2.

With a gluttonal roar, Conner leapt into the thick of the fight. Hundreds of rounds struck him but did no damage whatsoever. They couldn't penetrate the skin of the Kryptonian but the soldiers never let up on their attack. Despite his near blind rage, Conner managed to yell at M'gann that he was fighting Black Manta's soldiers and for her to help Garfield.

One after the other, Conner punched, kicked, and threw each soldier he came across out of his way. Weapons were broken, smashed beyond recognition as he continued to lay waste to all those that intruded upon their home. Despite his best efforts, more soldiers continued to rush into Mount Justice. It didn't matter though; they just give him more enemies to hit.

"Garfield? Garfield?" M'gann slid beside her blood brother and pressed her fingers to his neck. She was relieved he had a pulse. "Oh… You're leg." She was shocked to see Garfield's right leg was broken with the tip of the bone sticking out.

"Get him out of here!"

That voice. She recognized that voice. "Artemis?"

Removing the amulet from her neck, the dark hair and skinned woman referred to as Artemis gained her lighter skin shade and blonde hair back. "I'll explain later just get him out of here!" She came out of cover to fire an electrical arrow, taking out three Manta soldiers in one discharge.

Levitating her injured blood brother, M'gann sent him into the hallway and into one of the rooms where she placed him on a bed. With him out of harm's way, she turned her attention to the battle at hand. She still couldn't believe Artemis was back but there she was, firing arrow after arrow from the kitchen.

"Get out of our house!" Raising several chunks of broken rock, M'gann hurled them at the soldiers surrounding Conner. Several dove out of the way but others weren't so lucky as they were sent sprawling across the floor like bowling pins.

Taking out another soldier with a gas arrow, Artemis ducked behind the counter she used as cover to reload. Before she could get another shot off, a soldier armed with a knife attack her. Rolling out of the way in time, she aimed her crossbow at the attacker but lost it when he kicked it out of her hand.

"Rrrragh! Come on!" Artemis grunted as she engaged her attacker in hand-to-hand combat.

Rights and lefts were counted and re-countered as both fought for dominance. The soldier thrust his combat knife at Artemis' face but was blocked as she flung one of the cabinet doors open to catch the bladed weapon. Three of the six inches of metal punctured the wood and refused to be released. She followed it up by grabbing a frying pan from a nearby hook and whacked her opponent across the head. Placing her hands on the countertop, she lifted herself to plant both feet in his chest before grabbing a gel arrow and detonating it on the Manta soldier's head.

As the gel incapacitated the soldier, Artemis grabbed her weapon and fired a bolt to the ceiling behind M'gann to make several heavy chunks of rock tumble down, taking out a few soldiers who were trying to flank her as she went hand to hand with one of her own before telekinetically throwing him aside.

"Get out of here!" Conner yelled.

Lifting a soldier onto the shoulders, he planted his barefoot in the face of another to knock him back then through the previous one into a new group making their way in. As he went back to fighting the others, he failed see a large, masked, imposing figure stomp his way in past his fallen comrades. The black and blue individual monitored the fight with no one paying him any attention. Reaching behind him, he pulled a pistol from a holster and handed into the fray.

"Let's see you dodge this," Sportsmaster said as he carefully aimed his weapon.

Dispatching yet another soldier, Artemis grabbed another bolt as she saw her father, Sportsmaster lower his weapon in M'gann and Conner's direction.

"What the… Dad?" She reloaded her crossbow and took careful aim at his head.

The moment Artemis fired, so did her father. A moment after the bullet left the chamber her arrow struck his mask, knocking it off and blinding him as it burst into a bright light. As for the bullet, its trajectory took it on a path to the two heroes until it struck soft flesh.

One of the soldiers who was held in the air fell to the ground as their opponent felt the hot sting of the bullet. A shocked expression took over their face. They couldn't believe such pain could happen to them. It was something they've never experienced as fresh blood poured from the wound.

"M'gann!" Artemis yelled.

The Martian girl dispatched of several more soldiers using a computer terminal and turned to look at Artemis who pointed at Conner. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the super powered young man fall to his knees then to his side.

"Conner!" She screamed as she flew over and landed on her knees next him.

Turning him over. She saw a hole in his chest spilling blood freely were his left lung is. Veins pulsed thickly under his skin and turned green from the entry point of the wound. "Conner? Conner?!"

He looked upon her with an expression she had never seen before on his face. It was a look of pain and fear. His breathing was erratic, forcing him to take short quick breaths. Every muscle in his body flexed with the green colored veins slowly spreading out. Seeing him in such a state, M'gann felt herself lose control. Her eyes shone bright green as she felt her anger grow. After placing him down. She let out a long, loud yell that turned into a roar as she morphed into her true white Martian form.

"Oh crap," Artemis said. They crossbow wielder ducked behind the kitchen cabinet and tucked her head down.

What was left of the conscious soldiers panicked upon seeing the alien monstrosity and opened fire. Their attack was futile as every round that was fired came to a halt in midair when the Martian held up one of her three fingered hands. Again, her eyes shone brightly and with another roar, she sent a powerful telekinetic wave through the interior of the cave. The soldiers and Sportsmaster flew out to the garage area, the exact way they came in. Those that were unconscious looked like rag dolls on the concrete floor while the others tried their best to retreat into a waiting drop ship. With one final telekinetic wave, M'gann made the garage entrance collapse to make sure none could re-enter the mountain.

Looking back down at the bleeding Conner, she returned to her usual green skinned self. "Conner?"

"Move," Artemis said as she slid beside them.

"How, how are you…"

"You want an explanation or do you want to save his life?"

Conner's breathing began to slow but was still extremely shallow.

"What's happening to him?" M'gann asked. "What did they do to him?"

"Kryptonite bullet. I didn't think they would use it outside their base. I didn't even think my father would be here. This was only supposed to be a scouting mission, not a seek and destroy one. This wasn't supposed to happen."

Artemis quickly flipped Conner over and cursed to herself when she saw the bullet didn't go all the way through.

"Get him to med-bay now. Get both to med-bay and contact Red Tornado in Watchtower. I don't know how they're going to get in here but I need help if I'm going get the bullet out."

8:59am - Next Day.

It was maybe five or 6 AM before anyone from the outside arrived. It took the combined efforts of Captain Marvel and him Capt. Adam to create a way in since the Zeta tubes were destroyed. Wally and his grandfather rent supplies in from town with what was left of the leak standing guard both on earth around the mountain and in Watchtower.

Black Canary and Zatanna were in med-bay tending to both Garfield and Conner alongside Artemis. Garfield's injuries were light compared to his older team member, a broken leg and a light concussion. Conner's were more severe and had to be dealt with extremely carefully with the Kryptonite bullet lodged in his left lung. After some long hours later, Black Canary arrived back in the living quarters, what was left of it, with Red Tornado behind her.

"Okay, everybody," Black Canary said as she took off a pair of medical gloves and scrubs. "I've got some good news and bad news."

"How are they?" M'gann rushed before the two, anxious to get answers.

"You might want to sit down for this."

With her skin growing a shade paler, M'gann went back to sit on the charred couch. Extra chairs were brought in for the others and those who were busy cleaning or repairing what was destroyed stopped whatever they were doing and gave the blonde Justice League member their full attention.

"Garfield is going to be okay. We set the bone back in place and stitched him up. He also sustained a light concussion and a few nicks, cuts, and bruises. He's under sedation but will pull through. As for Conner…" She looked over at Red Tornado who took over for her.

"The projectile that impacted with Conner consisted of fifty percent kryptonite. Unlike other firearm projectiles this one did not break through clean or tumble upon impact. Instead it acted similar to a high velocity round coming into contact with water where it…"

"English, por favor," Jamie, known as Blue Beetle interrupted.

"Yes, well, in short, the bullet shattered into numerous pieces that we couldn't retrieve. They have also entered his bloodstream and are spreading throughout his body."

"So, what's going to happen to him?" Cassie, Wonder Girl, asked.

"We don't know much about Kryptonian physiology," Black Canary admitted. "It's actually good fortune the kryptonite is in his system or else we wouldn't have been able to hook him up to our medical machines or, or insert an IV in him."

"So how's his condition down?" Batgirl asked.

"He's stable. I had Tornado help me get him into his old Cadmus Solar Suit and move him into a medical room where he can get all the sunlight he needs. Since he's basically like Superman, were hoping doing that will help speed up the healing process."

"Can I see them?" M'gann asked.

"Yes, but only for a bit. Zatanna's with Garfield and he's not completely under so he might say some… loopy things. As for Conner, he still hasn't woken up yet."

Looking over at Artemis who was patching up some minor scratches on her, Black Canary took balled up her scrubs and latex gloves. "Artemis, I think it's time to explain yourself."

9:37am

Miles away in an underground chamber, a maskless Sportsmaster stood in near darkness before several large screens. Bright white lights shined down upon him as he updated the ones known as The Light of his missions status.

"The mission was only half a success," Sportsmaster said. He was still having a hard time seeing from that flare arrow that ignited it his face. "Intel was correct that the animal kid, Kryptonian, Martian girl, and wolf were within the mountain.

"And what of the entrance to the base?" A member of the light asked.

"A little too easy for my taste. The prisoner's Intel was more than useful. We got in without tripping any alarms, got them out in the open and took two of the three out along with that mutt and metal ball using an EMP."

"And which three were that?" Another one of the images asked.

"My men took out the animal kid, beast boy, first. I took out the Kryptonian after that with the kryptonite bullet."

From one of the monitors, the bald industrialist known as Lex Luther grinned evilly when sports master mentioned the bullet he manufactured for the mission.

"The downside to the mission was the inclusion of my daughter, Artemis. If not for her, Beast Boy and the Kryptonian would be dead. As it is, the kid is alive but severely injured and the clone should be dying. I hit him square in the chest. There's no way he'll survive."

"And what of the Martian?" Queen Bee asked.

"Had it not have been for my daughter, I would have used the incinerator around. The subsequent flare she used bought the Martian enough time to push us out of the mountain. Oh, and someone also shot the mutt sometime during the battle. But I don't know how severe it was."

They were quiet for a moment and Sports Master began to lose patience with the continuously unbroken silence until finally the members of The Light spoke up. "Despite your failure to eliminate the targets within Mount Justice, your mission has been a success. You demoralize them, you eliminated two of the three targets, and Artemis believes she was still an undiscovered mole. Overall, good work."

To be continued