FOUR BOYS: The Path We Seek
Chapter 22: The Journey of a Mind
"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable."
...Mount Justice...
Water was wheeled into the med bay still unconscious, Dr. Midnite was called in. The other young heroes stayed in the hangar in front of Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and Icon.
None of the young ones dared to look up. So Batman began instead, his voice firm and stoic, "Tell me if this sounds familiar. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed protocol and endangered your lives. Your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons proving warden Hugo Strange who runs Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity as well as getting your teammate back from The Light and attaining a case which you deduce to be the Light's next attempt."
Renegade didn't know what to say, he was nervous, anxious, happy to have Water back, but worried for his teammates, for his friends and for what he had done.
'He accepted it, he knew he had disobeyed and therefore he expected punishmen-'
Batman smiled "Well done."
Dick was surprised that Bruce actually smiled in uniform and most of all how proud he seemed, the others smiled relieved.
"And then there's this" Batman looked to the case with Icon that Red Arrow had gotten, "Bio-gene integrated with some form of Nano-circuitry"
Icon got one of the pieces out
"Though I am unfamiliar with this species the Bio component is clearly not of Earth."
"We'll take it to the watchtower for further study." Batman announced as the league members moved to the Zeta-tubes. R moved to follow the hero, "Um B-" he called after the dark knight.
Green Arrow nodded to his two ex-apprentices they nodded back.
Superman looked at Superboy. It was tense, it was always a tense situation that both had begun talking at the same time-
"You don't have to-." "Superboy even though it has been difi-"
They laughed awkwardly. The other had left to get their wounds treated, R looked back and gave S an encouraging smile.
Superman sighed, "Please let me start." S found himself nodding, but not expecting much. "The team did good work here. You did good work."
"Umm thanks."
"Soo I... I know I haven't been as present as I should be-"
"No, Its alright, I'm just a clone after all a weapon... I am-"
"No Superboy. You are not a weapon and you are your own person, kryptonian, you know what I mean... I should have been here. We don't know the extent of your powers yet, but I could help you figure that out... if you agree."
"..I - I would like that yeah."
"Good..." a beat "Have you chosen a name?"
Silence, S stared slightly surprised at the new topic, a name, "I- I've though about it, but I -no."
"How 'bout Conner?!" R called as he returned to the hangar, L nodded as he munched on a fruit bar his ribs had been treated before Flash left to the Watchtower with the others, "Sounds good, has a nice ring to it."
Miss Martian soon joined "I like it, it fits you."
"Conner" he tested it out, "yeah. I like it." He smiled. Superman smiled as well.
"Okay Conner, we'll be seeing each other soon." He turned to the other as he headed to the zeta tube, "Megan, Wally, Dick." They nodded happily.
It was bittersweet. A victory. A casualty. Something gained. Something lost. But they were alright, for now... it was as close to happy as they had ever been.
"Ah! Hello Megan! I came here to tell you guys, Water is going to be fine. Dr. Midnite will be able to help him recover completely."
"...so he can still walk? Swim?" R turned to her hopefully.
"Is he okay?" S asked.
She nodded happily "Yes and yes you see the boulder did not fall directly on his legs, there is bruising but he will be as good as new."
L covered his eyes for some time taking a big shaky breathe before fist pumping the air and shouting happily.
S sighed and nodded gratefully to Megan who in turned blushed. R smiled he felt relief so much relief that if he could he would allow himself to cry again.
There was no time though, as this was just the beginning. Things were never good for so long, he had learned that the hard way. It had been strange the otherwise inactivity of their master's. He had no good feeling, good thing he had managed to talk to Batman about it, and hopefully it would be nothing.
R turned to look for his computer, Megan went to the kitchen and Artemis laid on the sofas. Red Arrow was talking to Superboy.
/
L looked around, well now he was bored again. They had nothing to do aside from waiting for Water to wake up.
Sigh~
"Would you please stop doing that." Artemis said annoyed at the speedster 11th sigh in 10 minutes.
"Can you blame me? I'm banned from sparring, Supey here loves static." S threw him a glance, "Ren locked himself who know's where. You guys don't have a single console game here."
Miss Martian flew to them holding a cookie for each of them, a bowl for L. "Well we could always get to know each other better." She suggested, then thought about it and blushed not looking to the clone.
Artemis smirked, "Pass, I don't wanna know what crazy stuff goes through Wally's head."
"Hey! I'm brilliant!"
"Sure..."
"Its true! I mean I know I'm not ninja freak-master hacker like Ren is, but I am a science genius you know."
/
R frowned as the read through the notes, "This has to be it... subconscious pre-programming, duh of course. But then how do they activate it: an electromagnetic pulse... mentally..." he remembered his experience before, "a word."
Then again, only the leader can hear the master's orders. With Kaldur being the leader now he was at lost on their plans and as the atlantean was still unconscious their was no way of finding out except- "Megan."
"Did you call for me?" The voice said startling him. She stood with a plate of cookies she offered to him.
"How are you feeling." She started. R looked at her 'she was a martian, martian Manhunter's nephew, so she would be able to find out-'
"Umm Dick, why do you keep staring at me." She said flushing at the attention.
"-You have cookie batter in your right cheek." He said simply returning to look at the screen. The martian's face was now red as a tomato.
Seeing as there was nothing else to be said. She turned to leave. Talking with R alone was different than talking to the others, he had walls built all around him. An impenetrable mind. Maybe one day he would lower them enough for him to become friends with everybody aside from S and L.
"Miss M-" she looked back at the boy she considered almost like a younger brother.
"Yes R?"
A sigh. "I need your help."
/
R stared at a nervous martian, both stood besides W bed, he was still unconscious, an inhibitor collar around his neck and shackles tied his hands on either side. As much as they hated to do that, they did not know how he would react. R sighed, 'had he asked for too much?'
"Miss M..."
"I can do it Ren, I've had a lot of training with my uncle, its just... are you sure about this."
"I don't know but, this is the only way."
He said mournfully. Of course he wouldn't like anybody going inside his mind and prive information. He would have to apologize later, hopefully Kaldur would forgive him.
They nodded to each other. Megan's eyes glowed green. The figure in the bed tensed as well as R who stood closely.
/
R and Miss M were now in the atlantean's mind, an underwater Atlantis covered in a gray mist.
"What is this?" R said
"This is Kaldur's psychic or how he perceives it anyway." She supplied.
"Its... misty-fuzzy, just like the time I was in their control." He said slightly angered at the control the Light had over them.
They swam through the underwater kingdom looking for his friend until they found him in a plaza staring above his eyes glazed as if frozen in time.
"Kaldur." Megan tried and the atlantean indeed turned around and stared at her, then at R who slightly coward behind her. He could not understand why, but something felt odd between them.
The grey eyes narrowed when he looked at the raven haired "You." He said ignoring the Martian and starting to walk towards them.
R got in front of the martian, "Find it." He said, she nodded hesitantly and left. Water eyed her suspiciously but let her leave in favor of turning to the boy again.
"Who are you?"
'Well that caught him off guard..' "I'm Renegade your teammate."
"...Right, Renegade. Yes, I I'm sorry I can't get my thoughts in order. What happened I can't remember anything after..."
'The fight. Who will be team leader. Trust me Ren. I won. Is he alright. Pain.' The both cringed at the onslaught of thoughts about that time.
R nodded slightly, "You took the mantle of leader, my guess is they preconditioned you to complete every order to the fullest."
"What has happened after that, did I do something to you? To the others?"
R ignored the memories at the Fog mission, the helicopter fight, their last incident.
"It doesn't matter. I mean we are fine." He said trying to make it pass the point as fast as possible.
"Renegade..."
They both exchanged stares, W continued, "I'm sorry... I thought I was capable of handling everything as the leader and give you an opportunity to act. Instead, I've acted as the villain and more less an obstacle-."
"-No Water! Not any of this was your fault, besides your plan worked." Water's eyes widened, "if it wasn't for you I would be in their full control. Your were right that time, there was something I'd missed on the Light's plans. If it weren't for you everything would have ended incredibly bad by now. I wouldn't have been able to foresee what was going to happen and device a plan to bring them down."
Water felt relieved once he knew everything had not been in vain. He turned to the youngest once again. Since the beginning he felt, he knew, R wanted something else rather than following their master's blindly. He had never imagined though, their youngest teammate want to defeat their own masters, however.'
"Then, you did want to stop The Light since the beginning." 'He knew it.
R nodded mutely, "Ever since... ever since my family was killed because of them." R clentched his fists, he turned to his friend, blue eyes shining determingly, "We've hit rock bottom, a dead end once again. We need your help, Kaldur."
Water eyes widened at the familiarity in the name, he smiled, "You want to now what's The Light's next move."
"Yes. You are the only one who knows at this point, but I've also come to get my friend back." He smirked.
Water nodded determingly, "There is a mole amongst the League."
R eyes widened.
...
The atlantean's eyes gazed at the Martian who swam back to them, a shiny red sphere in her hands.
"...Is that?" R began, she nodded.
Water stared at the martain, she smiled, "What is that?"
"This is what has been keeping you in control of the Light all this time."
"Its not a subtance, despite its name." Supplied. "More like a microscopic chip implanted on our subconscious."
Megan nodded, "Now that we've found it we need to destroy it."
Water cringed but nodded otherwise, he realized it was fair and the only option right now.
Cough*
Cough Cough*
R started to drown startling both when he slid to the ground gasping for air.
"ACK- Cough*"
"What's wrong?" Water demanded kneeling beside his teammate. She placed the sphere to the floor getting in front of his teammate.
"Ren this is an illusion you are not underwater! Breathe you can brea-"
"Ah- I can't br-breathe." he gasped "Cough* I know it's not an -an illusion, but ACK."
Miss Martian eyes widened 'This can only mean.' She turned to the sphere, "Water destroy it!"
"Are you sure?"
R fell limp to her side, "Do it!"
/
That had caused them to wake again, they were in the med bay, but Megan kneeled on the floor tears on her face and being held by Artemis, on the other hand, Water was not in bed but rather inside a purple sphere panting slightly. He looked confused at what had happened.
R laid by the wall coughing harshly.
"What happened." Miss Martian said.
"What happened?! That's what I'd like to know!" Artemis said.
"Are you okay sweetie?" The new guest said to R who gave some deep breathes. He nodded and looked at the girl, an african american woman with short spiky black hair. Wearing a formfitting blue shirt that includes a partial hood that covers her cheeks and forehead.
He coughed on last time, "I'm fine thanks to you amm..."
"Rocket." She supplied, he nodded standing up, "Can you let him out?" He said looking at the lost atlantean.
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her prisoner, "You sure about that?"
She received an odd look from R and Miss Martian, "Well! You can't blame me. I visit the cave and next thing I know Artemis and I find this guys trying to choke you and Megan crying!"
"...Right, I'm sorry I was not in full control of my actions." W said. She eyed him once again before letting him out on the floor.
Then it hit Artemis, she looked at her friend, "Megan did you?!"
The martian smirked confidently, "Pretty nice for my first mind trip right?" They stood up.
The archer looked at the raven haired, "So Boy Wonder now what..."
The boy sighed, 'What now indeed- a mole'
He turned to Artemis, "Where's S and L?"
She shrugged, "They headed out with Red Arrow to the hangar- hey!"
He was running as fasta as he could despite still having been short of breath.
"Renegade!" Water ran behind him followed by the others.
...
The hangar was opened, 3 motorcycles missing.
"Maybe they went for a trip." Rocket suggested at lost as why everybody was so tense and on guard.
"No. L wouldn't take a motorcycle he uses every opportunity he has to run as much as he wants. If it was just a trip he wouldn't have done it."
"That or he just wanted to try it out."
"They'll be fine I know Roy he wouldn't hurt them and I'm sure he can't anyways." The archer said patting the youngest on the shoulder. Rocket and Megan followed the archer.
Water looked at R, "Perhaps we are being paranoic." The teen hesitated, "Yeah... maybe. I need to contact the League. Let them know you are fine."
"Where they worried?" The atlantean asked surprised.
R smirked 'An awesome feeling right.'
/
"I am glad you are alright, I will be visiting shortly."
"Thank you King Orin." The King nodded.
'Had he just talked with the King of Atlantis? His sworn enemy? Was the king really not mad at him for who he was, what he was?' Many things played in Water's mind.
After R contacted the League, Batman answered, they started talking about nanotech contingency. R was ecstatic to say the least. The cure had been almost completely devised.
Some time in the afternoon 3 motorcycles came back, R demanded where had they been, Roy ignored him and headed to the Watchtower as a member of the Justice League he had access to it. L and S looked at him strangely and L teased him for being paranoic.
As soon as they saw Water though their eyes hardened before they greated him. Neither the youngest or the atlantean were played. There was something off.
"So where were you?" R said crossing his arms.
"Chill Ren we just got to know Happy Harbor, I was bored out of my mind, Red Arrow offered so I took S along."
The clone nodded.