Hello everybody! I'm finally back and updating! I am so sorry to keep you all waiting for a year! I've just been so extremely busy and every chance I had to write was used for something else. I can't thank you all enough for continuing to read even during my absence and as a result, this story has reached nearly 10,000 views! I seriously never would have realized my story would have been viewed so many times by so many people! Thank you all!

I want to give some sort of compensation, but you can't eat Internet cookies, no matter how many I bake. So instead I've written a nice long chapter for you all, as well as updated my other stories. This story is going to be nearly 5,000 words to make up for lost time.I did revise the style and organization of my stories though, making them in a more "mature" format, not content. So now my chapters actually look like part of a real story (haha, not really) instead of the ramblings of one very absent, amateur writer. Thank you all so much again for sticking with this story!

I've also been working a small unofficial team on a secret "project" that involves Young Justice. I can tell you that I am one of the main writers on the board, but more details will come later. :)

A few quick responses to reviews:

SkySighted : Thank you for the kind words! You'll see if your prediction is correct further down this page!

yuu101cutie: Thank you for all the reviews! I've got a nice long chapter so I hope this makes up for all the downtime!

And finally, the part you all waited so long for, here is the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Osprey Gunships 5 miles off the coast of Rylanca Island, 10 minutes before Javelin Crash:

A small contingent of special operations soldiers led by King Faraday sat in unmarked Checkmate helicopters, racing towards the island. They were physically and mentally preparing for the task ahead, checking their gear and memorizing their plans. Faraday sat in the lead helicopter, dressed in the standard full black Checkmate stealth suit, conversing with his squad leaders through his radio.

"This is Phoenix 2-1, 5 minutes," Faraday shouted into the microphone. The aircraft began calling in to count off. "Phoenix 2-2 copies. Phoenix 2-3 copy that. Phoenix 2-4 copies all. Phoenix 2-5 copy."

"Roger, Phoenix 2-1 copies. Let's review the plan one more time," Faraday said into the comlink. "Our UN Checkmate contingent is to retrieve the hostage, Wizard, from the Kobra Cult compound. As Phoenix 2-2 secures the beach, all other squads will breach the compound and extract the hostage. We will rendezvous back at the helicopters for exfill while Phoenix 2-5 holds the LZ. If the primary LZ is compromised, we will exfill at the beachfront secondary LZ with Phoenix 2-2. Load the hostage on the remaining helicopter and the rest of us will use the scuba gear on the helicopter to escape to the USS Houston submarine for extraction. Bombers will level the island 45 minutes after the operation."

The various aircraft crews quickly responded with their understanding of the plan. "Green light, operation is go," relied Faraday.

"This is Dragon 3-1, flying with three fully loaded A-10's. Request permission for gun run on automated antiaircraft hard targets," came a call to the operation leader.

Faraday wasted no time in responding as the island was getting closer and he had no idea on what was awaiting his soldiers there. He could observe from satellite feed that there were multiple automated antiaircraft guns positioned on the island as well as a radar tower. The guns appeared to be nonfunctional at the current moment for whatever reason. Better take advantage of the situation now than wonder why. "This is Bishop, you are clear," he replied. "Thirty seconds!" he yelled to the landing crews.

"Dragon 3-1 copies. Targets lined up, visual of friendlies. Beginning gun run. Strike successful, BDA to follow. Direct hit, triple A destroyed. Moving into holding pattern delta until further orders."

Silence. No men scrambling to defenses, no wailing sirens, nothing.

"Something here is off," mused Faraday. He observed the beach from the window and saw a standing structure. "Phoenix 2-2, there appears to be some sort of station on the beach, 100 meters from the shoreline. Land Obsidian 2-2 to check it out. All other teams, land at Sector Two-Lima," he shouted into the radio. "Phoenix 2-2 copies, moving into position," the pilot replied. "In position, Obsidian 2-2 fast roping now."

As that crew descended, the others roared by over the forest unopposed. Unbeknownst to Faraday or any of the Checkmate soldiers, Manta's men were pushing toward the exact same point while the cultists were fighting to keep them back. The slight fog hanging over the tree line blocked their view of the battle below. They were landing in the middle of a firestorm. Worst of all, the Javelin would crash there in a mere five minutes at the exact same position.

As the approached their primary landing zone, the fighting below became evident. "Phoenix 2-1 to Bishop (Faraday), there appears to be fighting at the landing zone," the pilot told Faraday. As Faraday reached for his radio to contact his fighter squadron, a shock could be felt passing through all the aircraft and all of the electronics suddenly failed.

"EMP!" the pilot yelled as the helicopters plummeted downward toward the treeline, "Brace for impact! Brace for impact! Brace! Brace!". Cultists and Mantatroopers could be seen firing RPG's and other missiles toward the helicopters, grazing some and taking out the tail of another as they fell toward the earth.

Impact. Black.

Faraday shook himself up, pulling his knife out from his belt and cutting the harness holding him to the helicopter.

He called out, and a flurry of responses flooded back to him, miraculously all of the men surviving the crash however, many were either unconscious from the impact or too injured to stand. The helicopter had landed on its side, against what used to be a tall, thick tree. He kicked the already half open bay door completely open and climbed out. The sounds of fighting erupted around him as the Mantatroopers engaged the cultists. Some of the other soldiers dragged themselves toward him and reported all men were alive, but most were not able to fight before running back to their downed helicopters to deal with the injured. Faraday himself was weak and dragged himself over to a tree, leaning against it and pulling a flare gun from his backpack to launch an emergency evacuation flare. However, before he could load it, he dropped it out of weakness and began to see black.

He tried to clear his head and dully watched an RPG streak through the sky and explode on some aircraft firing flares. The aircraft began to spin down toward his position and he quickly rolled behind the tree out of instinct to avoid the explosion and grabbing the flare gun off the ground as he went. As he rolled he observed a purple colored streak fly toward the burning wreck, mere milliseconds before the impact.

BOOM

He peered around the tree warily and saw the crashed aircraft had created a barrier between the helicopters and the fighting between the Mantatroopers and cultists. As he observed the aircraft more closely, he realized the design looked familiar. Javelin. Justice League. The Checkmate agents would be fine.

He tried to call out but was too weak to do so at that point. Black out.

Rooftop with Team:

"Zatanna!" Robin yelled as he dully watched the Javelin spin out of control and explode in flames in the middle of the fighting on the ground below. Falling to his knees, he sobbed, knowing they lost a teammate. "We have to go!" yelled Roy, "The cultists will be here any second!" Robin sat there, completely devoid of response and appeared not to hear the plea to run.

Superboy, instead of waiting for a response, simply ran over and picked up Robin, slinging him over his shoulder as if he was a sack of potatoes. As the Team ran down the stairs again toward a possible rear exit, a squad of cultists ran down the hallway and blocked off one half on the junction. "Freeze! Drop Wizard!" they yelled, seconds later opening fire with their AK-47 assault rifles. As the Team ducked in cover behind various broken debris in the hallways, Kid Flash ran out from behind a fallen shelf to the cultists backs. Before they could react, he pulled the pins on their smoke grenades. (A/N I wrote this part before Summit came out but haven't been able to finish [yeah, that was forever ago, I know], so this scene came about before I watched the Team do something very similar on the actual show. Go figure, they steal all my good stuff, just kidding)

As the grenades covered the men in smoke, the Team took off down the hallway in the opposite direction. The cultists stumbled around in confusion, increasing the smoke radius and blinding them even more. By the time the smoke cleared, the Team was long gone. Seconds later, the League of Shadows operatives were behind the cultists, quickly eliminating them. "Shadow 1 to Base, no eyes on Wizard. Proceeding to roof," the lead operative radioed in, only to find that his radio no longer worked. With a quick gesture, he led his team to the roof, where they believed the Team was still hiding.

Reaching the first floor, the Team approached a set of locked doors which were promptly blown open by Roy's arrow. Stepping outside, they viewed the battle raging to their left and occasionally ducked to avoid stray fire. The fire of the Javelin was seen clearly and the fallen craft was joined by a few Osprey Gunships which were in various stages of destruction. Keeping low, they ran across the open field toward a garage they viewed about 100 yards away.

Kicking open the door, they stumbled into the dark garage, pausing for a few moments to let their eyes adjust. Superboy, dumped Robin on the floor, who had still not recovered. The only light was from the gloomy window, covered in a fine layer of dust. Artemis lit a flare arrow and tossed it on the ground, illuminating the garage. A plethora of old boxes and crates were scattered haphazardly around a wonderful sight. A Humvee. Kid Flash opened the door blowing a cloud of dust away. A single key sat on the driver's seat, with an H engraved on the back.

Shoving they key into the ignition, he tried to start the vehicle. After a few attempts, the Hummer coughed to life, the gas gauge illustrating a small fraction of the gas tank full. Poking around the garage, Aqualad eventually found a few canisters of gas under a pile of old papers. Topping off the tank, the Team turned their attention to the vehicle itself. A Humvee was big, but could not fit the entire Team comfortably or effectively in the seats.

The Humvee was a flatbed variant, with a medium sized bed that held a mounted machine gun. Superboy walked over and unceremoniously ripped off the mount in one large grunt and display of force. Throwing it in the heap of boxes, he tersely remarked, "Not like we needed it,". Throwing Wizard against the back window, Miss Martian used a few lengths of chain they found on a workbench to chain Wizard down. Aqualad then got into the passenger's seat and told Kid Flash to get into the driver's seat. "But I didn't get my license yet! Dad isn't taking me until next month! Not that I'm arguing," he remarked as he got in.

"I need Roy and Artemis on the back to defend and Robin is unfit to drive at the moment. I will provide as much cover to you as I can from here. Superboy and Miss Martian are not able to drive so you are the only one left that can drive this vehicle," Aqualad responded.

Putting the Humvee into gear, Kid Flash punched the gas, rocketing the car straight through the tin garage door, much to the displeasure of the green archer in the back. "Wally! If you want to drive through something, make sure you don't take our heads off first!" she yelled at him as the Humvee flew down the overgrown dirt path leading from the garage.

Kid Flash had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He had played video games, driven his dad's car around the block once (and crashed into a parked car), and watched people drive but had no actual idea what he was doing. Pulling from his many hours in front of a screen losing Epic Dirt Racers Unlimited to Robin, he swerved the Humvee around rocks and launched it over hills. He aimed for the general direction of the wreck, hoping to see if they could recover anything left of Zatanna they could find instead of just leaving everything at the crash site.

As they speed down the dirt road, Artemis and Red Arrow fired out the back at the cultists blasting them off their feet while Aqualad drew up a wall of water to block the incoming bullets and laser bolts. Kid Flash navigated the Humvee through the unbroken ground and over various shrubbery. After bouncing out of a ditch, Artemis exclaimed, "Baywatch! What are you doing?! You almost hit that tree and you nearly just snapped the brake column off!" Instead of responding, he floored the gas harder. Coming near the crash site, they could see wrecked parts of the Javelin everywhere.

"Incoming!" Red Arrow yelled as a dark cylindrical object spitting smoke behind it spiraled toward the speeding vehicle. Kid Flash used his increased perceptual speed to pick out a broken Javelin wing sticking at an angle about 100 meters to their right. Pointing the Humvee toward it with the manually guided missile closing in, he yelled, "Everybody hang on!" and the Team watched in horror as the vehicle shot off the incline.

WHOOSH

The Humvee sailed over the wing relatively parallel to the ground as a rocket slammed into the wing behind them, blowing the wrecked part to even further bits.

BOOM

The Humvee slammed into the ground, rattling the Team where they stood and miraculously the Humvee kept on driving and no one had fallen off, thanks to Miss Martian's telepathy. The impact seemed to jar Robin out of his depressed state and he looked around. "Zatanna?" he asked, looking at Aqualad. "We're near the wreckage and we'll find her. She'll be fine, we've all been through worse". Roaring over toward the smashed remains of the cockpit, the Humvee skidded to a screeching stop among the flames and wreckage when Kid Flash slammed on the brakes.

"Go! Go! Artemis, Red Arrow, cover us!" Aqualad yelled over the sounds of the fighting around them. As the two archers defended their position from behind the Humvee, the rest of the Team searched the wreck for any sign of Zatanna. Combing through the burn remains, Robin rounded a corner inside the burnt out wreckage before seeing a sight that would elate him and scare him to the point of collapsing to his knees if it wasn't for Batman's training.

"ZATANNA!" he yelled upon seeing the unconscious girl laying on the ground in front of shadowy figure. Pulling a birdarang from his utility belt, he took aim at the figure. "Step into the light slowly, I don't want to do anything drastic!" he yelled, still unsure of who guarded his teammate.

A familiar voice spoke out of the darkness, "Is that how you thank someone who saved you girlfriend's life?" The shadowy figure stepped out of the darkness.

(A/N This would totally have been a chapter break but I've kept you waiting long enough)

Rocket.

"You're back! You saved Zatanna!" Robin exclaimed as he ran toward Zatanna, cradling her in his arms. The rest of the Team, minus the archers, sprinted toward the site, weapons drawn. "Rocket!" they all exclaimed in surprise. She replied, "Yeah, I'm back. And anyone want to tell me what's going on here? I get back from a deep space mission two days ago from a Boomtube after the Zeta Tubes break down and the League comes and attacks me! I barely escape with my good looks and track a Justice League Javelin here. Just in time too, saving Zatanna here. I know you said it was always like this, but this time seems a little much. What is going on?!"

Miss Martian replied quickly with an order of events after adding Rocket to the mental link, "A few days ago, we were randomly attacked by the League who claimed that they had no idea who we were. We escaped narrowly to one safe house, picking up Red Arrow there, and escaped again when the League tracked us down. We stayed in Robin's secret safe house while investigating the situation and found out that the League apparently forgot about us as superheroes but those not in the League didn't. We tracked a lead from Zatanna, which linked the Light to the events, and picked up Wizard who's in the Humvee outside, who was originally broken out of Belle Reve by the Cult of Kobra. We drove here after our Javelin was shot down to recover Zatanna. That pretty much sums up what's happened so far."

"Well that's certainly a mouthful," responded Rocket. "Y'all had a rough time. As I said earlier, after I finished my mission, I tried using the long distance Zeta Tube tech, even though it was still in beta stage, but it didn't work, kept saying I wasn't authorized or something like that. I had to find a motherbox from some of your New Genesis friends and Boomtubed my way back to the Hall. Second I get there, I get attacked. I just force bubbled my way out then followed the stream of the Javelin. My belt found it for some reason. Lucky it did too. As I fly toward the island, I see some ground war breaking out and the Javelin spinning out. I flew in and force bubbled the cockpit, which is why it's still somewhat intact. If there's something going on with the League and the Light, we're going to have to fight them again like New Years. Did you guys try Cure Tech?"

Robin pulled a few of the Cure Tech chips from his belt. "I haven't actually had the chance to chip them but the vaccine should have protected them. We're pretty sure there's more to this than just Starro Tech this time," he said.

Explosions in the distance shook the remainder of the cockpit. "We have to go," yelled Aqualad. The Team ran out, running back to the Humvee, taking cover around various pieces of wreckage. As the archers fired at the two dueling factions, a soldier clad in a black uniform with UN markings ran up. He had a mask covering his face and only one hole for his eye. Something about him seemed different from the regular soldier. It could have been his large ponytail, larger than Artemis's, or the way he carried himself, but the Team ignored it as he began to speak.

"Good to see Justice League here. Are you responding to our distress flare?" the soldier asked.

"Distress flare? We are here to recapture Wizard who is tied up in the Humvee," replied Aqualad. "If there is a retrieval team here in trouble, we can assist. As you can see, our Javelin has been shot down and we would be grateful for a ride back if you have helicopters around here."

The soldier shook his head, "We just crash landed after the EMP burst. Some of our electronics survived since we have a hardened uplink but none that can get us communication to the bombers that will level the island in 30 minutes. Phoenix 2-2 landed a little on the beach as our secondary LZ but we don't know if it still is safe."

As Aqualad was about to answer, but heard Red Arrow yell. "Incoming, everybody down!"

Red Arrow flung the door of the Humvee open and threw Wizard out before running. An RPG streaked through the battlefield, nailing a large rock. The resulting explosion flung the Humvee through the air straight at Artemis, who was still shooting the Mantatroopers coming toward them. She spun around, shooting two explosive arrows at the Humvee but the flying hunk of metal could not be deterred from its path of smashing the helpless archer.

"NO!" Kid Flash yelled as he surged forward. Tackling her out of harms way and rolling to avoid the wave of broken and torn metal, he collapsed on top of her.

"Babe, don't do that again. I can't let you get hurt. Not again," he whispered to her.

"Wally... We need to take risks, but don't worry, I'll always be here, just don't run off without me" she quietly whispered back. "Now we need to go."

The pair quickly made their way back to the rest of the Team who was busy defending themselves from the oncoming enemies. The soldier reached into his tactical vest and pulled out a set of smoke grenades. Throwing them ahead of the group, he blanketed the cracked dirt in a thick cloud, perfect for the Team to escape from their attackers.

The Team, following the soldier, ran under the cover of the smoke to the downed helicopters, dragging Wizard and Zatanna behind them. Reaching the ring of destruction, the Team sat in the cover of the helicopters while other soldiers defended that position. The soldier that ran up to them yelled out to the men, "Obsidian 2-3 and Obsidian 2-4, hold this position and cover our escape! The rest of you will me, someone carry Bishop out of here!"

As the two squads remained on the defensive line in the sand, the other two squads grabbed their wounded and began running into the jungle toward the beachfront. The large group dashed through the forest, leaping over stones and dodging the wizzing lasers that streaked through the trees, compliments of both the Mantatroopers and the Kobra cultists.

"There's a fueling station near here," yelled Robin, "They have vehicles we can take,".

Following him closely, the Team and the soldiers ran toward the direction he indicated until they came toward the clearing, stopping in the trees next to the road. The soldiers took up defensive positions while Robin began sneaking over across the open space toward a cluster of seemingly abandoned humvees.

As he came to the center of the road, a loud roar of engines was heard and two T-72 tanks roared over the humvees, crushing them, and leveled their guns at the Boy Wonder. Around 20 cultists streamed from the opposing tree line surrounding him, guns loaded and pointed at him. Kobra himself walked out in between the two tanks, grinning.

"Well Boy Wonder, it looks like you lose," he announced smugly, "Tell your friends to come out wherever they are hiding. There's no use trying to run, I've got you surrounded,".

"Time for Plan B," Robin said into the mental link, "Get ready to hit the cultists with everything you got,".

Sneaking his hand into his belt, he took a few defiant steps toward Kobra before putting his hands behind his head.

"I guess you got me, not like I've got a choice," he said, before pressing the button on the detonator in his hand.

A few beeps were heard near the fueling station, then a massive boom shook the ground, flames arcing 50 feet into the air, the tank itself flying as well into one of the tanks, blowing it to pieces. The cultists and Kobra, momentarily distracted by the explosion, scattered as debris rained from the sky all around them, dodging pieces of shrapnel. As they scattered, the Checkmate commandos rushed from their hidden positions, sending the cultists fleeing in the opposite direction. Superboy ran forward, and leaped onto the remaining tank, pulling up the barrel to disable the main cannon. As the tank fired, he jumped off and the tank backfired into itself, completely disabling all systems. With the tank disabled, the commandos ran across the road pursuing the cultists, sending them fleeing haphazardly into the woods while Kobra was nowhere to be seen.

"Sir, they left their transports here!" yelled a commando to Faraday, who had recently woken up.

The commando was pointing at a few BTR armored personnel carriers slightly burned by the explosion. They were big enough to fit most of the soldiers if the Team rode on the roof.

"Good. Let us make use of them," replied Faraday, "Let's go load up!"

The soldiers boarded the transports as the Team jumped to the tops, grabbing onto whatever sturdy pieces they could find. Gunning the engines, the transports roared to life and took off down the dirt road towards the beach, where the last surviving helicopter remained. A few fleeting attempts by both cultists to stop the convoy were met with a hail of fire from the commandos and archers posed on the APC roofs.

After a brief amount of time, the transports roared out of the forest and onto the sandy beach, where the remaining Checkmate squad was waiting around their helicopter, which had landed on the helipad next to the radar station. They almost accidentally engaged what they believed to be hostile forces but quickly lowered their weapons when they saw Faraday . After the transports parked, one of the squad leaders ran up to Faraday, taking Wizard and cuffing him.

"Sir, an EMP burst knocked out our communications! We've been holding out in the radar station, and for some reason there were cultists locked inside," he said.

"Can your helicopter get my team and Wizard out of here?" interrupted Robin. "We've got an injured person and have to get her out of here."

Before the soldier could respond, a foot came flying out of nowhere, kicking the soldier out of the way. The team turned to the mysterious attacker, the Checkmate soldier that they had seen earlier with the long ponytail, who then pulled out a pistol with one hand and aimed it straight at Faraday, while ripping off his Checkmate helmet with his other hand, revealing a familiar orange and gray one eyed mask.

Deathstroke.

"No one is going anywhere! Drop your weapons or Faraday dies!" he yelled out at the soldiers, who all pointed their weapons at him. At the same time, League of Shadows ninjas ran out of the tree surrounding tree line as Manta troopers streamed out of the water behind them, Black Manta himself at their front, quickly surrounding the entire party. The Checkmate soldiers hesitated, looking towards their fearless leader for orders, but he was just as shocked as they were. Aqualad immediately ran forward at the sight of Black Manta and drew his waterbearers.

"I see the scum of the sea makes an appearance again! You shall not have this day Black Manta!" he yelled.

Black Manta calmly responded, "I have already won, your plan is finished. Your father would be most displeased at this turn of events."

Deathstroke turned toward Aqualad, while keeping his gun pointed at Faraday, and ordered, "Drop your weapons and surrender immediately! You have 5 seconds."

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

Well that's all for now folks! Thank you so much for sticking with this story through all its troubles and hiatuses (I caught the Cartoon Network flu I guess :P ). You all are amazing at thank you for reading! Happy almost 1 year anniversary of the show's conclusion! Don't forget to leave a review, I enjoy reading every single one!

Finally back again,

NextArtemis