The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Young Justice is property of DC Comics, Warner Brothers and Greg Weissman – please support the official release.
Aqualad wasn't sure about either of his new teammates.
Obviously, they wouldn't be allowed on the team if they truly posed any danger to them, but it wasn't the danger of either of them somehow mystically being a plant since Green Arrow and Batman intentionally sought them out, but it was more that he was wary of how much experience they actually possessed.
"Alright, tracker program is done," Dr. Roquette said over her communicator. "Sending it to your machine now."
"Got it," Pyro replied confidently, sitting at the chair and starting up the program. "Alright, tracker is primed."
"You may cut the connection between the computers when ready," Aqualad added with a nod.
Did either Artemis or Pyroclasm have any experience in a fight? They both carried themselves as trained fighters, at the very least. Artemis may or may not have had some connection to the Shadows given her reaction to Pyro's needling. And Pyro was likely trained in some martial art as was somewhat common for surface dwellers, but was he combat ready?
"Alright, connection severed," Dr. Roquette replied quickly. "I'll contact you when the virus is complete."
"Understood," Aqualad nodded and hung up. "Pyro, launch the signal."
"You got it, Skipper," Pyro replied, typing on the keyboard like his fingers had been laced with lightning. "Signal is sent. Just touched down in Philadelphia."
Ms. Martian, link us up, Aqualad thought to his teammate, who was just walking up. We do not want the Shadow's to intercept our comms.
Everyone on-ow! Ms. Martian thought clutching her head.
M'Gann, what's wrong? Superboy asked worriedly.
There's some thing on the network that's…attacking me! Ms. Martian said. Like driving nails through my skull!
And you're only doing a surface read of everyone's thoughts? Pyro asked, also worried.
Yes! Ms. Martian thought, slowly buckling over. Oh, it hurts! Ow!
Alright, give me a second, Pyro thought with irritation, going into his wrist-computer. There. Better?
Yeah, Ms. Martian said, slowly standing up. What was that?
My implant, Pyro replied with a shrug.
Your implant? Artemis thought in surprise.
Yeah, it's a chip on my brain designed to repel unwanted telepathic contact, Pyro replied with a shrug. The fact that it was giving Ms. Martian the third degree on just a surface reading meant its sensitivity was turned up way too high. Sorry about that, it's fixed now.
Okay, wow, Ms. Martian said with an uneasy smile. I had no idea people on Earth valued their privacy that much.
I'm stingier about it than most, Pyro explained. Again, I apologize. It won't happen again.
It better not, Superboy snarled.
Are you still mission ready? Aqualad asked with a concerned frown.
Yes, Ms. Martian started nodding. Yes, I'm ready. Just give me one moment.
She began to shape shift. Her red hair shortening and turning blonde. She grew taller and glasses appeared out of her skull. The blue cloak and black catsuit were traded for a white lab coat, rolled up at the sleeves. Serling Roquette took Pyro's seat at the computer.
Well, that's just great, Kid Flash snarked. Our teammate's a killer cyborg that almost melted M'Gann's brains by accident.
You know, if we ever come in contact with a telepathic attacker, you're going to be thanking me for putting in this implant, Pyro pointed out.
Enough, Aqualad told them. Just focus on the mission. If we need to speak of it after, we will, but right now we need to mobilize. Superboy, Robin and Kid Flash, taken the bioship to track the Fog and take care of it's handlers. Artemis, Pyroclasm, Ms. Martian and Myself will remain here to spring the trap.
Aw, man! Kid Flash thought with a groan. I do not want to leave Megan and you alone with the noobs.
Same, Superboy thought back with a bit of anger. You're expecting to get attacked soon and I don't think you'd want anyone but your best there to take them on.
You, Kid Flash and Robin are our best chance at containing the Fog directly and slowing its progress, Aqualad replied, trying to play mediator. If the virus fails or attacks a key target, there is still a chance to bring down with direct force. Ms. Martian and I can look after Artemis and Pyroclasm if they need it, which I don't think they will.
After all, if they truly couldn't handle danger, Batman and Green Arrow would not have sought them out for membership.
Guys, come on, Robin interjected, trying to sound diplomatic. Feel the aster, Aqualad and Ms. Martian will be more than enough to handle whatever the shadows throw at them. They'll be fine.
But I don't want to feel the aster, Kid Flash retorted grumpily. Ugh…alright, let's go.
Give me just a second to configure it for you, Ms. Martian thought, concentrating for a moment. Done. You going, Superboy? I'll be fine. Promise.
Fine, Superboy thought and the three boarded the bioship and flew off. As they grew further and further away, each of their presences could be felt blinking out of existence.
Aqualad wanted Kid Flash away from Artemis and Pyroclasm for the simple fact that they had both taken turns insulting him for what was ultimately a miscommunication. He thought there would still be time for fun at the beach and didn't catch Batman's message that there would be a training meeting to help ingratiate Artemis and Pyro ingratiate themselves into the team.
A shame he had missed the fun day that they had, but ultimately not his fault. But that did not mean that there would not be friction between Kid Flash, Superboy, Artemis and Pyroclasm, which had to be avoided until it could be properly addressed at a later date.
Artemis, Pyroclasm, patrol the perimeter, Aqualad instructed. If you see anything unusual call it in and we'll prepare for the attack.
Quick question, do they know that Ms. Martian is on the team? Pyro asked, moving out of the classroom.
I do not believe they know our team's composition, Aqualad replied, starting his patrol of the classroom. But it would be foolish to assume that they do not know that a team has been formed. Do you think they'll suspect anything?
Not if we act like Ms. Martian is the real Dr. Roquette, Pyro thought, partially to himself. Which means that she should not transform or take part in the fight until all other cards have been played. Last resort only.
I agree, Aqualad said.
Isn't this weird for anyone else? Artemis asked, letting her curiosity color her question.
You get used to it, Aqualad answered. We use this link on missions because we do not want our comms to be compromised.
Everyone on the link could hear the instant that Pyroclasm froze in place. Aren't our comms encrypted?
Yes, they are, Ms. Martian replied, sounding uncharacteristically dour. But you know, eavesdropping is a thing?
Okay, whew. That makes sense, I get it, Pyro's nervousness immediately evaporated. Good. Thanks, I was worried there for a second.
No problem, Ms. Martian replied, typing randomly at the computer to keep up the charade.
By the way, we've got a rogue heat signature hopping the fence by the eastern entrance, Pyro reported, slipping back into his easy candor. Hauling it to the computer lab as fast as possible.
Understood, Aqualad replied. Wait five seconds then move to flank it when it enters.
Roger, Pyro thought back.
5…4…3…2…1, Artemis counted then both of them started running toward the class room from their individual positions.
Aqualad stood over Ms. Martian as Roquette, listening as closely as possible. The door on the computer lab creaks when opened, as he had found out when they initially moved the Doctor to Mount Justice. Which meant that it'll be easy to tell when the assassin was to enter the room.
Which was now.
The creak of the door opening very slowly was followed by the whistling air passing through. Aqualad immediately dove for Ms. Martian with a shout. "Get down!"
The shuriken hit Aqualad in the back and he stood up immediately, feeling it fall out after failing to properly embed itself in his skin. Drawing his water-bearers, he created a shield in front of him which blocked a trio of poisoned darts. In his other hand, he made a machete.
"Well, I got you with one," The Assassin remarked, charging into the room with a pair of Sai drawn. She had a short, green kimono with black tabi on her feet and guards on her shins and forearms. Of course the most eye-catching detail was the kabuki mask, carved into the style of a cat with a massive, toothy grin painted on the front. "Your backs got to be killing you."
"It hardly scratched me," Aqualad replied, blocking the attack with his shield and taking a swipe at her with a machete.
"Don't need more than a scratch for the poison," She replied in a sing-song voice, back flipping onto one of the desks and jumping back.
"You'll find that I'm largely immune," Aqualad countered, transforming his shield into a whip which he cracked over the desk, forcing the Assassin to duck.
"Protect the Doctor!" Pyro burst into the room at top speed and jumped, propelling himself with a series of micro explosions with his fist cocked back. As he landed, he used another explosion to propel his fist forward, leaving a hole in the desk as the Assassin jumped back out of the way.
Aqualad cracked the whip over the now-exposed Assassin and directly snaring her wrist, encasing her hand in water. Immediately, Aqualad's tattoos started to glow white and right before his water whip could stun her with the electricity, she brought her other sai down, cutting the connection and letting her free.
She jumped onto the desk behind her as Pyro took another swing at her from his kneeling position, throwing two shuriken at him and missing. Pyro made to stand and give chase but found the shuriken had embedded themselves in the floor, pinning the tail of his trench coat to the ground. I swear this doesn't happen to Robin.
Focus, Aqualad admonished, turning the whip into another machete and jumped after the Assassin with both blades raised.
Artemis entered the class, arrow drawn. I'm here!
Aqualad landed on the desk and took one swipe, two, then ducked, allowing Artemis to let loose. The Assassin blocked one, then two arrows with her sai and jumped off of the desk to dodge the third, as well as blast of fire from Pyroclasm, still pinned to the ground.
For a brief moment, Aqualad was afraid that Pyro had accidentally set him on fire, but nothing came of being so close to the flame. Artemis hopped onto the desk and knocked another arrow and Pyroclasm pulled his coat free with an angry growl.
"Hm. This party's gotten just a bit too hot for me," The Assassin noted airily, dropping something from her hand and causing the room to light up in smoke.
In pursuit of the Assassin, Pyro immediately thought while Artemis and Aqualad were both coughing up smoke.
Aqualad heard Pyro lift off with another explosion, this one loud a sustained over a period of time. Both he and Artemis ran for the door and caught sight of Pyro, having tackled the Assassin and was trading punches with her at the end of the hall. Then Pyro jumped forward and grabbed her, trying to throw her to the ground.
"Gaah!" Pyroclasm's cry of pain was both physical and mental as the Assassin stood up and ran, leaving another smoke-screen to cover her tracks.
The two caught up with Pyroclasm and saw that the Assassin had managed to stick a knife in the bottom right-hand side of his torso up to the hilt. Crap! Ow! Frick! Stuck me right through the lung! Gotta remove the knife! Now!
Aqualad and Artemis immediately knelt by their injured comrade. Ms. Martian, still in Roquette's form, floated out of the class room as quickly as possible.
If we remove the knife, that will only accelerate the bleeding into your lung, Aqualad replied, a sick feeling settling into his stomach. You could drown. Try to stay calm, I will call the Mountain.
Artemis had turned completely serious. Oh, this is bad. I don't think we can treat a punctured lung.
I can hold the wound closed with telekinesis, Ms. Martian thought urgently. Call Tornado. Now!
On it! Artemis replied, grabbing her comm unit.
No! It's fine, Pyroclasm was breathing heavily and gasping in pain. Accelerated healing. Must…remove…
Pyro immediately grasped the knife by the hilt and pulled it out with a cry of pain. The blade itself was glowing red and caused the tile-floor of the school to start smoking. Then Pyro held the wound, blood staining his costume. "Okay…okay-"
Then he started coughing like crazy, getting on his hands and knees. The sound of his visor sliding open was nearly covered up by his chucking blood up with every heave. After the coughing fit, which seemed to last forever, he was able to breathe easily again. He sat up concurrently with his visor sliding down. A small trail of smoke was rising from where he was stabbed. The wound's fusing shut now. I'll have a bit of a black mark on my skin for a few days but then it should fade into a relatively invisible scar.
You are lucky you can heal so quickly, Aqualad replied, standing and offering him a hand.
Oh, I know, Pyro thought in relief, taking the hand. I wouldn't be here on this mission today if I couldn't, actually.
Have you been stabbed before? Artemis asked with an irritated glare.
No, Pyro shook his head. But I have been sliced up before. It's how I know. Thanks for coming to help me out.
You are welcome, Aqualad said.
No problem, Ms. Martian replied with a hesitant smile.
We couldn't just let you die there, Artemis replied.
Unbelievable, Pyro thought, looking down at the stab wound. She stabbed me in the gap between the padding. Oh, boy. What's our next move?
We should- Aqualad began, before being interrupted by everyone's communicator beeping.
"What's the situation?" Aqualad asked with a frown.
"We found the Fog's first target," Robin began, pitching the bio-ship toward the facility, then leveling it out. "It doesn't look like the Fog has been released yet, but we've got a signal."
The bio-ship's ramp extended out as the ship descended.
"Doc, how close are you to finishing that Virus?" Kid Flash asked, standing up and moving over to the ramp.
"I think I'm almost done," Dr. Roquette replied as the third party on the call. "Just need a few more minutes, then I have to compile the code then we can upload it directly to the Fog."
"Don't need it," Superboy responded, hopping out of the bioship and onto the street below.
"Hey, wait up!" Kid Flash called, clipping the line to his costume and jumping out after him.
Robin sighed and stood up to follow after them. "How'd the ambush go?"
"They sent an assassin, and we nearly had her," Aqualad explained. "She got away when she stabbed Pyroclasm in the lung."
"Wait, what?" Robin asked, alarmed.
"Is he okay?" Dr. Roquette asked, also alarmed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Pyro responded, taking a deep breath. "I heal quick so I'm lucky."
"Whew, good," Robin said, looking down to see the car below them had some kind of laser turret on top…and that the Fog had been activated. It was like a dark, ominous cloud that moved like rolling thunder, save for the fact that, from this high up at least, the cloud was quiet.
"We're moving our Doctor to another location," Aqualad informed them. "We'll scan for the fog again and this time, we'll be ready for her."
"Keep me posted," Robin said, drawing his grappling hook and firing. When he hooked onto the nearest building, he swung down, retracting and re-shooting the hook as needed until he landed on the street.
The laser turret that Robin had seen earlier was, instead a supervillain with some kind of helmet. Professor Ojo, he recognized, from the Batcave's database on League of Shadow members. Obviously, he was the one managing the Fog.
Good eye, Superboy, Robin thought to himself with a giddy laugh as he ducked behind a car. We could definitely upload the virus from the laptop he's got stashed away in the back, there.
Kid Flash ran up to the car at super speed, a punch flying toward the Professor's head, only for the professor to turn and blast him right in the chest. He flew back and hit the ground with a grunt and a groan. Superboy got up from being blasted earlier and charged across the pavement, each step like a great leap, only to be blasted back, again, and hit twice more on the ground for good measure.
Robin moved and ducked behind a van, this one on the side of the street that the Professor was on. To the side, he saw the Star Labs building start to collapse from the inside and Robin suppressed a hiss of disappointment. Good thing there isn't anyone in there.
Kid Flash ran around to the side, at an angle that made Robin immediately press himself as tightly as he could against the front of the van in an attempt to remain hidden. The sound of laser moving closer toward him as it followed Kid Flash lit a fire underneath Robin and he jumped out of the way before his improvised cover exploded.
Using the pillar of smoke to cover his movement, he moved close to the wreck and waited. The sound of laser-fire clued him into the fact that Professor Ojo was looking away from him and he moved; he swiftly dove forward, looking into the car.
Unfortunately, the driver took this time to look up from his hunched over position and gasp in surprise as Robin peeked his head over.
With a quick glance at Professor Ojo, Robin dove the driver, only for the driver to parry the attack and retaliate with a kick to Robin's sternum. The rocking of the car got Professor's Ojo's attention, and Robin found himself forced out of the car to dodge the laser blasts.
Robin dropped a smoke pellet on landing and scrambled toward the nearest cover. A whoosh of air brought Robin's attention back to STAR Labs. Fortunately, the building had stopped being disintegrated and was still half-standing. Unfortunately, that was because the Fog was now buzzing and swarming menacingly back to the car.
"Shadow's called the fog back," Robin barked into his comm unit. "They're turning it on us!"
"Wait, are you serious?" Kid Flash asked. "Yeah, you're serious! Crap!"
Robin saw the fog go after Superboy, who started screaming in rage and agony. Kid Flash started running circles around him to stir up a tornado, bringing the fog off of him. Robin started to go in again, only to see that the Fog had split up and was now going after him.
He took off, jumping over a car and drawing his grapple hook and firing it up the wall of the building. He launched up and stopped the ascent to swing around the side. The buzzing faded and as he landed on the buildings side, he saw why – the Fog had been recalled entirely and the car was speeding off, nanite's still returning to the cannister in tow making a tale.
With two hard leaps, Robin descended and retracted his grapple as he ran over to his teammate. As he got near to Kid Flash, he asked, "Is he okay?"
Kid Flash took a breath. "It looks really bad."
"How ba-yikes!" Robin gaped.
Superboy's shirt and jeans had been partially eaten away. His skin was red all over and in some cases, missing entirely, revealing the tight fibers of muscle underneath them. The holes were starting to close, but it was a slow process.
"Oh, that's bad," Robin said immediately grabbing his comm unit. "Ms. Martian!"
"Yes, Robin?" Aqualad responded. "Ms. Martian is still on mars, you know that."
She's in disguise and can't take the call, Robin remembered, wanting to smack himself in the head. "Look, I need to know if the bioship can have a sunlamp on it and fast."
"She…mentioned to me before hand that it can," Aqualad replied in surprise. "Why, what's wrong?"
"The shadows turned the Fog on us when we showed up," Robin answered. "Superboy is hurt. Really bad."
"I'm f-" Superboy wound up falling forward, bracing his fall with his nearly skinless hands.
The line was quiet for much longer than necessary. "She informed me that the ship has a yellow sun lamp on the main deck. Hurry."
"You got it," Robin turned his comm unit off. "You heard Aqualad, let's go!"
"I got this shoulder if you've got the other one," Kid Flash said, grabbing Superboy's right shoulder and hoisting him up.
"It's going to be okay, alright?" Robin said, taking the other shoulder and helping Superboy move toward the bioship that had started lowering to meet them.
"I…hate…bugs…" Superboy said through grit teeth and red eyes. "Absolutely. Hate. Them."
"Me too, big guy," Kid Flash responded with a nod, continuing to help him up the loading ramp.
True to her word, there was now what looked like an operating table right behind the captain's chair, strips of yellow light shining up from beneath the tabletop. Above, there was a bright sunlamp shining directly down.
"Let's just get you on the counter," Robin said soothingly. "Nice and easy."
With a grunt of pain, they were able to get Superboy on the table, where his heavy, labored panting eased up considerably into a deep, relaxed breath. "This…this feels nice."
The skin began growing back at a faster rate, the wounds closing.
"Okay, what do we do?" Kid Flash asked with a frown.
"Professor Ojo, that's his name, is controlling the Fog with a laptop in the back seat," Robin said, sitting down at the command console. "We're still getting a signal from the Fog, so we can track them and sneak up on them when they're distracted again."
"We need to take out that guy's eyebeam," Kid Flash said, folding his arms and taking his seat as the ship gently ascended once again. "We can't get close to them with that thing stopping us at every turn. Can you hack the laptop's signal?"
"I can try while we're in pursuit," Robin replied, immediately getting onto his wrist-computer. "No promises, it could be encrypted too strong to break in a single night."
"Right, you need a direct connection to just take over," Kid Flash said with a breath. "Man, nothing's going right on this mission."
"It could be worse," Robin replied, calm as a cucumber. "The other team could be stuck actually guarding the Doctor on top of trying to trap the Shadows."
"Yeah, I guess," Kid Flash replied with a shrug. "Can you believe the noobies, though?"
"It was kind of funny when you showed up all ready for the beach, KF," Robin replied with a smirk. "Come on, you can't lie."
"It wasn't my fault," Kid Flash argued hotly. "I got told that the training sesh was at nine and I never got the message saying it was rescheduled to break in pants-on-fire and 'Green Arrows Niece'."
"I mean, I texted you," Robin replied with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't look at your phone?"
Kid Flash groaned in irritation. "I ran it out of battery at school."
"What were you doing?" Robin asked, his smirk growing.
"I forgot to plug it in the charger last night," Kid Flash admitted, deflating.
"Ooh, the bane of every modern human being," Robin shook his head in bemusement. "You forgot to charge the phone. I can see why you'd be distraught."
"I know," Kid Flash threw up his hands in frustration. "But they didn't have to rag me over it and they really didn't have to rake Speedy across the coals the way they did."
"Yeah, that was a little harsh," Robin nodded. "That's kind of between them and they butted into it."
"Hey!" Superboy called throatily from his table. "Shush."
Author's Notes: You know, I think the scariest thing in the world to go through is to press 'crt+A' and start typing when you really mean to press 'crt+I' to start up the Italics for the author's notes. Lost the entire chapter for all of ten seconds, which would've been a shame because then we'd have lost this beauty.
Alright, where to begin? While I wanted to show Pyroclasm's plan to work, I also wanted to respect the League of Shadows as competent villains and show them adapting to changing circumstances. So, while Dr. Roquette is safe and sound in Mount Justice, Cheshire doesn't mess around and would've killed Pyro if it wasn't for the fact that his elemental-part helps him deal with things like injury. The thing that really saved him was that the injury itself wasn't that large in size so it was easier to fuse it shut.
So too with Professor Ojo and the Fog. In the original show, he never used the Fog against the team and they had already gotten to Waynetech by the time Superboy had engaged them. Here, they didn't even start hacking Star Labs before the team got there and Wally was there – so they respected the additional muscle that has been brought by the team and turned Dr. Roquette's 'utility fog' against them. The results weren't pretty. KF managed to avoid harm by moving too fast, Robin barely escaped contact until the nanites were recalled and the Professor made a hasty retreat. Superboy caught the brunt and as you read, it was not pretty.
Next chapter will be the exciting conclusion of the mission proper, then one more chapter as the denouement, then an interlude which will be a Michael Winter POV chapter.
Big thanks and shout outs too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, makopaulo, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Devil's Bite and Sultan Saltlick. Thank you for your continued support.
Until the next time!
~Fulcon