A/N: Even faced with school, work, and apparently now a global pa
Northern India, September 10, 14:43 IST
Twigs snapped as boots stomped through the jungle, a machete cleared away branches blocking the way of a trio of men. They were all Americans, save for the lead man in a red beret. One of the men, an older gentleman with a bushy mustache, knelt down to examine a set of footprints in the ground.
"Tiger tracks! I told those locals that Hamilton Hill didn't need any superstitious guide to lead us to any 'devil beasts'!" Gotham City Mayor Hamilton Hill boasted. He and his hunting party followed the prints. Soon, the men came across a clearing, Hill aimed down his rifle's scopes to scan the area for a target. He spotted movement, followed by a grin on his face as he saw a large tiger leap down from the trees. "This'll show that loudmouth Jameson…" He muttered, placing his finger on the trigger…
When three pylons emerged from the ground in a triangle formation, powering up and emitting a green field. Hill's eyes widened as the tiger collapsed, before he smirked. "Never look a gift horse in the mouth…" Before he could fire, the snapping of twigs alerted him, as he spun around. "What the hell was that?" There was something… moving in the brush just behind them, and Hill's hunch was proven correct when something walked out of the jungle.
It was a large gorilla, even by gorilla standards. It towered over Hill and his men, with black fur and bangs that reached past its shoulders. It was so massive that parts of it's skin cracked, exposing muscles underneath.
"What the…" One of Hill's partners gasped out, the Mayor pointed his rifle at the gorilla. It sneered, the men all winced as they were all hit by piercing headaches, only able to think one word…
"Leave."
Mount Justice, September 20, 06:34 EST
"Alright, John, nice and easy now." Tony instructed, as John Stewart instructed a crane construct to lift up a generator, moving it over to where the old one had been. Shazam and Thor helped the Green Lantern lower it in, Stark's holographic display lighting up green once it was. "Monica, give us a little juice!" He instructed as Captain Marvel flew up to the generator. She grabbed the conduit, delivering a blast of electricity. The generator powered up, and soon, the red emergency lights of the cave shut off as they were replaced by the regular ones. "Alright, T'challa, you guys should be good now!"
"Understood." Black Panther stated, as he and Martian Manhunter worked on a panel on the other side of the hangar. They typed on the holographic interface, and soon, another red light turned green.
"Synching Cave security protocols with Watchtower mainframe." The computer announced, Panther heard chirping behind him. As he typed, he absentmindedly patted Sphere.
In the briefing room, the Team was seated at a table that had risen up from the training area, and to say they were sulking was an understatement. Flash walked over, setting down a bowl of pretzels in front of them.
"I'm not hungry…" Kid Flash stated, his mentor's eyes widened. He moved to grab the bowl, only for Wally to grab it instead. "Leave the bowl…"
"We don't want food. What we want is answers about Red Tornado and his siblings!" Jason spoke up, his arm now in a proper sling.
"We know you're all upset. Trust me, we all feel just as betrayed as you do." Mockingbird reassured, Superboy looked around, first at Captain America talking on a video-call with Wolverine. He concentrated, focusing his super hearing.
"No luck. We've checked everywhere in a hundred miles, but Tornado's long gone." The long lived mutant stated, earning a frown from the super soldier. "We'll keep looking, but…"
"Understood. If you can't find anything by lunch, head on back, and we'll regroup." As Cap continued to communicate with the League's search party, Connor spied Kaldur talking with Batman. Kaldur was whispering, so the Kryptonian focused his super hearing.
"...in Taipei, when I assisted Red Arrow, I encountered Sportsmaster. He displayed knowledge about our activities in Bialya and T'zari, and insinuated that there was a mole within the team." Kaldur explained to the Caped Crusader. "Given what has transpired, I now believe that Red Tornado was the traitor. Though whether he did so willingly or-"
"You knew?!" The voice of Superboy yelled, getting Kaldur turned to see the clone charging at him. He picked the Atlantian up by his shirt, his face twisted with anger. "That android and his maniac family almost killed us, and you knew this was coming?!"
"Whoa!" Francis commented, the others rushing over.
"Connor, what are you doing?" Cassie questioned as she and Carter tried prying the angry Kryptonian off of their leader.
"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us, and he said nothing!" Superboy revealed, everyone's eyes widened.
"Wait, you knew?" Nolan asked.
"And you didn't say anything?" Carter demanded, Kaldur frowned at the reveal. This wasn't how he wanted this to come out.
"I sought to protect the Team from-"
"Well, you certainly did a bang up job on that!" Artemis cut off. "Let's see, we've got a dislocated shoulder, the Zeta Tubes are wrecked, both you AND M'gann almost died, and now Red Tornado is god knows where!"
As she yelled at him, Kaldur looked among his teammates, his friends. He saw the looks of sheer betrayal on their face, watched as the trust and respect they had for him just… vanished.
"That's enough." Batman stated, drawing their attention.
"It's enough when I say it's-" Superboy started to say, before Captain America grabbed his arm.
"Stand down, son. Now." He emphasized in a tone that left no room for argument, and Superboy narrowed his eyes before releasing Kaldur.
"Don't call me son…" He growled out, walking away from the Atlantian. Captain America stepped forward, looking at all of them.
"We understand that you're all upset. Believe me, I know what you're feeling." Cap stated, causing them all to remember that Cap had known Tornado back in World War II. "As of right now, Red Tornado is our top priority. We have teams out there working around the clock to track him down, but until then, we're going to be running multiple League members to serve as your interim supervisor."
"So you guys have to take turns babysitting us now?" Carter raised a brow, only for Batman to narrow his eyes at him in such a way that the Spider felt his soul shrivel up a little.
"Until we can work out a schedule, Shazam has volunteered to take the first shift." The Caped Crusader stated, and the young man stepped forward. He was clad in a tight red bodysuit, with a glowing golden lightning bolt on his chest, a cape with a hood, and two golden buttons on either shoulder with a tiger symbol engraved on them.
"Hey, guys! It is great to meet you all, and I am really looking forward to working with you guys!" Shazam excitedly greeted. Nolan and Jason exchanged a glance, questioning his…enthusiasm.
"Uh, looking forward to it…" Laura deadpanned, as Connor leaned over to Kaldur.
"After I turn Red Tornado into a pile of scrap, you and I-"
"Will do nothing." Batman stated, cutting them off. "Tornado is a League member, which makes him League business. You will leave him to us, and you will do nothing. Are we clear?" Batman 'asked', Superboy just cast a glare at Kaldur.
"Crystal." He growled, before storming off.
"Where are you going?"
"Out. Before I hit someone…" Superboy managed to say seethingly, Cassie frowned as they watched him walk away.
"Stay." Batman ordered, Superboy let out a sharp breath of frustration as he stopped in his tracks.
"In the meantime, I have another mission for this team." He stated, the briefing area displayed a newspaper headline from the Gotham Gazette.
"'Gotham Mayor Catatonic After Hunting Trip?'" Laura read aloud, crossing her arms. "Is this the best you can do?"
"Hill's as corrupt as they come. Who cares if he bit off more than he could chew?" Jasonquestioned. "If this… joke is-"
"I never joke about the mission." Batman cut off, causing Robin to look away in embarrassment. "I've studied the patterns. Done the research. Verified the sources. Hill was a part of an illegal hunting party that consisted of himself and two men. While in India, something happened to them, which fractured their minds." He explained, pulling up more articles.
"In my investigation, I uncovered a rash of similar incidents. Poachers, tourists, ivory hunters… all of them rendered catatonic after expeditions into the same general area in the past two months. All reported an encounter with a monstrous gorilla, and their descriptions are all identical. I need this Team to travel to India, and investigate."
"I… don't think I can make this one." M'gann stated. "I still don't feel that well after being under the fire for that long…"
"And I'm not going into the field with someone who clearly doesn't trust me. That's how people get killed." Francis commented, casting a glare at Kaldur.
"I'm sitting out too. I'm not doing anything with my shoulder like this." The Teen Wonder spoke up, the son of Tony Stark sighed.
"The Reds trashed my stealth armor when they flooded the hangar. It's going to be a minute before it's operational again."
"I'm not going either." Laura bluntly stated, folding her arms as she looked at Kaldur. "Homework."
Batman and Captain America watched this happen, the Sentinel of Liberty frowning. "This is bad, Bruce…" Cap whispered, but the Dark Knight's expression was unchanging. "I'm going to step in and-"
"No." The Dark Knight cut off. "We can't make them get over it. They'll have to do it for themselves."
"And if they can't?" Steve asked, but Bruce looked over them, watching the glares directed at Kaldur.
"Then it's over." He whispered back, before clearing his throat. "Anyone else?" He questioned, being met with silence. "Then suit up and get moving." He instructed, and as the team went for the changing rooms, Wally brushed past Kaldur.
"Way to protect us, 'leader.'" He practically spat out, causing Kaldur to sigh.
They made their way to the bioship, and as Carter, T'zari, Cass, Cassie, Artemis, and Aqualad started to board, Shazam flew up to them. "You tagging along?" Carter asked, getting a nod.
"Noticed you guys were short handed, thought I'd lend a hand." Shazam explained, Kid Flash and Scarlet Spider exchanged a look of skepticism.
"Translation: he blames us for the Red Fiasco. Doesn't trust us at all…" Carter muttered out, Wally cast another glare at Kaldur.
"It's a big club."
Northern India, September 20, 21:36 IST
The cloaked bioship sailed through the sky, descending over the forest. The bottom opened up, allowing White Wolf and Artemis to drop down. They surveyed the area, and signalled for the bioship to land. Once doing so, the hatch opened, allowing the rest of its occupants to exit. "Switch to stealth mode, and we'll review mission parameters." Aqualad stated as he activated his stealth tech. Scarlet Spider looked around, as if he was looking for something.
"Are… you talking to us? Wild how you're telling us things now, or did you wait til we got here because you were worried we were going to leak it?" Carter asked, activating his own stealth tech.
"Batman told us to recon, so we're going to recon. We'll call you if we find anything. Y'know, if we decide that you can be trusted." The Team's resident Speedster stated. Before Kaldur could protest, Scarlet Spider and Kid Flash went off into the brush, the former leaping between trees. Batgirl let out a sigh, turning to Kaldur.
"I...go with them. Keep them from hurting themselves." The newest Team member stated, going off after the two. Before Kaldur could give another order, Superboy brushed past him.
"Where are you-"
"Recon." That was all Superboy growled out, before he jumped off.
"Con-Superboy!" Wonder Girl went to go after him, before looking at Kaldur. "I… I don't want to-"
"Go. It is… fine." Aqualad yielded, the half-Olympian flew off after the angry Kryptonian.
"Oh, you're not worried that she's off to report to her secret overlords?" Artemis asked sarcastically, hands on her hips. "Maybe Superboy's off to tell, I dunno, Magneto or someone where we are? Oh, maybe Loki's here again, that'd be fun."
"Artemis, I-"
"I can hear movement, due east of our position." White Wolf cut off, currently channeling the essence of a bat.
"Then I'm heading east. Away from here." Artemis stated, heading into the jungle. White Wolf made to follow, before turning back to look at Kaldur.
"I cannot pretend to know your reasons. Just know that a secret that can be meant to protect can just as easily cause harm." And with that, the Wakandan prince went off after Artemis, leaving Aqualad and Shazam alone.
"Did… I miss the part where you actually told them where to go?" Shazam asked, Aqualad sighed in shame. What had he done…?
As the Team went off in their separate directions, they all failed to notice a camera hidden in the leaves, transmitting their location to a monitor somewhere else in the jungle. A figure sat cloaked in shadow, tapping his fingers together.
"Interesting…" The man stated, individual screens displaying zoom-ins of Scarlet Spider and Shazam. "Very interesting...Grodd." At this, there was a grunt from behind the man, as the large gorilla stepped into the light. "Bring them to me. I don't care how, so long as they are both alive."
Mount Justice, 11:15 EST
Francis grunted as he hit the punching bag, switching up his footwork and delivering strike after strike to the sandbag. "So…" A voice spoke up, the archer looked to see Nolan standing in the doorway. "...you seem to be taking it pretty well."
"Yeah, well, had to let off some steam." Francis commented, grunting out as he resumed hitting the bag. "Y'know, you could use some time on the bag. Learn to actually hit something without that suit…"
"Yeah, well, that's what I have guys like you for. Work out your muscles while I work out my mind." He joked, earning a chuckle from his friend.
"Hey, you know how much math goes into those arrows? I gotta think about angles, wind speed, mass of the arrow, arrow heads, distance…" Francis explained, Nolan frowned.
"So, what are you thinking?" The boy genius asked, and Francis sighed as he gave one last hit to the bag.
"Kaldur didn't trust us. He withheld that from us, made us think everything was just fine. He could have come to us, nipped all of this in the bud. I mean, he can't really think anyone would leak information like that, right?"
"... yeah." Nolan looked away, Francis sighed as he wiped the sweat off his forehead, thinking things over.
"M'gann almost died. We took any longer… I don't even want to think about that. If he'd told us, we might have been prepared when the damn… Avatar Terminators rolled in. Had…I dunno, security measures in place or something." The archer ranted, hanging the towel around his neck as he sighed. "But…"
"But?"
"But Kaldur doesn't really do things without a reason. I mean, Wally, Jason, Superboy… we've all been guilty of not thinking things through. But Kaldur? When everything with Cadmus went down, we all made up our minds right away, but he had to think for a minute. Had to... I dunno, talk himself into it." Francis stated.
"I don't think this stuff just… popped into his head. Wherever he got this stuff from, there had to be a reason he didn't just toss it out. And I mean… he's the man in charge. When you're in charge, you can't really brush something off like that. Still, you think he would've told somebody…"
"Well, Kaldur… might have had a good reason…" Nolan trailed off, Francis's brow furrowed as he looked at Nolan.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's… what I wanted to come in here and talk to you about." Nolan answered as he sat on one of the weight benches. "So, you know how I'm able to do all that crazy hacking stuff, like the map at Cadmus, Ivo's MONQI, stuff like that?"
"Doesn't your armor have some crazy hacking software on it?" Francis really didn't like where this was going…
"Well, it does, but… I might have had some help." As soon as those words left the redhead's mouth, the archer's eyes widened.
"What have you done?"
"Just… hear me out." Nolan pleaded, and Francis frowned as he sat on the neighboring weight bench.
"Ok, so back in July, the day before everything went down at Cadmus, someone hacked into my armor's encrypted communications channel. I think it was just a test or something, to see that they could do it. Then, right when we went to Cadmus, they contacted me again."
"Wait, I thought you lost communications when we went in there."
"The armor itself maintains a… specific kind of connection with the Stark satellites, broadcasting stuff like telemetry, vitals… combat stuff like that. I think that's how she used it to maintain communications. It… it was actually really impressive, and-"
"Nolan. The point."
"Right, sorry. Anyways, she helped guide us through that place, that's how we ended up in that bathroom. After we turned the place into a hole in the ground, she made contact. Told me that she wanted to help, that she was some sort of… Guardian Angel."
"Jesus Christ…" Francis got off the bench, beginning to pace. "Please tell me that was the last time…"
"Well…" Francis put his hands in his face, dragging his hand through his hair.
"How many more times? How many more times has this 'Guardian Angel' tagged along with us?" The archer asked, the Iron Knight just sighed.
"Ivo. The Shadows. That was the only time I actively needed her help, but-"
"Actively?! Has…has she been there every time?! Does she know everything?!"
"No! She doesn't know anybody's names, or where the Cave is, or-"
"Jesus Christ…" Francis muttered to himself again. "So someone hacks into your armor-which I understand is no small feat-and your first instinct isn't to smash a hole in whatever hole they're hiding out in, but to bring them along on our top secret missions?"
"Can you calm down? I don't want anyone else overhearing this just yet…" Nolan beckoned. "Listen, it's not like I just took them at their word. I did my homework, cracked their signal and tracked her down. She's someone who wants to help, like we did." He explained, it was at this moment that the son of Hawkeye realized what he was saying.
"Oh, you have got to be freaking kidding me…" The blond groaned out. "Are you telling me that you jeopardized our top secret covert action squad, which I'm fairly certain violates no shortage of international law, because you wanted to impress a girl?!"
"It's… it's not like that, ok?" Nolan justified. "Look, when she first pinged me, I had the same thoughts you did. And logically, I knew it looked fishy. But I had… I dunno. A gut feeling, I guess, that she was genuine. That she was on the up and up. And aren't you always telling me not to overthink things?" Iron Knight asked, Trickshot just let out a sigh.
"At least tell me you know who she is."
"Of course I do. Her name's Rhianna, lives in Chicago. She's about my age." Nolan answered, and at this, Francis raised an eyebrow.
"Our age? And she hacked your armor? That's… impressive."
"Right? And I did do a background check on her entire family. Her mom's a nurse, her stepdad's an electrician. No ties to Hydra, the League of Shadows, Kobra, SHIELD… and it's easy to tell, y'know. Those guys always make their plants squeaky clean." Nolan explained, Francis sighed.
"Tell me about her. This… Rhianna."
"Well, she's smart. And not just, like, regular person smart. I'm talking… Me-Smart. We've gotten together and talked String Theory like you and M'gann talk about… whatever you guys talk about. And she's actually pointed out a few things that've helped me with… my armor." Nolan made up. No need to spill all his secrets right now… "And... she's funny. The other day she did a hilarious impression of Doctor Doom. She was all like 'I can drive a stick shift! I am DOOM!'"
"That is how he talks…" Francis muttered, watching how Nolan's eyes lit up when he talked about Rhianna. "So you're absolutely positive she's on the up and up?"
"I'd wager my entire fortune on it."
"Alright, so you're serious." Francis noted, folding his arms. "Why didn't you tell us about this before? If not the whole group, then at least Kaldur would like to know about this."
"Because…" Nolan frowned, letting out a sigh. "Because… I didn't want to scare her. It's… hard for me to find someone I genuinely vibe with like that. I mean, it's not you guys' fault, it's mine. I'm just… smarter than you are. I'm not saying that to disparage you guys, I'm just stating a fact. So to find someone who I can actually have a conversation with…"
"You decided to keep it to yourself, so as not to blow it." Francis finished.
"I… can see where you're coming from. Hell, I didn't say anything to anyone about M'gann until my dad asked me to my face. It's… hard finding someone you genuinely vibe with, and you don't wanna do anything to ruin it. And… she did help save Superboy's life against Amazo, I guess. You sure she had nothing to do with the Reds?"
"I'm positive. If she did, I'm certain that… whatever that was about would have happened sooner." The redhead explained. "Rhianna's never even mentioned Red Tornado before. Whatever that was about, it's something completely unrelated."
"And I believe you. And I trust you enough to have faith in that." Francis stated, before approaching Nolan and putting his hand on his shoulder. "But you have to tell Kaldur about her. As soon as he gets back."
"You're right. He… he deserves to know." Nolan conceded, and Francis couldn't help but smile.
"Now, let me give you some advice about making your move…"
India, 21:40 IST
"Just who does Kaldur think he is?" Kid Flash asked as he, Scarlet Spider, and Batgirl made their way through the jungle. "I mean, the entire reason we started this is because the League was keeping secrets from us! And I'd say this was way more important than some Watchtower!"
"Hey, you're preaching to the choir. I'm pissed off too." Scarlet Spider stated, leaping onto the side of a low hanging branch, before he sighed. "Except… I think I see where he's coming from."
"Dude, come on…"
"I mean, if I thought you guys were moles, I wouldn't say anything either. I don't think there is a mole, but…" Carter sighed in frustration, starting to pace upside down. "But I guess he had to think about it, and this stuff usually doesn't come out of nowhere…"
"Yeah, well… it wouldn't kill him to give us the benefit of the doubt…" Kid Flash muttered out, Batgirl simply sighed. Her first mission with the Team, and they were busy bickering among themselves. Was this how teams normally operated?
So absorbed were they in the conversation that they failed to notice movement behind them, and so absorbed was Carter in thought that he failed to notice that faint buzzing in his head as a rather large feather gently swayed in the air…
Meanwhile, Superboy landed right next to a river of some kind, and prepared to jump again… "Wait up!" When Wonder Girl's voice called out to him, he turned back to see her approaching him. "It was not even a week ago you told me that rushing off half cocked and angry just gets you killed, so what's the deal?"
"You don't understand. None of you do…" He growled out.
"Try me." Cassie stated, this caused Connor to stop.
"Kaldur… Kaldur was the first person I ever trusted. He… convinced me that I was more than what Cadmus made me. I thought he trusted me, but then he knew about this mole stuff…"
"So you're mad that you thought one thing, only to find out that the opposite was true? Gee, I wonder what that's like." Wonder Girl asked, cutting him off. "Last week, homework was my biggest problem, and this week alone I've been pursued by super villains, almost drowned by killer robots, and now I'm in India. India! So yeah, you got thrown for a loop. And, understandably, you're pissed. But I think you should give Aqualad the benefit of the doubt."
"Like he gave us?"
"Look, I know I'm technically the 'new girl', so I'm not going to pretend like I know everyone intimately. And I'm not going to say there's nothing to be mad about. But I know enough about Kaldur to know he probably had a good reason for keeping you guys in the dark." Cassie justified, and the Kryptonian sighed as he thought over her words, not noticing movement in the water behind them…
Artemis watched as White Wolf knelt down to examine tracks on the ground. "Is this where it happened?"
"No, we are looking for gorilla tracks. These appear to be wolf prints, but something about them is… off." The Wakandan Prince answered.
"How do you even know all this stuff? I thought you were a prince."
"When my mutation manifested, my parents sought to educate me in how best to utilize them, including education in tracking. I have trained with some of the best hunters and fighters in Wakanda." White Wolf stated, as he sniffed the ground. He grunted, Artemis's face scrunched up as she realized what he was sniffing.
"Is that…?"
"Yes, wolf droppings. But just as with the tracks, something is wrong. The size is… abnormal."
"I'm not even going to ask what that means. I want to be able to eat something today…" The female archer muttered, before letting out a sigh. "So, you've been awfully quiet about this whole mole thing. Penny for your thoughts? Or… whatever you have in Wakanda…" White Wolf sighed at the request.
"We cannot pretend to understand Kaldur's reasons. Leadership brings with it its own set of burdens and challenges. Something I will one day face when I take my father's place as king. And that… that includes secrets." White Wolf analyzed, he clenched his fist in thoughts.
"Everyone has their own secrets, and with each secret comes reasons for keeping them. Reasons that might not be understood by everybody. As his friends and subordinates, we can only trust that his were valid." His relationship with Victoria… T'zari was under no illusions. One day, possibly soon, he would have to have a reckoning with that. The relationship he had fought tooth and nail to preserve might have an expiration date on it, and that day might soon be fast approaching.
However, to Artemis, it felt as if he was talking about her. If he knew the truth, that she wasn't really Green Arrow's niece, but the daughter of Sportsmaster and the sister of Cheshire… No, he couldn't. She and Green Arrow had gone to great lengths to make sure that no one beyond the two of them, Batman, and Captain America knew. Red Arrow knew that she wasn't Green Arrow's niece, but she was fairly certain that Roy didn't know who her parents actually were. And as far as she was concerned, it could stay that way.
Shazam and Aqualad approached a spot, Shazam noticing boot prints and shell casings. "Whoa, this must be the place where Hill had his monkey business…" Shazam stated, bending down to examine the prints. "Huh, so that stuff really happened. Crazy…so, now what? Do we set up like a crime scene, or...?" He asked, only to be met with silence. He looked back behind him to see Aqualad staring off into the distance, clearly racked with guilt. "Uh, Aqualad?"
"Hm? Oh, my apologies, Shazam. I am… plagued by doubts." The Atlantean stated as Shazam sat up, the red-clad man folding his arms.
"I'm here if you need to vent. Can't do you any good to keep stuff like that bottled up."
"I am afraid that is exactly what is causing our problems. Perhaps I was wrong to-" Before Kaldur could finish his sentence, they felt the whole ground shake, Shazam's brow furrowing in confusion. The stomping sound began to grow closer, and the trees were knocked away as a massive elephant emerged from the jungle. Even by elephant standards, this creature was massive, easily one-and-a-half times bigger than a normal elephant, with cracks in the skin that reminded Kaldur vaguely of Mammoth.
"Holy moley!" Shazam exclaimed, getting over his surprise to rush forward and meet the charging elephant. The collision between the two shook the ground, and Shazam grunted as he was slowly pushed back in the air by the pachyderm. He pushed back as best he could, only to feel the elephant's trunk wrap around his leg. Before the Leaguer could react, the elephant swung it's trunk and flung Shazam away, smashing him through a tree. The Leaguer groaned, looking up to see a large tiger staring right at him, its red eyes gazing directly into his soul...
Aqualad drew his waterbearers, preparing to charge in and aid the Team's temporary 'den mother.' However, before he could, he felt vibrations behind him, and narrowly jumped out of the way before the foot of a second large elephant crushed him. He manifested a water hammer and leapt at the elephant, only for the massive beast to swing it's trunk and knock him next to Shazam.
Meanwhile, as Shazam and Aqualad were being cornered, Superboy and Wonder Girl were walking along the river. Wonder Girl was about to speak up when she heard something rise from the water behind them and growl. Whirling around, she saw a massive alligator leap from the water, and she was barely able to dodge before it snapped it's jaws shut where she had been standing a second ago. Superboy rushed over and punched it to the side, only for a second alligator to emerge from the water. As Gator Two snapped its jaws shut, Superboy grabbed the top of its jaw and inserted his boot on the bottom half, grunting as he fought against the force. Before Wonder Girl could help him, she saw Gator One rush at her again, forcing her to fly up to narrowly avoid its jaws.
Artemis and White Wolf continued to follow the tracks in the ground, only for White Wolf to abruptly stop. "Artemis, I need you to remain calm." The White Wolf calmly stated, earning an eyebrow raise from Artemis.
However, before she could ask, she heard the snapping of twigs behind them. She could barely pull an arrow out of her quiver before a wolf pounced at her from the shadows, but White Wolf managed to kick it in the neck and knock it away. Artemis got to higher ground, climbing on a nearby rock as more wolves emerged from the shadows.
"Oh come on." Artemis sighed as the other large wolves leap at her, forcing her backwards as she fired off knockout gas arrows. White Wolf twisted, catching and hurling one of the predators away and into a few that had been trailing behind it.
That was when he saw it. A literal white wolf sat in an alcove in the mountain. He stared at it and it stared back. Letting loose a growl, he made a jump for it, only to be tackled by other wolves and forced back into a handicapped fight.
Scarlet Spider finally took note of his Spider sense just in time to push Batgirl down and narrowly avoid…
"Giant Vultures!? Seriously? Don't they only eat dead meat?"
"I don't think they got the memo!" Kid Flash stated, as he narrowly avoided one with his super speed. "These are some very proactive scavengers!"
"And big ones too!" Scarlet responded as he backflipped over the other giant vulture, slamming his foot down on its head. This didn't seem to faze it much, however, and the creature began to circle around again.
"You thinking Hydra-Venom?"
"Only explanation I can think of!" Carter yelled back, as Batgirl threw an explosive Batarang at the first vulture, which, at least from the look of it, might as well have been a firecracker.
"Okay, we need a plan." Kid Flash said, as both the vultures began to circle.
"Run? I think running is a good idea."
"Sure, let's go with that." Scarlet Spider said before Batgirl pointed.
"Trees." Was all she said, but it was all Scarlet Spider needed.
"We need to make them come to us, and play that to our advantage." He called out.
Happy Harbor
"So…" Jason stated from his place next to Laura, his good arm on his hip as he looked out over the cafe. "...this is Happy Harbor."
"Seems like a nice place. Haven't actually been back here since that whole Shadows nonsense." Francis remarked, his arm around M'gann as he looked around. "Oh hey, that's where Kaldur knocked Ravager out cold. Fun times."
"You sure Nolan didn't want to join us?" Laura asked, Francis shrugged.
"He said he wanted to stay back and figure out what needed to be fixed on his armor."
"I hate to leave him out…"
"Trust me, Megs, he's having way more fun fixing his suit than coming to a place like this." Francis stated.
"If you're sure." She replied, though she still sounded hesitant.
"I am. I have known him longer than anyone I'm not related to by blood. Working on stuff like that puts him at ease." He reassured, though he failed to mention that Nolan had said something about not wanting to be a fifth wheel so to speak, but that didn't seem important and ruining the overall relaxed mood would probably make what he wanted to talk about with them harder.
"So, listen I think we all need to talk about this whole Kaldur thing." He began. The looks he received told him that this was going to be harder than he thought.
"What's there to talk about? He didn't trust us, and it blew up in his face. Not a whole lot of room for interpretation." Jason stated, leaning forward. "I mean, if he knew there was a mole-which I don't think there is, by the way-he should have told… somebody."
"But… he didn't technically lie. He just… didn't tell us." M'gann stated, as the four took a seat at a table.
"Guess they don't have the phrase 'lie of omission' on Mars." Jason responded. "If you have something life changing and mind blowing like that, you don't keep that to yourself. You put faith in the people around you, and you be honest with them." He explained, causing Megan to avert her eyes and look at the floor.
"He had his reasons. He...he might have thought you...I mean, that we might not take that news well."
"If there even is a mole, Which I don't think there is, When people sneak around like that, their bodies tend to react in some way. I would have noticed." Laura spoke up. "Look, it's not the fact that he thought one of us was a mole. It's that he kept it from us. At the very least, he should have told Batman or Captain America."
"I'm not saying that Kaldur was right or wrong. And yeah, I'm pissed that he kept this from us. But I think we at least owe him the benefit of the doubt." The group's archer justified, Laura just sighed.
"We came here to get away from the Cave. So let's just...talk about something else, ok?" The mutant sighed out, M'gann nudged Francis's elbow.
"Why don't we give them some time alone?" She said over their private telepathic link, Francis raised an eyebrow.
"Ok, why?" He asked, she just squeezed his hand.
"I'll explain later." Before Francis could ask what she meant, his Martian girlfriend grabbed his elbow. "Me and Francis are going to go order something. Do you guys want anything?"
"I'm good. We'll just stay here and hold the table down." Jason stated, smirking a little. "Have fun waiting in that long ass line."
"Yeah, yeah…" As Francis was dragged off to the line that seemed endless, Megan sent Laura a wink, and she realized what she was trying to do.
"So…" Jason spoke up, drawing her attention away from the revenge she was planning. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I know how to hold my breath for four minutes, so I wasn't too worried about the water prisons." Laura spoke up, her green eyes going to Jason's sling. "How's your shoulder?"
"It's fine, just dislocated. Bru-Batman says I should be good to go in less than a week." He stated.
"Good. That's...good." Was always this awkward? "So...how's school?"
"Uh, it's good so far." Jason said, scratching the back of his head. "Ok, so this is way too awkward, right? Like, it's not just me?"
"Ok, good, I thought it was just me. I uh...think I know why." Laura said with a laugh, fidgeting in the seat. "So lately, when I see M'gann and Francis or our friends Mal and Karen, I've been getting...jealous. Not of them in particular, but rather what they have. That...I dunno, that connection, that kind of...relationship. I want...what they have, but...I don't know where to look. Or rather...I didn't."
"Past tense?" Jason was leaning forward in his seat, his good arm leaning on the table, and Laura nodded.
"When the Reds brought you into the hangar, unconscious...I wanted to rip them apart. And not just with my claws. I'm talking my bare hands. And...it made me realize something." Laura swallowed the lump in her throat, getting the words out. She was already here, no turning back now. "I...think I like you. Like...as more than a friend." As soon as she said that, Jason couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Thank god. I was honestly starting to get a little tired of dancing around it." He spoke up, leaning forward to place his hand on top of Laura's. She almost pulled away, but she kept her hand there. "I like you too, Laura. I've just been trying to figure out the best way to ask you out." Laura's heart was hammering in her chest, and judging from what her enhanced senses could pick up, Jason's heart was pounding as well.
"So...now what?" She asked, and Jason's lips pursed for a moment as he thought.
"I think...we go on a date? I'll be honest, this whole thing is pretty new to me, too." The Teen Wonder stated. "How about...you come to Gotham? You and me, no capes, no tights. Just a night off on the town."
"I...think I'd like that." This connection...she'd never felt anything like it before.
Before she could dwell too much on her new date, Laura smelled something just behind her. Something she'd only smelled once before, but made her blood run cold. She spun around, looking at the table behind them, only to see an empty table, the remains of a coffee cup on the table.
Nerves. That's all it was. It couldn't be him, not here, not now...could it?
India
Wonder Girl yelped as she jumped backward to avoid the alligator's snapping jaws, floating above it. Her hand went to her lasso, preparing to swing it the way Diana had shown her.
"Alright, you overgrown Neverland reject! Bring it!" She taunted, and it leapt up to snap at her. Moving to the side, she threw her lasso around it's jaws as it snapped shut, pulling it taut, before swinging it around and launching it at the ground. It landed on it's back, and Wonder Girl rushed down and delivered a punch to its belly, knocking it out.
"Finally…" She breathed out, and looked towards where she had last seen Superboy, only to see that he wasn't there anymore.
"Superboy? Connor?" She called out, only to get no response from the Kryptonian. "Superboy? Where'd you-"
The water exploded as the other creature was launched out of it, and Wonder Girl watched as Superboy emerged from the water, his shirt torn and faint bite marks on his shoulder.
"Uh, are you ok?"
"Peachy."
Scarlet Spider leapt off the ground and then leapt off a tree trunk, using his momentum to propel himself through the underbrush as Kid Flash ran behind him, avoiding the vultures pursuing them. "Where'd Batgirl go?!" The arachnid asked, stopping to deliver a roundhouse kick to the beak of one of the giant birds that got too close.
"Beats me! I lost track of her when we got in here!" Kid Flash responded, weaving as he dodged the animal. It got tangled in the branches, and that's when Batgirl emerged from the shadows. She hopped on its back, pulling a batarang from her back pouch. "Whoa, what are you-"
Before Kid Flash could ask any further, Batgirl used her batarang to pry open a mechanism for a collar-like device on the creatures back, sending it to the ground. She hopped off, and used her batarang to cut away the branches. "Go." Kid Flash expected it to attack him again, only for the creature to fly away instead.
"I… what just happened."
"Animal… move wrong. Like in pain." The newest Team member stated, gesturing to the collar. "Seen before. Use for… bad people." She stated, Kid Flash bent down to examine it.
"Huh, this does look kind of familiar…" He muttered, before he realized something. "Wait, where's Carter?"
Said arachnid was currently avoiding the vulture still chasing him among the trees, flipping to avoid a beak skewering him. "Sheesh, and I thought Toomes was the most annoying bird I'd ever meet." He muttered to himself, dodging another beak jab that demolished the tree branch he'd just been standing on. However, he'd misjudged his angle of launch, and he missed the tree trunk he was aiming for. He managed to maneuver himself to land on the ground, but the young arachnid lost his footing in the mud and began rolling down a hill.
"Ow...dammit...ow!" Scarlet Spider grunted out as he rolled down the hill, eventually managing to fire out some webbing on a nearby rock that stopped his fall. Groaning, Scarlet Spider rubbed his head as he rose to his ground. "Ow…" Normally, his Spider Sense would alert him to conditions or movements that would pose immediate danger-it's how the Spiders knew where to fire their webbing while web slinging so that they didn't attach to something that couldn't handle their weight-but with the giant vulture chasing him, he couldn't tell the difference between his Spider Sense pointing to the vulture or him misjudging his angle of launch. This was why he hated leaving the city…
Before Carter could try activating his commlink, he could feel his spider sense going off once more. Spinning around, he looked to the sky, expecting the vulture to come and try for round two… only to hear what sounded like chittering behind him. He spun around in time for a white, strand-like object to shoot out of the shadows and attach itself to his hand, something that looked specifically like. "Webbing…?" Carter muttered to himself, as he examined the substance. It looked a lot like the organic webbing he made, and the synthetic webbing Spider-Man made. But Peter was in New York, and unless he was in India all of a sudden…
"Oh you have to be freaking kidding me…" Carter's fears were proven true as a large, white spider skittered out of the shadows. "No no no no…" Carter tried pulling at the webbing, but it was just as tough as the kind he made, and the spider began firing out more strands, attaching to his other arm and his legs. It began pulling him towards it, wrapping him in the webbing until he was right underneath it. Carter struggled to break out of the webbing, but it was too strong. The spider's mandibles spread, about to dig into his flesh in one of the most ironic deaths ever…
Only for the collar around its neck to activate, shocking it and causing it to hiss. Before Scarlet Spider could thank his lucky stars, he heard the heavy stomping of large feet approaching him. The bound superhero looked to see a massive gorilla emerge from the shadows, picking him up by the web cocoon. Scarlet Spider looked in its eyes, seeing what looked like a shrewd intelligence behind those eyes.
"What the-" Before he could ask anymore questions, Carter winced as a high pitched ringing accompanied a splitting headache, and he could hear only one word…
"Sleep." The voice spoke in his head, and Carter felt his eyelids grow heavy as he drifted off into the embrace of Morpheus. The gorilla slung him over the shoulder, carrying him off into parts unknown...
Aqualad jumped to the side to avoid an elephant foot turning him into a stain on the ground, as Shazam blocked the downward swing of an elephant trunk. "Oof!" He grunted out, the lightning bolt on his chest glowing as he held up the trunk.
"Elephants… aren't normally this big, right?" The Big Red Cheese strained out, shoving the trunk to the side before rushing in to deliver a punch to the oversized pachyderm. Out of the corner of his eye, Aqualad saw it stagger, and it acted as if it was about to give off… before something shocked it, sending it back on the attack.
Turning his attention to the elephant attacking him, Kaldur saw that around its neck was a large, black collar with red lights on it. Playing a hunch, he formed two water whips, and after rolling to the side to avoid the attack, wrapped the whips around the collar. Giving it a pull, the collar shattered, and the elephant ceased its attack.
"Shazam! The collar!" He called out, and the Team's temporary supervisor was about to ask what he meant… when he noticed the collar. Using the Speed of Mercury, Shazam zoomed around to the top of the creature, grabbing the collar with both hands. Electricity coursed through the collar, but it didn't faze Shazam, who simply ripped the collar in two. As it fell to the ground, the mutated elephant seemed to calm down, and Shazam floated down to the ground as the pair of pachyderms retreated back into the forest.
"Good call with the collars. Guess now we know why they were so angry." Shazam stated, bending down to examine the collars. "That's weird. These look a lot like the collars the police use to detain meta-criminals."
"Pardon?" Aqualad asked, as Shazam picked up a part that had formerly had a red light on it.
"Yeah, whenever we bring in someone like, I dunno, Living Laser or someone, the cops slap a collar like this on them. It inhibits their powers, and gives them a shock if they try to escape." He explained, frowning. "I've never really liked it. Always felt like treating them like animals, but if collars just like them are here…"
"Then that indicates intelligence at work here." Aqualad finished, placing a hand on his temple. "Team, report in and-" He started to think, when he caught himself.
"Miss Martian remained back at the Cave, meaning we don't have a telepathic link. And the others left before proper communications were established…"
"You mean you let half the Team leave before proper communications were established, and you let the other half stay home." Shazam corrected, causing Aqualad's eyes to widen.
"They… they would not listen!"
"I guess, but that doesn't mean you couldn't have tried. Back at the Cave, Batman stopped everyone from arguing with one word, and Cap got Superboy to calm down with that weird dad voice he does."
"But… but they are the leaders of the Justice League?"
"Hey, you don't have to tell me. It's hard not to take being bossed around personally." Shazam stated.
"Ok, so last week at… my job, my… coworkers and I got into an argument. See, I had put some food in the fridge that clearly had my name on it, but everyone decided to help themselves to it. Anyway, we all got into a big argument, but then our boss, Victor, came in, and defused it. Just like that. You wanna know how he did it?" He asked, and Kaldur sighed.
"How?"
"He didn't give us a chance to argue with him. He came in, sat us down, addressed the problem, and that was it." He finished, and the Atlantean's eyes widened as he realized what Shazam was getting at.
"A true leader does not simply wait for command to be given. They take it." The Team leader finished, earning a smile from the older man.
"Bingo."
"Thank you, Shazam," Aqualad said with gratitude.
"Hey, Wisdom of Solomon," Shazam said with a smile, pointing at his head for emphasis. Kaldur was about to say something else, when the communicator in his ear went off.
"Hello? Is this thing working?" The voice of Wonder Girl spoke in his ear, Kaldur winced at the volume of the girl's voice.
"Wonder Girl, you do not need to yell into the communicator."
"Oh, right, sorry. Never talked on an earpiece before…" The new girl stated in an adjusted volume. "Me and Superboy just got attacked by two alligators. Thing is, they're way bigger than anything I've ever seen in a zoo."
"Were they wearing a special kind of collar?" Aqualad asked, and there was a pause.
"...yeah, there's some kind of weird collar on them. Superboy says he's never seen anything like it." Wonder Woman's protege stated, Kaldur frowned. Two sets of large animals, both wearing inhibitor collars…?
"Have you been able to contact the others?"
"Uh...no. I uh...I'm not really sure how to work this thing yet…" Kaldur had to let out a sigh. Cassie still had a lot to learn, but the others were probably all on different frequencies. And without Miss Martian there, he had to do this the old fashioned way.
As Kaldur had his conversation with Wonder Girl, Shazam looked around the clearing. They'd freed the two elephants, but he could swear there was a third animal…
His recollection was proven accurate as he spotted the tiger watching them from the brush. However, as soon as the feline spotted Shazam looking at him, the tiger ran off. "Hey, wait!" He called out, flying after him. Kaldur turned around just in time to see their chaperone flying off.
"Shazam, wait!" He called out, but it was no use. Shazam was already gone, leaving Kaldur alone to sigh. "Of course…Speed of Mercury…"
Shazam flew through the trees looking for the tiger, his eyes scanning the dark. However, he could barely see in front of him. "Should've asked the Wizard for some night vision…" The Justice Leaguer asked, looking around. Soon, he emerged into a clearing that was illuminated by the moonlight, where he saw the tiger waiting for him. "There you are! Let's get that nasty collar off of you…" Shazam said as he approached the animal…
Only for three pylons to emerge from the ground. Before he could react, they powered up into some sort of energy field, and Shazam felt his knees turn to jelly as he collapsed. "What the…" The Big Red Cheese tried getting up, but his body just wasn't listening to him. He grunted in vain as he tried to get up, but it was all for naught. Before too much longer, he heard heavy footsteps, seeing what looked like a gorilla approaching him dragging what looked like Scarlet Spider.
"Sleep." And with that, Shazam was unconscious, joining Carter in being dragged off to an unknown fate...
Chicago, 13:00 CST
Nolan let out a breath, trying to calm himself as he walked up to Riri's house. He shouldn't be this nervous. He had fought the Living Laser among others and yet the idea of what he was about to do still brought a twisting feeling in his stomach and a lump in his throat. He had ordered pizza and watched as Riri's mother took it after the delivery guy had explained it was from him.
'Come on Stark, you can do this… maybe.' He thought, remembering Francis' advice before shaking his head and knocking on the door.
Ronnie opened the door and smiled at the sight of the nervous looking young man who had become something of a regular in her home.
"Hello Nolan, I was told you're responsible for me not having to cook tonight hmm?" She asked, getting a nod
"Yeah, I hope I didn't impose or anything. I just wanted things to be nice. Something happened during my… job? Hobby? I'm not sure what to call it really, but something happened, and I had a talk with my friend and… I just want to talk to Riri. She's home right?"
Nolan was aware he sounded like an idiot. He usually did when he was nervous, but this somehow felt worse than any time before. Especially that last bit, he knew Riri was home. She was always home, she'd told him herself she hadn't left the house in actual years. Ronnie, however, chuckled, and stepped aside, waving him in.
"Yes, Nolan, she's up in her room. Come on in, it's cold out." She offered as, with a nervous nod, he entered…then stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
'What am I supposed to say? I mean do I just ask or, what was it Francis said?' He thought more than a little panicked it had seemed simple, but now he was here it seemed so much more difficult.
'Francis said just to go for it,it worked with him and M'Gann so it should work here right? Wait… Francis and M'Gann are nothing like me and Rihanna. What if it doesn't go well? Maybe, I should turn back and formulate an actual plan and then…' Nolan froze mid thought, he had been so caught up in his own head he hadn't even noticed he'd walked up the stairs and was now staring at Rihanna's door.
"Oh, well… okay, Stark, you're already over halfway there. No point in turning back now, just walk through the door and stop talking to yourself. Seriously, I have got to work on that." Nolan muttered.
"Yeah, you do. Come on in, Nolan." Rihanna's voice giggled from the other side of the door, the sound did nothing to calm him. In fact, his rapid heart rate increased, maybe he was having a heart attack? Nope, his arm felt fine, so that wasn't it. Exhaling, he opened the door.
He found Riri, sitting on her bed smiling as he entered as she gestured to the chair at her desk. He took it, wondering if her smile was somehow brighter, or if somehow he had just never noticed. Once he was seated she spoke,
"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but what are you doing here? I figured after the whole thing with Red Tornado and his siblings you told me about, I wouldn't be seeing you for a few days."
"Well, I sort of bowed out of the team's latest mission. The armor I needed was wrecked in that, and a few more things happened. I just didn't need to go on this trip, and I just… I wanted to see you." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ok, so, first thing's first: I...I..I'm going to tell Aqualad about you." As soon as he said that, Riri's eyes widened.
"You can't be serious…."
"I am. I… already told Francis… Trickshot… about you."
"Nolan!"
"Hey, he's my best friend! If I was going to tell anyone first it was going to be him." Nolan explained, sitting on the bed. "He...took it well. He trusts me, so he doesn't think you're a supervillain or anything."
"He says, he doesn't?" She asked skeptically, admittedly she knew how suspicious her being in Nolans ear probably sounded.
"Well, he's always pretty straightforward. If he smells something off, he says it." The Stark stated, nervously bouncing his knee. "And I'm not worried about Aqualad. He's...well he's more level headed than the rest of us." He said after a pause.
"Is that why you wanted to see me? To let me know the jig is up so to speak?" She asked.
"Well...I...Not entirely up I mean I don't intend to tell the others just yet, but I..I would be lying if I said…" He paused, swallowing great now he was a stuttering mess, he must look pathetic more so than normal.
"You would be lying if you said…" Riri parroted, making a continue motion with her hand as she smiled.
"If...if I said that was the only reason I came. See, I uh...had a talk with Francis, and he noticed something...or rather he gave me some advice..advice I didn't even really know I needed, but...he did." Nolan said very carefully choosing his words.
"Really? What about, and are you okay? You look a bit red." She asked placing a hand to his forehead.
"I'm...I'm fine. Just...just a little nervous."
"Why? You don't have to be nervous around me, I promise I'll do what I can to help."
"I know...I know it's…RhiannaIreallylikeyou." He said in a sudden rush before he lost his nerve. Well, Francis said to be himself, and this was him. Beyond the fake swagger that he put on in front of the others (largely copied from his dad), the confidence that he knew what he was talking about with tech, this was who he was.
Rhianna blinked a few times, her brain processing what her friend had just said. "I'm sorry, did...you just say what I think you said?"
"I think so it depends on what you think I said?" He asked.
"You said, you really liked me...do you mean like, more than a friend?"
Nolan, had by this point lost his ability to speak, so instead he just nodded, watching a blush creep up onto her cheeks, as she came over and sat beside him, "Well, if we're getting things out in the open, I really like you too. We just sort of…I don't know…jell together, you know?"
Nolan blinked, processing what Rhianna was saying. "So...we're on the same page?"
"I think we are."
"Good, so Rhianna Williams, uh do you want to go out with me?" Nolan asked nervously in response she smiled and pulled Nolan into a kiss.
India
"Batgirl, Artemis, come in." Aqualad stated, only to sigh as he was met with static once more. That was the third such frequency that had proven useless, and he was starting to get frustrated. Still, it was his fault for not giving them a frequency before they separated.
He couldn't dwell on his own failures for long, as the Atlantean switched to the next frequency. "White Wolf, Kid Flash, do you-"
"Finally!" Artemis's voice rang out through the earpiece, Kaldur could hear what sounded like snarling in the background. However, it ended with a yelp as he heard Artemis's bow fire an arrow, ending the snarling. "Me and White Wolf were just ambushed by roided up wolves! I've been calling for backup for ten minutes now!"
"I… are you injured?"
"I'm not, but White Wolf… we just got separated. I think he was fighting the pack leader… either that, or he went to go report to his evil overlords." Kaldur winced at the barb, but he'd address that later, instead hearing more snarling in his ear as another commlink activated.
"Busy. Call back… later." The voice of the Team's Wakandan Prince grunted out over the snarling, before it cut off.
"Artemis, Wolf, switch to Channel 16." He ordered, cutting off before either could protest. He switched his communicator back to Channel 16, about to give Wonder Girl an update.
"-obably say we attacked ourselves, y'know since we're moles and all." The voice of Kid Flash piped up, causing Kaldur to sigh.
"Kid, Scarlet, Batgirl, I see Wonder Girl was able to reach you."
"Yeah, no thanks to you, 'leader.' And I don't know where Scarlet is, we got separated while being attacked by giant birds." The speedster spat. Between Wally's venom and Batgirl's silence, Kaldur was hardly expecting a productive conversation. He took a deep breath, remembering what Shazam had told him.
"Did the vultures have collars on?"
"...yeah, they did. Of course, you probably think we put it on them ourselves, considering we're moles."
"It's not like he would tell us if he did." Superboy's voice spoke up, causing Kaldur to wince as he walked through the jungle in the direction Shazam had gone off in pursuit of something.
"Con-Superboy, calm down." Wonder Girl's voice beckoned, and the others all began to bicker as he approached the clearing. He saw the raised, powered down pylons, and narrowed his eyes as he saw Shazam's communicator lying in the middle. He bent down to pick it up, examining it.
"-liar."
"Doesn't trust us…"
This was Shazam's earpiece, but no Shazam anywhere nearby. Kaldur looked around, seeing branches and foliage that looked like they'd been shoved aside by something large and heavy, and then spotted tracks that looked like something was being dragged…
"Some leader…"
"Enough!" In the entire time all of them had known Kaldur, he didn't really raise his voice a lot. He didn't bicker with anyone like Wally or Artemis did; he wasn't prone to tantrums like Superboy. He didn't engage in quips like Scarlet Spider. No, the Team's leader was stoic, calm, and reserved. So the fact that he was straight up yelling at them was enough to get everyone to shut up, even with how they felt about him right now. "Shazam has been kidnapped, presumably by the same intelligence that has enhanced these animals and shackled them with collars. Has anyone been able to raise Scarlet Spider on any frequency?"
"...no." Wally stated, this caused Aqualad to frown.
"It is not like him to not respond to hails like this. As such we can only assume that he has been captured." Aqualad bluntly stated. "Our chaperone and our friend are in the hands of the enemy. I understand that you all are upset with me, justifiably so, but I am still your leader. After this mission, should you all vote so, I will gladly step down. But until that decision is made, you will follow my orders in the field. Are we clear?" This was how Batman and Captain America did it. They didn't wait for everyone to stop talking, they didn't wait to be listened to. They spoke, and everyone else had to listen. And when Kaldur heard nothing but silence, he assumed the message was clear.
"Rendezvous at my location. We must plan."
Elsewhere
"Ugh…" Scarlet Spider groaned out as his eyes fluttered open, being met with a purple light in his face. "What the…?"
"Good. You're awake." A voice spoke, Carter tried turning his head to the direction it came from. However, he couldn't quite move his body, as his neck was in a collar and his arms and legs were bound to the table. "I wouldn't bother trying to escape. That collar is impairing your motor functions, and even if you did manage to coordinate your body, the restraints are made of pure titanium. You don't have enough coordination to free yourself." The cold, calculated voice stated, Carter sighed.
"Look, this isn't the first time I've woken up strapped to a table. Can we just skip to the point and you start sawing me in half with a laser or something?" The Spider taunted, the man simply scoffed.
"You've seen too many spy movies, Mr. Alenko." The voice taunted, and Carter's green eyes went wide as saucers as the man paced around him.
"How do you…?"
"Know who you are? I've been monitoring you for a while now, my dear Scarlet Spider." The voice stated, the tan tee grunted as he struggled against the bonds, causing the voice to sigh. "Let it be noted that the subject shows little pattern recognition. A side effect, or simply the stubbornness of today's modern youth?"
"I'll show you pattern recognition…" Carter grunted out, but unfortunately, his body didn't seem to want to respond.
"Calm down. I have no interest in petty personal vendettas against you or your siblings. I simply wish to observe you." The voice stated, Carter was made aware of something moving just outside his peripheral.
"Well, I'd probably feel better if I knew who you were…" Scarlet Spider grunted out, and the pacing stopped. The figure stepped out of the shadow, revealing a man dressed in a full body suit that reminded Carter vaguely of his and Peter's own suits. It was navy blue from the chest down, with pale white armor plating with a circle in the chest. The outline of the circle and the edge of the armored bits had glowing red lines, and the way the lines decorated the chest reminded Carter vaguely of an octopus. The sinking feeling in Carter's stomach grew as he took note of the ghostly white full head mask, eerily similar to his own, with red lenses that leered over him. As the man leered over him, Carter was made aware of the metallic tentacles slithering behind his back.
"You may address me as-"
"Doctor Octopus?!" Carter blurted out. "But… but you're dead!" He stated, causing the man to sigh.
"You refer to my predecessor, Otto Octavius." The newly identified Doctor Octopus stated, one of the tentacles hovering over Carter's face. "A brilliant man in his own right, one whose work served as the foundation for my own work. However, he was a man crippled by his own ego, forever chasing some sense of validation and satisfaction." That checked out with what Peter had told him about Otto Octavius. Carter had grown up seeing Doctor Octopus's grandiose schemes on the news, watching as his master plans were foiled by Spider-Man and the other heroes.
But this clearly wasn't Otto Octavius. For starters, the man in front of Carter was about six and a half feet tall, as opposed to the five foot nine, portly stature of Otto Octavius. Of course, there was always the option of Otto getting on an experimental exercise regimen, but there was one other thing hindering that theory: Otto Octavius had been dead for four years. Carter didn't know the full story, as Peter didn't like talking about that period, but apparently Octavius had crossed a homicidal vigilante known only as Kaine, who had snapped his neck.
"Uh, nice to meet ya, Doc Ock…" Carter muttered, as the new Doctor Octopus seemed to be… inspecting him, examining his wrists. He removed Carter's glove, examining an area on his wrist.
"No web shooters, meaning organic webbing. Tell me, how much webbing are you capable of producing in a 24 hour period before you become fatigued?"
"Oh yeah, I totally keep track of all that on my phone. If you want to check it, the password is 'piss off creepy tentacle man.'" The young man responded, the Doctor simply clicked his tongue.
"I see you share your mentor's insolence. I suppose that is to be expected…" One of Doc Ock's back mounted tentacles reached over Carter onto the pan next to him, grabbing a syringe in the mechanical fingers.
"Oh, I already had my flu shot this year there's no need to-OW!" Carter yelped as the needle pierced his skin, beginning to fill with Carter's blood. Once it was filled, Doc Ock held it up in front of him, examining the contents in the purple light.
"This shall prove most useful… Grodd." He ordered, there was an animalistic grunting as the large gorilla stepped out of the shadows. "Is Shazam secured?"
"Hrn." The gorilla, now identified as Grodd, grunted out, seeming to nod.
"Excellent. Finish the preparations while I secure this." Doctor Octopus ordered, Carter was able to turn and look at the gorilla. "Grodd is an impressive specimen, is he not? I count him among my finest work."
"And your finest work includes roided up animals?"
"Oh, if you see Grodd and think of him as a mindless brute, you are even more narrow minded than I thought. No, even before the augmentations, Grodd was… smarter than the rest of his pack. More clever, more aware. And as the experiments began, I began to realize just how special he was."
"Yeah, I'm going to just stop you right there. If you're going to keep talking about your pet monkey, can you just kill me already?" Carter mocked, earning a scoff.
"He is a gorilla, you ignoramus. And I don't need to tell you about his latent genetic gifts when you experienced them first hand." The Doctor retorted.
"Yeah yeah, you made a telepathic gorilla. Let me clap for you. Oh, wait, I can't." Scarlet Spider spat out, when his brow furrowed at something Ock had just said. "Wait, 'preparations'? What the hell does that mean?" The bound arachnid asked, the masked man simply turned back to him.
"The Doctor must prepare for surgery."
Elsewhere
Twigs snapped under Artemis's boots as she followed Aqualad to another clearing. The difference was that there was some sort of building structure in the middle. They had all met up with Aqualad, who followed the tracks to said building. The others were all flanking the building, with Wonder Girl discreetly flying around the perimeter, landing next to Superboy. "I don't see any guards." She announced over their commlink, and Superboy looked around with his infrared vision.
"I'm not seeing any either. No animals, but I can't see inside that building either."
"That's probably because of the dome." Kid Flash whispered from his spot next to Batgirl, examining the building with his goggles and seeing a dome that would be invisible to the naked eye, originating from pylons that surrounded the entire building. "Looks like it's based on Stark tech. If I had to guess, it's some kind of force field surrounding the entire building."
"Can we smash it?" Superboy asked, cracking his knuckles.
"That's a negative. Stark Tech force fields redistributes kinetic energy on impact, minimizing the damage."
"Is there any way we can get through?" Artemis asked, and Kid Flash frowned as he thought for a moment.
"White Wolf could use his vibranium to disrupt the energy frequencies, but we still can't reach him…" That was true enough. When they'd gotten separated, Artemis hadn't been too worried, but now it had been almost an hour since they'd heard from their royal teammate, and they were all starting to get worried. She had to put that out of her mind, however, as her eyes fixated on a certain part of the building.
"I can see a fuse box. If you get me a hole, I can hit it." She stated, Kid Flash thought for a second.
"A good shock could disrupt a small part of the field long enough for her to get a shot… Aqualad, can you do that?" Wally almost threw in a barb about Kaldur's secret keeping, but he bit his tongue for now. Shazam and Carter were in trouble, and taking pot shots at Kaldur wasn't going to help.
"I can. Artemis, be prepared." And with that, Aqualad ventured forward, approaching the pylons. He cast a look back at Artemis, who simply nodded as she prepared an arrow. Aqualad took a deep breath, and activated his tattoos. The energy field crackled, and the Atlantean grunted as he began digging his fingers into the dome and pulling it apart, causing a hole to form. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he pulled it apart, and his effort paid off as Artemis was given the opportunity she needed and let her arrow fly, allowing it to hit the junction box and explode in a flash of sparks, shutting off the pylons.
Inside the building, Doctor Octopus held up what appeared to have once been a cranial drill, the tip having been destroyed. Sighing, he tossed it onto a tray along with the other broken surgical tool, causing Shazam, who was bound in an identical manner to Carter, to smirk.
"Aw, what's wrong? Having a little trouble?" Shazam taunted, Doc Ock clenched his fist.
"All science requires trial and error, you oaf. It is simply a matter of finding the right instruments." He stated, using his tentacles to pick up an electric saw. "There has been much debate among the neurological community as to the effect of the Wisdom of Solomon on a human brain. Trust me, those secrets shall be-" Before Doc Ock could finish his monologue, the lights went out as the junction box exploded outside, only for the emergency power to trigger red lights. "They're here… Grodd!"
"Hrn?" Grodd stepped out of the shadows, the Doctor turned to him.
"Keep them busy. I have matters that must be attended to!" The gorilla sneered, standing in one place for a moment, the Doctor met Grodd's glare. "Now!" The Gorilla sneered as it stormed off.
Outside, the others watched as the doors opened, their eyes all widening as Grodd stepped out, rising to his full height.
"Holy King Kong, Batman…" Wonder Girl gasped out.
"Guess we figured out what messed up Mayor Hill…" Kid Flash observed, as Superboy just scowled.
"I hate monkeys…" He growled out and prepared to rush the large animal…
When Grodd let out a roar, echoing throughout the jungle. Not long after, branches and trees were shoved to the side as several large monkeys leapt out of the jungle, leaping on top of the building and howling at the heroes.
"God, I had a nightmare like this the first time I watched Planet of the Apes…" Artemis muttered, preparing her bow as Aqualad drew his waterbearers.
"Remember, destroy the collars!" And with that, the Team leapt forward into battle with Grodd and the monkeys.
Back inside the building, Carter was struggling against the shackles. Normally, Scarlet Spider didn't pay too much heed to any kinds of shackles binding him-after all, both him and Peter were capable of lifting several thousand pounds-but the collar around his neck was making it difficult to exert any kind of fine muscle control. Wait, the collar…
"Oh this is going to suck…" He'd never done anything like this before. While he shared his mentor's ability to do whatever a spider could, Carter Alenko differed from Peter Parker in two distinct ways. Way one: the ability to produce organic webbing. The webbing he produced was not too different from the synthetic webbing Peter made, though Carter did have to make sure he ate plenty of starches to make sure his body maintained the necessary ingredients to make the webbing.
And then… There was example two, the ability to generate a bioelectric shock that essentially turned him into a human taser. The shock wasn't quite as powerful as the electricity generated by Aqualad's tattoos, but they were powerful enough to generate blowback that shocked Carter as well as his targets. Hence why he didn't use it as his primary weapon. But with the collar rendering him immobile… well, he'd had crazier ideas, he guessed.
Carter closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and concentrating. Before too long, he winced as his neck sparked with red energy. While he was getting it with his limbs, could only maintain it for about five seconds when it came to the rest of his body, but that five seconds was all it took, as the collar sparked before the red light shut off. He grinned as his control over his extremities was restored, and grunted as he strained against the cuffs. The metal creaked and groaned, and soon they burst off the table as Carter was freed. It was time for some payback…
In the room, Shazam watched as Doctor Octopus feverishly typed on his computer, muttering to himself as he did so. "On site backups up to date… wiping local copies…" The supervillain muttered, using his tentacles to grab papers and examine them. "Hrm. I wanted to finish my examination on the avians…"
As the supervillain muttered to himself, Shazam was able to turn his head to see the tiger staring at him. "Hey! You don't have to be scared of the creepy tentacle guy!" Shazam whispered, only to sigh. Talking to an animal, a wild one at that, seemed like something Darla would try, but it was the only idea he had. And it seemed fruitless, as the tiger simply sat there and stared at him, but to Shazam, it seemed as if the tiger seemed to be… thinking.
Outside the building, Superboy decked Grodd in the jaw, only for the massive simian to grab him by the torso and toss him into Wonder Girl. Wonder Girl dodged around the Kryptonian and rushed the telepathic gorilla, flying at top speed to deliver a punch, but winced as she felt a high pitched ringing in her head. Grodd's telepathic disorientation paid out as he punched her to the ground, roaring as he prepared to punch her again…
"Get away from her you damn dirty ape!" Kid Flash declared, rushing Grodd at high speed. He slammed into the gorilla at full speed, hoping to use his momentum to knock over Grodd, but it had no use. Instead, Grodd caught Wally's arm and lifted him up, preparing to slam him like a ragdoll…
When an explosive arrow hit him in the face, disorienting him and causing him to drop the speedster. Artemis began firing more arrows at him, and while they didn't break the Hydra-Venom enhancile's skin, it did drive him back, allowing Artemis to help Wally up.
"Thanks for the save."
"If anyone's using you as a pincushion, it's going to be me." Artemis dryly retorted, this allowed Grodd a moment to recover. However, before he could two batarangs flew at him and exploded, disorienting him more and allowing Aqualad to hit him with his waterhammers.
Inside the building, Doctor Octopus was using his tentacles to rip his harddrives out of the wall, crushing them with his tentacles. "Uh, isn't that a little overkill?" Shazam asked, the Doctor turned to glare at the bound man.
"And risk leaving a trail of breadcrumbs? I am not like that cackling loud mouth Sivanna." The Doctor responded, pressing a few buttons on his gauntlet. "Excellent, my craft is intact. I just need to-"
Before he could finish his muttering, the wall exploded as Grodd was tossed through it, his tentacles grabbing the enhanced gorilla, the momentum pushing both of them back. Doctor Octopus looked up in time to see the Team entering the hole, Kid Flash's eyes widening as he saw the mastermind. "Doctor Octopus?! He's looking pretty spry for a dead guy…" He remarked, Batgirl looked at Aqualad.
"Bad man?" She asked, the leader nodded.
"It appears so." With that, Batgirl looked over at the new Doc Ock as he set Grodd aside, feeling her eyes narrow under her mask.
"Good." Doctor Octopus looked around, seeing the heroes all closing in on him. Any other villain would probably be terrified out of their mind, and Doctor Octopus would probably be just like them…
Were he not superior.
Once they moved further into the room, one of Doc Ock's tentacles grabbed a small device that had gotten knocked onto the floor and placed it in his hands. He pressed a green button, and just as Superboy made to rush him, pylons emerged from the floor. They powered up and emitted a green field, and the Team all felt their legs turn to jelly beneath them. Superboy tried to stand, but he was the last to join the others on the floor.
"Hmph. Idiots…" The pylons had been installed in case any of the Hydra-Venom experiments got out of hand, but between his planning and Grodd's telepathic abilities, Doctor Octopus had little need to employ them. Still, it always paid to be prepared.
As the Team struggled to move, the supervillain turned to Grodd. "Kill them. I must finish making my preparations and-"
"And there's my cue."
Thwip!
Before the supervillain could talk any further, a line of webbing emerged from the shadows and yanked the remote from Doc Ock's hand and into Scarlet Spider's hand. "Now, I'm not an evil scientist or anything, but I'm guessing if I press this…" The arachnid pressed a red button on the remote, and the pylons powered down. Doctor Octopus and Grodd watched as the heroes got to their feet, and Grodd prepared to unleash a psionic blast to disorient them…
When the other wall exploded. The sound of snarling was heard, and the others looked to see White Wolf emerging from the hole, flanked by the wolves that were now freed of their collars. The large, white pack leader was right beside him, and the White Wolf bared his claws. Aqualad took advantage of the distraction to grab Shazam's collar and remove it, allowing the superhero to get up.
"There, that's more like it…" He smiled, cracking his knuckles and glaring at Doctor Octopus. If the Doctor's odds were bad before, they were even worse now, and he wasn't an idiot. Anyone else would probably stand and fight, but not him.
"Grodd, now!" He ordered, and the gorilla sneered. Everyone winced as a psionic blast hit them, disorienting enough for their vision to all tunnel. When their vision came back, Doctor Octopus and Grodd were long gone, without a trace…
Later
Shazam ripped off the collar of the tiger, smiling at it. "I think I'll name you… Tawny." The tiger growled, seemingly in appreciation, before going off into the jungle. "Man, Darla's going to be so jealous…"
Just behind him, Artemis shuddered as a large spider came out of the jungle, reaching for her arrows. "And I thought regular spiders were bad enough…"
"I'll try not to take that too personally." Scarlet Spider quipped as he approached the enhanced arachnid, reaching over and ripping the collar apart. "There you go. No hard feelings, ok?" If the giant spider understood him, he gave no indication, skittering off back into the shadow. Carter was about to set the destroyed collar on the ground, when Wally took it from him.
"One word: souvenir."
"Two words: spider germs." Artemis retorted, causing Wally to wince.
"Gross…"
Meanwhile, Batgirl used her batarangs to pry off the collar of a monkey, who retreated off into the jungle with the others. At the same time, White Wolf sliced the collar off of a vulture allowing it to fly off into the sky. "That is the last one." He stated, when he heard an animal snort.
He turned around to see the wolves' pack leader sitting there, it's yellow eyes gazing at him. "You and your pack are free now. No one will hurt you again." As the Wakandan Prince began walking towards the bioship, the pack leader made to follow him. "What in Bast's name..?
"Dude, I think it likes you." Wonder Girl commented, earning a scoff from Superboy.
"An actual white wolf likes White Wolf? A little on the nose, isn't it?" The kryptonian observed, as White Wolf knelt down to eye level as he removed his helmet.
"You wish to stay with me?" He asked, and the animal seemed to nod. He smiled, holding his hand out to the wolf. He sniffed T'zari's hand, before the Wakandan scratched the animal's head. "Very well then. Welcome aboard."
"He'll need a name, won't he?" Kid Flash observed, and the others all thought.
"Wolf?" Superboy suggested, earning a snort from T'zari.
"From the one who named our alien sphere 'Sphere? I think I can do a little better than that." T'zari stated, and he tapped his chin as he thought. "You were the leader of your pack, the one they looked to for leadership and guidance. I believe I shall name you… 'Alpha.'" The newly dubbed Alpha seemed to like that, as he headed towards the ship.
"So in the past week, we've gotten a demigod, some sort of Batninja, and now an honest to god wolf? Can things get any crazier?" The group's archer asked, earning a shrug from the speedster.
"If there's one thing I've learned doing this, it's that things can always get crazier…" He observed, as Superboy went up to Kaldur.
"We need to talk." Superboy stated, Aqualad looked over his teammates. As soon as Superboy spoke, they all looked at him, ready to hear what he had to say.
"We will. At the cave. I want everyone to hear what I have to say."
Mount Justice, 15:45 EST
Francis, Nolan, Laura, M'gann, and Jason watched as the hangar opened up to allow the Bioship access, the craft landing in the hangar. The hatch opened up, and looks of confusion spread on their faces as the first one out was Alpha, followed by T'zari. "That's a uh… interesting souvenir you guys got there." Nolan observed,and T'zari patted the wolf on his head.
"Meet Alpha. He'll be staying here at the cave with us."
"Hey, as long you clean up after it, be my guest." Laura observed, as Sphere rolled up to Alpha. The white wolf sniffed the alien technology, which seemed to chirp in appreciation. Soon, the away team had all stepped out of the bioship, and Shazam leaned close to Kaldur .
"Good luck." And with that, Shazam went off into another area of the Cave, leaving Kaldur alone with the Team, all of them looking at him.
"I imagine you all have plenty to say to me, about how I acted. Please, speak your minds."
"Look, Kaldur, at the end of the day, we only have one question: why did you keep the mole thing a secret?" Francis asked.
"As many of you know, several weeks ago, I assisted Red Arrow in defending Lex Luthor from Baron Zemo and Ra's Al Ghul at the Taipei peace summit. It was there that I learned of the possibility of a mole… from Sportsmaster." As soon as he said the villain's name, Artemis's eyes went wide as saucers.
"You can't trust him! He's a lying, manipulative nutjob!" She protested, only to catch herself. "At least, that's what Green Arrow's told me."
"I don't trust Sportsmaster. It seemed possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide the Team with false information."
"Which, given how we've all acted today, almost succeeded." Wally noted, earning a nod from Kaldur. "So… why didn't you say anything?"
"Because he didn't want to believe it, but he had to consider it." Carter spoke up, earning a nod from the Atlantean.
"I didn't want to consider it. But the more I thought on it, the more things stood out. Things that served to undermine my confidence in each and every one of you. And if Sportsmaster was telling the truth, I did not wish to alert the mole that their cover was blown."
"And you didn't tell Batman and Cap because…?" M'gann asked.
"Because I didn't want to believe it. You are my teammates, my comrades, my friends, my family. To even consider that one of you had betrayed us… it made me sick to my stomach. I wished to be absolutely certain before I said anything."
"So… you never lost faith in us." Connor spoke up, scratching the back of his head. "I'm… sorry about how I acted today."
"If anything, I am the one who should be apologizing. Trust goes both ways. You all placed your trust in me as a leader, and I was unable to return that same kind of trust." Kaldur finished, and he took a deep breath. "Should you all wish for me to step down, I will gladly do so." He stated, he swore he could hear his heart hammering in his ears as the others all exchanged a look.
"Let's put it to a vote. All in favor of Aqualad staying in charge, raise your hand." Francis spoke up, and every hand in the room went up. "So, it's settled then."
"Do you think Red Tornado is the mole?" Laura spoke up, causing them all to frown.
"I don't think so." Nolan stated, crossing his arms. "He seemed as surprised as we were to see his siblings yesterday, and I don't think he's capable of lying."
"So you think he was, what, reprogrammed?" Jason asked, and Nolan frowned.
"It's possible…"
"In any event, I don't think there is a mole." Kaldur stated. "You all have my complete trust. Any information Sportsmaster had can be attributed to coincidence and word of mouth."
"And I'm content to let that be the end of it." Francis stated. "Though if the bad guys are starting to notice and talk about us… we need to start stepping our game up."
"We'll be ready for any challenges that we may face. Should our enemies be prepared for us… we will face them together."
Epilogue One
Fawcett City, 22:16 EST
Shazam yawned as he flew over Fawcett City, rubbing his eyes. Working with the Team had been fun and all, but the part where they flew halfway around the world wasn't. Not to mention getting captured by a new Doctor Octopus, a telepathic Gorilla, and then flying all the way back to Rhode Island. Though the low point of his day had to have been his 'debriefing' by Batman and Captain America, who had asked him every question they could think of about said new Doctor Octopus and the Hydra-Venom experiments.
After the hours that had taken, he was ready to call it a day, touching down in the backyard of a two story house. Shazam crept through the yard, quietly opening the back door and entering the living room. He just had to get a little further, up the stairs…
"So, long day?" He winced as the light clicked on, revealing a woman sitting in a recliner.
"Hey, Rosa!" He awkwardly greeted, standing up straight. "What uh, what are you still doing up?"
"Waiting on you. I thought we agreed that you'd be home by ten?" Rosa asked, and Shazam grimaced.
"Oh, you know how it is. Ended up with monitor duty, and Iron Man was supposed to relieve me…but ran late." One of the conditions for Shazam being the team's temporary 'den mother' was that he kept the Team's existence a secret, and he wasn't one to piss off Batman by blabbing secrets.
"So billionaire Tony Stark can't keep track of time? He of all people should understand the it's value."
"Well, you know how it is. Always some wanna be supervillain trying to make a name for themselves, so we have to stop it." He excused, getting Rosa sighed.
"Look, you know the deal. As long as you keep your grades up, we'll let you do this whole Justice League thing."
"I know, I know…" Shazam yawned out. "Look, can we pick this up tomorrow? I'm pretty wiped…"
"Fine. Just know you're on dish duty!" Rosa scolded, Shazam gave thumbs up.
"You've got it, boss!" He agreed, and prepared to head up the stairs… when Rosa cleared her throat.
"Forgetting something?" Rosa asked, and Shazam facepalmed as he looked at the symbol on his chest.
"Right, my bad." He apologized, stepped back outside, and cleared his throat. "Shazam!" Despite it being a cloudless night, lightning came down and struck Shazam. A thirteen year old boy in a red jacket and yellow shirt stepped out of the smoke, yawning.
"Night, Rosa…" Billy Batson said, heading up to get a good night's rest…
Epilogue Two
New York City, 01:52 EST
In an abandoned warehouse in New York Harbor, one that had once been used as a fishing warehouse, a highly advanced submersible craft emerged from the water. The cockpit opened, and out stepped Doctor Octopus. The warehouse was illuminated in eerie green light, and the diamond-shaped pack connecting the tentacles separated from his back and walked itself over to a charging station. Doc Ock went over to a computer bank, as seven screens began displaying the silhouettes of the Light.
"Well?" L-1 asked, Doc Ock folded his fingers in front of him.
"The children showed up earlier than anticipated, and I was forced to abandon my experiments. However, I was able to destroy any evidence that might indicate our plans."
"And what of the results?" L-2 asked.
"The experiments proved successful. The Hydra-Venom consistently bonded to the subjects across a diverse range of species, exactly as predicted. I believe we are ready to begin preparations for Phase 2."
Epilogue 3: India
Grodd grunted as he moved his way through the jungle. After he had temporarily blinded the Team, he had escorted Doctor Octopus away to a craft he had stashed away. However, there wasn't 'enough room' for Grodd to fit in the craft, and so Doctor Octopus had left his creation behind in India to fend for himself.
Grodd didn't care. He was used to being alone. Even before Doctor Octopus had enhanced him with the Hydra-Venom, Grodd was smarter than the average gorilla. While the other members of his pack ate ticks off one another and lived in their own waste, Grodd was observing the humans that came to hunt the other animals of the jungle. His fascination with the humans had earned him nothing but ridicule from his pack, essentially becoming a pariah. He would never attract a mate, never father children, but Grodd could care less. He had grander ambitions.
Ambitions that required him to act like a slave, in servitude to the mysterious Doctor Octopus. When Grodd's telepathic abilities had first manifested, he saw inside Doctor Octopus's mind. He saw the Light, saw their plans, saw what they wanted… and he saw what would happen to them if Doctor Octopus was aware of his true telepathic abilities. And so began his grand act, how he feigned solitude and loyalty to the doctor. Grodd had pretended that his telepathic abilities were basic and rudimentary, used to tear minds apart and reduce them to vegetables. The Team had surprisingly decent telepathic shields-judging from the surface thoughts he could pick up, they counted a telepath among their number-which is why he couldn't simply blast them to brain dead vegetables. Not that he could have focused, what with the fight that soon broke out.
But in the excitement and the chaos, he had managed to look into the mind of a late arrival. Inside the man known only as the White Wolf. And what Grodd had seen… the golden city, hidden from the eyes of the outside world. How they had accomplished things that were only dreams for the outside world, how they maintained a strict code of honor that kept them in check.
Wakanda… the country hidden from the world, it's exact location unknown. But Grodd now knew where it was. He didn't care how long it would take him-days, weeks, months-but Wakanda would be his… and the humans that he was so fascinated with would all kneel before Grodd.
Epilogue 4: Happy Harbor, 02:16 EST
Kaldur leapt out of the water and onto the beach, hearing the waves crash behind him. After everything that had happened that day, one would have thought that Kaldur was more than ready to embrace a blissful slumber. However, sleep eluded the Atlantean, as there were still things eating at him.
First was Nolan's new girlfriend (a unique phrase in and of itself), who had apparently been acting as some sort of Guardian Angel for the Team ever since Cadmus. When Nolan had told him that she had been a sort of stowaway for their missions, Kaldur had thought that perhaps Sportsmaster was telling the truth, but after talking with Rhianna, he felt that she was nothing to worry about. After all, if she was some sort of spy, the Cave would have been attacked by more than Red Tornado's long lost siblings.
Then there were the Hydra-Venom experiments. Before the Reds attacked, he told Red Tornado that he believed there was a sizable criminal conspiracy afoot, and the presence of Hydra-Venom in India confirmed that. Who could be behind this…?
"Can't sleep?" A new voice spoke, rousing the Atlantean from his thoughts, and Kaldur spun around. There was a figure in the shadows of the beach, one who Kaldur didn't recognize. He tensed for a fight, his tattoos beginning to glow… "Calm down. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk."
"Step into the light where I can see you." Kaldur ordered, and the figure sighed.
"If you insist…"
What stepped out of the shadows was an african-american man in his late 50's, with a goatee and a bald head, wearing a long black coat over a dark blue jumpsuit. However, what caused Kaldur to narrow his eyes was not his appearance, but rather the eyepatch over his left eye.
"Nick Fury."
"In the flesh. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Aqualad." SHIELD Director Nicholas J. Fury greeted, his coat flapping in the cool ocean breeze.
"What are you doing here?" Kaldur asked, and Fury narrowed his eye.
"It's past time you and I had a conversation."
A/N: And thus, that is another chapter in the bag. Romances bloom, enemies regroup, and new enemies rise. We're all playing the long game here, so we hope you'll come back next time as we tackle an episode you all have been waiting for for a while. That's right: next time, we're going into Belle Reve in...TERRORS.
