I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
New Team
Cassius stared at the screens above Garfield. He'd asked for a meeting with all the active senior members, including Cassius, despite his active punishment, and including Artemis, as she'd been helping out the team before, in order to explain why the League wasn't working, and why the Light was winning. He also explained his plan to form a new Team, one which wouldn't be a covert ops team, and which would be used to inspire the world, rather than hiding from it and allowing the League and the Light to duke it out in a lopsided spin campaign. Cassius liked the idea. It was a good plan. However, they'd probably need help getting jobs that the press would look favorably on. Basic things like rescuing people from fires, or stopping robberies. The war against the Light couldn't be theirs.
"You have given us much to consider," Kaldur said.
"No, we haven't," Garfield said as Bart, Jaime, Wonder Girl, Brion, and Static all stepped up beside him. "Get on board, or get out of the way!" He grinned knowingly as he said it, Conner groaning and rolling his eyes.
"We all heard the story," Bart said.
"You guys built this team, and now it's time for us to take it to the next level!" Static grinned.
"You'll have a constant spotlight on you," Cassius warned. "They'll pick apart every bit of your actions. And if they find anything, any dirt they can use, your team will fail. Are you ready for that?"
"Green skin," Garfield smirked. "Can't hide from the spotlight."
"The Reach added me two years ago," Jaime said.
"Kid Flash is out, too, from back in Wally's day," Bart said. "Public doesn't always get that I'm a different guy. Plus, I never really grocked the whole secret identity thing anyway. You?" He looked to Jaime.
"Markovia and the world already know what I have become," Brion said. "Now, I want to show them who I have become."
"And there was no way I was gonna let this be a no-girls squad," Wonder Girl said.
"It won't," Kaldur said. "You will be taking on Cassius, Cassandra, and Rose as well."
Cassius raised an eyebrow at him.
"I believe it is now time," Kaldur said. "I have decided to take your advice."
Cassius nodded. "Does my punishment stand with this team?"
"You will act as the intermediary between the League and this new team," Kaldur said. "Garfield will lead this new public squad. Miss Martian will be your League contact."
"Alright," Cassius said.
"So...wait, what advice are you taking?" Static asked.
"His advice to tell you all everything the League has been doing to defeat the Light," Kaldur said. "At least, what I can."
Everyone who didn't already know stared at him in confusion. About half an hour later, after the explanation, justification, and shouting had ended, a silence fell on the room. Finally, Kaldur spoke again.
"Knowing all that I have said, I will understand if any of you wish to resign. Know that you will be accepted back if and when you decide to return."
Everyone looked around at each other, but no one spoke.
"Very well, then," Kaldur said. "As of now, the public team will be Beast Boy, Void, Orphan, Ravager, Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Static, and Geo-Force. You will answer to the League through Miss Martian with Void and Beast Boy acting as team representatives."
Everyone nodded again.
"Oh, and there's one other thing I've got covered," Garfield said. "The team can crash at my place."
"Very well," Kaldur nodded. "In an effort to assist you in gaining favor with the media, the League will assist you in finding missions where we can. We may also...create some, purely for media appearances. Such as a fire."
Cassius nodded, but Garfield scowled.
"We don't need you setting up fake missions for us!" Garfield snapped.
"Those won't be for us," Cassius said. "They'll be for the media. Think of it like acting. We're trying to be cast as idols for your generation to inspire them to love heroes again. In order to do that, we need family-friendly missions, like a fire. However, there won't always be a fire, and we can't always be fighting criminals, though I'm sure we'll have to at some point. So, since we can't always find a natural mission involving a natural disaster or a fire, we'll have to play our roles as actors."
Garfield frowned deeply. "I don't like it...but I understand. Don't do it too often."
"We won't," Kaldur promised.
Garfield nodded, and they all took the Zeta Tube to Hollywood, then headed to Garfield's planned headquarters. Kaldur, Megan, Connor, and the Team members who had declined to join the public squad all came with them to see where the new team would be staying. All in all, it felt almost like the Cave used to. It still needed a Zeta Tube and medical bay, but it felt almost nostalgic. There were also enough rooms for everyone to have their own room, aside from Cassandra and Rose staying with Cassius, minus one extra. However, Violet agreed to share with Forager, after Brion admitted he wanted his own room, so that problem was solved. And the best part was that it was being funded by the contracted payments Garfield was receiving from Gretchen Goode.
"Garfield, this place is great and all, but there is no way nine teenagers are going to live here alone and unsupervised," Megan said as the others all went to check out their rooms.
"Yeah," Artemis grinned, voice laced with sarcasm. "Who knows what might happen." She winced as Megan elbowed her.
"Excuse me," Cassius said, instantly catching her math. "I'm older than all of you. Just because I keep myself physically young enough to not be arrested for dating Cassandra and Rose at their ages doesn't make me a child."
"No," Kaldur agreed. "But after your mission in Russia, you will be supervised as well. At least until your punishment period ends."
"Fair enough," Cassius said.
"I just thought," Artemis said. "The infamous former assassin Void, probably shouldn't be seen on the team. Got an alternate ID?"
"Always," Cassius snorted.
His skin lightened slightly as his hair bleached golden blonde, his eyes turning blue. His facial features grew slightly more pronounced, he grew a few inches, his clothes shifted into a suit of sleeveless, white armor with silver along the sides, similar in design to Garfield's, but the same type of armor as Cassius's usual set. Lastly, a pair of white-feathered wings sprouted from his back.
"Just call me Angel," Cassius said, his voice slightly deeper than before and almost like he was singing.
"Nice!" Artemis smirked.
"Thanagarian?" Kaldur asked.
"Why not?" Cassius shrugged. "I could be a a nephew, third cousin, fan. Whatever."
Kaldur nodded. "You will need a weapon."
"Got it covered," Cassius said. "Blue! That thing ready yet?"
"Yeah!" Jaime called back, holding out his hand, which had been a glowing cylinder for the last ten minutes.
An object launched out of the front of it, and Cassius caught it, holding out the blue hilt for a liquid metal sword. However, his had four switches.
"Let's see," Cassius said, pressing one.
A double-edged blade formed like Rose's swords. He tried another and the blade formed into a scythe, the hilt extending into a full-length shaft. The third button turned it into a morning star, the hilt shrinking back down again. The fourth deactivated it.
"That aughta do," Cassius said.
"Agreed," Kaldur nodded. "But why not make one with your goo?"
"Because this one's fireproof," Cassius said.
Kaldur nodded. "I see. Very well. Then all that is left is to find someone to supervise."
"I would be happy to be a den mother here," Dr. Jace offered. "Plus, I've been living in a hotel for the last four months and...it's not for me."
"Then it is decided," Kaldur said. "We'll take our leave, then."
"Have someone keep a very close eye on Tara," Cassius messaged Kaldur. "She won't be on stand by orders for ever."
" I know," Kaldur messaged back once he was out of the room.
Cassius stared at the three Reach Ships as they fired at Kaldur. They were in Brooklyn, Maine, and Kaldur had gone to stop the ships, at least according to appearances. However, Megan had told them before they left that Kaldur was going to throw the fight so that they could take over. In keeping with that, when two ships fired at his water shield, he allowed just enough of the blast through to hurl him backward.
"Shall we girls?" Cassius asked, shifting into his new disguise.
"Let's," Rose grinned, all three activating their liquid metal swords, though Rose only had one put at the moment.
Cassius took off instantly, carrying one under each arm before dropping them off in front of Kaldur, who Bart had made a show of helping up and telling that they'd take over.
"Nice to meet you, Aquaman," Cassius said. "Big fan. Can I have your autograph after this?"
"Focus on the fight," Aquaman said. "Then we'll see."
"Right," Cassius nodded. "Time to show off for my hero!"
"Blue, can you confirm they're Reach?" Garfield asked, currently as a flying bird, but with a collar that still allowed him to speak.
"Scarab confirms it," Jaime said. "I can deactivate them on contact, but only one at a time."
"Right!" Garfield said. "We'll distract them so you can tag-WHOA!"
He was cut off by the ships opening fire. They all scattered, one ship going after Static, one after Kid Flash, and one chasing Cassius and Garfield. As the two of them flipped and swerved around the laser-fire, Cassius activated his new toy as a morning star.
"I'm going to squash this bug!" Cassius called over the wind.
Hearing his signal, Kaldur tried to get the girl he'd saved at the start of the attack into cover, while looking directly at Cassius, deflecting her attention that way, so that she'd record it.
"Go," Cassandra messaged the moment she was recording him.
Cassius flipped backward, avoiding a laser blast before slamming his mace down on the front of one of the ship's wings. The end of the wing broke off and the ship began to plummet toward the ground. Before it could crash, Cassius hurled Garfield, now a gecko, at it, and he transformed into a rhino, crashing into it hard enough to deflect it forward, stopping it from exploding and making it simply tear along the ground instead. A second later, Rose and Cassandra landed on the top of it and used their swords to slice the wings off entirely, grounding the ship.
"One down and going nowhere," Garfield reported. "Deal with the others first."
"Just finishing number one," Jaime reported.
"One down, two to go!" Brion announced.
"Think I sold it?" Cassius messaged Garfield.
"Passable," Garfield smirked.
After another minute, number two was down and Jaime landed on top of theirs, disabling it.
"And that's the last one," Jaime said. "Let's get the pilot out."
Cassius nodded, and when Jaime made it open, Cassius dragged the pilot out and tossed him to the ground where Cassandra and Rose both held their swords to his throat. As they marched him back into town where Garfield was doing the PR introductions bit, Cassius sighed, shaking his head slightly and staring down at the ship below him.
"You sold your identity well," Kaldur messaged. "And you did well keeping the crash from being fatal."
"Thanks," Cassius messaged back. "Wish I could use my own powers, though."
"You can use a few extras, as long as you're careful," Kaldur said. "Someone asked why your wings were white and why you weren't wearing a Hawk uniform, so Garfield said you simply grew wings and got a few other abilities when your Meta powers were activated, not that you were a Thanagarian."
"Smart move," Cassius smiled, beginning to drift back toward the others. "I can work with that. So, it's Intergang, right?"
"It is," Kaldur confirmed.
"Angel, come down here," Garfield radioed suddenly. "We're being arrested for vigilantism."
"Now, that's some bull shit," Cassius said. "Fine. Be right there."
"Angel, behind you!" Jaime warned suddenly.
Cassius spun, just in time to form a thick layer of goo over the front of his body, blocking the blast of a Reach Warship's cannon. As he exploded into the ground, instantly retracting whatever goo wasn't burned in the explosion, which was half of his total amount, he heard Cassandra and Rose both shrieking in fear, hearing Garfield call after them uselessly.
"I'm alright," Cassius groaned, pushing himself up slowly as the warship passed over him. "Find cover."
"Behind the Warbug!" Jaime ordered, referring to the one Bart and Wonder Girl had stopped.
"What about them?" Garfield asked.
Bart flashed put, grabbed both, and dragged them back into cover before the warship could fire.
"What's the plan?" Cassius asked, then messaged, "This is real," to all of the others except Kaldur.
Just then, the warship blasted a pair of Air Force drones out of the air, the drones' missiles doing nothing to the warship.
"The mayor won't call the Justice League, so we're on our own," Garfield said. "Blue says we can shut it down from the inside."
"I'll meet you there," Cassius said. "Bring my girls."
"Yeah, yeah," Wonder Girl said.
A few seconds later, just as Cassius managed to blast a hole down into the ship using his goo, grateful for still being out of the camera's sight, the others all arrived, joining him inside. Cassandra and Rose both flung their arma around him instantly, and he sighed, holding them tightly.
"How much did you lose?" Garfield asked knowingly.
"Half," Cassius sighed. "I need sleep."
"Hang in there," Blue Beetle said, setting his hands on the control board for the ship, glowing blue lines spreading from his hands like circuitry.
"So, good news, just checked every deck, no baddies just their bones, so we're in no danger at all!" Bart said as he sped back into the room.
Just then, an alert sounded and a pair of screens appeared, showing two jets approaching.
"Uh, bad news," Brion said. "The good guys are here to blow us out of the sky."
"But this ship will blow them out of the sky!" Wonder Girl said. "And those jets are manned!"
"They're almost in range, and it looks like the ship has a lock on them," Garfield said. "Blue?"
"Good news, I can totally cut power to the ship's weapons," Jaime reported.
"Please, no bad news, please no bad news," Bart said.
"Bad news," Blue continued, Bart groaning, "I can only do it by deactivating the ship's engines at the same time."
"So, crash us down and flatten the whole town," Static summarized. "Called it."
An alert began to beep at them as a target appeared around the individual jets.
"I think the ship's about to fire!" Wonder Girl said.
"Blue, hit the gas!" Garfield ordered. "Give us enough thrust to clear the town, then cut the power! We'll crash this thing somewhere safe!"
Jaime did as instructed, getting them over the park before deactivating the engines. As the ship began to fall, Cassius sent out all of his remaining goo, transforming into goo himself in order to form restraints filling the room, holding everyone in a cocoon and preparing to act as a shock absorber. A second later, the ship lurched hard as it smashed down on the frozen pond, shattering the ice instantly. Once the ship had stopped, Cassius reformed, sagging onto Rose and Cassandra's shoulders as they caught him. They all climbed out of the ship together, the civilians that had been present to watch and record the fight cheering from shore.
"You alright?" Garfield asked Cassius.
"Exhausted," Cassius said. "But I'll be fine."
They all made their way back to shore and Garfield offered to allow them to be arrested again, only for the Sheriff to refuse, citing the town's Good Sumaritan law as grounds for letting them go. When one of the teen girls who were videotaping the whole thing asked who they were, Garfield gave a very general speech ending with saying they were all Outsiders, in reference to operating outside of the laws of beurocrats who would dictate how they used their powers. Then, with their mission concluded and an excellent first impression having been made, they left, heading back to their new Cave.
"Get some rest, Cassius," Garfield said. "I'll check in with M'gann."
"Thanks," Cassius mumbled, barely awake still.
Cassandra and Rose helped him up to his room and he retracted his armor before climbing into bed. The girls curled into his sides and within seconds he was unconscious.
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