Chapter 16

A/N: Welcome back y'all! Good to see y'all're still enjoying the story and thanks for the reviews! Anyways, as y'all already know, I just own the story. Nothing else is mine.

/comms/

Telepathy/Flashbacks/Whatever else

Mt. Justice, September 26, 10:00EDT

"Two days ago, you all participated in a mission in India, uncovering the operations and experiments of the Brain," Batman said. "We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. Common criteria of the Bwundan Jungle suggests the Brain has another Kobra-Venom operation."

"And you want us to shut it down," Kaldur said.

"Exactly."

"Great, that probably means we'll have to fight more monkeys," Kid Flash groaned.

"I hate monkeys."

"Well, then you'll be able to punch plenty," Mike remarked as they walked to the Bioship.

-.-

Bwunda, 20:11CAT

A screen beeped as the Brain rolled up to the monitor. Pulling up the feed, he could see the children landing the jungle. "Oh Mallah, les enfants, zey plague me. First India and now L'afrique. Have they no respect pour la science?"

"No, my friend, they don't. Like most've their kind, they fear simple progress," a white gorilla with a visible brain spoke.

"Tragique, but true mon cher Ultra Humanite. Mais, what would you suggest?"

"The obvious, send the monkeys. Let them deal with the pests. That's their job, isn't it?"

-.-

"Link established."

"You know, if you want to establish a link, I can help—"

"WALLY!" they all yelled.

"What? Just trying to spread the love."

"Well, if you keep it up, I'm going to smack you."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Does it sound like I'm joking?"

"Dude!"

"Go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you," Artemis chimed in.

"Dudes!"

"Um, does anyone else smell monkey," Conner spoke up. "Cause this jungle reeks of monkeys, and I hate monkeys."

"Well, we are in the middle of the jungle," Robin reminded. "So, Artemis, Mike, have you guys met anyone interesting at school?"

"Enough," Aqualad interrupted. "I know we are all adolescents, but we do not have to be cliches. We must focus on the mission at hand."

All around them, the brush began to shake as huge gorillas emerged, baring their teeth.

"I see your point."

Standing back-to-back, they all began to pull out their weapons. "Remove their inhibitor collars," Kaldur ordered, using one of his maces to beat back the first gorilla to leap at them. "Do that, and they will break off their attack as last time."

"One problem," Superboy spoke up, ducking under a punch, "They aren't wearing any collars!" Leaping to hit the silver ape, he grunted as a massive hand wrapped around his throat. The large primate bared its teeth with a growl and hurled the clone through a large tree.

"Then what's controlling them?" Mike asked, vaulting himself over one's shoulders. Landing on its back he wrapped his arms around its neck, trying to strangle the ape as it gave him the worst piggyback ride of his life.

"I don't know, but they seem very distressed," M'gann pointed out.

"Maybe we got too close to wherever they were nesting?"

"They're gorillas, not birds!"

"Miss Martian," Aqualad called ducking under the swing of a gorilla, "go into camouflage mode. You will be our secret weapon in case something goes wrong."

"Acknowledged."

"We must escape and regroup. Robin lay down cover!"

"Way ahead of you!" the Boy Wonder called leaping off the back of one of the enraged apes and throwing a barrage of smoke bombs to the ground.

A thick haze formed around them as the smoke permeated the air.

"Switching to infrared," KF said, "Looking for a clear path—got it, follow me!" The speedster darted off through the smoke, though his path was suddenly blocked by a wall of muscle. "Oh God."

"Not God. Grodd," a new voice spoke.

Pain shot through their heads as M'gann screamed.

Gritting his teeth through the pain, Mike tightened his grip on the gorilla's neck. The ape Mike was riding on roared in anger and the boy's eyes widened as he felt a massive hand grab his arm. "Oh shit."

Next thing he knew he was flying through the air. Pain erupted in his leg as he hit something hard, splinters digging into his back. He must've gotten thrown into a tree—or to be more accurate, been thrown through a tree.

Groaning, he rolled onto his stomach, wincing as he felt the bones in his leg shift in protest. Yep. Something was definitely broken. Shit.

Why is it he was always the one to get injured? Was his luck just that nonexistent?

Pushing himself up, he froze as something clicked around his neck with the familiar sharp hum of electricity. Double shit.

Before he could call out to the others to warn them, the hum reached a painful crescendo. That was all the warning he had before electricity arched over him.

A shockwave shook the clearing as a massive plume of dust rose from the sudden impact. Through it they could see a massive gorilla rising to its feet. The beast bared its fangs and roared, charging towards Aqualad and Superboy.

Nearby, Artemis reached towards her quiver to grab an arrow to help her teammates when something grabbed it. Remembering the crocodiles from a few days ago, she immediately unclipped the quiver; dropping to the ground, she whirled on her heels and shattered her bow against the silvery hide of another gorilla. The archer leapt away from the animal, pulling out her crossbow. However, she didn't have the chance to fire as something latched around her neck with an all too familiar buzz.

A scream pierced the air and Kid Flash turned on his heel to see Artemis collapse to the ground, an inhibitor collar sparking around her neck. Charing towards her, he was intercepted by a massive wall of fur slamming him to the ground. The breath was knocked from his lungs as a massive paw slammed onto his chest, holding him down. But even through that he noticed something latch around his neck.

Cursing to himself, Robin flipped over the gorilla he was fighting, quickly dodging its attacks. This was going terribly. He needed to regroup with Kaldur and Conner, fall back into the jungle and regroup. M'gann was camouflaged, it was likely they could come back to find her. As for the others, they would need to rescue them, but it was a necessary sacrifice. This mission was going to fail if they all ended up captured.

A hand grabbing his ankle pulled the Boy Wonder out of his thoughts. Before he could react, he was slammed to the ground, the breath being knocked from his lungs from impact. The next thing he knew, something was clicking around his throat and electricity was lighting his nerves on fire just as inhibitor collars were locked around his remaining teammates' throats.

-.-

Gorilla City, 23:59CAT

"Excellent work, mesa mis," the Brain praised watching as the group of apes dropped the unconscious teens into a pile before him, "but where is la Martian? And where is mon loup?"

Across from him, a silvery gorilla raised one of his massive fists, signing a reply.

Ultra Humanite huffed, "What is he saying?"

"Mon frere, have you still not learned la langue des signes?"

"I've been a tad busy surgically upgrading your apes. So…"

"He says la Martian was invisible—no not invisible—camouflage. Zey knocked her out but couldn't find le corps."

"And what of your wolf?"

The Brain huffed, "Zese idiots didn't realize I wanted la creature. Zey let him go."

"To be fair, you ordered them to bring the team. You didn't specify to include their pet," Humanite replied. "The Kobra-Venom has made them physically superior, and our brain-enhancement procedures have granted them sentience, but you cannot expect genius."

"C'est vrai. I blame Mallah. He has spoiled me. But, alas, zey cannot all be Mallahs."

"And the Kobra-Venom itself may be interfering with the mental enhancement," Humanite continued, reaching into a bag. "But the solution to our missing subjects is a simple one," she tossed a collection of goggles to the gorillas before them. "Take these. Find the Martian and the wolf. And do not return without them, or their will be consequences."

-.-

"Ugh," M'gann groaned as she sat up. Rubbing her head, she looked around, finding herself in a dark plane. "What happened?"

"Grodd happened human," a gruff voice snarled from behind her.

Leaping to her feet, the Martian girl stumbled back to see the very beasts that had just been attacking her and her team.

A dark brown gorilla stomped forwards, baring its massive fangs. "And Grodd demands your help."

"Manners my love," a dark-furred one said putting a massive hand on the larger ape's shoulder. Settling back onto her knuckles, she lumbered forwards and took M'gann's hand, gently shaking it. We desire the human's help, but we do not demand it."

"I…I'm not human, I'm Martian," M'gann corrected. "Miss Martian to be exact."

Another gorilla came over, a white streak of fur running down its back, parting the silvery fur. "I am not sure I understand. Our vocabulary expands rapidly, however, there are still gaps."

"It's not important."

The silver ape gave her a nod, "I am Solovar, the alpha of this troop." He turned motioning to a black gorilla, her fur so dark at moments it looked blue, "This is my mate, Baka." Solovar then motioned to the gorillas that had first approached her, "This is Primat and you've met Grodd."

Glancing at the massive gorilla that had attempted to crush her earlier, she frowned as she saw him give an annoyed huff. As much as she didn't like that one, the others seemed to be much more receptive to let her have her own choice and at least would explain what was going on. Which she needed if she had any hope of helping her team. If her memories of the battle were correct, she was going to need their help. "It's nice to meet you all."

"It is our pleasure to meet you as well."

"But, I do have some questions," Miss Martian began. "Where are we? Why is it so dark? How are you capable of telepathy? Why did you attack us? What is going on?"

Primat gave an amused laugh, "All these questions, all at once, like an infant."

"She is young for her species," Baka reminded.

Solovar stepped forwards, looking grim. "We will do our best to enlighten you, but time is short. Almost three years ago now, two strangers arrived: an old woman and a thin man with their borrowed shadows. They constructed a single metal cave, a Kwan-zett hut, to conduct their experiments. They captured Mallah, the youngest of our troop, and operated on his brain. Mallah…was not the same afterwards. He approved of their experiments, even betrayed his own kind to his new masters. Good Tolifhar was the first to fall to his attacks. They took Tolifhar and they murdured the ape we knew; replacing Tolifhar's brain with that of the old woman, creating the abomination, the Ultra Humanite."

"But the horror continued. Ultra Humanite and Mallah extracted the brain from their thin human companion and placed it within the hollow, metal tree stump. This new thing wished to be completely free from the distractions of the physical. To simply be The Brain. They added more to their metal cave and called their new kingdom: Gorilla City. It is their little joke, for it was here they have enslaved every gorilla in our troop. Only the Holy One managed to escape."

"From there, the put inhibitor collars on us and performed their enhancement surgeries on our brains. We gained intelligence, awareness, and sentience, but neither happiness nor freedom. Especially once they brought in their monstrous allies. One had taken an interest in Grodd," Primat said, reaching out and patting the brown-furred gorilla.

Grodd huffed, jerking away from her. "We do not discuss the Soul Taker."

Primat sighed, stepping back. "We have seen others," she continued, "but they mostly have left us alone, for the most part."

"More recently, they injected us with their Kobra-Venom. It was very painful, but it made us larger, stronger. And now they are ignorant of our greatest strength, the telepathy their enhancements provided," Grodd huffed, slamming his fist on the ground. "Thus they have scattered the seeds of their own demise!"

"But, you don't have the collars now," M'gann noticed. "Why do you still aid your oppressors?"

"They have an even greater hold on us, one that we cannot risk," Solovar sighed, "they have our children. If we do not obey their commands, their lives are forfeit."

Miss Martian gasped.

Grodd huffed, stepping closer, his massive frame looming over her. "They have your troop as well. All are in collars. We will rescue them, you will secure our progeny. And together, you and I—er, Solovar, will lead the revolution."

"Wait! I don't lead the team!"

The massive ape tilted his head, looking confused. "How can that be true? Your mind is clearly the most powerful."

The complement nearly made her blush. M'gann had heard her uncle say she was powerful before, but to hear it from someone else, it was different. "Really? You think so?"

Grodd did not answer as he growled, his fist slamming down as he turned to the other apes. "We deal with an underling who cannot guarantee that her alpha nor her troop will cooperate."

"We have no choice but to trust her," Solovar replied. "And to demonstrate that trust, we will return you to the physical plane…"

Opening her eyes, M'gann was greeted by dim orange lights dangling from a metal ceiling. Slowly sitting up, she looked around, meeting the gazes of the four gorillas that had been with her in the telepathic link. She jumped as something came to her side, licking her cheek. "Wolf!" she exclaimed wrapping her arms around the canine's furry neck.

"And return your beast to you."

M'gann pulled away from the team pet, scratching him behind the ears as she looked to Solovar and the others. "Ok, I'm on board, and, I promise, my team will be too. But, we need a plan."

"Oh, we have a plan."

-.-

The first thing Mike was aware of as consciousness returned to him was the pain throbbing from his leg. Taking a deep breath, he shifted his leg, biting his lip as pain shot up his leg. Yep, definitely broken. Which is…weird. How long had he been unconscious? If it had been for half-hour or more it should've healed by now.

It was then he noticed the feeling of metal digging into his wrists, holding his arms above his head as something wrapped around his throat.

His feet couldn't touch the ground. And, even if they could, his leg was broken. He wouldn't be able to run away.

Mike took a sharp breath. Nope. No, this was not the time.

"What is the plan for these heroes?" an unfamiliar voice spoke.

Ok. Ok, he didn't know that voice. That was good. It meant he wasn't…there.

"So many options: ze brain extraction, ze experiments avec Kobra-Venom and ze Project Cadmus," an accented voice spoke.

It made Michael's stomach drop. The voice sounded robotic. But none of the animatronics he knew of sounded French. Funtime Fuckface had sounded close with how nasally the damn bear was, but this voice wasn't that. It did sound familiar though.

Still, he couldn't help but feel nervous at the thought of opening his eyes. Some part of him was still telling him that this was a lie, that when he opened his eyes he'd find himself back in that room.

"I suggest we choose...all of ze above!"

Wait…what were they talking about?

Shit. He needed to focus. Ok, he wasn't back there, so that meant he could stop panicking like a fucking child. Shifting his injured leg, Mike bit down on the inside of his cheek, ignoring the tang of iron on his tongue as pain shot up his body. Still, he was grateful as it gave him the chance to focus.

"We may want to rethink that," the first voice interjected. "We can get intel from the other sidekicks. Though, I must admit, we could do some serious damage by keeping the League's trainees hostage."

"Yes, yes, I suppose zis is true. So, no brain extractions, but zat does not mean we cannot do other experiments!"

God damnit.

Distantly, he could hear a door sliding open, followed by the annoyed huff of a gorilla stomping forwards. "Well, well," the first voice spoke again, "there's your beast. But where is the Martian?"

M'gann was still free? That was good. Great even.

Slowly opening his eyes, Mike took in the environment around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out his teammates pinned to the wall beside him. In front of him, he could see the gorillas that had attacked them, a white gorilla with what appeared to be an exposed brain, and, of course, a familiar trashcan on wheels. They were grouped together, standing around Wolf's form on the ground in front of a screen. Unfortunately, it was off, so no intel there.

The white gorilla turned, prompting Mike to squeeze his eyes shut in an attempt to feign unconsciousness. "The Boy Wonder! He's gone!"

That exclamation almost made Mike open his eyes to see if they were right. Seriously, he hadn't heard a thing. Guy was like a damn ghost sometimes.

"Comment c'est possible?! Ze door is sealed! Where could he have gone?!"

The trashcan's answer came in the form of Robin's creepy disembodied laughter. Mike was just grateful with wasn't like twenty octaves deeper. Otherwise, it would've sounded way too much like a certain nightmarish bear haunting his nightmares.

But still, the laugh had its intended effect on their enemies, especially as several bursts of smoke began to fill the room.

"WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS HE?!" the Brain shouted.

If the situation wasn't so dire, Mike might've found the French trashcan's screeching hilarious. However, he was more focused on trying to get out of his restraints now that the bad guys were distracted. He didn't have a lockpick in his glove—he probably needed to add that at some point—nor could he reach his toolbelt, not without aggravating his leg further. And, considering that he'd been unconscious long enough to be dragged to wherever the fuck they were by gorillas and cuffed, the fact his leg hadn't started healing meant something was wrong with his powers. Looking to the others, his brows furrowed as he recognized the dark metal wrapping around their throats: inhibitor collars. Well, that explained why he wasn't healing. Which probably also meant his super-strength was out of commission too.

Fantastic.

So, he was just going to have to just hang on the sidelines until someone got him down. Which was probably for the best as his broken leg currently wasn't going to help anyone.

The flashing lights of electricity momentarily illuminated the figures in the smoke. He could make out Robin's form leaping over one of the gorillas, disappearing from sight as everything dimmed back into a smoky gray. Though it didn't last long before the Boy Wonder emerged from the smoke, hopping up besides Superboy and tinkering with his collar. There was an audible click, and the lights from the collar powered down just as a massive hand erupted from the gray plumes, snatching Robin away from his cape.

Conner didn't waste any time as he ripped himself out from the wall, the metal shackles still firmly fastened against his wrists. He glared into the smoke, audibly growling as he whirled around, ripping off Kaldur's cuffs and collar.

Aqualad landed on the ground, quickly joining his teammate in freeing the others. "Miss Martian, are you in range?"

"I heard that!" Artemis exclaimed excitedly, rubbing her wrists as Superboy ripped her collar off. "The link's up! M'gann must be—"

"No," Superboy said ripping the collar off Wolf. "It doesn't feel right."

"It is Grodd," a menacing voice snarled. "Now listen up humans…"

Mike didn't pay much attention to the plan as he noticed the sound of the vents powering up. Their cover was about to run out. Seeing motion out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Aqualad reaching up to uncuff him, "Don't worry about me! Just get rid of the collar, I can handle myself from there!"

"Ventilation's finally kicked in."

Kaldur gave him a quick glance before nodding. Mike sighed in relief as the pressure around his throat vanished as the metal snapped under the retreating Atlantean's grip.

"And I have summoned ze reinforcements."

"Good," KF's familiar voice sneered as the last whisps of smoke cleared revealing the rest of the team standing across from the villains, "cuz you're gonna need 'em!"

"Grodd," the white gorilla smirked, "destroy them."

"Zat may not be necessary, mon ami," the Brain said, rolling back to reveal a troop of Kobra-Venom gorillas. One of which had a familiar form lying limply in its hands. "Notre Solovar has la Martian and will wring her neck if zese enfants do not stand down!"

Mike grit his teeth, glaring at the trash can on wheels. "Heal faster," he muttered to his leg. The sooner his leg fixed itself. The sooner he could see how far he could throw the damn thing. Because all he was doing right now was sitting there and looking pretty.

"Then you leave us no choice," Aqualad spoke, his voice surprisingly steady as he lowered his weapons. "Start the revolution!"

Without warning, his team leapt forwards as Grodd and the other gorillas turned on their captors. The four bad guys were then blasted off their feet by a telekinetic blast. M'gann floated into the air transforming into a gorilla as she slammed down onto Mallah, helping Solovar restrain him as Grodd stomped over to knock the lights out of his former troopmate.

"M'gann! Do you have to take that form?!" Superboy inquired as he kicked Ultra Humanite aside. "You know I hate monkeys!"

"But it seemed so appropriate," she replied using her telekinesis to toss Mallah away.

"Do not call us monkeys, human! You might as well state your hatred for all Primates!"

"Don't give him any ideas!" Kid Flash replied as he snatched the guns out of the hands of the Shadows that had been rushing in to help.

"My optical sensors!" the Brain screeched as one of Artemis's arrows hit the damn thing. However, his dismay didn't seem to last long, "Imbeciles! You cannot blind ze brain!"

"But I can give it indigestion!" Robin quipped.

Mike was not about to question the other teen's logic as he was more focused on the fact his bones had finally seemed to move back into place. He doubted they were fully healed, but it was better than nothing. He ripped himself from the wall, ignoring the pain in his leg as he landed on the ground.

The punch he threw at the nearest Shadow's face felt quite cathartic after all of that.

"Brain! The apes! They are telepathic!"

"Indeed. Un development interessant. Mais zis is not ze time for study," the Brain replied. "Attention revolutionaries! I have activated ze self-destruct! La Ville de Gorille is doomed! Vous avez cinq minutes!"

-.-

They had barely managed to escape with everyone. They left most of the Shadows hog-tied nearby, but no doubt the assassins had already made their escape as the group of teens tiredly trudged through the jungle.

Mike was, much to his embarrassment, forced to take support from one of the others. Apparently his broken leg wasn't as invisible as he thought as someone had spotted the splotch of blood on his pants. Apparently, his bone had broken skin. And apparently his stupid body didn't get the memo to heal everything before people worried.

So now, here he was, burdening his teammates once again with his injuries. After being so useless in the fight back at the compound, the least he could've done was carry himself back to the Bioship.

The others did not agree with his sentiments as Wally had all but thrown him on the back of one of the gorillas for a piggy-back ride. A sharp glare had quickly shut down any more ideas after that suggestion. Mike had wanted to keep whatever fragments were left of his pride.

"You doing ok, Remnant?" M'gann inquired.

Mike could feel the eyes of the others on him. "Peachy. I'd be better if I could walk."

"Dude, you broke your leg."

"It wasn't that bad."

"You have a gash from the break!"

"It's healing."

"Is it fully healed?"

"…Maybe."

"Rem, if you don't stop trying to wriggle your way out of this, I am going to pick you up and carry you back to the ship."

"Face it dude, despite your apparent mission to get yourself maimed every mission, you're stuck with us."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Awesome."

"Yep. We are awesome," Wally grinned. "And, to prove it, look what I got," he put a red beret on his head, "souvenir."

"…Do you not remember what happened with the last beret?"

The speedster's eyes widened and he scrambled to yank the hat off his head. "Aw man!"