Chapter 15
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome back! Thanks for the reviews! Glad to see y'all're enjoying the story. Anyways, remember, I just own the story, none of the characters are mine.
/comms/
Telepathy/Flashbacks/Whatever Else I Need
Mt. Justice, September 23, 6:34EDT
The Cave was save for the quiet murmurs of the adults and the faint sounds of repairs being made by other Leaguers. The teens sat at a table moved into the briefing room to let them recoup from the attack. Striding back into the room, Green Arrow approached the table, setting a bowl of pretzels in the middle of them.
"Thanks, but no thanks," Wally of all people said, pushing the bowl away from him before resting his head on his arms.
"Yeah, we want answers on Red Tornado and his siblings," Robin spoke up causing the blonde archer to glance away for a moment before reaching for the bowl.
He was intercepted by Wally who quickly hugged it to his chest. "Leave the bowl," he said between bites.
Mike made a small sound of amusement. Leave it to Wally to be hungry during a time like this. Right now, even after healing his various fractures from his fist-fight with the Reds, he wasn't sure he could stomach anything right now. Not without feeling the phantom pains of thick metal coils in his throat.
Besides, he was too angry to eat. Once again, the League was shutting them out. Red Tornado had betrayed them. It should've been obvious from the first time he saw the demented droid's siblings. Who else could have given them schematics of the Cave? The exact schematics that no doubt let them find the cameras as easily as they had. Besides, the fact the dude had "monitor duty" they exact day of the attack; yeah, no way that was a mere coincidence.
"You knew?!" Conner exploded, the volume of his shout making Mike's sensitive ears ring as all head snapped towards the Kryptonian clone as he pinned Kaldur against the wall, practically trembling with barely contained rage. "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann! And all of us!"
Lifting herself from the table, the Martian girl flew over as the others got up to follow. "Conner! What are you doing?"
"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!" he spat in reply.
"What?!"
"You knew?"
"And didn't tell us?"
"I sought to protect the team from—"
"From what?!" Artemis interrupted. "Information that could've saved our lives?!"
"Did it even fucking occur to you that robots can be hacked or reprogramed?!" Mike snarled. "Of everyone here, a robot is the biggest fucking liability I see!"
"Enough." All heads turned towards the source and the teens immediately stood down as they met the Batman's hard glare. "With Red Tornado missing, the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered for the first shift."
Stepping forwards, the red and white clad hero grinned widely, "I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you guys."
"That's it?" Mike growled crossing his arms. "Red Tornado just tried to kill us and you're not even going to give us a real fucking answer? Just: hey, here's your new babysitter, have a good day? No! We want answers! Stop sidelining us!"
"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League," Batman responded. "That makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us." Turning away from the group of teenagers, he activated a holoscreen, "I have another assignment for this team."
"Gotham mayor attacked by guerilla gorilla?" Wally read the headline.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Artemis muttered.
"Was this the only thing he could find to distract us?" Conner scoffed.
Mike scoffed, "Wouldn't put it past him. Telling us to stay out of the way seems to be his thing."
Robin apparently agreed as he stepped forwards, "Batman, please tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase!"
The Dark Knight's scolding glare landed on them causing all mouths to snap shut, "I never joke about a mission. I've checked the sources, I've studied the patterns, Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and investigate."
Wally scoffed, almost shoulder checking the Atlantean, as they moved towards the Bioship, "Your team."
-.-
India, 08:36EDT
Tense silence filled the air as the Bioship landed in an open clearing in the jungle. Without a word, everyone got up once the ship hit the ground, lowering its ramp for them to depart. "Switch to stealth and we'll review mission parameters," Aqualad ordered, breaking the silence as all eyes turned towards him.
Kid Flash was the first to respond. Scoffing as he tapped his symbol, switching to stealth, "Parameters? We don't need no stinkin' parameters."
"It's recon, we know what to do," Robin stated.
"Kid, Robin!" Kaldur protested as the pair began to stomp off.
"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets!" the Boy Wonder snapped, whirling back to glare at their leader.
"Or did you forget about that just like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Wally added lowering his goggles. Without waiting for an answer, the pair disappeared into the jungle.
"Like he was ever going to tell us," Mike snarled, crossing his arms. "I don't know about all've you, but I like my chances away from him." Without waiting for a reply, he turned around vanishing into the foliage.
"C'mon," Superboy said grabbing M'gann's arm. "I'll keep you safe." M'gann glared at him, clearly saying something to him telepathically causing him to look surprised and to take a step back. "I just wanna protect you."
"Like Aqualad protected us?" Artemis replied pointing her bow at the clone as she stepped up beside M'gann. "I'm not sure your protection or your patronizing is good for our health." Whirling on her heel, the two girls went off in their own direction.
Superboy clenched his fists, whirling around and stomping up to Kaldur, "Why didn't you stop them?! You're supposed to be charge!"
"I am—" Kaldur began, however, he didn't get to finish before Superboy leapt off.
"Um…did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?" Captain Marvel spoke up as he stepped off the ship sheepishly.
Aqualad merely sighed, leading the Leaguer in another direction.
-.-
"I can't believe Kaldur wasn't going to tell us!" Artemis snarled as she stomped through the jungle, M'gann floating just behind her. "If it wasn't for Robin setting up that EMP, we probably would've been toast!"
"You don't know that Artemis."
"Oh yes, I do!" she replied. "Those robots took out all of my superpowered friends! Plus, all've you had more training than I do. Do you really think I could've handled them alone?! I don't think I could. And do you wanna know how this whole fiasco could've been avoided?"
"By telling us."
"Exactly!" Artemis exclaimed throwing her arms in the air. "I mean, what the hell?! Where on Earth did he get the idea that one of us would be betraying the team?! I wouldn't, you wouldn't, I know the others wouldn't! So apparently Kaldur doesn't trust us. Us! His own team!"
M'gann nodded, allowing Artemis to continue her rant as they moved by a riverbed. Neither one of them noticed movement in the water.
-.-
Leaves rustled as Mike pushed through the brush. Distantly, he could hear the sounds of animals and probably his teammates moving through the brush, but it was hard to tell over Superboy's painfully loud impacts from his jumps.
"So much for stealth," he muttered, continuing to move through the dense foliage.
Still, as grating as the sound was on his stupidly sensitive ears, he would admit it the noise had its use. While he might not have been able to clearly pick up anything potentially coming towards him, the sound would inevitably draw the attention of any enemies towards him. Superboy was a tank. Short of a missile to the face, dude could take quite a beating before he needed help. Which meant he had time to investigate whatever the fuck was going on here.
And the sooner they got that over with, the sooner he could go back to hunting his father and working on his plans to dismantle Red Tornado.
Mike still couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. He should've put the pieces together as soon as he even saw the damn droids. Even though he was a Justice Leaguer, Tornado was, at the end of the day, a robot. Robots could be reprogrammed, hacked, heck, they could even have latent software acting like a trojan horse.
That was how his father's precious creations had worked after all. Their violent nature being unknown to all until one unlucky soul was unfortunate enough to be left completely alone with them. Only then would their true programming take control.
Tornado was probably the same. Behaving one way around all those who were deemed too dangerous to take on. Keeping his real intentions hidden behind a distant but friendly when spoke to mask, waiting for the time to strike. It explained why he never attacked the League. At the end of the day, all of them working together were way too powerful for one machine to take on alone.
Even Amazo hadn't been able to do that, and, from what Mike had studied about said android, he was easily twice as powerful as Tornado.
So of course, if he wanted to weaken the League from within, why not go after their unsuspecting protégés? The death of a kid you were supposed to protect was a brutal blow to recover from. If you ever recovered at all.
Michael knew that better than anyone.
The android's actions even proved it. Tornado had volunteered to become their den mother. He lived in the Cave, never leaving save for missions, never sleeping. Always watching. Learning their routines, weaknesses, everything about them that he could eventually use against them. So, the moment he felt he'd been exposed, he took off, claiming to be doing a job he was exempt from and leaving all of them at the mercy of his siblings. This way, if they did die, Tornado would have the perfect alibi.
Bastard probably didn't even have a proper reaction programmed into him for a losing scenario. Would explain why he tried to kill them instead of keeping his cover intact.
He should've never trusted a robot. Not one that either he nor Henry had built and programmed themselves. The Funtime Freaks should've taught him that lesson. Look where that got him.
Here. In the middle of fucking nowhere. Chasing after flying monkeys because Batman had once again decided to shut them out.
For the second time in his life, Mike was being shut out of the investigation of someone who'd tried to kill him. He'd had it. He was tired of all the distractions. He had agreed to do this team thing because Batman had promised him he could help hunt down his father. And instead, the Dark Knight had gone behind his back, agreeing to freeze him out and leave him in the dark. Just to sit there, waiting on the sidelines like the weak, pathetic boy he'd always been.
He'd been hoping that once he got further with his own investigation, he could show it to Batman. Prove he wouldn't get in the detective's way and could help find his father.
But, now, considering the fact that Batman was doing this again…No. The Dark Knight had proven he couldn't be trusted in this sort of situation. He would bet the man would sooner snatch all his evidence away and shut him out again before even thinking of letting him back on the case.
He couldn't tell Canary either. His mentor had always promised that everything they talked about would be private…unless it was information that pertained to his case. Mentioning anything he'd read in the journal would undoubtedly raise questions. Questions that no doubt the Batman would hear about and ask himself.
Henry was out of the question too. He would sooner pull the plug on his activities than even think about letting him near William again. His guardian would undoubtedly tell Batman because he didn't want Mike to be involved.
And Mike wasn't ever going to consider mentioning this shit to his teammates. They had their own problems and lives. He wasn't about to let them fight a deranged serial killer. No. This was his fight.
And if he had to do it alone…so what? It wouldn't be the first time he'd fended for himself.
Other people would only get in the way. If William was as bad as he suspected, then going it alone would be for the best. Distractions couldn't be afforded. The man wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Not if the journal was accurate.
Mike didn't even want to think about what would happen if his father had time to get creative.
No, doing it alone was best.
This way there'd be only one life to risk: his.
-.-
Robin shoved a branch aside, nearly breaking is as he and Wally stomped through the thick brush. He couldn't believe Batman sent them on this wild ape chase. He wanted to be back at the Cave, hunting down Red Tornado.
But no, instead they were here, in the middle of nowhere, chasing a gun-toting gorilla with a leader who didn't trust any of them as far as he could throw them. He'd known Kaldur since he became a sidekick for crying out loud! Robin was the first protégé, the very first, all the others only came in after Batman introduced him to the League. And still, Kaldur, someone he'd considered a close friend, didn't trust him or Wally. They'd been through everything together and Kaldur didn't trust them. He was starting to wonder if Kaldur was the one who could be trusted.
Too busy fuming, neither boy noticed the dark shadows pass overhead.
-.-
The ground shook as Superboy bounded through the forest, leaving large craters in his wake as he moved loudly through the otherwise quiet environment. But he didn't care.
This was the last place Superboy wanted to be, right now, he wanted to turn Red Tornado into a punching bag, or better yet, wring Kaldur's neck for lying to them. Kauldur put them all in danger. He almost killed M'gann and everyone else. All because he thought one of them would betray the team.
Leaping away again, Superboy never noticed the patter of paws hitting the ground after him.
-.-
"Guess this is where Mayor Hills' monkey business happened," Captain Marvel said landing behind Aqualad as he knelt, examining the scattered tracks in the ground. "So at least we've confirmed his story."
"It would appear so," Aqualad replied picking up a bullet casing. "But that still leaves many questions unanswered."
"Such as why this happened? Where did their attacker go? And what is their plan?" Captain offered. Turning to look to the young leader, the older hero frowned. "You do know what happened is not your fault right?"
Kaldur looked at him, raising an eyebrow.
"You could not have known Red Tornado was the mole. Mistakes happen. What matters is that we move on and work to right the wrongs made. In the end, everything will work itself out."
"I hope you are right," Kaldur said standing up.
A branch snapped nearby, silencing any further conversation as they looked out into the jungle surrounding them. Trees began to rustle, and one fell over as a massive elephant emerged from the jungle, charging towards them with an angry trumpet. The massive animal swung its trunk slamming into Captain Marvel and sending him soaring across the clearing as two more stomped out from the brush, each swinging their heads angrily.
-.-
Superboy landed on the ground and grunted as something slammed into him. rolling over, his fist closed around what felt like fur. Throwing the thing away, he heard a yelp and stood up do see a dark wolf getting up, baring its teeth at him.
Growls came from all around him and he turned to see more of the beasts emerging, saliva dripping from their maws. The wolf that attacked him first growled, its hackles rising before it lunged at him. throwing a punch, he swatted the animal aside as its companions leapt at him. Superboy grit his teeth as he heard his shirt tear and teeth try to dig into his flesh. Grabbing the wolf from his back, he tossed it off of him, sending it slamming into one of its companions before it was replaced by another of its packmates.
-.-
Mike was pretty sure the universe hated him.
Because of all the angry animals he could've ran into the in jungle, he came face-to-face with a bear. A freakishly large bear. He thought only polar bears got this big. But as usual, his luck—or rather lack thereof, decided to prove him wrong.
The animal bellowed, shuffling closer, eyes glinting in the moonlight.
What was the rule for bears again? If it's brown lay down, black fight back, but if it's white you're about to see the light? Or did that rule only apply to bears in North America? Though didn't they also have grizzlies in Europe and Russia?
Fuck it.
"BACK OFF!" he screamed, stepping towards the creature as he pulled out one of the explosive disks. "I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL TURN YOU INTO A THROW RUG IF YOU TRY SHIT!"
The bear did not appreciate his attempt at intimidation. Rearing onto its hind legs, the animal gave out a roar.
Not about to get mauled, Mike hurled his weapon at the bear before leaping to the side. Ducking behind a tree, he winced as he heard the explosion, followed by the animal's surprised yelp followed by the smell of singed hair. Slowly peering out, he watched as smoke rolled off the creature's singed fur as it lumbered away. Clearly it had decided that he was probably going to be too much work to be food.
Sighing in relief, he stepped out from his cover. However he paused when he heard a crunch underfoot. Glancing at the bear, he was relieved that the animal had decided to continue on its way, letting him kneel down to pick up the object that had fallen to the ground.
"What the hell?" he murmured, picking it up. Scorch marks scoured the front of the smoking metal, the little red lights that had been on slowly fading away. It must've come from the bear. "Why is there an inhibitor collar here?"
-.-
Robin grunted as Kid Flash tackled him to the ground as massive claws closed around where he'd previously been as a massive vulture swooped down. A rush of wind came as the unusually large animal flapped its wings, moving higher into the air alongside its companion.
Scrambling to their feet, Robin reached into his utility belt and tossed several explosives at the birds. "I thought vultures were only supposed to eat dead meat!" he growled as the birds gave loud screeches as the explosives went off. glancing behind them, the Boy Wonder cursed to himself as he saw the two birds fly through the smoke.
"Well, these are some very proactive scavengers," KF commented as he ducked under the snapping beak of one of the birds.
"Proactive and supersized," Robin remarked pulling out several smoke bombs. While the explosives didn't seem to do much damage, at least they could disappear. "Thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Kobra Venom? Yeah."
"That, and we need to make ourselves scarce," he said throwing down the smoke bombs.
-.-
The smooth surface of the river was broken as something burst from the depths, spraying water on Artemis and Miss Martian. Massive jaws snapped at M'gann almost clamping down on her, before she used her telekinesis to push the massive crocodile away. The massive reptile hissed crawling towards her again and Artemis notched an arrow to aid her friend.
She didn't expect a second crocodile to burst from the river. Teeth grazed her arm as its jaws latched onto her quiver. Throwing itself back, Artemis grunted as she slammed into the water surface, bubbles passing through her lips as the predator dragged her under the surface. She could feel the force of water move around her and the color of light and dark rapidly changing between. She wasn't sure if that was because she could've been blacking out from lack of air or simply because it was possible the monster was doing its infamous death roll.
A shadow came towards her and Artemis's eyes widened as M'gann came to her aid. She managed to grab onto her, holding the strap of her quiver. Suddenly she was on the ground surrounded by walls of water, looking up at M'gann she saw her using her telekinesis to hold back the river and its beasts like the Red Sea. Coughing, she wiped her mouth, feeling gross, "Ugh, almost drowning two nights in a row, way less fun than it sounds."
-.-
Kaldur rolled to the side as one of the elephant's trunks came dangerously close to hitting him. Getting back to his feet, he turned to face the mutated pachyderms. The massive animals trumpeted angrily as they swung at Captain Marvel. As one turned its head, the Atlantean could see the glint of metal around its neck alongside the faint glow of red lights lower. An inhibitor collar. Kaldur would bet there was one on the one charging towards him too.
Pulling his waterbearers off his back, he summoned his waterwhips and charged. The trunk of one of the elephants swung towards him, rolling under the limb, he swung his whip, the end of it wrapping around the collar. Aqualad then yanked as hard as he could. The collar snapped, small pieces of metal and wire falling to the ground separately from the rest of the prison enforcement device. Looking up, Kaldur watched as the angry rumbles of the beast calmed down, its ears twitching back from their aggressive position. "Remove the collars!"
"On it!" Captain Marvel replied as he shot towards one of the animals. Landing on its back, he quickly used his strength to rip the collar in two, allowing it to fall to the ground as he floated off the elephant's back and watched as it began to stomp away from them. "It was pretty sweet how you figured out it was the collars causing the problem."
"But the presence of the collars indicates that there is a higher intelligence behind this attack. The rest of the team may also be at risk." Reaching up to his ear, Kaldur turned on his comm to contact the others only to grimace as he received the sharp ring of interference. "Comm's dead. And Miss Martian did not establish telepathic communication before separation."
"Actually, you allowed everyone to split up before communications were set," Captain Marvel corrected.
"They would not listen!"
"Then you make them listen," the Leaguer replied. "Remember, back at the cave, Batman stopped everyone from fighting with one word."
Aqualad glanced away, appearing to sulk. "That's cause Batman is…Batman."
Captain Marvel shrugged, crossing his arms. "Hey, you don't have to tell me; when I first joined the League, all he did was boss me around. And it's hard to not take it all personally. However, I never disobeyed an order, and that's probably what's kept me alive. A leader needs to take command."
Kaldur nodded, "Thank you, for helping me understand."
"Hey, Wisdom of Solomon."
"Aqualad, can you hear me?"
Perking up at the sign of the telepathic link, the Atlantean turned, holding his head. "Yes, Miss Martian. Report?"
"Artemis and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars like those used in Belle Reve Penitentiary."
Aqualad thought about his response, but his attention was momentarily diverted as he heard Captain Marvel talking, "Cool, a tiger," the hero grinned. "I'll be right back!"
"No, wait!" he called fruitlessly, watching the Leaguer disappear into the jungle. "Speed of Mercury."
-.-
Captain Marvel flew after the tiger as it bounded through the brush. Leaping into another small clearing, the large feline came to a stop, turning around to look at him baring its massive fangs as it growled at him. "Hey there Mr. Kitty," he greeted gently landing on the ground some distance between him and the big cat, "why don't you let good ol' Cap take that nasty collar off for you?"
Slowly walking forwards, he raised his hands to show he was unarmed as the tiger took a few steps back, growling at him still. Something clicked as he took another step forwards and several metal rods shot out of the ground. They turned on with a dull hum and the hero collapsed as his muscles seemed to feel like jelly.
Nearby, there was a growl and Captain Marvel strained to turn his head as a gorilla aimed a gun at his head, baring its fangs angrily.
"Uh, oh. That's not good."
-.-
"Miss Martian, I need a telepathic link up with the entire team."
"Link established."
"Oh God, just what I need, Kaldur's voice in my head," Mike immediately remarked.
"I've soo missed that," KF agreed.
"Should you really be giving us orders?" Artemis scoffed. "And should you really be following them?"
"Guys, listen please," Kaldur implored.
"Hey Kaldur, KF and I were attacked by giant vultures," Robin said. "Though since we're moles you probably believe we attacked ourselves."
"If he did, he wouldn't tell you," Mike sneered.
"Superboy are you online or just pouting?"
"Busy, call back later."
Kaldur sighed, rubbing his temples as he trudged through the jungle in the direction he'd last seen Captain Marvel fly off in. He wished the hero had been included in the link. Perhaps he could've gotten his teammates to cooperate for the time being.
It wasn't that he didn't understand their anger. He did. And had he been in their position, Aqulad would bet that he himself would be furious. But, still, the whole event at the cave wasn't Kaldur's fault yet everyone was blaming him. How us he supposed to know Red Tornado was the traitor? Of all the people to suspect, a member of the Justice League was low on the list of suspects.
Of course, all the events of the past twenty-four-hours just proved him wrong.
"What gets me is how nonchalant he is about telling us," Wally grumbled.
"He should be chalant, way chalant."
"How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?"
"Or if Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves."
"No, he just expects you to stab everyone else in the back."
Coming into a clearing, the protégé paused as he saw several pylons sticking out from the ground. Getting frustrated, Kaldur ripped one from the ground. Tossing the metal aside, he took a moment to take a breath and collect himself. Losing control would not do anyone any good right now. Captain was right, right now, the team needed a collected leader.
Exhaling, he opened his eyes, looking around the clearing. Ok, so his theory about a higher intelligence was right. Animals couldn't have collared themselves, nor given themselves Kobra Venom. And, they probably weren't able to install these pillars in the middle of the forest.
The leaves rustled as a breeze blew through, drawing the Atlantean's attention to a piece of white cloth rolling over the grass. A piece of Captain Marvel's cape.
"Did you really think you or I could've been the mole?" KF spoke, undoubtedly asking Robin.
"We've known each other for years!"
"Trust is a two-way street!"
"And you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them."
"Not that we would."
"Never."
"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" Kaldur interrupted. "Stop your childish squabbling for five minutes! We are on a mission! Do you think the League does this on their missions?! No! So shut up and listen! Captain Marvel has been captured. And we must rescue him."
"Under your leadership?" KF scoffed. "I don't think—"
"This is not up for debate," Aqualad snapped, silencing all argument. "You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will gladly step aside. But until that time I am in command."
-.-
"This has to be the place," Robin said as the group crouched in the bushes on a ledge overlooking a large complex.
"Where else would it be? Have you found any other mysterious hidden complexes in the jungle?" Mike deadpanned.
"I can fly over," M'gann offered.
Putting on his goggles, Kid Flash switched through a few frequencies before grabbing her arm. "Negatory, there's a field that extends over the compound as a dome."
Robin pulled out his glove, and started typing, "Those pylons are insulated, but one good shock could cause a momentary gap."
"I see a target," Artemis relayed notching her arrow.
"Be ready to hit it," Kaldur said. "Be ready, all of you." Without waiting for their response, Aqualad jumped from the ledge, sliding down the hill and running towards the line of metal pillars. From above, they could see the Atlantean's tattoos glow as he slammed his hands into the shield. Pulling his hands away from each other, a small hole began to form in the barrier. "Now!"
Artemis fired her arrow, the projectile whizzing past their leader's hands and hitting a panel within the shield.
The field dropped from existence and the rest of the group descended the hill. However, movement from the roof caught their attention as they looked up to see a monkey perched upon it an inhibitor collar around its neck. It gave a loud screech as alarms began to go off, the swirling red lights illuminating more primates rushed towards them as a furry tide.
"Remove the collars!" Aqualad ordered as they leapt at them.
"Easier said than done!" Mike replied, falling back as one of the creatures leapt at him, large teeth snapping at him. Baring his own teeth in turn, Mike punched the monkey in the face. The animal yelped from the impact, allowing Mike to push it off and pin the animal to the ground. Grabbing the collar, he squeezed the device, ignoring the sparks flying off as he ripped it off.
The now rather terrified monkey practically flew from his grip as he released it, barely grabbing the next one leaping at him. It screeched as he pinned it down, quickly ripping off the collar before running off, joining the group of other, now collar-free monkeys near the edge of the jungle. Though one threatening step forwards was all it took for them to race off into the foliage.
The complex door opened and a gorilla wearing a beret and a machine gun strolled out with a growl. He suddenly whipped around and grabbed something slamming it to the ground, where M'gann returned to visibility. He turned his gun on her.
Kid Flash was the first to react. "Get you paws off her you dirty ape!" Wally snarled charging forwards. Instead, he just slammed into the ape, bouncing off its round belly.
Aqualad took the speedster's place, swinging his swords in an attempt to force the ape to release their comrade.
Mike decided to just expedite that decision by grabbing his knife and throwing it. As he expected, the ape roared in pain, instinctively jerking back its injured shoulder, loosening its grip on M'gann and reaching up with its other hand to grab the hilt of the blade.
Now free, Miss Martian got up and whirled on the gorilla, lifting him into the air telekinetically. He didn't even have time to rip the knife out before she blasted him through the nearest wall. Dust filled the air of the massive gap in the wall, but with the breeze it didn't take long to clear as they rushed through the threshold. Ahead of them, Captain Marvel was strapped to a table, a concerning number of sharp instruments around his head.
Normally a concerning situation, but the hero was invulnerable. And Mike was more focused on the brain-jar-trash-can-thingy rolling towards them. He had accepted his life was going to get weird, but seriously: What. The. Fuck?
"It's the Brain!" KF exclaimed.
"I can see it's a Brain," Artemis scoffed.
"Not a brain! The Brain!"
"In the flesh," it spoke, "So to speak."
"Holy fuck it can talk!" Mike yelped, throwing a screwdriver at it. The sound of cracked glass filled the air as the shaft pierced the dome enclosing the Brain. No liquid was leaking out because the improvised weapon piercing it sealed the hole shut. Still, the reality of his actions took a second to kick it.
Mike had just thrown a screwdriver at one of the world's most notorious supervillains.
He really needed to work on his instincts.
Senior Trashcan didn't have eyes that he could see, but Mike imagined that the villain was trying to glare daggers through him. "Mallah."
The gorilla growled, baring its teeth at him as he pulled out a remote and pylons rose from the ground. Before they could react, a hum filled the air and making them all instantly drop.
"Miss Martian, Superboy, now."
M'gann's eyes glowed and she yanked the remote over, where she turned off the pylons.
The wall behind the gorilla burst inward and Superboy stood there with a white wolf cracking his knuckles. The wolf charged and jumped off Mallah, slamming him to the ground. As he got up, Wally barreled into him, making him stumble back as Robin swung over, kicking him in the face. Miss Martian levitated him up and slammed him to the ground. Trying to get up again, the ape was blindsided as Mike leapt at it from the side, punching the ape in the face. The blow almost knocked the ape back over, thin trails of smoke rising from its face. Seizing the opportunity, Superboy tried to punch the disoriented ape. However, he jumped back, firing the gun. Bullets ricocheted off the clone as he stepped in front of his less bulletproof teammates.
The ape was so preoccupied he didn't notice Artemis fire an arrow. It hit the barrel of the weapon, only releasing one shrill beep before exploding. The blast knocked the primate back, knocking its beret off its head.
Forcing himself back up, the gorilla growled, looking much worse than it had when they first encountered the beast. "No Mallah, this will not be our Waterloo," the Brain interrupted, rolling up beside his companion as a large device began to unfold from his robot. "Au revoir, mes amis."
"Get down!"
Everyone ducked as they expected a big explosion…but the lights just all went out. When they came back on both were gone.
"Wait…that big weapon thingy was…a light switch?"
"A little overdone if you ask me," KF said.
"Yep."
-.-
Mike sighed in relief as they finally made it back to the Bioship. "Finally," he sighed.
Behind him, he could hear Artemis scoff. "What the heck are you grinning about?"
"One word: souvenir," Wally replied cheerfully.
"Two words: gorilla lice."
Now interested, Mike turned his head, smirking as he saw the look of horror and disgust cross the speedster's face as he yanked Mallah's red beret off his head. "Aw man!"
Ok, now that was funny.
"The rest of the pack is gone," Superboy's voice rang out as they turned to see their teammate kneeling down, "what're you still doing here?" A smile crossed his face as he pet the white wolf that had fought with them.
"I think he likes you," Mike remarked, joining Conner in kneeling beside the large canine. Holding out his hand, he watched as he sniffed him before licking his hand. Grinning, Mike began scratching his belly. "Good boy. Who's a scary, gorilla-eating wolf? You are."
"Can we keep him?" Conner asked, joining him in petting the wild animal they were treating as a large dog.
"First Sphere, now that beast," Wally laughed, "Dude you're making quite a habit of picking up strays."
"Maybe because he's such a stray himself," Miss Martian smiled.
"Well, he's gonna need a name, how about Krypto?" Wally suggested and the wolf growled at him.
"Pass."
"Besides, isn't that name taken?" Artemis asked as they watched the wolf roll over, tail wagging.
"How about Buddy?" Mike suggested.
The wolf paused. Mike swore the animal was giving him a judgmental look.
"…Or not."
"Look," Robin spoke up, his serious tone drawing all attention towards him as the Boy Wonder almost glared at Kaldur, "I need to know: why did you keep the mole intel a secret?"
The good mood of the group soured. Mike clenched his jaw, standing up and crossing his arms watching as the Atlantean took a moment to decide his response. Finally, Kaldur sighed, "The tip came from Sportsmaster."
"WHAT?!" Artemis exclaimed. "You can't trust him!"
"I do not, it seemed possible, even likely he was attempting to divide the team with false information."
"And given how this mission went he almost succeeded," KF sighed.
All of them suddenly felt guilty, glancing away as they thought about their actions during the mission. None of them had acted very professionally, had they?
"But," Robin broke the silence, his voice becoming less harsh, "you had to consider it might be true."
Aqualad nodded, "Yes, I did. In which case I did not want to alert the traitor."
Mike sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "Hate to say it but…makes sense. Causing distrust among your enemies is probably supervillain 101. Sorry we were such asses."
"I am still prepared to step down."
"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Wally asked raising a hand and the others joined him.
"Guess its unanimous," Captain said patting Aqualad on the shoulder. "See you guys tomorrow."
"You're not coming with us?"
"Nope, gotta fly," he said taking off.
Striding up the ramp, Mike scratched the wolf's ears, "So what're you gonna name him?"
"What's wrong with Wolf?" Conner asked.
"Generic, but acceptable," Wally said as they entered the ship.
It was different, Mike would give it that.
