I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Troubled
"We don't need your help, Zatanna," Cassius sighed as he piloted the Bioship. "Trust me, I can handle him."
"Cassius, this is Klarion," Zatanna said. "You need me."
"We need to stay low-key for this mission," Cassius messaged. "You may have dated, and or sport fucked, Dick, but you're still not the stealthiest on the League."
"Hey!" Zatanna snapped, though the laugh that followed weakened her argument. "I resent that!"
"Resent away," Cassius smiled. "And since I know you, and how well you follow orders, I'll see you in Cuba so you can slap me."
"Damn right I will!" Zatanna said. "Be careful. Keep them all safe."
"You know I will," Cassius messaged. "I'm not the best fighter in the League or all its teams for nothing."
"You're not the best fighter in the League or all its teams period," Zatanna countered.
"Cassandra not included," Cassius messaged.
"Mhm," Zatanna said. "Or Superman, or Batman, or Dr. Fate, or-"
"Alright already!" Cassius laughed. "I get it. You have no faith in me."
"I have a little," Zatanna said.
"I gotta go, we're here," Cassius messaged, closing out of the messages to her. "Deploy the beetle mini-drone."
Static sent his drone out, transferring the feed to the entire ship. About a second later, something massive, fleshy, and possessing a huge mouth and massive teeth ate the beetle, destroying it instantly.
"Not something you see every day," Static said. "And we've seen some pretty weird things.
Cassius grunted. "Seen worse. Fought worse. A big fleshy monster will be refreshingly new, though." He sighed. "I should probably get into costume." He stood, shifting into his Outsiders disguise, his weapon sprouting from his side, already clipped to his belt. "Okay. If you guys can stall whatever new toy Klarion's, I can deal with him, with Rose and Cassandra's help."
"Got it," the others all nodded.
"We'll do our best," Garfield said.
"Trouble," Static said. "Cuban authorities incoming."
"Klarion won't be happy," Cassius said. "Geo-Force, keep the cops away. The rest of you, we're going in."
"Outsiders away!" Garfield shouted as he transformed into a falcon.
"Dude, that catchphrase?" Static asked, pulling his expandable disk platform out of his vest's inside pocket. "It needs work."
The Bioship opened everyone a hole, Cassius catching Rose and Cassandra as they dropped, flying down to drop them on the roof before smashing through the factory's skylight himself. As he did, Klarion turned to look at him, grinning. Then, he turned to a shuttered door as Static used his powers to rip it open. Cassius looked around, but didn't see the thing that ate the beetle drone.
"See Teekl?" Klarion asked. "I told you we had some Meta-Teens left."
"Sorry, Klarion," Cassius said, extending his weapon as a sword. "We're not here to play. Though, I, personally, will accept a dance."
Teekl meowed at Klarion.
"What!?" Klarion asked. "They're trying to steal my magical Metas!? You!" He pointed off to the side, at a group of shipping containers. "Flesh monster! Crush them!"
Then, the thing that ate their drone emerged, shoving the containers out of the way as they went. It was massive, ugly, and likely excessively dangerous. It had a long, fat tail that dragged on the ground, four arms, two of which severed in place of legs, and all of which were a different size ranging from skeletal to obese. It had one huge mouth filled with fangs on its deformed, bulge of a head, a second bulge head above its left shoulder which had smaller, needle-like fangs and which faced to its left, a third head on the left side of its chest with its brain exposed like Psimon's, eyes all over its body except its heads, a couple more mouths showing but unable to open, bone spikes on its back and forearms almost randomly, and a glowing red, mystic symbol on the forehead of the head with the larger teeth.
It roared, its monstrous voice mixing with the screams of dozens of young voices as human faces and hands grew from its flesh at random like they were stretching it from inside, then retracted. Cassius's blood ran cold. Those were the teens they were trying to rescue. The creature hurled a shipping container at them and they scattered, allowing the container to explode out through the wall.
"Stall it but don't hurt it too badly!" Cassius shouted. "Klarion's mine!"
The others nodded as he flapped his wings, streaking forward, then beating them again to flip out of the way of a blast of blood red magic. He landed in front of Klarion and swiped his morning star at him, only for Klarion to form a barrier and block it. However, just as he did, Cassius stepped forward, slamming a kick into Teekl and hurling the cat across the room and into the wall, knocking it unconscious.
"Help the others subdue that thing," Cassius silent-messaged Cassandra and Rose. "Peacefully."
Klarion fired another blast of magic at Cassius, but he spun, ducking under the blast, then slammed an uppercut into Klarion's jaw as he stood and finished his spin, hurling him backward. Just then, Zatanna landed inside the factory, just as the creature staggered back into it, out of a cloud of sleeping gas and a smoke screen. Zatanna gasped.
"Think you can fix them?" Cassius asked, glancing at Klarion.
Just as he did, Klarion walked out of the shadows, Teekl awake and on his shoulders.
"My Glamour Spell hides me from any non-Outsider," Zatanna was explaining to the others, since she wasn't allowed to be in Cuba.
"Or, any non-Chaos Lords," Klarion said. "I see you."
"Just take a nap, Klarion," Cassius growled, walking forward to meet him. "You're being a brat."
Klarion's skin turned grey, his eyes red, as he took on his more demonic appearance. Cassius charged and Klarion waved a hand, sending out a pulse of red energy, only for Cassius to leap over it. He fired a blast of red energy, and Rose used her grappling gun to hurl a barrel into its path, blocking the blast. Cassius landed lightly and shot forward, swiping his morning star, Klarion allowing it to pass through him harmlessly. However, just as it left and Klarion solidified, Cassius's wing snapped out, crashing into his face and knocking him back a step before Cassius spun, his wing swiping across Klarion's face to blind him a moment before getting out of the way a split second before Cassius landed a windmill kick, hurling Klarion away. He caught Teekl by the tail, however, and hurled it at Garfield, who grew into an elephant and batted it aside with his trunk. Klarion roared in rage and snapped his fingers, Wonder Girl exploding into red smoke, which flowed into the creature, causing it to double in size and grow much, much more violent. Then, suddenly, Klarion yelped in pain, staggering around as Garfield stung him over and over as a hornet. Cassius turned to the creature, reinforcing his muscles as much as he could before launching himself forward, grabbing it around the neck and dragging it to the ground.
"Hurry up!" Cassius shouted.
Zatanna began to chant quickly, finishing about a second after the creature hurled Cassius into a wall. A moment later, there was a bright flash of light and the magically transfigured Meta-Teens all fell to the ground. Cassius sighed, pushing himself up and looking to Klarion again. Just as he did, Zatanna freed the students' souls, then also turned on Klarion.
"You've got one chance to leave on your own, Klarion," Cassius said. "Otherwise, we'll be forcing you."
"I'd like to see you try!" Klarion scoffed.
Zatanna began to chant as she walked forward. Then, suddenly, a glowing gold ankh appeared, swallowing Klarion, Teekl, and Zatanna before fading.
Cassius shook his head. "I didn't know she could use that spell."
"Angel!" Garfield called out. "We have a problem!"
Cassius turned, seeing him kneeling beside a girl with snow-white hair, blue scales in patches, and gills flapping uselessly in the air. He swore, running over and picking her up before flying out of the building to the water and dropping her in. Then, he made a show of putting a rebreather in his mouth before dropping in and forming himself gills while folding his wings tight to his back, shrinking both.
"I need you to fly down and fill a room with water for one of the kids," Cassius messaged the Bioship directly.
A moment later, it sank into the water in front of them, opening a hatch in the back and allowing water to fill it. Cassius gestured to it and the girl hesitated before swimming inside. Cassius swam to the surface, shifting his wings back to what they were before he went in, then walked out of the water onto the beach and made a show of putting away the rebreather. A moment later, the Bioship landed in front of the factory and they all climbed on, flying away with the children.
"Cassius, you free?" Connor messaged suddenly.
"What's up?" Cassius silent-messaged back.
"Violet didn't show up for training," Connor messaged. "Tara said she blew them off after school in order to hang out with a friend."
"Violet?" Cassius messaged. "I'd ask if we were talking about the right sibling, but his highness is here."
"I know it doesn't sound like her, but do you think you can find her?"
"She got her Darkwear in?" Cassius asked.
"Tried it," Connor said. "She left it in her room."
Cassius hummed in thought for a moment. "I have a guess, if she's trying to avoid us. I'll go check while the others head for Taos."
"Thanks," Connor messaged.
Cassius sighed, standing as the Bioship switched control to Garfield. "I gotta drop out here. I'll meet you all back at HQ."
"Trouble?" Garfield asked.
"Probably not, but we'll find out," Cassius said.
The Bioship opened a hole below him, and once he was in the air, he shifted back to himself, including eight goo wings and took off. As he flew, Megan messaged that she was going to pick Violet up from the Happy Harbor police station, and moved to meet her there. After about another twenty minutes, he landed outside and retracted his wings just as the policewoman that Megan was speaking to headed back inside, leaving Megan and Violet outside. Cassius sighed, walking over to them.
"So, what happened?" Cassius asked.
"She was found drinking alcohol and shooting a gun on the beach by the ruins of Mount Justice, along with another girl, Harper Row," Megan said. "Harper has to stay here until her father comes to get her."
Cassius sighed, nodding. "I'm guessing alcoholic and probably not until morning, followed by a beating."
Megan grimaced, but nodded. "It's possible. The alcohol is a definite yes."
Cassius nodded, sighing, then looked to Violet. "When we get home, you and I are going to have a talk."
Violet nodded. Cassius sighed and got in the passenger's seat of Megan's car, Violet climbing in back, and Megan drove back to her house. From there, Cassius and Violet took the Zeta Tube to the new Cave, then walked up to her room. Violet sat on the bed, staring at her lap.
"Talk," Cassius said. "You don't skip training, you don't ignore friends, and you know better than to play with guns. So talk. You have once change to be honest before I train it out of you."
Violet nodded. "Dr. Chase told me that I am dying, because Gabrielle's body cannot contain the power of a Mother Box. And I remembered that Gabrielle took a bride to let in the assassin that killed Brion's parents. And then when I was with Harper, she gave me a weird drink that didn't taste good, and she is always nice to me, and she kissed me, and-"
"Whoa, hold on," Cassius said. "She kissed you?"
Violet nodded mutely.
"Then what?" Cassius asked.
"She told me to try the pistol, so I did, and then the policewoman showed up," Violet said.
Cassius nodded, sighing. "Never ditch us again, never skip training unless you give advance warning and have a very good excuse, never leave the cave without your Darkwear in case we need to get ahold of you, and never keep secrets like dying from us again."
Violet nodded. "What do I do about Harper kissing me?"
"What do you want to do?" Cassius asked. "Do you like her? As more than a friend, I mean."
"I do not know," Violet said. "I am still new to feelings. But it feels...similar to be around her as it did to be around Brion at first. But different."
"Think on it," Cassius said. "In the mean time, I need to go and take care of a few things."
Violet nodded. "Thank you for not being mad."
"You're going to be punished," Cassius said. "But I've done worse, so I have no grounds to be mad at you."
Violet nodded, and Cassius left the room, heading to his own. As he lay on the bed, he started a messaging string to Megan's phone.
"So, tell me everything you can about Harper Row," Cassius messaged.
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