Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or DC Comics or anything other than my character Alex, this character and my solid black kittens Raja & Midnite. This is my first fanfic even if I am 8 chapters in I still welcome criticisms, advice and insight. Feel free to share and always just enjoy the story.

Chapter 8:Young Justice is Blasting off.

To say the vibe at the base when Alex returned felt different would be an understatement. It just felt odd. Especially the league members. The team felt alright though. Alex approached the group who were already in a meeting, talking over something they didn't seem to believe, or rather want to, even if it was Batman who told them that. Before long the former sidekick of the World's greatest detective spoke up. "I can't believe Roy is a traitor. I know he's had issues with the league and with some of the team and all but no way, KF, Kaldur please tell me you two aren't buying this."

Wally shook his head rapidly. "Of course not. Batman has to be mistaken. I know I didn't think it was possible but…he is human, right? Anyway, we've been around Roy tons of times if there was any chance of Roy having a connection to villains we would have noticed something." With that statement Alex elbowed Artemis as if trying to get the green-wearing archer to speak up. "Ow" coming from Alex after a quick heel kick to the shin, Artemis spoke up. "Actually…there is something. On the mission in the Louisiana bayou, I noticed he and Cheshire seemed to have a connection."

Connor grunted crossing his arms. "I think based on what little I know about him, Batman isn't the type to throw traitor allegations around lightly. If it is Roy it would make sense why he tried to shift the focus to anyone else, me, Megan, Artemis or Alex." Zatanna now spoke up as the young magician had come along way from the wreck she was after her father being lost to the clutches of Dr. Fate's helmet. "I don't know Red Arrow as well as Robin or Aqualad but…I don't think he's the kind of guy to betray his friends. This could all be one of Sportsmaster's & Cheshire's cons to try to mess with us. Cheshire and Sportsmaster have their own connection, remember.

Alex looked at Artemis his eyes widening. "You told them. I missed a lot while trying to get back into the League's good graces, I guess." KF angrily finished the last of his taco he had retrieved while the others spoke. "You told him before the rest of us. Not cool." Artemis smacked Wally in the back of the head. "don't be an idiot, Baywatch. Alex was there when Cheshire came to talk to me in the bayou. He overheard my conversation with Jade. Though…..I never told him Sportsmaster was my dad."

Alex pulled up his right sleeve up to his shoulder revealing the scar he had from Sportsmaster jabbing his electric javelin-like tool through his shoulder. "Sportsmaster told me himself when he gave me this." He let his sleeve fall back into place wincing as the wound still ached from time to time. His eyes shifting to that redheaded den mother of the group, Megan when she began to speak. "Oh. I am glad you didn't get any more scars while you had to work with a league member. Who did you get paired up with anyway?"

"It was Wonder Woman. I worked with her to stop this nut job sorcerer Felix Faust who was launching an attack on Thermyscira." Robin and the others stared in awe at least until Alex handed Wally a broken Amazon spear smiling. "I didn't forget a souvenir" Wally's expression changed to that classic grin and he turned dashing off to put it away. "Awesome! An actual Amazon souvenir. Let's see someone top that." The others split off for the time being, Connor heading to work on his bike while Aqualad took to bathing Wolf, Robin and Zatanna "sparring" and Wally got "asked" to show Artemis the town of Happy harbor since she either spent time on missions, at the base or at home in Gotham.

Megan stood in the kitchen working on a batch of fresh cookies her eyes shifting to Alex who was both helping and learning since he did want to learn how to cook and Megan was more than happy to agree to teach him. "Are you okay with Artemis and Wally spending time together, I thought you two were…" She looked at him while he started mixing the batter she took the task of carefully pouring in chocolate chips. "No it wasn't real. I saw that she really liked him and he wasn't paying attention. And I know earth men respond to jealousy faster than anything. I don't know about Martians or Kryptonians though."

He moved aside so she could roll out the dough once everything was perfect and began cutting the cookies. "however…..at the island I did meet this amazing girl, Cassie. She was incredible. She's strong, funny, pretty, and she's doesn't mind a tough fight yet she still shows compassion." Megan began giggling as without him noticing his cheeks were turning red due to the blush as he thought about that Amazon angel. "what…..what's so funny?" Megan shook her head. "I just think it's sweet you are helping Artemis and Wally get together. Now if only you could use that magic on Robin and Zatanna. It's so obvious yet they don't seem to get it."

Alex shook his head. "No. she likes him and he likes her. They could just be too shy to say do anything. No…I foresee the real problem being finding Kaldur a girlfriend. We need another girl on the team." Megan raised a finger in the air wagging it slightly while using her telekinetic abilities to move the tray into the oven after Alex opened the door. "No. he seems to like the new girl, Rocket…er, Raquel, who could end up joining since the hero she was a sidekick to got accepted by the League. Icon?" She smiled thought the thought suddenly hit her. "You haven't met her yet. Don't worry she's coming over later to um..fill out "paperwork", as Robin put it, with Kaldur. I think he was empathizing the word paperwork to signify giving them alone time for couple stuff."

He nodded in agreement before his attention returned to the slowly browning chocolate chip and pecan cookies and Alex smiled looking at her. "cool. I can't wait to eat these. But, Megs, you really seem distracted." Megan sighed biting her lip her eyes rising up to look at him. "Red Arrow is a close friend of Robin, Kid, and Aqualad's, I just can't believe he could be a traitor and not come of as suspicious at all to them." Alex grumbled scratching a phantom itch as he headed off to the training room for a few hours.

After a few hours he made his way to the training room where he bumped into Rocket, who was shy, blushing yet smiling as she politely introduced herself as Raquel, extending her hand to which Alex did the same, as his naturally suspicious nature did have him wary of everyone at first glance but Rocket just seemed…too spunky for any long-term malicious game plan. A rampaging crime spree perhaps but no long-term evil plot for world domination. "So you are the new girl. Huh? I have to admit, Kaldur has an eye for beautiful girlfriends."

Rocket's face could of melted as she blushed a shade of red not listed on the crayola list, but soon her mind returned from mush and her tongue soon regained the ability to speak. "T-thank you, Alex. I am glad everyone has been so welcoming but I get the feeling that things are a bit tense." The Russian raven-haired man nodded. "Batman revealed that there was a traitor on the team but…something just feels iffy with the timing of the information. I was heading to our friend's HQ to check it out. Do you want to come with me? Get some field time for the first time, rookie?" he chuckled heading with her to the Zeta tubes.

"Rookie, huh. Hey I've been on field missions with the team. You just weren't here. Where were you anyway, Phoenix is it?" Alex nodded acknowledging his codename, "I had issues that the League needed me to work out. Not all bad I got to meet Wonder Woman who has to be my favorite female hero ever." He looked up what he could find on where Roy had hung his hat since going solo, some work in Gotham, Bludhaven, even a job in Metropolis but most of it was in the underpatroled city of Bludhaven. Soon the unlikely duo of Rocket and Phoenix were on their way to Roy's hideout trying to find anything to clarify or perhaps clear him of these rumors.

Batman's designation of Roy as League enemy #1 and Robin hacking his files made the info of his hideout easy to find however he wasn't the first to arrive, crouching behind a gargoyle statue, as he noticed League member Captain Atom breaking into the hideout carrying odd supplies, as Alex raised a hand to the bird-like icon on his chest activating the stealth function on his suit while his new found partner raised her binoculars zooming in on the superhero. "What…he is dragging in stuff to tie Roy to the Light. Why would the League be framing someone?"

By sheer luck he pulled the binoculars away and barely caught Hawkman swooping in on him narrowly avoiding the lethal swing from the bird man's mace, returning the favor as a blast of fire emerged from his hand sending Hawkman soaring down into the street though where confidence sat was soon usurped with regret as he realized he just alerted Atom to his place, and turned to Rocket. "Go you are the one with flight so head back to the base, I'll hold them off til you get away." Rocket stared up at him hovering just out of sight of the JL members, since Atom was checking on the Knocked out Hawkman's status, "They are two grown superheroes you can't hold them off forever."

Alex smiled looking at her, after fixing his power focusing gauntlets Tornado had made. "It's just a military hot head and an over sized chicken I'll be fine. But go. We can't let the League find out we know something is up. Go back and tell the team. But keep it quiet." Alex saw Rocket departing and sighed lowering his head as when he saw Atom approaching he let out the biggest flame burst he could manifest both preventing Atom's attack and obscuring his view of seeing Rocket's departure, allowing Alex to lead Atom away toward the other side of the building watching the silvery hero follow until suddenly he was hit by what felt like a bus,

Thankfully it wasn't a bus, no Superman hadn't arrived and dropped a running bus on top of the building instead it was a shimmering green fist that sent him flying from the roof as the shimmering ring of Hal Jordan shone as he made his way ready to continue the fight. silence was all Alex heard while his eyes kept focused on them, the moment Hal flew down to the street, he knew Rocket was safe. Alex's descent was halted briefly by Captain Atom who grasped onto his foot swooping down toward the street level releasing him to send him flying into the side of an SUV.

Alex groaned blood rushing from his nose and mouth as he tried to stand up using whatever he could, until he felt Atom grab hold of his hair pulling him up to eye level and the man began to speak though something was much different from the cordial and disciplined tone often associated with the former Air Force officer, Nathaniel Adams. Though the way the man spoke wasn't foreign to Alex his senses were dulled from the pain coursing through what felt like every nerve every cell of his being.

"So…whelp. I will confess, your bravery was admirable, though vain in your attempt to prevent us from completing part one of my plan. I am ashamed to say that over my lifetime I have seen few youngsters like you so noble without having a bloody past to mold you into it. Though I offer you a way out. Your power is formidable. I am sure you have vengeance in your heart to be the way you are, no hero has a happy beginning after all. So in my unending mercy I will grant you your vengeance in the condition you join me."

Alex's flames dissipated entirely. His gauntlets were beaten, his body was battered, but his will, his spirit wasn't broken, he didn't need to avenge his family and resort to murder anymore. He had his family, the team, and before his conscious mind gave way to pain, he spat into Atom, or rather Savage's face, before passing out, the 2 League members and soon a recovering 3rd, ready to finish him off right there on the street to keep the ruse upheld when a red feathered arrow struck the ground before them, releasing a white-hot light blinding all of them allowing Roy to move in and snatch Alex getting him to safety.

Roy after "borrowing" a car, managed to get at least a town away before stopping, at a motel to fix Alex up as best he could, the young Russian waking up almost 2 hours later. "Ow…..ugh I feel like I just got run over by Wolf after someone tried to put him in the bath. He saw Roy and then his mind replayed what happened with the league members and pulled out an odd-shaped oval-shaped device. A nifty creation by the team's own personal tech genius and "Lil brother" Robin.

It was an emergency beacon that sent a signal not even the league knew about as it was meant for scenarios like the train for failure ones they experienced, for when they didn't have the league to call. Each beacon was directly tuned to one specific team member, so essentially who you picked was about who you trusted with your life the most, when at the HQ, Megan's communicator began to go off as she pulled the cookies out of the oven. Though they soon hit the floor along with her heart as the worst fears began to enter her mind.

"Alex…..oh no let him be alright." She got Connor and Wolf and the 2 took the Bioship heading to where the beacon was coming from. Half way there they ran into a panicking Rocket, who was exhausting from going full speed all the way from Bludhaven to Happy Harbor, and soon she told the others what she knew, causing Megan to speed up worried about what could have happened. and when they were in range she established the telepathic link between the 4 of them though she immediately noticed the presence of a 5th mind near him soon she heard him speak. "Megan…who is with you…judging by the angst and brooding I can feel I'm guessing it's Conman. You met up with Rocket too…I'm glad she got away. We need to talk. There is something going on. Something big. Roy has been set up…by the League of all people. Batman and the others they…just come here as soon as you can."

Connor and Megan shared looks of worry, a rare sign for the Kryptonian though his were more for the sake of his best friend and his girlfriend… Wolf's tongue brushed against his cheek as the large lobo wanted attention, well Alex was his human best friend for sure. 45 minutes later, driving slow and under cloaking to avoid detection they arrived Megan gasping when she saw the battered condition her…sibling, well sister is how Alex saw her, brother for Connor, she frowned rubbing a hand on his head. "You should have alerted us to your injuries we would of hasted our arrival."

Roy shook his head as he removed his fingers from the blinds, using his honed archery eyesight to try to pick out anything that didn't belong while Conner looked around the room with his vision and hearing, to make sure they didn't have any surprises inside the room either. "He couldn't say anything. If you had hurried you might have alerted the League and they would have followed judging by the welcoming committee they gave hothead here, they weren't taking prisoners."

Connor of all people spoke up glaring at him. "NO way. I don't like how the League have dragged ass on things in the past, I certainly don't like Superman, but no way they are killers they aren't like that. Superman isn't like that.. ugh…this would be easier if the others were here." Alex's eyes widened as he tried to force himself to stand being caught by Connor. "the others…..if word gets out that I know…the League could target them..we need to get back. Megan send the ship back to HQ, we won't need it."

Alex groaned walking primarily thanks to Connor as eventually the reached the warehouse district. Alex's finger moved out melting the lock on the door, and Roy pushed it open, Megan, Wolf and Rocket warily circling the group in case of an ambush or traps. Eventually they reached a large device covered in an even larger white sheet. Causing Alex to grin. "looks like those League history books I read while waiting for Wonder Woman's approval paid off"

With Connor's help the 5 of them, Wolf included as Alex reached out grabbing hold of a cloth and with Rocket's help pulled it down revealing a still functioning Zeta Tube, much to Megan's surprise. "How did you know this was here? I didn't think the team had any missions in this town." Alex smiled looking at her. "The team didn't. you are looking at an official JLA emergency transport tube. this is what has heroes without super speed or flying used to use to immediately jolt long distances when there was an all hands on deck kind of crisis. thankfully Connor's mechanical know-how came into use in fixing up the machine to get it working, at least 1 way for sure.

The Zeta Tube tube in the base whirled to life as names rang out each person taking a defensive posture especially once they noticed the rest of the team was waiting for them weapons at the ready due to the speed at which Megan and Connor took off and Rocket hadn't returned. Kaldur's eyes softened with a bit of relief seeing that Rocket was okay, the dozens of questions emerging from the left behind team members spawned endlessly, At least until a psychic pulse from Megan both quieted the tension and nearly gave everyone on 2 legs a migraine."Cut it out. Now, Alex has to talk to you. Trust me, I would not of believed it if I hadn't actually seen it in his memories"

"I think something is up with the league. I went to the city to try to find Roy to talk to him directly because frankly I was having doubts about this magically appearing proof they suddenly had.—Robin glared now pointing a finger at him. Zatanna was a little irked at how he rather negatively dismissed magic as well. "Hey! Bru—Batman isn't someone to make up lies. He's the World's greatest detective for a reason. I don't appreciate the way you dismissed the proof and disrespected him, with extra diss at that."

Connor looked at them his turn to speak now though he did so by psychic link. "Rob, Alex caught Captain Atom planting evidence in Roy's place. He was almost done in by 3 League members. Me and Megan saw the memories." In a flash Megan took the others on a trip through Alex's memories letting them see the proof first hand even the part about Roy saving him. This trip down memory lane however was broken when Red Tornado approached, and brought them back to reality.

"Error, wanted fugitive, Alexander Mirol aka Phoenix in JLA HQ. detaining now." Connor and Wally held their hands up as Kaldur began speaking. "We already caught him. We just were making sure we had confiscated every bit of gear and detailed every bit of evidence. Just to be safe, Red Tornado beeped raising a hand up. "That wasn't necessary I can take him." Now Zatanna spoke up. "No…you do enough for us, it wouldn't be right asking you to put away our villains too, they turned to haul Alex off to "Jail" and when they did Tornado quietly pulled out a piece of Starotech and tried to infect Kaldur but shut down barely even seconds later, the Team turned staring in disbelief at the "Den mother" of the group holding a foreign object that seemed tech, magical, organic all in one. What was Red Tornado going to do to Kaldur and the better question was, what had been done to him?

-To Be Continued.

What does this mean, what's going to happen. What other special league and villains will make an appearance in the course of this story. stay tuned. By the way. Readers, If I mess up your favorite character or you see something I can improve on just say so. Constrictive criticism is always welcome. Thanks, John aka Raiyone aka Ryujin65