August 3rd
Home
18:32 EST
"Saru, when are you going to visit your father?" Mom called from upstairs. "He just called."
"If I'm not busy, I'll try to swing by next weekend. What else did he say?" I asked.
"He was just checking in. Wanted to see how we were doing."
"Okay. I'll try to see him soon."
"Are you going to the cave tonight, or are you staying in?"
"I think we got called in, but for later. I don't remember."
"I put the butter chicken in the fridge, all you have to do is heat it up when you get back." Her voice got closer.
"Where are you going?" I sat up from my horizontal position on the couch. I turned. "Spy mission?"
"Date!" Mom's eyes sparkled. She sported a black leather jacket, a black turtleneck, black skinny jeans, and short black leather boots.
"Since when do you have style like that?" I asked her. "Fall vibes, though. I see you, ma."
"It's in our Adrien blood." She smirked.
"Who's the date with?" I leaned on the wall.
The door unlocked, and the woman of wonder walked through.
"Janice, are you ready?"
"Interesting." I snickered. "Where to?"
"Dinner, and a movie." Diana replied. She wore a longline grey cardigan, a black tank top, blue jeans, and white sneakers. She wore her hair up in a ponytail.
"Okay, well. Take pictures!"
"Quintus, you coming?" My communicator buzzed. It was Robin.
"On my way."
"Have fun, you two."
"Bye." They spoke together.
August 3rd
Mount Justice
19:06 EDT
"Recognized Quintus Adrien, B04"
"Class is in session." I walked in on the blonde-haired Black Canary, as she stepped into the middle of the training area. The floor turned white.
"Welcome, Quintus."
I walked in on the split room. Martian Manhunter, M'gann, Kaldur, Wally, and Robin on one side, and Superboy on the other.
"I consider it an honour to be your teacher. I'll throw a lot at you. Everything I've learned from my own mentors…and my own bruises." Black Canary grimaced, and grabbed her arm, as she removed her jacket. The leaguer revealed a bandage wrapped around her elbow. She wore black fingerless gloves that went past her elbow to her biceps. She also wore grey stockings that intertwined with her black leotard, a black choker, and she carried striking blue eyes.
"What happened?" M'gann asked.
"The job." She sternly replied, throwing her jacket aside. "Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I'll need a sparring a partner."
"Right here, ya!" Wally volunteered, sheepishly finishing his banana off. "After this, swish!" He threw the peel into the trash. "I'll show you my moves."
"Canary is definitely out of his league." Robin snickered.
"Physically too, watch." I predicted.
Canary smiled, and quickly threw a punch at the speedster. Wally blocked the punch, and Canary quickly countered with a swift sweep to the feet. Wally landed on his back.
"Oh man…hurts so good." He spoke. Black Canary placed her hands on her hips, and helped him up.
"Good block. But can anyone tell me what he did wrong?" She opened the question to all of us.
"Oh oh! He hit on teacher and got served?" Robin teased.
"Dude!" Wally yelled.
"He allowed me to dictate the terms of—
"Oh please. With my powers I'm a living weapon. And this is a waste of my time."
"Prove it."
"My money is on Black Canary." I spoke.
"Are we even allowed to bet otherwise?" Kaldur asked.
Superboy threw a punch at Black Canary, she grabbed his arm and threw the clone across the room.
Robin laughed even harder, prompting me to laugh as well.
Aqualad nudged Robin. We laughed in silence.
Superboy grunted, in anger. He clenched his fists, and his eyebrows scrunched even more. The grunt turned into a…growl?
"you're angry, good, but don't react now try channeling that anger int-"
Superboy rushed in with malicious intent, Canary flipped over his body, and back sweep, brought Superboy on his back once again.
"That's it, I'm done!" Superboy told her. Canary placed her hand onto his shoulder.
"Training is mandatory." She insisted. He shrugged her arm off of his shoulder. Canary was pretty tall, she was about the same height as Superboy, and she quite toned.
"Batman to the cave. Five hours ago a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow then called reinforcements which nearly proved disastrous when our foe gained more and more power with each now combatant. " Batman interrupted.
"Woah, one guy with the powers of the entire league?" Kid Flash questioned.
"In the end it took eight leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android."
"an android? Who made it? T.O Morrow?" Robin asked his mentor.
"Good guess, Robin. But Red Tornado doesn't think so.
"The technology bears the signature of professor Ivo."
"Ivo? But Ivo's dead."
"So we all thought. Or hoped.
"To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, We're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate S.T.A.R lab facilities in Boston And New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have 4 additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks."
"Yes! Road trip." Wally cheered.
"So now we take out your trash."
"You had something better to do?"
"Bats has to chill out. Unauthorized roast sessions aren't cool. Both parties need to be ready, and well matched, no?" I whispered. Robin chuckled.
"No remorse, from the dark knight!" Kid Flash added.
"Coordinates received. On our way."
Litchfield County
20:08 EDT
"Do you think Superboy's okay? I wasn't reading his mind, I swear, but anger flowed off him in waves." M'gann asked us.
"Heh. Surf that wave. Just give him space. Me? Stick as close as you want." Wally slowed his pace, and rode right next to the frowning Martian.
"Superboy just needs time to cool off. A quiet mission will clear his head." Kaldur ensured.
"A nice, soothing, quiet mission. Take in the sights, friends." The sun setting sky released accents of pink, and warm, peachy orange colour. It was remarkable. Alongside the muffled sounds of the road, and the wind blowing my hair. It was not bad at all. Like a commercial.
Grey screeches arose from the cornfields. Metallic robot monkeys with green accents latched onto our truck.
"Nice, quiet, soothing mission." Aqualad repeated.
"Oh, you have jokes, don't you, Kaldur'Ahm." I snickered.
"Robin, Superboy. Our truck is under attack!" Aqualad warned the two.
"Kind of figured." He replied.
The monkeys crowded the windshield, and the truck began swaying. M'gann, Wally and I ditched our rides, and leapt onto the truck. The robot monkeys used their laser eyes, to make their way into the back of the truck.
I vaulted onto the back of the truck, and into the small hole where the monkeys and the S.T.A.R Labs agents were. They fired their rifles aimlessly. I threw the two S.T.A.R agents out, and onto the road. I met Wally and M'gann on the roof of the truck. They both shrieked at each other, and M'gann retracted her four extra arms.
"Why are you scared? Wally you know she can do that! Let's go!" I rushed him, as I leapt back into the hole. It was dark, but the glowing eyes of the monkeys enabled my sight. I didn't have enough time to change, so no staff for me. I grabbed the tails of a few monkeys and bashed them into the others. I crystallized the ground around me, but there were too many. With their laser eyes, they left me under attack, and the rest grabbed the burgundy-coloured box. I launched several crystals at them, but they missed.
"Aqualad to Robin. We've lost our cargo, did you—"
"It's gone. And so is my partner."-
"Aqualad to Superboy, radio your position. We'll help you."
"I don't need help—" The rest was static. Angry.
"Superboy?"
"I think he ditched his comm."
"Super. Now we can't even track him." Wally spoke.
"He's out of my telepathic range." M'gann added. "This professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. M-maybe w-we should contact Red Tornado?"
"Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves. And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they're reassembled." Kaldur rallied.
"Well, that's a great plan, except for the part about us not knowing where to look!"
"Maybe we do." The silent Robin spoke over the communication link.
"We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked. So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target? Ha! The parts have GPS!" He triumphantly added. "The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track them with the one I captured. It looks both sets of parts are converging on…Gotham City."
"That far south? M'gann and I won't get there anytime soon. Quintus?" He asked me.
"Not right now."
"I'm sending kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out." Wally replaced his helmet with his goggles and happily raced away.
Gotham Academy
00:25 EDT
Amazo's head sat there, off his body.
"Quick, help me disassemble him! "Robin sprinted to the android's body.
"Dude, the guy has no head." Wally replied.
"Don't take any chances." Aqualad interjected.
"Hey, where's Ivo?" Kid asked.
Wally picked up an arrow off the ground. He gave it to Robin.
August 4th
Mount Justice
01:04 EDT
"The Amazo android is in pieces again, safely being analyzed at the two separate S.T.A.R. labs, but since Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android." Aqualad explained.
"Capturing the professor will be a league priority." Black Canary assured.
"But we understand your mission encountered, other complications." Martian Manhunter spoke.
"Complications come with the job." Batman answered his fellow Leaguer. "Your ability to handle them has impressed the League."
"The whole League?" Superboy asked.
"Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads." Batman added. "Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists—because there are some problems even we can't handle individually."
"Please. If we needed help, we'd never even get the chance to ask." Robin scoffed. Look familiar? You were following us! Babysitting! You still don't trust us." Robin argued, holding the jade arrow.
"We didn't follow you." Green Arrow examined the arrow.
"And that's not your arrow, but that means— "
"Speedy!" Wally grinned.
"He has our backs." Kaldur confirmed.
"I didn't know Speedy had green arrows." I added.
"Maybe he changed colours." Wally argued. I shrugged.
"Souvenir!" Wally snatched the arrow from Green Arrow's hand.
August 6th
Dad's house
18:25 EDT
"Saru your hair!" Iris ran towards me, and engulfed me in a hug.
"Good to see you here. I thought you were still in Vancouver?"
"I am! Just here for the weekend." Iris smiled. "Look! look!"
Iris flexed her leg, and calf muscles were toned.
"Impressive. This is what the Whitecaps do to your legs, huh?"
"Grind never stops. No days off." She joked.
"Real student athlete." I snickered. Iris stood at about six feet, and she was built like my father. A truly strong woman. Though, she had the attitude, and facial features of mom, just like me. Iris had high cheekbones, and a pearly-smile which she only showed off, well, all the time. Iris sported long faux locs with small golden beads in them, as an accessory.
"You found a salon down there?" I questioned.
"I did. Nice, and cheap. And they did a— "
"Really good job." I finished her sentence.
"That's why you're my favourite sibling."
"Yeah, okay. Let me just tell your twin that. He'll be happy to hear it."
"Good answer." I traipsed over to the kitchen, and poured myself a glass of water.
"How's Mom?"
"Mom's doing well. She misses you."
"Aww, mother. I miss her too. Why'd you come here now anyways?"
"I wanted to swing by and see how dad was doing, and I think I left some clothes here from last time. I can't stay for long though, I have to get back."
"Saru." A soft voice spoke from behind me.
"Mr. Adrien, greetings." I shook my dad's hand, and he pulled me into a hug.
"Nice to see you." He smiled.
"It's been awhile. You taking care of your mother?" My father sized me up. Dad was about six feet-two, and was fairly broad. His hair was greying, and short, and he was clean-shaven.
"Who else will?"
"Good man. I did not raise a soft kid. Like I always told you, real men— "
"Take care of their mothers, real men don't cry, real men, blah, blah, blah."
"Wow, big man now, huh." My father scoffed. He sat down, and unpeeled his banana.
"You keeping those…abilities in check?"
"Say that louder?" I smirked.
"Those ABILITIES. We don't what another incident. I value my life." My father was soft-spoken, but talked like he had my voice. HIs facial features were carried over to my brother, along with his attitude, and demeanour. All that real men nonsense too.
"And I value faithfulness, father." His smug grin faded. Right where it hurts.
"I value success. Which means control. You staying for dinner?" He quickly veered our conversation.
"Nope. Busy."
"With what?"
"Things." I leaned on the wall.
"Fair. I put your clothes in the hallway upstairs. It's in a black garbage bag." He spoke with his mouthful. "Good seeing you though Saru, seriously."
"I would tell you to come visit more often, but I mean…" I slammed the door on my way out, and sprinted.
"You're lucky!" Dad called out from the door.
Mount Justice
22:30 EDT
"Team. I'm deploying you out on a retrieval mission. To be safe you all will go. You are to retrieve this briefcase, with these components in it." Batman aided us with visuals of a silver plated briefcase in it. It had a padlock, and had S.T.A.R LABS imprinted on it. But it wasn't engraved in the briefcase. It wasn't a S.T.A.R Labs briefcase, though.
"Kobra Venom?" Robin inquired.
"Correct, Robin. But this Kobra Venom seemed to be of higher dosage. The S.T.A.R Labs alarm went off for just under a second. That was enough for me to be notified. We have reason to believe someone entered S.T.A.R Labs in search for this briefcase. S.T.A.R Labs states it was an alarm failure. I disagree." Batman emphasized. "They will not let us in."
"Are we breaking into S.T.A.R Labs?" I questioned the caped man.
"Correct. Since your previous mission had a few hiccups, we have decided to take precautions and send you all there. We never know what could happen. Do not let this briefcase get into the wrong hands, if it is not already in the wrong hands." Batman ordered.
"S.T.A.R Labs is as we know, high-tech. They must have access to some high-quality hacking software." Robin suggested.
"Indeed. I have sent the bioship the location of certain cameras, drones, and robots inside S.T.A.R Labs. After these have been disabled, you should not have a problem."
"How are we going to disable them?" Wally asked.
"You have access to a Robin, don't you?" Batman threw his back to us. "Get going."
Metropolis
23:33 EDT
The S.T.A.R Labs closest to us, was the one in Metropolis, we boarded the bioship. Darkness filled the late sky, and Superboy both dozed off in unison inside the ship. A little nap could have been useful for me too.
"Approaching S.T.A.R Labs, now." M'gann alerted us.
"Ready! What?" Wally jumped up, when he was woken up by his best friend.
"Relax, we're here." Robin spoke.
"Switch to stealth." Aqualad commanded. We all did. Miss Martian had parked the bioship on the roof. It had high-tech security, but we had a high-powered Robin.
"I'm in." Robin told us. I would have thought that they would have let us go through the front door, but I guess they forgot. "Whoever broke in here, were amateurs."
I drew Dimiourgia, and made a circular incision in the glass roof.
"Wait." Superboy put his arm out, blocking our path. "I hear multiple footsteps. Both sides." He pointed to both hallways. S.T.A.R Labs was an immense facility, so they had to have been close by.
"Security, or it's them." Kid suggested.
"The cameras are only the ones that would take pictures of our faces." Robin stated, furiously flicking at his holographic computer. The drones are all on the ceilings, and we should be able to avoid the robots."
"There are only two main hallways. We will slowly manage both, once every single room has been cleared we will split off into three teams. M'gann, Quintus and myself on one, Robin, Kid and Superboy on the other. "Aqualad commanded. "For now, establish a telepathic link. Quintus and Robin will be in charge of dismantling the cameras, Robin will be the runner, aided by Kid."
"Right there." I glanced over at Robin's screen and placed my hand onto the wall. Only my hand would be visible on the camera. A wall of crystals slowly made its way onto the wall.
"Why is it a slowed down fire-rate, Q?" Wally asked.
"I can't see where I'm hitting, that's why."
S.T.A.R Labs
00:34 EDT
The three of us made our way over, when we met up with Kid, Superboy, and Robin.
"Did you guys find anything?" Aqualad asked.
"No briefcase." Superboy answered. "But footsteps. Someone—or people are still in the facility. They're avoiding us, or trying to escape."
"I say we go out, and take a trip around the city. The footsteps we heard were approximately six minutes ago, if they escaped on foot just now, they can't be that far!" Robin proposed.
"Let's go." Aqualad said.
We boarded the ship, and began flying.
Metropolis
00:54
Batman's face appeared the holographic monitor on the ship.
"Reports of Black Spider, Icicle junior, and the terror twins, near your location. Sending coordinates now."
"Coordinates received." Aqualad replied. The ship took a sharp left turn. There we saw Black Spider, and Icicle junior together.
"We will deploy on teams of two. M'gann, and Superboy, you two have the terror twins. Robin, Kid, you are on Black Spider. Quintus and I will track Icicle junior." Aqualad commanded.
Aqualad and I toured the radius, our focus was ground level, but a bright blue light, caught my eye. There were remnants of ice towards the west end of Metropolis. "Here, hold on to it tight, Kaldur." I warned him, as I tossed Dimiourgia to him.
I created a slower-moving crystal wheel, and cycled it in-and-out with crystal blocks, from rooftop, to rooftop. The half-moon glowed, as my staff followed my hand, the staff by which Aqualad held on to.
I landed on top of a large building, in front of him. Aqualad landed as well. "There." I pointed back. Icicle rode happily.
"I'm going ahead. When he comes down, bring him down towards me." The Atlantean summersaulted off the building, and landed with a forceful thud.
I timed his speed, and leapt as soon he rode close to me; I drew Dimiourgia and slammed it into his path. The path broke, sending the ice villain plummeting downwards. I brought my feet to his chest, using him as springboard, and kicking him down towards Aqualad.
Aqualad also had two water hammers ready, and hit him in the back, which sent him tumbling forward.
"Good work." Aqualad commended.
Icicle junior slowly got up. It was the first time I actually saw him. His body was fully made of ice, with shards coming out of his shoulders, and his hair silver appeared to made of ice too. One of his hands were significantly bigger than the other. Icicle junior was young, I guess, why he's junior.
"Ruined my vibe!" He shouted.
He threw four ice shards at us, I lifted a crystal wall.
"Go for it." I told him. I put down the wall. Aqualad ran ahead. Icicle aimed another beam of ice, it missed Aqualad completely.
The beam targeted me, I swiftly flipped out the way, but it caught onto my foot. I smashed my foot on the ground. A large chill was sent through my body. My body weakened.
Aqualad constructed a hammer with his waterbearers. Icicle assumed a defensive position and engulfed his right arm to become as big as his left, and blocked them.
As soon as Icicle jumped out of the way, Aqualad grabbed his leg with a water whip. He threw icicle in the air. Without hesitation, a crystal pillar underneath my feet shot my body towards him. Icicle Junior froze the whip, and a cold ice log imprinted itself in my back. Icicle jumped back in the air, and retreated on his ice slide.
"Why is he giving ground?" Aqualad asked. Before we could begin chasing them, Kid and Robin met us.
"He does not have the briefcase, Aqualad explained. "We wasted our time."
"I am in pain." I rubbed my back.
"Black Spider didn't have the briefcase either. We were fighting him, and he retreated and escaped." Robin explained.
"It must mean that the terror twins have the briefcase. We can only hope for Miss Martian and Superboy, as we do not know their precise location."
As soon as he finished his sentence, Superboy crashed in front of us, Miss Martian followed slowly.
"What happened?" Aqualad asked.
"They have the briefcase. She was fighting Tuppence, when Tuppence left, and double teamed me with Tommy. They both hit me to the ground, but she lost concentration to help me up. I was okay, but when she wasn't paying attention they took her out. They're both very strong." He admitted. "I couldn't get the briefcase, I had to bring her back."
"Are you okay, M'gann."
"Yeah. Just a little dazed, that's all." She spoke.
"It is okay, Superboy." Aqualad placed his hand on the saddened Superboy. "It was wise of you to not sacrifice the mission for a comrade. She is more important than the mission. Let us return to the cave." Aqualad confirmed.
Superboy took command of the bioship, and set us at the cave.
Mount Justice
15:40 EDT
We stood in front of Batman, when Aqualad began explaining the situation.
"The mission was a failure; Miss Martian was injured in the fight. We did not risk the mission, over our teammate." Aqualad explained.
"Wise choice. Still, mission failure. More complications. I expect a report, tomorrow. You are dismissed." Batman glared.