I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Trafficking
Cassius looked around at the coronation reception. He, Cassandra, and Rose had all slipped into Markovia by sea using Cassius's goo to hide from sonar and satellites. Once they were near the palace, he shifted into a tuxedo and escorted the two to the coronation, meeting up with Dick and Artemis there. Besides the two of them, they were also joined by Connor and Jeff, though Jeff had only barely agreed, and Megan and Wally had both been less than pleased to have their significant others going on a mission again, Artemis even having had to leave her engagement ring with Wally with a promise to call him the minute things went south.
Cassius glanced first at Artemis, checking to make sure none of her concealed weapons, that she refused to leave behind, were showing. Her dark blue dress fell nearly to the ground and had a slit on the left side up to her mid-thigh. Since her concealed crossbow was on the right, it was perfectly hidden. Cassius's eyes shifted to Rose next. She had on a black dress which fell to mid-calf on the left side, her knee on the right, and a "V" neckline low enough to show her already considerable cleavage, her necklace catching the light just below her collarbone and her moonstone bracelet on her right wrist. She had an inch-thick, white, cloth belt around her waist with a small bow on the right side and the ends falling to about mid-thigh on the right side. Cassius was pretty sure it was maybe a little too much for the mood of the coronation, but she looked beautiful, so he wouldn't complain. She also had one of her liquid metal swords hidden on her left thigh incase of a surprise appearance by Nemesis, who they hadn't seen since Joker abducted Cassandra almost four months ago. Finally, Cassius's eyes moved to Cassandra. She had on a plain dark blue dress that fell to mid-thigh and had the front up to her collar, the back open, and no sleeves. Unlike Rose, she had foregone weapons, so instead, Cassius had absorbed her liquid metal sword and her batarangs into his body for her if she needed them.
"Not exactly a wild crowd," Artemis said as she and Dick reached the desert table where Cassius was getting the girls some snacks.
"Hard to feel the aster when both your parents have just been murdered," Dick said. "Trust me."
"I could liven things up," Cassius offered in a serious tone, all four of the others present rolling their eyes.
"Down boy," Artemis said. "Save it for after things go wrong."
Cassius smirked. "Glad to know you have faith in us."
Artemis shrugged. "We have a record." She glanced at the two Markovian princes, Gregor and Brion Markov, her Darkwear contacts lighting up gold. "Do you really think the two princes could have had something to do with their own parents deaths?"
"I hope not, but we shouldn't make assumptions," Dick said, looking around and stopping on Doctor Simon Ecks, their prime suspect. "Honestly, though, there are more promising suspects here. That's Doctor Simon Ecks, a world-renown geneticist who, for some reason, has taken a low-paying job at the Markovian Children's hospital."
"Maybe he just likes kids," Artemis said.
Dick was silent for a second. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"Really?" Artemis asked. "I was kinda joking."
"Dude," Cassius smirked. "Really. Silent messaging is a thing. You don't have to say all of it. Trust me, I'll be able to read your replies just as well if it's silent."
"What reply?" Artemis asked.
"I said Wally's probably going to chew him out for recruiting you when we get back," Cassius said.
"Yeah, probably," Artemis said. "As for silent messaging, I think you three are the only ones who can make it work reliably."
"Anyway," Dick said. "The fatality rate at that hospital is way above the norm."
"Eyes on the dinner date?" Cassius asked as his contacts identified her. "Doctor Helga Jace. Personal Physician to the Royal Family."
"Your eyes better not be on the dinner date," Rose said.
"Your eyes can stay on us, thank you very much," Cassandra messaged.
Cassius smiled and shook his head.
"There's no indication she has the training for meta work, but you never know," Dick said.
"I didn't mean that," Cassius said. "Before she disappeared, Princess Tara would have had to be tested to know if she was a suitable test subject. It'd be easy for the personal physician to do it."
"It's possible," Dick said. "But most trafficking groups kidnap before testing, especially Bedlam."
Just then, the head of Markovia's military walked over to the princes.
"That's Baron Frederick DeLamb, the late queen's brother," Dick said. "Tomorrow, when Gregor's crowned king, Uncle Freddy becomes Regent until Gregor turns eighteen."
Artemis scoffed. "There's motive, for either of them."
"Or both," Dick said.
"Uh, I just had a thought," Cassius said. "What if Bedlam's not the actual name."
"We already figured that," Artemis said.
"Did you figure this?" Cassius asked, messaging everyone, including Barbara, "DeLamb," then "beDLam," just below it, then "Bedlam."
"Holy shit," Artemis said.
"An anagram," Dick said. "I never even thought of that."
"That's alright," Cassius said. "It's not like you're a detective or anything."
Dick rolled his eyes as Cassius took a sip of the glass of Champaign he'd been holding for a while.
"If Cassius is right, the base could be in the palace somewhere," Rose said.
"No, someone would have found it," Dick said.
"Under the hospital," Cassius said. "No one goes to the basement in a hospital."
"Good evening," DeLamb said, stepping up to a podium. "Less than twenty four hours ago, our own king Viktor, and my beloved sister, Queen Ilona, were ruthlessly assassinated. But tomorrow, we crown their first-born, my nephew Gregor, as our new king."
"Call me crazy, but I don't think DeLamb will give up his new Martial Law rule after a year to let Gregor have the throne," Cassius said quietly.
"Probably not," Dick agreed.
As the crowd began to clap as DeLamb introduced Gregor to speak, Gregor walked over, smiling. As he did, Brion walked away, dumping his Champaign on the ground.
"Prince Brion's clearly not with the program," Artemis said.
"Noted," Dick said. "But Ecks is still our lead suspect. And now DeLamb is up there too."
"Me and the girls can shadow Brion," Cassius offered.
"Not yet," Dick said.
"Nightwing," Connor's voice whispered through their earpieces. "We made the drop as planned. Your gear's in the north west corner of the Markovian National Cemetery."
"We'll head over to the Children's Hospital to check out its anomalous power usage," Jeff said.
"Roger that Lightning," Dick said, glancing at Cassius and the others. "I'm sending Ravager to back you up. Good luck."
Cassius and Rose both nodded and Cassius gave her hand a squeeze before she left.
"You owe me a kiss for luck," Rose messaged.
"I'll pay up after the mission," Cassius messaged back. He looked around as Ecks turned to leave, Brion turning to follow.
"Targets are scrambling," Dick said. "Cassius and will follow Ecks and the prince. You get our gear."
"Right," Artemis nodded. "I'll rendezvous ASAP."
"Be careful," Cassandra messaged.
"Always," Cassius smiled. "You too."
She nodded and squeezed his hand for a second before following Artemis away. Cassius and Dick turned to follow the prince, their training with Batman allowing them both to slip out without any trouble. Then, they took Dick's car, Dick taking a dirt road through the trees to keep Ecks from realizing they were being followed while Cassius used his Darkwear to monitor Ecks's car's location.
"Amateurs," Dick smirked as they got back on the road behind Ecks. "Artemis, they're heading straight for the children's hospital."
"We found a dead girl who was alive and made a shield to block an Apokolyptan whip," Cassandra messaged everyone.
Cassius glanced at Dick, who raised an eyebrow at him.
"A dead girl who was alive?" Dick asked.
"They were burying her, but all of a sudden she was trying to climb out of the pit," Artemis said. "And she doesn't talk."
"Back to square one," Cassius sighed. "Ravager, how's your end?"
Silence.
"Ravager?" Cassius asked. "Orphan, can you reach Ravager?"
"No," Cassandra messaged.
"They might be jammed," Dick said.
"Or she might be unconscious," Cassius said. "When we get to the hospital, I'm giving your suit an upgrade."
"Understood," Dick nodded.
As they reached the hospital, Dick raised a hand to his communicator.
"Lightning, S.B., you've got company incoming," Dick said. "Repeat, Nightwing to Lightning. Nightwing to Superboy, do you read?"
A bit of static returned this time. Cassius sighed. If they were trying to respond, and all three were silent, it probably meant they were jammed.
"I'm out," Rose messaged suddenly. "Lightning's unconscious and almost drowned. I got him out of the water and we're hidden. Superboy was captured by a lava meta-human called Plasmus, the same kind as Lightning accidentally killed on Rann. Vertigo is here, running Bedlam."
"Oh thank Christ," Cassius sighed. "Rose, I might kill you after I give you the kiss I owe you. Thanks for the heads up. We'll handle them."
"Artemis, divert to pick them up," Dick ordered.
"Roger that," Artemis said.
"Be careful," Cassandra messaged.
"Dick's fighting the lava monster," Cassius messaged back. "I'm breaking Vertigo."
Just then, Deck released a beetle drone, a small probe that was built into a small beetle that could fly around in any country in the world without anyone thinking anything of it, and which Barbara could control remotely. Cassius watched the video feed the drone was transmitting to him and Dick both. The drone followed them as far as the morgue, watching Ecks input a code on a number pad on the wall, then scan his eye and open a secret passage. The beetle flew into it, but the signal was lost the second the door closed. Cassius sighed.
"We'll be going radio silent as soon as we're inside," Cassius warned the others.
"We're going in," Dick said. Then, he stepped out of the car, Cassius enveloping him and forming into a second layer of his suit.
"Two hour time limit starts now," Cassius said.
"That's all you've been able to improve to since we started the Team?" Dick asked as he headed for the hospital.
"Would you like to try staying turned into goo for an hour and a half and see if your brain forgets how to process anything at all?" Cassius asked.
"Pass," Dick said.
"Then shut up," Cassius said. "Geez. Some brother you are."
"Admit it," Dick smirked. "I'm the best brother of all time."
"Just throwing this out there, but aren't you technically Rose and Cassandra's brother too?" Artemis asked.
"We don't talk about that," Cassius said.
"Technically speaking, Cassius was never formally adopted," Dick said. "Legally, he's in the clear. Morally, there are so many things wrong with the entire situation."
"You know I have the power to grow spikes inward, right?" Cassius asked.
Dick chuckled, then got serious as he reached the hospital. "Artemis, you, Lightning, and Rose head back to Bedlam via the sewers."
"Roger that," Artemis said.
Dick paused outside the hospital's front door to take a breath, then headed inside.
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