Chapter 33
A/N: hey guys! Here we are, the final episode of season one! Don't worry, story ain't over yet. Just excited to finally finish up the season! Hope all've y'all liked the last chapter and enjoy this one! Remember, I just own the hybrids, nothing else is mine.
/comms/
"Bold is raptor."
Telepathy/flashbacks
Mt. Justice, December 31 07:16EST
"Why are we here so early?" Remix yawned stretching her wings.
"Cause Bats called," Nightmare grumbled patting the top of Indie's head as the Indoraptor trotted off to go play with Wolf and Blue.
"We have reason to feel proud of yesterday's victories," Aqualad said as the team walked to the meeting room, "but one thing is certain."
"Somehow the bad guys are still getting inside intel about us," Robin finished.
"Yeah, but at least we know none of us are the mole," Wally spoke optimistically.
"That's correct," Batman replied making all the teens look at each other. "The mole was Red Arrow."
"Roy?"
"No way!"
"Batman that cannot be!" Aqualad spoke up. "He was Green Arrow's protégé, we've all known him for years."
This time, it was Tornado who replied, "Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Cadmus clone."
"We've learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced almost immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick. The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League; which is why we was so angry over any delays to his mission and why he refused to join the team. This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone or a traitor. And his subconscious programming drove him to become League-worthy. So he struck out on his own as Red Arrow. When he was finally admitted, his secondary programming kicked in, and he attempted to betray the League to Vandal Savage. Fortunately, I had already deduced Red Arrow was a clone. We were prepared."
Onyx tilted his head, cautiously sniffing the air. Why…why did Batman smell off?
"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow escaped. He is now a fugitive, considered armed and dangerous."
Conner shivered, rubbing the back of his neck, "If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus…"
Remix and Nightmare gave him supportive looks. "At least we were cloned before the programming was a thing," the Pteranodon hybrid grimaced not wanting to imagine their fates.
"So what happened to the real Roy?" Robin inquired.
"We don't know. He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead."
"We will deploy," Kaldur stated, "the Team will find him."
"Negative, Red Arrow is a member of the Justice League now. Leave him to us," Batman ordered before tapping his comm. "I'm needed on the Watchtower, Red Tornado stay with the kids."
"Recognized: Batman—02."
"Clone or not Red Arrow was one of us," Kaldur said turning to the others, "we will bring him to justice."
"I just need his scent," Onyx replied swinging his tail signaling to his pack members.
"What is it?"
"Are we going to hunt?"
"We're going to need to find someone, and we're not killing, maiming, or mauling," Onyx answered ignoring their irritated grumbles.
The sound of something powering down caught their attention and all heads turned to the now shut down hero. "Tornado?"
"What happened to him?"
"He's all powered down."
"He's offline."
"What the heck would cause that?"
"Guys," Zatanna spoke up, "I'm sensing a low level mystic force at play. I don't know if it cause his shut down, but, now that I think about it, I was getting the same buzz off Batman."
"That might explain why he smelled strange," Onyx added crossing his arms. "Not like he was lying but like…I don't know, it was just off."
"Can you smell RT's scent?" Rocket asked and the others all raised a brow before she smacked her forehead. "Machine, forgot about that. No scent."
"Batman…" Robin frowned, "he called us kids. He never does that."
"Look," Wally said reaching into Tornado's hand and pulling out one of the chips, "it's one of those biotech chips we confiscated from Cheshire."
"Something is not right."
"I'll say, that battle felt too easy," Remix hissed.
"Robin, Zatanna, Kid, Rocket, see if you can get Red Tornado back online. The rest with me to find Ro—Red Arrow," Aqualad corrected.
"Let's go," Onyx barked and he and the raptors followed everyone towards the bioship.
-.-
Washington D.C
"Computer logs indicate Red Arrow zetaed to the Hall from the Watchtower," Artemis said, "but he could be anywhere by now."
"When Roy went solo, he put equipment caches in several major cities, one is here."
Flying over a building, everyone jumped down holding their weapons. Nightmare crept forwards, sniffing the air as they made their way through the halls. "He's here, I have his scent," he relayed. Giving a short bark to Indie and Blue the other two bowed their heads and began sniffing. With that, the three trackers split up to search the different floors.
The team peered over the stair railings, watching as Blue ran into the floor below them before darting back out, chasing after Nightmare and Indie as they shot to a door below.
"Down here!"
Chasing after, the team made it down the stairs in time to see Indie break down the door. An arrow flew over the raptor, Blue climbed up the male, leaping off into the room where they heard a loud thud.
Entering the doorway, they all stared as Blue pinned their former teammate down, growling loudly.
"Onyx, release him," Kaldur ordered. Gold eyes glanced his way, narrowing suspiciously. With a reluctant nod, he gave a short trill and Blue let Roy up retreating a few steps and circling him with Indie. "We have not come to harm or apprehend you. But we require answers."
"Me first," Roy growled. "Tell me something you never told anyone else. Tell me who broke your heart?"
Aqualad sighed, "Tula. The girl I loved chose my best friend Garth over me, while my best friend on the surface, stands accused of being a traitor."
"So are you going to explain what's going on?" Remix asked.
Onyx bared his fangs, "And don't lie, I can tell."
With a gulp, Red Arrow nodded. "Let's get to the Bioship. I'll explain everything there."
-.-
"We were told you were the mole, but we have reason to doubt," Kaldur began as the ship flew in camouflage mode.
"Don't doubt, I was the mole."
All eyes glanced to the resident lie-detector who nodded his head. He was telling the truth.
"Batman and Red Tornado said you're a Cadmus clone, like me," Conner spoke up.
Roy scoffed, "A clone, that explains it. I was a sleeper agent, pre-programmed to infiltrate the League. I…I think Sportsmaster was my handler."
"That makes sense," Remix commented. "He's the Light's Primary enforcer. If there would be anyone they trusted enough to handle a sleeper agent, it'd be him."
"Well that's news. But I remember, he had a phrase, some sort of code that shut me down, put me in some sort of trance to steal secrets for his superiors or incorporate new programming. I'd then carry out all orders subconsciously, completely unaware of what drove me," he said turning to them. "I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion on the three of you. I'm sorry."
"How did Batman discover this? How did he prevent you from betraying the League?"
"He didn't," Roy answered and all of them felt their stomachs drop as he explained what happened, "I was the means, Savage's using something called Starotech to control the League. They're under his complete control."
"So why are you no longer under their control?" M'gann asked.
"No Starotech for starters, just my Cadmus programming. And once I satisfied my last order, my mind cleared. I'm sure Savage planned to infect me too, but he stopped to bask. I used the opportunity to escape."
"I promise, I can clean any residual programming from your mind," Miss M reassured before she tilted her head. "Robin and the others are below us. Decamouflaging and regrouping."
-.-
Watchtower, 23:16EST
"Recognized: Black Canary—13. Red Tornado—16. Red Arrow—21."
"Any problems?" Savage asked.
"Despite an initial setback I was able to reinfect Red Tornado and Red Arrow," Canary replied.
"As well as the entire Team. They await reprogramming back on Earth."
"I think not," Savage smiled. "You see Starotech doesn't reprogram the mind, but give remote control of it."
"We know exactly who's infected and none of you are!" Klarion grinned.
Canary opened her mouth, only to have her cry cut off by a green band wrapping around her mouth and pushing her arms to her sides. Glancing at RT and RA she found them restrained similarly.
"But that is easily rectified," Savage said walking towards them. "Fifty-thousand years of bloodshed and nothing ever troubled me as much as the formation of the Justice League. Dedicated to maintaining society's calcified status quo," he placed a chip on Canary, "the League would protect mankind from disaster, crime, tragedy of any kind. Have you never heard of the survival of the fittest? In essence you heroes are protecting humanity from its own glorious evolution! As such, you forced my more enlightened colleagues and myself to organize a response. We created a cooperative network of operatives," he placed a chip on Tornado, "placed key individuals in key positions. Made certain we were on the cutting edge of all new technologies," he placed the last chip on RA, "genetic engineering, biochemical engineering, robotics, nanorobotics, even techno-sorcery. Not to mention every conceivable method of mind control. Cold, hard science and a littler misdirection and now you champions of stagnation have become our agents of change; forcing the human race to evolve on a more advanced schedule, allowing the Earth to take its rightful place as the center of the cosmos."
-.-
"RT did it, wirelessly bypassed security for us as soon as he arrived," Robin relayed. "Savage shouldn't know we're here."
"Move out!"
In one room, Plastic Man was stacking boxes. Out of the shadows, an arrow flew out, exploding and releasing gas contents into the air. Coughing, the stretchable man pulled back only to have something slapped on the back of his neck.
In the hall Remix hopped between upper levels watching her father down below. "Sorry Dad," she muttered diving down. Sensing something behind him, Hawkman turned to get a mace to the face, knocking him flat on his back. Remix landed on her father's chest, slamming the cure on him and hopping off once he was unconscious.
In another room, the Atom stood dissecting more of the starfish. "Etativel a eceip otni eht ria." Seeing a piece begin to rise from the ground, Atom began to grow to catch it only for an invisible Martian to stick a chip on his back.
Captain Atom fired energy blasts at the glowing dome encircling him. It lowered behind him first, allowing Aqualad to use a water whip to slap the cure on the silver hero.
-.-
"The brats are aboard!" Klarion hissed. "They've taken away four of my toys!"
"Recall all League away missions. It's time to put these brats in their place once and for all."
Klarion grinned. "FINALLY!" he cheered only to frown as his cat hissed at him. "Oh yeah, Vandal, shouldn't those three be back online?"
"What?!"
Savage turned and Canary screamed, her sonic cry tossing Hal into a wall and pushing Savage back. Red Arrow ran over, giving Green Lantern a cure chip as the others handled Savage and Klarion.
"You'll be sorry!" the Chaos lord cackled as a boomtube opened, allowing Hawkwoman, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, and the other Green Lantern to appear.
Canary gave another cry as Manhunter charged, density shifting the Martian ran through her cry, punching her back. Steadying herself, blue eyes widened as Hawkwoman appeared in her field of vision, swinging her mace.
Red Arrow notched a flaming arrow, firing at the Martian. As he planned, he density shifted through it, causing him to gasp as he felt the effects of his weakness. Collapsing to his knees, Roy fired at Batman, who simply smacked his arrow aside before lunging at him. Nearby, Tornado was outmatched, attempting to use his powers to fend off Wonder Woman and Superman. Behind him Lantern made a construct, with grabbed the android, allowing both heroes to rip his limbs off.
"The children have clearly reverse engineered a Starotech cure vaccine, so there's no point in taking them alive," Savage growled.
"Goody."
-.-
"Recognized: Captain Marvel—15. Dr. Fate—17. Icon—20."
As the group stepped out of the tube, M'gann sent several chips flying down at them. One managed to land a hit on Fate, but the other two were vaporized before they could even reach their targets, the blast hitting Miss M and knocking her down.
Rocket and Nightmare shot out from the shadows. The heroine quickly cured Icon, but Marvel turned around, sending a bolt of lighting at Onyx. Channeling his own energy, the hybrid grimaced before firing it back, sending the hero slamming into a wall near Zatanna who gave him a chip.
"Too bad Curotech doesn't work as fast as Starotech, we could use these guys."
"It is a miracle Queen Mera and Drs. Roquette, Spence, and Volko were able to make a cure at all."
"Hey, if you guys aren't busy."
"On my way, the rest of you rendezvous with Robin, Remix, and Superboy."
-.-
Two morning star maces collided and Remix bared her fangs as she fought her mother. As Hawkwoman began an attempt to knee her, Skylar vaulted off her knee into the air, before throwing one of her old bolas at her, tying the woman's wings together as she attempted to fly off the ground. Wolf tackled her down, allowing Robin to apply the cure.
A lasso flew at the Boy Wonder and a dome rose around him, protecting him from the rope. A shrill cry came and Indie tackled Diana from above, allowing Blue to run by and pick up the rope in her jaws and take off with the Amazon's primary weapon.
Hurling Indie off her, Remix grunted as the indoraptor slammed into her, sending them both crashing to the ground. Feeling weight on her wing, Skylar gave a pained cry as she felt a bone bend in a way it wasn't supposed to.
"Remix?! Are you alright?" Rocket asked landing beside her teammate.
"No, I think my wing's broken," she hissed as the other girl helped her to her feet, "but I can still fight."
"Negative Remix," Robin said planting a chip on Lantern, "You're grounded, even with your strength that wing of yours will hinder you. Rocket, get her outta here."
The newest member gave a nod, forming a force bubble around them before they flew down the hall.
Diana few after them only to have a lasso wrap around her arms. Turning, Onyx leveled a glare at his mother. "I don't think so."
Grabbing the rope, Diana yanked on it and Nightmare shot forwards, giving no resistance. Raising a fist, he let lightning arch down as he punched her. Following through with the motion, he flipped in the air, and kicked her in the gut, using the lasso to swing her into Batman.
Hearing a grunt, he looked to see Conner fighting Manhunter and Superman alone. With a shrill whistle, Indie and Blue chased after Wolf and Sphere. The velociraptor and wolf jumped onto Superman, making him stumble. Quickly getting his bearings, he threw the canine off before grabbing Blue and hurling her off. Behind him, Indie swung his massive tail, knocking the hero's feet out from under him.
With a bark, he charged at Manhunter as he grabbed M'gann. Biting his leg, the Martian gave a pained cry releasing his niece. Using her telekinesis, she planted a Curotech chip and tossed her uncle into Superman, knocking both into the wall.
The Man of Steel got up, pushing Manhunter's unconscious body off him. Faster than a speeding bullet, his fist made impact with Miss Martian's face knocking her out cold.
At the sight, Conner growled and lunged at him. Throwing a punch, Superman ducked aside and grabbed his arm, hurling the teen through several floors.
Robin barely avoided getting crushed by Superboy as he fell through his floor. Flipping back, he ducked under one of Batman's punches before a kicked knocked him back. Springing to his feet, he pulled out two nightsticks and charged, swinging them at his mentor who parried in turn. Leaping up for a kick, Batman grabbed his leg, tossing him through the hole in the floor Conner made.
Landing on the ground, he sat up next to Superboy, before a third crash rumbled the floor. Turning, they both saw Nightmare getting up from a crater on the floor with glowing red eyes. "We're not gonna beat them one-on-one!"
"Plan B then!" Conner agreed, grabbing Robin and throwing him at Batman.
Seeing they had the situation handled, Onyx shot back up into the air. Instead of reaching for his rope, he pulled out his bo staff, catching his mother off guard as he switched weapons.
On the ground, Conner and Robin jumped as the ground shook again, revealing Onyx and Diana in the thick of combat. Grabbing his staff, the Amazonian princess ripped it out of his grasp, breaking the weapons in half before attempting to use it to attack him. Slipping within arm's reach, Onyx ducked under another of Wonder Woman's swings, grabbing his lasso. In one quick motion, he wrapped the lasso around one of her wrists before grabbing the other and coiling the rope around in. Springing over her, Onyx yanked on the rope, causing Diana to fall onto her back as her hands were suddenly yanked over her head behind her. Cureotech in hand, Onyx placed it on Diana, releasing the lasso once she was out.
"Y'all alright?" he asked turning to Conner and Robin.
"Yeah, a few broken ribs, some kryptonite poisoning," Robin panted. "You?"
"Been worse, let's regroup with the others!" the small band ran up into the main hangar of the Watchtower, finding Aqualad kneeling over Red Tornado.
"Congratulations, you have won the day," Tornado praised.
"Happy new year, Justice League," the Computer read showing the time as some music started to play.
Wally scooped Artemis off her feet with a smile. "I should've done this a long time ago."
"No kidding," Artemis agreed kissing him.
Conner turned to his girlfriend and they shared their own celebratory kiss as Robin yelped as Zatanna dragged him into one.
Meanwhile, Rocket walked up to Kaldur lightly kissing him on the cheek, "I'm liking this team thing more every day."
"You did good," Onyx said sitting beside Remix. "How's your wing?"
"It's been broken before, I just need a few weeks," she said punching his arm.
"Hey! What was that for?!"
"That was for not letting me help."
"That wasn't me! That was Rob!" he protested.
Remix rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek. "Sure it was dummy. This is for believing I could be a hero," she said yanking him into a kiss.
On the ground, Red Tornado stared at the ceiling not sure how to handle the group of kissing teenagers around him. "Human customs still elude me."
-.-
January 1, 01:34EST
"The entire League was under Savage's control for just over a day. We've accounted for most of that time, but these six went missing for a full sixteen hours we can't account for," Batman informed the rest of the League.
"Sixteen hours," Hawkwoman whispered. "We were unaccounted for sixteen hours, what did we do?"
"We don't know," Batman replied. "But Black Canary and Red Tornado informed me that we returned via Zeta Tube of some sort."
"Which probably means we were off somewhere in the world," one of the Lanterns spoke up.
"In all likely hood," Batman nodded.
"We'll have to check to see if there's been any incidents."
As the rest of her teammates began to talk amongst themselves, Diana walked out to the medbay, peering in over the group of slumbering teenagers. Not that she blamed them for resting after the day they had; poor kids had to be absolutely exhausted.
Sitting down on the edge of her son's bed, she gently traced a bruise on his jaw.
She did that, she hurt her little boy. Diana knew her actions weren't her own; but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt knowing that she was the cause.
The Amazonian princess was dragged out of her thoughts by a slightly distressed whine; Onyx's browed furrowed in his sleep, eyes moving rapidly under closed lids. Brushing a lock of red and black hair out of the way, she silently pressed her forehead to his, "It's ok Little Hunter, it's just a dream," she whispered, pulling a blanket over his shoulders and softly pressing a kiss to his forehead, "you're safe."
To her relief, he didn't even appear to stir, merely slipping back into a peaceful sleep, the corners of his lips barely tilted up. Whatever dream her son was having now was clearly a good one.
"Bad dream?"
Reflexively grabbing her lasso, she sighed in relief as she just saw Bruce enter, coming to no doubt check on Dick. "Almost," she answered putting her lasso away. "How's Dick?"
If she weren't used to reading Bruce after all this time, she would've missed the way he frowned at that. Evidently she wasn't the only one feeling guilt. "He has a few fractured ribs and a sprained wrist. What about Onyx?"
"Just a few bruises and scrapes, otherwise he seems ok," she replied.
Her old friend nodded, a slight frown still present. "What about his mental state?"
She bit the inside of her cheek at then inevitable question. How was she supposed to know? Her sweet boy was unfortunately a lot like her; he didn't like burdening others with his problems. But…given his behavior in the past, she had no reason to suspect he was now scared of her. "Dinah might be more qualified to tell you about that, but he's not scared of me if that's what you're worried about."
Bruce nodded, "Good, trust me, having your own child afraid of you is an experience I wouldn't wish upon anyone."
"Scarecrow?" she asked getting a nod.
"Last encounter didn't go so well," he sighed. "But it comes with the job."
"I wish it didn't," Diana murmured brushing another stray lock out of Onyx's serene face, "they're too young."
"They all are, but it's better to have them going on missions we know about rather than sneaking off on their own like they did with Cadmus," he reminded, and as much as she wanted to disagree, Bruce had a valid point. Having the kids going on missions they knew about meant that if something went wrong they could intervene, and help them if needed. If they ran off on their own…she thought about the original Roy, repressing a shiver at whatever fate awaited the poor boy that fateful night. If they didn't make the team, that could've very well been their protégé's fates.
The door opened and the other mentors walked in, ending their conversation. They all looked as tired as she felt as they went to their respective proteges, checking them over. From what she could tell, Remix, Superboy, and Robin seemed to bear the brunt of the injuries. Robin had broken ribs, Conner was suffering from temporary kryptonite poisoning, and Skylar broke a wing; otherwise the group of teens seemed to be relatively fine besides a few burns, bruises, and scrapes.
"We should probably get them all home," Flash yawned, lightly shaking his nephew. Wally gave an unhappy whine, turning over in the bed and hiding under the pillow. Sighing, Barry, lifted the covers, causing the younger speedster to whine as he was blinded. "Come on slow poke, the sooner you get up the sooner you can go back to bed."
Dinah woke up Conner, Kaldur, Artemis, and Zatanna, all of whom looked a little dazed from their nap as they moved to follow her while J'ohn carried his niece. Roquelle, wasn't nearly as kind when Icon woke her up; she blasted him through a wall before groaning in realization.
Hawkman and Hawkwoman walked in, each taking a seat by their daughter's bed. No doubt the small family was going to stay at the Watchtower tonight so Skylar wouldn't further injure her broken wing. Though the Amazon Princess was curious on as to how the couple was going to keep their daughter in bed when she woke up. If raising her own hybrid child taught her anything, it was when they were given freedom, they weren't particularly willing to surrender it. And Skylar was more temperamental than Onyx.
Turning to Bruce, she smiled as he scooped Dick up in his arms, the small boy practically disappearing under the darkness of his mentor's cape. And, with that, she did the same. Picking Onyx up, she rested his head against her shoulder. A soft smile came to her face as he remained fast asleep, shifting in his slumber into a more comfortable position before his breathing deepened once again. Whistling for Blue and Indie, the two pack members got up, trotting over. It seemed like a good time for them all to head home. Gods knew they all needed a good night's sleep after today.
A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!