The sight that befell the young witch when she emerged from the hole, was something that made her eyes blow wide. The tight space in the hallway below them had done Desmond no justice to his true size, but as she watched him toss Superboy aside like a ragdoll, it quickly began to dawn on her. The three teens who had been standing just a little further aways were caught off guard by the clone thrown at them and Aqualad, who had the misfortune of being in the way, was swept from his feet as the two collided. Raven floated further towards the cathedral-shaped ceiling as the quartet of boys hauled each other to their feet and stared down the behemoth with hungry eyes.
For a moment, silence reigned as the two sides stared each other down, neither daring to move—nor even breathe—least they find themselves unprepared. And then with a twitch of fingers and the rumble of a growl, the two sides clashed. Kid Flash sped ahead, intending to use himself as a weight that would trip the behemoth up. Sliding underfoot, the speedster swept the doctor from his feet and propped himself up just behind him. In the same breath, Aqualad & Superboy went high to Kid Flash's low, sharing in the punch that would knock him to the ground once more.
"Learnt that one in kindergarten" Kid Flash smirked, snubbing his nose at Desmond who snarled at the speedster as he toppled over him. Robin, who had lain in wait this whole time, sprung forth and using Kid Flash as a prop, skillfully tossed a handful of batarangs towards the downed doctor; though these were easily knocked aside much to his chagrin. After that, things quickly turned into an all-out brawl with the boys tag-teaming together in a sort-of/not-quite-there team-like manner. Which left Raven on the sidelines.
Unable to get a clean shot in, the witch resorted to hailing the Justice League as they had planned to do earlier. Now clear of Cadmus' sub-levels that deadened all means of communication with the outside world, she knew it would be easier to put out the call. Hopefully, this time someone would hear it and answer. Folding into a seated position just above the doorway, Raven closed her eyes as her finger crooked themselves into devil horns and rested upon each knee. She took a deep breath to settle her mind—to separate it from the commotion going on around her—and began.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos, Carazon Rakashas Enderez" Raven felt her demonic power flow free as she recited the full incantation used in Azarath prayer. "Vaserix Zendrien Azarath, Azarath, Azarath, Azarath!" Four crimson eyes bled into the world, casting her vision in red. Her shadow, which had previously lain prone on the ground, sprung to life at her call, shaping itself into the familiar four-eyed raven and surged upwards, just barely grazing Robin's cape as it did so. Through the eyes of her shadow bird, she was able to easier search for the ones she was looking for.
Robin bit back a curse as he narrowly escaped Raven's avian shadow when it surged up towards the sky, likely searching for a way to contact the Justice League. Sat just above the doorway as she was, the young witch looked right at home in the cathedral-like foyer; almost as if she were sat upon an altar. Four crimson eyes stared unblinkingly out from beneath her hood, glowing eerily in the dimly-lit room. He was always a little weirded out by the display; magic was cool and all, but the satanic stuff made his hair stand on end.
BOOM!
The boy wonder shook himself free of his thoughts as he turned back to the task at hand just in time to see Aqualad get shoved up against one of the many pillars that lined the room. It was clear by this point that the doctor had lost all sense of direction & thought, even as he slammed the atlantean up against the pillar with enough force to crack the foundations and send rubble crumbling from the mezzanine.
"Of course!" Robin exclaimed as realisation hit. Mindful of the witch at his back, Robin pulled up the schematics for the room, paying extra attention to the pillars they needed to take out. "KF! Get over here!"
"What is it?" Kid Flash greeted, barely dodging the wayward kryptonian as he tried to pry Desmond off of Aqualad.
"Take a look at this!" Robin shoved the holograph in his friend's face. The one which showed him five of the six pillars and where they needed to be hit to incite the most structural damage. "Got it?"
"Got it!" Kid Flash nodded.
"Go!"
At his order, the speedster spun on his heel and raced back over to the brawl, where Aqualad now lay slumped against the base of the pillar and Superboy was being lifted over Desmond's head like he was a weightlifter. Kid Flash didn't stop to think as he leapt in and grabbed the closest thing he could get his hands on; that thing turned out to be a slab of flesh which had once held the doctor's nose. He felt his stomach curdle and tried not to gag.
"Gotcha nose!" Kid Flash taunted, waving the flesh about. As they had hoped, the taunt worked to anger the animalistic doctor, who quickly dropped Superboy in favour of chasing after the speedster.
"Superboy! Aqualad!" Robin called out to the two, showing them the holograph of the pillars that needed to be hit.
"Come & get me, you incredible bulk!" Kid Flash taunted, standing in front of his allocated pillar. Adrenaline pooled in his veins as he waited until the last second to move, allowing Desmond to punch clean through the concrete at his back. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the doctor's power and a chunk of concrete connected with his back, sending him to the floor with a pained grunt not too far from where Raven hung.
"This one and that one!" Robin pointed to the kryptonian & atlantean's pillars, leaving the last one for himself. With kryptonian strength and atlantean magic, both Superboy & Aqualad were able to destroy their pillars, leaving Robin to embed his with explosives.
"Too close! Way too close!" Kid Flash murmured to himself as he rolled out of the way of a meaty fist that was aimed at his head, and climbed to his feet. Now he had the task of playing keep away until they could get out of there. "Sorry! Try again!"
With Kid Flash keeping Desmond busy in much the same manner you'd play fetch with a dog, the rest of the sidekicks were able to set up the next phase of the plan. A hasty 'X' was etched into the floors, giving a good guide for the atlantean who flooded the area with water. Following that, Kid Flash slid across the ground, using the puddle like a waterslide as he spread it out across the marked spot. It was easy enough to draw the doctor in with the live bait, and sure enough as he charged for the speedster, he was met instead with an angered kryptonian. The growl sounded deep in his throat and a white-knuckled fist was already aimed for Desmond's crown, making the sound of the two meeting rather satisfying to hear.
As large as he was, Desmond floundered for a moment or two as he tried to right himself, and that was all the time that Aqualad needed. Sheathing his weapons, the atlantean turned instead to his magic. The tattoos which enveloped both of his arms glowed a brilliant cobalt as they danced with electricity. Desmond didn't even get the chance to blink before Aqualad slammed his hands against the floor, drenching them in water and watched with a sick sense of satisfaction as the electricity leapt across the puddle and enveloped the doctor. A pained roar was ripped from Desmond's lips, but even being electrocuted as he was, the behemoth still did not fall.
"MOVE!" Robin called out, dragging the atlantean backwards as he detonated the explosives he had stuck up around the place. Across from them, Kid Flash did the same with Superboy and the four boys converged on the young witch at the back of the room. Disembarking from her invisible perch, the witch greeted them with open ups as she directed her shadow to return and return it did. But not to lay against the ground as Robin first thought, but instead to encircle all five of them in a barrier of darkness that protected them from the falling rubble.
The breath on the back of her neck felt warm and the limbs wrapped around her small frame, hugged her close. Cloak torn and body aching, Raven's crimson gaze bore into the darkness around her. The torn insignia which her nose was smushed up against told her that Robin was the one hugging her close with every inch of limb he had—even his legs lay strapped around the little avian. When she turned her head just so, she spotted a flash of golden pauldron next to Robin's ear, where Kid Flash had thrown himself across both birds, leaving his long limbs to lay askew whilst he shoved Robin's head downwards.
Cricking her neck the other way, found that the tattooed arms draped over her shoulders belonged to Aqualad who stood at her back, with his warm breath tickling at her neck and making her squirm in Robin's tight grip. Lastly, there was Superboy who appeared to be the only one still standing; likely due to the fact that he had thrown himself across all four of them in an attempt to shield them from the debris.
"Rae?" Robin croaked when he felt her move, head still buried in her indigo locks. She gave no verbal reply as she extracted her arms from the impromptu puppy pile, and with a grunt of effort, commanded the blackened bird to move. Her shadow screeched loud into the night as it crawled to the surface, and in turn, freed the sidekicks from their cramped space before falling away, leaving the sidekicks to fend for themselves. No sooner had the bird disappeared, did the boys quickly untangle themselves from the pile.
"We…did it!" Aqualad gasped as he stood, bathed in the moonlight.
"Was there…ever any doubt?" Robin replied in kind as Kid Flash helped him climb to his feet with a grin, before the two boys collapsed against nearby debris, clutching onto their aching ribs.
Yes. Thought Raven as she pulled herself up onto an outcropping of concrete, letting her aching feet swing clear above the ground with a wince and cringed at how sticky the thick layer of sweat had made her costume feel. It seemed that the emotional drain of their mission had taken far more out of her than she had first thought; at least more so than the physicality of it. Thank you, cambion physiology!
"See?" Kid Flash shuffled over to where Superboy stood in front of Desmond, after having regained some of his breath. Thankfully, it seemed that bringing down an entire building on top of the transformed doctor was enough to keep him in check. "The moon"
"Ah…!" Superboy breathed as he turned, his wide eyes staring up at the ivory rock with awe.
"Oh! And Superman! Do we keep our promises, or what?" Wide eyes bulged as the man of steel descended upon the quintet with a stern expression upon his face.
Oh, we are dead meat! Raven worried, those familiar butterflies whirling around in her stomach as the rest of the League soon joined them. Lining the rim of the newly-formed crater, all five children were levelled with unimpressed stares what would've cowered lesser men.
The silence was tense and heavy as Raven found the gazes of her mentor, Doctor Fate, and that of her friend, Billy Batson (aka. Captain Marvel). She didn't have to hear their scoldings, to know that she was in trouble. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the tense moment was broken by Superboy, who strode forward to awkwardly greet his donor. No words were shared as all eyes followed the boy, but when he revealed the symbol on his torn solar suit to be that of the hero, some questions needed to be answered.
"Is that what I think it is?" Batman inquired, coming to stand by Superman, whose expression had turned hard.
"He doesn't like being called an 'it" Kid Flash muttered off-handedly as Superboy's expression soured. The look of awe he had worn upon first seeing the kryptonian hero was quickly replaced with one of frustration that the young witch was quickly becoming used to.
"I'm Superman's clone!" Superboy spat out, hoping to get a reaction out of the hero other than disgust. But it was not to be.
"…Start talking" Batman demanded as shock rippled through the Justice League.
And so the night trudged on, Raven stood slightly cowed by Fate's lecture, whilst the Lanterns & the Hawks took Desmond off to prison. Which left the four sidekicks to watch & wait as their mentors discussed on what would happen to them; something which made the young witch twitch nervously. Though, as put out as Raven may have been, it was nowhere near what Superboy felt as Superman was all-but shoved in his direction by Martian Manhunter & Wonder Woman. And then when he did uncharacteristically stammer out an excuse, it was to lob his clone off on to the rest of the League before he fled. Awkward.
"Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels" Batman greeted as the four mentors finally returned to where their protégées had gathered. "But let's make one thing clear—"
"—You should've called sooner!" Interrupted Flash, concern flowing in his tone even under Batman's hundred-yard glare.
"End results aside, we are not happy" Batman turned back to the sidekicks, "You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again"
"I am sorry" Aqualad replied, squaring his shoulders "But we will"
"Aqualad" Aquaman warned, "Stand down"
"Apologies, my king, but no. We did good work here tonight—the work you trained us to do. Together—on our own—we forged something powerful, important"
"If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you—" Flash tried.
"—The five of us" Kid Flash cut him off. "And it's not"
"Batman we're ready to use what you taught us" Robin stepped forth. "Or why teach us at all?"
"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy snapped, striding forth to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his peers. "It's simple: get on board or get out of the way!"
"And you, Raven?" Fate quirked a brow at the witch who had yet to say anything.
"Well" Raven hummed, standing in solidarity with the boys "You did say you wanted me to get out more"
"Hm"
"…Give me three days" Batman acquiesced, before he stalked off, silently cursing the stubbornness of children.
"Three days isn't so long" Kid Flash smiled as he threw an arm around Robin's shoulders and tentative grins grew on all of their faces.
"Uh guys?" Raven's gaze alighted on Superboy who had fallen oddly quiet. It seemed, despite his appearance & mannerisms, the clone really was only a child at heart because he had fallen asleep standing up.
"Hey Supey!" The speedster called out to the kryptonian, waking him from his daze. "How 'bout you come home with me?"
And that was that.
