Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice. I only own the Rangers and the plot.
"So Batman says he has a machine that can enter the Astral Plane?" Wally asked
"Yeah and he is bringing it over right now. We are going to try and open a portal and see where he really keeps on going." Robin said cheerfully
"But why is he bringing it here? What if Agni sees it" Anna asked voicing her concerns "He won't be happy about it."
"We can't use it at the Batcave. Agni has only teleported from here as far as we know and we need to be able to pick up the magical trail."
"Pfft magic." Wally scoffed "It is just some kind of technology that is to far advanced for us."
"You do realize we don't have electricity in our dimension, yes?" Anna asked him
They heard a plane enter the hangar and they all walked over to see Batman unloading a large machine.
"Finally I'll be able to know what he keeps on taking her too." Anna said
Wally looked at her curiously.
Agni's books inched towards the pond but after a thought decided not to. He picked it back up and began reading numbers and symbols off of it.
"Is homework always this dull in this dimension?" Agni commented dropping the book and rolling onto his back to stare up at the shadowy sky.
Zatanna dropped her books as well and sat down next to him. "Yeah pretty much..." she said
Agni hand dropped to his pocket where he had the necklace. It hadn't moved... he just needed to wait for the right moment... damn I'm bad at this... he thought to himself
Zatanna looked over to him and notice his thoughtful expression
"Uh oh," she said "Your thinking, that is never a good sign."
Agni smiled and rolled over "Is that true?" Agni said thinking about it "Yeah... when I start thinking bad things happen."
Agni shot his dagger out and it slid back in several times. "Do we have anymore homework?" he asked
Zatanna shook her head and placed all her books into her bag and stood up "Nope we're done for the day. I'll leave you alone, you don't seem to want any company."
"Nonononono sit back down. I'm just a little tired from fighting with Batman."
"That was 4 hours ago. Have I told that you are a terrible liar?"
Agni sighed and smiled and rolled his eyes "Well I may not be good at this-" he began
"Good at what?"
Agni opened his mouth to answer but something happen that made him clutch his head and scream in pain. He looked up and both Zatanna and Beowulf were doing the same. Agni got up slowly, pain was hitting his head and neck making it numb and difficult to think. Birds were screeching in pain and falling from the skies dead, animals of all sorts were screaming in pain as well and running in all directions. The ground was shaking as if from a earthquake. He looked around for the source of the pain, it wasn't a sound there were no attackers. It was coming from the materiel plane.
Agni was able to open the portal and pick Zatanna up, tossing their books ahead of them he jumped in. Beowulf jump in behind them growling angrily.
Back at the cave the Team were standing around Robin and Batman who were operating a machine that was spurting purple energies in the shape of a portal above them.
"So this is opening a portal into Agni's secret getaway?" Wally said
"We shouldn't be doing this!" M'gann said angrily "We have no right to invade the astral plane... we are not meant to be there."
"Agni is hiding something... and I want to know what it is. If it bothers your conscious then go away." Batman said stoically
"He's going to kill us..." Richie said desperately "He is going to murder us all. You guys are trying to invade the only place he truly calls home." Richie paced back in forth "He is going to go all fiery dragon on us and kill us I'm telling you."
"What is the worst he can do to us? If he does we just have Kal spray him with water." Robin said easily tuning something on the machine. "It's almost done, we should be able to see what he is doing in a few minutes."
"Looks guys, I"m more curious than all of you put together but even I think this is a bad idea." Wallace said.
Connie nodded and too out his hammer "Dis is a bad idea, I ain't going to let you do this." he said simply walking over to the machine
Things got bad from there...
"And how exactly are you going to stop us?" Robin said arrogantly
"With my help that is for sure." Richie said hopping up next to him
Wally zoomed up next to Robin and stood tall next to him.
"This isn't going to end well if it continues... I think we should all-" Kaldur began
"Agni has hidden enough from us." Anna said "It is about time we know what he is hiding." she went and stood next to Robin, her wand was out and pointed at Richie
"Traitor..." Wallace hissed "You would do such a thing to Agni? We should respect his wishes."
Everyone turned at looked at him with mixed expressions, everything from surprise to happiness to amazement to anger.
"Did I just really say that?" Wallace asked himself "No matter I stand with my team."
"He is not hiding anything there. I've been there its his home and you dare try to take that away from him?" Richie said, he had his staff in one had and several green throwing stars in the other
Everything was looking pretty bad; everyone had their weapons out and it was looking like there was going to be a fight.
"Agni trusts us..." Arty said darkly "It is wrong to go behind his back to do this."
"He has no right to hide things from us. He is here in our dimension we have the right to know everything." Wally said
"Like you have nothing to hide." Arty said vehemently "or her" Art pointed at Artemis who was sitting silently next to Connor, Roy and Kaldur "Has hidden nothing, or him," She pointed at Robin, "Or even you." She pointed finally at M'gann "We all hide something."
"That doesn't matter. They are my friends and I trust them. We don't even know if anything you have told us is true." Wally said
Wallace, Richie, Connie and Arty were standing on one side in front of the machine that Batman was still working diligently on seemingly oblivious to what they were doing.
Robin, Wallace and Anna were on the other side blocking them from getting to it.
"We trust Agni, betraying his trust isn't something we should do" Kaldur said "We should wait for him to return with Zatanna."
"Look if he trust him then I don't see why you shouldn't." Artemis said talking about Roy.
Richie fingers twitched on his staff, Connie, Arty and Wallace nodded their heads and took up different fighting positions
"Defend the machine." Robin said
Conner jump between them and held up his hand
"I personally don't care what you do with that machine but there will be no fighting here." he said
Roy and Kaldur where next to him in a split second to back him up.
"The three of you should be standing here with us." Wally said with his fist up about to rush Wallace
Richie was about to shadow jump when Beowulf suddenly fell out of the portal they were trying to open and a large portal opened side from which Agni and Zatanna fell out of.
"Agni!" Arty shouted dashing over to him.
Agni handed Zatanna over to her and stood straight
He slowly surveyed the scene
"Dis is nah gonna be good... it may be time to hide elf boy." Connie whispered to Richie and Wallace
"No. We stand with Agni, no matter what he does."
Agni eyes zoomed over to Batman who was now glaring back at him.
"You... I should have known." Agni said slowly, his hair suddenly bursting into flames, dancing on his dragon-scale armor.
"We know you are hiding something, Agni and we intend to find out what it is."
"Shut your mouth human." Wallace said "or you will find you bit off more than you can chew."
Wally and Wallace launched themselves at each other. They were zooming around the place punching and kicking at each other.
Richie's staff came down at Anna's face knocking her back. Before she knew what was happening Richie's staff had sent magical electrical energies down it temporarily immobilizing her.
Robin was engage with Connie who was blocking of his attacks and defending himself well with just his pure strength. Arty had flung several exploding rocks at the machine. Batman had quickly deflected them and pressed another button on the machine.
Agni roared in rage and he ran at the machine with a conjured hammer in one hand and a ball of white fire in the other.
Batman quickly intercepted him a kick to the chest that sent him sprawling across the floor into the wall.
Agni stood up, rage was radiating off of him as he now went for Batman who he realized was the only way he could destroy the machine.
Batman easily fended off Agni's attacks, taking only a few minor hit from Agni's hidden blade.
"YOU WILL NOT DESTROY MY HOME!" Agni screamed as more fire began to burst off of his arms
"I have no intentions of destroying it." Batman said swatting Agni aside with a punch to the jaw
Agni got back up and his arms began punching out in speed that Batman couldn't comprehend.
"Look what you did to Zatanna! You could have killed us!" He screamed
Robin turned and heard what Agni had said. His eyes darted towards Zatanna who was laying unconscious on the floor with M'gann and Roy standing over her.
There was an explosion from behind him that told him Arty had blown up the machine (it could also be because he saw her fly across the room with smoke trailing after her), he heard Beowulf growl in pain and slump to the floor in pain, even Agni and Zatanna screamed when it blew up.
"What did we do?" he asked himself dashing over to Zatanna.
Anna was able to slowly hobble over to her and placed her hand over her forehead.
"She is not seriously injured. Whatever it was that we did it must have interrupted some kind of magical flow because I feel it was sucked out of her."
Batman and Agni were standing in front of each other, Agni was severely hurt. A misty fire began to form around him. Not like last time where it covered him like a shroud but this time it seemed just to hang around him.
Richie helped Arty up "This isn't good..." he said
"What is he doing?" Arty whispered
"He just materialized his aura. It's a dangerous technique Master Bruce taught him, that would give him an upper hand in any battle." Richie said leading her away
Batman was holding a batarang in his left hand, Agni had a dagger in one hand.
Conner leaped between them.
"Stop it both of you! " he shouted "Before one of you kill the other."
"Do you know what he did today? Do you know how many animals he killed? He almost destroyed my world with tha-" Agni turned to pint at the Machine but it was just a smoking pile of metal that said Arty all over it. "what was just there a minute ago..."
"What did he do Agni, you need to tell us before flipping out like that again."
"He tried to enter the Astral Plane, unauthorized and with technology! He disrupted the magical flow almost killing me, Zatanna and Beo, (at this Beowulf roared reminding everyone he was still there.) You all went behind my back and tried to enter into MY home." Agni said. His arms and hair slowly return to normal but his fiery aura still blazed behind him.
"What do you mean by unauthorized?" Kaldur asked
"Do you guys not get it?" Richie said "He is the guardian of the Astral Plane. It is his job to protect it."
"So somehow we almost killed the both of you?" Robin asked. Beowulf growled "And you too." Robin added
"You killed several animals and creatures there." Zatanna said weakly. She was able to stand but not much.
The screen next to them glowed and there was Aquaman on the screen.
"Uh Batman I see you are a bit busy but this is important." he said
"What is it Aquaman?" Batman said lowering his batarang
Aquaman stepped out of the frame and another person stepped in.
He had long dreadlocks going down his back, a very calm expression on his face and black tattoos on his arms and back.
His hand tapped the screen a few times and he looked at it confused
"Am I doing this right? I'm not sure..." he said in a slow tone "Oh look there is my man Agni. Hey Agni what's up dude? How have you been? I'm here with Roy in some castle in the sky or something... its kinda confusing..."
Everyone looked from him to Kaldur and back again.
"Is that Kaldur?" Robin asked
"Nice to see you again Kal." Richie said waving at the screen
Kal smiled and waved back "Look there's little bro Richie... he looks like he is fine. Oh I see most the Rangers are there too. Hey everyone!" he said in a slow droning tone
Kaldur's jaw dropped as he looked at the different version of himself "Are you sure that is me, Agni?" he asked
Agni nodded his head
Wally stared up at the screen and chuckled "Kaldur is a stoner in your dimension? You guys are all freaks." there was a solid thud and he slumped to the floor unconscious and Wallace was behind him with the pommeled of his sword still raised
"I really hated hat guy." he said
"Nice going there Wallace. Are you sure that was a smart thing to do though?" Kal said
"Kal where is the Redranger?" Agni asked
"He's is right here, Agni." Kaldurs arms left the screen and he pulled an identical version of Roy into the screen.
"Hey Agni- whoa what happened there?" the Redranger said
Kal looked closer at the scene "It looks like Agni was getting his ass kicked... is there a werewolf in there?"
Richie snorted his laughter but kept his staff in hand ready to pounce on Robin confident his many years of training would out stand his.
"Where are you?" Agni asked
"We are in some kind of... well I really have no idea what it is... some kind of boat in the sky. It floats. Really cool if you think about it..." Kal said looking around himself
"How long will it be for you to get here?" Richie asked
"5 minutes." Aquaman said from behind them
"Please get me off of this thing and back onto land. It's freaking me out." the other Roy said "I really miss just going around and killing monsters."
"Get here as soon as you can." Agni said nodding
Kal nodded and moved away and the screen went blank.
Agni turned around and his aura slowly died down back into invisibility "Pack up we are leaving." he said
The Rangers(except Anna) slowly dispersed back to their rooms but the Team stayed in their places.
"Where to?" Robin asked
Agni turned to him with a cold look. "I'm sorry, that was an order only meant for the Rangers"
The Rangers filtered back into the room with their stuff in bags similar to Agni's and they stood around him as he thought.
"We are going to the arena we built." Agni said "We will be staying there in till we are able to get home." he turned to Batman with fire burning in his eyes "If you ever try to enter my realm again, I will hunt you down and you will die, mercilessly and painfully, and that goes for anyone else who tries to enter the Astral Plane." Agni turned to go back to his room without a word.
Anna stared at him as he went over to Zatanna first to see if she was all right then walked off to his room.
"Richie, you are seriously going to take an order like that? You are going to leave just because of a little accident?"
Richie glared at her with a bad imitation of the batglare "He is our captain, I will follow him to the jaws of another dragon if he goes there and he is my friend I will go with him to the most crazy and dangerous of places but what is that to you? You seem to disregard friendship."
Anna turned to Wallace "You are going to just follow him and live in the woods in till we can return? If we can return?"
"I trust Agni. Where he goes he will always find my elven speed and good looks with him but then again you seem not to know the meaning of trust." Wallace said
Anna didn't even bother asking Connie or Arty because she knew their answers without having to ask
Kal and Roy walked into the room cautiously feeling the tension in the room
"Hey guys!" Kal said "Where my man Agni? I haven't seen him in like a month."
Agni walked into the room with his school bag over his shoulder
"Good, Roy and Kal you here, We are leaving, lets go." he said briskly
"Uh hold on dude... What did I miss?" Kaldur said stunned at Agni's attitude
"He is flipping out over us trying to get into the Astral Plane." Anna said
The elven Roy halted and stared at her. "You tried to get into the Astral Plane? What were you purposely trying to anger him?"
"That was a bad move dudette..." Kaldur said
Richie and Connie were behind Agni in moments ready to move out. They waited to see who was going with them.
Arty walked up and stood with them.
"Seriously Arty you are going with him?" Anna said
Arty ignored her and looked at Wallace
"You guys aren't going on any adventures without me." Wallace said gallantly standing next to her.
Kaldur looked between the two rows of people on either side of him and elven Roy
"Well..." he said "Since I weren't here, Agni is my captain and from your own story you wrongly disobeyed orders and his trust, I'm going with him"
Elven Roy nodded and followed him.
"Agni there is no reason for you to go, you should stay. You are over reacting." Anna argued
Richie turned towards her "Don't tell him what to do, traitor. You have no place among us anymore. Your permission Agni?"
Agni nodded
Richie walked over to her and stood squally in front of her. "You Anna Zatara daughter of Wizard Fate the High Elven Wizard are hereby suspended from the Rangers guild in till word from our masters or in till Captain Agni chooses otherwise. You are free to do as you wish."
Anna looked downfallen as Richie marched back to Agni and stood on his right side.
Agni turned to Batman and said "You have my thanks for the hospitality you have shown us in the time we were here. My team and I will be leaving and most likely not returning. If we meet again wish it is as allies."
Agni and the Rangers turned in line and marched out.
At the door Superman and Green Arrow came in and took in quickly what happened.
"Agni wait!" Superman called
"I'm sorry Superman but I cannot fulfill that request." Agni said without breaking his stride.
"Come on, Agni. Stop for a second and tell us what happen." Oliver said trying to hold him back
After Agni and the Rangers were gone Anna was on the couch with Robin and Wally
"I can't believe they are gone." She said "I never thought he would be so angry."
"Yes you did." Zatanna said harshly from behind them "I have only known him for a month and even I know how much the place means to him. You should be ashamed of yourself for I am ashamed you are me." Zatanna said with tears flowing down her face. She turned and ran off down the hall and they heard the door to her room slam.
"We really messed up didn't we?" Wally said sorrowfully
"Yeah I think this time we just might have." Robin said, his head slumping into his hands,