Author's Note: Sorry for updating so late in the day, I had other things to worry about and was more focused on my BH6 fanfic that has reached almost 7k words for the third chapter. I think I'm getting better at this.
The first time it happened, it was after their first mission de-briefing when Batman was pressing for details about Bane and what he was doing there.
"We are lucky to be alive, sir." Kaldur nodded towards Batman as a sign of respect. "Planning should have occurred before we jumped into the scene. The first half was dealing with who was to be leader."
"And the second half was dealing with how a Xenomorph could lose to a fight against a Venom-powered Bane." Robin said dryly while looking at Miss Martian and Kid Flash, the culprits. Kid Flash had been teaching M'gann about the Alien franchise and had made the mistake of comparing him to Bane. M'gann, having come from a strong race of Martians, said that someone like Bane would be killed by a Xenomorph with no problem. Robin countered by stating that his experience with fighting Bane while the man was on Venom have made him rethink that belief. Kid Flash decided by that comment alone – which Robin wished he had never said in the first place – that Bane was automatically stronger.
And thus, Miss Martian and Kid Flash had spent time in-between silences to make short, but strong points. Long before Kaldur thought of using a mind-link, and then was forced to deal with differing thoughts on the way back where the debate became more heated. It finally stopped when Superboy screamed for everyone to stop talking.
Robin asked if he meant to say stop thinking and almost got punched in the face for his troubles.
Batman glared at Kid Flash, who looked down sheepishly, while M'gann blushed red.
"As a team, you need to put personal issues aside for the sake of the mission. Young Justice cannot-"
He was interrupted by Kid Flash bursting into giggles. Batman glared at him until he was quiet.
"As I was saying, Young Justice cannot let personal issues get in the way of the mi-"
Kid Flash broke into louder laughter now.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Kid Flash wiped away a tear of mirth. "Could you say that one more time, so I know what the trigger is?"
"Young Justice-"
"That's the one!" Kid Flash declared before rolling on the floor with laughter. "It sounds – ha! Ha! Ha!- so STUPID! – ha!ha!ha!"
No one but Kid Flash complained when he had to do the bulk of the report by himself.
The second time it happened, it was during a reconnaissance mission in Chicago, investigating a drug bust that was rumored to be distributing Venom to its buyers. Artemis was posing as a potential buyer, while Robin was to play the part of a kid that was to be influenced into buying the same stuff.
It did not end well.
"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" A man wearing a skull cap peered at Robin's face, his sunglasses had just been knocked off and his face exposed.
CRAP! Robin mentally screamed.
He sensed M'gann's pain from the high volume and gulped.
"Haven't I seen you on the news, before?"
"Naw." Robin waved him off with a grin, thinking of all of the training scenarios that he went through with Bruce. "Always have been TV shy."
Kaldur, Artemis. I need back up!
Understood. Kaldur channeled his thoughts into Robin's mind through the mind-link.
Alright! Go Young Justice! Garfield Logan, now going as Beast Boy, cheered from his side of the mind-link. Unable to pose as a potential kid to corrupt and sway towards drugs, he could only disguise himself as a toad inside of Robin's pocket to help him pass as an oddball.
His cheer, however, made Robin start to giggle. The drug dealer glared.
"Something funny, brat?" He growled.
Robin chuckled. "No, just wondering if that officer is really arguing over Batman and Superman with his buddy."
He was grabbed by his collar and pulled close to the drug-dealer's face. Beast Boy decided to hop out of the front pocket he was resting in and landed on the drug-dealer's face. Robin punched him in the stomach, pulled Beast Boy off, and ran as fast as he could, doing his best to cover his face from other witnesses.
Way to almost blow our cover, Garfield! Robin snapped.
You were the one that giggled. Beast Boy countered.
Yeah, but who was the one that made me laugh?
What am I, the Joker?
Will you two old ladies quit yammering? Rocket snapped. We have a mission to deal with.
Alright, Rachel. Garfield put a good deal of effort into mentally sighing as loud and dramatically as he could.
My name is Raquel!
The third time it happened was during a fight against Queen Bee after she caught them sneaking about in her palace.
"You cannot touch me, I am a diplomat!' She declared.
Blue Beetle sighed. "Have you ever seen Lethal Weapons 2? We could just shoot you if you try to kill us."
Yes, kill her and feast on her organs! The Scarab goaded Jamie on.
"Shut up!" Blue Beetle hissed quietly.
"It would be a shame if you did that." Queen Bee looked at Blue Beetle with a look of faux-pity. "Then the rest of the world would see Young Justice as-"
Impulse and Robin – the latter was unexpected – began snorting under their breath. Queen Bee glared at the pair, one look was all it would take for the guards to pull their triggers and end them all right then and there. She waited patiently for them to stop the laughter before speaking again.
"As I was saying." Queen Bee continued with a hint of anger. "The world would then see Young Justice as-"
Impulse cackled loudly. "Oh my God, KF was right! The name sounds so stupid!"
"The world will know Young-"
Wonder Girl began laughing loudly, clutching her sides in an effort to keep herself upright and failing miserably. Even the Scarab began to chuckle, though that was also nightmarish for Jamie to listen to. The sounds that a Scarab made when it laughed was something no sane human should ever listen to.
"Guards!" Queen Bee shouted. "Kill the intruders-"
"Ezeerf!"
Queen Bee and her guards were frozen in place, her mouth still gaping open as a fly buzzed into it. She could still move her eyes, and they widened with horror as they saw the small speck of green as it went inside of her mouth. She felt something bite her tongue a few times, an irritation that needed attention, but she could only scream on the inside as the green insect grew large and furry and tasted something sour going down her throat. She screamed louder in her mind and even louder when she heard someone inside her head.
Would you stop it? I could hear that and I wasn't trying to read your mind!
Martian Girl, call off this brat before-
Before what? Your mouth becomes numb? Now the rest of Young Justice was cackling as her in her misery.
Oh for the love of Gods of Mars! That's not our name!
What are you talking about, Green Freak?! Queen Bee screamed in her mind as the back-stabbing promise breaker. Why are you denying something so obvious?
Because it doesn't sound as great as the Justice League when you say it out loud and we go by the Team, obviously. Who told you we called ourselves that?
Queen Bee thought as calmly as one could when one had tasted urine being poured down her throat and in all likelihood, was facing the risk of vomiting if her gag reflex hadn't also been frozen. Then she felt two things happen; the furry pest that turned back into a fly and had bit her upper lip two times before flying off….and today's soup coming out of her stomach as she flushed her system clean.
I am going to kill Psimon once he comes back here. Queen Bee declared. The green Martian Girl decided to get the last word in before breaking her mental connection to her.
Yeah, good luck with that.
Author's Note: Reading someone say the words "Young Justice" just makes me want to groan. Or laugh. Thankfully, the Team did mostly option B for me. Batman isn't that social, he would make the occasional blunder of saying a stupid name outloud. Robin was supposed to be the one that argued over the Alien franchise, but I thought that it was a bit too OOC, so I swapped him with your favorite Speedster in yellow.
A part of me still thinks that the method of Beast Boy getting payback was a bit immature and bound to backfire. Not to mention, not a good way of getting closure. But there isn't much that Queen Bee can do to get revenge that wouldn't put her at risk of exposing her activities of transporting teens with the potential meta gene.
I dropped a reference of We Love Our Two Dads within this chapter, see if you can find it.
Next update on Sunday will be a bit longer and more story oriented, I swear. These past few chapters were meant to be a breather from the heavier stuff. I'd say this was the funniest, even if the humor at the end was a little immature. And this is coming from a guy who hates those kinds of comedies.
Thanks for reading :)
