I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Darkest Hour
"Happy New Year's Eve," Cassius smiled as Cassandra looked up at him, eyes still clouded from sleep. "Come on. Kaldur's called a team meeting at seven, so you need to get up and dressed. And we're supposed to meet in our costumes."
Cassandra nodded and stood, yawning and stretching before beginning to gather her costume and towel. As she did, he headed to Rose's room, waking her and passing her the message as well before going to take his own shower. Once he was done, he waited just outside the living quarters for them. Once they were done showering, getting dressed, and had dropped off their pajamas in their rooms, the three of them walked into the hallway, finding the others just passing.
"Somehow, the bad guys are still getting inside intel about us," Robin said.
"Yeah, but, at least we know none of us are the mole," Wally said.
"That's correct," Batman said, he and Red Tornado standing on the far side of the room. "The mole was Red Arrow." He pulled up the computer screen with a picture of him.
"Roy?" Robin asked.
"No way!" Wally said.
"Batman, that cannot be," Aqualad said. "He was Green Arrow's protégé. We have all known him for years."
Just then, Cassandra tugged Cassius's hand and he glanced at her, seeing her staring at Batman, Cassius seeing the fear and distrust in her eyes. He extended a hair-thick strand of goo through the Team's combined shadow to Megan, tapping her leg twice, and felt the connection form instantly.
"Cassandra, show me," Cassius said.
Instantly, images flooded his head. Batman's posture was rigid and set, seeming almost identical to Red Tornado's, which was simply that of a robot. However, through his connection with Cassandra, Cassius knew that Batman's usual posture was tense and on edge, not stiff and locked up. The images faded and Megan opened the rest of their links again.
"Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Project Cadmus clone," Tornado said, the image changing from Red Arrow to Cadmus's surface-level building.
"Batman's being controlled," Cassius warned. "Cassandra can tell by his posture that he's not himself. The closest comparison I can think of is that he's acting as much as a robot as Red Tornado is."
"We've learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced immediately after becoming Green Arrow's sidekick," Batman said. "The clone was pre-programmed with a drive to join the Justice League, which is why he was so angry over any delays to his admission, and why he refused to join the Team."
"How do we play this?" Robin asked.
"This Roy Harper had no idea he was a clone, or a traitor, and his subconscious programming drove him to become League-worthy," Batman continued. "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."
"Play along like we believe them for now," Cassius said. "We have to assume the entire League has been compromised."
"Fortunately, I had already deduced Red Arrow was a clone," Batman said. "We were prepared."
"Savage was subdued, but Red Arrow escaped," Tornado said. "He is now a fugitive. Armed and dangerous."
"If you guys hadn't rescued me from Cadmus..." Connor trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.
"What...What happened to the real Roy?" Robin asked.
"We don't know," Batman said. "He isn't at Cadmus. We have to face the possibility that the real Roy Harper is dead."
Zatanna set a hand on Robin's shoulder, and Artemis raised a hand toward Wally's, only to hesitate and pull it back.
"The clone Roy," Kaldur said. "The Team will find him."
"Negative," Batman said. "Red Arrow's a member of the Justice League now. Leave him to us." Just then, his communicator beeped and he lifted his hand to it as the holographic screen shut off behind him. "I'm needed on the Watchtower. Tornado, stay with the kids."
Robin's eyes narrowed slightly. "Whoever's in control just slipped up. Batman doesn't call us kids."
"Vandal Savage would," Cassius said.
"Clone or no clone, Red Arrow was one of us," Kaldur said as Red Tornado walked forward, one hand raised toward the back of Kaldur's head, holding something. "We will go after him."
"Behind you!" Cassius warned, left hand pulling Kaldur away from Red Tornado just as his body locked up and he fell still. His other hand formed goo and shot forward, shoving Tornado back into the wall, pinning him there. "He shut down."
"Guys, I'm sensing a low-level mystic force at play," Zatanna said. "I don't know if it caused his shut down but...now that I think about it, I was getting the same buzz off Batman."
"It's probably how they're being controlled," Cassius sad, an extra goo arm forming from the side of the one holding Tornado against the wall, stretching over to the hand that would have put whatever he was holding against the back of Kaldur's head. "Let's see what he meant to stick on you."
The goo arm opened Tornado's hand and both arms retracted, allowing Tornado to fall to the ground. Then, he held up a small triangular piece of some kind of flesh with red lines crossing over it and the corners bent into small points. Cassius frowned, showing the others.
"Same mystic buzz," Zatanna nodded.
"It's one of those biotech chips we confiscated off of Cheshire during the ambush," Wally said.
"Something is not right," Kaldur said. "Robin, Kid, Zatanna, Rocket, see if you can get Tornado back online."
"I think Red Arrow's secondary programming was to stick these chips to the back of the League's heads, granting Vandal Savage control," Cassius said. "But then Red Arrow's programming was finished and he was free, so he fled and managed to escape the League."
"I believe you may be correct," Kaldur said. "Everyone else will come with me to find Ro-Red Arrow. Cassius, stay here in order to restrain Tornado if necessary."
They all nodded and turned to leave, Cassandra and Rose hesitating. He smiled, giving them both a hug.
"Go, I'll be fine," Cassius promised.
They nodded and followed the others. Cassius turned back to the group he was assigned to just as Zatanna used her magic to summon a pair of metal block tables and Robin returned from Tornado's apartment with a bald, Caucasian, android body, setting it on one table and Tornado on the other. Then, Wally plugged a cord between the two bodies' heads and began to transfer Red Tornado's consciousness between the bodies.
"So, let me get this straight," Rocket said. "Red Tornado built this android body...to party."
"Not how he's put it, but...yeah, more or less," Zatanna said.
"Recognize Black Canary, One-Three," the cave's computer reported as the Zeta tube powered on, Cassius's gut dropping instantly, Robin's eyes widening slightly.
"Hey guys," Canary said, sounding sympathetic and worried. "I just wanted to check in and see how you're handling thi-" she stopped, staring at Red Tornado. "Wat are you doing to Red!?"
"It's not how it looks!" Wally said hurriedly.
"It looks like you're downloading his consciousness into a new body!" Canary said, just as the download finished.
"Okay, it's pretty much exactly how it looks," Wally said as Cassius braced himself to run for his life. "But-"
Tornado sat up suddenly, eyes wide. "Team, get out of the cave! Now!"
Cassius took off instantly, only for the Canary Cry to crash into him anyway, slamming him into Tornado's new body, smashing it completely, and then both of them to crash into Wally, all three bouncing across the room. At the same time, Tornado's legs crashed into Zatanna and Rocket, sending both flying as well. Cassius groaned as Robin stood from where he'd hidden behind the table Tornado's new body was on and attacked Canary. Cassius tried to stand, only for his entire body to throb, dropping him back to his forearms and knees where he began to couch up blood, then wretched and vomited more of it.
"Cassius!" Zatanna gasped.
"Fight!" Cassius choked out before beginning to cough up more blood.
However, just as soon as Canary hurled Robin, a small metal disk on her shoulder released a cloud of thick, green, sleeping gas, which Rocket caught in a spherical barrier with Canary, holding it until she had passed out.
"Black Canary attacked us?" Zatanna asked.
"Black Canary is the least of our problems," Tornado said. "We must abandon the Cave."
"Least of your worries!" Wally said, kneeling beside Cassius.
"Cassius!" Cassandra shrieked, sprinting over to him suddenly, Rose just behind her.
"What are you doing here?" Robin asked.
"I saw him get hurt!" Rose said as the two knelt beside Cassius, Cassandra in tears.
"I'm...alright," he said, trying to smile reassuringly. "I'm healing already. I'm going to be fine. I just need time to rest."
"Will you still be able to fight the League?" Robin asked.
"I don't have a choice," Cassius said. "I'll be alright, but we need to leave, now."
The others nodded and Cassandra and Rose lifted Cassius to his feet, helping him stumble and stagger to the hangar where the Bio-Ship was waiting, Connor just leading Sphere into the ship.
"Cassius!" Megan gasped, flying over. "What happened to him!?"
"Black Canary," Robin said. "We can explain on the way, but we need to leave before the League gets here."
"What?" Kaldur asked. "Why?"
"Recognize Icon-"
"No time!" Robin shouted. "Go!"
They all sprinted onto the ship, Megan flying Cassius and dropping him unceremoniously on the floor with a rushed apology, then took off the moment the back of the ship had sealed, before anyone else was even in their seats. She cloaked the ship before it left the hangar and flew quickly toward the Hall of Justice. After a few moments of flying without being attacked, Cassandra and Rose helped Cassius into a seat, then sat to either side of him, both taking one of his hands as his face began to slowly contort more and more in pain.
"Zatanna, can you help him?" Rose asked after a moment.
"I'll try," Zatanna said. "I can't promise it'll work, though."
Rose nodded and Zatanna cast a quick spell on Cassius, the same she'd used on Cassandra when she'd been shot. Then, everyone turned to Tornado's upper body, which was the only part they'd brought with them, and which had the outer shell around its left eye broken off.
"The entire League is under the complete mental domination of Vandal Savage," Tornado said. "Red Arrow seems to have been his means, his method, with something Savage referred to as Starro Tech, an alien bio-organism infuse with nanotechnology and magic. It shuts down the mind's autonomy and allows Savage to reprogram the individual to suit his needs. Even my inorganic brain was not immune, but the process requires zero point one six nanoseconds to fully integrate with its host's nervous system. That delay allowed me to create an internal subprogram which would disconnect my internal power cells if I tried to infect another person. Fortunately, the Starro Tech is body-specific. As John Smith, I am not free of outside control."
"This Starro Tech," Robin said. "It worked on super-powered humans? Four flavors of alien? An android? Even Doctor Fate? Defeating all of you without a fight?"
"Indeed," Tornado said. "A remarkable achievement. One not easily countered."
"Stop here," Kaldur said suddenly, Megan stopping the ship.
"What's up?" Robin asked.
"Roy set up equipment caches after striking out on his own," Kaldur said. "This is one of them. I will go and see if he is there, then bring him back. Tornado, was he infected?"
"No," Tornado said. "He was controlled only by his Cadmus programming."
Kaldur nodded and left the ship to the building they were hovering over. As they did, Cassius closed his eyes, his thoughts returning to what had happened.
"It's not reprogramming," Cassius said. "It's remote control."
"How do you know?" Tornado asked. "Because reprogramming would look more natural once it's done, but when Cassandra read Batman's body language, he was rigid and unnatural, like a robot. No offense."
"None taken," Tornado said.
Cassandra tapped Cassius's arm and signed, "Black Canary, too."
"She says Canary had similar body language," Cassius relayed. "Someone, probably the Light themselves, is remote controlling the League. We need to find a way to remove the chips. Starting with Black Canary, who we've got tied up in the back of the ship."
"Kaldur's back," Megan reported suddenly. "He's got Red Arrow."
"Good," Robin said. "I'll go get Canary and bring her up here. We need to compare notes with Red Arrow and find a way to remove the chips from the League."
The others all nodded and Robin walked away.
Cassius watched as Black Canary stirred. They'd managed to make a chip of their own by reverse-engineering the Starro Tech chip they'd taken from Tornado. They called it cure-tech, and they'd decided to use the first on Black Canary in order to cure her as well as testing the effectiveness.
Canary groaned, pushing herself up and looking around, Cassius instinctively shrinking back slightly when she turned her head toward him. she stopped, blinking twice and staring at him before her eyes widened.
"Cassius," she breathed before pushing herself up, her eyes watering. "I hurt you, didn't I? I'm so sorry!"
"You don't remember?" Cassius asked.
She shook her head. "I'm sorry!"
"It's alright," Cassius said, looking to Cassandra, who nodded. "I don't blame you. You weren't in control."
Black Canary smiled gratefully and Cassius stepped forward, hugging her, Canary returning it instantly. "How did you cure me?"
"We reverse-engineered a Starro Tech chip and made a chip of our own," Cassius said, stepping back and looking over at Red Arrow, who nodded, Robin sticking a chip to him as well to immunize him to Starro Tech. "It can cure and immunize. So now we all have to get it. Then we'll go fix Tornado's normal body and we'll be ready."
"Ready?" Canary asked.
"We have a plan to save the League, but it's risky," Cassius said.
Canary nodded. "I'll watch over you all while you're getting immunized."
"We're doing it in sets of two," Cassius said, walking over to Robin, Cassandra and Rose. "That way we don't have to worry about one or two bodyguards getting ambushed."
"And so someone can watch me?" Canary asked.
"It's not personal," Cassius said. "We don't know for sure that it worked."
"No, it's alright," Canary said. "I agree. It's the right thing to do. And don't worry. This isn't like the lack of trust the League had in you. This is fair."
Cassius nodded and Robin pressed the cure-tech chip to the back of his neck, darkness claiming him almost instantly.
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