Hi everyone! I am Cryptic-Case and this is my first (of possibly many) in-depth Young Justice story. I had an idea for this plot and decided to write it out and incorporate some people who haven't been in the show yet. I do hope to try to update at least once a week, but I will be honest and say that schooling may get in the way of updates. I apologize if it takes me a while to update. Other than that, I hope you enjoy and can't wait to write more!
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, nor do I own any of the other characters mentioned in this story. (an OC may pop up in the story later on, but I'm not a hundred percent sure yet)
PLEASE NOTE: This WILL be an AU as of Young Justice: Invasion's recent episode "Darkest".
The young woman sighed and shook her head as she sat in her car. She'd asked herself multiple times during this trip why she'd decided to come back to the East Coast in the first place. Then again, it wasn't like she's gone back to Gothem of all places. Happy Harbor seemed to be much more mellow than that hell hole she'd escaped from years ago.
The girl tugged her long blonde hair back into a ponytail and got out of her car. She figured it was no use sitting around and moping, might as well see what this town had to offer. Just as she pulled out her keys to lock the car, a load explosion shook the ground. She spun around and was shocked to see smoke and fire coming from the beach area.
"Well, that's something you don't see everyday." she muttered.
Suddenly, a static noise coming from her bag was heard. She raised a brow and searched for the source, thinking it was her phone. She felt her blood run cold and her heart drop when her hand closed around a small communicator that hadn't been touched in year. She could only make out a few words.
"Duncan...Mount Justice...gone...a big explosion...request immediate assistance!"
The words shocked her so much that she almost dropped the communicator. A thought finally came to her. She spun around to face the pillar of fire behind her. That had to be the explosion. The Mount Justice explosion. She could only assume the guy sending the backup request was nearby.
The girl looked around her and saw a dark motorbike speeding towards the explosion sight. That had to be him. She swore under her breath and quickly got into her car. She started the car and took off.
"You said you were gonna leave this crap behind you." she scolded herself.
She caught a glimpse of her own tired blue eyes in the rear view mirror and smirked slightly. "Let's go be a hero."
~~~"No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. -Molly Wollstonecraft~~~
"Conner!" Mal yelled. "Superboy, wake up!"
He splashed water in Conner's face and gave a slight breath of relief when he woke up. Conner looked around in confusion.
"Questions later, man! Grab Wolf, the S-Cycle's sinking!" Mal said.
"Ah, right!" Conner said. He grabbed Wolf and slipped into the water. Sphere folded in on herself and dove underwater.
"Will Sphere be alright?" Mal asked as Conner swam towards him.
"Uh, yeah, I think so. She folds up to heal." Conner looked at Mal. "Can you make it to shore with Nightwing?"
"Yeah, I got him." Mal assured. He tightened his grip on the younger male and began to swim to shore.
When they were almost to shore, Mal looked over at Conner.
"What the hell happened, man?" Mal panted.
Conner didn't answer right away. Finally, he looked up with anger in his eyes.
"Kaldur. He came to the cave and brought a bomb. We thought it was a bluff. If we had known..."
Mal felt his heart drop into his stomach. "What about Beast Boy?"
Conner gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. "Kaldur took him. He took Gar, he took Impulse, and he took Blue."
Mal almost stopped swimming. No, they couldn't be gone. His teammates, his friends, could not have been taken by that...that traitor.
"We will get them back," Mal growled, finally feeling the shallows beneath his feet. "and Aqualad will pay."
Conner nodded silently. As they reached the shore, they looked at the flaming debris. It was shocking, the place that had become their home was just gone.
"What do we do now?" Conner whispered, holding Wolf in his arms.
Mal closed his eyes for a brief moment. Once he'd regained composer, he looked at Conner.
"First thing's first, we need to get Nightwing and Wolf somewhere safe."
Conner nodded in agreement. The sudden honking of a car horn made both of the men jump. A black Navigator pulled up to the wreckage.
"Do you know who that is?" Conner asked.
"No idea." Mal murmured. He hoisted Nightwing over his shoulder and began to make his way to the car. As they got closer, a young woman got out and rushed over. Her blonde hair was pulled back and she looked around in shock.
"Hey!" she called. "I'm here to help!"
"We appreciate it," Conner said as he walked closer. "But civilians shouldn't be here, miss."
The girl nodded and reached into her pocket. To Conner's surprise, she pulled out an old communicator and held it up.
"I'm...an acquaintance of R-Nightwing's," she said breathlessly. "I heard the distress call and came to offer help."
She walked to the back of the Navigator and opened the rear door.
"I have a place you guys can stay. You guys should be safe there." she said.
Mal looked at Conner.
"Should we trust her?"
Conner stared at the girl for a moment. Something about her was familiar. He couldn't quiet explain it, but he felt like he'd seen her before.
"I don't know," Conner said. "but, I doubt we have much more to loose."
Mal nodded wordlessly and put Nightwing in the backseat. He moved out of the way so Conner could load Wolf into the back. The girl closed the door and looked at them.
"You guys gonna come with me or just follow me?" she asked.
"I'll go with you." Conner said. The girl nodded and looked at Mal.
"How about you?"
"I'll follow. But, I have to go get my girlfriend first." he sent a look to Conner. "She's probably freaking."
The girl paused for a moment and opened the passenger door. She dug through the glove compartment for a moment before pulling out a pen and paper. After a moment, she handed the paper to Mal.
"Here's the destination. We'll see you there soon." she nodded to Conner and walked to to drivers side.
Conner watch Mal drive off. Before he got into the car, he looked at the smoldering remains of Mount Justice. He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes.
The blonde poked her head out of the car and looked at him.
"Hey," she said quietly. "you gonna be alright?"
"It..." Conner hesitated. "it was my home."
The girl nodded silently and gave him a sympathetic look.
"Take your time." she said.
A few minutes passed before Conner finally climbed into the passenger's seat. He heard Wolf whimper slightly behind him and reached back to stroke his head. As the car pulled away, Conner watched his former home disappear in the mirror.
~~~"Hard times don't create heroes. It is during the hard times when the "hero" within us is revealed." -Bob Riley~~~
"Idiots." Arsenal snorted, cracking the knuckles on his hand as he walked away from the group of unconscious goons. They'd made a huge mistake trying to mug him.
He tugged the hood of his sweater over his head and walked into the streets of San Francisco. The whole solo hero thing hadn't exactly been going too well the last few days. Neither did attempting to live on his own. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was still physically and mentally a sixteen year old kid. But, he had been able to find an abandoned apartment to squat in for the time being. Not to mention he had a new arm.
The more Arsenal thought about his arm, he couldn't help but wince at the odd pain he felt. He knew there was no way the cybernetic arm was actually causing him pain, but he felt like it was real. He'd vaguely remembered a nurse at the hospital telling him something about "phantom pain", but he couldn't remember exactly what she said.
As he was pondering this, he failed to noticed the loud footsteps coming toward him until it was too late. He felt a body smack straight into him, knocking him backwards. He regained his balance and glared at the other person.
"Watch where you're going!" he snapped.
"Sorry!" a feminine voice said quickly before dashing off.
Arsenal did a double take as the person passed him. It was a girl probably his age ("Or technically eight years younger than me." he thought bitterly.) with matted blonde hair and an over sized coat. He wasn't going to think twice about it until a burly man shoved passed him.
"Get back here you little bitch!" he growled as he ran down the street, no doubt after the girl.
That was all Arsenal needed to hear before he turned on his heels and sprinted after the man. He didn't know what the girl had done but he had a sinking feeling she was in trouble. As he rounded the corner, he doubled back and walked into the near by alley way. Sure enough, there was the man gripping the girl's hair in his meaty fist and tugging her head up roughly.
"Now, sweetheart, you are making this much harder than this needs to be," the man said calmly. "if you just come back with me quietly, there won't be any problems."
The girl thrashed and clawed at his hand before finally giving up and deciding to punch him in the crotch. The man wheezed in pain but didn't relinquish his grip. Arsenal had to give the girl credit for trying. The man tugged the girl up roughly.
"I have done everything for you!" he screamed. "And you repay me by robbing me! You are nothing but an ungrateful little whore!"
"Hey!" Arsenal snapped. He walked further into the alley and glared at the man. "Let. Her. Go."
The girl looked up at him in shock. It was clear people rarely tried to help her in these situations. The man looked Arsenal up and down and snorted.
"Or else what, kid?" he snarled.
Arsenal pulled back his sleeve and revealed his cybernetic arm. He held it steady and glared. "Let her go, or I'm gonna blow your head off."
The man hesitated for a moment before chuckling. "I'd like to see you try."
Arsenal saw the palm of the hand open to reveal a cannon shaped barrel. He stumbled backwards a bit as it went off, causing the trash bin behind the two strangers to explode. The man stood in pure shock before looking back at Arsenal.
"Let. Her. Go." Arsenal hissed.
The man released her immediately. The girl scrambled to her feet and grabbed a lid off a trashcan. Before the man could react, she'd hit him across the temple with it, knocking him unconscious. Arsenal raised a brow and looked at her. She looked back and shrug.
"I needed a head start." she said quietly. Arsenal glimpsed down at her hands and saw they were shaking violently. He lowered his arm and nodded to her.
"You should get out of here before he wakes up." he said.
She nodded quickly, gave him a small nod of thanks, and shakily walked out of the alley. Arsenal watched her look around before uncertainly heading right. He was about to brush it off and be on his way until his conscious got the better of him. He sighed and headed out of the alley, jogging to catch up with her.
"Hey," he called, catching her attention. "are you in trouble?"
The girl shuffled slightly, and shook her head.
"No, why would you think that?"
"Because you're still holding the trash can lid." he pointed out.
She looked down and quickly dropped the lid with a clank. She rubbed the back of her head.
"Maybe...yeah. Yeah, I'm in a shitload of trouble." she admitted.
Arsenal nodded and motioned for her to follow him. He couldn't explain why exactly he felt the need to help this girl. He just knew his gut was urging him to.
"Come on, I'll help you out. I've got a place you can stay for now."
She gave him a disbelieving look. Finally she started following him. They walked in pure silence for a long while.
"Thank you." she whispered.
Arsenal glanced at her and nodded. "It's no problem."
"I'm Mia," she said softly. "Mia Dearden. What's your name?"
"Call me..." he hesitated for a moment. "Call me Harper."
"Thank you, Harper." Mia said with a smile.
~~~"If you have not been a villain at a certain point in time, you will never be a hero. And the day you are a hero, you may become a villain the next day." -Carlos Ghosn~~~
"So, where are we exactly?" Conner asked as they pulled up to a warehouse. They'd been driving for almost an hour and were somewhere on the outskirts of Happy Harbor. He looked behind him and saw, much to his dismay, that Nightwing was still out cold.
"It's a safe house of sorts." the girl said, climbing out of the car. She walked to the front of the warehouse and punched in a combination on the number-pad. The metal door groaned open. Once she'd returned to the car, she pulled it into the warehouse.
"Doesn't exactly look like a safe house to me." Conner snorted.
The girl parked the Navigator and rolled her eyes. "That's kinda the point, it throws people off."
She got out of the car and looked around briefly. She clicked her tongue and began feeling around the metal containers.
"We used it a couple years ago. It was kind of a safe haven for us."
"'We'?" Conner asked, grabbing Nightwing out of the back.
The blonde froze slightly.
"My friends and I." she said shortly. Just as Conner was going speak, she let out a cry of victory. Tugging off her glove, the girl pushed her hand on a nearby container.
A loud grinding noise came from behind Conner. He turned and saw the floor open up to reveal a staircase leading underground. The girl began to walk down them and beckoned Conner to follow.
"Hope you have a cellphone or something, we'll need to grant the big guy and his girlfriend access so they can get in."
"Er, yeah, I can contact him." Conner said.
"Good," the girl said before closing the warehouse door. "we need all the safety we can get."
As they continued down the staircase, they came upon a door. The blonde motioned for Conner and Wolf to stay back as she blew the dust off the dust from a scanning device by the door.
"Override security code HFQ-0118." she said. A high pitched beep went off and the door slid open.
As Conner and Wolf followed her in, he looked around in shock. It was like an underground version of the cave, only on a much smaller scale.
"Just put him on the couch for now," the girl said, walking to the giant computer nearby. "I need to rearrange some security features of this place. I would say help yourself to the fridge, but the last time I was here was about three years ago. So, I can't guarantee there's anything edible in here."
Conner set Nightwing down and looked around. How could this place exist without the League knowing, and who the hell was this random girl who'd shown up out of nowhere? He turned to the girl and stared at her.
"I'm gonna need to call him to help me rewrite this thing completely." he heard her mumbled under her breath.
"Call who?" Conner asked. "And who are you?! Where did this place come from?!"
The girl sighed and turned around.
"I need to call a friend later to help me with the security rewrite and I already told you I'm an acquaintance of Nightwing's." she braced herself on the control panel and looked around. "As for this place, they made it a few years back to hide from you guys. It was supposed to be our base, but the team broke apart before it even fully formed. Still, we used it sometimes afterwards to just hang out."
"Who is 'we'?" Conner asked through gritted teeth.
The girl ducked her head and pushed back her bangs. She took a deep breath and looked up.
"The Light," she said finally. "they were trying to make a junior team a couple years back to combat your team. Like I said though, it crumbled before it even began."
The realization came crashing down on Conner like a ton of bricks. He now knew why the girl in front of him looked so familiar. Why he'd seemed to recognize her when she approached them at Mount Justice. Conner took a step back.
"I know you." he whispered. "You...you're..."
"Retired." she said. "I don't work for the Light anymore. I realized how bad they were and got out when I had the chance. Please trust me when I say I do want to help you."
Conner said nothing. The girl stepped forward and stuck her hand out.
"So, allow me to introduce myself," she said. "My name is Harley Quinn. I'm here to help."