Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.


Dick held his breath as he waited for the guard's heavy footsteps to fade into the distance. The clang of their metal toed boots hitting the cement echoed throughout the tunnel that snaked outside. When the sounds were no longer audible Dick crouched down next to the old metal door that was hiding them. A thin shaft of light poured in from the small space between the door and the solid ground. The small side room that they had 'acquired' was dimly lit and shadows had grown haphazardly around their small group. Dick could tell that the darkness unnerved his civilian counterparts, but he couldn't be more relived. In his opinion this mission had spent far too long in the daylight and he was itching to slip away into the cool embrace of night.

There had been two men stationed in the room when they had arrived. The room was situated right beside the loading dock that they had been delivered to. It had been easy to knock the guards out, even with the civilians tagging along. One swift blow to the head with pipe and the were guards were down for the count. He was fairly confident that the tag-along's wouldn't piece anything together regarding their combat ability.

The boy wonder scanned what he could see of the floor behind their metal hiding place. When he was positive that there was no one out there he stood back up and faced the other boys.

"Okay, we don't have a lot of time before the next patrol comes through. That should give us enough time to-"

"Hey, guys." Wally spoke up, cutting Robin off mid-sentence. "It would really help if you could search the rest of the area for anything else that might come in handy." Wally said as he mowed down on a large sub. The room had evidently been used as a make shift break room and there had been some assorted bagged lunches scattered around on the cold cement floor. KF had made quick work of them once they had been discovered and had devoured them all. Thanks to that hardy meal the injuries that had once been life threatening were now just paper-cuts and sunburns. Robin was glad that his best friend would be at full strength; He had been a little worried that Wally's healing factor was being stretched thin.

"Yeah, sure." Andy replied, pulling a reluctant Micheal with him to scour the room.

Andy had been acting as though he was a doctor and Wally was his patient. It was a little ironic actually given how little he knew about biology and medicine. For pete's sake, the kid got weak-kneed at the sight of blood.

He had been the one to find the food, though. He had plucked it right out of the hands of the unconscious guards and, after he had seen Wally visibly perk up at the sight of a sandwich, he had rushed back to get more.

"Thanks." Wally called as the boys started searching through old crates and boxes.

"We aren't going to need anything here." Dick whispered. He was a little annoyed that Wally had interrupted him, they only had a limited amount of time before someone stumbled across them.

"We need to talk about your plan." Wally whispered back. The red head was growing increasingly concerned that Dick hadn't noticed the glaring flaw in his plan.

"What? Is it about your injuries? I thought that they were healing."

"No, I'm fine. It's just... I really don't think that we should just leave the civilians alone here. In a compound like this it won't be long until they're caught." Wally scratched the back of his neck. His back pain had morphed into a dull throb and his arm was doing fine, but all of his energy was going towards healing his body. If anything were to go wrong Wally wasn't sure that he'd be able carry both of the civilians out of the base.

"I know it's not ideal, but we have a duty to find out what 'Project Brainiac' is before Luthor completes it. Besides, they'll be safe here until we get back."

On the long road trip there, Dick had read through all of the files that he had previously downloaded from Cadmus' computers. Cadmus had been doing some downright creepy and evil things by themselves, but what Luthor had paid them to do was on a whole other level.

The documents detailed how Cadmus had been tasked with finding genius level children to fuel 'Project Brainiac'. They had been instructed to only use children due to their natural innocence and naivety. They wanted the weapon to be smart, but they were scared that it would become self aware. There was no mention of who or what Brainic was, but Robin knew that if it was able to frighten both Lex Luthor and Cadmus it was a threat. A threat that needed to be taken seriously.

"We also have a duty to keep these civilians safe. Luthor wants them. Heck, he needs them and we literally just hand delivered them to Lex. If we leave them here it's only a matter of time before they get caught. We can't risk that." Wally reasoned.

"I understand that you're concerned, but we'll be back with the intel in no time. If we bring them with us or they'll figure out who we are, and we can't risk that. If we lose this chance we might not be able to stop Luthor before it's too late."

"I can't leave them defenseless." He argued.

The raven haired boy huffed. He really didn't want it to come to this, but he couldn't allow them to fail the mission over something as simple as this.

"You don't really have much of a choice. Batman put me in charge of this mission, which means that I have the final say. This intel is our priority. Necessary risks will have to be made for the information we need." Dick glared. Wally was letting his emotions get the better of him. For this mission to succeed they would have to think logically and Robin really needed this mission to succeed. This was his chance to prove that he could lead a mission without disastrous consequences.

"I don't care if you are the team leader. I will not put innocent lives in danger." Wally glared back at the young bird. He would not sacrifice his morals because Robin decided to go on a power trip. "I'm getting these kids to safety, with or without you."

"Then I guess I'm flying solo."


Red Arrow glanced at his target.

The middle aged man scurried further down the passage way to get away from him. He was clearly not a fighter; He was short, overweight and seemed to have some kind of respiratory problem by the way that he was wheezing. Asthma, perhaps?

He was a stereotypical mad scientist, with huge wide brimmed lab goggles and a crisp clean lab coat, but he also seemed to have a 'businessman' air around him.

Roy smirked as the man slipped in a puddle of blood and fell to the ground. The red fluid seeped into his clothing as he hurried to stand again.

Luthor's guards were strewn about the hallway, each one gifted with their very own arrow. Roy had laced the tips of his arrows with a sedative, effectively making his shots a one-hit knock out. Unfortunately for the guards, this meant that they would have to be cut by an arrow for the drug to take affect.

Red Arrow stepped over to the closest guard and retrieved the arrow from his shoulder. He couldn't afford to waste any arrows, both literally and figuratively. He quickly gathered up the rest of his ammo, while also carefully avoiding the blood that was pooling on the ground, and made his way over to Luthor's head scientist.

"Please, don't shoot me! I'll pay you anything!" The man pleaded, desperate to get away.

Roy didn't even dignify the man with a response. He grabbed an arrow from his quiver and swiftly jabbed it into the scientist's arm.

The red head watched as the overweight man succumbed to the drug. Luthor's scientist collapsed to the floor and his eyes fluttered shut.

Roy had no sympathy for anyone who worked for Luthor or Cadmus, and he was disgusted to find a man who willingly worked for both. He leaned over the scientist's body and searched his pockets.

He smiled as he pulled out a key card. It was attached to a small clip on his hip by a thin wire. This key card was high enough clearance to give him access to the part of the building that Luthor would be in.

A guard moaned from her position on the floor. Red Arrow took in all of the carnage around him and sighed. None of this would have been necessary if he had Robin's hacking skills. That kid can hack anything.

Roy steeled himself.

Could. That kid could hack anything. Past tense.

The growl that emanated from his chest reverberated off of the cement walls. Luther killed his brothers and Roy was not going to let him get away with it.

Quickly grabbing hold of the shaft of the arrow, he pulled it out of the balding man's arm. He repositioned his grip on it before slicing it through the thin wire attached to the card. The key card fell into his hands, ready to be used.

He celebrated the victory for all of a second before a blaring alarm sounded out throughout the compound. The normal lights were switched off and replaced with a dull red. The new red lights flashed, completely in-sync with the alarm.

"INTRUDER ON PREMISES. INTRUDER ON PREMISES. INTRUDER ON PREMISES." A screeching voice repeated in a robotic manner.

Red Arrow looked down at the wire he had just severed, cursing as he spotted the tell tale gleam of copper inside it.

He glanced back up. A battalion of boots could already be heard marching throughout the tunnels to his location. He swore and recounted his arrows.

"Well, this will be fun."


"This was a bad idea." Micheal grumbled as he trudged behind them. "Why would we split up? Splitting up is always the worst thing to do! Whenever people split up in horror movies it always ends in death."

"No one is going to die." Wally pacified as he lead them through the dark tunnel.

"Yeah, and this isn't a horror movie. So, horror movie rules don't apply." Andy added.

The three stopped, silent, as a loud clang sounded out from the darkness. They waited for what seemed like an eternity for any addition sounds, each one holding their breath in fear.

Wally gave the all-clear after a few moments of silence and they slowly started moving forwards through the darkness. He had chosen this route because it seemed like it would be the path of least resistance. Even though there were faster ways out of the compound he couldn't risk getting into a fight with the civilians present, for both their safety and his identity.

They had made their way back into the loading dock, the one that they had arrived in, and had snuck into a maintenance tunnel from there. The maintenance tunnels ran underneath the entire compound and one of the older tunnels exited at a little shed on the edge of the property. The shed seemed like it was used to house all of the company's landscaping tools, so Wally assumed that it would have a minimum amount of security and would be easy to escape out of.

Once they had escaped the premises it would take twenty minutes to walk to the closest town, which they knew thanks to a GPS they had 'borrowed' from one of the trucks at the loading dock.

"This is a horror movie." Micheal belatedly retorted. "We're teenage summer campers and there's an insane killer trying to get us. It's so cliche it hurts. Plus, I'm 78% sure that this tunnel is haunted."

Wally rolled his eyes as he forged forward. He was trying to tune out their conversation as much as possible. Even the slightest noise could indicate that someone was coming down their tunnel, so he needed to stay focused.

"The tunnel is not haunted." Andy groaned. He slouched through the darkness, never straying far from Wally. His broken glasses glinted occasionally in the dim light.

"How do you know?" He grumbled. Micheal was fed up with all of this cloak and dagger stuff, he was a man of action. If something was wrong he would fix it, that's why he loved engineering so much. Even though he was terrified, he would've rather face the situation head-on than sneak around.

"Maybe because there's no such thing as ghosts?" Andy muttered as he hunched in on himself. His eyes were wide as they scanned his surroundings in a twitchy manner. Despite his earlier proclamation he watched the surrounding area like a hawk, he was half expecting a poltergeist to materialize out of the darkness and grab him with it's ghastly claws. The poor preteen was scared out of his mind and the high stress situation was clearly freaking him out.

"Says you." Micheal spat out. "I swear I hear moaning, or something. Listen."

The group stopped moving to try hear the aforementioned sound. Without the groups constant bickering Wally was able to hear what Micheal was talking about, there was a faint squeaking in the distance. Andy visibly paled as he heard the noise and he started hyperventilating as all of the blood drained from his face.

"Oh, god." Andy breathed.

"See?" Micheal said, shifting from foot to foot. He was very eager to leave the godforsaken hellhole that was the maintenance tunnel.

"It's not a ghost." Wally interjected. He crossed his arms and glared at Micheal, as if he was daring him to disagree. His eyes narrowed as he listened to continuous squeaking.

"Right." Andy spoke, trying to calm himself down. "A high pitched squeak in an underground tunnel? It's not a ghost, it's a rodent."

Micheal shrugged, smirking at Wally's attempt at intimidation. "It could be the ghost of a rodent." He said as he turned back to Andy.

"No, it's continuous. The sound just keeps going. A rodent would have to stop to breathe at some point." Wally said, as his eyes widened in realization. "It's the squeak of metal on metal, almost like an old wheel. It's getting louder, which means that it's headed our way."

The hero-in-training wasted no time as he grabbed the two boys arms and pulled them along, at a normal speed, as he broke into a sprint. Wally hoped that whoever was behind them wouldn't hear their feet slapping against the stone floor or their heavy breathes as they searched for cover. His green eyes strained as he ran through the dark, searching desperately in the pitch black for somewhere to hide.

They charged blindly into the unknown for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a couple of minutes, until they came across a small rock outcropping. It looked like it was left over ruble from an old tunnel collapse. Wally immediately dove behind it, his two companions in tow, and they all crouched down as low as they could. The small pile of rubble would do nothing to conceal them in full light, but Wally knew that this would probably be the best place to hide and that the chances were slim that he'd find a better one. He just hoped that whoever was coming up behind them would only have a small, dull light. Hopefully whatever wasn't covered up by the rocks would blend into the shadows.

The small group waited in the dark for the eerie squeaking to get louder, their stiff joints ached from their crouched position, but no one dared to move. They listened to the ominous sound echo off of the natural stone walls and ping against the cold, uneven rock floors. They held their breathes as a steady rumble soon also became audible, and soon after that a clanking noise made itself known.

One by one, they peered over the rocks and into the unending void of darkness behind them, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was following them. The grating cacophony slithered out of the darkness in uneven waves, as a barley visible blob of night steadily distanced itself from the shadows that surrounded it.

Seconds ticked by as the blob moved forward and became clearer as it gained distinguishing features. Wally wished he had his night vision goggles as he squinted at the unfamiliar shape to try to determine what it was. It rattled as it rolled over the bumpy terrain and the never ending screech of it's wheels filled the air with its horrible sound, attacking the peaceful silence with a furious rage.

An ancient, run down mining cart soon revealed itself as the perpetrator to the trio. The cart was weighed down and it's top was covered by a dusty blue tarp. A decrepit looking old man in a green rubber jumpsuit was pushing the cart down the tunnel. Absentmindedly following the mining cart was a teenager in a matching green jumpsuit, he was pushing along a dolly with a metal tank balanced on it and he was carrying a hose that was looped around his shoulder. The younger one also seemed to have headphones on and Wally noticed that his head subtly bobbed to his an unknown tune.

They stumbled through the tunnel, grunting as they heaved their heavy items over the rocky ground. Wally mentally cheered as they seemed to be too preoccupied with their jobs to notice their hiding spot.

Amidst the ear shattering sounds being admitted from the cart the old man wasn't aware that, as he hit a particularly big bump, an object from his cart fell out from under the tarp that was stretched over the top. The teen sighed as he yanked his headphones off.

"Hey! Forgetting something?" He yelled as he pointed to the fallen object. Wally tried to see what it was but it was too obscured by shadows.

The old man grumbled as he continued moving forward.

"Just pick the damn thing up and put it back." He barked.

The teen's face scrunched up with protest as he bent over and gingerly plucked the object off of the ground. He held it out as far away from his body as possible in disgust, and Wally stiffened as he got a better look at it. In the teenager's gloved hands was a severed human arm.

The appendage had been cut off at the elbow and cut was jagged, which suggested that a saw-like device had been use in the removal of the limb. Wally hoped that the arm had been removed after it's owner's death, because he knew that losing a limb like that would be extremely painful and the person would've died anyway after the amputation due to blood-loss or shock.

The fingers of the arm were stiff as the Lex corp employee held it in the air, indicating that rigor mortis had already set in. Given that rigor mortis sets in 2-6 hours after death and that it lasts for approximately 36 hours, that placed the time of death for this individual as sometime within the last 38-42 hours.

Sorrow and guilt pummeled Wally as he thought back to what they would've been doing at that time and he wished that he could have somehow stopped this tragedy from occurring. If any they had been faster, more efficient, maybe they could have saved this person from Luthor's clutches.

A sparkle caught his attention as Wally noticed, for the first time, the glittery pink nail polish that adorned the victim's nails. He was stricken as he compared the size of the arm to that of the teenager's arm for confirmation. The arm was small. The fingers, the hand, the forearm, everything about this arm was smaller then it should have been. This wasn't an adult, this was a child. A young girl, probably around the age of ten. The soft pink nail polish, that once would've mirrored her complexion now contrasted harshly with the victims pale, blue-tinged skin.

She didn't deserve this. She should be alive right now, safe and sound, surrounded by those who love her. She should have grown up, finished school, got her dream job, got married, had kids. She should have led a full life. Maybe she would have been president one day or maybe she would have been to person to finally cure cancer.

Her parents will have no closure, yearning for their little girl whom the loved so much. They'll never know who she could have been or get to live those moments with her. The love of their life disappeared without any warning and will never return. Wally glared at the tank that was being pushed by the dolly and felt his anger triple as he realized what it was for. Her last moments on this earth were agony and her grieving family will never know because these men were going to melt the body with corrosives.

"Disgusting." The young man said as he tossed the limb back into the cart.

Wally saw red as he stood up, disregarding the campers frantic hands trying to pull him back down. He marched up behind the teenager and swung his fist into his temple. The force of the punch slammed the teen's head into the stone wall and he slumped over.

The old man turned around at the sound and charged straight towards him with a surprising amount of speed. His arms were stretched out like he was going to try to grab him.

Wally stood in place until the last possible second, waiting until the man was close enough to close his arms around him. Then Wally sidestepped, ducking under the man's outstretched arms. He let his foot drag behind as he did so to trip the man mid-run. The senior citizen couldn't stop in time and slammed down onto the floor.

He wheezed as he attempted to get back up, but Wally was so furious that he didn't even let him try. The speedster swiftly kicked him in the head and watched as he crumpled over.

"Are you crazy?" Andy yelped. "You could have been killed! We could have been killed! Why would you risk that?"

Wally turned to face them. His anger had melted back into sadness as he stared at the rusted, old mining cart.

"These people deserve a proper burial." Tears welled up in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away. "Their families need to know what happened. Luthor can't get away with this."

Micheal grunted in agreement. "What do we do with these guys?" He said as he gestured toward the Luthor employees.

"They could wake up at any second but hopefully this will slow them down." Wally replied as he used the hose to tie their hands together.

The small group somberly made their way down the tunnel. The loud clamor the cart made as the pushed it with them put them all on high alert, because they no longer had the element of surprise or stealth. All conversations of the tunnel being haunted ceased as the three teenagers knew that it wasn't possible for the tunnel to contain anything more horrifying then what lay in the cart in front of them.

Their muscles ached as the pushed and pulled the massive metal cart deeper into the tunnel. They gritted their teeth as the nauseatingly irritating screech from the wheels threatened to fry their brains and ears. After what seemed like hours of moving at a snails pace they finally arrived at an old industrial elevator.

The boys dragged the cart onto the elevator with them and Wally slammed the metal fence-like doors shut. They shakily rose through the earth and watched, from the dim light of the elevator, as the layers of sediment passed by.

They stopped in an old wooden shed that was littered with various tools. Andy and Micheal dragged the mining cart off of the elevator as Wally kicked the door to the shed open. He sighed in relief as sunlight streamed in, momentarily blinding him after being in the dark for so long. He was so happy to be out of those tunnels.

The other boys seemed to perk up at the sight of the sun too and it almost seemed to energize them. The three kids pulled the cart behind the shed in between two bushes. They then threw some branches on it, hoping that it would camouflage it.

"We can't take it with us, it's too heavy. Once we get to town we can get the police. This should give them the evidence they need to arrest Luthor and everyone else that's involved." Wally informed the his cabin mates.

They moved toward the tree line as Wally explained where the closest town was. As they entered the forest Micheal turned back and glared at the large concrete building.

"This place deserves to burn."

The lights on the building lit up in red and alarms began to blare.

"INTRUDER ON PREMISES." The alarm sounded on a loop.

Wally cursed as ran back towards the shed.

"What are you doing?" Andy yelled, terrified.

"Go get help, get to the town! I have to get Dick, but we'll meet you there!" Wally yelled as he charged back into the tool shed. They must have found Robin, that's why they had sounded the alarm.

He jumped into the elevator as his mind replayed the image of the little girl's arm in his head. He wouldn't let that happen. Not to his best friend.

"I'm coming, Rob." He muttered to himself as the elevator descended into darkness. "Just hang on."


A/N:

I am so sorry, that got darker than I had meant it to. Also, sorry about the wait again. I rewrote this chapter around four times, because I just couldn't get it right. It could have been better, but I like how it turned out. Let me know what you guys think.