Chapter 13
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back to the story! Hope y'all're enjoying it so far! I enjoy getting the reviews. Anyways, I just own my OCs.
/comms/
Telepathy/flashbacks
Bialya, September 4, 12:02EST
Onyx crouched behind a dune as he carefully watched the strange black box sitting in the middle of the desert. Sniffing the air, he wrinkled his nose as multiple other scents masked the ones he'd been tracking to figure out what happened. These new scents were fresh, very fresh. Their owners were still here…somewhere.
Which meant that they were waiting to ambush someone. Someone who they expected to come back.
Onyx was willing to bet money that it was one of the old, but familiar, scents he'd been following. Another scent wafted on the breeze, making him perk up. It was definitely one of the familiar scents. Pressing himself lower to the ground, he cursed the sand as it began to somehow get inside his clothing. God what he'd give for some deep water right now. At least in water is was easier to hunt and move.
Now in a better position, he watched a boy about his age duck behind a dune peering out and looking in the direction of the box. Like him, the teen seemed to be trying to scope out the area, and judging from the way he moved, he'd been trained, similarly to how he had been back in the lab. Perhaps he could give him answers. Seeing it was clear, he ran out and jumped over to the strange object.
It was then the hunters popped out of the ground like daises, shouting in a language he couldn't understand. They charged at the boy, and he threw something to the ground, causing smoke to erupt around him.
Onyx wrinkled his nose, he hated smoke bombs, they always messed with his sense of smell. However, they were always perfect cover to ambush opponents. However, as much as he wanted to join, his hunting instincts told him to watch and wait for the right moment to strike.
After a moment the smoke slowly began to clear, allowing glimpses as to what was happening inside. Judging from the noise, the other boy was making short work of the men.
There was annoyed muttered and his head snapped to the side to see several more men to the side loading their weapons and preparing to fire.
That made him bear his fangs. Talk about a cowardly move. Leaping out from his hiding spot, Onyx made his presence known as he punched the closest soldier across the battleground. The other men quickly turned, raising their weapons to fire before a grey blur ran past. "I'll take that! Thanks!"
While they were unarmed, Onyx took the chance to bash their heads together and knock them out. Rapid breathing causing his attention and Onyx turned to see the man he initially hit was scrambling to his feet, or well, trying to. He didn't get far before an arrow flew past and an net wrapped around the man.
"KF!" a voice called and Onyx turned to watch the boy he fought with initially approach the grey and black blur that had to have grabbed the weapons. "Good to see a familiar face."
The ginger boy grinned, "Hey Rob, memory loss?"
"Six months! Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes."
Between all of them, it didn't take long to tie the men up, especially since he apparently had a lasso.
Sniffing the air again, Onyx recognized all the scents, but he didn't know from where. But he did know these people…or at least their scents. His brows furrowed and he sniffed the air again. He knew who one of these scents were. He could remember that much. The fairy girl was A3 if he recalled correctly. She was supposed to be one of the alphas like himself. They hadn't ever spoken, but he had seen her in passing.
"Well we should be safe for now," a new voice spoke. Looking up, Onyx met the emerald gaze of a redheaded girl with flaming wings. She looked like the pure embodiment of fire. Onyx wasn't sure how he knew her scent through, he was certain he would remember meeting someone like her in the lab. She could be the other Alpha his master had always talked about—apparently she was a prodigy of some sort. She certainly fit the image: temperamental, powerful, elegant...
"So, does anyone know exactly what's going on?" the blonde girl asked, breaking the silence.
"We do," the three other girls said at the same time.
"Care to share with the class?" Robin said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
"Geez, Robin, and here I thought you were untrusting before," the redhead girl rolled her eyes.
"We're a team, friends," the green-skinned girl spoke up. "We get sent out on missions by the Justice League to fight crime undercover!"
"Yeah," Onyx said crossing his arms doubtfully.
"It's true," A3 spoke. "We are no longer in the lab Onyx."
His brows shot up. She knew his name; only Caretaker assigned names. And they never interacted with any of the other weapons. Was…was she telling the truth? Were they really out?
"So we're a team?" Rob reiterated.
"All of us and my brother, Superboy," A3 spoke up.
At her words, the other boy's brows shot up and he rummaged through his belt and pulled out a cloth. "So this must be his."
"Did you see him?" the Martian girl inquired.
"I think we did," the blonde said.
KF rolled his eyes, "Feral boy? Some teammate, he attacked us. We were only saved cause human-torch here," he motioned to the fiery girl across from him, "flew in and kicked his ass."
"It was save you or fight him, I figured letting him wear himself out was the better option," she shrugged.
"In his defense," the blonde archer spoke up, "he didn't know who we are. I don't know who we are."
"Last thing I remember is Batman ordering radio silcence," Rob spoke up, "our team must work for him."
"How do we know we don't work for my mentor?" KF asked tapping his symbol. All their eyes widened as grey and black changed to yellow and red. "Whoa," he started tapping the button again watching as the colors kept changing, "this is so cool."
"Quit touching yourself!" the blonde scolded swatting his hand away. "We need our memories back."
The green girl's eyes began glowing. "I've established a telepathic link to bring you all here into my mind so see what I remember so far," she explained. "Our broken memories can form a whole, but I need you all to open your minds to mine."
"We remember everything," Amber spoke up causing Onyx to blink. How did he know her name? "We will be happy to help."
Skylar shrugged, crossing her arms, "Eh, I don't like people in my head but whatever."
"Wait, you wanna hack into our private thoughts?!" Artemis exclaimed.
"I don't mean to intrude—"
"You need our memories to figure out what happened, knock yourself out."
"My mind is all your gorgeous, try not to let it's brilliance overwhelm you," Wally smirked.
"Amber, can you give more light? I still can't see Wally's brilliance," Onyx smirked. He remembered this. He knew these people. They were his friends…at least that's what he thought so far. Everything was still kind of fuzzy.
"Ouch, I didn't even have to apply that burn," Skylar grinned.
Wally pouted before he blinked as Artemis took his hand and he sighed, relaxing and giving her a reassuring smile. "Only the past six months, and only what you need."
M'gann connected their minds and an image formed.
"An immense power sugre was detected by the Watchtower in the Bialyan desert," Batman began. "Spectral analysis revealed non-terrestrial origins. Find out what happened and what landed there."
"Forgive me sir," Amber spoke up, "but Bialya, if I recall correctly it is not on the League's UN charter."
"Indeed," the Dark Knight nodded, "Bialya is a rogue state, ruled by the tyrannical dictator, Queen Bee. All communications are subject to interception, keep radio silence at all times. You'll land in Qurac, on Bialya's border, two clicks from the hot zone."
"All-clear," they heard Robin say as they crouched on a ridge overlooking a camp.
"The Bialyians control the site."
"Set up here."
"We'll be up and running in no time."
"Aurora, Remix, check the perimeter, make sure no patrols are heading out way."
"Bingo! Site's lousy with Zeta-beam radiation!"
"Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent."
"I'll check it out in camouflage mode."
"Be careful Miss Martian, camouflage isn't completely invisible."
"And maintain telepathic contact."
"I will Aqualad."
"Aqualad!" they all exclaimed returning to the real world.
"Were is he? What happened next?" Robin asked.
"I don't know, that's the last thing we remember," M'gann said. She glanced at Skylar and Amber only to get shrugs in return.
"We were out of range."
"We've been out in the desert for over twenty-four hours, that can't be good for a guy with gills," Kid grimaced.
Onyx scratched his neck, maybe Kaldur wasn't doing too bad, at least he open he wasn't. He sniffed the air, now that he knew who he was looking for he was able to pick up on their leader's specific scent leading off in a random direction. "He went this way."
"You sure?"
"Scent's old, but it's his," Onyx confirmed.
"Let's go."
-.-
"Raise to shock level four," a scientist ordered as he took notes on a clipboard. The men and the controls nodded, turning a dial. Electricity arched over the form of the teen strapped to a vertical metal table. He gave screams of pain, his back arching and muscles spasming before the current was cut off, allowing him to collapse against his bonds.
"Fascinating," a man with a visible brain through his transparent skull.
"Pfft," Serket scoffed. "It's not that impressive."
"Either way," a darker skinned boy with black hair and black armor spoke, "the results are still intriguing."
"And what exactly are we going to do with these results Tyrant?" Serket raised a putting his hands on his hips.
Orange eyes looked his way, and the older boy smirked. "Well, for right now, it's just a pleasant side effect. The real goal is teaching this weapon its place. Betraying its masters has consequences. And maybe if we're lucky, we can get him to show real kryptonian powers, from what I've heard he's weak. Of course little brother, you would know better?"
Serket scowled as his older brother mentioned his failure in Santa Prisca. It wasn't his fault the mission failed, the pests weren't supposed to be there. The biggest problem was supposed to be the local druggies, and he could've handled them; but no, the sidekicks showed up and screwed everything over for him on his first solo mission.
"And how goes synthesizing the anti-toxin?" Psimon questioned peering over and looking at the green tinge outlining the veins around the puncture wound.
"It's difficult sir, we might lose the subject."
Tyrant's head snapped his little brother's way. "We need it alive."
"And here I thought you were curious about results," Serket shrugged. "Relax, I gave it a non-lethal form, at least on its own. It's just painful enough to make the victim suffer in agony till it works its way out of their system or they kill themselves to escape the pain. Whichever comes first."
This caused the other boy to laugh, as he slapped his hand on his shoulder, "I like the way you think brother!"
"Are we done?" a third voice spoke and the two boys glanced behind them to see Firebolt.
"With the primary task," Tyrant shrugged. "You are free to return to base Firebolt, give the report to the bosses." The boy nodded, turning away, grimacing as he heard the next orders, "Put the shock level to max, restart its heart if it stops, I want to see how much our little mistake here can take."
"And the sphere?"
"Take it apart for all I care. Find out how it works."
-.-
"I can't restore his memories in this state," M'gann confessed as she pulled her hands away from the unconscious Atlantean's head.
"He needs immediate rehydration," Robin stated, "call the Bioship."
"It's out of range," she answered, "Wally, Sky you two could get him back quickly."
"He's too heavy," Wally sighed, looking tired, "and I'm too low on fuel. Right now," he motioned to Artemis, "I couldn't even carry her." The archer scowled as and swatted his hand away.
"Putting the water guy with fire, I think I'll just make his condition worse," Skylar remined raising a brow. "Why not just levitate him back?"
"I can't, I have to find Superboy, six months ago he didn't exist. He has no memories, just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him."
"Kaldur needs your help right now," Wally argued.
At the same time, Amber and M'gann grabbed their heads in pain. "No!" the Martian girl protested. "Superboy's in pain! We can't wait!"
"WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT ERASED OUR MEMORIES!" Robin shouted after. "IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!"
"I'll help her," Aurora volunteered flying off after Miss Martian, leaving them no time to protest.
"So…Nightmare, you're the strongest here and fast," Artemis spoke up. "Think you can carry Kaldur to the Bioship?"
"As long as I have a general idea of where to go," he nodded.
"I can help navigate overhead," Remix said.
"Ok, you two go ahead, we'll catch up," Robin nodded.
Nightmare crouched down, hoisting Aqualad's limp form over his shoulders before holding his lasso out to Skylar and letting her tie his teammate to him just in case he lost his grip. This was Kaldur wouldn't slam into the ground.
Once she was done, Skylar took off into the sky, leaving a fiery trail of light behind her. Nightmare's red stripes flashed cyan in response, startling the others as he took of in a sprint after her.
-.-
M'gann threw up the hood to her cloak as she went into camouflage. She floated down to the series of tents, moving out of the way she let a soldier pass her as he exited the tent and she slipped in as the flap closed.
Various lab equipment was spread out in the large tent, with various scientists working at each station. One had a giant sphere with metal bars strapping it in as the men poked and prodded at it, some ever trying to pry the metal plates apart.
A pained scream reached her ears, and her head snapped to another station. On an vertical table, she saw Superboy strapped down and being electrocuted. A scowl formed on her face and she flew over, shoving the scientists out of her way and she grabbed the dials and switched them all off. Looking up, a sigh escaped her, he was unconscious, but at least he wasn't it pain.
"What are you idiots doing?!" a deep voice snapped. M'gann turned as the scientists scrambled to their feet as a dark-skinned teen in what appeared to be metal armor stormed over.
"Relax, Tyrant, they are not responsible," a new voice spoke, "someone else however, is a glutton for punishment," the hooded figure lowered his hood. "Psimon says…Forget."
Outside the tent, Aurora flattened herself to the sand as she looked over the tent. She could feel a lot of anger coming from the largest tent in the center. It also had the most pain. Someone inside was being hurt.
God what she would give for her wings to stop glowing for ten minutes. She heard clattering from inside, closing her eyes, she focused on the noise. There were startled shouts and she heard something whirring as well as the sound of increased beeping.
She wasn't sure what it was, but she wasn't going to wait and find out it was a bomb. From the files she'd read, Martians weren't supposed to get too close to heat. Flaring her wings, she gave several powerful flaps, causing the sand to spread out around her in a dust cloud. Diving down, she ripped through the tarp. She landed on the ground as the sound of ripping metal resounded through the air.
A metal ball flew through the air, hitting several of scientists, knocking them over like bowling pins. One of them slammed into a control panel. Hearing a click, Amber's head snapped to the side as she watched her brother lunge at M'gann.
Only she was prevented from stopping him by a segmented tail stabbing into the ground in front of her. "Well, well, been a while A3," a familiar Arabic boy sneered.
"B3," she remembered raising her fists.
Earth rose around her feet trapping her legs in place. "Stand down A3, you're outmatched," another boy in dark armor. "Just surrender like a good girl."
"You underestimate me," she snarled. Flaring her wings out bright light erupted around her. There were several shouts of pain and Aurora took her chance. The sand around her feet was thin, allowing her to break through it easy. Lunging forwards, she grabbed the tail of B3 and hurled him into the jerk that insulted her.
Both boys were quick to get back on their feet. The guy in armor shoved the scorpion off, eyes blazing. His dark armor bristled into spikes. He threw an arm causing several projectiles to fly out. Amber grunted as the metal dug into her skin as she raised her arms to protect herself. Fortunately the metal didn't dig too deep. Throwing her arms she threw a light blast at him only for a wall of earth to rise from the ground, blocking the attack. It flew at her and she swung her leg, breaking the rock into pieces and grunted as another one slammed into her gut.
Landing flat on her back she rolled to her feet, barely dodging the stinger of the other guy's tail as he made his move. He moved to punch her and she grabbed his arm, kicking his knee, she flipped him over her shoulder. He landed on his feet stabbing his tail at her again. Amber ducked, kicking him in the gut.
The earth shifted under her feet and she fluttered her wings raising herself off the ground and kicking the other guy as he came up behind her in the face.
There was a roar and the black knight was tackled aside by a familiar form. Seeing her brother occupying the other guy, she turned her attention back to B3. His stinger flew towards her face and on instinct two blue beams shot from her eyes and hit his tail. Knocking it away from her and hitting the other guy in the face. He gave a surprised cry of pain, burns appearing across his face as he felt back crying out in pain.
The sound of guns cocking reached her ear causing her head to whip to the side as she saw soldiers raising their guns. She knew she was immune to bullets, so was her brother, and probably to two villains they were fighting; but she knew M'gann wasn't. Fortunately, they were saved by the strange metal ball that attacked the scientists.
"Uh…thanks," she said.
Wind ripped through the tent, lifting it off the ground and hurling into the air. Equipment, soldiers, and themselves up into the air. Flapping her wings quickly, she rightened herself in the air and flew after Superboy grabbing his arm. "GET ME TO M'GANN!" he shouted; if it wasn't for their shared superhearing she would've missed it through the wind.
Nodding, she gripped his arm and threw him towards the Martian. He reached out grabbing her hand, and things were still for a moment before the strange psychic Miss Martian had been fighting screamed, grasping his head as he fell to his knees. The man went limp and flew past her as he was sucked into the dying vortex.
Landing on the ground, they all panted, before looking to the sphere as it rolled towards them. "Can I keep it?" Superboy spoke up.
-.-
Qurac: September 4, 23:42EDT
"Welcome to the party," Remix said as KF, Robin, and Artemis strode onto the ship to see the results of what appeared to be a tornado.
"How is he?" Wally asked.
"Better now," Onyx said crossing his arms. "Put up quite the fight when we were trying to give him fluids. Had to knock him out."
"And then we had to find a freakin' vein," Remix groaned sitting down in a chair rubbing the bridge of her nose.
"Oh, Artemis, you never explained why your dad wanted to kill me?" Kid Flash remembered.
"Wait what?"
"Oh!" the Archer's eyes widened, "Uh, that was a mix up. I remembered the plot of a movie; it was about a ninja girl who's ninja dad wanted her to kill her ninja boyfriend from a rival clan."
"So I'm your ninja boyfriend?" the speedster smirked.
"Amnesia remember. I forgot how truly annoying you are!"
"Oh like you're the goddess of congeniality?!"
"Do we need to get you two a room?" Robin smirked.
"No!"
"Hey everyone! Aurora and I got Superboy!" Miss Martian's voice spoke in their heads. "He's back to normal and we're on our way back!"
There was a loud gasp and all heads turned as Aqualad shot up, "Who are you?! and what are you doing inside my head?!"
"Hello Megan! I knew I was forgetting something!"
"Dang it! I forgot to get a souvenir from the mission!" KF remembered.
"We got that covered."
"Good, cause I wanna go home."
A/N: hey everyone, hope y'all liked the chapter! I know it wasn't my best work, and I'm sorry for that, midterms have taken up most of my time, but I didn't wanna leave y'all hanging. Anyways, let me know what y'all think so far and I'll see y'all in the next chapter!