Thank you everyone for such amazing feedback and support. I'm really surprised that it's not my usual group of readers but I hope to continue to have your support as well. I would also like to make a disclaimer; this is in no way my prediction of the series. I just created situations that I could find likely to put our heroes in, and that are highly exaggerated. This is a Fanfiction after all.
.Please Review.
Chapter Two: Consider it Mutual
-Santa Prisca
Lying in bed Kaldur was dripping in sweat; Once again he was plagued by the regret of his decisions. He remembered his farewell to Tula before embarking on this plan.
Inside of Mount Justice the two Atlantians met secretly. "Tula, you do not have to go through with this." He begged, deep in his heart he truly didn't want her to be in harms way.
"Kaldur, Nightwing needs me for this plan to work."
"His plan is dangerous…Foolish…I'm just letting you know that you don't have to do this…"
She looked down and held his hand. "Kaldur…I appreciate your concern but…we need to do this…it's the only way and it's the least I could do." Hearing Garth call out for her she sighed. "Goodbye Kaldur." She kissed his cheek. "Take care of yourself..."
The last thing he remembered was the explosion that 'killed' Tula.
He sat up quickly, panting. He knew that she was happy, but it was best that she didn't tell him where she was going to be hiding out. He missed his team, his friends, and the cave. Every decision he made haunted him. Sitting up he slipped on his shirt and walked down the corridor to Tigress's room. He knocked and leaned against the door. After a few minutes he poked his head inside. "Tigress?" Looking around the room his eyes narrowed. Her weapons, and costume were gone. Passing a solider he stopped them. "Where is Tigress?"
"Sir." he saluted Kaldur "She was sent on a mission with Deathstroke."
"Deathstroke?" he raised an eyebrow. When did he join us? And for what? "Who authorized that?"
"Your father sir."
Kaldur hurried to his father's quarters. Black Manta was sitting by his desk, reading a book and sipping his tea. Hearing his door open he looked up "Kaldur'Ahm. Good morning son."
"Father, where is Tigress?"
He smiled as he added more sugar to his tea. "Ah, yes Tigress. I sent her on a mission to meet up with Deathstroke. It seems that Sportsmaster has been boasting about how he wants my head. He said he's been disrespected when you killed his daughter." He set his tea down. "I don't want Sportsmaster to be a nuisance in my plans in the future so it's best to get rid of him now."
"So you sent Deathstroke to exterminate Sportsmaster now?"
"Yes" he grinned. "Is that all Kaldur'Ahm?"
"Yes father." he walked out of the room. Everyday that passes another variable is added to the equation...I'm sure Nightwing didn't account for all of this...
-Gotham
Tigress waited in the junk yard, on top of a pile of cars for Deathstroke to get there. This place looks so familiar...I can't put my finger on it but it's like I've been here before...What am I doing here anyway?
"Tigress."
She looked up and drew her cross bow at the sudden strange voice. "Deathstroke?" her eyes narrowed.
He nodded. "The mark will be here soon." He sighed "I usually don't like when my client sticks me with a babysitter, but you might be helpful."
"The mark?" Then it hit her, why the junk yard looked familiar. Her father used to make Jade and her train here as kids. A tall muscular blonde man came out from one of the buildings, he was holding a large wooden crate. Dad! Her eyes widened. The situation escalated quickly once she noticed he was being followed by a thin Asian woman, holding an infant.
"Never been on an assassination mission before? It's quite fun, since it's your first you could do the honor." noticing the man he stretched "Ah there he is." he smirked and drew his sword. "And his daughter and granddaughter." he looked down at his sword. "We can end his whole family line."
Before she could stop him he lunged down. The blonde powerhouse through the crate at him immediately; Deathstroke sliced through the crate and proceeded to kick him in the forearm.
Jade slipped on her mask and grabbed her sais out of her baby bag. She slipped Lian on to her backpack and set her sites on Tigress.
Artemis's eyes widen as she blocked her kicks and deflected each of Jade's attacks. "You work for Black Manta! You killed my sister!" she tripped Tigress forcing her to land on her back roughly.
As her back hit the ground she rolled out of the way of Jade's axe kick. Cheshire hurried toward her, wielding her sais angrily. "I. Didn't. Kill. Anyone." she grunted between dodging each stab; leaving her no choice but to kick her face swiftly. Before Cheshire could charge at her, Tigress back flipped to distance herself and kicked Jade's sais out of her hands; then followed by kicking her chest hard, causing her to stumble back. Tigress gasped and grabbed her hand before she fell off of the mound of cars with her baby.
"What are you doing?" Cheshire glared.
"A favor. Now go!" she pulled her back on top of the car.
"Why would I go anywh-"
"Disappear like the Cheshire cat..." her eyes narrowed, her voice a threatening whisper. Leave Jade please...for Lian's sake...
Jade questioned her kindness, but threw a smoke bomb and disappeared into the shadows. Tigress turned her attention back to Deathstroke and Sportsmaster. The hired assassin had his blade to Sportsmaster's neck. "Consider this a message from Black Manta."
"Enough." Tigress called out. "Leave him be."
"Black Manta paid me to kill him, and I'm rather incline to finishing my contracts." he smirked "It's just good business." he let his blade graze against the blonde man's neck.
Although Sportsmaster was a horrible, abusive father. He was still her father. She glared at him and jumped down. "I said to leave him alone." she kicked the sword out of his hand, then delivered a roundhouse kick to his face, the sudden action caused him to fall back. "Let this be a warning. If he threatens Manta again, then take his life...Sportsmaster can leave, spread word that no one challenges Black Manta."
Once Deathstroke collected himself he realized that Sportsmaster had fled. "Manta is not going to like this." he sheathed his swords and glared at her.
She shrugged. "Tell it to someone who cares." she looked over her shoulder. "Besides, I'm sure Manta would love to hear how you allowed one girl to stand in the way of three of your targets, Assassin."
-Hall of Justice
Conner paced back and forth in front of M'gann. "How long are we going to have to wait?" he punched his fist into his hand. "What are we waiting for anyway?"
The beautiful martian sighed and looked down. "A plan...If we act too hastily and recklessly we'll endanger Artemis and Kaldur..."
He looked down, hiding his guilt. "M'gann..."
She looked up at him. "I know we've been through a lot lately...but...I've been thinking..." she stood up and walked over to him. "I...I almost lost everything in the past few years...Marie...You...La'gann...and now Garfield...he's all I have left Conner...I- I can't lose him..."
He took a deep breath and hugged her. "I promise...we'll get La'gann and Gar back..." he ran his hand up her back lovingly. "And...you didn't lose me...I'm right here."
She cried softly "When I heard that you were in the explosion...I was terrified...I thought I lost you...I thought you were-"
"But I'm not." he tilted her chin, making her look into his bright blue eyes. "I'm right here."
Her bright honey eyes glowed up at him. "When this is all over...I...I want to start over...with us..."
"We can talk about it when we get there..." he kissed the top of her head. "One step at a time..." she nodded and held him close. "Come on, let's go see if Nightwing came up with something." Walking into the league meeting room they noticed there leader pacing in front of a white board, with Tim, and Mal. There were various equations squirbled on to it "You got anything?" the heroes joined there teammates.
Nightwing sighed. "We ran the flash drive that Aqualad gave us and we've got a fix on La'gann...We need to get in and out, if we can manage avoiding Artemis and Kaldur the better."
"Why Avoid them?" M'gann asked curiously. "There on our side they can help us."
"Because...we can't risks exposing there identities. Kaldur and Artemis are deep undercover and we still need to stop the invasion and expose the Lights new partner... We just need to get our guys out of there. Kaldur can't save them in his position. And I have no way of telling him and Artemis that you guys found out the plan. As far as they know you still think they're the enemy."
Mal nodded. "So we send in Miss. Martian, Batgirl, Robin, Bumblebee and Nightwing."
"What about me?" The clone's eyes narrowed, as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"You don't exactly scream covert Superboy."
"I can do it"
"No you can't" Nightwing insisted.
"You need me in there. The one thing you all don't have is actual physical strength."
"Fine..." Nightwing looked down. "Following our schedule there will be a thirty second window. Artemis will shut down the security system just long enough for it to look like the system rebooted. In those thirty seconds we need to get in and split up. Locate our team and exit from the top of the building." He laid out the map and pointed. "There hideout is in Santa Prisca, half of the building is underwater. The other half above ground. We come in from the bottom and exit from the top."
Mal smirked. "Once the team is safely in the bioship we blow up the entire building. We have a narrow ten minute window before the bombs blow. Destroying any of the Lights experiments and tech with it."
M'gann's eyes widened "But what about Kaldur and Artemis!"
Nightwing nodded. "As we're leaving they should be in the water, making their escape."
Wonder girl walked inside the room standing beside Arsenal "You're going to need us too." the red headed boy smirked and looked at his mechanical arm.
Nightwing sighed. "I guess we're bringing everyone. Which doesn't do much for covert." but he knew that arguing with them was futile. He was lucky enough that they were going to follow him into battle knowing what he's done to them. "We move in on our plan tonight."
-Star City
"What happened?!" Roy examined his wife and child.
Jade looked down "We got ambushed, but I'm fine. It seems my father was the real target."
He cradled his daughter to his chest. "Who did this?" he kissed Lian's forehead and sighed. "Thank god you're safe...she could have been killed! You could have been killed."
She looked down ashamed "We're ok. She wasn't really a very good assassin."
"Oh and what would have happened if she was a good assassin?! What would I do without you...without Lian..." he got a bit choked up "You have to be careful Jade! This isn't the life I want for my daughter..."
"Roy...there was something else...The assassin they sent...Tigress...she...she fought like she knew me...She countered all of my attacks...then she saved my life..."
"What are you saying Jade?"
"I'm saying...if I didn't know any better...I'd think she was Artemis..."
"Wh-what?! Jade that's impossible...Artemis is dead..."
"But Roy she told me to disappear like the Cheshire cat..that was the last thing I said to Artemis before I left her when we were children...I felt-"
"Jade...let her go...We all had to..." Lian began to squirm in his arms. "Shhh...it's ok." he looked at his wife. "I'm going to put her to bed." he walked into his bedroom and tucked his daughter in her crib bed. He kissed her forehead and walked back to the living room. "Jade?" he looked around the empty room and sighed. "She's got to stop doing that..." he crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame.
-Santa Prisca
Black Manta moved the Lights subjects to a building in Santa Prisca; where there were to be experimented on and studied. Deathstroke reported to Manta's chambers and sighed. "The mission had failed."
"Hmmm...and here I heard that you were the greatest assassin in the world."
"I would have had Sportsmaster, his daughter and granddaughter dead. However your sons charming partner interfered. She thought it was best to allow fear to settle in with Sportsmaster, that he'd learn some lesson to never threaten you. I for one do not believe in second chances."
"Tigress interfered? Interesting..."
"She spared both their lives and to be honest I don't trust her. She turned on me to spare Sportsmaster."
"That so?"
"She fights like him."
"What are you getting at?"
"Only stating a fact. I had just gotten done fighting Sportsmaster and then she attacks me the same way..I just find it interesting. Are you so sure that Tigress isn't a double agent? She appeared from nowhere..."
"You can consider the feelings mutual on Tigress. If you think that she is a liability then handle it."
Deathstroke smirked and nodded. "Very well." he gave a small nod and walked out of the meeting room.
Artemis gazed at herself in the mirror. She knew that it was only going to get harder from here on out. My friends are my enemies and my enemies are my allies…and now I have to save my friends from being killed by my allies… She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. What have I gotten myself into…? My family was almost killed today, and if I turn on Deathstroke again he'll definitely kill me… She gazed down Wally…I need you here…. She gripped her necklace closely and remembered her love. Just thinking about his face, caused a smile to form on her lips.
Kaldur poked his head in her room. "It's almost time. You and I will secure the lower floors."
She smiled and slipped her mask back on. "Go time..."
"Is everything ready for them?"
She nodded "I have what I need to override the system." She held up a small flash drive.
"Initiate." He walked out quickly.
A few minutes later she left her room and headed toward the buildings security room. On the way there she shot and destroyed two cameras. As she arrived at the room she noticed the two guards. "Hey! Aren't you two watching the screens? One of the cameras are down. Investigate it now."
"Yes ma'ma" the two guards hurried down the hall with a tool box.
She sat down at the computer and loaded the flash drive onto the mainframe. Typing in a few encrypted codes, she hacked the system. She caused a small system reboot. She smirked and pulled the flash drive then hurried out of the room. She past Kaldur in the hall and gave a small nod.
In the bioship beneath the building the team prepared to move out. Nightwing looked at his watch timing the seconds. "Thirty seconds start…..now. Go" Mgann, Superboy, and Bumble bee swam into the bottom floor, as M'gann fazed them through the floor. Once inside Superboy opened the ground hanger allowing Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin to follow.
Batgirl and Robin hurried down the hallways and opened all of the pods, helping the children out of them. "It's ok, come on we'll get you out of here." She directed them to Nightwing, who led them upward.
Wonder Girl, and Arsenal swam around the outside of the building planting bombs on the sides of it.
Black manta's eyes narrowed as he noticed the glow of his silent alarm, and checked the security feed of the cameras. "Deathstroke, we have a few visitors please take care of the nuisance. There is a certain boy wonder that I'm sure you'd love to meet."
Deathsroke smirked coming out of his room, his swords in hand. Looking down the hall he noticed a certain red headed bat. As Barbara helped get the kids to Nightwing, the assassin came quickly behind her cut her arm.
Barbara screamed out in pain as she grabbed her bleeding arm. "D-Deathstroke!" her eyes widened.
Nightwing turned around hearing his teammates scream. "Robin, Bumblebee you guys take the kids to safety. Go now!"
"but Nightwing-"
"Robin Go!" Nightwing hurried down the hall and threw a few of his explosive batarangs, to get him away from her. "I got you." He helped Barbara up. "Keep pressure on the wound. I'll hold him off." Before she could object Deathstroke had returned wielding his blade. "Since when did you start taking orders Deathstroke!" In the back of his mind he knew that he didn't have time for this, the bombs were on set timers that were going to blow in five minutes. Batgirl slipped out of the room silently as Nightwing bought her some time.
"Everyone's got a price boy wonder." He moved in quickly with his blades but Nightwing deflected with his escrima sticks.
Meanwhile upstairs Miss. Martian, and Superboy located Impulse, Blue Beetle, and Beast Boy. "Come on guys, we gotta go. Now." M'gann hugged her brother tightly. "It's ok now."
Conner looked at his watch "Five minutes" he looked around the room "Dammit! Where's La'gann?" M'gann's eyes widened and he sighed. "I'll go find him. You get these guys out now." Superboy ran up the stairs to a closed off room. His eyes widened seeing who was in a pod next to Lagoon Boy. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the full Kryptonian clone. "I can't save you…" he shook his head as he freed La'gann.
The Atlantian gasped for air. "Wh-what happened?!" his eyes widened as he took in his scenery. "Superboy?"
"Lets go. This place is gonna blow" he dragged him out and they headed upstairs. Bumblebee had the bioship filled with the kids and prepared for take off. "Come on guys….come on..."
Cassie's eyes widened "Where's Nightwing?"
Miss. Martian looked down at the room of the building. Conner…please be ok…
At that moment Superboy and Lagoon Boy came running on the roof, helping the injured Batgirl.
Kaldur waited inside of the small submarine capsule "Artemis lets go." The building was in chaos as the guards searched for the missing subjects and hunt after the team.
She shook her head. "Something's not right…I have to do a sweep of the building."
"It's going to explode."
"I think someone's hurt…" She ran back into the building before he could stop her.
"Artemis!" he hit the control panel in frustration. Turning on the submarine he set out into the ocean.
Tigress ran up the stairs and came a crossed an injured Nightwing. Her eyes widened seeing Deathstroke over him. "Now now, surely you have more than that. You're the first Robin and well" he chuckled. "Batman sure doesn't train them like he used to." He pressed his blade against his chest.
Nightwing closed his eyes. He knew that if he kept Deathstroke there then he'd die in the explosion as well. And that was a risk worth taking. "I was going to kill you nice and slow…however you were a pretty good spot so I may put you out of your misery." Before he pressed his blade down his chest Tigress fired her arrow into his back.
"Stay away from him!"
She fired another arrow at him as his eyes narrowed. He removed the arrows and grinned. "Cute. But I'm getting real tired of you." He approached her. Nightwing tried to move, but every little movement caused him to bleed more. His body was barely holding on with all of his stab wounds.
Up in the bioship Barbara's eyes watered; M'gann had no choice but to fly off. Arsenal looked down at his watch. "Umm…guys…how come there wasn't an explosion?"
Robin's eyes widened. "What just happened?!" As he checked his computer he gasped. "Tech's down...they used an E.M.P..."
Gazing down at the rooftop Karen's eyes watered. "They have Nightwing...and Artemis..." M'gann stopped the bioship and looked down at the building. Her leader, and her best friend were on their knees with an assassin wielding a sword behind them and Black Manta by his side.
To be continued...
Thanks for reading and please continue and review and support me. Also a reminder is that I update a new chapter once a week (Usually on Sunday, so Sorry for the late update) And if you haven't heard yet, Young Justice and Green Lantern will not be airing again until January. However Itunes uploaded episode 10 of Young Justice as scheduled so you can find that floating on the internet.
