What is UP! Here's the turn around for chapter 4. Not really much to say here other than to enjoy it!
I do have a pretty lengthy authors note at the end though. None of it is really SUPER important, but pertains to the story nonetheless. So read it, or don't, it's really just there so you guys can peek into my thought process. And as a way for me to empty my mind a bit.
Disclaimer: All characters go to their respective owners!
Key:
"Speaking"
"Thought or telepathic convos"
"Automated speech or comms"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Roughly a couple of days had passed since the Amazo mission and Max's inner enlightenment. The boy had been able to bounce back rather strongly after a bit of time spent just to himself. He reasoned that it was only normal to have some sort of competitive nature with an older sibling. Maybe even more so, given his particular sibling was super.
He did however, tend to shy away from the nanite work he had been doing beforehand. Throwing himself fully into making some sort of medical device, should a member of the team take considerable damage. Though it couldn't perform surgery, it would cut recovery time down to nearly half of what it would've been.
It looked be a large tank, large enough to fit any one person. Perhaps two small, but it was intended for one. Max had aptly dubbed it, the Isolation Chamber due to that. Essentially it was supposed to stimulate the bodies natural recovery and kick it into overdrive. High speed regeneration, as it were.
Max pulled his tinted goggles off and inspected a piece of metal he'd just finished welding. "My scans indicate it is structurally sound, Mr. West. Should I prepare the schematics and steps for stage 2?"
The boy nodded, "Yea, I'm pretty much done with the base. Just a few things I want to weld down, just in case." Max crouched and put his goggles back on, the bright flashing and sparks of the welding bounced off the skin of his forearm. He might've pulled back, but he was far too used to the sting for it to bother him. He did wear gloves though.
"Max!" The genius nearly fell face first into the red hot metal. His hands fumbled with the tool and he had.
"M'gann! You scared me! Aiva, pause music." He didn't even hear her come in. Max breathed trying to calm his racing heart.
The Martian giggled, "Sorry, but the rest of the team is here! Well not Wally, cause he started school today… speaking of, how come you don't start school too?"
Max flipped the switch on the back of his welder, "School? Oh, I tested out this past summer. As far as public school is concerned I've graduated all 12 grades!"
"Oh, you don't even want try high school? Going to school sounds so fun!"
Max shrugged, "I just seemed like a waste to me, I didn't have anything to learn. Nor do they teach anything I'm interested in."
Megan saw the logic behind that, she wanted to go simply because she desired to be apart of human culture and school was undoubtedly a pretty large chunk of that culture. Well for most humans at least. "That makes sense. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know the rest of us are heading outside to the beach, if you wanted to join! It's ganna be a lot of fun!"
Max perked up. The beach?! That sounded fantastic! His eyes then trailed back to the medical device he was in the middle of constructing. "That sounds like fun Megan, but I've got some stuff to finish up here."
The green girl frowned, "Are you sure? I heard humans get vitamins from sunlight, it can't be good for you to stay in all day…"
Max smiled and scratched his head, "Its vitamin D, but it's only bad if you go long periods without it. And there are certainly other ways to get them. Sorry Miss M-"
"Actually, Mr. West. I still have to fabricate some pieces for the next stage. There is nothing left for you to do on the Isolation Chamber, until then."
Max blinked once, then twice, "I see… Well I guess I'll be joining you then, Megan! Good thing I packed some swim trunks!"
"Great!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The sun was finally beginning to set and the team had wound down the festivities. Not because they wanted to, but because they were called back into the cave by the Batman himself.
The team got dressed in their hero gear, expecting a mission, while Max settled for clothes a bit more casual. A simple red long sleeve with a black flash emblem on the chest and blue jeans.
The team's initial thoughts may have been off though. When they all reconvened, they saw not only Batman and Tornado, but Green Arrow too. Even stranger, he had a blond girl in equally green (clearly heroic) gear.
Aqualad and Robin had felt a bit conflicted about the girl's appearance. It hadn't been all that long since Speed- Red Arrow- had gone solo. Had Green found a replacement so quick?
"Recognized: Kid Flash B-03."
"The Wallman, is HERE! Let's get this party start-!" Wally in his most sauve moveset tripped over the impractical amount of things he was carrying. He tumbled to the floor face planting in front of the team, the leaguers, and the new girl.
Max noticed his brother was dressed in attire clearly made for the beach, a bit late for that, It was dark out now. Actually, now that he thought about it, Max was slightly confused. He glanced at his watch then back to Wally, "What took so long? School should've gotten out at 4."
The female archer laughed, "Wallman, huh? I dig the outfit, what exactly are your powers?"
Max chuckled to himself and answered, "Wally's has the ability to make any situation 10x worse with just his mouth. Must've been born with it."
Wally looked shocked, "Dude! Secret ID?!"
Max looked surprised and sheepish for a moment before he shrugged, "I mean, if she's ganna join the team, she's ganna learn it sooner or later right? Why not sooner. Besides, you gave away half of it."
"Woah, wait a minute, who is this girl?"
"The kids not wrong. I'm Artemis, your new teammate." She said it with a challenging smirk, like she was begging for him to disagree.
Wally scoffed, "Kid Flash, never heard of you."
"Alright, Wallman." She giggled to herself as she repeated his self made nickname.
Green Arrow stepped in before they could bicker anymore, "She's my new protege!" He placed a hand on Artemis and smiled.
"New one? What happened to your old one?" Kid questioned quickly.
"Recognized: Speedy B-06."
What convenience, Max thought.
"Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow." Red Arrow, or Roy, was never really a friendly guy. To Max at least. He'd met him on one or two occasions and he couldn't help but find the guy dislikable.
Something about him just seems off to boy genius. His odd obsession with joining the league as fast as humanly possible made him intense and hard to connect with. It was only through having shared battles together that Wally, Robin, and Aqualad had formed such a bond with the former sidekick.
"R-Roy! You look-"
"Replaceable." He said curtly.
"It's not like that. You told me you were going solo." Green tried to justify.
"So why waste time finding a sub? Can she even use that bow?" He asked aggressively as he stared Artemis down.
Max nudged Superboy in the arm, "Wow… and I thought you were a baby." That earned him a super powered flick to the head, "Owww~"
Artemis stepped forward meeting his gaze, "Yes she can." The blond archer was never one to let someone disrespect her, and she wouldn't start now.
"Who are you?" Wally asked again.
Suspiciously, both mentor and new protege answered at nearly the exact same time. "I'm his niece/ She's my niece."
Both Robin and Max were able to catch the fib, but Robin was the only one to hint at it. "Another niece?" He questioned almost teasingly. Batman sent the boy wonder a look.
"She is not your replacement. We have always wanted you on the team, and we have no quota on archers." Kaldur stepped forward to insert himself in the conversation.
Wally had to put his input in too, "And even if we did, you know who we'd pick."
Artemis rolled her eyes, "Whatever Baywatch, I'm here to stay. Get used to it."
Trying to shift the conversation, Kaldur questioned the reason for Roy's visit. It clearly wasn't a social call, "You've come here for a reason haven't you? How about we start with that."
"You're right, I did. A reason named, Dr. Serling Roquette."
Max perked up, "Nano-robotics genius at Royal University, Serling Roquette?!" What were the chances that she'd come up just after he was researching nanotechnology.
"And claytronics expert, she vanished two weeks ago." Robin pulled up a picture of a pretty blonde haired woman with glasses, clearly this was the doctor.
"Abducted two weeks ago," Roy clarified, "By the league of shadows."
"You want us to rescue her from the shadows?!" Robin asked in excitement.
Wally fist bumped his friend, "Hardcore!"
Roy shook his head and went to the projected holograms, "I already rescued her, one major problem though. The shadows had already coerced her into making them a weapon." He linked his own small scale computer to the holograms wirelessly and projected the schematics of the aforementioned weapon.
Max's eyes darted around the blueprints and words typed, "Nano-tech infiltrators, genius! But flawed… Something like this could be hacked relatively easily. Not to mention, corrupted by a virus…"
Roy glanced at the small genius before looking back at the team, "Doc calls it 'the Fog'. As your brother said Wally, they're nano-tech infiltrators. What he didn't mention though is their destructive nature, capable of disintegrating everything in front of them. Concrete, steel, flesh, even bone…"
"Yea, that's cool and all, but judging by this, that's not its main purpose right? It looks like it's meant to be used as data theft. It eats and stores raw data from computers, pretty nasty if you take it to the right place…" Max said
Roy nodded, "Right, even worse, they deliver it right to the shadows."
"Theoretically, this could give them access to weapons, strategic defenses, maybe even nuclear codes…"
"Cutting edge science and tech-"
Artemis tapped her fingers along her bow, "Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power broking… Sounds like the Shadows alright."
Wally scoffed, "And what would you know about the Shadows?" Artemis just sent him a knowing smirk, "Who are you?!"
Roy ignored the outburst, "The doc is already working on a virus to render The Fog inert. But if the Shadows know she can do that-"
"They'll target her." Robin finished and Roy nodded in confirmation.
"Correct. Right now she's off the grid, I stashed her at the local high school computer lab."
"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked incredulously.
"She's safe enough."
"Then let's you and I keep her that way." Green said in hopes of rekindling any kind of bond he and Roy had.
"You and me?" Roy rolled his eyes behind his mask, "Don't you wanna take your new protege?"
Green wanted to say some more, but Batman places a hand on his shoulder. That conversation would go nowhere they wanted it to. So breathing in deeply, he replied. "You brought this mission to the team. That means it's hers now too."
"Whatever, my job is done." He walked off, like a child throwing a tantrum would.
"Recognize: Speedy B-06."
"That's Red Arrow B-06. Update!"
With that he disappeared in the golden flash of the zeta beams. Artemis watched the tube with distaste, "So that was Speedy? He's a real piece of work…" Kid glared at her, but she glared back.
"Don't mind him, he's always been a bit prickish." Max said with a smile, he had no problems with Artemis joining the team given he had no prior preferences in members.
Megan and Superboy didn't really either, but seeing that Wally, Robin, and Kaldur were a bit skeptical left them feeling rather unsure.
Artemis considered herself being a decent reader of the room, she could feel the team's reluctance. Well most of theirs. The kid from earlier seemed to be pretty welcoming, neutral at worst.
"I guess you all should get going pretty soon then, don't wanna leave the good doctor waiting any longer."
Batman stepped forward, "Actually Max, you'll be accompanying the team for this mission. Your particular skill-set will prove useful in this matter."
Max and the rest of the teams eyes widened, "M-Me? Are you sure about that, I wouldn't wanna hold anyone back. I mean- I'd probably only get in the way."
"Don't sell yourself short. If you could hack into the leagues systems, and build that sophisticated AI, this should be rather easy for you. Besides, do you really want to miss this chance to speak with someone of Dr. Roquettes stature?"
Max looked conflicted, "Mmmm… You're right, I can't miss this chance. For all I know I'll never be able to talk to her again! What'll I do then? I'll have regretted not taking this chance and hate myself for it. Perhaps while I'm there, I'll show her my blueprints or maybe even brainstorm with her! Imagine the things we could come up with together, it would be an honor!" His words came out progressively faster with each sentence.
"Um, does he do this often?" Artemis asked broadly.
Miss. Martian giggled, "He can get a bit excited sometimes…" she thought back to the day he'd asked if she'd allow him to scan her brain.
Wally dashes over and slapped his brother on the shoulder, "You're rambling Max! This is your first ever mission, so you've got to make a good impression alright! You're a West!"
Max's eyes sparkled, he'd just realized now that he'd get to work with Wally! "Y-Yes! I'll do my very best!"
"That's the spirit!"
Kaldur smiled as he walked up to the siblings, "I'm glad you're being included Max. I'm sure your help here will be invaluable. Go get anything you might need from your lab now, we leave in 5 minutes."
Max nodded excitedly and ran off. This was it! This was his moment!
"So, is he not part of the team… or?" Artemis questioned.
"He's a nerd!" Robin joked, "He makes all our gadgets and things, really more of a support role. But there's some pretty cool stuff in his lab."
"He seems a bit young, you all don't have a specific guy for your personal stuff?" Artemis thought the kid was nice, but she didn't trust him enough to be making her gear.
"Max is quite young, but his workmanship is undoubtedly great. Upon team conception he gifted me with a new set of fully functional water bearers constructed entirely from carbon fiber, I don't know the mechanics behind it, but they haven't failed me yet."
"Isn't the team only like a month old?"
"... Touché."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Max scurried through his lab, grabbing a few things he thought he might need. His laptop, with Aiva loaded onto it. A small grape sized metal ball, it was really just a compressed flash bomb. He created it for Robin, that way the boy wonder could have some more space in his utility belt. He called it a Solar Flare.
He grabbed a few other items, miscellaneous things that were entirely situational but he brought just in case those situations arrived.
He walked over to his main work desk, checking to make sure he had everything. God, he felt like an elementary schooler getting ready for his first day of school.
Off to the side he saw his nanites coddled nicely in 3 different plastic tubes. He hesitated for a second then reached out to them, Black Canary's words rang out in his mind.
"There are some situations your big brain can't get you out of." He vehemently denied the idea, his pride dictating him for a moment before doubt tickled his stomach. This was considered a pretty dangerous mission, and there was absolutely no way that he'd be able to fight a trained assassin. Much less one from the League of Shadows.
Max reached down and grabbed the receiver, strapping it to his head. He quickly went over to a small drawer he had and pulled out a plain beanie, placing it over his head and hiding the receiver. Mentally commanding, the nanomachines rolled out of their container and up his fingers, sliding under his sleeve.
Better safe than sorry, he reasoned.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The team had gotten to the school lab in a manner befitting of a covert team. Fast, quiet, and undetected. Artemis was able to keep up just fine so far, it seemed her title as protege was well earned.
Just as Red Arrow had said, Dr. Roquette was hidden away. They'd been able to get her to calm down a bit by providing a password that Roy had given them.
Though to say she was disappointed would be an understatement. How come she got this bonafide superhero's bush league? was the Justice League understaffed or something?! And don't get her started on the kid they sent to 'help' her. That's right. KID! He was, young, excitable, and (a fanboy?) inexperienced!
Though she quickly revised her initial analysis on the young beanie wearing teen once he'd set his own computer up. He'd quickly pulled up a few of his own programs and asked her to show him where he should start for a countermeasure. Max, as he introduced himself as, may have tried to craft one all on his own, but he was wise enough to realize that she would understand her own creations weaknesses better than he would.
Once both scientists got properly set up, she gave Max a crash course on how her nanobots were made to function and what glaring weaknesses they had. Though she was quick to mention that they'd have no flaws had she had adequate time to finish and not essentially had a gun to her head.
Once properly informed, Max dove right into piecing together a proper virus in tandem with Roquette. Though she had the challenge of using a standard school level computer, she seemed to be progressing as fast as Max did.
While they did that, the rest of the team properly set up a perimeter. Miss. Martian and Superboy patrolled the outside of the school, making sure not a soul passed the gates.
Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Artemis stayed inside with the two programmers.
"Miss. Martian, link us up. We can't risk having anyone intercepting our comm."
The green girl heard his thoughts loud and clear. She did as instructed linking everyone's mind together, "Of course. Everyone online?" Her voice echoed throughout her intended targets head.
Artemis shuddered at the feeling of hearing a voice beside her own in her head. "This-This feels SO weird!"
Dr. Roquette did a much better job at holding her discomfort, "Not to mention distracting. Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less ram than a wrist watch, is a challenge enough. Now I've gotta do it with teen-think in my skull? Give me a break!" She clutched her head in frustration, the stress of the situation catching up to her.
Kid Flash groaned as he bit into his protein bar, "Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?"
Artemis chuckled out loud, "Pot, Kettle. Have you met by chance?"
"Hey, Hey! I do not need attitude from the girl who drove Red Arrow off the team."
Artemis seemed to recoil at the words, "Woah, that is so not on me. Red Prick made it clear that he didn't want to join, even before me."
"Fate of the world, at stake here!" The doctor shouted internally.
Max's eyebrow twitched in amusement, "Maybe a bit of an overstatement, but the doctor isn't wrong. It's hard to concentrate with you guys bouncing around up here," He gestured to his head, "Miss. Martian, is there a way you could excluded myself and Roquette from the link while we work?"
Miss. Martian gave a sound of affirmation and not a moment later both his and Serling's head were devoid of the team's voices. "Thank you!" Roquette said.
A few more gestures were exchanged between Artemis and Kid Flash before the green themed archer walked out of the room. There was clearly somewhere she could better be of use.
Once she walked out, Aqualad walked over to both Max and Roquette. "The virus won't be of much use if we can't find the weapon-"
"-It's not a weapon! It's science!" The woman butted in.
"-my point stands, can you track it?"
At this point Max spoke up as he was typing, "I had that same though. I've set Aiva to lock onto its signal and let me know when she finds it."
Roquette stopped her typing and flipped to the boy, "You idiot! Don't you realize if you can track them, they can track you?!"
Max scoffed and narrowed his eyes, "I'm surprised someone as 'brilliant' as you didn't think of it before. But I've been bouncing our IP around so that they can't track us properly. One moment we could be in Beijing, the next in Sydney."
Roquette blushed at that, she really was nearing her wits end if she didn't think of that. It was one of first things you learned as a hacker. Though, I'm her defense, she hadn't hacked maliciously since her teenage days. And even when she did, it wasn't against people who were willing to kill over it. "Ahm, I see then."
"That IP bouncing won't work forever though Aqualad. The moment we pinpoint the Fogs location, they may be able to pinpoint us too. If I was back at the cave and using my main computer I'd be a heck of a lot more equipped, but this laptop can only do so much. Even with Aivas assistance."
"And when that happens, you might as well rent a neon sign that says, 'assassinate me' and hang it from my neck." The doctor muttered.
Max sighed and put a hand on her arm, "It'll be alright. They'll protect you, have faith. I'll do my very best too, I've got a trump card if worst comes to worst."
Aqualad mimicked Max's action and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "He's right. We will protect you." He said it with such conviction that Max had wished he never spoke. The natural charisma the atlantean teen had was staggering.
"Sir, I've found 'The Fog'. It's located in Philadelphia right now."
Max looked over at Kaldur, who nodded. He sent a mental command to Ms. Martian, telling her to prepare the bioship for Robin and Superboy so that they may pursue. The boy wonder dashed out of the room and in under a minute, Max assumed that they'd be on the way to philly.
Now that the dangerous part had begun, Max noticed a shift in Aqualad and Kids behavior. It took a more serious nature, molding to fit the situation they were in.
Kid walked out of the room, likely to patrol the halls. It was smart having a two layers defense instead of one.
Aqualad stayed behind, protecting both Max and Roquette should anyone happen to bypass their security measures. As it would happen, someone did.
The door creaked, ever so slightly and the near silent sound of shuriken flying through the air caught Aqualads attention.
"Both of you, get down!" Aqualad dove forward, knocking down the initial shuriken.
Both woman and teen whipped their heads around, seeing a woman in green with a white cat mask.
The woman flung a flurry of shuriken at Roquette, but Max grabbed her pulled the woman to the floor. The projectiles embedded harmlessly into the screen the the doctor was using before hand.
Aqualad shot to his feet pulling his water bearers free, forming a pair of twin swords to combat the assassins twin sai.
"That must've hurt." The woman commented on Aqualad taking the initial blow for the doctor.
"Atlantean skin is quite dense."
"And my shuriken are quite poisoned." She countered before she lunged forward, striking with her sai. Aqualad was able to parry and make a swipe of his own, but hit only air.
"Aiva, secure the progress Roquette made and store it on a private server!" Max folded his laptop closed and and pulled the blonde under the large desk.
"Done." Aiva confirmed,
Max then drug Roquette out of the back of the hollow desk, and not a moment too soon, flipped it on its side. The computer crashed to floor along with the broken monitor, as the assassin threw one of her sais. It pierced the surface of it only just barely, and the bespectacled woman squealed in fright.
Max gulped when Aqualad was launched over the top of them and into the wall. Thinking quickly, he put his legs on the back of the desk and kicked it forward.
The suddenness of it, didn't catch the masked woman off guard and she easily jumped above it. What she didn't expect was a monitor to smash into her arms. It knocked her to her butt, yet it hardly stopped her.
It did however, buy Aqualad enough time to recover and clash blades with her once again. The two exchanged briefly before they caught themselves in a deadlock.
"Poison slowing you down?" She said teasingly.
Aqualad glared and put more pressure on his front foot, "Jellyfish toxin. I am largely immune." His forward pressure seemed to be just what the attacker wanted, and she responded with a nasty headbutt that knocked Kaldur onto his back.
"Hmph, largely." Before she could deliver a decisive blow, an arrow knocked a Sai from her hand. She held her wrist in pain before chuckling lowly.
The newly arrived Artemis stalked forward cautiously, arrow drawn and trained to the lone assassins form. "Don't. Move." She said forcefully.
"This is getting interesting." From seemingly nowhere she pulled a folded 4 plated blade that straightened into form.
Artemis shot a flurry of quick paced arrows at her, each one was met with inhuman reflex and cut down.
Max stood in front of Roquette, sweat running down his face. Was she really just a regular person like he was? No super speed, no super strength, or invulnerability. Just a regular old fleshy human?
While Artemis fires arrow after arrow, Kid Flash and Miss. Martian burst into the room. Seeing that they had the upper hand, the green themed archer simply lined up another shot and waited for any orders. Kaldur looked at her and nodded, surely sharing a mental conversation with the team.
"Maybe a little too interesting…" They heard the hostile mutter.
Artemis released her arrow. Her target easily deflected it, throwing a small smoke bomb onto the floor simultaneously. Just as she did so, Kid came barreling through the smoke, falling right into Artemis.
He quickly recovered and spun around with speed only a speedster could have, "Damn, she's gone!"
Now that the threat was visibly gone, Max slumped and breathed a bit easier. He hadn't realized how tense he had been before now.
"She's getting away! You're letting her get away?!"
"This is all your fault!" Wally shouted, pointing his finger at Artemis, "You were on perimeter, how did a shadow get in?!"
Artemis only narrowed her eyes in response, but Miss. Martian stepped forward. "That's not really fair… I was outside too."
"Yea, being distracted by her!" The speedster said stubbornly, "Besides, I can't be mad at you! You gave me mouth to mouth…" He whispered that last sentence in his mind, momentarily forgetting that everyone could hear his thoughts.
"Focus everyone. The shadows will be back."
"Robin to Aqualad! We're over Philadelphia and we've located the Shadows target. It was Star Labs, we were too late… It's completely destroyed."
Max's eyes widened as he heard that over the team radios. Star labs was filled with cutting edge science, things that could power the future. Now all of that was in the enemies hands, and who knew what kind of atrocities they could do with that kind of tech.
Aqualad remained calm, but ordered the team with a sense of urgency, "Rescan for that fog. We're moving the doctor."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Both Max and Roquette had been successfully relocated to a local Internet cafe. Kaldur had come up with a rather clever plan to pull a fast one over on the docs would be killer. Megan would shapeshift into the doc and pose as her, luring the villains away.
Though they were relatively close, it should still be enough of a distance to serve the purpose. Kaldur had dutifully watched the door after the first step of his plan had succeeded.
"We've almost got it!" Max exclaimed, his quick thinking was able to save both his and Roquettes progress on the virus. Without it, they'd have to start all over, something they didn't have time to do.
Aqualads eyes darted around the room as he heard the soft patter of feet. "We've got company!"
"Uploading now!" The doctor said, "And by the way, you said you'd protect me!"
The atlantean turned around as a small marble like pellet bounced into the room. It burst and let out plume after plume of smoke. Kaldur drew his water bearers in the same fashion he did earlier. He stepped protectively in front of the doctor, ready for even the slightest movement to dart out of the smoke screen.
It was too late, by the time he realized it was a diversion. A familiar whizzing sound caught his ear and he reacted a touch too sluggishly. A trio of darts embedded into his chest and a figure dropped from the air vents.
It was the same cat assassin from before, "I hate being played… Lets test the limit of your jellyfish immunity, shall we?" She said it vindictively.
Kaldur shook his head off and dashed, or he would've had the assassin not taken the initiative. Their initial clash was rough, and seemed to knock the water user off balance. Seeing a rather good opportunity, she lashed out with her left arm and made to slice Dr. Roquettes throat open.
Max noticed the movement and before the glaring blade could touch even a flake of skin, he wrapped his arms around the doctors chest. He yanked her back with him and they fell to the floor, he rolled with the momentum, putting Roquette underneath him.
"You just grabbed my boob pervert!" Her shout was muffled and Max had the decency to blush. It certainly wasn't his intention but he wouldn't say that it was an unwelcome mistake.
"Sorry, consider it compensation for still breathing." He pulled her up and moved behind a counter, where the cashier typically would stand. He had to move both himself and the doc. They'd only serve to get in Kaldurs way at this point.
"That's not how being a hero works, you guys don't take rewards… Do you?"
Max groaned as he lowered both of them safely behind the countertop. Serling Roquette, the doctor, was someone who he admired. Serling Roquette, the person, was someone he was beginning to get annoyed with.
Now that she had stopped talking, Max noticed how quite it was. "Limit tested." He heard the lady assassin say.
"Oh shit, did Kaldur lose?!"
"I think it's time for my appointment, Doctor." Both Max's and Serling's eyes widened and their heads snapped up. Crouched on the counter, was no other than their personal assassin.
The cat themed girl brandished her sai and stabbed it down, ready to plunge it through her targets skull, brain, even tongue if she put enough strength into it.
Max's pupils shrunk in concentration. His hand darted out, and the nanobots he'd had on his body raced down his arm forming the very same glove he'd made a couple of nights prior.
"She's not that kind of Doctor!"
All parties involved were caught off guard when the sai sparked and deflected off the shiny red glove. Using the moment, Max grabbed Roquette and ran around the counter.
He just barely managed to cross the threshold when a kick to the back of the head sent him, and by proxy Roquette, to the floor. He rolled along the floor, shooting to his feet using the momentum, and making sure that he didn't get stabbed, Max pulled the small pellet sized flash bomb he brought with him.
"Close your eyes!" He shouted at the doctor. He tossed the device at the green clothes attacker and shut his eyes as tightly as he could.
The woman reacted quick enough to slap the pellet away but as her blade made contact it erupted into a flash of light that was so bright it almost burned.
"My mask has auto reactive lenses. Nice try kid."
Max opened his eyes but almost squealed when the assailant didn't even seem to slow down. He reacted quickly and threw a punch, it was sloppy. Easy enough for someone like her to counter.
The masked woman parried and grabbed tightly onto Max's forearm, just under where the nanites formed his glove. She brought it close to her face in examination, "Everyone's a hero these days… I gotta admit though-" She was forced to swallow her words when the nanites on the back of his hands formed a sharp point and shot out at her. Acrobatically she back flipped away, successfully saving her mask, and face, from being pierced. "-that's interesting."
"Thanks. I-it's homemade." Max stepped back, protectively in front of Dr. Roquette. Now that he was close enough to her, the nanorobotics expert could see the teen was shaking. He may have come with these heroes, but she was made aware that he was not the same as them. He did not have the same composure or battle sense they had, he was painfully average in that sense. No matter how quick witted he was or whatever gimmicks he had, she knew they were fighting a losing battle.
Roquette glance over at her former computer screen, the virus was just above 50% uploaded and it was making remarkable progress. At least she'd have comfort in that she was able to stop the Fog. "Don't… Don't worry. I'll protect you." He words weren't as assuring or confident as Aqualads were.
"Oh, you're ganna protect her? You can't even protect yourself!" The assassin flung her last sai, directly for the heart of Roquette. Max waved his arm out and deflected the blade with the glove on his hand. He never realized that he was the real target.
So focused on deflecting the blade he didn't see when his opponent rushed, not until the fist crashed into the side of his head. The blow was so heavy the it knocked him down, smashing the other side of his head against a desk on his way to the floor. The impact forced his beanie and the receiver to fall of his head. With the receiver gone, the nanites fell from his hand uselessly.
"You may be a good little scientist boy, but you're no hero. Not even close."
Max's vision swirled and his body felt dizzy. He wanted to stand, but every time he tried it felt like the world flipped over.
"Now doctor, no more running." The woman pulled her collapsed blade out and raised it up, prepared to finally complete her job. Only problem was, the insistent alarm that rang from the computer. The woman turned and scoffed at the contents, seemingly relaxing her stiff posture. "You've completed the virus. Thus eliminating the reason for your elimination. Though it could be entertaining…" she pressed the tip of her blade against Roquettes cheek and the woman whimpered, "Lucky for you, my orders are clear. You live to program another day."
Max groaned as he finally stood to his feet, still on shaky knees, "You-You can't just leave here. I-I can't l-let you…"
The woman laughed behind her mask, "And you, don't go trying to fulfil roles you're not meant to. You're no hero. Next time you wanna play, you may find yourself against someone with less restraint. I'd hate to see you bite off more than you could chew. After all, the shadows may still have use for you… both of you."
Max looked to the floor in disappointment as the woman passed by him. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be more than the little science geek he knew himself to be. But it was painfully obvious that he wasn't meant for it. Not yet at least. Tonight proved it.
He had no superpowers. He didn't have the martial prowess or the acrobatic skill set, like Robin. He didn't have the goddess like aim that Artemis seemed to have with her bow. He couldn't compare to even the humans on this team.
The boy shook his head off, the cobwebs and shakiness leaving his body. He had to help Kaldur, first and foremost. He may have had a high resilience to jellyfish toxin, but he wasn't immune and he had taken enough to put an elephant down.
Max shuffled around in his pockets and pulled out a strange injector, not dissimilar to an epipen. He stabbed it into Kaldur's neck and he woke with a gasp.
"What was that?" Kaldur spoke, as he tried to stand.
"It was a shot of biostimulants. It's got synthetic DNA in it to help jumpstart the immune system, and theoretically, physical attributes for a small time. I brought one for each member of the team. Since you guys don't all share human dna, I have separate ones for you, Miss Martian, and Superboy."
Kaldur nodded in understanding, wobbling slightly as he stood straight. "So it's a fast acting steroid?" Max and Roquette put an arm of his around each of their shoulders
Max mulled it over and nodded, "Well, that's not wrong."
"Amazing…" Roquette muttered. It wasn't an instant antidote, that was obvious. But given that Aqualad, who'd taken tankards of toxins into his body, was already in his feet showed that it was still extremely effective. Not to mention, most likely beyond anything that could be found in a hospital.
The trio were taken by surprise when the ground shook beneath them and the vibration of an explosion shattered the large window at the front of the cafe. "We must get out there!"
"You're still injured Kal-Aqualad! You won't be in any condition to help."
"Go!" He spoke commandingly, ignoring Max's near slip. The two complied and walked out onto the sidewalk. Max instantly sighed in relief when he saw a familiar face.
"I know we just met and all, but I've never been more happy to see you Artemis."
"Artemis, where is the assassin."
The blonde heroine looked to the side and rubbed her arm, "She got away." It was at the exact moment that Kid Flash and Miss. Martian arrived on the seen.
"Oh, no way! From you?" Kid said sarcastically, "I don't believe it! Notice, we got ours."
"Knock it off Kid. She completed the mission that was given, protect the doctor." Max defended.
Wally rolled his eyes and picked up the discarded mask, "Oh, cool! Souvenir!"
Kaldur walked off the support that Max and the doctor provided, approaching Wally, "Her mask? Did you see her face?"
"It was dark." She faced away from the group, like she was trying to hide from them.
Max walked up and tried to comfort her, "That's alright, night vision isn't a common trait for humans to have." He joked, but it didn't really do anything, "Besides, Robin and Superboy were able to neutralize the fog. Plus Dr. Roquette is safe and out shadow hands. I don't think things would've gone so well without you."
Artemis spared the younger teen a glance, "He's right, we succeeded tonight. Thanks, in no small part, to you."Aqualad added. Artemis finally turned to face them all, "Welcome to the team." Kaldur said with a small smile.
Artemis smiled back and shook hands with Kaldur as Megan flew over to her side, "I've always wanted a sister, here on earth I mean." The Martian spoke, "I've got 12 back on Mars, but it's so not that same." She elaborated.
"I, I wouldn't know… But thanks." Artemis replied.
Kid Flash walked up silently, and Artemis looked on expectantly. The speedster was as dense as always and only spoke when Miss. Martian fed a sharp elbow to his rib, "Ow!" He sighed and spoke halfheartedly, "Yea, welcome."
It wasn't a festive welcoming, but she didn't really expect it from The Wallman.
"I'm glad you've officially been inducted! I think you'll fit in just fine here, I've got tons of ideas for arrows too! What would you say if I could make you arrows that turn?" Max spoke.
Artemis looked slightly uncomfortable, and yet oddly, she wasn't. "Umm… Cool?" She felt like she finally found somewhere she belonged.
"Great!"
Boom shakalaka!
That's that for this chapter. I hope you guys aren't too disappointed with Max's roll here. I needed a way to really motivate him to be strong. Ambition all by itself isn't enough of a reason for me. The experience of having been so easily handled will help push Max in the direction he needs to go to fully commit himself to making himself hero ready. Though he's not quite there yet, this was a big development for him.
Next chapter we see our main hit the streets with the team to find Kent, which should be pretty interesting in itself. Given his rather lackluster combat performance, will Wally trust his brother enough to bring him on another mission? Maybe, maybe not.
Also, just something that i wanted to share. I had a perfect route planned out for this story, with very clear scenes envisioned. But recently, I re-watched Captain America: Civil War and it seriously made me consider going a new route. One that may even be more exciting and interesting to write. So I may or may not begin some minor set up for future events. Now that may mean some behavioral changes for some characters, it could come off as uncharacteristic. I want to implement some drama without it seeming like I'm character bashing, so consider this a fair warning to you all. I do want to assure you though, I have NO character that I dislike on this show. It's all for story progression!
Moving on, I am genuinely conflicted about Kent Nelson. I want to keep him alive, because I don't really want to see him die. But I still want to make the events at the tower of Fate meaningful for Wally. Ah well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. That's the cool thing about writing DC or Marvel based fanfics, there's literally infinite continuities so anything I write can be plausible as long as it sounds reasonable.
That's about it for my rambling, y'all know the drill. Fav, follow, review, and all that good stuff. Or do none, that's cool too I guess.
Peace!