MOUNT JUSTICE

July 22, 18:37 EST


We were waiting for Batman to get his ass to the cave and brief us on our first real mission, and were insanely bored. Draped across varying items of furniture, we idly chatted amongst ourselves, but didn't really have much to say. I was lying sideways on the couch, legs flung over the armrest and head resting against the side of Rob's leg.

Suddenly M'gann perked up, "hello Megan! I totally forgot, do you guys know what these cards are?" She rooted through a drawer in the end table next to her, and came away with a pack of Uno.

I grinned slowly, "do we ever."

Wally looked mildly terrified, "M'gann if you know what's best for you, you're going to put those away and never bring them up again in those two's presence."

I sat up, exchanging a smirk with Dick. The both of us were insanely competitive, leading to us being a great team in partner games and brutal enemies in free-for-alls. "Did you win or did I last time?"

He grinned, "I do believe it was me."

"Oh that settles it, I'm kicking your ass."

Kaldur looked confused, "what's happening?"

I decided to explain, "okay, do you have card games in Atlantis?"

"Something similar, yes."

I went about explaining how to play to them, Rob and Wally interjecting whenever I forgot something or explained in a confusing way. Eventually M'gann clasped her hands together and squealed excitedly, "this is going to be so fun!"

I smiled as Wally circled the big 500 underneath my name, calling the game. "You were right M'gann, this was fun."

We had played three games, I won two and Dick one. He was currently pouting and I turned to him with a saccharine smile, tapping the side of his frown, "chin up, it's not your fault you're not as good as me. It's a difficult aspiration, I assure you."

He swatted my hand away and we jumped at the sound of Bat's voice, "it's nice to see your mother's instilled her own high sense of self-esteem in you as well."

I shrugged, "she's amazing and you know it. Do I need to bring up the time that-"

He cut me off with the infamous Bat-Glare and I gulped, shutting up. He looked like he was resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, a gesture he often used to convey his annoyance with us. "Come along, you have a mission to do."

We exchanged a six-way glance and cleaned up as quickly as possible, dashing off towards where Bats had went, what I had dubbed as the Mission Room. We fell into a curved line facing the holo-screen Batman had up, which displayed a map with red markers, some information a bunch of graphs I couldn't understand. Stepping into my place beside Rob, I slipped into mission mode and schooled my face into a look of concentration and focus.

"Isla Santa Prisca. This island is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength-enhancing drug, sold under the street name Venom." The name was familiar, while it wasn't mass-marketed, it had a very loyal ring of users and while the drug itself wasn't addictive, the results were. I had seen scrawny men take it, beef up and they were so taken by this sense of power that they had to have it all the time.

"Infrared heat signatures indicate that their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in." I winced, not only was that suspicious as all hell, but I could imagine the chaos the lack of Venom would bring on the streets. Everyone would be scrambling for what was left, and it would no doubt result in gang wars and killings.

"This is a covert, recon mission only. Observe and report, if the Justice League needs to intervene, it will. The plan requires two drop zones."

"So who's in charge?" Rob asked. I could see where this was going and I was fully prepared to spend the rest of the mission banging my head off of various hard surfaces.

Batman and Red Tornado looked at us, then at each other, and then back at us. "Work that out between you."

Dick nodded, smiling and I wanted to cry a little. His answer sounded a hell of a lot like avoiding the issue. We turned, leaving to go suit up and I stopped as Bats called out to me.

"Oh and Catgirl?" I turned, expecting him to chew me out for something I could barely remember. Instead, he looked vaguely uncomfortable. "Your mother says that if you come back from another mission with broken ribs she's going to have my head. And Robin's. So please refrain from your typical martyrdom?"

I felt half embarrassed, half loved and I shrugged, "I'll try. I mean, no promises, but I'll attempt."

M'gann looked confused as we walked away, "typical martyrdom?"

Wally groaned and Rob explained for me, "Belle has a nasty habit of jumping into the line of fire. Repeatedly. Usually to protect someone else."

"Be grateful, imagine what would have happened to you if I hadn't taken that hit in Hong Kong."

"I thought we agreed to never bring up Hong Kong again?"

"No, you agreed. I argued as you pulled me away from Cat before I could tell her the numerous ways we almost died."

"Does it look like I want her going all mama tiger on me? No."


CARIBBEAN SEA

July 22, 20:08 ECT


The Bioship held a tense silence as we flew across the Caribbean, broken only by M'gann informing us that we were approaching Santa Prisca. I pondered over the meaning of the name, whether there was actually a saint named Prisca or if there was some sort of english translation I was missing.

"Drop zone A in 30!" M'gann spoke, the sharpness of her tone making me jump slightly. Kaldur stood, the seatbelts and chair melting away from him as he prepared for the drop. I mouthed a quick "good luck" to him, and he sent me a thumbs up, tapping on his buckle thingy, which made his suit fade into 'covert mode', a.k.a, it turned black where it had been red.

"Ready."

M'gann nodded, "putting Bioship in camouflage mode."

I lived for this, the vibrating hum that seemed to flow freely inside the cabin of the ship. This was my second favorite part of missions, the adrenaline-inducing tingle right before we started. The first was directly after, when the objectives had been completed and we were safe, and I could swear I felt relief in every cell in my body.

The Bioship faded into the night, and the floor opened up beneath Kaldur as he executed a perfect dive into the ocean. About forty-five seconds later his voice came over on the comms, "heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."

We flew over a section of land where the trees parted and came to a stop, "drop zone B."

Standing, I watched as M'gann directed clips from the ceiling and I hooked mine into my belt. Wally tapped his crest, the bright yellow of his suit fading to black. He turned to M'gann, "how cool is this?"

"Very impressive," she said, closing her eyes as her uniform changed shape, turning into a black jumpsuit. She settled her hands on her hips, as if she was showing off and I grinned slowly as I realized what had just happened.

"Hold up, was that, dare I say it, sarcasm coming from your mouth?" I swiped at a fake tear, "my baby's all grown up."

Rob snickered and Wally, most likely in a desperate attempt to regain his cool, turned to Superboy. "Hey Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech!"

He crossed his arms, "no capes, no tights, no offense."

"It totally works for you," M'gann sighed dreamily, and I resisted the urge to facepalm. She immediately realized her slip-up, holding out her hands as if to placate him, "as in that you can totally do good work in those clothes." She finished with an awkward thumbs up and I was torn between laughing and cringing in secondhand embarrassment.

He turned away and she quickly folded her hood over her face, literally turning invisible. Unfortunately, before I could snark, a hole opened beneath me and I was rappelling down towards the ground. Landing with a soft thud, I released the clip and then frantically jumped out of the way before I met with a face full of Superboy.

When the dust cleared, he was standing smugly in a little crater, "knew I didn't need a line."

"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert!" Rob said, lifting himself off the ground and bringing out his holo-computer.

M'gann flew overhead, "Aqualad, drop B is go."

He crackled over on the comms, "head for the factory, I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."

"Roger that!" Rob affirmed, and we took off into the forest. Climbing up past a waterfall, and into a more forested area, I froze as I heard a sound in the distance. I turned to Superboy and we spoke in unison, "did you hear that?"

Wally craned his head to look at us, "uh, no. Wait, is this a super hearing thing?"

M'gann had the same dreamy look on her face, "you do have great ears."

This time I couldn't resist the urge to bury my face in my hands. She was so, so blatantly obvious, and both Superboy and Wally were so, so oblivious. It physically pained me and I turned to complain to Rob, only to find that he wasn't there.

This disappearing thing was starting to get on my nerves, he never took off this often in Gotham. Wally apparently shared my sentiments, "okay, Rob, now what?" Turning, he flung out his arms, "man I hate it when he does that."

He flipped back around to me, "okay, Cat, now what?"

I blinked, realizing that without Robin I was the default, 'most experience' person. "We quietly approach the source of the noise and try to figure out what's going on without alerting them to our position, duh."

"I agree," Kaldur said, "Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked."

KF pulled down his goggles, and a few seconds later he took a small step forward, "got a squad of armed bozos incoming."

I blinked, realizing that Rob was out there by himself. Before I could go find him Superboy shook his head, "two squads. But they'll meet each other before they find us."

Almost instantly, the sound of gunfire filled the air and I could see little sparks of light from where it was coming from. "No superhearing needed now!" Wally called, walking forward some.

"Swing wide, steer clear!" Kaldur ordered over the comms, and I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob," Kid said.

I blanched at the thought of him caught in the crossfire and followed Kid Flash, only to watch him slip several yards in front of me and fall sideways down a muddy hill. I took off after him, trying to use my whip to grab his arm but I couldn't get a hold of him. My vision turned a little gray as my contacts adjusted for low-light, letting me see in the dark.

From the edge of the treeline I could see KF land directly in front of one of the gunmen, and for a terrifying second I could imagine him riddled with bullet holes and bleeding to death. He raised his goggles, staring death in the eyes, "so much for the stealthy."

He dashed out of the line of fire, and Superboy barrelled past me, promptly punching the guy who shot at Kid in the face. I focused on using my whip to disarm people, knocking them out whenever I could. The guys on the left side were wearing strange uniforms, dark red cloaks with pointed hoods and black masks cut in the shape of fangs. My blood chilled as I realized who these people were, "so we're fucked. Like very, very fucked."

"What do you mean, Catgirl?" Kaldur asked.

"Besides the fact someone decided to jump in the middle of a gang war, these uniforms belong to Kobra cultists, and if he's on the island?" I shuddered, remembering the last time I had a run in with the guy. He looked almost like Voldemort, with no hair anywhere and pale, chalky skin. Batman could barely keep up with him one-to-one, his fighting skills were legendary and his cult was infamous for being violently loyal, willing to commit horrible atrocities if he asked.

"Let's take this one step at a time, disable this group of assailants and we'll go from there," Kaldur said. I appreciated the lack of soothing in his tone, and kicked another guy in the balls, coming up behind him and restricting his airway until he passed out.

Rob descended from the trees, landing a few feet away from me. "What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?"

"That's what you were doing?" Kid asked, "way to fill us in, we're not mind-readers you know!" He turned as M'gann telekinetically flung a guy into a tree, "er, I'm not, anyway."

"You told me I could only read the bad guy's minds!" M'gann said, clearly frustrated.

"Just them," I said, turning to Rob whilst shaking my head, "cut them some slack, will you? We just started working together, they're not going to clue in right away."

He seemed almost petulant, probably having expected me to agree with him. I knew why he wanted to lead, and even why that might be a good idea; but as of yet he had to realize how to work in a team format, instead of it just being him and Bats or the three of us.

I turned at the sound of one of the cultists running away, only to be alerted to Aqualad's presence by the blue crackling light in the distance. He walked towards us, and M'gann waved. Setting about tying up the cultists and whoever the other guys were, we laid them around two opposing tree trunks and kept them in place with ropes.

I was finishing up a knot when Rob spoke, "these guys are definitely from the Cult of the Kobra."

"I'm sure Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Kaldur said.

"Agreed, and since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out! That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it," Kid said, "Kobra wanted super-cultists, problem solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for-"

Rob cut him off, "these cultists aren't on Venom, Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave, not until I know why."

"Until you know why?"

"This team needs a leader!"

"And it's you? Dude you're a thirteen-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word!"

Rob laughed, "and you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover first chance you got!"

I exchanged glances with M'gann and Superboy. She turned to him, "don't you want to lead?"

He shook his head, scoffing, "you?"

She cringed, "after the Mr. Twister fiasco?"

He smiled at her, surprisingly warm, "you did alright." She blushed, the colour stark on her green skin and I grinned before turning to the two knuckleheads.

I blinked as I heard soft Spanish behind me, and while I was rusty I could understand it. "Look at them argue! Free yourself and take them while they're distracted!"

The big guy in the wrestler's mask turned to him, speaking sharply, "Quiet! For now I play along, they'll give me what I need."

I exchanged a look with Superboy, wondering if he got all that. His sly grin told me he had, and I was brought back to reality when I heard Wally yell again, "yeah? Well you don't even have superpowers!"

"Neither does Batman!"

"Duh, you're not Batman!"

"Closest thing we've got!"

I growled, stepping towards them, "hey, hey, hey! Will you two shut up? If you're going to act like this, neither of you are mature enough in my opinion to lead a fucking Call of Duty mission. Look at us, we're fighting with each other in front of the bad guys, that's just a bad look. And Wally I swear if you insult anyone again for not having powers I am going to personally ensure that you can no longer procreate. Now be quiet and until we can go back and decide who the hell is going to lead us, let's make decisions democratically"

Muttering under my breath about how stupid Bats was to leave this to us, I turned away from them and then nearly jumped when wrestler-guy spoke, "I like you chica, you have spunk. And such clever niños, but you only have half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

We stood in front of him and M'gann kneeled, "there is a secret entrance. But he's also hiding something."

Her eyes began to glow, and he chuckled again, "ah ah ah, chica. Bane is not that easy."

She sighed in frustration, "he's mentally reciting fútbol scores en español! This could take a while…"

"It's not complicated," Bane interjected, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I knelt in front of him so we were eye-level, "I know you. You're the head of the Spanish mafia in Gotham, and countless other places as well. You use Venom, don't you?"

"Did you hear that from your mother, chica?" I froze at the mention of Selina, "I'm not stupid, you're the spitting image of her. Tell me, how is Catwoman these days? I haven't heard a whisper about her since she went over to the side of the Justice League. She didn't quite have your fire, chica, she was a little more icy."

I growled, "say one more word about my mother and I'm going to take all of your buddies, dump them in the harbour and leave you tied to this tree so the fucking cultists can put a bullet through your brain. Better yet, I'll do it myself after Miss Martian cracks your mind open and we have what we need."

He winced slightly at the rephrasing of what he said earlier and I didn't miss it, scouring his face for clues as to what he was up to. I felt a hand at the small of my back, and allowed Rob to guide me back to my feet. A series of exchanged looks later and we nodded, we'd allow him to lead us into the factory.


He led us through the forest to a small cliff, and looking over the edge you could see the factory. Rob went forward to use a pair of binoculars, and I wrinkled my nose as a strange smell drifted over on the wind. "Look at all that product," Robin whispered, "a buy is going down, but if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects then-"

He was cut off by Kaldur, "we need to identify that buyer."

"Just what I was thinking," Kid said.

"Yeah! You're the thinker," Rob snarked.

"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers."

I turned to them with a glare, "will you two please shut up about the leader thing until we've got this done?" Kaldur looked over at me wearily, and I shot him a small smile. I knew exactly who I wanted to lead.

Bane lifted a giant boulder out of the entrance of what looked to be a mine shaft. Which sounded comfortable and not at all trap-like. I still hadn't let go of what he said earlier, and I was willing to bet my life he was planning on turning on us at some point. He gestured to the tunnel, "answers are this way."

I crossed my arms, "for someone who claims to want us to know the full story, I fail to see as to why you can't just tell us what's going on."

"This isn't something you can explain, chica, you must see it with your own eyes."

He walked ahead and Wally rolled his eyes, "so, now El Luchador is our leader." Rob promptly socked him in the shoulder, and we followed Bane inside. It was lit by little lanterns on the sides, and I didn't like the dim lighting. The tunnel was narrow enough that no more than two of us could fight him at the same time as well, which didn't bode well if he planned on turning around and killing us here and now.

Pressing his thumb to a scanner, a set of metal doors whirred open before us, revealing the factory floor. There were giant metal canisters, most likely used to produce Venom. We crept over, Robin peering out from behind yet another door, the quiet permeated only by the beeps of industrial moving equipment. "All clear!"

We entered the factory, and I looked around for any clues as to what was happening, computer access points to hook Rob up to, conveniently misplaced files, hell, a logo on the side of a moving crate. Everything seemed relatively unmarked and anonymous, and when I went to comment this to Rob he was gone.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane hissed.

"No," Kaldur sighed, "he just does that."

I was pissed, "I swear to god the minute he shows his stupid face I'm going to beat it into the ground."

"Stay put," Kid whispered, "I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder!"

He took off, Kaldur stretching an arm out to stop him in vain, "wait, Kid!"

Bane turned to us, "great chain of command."

"No judging when you can't even keep your factory your factory," I snapped, pressing my lips together into a thin line.

"I already told you that there is more to the story, didn't I chica?"

We crouched behind a crate, watching them move the boxes of Venom. "It's a massive shipment," Kaldur said.

"Yeah but they're only taking new product off the line, they're not touching this Venom," Superboy noted, craning his head to get a better look.

M'gann turned to Kaldur, "maybe… freshness counts?"

I shook my head, "think about it, what the hell does Kobra want with Venom? He's never really been one for the drug trade, human trafficking is more his style. If they're moving huge amounts of new Venom, he must have done something to it that's either a benefit to him or whoever he's selling it to. Only question is what's different about it."

"You don't think he might be trying to expand his horizons, per se?" Kaldur asked.

"No, it wouldn't make any sense. Venom's a niche market, one that's been rather effortlessly controlled by this guy," I jerked my thumb at Bane, "even if he was looking to compete, Kobra would at least start off with more traditional, widely used drugs. Cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, LSD, something like that to build up clientele."

Superboy snapped his head up, "helicopter's coming." A fraction of a second later, I heard it too. Training my eyes on the skyline, I tried to spot it.

"Looks military-grade, approaching at a decent speed."

M'gann looked at me with a horrified expression, "you don't think a certain military is buying Venom to beef up their soldiers, do you?"

"It's a possibility," I admitted, "but an unlikely one. A government is more likely to try to steal Venom and produce their own then buy it off the black market. We should let Tweedledee and Tweedledum know what's up," I pressed a hand to my comm and got static. My eyes widened, "my comm might be broken somehow but I'm getting nothing."

Kaldur frowned, trying his, "I have static as well, we must be jammed."

"I'm going to try to establish a mind link," M'gann said.

I nodded, "can you go incognito and spy on the guys outside? That copter just landed."

She put up her hood, fading into nothing and the only indication that I got that she was gone was the air she displaced as she flew out the door. As she went, the uncomfortable sensation that accompanied a mind link flooded through my head, and I tried not to squirm.

I heard M'gann's voice in my skull, "Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now."

His eyes flew open, "Sportsmaster."

I blinked, "are you sure?"

"Very. He's the buyer, and we can't even contact the League with our comms jammed like this. We need a plan, now."

"I have a suggestion," Bane interjected, jumping down onto the factory floor. I gaped, mouth open in shock.

He flung one guy to the side, moving the other's gun away as he fired. The sound of bullets going off rung through the factory and we stood, "what is he-" Kaldur was cut off by a loud, inhuman growl and I did a one-eighty to find a giant… thing flying through the window.

It landed on our little bride, cracking it in half and sending us falling. I hit the ground on my feet, the sting reverberating up my legs as my nerves protested. In front of us stood a huge ape-like monster, it's skin split to reveal walls of muscle in certain places, and the sight made me sick. "Anyone else think that looks eerily like Desmond after he took the Blockbuster formula?"

"Destroy them!" The voice came from above, and I turned to find none other than Kobra himself. I needed to find Robin and KF, and see if Rob could find a way to unjam the comms. And make sure they were alive.

As for now however, I was being shot at. Dashing behind a pillar, I zipped around disarming as many people as quickly as possible, Aqualad shooting little water bullets back at gunmen from behind a shield of his own making. I was roughly tugged back by him, only to find several bullet holes in the ground where I had been standing. I nodded as a thank you, running off to the side and pulling a small hand grenade from my utility belt.

I pulled the pin, sending it flying into a throng of cultists. It was non-lethal, releasing knock-out gas instead of explosives but from the lance that just barely missed M'gann, it seemed like the other side was shooting to kill, literally.

I spotted Robin and Kid Flash on a bridge above us, and almost cried in relief. I was forced behind a pillar with Kaldur, and turned to find Kid knocking several cultists to the ground. "About damn time!"

We ducked again as more cultists popped out of the woodwork, "Miss Martian!" Kaldur called, "link us all up!"

I felt the link kick back up, "everyone online?" I could feel M'gann hesitancy, and I realized she was concerned Superboy would be upset again.

There were a series of yeses and Aqualad nodded, "good, we need to regroup."

Rob's voice filtered through, "busy now!"

I growled under my breath, letting my fury trickle through towards him, "I swear to god, once I'm not being shot at we are going to have WORDS Little Boy Blue."

I wove between pillars, avoiding gunfire. A quick kick to the stomach sent one of the cultists reeling backwards, and I sliced the front of his gun off with my claws as he staggered backwards. I could feel Kaldur's irritation, "Robin, now!"

Resignation trickled through the link, and Kaldur peered around the pillar he was hiding behind, "we need to retreat, Kid, clear a path!"

KF charged on ahead, barrelling over gunmen as we followed, going… somewhere. We dashed through the door we had entered from previously, Superboy grappling with the monster thing behind us. He flung it away from himself, knocking over cultists like they were bowling pins, and he slammed the metal doors behind him. We took off down the tunnel, the crash and sickening scent of the monster behind us.

They started firing, and Kaldur turned to look behind us, "Superboy, the support beams!"

He knocked them out behind us, and I sped up in an attempt to keep from being buried alive. Eventually the rock settled behind us and Aqualad cracked a glowstick, the red light filling the shaft.

"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Rob asked.

Before he could even take a breath I wheeled around on him, fists clenched as my ponytail whipped behind me. I got up in his face, seething, "you wanna know why? Because you and Kid couldn't pull your heads out of your asses long enough to focus. I swear, if you ever and I mean ever take off like that again, I am going to kill you slowly." I snapped my head towards KF, "and that goes for you too, you fucking idiot!"

I turned back to Rob, "do you have any idea how freaking worried I was? You could have been injured, or captured, and I wouldn't have known where you were to come help you." I poked him in the chest with every syllable for emphasis, "you could have been dead."

From my vantage point, I could see his eyes behind the domino mask, and he seemed genuinely disappointed in himself. I instantly calmed, "I'm sorry, that was harsh. But," I gestured between him and Kid, "the two of you need to stop trying to outdo each other, the entire time you were too busy arguing over who was more worthy to focus on the task at hand." I let my expression soften, grabbing his hand in my own, "you haven't got anything to prove, Rob."

"I think," Kaldur said, stepping forward, "what Catgirl is trying to say is that while you do have the most experience, that may be your downfall. Fighting alongside Batman, or even Arabella, your roles are… defined. You two do not need to talk, but this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Rob snapped, I fixed him with a glare and he cast his gaze aside. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur, you're the only one who can."

I smiled, turning to face Aqualad. Kid stepped forward, "oh please! I can run circles-"

Rob cut him off, "Wally, come on. You know he's the one, we all do."

"Hello Megan! It's so obvious!"

Superboy shrugged, "coulda' told ya."

I rested my hands on Kaldur's shoulders, "you've been leading this team since it was formed, just… subtly. Every argument you diffused, every plan you clued us into, hell you were ordering us around earlier. You've got this."

We all turned to face Wally, who placed his hands on his hips, "okay."

I moved out of the way as Kaldur walked towards Dick, "then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon."

Dick nodded, and Kaldur turned away, "alright, first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."

"Funny," Rob said, "I had the same thought."

And there, in the red glow of dibutyl phthalate, surrounded by rock, and breathing in dirt, our Team was really, truly formed.


We took off through the tunnel, heading for open air. Rob had his holo-computer pulled up and was going through info, "Sportsmaster's the supplier-slash-buyer, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Kobra to do his dirty work!"

"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom," Kid interjected, "that took some major nerdage."

"So," I said, ticking off on my fingers, "we need a person with enough influence to get the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus, a reason, possibly created by said person for Kobra to sully his hands with this nonsense and someone smart enough to successfully create the Kobra-Venom."

We slowed and Kaldur spoke, "I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'."

Bane stood in front of us, dropping what looked to be a needle for Venom, "halt niños. I'm feeling… explosive."

We looked up to find multiple bombs above our heads, and the beep they gave off let us know they were primed and ready to fire. "You betrayed us," Kaldur said, with the perfect amount of innocence in his voice might I add, "why?"

"I want my factory back," clearly this guy had never seen a Bond movie, because he was jumping straight into the Villain-Explains-It-All monologue.

Kaldur's voice filtered through the mind link, "Kid, you'll need a running start."

He took a small step back, to the casual observer it might seem as if he was scared, but really he was getting ready. "So," Bane continued, "I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect."

Before he could press down on the trigger, KF zoomed past, snatching the device. "With what? This thing?"

We stepped out of the shaft as M'gann lifted Bane into the air, and I gave him my most saccharine smile, "you see, Franz Sanchez, you overlooked one little detail."

"And what is that chica?" He spat.

My smile turned into more of a baring of teeth, "we are so much more than sidekicks."

Superboy stepped forward, "finally," he turned to M'gann, "drop him." She let go of Bane with her telekinesis, and Superboy drop-punched him, sending him flying away. I half expected to hear 'Team Rocket's blasting off again' and see a star twinkle as he hurtled away from us, and I turned towards the bombs decorating the arch of the mine shaft.

"You know, I think I have some use for these."

There was a moment of tense silence as we crouched in the treeline, and one of the cultist's voices drifted over on the breeze. "The helicopter is operational, exalted one."

Wally flew off, dodging gunfire and knocking over goons as he went. Kobra's voice rung out, "take the shipment!"

Sportsmaster ran towards the helicopter, but was quickly stopped by Superboy making a decently sized crater right in front of him. I exchanged a look with Rob as we made our way into the copter, carefully placing bombs for the best effect.

Ducking out as M'gann barrelled into Sportsmaster, Rob took the left while I took the right, and I fell into hand-to-hand with Kobra's little servant. "What's your name again? Gitter? Shine?"

"Shimmer," she growled striking out at my stomach.

I blocked and turned my head to see Robin talking to Kobra. "I know you hate getting your hands dirty."

"True," Kobra said, "but sometimes even a god must stoop to conquer."

I snapped back to reality when Shimmer caught me in the face I grinned at her, "you guys don't actually think Voldy over there is a god, do you? I mean he took some killer martial arts classes but other than that."

"The exalted one is of course a god, Lord Naga-Naga. We are lucky he deigns to frolic with mortals."

I swung around, tying her hands behind her as quickly as humanly possible. Sportsmaster flung M'gann back into Superboy's chest, taking off in the helicopter. I ran over to see if she was okay, and was met with a sly grin and a push of the trigger's button.

Sparks flew out from behind the helicopter, lighting up the sky, and it looked as though it was on fire. It started to plummet towards the ground and my eyes widened as I realized where it was going to land. I moved backwards as the helicopter hit the factory, and the whole place exploded and went up in flames.

I turned to find Kobra with his foot on Rob's chest, saw red, and flung myself at him, wrapping my leg around his neck in a perfectly executed thigh-choke. He barely budged, but the momentum was enough for Robin to roll out of the way. Kobra glared, "I am plagued by mosquitoes!"

"Good!" Robin snapped as he stood up, "'cause this mosquito is mighty 'concerted over your pain!"

Surveying the damage, the lack of his followers and the burning factory behind us, he stepped back into the trees, "another time then."

Rob stepped forward to find him, but he had disappeared into the jungle. We fell back, all standing in a circle. Rob approached Kaldur, "we picked the right guy to lead." His voice held no shame or anger now, just warmth. He grinned, "automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman," he gestured to the burning factory, laughing.

I winced, "he's really going to let us have it, this was supposed to be covert and now, well…" I looked over towards the fire.


MOUNT JUSTICE

July 23rd, 01:06 EST


"A simple, recon mission, observe and report." Batman was up in Kaldur's face and I felt bad for the poor guy, but then again at least it wasn't me. "You will each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then, good job." My head had never whipped around so fast, and the rest of the Team was just as surprised, "no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads, determines character."

Kaldur and Rob shared a smirk, and I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. Our team was fully operational now, with a chain of command and a system that worked for us. We were fully prepared to kick ass, and I was going to have a hell of time doing it.

Wally cocked his head to the side, "so is anyone else hungry?"

I nodded, stomach growling, "pizza?"

There were assorted cries of 'pizza' and I turned to M'gann, "feel like going to pick some up in the Bioship?"

She smiled warmly, "sounds great!"


Okay so almost a month probably shouldn't be considered a fast update but I did try. Christmas break starts for my school in about a month as well, so I'll probably have an update before then and then at least two or three during that, when I'll have way more time to write. Right after that I have midterms though, so I might not update during the month of January, we'll see how that goes.

Anywho, thank you guys so much for the nice reviews on the last chapter! Every time I see them it makes my heart go all fuzzy. See you next time!