Chapter 53
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back. Good to see y'all again, hope y'all're enjoying the story. Anyways, I just own my OCS, nothing else is mine.
/comms/
"Bold is raptor."
Telepathy/flashbacks
Taos, January 6, 09:57MDT
"Sir, we have received a Rahnian signal, they are arriving now," a scientist said as the Zeta Tube started back up.
"Recognized: Adam Strange—A11. Miss Martian—B05. Superboy—B04. Nightmare—B08. Beast Boy—B21."
As soon as the light faded, there were two loud barks and several scientists jumped to the side as an overzealous Blue and Indie scampered over to their packmate while simultaneously avoiding Miss Martian like the plague. Onyx smiled as he saw them and knelt down to scratch their heads.
"What no greeting for me?" Skylar said walking over to him and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Missed you babe."
"Missed you too, Sky," he replied quickly pressing his forehead against hers almost feeling the tension and stress drain from him.
Opening his eyes, his golden gaze met her emerald as she looked at him with concern, "You ok?"
"I'll explain later, something happened on the mission," he whispered squeezing her hand.
"Nightwing! Remix! Check out my super cool alien souvenir!" Beast Boy exclaimed racing forwards and holding up the sash he got from the alien commander.
"Gar, business first," M'gann whispered putting her hand on his shoulder.
"Zeta Squad, report," Nightwing said crossing his arms.
"Our mission to neutralize the Krolotan base on Rahn was a success," M'gann relayed.
"I've also brought back a schematic for a Zeta Shield to prevent anymore aliens from beaming to Earth from off-world," Strange added, holding up the flash drive. "It'll also trap those who are already here on the planet."
"How will that affect our own Zeta capabilities?" Captain Atom questioned.
"Our own Zeta abilities will be unaffected. The shield will activate at an altitude above the Watchtower's orbit. However, it's not strong enough to stop a boomtube."
"Tell them about Rhimbor!" Beast Boy exclaimed tugging on his sister's arm. "Tell them about the sixteen hours!"
"It may be easier to show you," Miss Martian stepped forwards, "I successfully managed to interrogate a Krolotan officer on Rahn. He had payed off members of the Rahnian Scince Council to allow the Krolotans to land a secret base in the jungle. Once there, they stole Zeta-Platform technology from Strange's friend Sardath. They landed a second ship in New Orleans and used the platforms to beam a few hundred Krolotans to Earth, where they built more platforms to bring more Krolotans from which they then began abducting and replacing humans," she informed. "Perhaps as part of an invasion strategy, thought that's still unclear."
"But why Earth?"
"And what does this have to do with the missing sixteen hours?"
"Well, as you know, five years ago, Vandal Savage put the entire League under his control. Six Leaguers: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and Hawkwoman went missing for a full sixteen hours. It turns out, you were teleported to a planet called Rhimbor, where you spent sixteen hours on a rampage, attacking everyone and everything in sight and announcing in several alien languages that you were the Justice League from Earth, and that the rest of the Galaxy should beware," she said. "That's why the Krolotans came. The League itself brought Earth to their attention."
"I…I don't know what to say," Diana breathed. "I have no memories of this, none."
"Don't blame yourself," Captain Atom reassured resting a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "Blame Savage and his Light."
"Yeah, the Light really knows how to fuck with people's heads," Remix muttered, "You aren't the first and I doubt you'll be the last. But we'll stop them, just like we always do."
"Here's what I wanna know," Onyx said, "why haven't you heard anything about this?" he gave Green Lantern a pointed look. "You're literally a space cop. How did you not hear of this intergalactic incident?"
"No clue, Rhimbor's not a planet in my sector. But I'll fly to Oa immediately to consult with the Guardians of the Universe and the rest of the Green Lantern Corp. We'll get to the bottom of this Cap, I promise."
Captain Atom nodded, putting his hands on his hips, "In the meantime, we still have a Krolotan invasion force to track down and capture. You did good work on Rahn. Now we need you at the Hall of Justice."
-.-
Washington DC. 12:05EDT
"You didn't have to come along," M'gann groaned as she was following in the observation room by Superboy, Nightmare, and Remix.
"You didn't really give us much of a choice."
"Is this the Krolotan captured by your team Remix?" M'gann said, ignoring the comment.
"Yes, it is," Skylar confirmed crossing her arms.
"You uncle has been interrogating him for days," Batman said, "but, even achieving psychic translation is proving difficult in the meantime, the League and the Team have been hunting the Krolotans masquerading as humans. But all have evaded capture."
"That bad?" Nightmare whispered.
"Yeah, it's been frustrating," Skylar sighed. Movement came from the interrogation room, causing her to look up as the prisoner looked towards them. After a moment, it gave what started to sound like a pained cry before it cut off abruptly, leaving the small alien she escorted in the Hall herself lying limply in the chair with a white trail of froth coming from its mouth.
"The Krolotans have a rendezvous point with standing orders in case of discovery to evacuate there; a base inside a dormant volcano on Malina Island."
Sky pulled her wings closer to herself as she looked to M'gann in horror. Her gaze snapped back to Superboy and Nightmare, and she saw both glaring daggers at her; Onyx was even starting to bear his fangs. Quickly grabbing his arm, she dragged Onyx out into the hall, closing the door behind them, "What the hell was that?!"
"That is what she calls an interrogation," Onyx growled.
"An interrogation? What kind of interrogation? She just turned him into a vegetable!"
"She killed the other one!" he hissed.
"What?"
"Yeah, that's why I was so upset when I got back from the mission," he said. "She killed him, Alana—Sardath's daughter who acted as our guide in the jungle—she watched it happen. Told me and Superboy all about it when she got us alone before we left."
"Superboy knows too?"
"He's known longer than the rest of us, apparently that's why he broke up with her."
"And he didn't think to fucking mention that his ex is now a fucking psychopath?!" Skylar rubbed her temples, this was bad, this was really, really bad. "What the hell has gotten into her?"
"I don't know," Onyx frowned, the tip of his tail twitching. "But we need to warn the others, this could send things sideways, fast."
-.-
Malina Island, 07:10HAST
A dark sub rose from the waters, a hiss came as a ramp opened, allowing men in black armor to step out, the Krolotans in two. The men spread out as the small green aliens darked over to the others inside the massive cavern, screeching in their language.
Seeing them all get off, Kuleana's finned ear twitched as she went back inside, sealing the door behind her as she leaned on Manta's chair as he fired up the communication feed. "We have arrived with the final shipment of Krolotans."
/Congratulations my children/ Black Manta praised as the other Manta removed his helmet allowing a young man with dark skin and blonde hair to be seen.
"Thank you, father. Initiating faze two," Kaldur said. The feed ended and Kaldur stood up, looking at Kuleana, "Sister."
"Brother," she smirked her long tail swaying as she set her head on his headrest. "So phase two? Already?"
"Yes Kuli," Kaldur confirmed. "I trust you have the bomb placed?"
Standing straight up, she crossed her arms throwing her brother a deadpan look as her finned ear twitched. "And I trust you managed to capture all of those little pests?"
"Yes."
"Then you have your answer," she smirked. "So, the plan is to blow them up?"
"Yes."
"Any chance they'll survive?"
"I highly doubt it."
"Lovely."
-.-
20:32HAST
Kuleana looked up at the massive escape ship the small green aliens were making to flee Earth. It was remarkable that they had been able to construct such a piece of machinery from the scraps they had been able to provide; too bad it would never get to see its maiden voyage.
Though, it was not like she'd miss the green parasites. Their never-ending screeches gave her migraines.
Pushing a piece of hair back, she momentarily hesitated while something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Carefully taking the stray lock of hair in her hand she pretended to play with it out of boredom and glanced out of the corner of her eye making out a small black object bobbing along the surface. That had not been there before.
A moment later, the hatch to the sub opened and Kaldur stepped out. Keeping a nonchalant façade, Seaspray moved towards her brother, "Intruders in the water."
"And on the upper level," he responded quietly. With no warning, he turned and fired his lasers into the water forcing Aquaman and his new protégé to quickly dodge or get fried.
Up above, gunfire could be heard along with pained grunts and shouts as Nightwing and the others quickly made their moves, attacking the incoming troopers and avoiding their blasters.
Kuleana stood to the side with her brother as she watched Aquaman and his new sidekick leap from the water, knocking to of the soldiers out. Others moved to intercept, firing their weapons at the heroes. The shrill screeches of the Krolotans filled the air, though if it was a call to arms or screams of terror no one was really sure.
The answer came when several of the walkers used to build the ship landed on the ground, causing it to shake from the force. Stomping towards Lagoon Boy, two small tatoos on his shoulders began glowing as his body began to grow disproportionately. With a Hulk-like roar, he leapt at one of the tanks.
"Wow, big, green, ugly, he really is the Hulk," Kuleana muttered crossing her arms as she watched the jolly green giant leap across the battleground.
"I believe that means you owe me a hundred my dear sister."
The girl's finned ears pinned to the side of her head as she grit her teeth, "Ah damnit." Raising her arm, she tapped a part of her gauntlet, "Bomb's armed."
"How long do we have?"
Kuleana shrugged, "I dunno, like five minutes."
"Manta to all troopers: Endgame enabled, retreat to Manta Flier, you have four minutes," Kaldur ordered as he began the retreat, firing lasers at the heroes as the appeared around in the chaos.
/Nightwing to Delta Squad, enemy is attempting to escape, requesting back-up/
Aquaman rose to his feet, gripping his shoulder. Pulling his hand away, he saw that while his suit had been damaged, his skin had only been slightly burned. Several thuds ecoed around him and he looked around, seeing he was trapped between two of the Krolotean tanks.
One of which was destroyed a second later by two red beams blasting through the rock. Superman and Superboy landed beside him while Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, Nightmare, and Remix flew in.
Leaving Conner to help Aquaman Onyx grinned as he pulled out his lasso and grabbed one of the tanks. Landing on the ground, he pulled the rope and sent the tank flying into the air where it collided with one his mother had caught.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Wonder Girl squealed landing beside them as she fumbled to grab her lasso, "You just—you just whoosh and then—and then—" she was cut off as Nightmare pushed her aside and two red beams shot from his eyes, cutting through the tank in front of them and curving to hit the one further behind it.
"Less fangirl, more Wonder Girl," Nightmare scolded.
"Watch out!" blaster shots flew towards them and the group was tackled to the side as Remix slammed into them. Rolling to a stop, she smirked as she sat on Onyx's chest. "Hi babe."
"You were just looked for an excuse to do that weren't you?" he smirked.
"Maybe?" Remix smirked helping him up as Wonder Woman hurled a tank over their heads at another tank. Turning in the direction of the explosion, Skylar's smile changed to a frown and she pulled her mace from off her hip. "You ready to kick some ass?" Without waiting for an answer she took to the air with a slam of her wings and shot across the battlefield. Following her gaze, Nightmare bared his fangs as he saw Seaspray and a figure who had the scent of a certain fish out of water.
Seapsray grunted as Remix's Morningstar collided with her face, sending her flying back towards the wall. Manta rolled out of the way of her next swing towards his head and the eyes of his helmet began to glow as he prepared to fire. His aim was thrown off as a powerful hit shattered his helmet. Slamming on the ground and rolling, Kaldur got to his feet as blood trickled down from his temple as he saw Nightmare baring his fangs at him, "I thought I smelled something unpleasant."
"I did not believe you or Nightwing until this moment," Aquaman spoke as he and Lagoon Boy ran up to join them.
"You did not want to believe!"
"None of us wanted to believe this!" Remix exclaimed.
"You dare question me?!" Kaldur snarled raising his swords, "After all of you let Tula die?!"
"Listen here Fish Sticks!" Nightmare snapped, his tail thrashing back and forth, "Aquagirl new the risks of the mission, no one wanted—"
"Neptune's beard! Don't coddle this traitor!" Lagoon Boy snarled stomping forwards, "He has joined forces with our King's greatest enemy!"
"You mean the King who hid the true identity of my father?!" Kaldur reminded.
"That was my error in judgement Kaldur'ahm. No one else needs suffer."
"All will suffer if Black Manta demands it. After all, blood is thicker than seawater. Isn't that right sister?"
All heads turned and everyone grunted as they were slammed aside by a large torrent of water. Seaspray landed by Kaldur, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead and a split lip. "You alright?"
"I should be asking you the same," Kaldur replied as he leapt done into one of the volcanic tubes.
"Remix, you help with the battle, I'll go after Kaldur," Nightmare said as Nightwing landed next to him.
"Let's go!" Nightwing said as the pair sprinted towards the volcanic tube they saw the siblings jump down, Superboy hot on their heels. Sliding down the tunnel the pair landed behind the others as they stood by a pool of water.
"Just us old friends?" Kaldur snarled raising his weapons.
"No!" Superboy snapped as he jumped out of his own tube raising his fists, "it's a regular two on three reunion special."
"Fine," Kuleana said. "You can take us down, or," she motioned behind her, "you can disarm this bomb. I am told the yield is quite impressive." Superboy charged and the woman ducked under his punch, kicking him in the side of the head before slamming her palm against his chest, using her magic to electrocute him. "You have two minutes. Tick tock." Letting him go, she and her brother dove into the water.
Rather than chasing them, Nightwing crouched by the bomb, looking it over as Nightmare knelt by Superboy, helping him up. "You ok?"
"Yeah," he grumbled rubbing his neck, "I've had worse."
"Haven't we all," Onyx smirked. "Nightwing, any luck with the bomb?"
"Negative, Nightwing to all squadrons, we have a bomb down here, alien tech, I cannot disarm."
"I'll get it out," Superboy volunteered.
"No! it might have pressure or motion sensors," Nightwing protested. "All squads, evacuate to Bioship. Now!"
"Grab on," Nightmare said taking his friend's arms. Eyes began glowing red and he fired red beams from his eyes, carving a hole through the mountain to the outside. Flying out of it, he made sure they had a tight grip before blasting out of the new hole he made. Quickly moving in the air, he switched to thermal and quickly pinpointed the glowing forms of others retreating in the direction of the ship as it landed on the ground in front of the entrance they used to get inside the base. He set them down as they landed and they ran inside with the others.
"Have a seat, it's time we get out of here," M'gann said.
"Wait, where's Superman?" Superboy noticed.
"Shit, he's probably trying to help the little green men," Remix realized.
"I'll go after him," Nightmare volunteered. As he left, Skylar grabbed his arm, "Babe, I'll be fine." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, "I'll be right back, promise. M'gann go, Clark and I will catch up."
The bioship began to rise in the air as Nightmare jumped out and flew down the tunnel back towards the main chamber. "Listen to me!" he heard Clark yell. "I'm not trying to hurt you!"
"Superman!" he shouted entering the room and flying up towards the Man of Steel. "We need to go!"
Superman nodded, "Listen! A bomb is set to explode beneath this base. There are too many of you to carry individually, but if you get in your ship we will carry you to safety." His plea was answered by the Kroloteans opening fire on them. "PLEASE!"
A blast hit Superman in the face and Nightmare growled, grabbing his arm and slowly dragging him towards the mouth of the volcano so they could leave. "Clark! We need to go!"
"We need to save them!"
"They don't wanna be saved!" Nightmare exclaimed grabbing Clark by his cape and yanking him to see eye to eye. "So come on before I knock you out and take you by force!"
Not waiting for an answer, Nightmare shot up and out of the exit, hoping Superman would follow his lead. Even as he flew away from the island at his top speed, it still wasn't fast enough to escape the blast radius.
Searing heat slammed into him, burning away at some of his clothes until he collided with the water, skipping across the surface several times from the sheer force before he finally came to a stop. His unconscious form floated to the surface and Aquaman dove into the water from the back of the bioship, handing him off to Conner before swimming off in the direction of Superman's signal. Conner quickly moved and lied Onyx down before going back to help Aquaman with Superman.
"Ony?" Skylar said putting his head in her lap.
"He'll be ok Sky," Diana reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder. "He's got a strong heartbeat." The Amazon watched her son's girlfriend sigh in relief as her green gaze focused on him again before she moved to help assess Clark. "Regular breathing and heartbeat, he'll be fine."
"He won't be fine that he didn't save the Kroloteans," Conner remarked.
Skylar brushed a lock of dark hair from her boyfriend's eyes, "Seems like those little pains in the ass didn't know about the bomb."
"They didn't," Nightwing agreed. "The bomb was of alien origin, but not Krolotean."
"So was Aqualad trying to help them or luring them into a trap?"
"I believe it'll be up to you and the team to find that out," Batman replied.
A groan came from her lap and Skylar looked down to meet Onyx's golden eyes. "Hey…what happened?" he grimaced. She wouldn't be surprised if he was going to be feeling that explosion for a few days. Frankly she was surprised he was conscious right now, but if anyone was stubborn enough to pull it off—besides herself naturally—it was Onyx.
"You blew yourself up dumbass."
"Ah…that sounds about right from how everything feels."
"Gee, I wonder why?"
"Love you too."
-.-
Unknown Location, January 7, 07:07EDT
"Father," Kaldur greeted as he opened the door to Black Manta's stateroom.
"Congratulations my children, you did well," he said taking another bite of fish. "I don't suppose Aquaman died in the explosion?"
"Unlikely," Kaldur replied before his sister could make a snide remark.
Two loud beeps came from a sealed door within the room and Black Manta sighed taking a sip of his wine. "Kaldur, if you'll excuse me," he said grabbing his helmet, "Kuleana, come."
Putting a hand on his shoulder, Kuleana gave her older brother a supportive look, "You'll have your chance soon, promise." Following their father into the room they came to a stop in front of six active screens.
"Good morning Black Manta," Vandal Savage greeted. "The Kroloteans competitor, our new partner, is quite pleased with your efforts and so is the Light. We're all in agreement we made the right choice asking you to replace poor disgraced Ocean Master."
In the back, Kuleana grinned as she remembered her handiwork deposing him.
"You are officially one with the Light."
-.-
Mt. Justice, January 26, 00:10EDT
"Why can't I come with?" Skylar said hugging her parents.
"Only those of us accused need to go, and your father is my moral support Sky," Hawkwoman said hugging her. "You need to stay here."
"I trust you'll be able to fill our shoes while we're gone Little Bird?" Hawkman smiled ruffling her hair.
"Yes, and if I need help I'll have my friends."
"And your boyfriend," Shay remarked, laughing to herself as she saw her daughter blush.
"Hey! You know the rules still, no boys over while we're not home," Katar remined.
"Dad."
"I'm serious young lady."
"Hi Serious Young Lady, I'm Sky," she smirked.
"I should've seen that coming."
Skylar smiled giving her parents another hug to hide her tears, "I learned from the best."
Further along the beach, Onyx gave Diana a hug, "I'm gonna miss you."
"I know son," Diana reassured stepping back from the hug to look up to meet his eyes. Gods, when did he get so tall? It seemed like it was only yesterday he was barely even at her shoulders.
"And don't worry about things here, just get back safely," he said.
"Has—"
"Dad said bye to the twins just a little bit before I put them to bed," he reassured. "After this I'm going to take them home, let our sisters watch them where they'll be out of harm's way…How long will you be gone?"
"As long as it takes to clear our names."
Onyx looked away, "That…sounds like awhile."
Diana pulled her son into a tight hug, "I love all of you more than the stars." Something nudged her and Diana pulled out of the hug to see Indie and Blue looking at her. "Yes," she scratched their heads, "I'm going to miss you too." Looking back to her eldest, a sad smile came to her face, "Be safe, ok."
"As long as you do the same."
"Time to go," Green Lantern called.
Reluctantly, the various heroes pulled themselves away from their families and partners as the Lantern prepared to make something to accommodate their journey. The green barrier closed over them and morphed into a giant jet and lifted into the air and left for Rhimbor.
A/N: hey everyone! Welcome back! So...I know that this doesn't seem like my best chapter, and I know. It's just Season 2 of Young Justice is so much harder for me to write than Season 1, I don't know why, but it is. So I'll do my best, but updates might take longer so i can make sure the chapters are up to standard. Anyways, let me know what y'all think and I'll see y'all in the next chapter.
