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Chapter Text

Before

“I told you this isn’t a game!” yelled Caligula. “You don’t walk away from me alive!”

He yelled again, “GO! Remember!”

Piper screamed. Jason stiffened, his blue eyes wide in shock.

He hit the deck facedown, the spear still in his back, his gladius clattering from his hand.

Caligula plucked out his spear, then drove it again into Jason’s back, removing any last hope that our friend might still be alive.

Before

"You have a choice child, you are at a crossroad of Hecate's domain, do not head down the wrong path."

Before

"Amazons! Prepare yourselves for battle sisters!"

Before

"A man on Themyscira? By the white beard of Zeus I do not believe it."

Before

"I am Jason Grace, son of Jupiter."

"You are a fellow in arms, my daughter's half-brother, and you have the spirit of an Amazonian. For that you are welcome on Themyscira and we consider you one of our own, brother."

Before

"Diana, my daughter, this is Jason. He is your half-brother and from another land."

"I am Princess Diana of Themyscira, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance,"

"I am Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, and the pleasure is mine."

Before

"Your world has superheroes?"

"The world of man does, yes, my daughter is one of them, Diana, you've met her."

"Diana's a hero? What does she go by?"

"She goes by Wonder Woman and she is a founding member of the Justice League."

Before

"I have been here for a year, my queen, I wish to see the world of man you speak of."

"You mean you wish to be a hero again?"

"... Yes."

"I will speak to my daughter about you joining her in her crusades when she next returns."

"Thank you my queen."

"Do not worry about it. I imagine you will take this world's world of man by storm when you join my daughter."

"It is my hope."

Before

"What will you be known as, Jason?"

...

"How about Storm?"

Chapter Text

Now

Gotham City,

July 4th, 12:00 EDT

On a rare day of sunlight in Gotham, hopeful families make the journey out to the south section of Robinson Park, known officially as Gotham City Park, to enjoy barbecues and a nice sunny day, a reprieve from the normal doom and gloom of Gotham year round.

However, some enjoy the warmth more than others.

Peaceful civilians are frozen in cold ice, and the screaming of those fleeing from further up the park don't reach one happy family fast enough. Mister Freeze's ice encases them all as they make a desperate attempt at fleeing, all while Freeze, in his weird robotic voice that even the other rogues think is weird, says some line about families, that no matter how good a line it was nobody really cares or can hear, due to everyone around him being frozen.

That wasn't particularly thought through but who knows, maybe he was talking to himself.

Skating over the frozen bodies like a ramp, Mister Freeze takes aim at some civilians who dare try to escape from his much needed cool-down.

Just as he's powering up the gun to take aim, a small projectile hits him, disorientating him and allowing the civilians precious seconds to get to safety.

Grinning slightly, Freeze turns and speaks again, to what seems like empty space but what he now knows contains a Gotham vigilante.

"Batman. I was wondering when..."

Freeze cuts off as he hears the distinctive and probably trademarked laugh of the boy wonder Robin just before Robin himself lands on his glass dome. He then launches off and throws two shuriken at his face (cause it's so ugly), cracking the dome.

Freeze looks unamused at the lack of reception, but nevertheless, he turns and gives Robin his full attention.

"Oh. Boy wonder. The Bat sent you to drag me off to prison?" He asks. "Frankly, I'm underwhelmed."

Robin looks annoyed.

"Great. But I'm kinda in a hurry here."

Freeze now is amused ; The boy wonder will rush the job and allow Freeze to escape. He begins to power up his gun as he responds to Robin.

"Kids. Always in such a rush."

He takes aim.

Robin now looks frustrated but makes no move to dodge.

"Not talking to you," he says through clenched teeth.

Mister Freeze's eyes widen at the implication, and he turns to get a view of Batman jumping off the outcrop he was on earlier, briefly bringing his cape up to form his symbol, before punching Freeze in his already damaged helmet, breaking it and knocking Freeze out cold.

Whoops.

...

Now

Star City,

July 4th, 09:01 PDT

A minute after Freeze, traffic is flowing (admittedly not that fast) on the Star City Suspension Bridge when Icicle Jr. lands in the middle of the traffic.

He would have almost certainly gotten run over if not for the blast of ice he creates immediately, knocking multiple cars into each other, destroying them.

One of these cars didn't have insurance.

The car's owner would never make that mistake again.

Junior laughs psychotically at the havoc he's caused before getting hit with multiple arrows that explode around him.

Coughing slightly, he looks to the top of the bridge and sees Green Arrow and Speedy with their bows drawn. He grins manically.

"Finally! I was wondering what a guy had to do to get a little attention around here!"

Junior begins to shoot ice at the two archers, aiming to either freeze them or knock them to their deaths. 

"He's doing this for attention?" Speedy asks incredulously, as the two archers dodge the ice blasts and knock their next arrows.

The two archers begin to rain said arrows down on Junior, but the villain draws a wall of ice around himself to stop them. One arrow from Speedy, however, passes through a gap in his defenses and hits Icicle Jr. in the jaw, knocking him out immediately.

The two archers descend on Junior's unconscious form.

Green Arrow smiles wickedly.

"Ha ha ha. Kid had a glass jaw."

Speedy looks unamused, and if this was The Office, he would look at the camera deadpan.

"Hilarious," He replies, with a voice devoid of emotion that makes it sound like he would rather be anywhere but here. "Can we go now? Today's the day."

...

Now

Pearl Harbor,

July 4th, 06:02 HST

Two minutes after Freeze's attack, Aquaman and Aqualad descend upon Killer Frost on a naval warship, which is currently cloaked in ice as a blizzard swirls around them. 

They try to ignore the bodies that they hope are unconscious lying on the sides of the ship.

As they descend upon her, Killer Frost sends blasts of ice at them, one of which catching Aquaman off-guard, freezing him from the torso down and rendering him useless until he breaks free. 

Aqualad continues his path towards Killer Frost, summoning his Atlantean magic to his Water-bearers to act as a weapon.

Aquaman breaks out of the ice and runs over to join him.

"Don't tell me you're not excited," Aquaman says, as the two exchange blows with Killer Frost.

"Right now, my king, I'm more focused on the matter at hand," Aqualad replies, lunging forward suddenly.

Killer Frost sends off a blast of ice that freezes his Water-bearers, but he simply wields it while frozen and hits her hard, knocking her out cold.

He stands above her, catching his breath, as Aquaman approaches from behind him.

"Well?" King Orin inquires.

Aqualad turns to face him.

"Yes, I'm excited," He admits, "Today's the day."

...

Now

Central City,

July 4th, 11:03 CDT

Three minutes after Freeze's attack, Captain Cold has decided that National Independence Day was the perfect day to try to rob a Gem Depositary. Naturally, as what happens when you commit crimes in cities home to superheroes, Flash and Flash Junior, sorry, Kid Flash, have shown up.

As for the moment it's a stalemate, with the flashes running circles around Captain Cold, and Captain Cold occasionally sending out blasts from his cold-ray gun in hopes of catching them off-guard.

Deep inside he knows therapy is probably cheaper than his crimes that achieve nothing, but he's been repressing that opinion for a long time and he isn't going to stop that now.

As he runs, Flash mocks the villain.

"Stealing ice? Seriously? Isn't that a little cliche, even for Captain Cold?"

Whether or not he is speaking at a speed that Cold can understand is unknown.

Kid Flash sighs annoyedly.

"Come on. We don't have time for this."

Taking initiative, he breaks the stalemate and runs toward Captain Cold.

It's too late for a career change now.

Captain Cold aims his gun towards Kid Flash, but he dodges the beam, only getting a little snow on his shoulder, and grabs the gun from Cold's hands.

As Cold looks towards Kid Flash with fear in his eyes at the implications of what just happened, Flash dashes forward from his blind spot and punches Captain Cold, sending him spiraling down to the ground, unconscious.

"Calm down Kid," Flash tells his protege, as he vibrates restlessly. Kid Flash looks offended at the suggestion.

"Oh please," He scoffs, "You'll chat it up with the cops, with bystanders... with Cold even!"

Flash doesn't protest as deep inside, just like Cold, he knows it's true.

Kid Flash continues speaking.

"No. No way. Today's the day."

...

Now

New York City,

July 4th, 12:04 EDT

Four minutes after Freeze's attack, on the Hudson River, The Statue of Liberty stands tall on the very day she represents. Thousands of tourists and some locals bustle beneath the statue while others enjoy the view from the crown after making the long journey up many stairs.

Suddenly, a blast of ice engulfs the head of the Statue, making her face resemble that of a familiar villain: Minister Blizzard.

Everyone inside the head are now frozen and all pandemonium breaks out as civilians run for cover.

Blizzard stands on top of the statue and grins at the chaos beneath him, before descending and letting the ice rain.

A family with a toddler hides behind an overturned hotdog cart, but the toddler runs out from behind, curiosity getting the better of their short attention span.

Gasping, the mother runs out after her daughter and grabs her, turning to run back only to find Minister Blizzard's ice gun pointing right at her. 

Curling up around her daughter, the woman prepares for the cold, only to hear the sound of ice hitting metal.

A shield.

Looking up she sees Wonder Woman's protege, Storm, blocking Minister Blizzard's attacks with his shield. He looks at her and the rest of her family still hiding behind the cart and yells.

"Go over to the pedestal entrance! I'll cover you!"

Nodding, the family runs towards the safe zone as Storm keeps pace with them, blocking freeze rays from hitting them.

"Stay here until the all clear okay?" He orders, as soon as they've reached a safe location.

The people in the area nod their affirmative. Storm turns back and joins Wonder Woman in the fight, not drawing the sword strapped on his back yet.

The two make eye contact and quickly formulate a plan, with Wonder Woman distracting Blizzard so that Storm falls into his blind spot.

Falling for the trick, Blizzard turns and is struck by the electric fist of Storm, knocking him out on the floor.

As they survey the damage, Wonder Woman asks the question at all of the mentor's tips of their tongues.

"Are you excited? Today's the day."

Storm smiles worriedly.

"I know and I am excited, but I'm worried they won't like me."

"Nonsense. You convinced heavily armed Amazonian warrior to like you upon first meeting, how hard could four teenagers from this world of man be?"

"Deep inside I fear it will be harder. But we will see. Afterall, Today's the day."

Chapter Text

Before

“This is some kind of mistake,” Jason said. “I’m not supposed to be here.”

The boy in front of him turned and laughed. “Yeah, right, Jason. We’ve all been framed! I didn’t run away six times. Piper didn’t steal a BMW.”

The girl blushed. “I didn’t steal that car, Leo!”

Before

“Vulcan?” Leo demanded. “I don’t even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?”

Before

"So the heroes of this world of man sometimes have proteges?"

"Indeed they do. Diana is against the practice."

"So I guess she would even more against the wars that children had to fight in my world while being labeled as terrorists."

"Of course. However she may be open to taking you on beside her in her crusades for the simple fact that you have seen too much and lived through too much to truly be considered a child any longer."

"I hope she does. I want to help people, not just train."

Now

The Hall of Justice, Washington D.C,

July 4th, 14:00 EDT

The Hall of Justice gleams blindingly in the righteous freedom sun of the fourth of July. A large crowd has gathered around it and is being held back by ropes, but they bustle excitedly nevertheless at a chance to see their heroes in person in a way that doesn't involve being in mortal peril.

At the end of a walkway that leads to a gleaming gold object that probably cost more than a house, six heroes stand. 

Batman, Robin, Green Arrow, Speedy, Aquaman, Aqualad.

Our hope and saviors.

"Today's the day," Batman says as he places his hand on Robin's shoulder (a silent reminder of his promise to not break any chandeliers) and twitches his lips at him, the closest the man comes to a smile.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow announces, just in case any of them have become blind and cannot read the words inscribed on the building.

In his defense, Storm is dyslexic so it's probably not the worst habit to get into.

"Headquarters of the Justice League."

Aquaman adds the last bit, all three heroes smiling proudly at the building after saying their rehearsed lines.

Their basking in the momentousness of the moment is then cut short when they hear a voice behind them.

A disgruntled teenage voice.

"Oh, man," Kid Flash, very annoyed, comments, "I knew we'd be the last ones here."

The two speedsters have slowed down just behind the rest of the group, walking forward and joining them.

The four mentors exchange a conversation in a look and all give minute nods, before the eight heroes begin to walk towards the entrance.

The crowd chatters beside them.

"Is that Batman?"

"Oh my goodness."

"I see Flash and Flash Jr."

"His name's Speedy, duh,"

"Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick."

"Well that makes no sense."

"I'm so glad I got here early. I saw Wonder Woman and Storm enter."

"Why did they enter earlier?"

Ignoring the chatter around them, the heroes continue and start their own little conversations.

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green Arrow asks Speedy.

His partner grins boldly.

"Born that way."

"I'm glad we're all here," Aqualad says calmly, referring to the other proteges that walk with him.

"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" Kid Flash asks excitedly.

Speedy scowls.

"Don't call us sidekicks. Not after today," He states annoyed.

"Plus, Storm is not yet with us," Aqualad corrects, playing mediator and defusing the situation, "He and Wonder Woman will be meeting us inside the Hall."

Kid Flash grins, embarrassed.

"Sorry. First time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."

Robin looks confused with the language that is English.

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" He mutters mainly to himself, exposing the English language and all its flaws.

It's then that they enter the Hall of Justice, and the four look around in awe.

"Oh. Maybe that's why," Robin says, voice small and meek as he looks around awestruckedly, unknowingly creating a new adverb despite not narrating.

They stand in front of a large door in the atrium, statues of the original seven founders of the Justice League gleaming gold above a door.

The young heroes (even Speedy, although he'd deny it if you asked) look around with stars in their eyes, before their attention is dragged back to the door by it opening.

Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, Wonder Woman, and Storm all step out looking regal and serious, though Storm's eyes glitter with worry and anxiety.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Storm. Welcome," Martian Manhunter states warmly.

If you didn't know they were heroes you would think it was a cult.

Maybe it still is.

The entourage turns and leads the proteges through the door, revealing a hallway that they journey down.

Martian Manhunter continues speaking, narrating the tour.

"You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully-stocked gallery..."

They enter a spacious room filled with books and some comfy chairs.

"...and, of course, our library," He finishes, sweeping his arm grandly out.

Flash pipes up as the mentors enter the room, followed shortly by their proteges.

"Make yourselves at home."

Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Storm all flop down on chairs, those posh ones which are never comfortable enough, while Speedy remains standing, unimpressed.

He expected more.

Batman looks at the other Leaguers.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of five ice villains attacking on the same day," He growls to his colleagues, "We shouldn't be long."

The Justice League members then turn towards a second exit that scans them, announcing their designations as it prepared the Zeta-beam teleporter.

Recognized:

Batman, 0-2

Aquaman, 0-6

Flash, 0-4

Green Arrow, 0-8

Wonder Woman, 0-3

Martian Manhunter, 0-7

Red Tornado, 1-6

"That's it!?"

Speedy's voice is angry, drawing attention to him as he storms towards the older heroes.

"You promise us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!"

Aquaman looks slightly annoyed but keeps calm and responds.

"It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get."

Speedy scoffs in disbelief.

"Oh really?"

He points to the glass where reporters can be seen taking photos excitedly, undoubtedly planning their next tabloid headline.

The League shifts uncomfortably.

"Who cares which side of the glass we're on?!"

Green Arrow takes a step forward in an attempt to placate the archer.

"Roy, you just need to be patient," He says, praying the glass is soundproof.

"What I need is respect!" Roy shoots back angrily as he turns to face the other proteges. "They're treating us like kids. Worse, like sidekicks. We deserve better than this."

Four stunned faces greet him, but they make no move to join his cause.

"You're kidding right?" Speedy asks angrily. "You're playing their game! Why? Today is supposed to be the day. Step one in becoming fully-fledged members of the League."

"Well, sure," Kid Flash says confused, trying to understand why Speedy is so angry, "But I thought step one is a tour of the H.Q."

If anything, that makes Speedy angrier.

"Except the Hall isn't the League's real H.Q," He reveals, reveling in the shocked expressions on his fellow protege's faces, "I bet they never tell you. It's a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching Zeta-beam teleporter tubes to the real thing..."

He turns towards the Justice League before finishing, watching the surprise on their faces.

"...an orbiting satellite called the Watchtower!"

The Leaguers all turn their gaze towards Green Arrow disapprovingly, who sighs and turns to face Batman.

"I know, I know. But I thought maybe we could make an exception...?"

Batman levels him with a blank glare and Wonder Woman frowns from her place beside him.

Green Arrow sighs again, looking generally weary.

"...Or not."

Aquaman steps forward to make his bid at defusing the bomb (should have called Batman).

"You are not helping your cause here, son. Stand down, or..."

Speedy interrupts him.

"Or what? You'll send me to my room?" He taunts angrily, "And I'm not your son. I'm not even his."

He looks at Green Arrow, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"I thought I was his partner."

He takes his (stupid) hat off his head and holds it in his hands.

"But not anymore."

He throws it on the ground, ending his time as Speedy.

Roy turns and faces the four other young heroes, who all look shocked at what just happened.

"Guess they're right about you four. You're not ready."

With that, he storms out of the room and the building, ready to forge a new identity, as everyone stares at him in shock.

A beeping signals a transmission coming from the computer startles everyone out of their disbelief.

"Superman to Justice League," Superman speaks as his face appears on the screen in large, "There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

Batman grunts his acknowledgement.

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may present the perfect opportunity to..."

He's cut off by another transmission appearing.

"Zatara to Justice League,"

The magician Zatara appears smaller on the screen, but more stressed.

"The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response."

Wonder Woman hums then turns to Superman.

"Superman?"

He sighs slightly.

"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control."

Woman Wonder narrows her eyes slightly, calculating.

"Then Cadmus can wait."

Batman begins speaking again, issuing orders.

"All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out."

He then turns towards the young heroes, all looking anxious.

They want to join the fight.

"Stay put."

They won't be.

Robin looks shocked.

"What? Why?"

"This is a League mission," Batman responds.

"You're not trained," Flash adds on, to of which Kid Flash incredulously responds.

"Since when?"

"I meant you're not trained to work as part of this team," Flash quickly amends.

"There will be other missions," Wonder Woman assures them.

"When you're ready," Aquaman finishes her sentence.

"But for now, stay put," Batman growls as the Leaguers make their exit.

"Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?" Green Arrow whispers to Martian Manhunter as they prepare the Zeta-tubes for transport.

"Indeed," He replies gravely.

As the Justice League leaves, Wonder Woman spares one worried look towards the young heroes.

"Be safe," She says gravely, making eye contact with Storm, before she too disappears into the Zeta-beam.

Once alone, the young heroes scoff in disbelief.

"Ugh," Kid Flash says, "When we're ready? How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like..."

He pauses for a moment before turning and glaring at Storm and Aqualad.

"Like sidekicks."

Aqualad looks saddened.

"My mentor. My king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust?" Kid Flash mocks sarcastically, "They don't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret H.Q. In space."

Storm speaks for the first time today, surprising Kid Flash and Robin who had yet to hear him speak.

"When my queen first convinced my princess to have me join her as her partner in her crusade against this world of man's crime, we agreed no secrets so that I would better understand the world of man that I fight to protect," he stated, slowly getting more annoyed as the sentence went by, "But I guess she has kept many cards close to her chest in a way reminiscent of Juno's schemes from my past."

Robin blinks once, confused at his way of speaking. Aqualad pipes up, voicing the question on the tip of all their tongues.

"What else aren't they telling us?"

Robin scoffs, annoyed.

"I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with Speedy?"

They're all silent for a moment before Storm pipes up again slowly.

"What is Project Cadmus?" The implications of what he's asking hang in the air for a second before Robin grins mischievously.

"Don't know. But I can find out."

He walks over to the computer and types something it, but the screen flashes red.

Access Denied

Robin snorts.

"Wanna bet?"

He then starts doing hacking stuff (You can tell I know what I'm talking about here). 

"Whoa. How are you doing that?" Kid Flash asks, awestruck.

Robin grins smugly.

"Same system as the Batcave."

Storm laughs quietly and mutters at a volume that they wouldn't have heard if not for how quiet everything was,

"Creative naming skills I see."

The computer glows green.

Access Granted

"All right, Project Cadmus. Genetics lab here in D.C," Robin says as he finds the file and opens it. He then frowns, "That's all there is but if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate."

"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice," Aqualad adds, a small smile gracing his lips. Robin chuckles.

"Hey," He manages through his chuckle, "They're all about justice."

Aqualad smile fades and he sighs.

"But they said stay put."

"For the blotting-out-the-sun mission, not this," Robin reassures him. Kid Flash appears beside him, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Wait, are...? Are you going to Cadmus?" He asks excitedly, "Because if you're going, I'm going."

Storm walks over so that he's standing next to them.

"Most people's mothers raise them not to do stupid things," He starts, a small grin on his face, "But, my mother abandoned me in the woods when I was two so she didn't raise me at all," He continues, grinning mischievously at Robin and Kid Flash, "I'm in."

They're silent for a moment in shock, before they all turn and stare at Aqualad, demonstrating peer pressure at it's finest. He sighs.

"Just like that? We're a team on a mission?" He asks. Everyone smiles die down and are replaced by looks of determination.

Robin smirks.

"We didn't come for a playdate."

Chapter Text

Before

"Leo this is an intervention."

"I'm fine!"

"You haven't slept in four days and we last saw you two days ago. The fate of the entire world can take a break for a moment as you need to take some time to yourself."

"But I wanna help and this is how I'm helpful!"

"Well you won't be helpful if your burnt out. Come on. Me and Jase are going to attempt to make biscuits to Hermes Mail to Thalia for Mother's Day as a joke. We'd love to have you there."

"None of us can cook so she's getting burnt biscuits so she won't be able to taste all the random shit you'll put in it. Please. For us."

"Fine."

Now

Cadmus Laboratory, Washington D.C,

July 4th, 

A small crew of firefighters surround the two-story building, blasting water on to quell the flames that rage through the building. Inside from a second floor window, two fearful scientists beg to the firefighters below, barely audible over the screaming sirens of the firetruck.

"Help!"

"Get us down!"

The head firefighter holds a megaphone and attempts to reassure the scientists.

"Stay put. We will get you out."

However, at that moment, the fire reaches some chemicals stored in the room the scientists are in, and an explosion throws them out of the window, hurtling towards, at the very least, an expensive hospital bill.

Insurance, man.

Approaching from a distance after staying behind to lock up, Kid Flash blurs into a streak of yellow and red and runs up the side of the building, grabbing the scientists and placing them on the roof before losing momentum and falling, barely managing to grab on to the second floor window ledge and escaping his own expensive hospital bill.

The firefighters and scientists are stunned.

One firefighter calls out, "It's what's-his-name! Flash Boy!"

Despite clinging for dear life, KF still manages to be annoyed.

"Kid Flash!" He yells back, before muttering dejectedly "Why is that so hard?"

It's this scene that Storm, Robin, and Aqualad arrive to.

Robin laughs at his best friend's misfortune.

"So smooth."

Aqualad looks annoyed.

"Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan. We..." He looks at where Robin was a second ago and finds empty space.

"Robin?"

Aqualad looks at Storm, who shrugs and points at the firefighters truck as Robin's signature trademarked laugh can be heard.

Robin reappears seconds later parkouring up the truck, before shooting his grapple and swinging to the second floor window, pulling Kid Flash in after landing.

Storm and Aqualad run across the luckily empty road, with Aqualad running towards the fire department and pointing to their hose.

"I need to borrow that."

Without waiting for a response he pulls out his water bearers and summons his magic, making his tattoos glow and pulling the water from the hose to him, then using it form a platform that he stands on and raises to where the scientists are stuck.

"Step aboard. Now," He commands and the two scared scientists hop on, almost falling before the air around them seems to solidify, keeping them stable. The fires also seemed to quell slightly, as the oxygen in the atmosphere around then was removed, and Aqualad looks to see Storm's eyes glowing slightly as he flies up to the second floor window.

Aqualad jumps off of his water platform like an elevator but keeps it going down until it reached the ground floor, dumping the scientists rather unceremoniously on the concrete.

Storm lands silently next to him and they regarded each other for a second before following Robin and Kid Flash inside.

"Appreciate the help," Aqualad says, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

Robin turns slightly from the device he's hacking into to respond.

"You handled it. Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"

As Robin said this, Storm begin to walk through the building, exiting the room they were in and entering the hallway. Glancing down the hallway at the elevator, he sees a weird horned shape that looked vaguely humanoid, except far too thin (think Steve Rodgers before super serum dying of starvation) before the elevator doors close. He stares, baffled.

"There was something in the..."

Kid Flash flashes (hah) next to him and speaks over him.

"Elevators should be locked down."

Robin and Aqualad run out of the room to catch up with the other two, with Robin then running closer to the elevator. He stares at it, concerned.

"This is wrong." He pulled up information on his wrist computer. Information flashes before his eyes as the other three heroes join him.

"Thought so. This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building." He exclaims. Storm narrows his eyes.

"Neither does what I saw."

Grunting with effort, Aqualad pries open the doors to the elevator.

Storm goes to tell him that he could have helped, when they look down the elevator shaft.

Or rather down at the void.

Good thing that Storm doesn't have trauma associated with dark pits in the ground unlike some people (Percy and Annabeth and Nico).

"And that's why they need an express elevator," Robin says, a little dazed, before shooting his grapple onto the ceiling and jumping down.

Aqualad jumps onto the rope and begins to follow Robin into the void, using the cable like a fireman's pole.

Kid Flash was about to jump onto the rope as well, when Storm grabs him around his waist and simply jumps into the void, descending gracefully with his flight abilities. Kid Flash looks at him, a little shocked.

"You can fly?"

Storm looks at him in the corner of his eye and smirks.

"What, did you think I was dragging us to our deaths because I'm secretly evil?"

Kid Flash blushes a little and looks away, embarrassed.

Robin descends quickly until his rope stops, reaching the end of its many meter long length.

Deep inside he curses Batman for not buying the stupidly long version of the grapple.

"I'm at the end of rope," He calls out to anyone riding the rope above him so they would know to slow down, before swinging slightly to gain momentum to make the jump to the nearest elevator door. 

Aqualad quickly follows and Robin sets out disabling security on the door.

"Bypassing security..." He mutters as Storm, holding KF, joins them on their level, placing Kid Flash on the ledge and hovering just off of it himself.

"There. Go."

Storm quickly flies forward and pulls the doors apart with little trouble.

They make their way inside, and stared at the rows and rows of dimly lit hallways that have strange red metal cubes lining their sides.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin announces, eyes narrowing slightly as he surveys the eerie hallways.

Kid Flash grins, before taking off running, ignoring Aqualad's hushes cries.

"Kid, wait!"

Hearing noises, KF begins to skid to a halt, but trips and slides right into the path of some enormous gray monsters. Rubbing his head, Kid Flash looks up to see the fist of one of these enormous monsters about to crush him, but he luckily rolls out of the way.

Standing up, he joins the others who have run to catch up with him, and they stare in disbelief at the strange monsters coming down the hallway.

One of these monsters had a mini, gollum like except gray, monster sitting on it's head, that turns and looks at them, before its horns glowed red.

"No. Nothing odd going on here," Aqualad says, sarcasm layering his tone.

"Just a normal fieldtrip," Storm adds, earning small snorts from Kid Flash and Robin, who have both watched The Magic School Bus so therefore understand the reference.

Robin is very confused as how Storm knows what The Magic School Bus is, as he believes he has lived his entire life on Themyscira, but he lets it slide.

...

Now

Cadmus Laboratory,

July 4th

Dr Desmond was doing science-y things to blood in his basic stereotypical evil scientist lab, filled with small alien beings being grown in a green fluid. He added the diluted by some chemical(?) blood to a test tube containing some blue crystalline structure, dissolving the crystal and causing the product of the chemical reaction to glow neon blue.

Desmond looked at the substance and proceeded to do the most evil scientist grin crossed with chad face smile anyone had ever seen, so mentally damaging that if he looked himself in the mirror he would immediately take 50 physic damage and die. His smile died as the lab door behind him opened, revealing...

Guardian?

The Hero?

Huh?

"Dr Desmond," Guardian states as he begins to enter the laboratory, another weird gollum style creature on his shoulder. Desmond sighs annoyedly.

"Tell me, Guardian, what part of no interruptions did you not understand?" He growls out as he grabs the neon substance and places it in a cooling chamber labeled Project Blockbuster.

Guardian clears his throat awkwardly.

"A G-Gnome on Sub-Level 26 reports four intruders," He states, standing at attention. Dr Desmond sighs again.

"Did I miss a perimeter breach alert?" He mutters through clenched teeth. Guardian shifts uncomfortably.

"No," He confirms.

"Then the G-Gnome's confused," Responds Dr Desmond, "Whatever might occur in our faux lab above ground the real Cadmus is the most secure facility in D.C."

"My job to keep it that way," Guardian shoots back, neither of them noticing the horned creature creeping up behind them.

"Fine. Take a squad," Desmond orders, waving his hand in a shooing motion. The creature steps out from behind them, intercepting Guardian as he goes to turn.

"Might I recommend Guardian leave his G-Gnome behind?" The creature suggests, "If violence should occur..."

"The little guy would be in my way," Guardian finishes.

"No," Desmond responds hurriedly, stepping away from his workstation. "The advantage of instant telepathic communication outweighs other concerns."

He scratches the G-Gnome on his workstation underneath the chin, like one might do a dog, and the horns glow.

The G-Gnome on Guardian's shoulder's horns also glow, and Guardian's eyes gain a vacant look in them as he monotone-ly states

"I need my G-Gnome with me at all times."

Guardian then bows slightly before exiting, the strange horned creature following him out.

Desmond looks at them, distrusting, before turning back to his workstation.

...

Now

Cadmus Laboratory,

July 4th

A high security door unlocks and opens, revealing Robin, Storm, Aqualad, and Kid Flash on the other side. They enter the giant cavern filled with creatures in large tubes, vaguely resembling mosquitos, or fireflies, but much larger.

"Okay, I'm officially whelmed," Robin says, strolling into the room towards the computer like a moth drawn to flame.

The insectoid creatures give off pulse of energy, which seem to enter a grid behind them.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the world," Kid Flash realizes, "The real Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power with these... things." Excitement leaves his voice. "Must be what they're bred for."

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad muses, "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth."

"He also helped create the most cursed bloodline in all of ancient history and is an ancestor of Dionysus or Bacchus," Storm adds, "But I see your point. However it must take thousands of these insects to power this whole building if the express elevator even covers all the floors. Genetic engineering isn't cheap."

"Someone is funding Cadmus outside of just the government," Robin finishes, looking worried by the realization. He then shakes his head as if to clear it. "We'll shelve that problem for later. For now let's find out why their creating new life."

He pulls out a connector from his gauntlet and plugs it into the computer next to him. His wrist computer lights up and the four all gather around it, staring at the information.

Storm hopes someone voices what's on the screen out loud because gods that font is not dyslexia friendly.

"They call them Genomorphs," Robin reads, fulfilling Storm's silent plea. He then stops, dumbfounded. "Look at the stats on these things. Super-strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons." He scrolls through the information, getting more and more concerned.

"These Genomorphs resemble the monsters of old," Storm states grimly, catching the others attention, "When I came to this world of man I was under the impression the monsters of old were far and few but it seems some have wished to create a modern version of the army that plagued countless heroes of old."

"But for who?" Kid Flash asks.

"Probably for the same person that funds Cadmus under the table," Aqualad responds. Robin makes a inquiring noise before piping up again.

"Wait, there's something else. Project Kr." A red light glows from his gauntlet and he makes a frustrated noise. "The file's triple-encrypted, I can't..."

A voice booms from behind them, scaring them slightly.

"Don't move!" Guardian growls from behind him. The four young heroes turn to him in slight disbelief, not expecting to find another hero down here.

Guardian also looks confused.

"Wait. Robin? Aqualad? Storm? Kid Flash?" He questions. Robin snickers.

"At least he got your name right." Aqualad steps forward slightly, raising his head towards Guardian.

"I know you. Guardian. A hero." He states. Guardian responds

"I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" Storm asks confused.

"I'm chief of security," Guardian replies, "You're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League. Figure this out."

"You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid Flash demands angrily. Guardian look perturbed at the accusation.

"Weapons? What do you...?" His G-Gnome horns start glowing and he clutches his head. "What have l...?"

Ugh

My Head.

He looks up with a blank stare in his eyes, making Storm's own ones narrow in suspicion. 

"Take them down hard. No mercy." He orders, and the Genomorphs beside him (a new kind the heroes are yet to see), lung forward and attack.

Robin darts in front of the others and throws down a smoke bomb, before grappling onto one of the support beams and making his exit, assuming the others are following.

Multiple Genomorphs lunge at Kid Flash and he backs up, narrowly avoiding slashes from the aforementioned razor sharp claws. He retaliates with two quick punches that throw two of the Genomorphs across the room before doing an inverted flip off the wall and kicking the remaining ones in the chest, before vanishing into the smoke.

Storm pulls an Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender and creates a small bubble of wind that blows multiple Genomorphs off of him. However one sneaks up behind him and lunges, so he draws a dagger from his belt and stabs the Geomorph in the gut region, twisting the dagger before kicking it of the dagger and into two other Genomorphs. He looks up and sees Aqualad struggling against Guardian, so he runs forward and punches Guardian with an electricized fist, blasting him across the room.

Storm helps up Aqualad, and the three heroes make their escape into the hallway where they find Robin hacking into one of the ports, ignoring the blaring alarm above them.

Kid Flash glares at the Boy Wonder.

"Way to be a team player, Rob."

"Weren't you right behind me?" Robin asks a little confused. Their argument is interrupted by thudding, implying Genomorphs getting dangerously close as they give chase.

The elevator door dings open thanks to Robins hacking, and the two heroes dive in followed closely by Storm and Aqualad, just as the door closes.

The elevator starts going down.

Aqualad looks confused.

"We're headed down?"

"Dude, out is up," Kid Flash adds on helpfully. Robin looks offended.

"Excuse me? Project Kr? It's down on Sub-Level 52."

Aqualad sighs.

"This is out of control. Perhaps... Perhaps we should contact the League."

Storm looks like he just swallowed a lemon at that statement.

"Rule number one of doing stupid shit is that when you fuck up, you swear oaths on rivers to never tell a soul about it," Storm says, surprising the other by his vulgar language, "I'm pretty sure the Justice League contains many people with souls."

The elevator dings and the door opens.

"We are already here," Robin adds as they step outside and look at the weirdest hallway they've ever seen.

It looks like the descriptions of Tartarus Annabeth and Percy gave Storm but in tunnel form.

Storm speaks, slightly tense from the connection he just made in his mind.

"Which way?"

Robin chuckles.

"Bizarre-Iooking hallway one or bizarre-Iooking hallway two?"

"Halt!" A voice from down one of the hallways sounds out, and they turn to see the being Storm saw earlier, throw two large cannisters at them.

Robin throws a disk in retaliation and by the time the creature has recovered enough, the heroes are already running down the other hallway.

The creature stops and waits for Guardian and the team of Genomorphs to arrive.

"They are heading for Project Kr!" He tells them, and the force continues to blast it's way down the hallway, not bothering to slow down.

A large blast door is opened at the end of the hallway the heroes sprinted down, and a scientist stepped out, barely touching the ground before Kid Flash crashed into her, knocking her over.

Noticing the shutting blast door, Kid Flash picks up a large cylinder and wedges it in the door, stopping it from closing the full way. The other three heroes round the corner and Kid Flash shouts

"Hurry!" at them as they jump in.

Seeing the army behind them, Aqualad kicks the cylinder out of the door, and the door closes shut. Robin quickly engages emergency lock on the door so that no one can get in.

"I disabled the door. We're safe." He says.

"We're trapped," Aqualad amends.

"Uh, guys?" Kid Flash calls from deeper in the room, "You'll wanna see this."

They all gather around a pod that contains a teenage boy, 16 roughly, who looks like a younger version of Superman and wear a white bodysuit, emblazoning a red version of the crest of the House of El.

"Whoa," Storm breathes, sounding awestruck.

KF steps closer.

"Big K, little R. The atomic symbol for Krypton," He reads, "Clone?"

"Robin, hack," Aqualad orders, startling Robin out of his freeze.

"Right, right."

He plugs his connector into the console and begins to read.

"Weapon designation: Superboy. A clone force-grown in 16 weeks from DNA acquired from Superman." 

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad amends.

"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid Flash agrees.

Robin continues reading.

"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."

"And these creatures?" Storm asks, brow furrowing at the small G-Gnome on the top of Superboy's pod.

"Genomorph-Gnomes," Robin answers, "Telepathic. Force-feeding him an education."

"And we can guess what else," Kid Flash mutters darkly.

"They've created him to be a pawn in a larger game of chess," Storm agrees stormily, "But who are the other pieces on his side of the board-"

"And who's the one playing," Robin finishes.

Aqualad sighs.

"Now we contact the League."

Nobody disagrees with him.

All four proteges attempt to make connection, but to no avail.

"We're in too deep. Literally," Kid Flash realizes.

The four pace around the room for a little while, lost in thought, failing to notice the glowing horns on the G-Gnomes.

"This is wrong," Kid Flash voices.

The others agree with him.

"We can't leave him like this."

"Set him free," Aqualad orders. "Do it."

The pod falls away and the boy remains completely calm, apart from his hands clenching into fists.

Nothing happens for a moment, until suddenly Superboy attacks, launching himself at Aqualad. 

The two roll against the floor for a while, the other three heroes frozen in shock, before Superboy ends up on top and punches Aqualad three times before Kid Flash and Robin manage to drag him off, struggling against restraining him.

Storm narrows his eyes at the G-Gnomes and takes flight against them, attempting to stop the mind control at it's source.

"Whoa! Hang on, Supey."

Kid Flash grunts barely holding on to the arm.

"We're on your side," Robin adds, trying to calm the raging maniac as Storm chases the G-Gnomes and stabs one, fatally wounding it.

Kid Flash loses his grip and Superboy responds with an uppercut, throwing KF across the room, through a glass display case and hitting Storm, knocking himself unconscious against his metal armor.

Robin now has his arm around Superboy's neck and places a smoke bomb to his chest.

"I don't want to do this," He says as she releases the smoke bomb in Superboy's face, causing him to stumble and give Aqualad enough time to get up and kick him against the chest, hurtling him backwards into his pod.

Robin shoots tasers at Superboy and Storm sends a bolt of electricity, but neither had chosen a high enough voltage to truly affect the boy in fear of hurting him, so he grabbed the tasers and reels Robin in, pushing him to the ground and applying pressure on his chest, constricting his ability to breathe. He then uses the tasers as a lasso of kinds to grab Storm and throw him across the room, hitting the wall hard.

Aqualad creates a large water hammer and attacks Superboy with a cry of "Enough!", catching him by surprise and throwing him off Robin.

Robin however, was already unconscious.

"We are trying to help you," He states, before being grabbed by Superboy and thrown into the roof multiple times until he collapses.

Storm gets up and draws his shield and sword and lunges at Superboy, blocking his punch with his shield and swiping at his ankles with his sword, before sending a flying kick into his chest, pushing him back a couple meters. 

The two regard each other.

Storm sighs.

"I know you are not in control of your mind right now. I also know that I have the skills to beat you in this fight but my allies have fallen, and if I hold any chance at freeing you from the chess board, I must loose this fight."

He sheaths his sword and shield and holds his hands at his side.

"I surrender."

A moment later he is knocked out by a punch to the face and falls to the ground.

The blast door is torn apart by Superboy, revealing the group outside.

Desmond walks in and observes the four unconscious heroes and grins.

"Attaboy."

Deep inside the Superboy wonders why the last boy stopped fighting.

Chapter Text

Before

“Don’t get me wrong, Hazel. It’s just that your brother, Nico… he knew about both camps, right?”

“Well, yes,” Hazel said.

“He’s been going back and forth,” Leo said, “and he didn’t tell either side.”

Jason sat forward, his expression grim. “You’re wondering if we can trust the guy. So am I.”

Now

Cadmus Laboratory,

July 4th, 23:24 EDT

Dr Desmond paced through a lab room that had been mainly cleared out, providing a large floor space. He slows down as seven large screens descend from the ceiling, surrounding him. He stands at attention.

Seven white silhouettes appear on the screens.

The Cadmus Board of Directors.

"Dr. Desmond. You require an audience with the Light?" One of the silhouettes says, anger clear in his voice.

Desmond looks nervous.

"Yes. Very sorry to disturb you at this late hour-" He rambles before being cut off by another silhouette.

"Just make your report."

"Of course. Ahem," He awkwardly clears his throat. "Well, we had a small fire here at Project Cadmus. The origin of the incident is still unclear but it seems to have attracted some... unwanted attention."

He pauses nervously for a moment, before continuing on quickly.

"Four sidekicks, Robin, Aqualad, Storm and Kid Flash breached security. They found and released the weapon. The Superboy," He gives a tense pause. "Of course, the clone is under our telepathic control and, as ordered, turned against his would-be liberators. The four are contained and we don't believe the League knows they're here."

His confidence falters.

"Uh...What should I do with them?"

A silhouette responds.

"Clone them. The substitutes will serve the Light and only the Light."

"And the originals?"

"Dispose of them. Leave no trace."

The screens flicker off and Desmond pauses for a moment, before a wicked grin breaks out on his face.

...

Now

Washington, D.C

July 5th, 00:01 EDT

Fireworks still light up the sky even though it's past midnight, but deep inside Cadmus Laboratory, four heroes lie unconscious in pods not unlike the one they freed Superboy from. A voice sounds in their minds.

Time runs short.

You must awaken.

You must awaken now!

The four young heroes awake with gasps and find themselves restrained in a vertical position. They try to break out of the locks but to no avail. Before them, Superboy stands keeping watch.

He glares at them.

Kid Flash takes offence.

"What? What do you want!"

He gets no response.

"Quit staring. You're creeping me out."

Superboy narrows his eyes.

"Uh, KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin suggests sarcastically.

...

Desmond and a scientist walk down the Tartarus-esc halls towards Project Kr after consulting the Cadmus Board of Directors.

"Prepare the cloning procedure for the new Project Sidekick. Now," Desmond orders and the scientist disappears to start work on the equipment. He rounds the corner and Guardian stands there, supervising the Genomorphs fixing the laboratory for Project Kr.

"Almost done here, doc," Guardians says in absence of a greeting to Desmond. Desmond looks around then scowls.

"Where's the weapon?" He asks. Guardian looks confused a the outburst.

"Superboy? He carried the intruders to the Cloning Chamber," He responds.

"We have genomorphs for that!" Desmond growls angrily, "Get the weapon back in its pod now."

"I don't see the harm in letting the kid stretch his legs," Guardian replies calmly. Desmond fumes.

"Don't you now?"

The G-Gnome on Guardian's shoulder begins to glow and Guardian's eyes go blank again, before filling with anger.

"That clone belongs in a cage!"

...

"We only sought to help you," Aqualad states calmly from where he's suspended. Kid Flash looks ticked.

"Yeah, we free you, and you turn on us. How's that for grati-"

"Kid. Be quiet now." Storm says, "Our new acquaintance was not in full control of his actions, I believe"

Robin quietly summons a lockpick from his gauntlet and sets to work attempting to pick the manacle on his hand.

"What if l..." Superboy clears his throat then speaks firmer, "What if I wasn't?"

"He can talk?" Kid Flash says suprised. Superboy narrows his eyes.

"Yes, he can," He shoots back.

"Not like I said 'it'," Kid Flash mutters, embarrassed.

"The genomorphs taught you telepathically," Aqualad realizes.

"They taught me much," Superboy replies, "I can read, write... I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them?" Robin asks, subtly trying to break his manacle, "Have they ever actually let you see the sky or the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind," Superboy responds, before faltering, "But, no, I have not seen them."

"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Storm asks.

He could just break out of he manacles, but he needs Superboy to question Cadmus so that he can help them escape, and breaking out won't do that.

Superboy stands taller and begins reciting an introduction that was probably forced into his brain.

"I am the Superboy. A genomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from the Light," He robotically states. Aqualad frowns but says calmly

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration. But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

That seems to infuriate Superboy.

"I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!" He yells.

"Just because someone gave you life does not mean they have the right to control it," Storm counters.

"Your home is a test-tube," Robin adds, "We can show you the sun."

"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon?" Kid Flash amends.

"We can show you, introduce you to Superman," Aqualad promises. Superboy's eyes widen and he seems to be considering their offer, before a voice calls out.

"No, they can't."

Dr Desmond enters the lab with Guardian and a scientist in toe.

"They'll be otherwise occupied." He turns to the scientist, "Activate the cloning process."

"Pass," Robin responds, "Batcave's crowded enough."

Oh how you aren't ready for the hoards your father's adopting problem will bring in.

Desmond growls.

"And get the weapon back in its pod!"

"Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an 'it'?" Kid Flash accuses as the scientist begins doing something on the computer.

Aqualad looks pleadingly at Superboy as Guardian steps up and places his hand on Superboy's shoulder.

"Help us," He asks.

Superboy shrugs off the hand and glares at Guardian. Desmond walks up.

"Don't start thinking now."

The Genomorph on Desmond's shoulder hops off and lands on Superboy. Storm narrows his eyes and it's horns glow red and Superboy become calm, like a blank slate. Desmond grins.

"See, you're not a real boy. You're a weapon. And you belong to me," He pauses for a moment before he amends, "Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod."

Superboy turns, and walks out of the room, as if in a trance. Desmond looks towards the scientist and nods, and she presses some buttons, causing pincers to fold out in front of the heroes, stabbing them all in the chest with a slight electrical buzz.

The heroes cry out in pain, and the yelling only increases as the pincers begin to extract a red gas from the heroes and deposits it in spheres in front of each pod.

Desmond ignores them and turns to Guardian.

"Where's Dubbilex?" He asks. The humanoid horned creature from earlier appears, as if summoned by it's name and Desmond gives a small shut of fear before glaring at the being.

"Ugh. Lurking as usual. Get the G-Gnomes downloading their memories," He orders, "When that's done, delete the source material."

...

Superboy walks down a Cadmus hallway, the G-Gnome still on his shoulder.

Whispering through the pain, Storm gets out.

"Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon or a person? The choice is yours."

Aqualad hears this and adds on

"But ask yourself, what would Superman do?"

Superboy pauses his walk.

His eyebrows crease.

His eyes fill with determination.

Your choice.

...

There's a boom that echo's through Project Sidekick.

A big boom.

Shocked, Desmond, Guardian, and the scientist turn towards the high security door just in time to witness it get crinkled, like a potato chip bag, and ripped off of it's frame.

Superboy came back.

Superboy wields that door above his head like a frisbee, and throws it to the side. It crackles with electricity and the pincers retract, allowing the heroes to catch their breath. He stalks towards Desmond, Guardian, and Dubbilex.

Desmond snarls angrily

"I told you to get back to your-"

His sentence is cut off by Superboy smacking him into a wall with one hand. The other hand hits Guardian and Dubbilex.

"Don't give me orders," He growls, before walking towards the contained heroes. Kid Flash stares at him distrustingly.

"You here to help us or fry us?" He asks, clearly not getting the phrase 'time and place'. Superboy narrows his eyes, before smirking.

"Huh," He says dryly, "I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option."

Robin finally manages to get his wrist manacles off and jumps to the floor.

"Ugh, finally," He complains, "Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long."

Kid Flash scoffs, offended.

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about? The whole League will have our heads after tonight!"

Robin rolls his eyes then turns to Superboy.

"Free Aqualad. I'll get Kid Mouth then Storm."

Superboy glares.

"Don't you give me orders either."

He then proceeds to follow the orders. Storm observes silently for a moment before ripping his hands out of the manacles and floating down. Kid Flash glares at him.

"You could have escaped the entire time?" He asks, annoyed.

"He also surrendered to me earlier," Superboy adds. Storm raises his hands in surrender as Robin also turns to look at him bewildered.

"I knew that if we wished to give Superboy the chance to make his own choice, fighting him or escaping captivity wasn't going to help," Storm defends, "Also, I doubt that I would be able to fight through the entire Genomorph army on my own. I'm a strong fighter, but I have limits."

Robin unlocks Kid Flash's manacles while Superboy breaks Aqualad's. Aqualad looks at him with gratitude.

"Thank you," He says. Desmond gets up looking much worse for wear and yells

"You...! You'll never get out of here!" The heroes run past him. "I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

Robin and Kid Flash pause at the door. Robin throws four disks towards the spheres containing genetic material and says

"That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all."

Kid Flash look bewildered as the two follow the others.

"What is it with you and this 'whelmed' thing?" He asks.

Desmond gets up from the floor and surveys the destroyed lab, anger clear in his posture. A G-Gnome hops on his shoulder.

"Activate every Genomorph in Cadmus," He says, and the horns begin to glow red.

...

Now

Cadmus Laboratory, Sublevel 42,

August 5th, 00:37 EDT

The five heroes raced down the hallways, the creme colored bubbles on the sides of the hall glowing red as they passed.

"We are still 42 levels below ground," Aqualad said, "But if we can make the elevator..."

He cut off and slowed to a stop as one of the humongous Genomorphs they encountered earlier stood in their way. The smaller ones that they had fought earlier were also with it and more Genomorphs were coming.

The heroes turned around to try and flee in the opposite direction, but the red bubbles in the walls burst, out crawling more of the G-Elves.

They were surrounded.

A fist from a G-Troll causes the heroes to dodge out of the way, and Superboy begins attacking the Genomorphs while the others stick to more evasive techniques, then all out fighting.

As Superboy slams a G-Troll into the wall, Aqualad notices it begins to crumble and yells to Superboy.

"Superboy. The goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!" Superboy turns to them with a deranged look and yells back

"You want escape!" He throws an unconscious G-Troll at other approaching while Storm rips open the elevator door, revealing the dark elevator shaft.

Robin fires his grapple and flies up into the darkness while Storm grabs Kid Flash again and takes off after him. Superboy grabs Aqualad and ascends into the air, reaching all way up to Sublevel 9 before he begins to fall again, much to his confusion.

"L... I'm falling."

The air around them solidifies and acts as a cushion as they collapse. Superboy stares at his hands.

"Superman can fly," He says, "Why can't I fly?"

"Superman has had his powers for much longer so he's trained with them more," Storm assure Superboy, "With time, you will become more powerful."

"Plus you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool," Kid Flash adds on. Superboy looks up and he's him also standing on the air platform that Storm has conjured. Superboy asks Storm,

"How can you do this?", gesturing to the solid air beneath them. Storm grins.

"When I was 14 I got a lot of practice with air manipulation like this because my friend kept on falling off the Grand Canyon," He replies, a grin on his face at the memory. Robin furrows his brow.

"I thought you came from Themyscira?"

"I do."

"Then how did your friend fall off the Grand Canyon if you were in Themyscira?"

"Guys," Kid Flash said, looking up at the elevator quickly approaching, "This will have to be our exit."

Superboy sprang up and punched the elevator doors clean off, and the five quickly ran through, narrowly avoiding getting crushed. The five quickly head off running through the hallways.

A voice sounds in Superboy's mind.

Turn left, Brother.

"Go left," He calls out, the others following without question, "Left!"

Turn Right.

"Right!" He calls. The round the corner and find a dead end, save for a vent. Kid Flash scoffs.

"Great directions, Supey. You trying to get us re-podded?" He asks sarcastically. Superboy looks confused.

"No, I don't understand," He says. Robin pushes forward.

"Don't apologize. This is perfect." He throws his arm towards the vent.

...

A small squad of Genomorphs round the corner to find the hallway...

empty.

The only trace of the heroes' is the discarded air vent cover.

...

Robin lead the way through the vents and the other four follow quickly.

"At this rate, we'll never get out," Kid Flash complains. Superboy shushes him.

"Listen."

Running through the vent system are G-Elves, moving like hunting dogs.

...

Desmond, Guardian, and Dubbilex run down a hallway, Genomorphs following them. Desmond holds a tablet with building schematics showing.

"Someone, Robin, I'd wager, hacked our systems, deactivating internal security cameras," He says to the others as he leads them towards a door, "But he neglected the motion sensors."

The door opens and reveals one of the companies, many bathrooms, complete with an air-vent.

"Genomorphs are closing in. They're all coming out in here. We have them cornered."

The vent opens and out spills four Genomorphs onto the Cadmus inhabitants. Desmond growls.

"He hacked the motion sensors."

...

"I hacked the motion sensors," Robin says triumphantly, as they spill out of a separate vent into an empty hallway.

"This world of man's security measures seem easily countered," Storm observes, "Back in my day they just hired guards and placed them every few feet."

"Your day? Never mind," Robin says before he can get distracted, "There's still plenty of them between us and out."

"Yeah," Kid Flash interjects, "But I've finally got room to move." He places his googles over his eyes and bursts into the stairwell, blazing up the stairs as a multi-colored blur, the others sprinting behind him.

A squad of G-Elves is making its' way down and Kid Flash swipes at them as he speeds past, knocking them all over and allowing the other heroes to run past with no difficulty.

"More behind us," Robin calls to Superboy, who stamps down at the top of a flight of stairs, causing the stairs to collapse and send the Genomorphs to their deaths.

...

"We'll cut them off at Sub-Level One," Guardian assures Desmond.

They stand in the high speed elevator together along with Dubbilex and some Genomorphs.

"We'd better, or the Board will have our heads," Desmond snaps worriedly, "My head."

He suddenly presses the stop button, opening the door and running out.

"I need to get something from Project Blockbuster just in case," He says to the beings in the elevator, "I'll meet you at Sub-Level One."

...

Kid Flash speeds ahead on Sublevel One, but bashes into a high security blast door that shuts suddenly, locking them in. He stumbles backwards and collapses on the floor, holding his head.

The others catch up.

"We're cut off from the street," Aqualad states. Kid Flash rolls his eyes.

"Thanks, my head hadn't noticed."

Superboy frowns and walks past, grabbing the crack in the door and pulling. Storm joins him.

The door doesn't budge.

Robin pulls up his wrist computer and starts typing at high speeds, but he grumbles

"Can't hack this fast enough."

Two G-Trolls round the corner and charge at the five heroes. Robin notices a door to his right.

"This way!" He calls out as he kicks the door down. The other four rush out after him.

The G-Trolls can't fit through the door but in the adjacent hallway, the heroes find themselves surrounded by Genomorphs and Guardian. They all prepare to fight when the G-Gnomes horns all glow, making all the heroes straighten out of their fighting stances before collapsing to the ground, groaning in pain.

Only Superboy manages to fall to his knees and he hears a voice in his head as the Genomorphs part around Dubbilex.

Perhaps, for the sake of all genomorphs our brother Superboy should make up his own mind.

Superboy's eyes widen.

It was you.

Yes, brother. I set the fire and lured your new friends down into Cadmus, woke them when they were in danger-

-And guided me. Why?

Because you are our hope, the genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all our brothers, showing us the way to freedom.

Guardian groans and grips his head.

"What's going on?"

Aqualad and Storm stir.

What is your choice, brother?

Superboy stands up and speaks aloud.

"I choose freedom."

Storm wonders what part of the conversation he missed, but good for Superboy.

"Feels like fog lifting," Guardian mutters as the other four heroes get to their feet beside Superboy.

"Guardian?" Aqualad asks.

Guardian's eyes narrow.

"Go," He says, "I'll deal with Desmond."

"I think not." Desmond's voice cuts through the hallway as the Genomorphs part to let him pass. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus."

He then drinks a vial.

Of the neon blue stuff.

That is probably not for drinking.

His veins begin to pop out from under his skin, and as Desmond falls to the ground, his lab coat rips, unable to fit his rapidly growing body. Desmond lifts his head up and growls, his skin ripping apart to reveal a gray layer below as his eyes turn black with red pupils. He stands and roars and Guardian frantically yells,

"Everyone, back!", before running at Blockbuster, only to get whacked aside with no effort, crashing into the wall.

Superboy glares and runs at Blockbuster, hitting the scientist in the jaw, but it barely affects him, and he attempts to swing down on Superboy, only to be blocked by Storm's shield. Storm then slashes at Blockbuster's feet with his knife, but it barely grazes and only seems to anger him further. Blockbuster swings at Superboy who flies backwards about 3 meters before regaining his balance, lunging at Blockbuster, only to be grabbed and thrown through the ceiling, Blockbuster quickly following with Storm.

"Ok," Robin mutters, standing underneath the giant hole in the ceiling, "That's one way to bust through the ceiling." He then fires his grapple, grabbing Kid Flash by the waist and pulling him up with him.

"You think Lab Coat planned that?" Kid Flash asked.

Aqualad hesitates for a moment before jumping up onto the ground floor.

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore," he replies, as the three heroes observe the battle.

Superboy continues to lunge and punch Blockbuster, but to little effect and is bashed against multiple surfaces.

Storm has his shield up, and is using it block miscellaneous objects Blockbuster throws his way, before drawing his spear and, while Blockbuster is distracted by Superboy, throwing it into Blockbuster's shoulder, burying deep in.

 Blockbuster roars in anguish, and tries to snap the spear, but to no avail.

Storm flies forward and, dodging a punch from Blockbuster, kicks the spear clean through Blockbuster's shoulder, only to immediately be thrown into a pillar by Blockbuster's hand, his other hand hitting Superboy into another pillar on the opposite side of the atrium.

Robin's eyes widen.

"Of course!"

He quickly produces something on his wrist computer and shows it to Aqualad and Kid Flash, asking

"Got it?"

The two heroes nod their affirmations, then Kid Flash speeds forward and jumps at Blockbuster, grabbing his face and ripping off a piece of his skin. He pauses, dumbfounded for a second, before yelling

"Got your nose!"

Blockbuster perks up, and lets out an angry roar before lunging at Kid Flash, who darts out of the way just in time, causing Blockbuster to punch a pillar, cracking it.

Aqualad then swipes at Blockbuster with his WaterBearers, using them as a lasso to reel in Desmond, before kicking him into a pillar.

Kid Flash then grabs Blockbusters attention again to lead him towards another pillar.

While this is happening, Robin gestures for Superboy and Storm to go over to him, Storm creating currents to retrieve his spear and shield as he does so.

Robin shows them something on his wrist computer, and they both nod, before ducking just in time to avoid Aqualad's flying body.

Superboy punches a nearby pillar, cracking it, while Storm draws two daggers and throws them at Blockbuster, distracting him from a losing Kid Flash.

Blockbuster throws back his arms and let's out a roar, in doing so breaking the final pillar they needed to break.

Robin quickly draws a chalk X on the floor as Storm darts forward to retrieve his daggers. Aqualad covers the X with water, and Kid Flash skids over it to cover it.

Blockbuster blearily gets up, failing to notice Superboy behind him, who punches him in the spine(Storm winces in sympathy for spine damage), causing him to collapse right onto the X.

Storm then touches the water, electrocuting it to keep Desmond down while Robin launches explosives into the pillars, that beep for a second before exploding, bringing the roof down on them.

Right before it does, Storm gets out his shield and lunges over everyone, creating a small safety bubble that they all huddle in.

How to explain this to the Justice League?

Chapter Text

Before

Porphyrion, the giant king – and on the god who fought by Jason’s side: Zeus. My father, Jason thought in disbelief.

‘From birth, you were destined to be Hera’s – to appease her wrath. Even your name, Jason, was her choice. You did not ask for this. I did not want it. 

With his tousled blond hair and blue eyes, he might’ve been Jason’s brother on the mortal side as well as the godly side. Jason wondered if Apollo had assumed this form to be inconspicuous, or to look pitiable to his father. The fear in Apollo’s face certainly looked real, and also very human.

‘Unwise.’ Zeus’s voice was almost a whisper. ‘Before the assembled gods, you would call me unwise.’

Now

The remains of Cadmus Laboratory, 

Washington, D.C

The piles of rubble cover the entire lot that, just a few minutes earlier, was the above ground Cadmus facility. The heroes are nowhere in sight.

A small blast of air creates a clear space about 4 meters wide where the five heroes are revealed to be, crouching under Storm's shield. They get up and begin to dust themselves off, staring in a bit of disbelief at the night sky.

They're all a bit worse for wear, with the fights and the explosion damaging their suits a bit.

Storm has a large, fist sized bruise on his face just above his lip. Superboy winces at the reminder of their earlier fight, but otherwise stares around in wonder.

"We did it," Aqualad says in a bit of disbelief.

"Was there... ever any... doubt?" Robin responds, breathing heavily. He and Kid Flash high-five, but then crumple back down, breathing heavily, as it aggravated their injuries that they can feel now the adrenaline's worn off.

Superboy, unsure of where to look, decides to watch the still trapped Blockbuster, to make sure he doesn't get away.(or something)

"See?" Kid Flash calls out, grabbing Superboy's attention as he gestures to the sky, where a full moon lights it up along with many constellations of stars, "The moon."

Superboy stares, transfixed, while Storm observes the sky and spots the constellation he was looking for: The Huntress Constellation of Zoë Nightshade that Percy and Annabeth, along with Thalia, had reverently taught everyone they knew how to find. It filled him with a sense of home, just as it did on Themyscira those first few months.

At least it carries across universes with me.

A shadow, a dot, appears on the moon's surface, slowly growing larger until they can all clearly see it's Superman. Storm mentally prepares himself for adults and authority figures.

"Oh, and Superman," Kid Flash says, obviously confused, before quickly regaining his composure, "Do we keep our promises or what?"

They watch as more heroes appear behind Superman, following him and all descending around the wreckage of Cadmus, the entire Justice League.

Martian Manhunter, Zatara, Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, Captain Atom, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern(Hal Jordan) and Green Lantern(John Stewart). Green Lantern(John Stewart) conjured a platform that carries all the heroes who cannot fly: Black Canary, Aquaman, Batman, and Green Arrow. Flash appears with the other heroes, having obviously run there.

Superboy steps up, immediately receiving the scrutiny of Batman and Superman's gaze. He holds up the rip on his solar suit, allowing the assembled heroes to see the 'S' Shield emblazoned on the front.

Superman's eyes widen in shock, and Superboy's eyes soften, before Superman becomes cold and distant, causing Superboy to look hurt and slightly angry.

Batman's eyes narrow.

"Is that what I think it is?"

He doesn't like being called an 'it'," Kid Flash mutters, loud enough that everyone can hear.

Superboy stubbornly steps forward and announces, loud and angry so that everyone can hear.

"I'm Superman's clone."

There's a stunned silence as the assembled heroes look on in shock, before Batman takes control and growls out.

"Start talking."

...

The Green Lanterns leave along with Hawkman, Hawkwoman, and Captain Atom, Blockbuster safely contained in a construct bubble.

Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman stand nearby the young heroes, having a hushed conversation. Martian Manhunter puts his hand on Superman's shoulder and Superman glances at Superboy, who is watching him curiously.

He approaches.

Storm silently watches nearby, prepared to witness this shitshow go down(he ignores the vivid flashbacks this is giving him to his own first interaction with his father-at least no one's dead?)

Superman looks at Superboy and says

"We'll, uh... We'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean," He quickly corrects himself.

"For now, I'd better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away," He finishes awkwardly before taking off, leaving Superboy with a hurt expression on his face. Batman clears his throat, drawing attention back to him.

"Cadmus will be investigated," He says, "All 52 levels. But let's make one thing clear."

"You should have called," Flash interjects, sounding annoyed.

"End results aside, we are not happy," Batman agreed, "You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

"I am sorry, but we will," Aqualad states calmly, even as Robin goes to start arguing.

"Aqualad, stand down," Aquaman orders, as an attempt to diffuse the situation. Aqualad looks apologetic.

"Apologies, my king. But no," Aqualad replies, voice firm. "We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

Flash tries to reason with them.

"If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you-," He is interrupted by Storm.

"The five of us," He amends, "And it's not."

Robin steps forward.

"Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?" He speaks the quietest of the group but his voice resonates with Batman, just like he knew it would.

Superboy huffs.

"Why let them tell us what to do?" He says, "It's simple: Get on board, or get out of the way."

The five proteges stand together, united, against their mentors. A voice sounds from behind Batman, Flash and Aquaman.

"A great warrior knows when a fight is lost, and when to stop so they don't waste energy that did not have to be spent." The three part to reveal Wonder Woman, standing tall and proud, her face a deadly serious expression.

Superboy feels his confidence waver and the young heroes all tense, minus Storm who grins at her.

After a second, a small smile graces her face as well as she walks forward to the other mentors.

"It is clear that their resolve to be a team is as strong as the walls of Troy, and we lack a true motive to continue throwing ourselves at it," She continues, four of the proteges faces falling in disbelief at her siding with them, "They want to be a team, we help them be one." She raises an eyebrow at Batman, who considers for a moment, then sighs.

"Give me three days and I will have a solution," He grumbles, and the five young heroes faces light up with delight, "Dismissed."

Wonder Woman walks forward towards Storm, as the other mentors delve into their own conversations. Storm draws himself up to full height, still 3 and a half inches shorter than his mentor. They regard each other seriously while the other young heroes look nervously between the two of them.

Finally, Wonder Woman gives a small grin.

"I'm sure my mother will love to hear about your exploits at Cadmus, little brother, and frankly I would too," She says. Storm grins back at her.

"We're going back to Themyscira?" He asks, despite already knowing the answer. She nods.

"The world of man will survive without us for three days, and if you are to join a team, you must be better than your best."

"Training? You know I enjoy it so it's not really punishment for me," He responds. She surveys the five heroes.

"I did tell you to be safe, didn't I?" She says to the dumbfounded Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin. She turns her attention back to Storm.

"You will spend today on archery-," She begins before being interrupted by Storm who groans

"Oh I take it back that is a punishment." She laughs at his antics before continuing.

"Tomorrow on horse-back fighting, and the last day on training of the mind," She finishes, "Come, it is a couple hour journey to Themyscira and you'll want sleep before having to fail miserably at hitting bullseyes."

She turns and departs, flying up into the air a little distance, before turning back to Storm. He turns to the others and grins at them.

"See you in three days," He says, "I got to defend my title as the worst archer of Themyscira." He then turns to Superboy.

"Welcome to the world of man. It looks a lot nicer when you're not in the rubble of a building." Storm turns and flies up after Wonder Woman, the two of them disappearing into the constellations of the night sky. Superboy turns to the other heroes.

"What is Themyscira?" He asks, a confused expression lighting his face. Robin and Kid Flash turn to Aqualad, who studied it in Shayeris when he was younger.

"Themyscira is an island settlement that was built thousands of years ago. The legend goes that a war between Heracles and his men and the Amazonian woman lead by Queen Hippolyta over her golden girdle slayed hundreds of Amazonian woman, as they were outnumbered. Forced to flee, a prayer to Hera had her enlisting the help of Poseidon to create a magical fleet that the Amazonian woman could board to escape their eradication. The gods then came together to make a magical paradise island, hidden away from the world of man. It was on this island that the utopia called Themyscira was established and built," Aqualad explains.

"They say all woman on the island are fierce immortal warriors with enhanced abilities, only able to die in battle. Women over the many centuries since the city's founding who through some magical process are deemed with a strong enough willpower find their way there and join the Amazonians in their way of life to keep the population stable despite deaths. Some smaller tribes of Amazons have also left the island, giving up their immortality but not their enhancements and live in cohesion with the modern world. Hippolyta is Wonder Woman's mother, she is supposedly sculpted from clay then given life by Zeus, technically making him her father. Themyscira has a strict 'no men' policy that apparently has been given an exception for for Storm, as that is his home when not fighting villains," He finishes.

The other stare at him dumbfounded.

He shrugs.

"There has been an alliance between the queens of Atlantis and Queen Hippolyta for centuries, a lot of knowledge on the island can be found in our city-states because of this," He explains.

They are then interrupted by their mentors, and after figuring out where Superboy will be staying, they all separated to their respective homes.

...

Now

Batcave, Bristol

5th July, 03:46 EDT

"Bruce?" Dick called as he padded out of the changing room in pajamas.

Batman hummed his acknowledgement from where he was sitting at the Batcomputer.

Robin came up right behind him.

"What do you have on file for Storm?" He asks.

Bruce gave him a raised eyebrow, then pulled up a file.

"Not much," He admits, "I haven't had a good chance to find out anything about him apart from what Diana told us a month ago when she announced she was taking on a protege. Why? Do you not trust him?"

Dick shook his head.

"Not that I don't trust him, just that... he mentioned a friend falling off of the Grand Canyon when he was 14 as an explanation for his skills with air manipulation, but I was under the impression that he had lived his whole life on Themyscira," He explains.

Bruce knitted his eyebrows together.

"I was under that impression too... there's not much here. His powers are similar to Diana's except with more power over the air and weather, his skill level at fighting either indicates he's older than the 16 and a half Diana estimated him to be and has been aging slower with more years to train, or that he started fighting younger, 2, 3 maybe. His father is supposedly Jupiter, the Roman form of Zeus and his mother was deemed 'unnecessary' by Diana, which probably means she was mortal, neglectful, and dead."

"He did mention his mother abandoning him in the woods as a child," Dick admits.

"That explains it. Why don't you try figure him, add things to his file."

"On the team we're forming?"

"Something like that."

"Apologies to interrupt Master Bruce, but it is past Master Dick's bedtime."

"Sorry Alf."

Dick walks across the room and joins Alfred at the stairs.

"Night Bruce."

"Night Dick."

Chapter Text

Before

“A safe place,” Annabeth said. “The only safe place for kids like us. Camp Half-Blood.”

Directly below the ship, nestled at the edge of the lake, the city of New Rome gleamed in the sunlight.

Some part of Annabeth’s mind registered how beautiful the city was—the smells from the bakeries, the gurgling fountains, the flowers blooming in the gardens.

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Somewhere in the Mediterranean,

July 5th, 10:04 CEST

Day 1

The sun had already been up for over four hours when Jason and Diana touched down on the windswept palace gardens at the top of a cliff, overlooking not just Themyscira but the empty blue of the Mediterranean and the cloudless sky. Jason waved his dreams of getting a nap in before archery practice goodbye ; the sun was up, so any self-respecting Amazon was up too. It's not like sleep deprivation can make his aim any worse.

The two heroes headed to their quarters in the palace to change into linen garments and strip their armor, as the only thing worse than archery was archery in metal on a 30º Celsius day like today in Themyscira. It also gave Jason the chance to observe his wounds in a mirror - nothing that wouldn't heal in max a week, less time if he drank some nectar at dinner tonight.

He probably would drink it mixed with some mead as that was how it was normally served in Themyscira unless in dire situations.

It was fine. His godly side really helped with alcohol tolerance, plus he never had more than a cup a night unless a festival was in swing.

At least he wasn't like Dakota was with Red Kool-Aid. Man, one time he decked five other demigods as they spilled his bottle, it was the first time anyone had seen him truly angry-

He did it again.

Why.

It had been over a year since he plowed through the portal doorway located in the cliff the palace sits on, over a year since he chose this world over Elysium or rebirth, over a year since Caligula drove a spear through his back.

He was doing so well.

Why now.

Why now when he was getting a team, making friends who weren't immortal warrior woman who saw him as a little brother, saving the world of man from itself, why now was he remembering his old world like he still lived there.

He had been doing so well.

Maybe it was because going through Cadmus Laboratory and messing it up, in a team that didn't yet feel cohesive yet were in life and death situations, reminded him of the seven back at the beginning of their quest. Back when Leo blew up New Rome, when they argued over whether they could trust Nico (and man, Jason feels bad for arguing against rescuing his favorite cousin), when there was obviously a divide between Percy, Hazel, and Frank, and Leo, himself, and Piper, with Annabeth choosing Percy over anything.

Back when he thought he was meant to be a leader.

It was still after he lost his spear.

His spear.

Spear.

His eyes focused on his new spear, the most overpowered and indestructible spear Amazonian blacksmiths could make because 'you're going to be throwing that thing in battle against the evils of the world, it can't snap on you'. A spear he owned, a spear that was similar to the one that left giant scars on his spine that are still there, the only way you'd know he showed up to Themyscira covered in blood with a crudely repaired spine (thanks Hecate for that one-not just bringing his dead body to a different world) and a few hours left to save him.

Oh gods what if he had to take of his shirt in front of the team and Robin (who was the only one he trusted to know enough about demigod biology thanks to Batman's files on Wonder Woman) saw the scars because logically due to where they're situated and how big they are, there's no feasible way for him to have survived them and oh gods he died and Leo died and probably hundreds of demigods died and its all his fault his fault his fault have to be perfect have to be perfect have to be perfect have to be better so they like you and accept you and don't leave you have to be perfect his fault his fault his fault his fault-

"Little brother, breathe."

He blinks and finds himself on the floor with Diana (his older sister like Thalia like Thalia except she isn't leaving) crouched down in front of him, worry painting her face. She smiles gently at him and mimes taking deep breaths, which he tries to follow along to. 

Her smile turns encouraging as he regains control of his limbs and all parts of his brain.

"So-sorry," He stutters out, embarrassment blooming across his face. He's meant to be strong, he's a son of Jupiter for gods' sake, he should be better than this he-

He's broken out of the beginnings of a spiral by Diana flicking him on the forehead and frowning at him, giving him a cup of clear water.

"Jason. Look at me," She chides gently, "You know how us Amazonians are fighters and we all have bodies scarred because accidents do happen and sometimes your opponent is simply better than you?"

Jason nods simply as he sips his water, not getting her point.

"However not all of a warrior's scars are physical. Many have mental ones too. You know how many of the original Amazonian woman, my mother included, are wary of all men due to Heracles' and his men's rampage on them thousands of years ago."

"I met him, he wasn't very nice," Jason murmurs. Diana gives a soft laugh, obviously attempting not to spoke him.

"Yes, and do you see them as weaker because they are wary of all men from this encounter?" She asks. Jason looks bewildered.

"No, why would I?"

"Then why do you see yourself as weaker?" She challenged him. He shrank in on himself.

"It's different," he defended, desperately trying to grasp at imaginary straws of an argument but finding none.

"How?"  She asked, genuine anger coating her voice. She paused, took a deep breath, and said

"Jason. You lost everything when you came to us. Every ounce of familiarity was ripped from your life. And even before then, you were not living an easy life lacking of challenges. Any lesser would crumble under both your physical and mental scars. You didn't. But just because they twinge somedays, just because the canvas of your body isn't perfect doesn't mean that you are any weaker or any less. Scars show past challenges, and to overcome a challenge is to become stronger and greater still."

Jason stared at her, trying to pick up lies in her words. He found none.

The two sat there in silence for a couple minutes, before Diana smiled and said

"Now come little brother. We can eat a snack on the way to the archery field. Get on your sandals and we'll show the two new sisters the right and wrong way to arch."

She stood up and offered him a hand, that he gladly grabbed as he searched his room for his sandals and arm protector, firmly ignoring his spear in the corner.

Diana not so subtly kicked it out of view, that Jason was infinitely more grateful for than he would ever tell her.

Finding and pulling on his sandals, Jason finally acknowledged her earlier statement by pointing out her grammar error.

"I don't think archery has a verb," He said, as he finally found his arm protector and crossed the room to the door where she stood, "If it has anything, it has the verb shoot but to arch is a different thing."

Diana looked annoyed by this statement.

"That makes no sense," She ranted as they began walking down hallways to the nearest door, "How has the world of man created such an ineffective language and made it so widespread."

"Colonialism," Jason replied dryly, receiving a snort in response from Diana.

The two made light chatter as they walked through the city to the archery range situated on the other side of the island, only briefly stopping to grab some fruits off a tree in a square, and to observe a gladiatorial fight happening in an arena lower down the hill.

Eventually, though, they left the bustling city and entered the rolling fields and farms that mark the north side of the island, walking down a stone path towards the archery range.

As they approach, they're spotted by Ainippe, one of the original Amazons and a strict weapons teacher, teaching the new twins from Denmark how to shoot. She grins.

"My princess! My brother! Come to defend your titles!"

The two run over as one of the twins, Ida, looks at them curiously. Diana grins and sticks out her hand. Ida's eyes go wide.

"You're... Wonder Woman?" She says, a shocked expression on her face as she shakes her hand.

"Indeed," Diana replies, a hint of amusement dancing in her eyes, "But call me Diana. This is my brother and protege Jason."

"I take it he's the token male of the Amazons," Abelone, Ida's twin sister, asks sarcastically, as she appears beside her sister.

Her sister glares at her, embarrassed.

'Abelone! That's rude!" She scolds before turning back to Jason and Diana apologetically "I am so sorry for Abelone's behavior, I swear she is normally less obtuse than this but goodness knows that she loves antagonizing people-"

She's cut off by Diana and Jason laughing. Jason stops to catch his breath, before grinning at her.

"Oh no don't worry about it please it's fine, it's just-" He pauses again and wheezes, before continuing, "Most people wait at least a couple weeks before they start insulting people but you didn't even introduce yourself, you just attacked."

"True spirit of an Amazon right there," Diana agreed, "And what you said is true, he is the token male of us here on Themyscira. I believe our sisters in Bana-Mighdall might be more lenient, but I have not visited in a few too many years."

"He's also the token bad archer of Themyscira and I expect neither of you to change his individuality," Ainippe drawled, reminding everyone of her existence, "No matter how much I have attempted to train it out of him."

"It's a gift," Jason joked. It's true, really. New Rome was never big on archery, with many viewing it as cowardly to attack from long distance with no short distance way to defend yourself. Because of this, Jason has what Ainippe once suggested was a sort of mental block against archery, as he subconsciously sees it as non-worthwhile.

Or he could just be naturally untalented, you never know.

The five of them soon got started on archery practice, where they remained until Apollo had maybe an hour and a half left in the sky, when they then called it a day.

Jason has defended his title well.

...

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 5th, 20:13 CEST

Day 1

The banquet hall was packed with Amazons and food, as it always was at deipnon (the evening meal). All other meals were eaten in the privacy of one's home, or at what activity you were at, but deipnon was held in the giant banquet hall that was carved into the mountain. Tables were loaded with eggs, fish, legumes, olives cheese, bread, figs, and salads filled with rocket, asparagus, cabbage, carrots, and cucumbers. Meats of animals such as hares, deer, or goat, in varying stages of cured-ness also lined the tables, along with pitchers of mead mixed with nectar and water pitchers too.

Four giant braziers stood, filled with fire, in each corner of the room as well as magical lighting on the ceiling, keeping the hall well-lit.

Jason maneuvered his way to the palace table, which he knew had a seat reserved for him, with a plate loaded with food. With only a brief stop for ariston, the last time he had had a full meal had been over 24 hours ago and since then, his life had been threatened multiple times ; he needed to eat.

Dropping his food on the table and pouring himself a cup of nectar-mead, Jason began to engage in conversation with the women round him. The chatter was light, mainly about new weapons they had commissioned, or grilling Jason on the changes in the world of man since they had last been there.

Eventually though, Queen Hippolyta spoke directly to Jason.

"My brother, my son, Diana has informed me that you broke into a building hailing from Cadmus with other young warriors. Would you like to indulge us with the tale?" She asked, a smile gracing her lips that had been deemed the 'Jason smile' by many of the Amazons.

The smile could be fond, amused, annoyed, sympathetic, or any other emotion, but it was only ever directed to Jason.

He laughed.

"Of course my queen. Well you see it all began in the Hall of Justice..."

He continues for the rest of the meal.

...

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 5th, 22:38 CEST

Day 1

Jason is trying to resist the urge to fall asleep on the roof under the sky.

He's doing a bad job.

Hours of adrenaline are crashing and his body is yelling at him for the almost 36 hours straight of no sleep. He was going to go to bed directly after dinner, but he has a ritual and he wasn't about to stop it.

The sky was pitch black and covered in constellations, stories of the past written in the sky.

It would be wrong for Jason to not look at them.

They reminded him of long nightshifts on the Argo II, with someone else just lying there under the sky, unless you were battling for your life. The stories that coated the stars like tar, the ones that no photo or painting could ever replicate.

How could he sleep on Themyscira without looking at them, without reliving every story he knows of for the stars long lives. How?

Reaching his hand up and tracing the lines of the Huntress, Jason thinks about staying here. Not in this world or on Themyscira, no. Just on this roof in the night, away from everything that could worry him. 

Away from anything that could kill him.

Breathing in deeply, he sits up slightly and turns to look at the city, few glowing lights from houses implying others still awake.

He wonders what they're doing.

Sighing, he flops back down again and closes his eyes. Sleeping up here can't be that bad, can it?

It's not like he'll freeze. It's 25º degrees ; the only thing keeping him from melting is the lightness of his chiton and the cool breeze that blows lazily through.

He makes a sleepy thank you to Zephyrus.

Maybe he will sleep up here. There's no one to stop him, no one who would stop him.

Plus, he's always felt more at home in the open air.

Maybe he will, just this once.

Maybe he will.

...

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 6th, 06:24 CEST

Day 2

He's awoken by Diana, roughly twenty minutes after Apollo has risen.

He's a bit stiff.

She grins at him.

"Need some fresh air?" She asks, as she lowers herself down next to him. Jason stretches and yawns.

"Yeah. I fell asleep up here looking at the stars," He responds.

They sit there for a while, watching Themyscira come alive.

At about 6:30, a bell rings signaling time for acratisma. They both get up and stretch.

"Come on," Diana says, climbing off the roof, "We have a couple minutes to freshen up before we have to meet mother for acratisma in her quarters."

Jason smiled blearily and followed her down.

...

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 6th, 10:53 CEST

Day 2

Training on horses reminding Jason of Tempest, he mused as he rounded a corner and began approaching a jump. New Rome had ingrained into him how to ride a horse into battle, or how to ride a similar creature, but it was a skill he had never really thought he would need to use.

Then, lo and behold, amnesia and Tempest, the great electrical socket, and suddenly he was grateful for all the training.

Was it some hidden demigod instinct, Jason wondered as he flew his horse Epona over a hurdle, to be naturally talented with horse-like beings. Afterall, Percy and his Pegasus Blackjack were an item, Hazel and Arion were prophesized to be together, and most demigods he knows has ridden a horse or something like it at least once. 

Coming to an end of the route, Jason swung off Epona and patted her affectionately. His riding partner, Lenah, grinned at him from her place on a retaining wall.

"You have gotten better since I last saw you," She teases, tossing him a carrot, "Has the world of man been teaching you some tricks?"

He offers the carrot to Epona, who gobbles it up greedily.

"Nothing that I hadn't already known," He responds, "All courtesy of you of course." He mimes a bow.

She laughs and throws a pebble at him, jumping down and striding up.

"Let's see how you do in horse to horse combat. I'll go grab Adelheid." She disappeared to the stables.

Lenah was a more modern Amazonian, an aboriginal women from Tasmania who had found her way over in 1828, after she was shot and almost fatally wounded, falling in the Tamar river and being swept eventually to Themyscira. She had since then become the Themysciran horse master and a master hunter, blending her roots with her new life in a seamless way Jason admired.

She was also one of the most reliable and lovely people Jason had ever met, and he had sworn to her that if he ever found his way to Tasmania in 1828, he would kill her would be killers.

She had smiled and said it wouldn't have helped in the long run of her people.

Jason knew that but he still wanted to do it.

He's shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of Lenah returning with Adelheid, and he stands up to get ready to fight her.

Let's see whether that demigod thing was true or not.

...

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 6th, 22:01 CEST

Day 2

It's a couple hours past deipnon, and Jason's in the clouds.

No seriously.

He's in the clouds.

Maybe it shouldn't help him think, but unlike Thalia, he has always loved heights.

They always offered a reprieve from his life, from being perfect.

But he knows not to fall asleep in the sky, so he heads back down, in through his window, and lies down on his bed.

He just lies there.

(Just like he lay on the ground dead, with a spear in his back and blank, unseeing eyes, Caligula snarling over him)

(Just like he lay as a child, two years old and waiting for his mother to come back, she must come back, she must, shouldn't she?)

(Just like he lay after training at four, with everyone's judging eyes on him)

(Just like he lay on the grass with The Seven and Nico and Reyna, all covered in blood and dirt, reveling in the joys of being alive)

(Just like he lay in his bed on the Argo II, mind filled with worries that he wasn't good enough or needed)

(Just like he lay in the barracks at Camp Jupiter, worrying about war games and how to breach the wall)

(Just like he lay in the Praetor's quarters, skin itchy with phantom eyes as people looked at him)

(He was meant to like attention, Gods, what was wrong with him)

(Just like he lay in Cabin 1, never quite fitting in)

(Never fitting in)

(Something was wrong with him something was wrong with him something was wrong with him something was wrong with him something-)

Jason awoke with a gasp.

...

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 7th, 04:33 CEST

Day 3

Diana was waiting for Jason outside his room when he stumbled out, dressed for the day and filled of a residual nightmare panic. He almost experienced cardiac arrest upon hitting her.

"Gods Di, you trying to send me to Hades' realm?" He tried for a joke but it feel flat at the clear panic in his voice.

Diana pulled him into a hug.

"How about we skip acratisma today and begin mental strengthening now?" She suggests, feeling him sink into her arms.

"Ok," He agreed, voice small, "How did you know I would be up anyway?" 

"I checked in on you at 11 last night and noticed you appeared to be sleeping fitfully. You sleep for about six hours when you have nightmares so I knew you'd be up early today."

The two of them set off.

...

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 7th, 05:59 CEST

Apollo was just beginning to rise when Diana and Jason collapsed at the top of Mt Laurel, dropping their 200kg sacks to the ground next to them and panting heavily.

"How... is that... a mental... strengthening... exercise," Jason wheezes out, grabbing a water bottle they had thought to bring and chugging the water.

"The... arm position is... physically straining... along... with the heavy... sacks... mental... strength to keep... arms up," She panted in a reply, accepting the water bottle he offered her thankfully.

The two sat like that, watching Apollo rise for a long time, eventually grabbing the food they brought and eating acratisma up there. Diana cleared her throat.

"You feel better?" She asked. Jason sighed.

"Yeah, just... memories, you know?" She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I do know little brother, but remember what I said, alright? Scars are proof of strength, not of weakness." Jason looked up and smiled at her.

"I'll try to remember." He stood up and stretched. "Now come on, what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Diana followed him in standing.

"Reading in the library. Knowledge is an important aspect of training." The two of them grabbed their sacks and slung them over their shoulders.

"Race you down?" Jason suggested, a competitive grin on his face.

"No cheating," Diana responded, and the two took of running and laughing down the mountain.

...

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea,

July 7th, 21:26 CEST

Jason's finishing his book (written in Ancient Greek) on the roof beneath the stars when he feels a person next to him, turning to find Queen Hippolyta.

"My queen," he greets, surprise covering his features, "What brings you to this fine roof?"

"You do Jason, you do," She replies, sitting down next to him.

They sit in silence for a while, before Queen Hippolyta says

"Diana has received a transmission from The Batman to meet at Mount Justice at 8am EDT tomorrow. She asked me to tell you to be ready by 12 to leave."

Jason hums in affirmation.

"Why didn't she tell me herself?" He asks. Hippolyta looks a bit uncomfortable for a second before answering.

"She knew I was intending to speak to you about something else, and she did not want to overwhelm you."

"You wish to speak to me?" Jason questions, brow creasing before continuing, "What do you wish to speak about?"

She takes a deep breath.

"Jason," She begins, her voice soft and gentle in a way that makes Jason whip his head around to her, "I... I know that my beliefs in the good of men are potentially harmful to you and I cannot imagine how it must feel to be the only man on an island that is famous for it's dislike of men but... you are different. I see you as my son and I know our sisters see you as their brother, you... you are not like the men that we have come to associate that word with. I want you to know that... that you belong here with us. It does not matter what world you hail from, you are an Amazonian through and through, and no matter how many lives you save, we will always love you. I will always love you, my son."

A tear slides down Jason's face, mirroring the ones that have slid down Hippolyta's.

"No-...," He begins, unsure-ity painted across his face, "No one's ever told me that I belong before, " He whispers, and Hippolyta encases him in a hug, full of warmth and motherly affection.

"Then they are stupid," She declares, voice steady as Jason buries his face in her shoulder, "They are stupid for not accepting you for being so brilliant, so kind, and so determined, my son."

Jason goes to say something, maybe to defend his friends, but his voice fails him and he sinks deeper into her arms and weeps.

Maybe he can defend them later.

For now, he'll just melt under the stars in Queen Hippo- no, in his mother's arms.

Chapter Text

Before

"I’m gonna call it the Argo II. And guys, I’ll need your help.”

“The Argo II.” Piper smiled. “After Jason’s ship.”

Jason looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded.

Now

Mount Justice,

July 8th, 08:04 EDT

Green Lantern and Captain Atom are flying large pieces of equipment around the cave they are standing in when Wonder Woman and Storm enter, joining Batman, Robin, Black Canary, Red Tornado, Aquaman, Aqualad, Superboy, Kid Flash and Flash at the center of the cave.

"How was Themyscira?" Aqualad asks, quietly.

"As wonderful as ever," Storm replies. Batman cleared his throat.

"This cave was the original Secret Sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman tells the proteges, "We're calling it into service again. Since you four are determined to stay together and fight the good fight..."

He walks away slightly to where Black Canary and Red Tornado stand.

"...you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training," He gestures at each hero in turn, "I will deploy you on missions."

"Real missions?" Robin questions.

"Yes, but covert."

Flash pipes up.

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman adds.

"Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly," Wonder Woman states.

"The six of you will be that team," Batman finishes.

"Cool," Robin says, before doing basic maths, "Wait. Six?"

Batman looks over their shoulders as Martian Manhunter and a green skinned, red haired girl step out from in the shadows. The proteges turn.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman introduces.

She raises her hand shyly.

"Hi."

"Liking this gig more every minute," KF whispers to Robin before clearing his throat and stepping forward to Miss Martian, "Welcome aboard. I'm Kid Flash."

He gestures with his finger at Robin and Storm.

"That's Robin and Storm." He gestures at Aqualad, "Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names," He finishes.

"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian says sincerely.

Storm, Aqualad, and Robin all walk over and engage in light chatter with Miss Martian and Kid Flash. Superboy stood behind awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Robin noticed this.

"Hey, Superboy. Come meet Miss M," He called out, prompting Superboy to walk over and join the others. Miss Martian noticed his uncertainty and changed her shirt to match the black and red of his.

"I like your T-shirt," She said, unsure if her attempt to make him feel more comfortable was working.

It seems to work as Superboy gives a small smile. Robin inclines his head towards Aqualad.

"Today is the day," Aqualad says proudly.

...

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L̵̢̢̢̡̞͈̰̹̖̣͖͎̻̝̞̩̞̩͇̳̖̀̈̋̽͒̀͒̓̇̽̑̂͝ǫ̸̲̱̰̺̗̬̖̜̮̺͔̳̹̲̳̀͜ͅͅc̵̢̡̡̪͇̰̘̼̺͖̰͎̍̏́͊̀́̍̚͘͜ą̵͉̻̻͔̭̰̗̳̝̘̝̫̦͑͊́̾̌̌̌͊̕͝t̷̪͇̝͚̽̽̈́̈́ī̷̹̝̯̟̳̲͚̭̬̫̪̫̮̭̝̗͕̪̈́́̉̈́̀̎̃̋̏̀̆͊̀͑̊̈̚͘͜o̷̡̘͓̱̯̝͎͓̺͎̠̺̩͕̯̠̐̉͊̓̀̅͒̉̈̂̓̄̾̔̂̊̅̓͐̕n̵͈͇͔͍̜͎̈́̉͆̓͑͛̉̔̿̈́́̃̽͘͘̕͜ ̸̝͇̯̹̹̣̗͙̗̹̪̪͋͊̓͋̅̈́͐͐͜Ṷ̸̡̦̰̲̲̤̤̘̗̼̀̈̀̎́̒́͋̏̌̓̈́̒̿̂͘̕͜n̸̜̥̙̩͚̭͛͋̃̈́̈́̑̊̽͆̊̽́̚͜ḱ̴͓̯͈͓̱͕̹̀̉̚ǹ̷̨̡̳̺͖͚̩͉͕̦̹̟͂̀̓͐̓̈̓̀̄̆̄͐͛͐̔͘͠ͅǫ̸̨̨̩͈̘͓̤̰̼̥̼͓͚̟̟̘̥̤̳̆̎̍̏͑͘͝w̶͇̹̞͎͇̙̹̪̅̏͜͝͝ͅn̷͖͍͖̳̼̮͇̯̩̻̝͚̤̟͈̠̬̲̼̔̍͂͘͜

F̴̯͍̯̗̫̖̗̎̓̀̔̃̕i̷̢̺̝̻͉̭̥̪̯̫̮̟̲̇l̷̨̗̝̫̓̃͑̈̌͘͜ë̴̡̨̱͚͎̰̦̱͖̜́̀̾͋̀̑͑͌̎̃͌̓̈́͜ ̸̢̛̗̙̙͚̬͖̳͔̩̣͕̝́̈́͂̈̇͆̂̉͆͌̈́̀̀̆́͝C̷̗̤̽̾͑̑̏̏̈̐̂͝ọ̴̥͓̩̣̹̣̞͈̒͛̈́̔͋́͑̀̂͂̆̈́͘̚̕r̵̢̡̧̢̼̼̰̗͚̙̞̘̪̩̪͍͒̔̇̄̑̎͐͊͆̄͋̓̈́͒ͅr̷̢͖̬͖̫͓̣̦͍̖̝͇̦͕͙͖̥͌̿͛͌̉̈̄̾̐̈́͝u̶̧̲͓̘̗̗͓̦̗̞͎̖̥̭̾̂̑͜͜ͅp̶̨̛̛̬̼̦͉̠̩͈͌̽̈̎͑̈̿̉͌̄̉̕͝͝t̸̛̘̹͓̹͖̯͉̾̂̂͑̄̆e̸̡̨̛̹͖̲͚̟̳̋̉̅́̌̑͌̅̂̍͗͋͊͘̚d̶̨̘̮̯̘̖̳̙̞̳͈̰̤̜̤̭̅͜

"̶̡̧̥̯̤̦̣̟͒̍̆͗́̎̑̀̑̈́̂̚͠ͅW̷̧̟̜̦̫̱͎̮̖̝̫̺̪͔̑́̋͌̌͑̎̎̑͂͑͊̆̾̕͘̚͝ȩ̸̘̤̤̙̠̥̝̠̤̳͙̪̜͆̑̑̒̆̓̊̉̾̽͐̓́͛̐̑́̈́̐ͅļ̷̤̦̫̲̦̝̞͔̥͖̥͉͉̲̺̙̊̈́̿͌́̽̏̾̏̍̾͛̒̐̐͋̈́̒͗̉̿͑̊̓͘͘͝͠ͅl̵̡̢̢̛̛̛̛̪͓̮̠̱͈̲͇̝̺̺͉̖͇̤̣̤̤̝̮̠̣̱̍̂͌͑͆̂̇̅̑͑̈́̀̊̄̄̈͠ͅ ̶͇̖̩̬̹̹̰̰̙͖͒̉̓̋̑̈́̿͝͝͠t̸͔̤͌̓͝ḩ̴̧̧̺͎͎̺̖͕͔͎̳͙͈̞̻͎̣͙̪̰̻̠̜̼̩̞̜̙̈́̆͗̈́̓̽̓́̔̐͆́͜͠a̵̯͍͔̰̮̖̺̠̓͛̍͗͋̃̌͒̋͗̇̀͗̅̒̾̇̈́͝ͅt̶̨̡͚̭̫̮̙̝̰̱̳̫̱̰̦̋̓̑͒̽̆̏̈̆͛̽͑̎ ̵̧͔̻̘͔̹͖̦̾̀͆̑̇͋̇̈́͑͐̒͂̇̈́͗̓̍̌́͆̉͒͋̈̌̃̚͝͝͝w̴̢͎̟͇͓͖̪͙̯̫̫͈̯̣̝͗̂̀͜ͅǫ̸̢̢͈̤̞̻̮̙͖̜͉̖̯̬̲͈̭̜͙̰͙͖̺̞̼͕̩̃͋̌n̵̡̼̤̦̼͕̫͕̥̘͂̂̿̚͜'̶͕̠̞͕͈̣̱̏͒̓͌́̃͛͛̂̿̈́̓͘t̸̡̡̻̪̻̟̙̻͍̼͚̯͉̯͉̼̦̗͉̠̠̭͚̻̗̦̼̺̺́̒͛́͂̉̍̐͌̌̇̃̄̏͝ͅ ̶̯͕͓̻͍͓̭͉͍̖̝̺̼̤̩̲͕̞̣͙̹̳͎́͌̓̅̍̔́̚͜d̶̨̢̨̢̻̳̱̖̣̘͉̟͎̬͎̱͈̞̥͂̓͋͑̇͌̇͐̄̽͊̔͑̍͊́̅́͑̎̔̐͌͗͛̈́̕͘͜͝ơ̴̡̢̟̹̻̱͍̤̦͚͉͖͍̲̯̦͓͍̟̟̭͖̭̤̮̪̩̮̖̟̍̀̍̀̿́͊̽̈́̒̊̒̾̚͘͘͘ͅͅ,̵͈̙̭̖͉͍͛͗̎̀͌̓̅̑̎͊͊̇́̿́̑̎̄̾̾̚͝͝ͅ ̵̠̝̖͕̇̎̋̓̂́̔͑͊̓͒̿͝w̴̧̢̯̝̦͍̰͈̖̞̺͉͈͚̥̮̪̬͚̺̙̝̌̊͒́̊̈́̿̐̈̈́́̽̇̚͘͠i̷̧̧͕̹̙̫̘̞͇̖͓͓̠̺͈̰̜͎͕͇̎͋͐̂̔́̔̍͋̃̈́̀̀̉̄͒̆̈́͊̈́͘̕͜͝ͅl̶̠͙̙̠͈̟̺̮̤̟̪̹̠͖̪̊̿̾̀̏̎̔̆̾̾̈̒̄͑͂͐͑́̈́̎̅͛́̑͊͒̑͝͝͝ļ̴͙̜̯̫̯͈̲́̍̋̈͐̂̋̽̏̍̀͒̽͂̔̐͌͒̕̕͝ ̵̨̡̢͖̖̭̻̞͎̜̜̳̳̱̖̲̣̬̰̗̩̜̃̀͛̍̍̃͆̂̈̒̅͗̊̿̏̊̈́͆̄̉̎̎̒̄̋̓̕̕͝ͅí̸̢̥͋͋̃̋̓͛̈̈́̈́͝ͅt̵̛̬̩͕̥̤̗̖̮̠̱̺̓̀͗̊̅̇̌͋̓̓͑̏̔̀̾̋͛́̈́̌̆͘?̶̡̢̙̝͖̤̘̳͕͖̳̌̇̔̐̕͜ͅ"̸̨̱̺̩̪̞̝̅̈́̑̒̆

M̶̲͙̣̀͒̓̃̓̽̓́̋̔̐́̅̕͘̚͝ḁ̵̢̢̫͇̯̗̭̥̄̽̓͑̑͊͆͠n̶̤̤̼͕̫͖̯͛̍̽͝ư̸̧̨̨̛̭͔̥͍̩̘̻͎̞̳̣̫̯̠̇̽̇͊́̿a̴̢̧̧̛͍̪͙̟̩͙͙͙̝̭͌̐̍̔̄̋͝͝ͅḽ̷̢̼͔͓̱̻̼͎̝̞̹͔̺̱̄̆͗̏͘͜ͅ ̵̞̱̜̰̺̠͔͍̘̻̂͊̀̊́̎͂̈̊̈͘͠R̶͉͚̘͚̝̣͑e̸̗͓͈̥̘̺͖̟̤̘̫̰̍͊̅̍̃̓̀̿̓̔͝ṣ̷̡̢͙͓̫̠̜͓̝̘̣̯̟̣͕̂́̊̿͛͌͌͒̀̐e̴̡̮̹̖̲̦̱̠̿͠t̵̢̛͍̰̼̥̩̠̆̄̾͆͌̑̀͝

G̵U̸A̵R̵D̸I̵A̶N̴:̷ ̴C̵a̴d̷m̵u̵s̷ ̷c̸h̷a̷n̷g̵e̸s̵ ̵t̷o̸d̸a̷y̴.̶ ̷W̶i̸t̴h̸ ̸D̴e̵s̴m̴o̶n̵d̷ ̴o̴u̴t̷ ̷o̷f̸ ̵t̶h̵e̶ ̷p̴i̵c̶t̶u̶r̴e̴,̸ ̸t̸h̴e̶ ̴B̸o̵a̶r̶d̷'̵s̶ ̴p̷l̸a̶c̴e̵d̷ ̵m̷e̶ ̸i̸n̶ ̶c̴h̴a̸r̸g̶e̸.̵ ̶D̷r̵.̴ ̴S̷p̸e̴n̶c̸e̸,̵ ̵y̷o̸u̵'̶r̷e̶ ̵A̷c̴t̶i̵n̶g̴ ̸C̷h̷i̸e̶f̸ ̸S̶c̴i̸e̸n̵t̶i̴s̸t̷.̸ ̷N̷o̵ ̷m̴o̸r̴e̵ ̶G̴-̸G̸n̸o̶m̷e̷s̴ ̸s̵u̴p̷p̶r̸e̷s̴s̶i̸n̵g̷ ̶o̵u̵r̷ ̶w̸i̵l̴l̵s̷.̶ ̸N̴o̸ ̷m̸o̴r̴e̴ ̶s̷e̴c̷r̸e̷t̴ ̶b̵r̴e̵e̵d̶i̸n̴g̶ ̵p̸r̴o̷j̴e̴c̵t̸s̷.̷ ̴T̴h̷i̸s̵ ̴i̴s̵ ̵a̴ ̷k̷i̸n̸d̸e̷r̸,̶ ̴g̵e̷n̴t̶l̸e̶r̶ ̵C̷a̷d̸m̴u̴s̴.̴
̴
̶D̸U̴B̶B̷I̵L̶E̵X̸:̶ ̵T̴h̵e̴n̷ ̵I̷ ̴w̵i̴l̵l̸,̶ ̵o̸f̵ ̸c̴o̷u̴r̸s̸e̵,̸ ̵h̸e̴l̶p̷ ̵i̷n̸ ̸a̷n̶y̴ ̶w̵a̵y̸ ̸I̵ ̴c̴a̷n̶,̷ ̵b̵r̶o̴t̸h̴e̷r̶.̴

C̶a̸n̴ ̸t̵h̴e̵ ̵L̴i̶g̴h̷t̶ ̴a̶f̷f̷o̴r̶d̷ ̴t̶o̸ ̴l̵e̸a̶v̸e̴ ̵G̶u̸a̸r̷d̴i̶a̵n̸ ̸i̸n̵ ̸c̷h̴a̸r̴g̵e̵ ̷w̶i̵t̴h̸o̸u̵t̸ ̶t̶h̷e̶ ̵G̸-̶G̸n̷o̸m̷e̵s̷?̸
̵
̷W̴e̷ ̶h̷a̴v̷e̶ ̶s̵u̴b̷t̷l̵e̵r̷ ̸m̸e̶a̵n̵s̴ ̵o̵f̴ ̴c̵o̶n̴t̶r̴o̸l̵.̸
̷
̴W̸h̸a̴t̶ ̶c̷o̴n̶c̴e̴r̸n̸s̸ ̵m̶e̷ ̵i̷s̵ ̴t̴h̶e̴ ̵c̵h̸i̶l̷d̶r̶e̶n̶.̶
̷
̷W̴e̴ ̶n̶o̴w̶ ̵k̴n̷o̸w̸ ̶t̸h̴e̴ ̵L̸e̷a̴g̷u̶e̵ ̷i̴s̵ ̴w̵i̴l̴l̷i̵n̷g̴ ̴t̷o̷ ̵e̵m̸p̵l̴o̶y̸ ̵y̴o̴u̶n̴g̵ ̸h̵e̷r̶o̵e̸s̶ ̷t̶o̴ ̶d̸o̷ ̵t̵h̵e̵i̷r̷ ̴d̶i̵r̷t̸y̴ ̴w̵o̸r̵k̸.̶
̵
̷T̶h̴a̵t̸'̴s̶ ̴a̶ ̴d̶a̸r̷k̴ ̵t̴w̷i̵s̷t̵.̶
̶
̷Y̶e̴s̷,̷ ̷b̵u̴t̵ ̶o̵n̴e̷ ̵t̸h̶a̷t̴ ̷c̶a̸n̶ ̷b̴e̸ ̸p̴l̷a̸y̸e̶d̷ ̴t̷o̶ ̴o̶u̸r̷ ̴a̵d̷v̴a̸n̵t̷a̶g̴e̴.̴
̷
̴E̸v̵e̵n̷ ̵t̷h̸e̸ ̸t̶e̵m̸p̸o̶r̶a̶r̸y̵ ̴l̵o̶s̸s̴ ̶o̷f̶ ̶t̸h̶e̴ ̶w̵e̸a̸p̶o̵n̴ ̶m̷a̷y̵ ̵p̴r̴o̵v̴e̶ ̵u̸s̸e̴f̶u̴l̵.̶
̴
̶E̵v̴e̶n̷t̸u̴a̶l̵l̶y̵,̸ ̸e̷v̵e̷r̸y̵o̸n̸e̷ ̸s̴e̸e̶s̷ ̶t̸h̶e̷ ̷L̸i̸g̸h̶t̶.̴

Ē̷̟̦̮̼̭̯͝v̸̟̎̉̒̀͐̌͂͌͠͠ḛ̴̣̦͚͓̐̑̆̅͗͂̇͘n̴̢̤͈͓͇̳̺͉͖̾́͘ͅt̸̹̻̔̍̀̾́̕͝͝u̸̮̪̺͑̉͌̇͒̋a̸̡̛̖̫̝̗̱̯͈̘̅̐̀́͌ͅl̵̪̗̗̦̏ḽ̵͎͈̱̜̻̫̝̖́́͑͆̇̍͊̄͘̕ỳ̷̢̘̞̤͚̝͖͔̈̕̕͝,̴͚̍̂̋̽̑͌̎ ̵̨̬̪̭͚̮͈̘͙̚ͅę̶̧̨̟̘̣̭̹̀̌́́v̴͇͖̥̦̳̂ë̷̤̫̼̼̲́̔̍̇̋͑͠r̸̮̱̞͖͖̬̐͌͐͗̉̍y̶̛̮̩̩̠̐̾͊̽̿͊͒̕͜o̸̦̯̭̰̫̬͍͓̘̻̹͋n̸̡̻͔̭̟̳̂͐͂͘̕͜e̷̪̤̞͉̙̞͑͋̔́̽̐̏̏ ̴̨̛̜̩͕̬̙̼̯̏͐̓̽͜͝s̷̢̛̺̦̱͕̤̆̌̌͗͑̈̑̕͜͠ẽ̴͉͖̩̗͎̝͈͔́ȩ̷͈͔̱̈́̔̊͋͌̕͝s̷̛̪̰̾̆͂̓̋̾̇͘ ̴̮͚̼̭͙͉̹̭̪͎̫͑̂͂̿͂̀̕̕͝t̷͇͙͍̣̮͔͓̱̤̩̿͗̃̎̋h̷̛͖̼̥͓͊͋̿̃͒̑̀̽̕e̸̡̢̲͙̞̬̖͖͎͙͌̇̄̑̚̚ ̶̦͎̜̜͋̎̐͒̈́̐̓̀́͋͝l̵̨͇͍̰̥̥͕̠̀̍̃͋͜ͅi̵̖͖̲͙͋͊͂̈̆̅̂̇͝͠g̵̡̩̦̙̻͉̬̱͈͆̏̊̓́̾̂̊̒h̵̞͒̿̀͐́̏̕̚ț̷̡̡̜͕̥̖̤̤̝̀̓̾.̸̼͈̾͗̏͜͝

Ḿ̵̺͖â̸̳̼̹̺̝̹̝̞̺̫̬͔͇̖̪̓̿n̵̟͚̂̋͋͗̂̉́̂̇͗̓̚͝u̴̳̜̺̤̹̼̱̅͂̍̀͊͠ͅa̵̧͚̮̬͉͆̍̾͑̂̄̋̐l̶̡̢̢̡͎̙̲͚͓͍̳͙̟͇̩̠̣̑̓̍͋̏̈́̓̔̕͜ ̷̡̮͔̗̠͙͗̀͗ͅR̸̨̼͍̗̠̜̲͚̱̬̻̼͎͔̗͓̰̍͌͑̊̽̌̇͒̋͐́̇͌̕͝ȩ̶̖̖̞͖̟͍͓̼͍̳̭̲̙͋͒͗͑͛̿̊ș̸̢̟̳̥͓̲̤̜̀͒͗̅̏̔̊̆͆̂͑̐͠͠ḛ̸̛̑̔̈́͐̊̒̈̐̑̌̄̕͠͝͝t̷̨̹̗̜̹̟̟̗̳̣͎̠͙͐̃̈́͒͜

R̷̢̤̠̦̩̻̪̻̣̱̳͓̄̉ͅͅͅḛ̸̻̲͈͚̰͖̦̞͔̬̎̍́͑̒͋̌s̵̩̮̜̹͍̫̠̹̎̑̈́̐̔̅̌̈͆͂̆̔̀͊͠ë̴̡̛̩̓͌̿̀̀͛͛͌̀̀͘̕̕̚ţ̴͉͚͖̞͉̮̖̽̎̂̀̒ͅẗ̷̡̯͚͋͛͊̒́̊͌͘ḯ̵̺͕͖̾͂ñ̶͙̯͒̂͆̎̋̆̃͒̈͗͐̃͝͝ģ̴͈͍̑̔̅̏̉̾̆̈́̈̈́̈́͝͝ ̵̧̡̨͔̘̗̺̹̘̜̥̙͈͆̽̀͐́̌̕i̷̳̻̩̹̹̰̟͓͍͍̻͉̥͋̂͂͊̎̋̐́͜͠͠n̴̩͙̰͉̱̥̜̻̩͌̅̀̔̍͋͗͘͝ ̸̡̪̦͈͉̦̥̝̱̠̪̫̱͗3̴̢͓͎̂̃,̸̖͎̣͈̭̭̰̗̘̫̯͕͍̀̅̑̊͌̎̊̾́͋̔̈͝ͅ

2̴̤̒̉̈́̍͘,̵̛̪̠͔͖̞̼͔͖͔̩̣̱̱̀̀́̋̈̇͊̽͝͝

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Reset Succesful.

"Eventually, everyone sees the Light."

Chapter Text

Before

Leo thought: You should’ve seen him when he had a body. But he didn’t say that. It was too painful, remembering the way Festus used to be.

Annabeth tried to hide it, but she still didn’t completely trust the guy.

If it was possible for Leo to feel worse, he did. Annabeth now trusted a Roman demigod she’d known for like, three seconds, more than she trusted Leo.

Now

Star City,

July 17, 23:16 PDT

Two people are unloading a shipping container into a truck on Star City Docks. As they pull out the first container, an arrow lands in between the two of them, bright red and blinking with a light. They share a look underneath their face coverings.

Arrows in Star City aren't good news for a criminal.

A gas releases from the arrow, sending both men stumbling and the container flying, popping open to reveal a high-tech gun.

Said gun slides to the feet of Brick, who picks it up and takes aim at Speedy, who is at the top of a crane.

"You again! I'm starting to get insulted Green Arrow's not messing up my operations personally," He shouts, pressing down on the trigger.

Roy runs and parkours across multiple cranes, just barely managing to stay ahead of the beams coming from the gun. As a beam aims right at him, he draws and arrow and jumps over the light, shooting the arrow into Brick's gun, blowing it and his suit up.

Brick is unharmed but furious.

"Do you know what I pay for a suit in my size?" He shouts, before turning to his goons. "Scorch the earth, boys."

His goons, all holding high tech guns, take aim at Red Arrow.

Before they can though, Kid Flash runs through the back two, knocking them over, and Robin flings disks at the front two's guns, before giving his trademark laugh and flying over, landing behind a shipping container.

Aqualad lands in front of Robin's shipping container, tattoos glowing, and jumps at the two goons still standing, summoning water whips to knock them out.

Brick grabs and picks up a chunk of the concrete, throwing it at Roy running along the shipping containers, who ducks to avoid it but keeps running.

He then stops and fires an explosive arrow at Brick, who has already picked up another chunk of concrete, although it achieves no affect.

Brick then throws the chunk at Speedy, who dodges out of the way, only for Aqualad to land where he was and slice the concrete with his Water-bearers.

Another arrow hits Brick, this one releasing gas that makes the man cough and distracting him.

Meanwhile, up on the shipping containers, Aqualad deactivates his magic.

"The cave is perfect. It has everything the team will need."

Robin lands behind them and continues Aqualad's sentence.

"For covert missions. You know, spy stuff."

Kid Flash runs up the shipping container wall and lands in front of them, finishing the sales pitch.

"Wait till you see Storm, Superboy and Miss Martian. But I saw her first."

Meanwhile, the smoke has cleared, and Brick grabs another concrete chunk, throwing it at the proteges and forcing them to scatter, minus Aqualad who chops it with his Water-bearers.

Speedy dives to the side, drawing two arrows and firing them.

They hit brick with an explosion once, twice, thrice.

Brick seems unharmed and laughs.

"Tell Arrow he shouldn't send boys to do a man's job."

Roy draws an arrow.

Brick stands tall, his arms wide and taunts him.

"Go ahead."

The arrow fires and hits Brick right in the chest, where it releases a red growing foam, causing Brick to panic as it encases him, forming a large mound.

Kid Flash skids in front of Red Arrow.

"High-density polyurethane foam. Nice."

Roy turns around and walks to the exit, that Aqualad and Robin are flanking.

"So, Speedy, you in?" Robin asks from where he leans against a shipping container wall.

Red Arrow stops his exit to turn and face Robin.

"Pass," He says, "I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse hang-out with the other kids. Your Junior Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy and in your place."

He continues exiting, ignoring the shocked faces of the three young heroes behind him.

"I don't want any part of it."

The three share a look of disbelief and worry that what he says is true.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

July 18th, 11:16 EDT

Recognized:

Robin, B-01

Kid Flash, B-03

The two young heroes appear in flashes of light, before running over to where Miss Martian, Storm, Aqualad, and Superboy stood in the center of the cave in front of a Holo-screen.

Robin's dressed in a lurid green hoodie with a black jacket overtop, complete with black skinny jeans, converse, and sunglasses to hide his identity.

Kid Flash, meanwhile, is clad in a yellow long sleeve shirt with a red short sleeve flannel overtop. He wears jeans and shoes, his face not covered revealing bright red freckles splattered across it.

Aqualad wears a blue and black windbreaker with black pants and brown sandals. Miss Martian is dressed preppy in red-pink and white. Superboy wears blue skinny jeans, a black shirt with a red House of El symbol on it, and a brown leather jacket.

Perhaps Storm is the most unexpected for the other proteges, who no doubt expected him to not know how to dress modern.

He wears a purple hoodie with straight cut jeans and platform Doc Marten boots, complete with a brown leather necklace that has one bead.

"Did you ask him?" Robin asks excitedly.

"What did he say?" KF adds on.

"He's arriving now," Aqualad replies, ever calm.

Kid Flash punches Robin in the chest friendlily, saying

"Then what are we waiting for?", before taking off, Robin following close behind. Aqualad follows behind them, then followed by Miss Martian flying.

Storm smiles fondly at the retreating proteges, obviously caught up in a memory, before heading off behind them. Superboy scowls and crosses his arm, shooting Storm a glance out of the corner of his eye.

He then follows.

At the base of the mountain, a patch of grass reveals itself to be a ramp as it lowers, preparing for Red Tornado's arrival. Six heroes walk up the ramp, as Red Tornado lands in front of them.

"Red Tornado!" Kid Flash calls out excitedly, a hand up to block his eyes from the dust being kicked up.

"Greetings," Red Tornado replied, "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"

"We hoped you had a mission for us," Aqualad asks, a bit of his own excitement leaking through.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado replied monotony.

Robin looks frustrated.

"It's been over a week and-" He is cut off by Red Tornado.

"You will be tested soon enough," The android states firmly, "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company."

Aqualad looks annoyed, possibly one of the first times most of them have seen his calm facade break.

"This team is not a social club," He objects.

"No," Red Tornado agrees, "But I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave." He walks past them down the ramp, heading towards the cave.

The six only watch as he does.

Kid Flash suddenly gets angry.

" "Keep busy"," The Speedster nearly growls, fake-punching Robin in the shoulder again.

"Does he think we're falling for this?" Robin agrees angrily. Miss Martian perks up.

"Oh, I'll find out!" She exclaims, before focusing in on Red Tornado and becoming calm, attempting to look into his mind.

Red Tornado walks through a scanner and a an automated computer voice states.

Recognized:

Red Tornado, 1-6

Miss Martian looks frustrated and apologetic.

"I'm sorry. I forgot he's a machine," She says, elaborating when she sees the confused looks of the other members of the Team, "Inorganic. I ...cannot read his mind."

"Nice try though," Kid Flash consoles her, before his smile turns flirtatious, "So, uh, you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"We all know what you're thinking now," Robin grumbles, elbowing Kid Flash when his back is turned, causing the fellow hero to let out a half-hearted 'ow!'

"And now we tour the clubhouse," Aqualad says sourly.

"Well, Storm, Superboy, and I live here, we can play tour guide," Miss Martian offers.

Robin and Kid Flash immediately turn to look at Superboy, who looks back seriously and deadpans

"Don't look at me."

They then turn their eyes to Storm.

He shrugs.

"I can provide useless comments on useless things and compare it to a flying boat I once lived on for multiple months but I can't tour you."

Robin narrows his eyes at that statement. Kid Flash gains a grin as an idea pops up.

"As fun as that would be, I was hoping for a more... private tour," He says, sidling up to Miss Martian.

"She never said private," Robin objects.

"Team-building. We'll all go," Aqualad states firmly, knowing from experience to break up Robin and KF's arguments as quickly as possible.

They all turn to go back down the ramp but Robin, knowing his best friend too well, grabs Kid Flash by the arm and yanks him backwards in the group.

Miss Martian takes that as her sign to begin.

"So this would be our front door.."

...

"And this would be the back," Miss Martian continues, as they exit out of the other side of the cave.

...

"The cave is actually the entire mountain," Miss Martian says, a fun fact to lighten up the mood and get the conversation going.

"It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League," Kid Flash adds, using his own knowledge to contribute to the conversation.

"Mm, now you see the reason Batman or Green Arrow couldn't do it was because they don't have super strength and these walls... these walls are made of this really rare, strong material called stone," Storm adds, ignoring the affronted look Robin sends his way, and the snorts of laughter from Aqualad and Kid Flash.

Not seen by anyone, Superboy gives a small smile too.

"Batman could have hollowed out the cave himself if he wanted to," Robin protests, "He could have used explosives."

"I feel as if that undermines the point of hollowing out the cave in the first place," Aqualad comments, his brow creased, "Afterall, wouldn't that make the cave unstable and not safe for use?"

"It would," Storm agrees, "Plus, I can speak from experience, underground buildings collapsing on you is not a great housewarming gift. Good gift is you hate someone, but not a fun experience."

"Yeah, but there's a scale of of bad housewarming gifts," Kid Flash argues, "In theory collapsing their building would be high on the scale but murdering their family would probably be higher."

"Yes, but at least you have a place to live," Robin argues back, "When they collapse your house you AND your family don't have a place to live, that could be higher."

"With that logic, to achieve truly terrible housewarming gifts, you must kill their family and collapse their house," Aqualad decides, "That would in theory truly be the worst housewarming gift as you would have no family and no house."

"I agree but alternate proposal for worst housewarming gift," Storm suggests, "A sign saying 'Live, laugh, love'."

A shudder ran through the group at that, and the conversation was quickly dropped.

"Why would the League abandon the Cave for the Hall of Justice?" Superboy asks, starting back up conversation.

"The cave's secret location was... compromised," Aqualad explains.

"So they traded it in for a tourist trap?" Superboy asks, confused, before muttering sarcastically, "Yeah. That makes sense."

"If villains know of the cave, we must be on constant alert," Miss Martian decides. Robin grabs her arm to comfort her.

"Bad guys know we know they know about the place. They'd never look here," He says, getting confused looks from everyone except Storm and Kid Flash, who nod wisely at what he said.

Seeing everyone's confusion, Kid Flash simplifies Robin's statement.

"He means we're hiding in plain sight."

"Ah, that's much clearer," Miss Martian says, though she still looks slightly confused.

At that moment, Superboy raises his head and sniffs, freezing when he smells something.

"I smell smoke," He relays to the Team, causing Miss Martian to gasp and take off flying down the hall with a shout of

"My cookies!"

The others exchanged confused looks before following behind her.

They find her in the kitchen telepathically removing some heavily burnt cookies from the oven, muttering to herself.

"I was trying out Grammy Jones' recipe from episode 17 of-" She sees the others and pauses her muttering, before giving an awkward chuckle, saying "Never mind."

"I bet they'd have tasted great," Storm reassures her.

Robin looks at where Kid Flash and Superboy are standing.

"He doesn't seem to mind."

Surprised, Miss Martian looks up and finds KF eating a burnt cookie, with another in his hand.

"I have a serious metabolism...?" He offers weakly, while Storm, Aqualad, and Superboy can only look on in stunned silence.

"I'll make more?" Miss Martian says, a little stunned and unsure how to take that comment.

"It was sweet of you to make any," Aqualad thanks her.

"Thanks, Aqualad," Miss Martian replies. Aqualad hesitates for a fraction, before saying

"We're off-duty. Call me Kaldur'ahm," He pauses for a second, before correcting himself, "Actually, my friends call me Kaldur."

"I'm Wally," Kid Flash pipes up from where he was leaning on the counter, "See, I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here." Robin frowns and glares at Wally, putting his hands on his hips at Wally's accusatory tone. "Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name."

"Mine's no secret," Miss Martian shares brightly, "It's M'gann M'orzz." She pauses for a moment, before lighting up and saying, "But you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now."

Kid Flash rounds on Storm.

"What's your secret ID?" He asks,  "I know Wonder Woman isn't all that secret about hers so you can probably tell us."

Storm shrugs.

"It's not like, big or anything. You won't find me on any records in the world of man," He explains, before continuing, "But secret identities aren't my favorite thing in the world, so you can call me Jason."

"Jason? Like, Jason Prince?" Robin clarified, searching for information.

Jason made a face.

"No, I don't have D's last name. Mine's a little more... graceful." He pauses, a face of disgust and shame appearing. "Oh my gods, I am so sorry I just made a Lupa worthy terrible pun, Janus open a portal beneath my feet and save me from this disgrace of Juno's champion, good gods."

Looking up from where he had begun pacing in shame, he saw the confused faces of the other young heroes.

"My last name's Grace," He clarified. Realization appeared on the other faces.

"That truly was a... terrible pun," Aqualad agreed, still looking slightly hesitant.

Superboy remains slouched against the counter, not having anything to add to the conversation. He turns to leave.

M'gann notices.

Don't worry, Superboy.

She reassures him telepathically, causing a quiet gasp and for Superboy's muscle to tense. She continues, seemingly unaware of what she's doing.

We'll find you an Earth name too.

He rounds on her, his eyes filled with anger and a hint of fear, shouting

"Get out of my head!"

This gains the other four's attention, who turn to look at M'gann with curious eyes. She expands her telepathic range to them.

What's wrong? I don't understand.

The others also have negative reactions. Robin grips his head with his hands, Kaldur grimaces and put his hand to his head, Wally threads his hands in his hair, and Jason grips his biceps, digging into the fabric with his fingernails.

Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.

M'gann attempts to explain, but only brings more pain to the five heroes.

"M'gann, stop," Kaldur grits out, anger clear in his voice. Still confused, she stops the mind-link, looking hurt.

"Things are different on Earth," Kaldur explains, "Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy."

Attempting to lighten the mood, Kid Flash mock-whispers.

"Besides, Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-Gnomes left a bad taste in his brain." He jerks his finger at Superboy. Megan looks horrified.

"I didn't mean to-" She is cut off by Superboy's angry growling of, "Just stay out!", before he storms off.

Jason rounds on Wally.

"Mind control isn't a joke Wally," He says sternly.

"What do you know about mind control?" He challenges back, "Last I knew you lived back in the old days before people knew about science."

Jason takes a deep breath, calming himself, before responding.

"There is a monster in the Greco-Roman mythos, called an eidolon. It possesses specifically men and takes control of their body when it wants too, otherwise lying dormant in their souls until needed," He explains to a shocked audience. "A couple years back I was possessed by one and I almost killed my cou-... my friend. Mind control is not a joke, Wallace."

Wally splutters.

"How did you know my full name's Wallace!?" He asks, bewildered. Robin smirks.

At that moment, M'gann hits her head, letting out a loud "Hello, Megan!"

The others look at her, confused.

She grins back.

"I know what we can do."

Chapter Text

Before

“You’re a ventus,” Jason said, though he had no idea how he knew that word. “A storm spirit.”

Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Jason had to crouch to keep his balance.

Piper glanced behind them and saw dark shapes forming in the clouds, more storm spirits spiraling toward the chariot—except these looked more like horses than angels .

Now

Happy Harbor,

July 18th, 13:24 EDT

"Red Tornado to Miss Martian," Red Tornado's voice reverberates through the Bio-Ship via the radio, shocking the six young heroes who are sitting in it.

M'gann's brilliant idea had been to show them her Bio-Ship, an organic ship that responded to her mental commands, and take them for a joyride around Happy Harbor.

It actually wasn't the worst idea, but now it looked like something better was going to occur.

"An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant," Red Tornado reported, "I suggest you investigate, covertly. I'm sending coordinates."

"Received. Adjusting course," Miss Martian replied, before shutting off the transmitter.

Robin scoffed.

"Tornado's keeping us busy again," He said, annoyance clear in his tone. M'gann smiles slightly and replies optimistically,

"Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."

Superboy looks out the window, frowning as he sees a partially destroyed powerplant and... something else.

"I think I know the cause," He said, alerting the others to the giant tornado heading right at them. Miss Martian tries to steer the Bio-Ship out of harms way, but to no avail, as the tornado consumes them, shaking them around violently, though not as much as it should be.

They all hold on as they are shook violently around. All except Storm, who rises slightly off the ground, eyes glowing, calming the winds around them and trying to ensure a safe landing. It works to some degree, getting them out of the tornado and to the carpark, where they drop out of a hole Miss Martian opens in the floor of the Bio-Ship, all landing and staring up, in disbelief.

In a perfect world, power plants should not be built in such a way that natural disasters can easily damage them. This however is not a perfect world, as evidenced by the sheer amount of heroes and villains that inhabit it, so the building was beginning to crumble slightly.

Many cars in the parking lot were being picked up and thrown in various directions by the tornado, causing yet more damage. Workers flee screaming.

Aqualad narrows his eyes.

"Robin, are tornadoes common to New England?" He questions, getting no response. "Robin?" He looks to where Robin just was. Robin's laughter sounds through the air.

No one is there.

"He-, He was just here," Miss Martian stutters confusedly.

The windows to the power plant explode, spilling glass everywhere.

...

A large suit of armor, colored red and black with giant blue tubes sticking out the back and a scarf around the neck, is inside the building, in the process of destroying it via the large tornados he wields in each hand.

Two discs fly at him, but he waves them away with the flick of a wrist, scanning his eyes for the attacker.

Spotting a flicker of bright green in the corner of the building, the villain sends a tornado flying that way, hitting Robin and smashing him into a stone pillar just as the rest of the young heroes arrive through the loading bay doors.

Storm looks beyond pissed underneath his deadly calm focus ; Robin wonders what pissed him off.

Superboy jumps over the stairs, landing near Robin as he sits up.

"Who's you new friend?" He asks sarcastically, brain already naturally pointing out all weak points in the villains armor. Robin shoots a look, wincing quietly when it disturbs his definitely damaged ribs.

"Didn't catch his name," He says as he get up and Superboy lunges at the villain, "He plays kinds rough, though."

The villain creates a tornado that he throws at Superboy, successfully restraining him for the time being.

"My apologies," They say in a robotic voice, "You may address me as Mr. Twister."

He then flicks his wrist, attempting to throwing Superboy into a pillar.

Superboy withstands it, so two more tornados are sent his way, the third finally sending him flying into a wall roughly 15 feet off the ground. He creates a dent on the wall before falling to the ground, unmoving.

The rest of the team share a look, quietly figuring out what to do as Robin gets back to his feet. Nodding slightly, Kid Flash pulls his goggles out of his pocket and quickly puts them on, before running and front-handspringing at Mr. Twister, aiming with both feet at his chest.

He doesn't hit however, as Mr. Twister simply summons another tornado and catches him, before sending him flying backwards through the windows into the carpark.

Aqualad and Storm attack at the same time from behind, both silent despite their quick movements. Mr. Twister turned quickly and sent tornados flying at them, catching them by surprise and sending them and Miss Martian flying backwards into various support pillars and boxes.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero," Twister goads, not noticing or not caring as Robin subtly draws two discs from his pockets. "I was not, however, expecting children."

"We're not children!" Robin yells, throwing the discs in a moment of anger.

It doesn't pay off.

Mr. Twister simply knocks the discs to the sides of the power plant, near Storm, causing him to have to raise his gauntlets and roll away to prevent getting burned, taking to the air.

"Objectively you are," Twister continues, ignoring the heroes who are recollecting themselves, "Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

"Well, hate to see you disturbed," Robin bites back, now being surrounded by four of the other heroes as they begin to make what looks like a team stand against Mr. Twister. "Let's see if your more turbed once we kick your ass!"

With that, Miss Martian summons her telekinesis and shatter a lamp above Mr. Twister's chain, bring it down onto him.

This creates a barrier of steam or smoke, that Superboy jumps through to attack Twister. Even without sight, Mr. Twister still reacts fast enough to catch Superboy and throw him backwards into Miss Martian, the two of them almost hitting Robin and Aqualad.

Luckily the two are good at dodging and jump out of the way, before joining with Storm to attack Twister.

Twister summons many tornados which he hurls at the heroes, grabbing them all except Storm and bashing them into each other, knocking them out.

Storm attempts to continue their attack alone, slashing at Mr. Twister and causing a scratch in his armor. However, Twister soon grabs him at unhuman speeds, crushing his neck until his vision goes dark and he collapses unconscious to the floor.

"Indeed," the villain says, rising off of the ground, "That was quite turbing. Thank you." He flies out as the team begins to regain consciousness.

...

Outside, at the end of the carpark where a small forest is found, evidence of Kid Flash's crash litters the ground.

He is, however, not in it.

Instead, he faces off against Mr. Twister a couple meters away, dodging punches and tornados, yelling

"What have you done to my team?!"

"Embarrassed them, largely," Twister responds, before creating a large tornado that he throws at Kid Flash.

He braces for impact, but strangely, the winds seem to miss him entirely, despite swirling violently around him. As it clears he looks behind him and sees the other five, with Storm's eyes glowing as he controls the tornado to not damage anyone them and dissipate.

A stray piece of debris flies at him despite Storm controlling the wind, but it freezes in mid-air as Miss Martian's eyes glow like Storm's.

"I got you, Wally," She assures, as the five of them make their way to Kid Flash and Mr. Twister.

" I thought you had all learned your limitations by now." Twister speaks tauntingly to the team.

"What do you want?!" Superboy yells angrily at the villain, who rises into the air.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm waiting for a real hero," He replies, pulling on a nerve from the proteges that they are not, actual, heroes.

"We need to find his weakness," Storm says, as Mr. Twister begins to gear up for another attack.

"Miss Martian, read his mind," Aqualad orders quickly.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that," Miss Martian says hesitantly, sounding confused.

"It's okay with the bad guys," Robin assures her.

She nods determined, and her eyes start to glow as she attempts to locate Twister's mind.

"Nothing. I'm getting nothing," She says, slightly exasperated, before a connection appears in her mind. "Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise."

All of them look at the 'villain' in hurt shock, except Storm, who looks slightly confused and distrustful of this assessment.

"He's inorganic, an android," She explains, "And how many androids do you know that generate tornados?"

"Red Tornado sent us here," Aqualad agrees.

"After saying that 'we'd be tested soon enough'," Robin adds, "This is his test, to keep us busy."

Kid Flash hangs his head.

"Speedy called it," He says sadly, "We're a joke."

He slams his fist into his hand, before turning back to the 'villain'.

"This game," He vocalizes, sounding angry, "So over."

"We know who you are and what you want," Robin declares.

"So let's end this," Aqualad decides.

"Consider it ended," Twister says, as he raises his hands, creating a much larger storm than all the others he's created.

Robin's resolve wavers slightly, and worry paints his features as he shoots a look at Storm, who is looking distrustfully at Mr. Twister as he attempts to quell the growing storm.

"An impressive show," Aqualad calls out, exchanging glances with Robin and Kid Flash, "But we will not indulge you. We will not engage."

Lightning cracks through the storm, and Storm's eyes glow brighter still as he struggle to control it.

The storm is fighting him, almost like how venti do... but that's impossible, right?

Kid Flash exchanges a nervous look with the other three original heroes.

"Uhhh, can Red Tornado... do that?"

Mr. Twister laughs robotically.

"You think I'm Red Tornado? Ironic."

A blast of electricity flies at them, hitting them all so only Superboy and Storm are left standing.

Twister quickly sends more bolts at Superboy, knocking him out too, but when he hurls a bolt at Storm, he simply absorbs it before sending one of his own back.

Mr. Twister's eyes narrow, and he sends a humongous bolt at Storm, momentarily blinding and winding him, causing his muscles to lock and for him to temporarily loose consciousness.

As Twister prepares for a finishing shot, Miss Martian wakes slightly and covers them all with the Bio-Ship, making Twister unable to see them.

Twister looks annoyed, but flies off.

The others wake up and look around confused.

"What happened?" Wally asks.

"I placed the Bio-Ship between us," Miss Martian explains. Superboy stands and punches a nearby rock, denting it with his fist.

"And that's supposed to make it right?" He exclaims angrily. "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!"

"She didn't do it on purpose," Kaldur says calmly.

" It was a rookie mistake," Robin agrees, "We shouldn't have listened."

"Plus, isn't Storm meant to be resistant to electricity?" Wally adds. They all swivel to look at Jason, who winces.

"I am, it's just... there's a difference between getting an electric shock and getting struck by lightning. If I was more prepared for that high voltage, I could have processed it fine, but he hit me with enough to kill 50 men a couple times over so... I blacked out for a bit," He explains. Robin nods in understanding, before turning back to Miss Martian.

"You are pretty inexperienced," He says, "Hit the showers, we'll deal with it from here."

"Stay out of our way," Superboy adds angrily, and Robin, Kid Flash and Superboy disappear.

M'gann's face falls.

"I was just trying to be part of the team," She says sadly.

Aqualad stops, from where he was heading to leave.

"To be honest, I'm not sure we have one," He says, before he too leaves, leaving Jason and Megan standing in the destroyed carpark.

Jason frowns.

"We need to have more knowledge about Twister," He says, "We're going in blind and as we can see, straight attack doesn't work. If only we knew how to manipulate him or trick him, find a weakness or get him to lower his guard maybe..."

He turns to M'gann.

"Can you try and find out some more information about him? I'm going to try and stop the others from dying due to their own stupidity, so could you contact Tornado and see what he knows?" He takes off into the air, stopping a couple meters up and looking down at Miss Martian.

"Oh, and about your mistake... don't worry. I had to almost get eaten a few too many times when I was two or three before I learned how to kill the monsters eating me. You have great potential, just a little under-polished. We'll make a warrior of you yet."

He takes off into the sky, leaving M'gann alone in a wrecked carpark.

Chapter Text

Before

 But Hera had made them a team of seven for a reason.

“Oh, no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!” Nothing happened.

Jason grinned. He’d been there too when they’d met the wine god. “Crazy. But I like it.”

Now

Happy Harbor,

July 18th, 13:56 EDT

M'gann is in her Bio-Ship as it (slowly) begins it's return to Mount Justice. Frowning slightly, she looks through her database for a villain called Mr. Twister, to see if she can fulfil Storm's request.

Upon finding nothing, she decides to report back to Red Tornado.

"Miss Martian," His robotic voice sounds out over the intercom, "I have seen the news. Your fight with this new villain did not go well?"

She sighs, dejectedly.

"No, it didn't. Their name's Mr. Twister, I can't find them on any database I have access to. They're an android, like you, with tornado powers also."

"May I inquire the whereabouts of the rest of your team?"

"They... left," She admits, "To go hunt down Twister. Said I wasn't experienced enough. But they're not either! The Team really needs your help."

"If I intervened, it would not be to help," Red Tornado replies, knowing how the young heroes would react to his assistance. "Still, it is an odd coincidence that this Twister shares my elemental abilities and my immunity to telepathy."

Megan looks away, humming slightly, before the lightbulb of an idea flicks on in her head.

"Hello Megan! I have an idea," She says excitedly, before shutting off her transmission.

...

Meanwhile, Happy Harbor is in shambles.

Tornados have destroyed many of the buildings, ripping out trees as if it is a natural disaster. Police desperately try to evacuate civilians from harm's way but they cannot work fast enough or stop the problem at it's source.

The hope for that is in the hand of four young heroes.

The four heroes trade blows with Mr. Twister, each fighting at skill with the villain, but they are only organic, and prone to tiring.

The fifth of the heroes is focusing on protecting civilians, dissipating winds and holding up structures to keep them safe while they evacuate the war-zone. Every once and a while they fling electricity at the villain to give the others a moment reprieve, but their power source is not unlimited.

This is a long battle that, unless they change tactics suddenly, they are going to lose.

Robin and Kid Flash hide behind a boat for a second, as they are the vulnerable of the five and the debris being thrown is getting bigger and bigger as Storm tires more and more. Robin pulls out his utility belt from his toon logic pants, and straps it like a scout's sash over his shoulder. Kid Flash looks incredulous.

"You brought your utility belt?" He sounds more annoyed then surprised, knowing his best friend.

"Never leave home without it," He responds, as he grabs two discs and flings them in, trusting Storm will guide them through to Twister's body. "First thing Batman taught me."

The discs hit, and momentarily stun Mr. Twister, creating a blinding white light, that luckily only Twister can see clearly. This is good as it prevents the others from experiencing the same discomfort that the light causes Twister.

As they are all relishing in a quick break, Miss Martian's voice sounds out in all of their heads.

Storm. Everyone. Listen to me.

The young heroes falter, adjusting to the feeling of another presence in their heads.

"What did we tell you," Superboy growls out angrily.

I know and I know I messed up. But I have an actual plan this time and it's gonna work. I found our angle Storm. I'm very clear on what I need to do. Please trust me.

Mr. Twister recovers.

...

The five heroes are facing off against Mr. Twister when Red Tornado arrives, flying down in the wreckage sans tornado, his face as impassive as ever.

"Hit the showers, children," He instructs, dully observing how Mr. Twister stops his attack in interest. "I was hoping you could handle this. Clearly, you cannot."

A chorus of protests arises from the young heroes.

"But we've got a plan now!" Robin objects. Red Tornado turns his attention to them.

"The subject is not up for debate," He says as sternly as a robot with no voice changes can. Grumbling and looking dejected, the five make their way away, to begin the walk of shame to Mount Justice.

Red Tornado turns to face Mr. Twister.

"I was beginning to believe you'd never show up," Twister tells Tornado.

"I'm here now," Red Tornado says instead of a response, reaching behind his cape. He sends a tornado flying at Twister, who deflects it and begins to prepare his own counter-attack.

Tornado begins another attack on Twister when Twister attacks back, causing Tornado to drop his attack in order to disperse it.

"We are evenly matched, Twister," He says, as he prepares to throw a giant tornado at Mr. Twister.

"No Tornado we are not," He replies, throwing a bout of lightning at Red Tornado to emphasize the point.

Tornado takes flight to avoid it, accidently sending it into the path of a boat, which explodes and knocks him to the ground, crackling slightly.

Mister Twister lands on top of him, turning his fingers to computer connectors that plug into Red Tornado's androidous body.

"Remain still, android," He commands, "The reprogramming will not take long."

Tornado turns his head to face Twisters and it loses it's shape and color for a second, becoming like putty.

It then reforms to the shape of Miss Martian's face, and she grins at Mr. Twister before saying,

"Longer than you might think."

Reeling back in shock and surprise, Twister is hit in the back of the head by a bolt of lightning, as Miss Martian uses her telepathy to propel him off of her. Superboy lunges forward and punches him into Aqualad's awaiting arms, where he sloshes him in water, frying his more exposed circuits. Kid Flash speeds behind a dazed Mr. Twister and plants some of Robin's explosive discs in vulnerable parts of his armor, before speeding away, leaving Robin to detonate them and break the armor, sending Twister down in a daze.

The armor opens, revealing a man roughly 40 years of age, medium length brown hair in a green a white suit. He falters at the sight of six heroes glaring down at him.

"Foul, I call foul," He stutters. Miss Martian's eyes glow and a large chunk of boulder lifts next to her and hovers over the man. Aqualad rushes to stop her, accidently severing her concentration and causing the stone to drop on the man, killing him instantly.

Robin looks beyond pissed and Kid Flash looks stunned.

"Look, I don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth, we don't execute our captives!" He says, angrily.

Storm shifts uncomfortably, but M'gann seems undeterred.

"You said you trust me," She responds, lifting the boulder to reveal a crushed android skull, "That's why I couldn't read his mind."

Kid Flash steps up and grabs one of the eyeballs that is still intact, scrutinizing it under his gaze.

"Cool. Souvenir." 

"We should have had more faith in you," Aqualad tells M'gann sincerally.

"Yeah you rocked this mission," Wally agrees, "Get it? Rocked?"

Jason looks Wally straight(hah) in the eyes, a dead expression on his face.

"I hope Lupa comes to you in the middle of the night and consumes you slowly and painfully."

The android's eye turns red, although that is not noticed by any of the team as Robin mutters

"Ignore them." He continues in a brighter tone. "We're all just turbed you're on the Team."

M'gann smiles.

"Thanks," She says happily, "Me too."

A strange wind emerges form the blue tubes that are in the back of the destroyed android. Scattering the rubble of the android-man, two forms solidify in front of the heroes.

They all tense for battle, except for Storm, who pushes past the others to stand in front.

One of the form's is a horse that appears to be made of storm clouds, lightning crackling in it's form. The other takes the form of an classical period man, with giant winds protruding from their back like an angel, and skin looking just less than solid.

The angel man glares at Storm.

"Jason Grace," It greets, "Normally I would kill you, demigod, but you have freed me and my companion from the Twister machine so I will hesitate this time."

It takes one step forward towards Jason, who looks relaxed despite it's words.

"But," It continues, "If you cross my path again, demigod, I will not hesitate to kill you and sell your body to some of the less... delicate of my allies."

A storm gathers in the sky above them.

"Until next time, son of Jupiter."

A flash of lightning and both the creatures, and the storm, dissipate.

The rest of the Team looks stunned at Jason.

He sighs.

"Those were venti, or storm spirits," He explains, "They don't like me very much. But don't worry, they're pretty easy to deal with."

The rest of the Team exchange glances as he turns back to them.

"Just, forget that ever happened, okay?' He pleads. "It's a demigod thing; Most of the creatures from our world don't like us very much."

"Ok," M'gann says hesitantly, "Shall we head back to the cave?"

...

Now

Mount Justice, Happy Harbor

July 18th, 16:34 EDT

The broken chunks of the android lie on a table in Mount Justice, as the Team converses with Red Tornado.

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Kaldur tells Tornado.

"Agreed," Red Tornado says, as he looks over the pieces of machinery.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" M'gann questions.

"No," Tornado responds, "This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me."

This appears to trouble Megan.

"But if your in danger-"

"Consider this matter closed," Tornado interjects overtop of her, before walking off.

"Batman, Aquaman and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things," Wally commented, "Maybe Wonder Woman too."

"Guess if we're gonna have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need," Robin adds. Wally looks scandalized.

"Dude, harsh!"

"And inaccurate," Red Tornado's voice sounds from further in the mountain, "I have a heart. Carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing."

Robin looks embarrassed.

"Sorry. I'll strive to be more accurate," He apologizes. Kaldur shoots him a look. "And more respectful," He finishes, looking down at his shoes.

Red Tornado continues his exit. Storm flies up into the air.

"Well, as much as I love looking at destroyed pieces of tech all day," He says, looking at the Team, "I did promise D I would patrol with her today. Some police thing is on and apparently working with the police makes them more likely to overlook the minor acts of landmark reforming. See you later."

He begins to head out before stopping, and turning back.

"Oh, and can everyone meet in the cave in four days? I have something we need to do."

He makes his exit.

"Speedy was so wrong," Wally says happily.

"This team thing?" Robin adds.

"Might just work out," Kaldur finishes, before the three of them head to the Zeta-Tubes.

Miss Martian and Superboy are left standing.

"Sorry for earlier," M'gann says suddenly, "I didn't know about regular Earth customs or that it was triggering for you or..." She stops at the sign of a hand being held out for her. 

She looks up and Superboy shuffles awkwardly.

"We're living together, we should probably get along," He mutters embarrassed, before straightening out and finishing angrily, "Don't cross my boundaries and I won't cross yours. Deal?"

She smiles at him.

"Deal." They shake. "Oooh! I'll make more cookies for when Jason gets back!" She flies away.

Superboy stands.

What a weird day.

...

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̴͔͋À̶͎̫͝n̵̯̞͂̒d̵̦̾ ̶̤̘͠I̷̲̭͒̇'̷̧̦̈́̐d̴̨̞͑ ̵̖̙̓ș̷̣̆́á̷̳y̷͙̔͝ ̶̮͝w̸̩͗ȅ̴̢ ̸͖͓͝l̷̼̖͒̈́e̴̡̝͑͑ä̶͇́̈́r̵̞̐n̴̝͋e̶͚͌ḍ̷̞͋ ̸͙͙͗͑q̶͖̱̈́u̵̝͙͘ị̴͠t̸̩̞͆e̸̖͎͋ ̸̩͍̈͠ă̵̦̩̋ ̸͚͔̾l̷̛̠͕ō̵̤̎t̵̪̑͑ ̶͍͇́̀t̷̯͇͋̎o̵̮̥͒͐d̴͓̩̍͆a̸̫̒͘y̸̝̙̔.̸͔͗̓

Chapter Text

Before

“Who am I?” Jason asked the she-wolf. “At least tell me that.”

“Grace,” Annabeth said. “Thalia Grace.”

Jason picked up the photo from the floor. “My last name is Grace,” he said. “This is my sister.”

Now

Superboy

Mount Justice, Happy Harbor

July 22nd, 12:32 EDT

Superboy didn't really understand why Jason had felt the need to call them all here, but here they were. A random day during the summer holidays for Kid Flash Wally and Robin was being taken over for something trivial, although Storm was yet to disclose what it was.

He was being secretive, just like everyone else.

Superboy really didn't know why it bothered him so much but he did.

So, that was why they were all gathered in the sort of living room (A living room is a room in a house for general everyday use) 32 minutes past noon, waiting for Storm(Jason?) to begin talking.

For unexplained reasons (nobody tells him anything, betray them), Storm had procured mini whiteboards and markers for everyone, along with a larger one that stood in the center of the room ominously.

They were all here now.

Except Storm.

That lazy Amazonian-

He descended.

From the ceiling.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Jason wears straight cut jeans(the same pair he wore when they fought Twister, Superboy notes) , a black Green Day shirt for their album Warning, his arm gauntlets, and his staples of a brown leather necklace with one bead and platform Doc Martens. (Stearted in 1945 when Dr. Klaus Maertens created a unique air cushioned soled shoe to aid his recovery from a broken foot)

He looks... nice.

In a totally masculine and attractive, handsome and male and pretty and male and why is he like this Jason is literally a guy and guys don't find other guys pretty or handsome or attractive Jason kind of way.

Superboy wonders why Cadmus created him based off of Superman when Storm was right there, as a much more powerful and useful and cooler and prettier person to build a clone off of.

Although, all things considered, Superboy supposes they didn't know about Storm when they were obtaining the necessary DNA, so he gives them a pass.

"Alright!" Storm Jason says, clapping his hands together "Now you're probably wondering why I have gathered you all here today."

"Damm right," Kid Flash Wally grumbles, obviously annoyed about something. (teenagers are commonly associated with sleeping in, meaning that tiredness could be the reason for his displeasure, he will be at lower reaction rates attack him now)

"Well I have come to a conclusion. Technically, this should be Superman's responsibility, but I hate him and fuck society so were doing it instead, republic-democracy style. By lack of Justice League knowing of this, we shall act as the council in this matter."

"And what exactly is this matter?" Aqualad Kaldur inquires, brow furrowed. Jason pointed straight at him.

"Superboy."

What?

He stands up angrily to leave, when Storm seems to recognize his mistake and backtracks.

"Wait that came out wrong, fuck, no what I mean is that you need a name other than Superboy."

"Why do you get to decide it then?" The Weapon Superboy shoots back, anger coursing through his veins.

"I don't, we all do and get a say," Storm soothes, "That's why were all assembled: To act as a council of sorts to come up with ideas for a name, but you'll get the final say in whether you want a name or not, unless you already have a name in mind."

He doesn't.

Why would he need one?

He's a weapon Superboy.

Taking his silence as a no, Jason Storm presses on.

"So, write name ideas on your boards and we'll rule out the bad ones."

This will be interesting.

...

Now

Superboy

Mount Justice, Happy Harbor

July 22nd, 13:59 EDT

"So, we're all in agreement that Arthur is a bad name?" Jason asks, looking at the nods of all around him. 

The name is not added to the board.

Superboy is relieved not that he'd ever admit it.

"Alright, that leaves one last person to put forward a name - M'gann?"

Miss Martian M'gann smiles, looks at her list of names she'd compiled, and decides which one to nominate to the bigger board.

The system of giving him a name is strangely ingenious, if not extremely complicated and even a little bit fun.

"What about Connor?" She suggests, a small smile she knows something eliminate eliminate on her face. Jason looks thoughtful.

"That's one of the better ones, but we'll turn to the whole council for decision if it ends up on the board," He says, before turning to the threats Team.

"All in favor raise their hand?" Robin suggests, already raising his.

The others all raise their hands.

He does too.

It's a fine name, he doesn't have anything against it, but something in him wants to see Jason's smile when they all agree on a name again.

Jason beams, a smile that Kid Flash Wally and Robin have already dubbed the 'successful democracy smile'.

It glows, lighting up his face like his electric blue eyes that sparkle when he finds something amusing.

He turns to write it on the board.

C-O-N-N-E-R

"Uhhh, Jason buddy, I think it's spelt with an 'O-R' not an 'E-R'," Robin says, brow furrowed.

Jason cocks his head, then shrugs.

"We're spelling it with an "E-R' 'cause I'm dyslexic as fuck," He decides, "Plus, if they wanted to spell it with an 'O', they should have pronounced it more like 'or' rather than 'er'. I'm sure this spelling is accepted."

A murmur of acceptance goes through the group, before they all turn to face Superboy, constantly wanting something he can never give.

"The choice is now in your hands, friend," Aqualad Kaldur says, "What would you like your name to be?"

He looks at the board.

Steve.

Mason.

Adrien.

Peter.

Mark.

Tony.

James.

Luke.

Conner.

Which one to choose?

He acts like there is even a decision that needs to be made, when in reality he knew what one he was going for the moment he spelt it wrong.

"Conner," He decides, "My name will be Conner."

It feels... right.

Just like it does the next moment when he is swept into a hug by Jason, who holds him for a second, before backing up, muttering apologies.

Against his will, he smiles.

How could he not when he was just hugged by someone so pretty?

Miss Martian M'gann smiles back at him in full force, along with Jason, who manages to go redder, somehow.

Kid Flash Wally snickers.

"Wow, didn't know Supes Jr. over there could smile."

He is promptly elbowed by Robin, as Aqualad Kaldur makes his way over to where he stands.

"Congratulations, Conner, on your choice of name," He says, shaking his hand.

"Wait wait wait," Robin says.

The all look at him weirdly.

"Doesn't he need, like a last name or something?" He asks.

The weapon Superboy Conner never really considered one before.

Huh.

They all glance at each other, before Jason speaks up.

"I don't really think so. Last names are family names and just for legal purposes. We'll burn that bridge when we reach it," He says he's so smart, "Plus, the only real use we'd have for it would be if you were angry with Conner, and you can achieve the same effect by cursing or giving people really specific insulting nicknames, so it shouldn't be an issue for now."

Kid Flash Wally smirks and asks,

"Do you have any specific examples of insulting nicknames you could share with the class?"

Blackmail Blackmail Blackmail

Jason snorts.

"Well, Wallace, I've been called 'short circuit'. I could call you any variant of your name, Robin could be 'Boy Blunder' maybe, and I could just call you Wallace as well."

How strange.

Kid Flash Wallace looks offended.

...

Now

Superboy Conner

Mount Justice, Happy Harbor

July 22nd, 17:13 EDT

Superboy Conner is sitting on the couch listening to TV static when Jason walks in.

"What're you watching?" He asks, slinging himself on the back of the couch.

Conner doesn't answer.

Jason sits down next to him and mutters under his breath.

"Why is this the most empty my brain has been in weeks, white noise is so nice."

He makes himself comfortable.

They sit like that, sharing a couch, both just staring at an empty TV screen, legs almost touching.

Conner wonders why his stomach has butterflies at the thought.

Chapter Text

Before

In an awkward moment, the two boys tried to sit in the same chair at the head of the table.

“You… the great Jason Grace… the praetor I looked up to. You were supposed to be so fair, such a good leader. And now you…”

But Jason wasn’t like that. He was hardwired to be a leader and set a good example.

“Camp Jupiter,” he said. “All the years I trained there. We were always pushing teamwork, working as a unit. I thought I understood what that meant. But honestly? I was always the leader. Even when I was younger—”

“The son of Jupiter,” Piper said. “Most powerful kid in the legion. You were the star.”

Three Days Ago

Santa Prisca,

19th June, 00:43 ECT

Inside Bane's venom factory, a light flashes.

Red.

That normally isn't a good sign.

Bane stands observing many members of... a cult of some kind? Definitely a cult, dressed in long red cloaks and black face coverings, each equipped with a gun and a sense of religious entitlement so strong they dare enter the island where Bane makes his legendary venom and take over his factory?

A member steps forward.

His men ready their guns. They'll fire if needed, but they know to await orders.

"Nuestro Maestro sublime proclama que él saldrá de esta instalación... si... uno de ustedes derrota a su campeón en combate singular."

Bane smirks, pushing aside his men, as he walks up to the cloaked one.

"Solo que se interesante."

...

As Bane lies prone on the floor, under the monster that once was a boy, the cloaks begin to chant.

Hail Kobra.

Hail Kobra.

Hail Kobra.

Hail Kobra.

Hail Kobra.

H̵a̶i̷l̸ ̶K̴o̵b̸r̴a̶

H̷̗̬́á̶͔̖̚i̴͙̅l̸̹̋ ̷̯̐͂K̵̫̔́o̴̅̋͜b̷̥͖̑͋r̶̗̞̔̾a̶̗̱͌͝

Ḫ̸̎a̴̯͈͑͐͜͜͠i̷̢̨̮̳͐͌l̶̨͉̹̥̈́͛̈́̿ ̷̢͖͕̈́͘K̷̦̆o̸̡̺̹̓b̸͎̠̭̈́r̵̼̕a̴̲͛̏̓͝

H̶͎̬̭̝̋a̴̱̠̳̅̋͋͒̿͐̎͜ͅḭ̶̩̻̘̩͔̈́̋l̴͔̟͔̠̎̓͘̚ ̷̛͈̘͈̲̺̈́̆͘̕͝K̶͓̙̹͊̓̈́͂̒͝o̶͈͚̹͖͔̼̔̀ͅb̵̨̯͍̜͓͊͂̈̚ͅŗ̵͇͙͍̩̿̒͜ͅa̵̰̫̝̳͆̃̓̈́̈́

H̷̝̠͉͙͛̈́͠a̸̛͚̯̘̳͎̓̓͐̈̎̉́͘͜͜͜i̶͎͎̯͓̼̗̖̼̻͆̉̀͌͒̀͊̄̇́̽͂͘l̵̡̫̫͇̠̟̱̫̪̯̣̊̑̓ͅͅ ̴̛͈͇͒́̈̈̀̀͊̈̓̐̈́͂̂͋̀͛͘K̴̖͉̦̯̦̫̬͔̳̠̇ǫ̷̩̖̤̫͓̰͚͚͍͕̙͑̓̊̆͛̏̍̉̔͘͝͝ͅb̵̡̨̛̺̱͕͇̞͉͔̝̙̤̞̋̽͆͌̏͝r̸̡̡̧̨̻̗͙̩̠̲̘͚͉͖͉̪̎̉̿́̽̃́͘̕a̴̢̫̳̱̭͎̠̭͎͉̝̗̜̓͆

Ą̸̻͙̩͍̰͇͔̩̤͎͚̝͇͖̙̆̂͋͋͐̌͗͠ͅb̴̼̦̦̼̃̌̂̉̕͝͝o̸̫̽͆͗͛͐̀͝͝v̴̧̨̛̛̻̬͍̖̹̲̹͈͈̹͂͒̈́̀̍̿̾̊̅́ȩ̶̧̢̣̹͇̰͓̟̥́̿͐͛̏̀̎̄̃̉̄̓̋̆̎ ̸̧͊͌́́̾̌̃̎̈́̑̈́́̿̕͝t̶̢̨̜̫̯̱̬̜̠̹͓͗͗͌̒͜͝͠ͅh̶͎̫̞̓̎̿͐̐̍͌ę̸̥̗̳̻̳͎̙͉̭̹̠̹̰̝̳̿ ̸̡͚͔̫̬͚̊̀ͅa̶̪͖̫͆͊̊̾͊̅̄̕̕ŗ̶͙͇̖͈̘̽͝ę̷̗̰̬̗͚̳̳̯̤̇ͅṉ̴̨̢̨̨̢̱̭̹̤̞̻͈̓̍̿́͜͝͝a̶̧̧̧̡͇̩̖̠̭̜̰͎̤͇̝̩̓̔̓͐͐͗͊̓̓̐͑̈̕͘͝ͅ,̶̛͎̫̖̩̀͐͗́̀̂̒́̋̋̚͝͝ͅ ̴̛̩̻̣̣̜͂͌̑̆͊̚͜ͅK̸̡̢̡̠̭̺̣̜͐̓͊̆̔̃͒͌̎̕͠ͅo̸͓̖̟̎͂̀̍̍̽͘b̵̬̈̓̃͂̏͑̒̏͆r̴͎̟͒̍͂̈́͒̓̅̿͊̈̽̚͝͝ȧ̵̛͕͖̲̲̣̥̠̹̋͋̄͛̔̇͜͜͝͝ ̷̢͙͚̠̟̯͈̘͍͉̻̥̻̳̊̔́̅̋́͐̈̐̑͊̀́͜͝ṣ̸͉̣̓̎̽͊͆͆̿t̸̢̠͈̞͚͖̟͎̝̩͕̜̀́̂͑̌̎̓̃̽̍̇͋̃̕ã̷̢̰͔͇͕͚̫̘̦̘̼͔͒̀͆̔͗̕͠ņ̵̬̯̜̝̪͚͎̟̮̮͙͈̖̞̗̬̑͝ḍ̶̘͉̩͂̍́́̒̽̀̊̅̀͌͊͘͝s̵̡̫̳̻̮͓̲͖͖̖̲͍̰̯͈̀̌̐̉̉͗͒̋̽̊͘͝͝ ̷̢̨̨̼̗̭͚̭̥̫̪̮̰̱̦̈̐͑̆͗͛͜͝͠͠ͅa̸̡̡̘̖̫͕̯̼̳͓̜͇͐̾̑̅̉͋̃̓̈͆̊̽̌̌n̴̨̺̱̫̹̣̩̫̫̼̳̲̉͊̾̅͑̊̍̊̈͠͝͝d̴̟̮̖̪̙͎͉͚̻͈̱͓̪͇̃̊̆͒̈́͒̈̾̚ ̷̧̯̞̩̞̝̪̫̭̦̝̀̑̂͒̅̆̏̈́̓͛̑s̷̞͓͇̽̊̀͐͑̇̈́͂̒͊͌̓͊m̴̛̰͓͋͑͊̌͘i̵͔̙̭̇̊͛̅̈́́͛̀͂͠͝͠r̷̡̢̡̢̡̞̰̼̮͓̪̺͇̪̜͗̈́͊̈́̀ͅk̶̨̮̟̲̠͇̲̺͒̒̓͋̑̇̎͘͜͠ṡ̶̛̰̙̟̑͘̕.̷̢̨̘̼͕̲̟͙̲͔͔̮̙̦̩͊̓͜

H̴͕̙̤̩̑͑́͗̓̂̈́̈́͒̉̚ĭ̴̭͚̙̖͇̿̓̍̀͗́̃̇̆s̴̡̪̆̈́͗̌̔̌͘ ̷̡͇͓̙̪̖̑̈́̕f̷̛̞̱̖̻̙̫̖͙̙̜̙̺̬̖͑͂̃́͗̈́̾͒̀̀̕͜͜͜ọ̵̢̧̡̙̹̗̜̮̟͙̦̀̎̀͛̅̓̐̾̈́͂͐̈́̀̾̈̓͆͜l̸͔̪̟̣̺̝̣͕̩̜̫͓͋̔͛̌̉̀͜l̵̡̢̦͎̪͎͕͙͚̦̰̉͂̒͒͌͆̏͑͛̓͘͜͠ǫ̶̜͙͇̟̯̯̭͚̃͋̋w̸̨͇͎̱͕̲̠̭̩̣̱̲̪͇̼̮̎̋̌̃̈́̇̊̐̌̇̉ͅę̸̛͈̪͕̭̦̮̗̘͙̣̒̿͋r̶̢͖̪͉̹̼̮̥͚͉̪͊s̴̡̛̹͕̙̟̩̠͕̞̪̳̤̈́͆̔͒̐͠ ̸̧͖̟̖͇̺͇̟͉͖̩̰͚̩͇̰̆̏̿̀͂͘̚͝ç̷̬̖̗̬̰͚͒̇̓͋̎ó̴̖͖̃͂̆̀v̶͈̠͇͖̦̼̳̀͊́̀̉͗̀̋͂͜͝ͅȩ̵̝̤͔͖̰̤̬̝͉͙̱̱̮̜́͐̏͐̎r̵̢̖̾͛͌̋̀̕͜͝ ̷̡̡̺̻̹̬̳̤̜̦̖̹̝̥̋͗̿͒͐̌̽͜͝ͅt̸͇͖̳̩̫̋̈́͛̇̌͐̒̚͝h̴̤̘̤͔̪͓̪̠̝͎̓̌̏̅̀̔̚͝͝͝ͅe̶̛̛̙͉͚͚͇͇̯̼̣̓͒̂́̈͗̅̕͝ͅͅ ̷͕̏̐̽̈́̓́̎̕͝i̸̢̢̬̤̞͔̝̟̜̮̭̟̬̬̥̯͖̒̐s̵̨̹̖̫͇͇͌̀́͊̀̉̆́̓͜l̸͙̭͚͚͈̲̐̽͊̇a̷̛̙͕͈̖̙̙̒̍̅͐̅̓̈́́͛̾̌̋̓͝͝͝n̶͕̗͛ḑ̴̢̢̛̦̘͚̰̥̳̗̲͙͍̙͑̅͑̉̀͋͐͒̆̍̌̽̋̇͌͘.̷̺̭̙͕͍͙̌̀̓ͅ

...

Now

Caribbean Sea,

July 22nd, 20:08 ECT

The Bio-Ship was steadily hovering above the water, beginning to get closer to an island on the horizon.

Santa Prisca, an isle known for it's criminal activity. Level 3. Reconsider travel. Large amount of trafficking operations, some drug cartels, smuggling, kidnappings, forced labor, and frequent gun fights are all common occurrences on the island, although much of the population of the Americas don't know of the island's second nature.

Or of it's existence.

You have to have at least one foot in the grave of ignoring the law, or be a hero who deals with the more human and lower down side of villainy to know about the island in any context except 'Oh it's an island in the Caribbean'.

Most of Gotham knows about it.

The Team all certainly do.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian says, breaking the tense silence that had settled like ash over the heroes.

Robin thinks back on the debrief, going over the information, making sure that he knew it all.

Isla Santa Prisca. This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength-enhancing drug, sold under the street name Venom. Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off.

That's where this team comes in.

This is a covert, recon mission only.

Observe and report.

If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will.

The plan requires two drop zones.

So who's in charge?

Work that out between you.

Robin smirks.

"Drop-Zone A in 30," Miss Martian announces, startling Robin out of his thoughts.

Aqualad, deadly silent, stands up as his chair dissolves into the Bio-Ship. He presses his symbol on his belt, and his entire suit switches to stealth mode. 

He nods.

"Ready."

A hole appears in the Bio-Ship below him, and Aqualad plunges into the Caribbean Sea gracefully, barely making a splash.

"Putting Bio-Ship in camouflage mode," Miss Martian announces, and the entire Bio-Ship, like a chameleon, shifts color to become a slightly blurry image of the world around it.

Beneath the water, Aqualad propels himself in the water with speed, avoiding underwater mines with careful intent.

Getting blown up is not a fun way to go.

Upon reaching the giant net that surrounds the isle, Aqualad creates a sword with his water-bearers and cuts through a section of the net, before slipping inside.

Upon reaching the beach, he takes a single moment to calm himself, before he jumps out of the water and springs towards a camera that he is conveniently just out of the view of. He places a silver and red disruptor on it and waits a moment, before relaying information through the comms.

"Heat and motion sensors are patched," He tells the Team through his comms, "Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."

Above him in the pouring rain, the barely noticeable Bio-Ship slips silently through the sky.

...

"Drop-Zone B," Miss Martian announces as they stop, hovering over a break in the canopy. 

All remaining heroes stand, and Miss Martian conjures rappel lines from the ceiling which Robin and Kid Flash attack themselves to.

Once attached, Kid Flash taps his lightning bolt emblem on his chest, and his suit quickly loses color until it's just grey and black, as opposed to the regular yellow and red.

"How cool is this?" He asks, not to anyone in particular, although Miss Martian is the one who answers.

"Very impressive." Her own clothes change from white, blue and red to black and red. Kid Flash looks stunned.

"Uh, that works too," he stutters out, before turning to where Storm is discarding his spear and sword on the ground. "Dude! Why are you ditching weapons?"

Storm straightens out, looking at Kid Flash before answering.

"They're gold and sparkly," He says, gesturing at his discarded weapons, "Which, pardon me if I'm wrong, don't correlate well with stealth. Plus, I still have my daggers and shield if fighting breaks out."

He taps on the W insignia on his armor, and it all darkens in color, changing from a lighter silver color to a much darker one. He looks slightly shocked that it worked.

"How in Hephaestus did that change the color of metal?" He mutters. 

Kid Flash turns his attention towards Superboy, who's clad in a S-shield tee and black combat pants and boots.

"Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech," He says. Superboy crosses his arms.

"No capes, no tights," He says, pausing for a second before adding on, "No offence."

"As long as he can fight in it, he can wear it," Storm says, "Although I personally prefer covering myself in armor, he's invulnerable and untrained in armored fighting so it's probably for the best."

On that note, they all jump out of a hole Miss Martian creates in the bottom of the Bio-Ship, with Robin and KF's lines lowering them safely to the ground, Miss Martian and Storm flying gently down and Superboy jumping down, creating a miniature crater in the ground.

He smirks.

"Knew I didn't need a line."

"And yet, creating a seismic event may not have helped much with the 'covert'," Robin says annoyedly.

"Aqualad, drop B is a go," Miss Martian reports through their comms.

...

Meanwhile, Aqualad is casually scaling a cliff, but he answers Miss Martians announcement.

"Head to the factory. I'll track your GPS and meet you ASAP."

...

"Roger that," Robin responds, using his holo-glove to find a route to the factory. 

Gesturing to the others, they all begin the long walk through the Santa Priscan forest, going past a waterfall, before entering landmine territory.

Robin pulls up his holo-glove again to find where the landmines are, and where the safest route is.

Around them the forest rustles, and Superboy narrows his eyes as he hears a twig snap.

"Did you hear that?" He asks. Kid Flash looks annoyed.

"Uhh no," He snarks, before quickly backtracking, "Is this a super-hearing thing?"

They're all silent for a moment, before KF turns towards where Robin should be.

"Okay Rob, now what?" He asks, but stops short when he realizes Robin has disappeared. "Man, I hate it when he does that."

"It's a stupid thing to do," Storm says, "One day it'll get him killed."

"That's a bit pessimistic," Miss Martian disagrees. Aqualad's voice cuts through their beginnings of an argument.

"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked," He orders.

"Kid Flash silently drops his googles down over his eyes, switching on infrared mode and seeing multiple human shaped blobs of heat.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," He reports. Superboy looks in the other direction and sees some more.

"Two squads," He corrects, "But they'll meet each other before they find us."

The four of them head closer to the squads and take shelter behind a rock to hide.

Suddenly, gunfire breaks out between the two squads as they meet. 

"No super-hearing required now," Kid Flash comments.

"Swing wide, steer clear," Aqualad commands, although it is seemingly ignored by Kid Flash.

"Yeah yeah," He says, already beginning to stand up, "Just as soon as I find Rob."

He takes off running along the wet path in front of them, despite Storm's attempt to grab him.

However the path rocky and slippery, and he quickly trips and falls, tumbling right into the open gunfight between Bane and his men and Kobra worshippers.

They all stop fighting and look at him.

"So much for stealthy," He mutters, as both squads ready their guns.

Chapter Text

Before

Percy looked at his friends. “I’m getting tired of this guy’s shirt.”

“Combat time?” Piper grabbed her horn of plenty.

“I hate Wonder bread,” Jason said.

Together, they charged.

Now

Santa Prisca,

July 22nd, 21:21 ECT

Bane's surprise only lasts for a second before he starts firing.

Cursing and dodging bullets with nothing but superspeed and luck, Kid Flash stands up and runs the opposite direction, coincidentally gaining the attention of the Kobra soldiers by doing so who also fire at him.

He curses some more.

From the bushes Superboy runs into the fray, muttering about incompetent speedsters as he jumps at Bane's blind spot, tackling him to the ground. Bane however quickly gets control of the skirmish and pins Superboy, which Storm and Miss Martian take as there cue to enter the fight.

Miss Martian throws the goon's guns into their heads knocking them out, while Storm uses his shield as a frisbee to dislodge Bane, before drawing his daggers and helping Miss Martian take down the numbers.

He mutters something about 'pulling a Captain America oh gods'.

Kid Flash continues to evade the bullets as a shadow drops down on two of them men.

Robin looks pissed.

"What is wrong with you guys?" He hisses, nerve striking the man he's on as he kicks the other in the face, "Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?"

Kid Flash hits another assailant, glaring at Robin in the process.

"That's what you were doing?" He kicks and dodges his way around several goons, knocking a few to the ground, "Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers you know."

Behind him Miss Martian throws some men into a tree telepathically.

"Er... I'm not anyway," He amends, before dodging out of the way of more fire.

"You told me I could only read bad guy's minds," Miss Martian complains from where she hovers, diverting bullets around her for a second before flicking her wrist and sending the men's guns into their faces, knocking them to the ground.

As Robin's attention wavers for a slight second, a Kobra operative attempts to attack from behind him. Before he can hit however, Aqualad's water-bearers hit him across the back, and Aqualad grabs him, tattoos glowing with electricity as the man falls to the ground, unconscious.

...

Now

Santa Prisca, 

July 22nd, 21:37 ECT

"I recognize these uniforms," Robin announces as he observes the tied up goons, "They belong to the Cult of The Kobra."

Aqualad keeps a hawk's eye on Robin, in case he disappears again.

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's venom operation," He says, striding over to stare at Robin more closely.

"It would be dumb to not communicate all the details and knowledge one knows about a potentially life threatening mission," Storm agrees from where he hovers in the air, "It would mean that any plan created would be ineffective, although if it's not properly communicated, that's still the case."

Robin shoots him a small glare.

"There's no love lost between these cultists and those goons," He begins, tapping his finger on his chin, "I'm betting they came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it," Kid Flash says, looking annoyed at Robin, "Kobra wanted super cultists. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for-"

"These cultists aren't on venom," Robin cuts him off, matching his energy. "Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave. Not until I know why."

"Until you know why?" Kid Flash shoots back, sounding angrier as he goes and stands in Robin's personal space.

"This team needs a leader," Robin shoots back, standing up straighter.

"And it's you?!" Kid Flash sounds incredulous, "Dude you're a thirteen year old kid who ducked out on us without a word."

Robin laughs harshly.

"And you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover the first chance you got."

As the two of them argue pointlessly, truly showcasing why neither of them should be leader, Storm floats over to Superboy and Miss Martian, who quietly observe the bickering children.

Miss Martian finally breaks their silence.

"Don't you want to lead?" She directs the question at both boys.

Superboy shakes his head, directing the question back to her while Storm seems lost in thought.

"You?"

"After the Mister Twister fiasco?" She responds, looking off-put by the mere thought. Storm finally pipes up.

"You did all right. As for your earlier question... I don't like leading. When I was younger everyone expected me to lead a lot due to my heritage, and I thought I liked it, but it wasn't me."

Miss Martian surveyed the arguing boys and Aqualad, who looked slightly frustrated with them.

"If I'm being honest, I don't really want one of those two to lead us either," She admits.

"We're gonna force Kaldur to be leader?" Superboy asks.

"We're gonna force Kaldur to be leader," Miss Martian and Storm echo, agreeing with his decision.

A laugh startles Kid Flash and Robin out of their argument, and the Team (if you can call it that) all turn to see Bane awake and grinning from where he's tied up around a tree.

"Such clever niños. But you only know half the story," He says, obviously baiting them.

But, like the unsuspecting fish they are, they bite, showing obvious interest.

"Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance," He bargains. They all look at Miss Martian.

Her eyes glow slightly.

"There is a secret entrance," She announces, before continuing, "But he's also hiding something." Her tone is sour and the glowing of her eyes intensifies, but Bane clucks his tongue.

"Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane is not that easy." He sounds smug.

Miss Martian sighs as her eyes stop glowing, turning to face the rest of the Team.

"He's mentally reciting soccer scores in Spanish," She relays, "This could take a while."

Bane pipes up again before anyone else has a chance to.

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy if my friend."

The Team all exchange a look, before reluctantly nodding.

Bane grins.

...

Inside of the factory, venom production continues as normal.

A Kobra cultist approaches Kobra himself.

"Sublime Master, he approaches," They say, bowing. Kobra shows no emotions.

"Activate the radio jamming net. Nothing must interfere," Kobra instructs, waving them away with his hand.

The cultist nods, bows, and leaves.

...

Now

Santa Prisca,

July 22nd, 21:52 ECT

On top of a cliff overlooking the factory, Bane holds out his hand to point something out to the Team.

Robin and Kid Flash both step forward to get a look, Robin with binoculars, Kid Flash with his goggles. They both see a forklift carrying boxes of product.

"Look at all that product," Robin mutters, "A buy is going down."

Bane walks away from the cliffside, but the Team remain, although Storm keeps a close eye on him.

"But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then-" He's cut off by Aqualad.

"We need to identify that buyer."

"Just what I was thinking," Kid Flash announces, slightly proudly as he lifts his goggles and stands up straighter.

"Yeah. You're the thinker," Robin retorts sarcastically as he stashes away his binoculars.

"Sarcasm?" Kid Flash questions, annoyed. "Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers."

The three of them join Storm in observing Bane as he lifts a giant rock, revealing an entrance to an old mine.

Miss Martian and Superboy exchange a look of annoyance at the others bickering.

"Answers are this way," Bane says, gesturing down the mineshaft. He says nothing more as he begins to walk down, the teens reluctantly following him a few seconds later.

"Great," Kid Flash mutters, "Now el Luchador is our leader."

Robin smacks him angrily, before stalking off further down the mine shaft.

Kid Flash turns to the others and shrugs.

The seven of them make their way down the mine shaft until they reach a giant metal door, which Bane uses his fingerprint to unlock.

As it opens, they find themselves on the factory floor, behind some giant tubes of venom. Robin checks for anyone.

"All clear," He says, before hurrying off to the next hidden location.

The rest of them follow, but when they reach it, the boy wonder's gone.

"Has that little fool already been captured?" Bane asks, sounding annoyed at the prospect of a rescue.

Aqualad shakes his head.

"No." His voice gives away his own annoyance. "He just does that."

Kid Flash puts his goggles on and, challenged by Robin's apparent competence, makes a dumb decision.

"Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before boy wonder." By the time he's finished his sentence he's already off.

"Wait Kid!" Aqualad hisses, reaching out a hand desperately to grab onto the fleeing boy.

Bane snorts and looks at the remaining four with a smug smile.

"Great chain of command."

The sarcasm rings true.

Above them, Robin runs across a catwalk.

...

Now

Santa Prisca

July 22nd, 22:01 ECT

Inside the command room of the factory, a Kobra cultist is working on the computers.

Only a small swish indicates any other life in the room, before a Batarang hits the computer next to them, causing a slight spark.

In the time it takes for them to look at it, it already releases a green gas and the Kobra agent slumps to the ground, unconscious.

Robin appears from the shadows with a rebreather on, as he grabs the agent and shoves them out of the chair, taking the seat.

On the other side of the factory, Miss Martian, Storm, Aqualad, and Superboy are crouched behind a not in use assembly line. Bane is behind some nearby crate boxes.

"It's a massive shipment," Aqualad observes, something like shock in his voice.

"Yeah, but they're only take new product off the line," Superboy adds, "They're not touching this venom."

He gestures to the boxes Bane hides behind.

"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian suggests half-heartedly.

"Maybe it's a 'we're better so our venom is better' kind of deal?" Storm wonders.

"Or maybe it's not venom at all," Aqualad states, looking at the purple colored fluid that is not red.

Superboy hears something.

"Helicopter's coming," He says.

They crouch in silence for a while, until the others can also hear the distant sound of helicopter blades.

...

The computer Robin's working on shows many chemical formulas and other science stuff.

Kid Flash appears behind him and takes a bite out of a snack bar.

"What you got?" He asks, mouth still full of food.

"Chemical formulas," Robin replies, as Kid Flash joins him at the computer, "I'm guessing it involves venom, but..."

He trails off unsure. Kid Flash looks closer.

"That one's venom," He says, pointing at one of the formulas on the screen, "This one's... whoa. The Blockbuster formula from Cadmus. Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times stronger than venom... and permanent."

He turns to Robin, a horrified look on his face.

"But how did Kobra get access to Project Blockbuster?"

"Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier," Robin realizes, "Using the cult to create the Blockbuster-venom super-formula."

He stands up, his hand to his comm.

"Robin to Aqualad we got-" He stops and looks worried as Kid Flash turns from the computer, "... static."

...

Now

Santa Prisca,

July 22nd, 22:13 ECT

From the helicopter exits a buff man of European descent, armed to the teeth, with blonde hair and a grey hockey mask concealing his identity.

He walks between the two rows of assembled cultists to where Kobra, and the girl who injected the boy with the super-formula, stand.

"Lord Kobra," The man greets.

"Sportsmaster," Kobra returns, as the girl behind him steps forward. "The shipment is ready."

The girl opens the box she holds to reveal multiple vials of a purply-blue liquid.

Sportsmaster picks one up.

"The new KobraVenom?" He asks.

Kobra gestures behind him, to where the transformed boy stands.

"A complete success. Our friends will not be disappointed."

"This is a game changer," Sportsmaster states, flicking the vial up and catching it. "Finally, we can go mano-a-mano with the Justice League."

Above them, Miss Martian in her camouflage form hovers.

Aqualad, sending a telepathic image of the buyer now.

...

On a catwalk in the factory, Aqualad receives a telepathic image while Bane, Superboy, and Storm keep watch.

"Sportsmaster," He voices, catching the attention of the others, "He's the buyer?"

He looks over at the others shocked, before bringing his hand up to his ear.

"Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?"

Nothing.

He huffs in annoyance, looking over to the others.

"Can't reach the League, Kid Flash, or Robin," He explains, "Comms jammed. We need a plan, now."

Bane sees an opening.

"I have a suggestion."

He jumps over the railing with a battle cry.

"Shit."

Chapter Text

Before

Jason had described her well. Even without that, Annabeth would have singled her out as the leader.

Annabeth started to object that she wasn’t the leader of the quest. Not officially.

But she wondered if her friends on the Argo II would agree.

The past few days, they had been looking to her for orders—even Jason, who could have pulled rank as the son of Jupiter, and Coach Hedge, who didn’t take orders from anyone.

Now

Santa Prisca,

July 22nd, 22:31 ECT

The Kobra agents are knocked unconscious due to surprise and Bane's speed.

He's good at that.

Not at stealth, apparently.

That last statement is further proved by the gunshot that echoes through the factory and undoubtedly the island as one of the Kobra agents attempts to fire before being knocked down.

Sportsmaster and Kobra definitely heard that.

"What is he-" Aqualad's desperate question is cut off by the sound of the monster, the mammoth, charging through glass and the catwalk in an unintelligent rage.

Kobra stands behind the destroyed wall.

"Destroy them," He commands.

Mammoth charges.

Superboy meets him halfway and the two begin to duke it out, destroying the factory in the process.

As gunfire begins, Aqualad uses a water-bearer to create a shield, while the other one fires projectiles at the attackers, knocking them to the floor when they get a hit.

Storm meanwhile creates an electric bubble around him that has enough watts in it to power a washing machine for 1176 hours, a vacuum for 98 hours and a television for 980 hours per second, to stop the bullets from hitting him. (see end notes)

Luckily he an Aqualad are on opposite sides of the destroyed catwalk, otherwise Aqualad would for sure be dead.

The bullets fall to the ground around him, stripped of their speed, as he throws daggers at people, carefully making sure that they hit people in the hilts.

He uses the wind to return them to himself.

Miss Martian, still in camouflage mode, throws goons around with her telekinesis, although Sportsmaster quickly spots her and narrows his eyes.

Behind a large container, Bane chuckles to himself at the chaos, no one yet noticing his disappearance.

Superboy, who is fighting Mammoth, is chucked into a large storage container and receives an uppercut to the face, although he is quick to return the favor and leaps back at Mammoth, continuing their fight of strength.

Sportsmaster brings out one of his javelins, and he takes aim at the flying Miss Martian, who barely dodges out of the way. Her dodge proves to be useless, however, as the javelin explodes right next to her and sends her flying to the top of a container, visible and unconscious.

On a separate catwalk to the destroyed one, Robin and Kid Flash exit the control room and observe the chaos, exchanging a look that communicates a long time of friendship and understanding in it, before Kid Flash runs off one way and Robin heads back the way they came, a mischievous smirk on his face. 

The onslaught of fire is getting to Aqualad, and he ducks behind a large cannister to take a small break, only to notice two Kobra agents there, readying their guns.

Before they can fire, a flash of grey and orange steals their guns and knocks them out, slowing and revealing themself as Kid Flash.

Aqualad breathes a small sigh of relief.

The calm is short lived, as three more cultists take the place of their fallen comrades and the two of them duck behind pillars to avoid getting shot.

Aqualad reaches for his comm, before remembering that they're jammed. Looking around, he sees Miss Martian coming too behind him and makes a decision.

"Miss Martian!" He yells, jumping into the fray of men shooting at him and taking them down, "Radio is jammed! Link us up!"

Her eyes widen as she processes what he asked her, before she brings her hand to her head.

Everybody on?

Her voice sounds slightly dazed from being knocked out but it rings clear in all of their minds.

Yeah. 

Superboy affirms as he punches Mammoth, his dislike for having voices in his mind very obvious.

You know it beautiful.

Kid Flash flirts, although bullets still miss him by milliseconds.

If you can hear me, than yes. Shit wait Superboy are those guys breathing?

Storm releases an electrical storm around him, knocking cultists back where they lie, unmoving.

Superboy strains his ears for a second as he throws Mammoth into a wall.

Don't worry. A couple of them may have cardio problems for the rest of their lives but they're breathing.

Storm's tension dissipating can be felt over the mind-link.

Good. We need to regroup.

Aqualad orders, ignoring the last few statements thought over the link.

Robin's stressed and focused voice comes through everyone's minds.

Busy now.

Outside, Robin grits his teeth.

...

Outside, where Sportsmaster's helicopter sits, waiting to be powered on again, Kobra and the woman who injected Mammoth stand together.

Robin lands on the helicopter pad.

Kobra notices him immediately.

"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to challenge me," The God says, smirking.

Robin does his best to ignore the insult, although it festers under his skin.

"What's wrong Koby?" He taunts, "You look disconcerted."

Kobra obviously decides that Robin is not worth his time.

"This is beneath me," He declares, gesturing to the woman next to him. "Shimmer, take him."

The woman, Shimmer, runs at Robin, who smirks and flips over her initial attack, getting into a fighting position.

Aqualad's voice sounds through his head.

Robin, now.

The youngest grits his teeth as Shimmer comes back at him, ready to punch him.

He drops a flash grenade, and as both Shimmer and Kobra block their eyes, he disappears without a trace.

Bats.

...

Aqualad uses his water-bearers to create whips that take out Kobra cultists en masse, while Storm has switched to just daggers after the earlier cardio scare.

They've taken out at least 100 Kobra cultists, but for everyone that falls, two more take their place and this is quickly becoming a battle they can't win.

Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path.

Aqualad orders as Kid Flash takes out seven Kobra agents with his speed.

The rest of them, sans Superboy who is still engaging with Mammoth, make their way through the opening Kid Flash had created, to another mineshaft (or is it the same one?), although Storm hesitates and looks back at Superboy with worried eyes before heading through.

With a burst of strength, Superboy throws Mammoth away and runs to the opening, glancing back and seeing the army of people all advancing.

He decides to take initiative and punches out the support beams, collapsing the front of the tunnel and blocking the entrance.

He almost is hit by the debris, but Storm, in a display of pure power, solidifies the air above him for a second and grabs him, pulling him through and into the safety zone just as it falls.

On the other side of the rubble, Kobra cultists survey the destruction with Mammoth, before turning away.

...

Now

Santa Prisca, 

July 22nd, 22:45 ECT

From the darkness of the collapsed shaft, Aqualad cracks a glow-stick, and a faint light lights the mineshaft.

Robin stands with his back to Aqualad, observing the cave-in, his mood somber. Kid Flash leans heavily against a wall, catching his breath, and Storm, Miss Martian and Superboy stand to one side, looking at each silently.

Robin's the first to break the silence.

"How can my first mission as leader go so wrong?" He laments. Aqualad is silent for a moment as he considers what to say, before piping up calmly.

"You do have the most experience," He begins, considering his words carefully, "But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared."

The rest of the Team all focus on Robin's body language.

Aqualad presses on.

"Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are clearly defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader needs to be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish ad expect others to play part in an 'unknown plan'."

Robin whips around angrily.

"What, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" He quips back sarcastically, before the fight seems to leave him. "Ah, who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur. You're the only one who can."

Superboy, Storm and Miss Martian exchange a smile, even as Kid Flash protests.

"Please! I can run circles-"

"Wally, come on." Robin cuts him off. "You know he's the one, we all do."

The two of them look at the others, who are all smiling knowingly.

"Hello Megan, it's so obvious," Miss Martian exclaims, grinning as she puts a hand on her hip.

"Coulda told ya," Superboy adds, leaning against a support beam.

"We had an unspoken agreement that if the leader wasn't Kaldur, we would stage a coup and force Kaldur into leadership, with or without his consent," Storm adds, as they all in sync look at Kid Flash.

He groans.

Then smiles.

"Okay."

"Then I accept the burden," Aqualad states gravely, as he walks towards Robin and puts his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon."

He turns back towards the others.

"Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."

Robin laughs, and smirks.

"Funny. I had the same thought."

...

The helicopter won't start.

"Sabotage." Sportsmaster doesn't even have to guess who's behind it. "Robin."

"Undoubtedly," Kobra agrees, voice full of annoyance. He turns to Shimmer. "Find the problem. Fix it."

She bows and walks away as a small battalion of cultists and Mammoth step forward.

"Master, shall we send search parties after the intruders?" One asks, bowing.

"Don't be absurd," Kobra snarls back, "They'll come to us."

...

Now

Santa Prisca,

July 22nd, 22:51 ECT

"Sportsmaster's the supplier-slash-buyer." Robin fills the rest of the Team in as they run down the mineshaft. "But it doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work."

"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage," Kid Flash adds as he runs, human speeds, next to Robin.

"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'," Aqualad sums up, coming to a stop as they see Bane standing at the exit from the mineshaft.

He has something in his hand.

"Halt niños," Bane commands, as they all stop in front of him, "I'm feeling explosive."

He has a detonator in his hand.

A detonator for the bombs that he's placed on the beams above them.

Shit.

Aqualad speaks up, sounding honestly confused.

"You betrayed us. Why?"

"I want my factory back," Bane states simply, his thumb fiddling with the button.

Kid, you'll need a running start.

Kid Flash takes a few small steps backwards.

"So, I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying," Bane continues, smirking at his genius. "If the latter, the Justice League would certainly come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more."

He holds out his hand with the detonator, so that the children can see him press the button.

"Blowing the tunnel with you inside it should have the same effect."

He presses his thumb down.

On air?

A voice behind him sounds.

"With what?" Kid Flash asks, a familiar little contraption in his hand, "This trigger thingy?"

Bane growls in frustration, and goes to punch Kid Flash, but is seized by an invisible force and lifted in the air.

Superboy gets in position.

"Finally," He comments, sounding nonchalant, before turning to Miss Martian with a grin, "Drop him."

She does as instructed.

Bane goes flying.

...

The helicopter blades whirl as they pick up speed, boxes of product being loaded into them.

A cultist approached where Sportsmaster and Kobra stand, a silver box in Sportsmaster's grip.

They bow.

"The helicopter is operational, exalted one," They state calmly.

Sportsmaster begins to head towards the helicopter, only to stop as Kid Flash attacks cultists nearby.

Everything dissolves into chaos.

"Take the shipment!" Kobra yells, as Superboy, a hot new bombshell, enters the villa.

The boy looks at Mammoth.

"Go again?" He asks, cracking his knuckles.

The monster roars in response as Kid Flash takes out any cultists in the way of this legendary rematch.

Mammoth runs at Superboy, but when he is mere meters away, a current of water hits him away, with Aqualad wielding his water-bearers.

Superboy smiles with fake empathy.

"Sorry. Not the plan."

Sportsmaster launches an attack on Superboy from behind, using his distraction as an advantage, although the bright red lasers that fire do very little to seriously injure the hero.

In the chaos, Miss Martian goes unseen.

... that is until, she swoops in to try and help Superboy, which is when Sportsmaster hits her and gets her in a chokehold.

Kid Flash grabs a Kobra cultist's mask as he knocks them out, grinning and mouthing the word 'souvenir' as he joins Storm in creating opposing winds to bash the cultists into each other.

Nearby, taking a step back to avoid the strong gales, Shimmer and Kobra stare slightly horrified at their worst nightmare:

Children united under a common goal of chaos.

Something catches Shimmer around the foot and knocks her to the ground unconscious, as Kobra whips around and glares at Robin, who smirks.

"I know you hate getting your hands dirty," The boy says, looking at ease and mischievous.

Kobra heaves a great sigh as he sheds his cloak, as if the thought of what comes next physically pains him.

"True, but sometimes even a god must stoop to conquer."

Robin charges, but every attack he makes is blocked easily, and Kobra quickly counters with his own, which pins Robin to the ground.

"What's wrong boy? You look disconcerted."

Kobra raises his fists to bring them down upon Robin's face, when Storm barrels into the side of Kobra, sending them both tumbling.

They both get up and circle each other.

"You know, I've met a lot of gods in my life," Storm says conversationally, "Fought a lot too. Comes with the job. But you, you fake god who's hasn't seen the sun in his life and has horrible fashion taste, you might just be up there on my least favorite list. Congrats, you are just as bitchy as Queen Dirt Face and Mr. Fifty Super-yacht. Here's your reward: my disrespect."

Kobra yells in insult and lunges at Storm, who manages to hold his own purely through luck, skill, and power.

Robin quickly recovers and helps Storm, the two uniting in perfect synchrony under one common goal: Be better than Kobra.

Meanwhile Aqualad fuses electricity through his water-bearers to Mammoth, who yelps in agony before collapsing, twitching slightly. Aqualad puts away his water-bearers and observes the chaos with a small, proud, smile.

After reaching the door to the hangar of his helicopter, Sportsmaster calls out.

"Thanks for the workout, but I gotta fly!"

He takes a break from shooting Superboy just long enough to throw Miss Martian at him, bowling Superboy over as if he was a bowling pin and Miss Martian was a bowling ball.

The Helicopter takes off just as Storm and Robin push Kobra near the edge of the forest, all three of them panting from exertion.

Kobra smirks, looking at the retreating helicopter.

Miss Martian, from where she's sitting up just next to Superboy, pulls out a familiar detonator and presses it, grinning at Superboy.

The explosives inside the helicopter beep once before exploding, and Sportsmaster jumps out of the helicopter with a parachute after seeing that he's lost control.

The chopper crashes into the roof of the factory, and an explosion warms the air as the Team observe, watching their contribution to climate change.

Kobra glares and melts into a tree, uncovering his true colors as a wood nymph.

From the top of a cliff, tied to a different tree, Bane watches, anger covering his face.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

July 23rd, 01:06 EDT

"A simple recon mission."

Batman sounds tired and angry as he looks dead into Aqualad's eyes, a slight tinge of disbelief in there too.

"Observe and report."

He backs off.

"You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes... Until then, good job."

They exchange stunned looks.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character."

Robin and Aqualad look at each other, a smile of knowing between them.

One day.

...

N̴̨̧̧̛̤̯̝̺͉͕͉̥̟̪̜̩̖͔͙͓̳͚̬͕̲̙̹̑̀͆͆̉̒͊͆̎̍̉̃͛̑̄͆̓͘͜͜ͅȏ̸̡̦̭̼́́̄͐́̉̋̓͂͒͘͠w̸̨͖͍̺͖̰̮̻͈̳͚͓̮͓̅̒͛̐̑̈́̊̒̍̿̾̏̇̾̾͗͆̊͝͠?̵̢̡̨̢̛̟̙̝̖̜͔͈͓̬̥̣͙̼̪̥̞̱̩͑̾͂́͋̈́̃̈́̑̍̿̈́̍̇͌̄͗̿́̽̀͋̆̋̓̈́̓͘̚ ̴͍͚͎͊͌̔̿́̎́̀̑̔͌́̅͌́̆̓̈́̒̅̈́͆̀͆̚̚͝B̴̢̼͕̩̠͇̹̪̰̠̼͍͓̫̖͈̬͒̏́e̸̜̞̠͕͇̳̹͔̟̠̲͕̹̪̲̺̱͇̩͍̗͎͓̝̗̿̔͐͑̽͂͐̒͜͜f̶̡̢͚͐͌̈́ő̸͔̹͈̱͔̘̣̤͇͔̣͚̫̘͇̖̣̖̫̭͙̲͙͔̤̼̿̉̎̚͜͜r̴̡̧̖̘̺̻̦͓͇̻̜̺̼̫͍͕̊͋͑́́̆͒̄͝e̷̛͖͕̠͇͐̋̅̽̑̇̽́͌̂͂̈̋̋͐̿͊̒͘̕?̸̛̠̦̈́͒̽́̉́̎̈́̓̏̅̍͋̕ ̸̭̮̒̆͑̈́̒̂͗̎͑͊̆̽͊̓̏̎͑͛͑̏͛̽̒̀̌̚͜͠ͅͅT̵̛̝͕̦̖̖̣͕̗̠̬͈̥̹͉̱̜̥̫̄͒̅̔̏́́͒̈́̎̋͜͝͠ō̸̢͓̰̱̉̓̆͒̈́̏̀̽͗͒̉̽́̊̚̚ͅ ̷̨̪̝͈̟͕̿͛͘b̷̛͕͉̯͎͎̓̀̌͌͗̎̀͋̈́̈̅͒͐̇̊̿̀̉͐̈́͘͠͠ȩ̶̢̨̜̻̥̙͕͑̒͌̀̍̀̊͜?̸̧̨̛̻̩̼͎̼̝̙̪̞̘͇͍͓̰͍̖̩̘̮̭͖͕̟̠̲͎̼͑͋̓̅̓͑̒̈̑̓͊̕͝ͅ

L̵̢̢̢̡̞͈̰̹̖̣͖͎̻̝̞̩̞̩͇̳̖̀̈̋̽͒̀͒̓̇̽̑̂͝ǫ̸̲̱̰̺̗̬̖̜̮̺͔̳̹̲̳̀͜ͅͅc̵̢̡̡̪͇̰̘̼̺͖̰͎̍̏́͊̀́̍̚͘͜ą̵͉̻̻͔̭̰̗̳̝̘̝̫̦͑͊́̾̌̌̌͊̕͝t̷̪͇̝͚̽̽̈́̈́ī̷̹̝̯̟̳̲͚̭̬̫̪̫̮̭̝̗͕̪̈́́̉̈́̀̎̃̋̏̀̆͊̀͑̊̈̚͘͜o̷̡̘͓̱̯̝͎͓̺͎̠̺̩͕̯̠̐̉͊̓̀̅͒̉̈̂̓̄̾̔̂̊̅̓͐̕n̵͈͇͔͍̜͎̈́̉͆̓͑͛̉̔̿̈́́̃̽͘͘̕͜ ̸̝͇̯̹̹̣̗͙̗̹̪̪͋͊̓͋̅̈́͐͐͜Ṷ̸̡̦̰̲̲̤̤̘̗̼̀̈̀̎́̒́͋̏̌̓̈́̒̿̂͘̕͜n̸̜̥̙̩͚̭͛͋̃̈́̈́̑̊̽͆̊̽́̚͜ḱ̴͓̯͈͓̱͕̹̀̉̚ǹ̷̨̡̳̺͖͚̩͉͕̦̹̟͂̀̓͐̓̈̓̀̄̆̄͐͛͐̔͘͠ͅǫ̸̨̨̩͈̘͓̤̰̼̥̼͓͚̟̟̘̥̤̳̆̎̍̏͑͘͝w̶͇̹̞͎͇̙̹̪̅̏͜͝͝ͅn̷͖͍͖̳̼̮͇̯̩̻̝͚̤̟͈̠̬̲̼̔̍͂͘͜

S̷͇͝p̴͓͕̎̅o̴̬̭͖̯͑̕r̴̤̓̀̕t̵̡͆̄̇s̴̨̲̿̔m̶̖͍͔̑̎a̸͓̅̅ͅs̶̢̖̓͛͜ṯ̷̖̓̽̀͊͜ͅĕ̴̢̧̳r̸̛̬͆͗ ̸̱͙̓̆s̷̛̭͉̖̽t̸̲̠̜̏̐́̔ä̷̫̹̠́̉͂̕ṉ̶̲̱̟̈͛͠d̶͎͑͒͠ș̵͓͔̓ͅ ̸̧̙̟̍̂̾i̴̢̎́͑̓n̷̡̡̺̦̂̈ ̷̡͂̑͝f̵̗͇̀̍r̷̢͙͇̋̿͋ô̶͖̫̩̣n̸̨̳͚̈́̓̿̚t̵̛̬̗͒ ̵͕̄̊ỏ̶̡̱̎̚͠f̷͚͓̝̘͋͌ ̸̨̠͚͎͛̿ṣ̶̤̓̂c̵̤̈́r̵͚̺͛̉̓̋e̴̪̯͖̟̒̽e̸͈̗̺̖̊̓ņ̸̠͇̱͊̽̍̊s̸̛̠̦̗̄̓͜,̵̡̻̓́̃ ̷͔͕̽̇ë̷̙̱a̸̡͕͂͝c̸̡̡̮̙̽́́̅h̶̖̮̤̿̆̓ͅ ̶̛̦͊̂w̶͉̫̘͈̔͌͊̑i̵̛̖̤͚ẗ̶̢͓́͝h̴̨̖̖̎̆͒̔ ̴̦̽ã̴͖͇͍ ̶̮̓̍͋̇w̵͙͙̉̇̋h̶̡̥̼̑̋i̴̼̱̽͂͑͜͝t̷̢̖̖̋e̸̢̥͔̍̃͑̕ ̴̹̈́̂̈́͜͠h̷͕̺̙͎́͂̔̕o̷͍̭͐̓ḻ̷̀̀̂ỏ̷͕͕͈̑̉ģ̸͍̈́̎̔͘r̸̬̳̱̃̕á̷̢̀̿͂m̵̡͎̪̗̌̽͘ ̷̫̩̀̽ŏ̵̱̣̯͌̏͘n̵̤͉̻̓ ̸̠͇̥̊i̷͔͉̓͐t̷͓̙̒͝.̸͖͘ ̶̜̬̲̺̾̀̀I̸̡̼͚͉̐̅̚ǹ̸̪͚́̅̃ ̶̨̍̅̈́͝h̷̹͂͂i̴͎̱̾̂ͅś̴͎̒̅͐ ̵̽͘͜h̵̯̓͘a̵̰̼̍n̴̲̖̼̈́d̷̥͈̣̜̀̾̽̿,̶̭̪̒̉͒͘ ̶̜̪͂a̷̙̫͕͊̆̈́ ̵̨͙̑̑ś̴̢̡̳̦̄͠ì̶͍̈́ͅǹ̸͙͎͐͐g̴̫̖̺͊̀͜͝ḻ̷̥̇͐e̷̺̰͍̮̍͌ ̷̮͈̼̼̑s̵̫͊͊̈́ä̷̪̠́͑̐ṃ̴̟̱͜͠͝p̴̪͕͑̓̕l̸̺͑̑͘ȩ̸̡̪̰̎ ̵̡͎͎̍̇̑o̷̩̲̣͆f̶̜̻̮͒͋͠ ̴͕͎͐͆̊͘K̵͚͚͗͝o̷͇͜͠ḅ̴̬̜͇̉̌͛̚r̶̖̄͒̊́ă̵̝-̴̡̥̼̟̏̀̓v̴̲̽͛̆ę̷̜͉̚ň̷͙̪̃̂͠o̵̲̱̦͊̈̒͒m̷͓̅̈́͠͝.̴͉̪͛

A̷l̶l̴ ̷I̸ ̵r̸e̵c̴o̶v̸e̶r̶e̷d̷ ̴i̵s̶ ̷a̴ ̴s̷i̵n̶g̵l̶e̵ ̴a̴m̵p̷o̵u̷l̴e̶ ̸o̷f̷ ̴K̴o̸b̶r̶a̸-̵V̷e̷n̷o̴m̷.̵

P̸e̵u̷t̴-̵ê̴t̶r̵e̸,̵ ̵t̵h̷e̶ ̴d̴r̷u̴g̸ ̷c̶a̸n̵ ̴b̴e̴ ̵r̸e̶v̷e̸r̶s̶e̸-̵e̸n̷g̸i̴n̸e̶e̶r̷e̷d̵.̶ ̶M̸a̵i̷s̸ ̴w̶h̴a̴t̸ ̵o̴f̷ ̴o̵u̸r̸ ̸y̸o̵u̴n̸g̶ ̸h̶e̷r̴o̷e̸s̸?̷ ̴F̸i̵r̷s̴t̶ ̵C̷a̵d̴m̷u̵s̶,̷ ̷t̸h̸e̸n̶ ̷M̷o̵n̴s̵i̶e̴u̵r̸ ̶T̵w̸i̴s̸t̶e̸r̵.̸ ̶N̵o̸w̷ ̷S̷a̴n̴t̷a̸ ̶P̷r̵i̴s̴c̵a̶.̴

V̴A̸N̶D̷A̷L̶ ̷S̴A̵V̸A̶G̴E̶:̸ ̷O̴n̶c̴e̴ ̷i̷s̵ ̸h̶a̸p̵p̶e̸n̴s̷t̶a̸n̸c̶e̶.̷ ̸T̴w̴i̵c̴e̷ ̴i̸s̵ ̶c̶o̷i̵n̶c̶i̶d̵e̴n̶c̵e̵.̵ ̸B̴u̸t̸ ̷t̸h̸r̶e̶e̷ ̴t̶i̸m̷e̸s̸ ̴i̸s̵ ̵e̷n̵e̷m̶y̷ ̵a̴c̵t̶i̸o̵n̵.̵ ̸A̵n̸d̷ ̸e̴n̴e̷m̸i̵e̶s̷ ̸o̵f̵ ̸t̸h̵e̶ ̵l̷i̷g̵h̴t̷ ̸m̴u̵s̴t̴ ̶n̵o̶t̴ ̴s̷t̵a̶n̸d̷.̶

Something is interfering with our connection. 

Someone.

Chapter Text

Before

The fire reflected in Chiron’s eyes, making them dance fretfully.

“I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason. He had a hard path. I’ve seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally, they have happy endings. Mostly, they don’t. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you—you are not like any pupil I’ve ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster.”

“Thanks,” Jason said. “You must be an inspiring teacher.”

Now

Metropolis, 

August 3rd, 07:38 EDT

The school commute is well underway in central Metropolis, with school buses carrying young, unenthusiastic, children across the picturesque river via a bridge.

The top of the market skyscraper on the river bank, the local Wayne Enterprise, currently hosts one of the richest men in the world in his office, observing the morning commute with a seriousness only those close to him know him for.

Bruce Wayne sips his coffee.

He misses Gotham.

Suddenly, the suspension bridge cracks.

Concrete isn't supposed to crack.

Especially when it's a bridge.

As suspension cables fall, one of the school buses breaks sharply, although it is all in vain as the multiple vehicles who couldn't slow down fast enough hit the bus, sending it dangerously careening over the edge of the bridge.

Bruce Wayne walks swiftly to a bust of Alfred he commissioned a few years ago, and flicks the head off, revealing a button which opens one of the locked draws of his desk, where a Batman suit lies folded.

He hesitates to grab it as he hears a sonic boom.

As he suspected, Superman flies towards the bridge, although he goes to the supports, instead of for the leaning vehicles.

He uses his heat vision to melt the support beams back together as he strains over 900,000 tons like a champ.

A distant sound grows louder, as Superboy makes his way over to the accident site, landing on top of the bridge, causing Superman a bit more pain that he honestly deserves.

Superboy ignores this in favor of going to help the vehicles that are dangerously close to falling into the river, grabbing a white car and putting it safely, firmly, back on the bridge.

He then goes to help the school bus, unaware of one emo billionaire watching him through rich person binoculars.

He grabs the bus, just as it tipped slightly more to the water and the children in it scream, from the bumper and pulls, straining as he makes good work pulling the bus back onto the bridge.

The wait of the bus is suddenly relieved from him, and he looks up, slightly annoyed, at Superman who had used his superior knowledge of physics, no doubt from years of schooling that Superboy is yet to receive, as he hovers 5 meters above him holding the bus above his head.

He floats down like an angel, and puts the bus aside gently, like one does to a sleeping child, as the inhabitants of the bus stare in wonder. (woman)

Superboy glares at him.

"I had that," He says, watching as Superman's eyes fill with something akin to disgust.

"I didn't want to take the chance," Superman replies, voice carefully neutral, "As it is, your landing could've destabilized the entire bridge."

"It didn't."

"But it could have," Superman persists, "We don't yet know the limits of your powers."

Superboy hesitates, a fraction of his insecurity showing on his face before he takes the chance and extends an olive branch.

"Well, maybe, you could, you know, help me figure that out."

Superman looks away and replies in a monotone voice, that sounds like he's practiced in the mirror for this very moment.

"Batman's got that covered."

"I know, but-" Superboy tries again, only to be cut off by Superman's communicator beeping.

The man turns it on instantly.

"Superman," He states, eyes widening slightly as he walk away from Superboy, listening to what is being relayed to him. "Wait, Arrow, slow down. What's attacking?" 

He hesitates, no doubt listening to Green Arrow's reply.

"No, I'm definitely available. Coordinates? Acknowledged, on my way."

He turns to Superboy, to Conner, for a second, a flicker of uncertainty on his face.

"Sorry, Super... boy," He says, the words sounding like ash in his mouth, "Duty calls."

He takes off, flying into the clear blue sky to the astonishment of the school children on the bus.

Conner glares at the fading speck, hating how vulnerable and worthless one conversation with the man can make him feel.

He turns to the bus.

...

As Superman flies, his communicator beeps once more, which he turns on after glancing at it for a second.

"Already got the alert, Bruce."

Inside Wayne Enterprise, in his office, Bruce stands, watching the speck that is Superman get smaller.

"I know Clark, but we need to talk."

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 3rd, 13:06 EDT

Wally and Jason are playing air hockey.

Wally is winning.

Recognized

Superboy, B-04

Conner storms in in a bad mood, walking right through Wally and Jason's air hockey game, causing it to disintegrate. Jason breathes a sigh of relief at no longer having to play, while the others who had gathered round the game looked at Conner, their faces a mix of curiosity and apprehension.

M'gann decides to break the tension first.

"Hi Conner, how was Metropolis?"

He doesn't answer her, continuing to storm (heh) his was into the rest of the cave, before the Zeta-beam goes off again.

Recognized

Black Canary, 1-3

Martian Manhunter, 0-7

"Ready for training everyone?" Black Canary asks as she exits the tube, Martian Manhunter following behind her.

M'gann whirls around, her optimism springing her to react first.

"Black Canary! Uncle J'onn!" She throws herself into a hug with her uncle, who doesn't hug back but does place his head on hers before she backs up.

"M'gann," He greets, fondness in his tone, "I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting."

She beams at him as he places his hand on her shoulder.

"A few bumps, but I'm learning," She assures him, and he smiles back happily.

"That's all I can ask."

Conner watches from a corner, before turning to head to his room.

Black Canary's voice cuts him off.

"Stick around. Class is in session."

Superboy turns around, but crosses his arms and looks unhappy about it.

Black Canary pays him no mind, however, and walks to the middle of the room, activating the training floor.

"I consider it an honor to be your teacher," She prefaces, beginning to take off her jacket. "I'll throw a lot at you, everything I've learned from my own mentors."

She winces as her jacket grazes over a new bandage, but takes it off fully anyway.

"And my own bruises," She finishes, throwing her jacket away before turning to the Team.

Miss Martian looks worried.

"What happened?" She asks, gesturing to the bandage.

"The job," Black Canary replies simply, "Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring partner."

Kid Flash speaks up and raises his hand.

"Right here!"

He is eating a banana as he enters the training floor, finishing it in a single bite before throwing it in the garbage.

"After this..." He gestures to the training, "I'll show you my moves."

He winks suggestively.

Black Canary smiles knowingly as she gets in position.

She throws a quick jab, which he blocks, but she immediately sweeps his feet out from beneath him, sending him flying to the floor.

Kid Flash, Status:

Fail

He winces for a second, before reverting back to being flirty.

"Hurts so good."

"Good block," She compliments as she helps him up, "But did anyone see what he did wrong?"

Robin looks excited at answering.

"Ooh, ooh! He hit on teacher and got served?" He asks innocently, but with malicious intent in his eyes.

Kid Flash holds his sore shoulder and shoots Robin an offended look.

"Dude!" He hisses.

Black Canary ignores them.

"He allowed me to dictate the terms of-"

Superboy cuts her off.

"Oh please," He says, scoffing, "With my powers, the battle's always on my terms."

He jabs a finger at his S-shield.

"I'm a living weapon," He says, not noticing Storm's flinch at his words, "And this is a waste of my time."

Canary smiles at him.

"Prove it," She challenges.

He looks slightly shocked, but enters the training circle and gets into a fighting position, Black Canary mirroring him.

He attacks with a punch, but she steps out of his range before grabbing him and throwing him to the floor.

Superboy, Status:

Fail

Superboy stews in his anger on the ground for a moment, before pushing himself up to his knees with a growl.

Canary is unphased.

"You're angry," She notes, seemingly letting her guard down, "Good. But don't react. Channel that anger into-"

He attacks her again with a yell, but she flips over him, leaving him disorientated.

As he swings around to hit her, she drops and kicks his feet out from under him, sending him to the floor once again.

Superboy, Status:

Fail

Robin is barely containing his laughter, while Aqualad and Kid Flash look worried. Miss Martian looks horrified but Storm...

Storm looks sad.

Black Canary offers Superboy her hand, but he ignores it, standing up without it.

"That's it," He growls, "I'm done."

"Training is mandatory," She replies coldly, causing him to whip around to her, rage in his eyes.

The beep of an incoming transmission and the opening of a Holo-Screen breaks the tension.

"Batman to The Cave," The Dark Knight calls out as the rest of the Team run over to Black Canary and Superboy, "Five hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents."

A secondary screen appears, showing the attacker grabbing Superman and using him to take out two other heroes, before throwing him and lasering some Batarangs.

"Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant," Batman continues over the video.

The Team all looked shocked at the implications, except Superboy, who's face is a mask of pent-up anger.

"In the end, it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android," Batman finishes, catching Robin's attention.

"Android?" He questions, "Who made it? T.O. Morrow?"

Batman shakes his head.

"Good guess, Robin," He compliments, "But Red Tornado doesn't think so."

Martian Manhunter pipes up.

"The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo," He informs gravely.

Now it's Aqualad's turn to pipe up.

"Ivo?" He asks, confused, "But Ivo's dead."

Canary looked at him solemnly.

"So we all thought. Or hoped."

Batman continues his briefing.

"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R. Lab facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken."

A third screen appears, this time showing a map of the route and nearby cities of the truck transport.

"We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks," Batman finishes.

Kid Flash looks far too excited about it.

"Yes! Road trip!" He says happily.

Black Canary looks at him disapprovingly, but Storm pipes up.

"Every experience I've had with a road trip or something similar has ended up with someone or something dying," He notes, catching Robin's attention, "Maybe I'm the problem."

"Dude, what kind of road trips are you going on?" Robin questions incredulously.

Superboy ignore them in favor of trying to fight Batman.

"So now we take out your trash?"

Batman gives him an unimpressed look.

"You had something better to do?"

The silence is telling.

A beep from Aqualad's transmitter signals a message, that he reads quickly.

"Coordinates received," He reports, voice neutral, "On our way."

The Holo-Screen disappears, and the rest of the Team disperse to suit up, but Superboy stays behind for a moment longer.

As he begins to walk away, Black Canary catches him by the arm.

"When you're ready, I'll be here," She promises.

He walks away.

Chapter Text

Before

They spiraled through the dark in a free fall, still on the dragon’s back, but Festus’s hide was cold. His ruby eyes were dim.

"Not again!” Leo yelled. “You can’t fall again!”

“I try very hard to be annoying,” Leo said. “Don’t insult my ability to annoy. And how am I supposed to resent you if you go apologizing? I’m a lowly mechanic. You’re like the prince of the sky, son of the Lord of the Universe. I’m supposed to resent you.”

Now

Litchfield County,

August 3rd, 20:08 EDT

In a field just off of a highway, six trucks were parked, being overseen by Red Tornado, Atom, Green Arrow, Flash, Batman, and Superman.

In the bushes off the side of the clearing, six children on motorbikes sit waiting to head off.

Superboy looks slightly crestfallen, but he masks it with a slightly angry look.

As the trucks finish loading up their cargo, the Team shrug on their helmets, preaching bike safety rules.

"S.T.A.R Boston is a go."

"S.T.A.R Manhattan is go."

The six trucks pull out of the clearing, and the Team split into two groups: Miss Martian, Kid Flash, and Aqualad and Robin, Superboy, and Storm.

As the trucks all head in separate directions two trucks remain being followed, obviously the two housing parts of the android.

At the clearing, most of the supervising heroes take off, but Batman puts his hand on Superman's shoulder before he leaves.

"I told you, we need to talk."

...

Following one of the trucks is Storm, Superboy and Robin, who are currently not talking, each focusing on driving.

Robin decides to start a conversation.

"If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? Instead of things going wrong, they go right," He says as pulls up next to Superboy, who offers no response, "Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong?"

"Canary," Superboy responds, a glare appearing on his face. "What business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super strength?"

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig, and it's always good to know how to fight well, in case you're evenly matched in power," Robin replies, albeit a little hesitantly, "Canary's learnt that the hard way. Same as Batman and, well, me."

Storm pipes up.

"And sometimes you just have to know how to fight well because the Roman Coliseum is filled with spirits and you and your cousin are fighting some giant twins who have snakes for toes but you can't kill them without a god's help so you have to entertain Bacchus enough that he'll help you but he has your other cousin who has been trapped in a jar for seven days with nothing but pomegranate seeds to eat and your girlfriend at the time who later breaks up with you because she's a lesbian kinda held hostage and also it's your fifteenth birthday and someone gave you some Wonder bread so you need to know how to not die."

"What the fuck," Robin replies eloquently.

Superboy ignores them both and drives away, closer to the truck.

...

"Do you think Superboy's okay?" Miss Martian asks as she drives on the left of Aqualad. He shoots her a look and she backs up, clarifying. "I- I wasn't reading his mind, I swear, but anger flowed off of him in waves."

Kid Flash, who was driving slightly behind them, pulls up on her left.

"Surfed that wave. Just give him space. Me?" He pulls up closer to her side, the motorbikes almost touching. "Stick as close as you want."

She frowns at his last statement, obviously not catching on to the flirting.

Aqualad cuts in.

"Superboy just needs time to cool off. A quiet mission will clear his head."

Heading the other way, Storm gets a feeling that something bad has happened.

As they drive past a cornfield, it shakes and like a locust swarm, releases hundreds of black, grey and green monkey-like robots.

They immediately go for the truck and latch on.

Aqualad presses a button on his helmet, opening up a comm line.

"Robin, Superboy, Storm, our truck is under attack!"

...

"Kind of figured," Robin replies, voice full of snark, as the same robot monkeys attacked their truck.

Superboy glares at the robots.

"I hate monkeys."

"And I hate Wonder bread," Storm replied, as the truck swerved due to monkey-robots climbing on the front windshield, "But we need a plan!"

"Robot monkeys," Robin says, as he stares at the creatures, "Totally Ivo's tweaked style."

He presses a button on his motorcycle and the back wheel disengages from the front, flying up as a drone. Storm follows suit although he looks ready to start flying. Superboy simply gets closer to the truck and leans forward, much to the horror of Robin who realizes what he's going to do.

"Hey hey!" He shouts, "Switch your ride to battle mode."

Superboy simply smirks.

"No point," He says and he jumps off his bike onto the back of the truck, letting his bike fall over in Robin's path, who can't act fast enough to avoid it.

A hand grasps him and pulls him into the air just as his bike capsizes, and Storm flies them both onto the truck, having sacrificed his own bike to save Robin.

Superboy rips off his helmet and uses it to destroy two robots, before ripping the arms off another. It barely makes a dent in the numbers and three more attack him from behind.

Robin begins to throw Batarangs as some monkeys that are using lasers to cut through the door, while Storm draws a dagger and slices through any that come close with ruthless efficiency.

The three of them are making good progress, but the monkeys don't seem to be stopping and they're quickly getting overwhelmed.

One of the monkeys activates its lasers, but a punch from Superboy sends them into the tires, causing the truck to swerve as the driver finally loses control.

Robin, managing to keep his balance, runs across the roof to the driver's cabin and yells to the panicking man inside.

"Get out!"

The man manages to get his door open before Robin grabs him and they jump into a cornfield on the side of the road.

With no one to drive the truck and two wheels botched, it begins to swerve. Storm wobbles and flies off quickly, yelling to Superboy who is still fighting monkeys.

"Come on!"

He is ignored.

The truck finally swerves and lands on its side, throwing off Superboy and Storm, who had flown back in in an attempt to get the other boy off.

As they all sit up dazed, the back gate is blown open, and robot-monkeys, chittering in mocking, fly out with the android parts.

Robin helps the driver up, as Storm goes to put his hand on Superboy's shoulder, probably to yell at him.

The other boy shrugs him off, and takes off after the monkeys, using his giant jumps to destroy some corn.

Storm watches, hears Robin's strangled cry of "Superboy!", and turns back to the younger hero.

If Superboy wants to be a hotheaded idiot, he can be Storm's guest, but he ain't chasing after some defector just to get blown off again.

...

The fight for the others didn't go so well either.

After the monkeys attacked, Aqualad draws his Water-bearers, which turn out to have been disguised as the handle of his bike, and use them to whip as many of the approaching monkeys as he can see, but he is only one hero and they kept on coming.

Some of the monkeys change tactics, going for Miss Martian and Kid Flash's motorcycles. Miss Martian simply uses her telekinesis to throw them off and flies up to the truck, where she grows some extra arms to help maximize the amount of damage she's doing.

Kid Flash fights for control a little longer, before ditching his motorbike and running alongside the truck.

The driver of the truck, someone who should not have been allowed to drive a truck that had a high likelihood of being jumped, was barely managing to keep the truck in lane, due to their obsessive freak out.

"S-somebody help!" They cry, only succeeding in annoying their saviors.

Two of the monkeys on the roof, for legal reasons now called Demand Curve and Supply Curve, use their laser eyes to open a hole in the armored truck's roof.

Like a tin of sardines, they peel back the opening, only to reveal people with guns who shoot at them and their friends, only hitting one, measly monkey that nobody really liked anyway.

The monkeys then up the price of the driver's therapy by, still looking adorable and adoptable, bashing their skulls into the glass and cracking it, just like how Elon Musk's hopes and dreams for the Cybertruck should have cracked when the 'bulletproof' glass did.

The driver finally remembers their breathing exercises, which is good because Miss Martian flies in front of the glass, being attacked by seven of the monkeys.

The logical next choice is obviously to grow four more hands, that for some reason aren't covered by her organic suit that shifts with her, to fight them off.

This does not look appealing.

At all.

She then notices something further back on the truck, and flies out of the drivers (now horrified) line of sight.

Kid Flash had in the meantime climbed onto the roof of the truck and is preventing the monkeys from leaving of entering the hole in the roof, just like you do when you're playing capture the flag.

Miss Martian lands next to him and he yells a surprised 'ahh!' as he falls backwards, unintentionally leaving a spot for monkeys to enter and leave.

Miss Martian certainly doesn't help things as she yells 'ahh!' in return and evaporates her extra arms, but the opening is already there and the monkeys fly out the hatch between them, carrying parts of the android.

Aqualad tries to catch them with his Water-bearers, but to no avail, and he stops his motorbike, looking glumly at the shrinking monkeys.

"Aqualad to Robin. We've lost our cargo. Did you-"

Robin cuts him off.

"It's gone. And so's Superboy."

...

Superboy is busy being a rage filled idiot and following the monkeys when Aqualad's voice sounds in his ear.

"Aqualad to Superboy. Radio your position. We'll help you."

This only serves to further infuriate the clone.

"I don't need any help, don't want any!"

He pulls out his earpiece and drops it on the ground, leaving it to splutter sound.

"Superboy? Superboy? Superboy come in-"

...

Like they're at a funeral, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Kid Flash stand awkwardly around their own crashed truck.

Robin's voice sounds over the comm.

"I think he ditched his comm."

Kid Flash groans.

"Super," He says, sarcasm radiating from him like a space heater, "Now we can't even track him."

"He's out of my telepathic range," Miss Martian adds, "This Professor Ivo if he is alive seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?"

"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves," Aqualad replies firmly, "And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're assembled."

"Great plan." Kid Flash is using up his yearly quota of sarcasm all in one go it seems. "Except for the part of us not knowing where to look!"

He throws his hands up in the air.

"Uhh guys, hate to burst the pity bubble, but Robin is doing something that looks useful," Storm's voice cuts through the rising tension. "He looks busy, so I'll narrate."

"Ok so he is dissecting the corpse of a monkey now called Latissimus dorsi that had a family that he has also murdered on his killing spree and plugging his magical wrist watch into it. Something is appearing and he's knocking himself on the head with his hand, which normally implies it was obvious. A map is converging with some magical moving dots of truth on it and Gotham is on the map, a first for all Gothamites, this day shall henceforth be known as Goth day and be a national holiday for the gremlins of Gotham city, which will involve senseless acts of terrorism, murder, muggings, and more fun for the whole family-"

"The parts are converging to Gotham." Robin's voice cuts through the comm.

Aqualad frowns.

"That far south? M'gann and I won't get their very soon. I'm sending Kid ahead to meet you. Aqualad out."

The lines goes dead as Kid Flash pulls on his goggle and disappears without a word.

...

Standing up, Robin puts Latissimus dorsi on his shoulder and presses a button to summon his motorbike, as Storm does the same.

"What a disaster," He mutters, looking up at the darkening sky. "Heavy on the dis."

Chapter Text

Before

Fighting giants was one thing. Bacchus making it into a game was something else.

He sliced the tip of his spear down Jason’s chest, ripping his purple shirt into a vest. Jason stumbled, looking at the thin line of blood down his sternum. Ephialtes kicked him backward.

 Percy’s sword arm was numb. Jason’s gladius had skittered across the arena floor. Their plan had failed.

Now

Metropolis,

August 3rd, 21:18 EDT

In Bibbo's Diner, a classic location in Metropolis filled with dark colors and purple chairs, made for those in middle age to relax after work and grab a bite to eat, two men in suits sit at a booth, giving their order to a server, a buff tall man with golden blonde hair.

"Apple pie," The one in the light grey jacket orders, as the other buries their head in the menu, searching for something appetizing.

"The Devil's Food," The other orders, as they hand their menu back with a smile. The man nods and leaves, with a strange feeling of having seen the darker jacketed one before.

Clark Kent sigh and rubs his temple, as he looks at the billionaire across from him.

"Something tells me this isn't about desert."

"The boy needs you," Bruce Wayne replies.

They don't need to specify who they're talking about; his very existence hangs with tension from Superman.

"No," Clark snaps back immediately, his tone defensive, "He needs you. He needs Tornado. I'm just a constant reminder of what he's not."

As he continues defending himself, his voice shakes slightly, and he looks out the window instead of facing Bruce.

"Sorry Clark but you're dead wrong," Bruce replied, "Look, I know he troubles you, but he's here, we can't change that. He needs you, in the same way that a child hero needs a mentor so that they don't get themselves killed. Your ignoring of the situation now is achieving nothing but making a bigger gap between the two of you that will be harder to breech later. The others have already named the boy, at Jason's insistence, you're driving a wedge between the two of you."

Clark looks uncomfortable and tries to change the subject.

"You don't trust Jason, do you? I can see it in your eyes, despite him being Diana's protege."

Wayne sighs.

"I don't know enough about the boy to trust him, but this isn't about that. This is about Conner, the boy needs his father-"

"I'm not his father!" Clark yells, gaining the attention of those around him as he interrupts Bruce in the middle of his sentence.

Everyone else in the diner's attention is turned to the two of them, specifically Clark, like it's a reality TV show or an episode of Maury when they do the paternity tests.

Clark ignores them all and turns to the cook, who is finishing up his apple pie, as he puts his fedora back on his head.

"I'll take that apple pie to go please," He requests, as he heads to the register to pay, leaving Bruce sitting alone.

Regret for Clark's actions show on his face, as well as a desire to follow the man and fight him into fatherhood, but he doesn't do that.

Instead, he just sits and waits for his cake.

...

Now

Gotham City,

August 3rd, 21:21 EDT

While the failed intervention is going down in Metropolis, robotic demon monkeys not called Latissimus dorsi, Demand curve, Supply curve, Demand Schedule, Supply Schedule, or Dave fly with the parts of the android on a collision course for a moving cargo train, a course of action that is not generally recommended for continued survival.

Alas, or not depending on you opinions on whether robots are life, a car's corrugated iron door opens and the monkeys fly in.

Superboy is not far behind.

However, the train car door had slides shut before he can reach it, so he has to land on the roof of the train instead, and break a hole in the ceiling of the car and drop down, sensing no immediate danger.

Inside he finds a dimly lit storage container that was suspiciously empty of cargo, with a green glow drawing his attention one way, towards the other end of the car where many of the robotic monkeys have gathered.

A man, short enough to be mistaken as a child, with greying orange hair in an old fashioned tux with a red bowtie, stands between the monkey creatures looking quite bemused at Superboy's entrance.

He looks pretty easy to beat in a fight, that's for sure.

The monkeys let out one of their evil demonic laughs, comparable to Robin's, as the man gains a politely bemused expression.

"Oh, hello," He greets, seeming bored.

Superboy is unimpressed.

"You?" He asks, disbelief in his voice, "You're Ivo? I'm whelmed."

"You're one to talk," Professor Ivo responds, sounding like an old man talking to small children, "Now, since when does the big blue boy scout have a brat?"

He taps a finger on his cheek consideringly, watching his words anger Superboy.

"He doesn't," Superboy grits out, anger clear in his voice.

Ivo shows no sign of reaction.

"Yeah, if you say so," Ivo agrees, shrugging while coating his words with a patronizing tone. He straightens out and seems to gain some excitement in his tone.

"Have you met my Mobile Optimal Neural Quotient Infiltrators?" He asks, as he spreads his arms and the MONQI's around him launch themselves at Superboy with a laugh.

Superboy punches three of the MONQIs coming towards him, before they spread out and attack him from different angles, forcing him to hit them one by one.

Most of them explode and one's head rolls over towards Ivo, who still has two guarding him.

He looks saddened by the destruction of his technology.

"Ah, and after all the trouble I went through finding an acronym for MONQI," He comments, as Superboy continues to fight off the hoards.

Two MONQI's launch at him from both sides, and Superboy grabs them both in his hands and smashes them together, panting heavily as he glares at Ivo amongst the destroyed robots.

Something powers up.

"Access Captain Atom," An automated voice says, as his eyes widen in shock.

A bolt of energy hits him in the chest, causing him to go flying into the train car wall.

Ivo walks up to his prone form.

"Since Professor Ivo's magnificent MONQIs don't float your boat," He begins, as red eyes appear behind in the darkness, "Maybe my amazing Amazo will better suit you."

He steps aside with a sweeping gesture, as the giant android, fully assembled, comes into view.

The android is two toned, giving the impression of wearing nothing but pants and has orange hair, obviously to show genetic relation to its creator and father, Ivo.

Its eyes are the source of the glowing red.

"Or better slay you," Ivo finishes, excitement coming into his voice.

The train nears Gotham City.

Superboy rubs his face and stands up, determination in his eyes.

"Give me your best shot."

The few remaining MONQIs laugh as Professor Ivo smiles with satisfaction.

"Please. My android has the strength of Superman. What chance do you have?" He asks mockingly.

Superboy's eyes narrow in anger.

He runs at Amazo with a yell and aims a fist, which is easily blocked by the android.

He continues to do so with more fists, but none land except for one on the android's jaw.

Amazo then catches his fist in their hand and crushes it, hearing the bones crackle and break.

"Oh, sorry," Professor Ivo apologies condescendingly, "Did that strike a nerve? Amazo, strike a few more."

The android punches Superboy, sending him flying as he lets out a yell of pain.

He hits the wall before falling on the ground, stumbling to his feet after a moment.

Amazo's targeting system lights up and their voice dully announces, "Access Black Canary." before letting out an ear-splitting screech.

Superboy clutches his head in his hands and screams, as the force of the noise sends him flying backwards into the back of the train car again.

"Access Flash."

Amazo launches at Superboy with incredible speed as he struggles to get up and recover from the previous hit, punching him at superspeeds over and over again.

He collapses to the train car floor in pain as Ivo's voice rings out in the carriage.

"Oh. No wonder daddy keeps you hidden away, you're not really doing justice to the old S shield, are you?"

Superboy lunges at Amazo.

"Martian Manhunter."

The punch goes through the android and disorientates him, before Amazo punches him through the back of the train carriage, Gotham in the distance.

"Access Superman."

Amazo grabs him by his shoulders, pulls him up in the air, and punches him through the sky into the edges of Gotham city, reserved for the rich and wealthy.

He goes crashing into a building, hitting school desks and falling to the ground with a dejected mutter of pain.

From where they stand on the train, surveying the smoke, Amazo, Ivo, and the MONQIs all seem satisfied.

"Finish him," Ivo says, with good nature in his tone, "Priority alpha."

Amazo takes off to the sky.

...

Now

Gotham City Limits,

August 3rd, 21:28 EDT

On the highway into Gotham City, a single wheeled motorbike carrying a boy, looking to be around 13 years old whizzes down it.

Another boy, a couple years older, catches up to their high speed motorbiking while running, in a mainly yellow suit.

A third boy flies in the air above them, watching a train thunder past with suspicion in their eyes.

"So you changed too?" Robin says in lieu of a greeting to Kid Flash next to him.

"You kidding?" Kid Flash replies, before making a shivery noise, "I feel naked in civvies. You still tracking the parts?"

"They were heading through Gotham but they veered," Robin informs him as he glances down at the map on his motorbike.

He takes a closer look and shock colors his face.

"Wait, dude, they're at my school!"

Storm flies down from above.

"May I guess that your school is the building with smoke coming out of it over there," He says as he points at a building on the horizon, smoke billowing up from it in waves.

Robin doesn't confirm his suspicion as he doesn't need to; they all know he's right.

...

Now

Gotham City Academy

August 3rd, 21:30 EDT

Gotham City Academy, the private school home to the most intelligent (and rich) students in Gotham, the select few that aren’t expected to end up in prison in a couple years, mainly due to bribing the officers.

Highlights in the schools masses include Daniel Skinner, national spelling bee champion of 2008, Isabella Beatrice Mahogany, captain of the lacrosse team, eldest daughter of count family Mahogany and star scholar, and the new Dick Grayson, adopted son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, polyglot, and winner of this current year's mathlete competition.

A photo of the mathlete can even be seen in the trophy case, which Superboy is in the process of getting thrown into, destroying some rich children's hard work.

That is, however, not the biggest of his concerns, as Amazo grabs him yet again, spinning his arms and bowling Superboy like they're playing cricket and Superboy's the ball.

As he is not a ball, he makes quite a mess and wouldn't be the recommended utensil to play cricket with, smashing into lockers.

By this point small scratches adorn his indestructible skin, but determination still colors his eyes as he destroys some poor rich child’s fan art of Superman in their locker as motivation.

He goes in for another punch, and the game continues, with an obvious winner already in sight.

Eventually he is thrown through the roof of the school gym, and as he lies on the floor catching his breath, a mocking clap and voice sounds, alerting Superboy to Ivo’s presence in the room with his MONQIs.

“I don’t usually attend these things in person but this was too good to miss,” He says as he watches Superboy from up in the bleachers.

“Access Superman.”

Superboy stands up, running and punching Amazo, who then retaliates with a plethora of hits of their own, sending Superboy to the ground in front of them.

Just as they raised their arms to smash his guts to high heavens, Kid Flash runs in, grabbing Superboy with a, “Yoink,” as he runs him to safety on the other side of the gym, where Robin stands.

Two Batarangs are thrown at Amazo.

”Martian Manhunter.”

The Batarangs fly though him and explode.

”Access Red Tornado.”

A tornado begins to form around him, before the forming is slowed considerably as lightning strikes down upon the android, revealing Storm’s position on the other side of the gym.

Amazo pays no mind.

”Captain Atom.”

A bolt shoots out at Kid Flash, Robin, and Superboy, sending the three of them flying in different directions.

Amazo continues their attack on Kid Flash specifically, shooting beams at him and forcing him to run behind the bleachers before attempting another assault on Amazo.

”Black Canary.”

A supersonic canary cry sends Kid Flash flying.

”Martian Manhunter.”

Storm’s attacks with his sword goes through the android.

Robin’s Batarangs do too.

”Superman.”

A punch barely blocked by his shield sends Storm across the gym.

Superboy’s punch is caught and his body hits the bleachers the next second.

Kid Flash’s next attempt of attack is stopped as Amazo picks him up and begins squeezing, aiming to crush his insides.

They can’t stop it.

”Martian Manhunter.”

He falls to the ground panting as a green arrow goes flying through Amazo’s intangible head.

It lands next to Robin, who looks at it with shock as Kid Flash escapes.

”Black Canary.”

Superboy’s next attack is used against him as Amazo uses his momentum to throw him into the other set of bleachers.

“Superman.”

Laser eyes attack at where Robin is standing, though he is tackled out of the way by Kid Flash, saving his life.

Superboy gets up from the wreckage and takes it all in.

Someone stronger than him.

Who he can’t beat.

She was right.

”Access Black Canary,” He whispers to himself, as Ivo’s mocking voice rings out around the auditorium.

”Oh yawn. Usually Amazo would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what’s the point? You’re all such poor copies of the originals.”

He lounges relaxed on the bleachers.

Something happens within the span of about a second.

From one to another, Ivo location and expression completely changes, from calm and sitting, to collapsed and panicked.

The reason for this is the metal shield used as a frisbee embedded in the bleachers where he was moments earlier.

Storm’s eyes are glowing with his very namesake as the smell of burning ozone encases the room.

”Will you just fuck off to Tartarus before I am forced to send you there myself,” He yells, drawing his daggers and pointing it towards Ivo’s scared body.

Superboy grins and jumps at the professor too, causing man to yell out in fear.

”Amazo protect your master, priority alpha!”

“Captain Atom.”

A beam hit Superboy and sends him flying, but he gets up quicker.

Robin attacks Ivo from behind and Kid Flash runs at him.

”Superman.”

Ice breath sends Kid Flash flying.

Robin launches more Batarangs at Amazo while Storm takes to the sky, hovering above the android near the beams.

He sees the shadow of a girl with blonde hair in a green outfit, and looks at her, knowing she’s looking back.

”If this explodes, don’t die,” He says in lieu of a statement such as ‘Who are you?’ and drops like a pin downwards.

A silent cry of fear for the hero never leaves the girl's lips.

Storm lands on Amazo and immediately goes to plunge in a dagger to its head.

”Martian Manhunter.”

He propels his momentum from his arm to roll a safe distance away.

Superboy attacks from a blind spot and goes to punch the android in the face.

”Superman.”

His arm is already in their head when they solidify.

The tech malfunctions and breaks and their head goes exploding.

Robin runs to the headless body of the android.

”Help me disassemble him now!”

”Dude, the guy has no head,” Kid Flash questions, as Storm gets to his feet and looks up, seeing the tiniest flash of green.

”Don’t take any chances,” A new voice says; Aqualad, running in with Miss Martian.

The shadow girl disappears from the building.

…

Now

Mount Justice,

August 4th, 01:06 EDT

“The Amazo android is in pieces again, safely being analysed by the two seperate STAR Labs facilities,” Aqualad reports, “However, Ivo escaped, and as he is the one who originated the tech, he is arguably more dangerous.”

”Capturing the professor will be a League priority,” Black Canary assures.

”But we understand your mission encountered other complications,” Martian Manhunter adds, from where he stands next to her.

They all shoot a look at Superboy, who has the decency to look sheepish.

Batman steps forward.

”Complications come with the job,” He says, “Your ability to handle them has impressed the League.”

”The whole League?” Superboy asks, a spark of hope in his eyes.

“Given time, yes,” Batman assures, “Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads.”

Superboy looks comforted by this statement, the ghost of a smile crossing his face.

“Of course, there is no shame in asking for help, that’s why the League exists,” Batman continues, “Because even we have problems that we can’t solve on our own.”

Robin scoffs.

”Please, even if we wanted to ask for help, we wouldn’t even get the chance!” He says, as he pulls out the arrow from the fight, “Look familiar? You were following us, babysitting us, you still don’t trust us!”

Green Arrow steps forward from where he was standing and pulls out one of his own arrows, comparing it against the arrow presented.

They don’t match.

”We didn’t follow you,” Batman says, as Kid Flash and Robin exchange a look.

”That’s not your arrow, so that means…” Robin starts.

”Speedy!” Kid Flash exclaims.

”He has our backs.”

The arrow is snatched out of Green Arrow’s hand.

”Souvenir!” Kid Flash exclaims excitedly.

An awkward cough grabs Black Canary’s attention to Superboy’s awkward demeanor.

She already knows what this conversation is going to be about.

“I’m ready,” He says.

“Good,” She replies, “Because I’m here.”

He nods once, awkwardness in his frame, before turning and heading towards Storm, who stand at the edge of the main room waiting for the boy.

“You’re gonna yell at me, aren’t you,” Conner guesses, in lieu of a greeting.

Jason sighs, then looks at the other boy.

“What you just did is a textbook example of how to get killed, or locked in a jar, or any other number of terrible things to happen to you,” He responds, “Can you at least try to not make it a habit?”

Conner offers a small smile.

“No promises.”

The two of them head off to the shower rooms.

Dinah watches with a curious expression.

Green Arrow appears next to her.

I need to set up a bet with Diana on how long it takes for the two of them to get together. She taps on his leg in Morse code.

What do you mean? They’re not going to get together. Oliver taps back.

She shoots him an exasperated look.

”Try using your eyes a bit more Oliver,” She says, ignoring his offended squawk, “They’re practically made for each other.”

…

Now

STAR Labs Boston,

August 4th, 02:33 EDT

A scientist called Georgina dissects a chunk of an android. Her music gently plays through her earbuds, some mainstream pop that gently burns her ears but keeps her awake.

In the bin under her desk lies four empty Venti coffee cups from Starbucks, and a fifth is almost finished on her desk.

As she digs deeper into the mess of wiring, she wonders, not for the first time, how Ivo managed to power this machine.

No power source has been found as of yet.

This is still her thought process as she pulls out another hunk of metal from the body, but this one makes her freeze.

She rubs her eyes, just to make sure this isn’t a 2 day no sleep delusion.

It’s still there.

She pulls out her pager and pages her boss, a burst of adrenaline fueling her.

She’s figured out what powers it.

On her table, a piece of bronze with Greek symbols on it sits, with wires protruding from every side.

Chapter Text

Before

Shrouded demigods, both Greek and Roman, were burned at the campfire, and Chiron asked Nico to oversee the burial rites.

He was grateful for the opportunity to honor the dead. Even the hundreds of spectators didn’t bother him.

His arms were covered in a fine layer of soot, like he’d just died in a massive fire … which, of course, he had.

Now

Wood-Tikchik State Park, Alaska,

August 6th, 22:00 AKDT

"We gather here today to commemorate the life of one who was taken from us too early, and to help their spirit carry on to the next life."

The small robotic body of Latissimus dorsi lay wrapped up in a funeral shroud between some sticks that would light to make a campfire as Jason stood nearby acting as celebrant in the small funeral.

Dick found it amusing that Jason had followed through on his promise to host a funeral for the evil MONQI, especially considering that he was pretty sure it was one of the ones Jason himself had hit, but Jason confused him to no end on most things.

His JL file was astonishingly empty, and the dude seemed to have no lack of training, powers, or random pieces of information to drop on them to flip Dick's entire perspective of the boy, so he had filled the Bat-file on him with nothing but speculations.

Dick would respect the confusion and misdirection if it wasn't so annoying.

"And now, I invite Latissimus dorsi's own killer to give his speech, please hold your applause for Robin," Jason finished, sweeping his hands out towards Dick who started forward.

The guy was likeable, Dick will give him that.

He walks up to what will soon be the location of their marshmallow roasting.

"When I first met Latissimus dorsi, I knew we would become mortal enemies for one simple reason. They were trying to steal half of an android and were throwing me off a moving truck," He begins, using all his training to keep his face schooled into one of grief.

He hears Wally snicker behind him, only to be shushed by Jason.

"They lived a short life, but an undoubtfully unfulfilling one as they never did achieve their life goal of world domination for their master," Dick continues, getting into the throw of the performance now. He's an acrobat and a performer at heart, this should be easy. "However, they did help me achieve my goal of tracking down the Amazo parts so for that I am eternally grateful."

He solemnly turns towards the small wooden pile that the MONQI rests in.

"May you rest in discomfort, thank you."

Dick gives a small bow and steps back next to Wally, whose hand is fully over his mouth to stifle his giggles. Jason steps forward again.

"Does anyone else have anything they'd like to say before we send Latissimus dorsi off to the other side?" He asks, looking at the other five.

Conner uncertainly raises his hand before stepping forward, proclaiming, "I hate monkeys.".

Jason nods solemnly at the words as Conner takes his place next to M'gann.

"With all that said, we now send you, Latissimus dorsi, off to the Underworld of Pluto, knowing that you have no denarius so therefore Orcus will not let you pass, stranding you for all of eternity on the banks of the River Styx. May they not treat you kindly."

He pulls a lighter out of his pocket and flicks it on, using it to set alight the pyre.

Within a few seconds (probably due to the oil in the MONQI), the fire is roaring, gently warming up the air near them but not enough to harm Kaldur or Megan.

Jason then turns back to the rest of the Team, and grins.

"Marshmallow time."

...

Now

Wood-Tikchik State Park, Alaska,

August 6th, 22:15 AKDT

"It feels vaguely wrong for my first experience with consuming the human delicacy of smores to be at what is technically a funeral with the dead's cremating body," Kaldur comments as he holds out his stick to roast the two marshmallows on the end.

"Don't worry, it's what Latissimus dorsi would have wanted," Wally assures, from where he sits next to Dick in a portable camping chair, mouth already full of smore.

"Exactly," Jason agrees, lounging on a chair next to Conner, "There are worse ways to be introduced to new foods. The first time I ever had tacos, it was in a sewer in Chicago at night in winter, and someone I was with definitely had sprained their ankle but those were delicious tacos. The location adds flavor."

Conner looks at Jason with large amounts of concern written on his face, one of the few emotions that Conner has expressed that isn't anger since his de-podding.

As usual, Jason was the one to trigger them.

"The Earth shows I watched on Mars did not prepare me for this part of Earth culture," M'gann pipes up, from where she is on Jason's other side, as he was supervising both of them learning how to roast marshmallows, "Is this normal?"

Dick snorts.

"For most people, no, but I don't know about Jason as he isn't very normal," He explains. Jason gives him the middle finger.

"Fuck you too bro, I take you to a funeral for a life you killed in the land beyond the gods so I can't even get their help if we get attacked, I buy smore equipment and give you all a invigorating funeral, and this is how you repay me? May Proserpina guide you to hell after each organ in your body dissolved like water."

"What does that even mean dude?" Wally exclaims, as his marshmallow catches fire.

"I hope you die painfully and go to hell," Jason supplied as he began making a smore.

"Gee thanks," Dick snorted.

Jason mainly seemed to use the Roman names of the gods, Dick noted, making him think that he wasn't raised by the Amazons.

Add in his random stories that definitely didn't seem like they would have happened if he knew Wonder Woman, and it just confirmed his suspicions.

His current theory was that Jason was the son of Zeus who had been raised in some super hidden cult before running away a couple years ago, travelling across the US before meeting Diana and going to Themyscira, but he really didn't know.

And that was what frustrated him most at core, not knowing.

God he was just like Bruce.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 7th, 08:24 EDT

"My last day of summer holidays and we're spending it training!" Wally groaned as he tried to flop onto the air hockey table, before falling through it due to its holographic nature.

"How terrible for you," Dick said, tone full of false sympathy, "It's almost like your a hero who needs to be trained to fight evil."

Wally glared at him from his position on the floor.

"Easy for you to say! Your school starts in like late September!"

"But ends at the beginning of July! I was like, three days out of school when we formed this team!"

"But you don't have to spend your last day of summer training!"

"Maybe I will, we don't know yet!"

"I was a child soldier and joined the military at age three," Jason pipes up from where the other side of the air hockey table was, although he is ignored by the two bickering best friends.

"Enough," Black Canary says as she enters the main hub, obviously having decided to travel via a different method to Zeta-beams.

All three young heroes jump to attention, while Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian majestically appear from one of the hallways.

"Here's the schedule: Morning spent improving hand-to-hand. Afternoon we might have some visitors as you will split into specialized training to play to each of your strengths. 30 minute break in between. You should be done by around 6pm, so four and a half hour training slots. That clear?"

They all nod their affirmation.

Black Canary smiles with a hint of malice.

"Good," She says, "Let's begin."

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 7th, 13:01 EDT

"Your break starts now, good work everyone."

They all let out various groans of relief as they walk over to their bottles and towels.

"What's everyone's plan for lunch?" M'gann asks, just before chugging her 2 liter water bottle in one go.

Wally lets out an appreciative whistle.

"Leftovers probably," Jason says, as he collapses to the ground next to his water bottle, "I swear I'm not trained that hard even on Themyscira! And at least there is a two hour lunch break there. Greeks appreciate the notions of long lunches in the heat of the day. This is the real torture."

"She wants us to improve quickly," Kaldur breathes, as he drinks pure salt water, the quickest way to hydrate a dehydrated Atlantean, "But I do have to agree with the length of the lunch break. In Atlantis 2 three hour meals are consumed each day at the beginning and end. To shorten all meals like this but increase in frequency does not make sense to me."

"Been in the US for four years and I'm still not used to it," Dick adds, "But we should probably get going as we have 25 minutes left to freshen up and eat."

He stands up and groans.

"Is this how old people like Bat feel all the time? Kill me when I'm young."

The rest of the Team get up to follow suit, but Kaldur pipes up yet again.

"I think I will take a swim in the sea; I am quite hot and missing taking meals underwater. Carry on without me."

The rest of them diverge from Kaldur and head to the kitchen, where many unfinished pizzas sit in the fridge, everyone else's meals it looks like.

The next 20 or so minutes pass easily with light chatter, until the Zeta-tubes pipe up.

Recognized:

Wonder Woman, 0-3

Black Canary, 1-3

Red Tornado, 1-6

"Guess that's the signal for us to head back to training," Wally says, a sadness at leaving his food coating his voice.

"Guess so," Dick agreed, as the five of them packed up the food and began the walk back.

Time for a little bit more hell.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 7th, 17:13 EDT

"First blood?" Storm asks Wonder Woman as he grabs his gladius and whirls around to face her, already armed with her xiphos of Athena.

"Naturally," She responds as they ready themselves in the training area.

The other seven heroes, using this fight as an excuse to take a break, gather around the arena silently.

Wonder Woman moves first.

Lightning quick in a way not dissimilar to the Flash, she lunges at Storm, who parries and dodges and then the game's on.

It's hard to see whose going to win as nothing but clashes of metal  and heavy breathing fills the room.

Despite this, their footfalls are silent.

Finally, after a couple minutes, Storm seems to suddenly change his entire move midway through it and catches Wonder Woman by surprise, allowing him to lunge under her guard and slash her across her exposed midriff.

A gasp sounds in the room, probably from Megan, as both Amazons back up from each other.

Diana grins first.

"I forgot how much of a mess your fighting style is," She comments, as he wordlessly goes to fetch something from his training bag, "You can tell how many different teachers and styles you were taught."

"I did learn two different cultures of sword fighting," He agrees, as he tosses her a flask and an antiseptic wipe in return for her blade that she tosses for him to hold. "And I learnt basics from a giant wolf at age two, can you really blame me?"

She rips open the antiseptic wipe with her teeth, wiping down the cut before spitting out the plastic wrap and taking a swig of the liquid in the flask.

The veins on her stomach near the cut seem to turn gold for a moment, before the cut heals itself, leaving nothing but a thin golden line, but she and Jason pay no attention to it.

"But it's not just that; You fight both as if you are part of an army and solo, both as if you are leading and following, both as if you are Greek and Roman but always as if you are fighting to survive. It's very annoying to get used to," She says, as he nods in agreement with what she's saying.

They then both notice the gathered group, and Black Canary pipes up.

A chorus of groans follows her words.

"That is what we should all be doing, so, back to work!"

"Yes. I promised Donna I would kill you for not visiting her the last time you were home," Diana agrees, as she stretched out her arms.

"You literally had me on a 24 hour training schedule!" Jason complains. Wonder Woman cocks a brow.

"That is not a worthy excuse. Again?"

Storm grins and lunges.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 7th, 19:46 EDT

"And, ta da!" Jason says as he places down a tray of delicious looking food, resembling a lasagna. "Dig in!"

As M'gann and Conner set about serving themselves, Jason explains what it is.

"It's a Greek dish called moussaka, made of eggplants, lamb, potato and bechamel sauce. I think it originated in the Middle East around the 13th century in a form kinda similar to this? An Amazon girl brought it to Themyscira in the 17th century I think and they developed it there to the Themysciran variant which is highly similar to the modern Greek one. It's like my favorite dish to eat there so I bullied Donna into bullying her best friend who is a chef to teach me their ways," He explains, "Hope it's good!"

M'gann takes one bite and looks Jason dead in the eyes, face most serious anyone had ever seen.

"Teach me your ways," She says, voice near begging.

He grins.

"Of course! I'm not that much of a baker but I know how to cook some things, I could show you the basics.

"Thank you," She exclaims, before rushing into her meal with unmatched efficiency.

Conner and Jason share a look over her head as the Team chat pings up.

Robin:

We should totally have a beach day tomorrow just to spite KF

Kid Flash:

Fuck u 2

Robin:

<3

Aqualad:

Stop.

Jason smiles at the messages.

The butterflies in Conner's chest wake up again.

How peculiar.

Chapter Text

Before

The girl leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran toward Jason’s group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.

“Where is he?” the girl demanded. Her gray eyes were fierce and a little startling.

“Where’s who?” Jason asked.

Now

Infinity Island,

August 7th, 23:49 ECT

When all the children are asleep in their beds, except Robin whose embodying a true thirteen year old and risking his life and his fucked sleep schedule, one legal adult is not asleep.

That legal adult is Red Arrow, and he is technically 17, but we don't talk about that.

Assassins patrol the wall of the castle in carefully organized shifts, but really, let's be honest: Who in their right mind would try to infiltrate an assassin headquarters anyway?

Someone in their left mind, apparently, as an arrow strikes an armed guard in the chest, electrocuting them to unconsciousness before they can react.

Internally cackling at the reaction time due to unhealthy amounts of time spent with Robin, Red Arrows runs along the outer wall and shoots an arrow that doubles as a grapple, allowing him to scale the wall with ease.

Standing carefully outside of a security camera's range, he fires a carefully engineered and shot arrow to loop the footage before stepping into its line of sight, confident in his tech's ability.

To live this life as a baseline human, you need to be.

As two more guards round the corner, he takes aim.

He's succeeding in his rescue mission, no matter the cost.

He has to.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 8th, 9:58 EDT

The small, semi-private beach of Mount Justice is blistering hot, with a waveless blue water and burning white sand that would be a safety hazard if it was any heavier in iron levels.

The five assorted heroes in swim gear, prepared for a trip to the beach like that one family that when on a beach holiday do 12 hours at the beach each day, stand triumphantly staring at the ocean.

They're all in swim trunks, bikinis, or in Robin and Jason's case, sunglasses and rash tops.

M'gann excitedly spreads her arms out.

"Hello Megan!" She exclaims excitedly, "We should do a beach day everyday!"

"Amen to that sister!" Robin agrees, before solemnly lowering his head, "But first, a moment of silence for our fallen comrade."

They all bow their heads.

"Poor Wally," Megan says sadly.

...

Now

Central City,

August 8th, 9:00 CDT

A school bell rings, obnoxious like a fire drill, at Keystone High School.

"Welcome class, to the first day of sophomore year," A teacher calls out, fake cheeriness present in their voice.

Wally leans back in his chair and stares out the window with all of his undiagnosed ADHD energy.

Stupid school.

...

Some teasing between M'gann and Robin was evolving into a water fight as the two splashed each other aggressively.

Conner cannonballs in between them to break it up.

They all laugh as water drips around them.

On the shore, Kaldur and Jason watch amused, although Jason mumbles something beneath his breath.

"Is there a reason you're praying in long-dead languages?" Kaldur asks, raising an eyebrow.

Jason grins sheepishly.

"I have to make sure my uncle P, or N depending on how he's feeling today, doesn't drown me as soon as I step in the water. It's not his style, but I'm definitely not his favorite... uhhh, why isn't there a word for both nephews and nieces in English?"

"When studying the language, I did come across the word 'nibling', but that word does not-"

"Spark joy? Yeah. English is spiritually my third language but technically my first, and the lack of words like 'nipote' that are in Latin and Italian frustrates me to no end."

"It is a very hard language to learn," Kaldur agrees.

They watch Robin tackle Conner and attempt to drown him.

...

Wally presses the button of a water fountain, and watches the weak, uneven water pressure.

Sighing, he leans down to drink, only for the pressure to skyrocket and a large spray to explode, drenching him.

He looks down and see a wet patch on the crotch of his trousers.

He groans.

...

Jason mans the grill with his superior age to Robin, the only other person trusted with using it.

Sausages for a sausage sizzle cover the grill, all charred and smelling heavenly.

As they all grab a sausage to put in some bread, Robin grabs one with a fork and chomps on it.

Jason raises a disapproving eyebrow, discreetly slipping a chunk of his lunch into the grill fire.

...

Orange mush, the origins of which not identifiable, is slopped onto Wally's lunch tray, which also holds a going-bad apple and something resembling bread.

Wally groans in disgust, and wishes for the day to end.

...

Kaldur strikes the volleyball down over the net, where Conner dives to catch it.

It hits the sand and Jason blows his whistle aggressively, causing Megan and Conner to groan and Kaldur and Robin to cheer and high-five.

...

Wally is being bombarded with dodgeballs.

It's not a good day.

Luckily, its almost over.

Then, beach day.

...

Conner lies asleep on the sand, unaware of what's happening around him.

M'gann and Robin struggle to contain their giggles as they shape the mountain of sand on him, while Kaldur pours on more with a smirk.

Jason flies above, snapping photo after with the camera Robin christened, 'Justice Camera'.

Conner won't know what hit him.

...

The bell rings, loud and clear, and Wally races out the door, accidently tapping into his speed.

"Wa-hoo!"

Beach day, here comes Wallace West.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 8th, 19:34 EDT

Recognized:

Kid Flash, B-03

Dressed in swim trunks, sunscreen, flip-flops, and far too much beach equipment for a night at the beach, Wally runs into the atrium of the cave.

"The Wall-man is here!" He cheers, knowing that Conner at the very least will hear him, "Let's get this party star-"

As he runs, not truly paying attention to his surroundings, he trips on some of his very unnecessary beach equipment and goes tumbling to the ground.

 A beach ball bounces to the feet of a very unamused Batman, and Wally gulps as he looks up to see everyone in uniform.

"-ted."

Robin smiles mockingly at him while Superboy, Miss Martian, and Storm exchange a glance that speaks simply of how much time in forced proximity they've spent.

Aqualad's face mirrors Batman's.

"Wall-man, huh?" A new, distinctly female, voice asks, and Aqualad wordlessly steps aside to reveal the speaker.

She has light blonde hair in a high ponytail, dark brown eyes, obvious South-East Asian heritage, and a mocking look. She is decked in all green with an arrow emblem on her chest, a quiver of arrows on her back, and a bow in her hands.

Green Arrow's presence in the room fills any uncertainty about her origins.

"I love the uniform. What exactly are your powers?" She continues, smirking down at Wally as he pulls himself into a standing position.

Wally ignores the question as he moves to stand next to Robin.

"Uhh, who is this?" He directs the question at Aqualad, but the girl responds.

"Artemis. Your new teammate."

"Kid Flash. Never heard of you" He responds, watching his worst fears be confirmed as Green Arrow steps forward.

"She's my new protege," He confirms, and Wally internally panics.

"Wha-what happened to your old one?" He cries out, affronted.

The Zeta-Tubes whirl up.

Recognized:

Speedy, B-07

"Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore."

The very hero being discussed walked into the room.

"Call me Red Arrow."

The young heroes all stare, a mixture of dumbfound-ness and relief at the archer's continued survival.

Green Arrow reacts the fastest.

"Roy," He begins unsurely, "You look-"

"-Replaceable." Red Arrow cuts him off as he steps up to where the heroes stand.

"It's not like that," Oliver tries desperately, "You told me you were going solo."

"So why waste time trying to find a sub?" Red Arrow replies, snark in his tone, "Can she even use that bow?"

Artemis steps forward and defends herself.

"Yes, she can," She says as she gets in his face.

Wally finally voices a question.

"Who are you?"

It's directed at Artemis.

"I'm his niece," She answers, at the same time Green Arrow chimes in.

"She's my niece."

"Another niece?" Robin exclaims incredulously.

"Nipote," Storm mutters under his breath.

"But she is not your replacement," Aqualad cuts in, looking at Red Arrow. "We have always wanted you on the Team, and we have no quota on archers."

Wally pipes up, having already decided his mortal enemy.

"And if we did, you know who we'd pick," He says, shooting a side eye at Artemis who glares.

"Whatever, Baywatch, I'm here to stay."

The rapidly rising tensions in the room are briefly stalled when Aqualad speaks up again, directing a question at Red Arrow.

"You came to us for a reason?"

"Yeah, a reason named Dr. Serling Roquette," Red Arrow responds, looking at Robin.

Robin tenses and pulls up his Holo-glove.

"Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City - vanished two weeks ago," He informs the other occupants of the room.

"Abducted by the League of Shadows two weeks ago," Red Arrow amends, pulling up the same information onto the main projector in the cave.

"Whoa. You want us to rescue her from the League of Shadows?" Robin asks, an amount of awe in his tone.

"Hardcore," Wally agrees, doing his secret handshake with the other boy.

"He's already rescued her," Storm states, overlapping with Red Arrow's words.

"I already rescued her."

He narrows his eyes at Storm's words.

Storm shrugs and answers the unspoken question.

"You don't see like the type to knowingly leave a civilian in the possession of an eco-terrorist assassin organization, and certainly not the type to give such a high stakes rescue mission to people you consider less trained and inferior for succumbing to the Justice League's wishes. But, continue."

Storm receives a glare for his efforts.

"As I was saying, only one problem. The Shadows already coerced her into making a weapon." 

An image appears on the Holo-screen.

"Doc calls it the Fog, comprised of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech infiltrators, capable of disintegrating anything in their path -concrete, steel, flesh, bone- but its true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system, then deliver the stolen data to the Shadows. Providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech," He finishes, giving a mock bow to the horrified heroes.

A sadistic voice cuts in.

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, and power broking," Artemis says, listing on her fingers, "Yeah. Sounds like the Shadows."

Wally scoffs.

"Like you know anything about the Shadows."

She smiles tauntingly at him, infuriating him further.

"Who are you!" He shouts, being ignored by the older heroes.

"Roquette's working on a virus to render the Fog inert," He informs, providing a small upside to the situation, but it's quickly overshadowed.

"But if the Shadows know she can do that...," Robin says quietly, trailing off.

"They'll target her," Red Arrow agrees. "Right now, she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab."

"You left her alone?" Green Arrow questions, shocked.

"She's safe enough for now," He rebukes.

Green Arrow makes a last ditch attempt at reconciliation.

"Then let's keep it that way, you and I."

This only angers Red Arrow.

"You and I?" He questions mockingly, "Don't you want to take your new protege?"

Before Green Arrow can respond, Batman steps forward.

"You brought this to the Team. It's their mission, which means its hers now too."

Red Arrow scoffs.

"Then my job's done."

He walks back towards the Zeta-Tubes.

Recognized:

Speedy-

"That's Red Arrow, B-07, update," He corrects.

Recognized:

Red Arrow, B-07

Wally fixes Artemis with a glare, and Miss Martian gets a strong physic feelings of here we go again.

She internally agrees with this assessment.

Chapter Text

Before

Poor child. Her voice resonated across the landscape, shaking the bedrock under Jason’s feet. Your father is first among the gods, yet you are always second best – to your Roman comrades, to your Greek friends, even to your family. How will you prove yourself?

Behind Varus, the crowd parted. The shimmering ghost of a woman drifted forward, and Jason felt as if his bones were turning to dust.
‘My dearest,’ said his mother’s ghost. ‘You have come home.’

Now

Happy Harbor, 

August 8th, 21:53 EDT

Superboy, Storm, and Miss Martian patrol the perimeter of the high school. Above them in camouflage-mode, Bio-Ship waits silently and stealthily for a command to move in if necessary; A small contingency plan to put ease on all of their mind's if the mission goes south.

They all know to never be too cocky.

Especially with Shadows.

"Miss Martian, link us up," Aqualad commands over a temporary comm, "We do not want the Shadows intercepting our comms."

He patrols the corridors just outside of the computer lab; Artemis guards inside the room with Kid Flash and Robin, the idea being that the stronger hitters fight first while the more technical fighters fight those who get past their defenses.

Everybody online? 

Artemis telepathically groans.

This is weird.

And distracting.

Dr. Roquette's voice cuts through the young heroes' minds, grumbling and annoyed as she codes quickly on the school computer.

Coding on a kiddie computer with less RAM than my wristwatch is hard enough, now I have to hear teens in my skull?

She clutches her head dramatically, as if preparing for the headache she's going to get.

Kid Flash mentally pipes up from where he reclines against a wall snacking on a granola bar.

Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?

Pot, kettle. Have you met?

Artemis' retort bites back quickly, as she physically glares at Kid Flash.

Hey, hey. I do not need that attitude from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the Team.

That is so not on me.

Fate of the world at stake.

Roquette's annoyed voice sounds through their minds, as Kid Flash immediately jumps to the defensive.

She started it!

Artemis sighs and grabs her bow, heading towards the door of the computer room.

How about I patrol the perimeter with the others?

Although phrased as a question, se doesn't wait for an answer.

Good idea.

Aqualad responds anyway, a hint of stress even heard mentally.

After Artemis has left the room, Robin turns to Kid Flash with a slightly disapproving look.

You might cut her some slack. It was her arrow that saved your butt against Amazo.

Kid Flash's eyes go wide.

What no! That was Speedy's- I mean Red Arrow's... arrow.

Not so much.

He mentally huffs.

Well still not giving her the satisfaction.

You know, I can still hear you.

Artemis's voice echoes in their heads, an unwelcome reminder of the fact that their conversation is being broadcasted to them all.

Kid Flash groans aloud.

"I couldn't get the Justice League," Roquette mutters to herself as Aqualad enters the room to check in on her process.

"Your virus will not be of much use if we cannot find the weapon," Aqualad states as he walks up from behind her. "Can you track it?"

"My utility fog is not a weapon," Roquette defends as she turns toward Aqualad, "It's science, brilliant science, and of course I can track it, but I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and 'assassinate me' written in neon."

Aqualad places his hand on her shoulder.

"We will protect you."

She glances at him before hitting the enter key to begin.

"Tracking the Fog now."

Her voice resounds both out loud and inside their heads.

...

Now

Philadelphia, 

August 8th, 21:57 EDT

A plane, a private jet no doubt, moves slowly on a tarmac as it taxis to the runway.

A man, wearing a helmet like contraption that gives him the look of a cyclops, checks a Holo-Screen with calm leisure, a flute of champagne in his hand.

It lights up with a globe.

"Roquette has surfaced to track us, but that's a two way street," He tells an old man who sits meditating in the plane.

The man watches the screen with a deadly focus, but does not move to get up.

"Send an operative," He says, as Roquette's location appears on the globe, "Who do we have near... Happy Harbor?"

...

Now

Happy Harbor,

August 8th, 22:01 EDT

Storm and Superboy stand on one side of the school building keeping lookout.

A shared look tells Storm to fly over to the other side and walk back around to perimeter check.

He takes off, flying smoothly over the building and landing where Artemis and Miss Martian stand guard, bow ready in Artemis' case.

He gives Miss Martian a nod, before beginning to walk back around the high school.

Mmm. That boy.

Artemis' unwelcome thought drifts through all of their minds.

Miss Martian glares at her, ready to defend her would-be brother.

He can hear you, you know. We can all hear you.

A harsh undertone lines her voice, although Artemis seems unbothered.

Oh, I know.

A thought from Storm begins appearing in their minds, before Aqualad's voice goes over it.

Miss Martian, Dr. Roquette has located the Fog. Reconfigure the Bio-Ship so Robin and Superboy can pursue.

Miss Martian shoots Artemis another look as she raises her hand, summoning the Bio-Ship to the gate in front of them.

Superboy jumps over the building while Robin runs out of it, both entering the Bio-Ship as it closes behind them and takes off.

Superboy still finds time to shoot Artemis a miniscule glare, though he doesn't truly know why he does it.

As soon as they're out of range, Miss Martian whirls on Artemis, ready to either verbally or telepathically give her a piece of her mind, before Storm's voice echoes in their empty head cavities.

While I appreciate the compliment, I am gay so do with that information what you will.

Artemis blushes in embarrassment, the first real sign of any emotion other than ones typically negative she has shown to any of the Team so far.

M'gann feels slightly bad for her.

Serling Roquette's voice sounds in their heads.

Why am I hearing a teen soap drama in my head when I'm about to be assassinated?!

Sorry.

Artemis' slightly meek sounding apology speaks in their minds, obviously having a double meaning.

Kid Flash laughs out loud.

Is that an apology I hear from archer girl-

Kid Flash. With all due respect, please be quiet.

Aqualad's voice drowns out Kid Flash's taunt.

None of them notice a dark haired woman in a Cheshire mask hiding in the bushes.

...

Kid Flash has taken a step out of the classroom to get a breather - who knew that listening to someone you're literally saving whine about your incompetence and annoyance could get annoying.

The mind-link is quiet, probably due to the lack of interesting things happening and the fewer people on it.

Rob's been gone only a few minutes, 9 at most, and he already misses the snarky thirteen year old.

Who knew.

A shadow on the floor catches his attention, mainly due to its distinctively feminine shape.

He follows it to its owner with his eyes, and sees a flash of long black hair disappearing down a hallway.

Nobody in the Team has long black hair and Artemis doesn't either.

Something's not right.

Using his speed to catch up to the likely assassin he dashes down some hallways before reaching the natatorium, or indoor swimming pool, of the high school.

He's too focused on trying to find where the woman went that he doesn't notice the marbles on the floor, until he slips on them and falls flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

He barely has enough time to see a Cheshire grin on a face mask before a foot comes down on his head.

The Cheshire woman nudges his unconscious body with her foot into the pool.

He falls in, floating face down with a steady stream of bubbles around him.

...

Meanwhile, Aqualad stands behind Dr. Roquette in the computer lab waiting for Kid Flash to get back.

Something doesn't feel right.

Miss Martian's voice crackles through their mind-link as the door creaks open slightly.

I can't feel Kid Flash's mind anymore, I think something happened to him-

A shuriken wizzes past him and only years of instinct and training reaction times for underwater combat allows him to get in the way of its path, aimed at Roquette's skull.

The wound buzzes with an unknown toxin, but it doesn't seem too serious.

"Doctor get down!" He calls out, and the woman drops to the floor with fear.

"Hmmm," A female voice, young and mocking, sounds through the room as the assailant reveals herself. "That had to hurt."

Aqualad pulls the shuriken out of his arm as his tattoos light up.

"Atlantean skin is quite dense."

He draws his Water-bearers just in time to block her dual-Sai attack.

"And my shuriken is quite poisoned," She responds as the two exchange blows, although her fighting style is much more agile.

M'gann, Kid, Storm, Artemis, we are under attack in the computer lab!

He hears no response but hopes they're coming.

A few moments later, Storm and Artemis appear in the room, Artemis already releasing an arrow and Storm creating a strong gust of wind to target the Cheshire woman's feet.

She slices through the arrow with ease but looks slightly unbalanced by the currents at her feet, flipping onto a desk and sending a Sai flying a the doctor, who has moved to the side of the room and is watching the fight like a tennis match.

Aqualad switches his Water-bearer swords to a whip just in time to knock the Sai off course, sending it into the wall next to Roquette's head.

The woman takes the opportunity to stab him with her other Sai, but is prevented from doing real damage by a volley of arrows from Artemis, that forces her to switch her attention to dodging and slicing through the arrows.

Storm takes this moment to reach Serling Roquette and grab her by the hand, pulling her out of the room.

Miss Martian's voice echoes through all their minds.

I found Kid Flash. Storm, I need you to get to the natatorium, he's inhaled a lot of water.

Taking the doc with me.

The two run down hallways following the distinct presence of Miss Martian's mind, until they reach the room.

Storm immediately puts Kid Flash into recovery position, before taking a deep breath and placing his hand over KF's lungs.

Miss Martian's eyes glow as she wakes him up at the same time.

The young hero sits up spluttering large amounts of water while gasping for air, something his body is conveniently accommodating by creating two channels down his air pipe, one letting air in and one for pushing water out.

That should not be possible.

Gaining his bearings, Kid Flash looks around at Storm, whose eyes are glowing and presumably the cause of his continued breathing, Miss Martian, who is standing worriedly at the doorway keeping watch, and Dr. Roquette, who looks scared and pissed off.

At least she's not dead.

Fuck!

Artemis' curse rings through all their minds, along with Aqualad's Atlantean curses as the woman drops a flash grenade and vanishes, leaving nothing but the residue of her Cheshire grin.

Their comm rings out.

"Robin to Aqualad. We located the Shadow's next target, S.T.A.R Labs. But... we're too late. What's our next move?"

He and Superboy sit in the Bio-Ship over Philadelphia, looking at the crumbled remains of the building.

Aqualad doesn't answer.

...

Four assassins look at the new building the doctor is supposed to be in.

Her backup arrived.

"What's the strategy?" An assassin, looking like the evil DC version of Spiderman, sort of like how Deadpool is the Marvel version of Deathstroke, asks with a cocky attitude.

You don't need to see the Cheshire woman's eyes to know that she's narrowing them.

"We attack quickly and take out any opposition fast. Don't even the odds. We end Roquette now."

Chapter Text

Before

Very slowly, using only two fingers, Annabeth drew her dagger. Instead of dropping it, she tossed it as far as she could into the water.

Annabeth tried for a dumb-blonde smile, like: Oh, silly me. Nobody who knew her would have been fooled. But Octavian seemed to buy it. He huffed in exasperation.

Percy stood on the dock, holding Annabeth’s dagger. “You dropped this,” he said, totally poker-faced.

Now

Happy Harbor,

August 8th, 22:01 EDT

Kid Flash, meanwhile, is watching Roquette type with Storm and Artemis, unaware of any imminent danger.

He won't be for long.

A door bursts open and the very same spider assassin flips out, shooting webs at Kid Flash that he barely dodges as he spins to run at the assassin.

Artemis nocks an arrow and draws it, but as she goes to release it the ceiling shatters and another assassin, a big bulky man with a hook for an arm, falls through, hitting the ground running towards Dr. Roquette.

A last-second change of direction for her arrow sends it flying towards the man, catching his attention.

He throws his hook at her, connected to his arm by a chain, and, surprised, she barely manages to dodge out of the way, sending the hook crashing into a wall and creating a hole.

A third assassin steps through it and moves towards Artemis as they unsheathe a katana, but are tackled away by a quick moving Storm.

The assassin kicks Storm off of them, sending him flying a few meters away as they leap to their feet and unsheathe a complimentary wakizashi and draw into position, waiting for Storm to arm himself.

They wear a black bamboo jingasa that covers their eyes and a gas mask over the rest of their face, with an outfit similar to the Cheshire woman's but longer and with more armor, looking like a highly adapted version of historic Mongolian battle armor.

Their movements speak of precision and years of training.

Storm gets up, draws his sword and shield, stands ready, and they both lunge, meeting in the middle in a fast-paced clash.

Cheshire stands above the room in the rafters and lines up a crossbow to the frantically working Serling Roquette, not protected from above due to her guards fighting for their lives with Cheshire's associates, and lets it fire.

A table flies up into the air, blocking the shot.

That can only mean one thing.

"Martian's here. Now or never!" She calls out as she flips down from the ceiling onto the table where Roquette works.

The katana fighter slashes down at Storm's ankles suddenly, and uses the small distance gained between them to turn and run up Hook's back, ignoring his shouts of protest. They jump off of his head while maneuvering it to face Storm, and throw their wakizashi at Artemis, who barely dodges before getting a kick to the face that sends her to the floor.

Hook's body follows the rotation of his head, and accidently slams his hook hand into Storm's head, making him fall to the ground as a steady stream of blood begins falling.

Black spider spins around the speeding Kid Flash, and webs his feet together, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Roquette tries to scramble away from Cheshire, but falls over as Cheshire twirls her Sai mockingly and readies her hand.

Serling Roquette does not tremble, or flinch, or look remotely terrified.

No, she smiles.

Her skin turns green and her eyes red, and Cheshire gets a horrible feeling that Miss Martian was always there, especially as her hair begins to turn red and her clothes shift as she rises like how a vampire exits their coffins in the Sims 4.

"We've been duped!" She shouts, no, screams in frustration, alerting the other three assassins around her.

But if Dr. Serling Roquette is not here, then where is she?

...

Now

New York City, 

August 8th, 22:09 EDT

"The next target's a WayneTech facility," Robin reports, as he and Superboy float in the Bio-Ship next to the skyscraper, "In theory, the system software can be used to hack the... never mind."

"Hack the what?" Superboy asks, confusion on his face.

Robin waves a hand.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters is that we can't let the Fog get in. WayneTech operates a 24-hour workforce. We'll never evacuate in time."

He clicks on his Holo-glove and looks at the virus.

"Uploading, uploading... can this go any slower?!"

Superboy looks out the window and sees the cyborg man with a van and the Fog's storage container.

He's been longing to punch someone since he heard Artemis' comment earlier that night, although truthfully he doesn't really know why it angered him so much.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and social lives, and if Jason wants to kiss the archer girl, who is he to stop it.

It's just... he really wants to punch someone at the thought of it, and who better than an evil assassin.

"We don't need it," He says to Robin, who quicky realizes what he's doing and lets out a cry as he lunges for the clone, narrowly missing as Superboy jumps out of the Bio-Ship at the cyborg man.

He unfortunately sees him coming, and shoots a laser at him, knocking the young hero out of the sky.

Robin lets out an audible groan as the assassin opens the Fog's container and the swarm attacks the building.

The Bio-Ship doors open, and he jumps out and starts gunning it towards WayneTech.

The virus better be ready fast.

...

Now

Happy Harbor,

August 8th, 22:14 EDT

Aqualad lies unconscious on the ground, five toxin-coated shuriken stabbed in his chest.

He fought valiantly but ultimately failed his mission.

Dr. Roquette, the real one this time, is backing away slowly from her desk in the middle of the Sandbar Cafe, towards the exit, but Cheshire strides over Aqualad's prone form to her and trips the woman up when she tries to run.

"Now doctor," She purrs, sounding very much like the cat she is named after, "Time for my appointment."

She punctuates the sentence by dragging her Sai along the doctor's cheek, leaving a trail of crimson blood behind.

Serling Roquette's eyes flicker towards the computer against her will, where the upload bar is increasing slowly.

Cheshire follows her line of sight and curses, running over and staring at the computer for a moment, before stalking back over to Roquette and grabbing her by the shirt, hauling her to the computer, where she places her Sai against the woman's neck.

"Stop the upload or I stop your heart," She commands, the fun undertones gone from her voice, "Now."

Roquette shakes and begins typing, pausing for a second before kicking the woman in the knee and punching her solar plexus.

Cheshire doubles over temporarily from shock, and the doctor begins to run out of the room, before Cheshire recovers and tackles her, sending them flying across the cafe. They end up on the floor with Cheshire crouched over Serling Roquette, and she snarls as she digs her knee into the woman's chest and twirls her Sai, all amusement lost in her voice.

"I was going to have some fun with it, but now I see efficiency is the way to go. Any last words, doctor?"

Fear coats Roquette's face, but she still manages to spit out two words.

"Fuck you."

The assassin laughs, cold and hollow and mocking.

"You wish you could. Now, bye bye!"

She raises her Sai to bring down on the doctor's chest, when the computer beeps.

Upload completed.

"And there goes my contract," Cheshire mutters, before turning back to the doctor. "Lucky for you, I now have no reason to kill you, little doctor, so I'll leave you to your pathetic life. Try to at least die interestingly."

She flips up from her position over Roquette, her foot purposefully landing on the woman's hair.

She walks to the door of the cafe and gives a mocking little wave, before opening it and disappearing, leaving nothing but a chiming bell sound in her wake.

That and Roquette's heavy breathing.

...

Artemis left to pursue Cheshire.

The other three are still fighting the assassins, but they have the stamina on the young heroes.

Except for maybe Storm, but the mysterious gas-masked-katana-wielding assassin is more than a hard enough fight to drain him quickly.

Kid Flash, Storm, we need to end this now.

Miss Martian's voice sounds in their heads as Kid Flash launches a mirage of punches on Black Spider, and Storm blocks one of his assassin's attacks.

It's like you read my mind, beautiful.

Black Spider launches upwards into a probably trademarked by Marvel pose as he launches a web at Kid Flash, who gets caught by it and speed spins around, reeling in the assassin like he's fishing. Caught off-guard, the spider can only watch as Kid Flash jumps a sends a flying kick to their face, knocking them unconscious as soon as they get close enough.

Hook sends his arm flying at Miss Martian, who catches it with her telepathy and uses its momentum to turn it back around towards Hook, knocking him out with his own arm.

Storm butts his shield forward into the assassin's face, taking a risk and reaching for their surprisingly unprotected neck and finding the pressure point.

They go down like paper.

"Uh, a little help here?" Kid Flash asks, as he lies tangled in the webbing.

Storm narrows his eyes.

"I'm going to help Artemis with the last assassin," He says as he strides for the door, "Don't let any of the other's escape please?"

...

Now

New York City WayneTech,

August 8th, 22:15 EDT

Robin thanks every Batman he knows of that Batman made him remember the override codes for all Wayne Enterprise buildings, especially as the security doors begin shutting ahead of him.

"WayneTech Override R-G-4," He yells out, sliding under the mostly-shut door.

He needs access to the mainframe, but he needs a computer for that and somehow they're conveniently out of those in this hallway.

He'll have to talk to Bruce about fixing that later.

Spotting a cafeteria with a computer in it, Robin changes course, pulling open with Holo-glove and a wire from it as he skids to a stop in front of it.

"What's happening?! What's going on?!" A brunette woman asks him desperately as the power flickers in the building.

He ignores her.

"Please be connected to the mainframe, please be connected to the mainframe... holy connected to the mainframe Batman!"

He plugs in the wire and looks at the uploading virus on his glove.

98%

99%

...

...

...

100%

"Yes!"

He switches on the download for the computer.

Compared to what he just witnessed, the download is Flash-speed.

Within 30 seconds, a light lights up the computer with a Download Successful sign on it.

He collapses to the ground in relief.

In the data room, the Fog micro-bots power off.

In the carpark, the storage box flicks red and Superboy reaches the cyborg while he's distracted, sending him flying across the carpark.

That felt good.

In the cafe in Rhode Island, Aqualad wakes up with a groan.

The mission was successful.

...

Now

Happy Harbor,

August 8th, 22:58 EDT

So, they didn't catch Cheshire who turned out to be her older sister who she hasn't seen in years, and Kid Flash hates her and they all think she's incompetent and she hit on a gay boy, but hey, at least she's on the Team.

Its a win, not the win she wanted, but one nevertheless.

What won't be a win is this conversation Storm pulled her aside to have.

She stays silent as they make their way to a sound-proof room in the cave, presumably so that Superboy doesn't over hear whatever is about to happen, maybe her death.

She waits until he shuts the door before beginning her apologies.

"If this is about earlier then I'm sorry, but-"

He cuts her off.

"It's not. Don't worry about that, it's chill. It's about something else. I heard... some of the conversation you and Cheshire had, I know you let her go."

She freezes up at that.

He backs up immediately.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, I'm sure you have your reasons and you seem perfectly fine and shit, I just wanted to tell you... whatever she has on you, whatever dirt or secrets, I would still stand by you unless it's like you're a genocidal maniac, but you don't seem like the type. Not dirty enough."

She stares at him.

"You've had a total of one conversation with me and it's this one. Storm-"

"Jason."

"-Jason, that trust is not well placed. You know nothing about me."

"No one here knows anything about me either, I know Robin doesn't fully trust me and is keeping tabs on me for Batman, and no one really knows that much about my past minus all the dark jokes I keep on making on it, but they wouldn't classify me as evil. I know you saved Kid Flash the other day and I know you're trying to help people and your name isn't Octavian so... you have my trust until you do something to lose it."

"What do you have against people called Octavian?"

"What don't you have against them?"

"... Fair point."

...

Now

Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana,

August 9th, 02:41 CDT

For the most secure prison in the world, their transport system really needed better security.

They'd open the back of the truck at Belle Reve and find her missing, and their guards slaughtered.

But what did they expect from an assassin called Jorogumo.

But she can't be Jorogumo, deadly assassin in the League of Shadows right now.

She has to be Zaya until she reaches their nearest base.

They can't think of her as un-useful or easily captured.

She'd rather die before they sent her back to her parents in disgrace.

She had to honor them, honor her countries and their grand histories.

She had to be the most fierce warrior, be like Khutulun Khan and be like Miyamoto Musashi and be better then both.

She doesn't want to think of the consequences if she isn't.

Chapter Text

Before

On either side of the crossroads, two dark metal torch-stands erupted from the dirt like plant stalks. Hecate fixed her torches in them, then walked a slow circle around Hazel, regarding her as if they were partners in some eerie dance.

“You are like your mother,” Hecate decided.

Hazel’s throat constricted. “You knew her?”

“Of course. Marie was a fortune-teller. She dealt in charms and curses and gris-gris. I am the goddess of magic.”

Now

New Orleans,

July 27th, 21:57 CDT

An old man walks down a street, cane tucked under his arm as trumpet-y jazz vibrates through the air around him, no doubt from the jazz band busking a street or two away.

The atmosphere of the French Quarter reminded him of the 1920's, before the Great Depression and World War II, back when he was in his late teens and early twenties and having the time of his life.

But, it's no good to be nostalgic for too long at a time, so the man keeps on walking.

Eventually he reaches a beautifully carved door, with a sign hung next to it.

Madam Xanadu

Tarot Readings

Loved Ones Contacted

Fortunes Foretold

Normally the man would pass it off as a fraud, but something about the place, the aura of the place, or the person inside to be more specific, gives him pause.

It couldn't hurt.

Looking at a picture in a gold pocket watch for a moment, he opens the door and enters the store.

He doesn't come out again.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 19th, 19:39 EDT

Initiate Combat Training

3,

2,

1.

Superboy and Aqualad charge at each other, exchanging punches in quick flurries of movement.

Wally leans against a wall half into a hallway eating a burrito, while Artemis and M'gann stand at the edge of the fighting ring gossiping telepathically.

Jason floats in the air reading some book in Latin while gently spinning.

Kaldur's, uh, nice, don't you think?

Handsome, commanding. You should totally ask him out.

M'gann's tinkly laugh that's a touch mocking rings through Artemis' ears.

He's like a big brother to me. But you know who would make the cutest couple? You and Wally.

Really?

I think so! And I know the reason you want me to date Kaldur is because you think I want to date Conner, so I think I have an obligation to tell you this: I can't tell how Jason feels - his mind is crazy damaged and I would only damage it more to dig around like that - but Conner definitely has some feelings for Jase, even if he doesn't realize it yet. Don't hold your breath.

Artemis is spared from having to answer by a commotion on the floor; Aqualad hits the ground after Superboy executed a new move.

Aqualad, Status:

Fail

Conner gives a small apologetic smile from above Kaldur.

"Learned that one from Black Canary."

He helps Kaldur up as Red Tornado drops from the ceiling.

Jason also floats down to the floor, allowing Artemis, who he lands next to, to catch a glimpse of his book's cover.

It has a lacrosse stick on it.

He's reading about lacrosse.

Honestly.

Lacrosse.

As Red Tornado spins down, Wally finishes his burrito and speeds over to his landing zone, asking impatiently.

"Do you have a mission for us?"

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado responds, monotone as ever.

"Yeah, well, the Batman is with the Robin doing the dynamic duo thing in Gotham," Kid Flash retorts, mocking the android's way of speaking, "But you're heading somewhere, right? Hot date or a mission."

"If we can be of help," Aqualad interjects, his polite way of speaking contrasting with Wally's bluntness.

Tornado looks over the Team for a moment, before bringing up a Holo-screen.

"This is Kent Nelson, a friend. He is 106 years old."

"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety," Kid Flash comments in Artemis' ear, her being the unlucky person closest to him that isn't Miss Martian.

"He has been missing for 23 days," Red Tornado continues, electing to ignore Kid Flash's comments. "Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentor's Justice League."

The hologram changes to show a helmeted man in strange garments.

Aqualad lets out a small noise of dissatisfaction, presumably at himself.

"Of course. Nelson was Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. He was Doctor Fate," He explains to the rest of the Team, who still haven't caught on yet.

"The disciple of Hecate and Jupiter," Storm realizes, "He worked with my Princess Diana in the All Star Squadron against the Axis powers."

Artemis yet again has Kid Flash whisper in her ear.

"Doctor Fate, more like Doctor Fake. Dude knows a little science and Dumbledore's it up a bit to scare the bad guys and impress the babes."

She elbows him.

"Kent may just be on one of his... walkabouts, but he is also the protector of the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might, and it is unwise to leave such a thing unguarded."

The Holo-screen flickers off as Red Tornado looks to the assembled teens, looking to see if he caught their attention.

"He's like the great priests and priestesses of Mars, I would be honored to help find him."

Miss Martian speaks up first, gaining the attention of the others. It's not often that she speaks of her home planet, a few mentions to Jason and Conner about small things, but that's really all any of them ever hear of her home.

It gets Wally's attention too.

"Me too!" He yells out, sticking his hand in the air with incredible speeds. "So honored, I can barely stand it."

He begins to look sheepish as all of them except Miss Martian turn and give him a doubtful look.

"Magic rocks," He finishes weakly, before embodying Robin and melting into the shadows.

Red Tornado yet again elects to ignore the boy.

"Take this," He says, embodying cartoon logic to summon an old brass key from the shadow realm and hand it to Aqualad, "It is the key to the Tower of Fate."

Aqualad faces them all.

"Suit up. We leave in 10."

"If this is another House of Hades situation, I'm going to revive Kronos," Jason mutters, disappearing into the labyrinth of hallways.

Artemis doesn't know exactly what he means, but she agrees nevertheless.

...

Now

Salem, 

August 19th, 20:22 EDT

"So, Wally," Artemis begins, mock in her tone, "When did you first realize your honest affinity for sorcery?"

Wally looks nervously in M'gann's direction for a second, before improvising an answer.

"Well, I don't mean to brag," He begins, seeing her eyes look in his direction, "But before I became Kid Flash, I seriously considered being a wizard."

Miss Martian turns back to driving the Bio-Ship as they arrive at the coordinates, while the others exchange a look behind Kid Flash's back.

Miss Martian speaks back up.

"We've reached Tornado's coordinates, but..."

She doesn't need to finish her sentence.

Where there should in theory be a tower, an empty field of grass can be found.

The Bio-Ship descends and they all get off, quietly looking at the blades of grass.

Kid Flash speeds off, running around the field a couple times before flashing back to the group.

"Nothing," He reports, "This isn't simple camouflage."

"It's like a hardcore version of the Mist," Storm realizes.

"Couldn't be adaptive micro-optoelectronics combined phase shifting now, KF?" Artemis asks as she uses Storm's shoulder as an arm rest, despite him being a good 3 inches taller than her.

Kid Flash looks at Miss Martian, who stands in close hearing range.

"Absolutely. 100% magical mystic arts at work here."

He doesn't get a response from the Martian, only an exasperated look shared between Storm and Artemis.

Aqualad ignores them all while Superboy stands awkwardly in a corner.

"It is a test of fate," Aqualad deduces, after studying the key for a moment.

Seeing the others confused faces, he steps up and mimes inserting the key into a keyhole.

A door with a lock appears around it.

He then twists the key, unlocking the door.

A tower appears around it as the door creaks open.

"What the fuck Hecate," Storm mutters.

Looking at the others, Aqualad shrugs, and enters.

Following their fearless leader's lead, the others follow.

The door shuts behind them, key still in.

...

"I'm busy watching the show Teekl, and you're ruining it!"

The abandoned theatre across the road isn't nearly as abandoned as it seems.

A young boy, maybe 9, with white-blue skin, black hair shaped as devil's horns, long gangly limbs, and a black and white suit with long coat's tails.

The forenamed Teekl, is a cat.

It meows again, and he stops, looking at her curiously.

"The baby Justice League is here? And they got open the Tower? Using adaptive micro-optoelectronics combined with phase shifting just like Abra Kadabra to open it? And now they're in the building and they left the door unlocked? Oh Teekl, you wicked genius!"

The boy stands up and twirls, clapping his hands in delight.

"Abra Kadabra! Great news! We don't even need little I love my wife over here after all! But we should keep him! As a pet! For fun! Like Teekl but worse! And more amusing! Let's go!"

Abra Kadabra, a man who looked ready to perform at a stripper-magic show at any minute, barely has time to react before a portal teleports the three of them outside the Tower.

The hostage with him was even less ready.

Abra Kadabra pushes forward the hostage towards the building, and an alternate staircase opens up.

Klarion laughs with delight, before striding forward, and, with unnatural strength for a nine year old, drags Kent Nelson's tortured form to the stairs and up them.

Teekl and Abra Kadabra follow.

Chapter Text

Before

She was beautiful, but deathly pale. Once, back in New Orleans, Hazel had been forced to attend a wake for a dead classmate. She remembered the lifeless body of the young girl in the open casket. Her face had been made up prettily, as if she were resting, which Hazel had found terrifying.

“Who are you?” Hazel’s fingers twitched at the hilt of her sword. “I mean…which goddess?”

“Ah.” The woman nodded. “Let me give you some light.”

Now

Salem,

August 19th, 20:31 EDT

"Uh, where'd the door go?"

There indeed, is no longer a door.

A hologram appears, of a familiar face.

"Greetings," Kent Nelson says, "You have entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognize you. State your purpose and intent."

Aqualad goes to say something, but Kid Flash beats him to it, looking at Miss Martian with obvious attention-seeking.

"We are true believers," He says, over-annunciating each word, "Here to find Doctor Fate."

The hologram looks unimpressed, before fading from view.

Kid Flash's face falls.

Then he actually falls.

Along with the rest of the Team.

Into a pit filled with lava.

Artemis reacts quickest; She whips out an already loaded crossbow and shoots it into the side of the pit, grabbing Aqualad and swinging them to the stone wall, where her childhood of arm workouts comes in handy as she clings to her anchor for dear life.

Miss Martian scoops Kid Flash up and hovers in the air, but she already seems to not be fairing well against the heat of the lava.

Superboy digs his hands and feet into the wall to slow down, but Storm grabs him and solidifies air above the lava for him to stand on. It feels less steady then his usual platforms though.

Storm narrows his glowing eyes.

"Something, something, less air molecules, something, something," He mutters, though it seems to be mainly to himself, "Knew I should have listened when I was learning about states of matter."

Miss Martian is slowly sinking in bouts, getting closer to the lava.

"Having... trouble... maintaining... altitude," She gasps, looking visibly unwell, "Ugh, I'm so hot."

"You sure are," Kid Flash responds from within her arms.

Artemis looks unimpressed.

"Wally, can you hit on M'gann at any other time?!" She asks, struggling to hold both onto the anchor and on to Aqualad, who is beginning to look worse than Miss Martian.

"Hey, inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind!" He snaps back, shooting her a glare as he and M'gann fall ever closer to the lava.

"Don't worry, I made a safety net, but it's really more some string tied together so there's a one in five chance you'll actually land on it," Jason responds, head bowed as he weaves the air into some sort of platform with his powers desperately.

"My physiology and M'gann's are susceptible to heat, we must climb out quickly," Kaldur states, seemingly mentally preparing himself for climbing in his weakened and unwell state.

Miss Martian pipes up again, desperation and delusion in her voice.

"Hello... Megan! We never actually... answered the... question! Red Tornado... sent us... to see if Mr... Nelson and the... helmet... were safe."

A floor slides over the lava, and Jason, Conner, Wally, and M'gann collapse onto it, with Artemis and Aqualad belaying down moments later.

Aqualad, pretending to be totally fine, crouches down and places a hand against the stone floor.

"This platform," Aqualad realizes, as he places his other hand on it too, "Should be red hot, but instead it is cool to the touch."

Most of the rest of the Team elect to ignore his mutterings as they help themselves up.

"Don't worry Megalicious, I gotcha," Kid Flash says as he helps the Martian to her feet.

This pushes Artemis over the edge.

"Enough!" She yells, shoving him into the wall, distracting everyone from Superboy helping Storm to his feet. "Your little 'impress M'gann at all costs' game nearly got us all barbecued!"

"When did this become my fault!" He yells back.

"When you decided to lie to whatever-that-was and call yourself a true believer!" She screams, causing everyone to look at Wally.

M'gann speaks up first.

"Wally? You don't believe?"

She sounds stunned.

He throws his hands up in the air.

"Fine! Fine, I lied about believing in magic! But magic's the real lie, it's all a major load of bullshi-!"

He's cut off by a hand covering his mouth.

He looks over at Storm, whose face has a deadly serious expression.

"We are standing in the tower of Earth's sorcerer supreme, meaning that we are well in her domain, do not call magic bullshit unless you want to die."

"Whose domain are you even talking about?" He asks as he pushes himself away from the Roman.

"Hecate's."

Kid Flash rolls his eyes.

"A goddess? Pssh, the gods aren't real."

"I'm literally the child of-... you know what, never mind." Storm sounds exasperated as he walks over to a trapdoor in the floor that conveniently appeared and begins to open it.

"Wait, the backdraft from the lava will roast us alive!" Wally calls out in a panic.

Storm ignores him and pulls it open, revealing a cold draft of... snow?

Artemis smirks at Wally.

"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?"

...

Now

Cerro Catedral,

August 20th, 00:48 ART

"Ever heard of string theory? We're in a pocket dimension!"

The Team all let out a chorus of groans as Wally came up with yet another theory as to why they were suddenly in what appeared to be Argentina.

"Ugh. Can you just admit that magic is real?" Artemis asked as they trudged around a snow-swept corner.

"That would be giving in to the lies," He responds, as they come across a cane of some kind, hovering in mid-air.

"Levitation device," Kid Flash says immediately, but is ignored by the other five.

"What is it?" Miss Martian asks.

"Ohhh, maybe it's Kent's magic wand," Kid Flash says sarcastically, as he makes his way towards it.

Artemis does the same and the both grab onto it simultaneously.

"I got it," They synchronize, before glaring at each other.

It starts to glow golden.

Jason shakes his head in disbelief at their stupidity.

The cardinal rule of magic. Never touch anything unless you know what it does.

The cane suddenly jerks upwards, sending the two flying into a golden portal above it.

The others are left standing in the Argentinian mountains.

After a moment, M'gann lets out a cry of frustration.

"I don't understand Wally!" She says, pulling at her hair slightly and floating, "It's almost like he needs to believe the impossible can't happen."

"Wally uses his understanding of science to control what he can't comprehend. Acknowledging magic would mean giving up the last vestige of that control," Kaldur'ahm explains calmly, drawing on his multiple years of friendship with the speedster.

Jason pipes up.

"Mortal... normal humans I mean, their minds aren't meant to comprehend the supernatural, the mythological. So much of these worlds are hidden from the average person by 'veils', drawing on what they expect to see so that they do see it. There are probably hundreds of pantheons and worlds hiding in plain sight across the globe, from Egyptian to Norse to Hindu to all the sects of First Nations Australian's religion with Dreamtime. They're all true, each and every story, but they all happen on different plains of reality and your beliefs dictate what one you can see, unless you're born with the ability to see through veils, in which case you're generally classified as schizophrenic. Wally just... refuses to acknowledge the veil's very existence in the first place and sticks to the solid plain of scientific discovery as a subconscious defense mechanism."

"So that is how it works," Kaldur mused, "I take it you were taught this on Themyscira?"

Jason is saved from having to answer that question by a glow illuminating a ridge top nearby, fading away to reveal a door.

The four heroes share a look, and begin to make their way over.

...

Now

Salem,

August 19th, 20:54 EDT

Klarion, Abra Kadabra, and Kent Nelson are in a stair dimension.

Literally.

It's filled with gravity-defying stairs.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet!" The boy yells, his cat meowing in agreement as it reclines on his shoulders.

Abra Kadabra turns to Nelson with frustration.

"Tell us how to find the helmet," He threatens, receiving only stone-cold silence in response.

His patience runs out.

A gasp of pain is released from Kent Nelson as electricity courses through him, sending him crashing to the floor.

Klarion's boredom dissipates as he claps his hands in obvious delight.

"Ohh, zap him again!"

Abra Kadabra obliges.

On a nearby landing area for a different set of stairs, two teenagers appear, still glued to the cane as if with superglue.

Kent looks up and sees the two bewildered teenagers and his magic stick.

His fingers twitch minutely.

Immediately, the cane flies to his hand, dragging Artemis and Kid Flash along with it, both letting out exclamations of surprise.

Nelson's bonds come undone upon contact with the cane, and the three fall through the floor to a landing just below it.

Artemis and Kid Flash instinctively let go of the cane.

It works.

Before they have time to marvel, Kent Nelson summons an elevator door.

"In here," He tells them as the doors open.

The angry yells of Abra Kadabra and the boy make the decision for them.

Rushing inside, the door shuts and elevator music begins playing, all while Klarion's banging and shouting sounds from outside.

The heroes stand awkwardly.

"I'm Kent Nelson, by the way," The centenarian says casually.

Wally snorts at the absurdity of the situation.

"No shit Sherlock," He mutters, although it is loud enough that the other two can hear him.

Artemis elbows him.

"I'm Artemis," She offers, as she extends her arm, "Miss Manners over here is Wally."

Nelson gives her hand a hearty shake as he speaks again.

"Well Artemis, we're up against an opponent with tremendous mystic power."

"Abra Kadabra?" Wally cuts in, "Flash proved that he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic. Guy's all show, no biz."

"Right you are," Kent Nelson agrees, "Abra is a charlatan. But Klarion, the witch boy, kid with the cat, he's a Lord of Chaos, the ultimate enemy of a Lord of Order like Doctor Fate. In fact, in old Egypt he hid out from Savage as a snake called Apophis, the ultimate enemy of another Lord of Order, Ra."

"You mean the sun god?" Artemis questioned, surprised.

Kent nods his head.

"Doesn't make that much of an appearance these days. Used religion and belief as his anchor to the mortal plain, so faded mainly when Christianity kicked off in Egypt."

Wally goes to say something, but the elevator dings and opens, revealing another landing area with a giant golden bell hanging from the roof.

At the same time, four teens fall out of a door in said roof, although two levitate down much more gracefully.

Artemis immediately runs over.

"Friends of yours?" Nelson asks to Kid Flash.

He turns to look at the centenarian, no doubt a witty response on his tongue, but sees the two magicsters on a perpendicular platform instead, a blue bolt of lightning already ailing towards him and Kent.

It's a testament to the strength of power that superspeed possesses that the bolt doesn't hit them, as he races the two closer to the bell.

Kent raises his cane and bangs the bell, creating a gong sound.

He then, in a surprising display of strength, drags the teen through the bell with him.

The Lord of Chaos follows without hesitation, and Abra Kadabra turns towards the other heroes with a sinister smile.

Chapter Text

Before

This woman reminded Hazel of that girl—except the woman’s eyes were open and completely black. When she tilted her head, she seemed to break into three different people again…misty afterimages blurring together, like a photograph of someone moving too fast to capture.

The woman smiled serenely.

“I am Hecate,” she said. “Goddess of magic. We have much to discuss if you’re to live through tonight.”

Now

Salem,

August 19th, 23:01 EDT

Kent Nelson is dead.

And it's all Wally's fault.

Now the only thing protecting him from the psycho nine year old dressed to his age (the nines) was some yellow electric protection shield and a random old helmet floating due to hover mechanics.

He keeps on with the chest compressions though, hoping, begging, praying to whatever fake shit Jason believes in that Nelson would wake up, at the very least to tell him what to do.

How does he fight a nine year with some sort of concealed projectile firer and not end up in juvie for assault?

Said nine year old, unfortunately, is not giving him anytime to come up with a plan, instead screeching horribly as he launches assault after assault on the protection bubble.

"I want that helmet and I want it now!" The kid, Klarion, he thinks his name is, screams, sawing Wally's head open with pain and annoyance.

Can't the kid just shut up?

Wally, we're in trouble.

M'gann, sweet M'gann's voice sounds in his mind as he feels the Team's mind-link come to life within him.

Ugh.

He does not need a distraction right now.

Kinda busy here.

Okay, maybe he still is slightly salty about everyone mocking him for being rational and knowing that magic doesn't exist, but he also is very busy almost getting murdered by a nine year old to help them.

Is this how goons felt when Rob first showed up on scene?

So are we.

Oh great, Artemis, the bitch.

Tell Kent we need Doctor Fate.

About that. He's kinda... maybe... not alive?

What the fuck how!

Did you kill him?

Storm's mental voice gives him a slight pause; It sounds in a lot of pain.

No, no, I didn't. Storm, you good?

He is currently in the process of what looks like a seizure.

Artemis again.

Wait what?

I can't die from electricity, but it can still hurt like a numina montana on steroids. Abra has gotten me trapped.

We're not winning this without Fate.

A large explosion shocks Wally out of the mind-link.

The shield is cracking, with huge red claws grasping it..

He needs to do something.

They need Doctor Fake, or Fate, or whatever.

They need the helmet.

He gets up.

Walks over to the helmet.

Grabs it.

It's surprisingly light.

"A test of faith."

He raises it.

Klarion notices.

"Hey, dumb kid. If you put that on, you might never get it off!"

He ignores the child. (Who are you calling kid?)

He puts on the helmet.

For a moment, he sees through the small eye holes in it, and worries that nothing happened.

Then, the light falls away and he stands in darkness.

There's nothing around.

No floor beneath him.

No roof above him.

No walls around him.

It's fake.

"Ok, ok, no problem," He mutters as he gazes at the world, or lack of in this case, around him. "I'm not here. I'm just delusional."

A voice pipes up from behind him, sounding amused.

"Still don't believe? Seriously kid, how'd you get so bullheaded in fifteen short years."

He spins around in surprise.

Kent Nelson stands behind him, as if his heart didn't stop beating on the roof a few minutes earlier.

"But- but- you're- you're-"

"Yup. But don't feel bad about it. Soon as this little brouhaha is over, my spirit will ascend, and I'll get to see my beloved Inza again."

Wally feels like he was spinning.

He sits down.

"O-oh, okay." Something else occurs to him. "Does that mean that I'm-"

"You're alive," Kent answers as he sits down next to Wally, clutching his cane for support. "But your soul no longer controls your body. See, we're inside the helmet. You put it on, and my soul got sucked in probably due to the many years I spent serving its master."

"Its master?"

"Nabu. The real Doctor Fate, one of them Lords of Order I told you about. He's the one controlling your body right now. Want to watch?"

Before Wally can say, no I really don't want to watch me be possessed, the darkness around him fades, and he stands on the edge of the roof of the Tower, watching himself, wearing the helmet and the same outfit as the one Kent wore in the Hologram they were shown earlier, fighting the child.

He - his body, and wow does that feel wrong to think about - is hit with some electro shot and it, Doctor Fate or whatever, staggers to the ground.

Curiously enough, he does too.

That hurt.

But why did it hurt him?

"Well it is your body."

Startled, he looks around, finding Kent Nelson yet again standing next to him, watching the fight with some morbid curiosity.

"How did you-... never mind. But then I should control it. With Fate's power and my speed-"

"Doesn't work that way. You can see why I haven't put on the helmet for 65 years."

"And if Fate loses this fight?"

The thought occurs to him like an ice bath.

Nelson smiles sadly.

"Well, then you get to see my Inza before I do."

...

Now

Salem,

August 19th, 23:06 EDT

The electricity courses through Storm again and again, as he twitches and seizes on the ground.

Abra Kadabra watches with a trademarked sinister smile.

A small distance away, locked in cages of pure electricity, Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian are helpless, a feeling none are highly familiar with.

But the voltage is too high to risk trying to escape through; Only Storm would survive it and he is currently incapacitated.

Artemis is on the floor unable to move; She's been hit with a high enough voltage that all of her muscles have temporary frozen on her.

A burn is on her arm too, and she's struggling to breathe due to lack of control over her respiratory muscles.

Kadabra walks over to Storm and flicks his wand, turning off the supply of electricity into the boy's body temporarily.

He takes deep, shuddering breaths, and gets to his feet shakily.

Abra speaks up.

"Peculiar genetics you've got there boy, allowing you to take so much electricity and not even start melting."

Storm tries for an unsettling grin.

"What can you say," He breathes out raggedly, "I try."

Abra Kadabra flicks his wand again as he turns away.

Jason lets out a scream as higher dosages of electricity course through him, and his vision whites out as he collapses to the floor spasming.

...

Before

It was raining, pouring so hard that Jason knew instinctively that all low lands near bodies of water would flood within the next few days if the storm kept up.

He could feel it in his bones that it would.

Staring at one of the archery practice targets, pieces of equipment that were rarely used so no one would miss them, he felt a surge of uncertainty.

What if they got annoyed at him for breaking it? What if it didn't work?

He pushed those thoughts away, just as Lupa taught him to and shut his eyes.

He was a son of Jupiter and Juno's champion, he could control the weather and weaponize it.

Water was typically Neptune's domain, but when it feel in droves from the sky with the energy of storms within it, it was Jupiter's too.

Standing there, in the storm powered rain, he'd never felt so powerful, so at peace.

He snapped open his eyes and twitched his hand as he stared at the heart, the bullseye, of the target.

A bolt of lightning struck it, setting it on fire and letting out a ground shaking clap of thunder.

He'd done it.

Letting out a cry of jubilation, he flipped in the air, now realizing how high above the floor he floated.

He was also now aware of the blue light radiating off of him, and how each drop of rain on him felt like the effects of a long drink of nectar.

It was his father's blessing, his father's power, his father's greatness that had given him such power and luck, and for that, he thanked Jupiter profusely.

He could stay like this forever.

"Jason!"

He looked over.

It was Karsyn, one of the guards who had volunteered the nightshift in the storm.

She also happened to currently be Praetor.

"What are you doing out here Jason? It's past curfew."

"I was just trying to train-"

"Well you can train during daylight hours not at 11pm at night. This rule applies to everyone. Just because you're the son of Jupiter, you're not an exception."

"I'm sorry, I just thought-"

"Well you thought wrong. You've been here over three years Jason, you should know better by now. You're small, so report to my office tomorrow morning, first thing. I won't add the public shame to your punishment, but 5 lashings is the price for breaking curfew without good reason, you should know this."

He nodded, small and meek.

"Run along now. If the others catch you they won't be nearly as nice as I'm being."

Blearily, Jason doubted that, but like he was trained to, he held his tongue.

...

Now

Salem,

August 19th, 23:11 EDT

When Jason comes to, the battle is already over.

Conner tentatively helps him up, and he looks around, massaging his muscles, at the scene around them.

Kaldur'ahm is tending to Artemis, using some Atlantean healing magic to deal with her burn while M'gann telepathically controls her nerves and relaxes her muscles for her; She's silently crying in pain, and Jason feels bad for her.

He notices his face is wet too, and subtly wipes his eyes.

Doctor Fate is standing in the corner awkwardly, non-responsive.

Jason walks over to him curiously; He's doesn't know where the body came from, given that Kent Nelson apparently died according to Wally-

Oh.

Wally's green eyes stare at him unseeing through the helmet.

He's stuck.

Suddenly, and swiftly, Fate reaches for the helmet and takes it off of his head, letting the rest of the outfit fade and for Wally to fall over.

Nothing but reflexes are the reason Jason catches him.

"Uggh, that was weird," The boy groans and Jason can't help but agree.

He stands up and looks around.

"Why are you and Artemis crying?" Wally asks.

"Well you see..."

Jason stops, staring over Wally's shoulder with something akin to disbelief.

The other get up and look that way as well, with Wally letting out a frustrated sigh that stops mid-sentence as he does.

Three women, ghosts of women really, stand next to each other staring at the Team.

One is a maiden, one is a mother, and one is a crone, each dressed in Greek chitons and holding a torch in one hand and a small knife in the other.

They silently all move towards each other, converging into one solid woman.

She's tall, towering in actuality, with youthful features and eyes of black coldness.

Her skin is the color of the full moon with an dead palette to it, hair the impression of the empty void.

Her flame burns oddly, almost dimming that around it instead of lighting it.

Jason recognizes her instantly.

He bows his head.

"Lady Hecate, what do we owe this fine occasion?"

She nods in acknowledgement.

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, champion of Juno, I do have a message for you, but first, let me absorb the energies of this realm."

She spreads her arms out wide as if waiting for applause and breathes deeply.

Then snaps them open.

"Stair realms," She mutters, sounding disgruntled, "Immature and tacky compared to labyrinths. No crossroads in them. Just pain and suffering."

Her eagle eyes, as black as non-milked coffee, zero in on Wally.

She stalks up to him, blurring into three spectral women as she walks but reforming as she stands in front of him.

"Wallace West," She says, sounding as if she has just swallowed a lemon, "The most recent host of Nabu, the cause of all this tackiness. Yet, still, you don't believe in what's right in front of you, refuse to even acknowledge my realm. Insulting."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" He asks, actual confusion on his face.

She draws herself to her full 10 feet of height.

"I am Hecate, goddess of crossroads, necromancy, magic, witchcraft, and sorcery. I am the maiden, the mother, and the crone. I am the keeper of the Mist which is the veil, that I could lift to shatter your puny mortal mind with the reality of everything being both true and not at the same time and the secrets of the universe but I do not out of the goodness of my withered heart and my slight fear of the repercussions from Zeus. Every person on this plain with even the slightest hint of magic potential were hand-picked by me and receive their power from me. I am not your science."

Wally laughs out loud.

"Oh please, gods and magic aren't real-"

"Wally." Jason cuts him off. "They're are times and people to argue this with, but Lady Hecate is not one of them if you appreciate your life."

Conner walks forward and drags Wally back slightly, towards the rest of the Team.

"He reminds me of your cousin," Hecate notes dryly. "On the note of the family business, Juno has found where you are and will be in this plain soon. Also she will have a quest for you and a pre-selected companion because she is unable to express her affection for someone who she believes to be a symbol of her husband's infidelity and therefore her failures as a wife and goddess of marriage, so she shows these emotions by giving you quests and life risking experiences to immortalize you forever as a hero. Expect a summoning to Themyscira within the next week. My duty is done. I'll be with you at every crossroad, whether favorably or not." 

She shoots a glare at Wally before turning into the three women and disintegrating, right before their eyes.

Kaldur clears his throat after a lengthy silence.

"We should head back to the Cave. Red Tornado will be expecting us."

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 20th, 3:04 EDT

Wally walks up to a shelf, where his previous souvenirs are displayed.

Placing the helmet next to the mask of Cheshire, he hears a throat being cleared behind him.

"You know, you never did say what happened when you put it on."

He turns around to face Artemis.

"Energy from the thing rewrote my brain's beta waves. I was bio-scripted into becoming Doctor Fate for a few minutes."

"Wait, you're still claiming there's no such thing as magic," Artemis exclaims, shocked. She then scoffs. "If that's how you feel, why keep it at all?"

He shrugs.

"Souvenir."

"Geek!"

She walks off.

After watching him make yet another desperate and embarrassing bid at M'gann's attention, Artemis feels Jason move next to her.

"Never thought someone who wasn't a demigod would get on a god's hitlist," He comments, looking at Megan's blushing declines.

"He's a special kind of idiot," She says, felling the vibrations of Jason's silent chuckle.

"That he is."

"Hey," She turns towards him, shifting the tone of conversation, "I don't mean to pry - who am I kidding I'm doing this to pry - but when I couldn't breathe and you were unconscious and spasming from Abra Kadabra, you kept on muttering the words, 'I didn't mean to'? It was pretty quiet, so probably only me and Conner could hear, but what was that about?"

He smiles, a touch of sadness in the curve of his lips.

"I just revisited a memory from when I was six," He answers, his face a longing of nostalgia. "I broke curfew."

Somehow, Artemis feels there's more to the story.

Chapter Text

Now

Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana,

August 9th, 06:41 CDT

The sun had been up for less than 20 minutes when a truck pulls over for Zaya on the side of a highway, obviously expecting your average hitchhiker.

She thanks her lucky stars the police haven't driven by yet; No doubt an escaped assassin would already be noticed and all nearby authorities would be alerted.

Though she plans on being far away very soon.

"Where ya going, sweetheart?" The driver, a man in his late 40's early 50's, no doubt unmarried, asks.

She needs to be careful with her answer; Guessing what direction he's going in will be crucial for him to pick her up.

He has an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror, for some American Football team that she locates to be the Keystone City Commanders.

His various bobbleheads of the original Flash memorabilia further cements her beliefs that he's from Keystone City, and makes regular trips there, probably for his trucking work.

She'd bet her life he's heading there now.

Zaya smiles at the man and thickens her accent, aiming for 'lost tourist with good English'.

"Central City, Missouri, but I am okay with being dropped anywhere in the direction."

He beams back.

"Well, what are the chances? I'm going to Keystone myself, I can take you there! Hop in!"

"Thank you so much sir!"

Actual relief is present in her voice as she grabs her duffel, containing her weapons and suit that she managed to steal from the transport van, gives a small bow to really sell the stereotype, and hikes her way up into the passenger seat.

it's embarrassingly as tall as her from the floor to the seat.

Stupid tall Americans.

The trucker laughs good-naturedly at her struggles.

"Please, call me Carter, this is probably going to be a long trip; I like to take my time, enjoy the journey, you know? Plus the shipment isn't needed in Keystone until a few days from now, so I got time."

A few days until people will become suspicious? How useful.

"I am Zaya. It is nice to meet you Carter."

She straps her seatbelt as he starts the truck again, beginning to drive down the road (hopefully) away from Belle Reve.

"So, are you a tourist? How'd you end up so close to the worst prison in America?"

She laughs self-deprecatingly, being careful to sound light and airy.

"I was uh taking month long trip to America as a holiday before I start university," She begins, coming up with a backstory on the spot, "I was going to take one week to see the capital of Illinois, Springfield, but my GPS took me to the Springfield in Louisiana instead! My rental broke down then as I was going cheap, backpacking to stay on budget. The company said they'd pick the car up but refused to pick me up, so my plan was to get a car to Baton Rogue and get a plane back up to Central City, but they must have heard me wrong and taken me near Belle Reve instead. I did wonder why it was such a long drive but America is such a... big place, I thought it was normal."

She made sure to mispronounce Baton Rogue in such a way that one could mistake it for Belle Reve if they were selective and wanting to scam a foreigner out of their money.

"Well that's quite the misfortune you've had young lady! Belle Reve is no nice place to be near to, especially with no money, might mistake you for a prisoner, heh. Are you hungry? You must be hungry, I have some twinkies and assorted snacks in the glove box, help yourself sweetheart!"

"Thank you!"

She embarrassingly devours into the shitty food with gusto; Belle Reve prison transport had given her nothing but a sip of water during her time with them and the hours since, hiking through marshlands and avoiding the local wildlife, did nothing to satiate her hunger.

He chuckles again; She's beginning to hate the sound.

"Easy there tiger!"

It takes all her restraint not to stab him right there, but she needs to be patient.

She's not very good at patience.

...

Now

Chatawa, Mississippi,

August 9th, 12:57 CDT

How he managed to turn a two hour drive into a six hour one, Zaya will never know.

She is honestly this far away from recommending him to get officially diagnosed with ADHD, because it's simply ridiculous at this point.

They stopped in Chatawa to stretch their legs, which contained a rail crossing, a bridge, a house that looked abandoned, a single road, and about two farms that had nobody visibly in them.

It was the perfect place to both murder, and hide his body.

The nearby residents were so convinced that some monster lived in these woods that they'd be willing to pass off poor Carter as one of its victims.

It's a bit of a shame, because Zaya was coming to really like Carter; Over the six hour drive she learned that he had recently lost his dog, spoke two languages, was Christian, had two kids, and was currently in the process of getting a divorce from his wife of ten years due to a falling out.

He's just such a slow driver, and Zaya needed to be in contact with the League of Shadows yesterday.

Is she doesn't get in contact soon, they may even scrap her contract that she fought (verbally, she's not stupid) Ra's al Ghul for, and she'd be back to half years with both of her fucking annoying parents who were determined to make her their clone just to spite the other.

So, in conclusion, Carter needs to go.

She waits until he parks the truck and climbs out to grab her wakizashi from her duffel, concealing it behind her back as she hops down.

Zaya walks around the front of the truck to Carter, who begins to say something, probably some happy go lucky shit about nature, but she cuts him off with a stab into the neck.

The wakizashi pokes out the other side as blood dribbles and pools in his jugular notch.

He looks at her, helpless and confused, and the Jorogumo feels a flash of sympathy.

She pulls the weapon out.

"Sorry Carter," She apologizes with no truth behind it as she slices a strip of his flannel off, "I really did like you. But I have places to go, people to kill, and you are just to slow for my schedule. Die assured, you'll be saving me from my parents."

She ties the flannel strip around his neck to prevent creating a messy crime scene, tying it tight enough to crush what's left of his ripped trachea.

His face begins to pale and turn blue as she stabs her wakizashi through his hand and uses it as a leash to drag him into the forest.

He's not strong enough to resist.

...

Now

Chatawa, Mississippi,

August 9th, 13:34 CDT

The inhabitants of 1185 St. Mary Drive are lucky to not be there when she hid Carter's body, otherwise she'd have to kill them too.

Walking the short walk back to the truck through the woods, Zaya ponders what to do.

She has two days before anyone will get suspicious about Carter's disappearance, and who knows how many spot-police checks and towns to get through to get to Central, which she'll ultimately have to go to now.

Not just because of her cover, but also because of the Shadow's safehouse there; She's yet to reach a ranking within the organization where she knows where they all are, and that's the closest one she knows of.

Public phones are a no-go; She doesn't have any money, nor anyway to secure the line.

She's on her own.

Wonderful.

...

Now

Drummonds, Tennessee

August 10th, 10:12 CDT

It's, embarrassingly, not even in a larger town she's going through where the police pull her over.

She'd maybe a five minute drive outside of Randolph, a tiny town north of Memphis, minding her own business on a small side road.

A police officer, who just happened to be patrolling stupidly far out of Munford where he's definitely from, decides to ask a really important question: Why the fuck is a large truck driving on a small side road when there is a perfectly good highway a couple miles away?

In hindsight it wasn't the best plan.

He'll no doubt have more questions when he sees that the driver is a young short Asian girl struggling to reach the pedals with no license.

Zaya prepares herself to kill him, developing a semi-detached state from who she is.

"Excuse me young lady, Munford Police, can I have an explanation as to why you're driving a Class 5 vehicle on a side road 12 miles out of Munford?"

She'll bet her life he's some degree racist and has already made his mind up about her, so she decides to play up the stereotype, slapping on a thick accent.

"I... GPS tell me... go here... I follow GPS."

His face turns incredulous.

"Why would GPS take someone out here? Okay, I need to see some I.D, your driver's license, your CDL. Can you show me your certification?"

Oh.

A couple things click for Zaya instantaneously.

One, this police officer is young, obviously pretty fresh, eager for a big case, and antsy.

Two, she's definitely giving off smuggling, or trafficking, vibes in this interaction.

Poor stupid foreigner brought over by smarter family members probably roped into crime to pay bills, although normally she'd be the one getting trafficked, not doing the trafficking.

"Commercial license, yes?" She stutters through a bewildered, slightly scared, persona, "You need... driver... license? I thought I no need to... carry it with me... it... no here."

The officer swears under his breath, obviously falling for the trap hook, line, and sinker.

Bingo.

"You don't have your license on you? That's a crime, you're under arrest. Step out of the vehicle, walk around to the other side, and put your hands in the air. Any attempt to retaliate or any acts of aggression will be treated as a threat and reacted to accordingly."

She slips out of the truck clumsily, fully aware that she looks even younger when up against it.

She's mumbling something, a mixture of English and the Mandarin she knows, begging him that she didn't mean anything, but it's muted even in her own ears.

All she can hear is her heartbeat in her ears, all she can sense is the gun his hand slips over as he reaches for his handcuffs off of his belt.

"Fucking traffickers, hell," He mutters, as he goes to handcuff her.

The Jorogumo strikes.

Zaya headbutts him and lunges for his walkie-talkie, throwing it on the ground.

He stumbles back, but she doesn't slow as she crushes the communicator beneath her foot and grins at him.

He pulls out his gun.

"Stand down or I will shoot!"

Her grin grows wilder, like she's nine and begging her eej to not leave her with emee, who'd taken to practicing her aim with a gun on the headboard at the end of Zaya's bed while she was sleeping in it.

(Her eej had said no, and pulled a gun on her forehead and pulled the trigger ten times until she stopped flinching.)

(The woman didn't remember whether she'd loaded it or not.)

His finger tenses on the trigger, and Zaya decides to take initiative and not get shot, spinning around and kicking the weapon out away from his hand, sending it clattering under the truck.

Zaya mock tuts her tongue in disapproval and drops the accent.

"No cheating. Come on, I'll go easy on you. Promise."

She launches at him as he pulls himself into a laughable defensive position, feinting out of his attempted blocks and punching him in the chin, before kneeing him in the groin.

He subconsciously doubles over and she uses the opening to leap over his head like a vault, spin around, and land comfortably on his shoulders.

The police officer attempts to throw her off but she clings casually, laughing in delight.

"Oh, this is just like the movie Ratatouille. I've always wanted to do this," She giggles, letting him writhe helplessly under her for a moment more before swinging and, using a move she saw on some random wrestling, flip them, sending him crashing to the tarmac on his face and her landing gracefully on her feet.

Zaya kicks him in the ribs, hard, and watches as he coughs up some blood, turning the asphalt beneath him red.

"Now now officer, have some dignity," It taunts grabbing his jaw with its hand, "Face me as I ask your last request. Any family I should send bits of you to? Any loving message I should write in your blood?"

He pants, blood dripping from his mouth and nose and several teeth missing.

"Fuck you," He manages, and its grin disappears.

It stamps down on his arm.

He lets out a gurgling scream as it hears snapping sounds.

Satisfaction curls through the Jorogumo.

It grabs him by the neck and hauls him up, pinning him against the truck side and punching him.

"I bet your wife is pretty, sleeping with the whole neighborhood because she only married you for her parents. Or was it because she's pregnant and needed to lock down a man in her life, despite him not even being the father? Well? Which is it?!"

It drops him to the ground once it's done, his face a bloody mess, and fetches his gun from beneath the truck.

The Jorogumo shoots him in the leg once, and twice in the arm.

The officer lets out a muffled shout as it levels the gun towards his lungs.

"You know, people like you disgust me, you sicken me," It says conversationally as it fiddles with the trigger, "You choose the violent life. You aren't forced into it, aren't trained for childhood in murder and how to stop feeling anything. No, you just choose the job. Just choose the power, the thrill. Bet you don't even have a tragic life story? 'Helping' people because it's the right thing to do? Pathetic."

His eyes, already wide with fear, grow even larger still as it mock waves.

"Enjoy retirement."

The Jorogumo shoots the police officer in the lung, and watches idly as he drowns in his own blood.

...

Now

Drummonds, Tennessee,

August 10th, 10:59 CDT

She's hidden the cop, Officer Justin Davis she'd learned, but that didn't take care of the issue that the other cops would no doubt be here soon.

Future Zaya problem.

About to climb back in Carter's truck, Zaya takes a peek in the side view mirror of the truck and frowns.

She covered in Justin's blood.

She should probably clean up.

Walking back across the road to where she knows the Mississippi River is, Zaya grabs her wakizashi from where she impaled it into a tree earlier and tucks it into her belt.

She shouldn't forget that.

Reaching the river, she goes to bend down and scoop up some water, and the unthinkable happens.

She slips on a rock.

Really.

A rock.

Taking a tumble into the river, Zaya, even more unthinkably, bangs her head on the rock on the way down, splitting it open.

The current is not extremely fast, but strong nevertheless, and very quickly Zaya find the bank a good few meters away.

She isn’t very worried initially; No, more annoyed if anything at her incompetence to keep her balance.

If only her mother could see her now.

It’s only after the river around her turns red with blood, undoubtedly from both Justin and herself, that she endeavors to truly make an effort to get back to dry land.

So, as she's swimming her merry way sideways, the unthinkable happens for a third fucking time in like, a single minute.

Someone give her an award.

There must have been a storm recently somewhere upstream, because some debris, namely a large spiky stick, is floating in the water, half moored on the bank, in front of her, right in her path.

She hits it.

In the head wound.

Her vision whites out and she lets out a gasp of pain, inhaling large quantities of unsanitary water, and when her eyes work again, Zaya finds herself in the middle of the river, surrounded by bloody water and heading towards a whirlpool.

She splutters and coughs out the water in her lungs as she struggles to stay afloat, but more and more her legs seem to be disobeying her, and panic sets in stronger, creating a doomed cycle.

When she reaches the whirlpool, she's barely above water on her own, and within a second is meters under, with no air in her lungs and no sight, due to the filth of the water and the cloud of blood surrounding her.

She feels lightheaded and tired, and her legs grind to a halt as her lungs burn in protest.

She needed to do... something? Zaya can't remember what it was anymore.

She should sleep.

Her parents always like it when she sleeps.

It makes them happy.

They're nicer when they're happy.

Her eyes flutter closed as darkness takes hold, Death cradling her in their loving arms the way a mother does to sleeping child.

Deep in the waters of the Mississippi, floating in peace for the first time in a long time, the Jorogumo's heart slows to a stop.

But Death whispers.

Not yet.

Poseidon carries her as the Fates trim the edges of her tapestry.

It's awfully small.

...

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea

August 23rd, 16:21 CEST

When Zaya wakes again, she is in a Greek-style building with a cool afternoon breeze drifting lazily through the room via giant windows, offering picturesque views of a Greek town and the Mediterranean Sea, washing the sleep from her eyes.

She's on a bed, soft and comfortable, and large obviously handmade vases with some variant of lavender decorating corners, while a plush animal skin rug lies on the stone floor.

It was honestly one of the nicest buildings she's ever been in.

Her outfit feels much lighter than what Zaya is use to, so she cautiously looks down.

She audibly gasps.

A Greek chiton, loose and light, falls around her.

It's one of the most beautiful things she's ever seen.

Cautiously touching her hair, Zaya finds it's been plaited and woven into a slightly messy bun, probably from sleep. 

It's probably the most care another person has put into her appearance since her mother spent hours making her an outfit and a hairstyle for her first kill at ten, but it does beg two questions:

One. Who the fuck did this while she was sleeping. (She ignores the voices in her head that say she was dead.)

Two. Where the fuck is she.

As if summoned, a wooden door she didn't notice until just now opens and a head peeks through.

They - She, as it's obviously a woman - look surprised to see her awake, but quickly school their features into something more welcoming.

It honestly creeps her out even more.

"I didn't realize you had awoken, sister, you must forgive me for not coming sooner. I will explain everything and answer all the questions you undoubtedly have, but first, may I have your name?"

For a brief second, Zaya considers saying no, but decides against it; It's not like anyone will be put at risk for knowing it, and the United States government already knows, so what harm could one girl do?

"Zaya. Tanaka Zaya."

The woman cocked her head curiously.

"Are you Japanese then?"

"And Mongolian," She grits out, feeling strangely angry.

No matter how much she hates her mother, she hates her father just as much; She will not only be viewed with his heritage.

"Oh, I apologize," The woman says, cutting right through her anger. "It's just your last name is a very common Japanese last name, not to mention your weapon is traditionally Japanese, but I understand how I may have come across as impolite for making such assumptions. I should introduce myself. I am Princess Donna of the Amazons, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance sister."

She gets out of the bed in a frenzy at those words.

"Princess of the Amazons? But the Amazons..."

"Live on Themyscira, yes. Which is we are now, my sister in arms. The gods deemed you worthy to become an Amazonian warrior, so the currents of Poseidon have carried you to Paradise Island to begin a new life."

She barely hears the woman, the Amazon, the princess, Donna, over the sound of blood rushing through her ears.

What the actual ever-loving fuck.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 25th, 19:39 EDT

They're eating dinner when the raven appears, a note tied around its foot.

Jason sighs, expecting this since their meeting with Hecate.

He feeds the raven a chunk of his dinner as he unties the note, reading it quickly due to it being written in Latin.

Jason,

Juno has arrived and is demanding your presence. I think she had a quest for you.

She also has taken a large interest in the new girl, who arrived yesterday.

Get here as quickly as possible.

Also horse is in cave again.

Donna.

He goes to take another bite, but finds the raven staring at him disapprovingly, not speaking but implying heavily that he should get up now.

Jason groans, before looking at Conner and Megan, who look at him confused.

"Summon to Themyscira," He says, shrugging, "Urgent. I gotta go now. Could you-?"

"Tell Batman why you disappeared. Sure," Conner responds, mimicking his shrug. "Now go, before that bird eats all of our food too."

He looks down and finds indeed, no food left on his plate and the raven staring at him with big innocent eyes this time.

Jason groans again as he begins walking to the cave exit.

He doesn't need his Storm stuff; Quests are for Jason Grace, not for the protege of Wonder Woman.

He also will probably be breaking many laws in doing so, so prevention of an international incident would be nice.

The raven bites him.

"I'm going, I'm going, you can quit it you bastard," He tells it, increasing his walking speed. "What is your name, so I can know what to call you when I curse you out telepathically, by the way?"

The raven - no, Crow - squawks an insult and an answer back in his head.

Jason sighs as he reaches the outdoors and takes off into the still light sky.

Something tells him this will be a long flight.

Chapter Text

Before

“It’s not fair,” Jason said. “I could ruin everything.”

“You could,” Juno agreed. “But gods need heroes. We always have.”

“Even you? I thought you hated heroes.”

Now

Gotham City,

August 27th, 06:17 EDT

They're losing.

Badly.

Which, for the record, is a bad thing.

At least they're in an abandoned building, so no random Gothamites can see their failures and bully them online.

As Aqualad goes crashing into a wall, his Water-Bearers falling out of reach and him slumping to the ground, barely conscious, he wonders why the gods deemed his life to be this way for this interaction.

Why must he be leader, why must his whole Team not be here, why must his mind be distracted with thoughts under the surface, to a land just like him and a girl like sunshine despite the sun not reaching that deep.

Why must they be fighting a villain that Batman could have easily handled on his own or with Robin?

Clayface, for that is his name, lights up with electricity, crumbling to the ground, but not before silhouetting a distinctly bat shaped shadow onto the warehouse floor.

Batman was watching them.

He defeated Clayface easily.

They failed.

As unconsciousness (he really did hit his head hard) cradles him in its loving embrace, Aqualad has one last coherent thought.

Where on Earth is Storm?

...

Now

Greater Khingan Mountains, Inner Mongolia, China,

August 27th, 19:17 CST

Despite being up to their heads in a colony of very angry ants, Zaya, as Jason had learned was her name, still manages to complain about being chosen for this quest.

"I mean seriously? You send your 'champion' on a quest to Inner Mongolia, and you pick the Mongolian girl to go with him?" She mutters, as she uses her newly made katana and wakizashi, made of a mix of celestial bronze and tamahagane, to slice through an array of Myrmekes. "The assassin Mongolian girl who tried to kill him like two weeks ago and has been an Amazonian for not even half a week? What kind of fucking selection process is this?"

"I learned a long time ago not to question how a god's mind works," He yells back, furiously stabbing at one of the ant's hard shells until it finally cracks and explodes into gold dust, no doubt making him look like he just had a bad experience with body glitter.

Another one of the giant evil ants lets out a barrage of poison spray at him, dousing him in the deadly fluid, which would melt through his skin and clothes if it made contact with anything but his specially crafted armor.

Luckily, his fellow Amazons had had the foresight to craft entire body covering suits for both of them, which tanked all the hits with ease and left no skin showing.

These would have been a hit back on his original world, but now isn't the time to get stuck in his own head again, not when they're exterminating the hoards of Myrmekes with varying levels of success.

Raising his hand to summon Tempest (and isn't that a fun reunion; Jason and his electrical socket, reunited again), Jason impales the poison-spraying ant, and uses its almost dead body as a ramp to mount the storm spirit, now racing through the underground dirt room at faster speeds, and getting a quick breather from the fighting.

They're quickly being overwhelmed; They need a different approach.

For that to happen though, they need to have a conversation, something that is not possible in their current situation.

"Zaya!" Jason calls out, as he leans on the side of Tempest and reaches out a hand, the venti slowing slightly to make the exchange possible.

The former assassin is wielding weapons in both hands as she attacks the ants ruthlessly, but upon hearing her name, she spins, dropping her wakizashi and catching it in her hand already holding her katana, before grabbing onto his hand and allowing him to pull her onto Tempest's back.

The storm spirit then takes off, thundering down the complex labyrinth of dirt tunnels as the masses of giant ants follow as quickly as they can.

"We're getting overwhelmed," He says, unashamedly clinging to the alive storm that is breaking whatever speed limits the ants have in place down here.

"I noticed." Her reply is curt; She obviously still is not happy with the situation. "We need some other way to kill them, some other-... there!"

She suddenly, without warning, jumps off Tempest and hits the floor with a roll, sprinting into one of the loot chambers.

Tempest skids to a stop, confusion written in his clouds, as Jason dismounts and follows quickly; It'll likely be only a few minutes at most until the Myrmekes reach them.

"Zaya," He hisses, as she rummages through the piles of shiny objects, "What are you doing?"

She ignores him, mumbling to herself.

"Wires, detonators, grenades, incendiary bombs, oh, thank you to whoever made so many weapons of mass destruction shiny!"

Zaya seems almost excited as she grabs the many weapons and begins loading them into her magic sack, a parting gift from Donna, that is enchanted to never run out of space.

"Okay - help me load stuff into the bag - here's the plan: You grab the most expensive thing in this room, probably this," Zaya pauses for a moment to grab a cloak that appears to be woven from pure gold and silk, "And you run for it - hey, wait a minute, I recognize this, it was stolen from a museum a couple years back - but anyway, you distract them. Meanwhile, me and Tempest stealth around and plant bombs everywhere, before we rendezvous and blow the ants sky high. Plan?"

They have no other option, so he has to do it, even if he doesn't want to.

Jason sighs.

"Plan."

He can't see her face, but he can imagine her smirk.

"Good. I'd start running now, as they're catching up to us."

Indeed the sound of the pincers on the Myrmekes clacking was getting very close.

Jason grabs the cloak (and wow, is it heavy, this is a workout by itself), and walks to the entrance of the chamber.

As the ants round the corner, he takes off running.

Zaya tucks herself into a shadowy corner as they thunder past, not a single one noticing her (or the horse), and smiles from beneath her armor.

This quest has become a lot more fun quite suddenly.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 27th, 7:58 EDT

Batman faces the Team with a stern yet unreadable expression.

Kaldur doesn't blame him.

They, quite literally, failed their mission.

Finally, something in the hero breaks, and he sighs.

"I need to talk to Aqualad. The rest of you hit the showers and head home," The hero says, and the rest disperse, minus Robin.

Conner mutters as he walks away.

"Head home? I am home."

Batman shoots Robin a look.

"Just Aqualad."

The younger hero walks away, but not before shooting a slightly miffed look towards his mentor.

Once alone, Batman turns to Aqualad.

Kaldur speaks first.

"I am sorry you had to intervene," He says, his eyes dropping to the ground in shame, "I know the Team performed poorly."

"The Team before adequately," Batman responds, voice harsh. "The problem was you. You're their leader, and your head wasn't in the game."

Kaldur'ahm sighs.

"No, you are... correct. Of late, I am not even convinced I belong on the surface world. For so many years, it filled my every thought. But now that I am here, my dreams are only of Atlantis."

"Atlantis..." Batman prods, "Or someone you left behind?"

Kaldur's eyes shoot up to meet the Bat's, stunned.

"You can split your time between the surface and the sea. But not your mind. Either you're here 100%, or you need to walk away. Make a decision, Kaldur, and make it soon."

With that he walks away.

...

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 13:00 UTC-2

Recognize:

Aqualad, B-02

King Orin is waiting for Kaldur'ahm, as he materializes at the ornate Zeta-beam, and the two swim beside each other.

"Greetings, Kaldur'ahm."

"My King."

The hallways they swim down are decorated elegantly, with mosaic murals depicting ancient battles against sea monsters and the ocean gods.

"The Queen and I are hosting an intimate dinner tonight," The elder of the two says, "Will you attend?"

"My King...," Kaldur'ahm trails off, unsure of how to phrase his thoughts as they come to two diverging paths, one of the most decorative and famed of the  Poseidonis murals in front of them.

The sinking of Atlantis, painstakingly made of hundreds of thousands of tiny hand-shaped tiles, colored and placed back when Rome was at its peak.

The observe it for a while in a muted silence, before Kaldur finishes his thought.

"There is someone... special, I had hoped to see tonight."

The King gives a small chuckle in response.

"You may invite a friend," He assures his protege.

Kaldur smiles.

"Thank you, my King."

They both begin swimming again, each down a separate path, one to the palace, and the other to the Conservatory of Sorcery.

Orin speaks once more.

"Until tonight."

Kaldur'ahm echoes the sentiment.

...

Now

Greater Khingan Mountains, Inner Mongolia, China,

August 27th, 20:06 CST

Jason has been running for his life for almost two hours.

Not to say he hasn't killed some of the Myrmekes, no, far off it, but like the infestation they are, more take the place of each fallen.

It mirrors the Hydra in a way he doesn't want to acknowledge.

He's run around the entire colony wearing the woven gold cloak now, and is just reaching the original loot chamber he started this distraction at, when Tempest solidifies next to him and whinnies, before launching electricity at the hoard, effectively creating a pile-up.

Jason has never loved his horse more.

A hand then grabs his wrist and pulls him into the chamber, and he reacts on instinct.

His fist is caught with a hiss.

"It's me you idiot, get in here!"

Zaya pulls him deeper into the chamber, before pulling something out of her bag.

Jason recognizes it.

It's a detonator.

"That must have been some fun cardio for you," She comments dryly, hearing Jason's labored breaths, "Running as fast as you can for a rough two hours."

He glares at her, but she either doesn't notice it through their helmets or chooses to ignore it.

"Just... blow them up... already."

She shrugs.

"If you say so. Tempest!"

The storm spirit appears in the chamber just as Zaya presses the button.

BOOM.

The hallway and entrance to the chamber collapses in a mixture of fire and dirt, and they're plunged into darkness.

His ears are still ringing as the explosion ends, leaving them in a dark silence.

All he needs is some glowing strings and some old ladies and it would be an exact replica of his experience in the Underworld.

Tempest starts glowing with electricity, providing a dingy blue light to the dirt room.

He subconsciously makes his eyes glow too, and looks around the room with the bonus night vision.

There is no exit.

They are literally.

In a hole.

In the ground.

Zaya laughs awkwardly beside him.

"So," She begins, "Maybe I forgot to plan an escape route when I planted the bombs, but, at least we'll die having completed the quest and surrounded by gold. Not a bad way to go."

Tempest looks at her.

Jason pipes up.

"But we haven't even completed the quest yet. We still have the original colony in India we need to take out to prevent them from coming back."

She curses in Mongolian.

"Okay, okay, fine. I fucked up. Let's just pray to various deities related to the Earth as we scoop up all the valuables into my bag."

They both begin to load things into her bag, for lack of anything else to do, all while naming as many Earth gods as they can internally, begging for an exit tunnel.

"Well, you did manage to make quite a mess down here."

Whirling around in surprise, the two find a woman standing behind them.

She looks kind and nurturing, although tired too, giving off the aura of an overworked mother in need of a vacation.

They're both, quite frankly, confused.

She notices this, and smiles with a hint of laughter.

"I should introduce myself. I am Yer-sub, the protector of the visible world, the water and the homeland, that is. Zaya may know me better than Jason, but I did not expect you to recognize me. Few depict me well if any depict me at all."

Zaya gapes at her, recognition coloring her features.

"You're the goddess from Tengrism, the one my buurai emee says I should pray to along with Tengri and Erlik, because, and I quote, 'Chinggis Khan prayed to them and he conquered the universe, and I do and I got away with murdering my husband, so maybe you could achieve something if you had Tengri's backing'."

Yer-sub laughs.

"Your grandmother sounds like a lovely woman," She says, smiling. "But, I did promise Juno I wouldn't hinder her chosen when they came to help me clear the infestation, so I'll give you an exit."

She disappears and a tunnel opens up in the wall, with moonlight flooding the room and casting a dim light through it.

Zaya all but runs towards the exit, with Jason following quickly, and within minutes they're lying on the forest floor in relief.

Zaya lets out a groan.

"Ugh, now I might actually have to become religious. I can't believe my emee was right. Eej always said she was crazy because she ate Uvuu's heart and got a neurological disease that she treats by grinding up herbs and sand in goat's blood and drinking it twice a day, and by training her children to be the next Chinggis Khan and to conquer Asia."

Jason props himself up and looks at her concerned.

"Why is your maternum aviam drinking sand to cure a brain disease?"

She waves her hand in a don't ask gesture, before getting to her feet.

"Come on, we need to walk to the nearest road and hitchhike our way to Hulunbuir."

Jason mimics her.

"What if they don't want to help us?" He asks, "And do you even know Mandarin?"

She rolls her eyes.

"I do actually speak Mandarin. My eej picked it up in her young assassin days. And for if they don't want to help us, then I tell them our sob story about how our helicopter crashed in the mountains and how you don't speak any Mandarin - if they speak English, only talk in Latin or Greek - and then I bribe them with this."

She whacks her magical bag, before eyeing Jason, who realizes that he's still wearing the woven cloak.

He feels his face warming up as he pulls it off and hand it to her, who wordlessly puts it in the bag.

They walk in awkward silence for a couple minutes, before Jason grins and takes off running.

Confused, Zaya takes off after him.

"Why are you running!"

He looks back and shouts.

"Cardio! You can join me this time!"

She speeds up.

"You fucker!"

Chapter Text

Before

Piper was pretty sure he’d been about to say for us—as in the two of them, and she wondered if he’d remembered a girl from his past. But she didn’t let it bother her. Not on a sunny winter day like this, with Jason next to her.

Across the green, her cabinmates looking disappointed that they hadn’t witnessed a kiss. They started cashing in their bets.

But that was all right. Piper was patient, and she could see lots of good possibilities.

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 13:16 UTC-2

Garth and Tula are hurling magic at each other under the Queen's watchful gaze when Kaldur'ahm arrives.

He watches them in silence for a moment, noting the proficiency both have at the art, with their tattoos only glowing when magic is being used.

Ever the analyst, He notices Garth remains more predictable in his movements, obviously telegraphing that he's going to make a shield before doing so, a mistake that allows Tula to get the upper hand and overpower him, ending the spar.

Queen Mera, ever the observer, notices Kaldur hovering in the shadows, but elects to ignore him for the moment to give feedback on the spar instead.

"Garth, your technique is excellent, but your choices remain predictable. Combat sorcery requires... improvisation."

Garth bows his head in acknowledgement.

The Queen smiles mischievously.

"Now, Kaldur'ahm, if you are done hiding in the shadows to best not disturb the class, you may come out now to greet your friends," She says, and Kaldur takes it as what it is: An order.

Swimming out of the shadows rebuked by the Queen's statement, Kaldur apologizes.

"My apologies, my Queen, but I did not wish to disturb their study or your teach-"

He's cut off as both Tula and Garth barrel into him, ensnaring him in a tight hug.

"Kaldur!"

"Kaldur'ahm!"

Despite having both gills, mouth, and nose to gather air through, he still struggles to breathe as his two best friends compress his lungs.

The Queen watches on, a mixture of amusement and fondness, before replying to his unfinished apology.

"It is well, Kaldur'ahm, do not fret. I have another class so I was just finishing. I will see you at dinner?"

From his place sandwiched between his friends, he gets out a nod.

"Of course your majesty."

"We shall talk then," She decides, before swimming away, leaving them to their reunion.

The two Atlanteans finally separate from Kaldur, wearing matching grins at his struggles to breathe.

"You look well Kaldur," Tula says, her smile turning much softer and more genuine.

Kaldur'ahm of Shayeris' heart skips a beat.

"She's right," Garth butts in, "Surface life agrees with you."

"How peculiar," Kaldur notes, dry sarcasm in his voice, "Given that all the surface beings I work with seem intent on disagreeing with me over the smallest things."

"Well then maybe you should visit us more often to keep yourself looking young and healthy," Tula suggests, sharing a look with Garth loaded with hidden meanings, "Afterall, it's been..."

She stops as Garth inhales a large lungful of air, shooting Kaldur a small eye roll from the corner of her eye.

"Two months, two weeks, three days, and just under sixteen hours since we saw you last," Garth says.

Kaldur blinks.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Tula whispers conspiratorially to Garth.

"I think you broke him."

Garth swims up to Kaldur and begins shaking him.

"Kaldur'ahm of Shayeris? Hello? Is anybody home?"

Kaldur pushes him away and stares at him, confusion evident in his face.

"You counted how long since I last saw you down to hours?"

"I didn't," Tula butts in, "Garth did. He missed his hunting partner."

"I did not realize how long it's been," Kaldur says, shaking his head slightly as if to clear his mind. "I must make up for lost time. Garth, would you like to go hunting tomorrow? And Tula, I have been allowed to invite a friend to dinner with our King and Queen tonight, I would be honored if you would attend with me."

His two friends shared yet another meaningful look between themselves, and Kaldur has a fleeting feeling of being left out, before they turn back to him, smiles wide on their faces.

"Of course we would love to!" Garth answers for both of them.

He smiles in relief.

"Wonderful. I am going to go rest in my quarters for a couple hours, as I had a rough morning with little sleep. I will meet you at six. Have a nice afternoon."

With that Kaldur'ahm turns and swims away.

His best friends watch him leave worriedly.

As soon as he's out of sight, Tula rounds on Garth.

"We have to tell him," She whisper-hisses.

Garth nods in agreement with a grim face.

...

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 18:57 UTC-2

"A giant echinoderm," Prince Orm explains, a rare sparkle in his eyes at the talk of science, "Frozen, yet still alive. Of course at this point our data is quite limited, but Dr. Vulko thinks the creature is very promising and could have potential for medicinal purposes."

"How fascinating," Mera agrees as she pries open a clam, "Well, if you need any sorcery expertise, I'm always willing to lend my brain and talents."

Kaldur'ahm, Tula, Prince Orm, Queen Mera, and King Orin are all leisurely eating clams and other raw underwater delicacies in the formal dinning room of the palace as they converse.

Queen Mera turns to Kaldur.

"How are you, Kaldur'ahm? We did not get the opportunity to catch up earlier as you were... otherwise occupied."

Tula blushes and turns her head away, slightly embarrassed.

Kaldur smiles at his Queen, although he still looks moderately troubled.

"I am well, my Queen. The Team are good companions of the surface world and each have their own unique... uh."

"Lacking of a fully developed brain?" Orin suggests, a wry smile on his lips.

"Perspective and input, was what I was going to say, but yes, I suppose that works too," Kaldur finishes, and a light chuckle goes around the table.

"However..."

Kaldur starts then stops, seemingly unsure of how to proceed with his train of thought.

"However what Kal?" Tula prods encouragingly, although she too is unaware of where this sentence will go.

"I have recently been considering rejoining the observatory and no longer being a hero of the surface. Do not get me wrong, it brings me immense joy and pride to serve by your side, my King, but I have been thinking of Atlantis and my home here more and more as of recently," He finishes, looking nervously towards Tula, as if to gauge her reaction.

"Kaldur," The Queen begins gently, "You do realize that you left your studies some time ago. You sorcery skills have not kept apace, so you would not be in the same class as either Tula or Garth."

He smiles at her sadly, and Tula looks mildly uncomfortable as the tables lapses into silence.

King Orin clears his throat awkwardly after some time.

He and Mera stand, with him wrapping an arm around his wife.

"We have an announcement."

He speaks calmy, buy clear joy is present in his voice.

"I am with child," Queen Mera says, happiness overpowering in her tone.

Tula gets to her feet immediately.

"That's wonderful!" She exclaims, swimming over to embrace the Queen.

Kaldur and Prince Orm quickly get up after her.

"Congratulations," Kaldur'ahm says to Orin, "An heir to the throne, at last."

Orm shifts uncomfortably at the statement, and Kaldur quickly amends his words.

"Apologies, Prince Orm. I did not mean to-"

"No fear, Kaldur'ahm," Orm assures the younger man with a smile, although it seems slightly forced. "No one is as thrilled as I am at this news."

King Orin smiles gratefully.

"Thank you, my brother."

Aquaman's Justice League communicator goes off suddenly.

"Superman to Aquaman. League emergency at Tokyo Bay, rendezvous at the Watchtower."

The mood drops slightly at the message, but Orin kisses his wife on the cheek and looks at Kaldur'ahm.

"Kaldur'ahm, swim with me to the Zeta-beams."

Kaldur bows his head in agreement and follows Aquaman out of the the dining room.

Once swimming again along the tiled mural hallways, King Orin regards Kaldur out of the corner of his eye.

"Batman has made me aware of your dilemma," He says, as they swim past The Sinking of Atlantis and towards the Zeta-beams, "I know from experience that it can be hard to live there and love here."

They arrive at the beam, and Orin turns briefly to place his hand on Kaldur's shoulder, reminding him of what his father does just before dispersing wise advice.

"Nevertheless, I am confident that you will make the right choice. Try not to destroy Atlantis while I'm gone."

A small smile crosses over Kaldur'ahm's face.

"No promises."

Recognized:

Aquaman, 0-6

Orin disappears in a flash of gold, leaving Kaldur floating alone.

...

Now

Rajasthan,

August 29th, 03:42 IST

They're almost above Jaipur when Jason wakes up Zaya.

She had crashed out about an hour into their flight, and Jason had followed soon after, but military training ingrained into him from a young age meant that he'd awoken earlier then her.

With just over an hour left of their flight, Jason figures she'd need some time to be alive before having to play up the tourist act again without stabbing him.

She awakes with a start, flailing slightly and letting out a small yelp when she notices the lack of solid ground beneath her, but she quickly calms.

Perks of the assassin lifestyle.

Zaya now glares at Jason.

"Why, in whatever god you believe in's name, did you decide to wake me up by electrocuting me?!" She hisses, looking slightly like a wet cat with her extremely messy bed-hair.

He shrugs and puts his hands up placatingly.

"We've got a rough hour until we land and I figured you would want some time to wake up before having to act like we chose to go on a vacation together because we enjoy each other's company."

Her glare lessens at that, before she sighs and props her legs up on the side of the jet, searching in his eyes for something.

She apparently finds it because next second she smirks.

"That's not the only reason you woke me up and reminded me about how see-through our plane is, is it? You wanted to what, trauma bond in your invisible sky plane so we become best friends?"

He elects to ignore the sharp edge of her voice.

"It's not my plane, it's a Themysciran relic. Diana used it to transport her fellow members of the All-Star Squadron back in the second World War," Jason explains, ignoring her mutters of 'great, it's from WW2, that gives me so much faith in its ability to not fall apart'. "And I didn't want to 'trauma bond', I just thought that it maybe couldn't hurt to get to know each other a little bit better. We don't have to talk abut trauma."

Zaya cocks an eyebrow.

"Do you have anything better to talk about?"

His silence is telling, mainly due to the fact that most of both of their lives qualify as trauma so there's nothing else to talk about.

"Ok! Trauma comparing it is!" Zaya exclaims, fake excitement thick in her tone. "The real way to assert dominance is to have the worse trauma. Let's start with parents. My eej is a Mongolian assassin who met my chichi when she was 28, liked his existence for about three years, during which they got married and had me, tolerated it for three more, then got into a terrible argument with him when I was three and they tried to kill each other, leading to their divorce and their shared custody of me where I spend half the year with each of them. She moved back in with my buurai emee, trained me to be a great Mongolian assassin to piss off chichi, and got a bad habit of leaving me with the truly insane emee for weeks on end as she completed assassinations. I am nothing more than an inconvenience, a tool, and a reminder of her past failures for falling in love to her. You next!"

Jason looks at her concerned, before shrugging.

"My mater was an 80's Hollywood film star with substance problems who fell in love with Zeus, had a kid, tanked her career as a result, got left, seven years later called upon Jupiter instead, had a second kid, pissed off Juno who demanded she name me Jason to honor her, neglected me and left my sister to raise me as she tried to get her career back up again, then when I was two, abandoned me in the Wolf house at Juno's request so that I could be raised by Lupa and go to Camp Jupiter young to be the best hero I could be, then got really into substances and while drunk drove off a cliff and died when I would have been about seven."

Zaya looks at him with newfound respect.

"I was expecting to easily win that as Queen Hippolyta and Princess Donna referred to you as 'Prince Jason' and 'son' or 'brother', but hey, I love a good fight. My chichi basically is the same as eej except he still loves her like an idiot and tries to mold me into a smaller version of him so that she can be reminded of how amazing he is, except it does nothing but make her hate him more and make his more depressed and angry. He also gave me a full sized katana when I was four and told me I wasn't good enough as I couldn't naturally use it flawlessly because I had no training and it was as tall as me, if not taller, and said I was a disgrace and a failure and that he should snap my neck right then and there."

Jason grins at her slyly, getting into the rhythm of trauma dumping now.

"Shame he didn't go through with it. My pater is the immortal king of the gods who is married to my noverca yet constantly cheats on her, causing her to hate both him and me. The first time I met him I was fifteen and we fought some giants together, during which he implied that he loved me and that it was all Juno's fault for not meeting me sooner despite the fact that nothing was truly stopping him except his sense of stupid fucking duty. He then later was entirely willing to kill me when I implied that punishing Apollo for his descendants actions was 'unwise', code for the stupidest fucking thing I've ever seen you corrupt paranoid failure of a leader."

The sky around the Invisible Jet rumbled in warning.

The latest Amazon looks at Jason nervously.

"He isn't going to blow us out of the sky, is he?"

"Nah," Jason reassures her, "Juno would kill him if he let me die a second time."

"Second time? Damn, I gotta step up my trauma game. Let us next compare trauma around..."

Zaya gazes out through the see-through walls of the jet until her eyes land on Tempest, who is pulling the plane like how a horse pulls a carriage, to help reduce the time of their flight to a reasonable amount of hours.

Still not a number to laugh at, but much more desirable of a time.

"Pets," She finishes, looking at Jason in a 'you go first' sort of way.

"I was raised as a child soldier in the army where unless you were good with the unicorns or retired, having a pet was seen as frivolous unless if it served some greater purpose. However as I was the 'almighty son of Jupiter', even that wouldn't have saved me from being consider weak if I had a pet, so I only got Tempest when I got amnesia and heaps of Venti tried to kill me, one of which was Tempest that I tamed into tolerating my existence."

Zaya places a hand on her heart a wipes away a fake tear.

"How moving," She says, fake sniffling, "How could I ever beat that... oh wait. When I was six to keep me busy, my eej told me that one of the goat's was now my responsibility and my pet, so I named her Princess Magic Eyeball Sparkles Sr. and I poured all of my time, love, and affection into her until one day while I was training my pain tolerance my emee made me kill her so that she could drink her blood to keep the crazy away and I wasn't allowed to hold a funeral because it was part of my pain tolerance and the entire thing was actually a way to acquaint me with loss and teach me how to better control my emotions around death but it made me swear to never eat goat again so my emee forced it down my throat when I was eight and I threw up and to this day I consider Princess Magic Eyeball Sparkles Sr.'s death the first life I ever took."

Jason's quiet for a moment before asking the question of everyone's lips.

"You want a mint?"

He holds out a mint container.

Zaya looks at it for a couple seconds in bewildered silence, before doubling over and starting to hysterically laugh in disbelief.

Jason joins her.

Every time they almost stop, they look at each and start up again, tears pouring from their faces and they struggle to control their breathing.

By the time they're finally calm, Jaisalmer is almost beneath them.

Jason looks at his fellow Amazon.

"You ready to go play tourist, get scammed for a ride into the desert and then go fight some giant ants?"

She grins in response.

"Of course. But first can we find a motel and some food? I feel strangely like I just spent 24 hours in a plane."

...

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 20:06 UTC-2

After the dinner finishes, Tula and Kaldur head to one of the palace's coral gardens for a quiet conversation.

Staring at the fluorescent colors of the plants, reminding Kaldur'ahm of Tula's fiery hair, he notes that the location is what one might consider romantic.

Certainly, if he was Roy and trying to proposition a girl, he definitely would.

But Kaldur'ahm is not Roy Harper and should not be thinking about Roy Harper when chances are he will never see him again, so he banishes the thought of the other red head from his mind.

He focuses on Tula instead.

"There is something I must..."

They both begin speaking over top of each other at the same time, before stopping and sharing a laugh.

Tula begins again but she's stuttering, allowing Kaldur to speak calmly over top of her.

"Tula, I have decided to stay here in Atlantis with you."

The 'because of you' is unspoken but heard all the same.

Tula's eyes widen slightly and take on a gently pitying look.

"But Kaldur," She begins, a gentleness to her tone that tells him bad news is coming, "Garth and I... we are together. We wanted to tell you sooner but there was no good time."

Something in Kaldur'ahm of Shayeris' chest shatters, although it's smaller than he thought it should be.

His face remains calm on the surface, although so many emotions of hurt and anger rage through him like a tropical storm below the surface.

Before he has the chance to respond, however, something lights up the Poseidonis skyline.

That thing is most of the lower districts of the city, and screams fill the water like a cursed choir.

Both Atlanteans quietly curse and begin swimming towards the disaster, propelling themselves through the water at speeds that make Olympic swimmers look slow.

Emotions will just have to wait until later.

Chapter Text

Before

A shrill sound pierced the air. Light flashed in the corner of Annabeth’s eye.

She turned in time to see an explosion blast a new crater in the forum. A burning couch tumbled through the air. Demigods scattered in panic.

As soon as she said it, the Argo II launched a second volley. Its port ballista fired a massive spear wreathed in Greek fire, which sailed straight through the broken dome of the Senate House and exploded inside, lighting up the building like a jacko’-lantern. If anyone had been in there… 

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 20:21 UTC-2

There is an enemy force attacking guards who are rescuing civilians trapped under the rubble.

Aqualad recognizes them at a glance by their distinguishable armor, but that doesn't answer the question of what Black Manta is doing attacking Poseidonis.

Still, he and Tula need to get to the Palace entrance fast, so quick strikes with his Water-Bearers, currently in the form of whips, will have to suffice.

They continue clearing a path to the Main Entry, where Kaldur had met with Tula for dinner hours earlier, with unrestrained ruthlessness; they may no longer be part of the Atlantean Army, but the training for war still lie ready in their muscles, and further training after their service doesn't hinder the skills.

They've naturally fallen into the roles that they both are more proficient at; Aqualad on offense, Tula on defense, but they flit between the roles as necessary.

Although no words are spoken, their fighting styles meld into each other with an ease that suggests they were always meant to, although they obviously don't meld into each other when it comes to romance, but that's off topic for the current fight for their lives.

With possibly alarming speed in any other case, they reach the gates, leaving a trail of vaguely dying Manta soldiers behind them as they reunite with Queen Mera, Prince Orm, and a large amount of the Atlantean Royal Guard Force.

The guards are firing at the attacking Manta soldiers with similar underwater guns, while Mera creates a shield with one hand and launches giant magical eels at unsuspecting Manta soldiers with the other.

She can't extend the shield to protect the guards as well though, due to how it would prevent their ability to fire, leaving them with no cover.

The Royal Guard is making good progress through the soldiers despite this, but they are still outnumbered.

One member is shot straight through the heart and falls, his life force rapidly depleting. Death, unseen by any yet felt still, takes the man's hand and helps his soul from his body with a practiced patience that comes from millennia watching Atlanteans rise and fall, like the tides on the edges of their territories.

The man was 20.

He'll be 20 forever.

Prince Orm darts forward from behind Mera and grabs the soldier's gun, taking his place in the rank without a word.

They can mourn later.

As Aqualad and Tula approach, Tula's magic markings activate and glow, as she creates the equivalent of a magic grenade, that she throws at the Manta soldiers to clear an opening for them to swim through.

"This attack was precision planned," Aqualad yells, as he darts around like a true fish, his tattoos glowing and his whips moving so fast they're nothing more then a blur. "The initial explosions were diversions to create ambushes for the guards."

He's ruthless in a way that almost suggests a personal vendetta against each and every soldier he fights, if you can even call it that.

When Kaldur'ahm is like this, Mera often struggles to see Sha'lain'a and Calvin in him, only Black Manta, the deadly terrorist.

She takes it whatever conversation he and Tula had did not go well.

Tula seems mainly unbothered by her friend's effectiveness, although a small crease forms between her eyebrows.

She nevertheless, continues throwing magic grenades and performing extraordinary feats of magic for her age, minorly destroying the Palace in the process but destroying many more Manta soldiers to make up for it.

Queen Mera releases her shield in a blast of energy, knocking many of Manta's followers down, but they seem to work like the Hydra.

Cut off one head, two more take its place.

Tula is just summoning a whirlpool of new debris when her name is called.

"Tula!"

Garth swims quickly towards them, failing to notice a Manta soldier lining up a shot behind him due to his lack of spatial awareness.

Aqualad and Tula's eyes widen simultaneously as the notice, but Tula is much closer.

"Garth, look out!" She yells, as her magic propels her towards him as the shot fires.

It misses Garth.

It doesn't miss Tula.

She screams and collapses as her side is hit, her markings flaring up and the pillars around them exploding in response to her pain.

"Tula!"

Kaldur and Garth yell in panicked unison.

Garth flicks his hand and a current of water hurls the unlucky Manta soldier into the distance, but it's merely a side thought.

He drops down beside Tula, who's lying prone on the Palace floor, and cradles her head in his lap.

She smiles weakly at him before passing out.

Mera's marking glow and giant tentacle holograms rise out from the floor, batting Manta soldiers away like a young child would do to a block tower they were in the process of destroying.

The Atlantean Royal Guard, now including Prince Orm in their ranks, holds the rest off.

Aqualad drifts back so that he's next to Queen Mera and Orm.

"Surface communications are down," Orm tells the Atlantean adolescent, "We cannot reach my brother. I'll summon more guards to the palace."

Garth pipes up from where he sits on the floor.

"The palace wasn't the only target." He sounds unusually mellow, which is to be expected. "I saw explosions in sectors one, two, three, and five."

"Nothing in sector four?" Aqualad questions, his voice uncharacteristically harsh, "Explosions all over the city except in the Science Center is located, the location of your Giant Sea Star."

"Then it is a diversion," Prince Orm exclaims angrily, "The loss of so much Atlantean life as a mere distraction. But with the King away, it is my duty to protect the Queen... and the heir."

"The Queen can protect herself," Mera says pointedly, flinging Manta soldiers backwards and gently tainting the water around them crimson to make her point.

"If you suffered any injury Mera, my brother would never forgive me," Orm says sadly.

"The Prince is right, my Queen. This battle is mine!" Aqualad says, beginning to scan for an exit strategy.

"And mine," Garth says, beginning to stand.

Kaldur'ahm flashes him a dark look.

"Your place is with Tula."

Aqualad sees a small gap in the enemy forces and strikes with his Water-Bearers, swimming through the haze of Manta soldiers and leaving the Palace, heading towards the Science Center.

Unbeknownst to him, Garth heads there too.

...

Now

Wayne Manor, Bristol

August 27th, 20:04 EDT

Through the security monitor in the Batcave, Bruce Wayne watches as his ward goes through an acrobatics routine in the gym upstairs, muttering angrily under his breath.

When he punches the spare crash mats hard enough to indent in them, a voice speaks up from behind the Caped Crusader.

"You should talk to him."

Whirling around in minor amounts of surprise, Bruce finds Alfred Pennyworth behind him, raising a single questioning eyebrow.

Bruce sighs.

"I'll talk to the young master then," The butler says, turning around and heading for the exit stairs from the Cave.

Bruce watches him for a second before standing up and powering off the Batcomputer.

"Master Richard."

Dick looks up from his water bottle to find Alfred standing at the entrance of the gym.

"Master Bruce wishes to see you. Please follow me."

The teen scoffs but puts down his water bottle and follows the old man through the Manor.

Instead of going to Bruce's office and down to the Batcave as Dick expected to happen, they instead go out of the Manor to the outdoor sports court.

When the door opens, a basketball is bounced into Dick's hands, and he looks up surprised.

Bruce stands in front of him in workout clothes.

"What's this?" He asks, a note of resentment in his voice.

"Training," Bruce replies, "Hand-eye coordination."

"One on one?" Dick asks, although his tone has completely changed.

"If you think you can handle it."

The thirteen year old drops his stance and the game starts.

Alfred watches Dick destroy Bruce at basketball for a moment, a fond smile on his face, before turning back and heading towards the Manor's kitchen.

He needs to get started on dinner.

...

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 20:39 UTC-2

Tapping in a key code to unlock a hidden entrance, Aqualad feels someone moving behind him due to his great spatial awareness.

Pausing for a second, he draws out his Water-Bearers and spins around, tattoos already glowing, but he stops short at the sight of Garth.

He sighs and lowers his Water-Bearers.

"You should be with Tula," Kaldur says, annoyance clear in his voice.

Garth ignores it.

"The Queen watches over Tula and sent me after you," He explains, and Kaldur'ahm lets out another small sigh, before nodding and opening the hidden door behind them.

They swim through the seemingly deserted halls in silence, Aqualad drifting slightly behind Garth.

"You have a plan?" Garth whispers, after a few minutes of no talking.

He turns to look at Kaldur, but finds the space he was just occupying empty.

A patrol of Manta soldiers rounds the corner, spotting Garth glancing around confusedly, and take aim.

Before they have a chance to fire, Aqualad swims down from above them and takes them both out with his Water-Bearers in quick succession.

Garth openly gapes at him in shock and he shrugs.

"I have spent far too much time with Robin on covert missions not to gain some skills from my studies," He explains as a response to the unasked question.

An amount of smugness in his voice does not go undetected, but wisely goes unmentioned.

...

Now

Mount Justice,

August 27th, 20:34 EDT

"Tada!" 

M'gann's vaguely enthusiastic voice, tinted with a little uncertainty, sounds from behind Conner as he watches static on the TV.

He continues watching for a moment, assuming she's muttering to herself as she does something in the kitchen.

The remote control that floats in the air and turns off the TV entirely puts an end to that hypothesis.

He whirls around, miffed at her interference with the soothing sound, and finds her standing nervously at the kitchen counter, next to two paper cups with some strange bright packaging on them.

"Why'd you turn it off?" He asks, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Dinner's ready," She explains, gesturing towards what Conner now recognizes as two minute noodle cups.

She begins to ramble slightly at his confused face.

"I was talking to Artemis about what she considers classic Earth culture and she mentioned that two minute noodles are an essential experience, and as I forgot to stock up on cheese which is a major part of the recipe that I was going to try make tonight and I noticed Wally's stash of noodle cups was hiding in the back of the pantry, I figured why not have this quintessential experience tonight?"

He approaches and looks at the noodle cups closer.

A chunk of information pops into his head about the nutritional value of noodle cups and how it is not recommended fuel for the Superboy.

He pushes the thought away with an angry huff.

The Superboy can fuel his body with whatever he damn well pleases.

He grabs a cup and begins eating the noodles.

Megan follows suit, although after taking one bite, she frowns down at the cup.

"It's... not that good."

She continues eating anyway.

...

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 20:48 UTC-2

In the main hall of the Science Center, housing the Giant Sea Star, Manta soldiers mosey about the room.

Black Manta oversees all of it with a critical eye.

Two Manta soldiers, having just come back from a perimeter patrol, swim into the hall, saluting Black Manta before heading towards the frozen sea star, which is being harnessed so that it can be lifted up into the Manta sub once the roof is cleared.

Black Manta looks them up and down, and notices something.

Two handles dangle from one soldier's hip, handle reminiscent of Water-Bearers.

Handles that are Water-Bearers.

"Impressive, is it not?" Black Manta calls out, speaking the language of the Atlanteans, that a young woman once taught him almost two decades ago. "Aqualad."

He's already firing by the time he finishes, and her son, their son, dives out of the way and returns fire immediately, with the other imposter following suit.

They exchange fire for a moment, before Manta lands a hit that sends both boys into the Center's wall.

Aqualad immediately pulls off his helmet and activates his Water-Bearers, turning them into a small shield to block the shots, before switching one to a whip.

It wraps around a nearby Manta soldier, who was also taking shots at him, and drag them forward to act as a human shield.

Black Manta, beneath his helmet, feels a flash of pride at his son's skills, but he taunts him nevertheless.

"Such a waste of talent, Kaldur'ahm." He opts for using his son's real name, not the alias Orin gave him. "You really have no ambition beyond serving Aquaman? Aren't schools of others willing to die for their King? This fool, for example."

He turns and begins aiming towards Garth, who is only now succeeding in getting his cracked helmet off his head.

As the beam fires, Kaldur launches his whip around Garth's ankle, and pulls him to safety, in this case behind an archway.

Aqualad glares at his stunned friend.

"Garth. Get your head in the game."

He disappears back into the fray before Garth can respond.

...

Now

Central City,

August 27th, 20:05 CDT

Six adults and one teen sit at a dinning room table, with a large 'Happy Birthday!' banner hanging above them.

After finishing what seemed to be a rather elaborate feast, a blonde man stands and grabs the plate of the red headed woman sitting beside him.

"Here, let me get that."

He speeds into the kitchen and back out again in a second, before repeating the process again and again.

"And that."

"And this."

"And those."

"And these."

"How about that?"

"This too."

By the time he's done, the entire table is cleared.

"Thanks Uncle Barry," The teen says, receiving an unwanted hair ruffle in response.

"Anytime, Kid."

A woman, with browny-red hair and the beginnings of wrinkles over her face, smiles at speedster and looks to her son, who is heading towards the kitchen, hopefully to begin washing dishes.

"You're a lucky lady Iris," She comments, looking at the slightly younger red-headed woman, who smiles in response. "Our Wally certainly isn't that fast when it comes to clearing the table."

"Mum!"

Wally's annoyed groan can be heard from the kitchen, and the table breaks out in chuckles.

"Neither is my Jay," The eldest woman, Joan Garrick, agrees, getting a slightly miffed look from her husband in response. "Believe me. I know, I know, retired speedster. And since it's your birthday, we won't argue."

Barry grabs a decadent chocolate cake with a single candle on it (there had been an argument over whether to put 102 candles on) from the kitchen counter and places it on the table with a small laugh.

"Wally can be fast when he wants to be. We are suddenly out of ice cream."

"Wally!" Mary calls out, in slight disbelief.

He stands like a deer in the headlights, spoon still in his mouth and container still in his hands, before turning to Jay helplessly.

"Uhh, happy birthday?"

...

Now

Poseidonis,

August 27th, 20:58 UTC-2

A few more minutes of fighting, no, stalling, have passed, and the Science Center has lost its roof.

It's soon to lose its frozen Giant Sea Star if Garth and Aqualad don't stop Black Manta quickly.

"I summon the power of the tempest!" Garth yells, his marking glowing brightly and a storm swirling between his hands.

Across the world dragging an Invisible Jet across Asia, a storm spirit horse feels a twinge.

He launches the mini storm at a group of Manta soldiers securing the sea star with cables, and they yell in fear and confusion as they are yeeted out of the building, through the convenient hold in the roof.

Aqualad, who's currently both fighting, avoiding, and pissing off Black Manta, notices this and very helpfully yells at his best friend to take initiative.

"Garth!"

Taking the hint and the initiative, Garth swims forward and begins unbuckling the sea star from the Manta sub above.

This, luckily for Aqualad, unluckily for him, catches the full attention of Black Manta, who begins swimming towards him, forgetting about Aqualad behind him.

Aqualad takes full advantage of this and shifts his Water-Bearers into whips, wrapping them around the terrorist's ankle and dragging him back, just as Garth undoes the harness around the Giant Sea Star.

Realizing when the fight is lost, Manta lets out a roar of frustration.

"If I can't have it, no one can!"

He dials up the power of the blast to high, takes aim, and fires.

Kaldur and Garth are both thrown backwards and black out, if only for a second.

When they come to, the only evidence of Black Manta is the destruction around them and the destroyed sea star.

...

Now

Gotham City,

August 27th, 22:06 EDT

Artemis is fletching her arrows in her family apartment, to the sound of the TV when her mother enters the living room.

"Next up on the Classic Comedy Network is an episode of Hello Me-"

The sudden silence from the TV makes Artemis look up, to see Paula holding a letter in her hand that is obviously already opened.

"This came in the mail for you."

Artemis gets to her feet.

"You opened it? Mum!"

"Oh, just read it," Her mother responds, sounding not the tiniest bit remorseful. 

Sighing, Artemis takes the piece of paper from Paula and scans it, her eyebrows raising higher and higher as she does.

"I've been awarded a full Wayne Foundation scholarship to Gotham Academy?" She exclaims, distrust and surprise in her voice, "But I didn't even apply!"

She looks at her mum accusingly.

"It's not that kind of scholarship. You either qualify or you don't. Gotham Academy is very prestigious. You should be thrilled."

Artemis crumples the letter in her hand.

"All my friends are at Gotham North, I'm not switching."

Paula Crock snatches the paper from her daughter's hand.

"You're going. Or you give up your extracurriculars."

They both ignore the actual meaning of the statement.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," The teen responds, smugness in her tone as she turns to go back to her arrows.

Her wrist is caught by her mother.

"Artemis!" The woman exclaims, sounding distressed. "This is a chance for a better life! A chance I never had."

Tears well up in the former criminal's eyes, and Artemis softens.

She crouches down and takes her mother's head in her hand.

"Okay mum," She says quietly, "I'll go. I'll go for you."

Paula laughs in happiness and embraces her daughter, the letter falling to the floor.

...

Now

Themyscira, Paradise Island, Mediterranean Sea

September 3rd, 10:56 CEST

"Zaya, could you give me and Jason a moment alone?"

A small frown on her face, Zaya gives a small respectful bow before leaving the temple, shutting the wooden door behind her.

Jason stands alone, and looks at Juno.

They're silent for a moment, before she speaks up.

"You completed your quest well. I should not be surprised, you are my champion."

He remains silent, and she sighs.

"What is it? Are you angry at me because you have some reference for what normal is and are mad at me for taking you from that woman when you were two? Do you despise me because I turned your name into a legend by the age of ten? Do you dream of toppling me because I spared your life when I could have killed you just as easily? What is it? I feel your anger radiate off of you, so tell me what it's about."

"It's not anger... against you, Juno, it's just... I understand that because I'm a demigod I would never live a normal life, least of all childhood, and I live with that and I accept it, but people like Zaya have no ties to the world of mythos, yet they still don't get a childhood because of what other humans do to them. They don't deserve it. I do."

Juno sighs again.

"I had my equivalent of a childhood in my father's stomach. We gods don't experience adolescence as you mortals do, but, we are born and we do have periods before who we are is set in stone and I spent that period trapped. When I got out I was immediately thrown into a marriage that would make me queen of the universe, and I thought it would be the perfect marriage, the gold standard, but he cheated on me on our wedding day. He uses me as nothing more than a token of status and other women as tokens of pleasure, and I can't fight him, so I fight them instead. I make their lives miserable to make the hurt I feel every time it happens lessen. But it never does so I just do it again and again because he always does it again and again and I just have to live with that. I have no mortal children to focus on because only he can do it, I never can. But you, Jason... I don't know how to describe it in a way that won't make you hate me more, so I won't. But, for what it's worth, I am glad you're alive. Goodbye Jason."

With that she begins to glow, and Jason shuts his eyes instinctually.

The heat of her form as it caresses his cheek feels almost like home.

But when he opens his eyes again, he's alone.

Or so he thinks.

"You heading back?"

 Jason jumps and whirls around, coming face to face with Donna, who leans against the temple doorway.

"Zaya's going to take a bath and avoid you, said you were 'not as terrible as she thought but not someone she will willingly spend more time with then necessary', which I've translated to mean you're her best friend."

He smiles at her and walks to the door.

"I need to go back. The world of man needs me, Princess Troia."

She bats his arm playfully.

"Don't 'Troia' me! Also I know what you're going to say, watch Zaya, say bye to mum for me, make sure my horse doesn't level the island, and you know what I'm going to say, come back soon, you owe me a fight, bring back some souvenirs, so let's skip it and just move on. Get off this island, you're tainting it with your maleness."

Jason laughs and hugs her tightly, which she reciprocates happily.

"Bye Donna."

"Bye Jason."

He takes off into the air with little fanfare, and she watches him rise for a moment.

What a peculiar half brother to have.

...

Now

Poseidonis,

September 3rd, 21:08 UTC-2

"Our city was badly damaged, and many Atlantean were killed, but it could have been far worse," King Orin says, as they stand in the Zeta-tube room, "For that I am grateful."

Prince Orm steps forward.

"This contains all that survived," He says, as he holds up a small vial with some sea star tentacle in it, "It is already regenerating. But with the Dome compromised, we cannot safely protect or study it here in Atlantis. Perhaps the surface world can do better."

Orin hums in acknowledgement, before turning to Kaldur.

"Kaldur?"

He swims forward.

"Please, call me Aqualad, my King."

Aquaman smiles.

He and Orin quickly disperse, leaving only Tula, Garth, and Kaldur in the room.

"Kaldur, we are so sorry for not telling you earlier," Tula apologizes, but Kaldur smiles in response.

"It is fine, I apologize for any assumptions I might have made. I wish you both nothing but the best."

"Come visit soon," Garth says eagerly.

"You come visit me," Kaldur counters, "My Team on the surface world would love to meet you, I'm sure of it."

He swims towards the Zeta-tube, pausing briefly to look back at Garth.

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you became Aqualad instead?" He asks, and Garth smiles.

"Never."

Recognized:

Aqualad, B-02

...

Now

Mount Justice,

September 3rd, 19:22 EDT

Recognized:

Aqualad, B-02

Aqualad walks into the main room of Mount Justice, to find the rest of the Team and Batman there.

Batman is typing on something.

"Have you made your decision?" He asks, not looking up.

"Yes," Aqualad confirms, "I am here. 100%."

"Just in time for your next mission."

They all gather in front of Batman, as a Holo-screen comes to life behind him.

"A power surge was detected in the Bialyan Desert..."

Chapter Text

Before

They all looked around his age … fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn’t know his own age.

Jason was pretty sure he didn’t live in the desert. He tried to think back … the last thing he remembered …

Jason let go of her hand. “Um, I don’t—”

Now

Biayla,

September 4th, 05:16 EEST

In the beginning of daylight, surrounded by sandy dunes that stretch for miles and miles on end, a young Martian de-camouflagues.

The girl looks around confused, mumbling to herself in the Martian language as she scoops up a handful of sand in her hand.

She obviously comes to a conclusion of her location, as she knocks her head on her hand.

“Hello Megan! I’m on Earth!” She exclaims, speaking out loud in English.

The Martian stands and begins walking down the sand dunes, looking around her with a newfound curiosity and excitement.

Confusion still lingers.

But how did I get on Earth? Why am I wearing this costume? And why is everything so… sandy?

She subconsciously projects her thoughts around her, seeing if any other Martians are nearby, but she feels no Martian minds around her.

Only… human one’s.

And something else.

Without warning, her head flares up in pain, moving from the dull ache it was earlier to a stronger pulse, and she trips and rolls down the sand dune with a thud.

The sand scratches her organic clothing, making her own skin feel itchy and irritated.

Downsides to organic clothing.

As she begins to sit up, a large object, quick like a meteor, crashes into the sand near her, creating a mini storm of sand and dust, obscuring whatever caused it from her view.

When it does clear, a teenage boy wearing a black shirt with an red logo on it is revealed to be the source.

He looks at her with unrestrained ferocity, seeming like some kind of wild beast.

She tries to ignore it and focus on the logo on his shirt, which she astonishingly recognizes.

“I’ve seen that symbol before,” The Martian says, uncertainty in her tone, “Are you Superman?”

In lieu of a response, the boy roars in vicious anger, and tears his shirt to shreds, before pouncing on all fours towards her with his teeth bared.

At the last moment, the feral boy jumps in the air and aims a punch towards the girl, who shrieks and subconsciously floats in the air slightly and creates a telepathic shield to protect herself.

The force of his punch, however, throws both of them backwards and leaves the young Martian prone, easily attackable.

Instead of doing this, the boy uses her confusion to escape, disappearing as fast as he arrived.

It's almost like he was never there.

M’gann sits up and curls into a ball.

I thought it was a dream. But it’s not a dream. It’s a nightmare .

...

Now

Biayla,

September 4th, 08:36 EEST

In the intense heat of a summer morning, further amplified by the desert around him, Robin stumbles slightly as he wanders in a daze, using a sky-reaching rock formation to stay upright.

An army jeep drives past the formation suddenly, and Robin instinctively scales the rock and takes shelter in a hidden crevice.

Luckily they don't notice him.

He watches it get smaller, and his brow furrows in confusion.

“Those are Bialyan Republic Army uniforms,” He mutters to himself as he pulls up his Holo-screen, going for the map, “But what are Bialyans doing in… Biayla?”

He looks around confused, finally fully taking in the desert around him.

“Okay, better question: What am I doing in Biayla?”

He presses a button and pulls up the date, scanning it briefly before his eyes widen in shock.

“Especially what am I doing in September?! What happened to March? Better radio Batman.”

A memory hits him suddenly, almost causing him to fall out of his perch.

...

Before

Batman regards the… Team? with a stern glare, fully in business mode.

“Maintain radio silence at all times.”

...

Now

Biayla, 

September 4th, 08:41 EEST

It’s gone as quickly as it came.

Robin pauses his finger over the comm, before shrugging with a accepting mutter.

“Or not.”

Standing up, he does a quadruple flip off of his perch, landing gracefully and making his way over to something he spots in the sand.

It’s a shred of black fabric, with the red Superman emblem on it.

Robin picks it up.

“What in the-“

His sentence is cut short by suddenly being tackled over, ending up on his back with a dagger to his throat and someone holding him down.

They’re in their mid teens, wearing what looks like Wonder Woman stylized Greek battle armor, and an assortment of weapons that went out of fashion in BCE. They have blonde hair and electric blue eyes and a very sharp object digging slightly into his throat.

“I will ask you this once,” The boy growls, alerting Robin yet again to the fact that he can’t move any of his limbs. “Do you know who I am?”

What the fuck.

“No!” He cries out quickly, breath coming in quick pants.

Okay, maybe he’s a little panicked because he’s missing six months of memories and is being threatened, but give him a break, he’s thirteen.

The boy looks confused by his answer.

“You don’t know who I am? Okayyy, who are you?”

This is by far one of the weirdest conversations he's ever had, and he talks to Gotham criminals on a regular.

“Uhh, Robin? You know, Batman’s protege?”

Recognition appears in the boy's eyes, and Robin finds himself able to move again as the boy gets off of him.

“You are the Robin? Of Gotham City? I must say, I did suspect I was in the world of man, but if this is Gotham City, then something very terrible must be wrong with the world.”

Robin stands up and rubs his arm, slightly sore from having most of the other teen's bodyweight lying on it.

“This isn’t Gotham,” He says defensively, “And what do you mean ‘the world of man’? Are you… wait, never mind, let me rephrase that. Who are you?”

The teen stands taller and sheaths his dagger, pausing for a moment before answering.

“I am Jas- I should probably use my title. I am Prince Jason Grace of Themyscira, son of Jupiter. I’m sorry for almost killing you. I thought you were a monster taking on a human form.”

Robin blinks a couple times in confusion.

“You’re an Amazon?” He says, brain whirling, “But I thought Amazons…”

“Couldn’t be guys? Yeah, I’m kind of an exception.”

His brain whirls faster.

“Are you… umm, okay I’m sorry if this is really out of left field, but are you, like, trans?”

Jason looks confused for a couple of seconds, before he obviously connects some dots and realizes Robin’s thought process.

“Oh! I see where you’re coming from, but no, I’m not. Not that there is anything wrong with being trans, I knew a guy who was trans, he made delicious tofu tacos, and then he blew himself up in a fiery explosion while on his flying metal dragon he built himself, he was one of my best friends, it's entirely okay to be trans, but I'm not. I am gay though, so that might count for something.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Robin mutters, cheeks slightly flushed in embarrassment.

They’re silent for a moment in awkward silence, before Jason clears his throat.

“So, uhh, not to pry, but where are we?”

...

Now

Biayla,

September 4th, 12:21 EEST

In a small house, once inhabited by an isolated family, driven out by the military many years ago, now abandoned and falling apart, a fifteen year old girl comes to.

There’s a boy around her age, in some kind of gray tactical gear, standing over her.

“Hey beautiful, wake up.”

The girl, Artemis, groans and uses the wall as support to stand up, conveniently putting distance between herself and the boy.

As she fully comes to, Artemis grabs her bow(why does she have a bow?), and nocks an arrow in it, drawing it so it points directly in the strange boy’s chest.

“Hey hey hey!” The boy exclaims, holding his hands up in surrender, “I won’t hurt you! I’m one of the good guys! You know, Kid Flash.”

Artemis eyes him warily.

“I’ve seen Kid Flash on the news, he doesn’t wear black.”

She gestures at his outfit by tilting her head.

He looks down at it in acknowledgement.

“I’m not too clear on that myself actually. What about you, Green Arrow fixation?” The supposed Kid Flash says, chuckling nervously.

Artemis looks down at what she’s wearing.

It’s green.

And looks suspiciously like gear someone would wear to fight fashionably.

She doesn’t remember putting it on.

“Who put me in this!”

Kid Flash’s eyes go wide.

“Okay, I am not touching that with a ten foot…,” He mutters, trailing off before clearing his throat and speaking up. “So, do you know how to use that bow?”

She calms down slightly, looking at the bow clenched between white knuckled fingers.

“Yeah, dad taught me,” Artemis answers, before her eyes widen in realization and anger fills her tone. “Dad! He must’ve done this. Another stupid test.”

“Uhh, what kind of tests?” Kid Flash asks nervously.

Artemis shrugs.

“He probably wants me to kill you.”

Kid Flash’s eyes widen, and he goes to say something, before the sound of weaponry reaches their ears.

Namely, the sound of a missile getting ever closer to their location.

Running forward and grabbing Artemis’ hand, Kid Flash drags the girl out of the building, just getting out before the house explodes behind them.

The force of the explosion knocks them both off their feet, and as they begin to get up, both catch a glance of what’s approaching.

Three tanks, led by a Jeep, all filled with heavily armed soldiers, are speeding towards them.

A man in the Jeep yells out something in Arabic, and machine gun fire begins raining down on them.

Artemis, on instinct, knocks two arrows and lets them loose at the tank, exploding its front wheels and causing it to capsize.

The tanks continue their warpaths.

Kid Flash scrambled to his feet and scoops up Artemis, as the tanks begin launching more missiles.

He winces slightly as she loudly gasps in surprise, feeling bad for scaring her.

“Sorry,” He apologizes, “But they have bigger arrows.”

The missiles land at Kid Flash’s heels, and he begins to swerve to avoid them.

Artemis curls in slightly closer to him, both to protect herself from debris, and to hide her minuscule flinches at each sound.

Despite all of her dad’s acclimatization training for loud noises, it had never truly worked fully.

Once they get out of the tank’s reach, and Kid Flash begins running straight again, Artemis de-curls slightly and looks at him.

“Thank you,” She says, and they both ignore the slight quiver in her voice.

He smiles with a hint of flirtation.

“Told you I was one of the good guys. Now, could you maybe tell me your name, or what that was about your dad wanting you to kill me?”

...

Now

Biayla,

September 4th, 14:52 EEST

I can’t believe I’m actually on Earth!

M’gann flies excitedly through the rock formations, her earlier fear forgotten with the sun high in the sky.

I’ve wanted this for so long… even if it’s not exactly like TV.

She lands on the top of a sand dune, looking at the sand around her as she runs her head.

But why can’t I remember how I got here? I need to concentrate.

She floats in the air in a meditative position, her eyes glowing white as she delves deep inside her mindscape, searching for her missing memories.

I need to remember.

...

Before

A genomorph looks around confused for a moment, before they let out a yell and charge at M’gann.

...

Before

Superboy stands in front of a strange machine in the middle of the desert. Aqualad stand next to him, examining one of the controls for a moment before turning to Superboy and… her(?).

“Good idea. Go,” He says, after obvious deliberation.

Superboy smiles at her encouragingly.

“Be careful.”

...

Before

A batch of non burned cookies (score!) hover in front of her in a kitchen.

Conner sits on a stool at the kitchen island, reading a book on lacrosse.

Jason floats behind him, whining about his quest.

“I am never going in a hole in the ground again, I swear not on anything because I know how stupid that would be, I’m not Apollo, and I will now scream and run away whenever I see an ant, I have PTSD, give me therapy.”

They all ignore him, as he’s been going off for the last twenty minutes.

“Cookies are ready!” She announces with a smile, watching Conner visibly perk up. “Careful they’re hot.”

He picks one up with ease, only for it to be snatched out his hand by what seems to be a gust of wind, but turns out to be Wally in full uniform.

He eats it in one mouthful, purposefully ignoring Conner’s annoyed look.

“Not as hot as you babe,” He says after swallowing, and she gets a weird, uneasy feeling in her gut.

“Oh… uh thanks Wally, that’s… uh, sweet?” She stutters back, a little put off.

He ignores this too and grabs a second.

“Not as sweet as you sugar.”

The cookie floats out of his hand, along with a second from the tray, and each make their way to Conner and Jason’s hands. Jason has a smirk on his face.

Wally goes to face him, offended, but Artemis melts into her peripheral and smacks him on the back of the head.

“Grow up,” She says, a smirk on her face matching Jason’s.

Robin in the corner puts his hand over his mouth to stifle his sniggers.