A/N: Well, I just want to say that this is a new Fic me and my best friend have been working on. I have to give her most of the credit, since she came up with a lot of ideas for it XD Her character is Irongirl, and mine is Miss USA. Basically, "Team Marvel" wanted a bridge between Marvel and DC so Miss USA and Irongirl joined Young Justice. Every chapter will be like an episode, so at the end the villain of the chapter will be talking to the Light. Although every now and then we will throw in a chapter where Young Justice has a day off and is just hanging out. And I'll tell you the next chapter will be like that :)
Disclaimer: We do not own anything other than Miss USA and Irongirl's personalities and historys. Sadly :(
Mount Justice
September 16th, 1:00 EDT
Miss USA followed her mentor to Mount Justice. She was wearing her Miss USA outfit- red knee boots with heels, a blue skirt, a blue strapless top with a silver star on the chest and red and white straps covering her stomach, and her silver domino mask. Her curly mahogany hair fell just past her shoulders, completing the protégés look. Miss USA drummed her blue-and-silver gloved fingers on the armrest of Captain America's car. She shot him a dirty look before returning her gaze to the mountain they were approaching. No, she did not want any part of the Justice League and their silly little "Young Justice" squad of whiny sidekicks.
"I can't believe you're really making me do this." The annoyed teen mumbled as she stepped out in unison with the superhero. She didn't care if he was stronger and older than her- Miss USA still had a mind of her own and she wasn't afraid to speak it.
"At least you'll know someone already." Captain America pointed out. Miss USA's left eyebrow shot up in suspicion. Before she could get a word in, they were already at the front door of Mount Justice when she noticed two suits of armor already standing there. The larger one was, of course, Ironman, and the shorter suit had pigtails on it, declaring that it was most definitaly Irongirl. If she was taller, and didn't have the feminine touch to her outfit, you might get them confused with one another, with their outfits being so similar.
Miss USA gave a smile when the two others turned to see them. When Irongirl spotted the patriotic teen, she started waving in a hyper-active way that made Miss USA giggle a little and wave back.
"Excited?" Miss USA teased her only friend other than Cap.
"Does it show?" Irongirl asked, starting to shake a little and bounce on the balls of her feet.
Miss USA laughed. Maybe if Irongirl wasn't wearing the suit she would look fine, but watching an armored girl bounce is a bit too funny for anybody to keep their cool. Of course, Miss USA would bet anything it would look any better if a walking America Flag did the same.
Just then, they all heard the sound of something being lowered and saw the ground turn into a ramp with the Red Tornado and the Young Justice squad at the bottom. Miss USA saw out of the corner of her eye that her normally bouncing-off-the-walls friend was calm and still.
"Come." The robot told them, turning to walk deeper into the mountain. Miss USA stole a glance at her mentor, her anger from before slowly coming back. Then she reluctantly followed them behind the Red Tornado.
As they stepped through, a computer identified them. "Irongirl, B08. Miss USA, B09. Ironman, 17. Captain America, 18."
They were transported to a large room where Young Justice and Red Tornado stood. Irongirl looked them all over quickly, but her hidden eyes lingered on Robin for a moment longer than the other 5. She didn't like him because of how he looked, she admired his skill and experience. Miss USA, on the other hand, took a second look at two boys, Robin and Superboy. For being 13, Robin was ripped. And miniature Superman here had the muscles down pat. Maybe she wasn't going to resent this place after all...
"Team, this is Miss USA and Irongirl." Batman suddenly emerged from the shadows to introduce the new teens. "They are protégés of two members of Team Marvel and will be joining you all in the Young Justice squad." He explained in a neutral tone.
"Well, that was sort of obvious." The 13-year-old boy piped up, instantly receiving the signature Batglare.
Miss USA found that funny, but she was distracted by a red head, Kid Flash, who's eyes were nearly bulging out of his head. But when he met her gaze, the speedster saw his chance.
He ran over to Miss USA and took her by surprise. "Hi, I'm Kid Flash. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the team. I'm sure you'll be a great addition to the Young Justice team. If you ever need someone to show you around I'd be happy to take you on a private tour." The carrot-top rambled on and on.
Yet again today, Miss USA raised her eyebrow and put a finger on Kid Flash's chest and pushed him away from her.
Miss USA looked up at Cap as he glared down at the speed demon. "She's thirteen." He told him in a voice Miss USA hadn't even heard him use on the worst of villains before.
Kid Flash turn paleish green color. Robin and Artemis broke out in hoots of laughter as the speedster returned to his place by the team. Miss USA gave him a death glare that was nearly as intimidating at Batman's Batglare. Great KF thought. Never gonna live that one down.
Then the green martian floated over to Irongirl and Miss USA. "Hello, I'm M'Gann M'Orzz, but my Earth name is Megan." She said politely.
Irongirl was the first to respond to the kind alien. "Hi...I guess you already know who I am, sort of. But...I don't really feel..comfortable?...with giving out my real name yet..." She was afraid of how they might react to this, seeing as Miss Martian... Megan... so easily trusted her with her secret identity. Luckily, she didn't have to find out. Some sort of holographic screen popped up, startling Irongirl a bit, although she tried her best not to react. The face on the screen was a bit more surprising.
"Superman to Young Justice." Wow. The Man of Steel was specifically contacting the team? Irongirl wasn't that big of a fan of Superman, but hey, he was one of the most powerful heroes out there. Did he actually need help from a bunch of teenagers or was he trying to keep them busy? "The League and I have-" he barely paused. "Business to take care of at the Watchtower. Meanwhile, I need someone to look after Lois Lane." A picture of a woman with dark hair popped up on the screen. How in the world did he do that? Irongirl recognized her as a journalist for... which newspaper? It was a big one, in Metropolis... Oh, the Daily Planet. She was a big one. Lois was constantly on the front page with huge stories about murders and gang wars... and she was also constantly being rescued by the Big Blue Boy Scout.
"You want us to babysit your girlfriend?" Kid Flash said, immediately seeming to regret it as the adults in the room (and wherever Superman was, presumably the Watchtower) glared at him. Irongirl grinned inside her helmet.
Superman continued as if nothing had happened. "She has a tendency to get into trouble, and she's currently investigating the disappearance of Lex Luthor, head of Lex Corp." That Lex Corp part was sort of obvious, but Superman seemed to think they were babies.
"Luthor is missing?" Aqualad spoke for the first time since Miss USA and Irongirl had arrived. Superman gave him a "I just said that" look and continued.
"Chances are that there's something more to it than a simple kidnapping. You can expect Lois to be at the Daily Planet building tomorrow morning. Follow her and try to keep things from getting out of hand. The majority of the League should be available by the time you find anything." The mission seemed pretty simple. Just spy on this lady, save her butt since Superman couldn't... easy peasy, right?
The screen went blank and disappeared, which was followed by a cracking sound. Everyone in the room turned to see Superboy holding a crushed battery, with bits of plastic covering the ground next to him.
"The remote!" Kid Flash exclaimed, zipping towards the clone and kneeling to pick up some of the shards. "How could you?"
"Dude." Robin said, staring mainly at the battery. How could he still be holding that? Irongirl thought. The battery acid should've burned his hand from what she understood. But, of course, he WAS a Kryptonian. He would probably barely feel it if he was shot. "Why did you even have that with you?"
"I thought I would go back and watch TV when we were done..." Wow. Even if he was insanely strong, he was a bit crazy.
"It's okay. I'll... go get a broom." Miss Martian said quickly, zooming off towards who-knew-where to get said broom. Aqualad didn't say anything. They were already proving themselves crazy to the newest additions to the team...
"Sorry." Superboy said gruffly to the red head on the ground.
"I'm not speaking to you." Oh, great. What a drama queen.
"You can buy another remote, pinhead." Miss USA said, obviously still angry about the earlier... incident, which Irongirl had actually found to be sort of funny. About the same time, Artemis said something similar. "Buy another one, Baywatch." Miss USA smirked at the blonde, who at first didn't seem very concerned with the other girl, but the gave a small smile back.
Miss Martian returned with a broom and dustpan, quickly sweeping up what was left of the remote and turning to Superboy. "Um... would you like me to take that?" She said, gesturing to the battery in his fist. Irongirl didn't notice until much later that the martian was blushing.
"I've got it." Superboy said, walking off in the direction that Miss Martian had come from. She followed him, of course, seeing as she had to dump what was once a remote. Irongirl really hoped that they knew how to properly dispose of that battery, but seeing as no one said anything she had to assume that they did.
"Does that happen often?" Irongirl asked quietly, almost certain that no one heard her. Then, of course, Aqualad looked up and shrugged. Either being on this team would be very exciting or very dangerous.
Metropolis
September 17th, 5:54 EDT
Early the next morning the Young Justice squad and their two newest additions met up at Metropolis, just outside the Daily Planet headquarters.
"What's the plan?" Miss USA asked bluntly, stifling a yawn. She had stayed up later than normal last night.
Aqualad turned to her and the rest of the team. "We are going to split up into pairs. Miss USA and KF will be together," Kid Flash looked like he was going to pass out, "Superboy and Miss Martian, Artemis and Irongirl, then Robin you will come with me."
As if on cue, Irongirl and Artemis looked at each other. But then the archer look over at KF with a smirk. "Hey, at least you'll be able to get in a 'private tour' now."
Robin, being a little immature to his age, laughed at his friend but put a hand over his mouth to not get called out on by Aqualad, who was already giving him a look.
"Miss USA and KF, start patrolling around this area on the west side.. Lois Lane might already be out there." Aqualad told them. With a nod, Kid Flash took off with Miss USA flying right behind him. "Miss Martian and Superboy do the same but take the east side. Miss Martian, link us up and don't go out of range." The green-skin girl nodded and floated away with Superboy in the opposite direction the first pair had went. "Now, Artemis and Irongirl stay here but don't give yourselves away. Robin and I will check around in a close perimeter to see if anything is suspicious or if we find Lois Lane."
While the Boy Wonder and the Atlantean walked off, Miss USA and Kid Flash were having a very hard time being near each other.
"Stop doing that!" The red headed mess complained. Every time he took off, Miss USA would use her powers to stop him.
"We need to stick together, bird brain." Miss USA rolled her eyes.
"Listen, if you're still mad at me about yesterday- I'm sorry. I mean, you're just...WOW." That was the speed demon's mistake. In one swift movement, Miss USA used her super strength to punch him into the brick building they were walking by.
Miss USA walked over and grabbed his collar. "Mention my looks again and you're really dead meat." She growled, letting Kid Flash go. He steadied himself and rubbed his head.
"Ow." The fun ball of energy that always had a joke to crack actually looked hurt and defenseless this time.
Found her! Artemis and Irongirl thought at the same time. As Wally was thrown into a wall, they had stood in the bushes waiting for Lois to come out. It was pretty awkward between them, since neither really had a clue what to talk about.
Within a minute the whole team was on Lois Lane's trail, wherever it went.
The woman walked quickly towards her car, fumbling with the keys a bit as she unlocked the door. Irongirl figured it was probably because of how chilly it already was. Not to mention dark, which worked to the team's advantage. The team. It was hard to believe that she was suddenly on a team, instead of just doing small jobs that Ironman deemed fit for a little girl. But she wasn't THAT little. She was thirteen years old, and really, she wouldn't stay short forever... She needed to focus. This was important, and yet Irongirl let her mind wander? What was wrong with her?
The car started up, and if Irongirl wasn't in her suit she would've jumped from the sudden noise. Her suit gave her a sense of safety that she just didn't have otherwise... Dangit, she needed to pay attention! Kid Flash was already speeding after the reporter, having somehow changed his suit black. She sort of wished she could do that, seeing as her red and gold armor not only stood out against the city's buildings and roads, but any light reflected off the metal surface, making her easy to spot. How would she go about this? She couldn't get as close as the others, obviously... And flying up too high would just make her lose her way. At this point, Robin had run off and disappeared, being the ninja that he was. Artemis gave her an exasperated look.
"Come on." The blonde girl said. "We need to get going and I'm not leaving a little kid alone."
Okay, that had bugged her. "I'm NOT a little kid." Irongirl said, maybe a bit too loudly. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anyone to hear what she said, seeing as Lois had gotten pretty far ahead by now. Deciding to avoid further embarrassment, Irongirl kicked on the rockets in her boots and flew up a bit. She wouldn't go too high, she decided, but high enough and far enough back (possibly to the side, as well) that Lois (and, hopefully, any other citizens of Metropolis) wouldn't spot her.
Aqualad, Artemis, and Superboy, who couldn't move quite as quickly as Kid Flash or fly, had motorcycles of some sort, which they either brought on the ship or came here on. Irongirl wasn't sure, seeing as she had to fly here on her own. She wondered if Robin had something similar and was just good at hiding it. She didn't see him anywhere, so it was certainly possible.
As Irongirl flew, she tried keeping her mind on Lois and her vehicle, which was moving a speed that she suspected to be illegal towards downtown. It would be really, really awkward to think about most other things and then find out to what extent the others could see her thoughts. If it was anything... even what she was thinking now would probably be a bit weird. But then, she couldn't hear anything from their heads, unless she was blocking them out somehow? Telepathy was crazy.
Where in the world was this lady going, anyway?
"Luthor was last seen downtown, not too far from the police station." The Boy Wonder's voice was suddenly in her head, causing her to jump a bit mid air. She hadn't realized that she was thinking where they could hear. "That's how his robot lady reported his kidnapping so fast. How in the world Lex Luthor got himself kidnapped is another question entirely..." That... was a bit freaky. Irongirl had no idea what he was talking about. Robot lady? And... wait, kidnapped?
"I thought they said he was missing." Miss Martian cut in.
"They did. Everyone is. But he was supposedly kidnapped, and that's that. The media's trying to keep it under wraps until they have more details." There went Robin again...
"And you know this because...?" Miss USA said... err, thought... Irongirl's friend found this pretty suspicious.
What was even freakier than all this was that Irongirl could practically HEAR Robin grinning.
"Robin is... good with computers." Aqualad thought, not quite annoyed but... Yeah, it definitely bugged him to have to explain all this.
Miss USA crossed her arms at Aqualad's logic and flew a bit faster than intended to. Soon she had caught up to Miss M and that took her by surprise. Miss USA crashed into a telephone pole right where Lois Lane stopped at a red light.
"Way to go." KF said sarcastically, as Lois spotted her.
"Shut up, you two." Artemis said, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
Miss USA ignored them both and shot up in the air again. She ignored the voices of the other team members as Lois started spotting each of them...
As the red light turned green, Lois put the pedal to the metal and shot off, leaving the Young Justice members to speed up to catch up to her.
Lois Lane made a sharp left and started going way off mark to try and shake the teens from her tail. The nerve of Superman! She thought. Thinking I can't care for myself! What tipped her off that it was him, was the somewhat smaller replica of the Man of Steel.
Soon Lois realize the teens weren't giving up easily, so she pulled over in an alleyway and stepped out to talk with them.
Four motorcycle-like vehicles pulled up behind her, Kid Flash also skidded his running to a stop, and the last three members of the team landed on the ground.
"What is going on?" Lois Lane demanded, taking in the scene around her.
Aqualad stepped up first. "We are on a mission from Superman." He told her in a calm tone. You could almost see smoke coming out of Lois's ears. Eight- EIGHT -teenagers to watch over her? Aqualad saw her anger. "Superman is only concerned about your safety. Lex Luther is a dangerous man."
Lois Lane sighed and crossed her arms. "You're not giving up, are you." She said it more of a statement than a question. The whole team gave her a firm nod. "Well, just stay out of the way."
They wouldn't have a problem fulfilling the journalist's request. They were only really her to keep an eye on her. There didn't have to be any interaction unless she got herself into (yet another) life threatening situation... so, yeah, Irongirl figured they'd help her out quite a bit. But that wouldn't be "in the way", it'd be saving her life.
The woman got back on the road, and of course the team did, too. "So," thought Kid Flash, "do you think I'd have a chance with her?"
Oblivious to the fact that this time it actually was a joke, Irongirl replied. "It'd be illegal." she thought flatly.
"...so I guess you didn't think it was funny?" He asked, laughing even in his thoughts.
Miss USA came to her rescue. "Well, seeing how you've acted so far..."
"You're not gonna let that one go, are you." It wasn't a question.
Things continued like this for what had to be at LEAST half an hour. Everyone would be silent for a bit, then someone would try to break the ice with some sort of joke. Irongirl could tell that the awkwardness was partially her fault, of course. She and Miss USA hadn't been able to bond like the rest of the team, and so things were tense. What little interaction they had with the others hadn't been all that great, in Irongirl's eyes. Miss USA had already been rubbed the wrong way by the ginger speedster, and Irongirl hadn't even trusted them with her secret identity... they probably all hated her.
Now she couldn't help but let her mind wander. This wasn't going all that great, and things were moving so slow... Her thoughts moved from place to place. She noted to herself that Thor really needed a haircut, and that she needed to talk to Ton- Ironman about adding maybe a few of the weapons that he had but had denied her access to onto her suit. Then, of course, she moved on to even less serious things... Specifically, Harry Potter. What could she say? She was a nerd. A Potter loving nerd. She couldn't wait to see the last movie...
"Harry Potter? Really?" Artemis thought from below.
"Ugh. I need to think quieter, right?" Irongirl could feel their response... tons of nods.
"Thor DOES have girly hair, if it makes you feel any better. And Harry Potter... it's better to think about that then Edward. Ugh. He's not a vampire, he's a fairy!" Miss USA thought, flying not too far away.
"Oh, don't get me started about that freak!" Irongirl couldn't tell which one of them thought that.
"Well, Edward's better than Jacob!" Okay, that was Kid Flash for sure.
"Dude." ...Robin? Yeah, definitely Robin. "He's a STALKER!"
"Kid. If you think that sparkly fairies are better than vampire slaying wolves..." Miss USA thought, shaking her head. "Who votes he goes to a therapist when we're done with this?"
Robin and Irongirl both voted yes immediately, giggling a bit as they did so. Artemis, of course, put in her opinion. "Yeah, although that Jacob kid isn't much better..." Artemis... wasn't a fan of Twilight. At all. Aqualad kept quiet, not really wanting to get involved, and Miss Martian and Superboy were pretty much clueless.
"I think," Robin thought, "that we can all agree that Bella is an idiot, though." The team voiced their agreement.
"I had a friend with a cow named Bella..." Miss USA thought absentmindedly.
"Oh yeah? Well I lived next door to a bunch of cows." Irongirl wasn't really sure what that proved, but she was actually having fun right now. "And the only good Bella is Bellatrix Lestrange!"
"No! Bella was sweet. But she died. Don't you find it ironic? Bella in Twilight IS a cow and I knew a cow named Bella that died...Hm. And in a since Twilight Bella did 'die' with the whole changing vampire thing after giving birth to Nessie." Miss USA thought. "Although, it did save her life despite the fact Jacob was pissed at her but fe-" Miss USA stopped when the team was silent. "Sorry...I have an...addiction." She thought sheepishly, wishing she hadn't rambled on with the Twilight facts.
Robin laughed, and Superboy spoke... or thought up. "You're talking about cows now?"
"She wasn't dead enough..." Artemis thought.
"Agreed." Wow. Even Kid Flash hated Bella.
"Well, I think we all know atleast KF will be dead enough by the time we get back." Miss USA growled a thought at him.
"Dude! I didn't even do anything that time!" Kid Flash thought, sounding a bit whiny.
Aqualad interrupted. "Enough. If you're not arguing with Artemis you're arguing with Miss USA now?"
"He just isn't satisfied when he's not annoying someone, Aqualad, and he's now chosen me to annoy!" Miss USA complained, hoping to pull an 'I'm so innocent' card with the team leader.
Things got quiet again and Lois pulled over. She wasn't as close to the police station as they all figured she would be, but then she didn't NEED to be all that close with them around. The woman climbed out of her car, pulling a notebook and pen out of her purse. It crossed Irongirl's mind that this job was more fit for the police than a lone reporter, but hey, Miss Lane was known for her... uh... risky? Oh, Irongirl couldn't think of a word. She was just known for getting into trouble while she researched her stories.
Aqualad was the first off his bike, followed by Artemis. Superboy and Robin stayed on the road for a few minutes, though, and Kid Flash ran around a way back while the three flying girls kept watch up above.
"I thought I told you to stay out of the way."
"Inconsiderate, much?" Miss USA snapped in her mind. We were only making sure she wasn't going to get killed!
Lois, of course, couldn't hear her.
"We won't be bothering you. We'd just like to be close enough to lend a hand if needed." Aqualad said gently. He was pretty good with people, when you thought about it. Irongirl had yet to actually hear him get mad and yell at anyone. He'd gotten annoyed and chastised Kid Flash and Miss USA, yes, but that was as far as he went.
"...fine. But stay back and let me do my job." Lois said, walking away a bit and scribbling something down.
For some reason, Miss USA's mind wandered to an old NCIS episode she saw. Abby had found a box with four fingers in sand. Where the finger was cut off, the sand was red with you guess what. One of the fingers had her favorite nail polish color- Artic Blue.
Miss Martian was a bit freaked out by their new member's thoughts, of course. "Um... Miss USA?"
"Mhm?" Miss USA thought back.
"What was that all about?" The martian girl was almost afraid of her, at this point. Well, maybe not OF her, seeing as it was one against seven if something was up, but maybe afraid for her sanity...
"I watch a lot of NCIS with Cap." She replied nonchalantly. "I just happened to think of that episode. Atleast I didn't bring up the one with Abby's farting dog pillow."
Robin was laughing, of course, because that was what he did best. At least it wasn't that freaky laugh that Kid Flash hated.
"Oh, that makes a bit of sense!" Miss Martian said, back to her usual happy attitude.
"Well, you're lucky. I don't normally make much sense..." The patriot shrugged.
"I can testify to that." Irongirl thought, looking around. Nothing had happened yet... which was sort of surprising.
Miss USA scanned the ground. "Uh, aren't we missing someone?" She thought, not spotting who they were supposed to keep an eye on and protect in case anything got out of hand.
"Ah, crap!" Artemis said out loud, running to where the woman had been just moments ago. "Do you think she ditched us?"
"I thought we agreed we wouldn't get in her way, but she is still pretty stubborn." Miss USA flew to the ground by Artemis.
"Miss Martian, can you track her?" Aqualad asked, sounding way more calm than he felt. They were failing Superman. If he was worried about that, he could only imagine how Superboy must feel...
Miss Martian nodded, and a moment later she floated down. "She's not far, but she's moving fast... but I can't see her... Hello, Megan, she's underground! She was probably captured!"
"She gets captured a LOT." Irongirl thought, touching down a couple yards away.
"Miss Martian, can you tell where exactly underground?" Miss USA asked.
"Well, she's headed northeast, but I don't know how to get down there. We'll have to search." The martian girl said aloud as the others gathered around. "Uh... Superboy? Can you hear echoes from a tunnel or anything?"
The boy stood there for a minute, obviously listening, then walked around a bit. Finally, he stopped... and punched a hole in the ground. It was pretty deep, which was amazing, seeing as he wasn't THAT big. Still, he wasn't quite in the tunnel yet.
Miss USA stayed silent as she started to moved more dirt out of the way with her mind. She kept digging deeper in the ground. Miss Martian followed suit, moving chunks of dirt and even a few rocks with ease. Soon, with the martian's help, they saw an opening in the ground.
"Hey, Kid Flash, go check out that hole." Miss USA told him. "Just be, ya know, careful." She snickered, the area around the hole would give at KF's weight, and he would fall in. Giving everyone a good laugh.
Kid Flash was smarter than he often seemed, of course, it was just that most of his intellect was in science related areas. He knew just enough to realize that going too far wouldn't be safe. "Why don't you do the honors?"
"Aw, you're scared, aren't you?" Miss USA teased. She flew over and lowered herself into the hole. She found Lois Lane tied up in the middle of the room. Miss USA flew up faster than lightening to see the team hadn't moved from their spots. "What on Earth are you all waiting for?" She snapped. "I found her."
"It's kind of far for some of to just jump, you know." Kid Flash said, and for once Artemis agreed with him.
"We can't fly and we're not indestructible," the blonde said. "Why don't you set Lois free and get her back up here?"
"Why'd they just tie her up there?" Superboy asked. He had a point. Why would they just leave her? This was getting sort of fishy, and not in the same way that Aqualad was.
"It's a trap, obviously. Someone knew we were watching over her." Miss USA pointed out. "They probably are using her for bait."
"Well, we weren't all that secretive... Should we all come down anyway?" Irongirl turned to Aqualad at the last part. "It must be more than just an ambush, seeing as they would've attacked you by now."
"Miss Martian, Artemis, keep watch. Have your bow ready. Miss USA, come help us down, if you will." Aqualad said. Irongirl was glad that he took charge, because really, she had no idea what to do...
Miss USA nodded and flew over. "I can take two down at a time." She told them.
"I can take... I dunno, depends on who. Robin's about my size and Kid Flash is scrawny, so if it were those two, as long as they didn't mind going fast, I could probably get them down." Irongirl thought it'd be really awkward to bring any of them down, but she wanted to help, so...
Miss USA nodded. "I guess I'll get Aqualad and Superboy, then." She floated over to them. "Put your arms around my neck." She told them. They did as told and she wrapped her arms around their waist so they wouldn't slip. Miss USA flew them over the dangerous part by the hole and lowered them down slowly. Once they touched the surface of the tunnel, they let go of her and she did the same. All three moved from the hole so the other three could get down here.
Irongirl watched Miss USA go down, briefly wondering why Kid Flash hadn't gotten onto her about the scrawny comment. "I'm not doing the neck thing. This is weird enough as is."
"Agreed." said, surprisingly enough, Robin. Irongirl paused, then hooked her arms and let the boys grab on. They WERE going to do this fast, and she doubted they'd have much trouble holding on. Before she actually began to go down the hole, Irongirl kicked on her boots and rose a bit above it. The boys, who were not only taller than her but hanging off a lower point on her body, swiftly pulled their legs back to avoid being burnt.
"Sorry. Didn't think that one through." Inside her helmet, she was blushing. She was making herself look like such a fool.
"We've done worse." Kid Flash? Seemingly trying to make her feel better? Well, he had seemed like a jerk before, but now maybe he wasn't so bad...
There was a problem, of course, because there was ALWAYS a problem. Irongirl might have overestimated herself, and not only did she drop a bit faster than she'd anticipated, but she was tipped over a bit towards the ginger, leaving the boy in the domino mask a good few inches above him. Luckily, she hit ground (or Kid Flash hit the ground, followed by Robin, and both let go) before any harm could befall them.
"Uh... now what? Do you think they have pressure sensors around Miss Lane or maybe those lasers like in the movies?" She asked, still annoyed by how badly she'd performed moments before. Why couldn't it have been as easy as it was to Miss USA?
"Why don't we test it out?" Miss USA suggested. "Superboy and I aren't able to be affected by the lasers if there are any." She pointed out, taking a step closer to Miss Lane.
"But Lois can be." Robin said, grabbing the girl's shoulder.
"There has got to be an off button somewhere, though. Besides, there might not even be lasers. We'll test it, then decide what to do from there." She said, shaking herself from Robin's grip.
"Only an idiot would leave the off button where we could get to it." Kid Flash said. He thought it was obvious, really.
"Who said it was that easy?" Miss USA retorted. "It's not like we're so babyish that we can't go and look for something. And like I said before, there may not even be lasers or something that could seriously harm Miss Lane."
"We might not have TIME to look for anything. And who cares, there's gotta be something there, and we shouldn't risk it yet. We need to get a plan together before we try anything. Sure, there might not be any lasers, but if there are and she gets killed what are you gonna do?" he said angrily. Jeeze, he thought, I know she's a newbie but she needs to get her act together.
Miss USA crossed her arms. "Then what's your plan, smart one? It might be better to actually figure out what we need to get around, first, so we could formulate something for it."
"I..." Dang. He had nothing.
"Truthfully, I was talking more about those lasers that don't actually hurt you but trip an alarm, but yeah... Oh!... wait, never mind... I dunno. You think you'd be fast enough to just move her over here in time?" Irongirl tried her best, but even then, she had a feeling that Kid Flash wasn't nearly as fast (or coordinated) as his mentor, and it probably wouldn't be worth the risk.
Miss USA sighed. "Like I said before, can we atleast try to find what we've got to work around before we try to make a plan?" She snapped, a bit annoyed.
Irongirl shrank back a bit. She was trying to help, but for all they knew, time was running short...
"See anything, Supey?" Robin asked, and Irongirl turned her attention to Superman's carbon copy.
"Nothing that really stands out. Anything that's here is hidden pretty well. I don't hear anything either, though, so that's good." Irongirl didn't understand why that was good, but then she realized that he could hear if someone was coming their way... or if there were any electronics or even a bomb nearby.
Aqualad sighed. "Miss USA, just use your telepathy to untie Miss Lane. Or ungag her, at least. If she gives him permission, Kid Flash you can move her. She could probably tell us what they have set up."
Miss USA nodded and focused her mind on the knots. Once they were undone, she undid the gag so Miss Lane could speak to the team.
Lois Lane took a deep breath and looked at the squad. "That is what you call protecting me?" She sounded slightly annoyed but relieved they had finally found her. "Maybe if you two," She looked at Kid Flash and Miss USA, "hadn't been bickering so much, you would've saved a lot of time." Miss Lane took another deep breath. "Irongirl was right, there are lasers that set an alarm if you touch them-"
"Yes!" Irongirl hissed, quickly pumping her fist and earning several glares. "...sorry..." she muttered, stepping back a bit.
"As I was saying," Lois Lane went on, "if Kid Flash were to get me and run out, he would of course trigger the alarms and set a swarm of robot hornets after us all." She finished.
"If we've got another person to bring up, I think Miss Martian should come down and get her." Miss USA suggested, getting a nod from Aqualad.
Miss USA flew her head right above the hole to where Artemis and Miss M were standing. "Miss Martian- We need help bringing Miss Lane up." She explained, flying back down so Miss Martian could come down.
"Ready, KF?" Aqualad asked him and the speedster gave him a quick nod before running off to get Miss Lane. Once he was within 10 feet of her, the alarms started. Kid Flash scooped her up and ran back as the hornets started coming. Miss USA had already lifted up Superboy and Aqualad. Miss Martian took Miss Lane and lifted her up. Kid Flash practically jumped on Irongirl to get back up, and, reluctantly, she flew them towards the opening in the same manner that Miss USA had to Superboy and Aqualad.
As Miss USA turned around, the swarm of robot hornets was upon them. She didn't see what the rest of her teammates were doing, but she was trying to use her telekenesis to keep the hornets from getting to close to her and her teammates. While Miss USA was doing that, Aqualad had used his eel tatroos and was slashing every hornet he could.
Irongirl had, at that point, positioned herself near Lois to try her best to defend the woman. Spreading her feet to try and steady herself, she stretching out her right arm and held it still with the left, releasing small, concentrated blasts from her palms and taking out (or at least stunning) a few of the robotic insects.
Before Robin took out the insects, he snatched one out of the air. The Boy Wonder couldn't help it, just like the robot monkeys they've battled before he wanted to study this, too. At least he could figure out who made them. His best friend zipped around in front of him, running straight through the hornets to destroy them instead of actually hitting them. Meanwhile, Artemis was taking out hornets with her bow and arrow. She was running low quickly, and it didn't help that she wasn't able to destroy to many with only one arrow. Superboy, somehow, had the most effective method: smashing right through them. He just hit them as the flew, barely even making an effort yet shattering tons of them. A few did manage to sting him, but he hadn't noticed, it seemed. Each one that he touched was completely destroyed, and although this made it impossible to track them or anything, it got them away from the team...
Or so they thought. Just when the cloud of robotic bugs seemed to be thinning out, even more emerged from the gaping hole in the ground. Great. Just great. All of the teens were running low on energy, so Robin decided he should use a smoke bomb. He threw four towards the direction of the hornets, and told the team to run. Kid Flash scooped up Miss Lane and they all ran in the opposite direction of the bomb.
It didn't take long for them to regroup around Lois's car. Kid Flash gently let her down and leaned against the vehicle, lightly panting. Lois considered making him get off, but considering what had happened that day... yeah, he deserved it.
"So, do we call the League now?" Irongirl asked. Aqualad shook his head.
"We'll be going back and reporting to them soon enough." the leader replied. Leader. It was weird to have a leader instead of just a mentor.
"Wait, you're going back? I never got my story!" Lois was already getting ready to go back to the hole.
Miss USA looked at her. "No offense intended, Miss Lane, but I think this is a job for the police, not a newspaper reporter." The woman glared at her, but she nodded.
"Fine. I'll go back, then. I'll just wait until Superman is around." Yep. Superman was easier to deal with than these crazy kids.
"They have two more now."
"Yes. We noticed."
"Luthor?"
"The Batman's brat brought one of the hornets with him. We have another way to get into their ranks, now. It's a shame, too, I thought it'd be a bit more challenging..."
A/N: So, what did ya think? Please Review!