I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Downhill
Cassius narrowed his eyes as the newest ally explained about Lex Corp and the Reach's new energy drink, called Reach, and the additive it contained. The ally was a Martian named B'arzz O'oomm, who happened to be wearing green Beetle armor, and who claimed to have overpowered it thanks to it not being able to adjust to Martian physiology fast enough to stop him taking control of it instead. Cassius didn't trust it. The Reach was too advanced for it to have been that easy. However, Megan had mind-melded with him, albeit hesitantly, and B'arzz had "volunteered" his memories for her inspection, which Cassius also didn't trust. He could give false memories to a reluctant telepath too. He sighed. He needed to talk to Megan about what she'd obviously seen when she ripped Kaldur's mind apart.
Finally, the meeting was ended and they all began to head home for the night. Before Megan and La'gaan, who wanted to talk to her in private, could leave, Cassius set a hand on her shoulder.
"We need to talk," Cassius said. "About Aqualad."
Megan went rigid instantly, but nodded.
"What is there to talk about?" La'gaan asked. "She met him, she beat him, she made him pay for killing Artemis and betraying our king."
"La'gaan," Megan said, swallowing hard to keep from crying. "It won't take long. He's right. We need to talk."
"Fine," La'gaan growled. "I'll wait outside."
He walked away and Cassius led Megan to a room out of the way of the others, then sealed the door with what goo he could use without pain, then sighed heavily, turning back to her and holding his arms out. She stepped into him instantly, sobbing as he held her.
"I didn't know!" she sobbed.
"I know," Cassius said. "I know. It's not your fault."
"Yes it is!" Megan sobbed.
"No, it's not," Cassius said. "I tried to warn them that we needed to tell you so that this wouldn't happen. You didn't know what was going on, so it's not your fault."
"I shouldn't have done it!" Megan sobbed. "I never should have done it! Any of it!"
"No, you shouldn't," Cassius said. "And Connor and I both tried to tell you that it was wrong and you shouldn't do it, but that doesn't make Kaldur your fault," He pushed her back gently, making her look at him. "But Megan, you can't stop using your telepathy just because of this. You used it before without anyone being hurt, right? So you know how to do it."
Megan hesitated before nodding.
"There's a difference between punching and shaking someone's hand, right?" Cassius asked.
Megan nodded again.
"Your telepathy's the same," Cassius said. "You can attack with it, like you did the Kroloteans, or you can link your mind to someone else's, like you do the Team. You can brain blast someone to knock them out like you have dozens of times, or you can rip them apart. You control it. You don't need to be afraid of it."
Megan smiled slightly, nodding. "Yeah. Thanks."
He nodded, smiling. "Now, I believe La'gaan is waiting for you, and I need to get home before I pass out from exertion."
Megan nodded and Cassius reabsorbed his goo from the door, the two of them walking out to where La'gaan was waiting, and he and Megan left, Cassius heading for the nearest Zeta tube to head for the Batcave. A few minutes later, he walked up to the manor and headed for his room, passing the kitchen and seeing Tim and Cassandra working together to make an afternoon snack before bed. He headed to his room and locked the door behind himself, leaning back against it and letting out a slow breath grimacing as his head began to throb and spin. He hadn't thought he meant it so literally when he said he might pass out from exertion, but he felt like he might if he pushed off the door.
After a few seconds, the feeling began to pass and he pushed off the door, only for his mind to take a sharp right turn and send him crashing to the ground. He groaned, then curled into a ball deciding he'd just sleep there. It wasn't uncomfortable, and he was too tired and dizzy to care anyway. He sighed, closing his eyes and passing out almost instantly.
Cassius staggered into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, yawning and not realizing the cup was full until it overflowed onto his hand. He hissed in pain, rinsing his hand off before carefully lifting the cup and drinking some, then set it back down and got a wet paper towel, wiping off the outside of the cup before adding cream and sugar. As he was using a spoon to mix it in, Cassandra and Tim walked in, Cassandra getting a pair of cereal bowls and Tim grabbing the box and milk.
"Good morning," Cassandra signed, smiling.
"Good morning Cassy," Cassius smiled, hugging her, Cassandra hugging him back. "Did you sleep okay?"
"She hasn't slept okay since you were taken," Tim said. "When I woke her up from her nightmare last night, it took almost an hour for her to get back to sleep."
"I'm sorry," Cassius said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
Cassandra shook her head. "Safe."
Cassius smiled, squeezing her for a second. "I'm going to go check in with Dick."
She nodded and pulled away and he left, meeting Rose and giving her a hug good morning on the way before reaching the Batcave and calling his wrist computer.
"Cassius?" Nightwing asked. "What's up?"
"I need a mission," Cassius said. "Anything. Please. I need something. I can't...I can't stay here much longer."
"What's wrong?" Nightwing asked.
"Dick, please," Cassius said.
Nightwing sighed. "Alright. There is something. There's an object, a weapon called War World, slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, on its way to Earth. It just passed Saturn. How soon can you get to Star Labs Taos?"
"Already on the way," Cassius said. "Should I bring the others?"
"Yes," Nightwing said, then paused. "Are you trying to get away from them? Is that what this is about?"
Cassius hung up and sent an alert to Tim's watch computer. A couple minutes later, the others all reached the Batcave in their costumes. The four of the used the Zeta tube to go to Tao and then to where the others were gathering. Cassius sighed as he formed himself a goo throne and sat down heavily, looking around. Rose was standing off to one side with Barbara, and Cassandra was standing with Tim. Cassius's gaze fell to the floor. It had been a couple of weeks since she and Tim had kissed. He had tried to give them as much time to themselves as he could. She'd stayed with him more than half of the nights in the last couple of weeks, and her nightmares had been getting better. However, every night se didn't stay with him, she had worse nightmares, so he understood why Tim was under the impression she wasn't improving. Tim had asked her on a date only once since they'd saved Cassius, but she had turned him down, being too tired and worried to be willing to go.
"Are you three okay?" Barbara asked. "You seem to have been spending less time with each other recently. After what happened, I would have expected you three to be inseparable all over again."
Cassius quickly told her about seeing Cassandra and Tim kiss, and Barbara gasped.
"Cassius!" Barbara hissed. "What are you doing!? Why are you letting him try to steal her!?"
"Barbara, she's fourteen, and I'm old enough to be her grandfather," Cassius said. "Besides the fact that I'm an assassin, and I killed my wife and children. I'm the last person she should ever be with. I'd rather suffer allowing her to be with Tim than suffer allowing anything to happen to her because I was with her."
Barbara groaned irritatedly. "Oh my God! Cassius!"
"No, Barbara," Cassius said. "This isn't open for discussion."
"But you-"
"No, Barbara," Cassius repeated.
Finally, Arsenal, the real Roy Harper who had shaved his head and tried to assassinate Lex Luthor, only to let him live in exchange for a weaponized prosthetic arm, arrived, being the last one, and Nightwing began the briefing about War World and their mission. Doctor Fate would defend Earth with his magic, and Rocket would defend him with her force fields. While they did, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, and Green Beetle would all assault War World directly in order to hold War World's commander, Mongol's attention. Then, Cassius, Cassandra, Rose, Arsenal, Wonder Girl, Mal, who had officially taken over as Guardian, Bumblebee, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Impulse, Connor, and Wolf would all sneak in. Once the briefing was over, they left, getting in exactly as planned, easier than Cassius expected.
"Scatter," Cassius said, having been placed in charge for the duration of the mission, though he was also Beta Squad with Cassandra and Rose.
Connor was Alpha with Wolf, Arsenal, and Wonder Girl, and were supposed to go and deal with Mongol. The other squads were all supposed to disable War World from the inside.
"Alpha Squad to Watchtower," Connor radioed. "Green Beetle's schematics are on the money. At least so far. We're enroute to take down Mongol. No commander, the threat ends."
"Beta Squad is enroute to the key chamber," Blue Beetle, who was teamed up with Impulse and Beast Boy, reported. "We snag the crystal key and the threat ends."
"Gamma Squad is enroute to disable the War World's power core," Bumblebee reported, being teamed with Mal, the two having taken Supercycle to be able to move faster. "No power and the threat ends."
"Delta Squad is enroute to the possible detention facility," Cassius said. "If anyone's captured, we'll break them out, along with freeing any prisoners already there."
"Epsilon Squad is in position," Barbara reported, she and Tim taking the Bio-Ship to lay covering fire on the surface. "Laying cover fire for the surface forces...now!"
Cassius slowed to a stop as a train-like object slid to a stop above them, the side of the cars opening and red diamond-shaped drones began to swarm out, firing yellow lasers at them. The three of them scattered instantly, beginning to smash them quickly, Cassandra wielding a sword with a jagged, curved liquid metal blade and Rose wielding two of them, the blades slashing through the drones easily.
"Where did you get those?" Cassius asked.
"We took them from Reach soldiers when we were rescuing you," Rose said.
"I see," Cassius nodded, grabbing a drone with a goo hand and smashing it into another. "They're useful. Do the blades change shape?"
"Haven't tried," Rose said.
"I can check after the mission, if you want," Cassius said, using goo to block a laser for Cassandra, grateful they weren't superheated plasma, then smashed the drone.
"Please," Cassandra said.
"Beta to Watchtower," Blue Beetle radioed. "We've been spotted! The War World knows we're here!"
"Join the club," Cassius said, sending a barrage of goo spikes through several drones before reabsorbing them as he smashed another into the wall.
"Fine with me!" Mal said. "I like the attention! At least a big alien death moon notices when I'm around!"
Cassius winced in sympathy, hurling a drone into another. He'd heard about Mal's relationship trouble with Bumblebee. It wasn't that she didn't love Mal, she was just busy with her work, schooling, and being a hero. He spun, his goo arms stretching out and smashing the remaining drones, as well as the walls around them, and he retracted them, the three beginning to run again, Cassandra retrieving any batarangs she'd thrown.
"Alpha's...down," Connor muttered, sounding barely conscious.
"We'll get them," Cassius said.
"If he doesn't kill them," Tim said.
"Relax," Cassius said as they reached the detention center's door, seeing dozens of cells, all with red energy fields, and all empty. "Detention center's clear. Heading up to the control room directly above us."
"Hurry," Nightwing said.
"Chill, boss," Cassius said, focusing and forming his muscles themselves into super-compressed goo muscles. "Now that I remember everything, I've got this."
He jumped, streaking up at the ceiling of the detention area and punching the ceiling, exploding through it and reaching the control room directly in front of Mongol. He flipped, slamming a kick into his jaw and hurled him out of the throne, sending him crashing into the wall just as Alpha began to stand. Mongol pushed himself up and Cassius shot forward, jumping and drilling a fist into the underside of Mongol's jaw, rocking him back into the wall before extending goo legs to raise himself to Mongol's face, drilling several punches into his face before using his forearms to block a punch from Mongol, streaking across the room and crashing into the wall.
"Yup, that hurt," Cassius said as his forearm bones snapped and cracked as they healed. "Back to using technique."
Just then, the circuit lines running along the ceiling, walls, and floor began to glow yellow from the top down, reaching the throne before it and the headpiece Mongol was wearing both shone, electricity screaming over Mongol's body, making him shout in pain before staggering forward.
"Hit him!" Connor shouted, streaking forward and jumping, drilling a punch into the much larger alien's jaw, sending him staggering backward.
As he stopped, Arsenal blasted him in the gut with a small rocket, then flipped over him, blasting him several more times. Then, as Mongol staggered out of the smoke, Cassius and Wonder Girl shot forward, drilling their fists into his face and sending him blasting across the room to the wall. Mongol dropped and Wonder Girl bound him with her rope instantly. Cassius walked over, pulling the controlling headpiece, a frame with two sensors on the sides, off of Mongol's head and smirked.
"I'll be holding onto this," Cassius said.
"All surface weapons have been silenced," Captain Atom said. "Is it over?"
"Mongol is down and contained," Connor said.
"Nice work Alpha," Barbara said.
"I'd love to take credit, but we didn't do it," Connor said. "His own machines stung him. I'm guessing with a little help."
"I'm heading back to the rest of Delta," Cassius said.
The others nodded and Cassius dropped back through the hole he'd made, landing beside Cassandra and Rose, who both smiled up at him.
"I'll just take this for safe keeping," Blue Beetle said, likely meaning the crystal key, as the lights around them and the barriers forming the walls of the cells around them all fading.
"You two did great," Cassius smiled, both girls also smiling and hugging him.
"Well done, everyone," Nightwing said. "Now rendezvous ASAP so we can bring you home."
They all headed back to where they'd infiltrated, Cassius absorbing the control helmet into his body as they walked in order to hide it. As they arrived, the found all the others were present besides Alpha Squad.
"There you guys are," Mal said. "Where's Alpha?"
"Trudging along with the big-bad," Arsenal complained. "He must weigh like a metric ton. We're just a couple minutes out."
"Glad to see you're okay," Tim smiled as he walked over to them.
"You too," Cassandra signed.
Tim smiled and kissed her on the cheek, before taking her hand. "Any trouble?"
Cassandra shook her head.
"We just met a few drones," Rose said. "Nothing major. Cassius got a powerup, though."
"Comes with remembering how my original powers worked and using my goo to fake it," Cassius shrugged. "I'll have to practice to see how close to my original powers I can get."
"What original powers?" Blue Beetle asked.
Cassius smiled and held a finger to his lips. "Trade secret." His arm snapped up, a goo fist exploding into Beetle's face, sending him exploding into the wall where Cassius pinned him entirely with goo. "Green Beetle's a Reach spy! Take him down now!"
And then, there was chaos. Even from inside of War World, they could hear the League battling Green Beetle, and several shouts of pain went over the comms from the League members. At the same time, Blue Beetle's chest formed into a sonic cannon, which Rose tackled Cassius out of the way of the initial blast from. The cannon freed Blue Beetle and knocked out most of the others, including Impulse. Cassandra hurled a batarang at Beetle, but he formed his right arm into a plasma cannon, blasting it out of the air as his left arm became a sonic cannon, the cannon in his chest shifting into a flame thrower, which roared to life as it sent a jet of blue-hot flames at Cassius, who swore harshly, fleeing from both soundwaves and flames. Blue Beetle took off suddenly, using a jetpack from his scarab and retracting the flamethrower on his chest. he crashed into Connor, throwing him, then flipped Mongol onto Wonder Girl, pinning her before stapling her arms to the ground. He turned just in time to form his right arm into a jagged, insect-leg-like blade and block Cassandra's blunt wakizashi, then blasted her with his sonic cannon, throwing her backward and knocking her out. Cassius shot forward, Beetle turning to blast him, only for several live bullets to slam into the side of his cannon, knocking it aside and allowing Cassius to reach him, slamming a goo fist into his face, his goo muscles still enhancing his strength, and sent him exploding through the wall.
"Arsenal, no!" Bumblebee shouted suddenly.
Cassius spun, seeing him standing in front of an airlock.
"I will not be taken again!" Arsenal snarled, slamming a fist into the airlock's controls and opening it, Sphere being sucked out of it instantly.
Cassius grabbed Rose, attaching several goo strands to the floor to hold them in place. After a moment, Blue Beetle slashed the controls, shutting the airlock before blasting everyone still in the room with his sonic cannon, Cassius shrieking in agony as he was hit and crashing to the ground, clutching at his sides, everyone ese unconscious, besides Connor and Arsenal, who put a rebreather in his mouth.
"Why?" Connor asked.
"Don't waste the oxygen, hermano," Beetle said. "There's very little left in here."
Arsenal sent out his hand as a grappling cable and began to pull himself up to a tunnel to escape. Beetle turned and fired a staple at him, but Connor leapt into the staple's path, being hurled into the wall by it but giving Arsenal the chance to escape. Beetle huffed and walked over to Cassius, slamming a foot down on his head and knocking him out.
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