Percy POV

"No."

"Come on Percy! You're being ridiculous!" Robin argued.

"I'm being ridiculous?" I exclaimed, "Have you looked at yourselves in the mirror? Capes are completely unnecessary and silly looking to boot!"

"They are not!" M'gann yelled, which surprised everyone.

Robin, M'gann and I were in the kitchen discussing my new armor, even though the current model worked pretty well last time. Tyson and Superboy were hanging out down at the forge, and Wally was on the couch watching TV and shoveling junk food into his mouth, with Kaldur on the couch next to him, as he was weirdly into land dweller television, however even he looked up in shock at the shyest member of the team's outburst.

M'gann, who had been looking at me angrily, suddenly blushed as if realizing what she was doing, "I'm sorry it's just… please tell me he's wrong! I wanted to make a good impression on Earth…"

The others looked at me accusingly, causing me to sigh, "You look fine M'gann, I didn't mean it, I just really don't want a cape."

She sighed in relief while Robin sighed in exasperation, "It's barely a cape! With Miss Martians assistance, each strip will be able to stretch up to 50 feet in length with no problem, and like my cape, it will be bulletproof!"

I raised an eyebrow? "Your cape is bulletproof?"

The boy rolled his eyes, "Duh, how many times do I have to tell you, it's not just a fashion statement, it's also a unique tool."

I sighed in defeat, "Fine."

Robin fist pumped and began drawing something on his notepad, "Now, how do you feel about a fish mask?"

I got up from my seat as the two began laughing. M'gann grabbed my arm as I went to leave, "Wait where are you going? We were just joking."

I smiled reassuringly, "I'm going to go check on Tyson and Superboy, they've been down there for a while."

She nodded, shivering at the thought of the forge, "I don't know how they stand it…"

I chuckled as I left, "The fact that they're both fire proof probably has something to do with it."

I made my way to the tunnel leading to the forge, which now had its own door, making the hallway look as if Tyson hadn't ripped a hole in it. I made my way down towards the loud clanking of the forge, ignoring the rising heat as I did so, until I emerged the cavern, just in time to see Tyson hide something behind his back, while Superboy stood next to him, trying to look natural leaning on the anvil, but ending up just looking very awkward.

I raised an eyebrow, "What are you hiding?"

Superboy kept a straight face, but Tyson immediately sighed. "It's no use SB, he saw right through it."

'SB' rolled his eyes and smacked Tyson on the arm, "We would have been fine if you hadn't cracked so easily."

I watched their bickering with amusement, before I clapped my hands to get their attention. "Well? What did I walk in on?"

Tyson looked down sadly, "It was supposed to be a surprise…" He brought his hands back into view, to reveal a familiar watch in his humongous hands.

I looked at it in shock… "Is that…"

He nodded and held it out for me to take it. I walked forward slowly and took it from his hand, holding it delicately in mine, "I thought it was lost."

He nodded, "It was, but I've been working ever since to create a new one, better than before. It was made of Celestial Bronze before, but now it also has regular enhanced bronze bonded to it. Try it out."

I nodded and slipped the watch onto my wrist, before clicking the timepiece. In the next instant, the watch grew and transformed into a full-sized bronze shield, with the images of my first adventure with Tyson.

"So cool…" I noticed Superboy whisper as he stared at the shield. I slid the strap off my wrist so I could get a better look at it. I didn't think it was possible, but the designs were even more beautiful than before. I found myself running my fingers over the etching of Annabeth facing off against the Laistrygonians. Eventually I looked up at Tyson and brought him into a hug, "Thanks man, this is awesome."

When I pulled back he was grinning happily, "I was happy to do it brother, it was my first creation after all."

I took another moment to stare at it before I pressed the button behind the shield to collapse it into a watch again. I then noticed that the guilty look on Tyson's face hadn't left, and Superboy was a bit shifty as well. I sighed, "What else is there?"

Superboy nudged Tyson shaking his head to keep his mouth shut, but I could tell Tyson was about to crack. He just needed a little nudge, "Tell me what it is, or I'll take away your forge privileges for a week."

Superboy opened his mouth, probably to point out the fact that I couldn't stop him if I tried, which was likely true, but Tyson didn't think about that as he blurted out, "We were going to go on patrol in Metropolis!"

I raised an eyebrow and looked back at Superboy who was now rubbing his temples, "That's where Superman patrols?"

He winced before responding, "I guess…. Look we are losing out minds in here. I know the Justice League said to stay out of sight until they announce us, but it's been weeks! They're probably just waiting for us to disappear so they don't have to!"

I very much doubted that that was the case, but judging from Superboy's sulking and Tyson's fiddling with his work tools, they both believed it was.

I sighed, "You know you'll get in big trouble if you do this."

Tyson looked way while Superboy shrugged, "So? We might get grounded for a few days but once the world knows we're here to help it won't matter."

I nodded thoughtfully, "Okay… are you both sure about this?"

Superboy nodded but I was looking at Tyson, who took a deep breath, "When I was out with Batman, everyone I saved, screamed in terror at me, even though I had helped them. And I know it will keep happening for a while, but this is the only way they might start to see that I'm not a bad guy."

"We don't deserve to be cooped up like this!" Superboy insisted, "No matter what we are."

I nodded in agreement, "Okay then. You can go but I'm coming with you."

Superboy looked at me in surprise while Tyson smiled widely. "Yes! This is gonna be awesome!"

"Wait a minute!" Superboy looked at me with concern, "You'll get in trouble too!"

I shrugged, "Actually if I play it right I'll get in all the trouble. I'm the team leader, so I have to act like one. Besides, there's nothing they can do to me that I can't handle. Trust me."

Tyson bounced excitedly, before rushing up to hug me, "Thank you brother! I'll go get ready!" He then rushed upstairs to put on his costume, while Superboy and I followed.

As we were making our way up he asked, "Are you really not afraid of what the League will do? You may be a… you know what, but they are still capable of a lot more than any of us."

I smiled, "I'm not looking forward to it, but I agree with both of you. this needs to happen. Also, I've been told on multiple occasions that pissing off beings more powerful than myself is a bad habit of mine, but I'm still here."

He nodded thoughtfully, before mumbling, "Thank you…"

I raised an eyebrow? "What was that? Not everyone has super hearing you know."

He glared at me, before taking a deep breath and speaking clearly, "Thank you Percy. This… means a lot to me. Tyson too, obviously."

I nodded, "Don't mention it. Now go get ready while I suit up, and grab a snack. We're going to be out for a while."

Later, after I had put on my armor and Tyson was ready in his outfit, we walked together towards the teleporter, passing through the living room as we did. The others took notice of us as we did.

"Suits?" Wally asked, sitting up on the couch, "Is there a mission?"

Robin and M'gann looked at us curiously as well, and I could tell Tyson was getting nervous, he looked to me questioningly, wondering what to say. I spoke bluntly, "Supes Tyson and I are going on patrol in Metropolis."

"Uhhh, you know its daytime there right, "Robin said, "If you're seen the League won't be happy."

"Are you sure this is wise?" Kaldur asked,

d

I nodded, "I am aware, I also don't care. Hey that rhymes."

M'gann looked at us with worry, "But you'll get in trouble… should we come with you or— "

"No." I stopped her, "Cause then you will get blamed as well. Look relax, I know what I'm doing, worst case scenario I get a chewing out from Batman."

"You say that like it's not a terrifying experience…" Wally shivered.

I smirked, "Don't worry. It'll be fine."

Later

"This is not fine!" I shouted, over the sound of gunfire "This is definitely not fine!"

I was currently pinned behind my shield as an entire gang of thugs opened fire on me from across the alleyway. I gritted my teeth as a few bullets grazed my shoulder, however the majority of fire bounced harmlessly off my shield.

Eventually someone in the gang yelled for everyone to stop firing, and a rather tall man walked forward, as the others made way for him. I took this for a leader.

Before he could speak I poked my head up, "Is this the part where you surrender?"

He answered by raising his gun and shooting at my head. luckily, I ducked back down at the last second, uttering a yelp I would definitely deny later if anyone brought it up. He began his rant. "Who the hell do you think you are? You come to our crib, yell: "You're all under arrest." Then run like a little bitch when we get up to respond? Is it just me or do they not make "heroes" like they used to?" He leaned back towards his men, who laughed at his joke, mostly out of respect of course. When the leader turned back to me however, I saw Tyson carefully climb down off the roof of one of the buildings forming the alley, now in his thirty-foot size. He gave me a thumb up as he began sneaking up behind the group of thugs, all the while the leader kept up his taunting, trying to draw me out from my shield.

Eventually he said, "Did you really think just one of you could take on all of us?"

I poked my head up again, this time he didn't bother to shoot, "Well yeah, but one of the girls you were keeping hostage could have been hurt.

The leaders eyes went wide, "How did you know— "

"So, I drew you all out, while my friends freed them. Looks like they're back though." I now put my shield away and stood up. The leader widened his eyes once again as I wasn't assaulted by a rain of bullets, and whirled around to see what happened. He nearly fell on his ass as he saw a very large one-eyed man holding all of his subordinates lined up next to each other in his arms, while they struggled helplessly, unable to speak as their mouths were covered the rough material covering his arms.

Before the leader could react, Superboy slammed down on the asphalt in front of the man, before standing up with a glare. "And we're not happy." He then delivered a solid punch to the man's stunned face, knocking him out with ease.

I looked up at Tyson, "Uh, Mr. T?" I gestured to the men in his arms, causing him to look down and realize they had gone unconscious from the lack of air.

He quickly dropped them unceremoniously on the ground, "Oops… it's okay though, they all have heartbeats."

I sighed and chuckled, "And the women?"

"We took them to the hospital," Superboy reported, "Well, Tyson did, he was kind enough to let them ride on his hands, though they weren't very grateful."

Tyson laughed it off awkwardly as he shrunk back down, "Its okay. One of them said thank you before they ran away."

I smiled at my brother, "You're doing great bud, I'm proud of you. But can someone please tell me whose idea it was to have the only one not invulnerable take the attention of the gunmen?"

The two looked at each other for a moment before looking back at me. Tyson spoke with a frown, "It was your idea brother…"

I sighed, "Yeah I know. But you guys should feel free to speak up when I come up with crazy ideas like that, understand?"

Tyson nodded firmly, while Superboy shrugged, "Dully noted."

I nodded and walked past them, examining the gangsters, 'Did you call the police to pick up the trash?"

Tyson pulled out a phone and held it up proudly, "I did it right before we arrived.'

"Good," I said, "So with the, what, dozen girls we saved?"

Superboy nodded, "10 girls but close."

I nodded, "Okay the with the 10 girls we just saved that adds up to about 164 people saved. Not bad for five hours' worth of work. Should we call it a day? We might actually be able to get away with this without the League finding out…"

Superboy nodded in agreement, but Tyson held a finger up, as he closed his eyes. I looked at him seriously, "Do you hear something?"

He nodded, scrunching up his eyes in concentration, "The bridge… something is attacking it, the structure is deteriorating. It'll fall soon."

I nodded, "Alright, split up, get there as fast as you can, I'll fly ahead and do what I can until you get there."

They both nodded and took off, Tyson growing once more and sprinting off as fast as he could, and Superboy matching his speed with his super jumps.

I whistled for Blackjack, and jumped on when he landed in the alley, Let me guess, we're heading to the bridge?

As he took off I asked, "Did you see what was going on?"

I didn't get a close look but it looked like a couple of dudes breaking everything in sight, like I said I didn't good look but, I think their skin was like a deep red.

I raised an eyebrow at that as we zipped by a helicopter, likely scaring the shit out of the inhabitant. Soon the bridge in question came into view, though the red people were nowhere to be seen. However, I was less worried about that and more about the fact that the bridge looked like it was about to collapse, with a lot of civilians trapped on top of it.

I got in a crouching position on Blackjack, "Keep an eye up top, let me know if those red things come back."

Got it Boss. I then dove off of his back. I landed in the river below and quickly shot towards the underside of the bridge. I started rising on a plume water, but before I reached the top, a blur of red and blue appeared there first.

I watched in surprise as Superman himself held up the bridge, before shaking it off and rising up next to him. "What's up?"

He looked at me in surprise, "What are you doing here?" this was strange to me, as I would have assumed he saw or heard me approaching. Nonetheless I shrugged, "Just helping out. You can let go now." He narrowed his eyes before he noticed several other plumes of water around us reaching up from the river to support the bridge. The "Man of Steel" tentatively let go of the bridge to find that it was stable. He turned to me to say something, but was cut off by a loud boom and the sound of heavy feet approaching on top of the bridge. He looked up, presumably through the bridge with his X Ray vision before looking at me in Alarm, "What are they doing out?!"

I smirked, "I convinced them it was time."

He narrowed his eyes, "The league was planning on announcing them soon! There was a press conference scheduled— "

"And you can still do that." I interrupted, "But they were tired of being cooped up in that cave. They needed to stretch their legs. And we've saved a lot of people today, everyone knows that actions speak louder than words."

Apparently, the big blue boy scout didn't know that. He glared at me one more time before using his heat vision to weld the cracks in the bridge back together. He then flew up to where Tyson and Superboy were helping the civilians.

I shook my head in exasperation, and was about to follow him, as I released the water holding up the bridge, but I was stopped by something that caught my eye. Down on one of the platforms supporting the bridge, a dark hooded figure stood. I swore that they were watching me. however, when I willed myself towards them on my water plume, they stepped behind the supporting beams.

At this I released my hold over the water holding me up and let myself drop into the ocean, where I shot through the water in an instant. I was soon standing on the platform, but when I looked behind the beam they walked behind, they were nowhere to be found.

I stood their confused for a moment, but was shook out of it when I heard, "We had that!" from above.

I sighed and forgot about the figure for a moment. I willed the water to lift me up to the bridge, to reveal Superman standing in front of a ticked off Superboy, and a sheepish Tyson. Next to them was school bus full of children who were looking at the three with a mixture of shock, awe, and fear.

Superman was lecturing them, "As it is your arrivals could have destabilized the entire bridge.

"It didn't." Superboy stated defiantly.

"It could have." Superman insisted, "We don't know the full extent of either of your powers."

I watched with interest as Superboy avoided eye contact with his genetic source. "Well… maybe you could… help me figure that out…"

Superman stood there for a moment before saying, "Batman's… got that covered." Just then his earpiece beeped signaling that he was getting to a call.

While he turned to listen, I couldn't help but scoff at his response, "Really? Batman? The guys skilled and creepy as all hell but what does he know about Kryptonian physiology that you don't know better?"

Superman simply glared at me as he continued his call, "Arrow slow down, what's attacking?"

That's when Tyson spoke up, "I don't understand… aren't you his father?"

This made both Superboy and Superman stiffen. "I'll be there as soon as I can." Superman finished his call before looking at the two awkwardly, "Sorry, Super… boy. Duty calls."

He then began to fly up into the air, but he didn't get very far. He was stopped midair when a very large hand. He narrowed his eyes as the now thirty-foot Tyson brought him before his single brown eye. "What do you think you're doing?"

Tyson glared at him, "You're his father right! How can you ignore him like that!"

Superboy looked up at Tyson in shock, "T its fine!" You don't need to—"

"It's not fine!" Tyson yelled angrily. I sighed and walked forward, ready to calm him down, but I froze at what he said next, "If he's able to spend time with his son then he should! It's his responsibility!"

"It's not!" Superman shouted, "That boy is a clone. Not my son. And I may have held back on you the first time," he positioned his hands-on Tysons fingers, beginning to push them apart. "But not mistake that to mean that you can overpower me."

He then shoved Tyson's hand open, only to be captured again between both of Tyson's hands as he screamed into the Kryptonians face, "You are too his father! You and he smell like father and brother smell! So, you do have to spend time with him!"

I sighed, "Tyson…"

"You have to because…. Because one day you might not be able too!" He continued, "Because one day— "

"Tyson!" I yelled, causing him to turn to me, revealing tears trickling down his face, "Put him down."

"But brother— "

"Now!" I shouted, a little harsher than necessary. Tyson got the message and released Superman, who now looked very confused and uncomfortable.

He glanced at me, "Batman will— "

"Batman will hear about this, I got it." I rolled my eyes at the alien, "Don't you have something better to do right now than threaten to "tell"?"

He glared at me one more time before turning and flying off, to respond to whatever problem Arrow called him about.

I watched him go for a moment before shaking my head and turning to Superboy and Tyson, who was rubbing the tears out of his eye as he shrunk back down, "I'm sorry…"

I put a hand on his shoulder, "I know buddy. And I'm sorry to you two Superboy," I turned to see him still staring at where Superman left. "Superboy?"

He broke out of it and turned to me, "What? oh yeah… sorry I'm just…"

"Disappointed?" I guessed. He nodded, "Don't think too much on it dude. I'm sure he's still a bit freaked out about the whole thing too."

Superboy looked down, "Yeah, you're probably right."

I frowned, unsure of what to say, before it came to me. I clapped him on the arm, "Hey, how cool did you really expect him to be? The guy where's underwear outside his pants and calls it a super suit."

At that he cracked a smile, then chuckled a bit, before full on laughing at it. I even got chuckle out of Tyson, which made me smile triumphantly. "Anyways, we should probably head back to the cave, I think we've done enough for today."

"Wait!" Tyson spoke up, "The bridge is still broken…"

Superboy and I looked at each other then back at him, "I'm sure someone will come around to fix it."

He nodded, "Yeah but I can do it faster, in a few hours even. Can I stay behind?"

I didn't like the sound of that, "By yourself?"

He nodded, "I'll be fine, I know how to get back to the teleporter."

I still felt a thousand worst case scenarios pass through my brain. "I don't know…"

"It's actually not a bad idea," Superboy spoke up, "If he's only seen with other people around it can leave doubt to whether or not he's only being good under duress."

I looked between the two for a moment, before sighing, "Yeah alright."

Tyson fist pump, "I won't let you down brother." He then went to jump off the side of the bridge, growing once more.

I watched him with a proud smile, "I know you won't."

Later

Of course, nothing could stop me from watching the news coverage of the incident while back at the cave. I had unceremoniously removed Wally and Kaldur when we got back, and switched their drama to the news network. Superboy, not having anything better to do, joined me, and eventually Robin, M'gann and Wally joined us as well, each doing their own thing while watching at the same time.

The news was currently on a shot of Tyson from a circling helicopter. He was clinging to one of the beams of the bridge and working on the underside, like a mechanic tending to the undercarriage of a car. The news line was: "Strange creature fixes Metropolis bridge"

Superboy snorted at that, "Of course they don't mention how he helped save the civilians first."

"Yeah, I heard your trip was pretty eventful," Robin commented, "Stories are popping up everywhere about people being saved by an armored man, a strange looking monster, and Superman's mini me." he received a harsh glare from Superboy at that, "But I'm more interested in the fact that you ran into Superman."

M'gann looked up from the screen at this as well, and Wally swallowed the food in his mouth before saying, "You met Big Blue? Yikes, how'd that go?"

Superboy crossed his arms and looked back to the screen, indicating that he didn't want to talk about it. I shrugged, "I don't know what the big deal is with the guy. Sure, he wasn't happy that I took these two out, but he didn't really do anything about it."

""What's the big deal"?" Wally mimicked, "Dude, the guy could blow away the solar system with a sneeze!"

"He could not!" Robin argued, "A moon at a most."

I sighed as I leaned back on the couch, watching Tyson on the screen, "He still seems pretty dorky to me."

Just then as everyone was watching, Tyson seemed to notice the news helicopter and held up his hand to wave at it, unfortunately it was the hand he was using to hold on to the beam. He flailed his arms wildly for a moment before falling backwards into the ocean with a big splash.

M'gann covered her mouth as she giggled at the display, while Robin and Wally howled with laughter. Superboy and Kaldur just chuckled lightly and I smirked at my brother, glad that some things never change.

"H-haha—How can someone so good at fixing and building things," Robin managed to get out, "Be so clumsy?"

"Oh, come on," M'gann shot back, "Percy did say he has the mind of a child." For a moment, I thought I detected a hint of disappointment in her tone, but I ignored it as I spoke up.

"He's young for a cyclops, but that doesn't mean he's dumb. He's likely smarter than some adult humans. The clumsiness however, that's always been there, and I don't think it will go away anytime soon." I said with a smirk.

That got another round of laughs from the team before I continued. "He's always been really good with forging too, and he's only seemed to have gotten better since we got here. I mean Hades, he made me this when he was only seven." I clicked my wristwatch so that it expanded into its shield form.

At the sight of the bronze shield, the other team members got up to get a better look at it. Wally was first, with his jaw hanging wide open, "That's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Why haven't you used that before?"

I smiled proudly, as I showed it off, while Superboy answered, "Apparently the original was lost for some reason, and Tyson only recently remade it."

"It's beautiful craftsmanship," Kaldur noted

"How does he fit the shield in that tiny watch?" M'gann wondered aloud.

I shrugged, "Magic I would assume."

Wally scoffed, "No really."

I blinked, "It's magic dude, what else do you expect me to say?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. But I know I don't believe in magic. It has to be some super advanced folding technique or something."

I shrugged, "Okay. Well if it were that," I turned the shield back into a watch and tossed it to him, laughing as he readied to catch something heavy, only for it to have the weight of a watch, "Why wouldn't it weigh the same."

He examined the device closely, "There has to be something to it. Robin back me up here?"

The youngest member shrugged, "Sorry dude, there are too many examples of magic nowadays to deny it. Get with the times."

Wally looked at him shock, "What happened to the time when not believing in magic was "getting with the times"?"

Robin shrugged and took the watch, pressing the button to expand the shield, "What are the illustrations?"

I smiled wistfully at the memory, "That was my first adventure with Tyson. He gave me the first watch right after."

As M'gann took a turn marveling at the craftsmanship I explained, "When I first met Tyson I didn't even know he was my brother, or a Cyclops for that matter."

"Uh, how could you not know?" Wally asked.

"The Mist." I responded, "It's a magical veil on the world that keeps mortals from seeing monsters and gods. The mist covering his eye was pretty heavy, so it wasn't until… I friend of mine pointed it out to me that I realized what he was."

"Friend huh?" Wally quipped, "Could this "friend" be her?" He pointed to the illustration of Annabeth fighting the Laistrygonians."

I felt my throat close up as I looked at it. I wasn't sure what to say, luckily however Kaldur picked up on it. "I'm, more interested in this picture," he pointed at the picture of Tyson holding up the Monster Donut box as he faced off with the Hydra, "Is that what I think it is."

I nodded, while also looking at him thankfully, "A hydra. Not fun."

"Wait a hydra?" Robin spoke up, "Like the kind that grows two more heads every time you cut one off, and with one head that breaths fire?"

I nodded, "The same, but it was acid, not fire."

"How did you defeat it?" Kaldur asked, "Did you burn the stumps of each chopped off head, like in the myths?"

"Better." I answered, "A friend of mine blew it up with a cannon."

By the looks of them, they weren't expecting that, but before they could ask more, the electronic voice sounded again, "incoming Cargo from Batcave."

Robin perked up. "The alloy!"

We all followed him to the teleporter room where several large crates at in the tube. I opened one up to find several slabs of a dark looking metal. "Is this it?"

Robin nodded in confirmation "Yep, Titanium-Carbon Fiber or Tiber metal, for short."

I looked at him in surprise, "People really call it that?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "No I just made it up, but it's catchy, right?"

I nodded as I looked back, mumbling, "And ironic."

Before anyone could ask what, I meant by that, the holographic display appeared, with a very unhappy Batman on it. We all stood at attention, though I'll admit mine was a bit more sarcastic than respectful.

"Batman to the cave," he sounded tired, "Two hours ago, a new menace attacked green arrow and Black Canary. The android proved capable of studying and duplicating the powers of its opponents." He displayed a picture of some metallic, elf looking thing, "Green Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous. As it gained more and more power from each opponent that arrived."

The others murmured in astonishment, "One guy with the powers of the entire League?" Robin wondered aloud, "Who created it? T.O. Morrow?"

"Good guess, Robin." Batman commended. "But know. The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo.

"But Ivo's dead…" Kaldur noted.

"So, we thought." Batman said. "Perseus."

I saluted ironically, "Yes Ratman?"

Batman narrowed his eyes at me while Robin elbowed me in the side. "Right sorry, Batman. I always forget, you have those pointy ear things."

He continued, "You obviously know you're on thin Ice, and don't care. So, I'll make it simple. We need you and your team to escort the dismantled pieces of the android to the two Star Lab locations in New York and Boston, in case Ivo, or anyone else tries to recover the pieces for reconstruction. Should you fail, there will be consequences for you. Are we clear?"

I nodded, "Yep. Take out the trash, or I'm grounded, I know the deal."

He sighed, "Batman out."

Later

The team was waiting in the trees near where the moving trucks were about to deploy from. Two trucks carried the dismembered parts, while six other trucks acted as decoys. Everyone was riding personalized motorcycles, except for me, as I had chosen to stick with Blackjack.

I sat atop Blackjack next to the others waiting impatiently for the trip to start. After a while, Wally finally said what I'm sure everyone was thinking, "Ratman? Seriously dude? You live way too dangerously."

"I agree," Kaldur said, "I do not see the point in angering the League any more than you already have."

I shrugged as I watched for the signal, "No point per say, its more like a compulsive thing than anything else at this point. Plus I'm kind of wondering what "consequences" Bats was talking about."

I glanced over at the team to see them all staring at me warily, "Not enough to fail this mission! I'll do my best of course, but you know the saying: Curiosity killed the cat."

"Is that supposed to be comforting to us?" Robin asked incredulously.

Before I could respond, I spied the bright form of Superman flying into the air, signaling it was time to go. "Move out!"

Kaldur, M'gann, and Wally followed one truck while Superboy, Robin and I followed the other, with me flying overhead.

"Is everyone online?" I asked, testing the psychic link. One by one everyone gave confirmation, after which I continued, "Good, you all know what to do, so do your best. I know your main motivation is to keep me in the Leagues good graces—"

Wally snorted, "I'm not even sure that's possible at this point."

I continued, "But try to remember as well that if this thing is dangerous as they say it is, it'll put a lot of people in danger if it's reassembled. Not only that but it will be a huge pain in the ass to dismantle again, so don't let it happen, got it?"

"Got it!" Everyone responded.

I nodded as I soared just above the clouds, following the truck on the ground, "Okay then. I'll stop with the motivational speech then and let you focus. Good luck."

After that it was silent for a while as we rode, until Robin broke the silence on our groups personal coms. "Since dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See instead of everything going wrong, everything goes right."

"What does that have to do with anything Robin?" I asked as Blackjack dodged a flock of birds.

"I'm just trying to pass the… you might want to get down here."

I raised an eyebrow as I began my descent. "What is it? Enemy contact?"

I got my answer when I broke through the clouds and saw the truck covered in small, green, robotic things that looked suspiciously like—

"Monkeys." Superboy growled, "I hate monkeys."

I blinked as he jumped off his motorcycle to attack the robots, leaving his vehicle to swerve into Robin's, forcing the boy wonder to jump off his as well and grapple onto the back of the truck, "Geeze SB! What was that for!" He yelled.

I narrowed my eyes as I watched Superboy pound away at the monkeys. "Superboy, calm down now." I said calmly.

He tore one apart before looking up at me angrily, "I am calm!"

Unfortunately, this gave an opening for the monkeys. One of them suddenly shot a pair of lasers out if its eyes, nailing Superboy directly in the face. He yelled in pain as he clutched his eyes, and was unable to resist as several of the robots grabbed them by the arms and lifted him into the air with the use of their rockets. I resisted the urge to make a wizard of Oz joke as I urged Blackjack to fly towards him, catching him midair as they monkey's let him go.

I grabbed him by his arm as he shot down, and hefted his body onto the back of Blackjack with little effort. "If you were calm you wouldn't be blind right now."

He gritted his teeth as he rubbed his scarred eyes, waiting for them to clear, but didn't say anything more. I sighed and steered Blackjack towards the ground until we were flying alongside the truck, where Robin was still fighting off the monkeys alone. I turned back to my passenger, "Stay with Blackjack until your eyes clear up! I'll go help Robin."

Without waiting for his response, I jumped from Blackjack to the top of the truck. When Robin saw me, he gave a quick wave, "Glad you could join me!" before going back to punching and kicking the assailants away.

I started doing the same, destroying a monkey with each powerful strike as they came at me from all directions, "Any idea what these things are? Where they came from?"

Robin grimaced as he threw a pair of explosive birdarangs at a group of monkeys, "Flying Robot monkeys? Definitely Ivo's tweak style."

I nodded and was about to ask more when the truck shook beneath us as Superboy landed on it hard. He screamed in anger as he began destroying monkeys left and right, in what I soon realized was a blind rampage, as he almost hit me in the process, "Watch it! I told you to stay with Blackjack!"

He growled, "I'm fine!"

I glared at him for a moment, before cursing and shouting, "You know what? I've had enough!"

I then willed the water from my pack and sent it swirling around the truck, piercing through every monkey it came across. I split the stream into three and had them all go in different directions, until after a few moments I didn't see any monkeys left. Robin looked at all the broken parts with an impressed look on his face, "Not bad."

I nodded to him before turning to Superboy, who was still blinking his eyes, trying to regain his vision. I walked up close to him and whispered so Robin couldn't hear, "I understand anger issues, believe me I do. Daddy issues too, probably even better than you do believe it or not. But the moment you let any of that stop you from following orders, is the moment you stop being a useful asset to my team. So until you get a grip, go cool off."

Before he could respond, I gave him a powerful side kick to the chest, sending him flying off the back of the truck and tumbling on the ground behind us.

I turned back to see Robin staring me in shock. "What was that for?"

I shrugged "He needed a time out. If the others ask though, he was knocked off by the monkeys."

Robin narrowed his eyes, "You want me to lie to protect you?"

I snorted, "Please, I want you to lie to protect his pride. So far, he doesn't seem very capable of taking too many hits to it. I don't blame him though, he's not exactly had a smooth awakening to the world, he probably has a lot going through his head."

Robin nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

I nodded, "Of course I am now is the cargo safe?"

He took a moment to maneuver around the truck so he could open the back to check, "We're good, it's still here."

I sighed, "Good, now take a look at those things while I check on the other team."

He did as I said while I reached out to Kaldur mentally, "Percy to Kaldur, we just got attacked, what's the situation with your team?"

His voice came back with a tinge of regret, "We were also attacked. The cargo has been taken. I apologize."

I cursed silently before responding, "Don't beat yourself up about it, what's done is done. Start making your way over to us if you can. Don't be surprised if you find Superboy along the way, he was knocked off during the fight."

"Got it, we will head towards you right away, Kaldur out."

I turned to Robin, who had one of the robots plugged into his gauntlet, "Anything?"

He shook his head, "They had GPS installed, but he moment I tried to track one of them the system killed it. I have no idea where the parts have gone…"

I sighed and clapped him on the shoulder as he stood up, "Good job anyway. We managed to keep our half from being taken."

He nodded, "Yeah, with such advanced technology it should take Ivo a while to rebuild the necessary parts. But it will be easier than having to start from scratch. The League will have a smaller window to catch him before he finishes."

I shrugged and took a seat on top of the truck, riding it towards the destination "Well we half succeeded, that's better than total failure."

Robin slumped as he sat next to me, "Yeah, but if it weren't for you we might have failed altogether. Superboy and I didn't have it handled at all."

I watched him hang his head in disappointment for a moment before wrapping my arm around the smaller boy's shoulders, surprising him, "Cheer up kid. I'm sure you would have worked it out somehow."

He looked at me for a moment before relaxing, "Maybe. Though I don't think we could have won if Amazo was reassembled."

I shrugged, "You never know what you can do until you do it. You just have to be willing to take the risk."

He chuckled, "Yeah sure. I guess I never would have thought I could be a superhero when I was 9. But I did it anyways."

I raised an eyebrow, "9 huh? Impressive. I didn't get started until I was twelve."

He looked up at me, "Why? I mean, I had to do it, for my own reasons, but, why did you?"

I frowned at that and stared ahead at the setting sun, "The gods are petty creatures Robin. Long story short, Zeus lost his favorite lightning bolt, and thought I stole it for my father, even though it was obvious that I didn't. he wouldn't have listened to reason however, and demanded I go find it for him and bring it back, or he would start a war between the gods. It was either go on my first quest and become a hero, or watch the world burn."

Robin looked at me in shock, "That was your first mission as a hero? That's a bit heavy for a first timer, isn't it?"

I laughed, "Maybe. But it only got more difficult from there. It was always one petty quest for the gods or another, even when I had more important things to do, like saving the world, the gods always put their needs first."

Robin listened intently, before speaking, "That's why you didn't want to be a god isn't it?"

I chuckled dryly, "Oh buddy… I wish that were the only reason."

To my relief, he could sense the meaning behind that statement, and remained quiet for the rest of the trip to Boston, choosing instead to enjoy the sunset in front of us as the truck drove down the highway.

Later

After we had dropped the android parts at the Star Labs location in Boston, the team took a teleporter back to the cave, now all together. Kaldur, M'gann, and Wally seemed a bit depressed, as they had failed their part of the mission, while Superboy glared at everything while also avoiding eye contact with everyone, which I took to mean he had calmed down, since that was his normal look. The only ones in a remotely good mood were Robin and I.

The first thing we saw when we exited the teleporter was an unhappy looking Batman standing in the middle of the room, so none of us knew if he was mad or not.

"You lost one of the pieces." He stated, getting straight to the point

"It was our fault sir," M'gann spoke up, causing Kaldur and Wally to hang their heads as well, however batman didn't acknowledge them, choosing instead to stare straight at me.

"The team leader is directly responsible for his team's success."

I stared back at him unflinchingly while Robin spoke up, "What? But that's not fair! We might not have kept our piece if not for—"He was stopped with an elbow from me, causing him to look at me in confusion.

"I must protest as well," Kaldur spoke up, "The loss of the second piece was the fault of our team alone."

Batman didn't falter however, something that didn't surprise me, "I didn't say it's not your fault as well, but the management and organization of subordinates is the responsibility of the leader. Obviously, your team was poorly organized."

The others looked like they wanted to keep protesting, but I could tell Batman wasn't going to budge on this, nor would I expect him to. "Guys! Thank you but that's enough!"

All of them looked at me in surprise. "Dude we're trying to help you!" Wally argued, "It's not fair."

"Life's not fair." I responded, "And he's right. I'm the leader, I'm in charge, I didn't plan it out well enough."

"But, how were you supposed to plan for flying robot monkeys?" M'gann asked, sounding genuinely more confused than argumentative.

"'We're getting off track," Batman stated. "We had a deal. You messed up, now there will be consequences."

I smirked, "Fair enough, bring it on. What are you going to do? Take away my cave privileges?"

To my horror, he actually smiled a little bit. I felt the consecutive shiver of my team around me as well. "It's simple. We'll expand your responsibilities."

At that, Green Arrow entered the room, only to move aside to reveal… oh gods…

"This is the Green Arrows niece and new protégé," Batman explained, "She goes by Artemis, and she will be your new team member starting today."

Behind me, I heard Wally whisper, "I don't see how this is a consequence…" but trailed off when he felt the ground shaking slightly underneath his feet."

Batman felt it too and looked at me in confusion, "What are you doing? What's wrong?"

Each word he uttered only fueled my growing rage as I glared at Artemis, who was starting to get nervous and backing away. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I spoke with anger radiating off every word.

She looked at me in a mixture of confusion and fear, "H-he just told you! My name is Artemis! Are you doing this?" She pointed down at the ground, which was still trembling, but not enough to affect the structure of the cave, like before.

I simply glared at her and began walking towards her, "You have a lot of nerve Manhunter, I suggest you get out of that form before I make you."

Behind me M'gann flew forward, "Percy? That's not Uncle J'onn… I'd feel it…"

I glared at her, "Then you aren't feeling hard enough. It's either him or some other shape shifter, I honestly don't care. You will stop it now, or we will have a serious issue."

"Artemis" argued again, "Look I'm not sure what or who you think I am, but his is my real face, I'm not a shapeshifter."

"Perseus!" Batman barked. "I don't know what you think is going on here but calm down! Nobody's trying to trick you, and that is not Martian Manhunter!"

I turned to him, "Really? You expect me to believe that? Athletic build, grey eyes, tan skin, blond hair in a ponytail… you expect me to believe that it's just a coincidence she looks exactly like my Wise Girl? The Martian looked into my head, only he could know what she looks like. Is this your idea of a "Consequence"?"

Batman still feigned ignorance, "I have no idea what you are talking about? She isn't this "Wise Girl" her name is Artemis!"

"Liar!" I yelled back as I kept advancing on the girl, "Either he shifts out of that form, I will make him."

In an instant Batman appeared in front of me, "That's not happening."

I stared at him, "Move."

He glared back, "No."

The room was incredibly quiet for a few moments, until Batman made a move forward, only to be thrown back against the ceiling, water wrapped around his legs and forcing his hands on either side of him. To top it all off his mouth was covered with water, just in case he had any fancy voice activated gadgets.

Once I was sure he was secure I turned back to the Martian, who was now staring at me in pure fear. I sensed no movement from my team members behind me, probably due to the shock of seeing one of their precious "Leaguers" get taken down so easily."

The two archers in front of me recovered quickly however, and began opening fire on me as I advanced towards the Martian, only for their shots to be blocked by my wrist shield."

One arrow however, exploded on impact, covering me in some weird foamy substance that quickly solidified, rendering me immobile.

I struggled to get out as Green Arrow approached me, leveling an arrow directly at my face, "I don't know you kid, but I don't think you can survive a shot to the face, put the Bat down, now."

I glared at him, before closing my eyes to concentrate. I willed the water left in my pack to begin breaking me out of my trap, making the Archer raise an eyebrow, "Okay, this isn't good. Hey. Aren't you guys his teammates? A little help please?"

A moment later M'gann, Kaldur, and Robin were in front of me, with pleading looks on their faces. "Perseus, you have to stop! You are seeing an enemy where there is none!" Kaldur shouted.

"She's not a shapeshifter dude," Robin insisted, "I don't know who she looks like to you, but it's just a coincidence, I promise!"

I was barely registering their words however, as I was too busy staring directly at the poor copy, who was backing away nervously as my water continued to break me out. I gave them my attention however, when M'gann said, "If you don't stop Percy I'm going to have to make you."

I gave her a look that made her flinch, "You don't want to do that. You saw what happened to him didn't you?" I gestured to her uncle in the form of my greatest regret. "And you don't want to see what will happen to him if he doesn't SHIFT OUT OF IT!" I yelled that last part at him, but he continued to feign ignorance.

"I can't! this is my real face!"

M'gann held up hand, "I'm sorry Percy, you leave me no choice."

Before I could protest any more, her eyes began to glow, and everything went black.

Third Person POV

After M'gann knocked Percy out with her mind, Batman fell to the floor, now free of the water holding him up. He landed on feet, before standing up and stalking towards where the god lay in the foam. In front of him, M'gann was hunched over, hugging her knees and shaking slightly.

As he examined the teen, making sure he was truly out, Artemis was trying to figure out what the heck just happened she looked at her "Uncle", "When you told me I should join the team, you didn't mention that it was full of crazy people!"

"Hey!" Wally shot back, "What do you mean "full"?"

Before Artemis could respond, Kaldur spoke to M'gann as he crouched next to her, "Miss Martian, are you alright?"

She looked up, showing her face looking similar to Percy's when he learned of his Godhood, only much less reserved. "H-He told me not to look in his head! I thought it was just for privacy…"

"What did you see?" Batman asked from next to Percy, "Do you know what set him off?"

She shook her head as the tears continued to fall, "I.. it's hard to sort out. All I can see is images of people dying, and pain, so much pain. He has so much loss, pain, hatred, and despair festering inside him…"

Kaldur spoke up, "Earlier… he confided in me. he said he was on a mission before he was brought to our world, one where… where he watched many of his friends die in front of him."

That put a somber mood to the room, but M'gann shook her head, "That's only a part of it, a big part but just a part. He has what feels like decades worth of trauma… but that's not all."

"What do you mean that's not all?" Robin asked incredulously, "That sounds like enough."

"Yeah seriously." Artemis agreed, "What the heck did I just walk in on?" She looked at Green Arrow, but he could only shrug helplessly.

"Miss Martian," Batman asked seriously, "What else is there?"

She looked up at him as she wiped her tears away, "It's like… he feels all of it, all the time. The entire time we've been with him it's been bubbling under the surface."

"Seriously?" Wally asked, still standing in the back next to Superboy, "I mean there's been times but… he doesn't exactly look like it all the time."

She nodded, "it's there but, he ignores it. He pretends it's not there."

"Why would he do that?" Superboy asked, speaking up for the first time. However before anyone could respond, the electronic voice spoke, "Recognized: MR. T."

Everyone froze as Tyson came through the tube, "Hello! I'm back from fixing the… bridge…" He looked over the seen in confusion, and everyone tensed up for when he saw Percy in his current state, but to their surprise, his eye fixated on Artemis, "Annabeth?"

Everyone was confused for a moment, except Batman, who realized what was going to come next due to the Cyclops body language, "Superboy!" He barked, "Stop him!"

The teen reluctantly nodded and stood in front of Tyson as he began charging forward. Artemis stumbled back, "What is that?"

Wally snapped his fingers to get his attention, "No offense, but I think it would be best if you stopped talking now."

She didn't look happy about it but complied as Tyson kept approaching her, just slowed considerably by Superboy pushing against him, "What are you doing SB? Let go!" He said in mild annoyance. "I want to see… wait." He suddenly stopped, sniffing the air curiously, much to Superboy's relief as he fell back in exhaustion, "You aren't Annabeth…"

"Who is Annabeth?" Batman asked gruffly. Unfortunately, this drew attention to where Percy was knocked out.

"Brother?!" Tyson exclaimed, before rushing towards Percy. He soon reached him and broke the foam of him with ease, before holding him in his arms, shaking him slightly, "Percy? Why won't he wake up? What happened?"

He then noticed M'gann crying near him. He reached out with a hand hesitantly, making Artemis and Arrow tense, only to relax as he simply patted her on the shoulder with his meaty hands, "Why are you crying? It's okay he's only knocked out, we can wake him up!"

M'gann could only stare at him sadly. Batman spoke up again, "Tyson, who is Annabeth?"

He looked up at him, "She's… she was Percy's girlfriend. I heard that she died…" He looked down at that, before looking up at Artemis suspiciously, "Why do you look like her? Are you trying to pull a mean trick?"

Artemis quickly shook her head, "No! I swear I've always looked like this, I'm… sorry I guess? Though I can't really help what I look like…"

Tyson still looked suspicious, "Swear on the Styx it's true."

Artemis blinked, "What?"

"It's a sacred Oath," Kaldur explained, "These two take it very seriously, just say you swear on the Styx and he will believe you."

Artemis nodded in thanks, "Okay yeah, I swear on the Styx that I've always looked like this, and I don't mean anything against you guys!"

She then flinched as thunder boomed outside the mountain, loud enough for them to hear, while Tyson nodded in Satisfaction, "Okay… but Why is Percy asleep?"

"He thought Artemis was a shapeshifter disguised as Annabeth to mess with him, so we had to put him to sleep" Robin explained. "I guess it makes sense now…"

"Uh," Artemis chimed in, "Maybe to you all, but I'm still seriously confused!"

"To sum up," Batman spoke up, "What just occurred was an unfortunate misunderstanding, born of an even more unfortunate coincidence." He sighed, sounding exhausted, "This kid just keeps getting more and more complicated."

"Tyson," Kaldur addressed the cyclops, "You were there at that battle, weren't you?" Tyson's expression darkened at this but he nodded hesitantly, so Kaldur continued "Is there anything you can tell us about it?"

Tyson was silent for a moment before answering, "No."

"What do you mean "no"?" Batman asked, "We're only trying to help him!"

Tyson avoided eye contact, "I-I can't…"

"You can't remember?" Robin asked, "What?"

Tyson still didn't respond, but M'gann could guess what the problem was, "It hurts, doesn't it?"

Tyson could only nod, "I… I have to stay strong. For Percy. No matter how much it hurts for me it's a thousand times worse for him."

After that the room was silent once more. It wasn't until a minute later that Robin asked, "What do we do?"

Batman answered, "Whatever we can…"

Elsewhere

In a small tech, underground laboratory, a young, disheveled looking scientists hunkered over a microscope, studying his sample with increasing annoyance. The room was dimly lit by a single hanging lightbulb. He was so invested, that he didn't notice his employer walk up behind him.

"Have you made any progress?" the commanding voice caused the man to jump in his seat, before whirling around to face him, "Mr. Luthor? I'm sorry I didn't hear you come in!"

The tall bald man smirked, "Ironic. Progress, Mr. Langstrom, have you made any?"

The man nodded,, turning around a bit flustered, "I… ah… well I've discovered a few things. Unfortunately, no matter how hard or how long I search there is no trace of anything resembling DNA in the sample…"

Luthor frowned, "So cloning at this point?"

Dr. Langstrom sighed, "Right now, impossible. But! But but but…." He rushed to the other end of the room, where an animal cage sat. He talked while he did so, as Luthor strolled silently behind him, "The substance is… impossible, to say the least. It shows no sign of molecular deterioration, like every other substance in the universe. Even away from the source it will remain the same as it was when it left the body."

Luthor raised an eyebrow as Langstrom showed him the cage. Inside a hamster was running desperately on its wheel, "What is this?"

The scientist sniffed and said, "I added a micro ounce of the substance to the hamster's water."

Luthor shot him a dangerous look, "I did not authorize such a test. We only have a finite amount of this stuff and you feed it to a rodent?"

Langstrom gulped, "Of course sir I understand but listen: the hamster has been running on that wheel for three days now."

Luthor calmed down a bit at that, anger turning to curiosity, "Really? No rest, no sleep?"

Langstrom nodded excitedly before once again walking to the other side of the room towards a monitor, "Food or drink either! It's amazing that it lasted this long but make no mistake: it's running itself to death. Its heart will give out eventually, but for some reason the substance has kept it going for longer than what was previously possible."

Lex nodded, starting to smile a bit in anticipation, "Interesting… anything else?"

The scientist grinned widely, "Yes! And this is the most fascinating thing, and why I think you'll be less disappointed about my inability to clone it. "

Luthor raised an eyebrow, "I'm listening."

"The two ounces or so that your men managed to retrieve from the scene gives off a strange type of radiation. Not harmful to anything at least at this dosage, but powerful all the same. If harnessed correctly, it can be used as an energy source."

Luthor leaned in excitedly at that, "Oh? How much energy are we talking here?"

Langstrom did the math in his head for a moment before responding, "I believe the sample you've given me could sustain everything in a suburban household."

Luthor widened his eyes, "From just two ounces… how long?"

Langstrom shrugged, "If everything I've concluded is correct, the radiation is continuous, with no sign of dying down, and the substance doesn't deteriorate…"

Luthor finished for him, "Limitless energy…. Good work doctor."

Langstrom nodded, "Thank you sir."

"Unfortunately, I'm going to be taking the project off your hands."

Langstrom looked at him in surprise, "O-okay sir… may I ask why?"

Lex shrugged as he walked to the freezer to retrieve the sample e, "You may. I'm handing it over to a business partner of mine. He thinks he might have better luck with it. Don't worry doctor, you'll still receive your antidote regularly."

The doctor sighed with relief and sat down in his chair. However, his calmness was soon swept away when a tall figure walked out of the shadows next to him, causing him to fall out of his chair in fear.

Lex simply turned to the newcomer with the sample in hand, "Ra's. glad you could make it."

The Demon himself nodded before looking at the container, "Is that it?"

Lex nodded and pulled out a test tube, filled with a golden liquid. It is." As he handed it over he continued, "You said you thought it might be related to one of your society's new projects. Which one?"

The leader of the League of Shadows held the vial up to his face, examining the Ichor as he answered, "As of now, it's codenamed: Baskerville."

Chapter 5!

I will now move on to my other fics for a bit, before coming back to this. So don't be surprised if I don't update this for a while.

Please keep the reviews coming, I love to hear your thoughts.