Red Tornado paced worriedly in the Justice Cave. The mission Young Justice was on was a dangerous one. He knew Robin's expert leadership skills would certainly give the team an excellent chance, but for some reason, he had doubts.
Impulse constantly zwipped back and forth between to monitor and anything else that was even the slightest bit entertaining. Although Robin had asked him several times to stop, Impulse continued anyway. After all, Bart has never been one to listen. Whenever Bart had returned to the monitor, it greeted him with a fuzzy staticy picture. It was barely clinging onto life, it didn't have too long until it lost its picture.
"Why is the picture so messed up?" Bart inquired circling the meeting area impatiently. Robin gritted his teeth with a bit of annoyance, it was getting harder and harder to keep in touch with his teammates on the other end and they were running out of time.
"The monitor was almost destroyed so it isn't working all that well at the moment." Robin said as the fuzzy picture dimmed in and out.
"Wonder who tried to destroy it?" Bart wondered. Red Tornado sighed and shook his head.
"How are things progressing?" John queried walking over to Robin's side.
"They're in the complex, they're making their way in pretty well." He responded, his eyes fixated upon the screen. "Last I heard, they were making their way through the air vents over the lounge. There are still many 'subjects' incarcerated in the D.E.O." A loud yelp jolted the Boy Wonder from his concentration. Impulse was standing in front of the superman chair, a look of pain upon his innocent face.
"Ow! Owowowowowowowowowow! It hurts!" He cried rubbing his legs and arms at the same time.
"It must be phase 3!" Tim remembered the words he saw upon the screen when he woke up in the library: Subject appears normal and then goes into a series of joint pains causing subject an inability to move without immense suffering. Pity filled the Boy Wonder's heart as he watched his friend in so much pain. "Hang in there, Bart. You're gonna be all right. Just try to not move for a little while OK?" The speedy teenager's eyes looked up at Robin with fear. "Just try."
"Robin, hey Rob? Are you still there?" WonderGirl's voice crackled through the headset snapping Rob back to the case at hand.
"Yeah…yeah. Where are you guys?" He asked listening intently.
"We're over above…uh…I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Robin inquired in an annoyed tone.
"She means," Arrowette started, "Kon must've taken a left when he should've taken a right!" The headset crackled and fizzed in Robin's ears and the monitor began to blink off. From the darkening screen, the Boy Wonder figured out their location best he could.
"Okay, you guys are headed toward a dead end. Back up until you find the last intersection, then take a left." He commented as the screen finally shorted out and died. Robin could only hope that they could find their way through the rest of that maze only using his memory.
"Thanks Rob."
"You know." An annoyed Superboy growled, "Not everything is my fault!"
Robin shook his head and smiled slightly. He could hear Secret start talking softly in the background.
"Maybe I should lead from now on." She softly spoke, "I have done this before." Robin heard the others agree and Kon regretfully give up his position as the leader. Leader. Robin thought Some leader I am. They're all headed into this sick and tired and knowing that this may be their last chance to save their own lives. And mine. Bart only has a day to live, if they don't succeed in this mission… He sighed and looked at Impulse who was whining about how it hurt so much. What if WonderGirl was right? Tim wondered remembering what WonderGirl had told him before. What if Impulse's blood mutated the disease. That means Marina is in more trouble than we…where is she? A quick scan of the Justice Cave's meeting chamber revealed Marina was no where in sight.
"Uh-oh." Robin quickly tried to establish contact with his friends in the D.E.O. "Superboy? Arrowette? WonderGirl? Secret? Is Marina with you?" He asked urgently. After a few minutes of crackling a voice broke through.
"Um…no, we thought she was with you." Robin shuddered. Where was she? Rob remembered the way Marina had glared at him when he divided up the teams. They hadn't seen her since he had said that. He turned to Red Tornado.
"I have a feeling she's with the others."
"Ya want me to get her?!" The impulsive teen jumped up excitedly when suddenly a shot of pain ripped through his legs. "YEOW!"
"No. I could get there by the Super-Cycle, but if I went I could risk infecting other people accidentally." Rob spoke into the headset, "WonderGirl, Marina snuck along with you guys. I need you to find her and get her out of here, fast. She could go crazy at any time. We can't let those people get hurt or infected." He paused. "WonderGirl?"
"Uh…Rob? We have bigger problems" The headset crackled and a loud crash could be heard as the crackling came to an abrupt stop.
