Chapter 16 Usual Suspects
It was almost new years eve, snow littered the ground, children carelessly plaid in the cold white snow. They built snowmen and had full blown snowball fights. In the hall of justice, the team gathered to watch the newest members, of the justice league get accepted into the group.
Plastic man, Atom, Icon, Dr Fate and Red Arrow. Wally wrapped an arm around Robin as they watched the screen.
"This is bull, I'm the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place, we should be out there too bot cooped up in here" Raquel crossed her arms and turned away from the screen. The team looked at their newest teammate an amused look on her face.
"Covert ops team remember?, wouldn't be covert if people knew about us" Artemis laid back in her chair stretching.
"I'm glad Captain Marvel was able to stay on the team even though he's only 10" Wally chuckled. The dark skinned girl turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
"He is?" She asked skeptically, Robin punched his arm roughly, the speedster winced and rubbed the area he struck.
"Nice going Kid Mouth" Dick shook his head. Wally glared at his boyfriend.
"What, she's on the team now, she can know certain things" Wally grumbled. Robin glanced at a saddened Zatanna, he patted her back. Raquel tapped Kaldur's shoulder. He turned to her wondering what she needed.
"Hey, so is everyone on this team dating?" she looked at Wally, who had his arm wrapped around Dick's waist. Zatanna sat down next to Artemis, who put a hand on her thigh and squeezed. Miss Martian was seated on Superboy's lap, he smiled as she pecked him on the lips.
"It would appear that way, with the exception of the two of us" Kaldur looked around at his friends. Raquel placed a hand on her hip, she smiled at the atlantean enjoying his presence. Wally's green eyes widened, he pointed to the screen enthusiastically. Green Arrow handed Red Arrow a league membership card.
"NICE ROY!" Robin cheered, Robin and Wally high fived one another. Kaldur wrapped an arm around both of them. A warm smile formed on his lips.
"He finally made it" Wally stated.
"Nobody can call him a sidekick anymore" Raquel raised an eyebrow at Kaldur's comment.
"And what's so bad about being a sidekick? You sidekicks were my inspiration" Raquel smiled at the three boys. The computer screen began to flash red and let out an alarming sound. A look of determination instantly covered the team's features. Raquel looked around confused, the tone shift was so sudden she couldn't grasp the gravity of the situation.
"What's going on?" she asked, the all stood and began walking towards the door.
"We will explain on the way, suit up and meet us at the bio ship" Kaldur instructed.
*Time skip/Bioship*
The Bioship soared through the blue skies, it suddenly began to blend into its surroundings. M'gann expertly navigated it through the sky from the captain chair. A holographic screen formed in the cockpit. It broadcasted an image of an asian woman, her black hair was pulled into a ponytail. She wore a black cap over her head, a sinister smirk on her face. A window opened next to her face showing Cheshire.
"Jade Nguyen that's Cheshire, was spotted boarding the plane in asheville with the briefcase" Robin explained to the rest of the team. Artemis's grey eyes widen, she turned to the boy wonder.
"Are you sure?" she asked glancing at the screen.
"You are, the only one who seen her, up close without her mask, is it her?" Robin asked the archer already knowing the answer. She let out a sigh turning away from the screen.
"That's Jade….Cheshire" Artemis quickly corrected herself as to not sound to personal.
"So what's so important about the briefcase anyway?" Raquel asked raising an eyebrow.
"It belongs to the same villains responsible for the injustice league do you remember them?" Wally asked her. A look of discomfort formed on her face, a shiver ran down her spine at the memory if the plant monsters.
"Yea and their army of giant plants, but why are we on this mission, isn't this league priority?" Raquel questioned her fellow teammates.
"You're new, we don't always follow the rules, our boy wonder has some mad hacking skills so we got the alert before the league" Zatanna praised her friend. Robin high fived her.
"That case represents our unfinished business" Kaldur said a stern look on his face. Raquel suddenly understood the urgency of the situation.
"We would've gotten it back, in New Orleans but someone blew it" Kid Flash glanced at Artemis, who in return glared daggers at him.
"We're approaching the plane" M'gann stated, her eyes widen seeing the crashed plane. It was smoking near the snow covered mountains. Silence filled the cockpit of the ship. Artemis closed her eyes, guilt filling her. If she had stopped Cheshire in New Orleans this wouldn't have happened. Miss Martian landed the ship, the hatch opened. One by one each team member crawled out and inspected the crash site.
Robin stared at the debris, he felt a mangled piece of metal, wiping the soot off it with his gloved fingers. Kid Flash looked around the debris field, he pulled on his goggles and turned them on. Except for the team, there were no heat signatures in sight.
"Where are the bodies?" Superboy asked. They all turned as Cheshire came out from behind a large piece of debris.
"Here's one, and it is stunning" she complimented herself. Artemis smiled seeing her sister was alive and well,turned seeing henchmen on different levels of the mountain. They held apocalyptic weaponry, the team formed closer together in a circular motion.
"I am flora not fauna,shrubbery not grass, I am foliage not trees what am I?" Robin looked up at The Riddler. Mammoth and Shimmer stood next to him a snarl on his face. The man in green snapped. Pilar like mechanisms burst from the snow covered rocks. The poles appeared to have, a solid base with a spring like middle and a spherical top.
"Come on you can get this I am shrubbery not grass what am I?" Riddler smiled at the team of young heros. The orbs began to glow, a green dome formed around the area trapping all of them in.
"Ambush" Robin growled, his hand slowly moved to his utility belt. Riddler laughed manically.
"Don't you think,we would have predicted that you were tracking Cheshire? Were tired of you interfering with our plans kiddies this is the end for you, ordered from above and executed by their master strategist me" Riddler ridiculed the young heros. Aqualad gripped his water bearers, a look of determination on his face.
"Miss Martian is everyone linked up?" Aqualad thought to himself.
"Yes" her voice echoed throughout the team's heads.
"Go" he commanded, Kid Flash ran at top speed ramming into one of the henchmen knocking them over. He took off again as red laser almost struck him, Miss Martian thrusted her hands forward, 5 of the henchmen went flying.
"How about some cover Z!" Robin calls out, he performed a backflip narrowly avoiding laser blast. The young teen threw three birdarangs at their guns, the small shurikens blew up the weapons.
"Ekahs siht ebolgwons" Zatanna chanted, a white circle of snow swirled around her, she thrusted her arms out, the snow became a blizzard inside of the dome. Aqualad swung his water bearer, water came from the top and formed into a mace before hardening. He smacked a henchmen with the mace and turned to Conner.
"Superboy" he called out the half kryptonian's name, the boy turned and saw Aqualad's eyes leading to the poles.
"Working on it" he thought to himself, Miss Martian flew up into the air, the intense wind blowing her cape and hair wildly. She telekinetically pulled the spears out of some enemies hands. Cheshire pulled out her swords and started slicing through the arrows shot at her by Artemis.
"Just like old times huh?, dad pinning us against each other" Cheshire laughed she aimed a kick at the blonde's head. She blocked it with her bow and thrusted it forward, Cheshire swiftly moved back and swung her sword, Artemis quickly blocked the weapon with her bow. A pink glow covered Raquel, she took off soaring through the sky. She roamed into henchmen knocking them off the mountain. Kid Flash ran until he was next to Robin, the two smirked at each other.
"Hey" Wally smiled, he sprinted to an incoming enemy knocking him down.
"Hey yourself" Robin smirked, he quickly evade a punch to the face. He chopped a enemy in the neck knocking him out cold. Henchmen surrounded the two young heros, they looked at each other and nodded.
Kid Flash grabbed Robin's hand and pulled him off the ground. He spun the caped hero, used the momentum from the spin to kick 3 enemies down. He landed on his feet, as Wally released his arm.
"Back in a flash" Wally pecked Robin's lips quickly and zoomed away at super speed. Superboy looked at the battle a grave look on his face. He pulled out his container with the shield patches Lex gave him. Memories of him using them, during the circus filled his mind how angry they made him. How tempting all that power is, how useless he feels knowing its only temporary.
"Last one, better make it count" He rolled up his sleeve placing the patch on his arm. A small red glow emitted from it, it slowly turned black as Conner's blue eyes widened. Raquel was floating in the area, she laughed seeing the henchmen drop. A red disc flew behind her and began to shoot her with severe bolts of electricity. She came crashing out of the sky. The girl let out a painfilled shriek,Kaldur turned to the noise a look of urgency covered his features.
"ROCKET!" Kaldur screamed, the black tattoos travelling down his arms began to glow blue. He grabbed the disc and used all his strength to pull it away from her. He channeled blue electricity into it to damage the disc, after neutralized threw the device away from them.
Superboy melted one of the poles with heat vision, he turned as Mammoth landed next to him.
Mammoth attacked Superboy, the boy of steel screamed. He grabbed punched him, the shock of the punch sent the man flying, Superboy quickly grabbed him and flew to the top of the dome.
"SB your flying!?" Robin stared in amazement, the white of his masked eyes widened. Superboy threw the mutated man into the top of the dome. This action caused Mammoth to be electrocuted. He threw the man, the boy of steel flew over the mutant and unleashed his heat vision into Mammoth's chest, the man let out a pain filled shriek. Superboy zoomed in and started punching Mammoth in the stomach at super speed. The vibration of the punches, caused the snow to slide down the mountain at a fast rate. Artemis eyes widen as she saw the snow rushing towards her.
"ARTEMIS!" Cheshire tackled her sister. The two narrowly avoided the avalanche. Artemis raised an eyebrow confused by the act of kindness.
"Okay fine, were sisters I don't actually want you dead" Cheshire stated before disappearing. Riddler and Shimmer gasped as two metal balls were thrown at them. Smoke burst from the objects, they covered their mouths and noses trying not to inhale. Bolas swung into the smoke tying up Shimmer, Robin leaped into the smoke punching her in the face. She slammed into the rock wall and toppled to the ground hard. Robin turned to the Riddler, he nervously backed up.
"Etativel" Zatanna began to float, she saw Robin and Riddler at the peek of the mountain.
"Tekcajtiarts" Zatanna chanted, a straightjacket formed over Riddler's torso.
"NO I AM NOT THE STRAIGHTJACKET TYPE I AM STRICTLY BELLE REVE NOT ARKHAM!" he struggled in his restraints, Zatanna rolled her blue eyes, her black hair flowed.
"Gag mih" She said her voice echoing, white cloth formed around his mouth. Zatanna landed, Rocket landed next to her pink glow fading.
"Is it always like this?" she asked enthusiastically.
"Yup pretty much, Hguone htiw eht ebolgwons" Zatanna waved her hand as the snow storm ceased. Aqualad smiled at the team, everyone looked at one another feeling accomplished by the mission.
*Mount Justice*
"RECOGNIZE ROBIN B01, AQUALAD B02, KID FLASH B03, SUPERBOY B04, MISS MARTIAN B05, ARTEMIS B07, ZATANNA B08, ROCKET B09" the computer announced their entrance into the cave, the team were happy, cheering, ecstatic by their recent success. Their excitement ceased as they came face to face with Batman. Black Canary, Icon and Red Tornado shook their heads as they walked to the center of the room.
"Tell me if this sounds familiar, you hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol and endangered your lives. Although your initiative led to the arrest of three felons and proof that Hugo Strange is running Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity, well done" Batman let out a pride filled smile. The team looked at one another, Robin let out a sigh of relief, Kid Flash held his hand. The two smiled at each other, KF pecked his cheek not daring to do anymore while Batman was watching.
"Then there's this, biotechnology integrated with some kind of nano circuitry" Batman examined the nanochips. Icon picked one up to examine it. He stared at the technology with a stern look on his face
" The inner component is clearly not of earth, though I am unfamiliar with this breed" Icon stated.
"We'll examine it back at the Watchtower" Batman and Red Tornado walked towards the Zeta tube.
"RECOGNIZE BATMAN 02, RED TORNADO 16" The computer announced their departure.
"Congratulations, on the league thing, sorry I bailed" Rocket scratched the back of her head. Icon smiled at his protegee, he glanced at the rest of the team.
"I think, we both found where we need to be" Icon hugged the young girl.
"We should get going, don't wanna miss the League party" Black Canary patted his shoulder. They walked to the teleporters and waved, the machine began to hum, a golden glow emitted from it covering them.
"RECOGNIZE BLACK CANARY 13, ICON 20" the computer announced their departure.
"You realize we were set up, Cheshire and Riddler was waiting for us" Kaldur explained to his friend. Artemis let out a frustrated groan, she turned to the team leader.
"Not the mole thing again" she shook her head. Raquel turned to her new teammates confused by the accusation.
"Mole thing?, again?" she asked clearly lost.
"Sportsmaster insinuated to one of our allies that there was a mole within our team" Kaldur explained to her.
"Yea mainly Artemis, M'gann or me" Conner pointed to himself frustrated by this.
"Your recent behavior is concerning, your battle with Mammoth almost killed Artemis" Kaldur placed his hand on Conner's shoulder. The boy of steel held his hand against his ear, a high pitched frequency informing him to go to Santa Prisca.
"I have to tell you all something" Conner sighed.