Haha. Hi guys. Read the note on the bottom for an explanation.


MOUNT JUSTICE

September 23, 06:34 EST


Green Arrow had sat the seven of us down at the dining room table in the kitchen, one of the only places in the Cave that hadn't been destroyed, while the majority of the League ran around trying to repair the damages. As he disappeared towards the fridge, I laid my head down on the cool granite of the table, still dizzy. Artemis nudged my hand from across the table, "you okay?"

"Mhmm," I murmured, "just a little dizzy, bit of a headache. Being knocked out twice in the span of twenty minutes will do that to you."

I opened my eyes at the sound of a bowl hitting the table. GA set down a bowl of pretzels, wearing his Supportive Face. The idea of food made my stomach churn, and even Wally glared up at Oliver from where he had his head perched on his arms, "thanks, but no thanks."

"Yeah!" Rob said contrarily, "what we want, are answers. About Red Tornado and his siblings."

"Exactly!" Wally exclaimed, and as Green Arrow grabbed the pretzels to take away he snatched for it, speaking under his breath, "leave the bowl."

I snorted, his hardass attitude gone as soon as the food was threatened, but I figured he must be pretty hungry by now what with his enhanced metabolism. I would be hungry by now, if I wasn't so lightheaded. M'gann regarded me with worry, "do you think you have a concussion again?"

She and the other non-humans of our merry little band had a hard time coming to grips with human fragility. In M'gann's case, she tended to jump to the worst possible conclusion. I shook my head, sitting up, "I'm fine, I promise. A little lightheadedness isn't the end of the world."

A yell echoed, and all of us whipped around as Connor barreled across the room to pin Kaldur up against a wall, yelling in his face, "you knew? That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!"

As the rest of us sat in stunned silence the Martian in question jumped up, flying over towards the scuffle, "Connor, what are you doing?"

As she landed beside him we all got to our feet and he backed off a bit, still holding Kaldur by the shirt, "Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us, and said nothing." My jaw dropped. Kaldur knew there was a traitor? The absolute terror of the past twelve hours could have been avoided, we could have been prepared.

"You knew?" Rob demanded.

Wally glared over at Kaldur, "and didn't tell us?"

"I sought to protect the Team-"

His explanation was cut off by Artemis, "protect us from what? Knowledge that might have saved our lives?"

Connor looked back at M'gann, "you almost died!"

"Enough." Batman's voice echoed through the room, bringing all of us to a heel. Connor let go of Kaldur and we all approached Bruce slowly. He regarded us with authority, "with Red Tornado… missing, the Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."

The man himself came forward, looking absurdly excited by this turn of events. He offered a bright grin, "I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys." The attempt at teenage vernacular was endearing, and we all looked around amongst ourselves, partly annoyed.

Connor turned to mutter to Kaldur, "after I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna-"

Bruce cut him off, "Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League, that makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us." He gestured to thin air, a hologram of the front page of a newspaper titled 'NEWS OF THE PLANET' appearing there. "I have another assignment for this team," there was a grainy, black-and-white image of a giant gorilla bearing a machine gun, wearing what looked to be army get up that had to be photoshopped, the caption reading 'GORILLA TRADES BANANAS FOR BULLETS'.

A second photo of an injured Mayor Hill from the Gotham Truth Rag appeared, "Gotham mayor attacked by guerrilla gorilla?" Wally read out, voice unbelieving.

"Batman please," Rob pleaded, "tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase."

"I never joke about the mission," Bruce chastised, and Rob backed down with wide eyes. It had been a while since he had been scolded like that by Bats. Bruce stared us all down, "I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents." He turned to Kaldur, "Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."

Kaldur nodded, and after our latest revelation, the thought of being ordered around by Kaldur was hardly a pleasant one. Everyone else seemed to share the sentiment as we brushed past Kaldur wordlessly, with the exception of Kid who turned to Kaldur with a face of disgust, "heh, your team."

Artemis and M'gann filed into the Bioship quietly, and Kid, Rob and I walked behind a little slower, KF muttering under his breath, "can you believe this?"

I winced, Wally's ability to hold grudges was legendary, I couldn't hold a candle to him. Kaldur wasn't going to be forgiven for a while. Which, I reminded myself, was okay because Kaldur fucked up majorly and I wasn't going to be forgiving him either.

Captain Marvel flew over, landing in front of the ramp. Rob looked over at him in disbelief, "you're coming with?"

"Sure!" Marvel said happily, "we'll have a blast."

As he walked into the Bioship, Rob narrowed his eyes, turning back to me and Kid, "translation? He blames us for Red Fiasco. Doesn't trust us."

Kaldur walked up behind us on the tail end of Dick's sentence, and Wally stared back at him coldly, "it's a big club."

The Bioship flew faster than any earthen jet or plane, but M'gann had to keep to a reasonable speed inside Earth's atmosphere, and it would still take at least four hours to fly from Happy Harbour to wherever the hell in the Indian jungle we were going to. I fully planned on using those four hours to sleep. Taking my usual seat towards the back, I couldn't help but notice how everyone seemed to avoid sitting around Kaldur, Wally, Captain Marvel and Artemis eventually sitting in the chairs behind him. I instinctively felt bad, wanting to comfort him as his face took on a crushed look, but then I remembered what he had done and fresh wave of anger had me clenching my fists.

Closing my eyes and curling into myself, I murmured a thank-you to M'gann as my chair elongated and gained cushioned padding by my head, forming into something like a car seat leaned back. It was easier to fall asleep than I thought, exhaustion hitting me like a wave, and I slipped into a deep sleep within a minute of setting my head down.


NORTHERN INDIA

September 23, 21:36 IST


I woke up what felt like a few hours later, yawning as the cabin of the Bioshop came into focus. Sitting up and stretching, I gazed around, my eyes immediately pausing over the window. It was nighttime here, and the sky was covered in what had to be a billion stars. I stared out the window in awe, pressing up to the glass to see closer. It was stunning, pictures never did the sight of it justice. M'gann's amused voice floated over from behind me, "having fun?"

I smiled, "you never see stars in Gotham, what with all the air and light pollution, so I'm always really surprised when I see how beautiful they are."

Rob smirked from in front of me, "we were on a night flight somewhere and she spent the whole time with her blanket wrapped around her head staring out the window instead of sleeping." M'gann laughed and a map popped up over Rob's wrist as he turned to her, "approaching the drop point in sixty seconds."

Her face instantly grew serious, "marker dropped, preparing for landing."

Robin, Artemis and I stood, getting ready to drop down as lines appeared on the ceiling. Clipping ourselves on, the three of us stood in a circle as a hole appeared in the bottom of the Bioship. It was strange for us to be sectioned off together again, and I found that there was almost a new bond between the three of us, the kind you needed to almost die together to have. As the hole widened, we jumped down, the lines keeping our descent controlled and quiet. Unclipping ourselves immediately, we ducked off to the sides, nodding when we saw that the area was safe. As the rest of the Team piled out of the Bioship, which was now resting in camouflage mode, Rob turned back to them, "all clear."

Kaldur stepped forward to address us all, "switch to stealth, and we'll review mission parameters."

"Parameters?" Wally snarked as he tapped his chest, yellow fading to black, "we don't need no stinkin' parameters."

"It's recon, we know what to do," Rob said coldly, turning to leave.

Kaldur shook his head, turning towards them, "Kid, Robin-"

Dick cut him off, "the four of us," he said, gesturing between him, Kid, Kaldur and I, "started this team 'cause the Justice League was keeping secrets from us."

"Or, did you forget that?" Kid asked, lowering his goggles, "like you forgot to tell us about the mole."

The two of them took off into the jungle, and Kaldur looked utterly defeated, turning to me for support. I shook my head, speaking quietly, "either you kept this from me because you thought I was the mole-" he opened his mouth to protest but I raised a hand to silence him, "don't interrupt me. Or because you questioned my loyalties in some shape or form. That breaks my heart, Aqualad."

Connor stepped forward, wrapping a hand around M'gann's arm possessively, "c'mon, I'll keep you safe." His voice was harsh and overly authoritative, and she wrested her arm out of his grip, glaring at him. From the look on her face she was speaking to him telepathically. His face fell a little, "I— just wanna protect you."

I felt my hackles raise at how he was treating her and Artemis seemed to be thinking in the same vein as she stomped towards him, "like Aqualad protected us?" She poked him in the chest with the tip of her bow, "I'm not sure your protection, or your patronizing is good for our health."

I glared at him, "Miss Martian's a big girl, she can take care of herself. She doesn't need some big, strong protector looking after her. And she sure as hell doesn't need you ordering her around."

We grabbed her, practically radiating defiance and the three of us walked off into the dark. As we went, M'gann's voice was quiet, "thank you two."

I crossed my arms, "absolutely no problem, Supey needs to learn how to treat a girl. Speaking of, what the hell is going on with the two of you?"

"Can this wait? Hardly the time and place," Artemis said, looking around the forest uneasily.

M'gann flew above us for an eagle-eye view as we walked, making our way through the jungle in whatever direction we felt like. I was struck by instant regret that we hadn't all stayed to listen to the plan. Right now it was the seven of us plus Captain Marvel just running around blindly, hoping to run into a clue.

That clue made itself apparent as a crocodile the size of a freaking truck sprung up from the river we were walking along. It lunged at M'gann, an arrow already in Artemis' hands when the ground exploded beneath us, a second crocodile bursting up from the water, sending us flying.

The crocodile grabbed Artemis by the quiver, dragging her underwater. Flashes of random facts I knew about crocodiles went through my head as I dove beneath the surface. It launched into a death roll, sending gigantic waves through the water and I kicked off a nearby stone, trying desperately to get close enough to do some damage. Wrapping a hand around Artemis' wrist, I slashed the strap of her quiver as M'gann pencil dived in behind us. Artemis started to float upwards and as I raked my claws across the crocodile's eye, M'gann sprouted a second set of arms and flung the both of us through the water towards the surface.

The water seemed to explode around us, parting like the Red Sea to leave us lying in a circular hole in the river. I scrambled to sit up, trying to help Artemis get in a recovery position as she hacked up a lung. She cleared her airway and sat gasping for a second, "okay, nearly drowning two nights in a row? Way less fun than it sounds."

I nodded, rolling over to lean back on my elbows, "welcome to the frequent drowners club, we have buttons and shirts that say, 'my lungs plus water'."

We stopped to laugh for a minute and then M'gann paused, mirth draining from her face, "do you think we should contact Aqualad?"

I nodded, "it's a good idea, we need to know if we're the only ones who've seen this."

M'gann nodded, pressing two fingers to her temple. A mindlink bloomed between the three of us and Kaldur, M'gann's presence stretching out across the jungle to speak into his mind. Her voice rang out in my skull, "Aqualad, can you hear me?"

His answer was immediate, "yes Miss Martian, report."

"Artemis, Catgirl and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars. Like those used on convicts at Belle Reve Prison." A stark bit of annoyance interrupted the sense of intrigue on Kaldur's end and I wondered what was happening with him. M'gann spoke again, "Aqualad?"

"Apologies, Miss Martian," he said, "Captain Marvel just ran off after a tiger."

That piqued my curiosity, "a tiger?"

A sense of deadpan-ness surrounded me on all sides as three different voices told me, "no going after the cat."

I pouted, I had only seen tigers a few times before in my life, and only once up close. I easily shared Selina's love of cats, but that didn't mean I was immediately going to run after the first one I saw. No matter how much I wanted to. The link settled as Kaldur probably started doing something, and we waded out of the water, Artemis and I perching on a log as M'gann stood in front of us. The air was eerily quiet, nothing but the sound of crickets for miles. Popping a new pill, my senses sharpened again. I could smell the faint scent of something rotting far away, but there wasn't anything abnormal for where we were. As Artemis dumped the water out of her broken quiver, Kaldur's voice came back again, sharp and authoritative, "Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link up with the entire team. Now."

Her hand flew back up to her temple, and the link stretched out, almost hooking the boys' minds and bringing them back. Her eyebrows lowered, "link established."

"Should he really still be giving us orders?" Artemis questioned, "and should you really be following them?"

"Listen, please." Kaldur's voice was commanding and I felt our collective attention turn to him.

Wally interjected sarcastically, "oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that."

Rob cut in, "hey Kaldur! KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'Course since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves."

"If he did," Artemis said, clipping on her quiver, "he wouldn't tell you."

M'gann put her hands on her hips, "Superboy, are you online or just pouting?"

I raised an eyebrow, trying to pull back my intrigue from hitting the link like trying to stop water from flowing downhill. The two of them were definitely dating. No questions about it, totally official and probably exclusive.

"Busy," he said, a strange sense of urgency on his end, "call back later."

From there the link spiralled into a conversation about how much everyone disliked Kaldur at the moment where everyone spoke at once. I felt like burying my face in my hands and telling them all to shut up as Wally's voice rang in my ear, "what gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us."

"He should be chalant," Rob agreed, "way chalant. Extremely chalant."

"How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?" Artemis asked, and I held back a 'that's rich', honestly everyone was being so hypocritical I was one more stupid comment from losing my shit.

"Or if Connor doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves?" M'gann added, clearly bitter.

"Did he really think you or I could've been the mole?" Wally asked, not directed at anyone in particular but he was probably talking to Robin.

"We've known each other for years!" Rob exclaimed.

"Trust is a two-way street-"

M'gann cut Artemis off, "and you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them! Not that we'd do that. Never."

"Enough." Kaldur's voice cut through the mess that was the mindlink, and silence fell in his wake that I was unbelievably grateful for. "Captain Marvel has been captured," he said gravely, "and we must act as a team to save him."

Wally laughed, "under your leadership? I don't think s-"

"This is not up for debate," Kaldur said, in such a Batman way I felt my eyes go wide, "you all chose me to lead. When the mission is over if you all wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here."

He almost seemed angry. Not in a yelling at us through the mindlink way but with the kind of cold anger I knew he wasn't really expressing, at least not in the way I had grown familiar with it. It was unsettling coming from someone as calm and level-headed as Kaldur, and I receded back into myself. Pulling my presence away from the collective like tugging on a rope, I felt Artemis doing the same thing. The same conditioned reaction, I guessed, and I wondered if Lawrence had ever spoken that way before 'punishing' her.

I sent the smallest whisper her way, "you okay?"

She nodded, raising an eyebrow back and I nodded too. We were both fine. Standing together, we all started trading information as to where we were in an attempt to locate each other and group up. Eventually, we all sort of stumbled upon each other. Standing in a giant circle, I couldn't shake the feeling of us all being pissed off at one another. The tension made me want to run away, hide somewhere safer. Instead I wiped my face clean of any emotion and worked to keep it that way, standing loosely at attention as Kaldur went over the plan.

Said Atlantean was standing across the circle from me, hands drawn behind his back and looking for all the world like a general in a shitty war movie. His face was calm, demanding authority and I found myself wondering if he had been taking lessons from Bats. I took a moment to assess the rest of the team. Dick and Kid were standing in practically identical positions, arms crossed, scowling, and generally looking angry and upset. M'gann looked distracted, chewing on her lip a mile a minute, arms wrapped around herself. Turning to Artemis, I blinked in surprised when I saw she was almost doing the same thing I was. The only difference in her posture from mine was her crossed arms as she gazed around at everyone.

Kaldur cleared his throat, "Captain Marvel has been captured. As of yet, the entity who took him is unknown, but what we do know is that they are using some kind of technology to create force fields of a sort, and-" he turned to M'gann, nodding towards her, "that they are using inhibitor collars of the kind used in Belle Reve prison to control the animals within this jungle, including some of which that have been given Kobra Venom to enhance their size and sense of aggression." He finished with a nod towards Rob and Wally, thanking each person who provided him with information. Stepping forwards, he looked us all in the eye, "here's the plan."


Crouching in the grass, I was grateful for a gentle breeze that blew across the back of my neck, disturbing the humid night air. Kaldur and Artemis were a little further ahead on the hill, M'gann perched in a tree not too far from them, and Kid, Rob and I were the closest to the building we had found. It was a great stone complex, crawling with greenery that suggested it had been here a while and surrounded by tall metal cones with strange antenna-like protrusions at the top. The architecture of the building was too modern to suggest it had been here any longer than ten years and as I analyzed the perimeter I absentmindedly popped a new pill. As my senses sharpened, a strange smell hit my nose and I recoiled. Kaldur's voice filled my head, "what is it Catgirl?"

I wrinkled my nose, "it smells like hospital, antiseptic or something, maybe iodine? Whatever's happening in there can't be pretty."

A distinct sense of determination flowed from M'gann, "I'll fly over."

"Negatory," Wally said, goggles lit up deep red, "the field extends like a dome over the whole compound."

"The pylons are insulated," Rob mused from where he was tapping away at his holoscreen, "but one good shock could cause a momentary gap."

"I see a target!" Artemis reported, bow already drawn and I flicked my gaze over to where she was looking, an innocuous looking keypad of sorts with a glowing red button by the entrance to the complex.

"Then be ready to hit it," Aqualad commanded, "be ready, all of you."

Rob, Wally and I shared a three-way glance and I leaned forward, muscles drawn tight and ready to run into the action as Kaldur bounded across the clearing towards one of the pylons. Tattoos glowing blue-white with power, he extended his hands out towards the force field in a dazzling show of light. I had to turn away, colours dancing in front of my vision as the crackling of electricity thrummed in my ears. Wally was leaned forwards like me, one hand on his goggles as he stared down the force field, "now!"

Artemis let her arrow fly without hesitation, and I forced myself to watch as it sailed neatly through the tiny hole Kaldur had opened, hitting the button perfectly, dead-center bullseye. There was a beeping from it, and Kaldur grunted as he stopped the flow of bioelectricity, tattoos fading back to the usual black. Approaching the entrance silently, Robin stopped dead in front of me and I nearly bumped into his back, looking up to see what had caught his eye.

A monkey of some sort was on top of the complex, one of the collars around its all staggered back to stare at it as it tipped its head back in a piercing scream. Sirens began to blare, lights situated on either side of the monkey pulsing red, and a flood of primates began to pour down into the clearing. Unraveling my whip with a clean crack, I sent it flying towards an approaching monkey.

It recoiled, bounding towards me with a savage growl. I promptly kicked it in the face, lashing out to strike one that had latched onto Kaldur from behind. Turning back to the monkey I had kicked, I found it half a foot from my face. Swiping wildly in surprise, I felt the fur of its face shred under my claws, and it scampered away from me.

My knees buckled as a sudden weight hit my back, and I rolled over hastily, dragging myself backwards and cracking my whip over my head in circles as I scrambled away from two monkeys that had launched themselves at me. Kaldur yelled from across the clearing, "remove their collars!"

"Sounds easy when he says it," Rob griped, trying to fight off monkeys grabbing at his arms and legs. I desperately wanted to help him, and sighed in relief when Artemis sent three arrows flying his way, slicing the collars clean through.

One of mine had scrambled over to me, climbing up my legs with a feral grin on its face. I lashed out at it, cleaving the collar it wore in half with my claws. Its face was instantly wiped of viciousness, and it tore off, fleeing into the jungle. Just as I was finishing up with the second one, a giant gorilla wearing a red military cap and brandishing a machine gun came from inside the complex.

I immediately froze, eyeing the gun. Instead of opening fire, it sniffed the air and promptly reached out into thin air and threw something to the ground. That something, I realized, was Miss Martian, lying in the dirt now in camouflage mode. She faded back to her opaque self and I was already running towards her as the gorilla went to grab her, pointing the gun her way.

Wally was faster though, speeding off towards M'gann in the blink of an eye, "get your hands off her you darn dirty ape!"

For a moment I felt like teasing him, wondering if he was going to break out the gollies and gee willikers. He slammed into the belly of the gorilla, bouncing off and smashing backwards into the dirt. I was already at M'gann's side, curling my whip around the gorilla's throat and giving it a good yank. It struggled, fighting for air and I leant down to shake M'gann, "up and at 'em!"

The gorilla tugged on my whip, uncoiling it from around its throat and using the end of it to pull me up and slam me into the nearby wall. Instantly crumpling to the ground, I clutched my head with a groan. A sudden shockwave rippled past me and I turned to find M'gann floating a foot above the ground, eyes glowing white, having put the gorilla through the wall with some kind of a psychic blast. Staggering to my feet, I joined the others to stand beside her, gazing into the complex to see an R2-D2 looking thing with an honest to god brain inside the top, kept safe within a glass dome. Captain Marvel laid strapped to a medical table a little further inside, a random tiger flopped out on the ground a few feet away from him.

"It's The Brain!" Wally said, leaning forwards like he was ready to break out into a run if necessary.

"Ugh, I can see it's a brain," Artemis said with no small amount of exasperation.

Wally waved his hand in annoyance, "not a brain, The Brain!"

As the gorilla picked itself up from the ground, The Brain whirred over towards us, "in the flesh, uh, so to speak." He turned to face the gorilla, "Mallah!"

Mallah pressed a remote, pylons raising from the floor around us. A wave of pain like nothing I had ever felt, almost similar to Psimon's powers, washed over me. A force pushed down on my head, and we fell to the ground, the strange power holding us in place. Held flat to the floor, Kaldur craned his head to look down at M'gann, speaking through the mindlink, "Miss Martian, Superboy, now!"

M'gann's eyes lit up once again, the remote prying itself from Mallah's hand and floating over to her. A second later, the force field disappeared, and as we picked ourselves up from the ground there was a loud crash, Superboy plowing through the back wall with a giant white wolf.

The wolf pounced on Mallah, knocking the gorilla to the ground. As he raised himself up, Kid zoomed towards him, knocking him back down just long enough for Rob to swing past on a grappling hook, effectively kicking him in the face. He staggered back, growling and throwing himself from the floor to the ceiling and then back again in an attempt to reposition himself. He aimed his machine gun at M'gann, who flew out of the way as bullets started to fly every which way. I flung my whip out towards him, curling it around the machine gun and yanking it out of his hand. Superboy took the opportunity to come flying down at the gorilla, missing ever so slightly as Mallah jumped back, which resulted in a decently sized crater in the concrete floor.

Picking the machine gun back up, Mallah fired it off at Connor, knocking the boy back into the wall. Artemis drew back and fired an arrow, the softest thunk echoing through the room as it attached itself to the ammo pack strapped to Mallah's back. In seconds it exploded, forcing the gorilla to stagger forward. I dashed to Artemis' side, watching as she and Rob sent more explosives Mallah's way, effectively knocking his machine gun out of commision. Off to the left, Kaldur was dodging laser beams The Brain was firing at him, and I ran to help, wrapping my whip around the base of The Brain's body and tugging, sending the little fucker into a tailspin.

He whirred loudly, spinning to try and regain his bearing before turning to me, "ah, the daughter of Catwoman, mais non?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "ferme ta gueule et va te faire foutre, fils de pute."

He tsked at me, "je suis sensible à l'effort à parler ma langue, mais quelle bouche!"

"Tu parle comme une vache espagnole!" I hissed, striking out at him with my whip, landing a solid hit on his dome that had him zooming back towards where Mallah was, standing back to back with the gorilla.

Falling back as we surrounded the two of them, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Kaldur freed Captain Marvel and the poor tiger. Forming a circle around The Brain and Mallah, the gorilla stepped towards Superboy with a growl, who just cracked his knuckles, his wolf snarling at his side, "try it. I hate monkeys."

The gorilla looked inclined to attempt but The Brain brought him to a heel,"no Mallah." Something was extending from his base, "this will not be our Waterloo." Whatever he was revealing kept extending, building outwards into some strange structure as a high-pitched hum filled the air, "au revoir, mes amis."

"Get down!" KF yelled, and we dropped to the floor as the lights cut out, encasing the room in darkness. Seconds later they flickered back on and The Brain and Mallah were gone, vanished without a trace. Rising slowly, a stunned shock filled the room, broken by Wally, "wait. That big weapon thing was… a light switch?"

We stared at each other, utterly baffled. My eyes flicked to the tiger, standing next to Captain Marvel, and I shrugged, crossing the room. I dropped to my knees beside the big cat, holding out a cautious hand. It sniffed me carefully, amber eyes regarding me with skepticism, eventually butting its head against my hand like a housecat. I melted, delicately scratching it behind the ears, trying my best not to hurt it with my claws as I cooed softly to it, "you're just a big kitty, aren't you? Did that walking pile of scrap metal hurt you? It's okay, he's gone now."

"Hey!" Captain Marvel said, affronted, "that's my tiger."

I gazed up at him pleadingly, "can we work out a joint custody?"

The puppy dog eyes seemed to have an effect as he turned away from me, the tips of his ears pink, "maybe, I have to talk to my lawyer."

I jumped to my feet, pressing a kiss to his cheek, "you're the best!"

He spluttered as I dropped back down to pet the tiger, scratching it under the chin with one hand and playing with it's ear with the other. Rob shook his head, "neither of you are keeping the damn tiger."

I wheeled the puppy dog eyes on him, "but look how happy it is! After such a traumatic experience we can't possibly reintroduce it to the wild."

He didn't budge, "we're going home, and the tiger is staying here where it belongs."

Genuinely saddened, I pressed a last kiss to the tiger's forehead, standing up and moving away from it with reluctance. Wally voice echoed in the mindlink, "near, faarr, wherever you arrreeeee."

I glared at him, sending out my dissatisfaction in a stream. He just burst into laughter, and I huffed, striding out of the giant hole in the wall in what I hoped was the general direction of the Bioship, eager to get home.

Robin caught up to me, grabbing my wrist and pivoting me by ninety degrees, "you're going the wrong way."

I frowned, stomping down on the urge to snap. I was running off less than six hours sleep, covered in bruises and scratches from head to toe, and sore in just about every conceivable part of my body with a headache that wouldn't quit pounding at my temples. Rubbing them absentmindedly I caught Dick shooting me a worried glance, "I'm fine."

"You sure you didn't get a concussion or something? You don't look good."

"Thanks," I deadpanned, dropping my hands to my sides.

He made a face, "that's not what I meant and you know it."

Kaldur pulled ahead of us all, slashing at the undergrowth to clear a path and Rob scowled at his back. I rolled my eyes, utterly done with all this bullshit, "lay off him."

His face was incredulous, "what, you're on his side now?"

"I'm not on anyone's side!" I said, throwing my hands in the air, "I'm tired of being mad at him."

"So you just forgive him like that, even after he basically accused each and every one of us of being a mole?"

"Would you have done anything different? Tell me honestly, if you had been ready to run the Team back on Santa Prisca and you eventually found out somehow that there was a mole, would you have told us all?"

He paused, seeming to waver for a moment before going resolute again, "yes, because I trust each and every one of you."

"Bullshit. You wouldn't have even told me and the you would have pulled some stupid, six layers deep, crackpot plan to find out who was the mole. You wouldn't even have considered it in case you accidentally tipped them off."

His jaw fell, "I would never even think for a second that you were the mole."

"Not me maybe," I admitted, "but what about Artemis? You don't completely trust her yet and we're practically best friends at this point. M'gann? Superboy? You'd have considered them all, and if you had told me there was a mole I might have let something slip and ruined your master plan. I'd kick your ass for not letting me know after everything went down, but I'd admit later that you were right."

He stammered, tripping over his own mouth, "I—"

"Know that I'm right?" I suggested, pushing past the last bit of undergrowth that blocked the way to the clearing containing the Bioship. The first soft rays of dawn cut through the shadows, hitting my face, and I felt a grin curl at the corner of my mouth. Tipping my head back, I took the time to enjoy the sun as it warmed the skin of my cheeks. Headache forgotten, I opened my eyes and turned back to face Dick, who was looking at me with the smallest of smiles. I shrugged, "let's just go home."

Wally and Artemis pushed through the brush behind us, her voice clear through the leaves, "what are you grinning about?"

"One word," he said, holding up Mallah's red cap and putting it on, "souvenir!"

"Two words," she said, pulling ahead of him, "gorilla lice!"

He froze, face horrified as he pulled the cap from his head, "oh man!" He dangled it away from him like a piece of trash and I dissolved into giggles, high-fiving Artemis as she came to stand next to me.

As Kaldur removed a collar from one of the monkeys from earlier Captain Marvel leaned down to talk to the tiger, "and that's the last of the collars?" The tiger roared in response, and CM smiled, "and I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" The tiger roared again and I felt my heart grow three sizes. Captain Marvel gave it one last pet, "good, I'll be back for a visit. Promise." Taking off in a fit of snarls, Marvel waved it goodbye, "I think I'll name it Mr. Tawny."

I smiled at the childlike look on his face, "how do you know it's a mister? All the best cats are girls you know."

"You sound more and more like your mother every day," Rob muttered, and I watched the tiger dive back into the jungle, running past Connor and M'gann who were standing with his wolf.

He pet the giant beast affectionately, "the rest of the pack is gone, what are you still doing here?"

"I think he wants to stay with you," M'gann teased affectionately, and I made a mental note to drag her to coffee because they were definitely dating and she didn't tell me.

"Can I keep him?" Connor asked, clearly thrilled with the idea.

Wally laughed, "first the sphere, now this beast? Dude, you sure make a habit of collecting strays."

"Maybe because he's such a stray himself," M'gann said warmly, and the two of them shared the 'we're communicating telepathically look' again. I turned to Rob, raising an eyebrow and he gave me a shrug in return.

Admittedly this raised complications. Artemis was low-key into Connor, and Wally was definitely one-hundred-and-ten percent into M'gann. Irrelevant, obviously, considering M'gann had been practically in love with Connor since she first laid eyes on the boy, and honestly with all the eye-fucking that went on between Artemis and Wally they needed to get over themselves and realize they were into each other. My brain instantly began drawing up diabolical plans to figure all this out but before I could set anything in stone Rob elbowed me in the side, "no meddling."

I blinked at him innocently, making my way up the gangway, "I would never."

He narrowed his eyes, following me, "right, because you would flip shit if someone tried to mess with your relationship and you wouldn't want to be a hypocrite."

Wally's voice caught my attention again, "well, he's gonna need a name. How's about Krypto?"

The wolf instantly started snarling in displeasure and I snorted, biting my lip to suppress a full-on giggle fit. Connor grinned, "pass."

"Besides," M'gann said curiously, "isn't that taken?"

As I shook my head fondly, Kaldur started to walk up towards us, stopping when Rob started to speak, "look I need to know, why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"

The rest of the team turned to pay attention, and I found myself waiting for his answer too. Kaldur looked between all of us, face unwaveringly neutral, "the source of the tip was Sportsmaster."

I blinked in surprise, Sportsmaster? Artemis had even more of a reaction, voice too high-pitched to be unbiased as she recoiled away from Kaldur, "what? You can't trust him!"

I had to agree, and for a second I entertained the idea of Sportsmaster saying that to make Kaldur suspicious of Artemis. From his questioning of M'gann, Connor and Wally before the attack on the Cave, if that was the plan it had worked. I pressed my mouth into a flat line, if I ever got the chance to be within grabbing distance of Lawrence Crock again, I was going to invent a new kind of pain for him to feel.

"I do not," Kaldur said calmly, "it seemed possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide the Team with false information."

"And given how this mission went," Robin said slowly, "he nearly succeeded. But you had to consider it might be true."

"Yes, as leader I did. In which case I did not wish to alert the traitor."

"Hate to say it," Rob admitted, "but makes sense." He offered the Atlantean a smile and I resisted the urge to throw my hands up in the air. Did I not just say the same freaking thing five minutes ago? Every so often I wanted to strangle Dick and this was shaping up to be one of those times. There was a new piece to the puzzle now though, the whole situation clicking into place. But now I had just swapped five million burning questions for just as many new ones, and as soon as I could get Artemis alone for an extended period of time I wanted to sit down with her ask what she thought about it.

"I am still prepared to step down," Kaldur said stoically, holding himself straight.

Wally raised his hand, "all in favour of keeping Aqualad as leader?"

My hand shot up alongside everyone else's, and I carefully watched the exchange between Kaldur and Rob, a silent understanding seeming to pass between the two of them. "Guess it's unanimous," Captain Marvel said, patting Kaldur on the back, "see ya tomorrow."

He waved goodbye, and Kaldur looked confused, "you're not coming back with us?"

"Nah, gotta fly!" and with that, he took off into the sky, rapidly disappearing from view.

I hung back as the rest of the team filed into the Bioship, M'gann turning to Connor, "so what are you gonna' call him?"

"What's wrong with Wolf?" he asked, the two of them pressed close together.

"Generic, but acceptable," Wally said, voice echoing from the inside of the ship.

Kaldur's face changed slightly as he looked out at the jungle, and I laid a hand on his shoulder, "you did good today."

He turned to look at me, "you truly think so?"

"I know so," I said with a grin, "for all the shit we gave you, you handled it with grace and humility. And you went all Batman on our asses, have you been taking lessons?"

"Captain Marvel gave me some wise words of encouragement," he admitted.

I turned to enter the Bioship, "if it makes you feel better, even though I was pissed, I know you did what you had to do. You're a real leader Kaldur, and we're lucky to have you."

"Catgirl?" I stopped, twisting to look at him. He dropped his gaze, "what would have done, if you had been in my position?"

"Honestly?" I said, offering him a rueful smile, "I would have run to Rob as soon as Sportsmaster said anything and asked him what I should do. And maybe have gone to Bats straight afterwards. But that's not a good idea, and it wouldn't have been what was best for the Team. Admittedly your chosen route had its own pitfalls but that's a hell of a Catch-Twenty-Two. You went with the option that did the least damage instead of the one that made you the most comfortable. That's why you're the leader, not me. You can make those difficult decisions without letting your emotions influence your judgement, that's something I have to work on that every day."

"For what it's worth," he said, coming to stand next to me, "I think every objective leader needs someone like you, someone who listens to their intuition and feelings above all to balance them out. A head is useless without a heart. That's why I'm grateful Robin has you. One day, when he is ready to meet his destiny, you two will make an amazing team."

I grinned cheekily, "we already do."

He laughed, and we walked inside, the ramp closing up behind us. Settling in amongst our friends, everyone finally happy and speaking to one another again, M'gann set us on the course for home.


GOTHAM

September 26, 19:21 EST


Sitting in a rather uncomfortable dress, the hard line of my mask digging into my skin, I found myself across the table from Tommy Rospera once again. His golden lion mask gleamed in the candlelight, the rich smell of the Italian food we had ordered filling the air between us. Taking a quick sip of my lemon water, I turned my gaze up to him, "what do you know about The Brain?"

He looked surprised, "The Brain? What do you need to know?"

"Anything and everything you know about him."

"Okay," he said slowly, laying down his fork and knife, "he's never done anything for my father, but he's of French origin. He was a brilliant scientist working down in Bwunda, something to do with gorillas. Somewhere along the line he had his brain removed and placed in that robotic container of his. Other than that, he keeps a pretty discreet profile. I've never heard much about him."

I nodded, "interesting. He's come up on the League's radar as of late."

"Don't suppose you could go into detail?" he asked, painting on a roguish grin.

"Better luck next time sport," I said, "anything interesting going on in the criminal underworld?"

His facial expression sobered, and he let his gaze flick around the room a few times before leaning in to speak quietly, "I've heard some strange whispers."

"Oh?"

"Something odd is going on. People have been getting weird orders, even weirder rumours have been flying around."

I frowned, "like what?"

"Word has it that Count Vertigo of Vlatava has been acting strangely, getting even more explicit with his shady dealings. Usually he covers his tracks pretty well but he's either getting sloppy or bold."

"You think he's going to pull something big soon?" I asked, eyebrows knit together.

"I wouldn't doubt it," he admitted, "I don't know much though, I don't have eyes in Vlatava. It's something I'm working on."

"Such a hard worker," I teased in an attempt to lighten the mood, "must be hard running a criminal empire all by your lonesome."

"Well," he said, eyes suddenly heady, "if it were up to me I wouldn't be lonesome."

"Keep dreaming Tommy," I said, twirling my fork around another bite of pasta.

He reached out across the table, taking my free hand in his, "please be careful. I'm serious," his eyes were somber now, entire face grave, "I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm not really sure if you can label what's between us as friendship, but I want you to know that every time I see a disaster or crime on the news I know the Justice League will respond to, I worry about you. I have a Google alert set up for you on my phone, and every time it notifies me of something new, my heart jumps into my throat. I care about you, so, promise me you'll be safe."

I swallowed thickly, half wanting to tell him that there wasn't anything between us and half wanting to tell him what he wanted to hear. I went with option C, "you know that's not something I can guarantee."

He leaned back in his chair, letting go of my hand and running his own through his thick black hair, "guess not huh? You superheroes, always jumping in the face of danger to save someone else. I suppose it would be against your nature to ask you to employ a little self-preservation?"

"I'm afraid so," I said with a sad smile.

"That's what sets us apart," he said, "I'd do anything to save my own skin and you're always thinking about others. Selfless."

"Selflessness is kind of in the job description," I joked, fiddling with my straw. If I knew Tommy better I'd tell him how I wasn't so sure about my selflessness. I didn't have Bruce's objectivity, his ability to push down his feelings about the people he cares about in order to do what's best for the common good. If it came down to saving one of my teammates or a room full of innocents, I didn't know which I would pick.

Tommy shook his head and changed the subject, and I let myself push away my thoughts and whatever moment had just occurred between us. I had one objective here, and that was to exchange as little information as I could get away with while getting as much as Tommy would give me, which was fairly easy given his fondness for me. That was all, and it was all it ever would be.


HAPPY HARBOUR

September 27, 17:54 EST


"Wait, so you met him in Paris?" M'gann asked, taking another sip of her latte.

We were sitting at one of the outside tables of a cozy little café we frequented, given that they sold what was probably the only legitimate coffee in the whole of Happy Harbour. It was officially autumn here, and I had to admit that people were right about New England trees. The leaves were coloured in striking shades of crimson, gold and orange, and it reminded me why I loved fall so much.

Having filled M'gann in on my 'rendezvous' for lack of a better term with Tommy last night, she suddenly had a million questions. I nodded, "his father was one of my mom's favorite fences for anything she acquired in Europe. His father's Abramo Rospera by the way, and he was the head of an infamous international crime syndicate. Eventually somebody messed up during a high-profile job and he got arrested, left Tommy's older brother Nicolai to head the company." I took a pointed sip of my mocha, "Nicolai's freaking psychotic though, so Tommy took it on himself to run the company and now he's about your age and an internationally feared crime boss."

"And every so often you two meet up in Gotham to gossip over fancy food?" she asked, incredulous.

"Tommy had just started running the syndicate when he got tangled up in an investigation Bats was doing in Italy. Catwoman, Rob and I were there too, and because Cat had a soft spot for his dad and because he wasn't directly involved in what was going on, she convinced Bats not to expose Tommy to the authorities if he kept us updated on the goings-on of the criminal underworld. He apparently took a shine to me when we were there because he requested me as his point of contact."

"That's so cool," M'gann breathed, "you're like a girl James Bond!"

I laughed, "it mostly consists of him flirting every second breath and me trying to weasel information out of him."

"Is he at least cute?" she questioned, spinning her cup on the little plate provided.

"Decently cute," I admitted, eyes suddenly narrowing, "speaking of cute boys, the hell is going on with you and Connor?"

She blushed violently, the red stretching down to her neck and chest, "n-nothing!"

"And I'm best friends with Beyoncé," I drawled, "give me the four-one-one."

She dropped her hands to her lap, speaking quietly, "we're dating."

I jumped up in my seat, "I fucking knew it!"

"You can't tell anyone," she begged, "we're keeping it quiet, at least for now."

I propped my face up on my hands, "you guys flirt twenty-four-seven and you call that 'keeping it quiet'?"

"Just promise you won't tell anyone? Including Robin?"

I shrugged, "he already knows."

Her face grew confused, "that's not possible, we haven't told anyone."

"To reiterate my earlier point," I said, "you guys are like, blatantly obvious. You act like a married couple. Unless you want everyone and their mothers to know by Halloween, you need to tone it down."

She bit her lip, "that bad huh?"

"Not bad!" I said quickly, "just, very indiscreet. Like a giant billboard with flashing lights and M'gann plus Connor written on it in neon, glow-in-the-dark spray paint indiscreet."

She laughed, "I'm glad I told you, it's nice to talk to someone about it."

I nodded solemnly, "if you ever need someone to bitch to about how ridiculous he's being, let me know."

We dissolved into a fit of giggles, and as the crisp autumn breeze scattered the leaves around our feet I had to admit that this was nice.


GOTHAM

September 27, 18:37 EST


Creeping slowly through the dark of Wayne Manor, I followed the distant sound of piano. Poking my head into the ballroom, I spotted Dick off to the side, music emanating from where he sat at the grand piano in the corner. Closing the door softly behind me, I pulled off my socks and shoes.

I hadn't heard whatever he was playing before. It was soft and sweet, like eating cotton candy and I ditched my footwear by the door, leaping into a tour jeté and spinning softly to the piano. There was the slightest of hitches in Dick's playing as I surprised him, and then he picked up again, seemingly spinning the music even richer than before now as I danced in circles around the center of the ballroom. As I kept going, it grew more lyrical than ballet in style, and I lost myself in the fierce joy of soaring across the polished floors. Eventually, I grew tired, movements getting slower and sloppier, and Dick wove the music to a close, ending on a rather bittersweet note. I sat on the floor, leaning backwards to lie a few feet from the piano with my legs drawn up, breathing heavily.

It was a silent for a moment, and I took that silence to reflect on how personal and tender it was to freestyle together like that, going with the flow and molding each of our art forms to complement the other's. It wasn't the first time, whenever I was too angry or sad or otherwise worked up to talk to him and get it out properly, he'd take me down here. He'd sit down at the piano and start playing how I felt, and I'd start dancing it off. By the end of it I always felt better, partly due to the catharsis dancing provided, and partly because when it was over I was reminded of how Dick just inherently understood me, how he always had. Ever since we had first let each other in, we had dedicated a significant amount of time to learning each other inside out, and now, almost four years later, he knew me better than anyone else.

Exactly four years later, I realized slowly. Absentmindedly tugging my shirt up to play with the scar on my stomach, I turned my head to face him. He was perched on the piano bench, turned facing me instead of the keys and I offered him a bright grin, "happy friendiversary."

He shook his head with a smile, "you remembered."

I dropped my jaw in fake indignation, "I always remember!"

"How was coffee with M'gann?" he asked, coming to lay next to me on the floor.

I snorted, "oh I had to give her the lowdown on Tommy and then I interrogated her about Connor and we talked about that for a while."

"They're totally dating, aren't they?"

I listed my head to face him, "I thought you were above this-" I made air quotes, "relationship bullshit?"

He pouted, "don't keep me out of the loop."

"Yeah, they're dating," I said with a sigh, "have been since they went undercover in Belle Reve. M'gann got sealed in ice by Killer Frost after she blew her cover. Apparently after seeing her practically dead, Supey realized everything he had to lose and finally made a move on her."

He laughed under his breath, "of course she didn't initiate."

"To be fair she was wildly obvious with her crush," I pointed out, "it's not her fault he's only been alive and interacting with other people for a few months and has no social skills whatsoever. Someone needs to educate the boy on context clues."

"Wildly obvious might be a bit of stretch, Wally still hasn't caught on."

"She literally went on about how nice his ears are, Wally's just a lovesick idiot who's going to have a rude awakening."

"Him and Artemis seem to have a thing though."

"Artemis and Wally don't have a thing, they have unresolved sexual tension that's unresolved because they don't even realize it's there because they think they hate each other."

He hummed softly and silence fell again, wrapping thick around the room. I turned my face back to the ceiling, "Dick?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it weird that I feel like I've known you for my whole life even though it's only been four years?"

"To be fair, four years is like somewhere between a third and a quarter of our lives. That's a significant portion."

I rolled my eyes, "well it's nice to know the math backs me up."

"Belle?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really happy I found you half dead in an alley four years ago."

I burst into laughter, rolling over to bury my face in his shoulder, "I'm really happy you found me half dead in an alley too."

"Less happy about the half dead part, but still happy," he added, vibrations running through his chest as he laughed silently alongside me.

There was a sharp knock at the door and Alfred entered, looking as pristine and unruffled as always, clearly perplexed as to why we were on the ground, "supper is ready if the two of you are prepared to join us in the dining room."

I pulled myself up to a sitting position, "always ready for your cooking Alfred."

"I shall notify Master Bruce," he said somewhat stiffly, and once he left we exploded into laughter all over again, a shaking heap on the ballroom floor.

Eventually we collected ourselves and I got up, holding a hand out to Dick, "c'mon Boy Wonder, better get going before Alfred decides to starve us."

A mischievous twinkle glittered in his eyes, "race you?"

I grinned, taking off towards the huge double doors, not even bothering to pick up my socks and shoes. Laughing as we tore down the halls of Wayne Manor, I let a soft warmth pool in my chest as I realized for the five millionth time just how lucky I was to have Dick in my life.


So. It's been a while. I'm going to cut to the chase, I've been ridiculously busy. I went a trip to help out with/attend my cousin's wedding a couple provinces over, came home and attended yet another wedding like a week afterwards, and I started my second (third for you Americans out there) year of high school (that's right, I finally turned sixteen on the 10th, get me some Pull-Ups because I'm a big kid now.) There's a huge jump in difficulty between grade ten and eleven here, so school's been kicking my ass. However, it's finally evened out, (no promises on a regular update schedule during midterms later in the year, but knowing me writing will be how I procrastinate with studying), and I can finally have some semblance of regularity with these chapters again. Technically I've had this one for like two or three weeks now but I didn't want to put it out until I finished the new prologue. (Which is out, if you feel like it go read it, it's not ridiculously different but there are some minor backstory tweaks and the like.) So, updates will be every second Sunday now that I have schoolwork to do (lame, I know) but they'all be at least 7500 words (speaking of, including the new prologue this update is 20k+) so you'll have a decent amount to read when I put stuff out. Now, onto other relevant information:

Yet more French in this chapter, here are the translations:

Mais non- Kind of intuitive/overused, it literally means "but no", though the actually meaning is like "no?" or "am I right?"

Ferme ta gueule et va te faire foutre, fils de pute- Shut the fuck up (ferme ta gueule is a really rude way of saying shut your mouth) and go fuck yourself, son a bitch/whore.

Je suis sensible à l'effort à parler ma langue, mais quelle bouche- I appreciate the effort to speak my language, but what a mouth

Tu parle comme une vache espagnole- You speak (note she's using the informal you, even more derogatory) like a Spanish cow (which is an honest to god French insult I swear)

Au revoir, mes amis- This was an actual part of the episode & it's a token French phrase but for those who don't know it means goodbye, my friends.

So there you are, life update + a new chapter, I strongly recommend you go read the new version of the prologue because there are details in it that'll become relevant later (bonus points if you guess them in reviews), and let me know if it's better than the old one. I run a lot of this story past my brother, who tends to be a voice of reason and he's the one who pushed me to rewrite because, and I quote, "this shit's too unbelievable." Please remember that I'm replying to reviews now, (I'm not for this chapter because so much time has gone on between now and the last update) so drop a review if you want a reply from me in the next chapter. See you next time!