Disclaimer: I do not own the existing characters that we know and love of Young Justice, although I do take ownership over the new characters i.e. The majority of the Team's children

A/N: Hadn't updated this bit in a while, but do you like wonder what Lola's going to do? I'm indecisive and would love your opinions so don't forget to review

Chapter 16 – Fin'abarra

Konstantin glowered at me with piercing blue eyes. A cold and suspicious gaze on me. "What happened?"

I stood up, tall and firm, with my hands clasped behind my back like I was a military soldier. "The shipment was arriving at the docks and I had been listening to some of the men over a secondary movement. The Salvation, I believe they called them. I had my suspicions, so I watched the crates closely. When I noticed unauthorised personnel arriving at the docks, I diverted the shipment."

Konstantin bought it for a second. "How do I know you didn't orchestrate an interception in order to get close to me?"

"Because I wouldn't be able to say that to you- we both know what you're capable of..." I replied sharply. "Well, I can sense the doubt in your voice over my allegiance, and I can't work with someone who would doubt me."

Turning to leave, I counted slowly to three in anticipation of him calling me back. My hand was around the door handle when he stopped me. Instinctively, I forced myself not to take a deep sigh and relax.

"Brook- let's not be too hasty." Konstantin leant forwards, placing his hands on the table in front of him. "There is something I must ask you to do for me."

"What is the problem?"

"Someone in my forces is leaking information to the authority and the Justice Hall, I need you to find out who."

I raised an eyebrow. "And then?"

"Bring then to my so that I can deal with them."

"You mean leaving them in the dark dimension?"

Konstantin laughed, "It seems you have some brains as well as brawn, boy. Report back once you have concluded who the leak is... Dismissed."

I left the room, coming out onto a metal walkway. Everyone looked up at me with dirty expressions that said I was about to receive a beating. Pushing my shoulders back, I strode down the stairs and through the crowd. As I left through the fire exit door, I had a moment of relief where I thought I was in the clear.

Crack.

A clenched fist connected with my face, making me hit the wall behind me. Before my eyes could focus on my attacker, a knee shot up and hit my gut. I was thrown to the floor and giving the kicking of a lifetime. All I could do was take it and protect my head. Begging for it to end.

-o-

When it did end, it took hours for me to drag myself to the safe house. It was a dingy little apartment in the middle of a bad part of the city. My phone was going crazy with messages from Willow and Max. I replied a simple yet honest answer.

Catching a glimpse of my reflection in the bathroom, my face was bloodied and sore. Lifting up my shirt, I saw my skin was an abstract painting of red and purple. There was a small white flannel by the sink that I soaked in cool water. I prepared myself to dab my face to determine the damage beneath the blood.

Someone knocked at the door and I was alerted, feeling the Atlantean tattoos glowing through my black shirt. Limping to the door, I peered through the peephole.

"Willow!" I whispered, opening the door and yanking her into the apartment. "What are you doing here?"

"Can you blame me? You just said you were beaten up!" she responded in her usual panicked state. "So I came to see how you really were, because you have a massive habit of playing things down."

"It's only because I don't want people to worry. I guess I was wrong." I backed away from her, disappearing into the bathroom. "God!" I cursed when the damp flannel dabbed at the blood stains on my face.

"For crying out loud, Finn. Just let me help you." Willow pulled the flannel from my hands and pushed me gently down onto the edge of the bathtub. "This may hurt."

"Can't hurt much more than the beating I took here."

Willow laughed and it made me smile. Even if the smiling hurt, it was strange that this felt like the first time I had properly heard her laugh. Willow dabbed at my cheek and forehead, wringing out the cloth into the sink, dripping discoloured water. I watched her clean my face, trying not to squirm. I began to notice her freckles and green eyes properly. Willow's eyes were like sparkling emeralds as they glinted in the light of the lonely bulb in the bathroom.

"They really knocked you about, didn't they?" Willow asked, standing in front of me with the flannel dripping slowly onto my trousers. "You should probably get checked out back at base and-"

"No!" I said abruptly, grabbing her wrist. "This is an undercover mission, Wills- I have to remain that way." I paused, standing up slowly and watching her head tilt up to me. "You can't be here either. If Konstantin or one of his men was tailing me, then who knows what they might do to you."

"But what if you're bleeding internally or have broken ribs?" she asked whilst I guided her to the door. "Finn, please don't shut us out because you believe you're so deep undercover. We don't want to lose you. I don't want to…"

"Promise me you'll go straight to base."

"Only if you promise to pull the plug on this mission when it gets too difficult."

"You first." I opened the door for her to slip out and closed it silently, leaning my head against it. "I have to bring Konstantin in soon, otherwise I will end up being lost to this thing."

-o-

With a sneaky debriefing with Nightwing whilst we sat side by side at a counter of a sushi bar, we hatched a plan to plant some evidence on one of Konstantin's people. He warned me that there were going to be supers on surveillance when I confronted Konstantin, just in case he was one step ahead of us. Not that I was sure how that would be possible.

Konstantin called a meeting the night I was set to reveal the identity of the mole – I was hardly going to reveal it was me, so I had to play along. He was standing at the top of the metal walkway, leaning on the bar and glaring down at us. "I know you want us to succeed in surviving the attack that the Salvation tried to exact on us – thanks to Brook, we secured the delivery." He paused, tightening his grip. "But I suspect that someone in this room, a brother of mine, has been passing on information to the Justice Hall. They've been watching me and I won't allow them to continue like they have." A thick finger pointed at me and beckoned me up the steps towards him.

There were murmurs from the other men who must have believed Konstantin was indicating I was the leak and not the one who was trying to determine the leak.

"Brook here has been analysing us further, under my instructions and has informed me of who the leak is." Konstantin pointed at one short, dumpy man who had fine, blonde hair scraped back from his face. "You, Rydik, are the one who has been betraying us- betraying me…"

Rydik shook his head like a mute child. "I- Konstantin, I would-"

"Save it, Rydik. Brook has shown me the evidence. It's over for you. Everyone step away from Rydik now." Konstantin waved his hands in concentric circles, lighting them up in a dark black haze.

Rydik fell to his knees, wailing for it to stop. That he didn't want to go. That he had a family and didn't want to die. But pleading for your life to a man as maniacal and cutthroat as Konstantin was useful.

I watched as the dark dimension opened at Rydik's feet, swallowing him up. Konstantin collapsed to the floor – a side effect of opening and closing the unstable door to the dark dimension was that it wiped him out for nearly weeks.

The sound of smashing glass startled me and I looked at the broken window to notice a canister drop down on the floor. It started to spew out a grey smog before anyone could get rid of it. I staggered down the stairs, feeling a burning sensation in my eyes. If this was a raid from the Salvation, then I had to get out of there quick.

But it was far worse than the Salvation, it was Police Commissioner Gordon.

I could hear his voice echoing from the bullhorn as he called for us to come out of the building calmly. Obviously none of them did, but they endured the burning gas that was causing coughing fits and vomiting. A black ops team smashed their way through the door, tackling me to the ground.

As I fought back, I worried that I was too deep into the operation. Were the Justice Squad going to lose me as a teammate?

-o-

It was not long until I was sat in a tightly packed holding cell, surrounded by many of Konstantin's men. They were glowering at me with bloodthirsty faces, because it was my fault they had lost Rydik. It was my decision to pick him as the mole. If it weren't for Commissioner Gordon ordering an officer to collect me. To collect Brook.

This was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Commissioner Gordon and Dick Grayson were waiting in an interrogation room, which didn't completely put my mind at rest. "You can relax Brook," Gordon said sternly. "Mr Grayson has explained the situation to me. Whilst Konstantin was not brought in with the rest of you, we still need him here. Well, hopefully not here, but definitely in Arkham."I looked back and forth between the two adults. "What does this mean I have to do?"

"Find Konstantin."

"You can't seriously think you can just release me and those guys will just let me be when they get out?"

"Then we'll have to make it convincing that you're not harmless. That you need to be moved to a secure facility." Dick fiddled with his shirt cuff link. "When in reality, your transport is going to be intercepted by a squad led by Zatanna. Assisted by the Justice Squad minus Nightstar and Mentalist. They'll break you out and observe. Intervening only when necessary."

I nodded slowly. "So who's going to take a beating?" Dick pick up a blazer off the back of the chair Gordon was sat in.

"That would be me..." he replied, taking a badge and empty holster from Gordon. "It'll be like a training session, Finn. It's an opportunity to prove to the GCPD that the Justice Squad are capable of defending the city. Just like my team had to. And no water conducts please, they pack way too much of a punch for me." Dick paused, holding out a hand to me. "You ready?"

A moment of hesitation made me panic that I wasn't ready for it. "When are we ever ready?" I shook his head and waited for Gordon to leave.

Dick was flying backwards through the door, followed by me as I landed on him, jabbing and punching in harmless place. It didn't take long for the officers to haul me off as I smacked one punch to Dick's face. Gordon pointed at me.

"Transportation, take him downstairs- now!" he yelled, loud enough for Konstantin's men to hear.

I blurted out an Atlantean word and then roared angrily as I was hauled down to the garage.

-o-

The transportation van rattled about, rocking from side to side as it carried me towards Arkham – it was beginning to panic me about what would happen if Zatanna missed the van and I was forced to adapt in Arkham. What then? I tried not to think about it, the sudden swerving of the van made me realise that there was no time to worry. The van slammed into a wall, throwing me forwards and slamming into the container cage.

Zatanna must had ripped the door from the hinge and tossed it aside, letting the early morning sun into the back of the van, but the police officers had put a lock over the cage so I wasn't going anywhere. I locked my fingers through the cage by the lock and forced it to freeze with water and drastically reducing the temperature. Being frozen meant it took one tough kick to shatter. Jumping down from the van, I wondered what was actually going to happen.

I started to walk down the street, away from the crashed van and headed down towards the underpass in the hope that I might have some inspiration over how I was going to find Konstantin. My shoulder was in pain from the impact and my torso was still sore from the beating I took. Pausing at the underpass, I braced myself against the wall of a disused parlour room. Inside was boarded up and the street was empty.

A voice startled me. "I was wondering when you would break out- I must admit I'm impressed that you managed it so quickly. You must have contacts in extremely high places."

"Konstantin. We need to get out of Gotham, before they find us. If the GCPD are capable of infiltrating the organisation enough to catch us all, they might be surveying the area and searching for us."

He was walking towards me and I wasn't sure it was a particularly friendly look on his face so I put my guard up. A lightning fast leg movement kicked me back across the ground, rolling heel s overhead. A thick hand grabbed my shoulder, boring their fingers into my collar bone and pinching either side of it.

I screamed out, trying to throw him back. Nightwing's words echoed in my mind, begging me not to use my powers. Just as I was about to throw my powers into the mix, a blur of yellow shot past us, striking Konstantin in the jugular. Stealth was around.

"Not one more move!" Diana's voice echoed from the other side of the underpass. "You two are surrounded- there's nothing you can do."

Konstantin was not prepared for games, and started to race towards Diana who held up her collapsed bow, shaking it in the hope that it would unfold. But it wasn't opening out.

Stealth shot past me and grabbed Diana, moving her away from our enemy's grips. "Not today, Konstantin," she snapped, pushing Diana back. "I am the fastest woman alive, you can't catch me."

"Oh really? You think you can outrun a dimensional rift?" Konstantin flexed his hands and I knew what was coming instantly.

"No!" I threw myself through the air, tackling Konstantin in the side.

"I knew it!" he roared, grabbing my collar and slamming me down. "You were the leak all along- you set me up!"

Diana held up her bow and arrow. "Let him go, Konstantin." Her voice was shaking and she wasn't bold enough to hide it.

"You won't shoot me. You're weak," Konstantin spat.

His words were enough to light a fire in me. Diana may have been shy and timid at times, but weak? No.

I felt my arms tingle as my Atlantean turtles began to glow through my shirt. My clenched fist connected with Konstantin's face and he rolled off me.

"Diana, Stealth – get out of here, get help from the League!" I shouted, conjuring the hydrokinetic turtle to do damage. It slammed him into the wall and I pushed hard, watching Konstantin flail. My eyes widened in the panic when I saw the black glow around his hands. I tried to force more water through the turtle, but my energy was fading and so was my aquatic friend. A bead of sweat dripped off my face.

"That is enough!" another voice called out.

"Kyle!" I shouted. "You not supposed to be here!"

A surge of energy threw me back, landing awkwardly against a car. Mentalist was here, floating down to the underpass as Konstantin collapsed to the floor. I watched helplessly as he crouched down beside the enemy, whispering inaudibly.

Mentalist bounded back as Konstantin opened up a dark dimension door. The black oval shaped portal rippled in the space between Mentalist and Konstantin. To my left, Stealth was near passed out on the floor with Diana cradling her body. They watched as Mentalist used his mind powers to try and overpower Konstantin. He rose off the floor and a wind started to whip loose debris up in the air. Shielding my face with one arm, I stood up slowly and fought my way towards Mentalist. I could see his hands raised up in front of him and shaking profusely. He was struggling. The force was starting to drag the abandoned cars along the roadside. Diana was forced to drag a delirious Lola to one side as a car started to scrape along the ground towards them. Grit and dirt flicking in my face, forcing me to remain where I was.

"Mentalist- you can do it! You have to close it!" I shouted over the roar of the wind. My eyes were closed, unable to bear having my eyes open. "Mentalist!" I called out again.

A metaphysical force threw me back, lifting me up into the air. I crashed down hard on the ground, barely taking a moment to register what had happened.

"Kyle!" Stealth screamed.

He was gone. Kyle wasn't there. Just Konstantin lying unconscious on the floor. Kyle was lost to the dark dimension and there was nothing we could do about it.

Stealth whimpered, burying her face into Diana's arm. Her stifled cries muffled in the gladiator armour. Sirens echoed in the distance; the police were on their way and I had to take action.

I took Stealth and Diana's arms and lifted them up. With a stern voice, I said, "Look, come on guys- I need you to take off. Get out of here and go back to base. Mentalist is not lost, I promise you that, but you guys can't be here when Gordon turns up. We will work out a way to bring him back from the dark dimension."

Diana nodded, taking my hand and squeezing it tightly. "I'll make sure we get there, Aqualad," she replied quietly, putting her arm around Stealth.

I turned towards Konstantin who let out a pain filled groan. "You better hope Gordon gets her quick," I muttered, grabbing Konstantin's jumper and lifting him up. "What did you do to him?"

He didn't answer, despite me shaking him vigorously like a rag doll.

"Where is my friend?" I punched him in the jaw, not registering the pain in my knuckles. "Answer me!"

"Your friend is stuck in the dark dimension. Forget about him. Kid's lost."

"Then open a portal now and bring him back!" Another punch broke his nose, bloodying his face. "Open it!"

Konstantin laughed. "You can't get him back, believe me. Things go in, but they do not come out." The police car pulled up beside us as I throttled Konstantin, overcome with anger. I screeched hoarsely as they dragged me off him and into Commissioner Gordon's care.

-o-

Gordon passed me on to Nightwing who hid his disappointment at being informed that I had nearly hospitalised Konstantin. I didn't say a word to Nightwing, I just cleaned myself up and immediately went to the break room. Willow was trying to comfort Lola about Kyle. It was clear that none of the adult supers knew the truth yet.

When Lola saw me walk in, she stared at me, a glimmer of hope in her eyes that I might have brought Kyle with me. Lola moves towards me, acknowledging the hurt and wrapping her arms gently around my body. I exhaled slowly as I hugged her back. The door opened and Nightwing walked in, going over to Superboy and Zatanna. They gave him quizzical looks that informed him that they didn't know. Before Nightwing could explain, Max burst into the room wearing his Firewing suit.

"Guys- I know what happened!" Firewing exclaimed. "I was recording it for Angel so that he could assess your fieldwork..."

"You know how what happened, Firewing?" I raised a hand slowly, placing it onto Firewing's shoulder. "There was an altercation at the underpass. Mentalist must have been following Lola and Willow- he caught Konstantin by surprise... Konstantin opened a dark dimension portal and-" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"No," whispered Nightwing, denial riddling his voice. "Everyone, observation deck- now!"

I stood between Lola and Willow in the observation deck as Firewing projected the recording in front of us. Zatanna and Nightwing stood to one side. It showed my hydro kinetic turtles attacking Konstantin, then him opening a portal, Mentalist appearing and then the pair fighting between themselves to close the gate.

Lola gasped when Mentalist vanished from the screen along with the portal. She turned away and went to walk out. Something seemed strange about the section where Mentalist vanished.

"Wait!" I had seen Rydik vanish through the portal, but this was different. "Wait- go back and play it frame by frame when Mentalist vanishes Firewing..." I said, walking in front of the projection to inspect each frame closely. "What is it, Finn?" Lola sniffed, waiting for a response. "Back again one more time, Firewing." I watched again. "Stop- there!" I pointed to a small section of the recording that was obscured by Mentalist's body. "Someone opened a portal or gate in front of Mentalist."

Zatanna was immediately irked by something and grabbed Nightwing's arm, demanding a private discussion with him. The pair immediately left the room.

"So there's a chance he's not in the dark dimension?" Lola wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Possibly..." I murmured, squinting at the projection. "I hope you're okay Kyle, wherever you are."

Thoughts from AspiringWriterGirl = Oh! What on earth are they going to do? Hopefully Zatanna can shine some light on the situation...