Summary: YJ S1 Ep 25.
Disclaimer: I don't own DC
Dick and the others were gathered around inside the Hall of Justice, watching the induction ceremony of its new members. Raquel saw that her mentor, Icon, was officially inducted into the League, and scoffed.
"I was the one who convinced Icon to be a hero in the first place. I should be out there with him!" Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Kaldur sighed.
"Welcome to our world." Raquel looked him over and Dick smirked to himself as he noticed this.
"Well, I suppose there's an upside, too." Dick turned his attention back to the screen to see Dr. Fate get inducted, and he gritted his teeth. Why the hell is Nabu in the League? He's the reason Zee's an orphan. Then again, Bruce can't say no to the guy, but coulda at least tried. Dick noticed Zatanna's head fall and walked over to place a comforting touch on her shoulder. She gave him a small smile as they looked back to the screen to see Roy get inducted.
"Way to go Roy!"
"At last he had his wish."
"First of us to make it." Everyone on the team was overjoyed for their friend. Roy had certainly come out of his jerky shell and made friends with them all following the Haly's Circus mission. Before anyone could say any more, Dick got an alert on his holo-computer, and he signaled for Kaldur to see. Kaldur nodded before turning to the team.
"Everyone suit up. We have unfinished business to attend to." The team ran out of the Hall and into the Zeta Tubes to make their way to the cave, where they prepped for a mission and took the Bio-ship to the snowy tundra. Raquel questioned what the mission was on, and Dick sighed.
"Remember the Injustice League?"
"And their crazy giant plants? Yeah!"
"We have put them behind bars, but their allies still scheme."
"Surveillance footage picked up one of those allies, Cheshire. She just entered a plane that we're following." Artemis gasped.
"You sure?"
"Well, video footage confirms it. But you've seen her without the mask. That her?" Artemis gazed at the footage, and Dick noticed the morbid look.
"Yeah. That's Cheshire."
"Indeed, but focus on what she carries. That case likely contains the nanobots we nearly secured a few weeks ago."
"We had a chance to grab it before, but someone screwed up." Wally glared at Arty, who looked away in slight shame. Not the time, bro.
"Hold up, we're closing in on the tracker." The fog lifted to reveal a plane crash, and everyone looked shocked. Artemis closed her eyes, terrified for her sister. Dick looked over to her, slight sorrow in his eyes. I know she was a psycho assassin and all, but man. She was still Arty's sis. Kaldur prompted the team to investigate further, and so they landed and got to work. Dick analyzed the pieces and immediately came to a conclusion.
"The plane musta burst a turbine mid-flight. Impossible to predict the crash. We could be lookin' at a lot of damage."
"Then why isn't the league here?"
"Because our Boy Wonder has some whelming hacking skills and arranged to get the alert first." Dick blushed at Zee's words and couldn't help the smile on his face as she looked over to him. He continued to analyze the crash, and quickly came to the same conclusion Kaldur was thinking.
"The case should be around here somewhere. But if this is a crash-"
"-where are the bodies?"
"Here's one. And it is stunning." The team jumped to see Cheshire standing above them on a cliff. Arty smiled for a second before everyone turned to hear a new voice.
"I am flora, not fauna. I am shrubbery, not grass. What am I?" Oh, boy. I know that snarky-ass voice. Nygma, you picked the wrong day to play games with me. The team looked to the Riddler, who was standing there with an army of League ninjas. Courtesy of Ra's Al Ghul. Huh. Gotham baddies crawlin' out of the sewers for this. Apes together strong, I guess. The ground shook as 3 pylons rose up, connecting to one another with energy to form a barrier around the team.
"C'mon, you can get this. I...?"
"Am-bush. Real clever."
"Bravo, Boy Wonder! And here I was thinking that without the Bat, there wouldn't be a competent mind amongst you all! Kill them!"
-M'gann, is everyone linked?-
-Everyone's online-
-Good. Robin, get the case. Superboy, deal with the pylons. Everyone else, cover them. Execute!- Dick immediately grappled up to Riddler to take on his thugs as Zatanna muttered a spell to create a snowfall inside the field. Robin made his way through hordes of ninjas with ease, before nearly topping over when the entire mountain began to shake. He barely caught himself and looked up to see Connor fly into the sky with Mammoth in hand. Wh-what?!
-SB, y-you're flying!- Connor practically ignored him as he started to mow into Mammoth. Dick's eyes went wide as part of the mountain nearly crushed Arty, but Cheshire pushed her out of the way just in time before vanishing with a smoke bomb. Close one. Whilst Dick was distracted, a ninja got a stray hit off of him, knocking him off his feet. Robin struggled to stand as 4 assassins crowded around him. Zatanna, upon seeing this, widened her eyes before yelling out a powerful spell to disorient them all. Dick took the opportunity to flip back up and take them down, making a run for Riddler. He dodged Nygma's cane's energy bursts and flipped towards him, delivering a kick to his jaw before swiping the case. As Riddler got up, Zatanna muttered another spell to wrap him up and gag him, and Dick smiled at her as she descended. Man, she's amazing!
Zatanna undid the snowfall and the team made their way back to the cave with the case in tow. They had called the League to clean up Riddler and his cronies, but Cheshire had gotten away. Dick and the others had so many questions regarding Connor's sudden showcase of flight and heat vision as well as his outburst that nearly got Artemis killed, but he dodged them all as he made his way to the back of the ship. Dick walked up to Zee whilst the others were talking and sat next to her.
"Th-thanks for earlier. I don't know what I woulda done w-without you." Zatanna blushed and bashfully tucked hair behind her ear.
"N-no problem." The team landed in the cave, and were immediately summoned by Bruce. Well, here we go again. 'No hacking into my systems', 'no going behind my back', et cetera. Can't wait to see my punishment this time.
"Tell me if this sounds familiar. You hacked into League systems, disobeyed direct orders...and your actions resulted in the capture of three supervillains, proving Hugo Strange runs Belle Reve as a front for the supervillains. Nice work." Bruce smirked as the team looked into each other, shocked. "And then there's this." Icon picked up a nanochip.
"Though I am unfamiliar with its species, the biological component is clearly not of Earth."
"We'll take it to the Watchtower to analyze." Rocket flew up to Icon to congratulate him on the League whilst Batman walked up to Robin. "Nice work today."
"Thanks. Does this mean I'm off the hook for hacking your systems this time?"
"Ha, no. You're still in trouble. 10:00 curfew, no patrol for today, and you get an extra hour of training in the morning." Dick heard Zatanna, Arty, and Wally snicker behind him, but ignored them.
"Damn. Hammer of justice falls again."
"It never doesn't. But...nice work with Riddler. He's back in his Arkham cell, where he belongs. We'll analyze the components you recovered and I'll report the findings to you later. Until then, good work. I'll see you at 10, don't be late. Unless you'd like A to shut down production in the kitchen. And we both know what happened last time." Dick smiled as Bruce put a hand on his shoulder before walking away. The other members of the team looked on at their interaction with slight curiosity. Batman was the scariest of all Leaguers, never seen pausing his brooding or telling a joke. However, around Robin, he was so...different. Only Wally had seen this more fatherly side of the Caped Crusader. The others were aware the Dynamic Duo had a strong bond, but not this strong. It was quite jarring to see the Bat of Gotham lighten his mood around a teenage boy. They were all convinced Batman was Robin's father, but something about their relationship was far too relaxed for them to actually be blood. Only Zatanna and Wally knew the truth behind their bond. As they Zeta'd away, Dick turned to Kal.
"You realize we were set up."
"Indeed. Someone tipped Cheshire and Riddler to our motives. But who?" Artemis groaned.
"Not the mole thing again!" Raquel, who had flown back to the team, snapped her neck to Arty.
"Mole thing? Again?!"
"We...had intel that there might be a mole on the team."
"Mainly Artemis, M'gann, or me!" Connor stormed off as Kaldur called back to him.
"It is not that simple. Though your recent actions have piqued interest. Your assault on Mammoth nearly got Artemis killed." Connor clenched his ears and flinched, and the others were confused as to why. Is this a super-hearing thing? He stopped before turning back to the others.
"There's something I have to do. Something I gotta tell you...I'm...when they cloned me, they only used half of Superman's DNA. The other half was human, to balance me out and keep me in control of myself. That's why I don't have-will never have-full Kryptonian powers." Dick looked to him curiously.
"You sure? Cuz you definitely had them today." Connor sighed once again.
"I've been using these." He lifted up his shirt to reveal a blackened patch on his arm. "They're called shields. I stick one on my arm, and it suppresses my human DNA. I get the flight, the heat vision...but I think I also get angry. Well...angrier." Kaldur looked dead serious as he stepped forward.
"Where did you get those?"
"From my human father...Lex Luthor." Everyone gasped at this revelation.
"LEX LUTHOR...is your DAD?!" Now it all makes sense! HE must control Cadmus! Who else could get Superman's DNA and successfully create a clone WITH the intent of killing him?!
"Yeah. And he's summoned me to Santa Prisca to get more shields. I'm...I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner." Santa Prisca?! Oh crap, BANE! He escaped in that mini-breakout a few days ago with Two Face! Artemis sighed before stepping forward.
"Superboy's not the only one suffering from bad DNA." Oh damn, is she gonna spill, too? Artemis pulled up holo-files on Sportsmaster, Tigress, and Cheshire. "I'm not really Green Arrow's niece. My mom's Tigress, ex-con who's now straight. The rest of my family...aren't even ex. My dad's Spotsmaster, and he's sending my sister, Cheshire, to bring me to Santa Prisca, too."Wally's eyes widened.
"That's why you-"
"Yeah. I was so desperate to make sure none of you found out-"
"I knew." Feels good to get that off my chest. Everyone stared at the Boy Wonder in utter shock. Dick slightly chuckled and cracked a smile. "Hey, I'm a detective! But it wasn't my secret to tell. Besides, you're not your family. You're one of us, now." Artemis smiled as Wally walked up to her, smiling softly at her. Guess they're cool, now. Wally put his elbow on her shoulder and looked to the others.
"So, who's next?" M'gann sighed.
"I am." Okay, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! Everyone's eyes went wide and Wally put his hands up in surrender.
"I swear I was kidding."
"Queen Bee's been...blackmailing me. And she wants me on Santa Prisca, too." Huh?
"Blackmailing? How?"
"Sh-she knows my true Martian form." The bald one? That's not even that bad, though.
"Bald M'gann? Who cares if-"
"N-no. Not that." M'gann took a deep breath before morphing into a White Martian. Everyone stepped back in shock except for Kaldur and Connor, who seemed unfazed. Dick instinctively stepped in front of Zatanna, as some sort of safety measure. Okay, settle down Boy Blunder. It's still Megs. She's not evil or anything. Zee's fine.
"I-I'm so sorry for lying. On Mars, my people were rejected everywhere. I-I couldn't risk anything."
"M'gann, did we truly seem so shallow?"
"I-I couldn't risk anything. Not-"
"From me?" Connor said something in his private mind-link with Megan that the others couldn't hear, but it calmed her down enough for her to morph back to normal and hug him. Dick smiled and felt a bit guilty for jumping when she initially revealed herself. Kaldur then stepped up.
"It would appear that our enemies are holding a meeting on Santa Prisca. However, we now have an ace up our sleeve. Everyone who has been summoned, go meet with your respective callers and pretend none of this happened and you have indeed turned. The rest of us will await in the Bio-ship and prepare for support."
"Th-there's one more thing. Luthor has these...command phrases he can say to shut me down and make me his slave. I-I only know one of them, 'Red Sun'." M'gann nodded before her eyes glowed up and she got to work purging the Cadmus programming.
"You're all good now. Looks like 'Red Sun' was the only key-phrase Lex Luthor installed before you were freed." Connor smiled to his girlfriend before the entire team proceeded with their plan.
Dick, Zatanna, Kaldur, Raquel, and Wally waited in the Bio-ship as M'gann kept it camo'd and floated down to play her part. Once they saw Artemis jump in to fight, Kaldur turned to the others.
"That is our cue. Move in!" Aqualad went forward with Rocket to engage the League ninjas. Kid Flash sped in to help Arty out and Robin landed on some of Bane's thugs, quickly incapacitating them. One pointed a gun at the back of his head, and he was about to flip behind and take him out when Zatanna enchanted his clothes, turning them into snakes and then ropes to wrap him up. Whoa! That's...creepy and awesome at the same time. Zee floated in, and before Dick could say anything, a venomized Bane slammed them both into a wall. He got up to see Zatanna lying on the floor, and immediately leapt in to combat the raging brute. Dick flipped around before Bane grabbed him by the leg and slammed him into a wall. Ouch! Damn, that hurts. Zatanna slurred awake to see Dick get hurled to the wall, and she tensed at his hit before uttering a spell to create duplicates of him, all of whom rushed to Bane. He stumbled as he attempted to crush them all, whilst the real Robin leapt over him, slicing his venom tank with a birdarang and blasting him with a taser. Bane fell to the ground, and Dick rushed to help Zatanna up.
"You okay?"
"Y-yeah. You?"
"Yeah, I'll b-be fine. Thanks for the backup. Th-that was pretty asterous." They both blushed and smiled before going back to help their team against the others. Dick saw Cheshire change sides and help take Sportsmaster down before vanishing, but Luthor and Queen Bee got away. Everyone huddled up as Kaldur started his sappy speech.
"This has been a good day. We have not only dealt a critical blow to our enemies, but we have also grown closer as a unit. This is cause for celebration."
"Heh, yeah. Today's been pretty asterous." The team flew back to the cave, everyone feeling very traught with their victory. Connor and M'gann were huddled up in a psychic conversation, Arty and Wally were laughing as they talked, and even Kaldur and Raquel were conversing. Dick sat next to Zee, both of them smiling with flushed cheeks. "Uh, th-thanks for having my back earlier. A-and at the tundra with Riddler."
"N-no problem. Seriously." The two of them started to laugh and continue to talk with one another until the ship landed. The entire team started to walk over to the monitor room, expecting Batman to be there. No way he didn't notice all the action on Santa Prisca. Plus, dude's probably got some kinda app that alerts him whenever an Arkham baddie goes down. He's scary informed about that stuff.
Next chapter will be the finale of s1, Auld Acquaintance. After that, there will be a Batman/Robin chapter before a somewhat significant Chalant chapter. From there, the fluffs and suggestion chapters will start rolling in waves as we slowly work our way through the timeline set up in chapter 1. Feel free to review and leave comments or suggestions. Just a reminder that suggestions can take place at any point we have already covered. So basically, right now I will be willing to write any suggestions that take place before Auld Acquaintance (so young Dick stuff, stuff with the team before AA, Dick/Zee when they're not dating, etc.), since that's where we are on the timeline right now. Anything set after Auld Acquaintance I'll wait to write until we reach that point, but I will write it eventually. You can still leave suggestions from any point in the timeline and I will record it in my list of chapter ideas, it's just that some of them I may have to delay for a while until we get to that point naturally. Next chapter up soon.