Chapter 37: Gorilla Warfare
As soon as the monkeys hit the ground running, everyone arms themselves. I pull out my bo staff. Aqualad, his water bearers. Artemis, her bow and arrows. Robin, his wit and batarangs. Green Lantern, a construct whip. Kid Flash and Miss Martian, their natural talents.
We all disperse and defensively fight the animals. Even though they're attacking us, they're not doing it of their own free will. Whoever is inside that fortress is controlling them with the collars. And what better way to defeat your enemy than by freeing them of their binds.
Aqualad is the first to do so, breaking the collar of one howler monkey attacking him. Artemis shoots two arrows at a pair of monkeys cornering Robin. He returns the favor with two batarangs aimed at another pair behind Artemis. As soon as the collars break apart, the animals flee into the jungle.
I have four howler monkeys surrounding me, all yelling viciously in my eardrums. My turn. One from my left jumps at me. I sidestep and break its collar with a twirl of my staff. Another from behind and in front of me come at me next. I leg split as low as I can. The two monkeys crash into each other and fall to the ground. I break my staff in two and smash the collars into dust.
The last monkey manages to jump on top of me. My back to the ground as it screams in my face. Scream… I scream back as loud as I can back at the howler. Thankfully, it spooked him enough to pause for a minute. All the time I need. I take my staffs, still in hand, and break apart the collar from both sides. The monkey looks to me with a curious stare. It then runs off into the jungle to join its friends.
I look over to the fortress to see its doors open. But what comes out is not what I was expecting. A ten-foot, black furred gorilla wearing a red beret and carrying a gatling gun connected to a pack strapped on its back. This missions and enemies just keep getting weirder man…
It looks over to us, not attacking just yet. I look over to him and I notice something. He's not wearing a collar. He must be helping whoever's behind this monkey business. God, I'm starting to sound like Wally now.
The gorilla reaches from its behind and slams something… No, slams Miss Martian to the ground. How the hell did he know M'gann was there? Maybe his sense of smell made her while in camo mode.
"Get your paws off her, you darn dirty ape", Kid Flash says as he runs over to save Miss Martian. I'm sure Wally's been wanting to say that one for a while tonight. The gorilla stands firm in as KF runs into him. He bounces Kid off of him like a pebble, Kid sliding backwards into the ground.
Miss Martian telekinetically pushes the ape out into the open. Green Lantern then hovers to the ground to face the apparently French gorilla. GL creates his own green gorilla to charge the beast. GL's gorilla grabs a hold of his adversary for but a moment. The gatling gorilla breaks free. The two begin punching each other for what feels like five minutes.
Artemis, White Canary. Keep him off balance.
Got it! We both respond to Aqualad's directive. Artemis shoots a pair of arrows at the ground near the fighting gorillas. GL's gorilla dissipates just before the arrows explode. The shock wave sends the Grape Ape tumbling to his left a few feet. I run over to him before he can shake off the blast. I jump up in the air and land right on the ape's ugly mug, planting him back on the ground.
I jump off again just as Green Lantern comes charging in with a battering ram construct. The big lug doesn't see it until it's too late and… WHAM! The collision sends him flying backwards and through the building. Our entry point.
The seven of us rush inside to meet with the Grape Ape once again. But we see that he is not alone anymore. To our left, we find Captain Marvel strapped to a slab. On the floor next to him is a Bengal tiger thriving in pain from the collar it seems. And right in front of us, we see what looks like a technological, cylindrical body with a brain inside a jar on top. And I thought the gun-toting gorilla would be the weirdest thing we'd see today.
"It's the Brain!", Kid Flash says right away.
"I can see it's a brain", Artemis sarcastically says back.
"Not a brain, the Brain", Kid corrects Artemis.
"In the flesh, so to speak", the Brain responds. The Brain looks to the ape behind him. "Mallah."
The gorilla, Mallah, takes out a small remote and presses it. Four pylons rise from the ground surrounding us. A blue light emits from them. As soon as it does, I get a thriving pain throughout my body. Right away, we all fall flat to the ground. Unable to move at all.
Miss Martian, Superboy, now.
Miss Martian follows her leader's order and telekinetically takes the remote from Mallah's hand. The remote hovers over her head. She telekinetically presses the release button on it. The pylons turn off, the blue light fading away instantly. We all rise to our feet ready to fight again.
The wall behind the Brain and Mallah is broken through, sending the latter to the ground. The dust clearing, there stands Superboy, who is covered it claw and teeth marks. Next to him is an oversized white wolf. No need to ask how he got the marks. Real question is, how did he get the wolf to help him?
The wolf bounces off Mallah, followed by Kid Flash speed kicking him and Robin swinging off him. I simultaneously strike him with my staffs, eventually sweeping him off his feet. Miss Martian levitates him off the ground and slams him back into it.
Mallah, back up again, starts shooting the area. Superboy jumps at Mallah, the latter backing up before Superboy hits him. He shoots his gun at Superboy, the bullets deflecting off him. Artemis shoots an arrow at Mallah's pack, making it explode. She again shoots at his weapon, along with Robin and his batarang, effectively destroying his weapon.
Green Lantern and Aqualad are defending against the Brain themselves. They both use small barriers from their respective weapons to protect from the Brain's laser beams. But nonetheless, the Brain and Mallah end side by side. Surrounded by the eight of us. Nine if you count the wolf.
Aqualad makes his way to Captain Marvel. He breaks the collar on his neck free. "Thanks! Now, one good turn deserves another." Captain Marvel kneels to the tiger to break its collar. Both Marvel and his tiger friend join us in containing the enemy before us. Make that eleven.
The look of defeat on his face, Mallah screams in frustration. Superboy, and his wolf friend, both growl in response. "Try it. I hate monkeys." Technically, he's a gorilla. But I'm not gonna argue with him on that now.
"No Mallah, this will not be our Waterloo", the Brain says to his companion. In seconds, the Brain's body begins dispersing hidden parts within him. Whatever they all are, it can't be good. "Au revoir, mesa mis."
"Get down!" Kid Flash yells, to which we all do as we keep our attention on the two. Suddenly, all the lights go out. Pitch black. Green Lantern shines his ring's light. Being able to see now, we find that the Brain and Mallah… are gone. How the hell did they…
"Wait, that big weapon thing was a light switch?" Kid asks.
"Just enough time for them to get away", I answer.
Before we all leave for the Bioship, I scanned and swept the fortress and area around it. I wanted to see if I could find any trace of where the Brain and Mallah could've run off to. But I wasn't able find anything.
Sometimes it sucks when the bad guys slip through your fingers. Especially when they're right in front of you. But I keep reminding myself is that we were able to save the animals the Brain was testing and controlling, and Captain Marvel before the Brain could, apparently, cut into his brain as well. Now I'm not squimish, but that would've made me gag.
Flying back to the Bioship, the sun slowly starts to rise. A low-dimmed yellow light pushes the blue night sky further away as I fly over the sunrise. Even though I've been awake the last twenty-four hours and almost killed at least a dozen times, I don't feel tired any. I'm sure it's the adrenaline from all the fighting. But I also feel… peaceful. It's hard to explain.
It might also have something to do with me and Sara's… moment in the moonlit night.
With the mission over and some time to myself, I've thought a bit more about everything. I know for a fact that Kaldur would not make this decision easily. If he truly believed that there was a threat and had reason to keep this from us, I trust him. I can't speak for the others, but I don't want Kaldur to step down as leader. Out of all of us, he is still the best person to lead this team.
As for where I stand with Sara, I stand by what I told her during the night. I trust her still. For her to lose that, it would take a lot to lose that trust. And it also doesn't diminish how I feel for Sara too. Call me crazy if you want, but I still care for Sara. Deeply. To be honest, I haven't felt this way in a very long time. I want to take that next step forward, like Conner and M'gann have. I want this to be different from… before. I just have to get the words out at the right time. Maybe not right away, but sooner than later.
With my thought process done, I touch ground with the others at the Bioship. To my right, M'gann and Conner are with the oversized white wolf. I figured once all was done, the wolf would run back into the jungle like the other animals. I guess he's grown a liking to Conner. To my left, Kaldur is removing a collar on a howler monkey. Captain Marvel and Robin stand next to him, along with the tiger. I don't know why, but I think Marvel wants the tiger as a pet. I look back and find Artemis, Sara and Wally walking over to us. Why is Wally wearing Mallah's beret though?
"What are you grinning about?" Artemis asks Wally.
"One word. Souvenir", Wally answers.
"Two words. Gorilla lice", Artemis answers back.
"Oh man!" Wally says in disgust as he holds the beret in his hands as if its tainted. Artemis and Sara laugh at the now ape-lice speedster. Artemis seems to be not as mad at Sara anymore. Maybe they've patched things up now.
I walk over to Kaldur, Robin and Marvel. The howler monkey runs off with his collar off him. "That's the last of the collars?" Captain Marvel asks the tiger. The tiger, in return, growls to him. "And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" The tiger growls again. "Good. I'll be back for a visit. I promise." The tiger growls one last time as it runs off into the jungle. I don't even wanna know how Marvel can talk to that tiger. "I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny." Mr. Tawny?
Shaking off that weird farewell, I walk over with Wally to Conner and his new friend. Getting a better look of the beast now, he's twice the size of a normal jungle wolf. He has a set of scars on his left rib cage. Probably from fighting with another wolf to be alpha. And its hind legs reveal the animal's muscle tissue, but it doesn't seem to bother it. Now that I think of it, a wolf this size and battle-ridden would be Conner's spirit animal.
"The rest of the pack is gone. What are you still doin' here?" Conner asks the wolf as he pets him. The big guy seems to be enjoying it.
"I think he wants to stay with you", M'gann says.
"Can I keep him?"
"You can't be serious?" I jokingly say. If Superman can have a Kryptonian dog, I guess Superboy can have a giant wolf then.
"First the Sphere, now this beast?" Wally adds in. "Dude, you sure make a habit of collectin' strays."
"Maybe because he's such a stray himself", M'gann says about her boyfriend. She's not wrong.
"Hey, Kyle." Sara grabs my left hand. Immediately, her voice and touch grab my attention. I turn around to see the blue-eyed beauty mask free. The look on her face shows relief while still saddened. "Listen, I just wanted to say that—"
"Sara, you don't need to say anything else." I place my right hand on top of her hand still clamping to my left. "I will always believe and trust in you. In the battlefield and off it." Her eyes squint a tad, trying not to cry again in front of everyone. "Speaking of outside the Team…" My cheeks start to turn a slight pink. "I think we need to have a conversation about that when we get back."
"Absolutely", she says agreeingly. "Once we all get back into sync as a unit, we will definitely talk about you and me." The same shade of pink rises in her cheeks.
I look over to the Bioship. Kaldur and Robin are face to face. "And it looks we're about to have that team discussion right now." Sara turns around and looks to the boys too.
Sara and I, along with everyone else, Marvel included, make a crowd in front of Kaldur and Robin. If we're going to hash this out, it's got to be now and together. Kaldur looks to Sara for briefly. She smiles and nods in response. Pretty sure she gave him her okay on telling us everything.
"The source of the tip was Sportsmaster", Kaldur tells us. Sportsmaster?
"What? You can't trust him!" Artemis immediately shouts.
"I do not. It seemed possible, even likely that he was attempting to divide the Team with false information."
"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded", Robin adds in. "But you had to consider it might be true."
"Yes. As leader, I did. In which case, I did not wish to alert the traitor."
Sara steps forward. "The only reason I knew about the mole was because I was there when Kaldur received the tip. I offered to help him find proof of a potential mole within us. I—We never meant to hurt anyone in any way." Sara looks to Artemis with that last sentence. Artemis nods to her. Looks like they're gonna be just fine.
"I hate to say it, but… makes sense", Robin acknowledges.
"I am still prepared to step down", Kaldur says.
"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Wally asks the group. Me, Wally and everyone else raises their hand in unison. Robin gives Kaldur a smile, with Kaldur nodding back.
"All in favor of keeping White Canary on the Team?" Artemis asks out of nowhere. Sara looks to her in bewilderment. But she gets more bewildered when Artemis, along with me and everyone raises their hand as well. Sara looks to Artemis with a teary, yet joyous smile. I grab her hand with my free hand. Sara turns to look to me, with an even bigger smile on hand. You will always be one of us.
"Guess it's unanimous." Captain Marvel shakes Kaldur's hand in congrats. "See you tomorrow." Marvel starts to leave in the opposite direction.
"You're not coming back with us?" Kaldur asks the Leaguer.
"Nope, gotta fly." Marvel takes off into the morning sky, flying home, I guess. Wherever home is for the Mystical Superman.
The rest of us start to board the Bioship. I walk up to Kaldur, who looks glad but still a tad grim. "Don't look so glum, friend", I say, grabbing his attention. "You can't get rid of us that easily." Kaldur smirks at my last remark. We both head inside, ready to go home.
"Reussi, the testing of the Kobra-Veom in combination of the collars. Mais what do we do about the League and their enfants?"
"I concure with our associate. The League and their brats are continuously getting in our way."
"Then I believe it is time the Light gives the League exactly what they want."
AN: Hello there! Hope everyone is staying safe in these crazy times. Giving all of us more time to read up on favorite and new stories.
I want to update everyone on the progress being made on Young Justice: Beginnings. I'm very much writing more chapters of the following episodes. I can tell you all that I just finished the entirety of "Revelations". All together, it is the longest episodic piece I've written so far. It's also the most dramatic and, in my opinion, my favorite episodic piece I've written so far. With how lengthy this one is, I may end up breaking it into four chapters possibly. I certainly hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I also want to give out a shout out to a handful of readers who have favorited and reviewed this story. To TheAdvocate7, thank you for positivity on my dialogue and action sequences. And just for your enthusiasm, mate. To Jacob Poke, thank you for your dedication for sticking with my story and continuously reading it all these years. I hope you're reading what I've posted lately and still generate new ideas for me. And to Greendogg, thank you for the continuous feedback throughout the last year. I'm sorry that I haven't answered back as much lately. But you helped me more than you think. Everyone who has read and reviewed and enjoyed reading Young Justice: Beginnings has helped me so much.
As always, if anyone reading this has any ideas, comments, suggestions or compliments they'd like to give to me, either PM me or leave a review for everyone to see. Maybe it'll inspire them to do the same. Feel the aster everyone!