Hi. So, I hope you guys liked my last chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.
Tim POV
"Hey, wake up!" A rough voice said above me.
Two hands were shaking me, one skin and the other... metal? Arsenal! My eyes opened, and I sat up quickly. "Where are the others?" I asked him immediately.
"Right after you passed out I grabbed you and got out of there. I was going back to get the others, but they weren't there." Arsenal said, sounding frustrated.
I rubbed my forehead, the start of a headache coming. "Great. Do you have any idea where we are now?" I asked, standing up with his help.
"Sort of. We're in one of the hallways towards the room Mongol was in. I figured if we could get there and see if there was a video feed of where they were taken, we could get them. But why would Blue turn on us like that?" Arsenal said, looking down the hallway.
"It wasn't him. I saw Green Beetle mess with Blue's armor, and so did Impulse. But he sounded like he was in control then, so I didn't think about it much since he was the same. I only noticed him acting different today when he got more confident with his mission, asking to be leader. My guess, his armor is in control. And it's Green Beetle's fault." I said, growling out the last part.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted him." Arsenal said, glaring at the ground.
"Let's go, I want to get the hell out of here." I said before running down the hall.
"There might be a small problem with that. The Reach is chasing us. I barely dragged you away after beating the Reach aliens who were following us. Not to mention, I can't get a hold of anyone." Arsenal said with a grim look.
"That is a problem. Wait, stop here." I said, gesturing for him to stop at a machine that looked like a computer. One that could connect me to the League.
"What is it?" Arsenal asked.
"A computer. A very advanced one. If I can hack it, I should be able to get a communication link with the League." I said, my fingers dancing over the buttons.
"And can you hack it?" Arsenal asked.
The computer made a negative sound, one that made my eye twitch. "Maybe not. This is alien tech, not something I'm used to. But, what do we have to lose?" I asked, taping on the computer again.
It made another negative sound, then another, and another. Finally, I just stabbed the thing with a bird-a-rang, shocking myself in the process. "And people say I have anger issues." Arsenal muttered.
"Considering all that's gone on today, I think I have a reason to be pissed." I said, glaring at the stupid alien computer.
To make matters worse, the 2 of the Reach aliens that Arsenal mentioned walked in, both armed and ready to kill us. Me and Arsenal ducked behind the machine, dodging the laser shot at us. "What do you have? I'm nearly out of ammo. I only have enough for one shot left." Arsenal asked.
"Considering that my belt was blown off when you opened the hatch, a knife, a taser, a lock pick, and a useless computer in my glove. You to take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right." I said, flipping over the computer and running straight at the Reach alien shooting a laser at me.
I dodged the laser beams being shot at me, and kicked him in the head hard enough to knock him out, all of my anger from what Blue did going into the kick. On my left, Roy shot his last laser at the Reach alien, knocking him out instantly. "You are never podding me ever again." Arsenal hissed at the alien, grabbing the laser weapon from him and continuing to run down the hallway. Funny how nobody thought to give Roy therapy after what he went through. (Loved your review by the way, Vandalia Sakura)
I grabbed the other Reach's laser weapon, running after Arsenal quickly. "Arsenal, what I said back there about the hatch..." I said, trailing off when he stopped at a thing in War World's wall that looked like an electrical socket, only this one was made to charge weapons.
"What about it?" Arsenal asked pulling a plug like thing out of the socket and inserting it into his mechanical arm. He looked like he was trying to hide it, but I could see guilt in his eyes for opening it, and I knew he was beating himself up for it.
"I don't blame you for opening it. Given the situation, it was probably the smartest thing we could have done." I said, shocking him enough that he looked at me like I was insane.
"Are you kidding me? I did it because I was... scared that they would pod me again. How was that smart?" Arsenal asked, glaring at me.
"Because, if you hadn't done that, we all would have been taken. What hope would the Team have if somebody wasn't able to get them out?" I asked, sitting down next to the machine charging Roy's arm.
"You weren't the one who had to make that decision though. You don't know how I felt when I realized I left the rest of the team when I went back to get them after hiding you." Arsenal said, glaring down at the floor with self-hate.
I moved my gaze from the floor to him, standing up so quickly it shocked him. "Will you stop beating yourself up about this? Roy, this is basically the same as a war. Now, I'm not sure if you've studied war tactics or not, but in the middle of a war you do what you need to do, not what you want to do. That's what you did, it doesn't matter what drove you to do it, fear, hate, desperation, you did it. And that's all that matters. Now hurry up charging your arm. We need to hurry up and find the others." I said, glaring up at him before sliding down the wall to sit.
"You've been in a war, haven't you?" Roy asked, making me close my eyes.
A lot of my missions that I was given was in places like Iraq, fighting a war on whatever side benefited Ra's and Slade. Not to mention the war in Gotham between the gangs that I fight in constantly to keep my strength up. This, being in War World and fighting the Reach, reminded me too much of what I saw in both those places. I just hope no one ended up dying. No one except Green Beetle and Mongol for starting this.
"Yeah, I have. You'd be surprised how many gang wars you can get caught up in, in Gotham." I said, leaning my head against the wall, only telling him half the truth.
"Alright then, if you've been in a war, than lead the way." Arsenal said, unplugging his arm and gesturing down the hallway.
Now it was my turn to look at him shocked. "What?" I asked, standing up.
"You heard me, lead. You've lead a squad before, so I know you can lead now. Besides, you're the one who's been in a war, not me." Arsenal said.
I nodded, then heard the clicks of the confusing Reach language and the sounds of a fight mixing together. "Come on." I said, running down the hallway towards the noise.
When we made it to the end of the hallway, we saw a boy, one of the kids I remember running away from Star Labs, teleport and push a few Reach aliens off a drop off. Another kid, one of Blue's friends I think, was inside a huge, orange and somehow transparent, shrinking down to regular body size. "Those are the kids that ran away from Star Labs in Taos. Why would they be in War World?" I asked to myself.
"No idea, but the Asian girl (not trying to be racist but that's just what I think Roy would say when he doesn't know her name) is holding something in her hands. It kind of looks like... Luther's tech." Roy said, narrowing his eyes at the only girl in the group.
"Superboy, please." She said to the box in her hand, her accent coming through. The lights circling on it to stop at one direction.
They started walking where the machine pointed them, and I looked over at Arsenal. "Follow them, but don't get caught. We'll show ourselves when we know they aren't our enemies." I said, turning around to follow them without waiting for him to nod.
We followed them through mazes and mazes of tunnels, each twist and turn getting more confusing by the second. Finally, they lead us all the way down to a giant room filled with hundreds, probably thousands, of giant stasis cells.
I looked over at Arsenal, and I was shocked at what I saw. He was double over, his hands on his head like something was going on in his head. Something that I too, knew about. Flashbacks. "Arsenal snap out of it. You aren't in a pod, you aren't at a hospital, we are at War World to save the Team." I said, shaking him after placing both hands on his shoulders.
He only groaned, not coming of his small freak attack. "Crap. I hope you don't shoot me in the face with your laser for this." I said, and I punched him in the face hard enough to get him to look at me like he actually saw me, and not something else.
"Thanks. Sorry for freaking out. We should go help the others." Arsenal said, going back to his big bad I'm fine, I don't need anything attitude.
"It's fine, try not to let it happen again, though. I highly doubt dying would be fun." I said, turning back to where the kids were looking at the Team in their stasis.
While Arsenal had flashbacks from hell, the others were fighting Black Beetle. And they were losing. Very bad. "You help the one kid that's still conscious and I'll close the door before anymore Reach can get inside." I said, running towards the large door we went through to get inside.
I pressed the close button on a key pad, the large door sliding down right before more Reach guards could get in. "Thank you, but who are you guys?" A kid asked, Eduardo I think, running next to me.
"The guys who are going to save you and your friends as long as you listen to us. You can't beat Black Beetle head on, but keep him off balance, and we should be able to live past this." I said, handing him the laser weapon I took from one of the Reach.
"Got it." He said, teleporting somewhere else.
I looked around at the pods, then saw the one with Mongol. "Hey Arsenal, didn't Mongol come to Earth because he didn't like the Reach?" I asked, shouting at him as he distracted Black and Eduardo blasted him.
"Yeah, why?" Arsenal asked, rolling away from Black's sonic beam.
I didn't answer him, instead I took off running towards the stasis pod holding Mongol. I found a keyboard to release Mongol, and started tapping on it. The machine made the same negative noise that the other computer made, the one that shocked me. "I'm really starting to hate that sound." I growled to myself.
"Can you hurry up? We're barely able to hold our own." Arsenal asked, shouting at me with frustration.
"Fine! Stand clear!" I yelled, grabbing my taser and electrocuting the cell to turn it off.
The wall blocking Mongol's escape went away, and he dropped on the ground with a loud thump. "I think your confused on who we should be rescuing." Eduardo said, landing next to me.
"No, I'm just buying us some more time so we can save the others." I said, running towards the cell holding Superboy, Wolf, and Wonder Girl.
"Mongol! This is all your fault!" Black Beetle yelled as he got hit by the girl, Asami I think, with her powers.
"Reach." Mongol growled lowly before charging at Black.
"Good idea, kid." Arsenal said, opening the last cell with Mal and Bumble Bee.
"Thanks. Go find our weapons, I think they should be in the room over there." I said, pointing to a door next to us.
He nodded, running towards the room as I picked up Wonder Girl from the floor. "Ugh, my head hurts." Wonder Girl said as I gestured for everyone to follow us out of the room.
"Yeah, that would have to do with you blacking out." I said, taking my belt from Arsenal when he ran up to me.
We edge around Mongol and Black as they fought, running towards the door once we were far away from them. "Alright, get ready. There will be a whole squad of Reach aliens behind that wall." Arsenal warned as I opened the door. What we saw, shocked us.
Nightwing was there with Miss Martian, and Sphere. All the Reach were down, and Nightwing looked at us with a smile. "Hey Fearless leader. Better late than never, I guess." I said with a smirk as I walked next to him.
"Everyone safe?" Nightwing asked quickly.
"For now. But we should get out of here before Mongol and Black decide a winner." I said, pointing to the two fighting aliens.
He nodded, leading us all to the Bio-ship. Actually Sphere showed us the way back to the Bio-ship, the ones to weak to stand without help sitting in it. "Let's get everyone loaded in so we can go home." M'gann said, waiting for everyone to get into her ship.
"I'm not sure how you guys got here, but I'm guessing you need a ride?" Nightwing asked the group of runaways.
"Yeah, that would be nice." Tye said, the rest of the group walking into the ship.
"Before we go, we should talk about Blue. He betrayed us and-"
Arsenal was interrupted by Bumble Bee sharply saying, "Last time I checked, you didn't do much better. The last thing I remember is you opening an air lock unwarned, and nearly got us all killed."
Arsenal flinched, and I could tell he was going to start beating himself up again, soon. Nightwing narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to say something. But I spoke first. "Yeah, the last thing you remember. I was awake longer than you, and I know that's not what he was planning. He knew we'd all be able to stay in while Blue went out, and when Blue closed the air hatch, he got me out of there, hid me while I was knocked out, than went right back to get more of the Team. But because the Reach moved you guys so quickly, he couldn't. It was a tough problem, but Arsenal did what he had to do, not what he wanted to do. And in case you haven't noticed, Arsenal is the only reason you and Mal, and everyone on the Team and the others are alive. If you ask me, he deserve more of a thank you than an accusation." I said, glaring at her before getting onto the Bio-ship.
I heard Nightwing sigh behind me, and say, "We'll talk about this at the HQ."
"Is everything alright?" The guy, Virgil, asked concerned.
"No, but it could be worse. Just, don't worry about it. Arsenal's new on the Team, and he hasn't exactly gotten everyone's trust." I said, looking over at said person when he sat next to me. Virgil went to talk with his friends, leaving me and Arsenal alone. No one else was paying attention to us.
"Thanks, for sticking up for me back there." He said gratefully.
"Hey, you saved my life. The least I could do was help you tell the truth. And don't start beating yourself up about what happened in there. Like I said, you did what you had to do, not wanted to do. No one said you had to be proud of it." I said, leaning back in my chair.
"Huh. Must mean be true coming from someone who's been in Iraq." Roy said, making my eyes widened.
I looked at him, and he smiled a little. "Yeah, I know about your little plan with the Light. Figured it out when I saw a picture of you as an assassin in Iraq fighting off an enemy of Ra's while I was going through the Justice League data base to see what I've missed. You were wearing a full face mask then, so it was kind of hard to guess at first, but I saw the way you fought matched the way the kid in Iraq did. I was going to tell Nightwing, but considering the fact that you had your chance to kill us all today. Especially me when I had that freak attack. I think I know what side your on. But tell me, are planning on telling the others?" Arsenal asked seriously.
I swallowed thickly, my throat going dry under his gaze. "Honestly, I'm not sure. If I tell them, how do I know they'll trust me enough to get back Blue?" I asked softly.
"You won't. But, if you come out willingly, it will look a lot better than them figuring out by Kaldur. And do you know how to help, Blue?" Roy said, messing with something on his mechanical arm.
"Yeah, I think so. Before you joined, the Team found a cave in a mission. After reading some files, I found out with the right magical energy, we could save Blue. But, that involve them trusting me and getting Zatanna to have enough power to perform the spell. But, there is also summit meeting soon. If we got Blue back before then, we could use the evidence of the Light leaving the cave unprotected to enrage the Reach, making them enemies to each other. And if we were able to get them to admit the truth before they were defeated, then we could use it in the court case against the Justice League." I said, my eyes going wide with dread as I thought about the plan.
"Well, guess you have no choice now. Just tell me when you'll do it, and I'll back you up." Roy said, holding out his fist like Bart did before Blue captured us.
I stared at the fist, before bumping mine against his with a small smile. "Thanks, Arsenal." I said.
"Hey, what's an explosive happy friend for?" Roy asked with a smirk.
"I still can't believe you blew up Lex Corp." I muttered with a grin.
"Yeah, you can. After all, you of all people must know about wanting revenge." Arsenal said, making me nod grimly. Yeah, I knew all about it.
But one thing was for sure, I wouldn't be getting it. Not for a while at least.
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