smiled lightly.

"And you were worried." I said with a grin as I embraced him around his waist. I pulled back so that I could see his eyes, "Thank you for sticking up for me. I know you're not happy with what I did, but—"

"No," He shook his head, "I was wrong to have been angry. It is hard to see you do dangerous things on your own, but you are a hero no less than I. We both must do what we have to, for the mission. Besides, I do not wish my girlfriend to be so out of sight. I have missed you."

I smiled and nuzzled my head onto his chest before we turned to the team, ready to get back to business.

"You realize we were set up, right?" Robin asked Kaldur as Rocket joined the group again.

"Yes, Cheshire and the Riddler were tipped; they were ready for us."

Artemis groaned, "Not the mole thing again!"

"Mole thing?" Rocket questioned, "Again?"

Kid Flash explained, "We had Intel that there was a traitor on the team—"

"Namely M'gann, Artemis or me." Superboy interjected with a little more sass than usual.

Kaldur rested his hand on our friend's shoulder, "It is more complicated than that." Conner shrugged him off, but Kaldur pressed.

"But your recent behavior does concern me. Your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis killed." We stared at his back, waiting for an answer, and after a moment, he turned to us.

"There's something I need to do." He paused. "Something I need to tell you."

We stayed in silence as he began. "Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus. Found a few things out. When I was cloned, I was made with only half of Superman's DNA. The other half was human. That's why I don't—will never have…full Kryptonian powers."

"You sure?" Robin asked with a friendly smile, "Because you sure seemed to have them today."

"I've been using these." He lifted up his sleeve to reveal a black patch on his skin, "Shields. They repress my human DNA. I get the flying, the heat vision—but I also think I get angry…well, angrier."

Kaldur looked at him in concern, "Where did you get those?"

"From my human father," He looked up at us, "Lex Luther."

Wait, wait, wait. As in Lex Luther, the guy who owned a bazillion companies, liked to wreck havoc everywhere, and keep a good look in society all at the same time? Like, that dude? Wow. Supey explained how he had met him, and that he was being summoned to Saint Prisca now to get more.

We stood in silence for a while, shocked, when Artemis groaned from behind me. I blinked as she walked in front of us. "Listen, Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad DNA."

She pulled up the Sportsmaster, Cheshire and a woman called Huntress. "My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. The rest of my family isn't even ex…my dad's Sportsmaster, and my sister Cheshire is being sent to fly me to Santa Prisca too."

"That's why…" KF said quietly, beginning to understand her views.

"I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out…" She said as she raised her head, obviously uncomfortable.

"I knew." We all looked at Robin, who grinned at the surprised Artemis, "I mean, I'm a detective. But it never mattered. You're family, you're one of us."

Wally walked over to the blonde and patted her shoulder before leaning on her. "So, who's next?"

All of the secrets seemed to be coming out today! "I am." M'gann answered.

"I swear I was joking." Wally said, throwing his arms up.

I turned to her, my eyebrows lowered. "M'gann?" She looked at me before stepping away from everyone.

"Queen Bee's been…blackmailing me. She wants me at Santa Prisca too."

"Blackmailing?" Kaldur questioned, "How?"

"She knows my true Martian form."

"Bald M'gann?" Robin asked. I blinked.

"I didn't even know there was a bald M'gann!" I said in confusion.

"No." M'gann said, her eyebrows lowered. And then she transformed into her true form. A large, white Martian with many tendons and muscles. I found myself frozen, eyes wide, as everyone backed away except for Conner and Kaldur.

"I knew you would never accept me for who I really was." She explained through an unopened mouth.

"Did we really seem so shallow?" Kaldur questioned.

She crossed her arms, "I couldn't take the chance." I looked at her with lowered eyebrows as I saw the girl I'd grown to love in this form. She was self-conscious about herself.

"I endured constant rejection from being a White Martian among Green Martians on Mars…I couldn't face that from—"

"From me?" Conner walked up to her, taking her hand. They had some conversation, M'gann often looking surprised. Soon she returned to her green human form, a smile on her face. We all turned to our leader.

"So…what now?" I questioned. He looked down at me, and then scanned the faces in the room.

"Now, we trick those who have been tricking us."