I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Home Defense
Cassius took the device from Impulse and stared at it, then looked to Nightwing, who frowned. "I guess Impulse is a good name for you."
"Why?" Impulse asked.
"Because you don't think things through," Cassius said. "How hard did you have to work to take this, and did he try to take it back?"
Impulse scoffed. "I'm too fast for that."
"So, no, then," Cassius said, dropping it and smashing it with his foot. "Nightwing, sound the alert. We're about to have company."
Nightwing nodded and reached out to the computer, activating the alert. Within seconds, ever member of the Team who was currently in the Cave, less than half of them, was present. Cassius switched the alert off.
"What's going on?" Connor asked.
"Impulse brought unknown alien tech into the cave, which he swiped from Kaldur," Cassius said. "Kaldur will be here soon with Icicle Jr., the Terror Twins, and a new girl. Assume security's been hacked."
"Everyone scatter to any potential entrance into the Cave," Nightwing said. "Void, myself, and Orphan will be in the Hangar. Ravager, Superboy, and Robin take the front door. The rest of you, the back."
Everyone split up according to the groups he'd assigned and headed to their positions to wait. Finally, Kaldur rose from the water, a duffel bag over his shoulder. Cassius looked behind Kaldur, only for Kaldur to shake his head. Cassius shot forward, but Kaldur's free hand raised its Water Bearer, the handle connected to the water below him. In the span of time it took Cassius to reach Kaldur, a massive water snake exploded into all three heroes, slamming them into the wall before Artemis, now with her glamour charm making her hair appear black and wearing a gold, tiger-themed costume, landed over them, quickly putting a collar onto all three. Cassius felt his powers shut down, leaving him in his armor, complete with all the usual extras the Batman Inc members had like concealed lockpicks in the fingers, wrist-mounted supercomputers with holographic interfaces, and a full utility belt. Artemis instantly pressed a switch, electricity screaming over all three of her captives' bodies.
"Right about now, our associates should be taking down the rest of the Team," Kaldur said. "Get up."
Cassius stood, curling his hands into fists, only for Artemis to hold a katana to Cassandra's throat.
"Make a move, and she dies," Artemis warned.
Cassius nodded and the three of them were led to the briefing room. As they walked, Cassius took a tracer from Nightwing and grit his teeth as he pushed it into his skin, embedding it in his palm. Then, they were all shoved to their knees as Kaldur stepped out in front of them, looking around at the assembled Team members.
"Any trouble?" Kaldur asked.
"None," Tommy Terror said.
"Don't move!" Jaime shouted suddenly, the armor on both hands formed into a pair of sonic cannons.
"You choose your weapons poorly," Kaldur said. "Those weapons will kill Void. And also, you should know all the facts before you threaten someone." He knelt, setting the duffel bag on its end and opening it. "This is the same kind of bomb that destroyed Malina Island, and my finger is currently on the dead-man switch. If my thumb comes off of this button, for any reason, Mount Justice falls."
Jaime hesitated before floating to the ground and retracting his cannons, raising his hands. "We're standing down."
"Wise choice," Kaldur said as Tuppence Terror collared Jaime. "Escort Beetle, Beast Boy, Void, Orphan, and Ravager to the Flier."
"What about these four?" Artemis asked, gesturing to Connor, Nightwing, Cassandra, and Rose.
"As hostages here, they have value," Kaldur said. "But Nightwing, Cassandra, and Rose are ordinary humans, and Superboy is a human-Kryptonian hybrid clone. Neither category is of any interest to our partner."
"Aqualad!" Nightwing seethed. "You'll regret this!"
Kaldur walked over to Nightwing and drilled a fist into his gut hard enough to lift him into the air with a shout of pain. "I believe I have outgrown the name Aqualad, as well as anything resembling regret. I will leave the bomb here as a souvenir. Oh, and the dead-man switch has a five-mile range. Do not pursue."
As he turned to walk out, Artemis pulled Cassius to his feet, walking out of the Cave with him and Kaldur. Cassius glanced at his right hand, and the tiny slit in his suit's glove and his palm. It hurt like a bitch to not be able to reshape his hand as goo to adjust it more comfortably, but he wasn't about to complain. it was the best way to let Rose and Cassandra know he was okay, since the particular tracer he took doubled as a vital signs monitor.
"So, we're headed to a five-star resort, right?" Cassius asked. "Beaches, babes, alcoholic drinks with pretty colors and umbrellas?"
"You're going to be loaded into a pod, shipped off to my employers' partner, and likely tortured constantly," Kaldur said darkly.
"Oh, so, like, life with the League of Shadows round two," Cassius said. "Alright. That's not so bad."
"You would be wise to stop speaking," Kaldur said. "If you vex me, I will break you before sending you to them."
Cassius smiled and shrugged, and a few minutes later, he was loaded onto the flier, being led to the cockpit and being sat down where he could see Mount Justice and the beach, Beast Boy and Impulse sitting beside him, both unconscious still. Just as he was loaded, Blue Beetle's collar shorted out and his hands grew into massive spheres with small studs over it. He spun, smashing both Icicle Jr. and Artemis away, then turned as one hand returned to normal and the other turned into a plasma cannon, which blasted Aqualad, sending him crashing into the side of a rock, the switch bouncing away. Cassius gut dropped, but nothing happened. Cassius's eyes widened. Had it been a bluff? That didn't seem right. Kaldur had stressed that the bomb was going to go off, and had even warned Nightwing about the range limit. Cassius frowned as Beetle leapt at Kaldur, only for Kaldur to electrocute the center of his chest. Beetle shouted in agony, staggering away with a hole in his chest and Artemis blew a tranquilizer dart into his exposed skin, dropping him. After a few moments, the rest of Kaldur's group returned and the flier took off, flying away.
"I can't believe we didn't kill Superboy while we had the chance!" Tommy Terror said.
"Boss fish still has a soft spot," Icicle Jr. said.
"Do it," Kaldur said to Artemis.
Artemis pulled her mask off. "You sure?"
"Do it," Kaldur said, turning back to the front.
Artemis sighed and pressed the real detonator's switch. A moment later, the explosion erupted into a massive fireball identical to the one that had replaced Malina Island. Cassius felt his chest constrict agonizingly as he stared at the glowing orange pillar of smoke. He swallowed hard, glancing at the others. Beast Boy and Impulse were in shock, and Blue Beetle was still unconscious. Cassius sighed, sitting down hard and grit his teeth.
"Are you satisfied now?" Kaldur asked.
"Are they dead?" Tommy asked.
"Probably not," Artemis said.
"Then no," Icicle Jr. said.
"Then it is a good thing that your satisfaction is not a priority during this mission," Kaldur said.
They all fell silent, Artemis putting her mask back on and after multiple hours, they finally docked with Black Manta's much larger flier. The four prisoners were loaded up into pill-shaped pods that opened down the center in horizontal shutter-like sections that reached from the sides toward the front. A sleeping gas was pumped into the cells and Cassius sighed, allowing himself to drift off to sleep.
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