I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Fun Rescue
Cassius knocked on the door, and within seconds, Perdita opened it.
"Cassius, Megan, Conner!" Perdita gasped. "Please, I don't know what to do!"
She stepped out of the way, allowing them into the hotel room where an unconscious Garfield was being loaded onto a gurney by paramedics.
"Stop!" Megan snapped.
"Are you kidding?" the female paramedic asked. "This green kid needs a hospital."
"That green kid is my brother!" Megan snapped, her skin turning to its normal green shade. "I know what he needs!"
"Conner, if you would," Cassius said.
Conner lifted the paramedics by the backs of their shirts and carried them out of the room. As he did, Cassius scanned Garfield's vitals with his Darkwear before turning to Perdita.
"What happened?" Cassius asked.
"He was using my Goode VR Goggles, then all of a sudden, he said he had to go to Encino," Perdita said. "But, he sounded strange. Monotone. Then when I took the goggles off, he just collapsed."
"Gar is in a psychic fugue state," Megan said. "I have to go in and lead him out."
Conner stepped up beside her, smiling proudly.
"You're my anchor," Megan said.
"Always," Conner said.
Megan nodded and entered his mind. After a few seconds, Conner reported he couldn't hear Garfield's heartbeat, but a few seconds, later, Garfield's eyes opened.
"Are you alright!?" Perdita asked worriedly. "I was so worried!"
"I'm crash," Garfield said. "Feeling more aster than I have for a while, actually."
"Hm?" Perdita asked. "Sorry, my English. What is 'aster?'"
"It's gibberish," Cassius said. "Conner, remind me to kick Dick's ass for breaking Garfield's vocabulary."
Conner chuckled.
"So, Gretchen Goode, huh?" Cassius asked.
Garfield nodded. "The goggles test for a Meta-Gene, then send them to a nearby depot. And I just figured something out from what she told me before. At Goode World Studios, Gretchen Goode handles everything, meaning my boss is one of the bad guys. Full debrief later, but first." He walked over to hug Perdita. "Thanks for sticking by me, Your Majesty."
"I warned you what would happen if you called me that," Perdita smirked.
"Big talk," Garfield smirked, kissing her.
Cassius smirked, rolling his eyes, and looked to Conner and Megan, only to see them doing the same. His expression turned into one of exasperation and he cleared his throat. The others all looked over at him, unimpressed.
"Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but supervillains now, make out sessions later," Cassius said.
"Jealous you don't have your girlfriends with you?" Garfield asked, grinning.
"Don't fucking start," Cassius growled, though his grin betrayed the lack of genuine anger. "I will superglue those fucking goggles to your head."
Garfield raised his hands placatingly. Then, they all left, Garfield giving Megan a complete debrief of what had happened, and the goggles, before they dropped them off at the club Garfield and Perdita were planning to go to that night. Then, they went home and Batman began to analyze the goggles as soon as Cassius brought them to him.
Cassius smiled as he sat in the Bioship's pilot's seat, the seat vibrating for a moment to welcome him. "Nice to see you, too, girl."
"Do you two need a minute?" Rose teased.
"That would be nice, but I think Tara's waited long enough," Cassius said.
"Yes, she has," Brion said.
"Sorry you and your girlfriend can't go to the Halloween dance," Cassius said.
"I will do plenty of dancing when we find the people holding Tara," Brion growled.
"Not if it's Nemesis you won't," Cassius said. "If he shows up, he's mine. Alone, Rose."
"I've fought him before," Rose said.
"And that will never happen again," Cassius said.
"How long until we get there?" Dick asked.
"Less than an hour," Cassius said.
"May Forager drive?" Forager asked. "Forager lives inside Bioship. Forager and Bioship have a..." he clicked his jaws, "good relationship."
"You can if she wants you to," Cassius said.
"A good relationship is great, but-" Conner stopped as the controls in front of Cassius melted into the floor and Forager's control board shifted into a set of controls.
"Good girl," Forager said, stroking the controls before settling in to fly as Cassius reclined the throne the Bioship still gave him whenever he was in it.
"What do we know and how do we know it?" Brion asked.
"What we know begins with these VR goggles," Dick said, picking up the Perdita's Goode Goggles.
"Quick note, those are actually AR goggles," Cassius said, Dick glaring at him. "VR stands for virtual reality, so you would so a completely computerized world while AR stands for Augmented Reality, so it shows the would around you but with computer images projected onto it, like the Goode Goggles do."
"I don't suppose the Bioship can gag him," Brion said.
"We've tried that," Dick said. "He just forms a mouth somewhere else. It's better to let him get it out. Besides, we have time for him to criticize improper labelling of something he's almost obsessed with."
"Hey, me waiting for the day true VR is invented so I can stand in line five days to buy the first system is not an obsession," Cassius said.
"Yes it is," everyone but Cassandra said, Cassandra nodding instead.
"As I was saying," Dick said. "These are manufactured by Gretchen Goode's, Goode World Studios. A friend of ours, Garfield Logan, learned the hard way that the goggles were designed to test for the Meta-Gene. If the subject is positive, subliminal messages begin to brainwash the potential Meta-Human, sending the subject to a specific location in the vicinity. These locations seem to be depots. Trading posts for Meta-teens. As we speak, the Justice League and the Team are sending squads to take down all these depots simultaneously so one location can't tip off another. We're hitting the depot in Greater Bialya."
"Since when are we working for the League?" Jeff asked.
"Not for," Cassius said. "With. Megan got the info first and sent it to the League, but since we've been searching for Tara Markov, she gave us the intel on the most relevant."
"What is the relevance?" Brion asked.
"Info from another source," Dick said.
"While I was on Santa Prisca, I overheard Deathstroke say that they handed Tara over to someone named Granny," Cassius said. "Unfortunately, Granny isn't overly helpful. It could mean anyone or anything. Since we've determined that Gretchen Goode is trafficking, we believe that Granny refers to her nickname, Granny Goodness."
"Remember Jaqqar Marlo?" Dick asked. "We thought he might have been killed by a Shadow wielding Geo-Force powers? Turns out Marlo worked for Goode R and D on the goggles. Moreover, he was the Buyer of Record for a Goode shell company, which purchased an abandoned mall in Greater Bialya. One of the Meta depot the League IDed off of the goggles. We even found a list on the Dark Web of merchandise available for purchase at this depot. Note item sixteen. Female. Age fifteen. Earth power."
"Tara!" Brion gasped, standing.
"Not necessarily," Cassius said. "And we also don't know who's going to be present or what the situation will be. Be ready for anything, and do not act alone."
"Agreed," Dick said. "We all specialize in stealth. Due to your powers, you'd be a better distraction. Let us lead."
Brion hesitated before nodding. About twenty minutes later, Forager stopped the ship in the air over the mall and Dick sent a beetle drone out of the ship to do recon. After a moment, he hummed thoughtfully.
"You in a sharing mood?" Artemis asked.
"Huh?" Dick asked. "Oh, yeah."
He reached out, dragging whatever he was seeing to the Bioship's icon, the ship around them suddenly turning into the beetle's camera feed. They all looked around. The walls of the mall were covered by curved staircases and hexagonal platforms, the beetle had entered through one of dozens of hexagonal pipes, and there were dozens of men and women standing around in expensive clothes and faceless white masks.
"Oh, fuck yes," Cassius grinned, forming himself a three-piece Italian suit and a mask. "It's a fight club." He pointed to the bottom floor where there was a hexagonal fighting ring. "I am all about it!"
"Crowd doesn't look to tough," Jeff said.
"Forget the spectators," Dick said, highlighting Queen Bee's usual Meta-human goons off to one side. "I'm more worried about the security. Queen Bee's Meta-human enforcers. Codename, onslaught."
"No sign of Nemesis," Cassius said, looking around carefully. "Yet."
"One step in the right direction," Dick said. "Cassius, join the festivities. Carefully."
"Will do," Cassius said.
He dropped out of the ship and entered the room through the vent as goo, arriving as a guy in a suit with white face paint, black on his lips and around his eyes, that Dick identified as Mister Bliss was announcing the first Meta-teens up for bid. Holocaust, a dark-skinned boy with yellow sparring armor with a red "H" on the left side of the chest, and Terra. As Cassius reformed and stepped up to the railing to look, taking care to shield his mind from Psimon and change to a random form, he stared down at Tara. She had short, messy blonde hair, a thin build from excessive training, courtesy of Deathstroke, purple sparring armor, and a cold, slightly-angry expression Cassius would expect on any over-confident Shadow.
"Tara!" Brion gasped.
"Easy," Cassius messaged. "Let me handle it."
"How?" Brion asked.
"Former assassin, remember?" Cassius messaged. "This place is a dream-come-true to someone like me. Hey Dick, we should set something like this up. Except, you know, legal. We could pit the Team against the League."
"No," Dick said flatly. "Been there, done that."
"Never doing that again," Conner agreed.
"Spoilsports," Cassius messaged. "My Darkwear's picking up control chips on everyone."
"Not for long!" Brion snarled.
"Stay calm, Brion," Cassius messaged. "Psimon's a very powerful psychic. If you get mad, he'll sense it and the mission's blown. Trust me."
"So can you stay whelmed or not?" Conner asked.
"Now I owe you one, too," Cassius messaged Conner alone. "And two for Dick."
"I will follow your lead," Brion said. "Hey, where are Cassandra and Rose?"
"In here with me," Cassius messaged. "Against my orders."
"Just skipping ahead to where you need us to save you," Rose messaged.
Just then, six pylons activated around Tara and Holocaust and a green, electric barrier flashed before turning invisible around them.
"Let the games...begin!" Mister Bliss shouted.
"And so they shall," Cassius grinned.
Just as Holocaust snapped his fingers with both hands and formed a pair of fireballs, Cassius suddenly burst up from the ground as goo, flailing for a moment before reforming as himself. Gasps rang out around the arena.
"How did you get in there!?" Devastation demanded.
"I just tunneled under the barrier," Cassius shrugged, smirking, then cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to tonight's main attraction! I know it's customary to have some opening acts, but in this case, the less opening acts, the better the main event! Because, you see, I am going to fight against all of the merchandise, as well as Queen Bee's security, all at once! But first, allow me to introduce myself for those who don't recognize me by my powers! I am called Void! Former assassin and currently a weapon-for-hire by the Justice League! Now before you all start panicking, I'm currently AWOL from the League, so they have no idea I'm here! You see, the one thing that I hate about working for the Justice League is that it's not fun! I don't get to go all out against opponents very often, and when I do, there are all these stupid rules like don't break bones, or don't kill anyone! But tonight, I'm here to have some real fun!"
"Holocaust, kill him," Mr. Bliss ordered.
"With Pleasure," Holocaust grinned.
He stepped forward, but just as he did, a tendril of goo hidden underground exploded up between his legs, slamming into his groin and hurling him into the barrier, Holocaust crumpling to the floor in a heap and remaining there.
"It's rude to interrupt, Bliss," Cassius said. "As I was saying! Which would the crowd rather see? A bunch of teens that barely know how to use their own powers do their best not to kill each other? Or would you rather see them let loose while trying to kill me, and see what they can really do!?"
The crowd cheered deafeningly. Cassius looked to Onslaught, seeing Devastation on a phone. After a moment, she nodded to Bliss.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Bliss shouted. "I believe we have a unanimous decision!"
Again the crowd cheered.
"Drop the barriers!" Bliss ordered.
The barriers all flashed and faded as Cassius reinforced his muscles and bones, forming his suit into his armor. The second the barrier was down, Mammoth roared, leaping at him. Cassius grinned and ducked, allowing Mammoth's body to block a bolt of lightning from one of the teens, then sent his arm out, his fist expanding before slamming into Psimon in mid-air, sending him exploding back into the wall, unconscious. Tommy Terror exploded to the ground on top of Cassius, his fists cratering it, only for Cassius to slip out from under him, flipping and slamming a fist into the side of his head, knocking him several steps away. Cassius spun instantly, ducking under a boulder and allowing it to crash into Tommy's head, sending him staggering away, then launched himself forward, drilling a fist into Tara's gut and launching her out of the ring and into the wall where the others were standing.
The moment he did, Mammoth's arms wrapped around him and he turned so that Cassius was toward the teens. One of them fired a bolt of lightning at him, but he laughed and turned into goo, dropping out of Mammoth's arms and allowing it to hit Mammoth again. This time, as he reformed, he expanded to the same size as he had against Lobo, drilling several blows into Mammoth's head before slamming him to the ground. Once he was there, Cassius formed his right arm into four and drilled their fists down into Mammoth's head a dozen times each, knocking him out. He turned, shrinking back down and slipping under a bolt of lightning before launching himself forward. He flipped over Icicle Jr. and landed in the middle of the teens. Two moved to attack him just as Tuppence Terror fell at him from above. Cassius spun, a goo tentacle streaking out of each side and grabbing the teens before hurling them into the walls before Cassius stepped out of Tuppence's way. As she crashed to the ground, he slammed a push kick into her with all his might, sending her exploding into Tommy, both crashing backward into Icicle and knocking him out. The last teen leapt at him, his arm sharpening into a blade and stabbing Cassius, Only for Cassius's body to part around it then fuse back together as Cassius spun, windmill kicking the teen in the head and knocking him out. Tommy and Tuppence both shouted in rage and charged, Devastation finally charging from behind him. He moved to jump, only for his feet to sink into the suddenly-liquid floor. He sighed.
"Dammit Shimmer, now I have to wash that off," Cassius said.
He ducked, the Terror Twins' punches slamming into Devastation instead before he stood in a blur, his fists exploding into the underside of their jaws, blasting them up into the ceiling. Then, he reformed beside the liquified ground and walked calmly toward Shimmer, who backed away, hands raised and eyes wide.
"I was just following orders!" Shimmer said hastily.
"I know," Cassius smirked, dropping his voice. "So am I."
Shimmer's eyes widened before he drilled a punch into her jaw, dropping her. Just then, the lights went out. Several voices shouted in surprise and fear.
"Now, now, folks!" Bliss called out as Cassius dropped into the hole he'd entered through, reforming as another patron a second later. "It's a circuit breaker! It'll be fixed in no time!"
Just then, the lights came back on, everyone looking around worriedly, shouts of surprise and fear ringing out as they noticed Cassius was missing, along with the gladiators, and Onslaught were unconscious, though the Terror Twins and Devastation were stirring already. A second later, an explosion went off outside, shaking the building.
"Forager is firing the Bioship's lasers at the tanks," Forager said into Cassius's earpiece.
"Oh no no no no no!" Bliss said hastily, trying to sound calm. "That was just one of our combatants...uh...farting! Everyone please remain seated!"
"Terror Twins, check out that explosion," Devastation ordered them under her breath, Cassius's Darkwear picking it up and relaying it to the others. "Kill whoever caused it."
More explosions rocked the building as gunfire echoed outside.
"Perhaps an orderly evacuation isn't the worst idea!" Bliss said, turning to flee, only for Cassius to burst out of the ground in front of him, forming his right hand into a hammer and slamming it down on him, knocking him out.
"You!" Devastation seethed, seeing Cassius.
Cassius grinned, beckoning her forward and reinforcing his muscles and bones again. Devastation leapt at him as Mammoth stood, snarling. However, just as Cassius ducked around Devastation's fist and drilled his own punch into her gut, Black Lightning electrocuted Mammoth. Mammoth roared in pain, but turned to him instantly. However, just as he moved to charge, Cassandra and Rose crashed into his legs, tripping him. Then, Cassius flipped over him, his fist expanding to the size of Mammoth's torso before exploding down on his head, knocking him unconscious.
"The kids are all on the ship," Rose said.
Cassius nodded and the four of them sprinted outside, finding Superboy struggling against the Terror Twins with Forager firing the Bioship's lasers as cover. Cassius formed a pair of wings instantly and flapped them hard once, rocketing forward just in time to drill his twelve right fists into Tuppence's head. She spun through the air, crashing into Tommy and knocked him to the ground just before Black Lightning blasted both, knocking them out. Forager landed the Bioship beside them and everyone scrambled onto it. Then, once they were inside, he took off, setting course for home.
"Well done, Void," Dick commended him. "That was a surprisingly good plan."
"Thanks," Cassius smirked. "I figured I could keep their attention while passing the kids off to all of you."
"Not all of them," Terra said. "Holocaust is missing."
"I saw him take Psimon out of the room while you were fighting," Rose said.
"Then he'll probably be recruited into Onslaught," Dick said. "Let's get these kids to Taos. At this point, there's nothing we can do for Holocaust anyway."
"He wouldn't have stopped if we had brought him," Cassius said. "He's the only one that didn't have a control chip. He was fighting because he liked it."
The others all nodded their understanding and they all settled in for a quiet flight, the Bioship giving all the new passengers chairs, as well as making Cassius his usual reclining throne.
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