Scorpion Warrior

Chapter 30

When I got back to the Justice League universe from the Avengers universe after the big fight between Joan and me, the two Flashes, and the Fantastic Four, I was told that Superman woke up, Deadshot and Slade were arrested, and Bane was arrested as well but sent to rehab for the venom.

A few days later, the team and I decided on having a campfire as a team building exercise. Earlier, I joined Wally on the couch in the living room as he was flipping through the channels and a giant orange robot head with green, rectangular eyes showed up on the screen. "Remind you of anyone?" He said to me which caused me to roll my eyes. "Ouch." I said sarcastically. I still had cuts and bruises on my face from the thing with Joan, but they were already healing. I'm just glad Wally and Barry didn't get as hurt as I did. "So, this place has everything… but not satellite?" I said to him. He started complaining about nothing being on TV, until he noticed M'gann walked in reading a book and sped over to her. Then I took over his job of channel surfing. She offered to make us all a sandwich, but I declined. Good thing, too, because I heard Wally say he cleaned out the whole kitchen.

Then I heard Wally offer a movie. Unfortunately, they were both broke, so they looked at me. "Spent all my cash on a motorcycle, sorry." I said. Wally offered to take M'gann surfing. "Too dark." I called out. Then I heard him offer up a campfire since it was dark. That wasn't too bad an idea… if he hadn't forgotten about the Martians' weaknesses to fire. "Way to go, Loverboy." He got excited about the campfire, roasting marshmallows, making s'mores… then sped off, saying he'd be back in a few minutes.

Then I had a thought, which put an evil grin on my face. I was just about to say that we should invite the rest of the team, just to mess with Wally, but M'gann already stole my idea. Robin, Conner, and Kaldur already gathered in the kitchen just as Wally came back with some stuff for the campfire. "You might need a lot more stuff, Wally." I said, trying to hold back my giggling.

Which brings us back to the present. We were outside, roasting the marshmallows, and I noticed Robin STILL wearing his sunglasses, even outside at night. "Shouldn't you take the sunglasses off at night?" I asked him, slightly sarcastically. "Batman doesn't want me to reveal my secret identity, even to the team." I sighed. Even for him, that's a bit harsh.

He looked towards Wally and said how great an idea this was to go camping and Wally came back telling us the "big difference between camping and a campfire". "Besides, I don't like camping… outdoors… unless I'm with that special someone." That got me thinking about why I didn't think about inviting Karen. Then I got thinking that that might be a little awkward. But Robin snapped me out of my daydream, "Dude, don't get creepy on us now." Which made me giggle a little. "Well this was a great idea!" Megan called out. "She doesn't seem to think so." Wally retorted. "That's because she's on a sugar high." Robin answered. "I didn't even know that could happen to Martians." I said. "Well I get to try s'mores for the first time, thanks to Wally." Megan said excitedly. "What can I say? I'm a sweetie. Get it? Cause s'mores are sweet?" I gave him a thumbs down for that joke. "And I get to go camping for the first time in 18 years thanks to Wally." I said, half-seriously and half-mocking Megan.

"So this is camping?" Conner said. "Sleeping in these flimsy tents and sitting around a fire?" "Wait til you go to your first amusement park." I said to him. "But yeah," Wally continued. "If you're bored, I can sit alone… with Ms. M…" Wally "suggested". I leaned in towards Robin. "He just passed creepy." "You're about as subtle as a train wreck, Wally." He said. "You can't catch the fish unless you go fishing dude." I looked towards Kaldur, hoping Kid Quick would get my hint. He turned to him as well, "No offense."

"But usually we sit around and tell stories." I said. Megan looked at Kaldur and asked him how he became Aqualad. 'This could be interesting.'

Kaldur's story: "I grew up in Shayeris, an Atlantic city. Surface dwellers think all Atlanteans are the same, but our kingdom is many. Many cities, many people, many cultures. When I was twelve, I completed my education and began my mandatory service in the Atlantean military, which is standard for all at that age." I looked shocked. 'Mandatory?' "After a while, I was transferred to the prestigious conservatory of sorcery in the Atlantean capital of Poseidonis. Queen Mera is the head mistress of the conservatory and wife of King Orin, Aquaman. It was a different time for me." 'I could imagine.'

"It was difficult, as it would be for anyone at age fourteen, but also a time in my life where I met friends that I know would last a lifetime. Then came a day… a horrible day when Poseidonis was attacked by the Ocean Master. I can remember it vividly, as if it happened only yesterday, when Aquaman nearly met his end." I must've gotten more interested in his story than anybody. "Aquaman and Ocean Master fought for a long time. When they fought, it seemed to shake the very foundations of the city." 'Like my first fight with Joan…'

"Ocean Master had gained the upper hand and nearly defeated Aquaman. In fact, he was defeated. Until a fellow student named Garth and I intervened on the King's behalf. It was the only thing we could think of doing. The danger did not occur to us, the only thing that mattered to us was that our king was in trouble." 'A true hero.' "That must have been one of the most foolish things Garth and I had ever done, as we had nearly met our own ends.

"We had no hope of defeating him, but the time we spent fighting him was just enough for Aquaman to recover. That was all he needed as he finally triumphed over Ocean Master, saving us and the city. Aquaman is a being of two worlds. On the surface, he is a member of the Justice League; under the sea, he is royalty, carrying the weight of both responsibilities. Too overwhelming for him to handle, as not even he can do it forever." 'Glad I'm not king.'

"Realizing that Batman and Green Arrow have both taken on apprentices, King Orin had been contemplating the same idea." 'Should I take on a partner? Green Arrow has a partner?' "With this in mind, he approached both Garth and myself with the possibility of becoming his protégés. The possibility intrigued me immediately. In fact, Garth and I both considered the offer. Except that Garth chose to stay to continue his studies with sorcery. However, my dream to visit the surface world was a dream come true.

"So at the age of fourteen, I became Aqualad. Aquaman brought Aqualad to the surface." And I interrupted with "And the rest is rock and roll history, eh?" "If you say so." He replied. "Let me tell you how I got started." Wally said.

Wally's story: "This one literally goes back a couple generations. Each generation of Flash started with a bang! Literally. Jay Garrick was in a freak lab accident. Then… BOOM! There it is." "Literally?" I ask him jokingly. "During the 40's and 50's, he was everywhere!" "Literally?" I asked again. "Enough." He said. "Jay Garrick was the fastest man alive… The World's First Flash.

"One day, this guy comes along, says he's one of the Flash's biggest fans. Says he wants to know all about Jay Garrick. Back then, he didn't hide his identity." "So he was like John Stewart." I mentioned. "I guess so. The guy contacts Jay and they spend hours and hours talking about his adventures and the accident. He even went as far as to recreate the accident that created the original." "Barry?" I asked. "You got it." He replied. "The result… was still a big explosion, but lo and behold, he becomes Speedy McSpeed himself. Now he's another Flash." He went on yammering about the differences between the two Flashes. "But it turns out, that the generations of fans goes back in reverse order. I was a fan of the second Flash as he was of the first Flash.

"So, I'm at my uncle's house, and I find his notebooks and get the biggest shock of a lifetime: That your uncle and the Flash are the same person. So once I calmed down, I kept reading. Right to where he wrote down his experiences and experiments. When I found out, I dropped hints here and there that he could use a partner. I tried convincing him, begging him, I mean come on, Batman had Robin by this time and Green Arrow had Speedy." "Was that before or after you rescued me from Cadmus? Cause I had no idea that Green Arrow had a partner, and I was in the Justice League for 4 years." I said.

"Anyway, so I saw his notes…" "And being as stubborn as you are, you were pretty much determined to join him, right?" I asked him, as jokingly as before. "Dude, this is my story." He complained. "Just finish yours already." "Anyway, I have my own chemistry set, so I try to recreate it." "That figures." I got out before Wally started glaring at me. "Anyway…! I was able to recreate the experiment." "And it actually worked?" I asked him. "Not at first… I was hospitalized for a week, and pretty bummed that all I got was an explosion, but a couple weeks later, I was running. I ran all the way to Flash 2's house to show him. And how could he NOT want me as a partner.

"I wish you could've seen his face when I showed him. This time, he jumped at the opportunity to have a partner. He couldn't wait to show the world. He was beyond ecstatic, he couldn't contain his excitement. It was the greatest day in the history of the world. Why you ask?" "Let me put it on the record that nobody asked." I said as another joke. "That was the day the world got Kid Flash. You are all welcome."

"Yes, thank you for giving the Justice League another headache." I said. "Jealous?" He said to me. "I used to be able to fly and shoot laser beams from my eyes. Why would I be jealous of you?" "Cause you couldn't run as fast as Superman." I took the marshmallow he was roasting and ate it in revenge. "Your turn, Robin." Said Megan. "Ha!" Wally called out. "Bats won't even let him tell you his real name. You'll probably get a better origin story out of Supey." "But you already told me, didn't you?" Megan asked. "You guys rescued him from Cadmus." "Him and Jake." He said. "I will hurt you." I threatened. Don't worry, I didn't mean it.

"Chronologically, Conner is only 16 weeks old." I whistled surprisingly at what Kaldur said. "And you have no memories of anything before being rescued?" Megan asked. "I have some memories… given to me from the G-gnomes… they'd teach me about the outside world…" Conner said, a little dejected. "But you could remember things right? They'd feed you information and you could remember it?" Megan asked. "When I was in the pod, they fed me information… I really didn't start thinking for myself until after I got out." Conner said. "What kind of things do you think about now?" I asked him. "The one thing that's always on my mind… is destroying Superman!" My jaw dropped. The air was so tense after he said that.

But for some reason, Robin wasn't saying anything since Megan asked him about his story, so I snapped in has face to snap him out of it, which worked. "Hey, did you hear Conner?" I asked him. "Why do you wanna take down Superman?" Wally asked him. "It's how I feel sometimes." That was all Conner could say for himself. "What if that's why I was created? What if that was the ONLY reason?" He asked. "No way! Everybody, anybody can change." I said. "What about your sister?" Wally asked me. I just ignored that. "What would be the possible reasoning behind this thinking?" Kaldur asked.

"I don't know… Sometimes thoughts happen." "Those are silly thoughts. You should put them out of your head." Megan said. "He does have a point. We don't really know too much about him, though, or what they did to him." Robin said. "In my world…" Kaldur began. "Actions speak louder than words. Superboy has proven his intentions with his actions."

So, after the shock of Conner's… "origin" passed, Wally wanted to know about Megan's story. "Yeah, I can't believe there's life on Mars." I said. "Well, all Martians live in underground tunnels because the surface is uninhabitable." 'Oh yikes.' "Our family lives are very intertwined." 'Uh…' "As you already know, we mostly communicate telepathically." 'Ooh…' "Telepathy helps large Martian families maintain a sense of community." "How many do you have in in your family?" I asked her. "Twelve sisters, seventeen brothers, and over three hundred cousins." I coughed awkwardly and kept my thoughts to myself so she wouldn't hear them. "Are they all hot girls like you?" I leaned in towards Robin. "He's definitely gone way past creepy now." "You sure are a class act, Wally." Robin said to Wally.

"Wouldn't you guys want to visit a planet with three hundred other hot women?" Wally asked us. Conner looked confused, Kaldur looked away, and Robin just looked embarrassed, but I couldn't tell behind the sunglasses. "Dude, if Karen heard me say something like that, she'd SEND me to Mars." I said. "And she could do it too. Continue, Megan."

"Well, half of my cousins are male, but most of them look similar, mostly green like me and Uncle J'onn, but there are some who look different… there are some Martians that are red and white." I giggled a little at something. "Some on my planet don't see the white Martians as equals… they see them as inferior…" I stopped giggling after she said that. "My parents were both green and I was raised in what you would call a… "liberal" type of environment. My family and I had no issues with the white Martians, but others weren't as tolerant. And the treatment of the white Martians were especially horrible…" I seemed a little suspicious about that last part, but kept my thoughts to themselves again. In case Megan was listening in.

"So how'd you come to Earth then?" Wally asked her. "Out of all my family, I was closer to my Uncle J'onn than anybody. We had a great relationship. In fact, we would actually watch your exploits on Earth with the rest of the Justice League, Jake." I beamed. "He grew to be a true beacon of hope and stood for what our society could achieve. He became the most famous Martian in our history! When he returned to Mars, it was declared a day of planet wide celebration. But he had a specific purpose in mind when he came back. When he learned about all of you guys, he decided to introduce a younger Martian hero to Earth. J'onn J'onzz came to Mars and held a competition to find the next Martian who would fly among the heroes of Earth.

"I entered the contest along with half the Martian population. However, I was coming to Earth. The competition was fierce and exciting. It either consumed or touched the lives of every single Martian on the planet. At first, Uncle J'onn looked like he didn't want me to compete. I thought maybe it was that he didn't want me coming to Earth. I saw some of his adventures, and they were life-threatening and dangerous. But I wanted it. I was determined to win. From everything I saw and heard about up to then, I loved it. I wanted to win the whole competition. And my dream came true.

"My heart soared! I was coming to Earth! That was the most exciting time of my life! Now I'm here with all of you!" "We're happy you're with us, Megan." Robin said. "You could say that again." Wally said. "I think we should get to sleep though," Kaldur said. "Don't you all think?" "But first…" Robin said while staring at me. "Alright, I know what you're thinking…" "Really? Are you a telepath like me?" Megan said, interrupting me. "No… no. It's time for my story now." I grinned.

"Well," I started. "This goes as far back as my dad. He started in the police academy about… a few years before I was born. Plus, it was around then that he met my mom, one of Superman's old girlfriends: Lana Lang. Before then, he was a bit of a slacker, but he was a great cop. He graduated from the police academy when I was four and we went camping to celebrate. That was the first time I went camping, and I haven't gone since. Anyway, a few months later, my mom died, but they were never able to find who did it. My dad always said she died with a smile on her face, which made us happy at least." I heard Megan go aww and saw Robin looking down. At least, I think he was. Damn sunglasses.

"He did so great in his job as a cop, better than some of the other ones actually, that 10 years later, he became Chief of Police to this very day. Then when I was in high school, I took up parkour cause I was a big fan of the Flying Graysons and I wanted to be like them as much as I could without actually being there." I saw Robin grin a little. "Who isn't?" He said. "So, four years ago, when I entered 12th grade, I met one of my crushes, Danielle. My class went on this field trip. So, we had free time away from the adults, so we found ourselves in the science lab. It was a big room and I just couldn't help but try parkour there. I wanted to do this trick, you know to impress Danielle. Yeah, I know. It's a cliché, but how else do you impress a girl you like?" "By doing something stupid and dangerous?" Wally said.

"Yes… by doing something stupid and dangerous… What I was gonna try to do is run up the wall on the banister upstairs, jump off and do a large step from the railing, land on the big hourglass in the middle of the room, and front-flip onto the floor where I asked everyone to make room. Unfortunately, I didn't think about how heavy I was compared to the glass. So what happened next was me smashing through the glass and then shot out the other side. I think I was in there a couple seconds.

"So, sometime later, I find out I have super strength while getting mugged, and I also found out that bullets don't hurt me, and later in the day, I find out that I can fly… after flying over to destroy a flaming…" I sighed cause it's still just as embarrassing to say it now as it was to fight then. "A flaming… monster. Anyway, I went to rescue somebody from a guy who was holed up in an abandoned steel mill. Then Metallo appears, he tries to use kryptonite on me, which was actually the stuff I fell in that gave me my powers…

"So at the time, I didn't know that I could absorb kryptonite, so…" "Wait wait wait, you were able to absorb kryptonite?" Wally asked me. "Yeah. I got that power from my mom. My dad said that before she left Smallville, she was fused with a suit that gave her some of the powers of a Kryptonian, and they were passed down to me.

"So… some time before I fought Gorilla Grodd, I found out Danielle was dating the guy who used to bully me throughout freshman and sophomore year." Robin and Wally started laughing their asses off. "Gee… thanks." Megan glared at me and asked me what happened next. "After that, one of the workers moved into the apartment next door to me and I started dating their daughter, Angel, for a while."

"What happened?" Megan asked me while Kaldur and Conner were putting Robin and Wally into their tents since they couldn't stop laughing. "Honestly… it's been practically forever. I can't really remember.

"Also, not only am I a superhero, I'm also a part-time detective. I just so happened to solve two impossible cases… with Batman's help at the end…"

After the excitement of the stories, and after Wally and Robin finally calmed down, everyone started to get tired, so we all decided to turn in. "This was a wonderful evening, but I'm excited to sleep in a tent." Megan said… excitedly. "Right behind you." Said the king of creepy himself, Wally West. Before he was able to take a step, I snagged him with one of my webs. "Your tent's over there." I said, pointing to his tent. "Which reminds me… next time, let's actually camp out in the forest, or an actual campground… rather than in the backyard." I finished.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Haly International Traveling Circus! Where the world at the center ring is your oyster. And introducing our newest pearls: The Daring Dangers!"

An hour ago, we were all gathered together in the mission room while I was debriefing the team. "All throughout Europe, advanced weapons tech was being stolen from manufacturing companies. Each theft coincides with stops made by the Haly circus." I started to get off-track. "Oh that takes me back to a time before Scorpion Warrior… anyway, I'm coming with you guys in an undercover op to catch them."

Roy Harper, Green Arrow's original sidekick, walked over. "Room for one more?" "We've got this covered." Robin replied. "You've got the mission covered, but who's covering the three potential moles you've got tagging along?" Some time ago, there reports of a few moles. "Not to worry, Red. I've got THAT covered." I said to him.

Back in the present, Jack Haly was introducing "The Daring Dangers": Robin was Dan Danger, Conner was Dean Danger, Miss Martian was Dawn Danger, Artemis Crock, Green Arrow's new sidekick, was Diane Danger, and Roy was Dane Danger. 'How Jack managed to find names all starting with the letter D is beyond me.'

A little while earlier, Robin was trying to convince me to join them on the trapeze. "You could be David Danger!" He said. "I'm sure that blowing my cover isn't part of the mission specs, Rob." I responded. "Besides, isn't six a bit too much for a trapeze show?" "Not really." Said Robin. "The Flying Graysons had six people in their troupe." "Oh yeah, they did, didn't they? John, Richard, Mary, Karla, another John, and then Dick." I said to myself, but out loud. "I'm not an acrobat, though." I brought my voice down to a whisper. "I'd have to use the moves I developed as Scorpio. He has quite a few enemies, and if anybody caught on that he was there, I'd either be mobbed, my identity would be revealed, or the audience would be put in… danger." I said, until I caught what I said. "No pun intended…"

So, after a lot of arguing, they finally relented and named me as manager of the Daring Dangers.

Once again, back in the present, Robin didn't look all that well to me. "What's wrong? He's normally better than that out in the field." I helped hold Robin up while we overheard another circus act complain about the Dangers lying about their identities. "You wanna say that to my face?" I mumbled to myself. Robin got to his feet while an official looking guy in a suit walked up to us and introduced himself as Faraday of Interpol. "I'm Jake Smith, their manager. If you have a problem, talk to me." I said to him. "Easy kid. None of you are in any trouble. Are you all a new act?" He asked. "Yeah. New act." Robin replied. "Then that probably clears you. But I'll get Haly for this."

[Later]

'If Interpol's on this, why do we have to deal with this?' Conner was complaining about why we're dealing with something that Interpol can, and probably should, deal with by themselves in our psychic link that Megan established a few seconds ago. 'Relax, Conner. My dad got some intel about some thefts that were coinciding with the tour schedule of Jack Haly, the circus ringmaster who brought the Flying Graysons to fame, so he asked me to check it out. Jack and my dad are close friends, so he asked me to check it out as a favor.' I thought back to him. 'Why did you have to bring us along?' Conner asked again. 'Didn't seem like you were doing anything better.' I retorted.

'How do we know the thieves will hit here?' Artemis said. 'There are more obvious targets.' Roy had a good point there. 'True, but those spots are already being covered by Faraday, so we have no problem there. Wow… the one time I don't wear my costume.' It was my turn to complain now. 'I analyzed the tech already stolen, and the pattern suggests this is the place.

'Ha ha… I love having night vision binoculars.' I was getting off focus, but got myself back on track and continued scanning the area. 'There, northeast quadrant.' Conner called out. I watched the fenced part and saw somebody flip over the fence. 'Okay if thieves are getting smarter…' 'That could be Carlo or his brother. Keep an open mind.' Robin said. 'Move out.' I called out.

A few minutes later, we found ourselves closer to the warehouse. 'Anybody know where he went?' I asked. A loud crash coming from behind us nearly gave me a heart attack. 'Don't scare me like that.' 'Does anyone know where he went?' Robin asked. I shrugged and Conner said, 'In the warehouse.' 'How… never mind.' I started to ask how he knew that, until I remembered his Kryptonian DNA gives him x-ray vision.

"Hahaha! Caught red handed!" I don't think I've ever been out in the field with the team yet, but that was a pretty unnerving laugh. "Red faced too I'll bet." 'That… was awful.' "Acrobatics won't get you out of this." Said Artemis, while she and Roy were aiming their arrows at our thief. "Yet they got him in here…" I said. Then the thief took a flare and a big stream of fire was blown out at us. "Whoa!" I called out as we all tried to avoid getting toasted. "Those crates are full of live ammo! Move!" Roy called out. "They're what?" Was the only thing I was able to get out before the ammo exploded on us and lit the warehouse on fire. I was launched out of the building and slammed into one of the C-trains when it exploded, so I don't know if anybody survived or not.

The next morning, we were all back at the circus, with the team in their Daring Dangers costumes. And there was Faraday yelling at Jack about last night's little tussle. "I did a bunk check last night, and everybody in my troupe was asleep in their bunks." Haly said. "Wow…" I said out loud, then switched to the psychic link Megan set up. 'I didn't think he'd cover for us.' I said. 'And if he's lying about us…' Artemis said. 'Then who else is he covering for…?' I finished.

Later, we were on the train Haly uses to transport the circus. 'So now there's two thieves? The firebreather and one of the acrobat brothers?' Artemis asked. 'This all seems too weird.' I said. 'I don't think there's two.' Robin said while he was looking at his holo-computer. "Here's security footage for Madrid.' There was a shadowy figure breaking into a building. 'And now Paris.' Another shadowy figure tightroping across an electrical wire. 'The strongman and the clown too? If the whole circus is involved, then Haly might even be the mastermind.' Roy said. 'I don't know… something's fishy…' I said. 'Jack Haly is one of my dad's best friends.' 'But that would explain why Haly's covering for us though…' Artemis said. Robin shot up. "I told you to keep an open mind!" And stormed off.

'Hello Megan, I could read Haly's mind.' Megan said. 'I don't think you should. You might tip him off.' Roy said. 'Hey, I'm gonna go check up on Robin…' I said. Then I walked out and started tailing him, keeping hidden so he doesn't see me. He stopped for a second to look at something, until he started talking to someone on his comm link. I hid between two of the boxcars he was looking away from and I overheard him say, "I left you behind because you know my backstory. You would've questioned my objectivity." Then he walked away after looking at one more poster. As soon as I thought the coast was clear, I walked up to and looked at the posters he was looking at, one of which was a poster for The Flying Graysons.

'He snapped when Artemis suggested Jack could be the mastermind behind these thefts… open mind, yet Robin was being a bit… he was putting more heart into this mission than I've seen. Why does Robin care so much about proving Jack innocent? I mean, I do too, but Robin… then he zoned out when Megan asked about his own backstory. What does he have to do with the Flying Graysons?' Then I thought back to their final performance. To a time before Scorpion Warrior happened.

I was a big fan of the Flying Graysons. There was Jack Haly in the center of the ring introducing the final act of all his shows, the ones all of his audiences went to see: The Flying Graysons. "He loved them," my dad would tell me. "Even more than his own family." After their routines, Dick Grayson couldn't join in their last routine since it was too dangerous. But I was secretly jealous of Dick cause he'd always have the best seat. Oh boy… Then they'd do the routine. It went smoothly, as usual, until the whole rig broke and they all fell. Normally, there'd be a net to catch them, but what made the final act of their shows really exciting was NO net at all. After a minute or so, my dad, the fifteen year veteran Chief of Police at the time, marking the area as a crime scene. Unfortunately, there was no substantial evidence to implicate something, so they had to close the case as a freak accident.

'That poor kid… but Robin…? And he lashes out…?' I put it in the back of my mind and stopped thinking about it.

A while later, after the Daring Dangers' show, I was helping to pack up the train. A little after that, Megan was sick with Robin's flu, but Robin was feeling better. "Who knew Martians could get sick?" She said. "H. G. Wells?" I was never too much of a fan of his. I only liked the movie Time Machine with Guy Pearce. "When did you get sick?" I asked her. "Just after boarding the train. It just came on so suddenly. "Same with me the other night." Robin said. "Ray rubbed my head for good luck." "Ray? The roustabout?" I wondered. "He touched Megan before we boarded." Said Conner, a bit angrily I could add. "If he's making everybody sick, I don't want him near me." I said. I'm horrible when I'm sick. I followed along with everybody when we said we'd check up on Ray.

I sat down on a crate when we walked in the prop room. "Does this circus have an elephant I don't know about?" I asked. "Not on foreign tours." Robin replied. I hopped off the crate and opened it. "Empty?" "No wait," Roy reached into the crate. "Ash." "From the warehouse fire in Bruge?" I wondered. "Guys…? I found Ray." Artemis said. "Or Ray's face?" I said, confused. "Split up! Search the whole train!" Robin called out. I partnered up with him in the search and heard some mumbling coming from another room. Robin kicked the door in and we found Jack Haly himself bound and gagged on the floor. "Who did this to you?" I asked him. "Ray! Ray the roustabout, right after the train left Bruge! He knocked me out and put me in here." Robin dashed out of the room, and I was about to follow him, before Jack stopped me. "Jake, wanna untie me first?" "Sorry Mr. Haly, we think there's something going on. You'll be safer here."

Then I caught up with Robin. "So what's the plan?" I asked him. "Can't reach Dawn." He said. "So much for radio silence. Call the others that way." I said. My comm link's been busted after the ordeal with Joan, so I couldn't listen in on what they were gonna plan.

A few minutes later, Robin and I ended up on the roof with a clown and Conner right when Conner said, "That won't work on me clown." "That's no clown, that's Parasite. The guy who once stole Superman's powers." Robin said. I looked a little nervous. "Stay back! The weakness comes from when he touches you!" 'Oh crap.' "I have been a bit gluttonous lately. Fed off the powers and skills of nearly every loser in this troupe." 'Loser?' "But the pièce de résistancewas when I chowed down on Dawn Danger's abilities. Thought I'd munch on her trapeze skills, imagine my surprise when she tasted like Martian Manhunter instead." He looked towards Conner. "She was just an appetizer, though, compared to what I'm gonna get from him!" His eyes glowed green and Conner was pulled towards him, eventually Parasite grabbed Conner and looked like he was choking him. "That's… not good." I said. "Everyone! Stay whelmed! Subdue, but keep your distance!" Robin told us. 'Whelmed?'

Roy and Artemis were aiming their arrows at Parasite, but he torched their arrows using some heat vision. "Wait… heat vision? Conner doesn't have heat vision. Hey Robin, did he always have Superman's powers?" "No, he can't permanently keep anybody's powers." He responded. "Wow… I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but… I'm sated. Hate to eat and run." He flew off, psychically carrying a trunk with him. "Oh no you don't!" Robin tried catching up to him, but he just bitch slapped him right back down to the train. He fell off the train, but I caught him with one of my webs and helped pull him up.

"So what do we do now?" After everyone got back in uniform, we all reconvened in one of the leisure cars. Robin pulled out a flash drive and held it up. "Now, we take a look at this." After plugging it into his wrist comp, a holographic display popped up and started hacking the device. After it got in, Robin started analyzing what was in it. "Looks like Parasite's working for Intergang." I sat down next to him to get a look at the display for myself. "Everything he stole, they're all pieces of something." "It looks like they're putting together a weapon that generates…" I started to say while waiting for the rest of the display to show up. "Black holes?" Robin and I both said at the same time.

"No way." Roy said. "To build that, you'd need a particle accelerator." "Roy? What's in Geneva?" I asked him. "A large Boson Collider. And Geneva is the circus's next stop." He said. "Bingo. But now that Parasite can fly, he's got a huge head start on us." Said Robin. Roy pulled out a big bow. "So let's go. Without powers, the others will just hold us back." Artemis held up a crossbow. "You aren't the only one with a backup bow." Conner slammed a fist on the wall. "DUDE! HEART ATTACK!" I snapped at him. "My powers are back!" He called out. "How? Megan's not even…" "I guess Kryptonian's recover faster than humans or Martians." "Don't even think about leaving me behind." Megan said with confidence. I shot a web and snagged Roy's bow with it. "Or me."

A little while later, we ended up in Geneva. We found some guards unconscious outside, probably some of Parasite's other victims. "We need to lure him away so one of us can safely…" Conner's screaming and rushing towards Parasite wouldn't let Robin finish his plan. "Okay new plan: Once this is over, convince Batman to help get Conner the well deserved anger management therapy he so desperately needs." Conner rushed over and got caught in Parasite's telekinesis. Then was pulled over, but instead of being grabbed like last time, Conner gave him a right cross. "And then do what he did, but more focused."

Unfortunately, Conner was sapped again. "Scratch that last part." The boson collider started charging up. "Okay new plan: Stop that thing!" Megan walked out and made herself known to Parasite. "So what's wrong with Geneva?" "Never liked the food." He said. "But the menu keeps improving." He pulled Megan over with his telekinesis and tried sapping her, but she actually kicked butt. I don't know what happened, but when she landed, she swept him and he landed hard. That actually impressed me.

And then Roy tried shooting a foam-release arrow at Parasite. But he used telekinesis to lift Roy up and start squeezing him. Then Robin was at the computer attempting to sabotage the machine. And Artemis fired an arrow at Parasite that released some kind of flammable gas, I don't really remember which kind, and he was firing Conner's heat vision, which exploded the gas and caused a fire around him. "You're so clever. Tricking me into igniting flammable gas? I have a double dose of invulnerability. Fire… can't… touch me…"

"What's wrong, Parasite?" I said tauntingly. "Martian powers got you beat?" "You just chowed on a Martian's abilities." Said Robin. "Including our weaknesses." Megan finished. Then Agent Faraday walked over and placed an inhibitor collar around Parasite's neck, courtesy of an anonymous tip from good old me. "Thanks for the tip, Jake. It helps to have a couple inhibitor collars lying around." I grinned as Parasite was taken away.

Sometime later, I was walking over to Jack's office to talk to him about today's assignment when I heard him talking to Robin in there. What really caught me was when I heard Jack call Robin Dick. I completely forgot what I was gonna talk to Jack about because that brought up memories of the Flying Graysons' last show. I walked away, pretty sad.

Later, I was hanging out backstage, watching the Daring Dangers do their farewell performance.

Later, after the show was over, I caught Robin by himself in the changing room. "Hey Robin…" I said to him.

Robin: "Hey Jake. Something up?"

Me: "I was walking over to Jack's office to talk to him about the assignment and… well I know you're Dick Grayson of the Flying Graysons."

Robin: "What're you talking about?"

Me: "I heard Jack call you Dick. Of course, I did have some suspicions about you and Dick being the same person since the campfire."

Robin: "Really?"

Me: "Yeah. During my story, I saw you grin when I mentioned I was a fan of your family."

Robin: "Whoops… Batman's gonna kill me. Well what other proof do you have?"

Me: "When you snapped at Artemis when she accused Jack of being the mastermind behind the thefts. Then I tailed you a while after you left."

Robin: "He's… definitely gonna kill me now. Wait, you tailed me?"

Me: "I wanted to talk to you, see how you were doing. Then I found you looking at an old poster of your family. My dad once told me about how Jack even loved you guys more than his own family. And the opposite was also true: We loved you guys just as much as Jack did."

Robin: "So wait, when you said you wanted to take parkour?"

Me: "You guys actually inspired me to take it up. And I loved doing it."

Robin: "Wow… I'm actually flattered."

Me: "Yeah, so when your family had that spill back then, my dad was the first on the case. He suspected sabotage, but there wasn't enough evidence to rule any suspects, so he had to close the case as accidental death… sorry Rob."

Robin: "Don't worry about that. Batman and I caught the guys who did it during one of my first few outings as Robin."

Me: "Seriously? Can I tell my dad that? Cause he'd be thrilled."

Robin: "I don't know… it might mean having to tell him my secret."

Me: "Don't worry about that. I have a way with words. Besides, I know how much secret identities are to a superhero, so yours is entirely safe with me."

Robin: "And Wally."

Me: "He knows too?"

Robin: "Yeah. Him and I go way back, so I trusted him."

Me: "Of course… it'll be the whole matter of how I can talk to my dad without him finding out about you though…"

Robin: "Well don't worry about that either. If you trust him to keep your own identity a secret, then if he knows about me, then I'll okay with it."

So later that night, I told my dad everything Robin told me. He told me how much of a relief it was to know that the killers were brought to justice that he didn't even ask where I got my source. He's just glad to finally mark the case closed. And he was none the wiser.