DC Gothic – Young Justice
Part 7
"Team report to the debriefing room for your mission assignment."
I was able to easily hear Batman's monotone voice over the loudspeaker, and when I did I smiled because now it meant the team had a chance to redeem itself for last week's somewhat botched mission.
Since I was close to the central room, I made there first, but I wasn't left alone with the Dark Knight for very long.
"Whassup Bats!" Kid Flash said happily as he rushed in
Robin arrived shortly afterwards grinning as if often did. Megan was next, and she walking with Superboy. Kaldur followed along shortly with Power Girl, and I found myself wondering what those two had been getting up too, but I focused on what was going on now, as it was none of my concern anyway.
"Mission?" Robin asks curiously
Batman nodded.
"You will be travelling to Gotham as part of an investigation into the shipments of Kobra Venom" the Caped Crusader explained "While you destroyed the factory and prevented Sportsmaster from getting away with a supply of the super steroid we still don't know how much Venom has been exported from the island. What we do know as that a large supply was intended for Gotham, either to be sold there or to be stored until being transported elsewhere".
Given what Venom did for Bane, it could be a disaster if the super steroid found its way on the street. We could end up with entire gangs of crooks going on the rampage.
"You'll be following a tip we received, and to that you'll need to go to the Iceberg Lounge in Gotham and find out whatever you can" the Caped Crusader was now saying "But given that Robin won't be able to pass for twenty-one he won't be there to guide you and I doubt Kid Flash will get past the bouncers either, at least not without drawing a lot of attention. Which is something we don't want".
Aqualad spoke up.
"I'm not sure I'll be much help either" he said "I don't have a lot of experience with nightclubs".
Neither would Megan, or either of the Wonder Twins.
"Is the Iceberg lounge being run by the Penguin?" I asked.
The Dark Knight nodded.
"And I am right in guessing that only Gotham's elite could gain entry?" was my second question.
Again he just nodded.
"The older members of the team will be provided with ID cards that will pass any inspection" Gotham's Grim Guardian then said to us "That should get most of you through the front door. Assuming you don't spend all night lining up to get in".
My thinking was that bribing the door man was the way to go as we didn't have time to turn one of us into a celebrity. Sure the green girl could shift into a well known person, but that would also drawn unwanted attention.
"Gothic, do you have a plan?" Aqualad asked me.
I gave him a smile.
"My thinking was that we'd have Robin in uniform doing surveillance" I said "He can keep an eye on the place for us and even sneak in if he has to. Flash would be our backup, if something goes wrong he can bring our stuff to us or cause a big distraction".
Batman waited until I finished before interupting.
"I'll be working down at the docks" he informed us "So I'll need someone to check the offices at the nightclub for any evidence of the Venom entering Gotham, and while I'm sure Kid Flash could get everyone's attention something more covert might be needed".
Quickly I came up with an idea.
"We could start a bar fight" I suggested "That would get any security they have focused on us while Robin does what he needs to do. He's the best at hacking and the most stealthy so he's the best choice for that job".
Batman might have been pleased by my plan, it was impossible to tell.
"I'll leave the details up to you" he said while heading towards the teleporter "I'll contact you again once I have the ID's, and then we can go over your plan".
Once he was gone I turned to the others.
"Since I'm the only one here whose been clubbing I think I should take the lead" I told them.
I was worried that Aqualad, who was our leader, might not approve of me taking over.
"This is outside my experience" Kaldur said "I think I'll let you take the led for this mission".
While I didn't want to be leader, this was the best course of action so I pleased.
"Okay to start with we're going to need new outfits" I told everyone "because to get in we'll have to look like we belong. That means looking like were pretty, rich and important not to offend".
Which might not take much given what I had to work with.
(Line Break)
Mount Justice. Happy Harbour.
My first order as temporary team leader was get Kaldur, Megan, Superboy and Power Girl to dress up. Since Robin would be out of sight for this mission he could stay in uniform, as could Kid Flash since he'd only enter the club as back up.
Megan, who could shape shift, didn't need long to prepare before showing me how stylish she could look. When she re-entered the main room I saw that she wearing a body tight, deep navy blue dress that cut off at mid-thighs and she had a neckline showed off enough to ensure that no heterosexual man would be looking her face.
Next Power Girl walked in, and her dress was similar to Megan's except that it was black and sparkly, and it was more lose around the skirt. Also she wore high heel shoes that made her seem much taller than normal. I admired her, but I didn't let myself stare as the last thing I wanted to develop an attraction for a team mate.
Amusingly the guys took longer to get ready, but not too long thankfully. Kaldur soon walked into the room wearing a smart suit only instead of a shirt he wore a jumper with a turtle neck in order hide his gills
Last of all Superboy entered and he had gone with the whole James Bond look. He wore a proper tux, and I was pretty sure that Megan found him very pleasing to look at.
"Okay girls you did great with the dresses" I praised "Now we just need to add some finishing touches. Robin if you would do the honours".
The Boy Wonder was not the master of disguise his father figure was, but he'd told me he could help us blend in with the fancy people who visited the Iceberg Lounge.
"Dude how to do you know about this chick stuff?" Wally West inquired as the Robin got to work "Are you and Bats drag queens? Come on you can tell us".
Despite my best effort I couldn't help picturing the Boy Wonder in a dress.
"I've been trained for everything, and I mean everything" Robin explained as he then applied a light shimmer pink lip gloss to Megan's lips, sparkly gold eye shadow, and a small amount of blush to highlight her cheeks "You'd be surprised how handy make up can be when you need to go undercover even as a man".
I'd been trained as an assassin, but the not the kind that needed to blend in. The monks had wanted me to sneak about on rooftops and stuff like that. Disguising myself had never been a concern.
"Okay Power, you're next" the smaller half on the Dynamic Duo declared.
Robin braided her hair and then put it in a bun using hair pins. He then applied some light red lipstick, blush and even eye shadow. I'd never seen a guy so skill full with a make up kit. He was an artist.
"Gothic your next" the Boy Wonder then said "Your hair needs some major taming".
Having a guy brush my hair seemed strange, but I was willing to go along with it for the sake of the mission.
"Fine you can do my hair, but no eyeliner for me" I said "Unless we're going to Mosh Pit".
I'd gone through a very wild period while in college, and I'd experimented with many different things, but I drew the line at wearing lipstick or glitter.
"Let's just keep that stuff for the girls" the Boy Wonder said.
Robin soon began brush the tangled mop that grew out of my skull.
"Dude, when was the last time you brushed your hair?" he asked.
The Monk of Dumar had been a hygienic group of people so I'd always been clean, but they'd all shaved their heads and while they'd not made me do that haircare had never been important. Plus they'd not had many mirrors.
"Uh" was my answer.
I really didn't know when I'd last brushed or even combed my hair. I washed it all the time, but I left it scruffy since I tended to wear a hood on missions and when I didn't I was rarely outside longer than I needed to be.
"Never mind" Robin said as he applied gel and tamed my hair "There you go. Try not to get it wet".
The girls seemed to think the new style worked for me, that or they simply being nice.
"Kaldur you don't need any styling since your hair is so short" the Boy Wonder was now saying "So Conner sit down its your turn"
The science project grunted in response and then walked over to Robin had set up all his stuff.
"You know if you ever stop being Robin, you could be a hair and make-up artist" Megan was now saying "The girls will love you".
The raven haired boy smirked in response, and I knew why he found that funny. It was because the kid of man who spent time styling women's hair wasn't the kind of guy who was interested things woman had to offer men.
(Line Break)
Mount Justice. Happy Habour.
Once everyone was ready, and Batman had supplied the ID cards, everyone gathered in the central room so I could go over the finer details of our mission.
"First of all do not touch the alcohol, doesn't matter if you are of drinking age or not everyone needs a clear head and you're more likely to detect if someone slipped something into your drink if its not alcoholic, so try to stick to mineral water" I told older members of the team "Second if someone offers you drugs try to get information out of them. I doubt anyone will offer you Venom in a nightclub, but if we get offered something and it would be good if we could get the name of some dealers. Third you must act as if your having fun, no brooding or hanging out by yourselves, mingle with people, buy them drinks and listen. Someone in that club might just let something slip".
I gave everyone a moment to digest what I'd just said before moving on.
"Now as for getting into the Iceberg Lounge that should be easy. I spoke with Batman and he's arranged for a limo to pick us up just outside of Gotham. Aqualad, Superboy, Powergirl, Miss Martian. Kid Flash and I will take the limo to the club. The driver will let us out directly in front of the Lounge. I'll run ahead and give the bouncer a bribe to let us in while the rest of you act as if this is just another night out. Also Megan and Supes will be a couple as will Kaldur and Power. Act like it and have dinner in the restaurant part of the club before moving the dance floor.
Corruption was rampant in Gotham so I foresaw no problems in getting into the club, as for the pairings they made sense as aside from Robin I was the sneakiest of the group, and by myself I might find out more.
"Wally will stay in the car with our equipment and bring it to us should we need it" I then informed everyone "and he'll also come in and cause a massive distraction if needs be. Meanwhile Robin, who knows Gotham best, will make his own way to the club and ninja his way in to the offices. Should he need a distraction then I want Kaldur and Supes to start a fight. Nothing major, don't show your powers just throw a few punches at each other. That should get the attention of security".
Hopefully the Boy Wonder wouldn't need us, but I was going to assume that things could go horribly wrong.
"If worst come to worst we we run like hell and head for the nearest teleporter" I then said "Now any questions?".
Everyone raised their hand and I figured this planning session could take a while.
(Line Break)
Iceberg Lounge. Gotham
"Wait here I'll get us in" I said to the older members of the group as we piled out of the limo "Remember try to act like you belong".
Bribing the bouncer wasn't hard I just lied and told the guy that they were new actors and actresses who needed to be seen in the right places in order to ensure that their careers got off to a good start.
Once that was done we were let in, and I got a good look at the inside of the Iceberg Lounge, the place was huge and as I'd learned from the information Batman had sent it was divided into two sections. One was the dining area, which mostly catered to couples judging by the size of the tables and the number of chairs.
"Go have dinner" I instructed the others "I'm going to hit the bar and see if anyone fancies a chat. Once you're done eating head down and start dancing. Try to have fun".
The dance floor was crowded with people, all of which were young, rich and pretty.
"How are you going to get information" Kaldur asked me just loud enough to be heard "Its really noisy in here".
I looked at him over the rim of my sunglasses.
"By mingling" I replied "We're at a famous club with lots of girls, so I'll buy some drinks and flirt".
Possible I'd find some hottie to make out with. I'd see where the evening took me.
(Line Break)
The Iceberg Lounge. Gotham.
Once the others had dined, they joined me in a part of the club that was far enough from the dance floor that it was possible to hear people talking.
"Did you get any information?" Aqualand asked me "From where I was sitting it looked like you were just trying to get a few dates".
I had no intention of ever seeing again any girl who came to this club. They were all spoilt rich girls who went about maxing out Daddy's credit cards, and most of them were doing drugs of some sort. Just not Venom.
"Seriously guys, we can have fun and get the information we need by talking to people" I reminded the group "I mean people aren't just going to come up to you and say 'Hey they keep the drug you're looking for in the back room' we need to put clues together".
Thanks to my cover of being an assistant to some up and coming actors and actresses I already had the phone number of a drug dealer who specialised in supplying large amounts of drugs to the right people and while it was doubtful he had what we were looking for if a certain darkly dressed figure visited him later on he might have something useful to say.
"So what did you guys find out?" I asked "You must have over heard a lot of people talking on the upper level and you had a much better view of the place than I did"
Before they spoke I knew they hadn't had much luck, it was written all over their faces.
"No one here seems to know about any Venom shipments" Aqualad answered.
Hopefully he hadn't gone and asked anyone about Venom directly as that could cause trouble for Batman later.
"I was also unsuccessful." Megan replied sadly "There's too many people for me to read".
The others had nothing to inform me about.
"Don't worry Megan" I said "it's not a big deal. I think this was more of a test of how we perform undercover than anything else".
Our last mission had gone wrong in the sense that it hadn't remained covert for very long, so I figured Batman wanted to give us another chance to prove that we could do things without drawing lots of attention.
"But what about the Venom?" Aqualad wondered "We can't go back without somethinf".
Actually we could.
"No one knew anything" I said "and don't forget Rob managed to take a look around without getting caught. Maybe he found something".
Aqualad seemed somewhat comforted by that idea.
"We should go" he then said "There is not point staying here if we can learn nothing".
I was enjoying myself, but he had a point and it was getting late so I followed everyone when they headed for the door.
(Line Break)
Mount Justice. Happy Harbour.
"So how was the mission?" Batman asked not long after we had returned "Did you find anything".
Aqualad was now in charge again so he gave the report.
"We were unsuccessful" he said "Even Robin found nothing so we believe that the tip was either no good or it was meant to send us on..."
He seemed to struggle to find the right words.
"Wild goose chase" offered Kid Flash.
Batman nodded slightly.
"That sometimes happens" he then said "and it can't be helped. In any case you did well. Everything went as smootly as expected. We can call this is a training exercise and move on".
The Dark Knight then headed for the teleporter.
"I'll be in touch soon" he promised.
Given the late hour going to be seemed like the best course of action, so everyone said goodnight then went their seperate ways.
