Previously on Young Justice: Rebirth
Conner chuckled as he hugged Bart back. "Ha ha ha! Bart, what're you doing here?"
"That's...a very good question, and I promise I will answer that after I find out one thing," Bart said.
"Lemme guess: where are you?" Conner said, smirking.
"Are you psychic now, Conner?" Bart said.
"I know you, Bart," the half-Kryptonian said. "Anyways, we're on Gemworld."
Bart gasped overdramatically. "Wait a second. The Gemworld? Like, the Gemworld?"
"Is there another one you know of?" Conner snarked.
"This is crazy..." Bart whispered. "I came to Metropolis to find you and you've been here."
"Dude, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," Conner said. "It's like I've been here for an eternity."
Bart and Conner were currently walking through the dirt roads of Gemworld's middle of nowhere, jovially speaking to each other.
"So," Bart began. "How'd you end up here anyways, my dude?"
Conner kicked a pebble away as he explained. "Tch, you got me, man. One moment I'm tearing up %$# in STAR Labs, next moment, I step into some multiverse transporter and end up here."
"How is this place, anyway?" Bart wondered; the brunette speedster looked around the skies, which were a purplish blue mixture with stars dotted all around them. "It's beautiful out here."
"To tell you the truth? Bro, I love this place," Conner admitted. "I mean, sure, I've had to sleep in random places over the years and I haven't eaten a good burrito in a while, but other than that, not half bad."
"Dude, there's no burritos here?!" Bart asked, horrified. "OK, we've gotta find Tim and Cass and the others and get the h-e-double hockey sticks outta here!" The speedster took off in a cloud of dust, leaving Conner behind...for about two seconds before zipping back in front of the half-Kryptonian.
"Wait a second! You said you've been here for years?" Bart said. "That doesn't make any goddamned sense! Back on Earth, when I heard about STAR Labs being trashed, that was only five months ago!"
"OK, now I know you've gone cuckoo for Cocoa-Puffs, Bart," Conner jabbed. "Look at this face! Look at this beard growth! It's been years! I even met this one hot chic-"
"Unless," Bart interrupted, putting his hand on the Superboy's chest to stop him from walking. "Due to thecontrast in vibrational frequencies between Earths, time passes here on Gemworld differently than Prime-Earth, despite technically being a part of it. I knew my Speed Force felt different."
Conner raised an eyebrow at Bart's rumination. "I always forget that you can be smart on occasion."
Bart shrugged. "Either that, or the writer is making this up as he goes along. BT-dubs, you gotta tell me about the hot chick," the speedster said, getting back to the important part of the conversation. Sure. Let's go with that.
"Oh, lemme tell you-wait, what's that?" Conner said, pointing straight ahead. Bart turned around and saw three rapidly approaching figures closing in on them. The speedster's eyes widened as he recognized two of them.
"Conner," Bart said, moving behind the Superboy. "Conner, I hear boss music."
"HALT! There's one of them!" the man in the bulky armor said. He turned towards his two compatriots. "See! I told you," he continued, his voice smug.
"Just get on with it," the red armored female said, irritated.
"Right. Ahem. Child of Earth! Step away from the ruggedly handsome man next to you! I am Carnelian, son of Dark Opal! I am the law!" Carnelian boasted.
"And I am Prince Topaz-" the blonde man said before being cut off by a smack over the head. "Ow! The hell, Carnelian?!"
"No one cares, Topaz!" Carnelian scolded. "I told you, in these situations, it's all about one person: me!"
"You guys are complete morons," the red armored one said, to which Carnelian also smacked her over the head.
"Shut up, Ruby! You're a whore!" Carnelian insulted.
Conner could only looked between Bart and the three Gemworld soldiers, confused. "Uh, anyone wanna give me a recap here? I feel like I was dropped in the middle of all this. No one? Ok..."
Bart stepped from behind Conner and squared up to the three instigators. "Don't worry, Con. These guys are cowards." The speedster narrowed his eyes at all three of them and began zipping all around them.
"Listen here, King Sombra! This ain't the boss level you think it is!"
Conner's eyes widened as he came to a realization. "Bart, what the #$^ did you do?"
The son of Superman's question went unanswered.
"You're trespassing on sacred ground, Earther!" Carnelian said, gripping his very large sword tightly. "Figures. Your planet has brought nothing but suffering to Gemworld and Superman will have to answer! By order of the amazingly wonderful Dark Lord Opal, you and him shall come with us!"
Bart stopped zipping around and stood in front of them, his fists raised and his stance defensive. "Dude, you literally just invaded my planet in the first chapter! Me and Conner are gonna be placing you under arrest! You want a Superman-level beating, well we gon' give it to ya! Right, Conner? Uh, C-conner?"
Bart turned around to see Conner kneeling down with his hands behind his head. Suddenly, Ruby pulled out her weapon and shocked Bart, sending the speedster crumbling and groaning on the ground.
"I so don't get paid enough for this," Ruby mumbled as she began tying Bart's feet together.
"At least we've got something to bring back to father," Carnelian declared.
"Not Superman, though. Shirt is nice," Topaz complimented.
Carnelian chuckled evilly. "Oh Topaz," the Opal Gemworlder said before punching Conner. "I can always dress it up."
Conner groaned as he spat out blood from his mouth. Bart, who's hands and feet were now tied, looked at the half-Kryptonian, wondering what to do, until Conner gave him a look that said 'I got a plan.' The speedster nodded at this.
The Dark Castle Opal
The castle itself had a foreboding atmosphere that smelled of impending doom; the soldiers all clad in black armor, the architecture clearly a mixture of Gothic and Baroque, and a blue luster that emanated from all corners.
From last time, we left off with our newly formed team embroiled in a conflict between them and the Dark Lord Opal. The outcome?
They failed.
Horribly.
As of right now, they were being confined in the Dark Castle's dungeon, with Tim Drake, a.k.a. Robin being thrown in with the rest of the team last. The Boy Wonder fell to the ground harshly. He sat up and spat some dirt out.
"Outlook: not good," Tim joked.
"Ain't that the truth," Cassie said.
She, along with the others, were varying degrees of injured and/or beat up; Cassie had a bruised eye and a cut lip, Jinny Hex's nose was broken and blood seeped from her mouth, Amethyst had a gash on her leg and a bruised eye, and Keli's cheek was cut and her right ear was bleeding.
They've obviously seen better days.
"We're in the prison pits of Opal now," Amethyst, or Amy, said. "Deep in the heart of dickwad territory."
Cassie chuckled and put her hand to her bruised eye. "Ok, this one's on me. Probably shouldn't have gone for the flying drop chest kick."
"No one's blaming anybody, Cass," Tim reassured.
"We're stuck in a prison pit in the middle of God knows #$%&* where; we're beat up, and they stole my #$%^* ride. I'm blamin' someone," Jinny hissed through gritted teeth. "And I think that sumbitch knocked one of my wisdom teeth out."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hayseed!" Cassie argued back, offended. "At least I was actually helping! What were you doing? Oh that's right! You decided to turn tail and #$%^ out!"
" #$% you, no I wasn't!" Jinny retorted. She held her jaw momentarily before continuing. "I was goin' back to my truck to get some better guns! Also: hayseed?!"
"Both of you! Stop fighting, now!" Tim ordered, silencing the two. "We're getting nowhere wasting our breath arguing!"
"He's right," Amy agreed. "He is a Bat after all."
Tim smiled smugly at the compliment. "Well, thank you, princess. At least someone appreciates me."
Cassie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Call me when you're finished climbing Mount Ego."
The Boy Wonder flipped her the bird for that one.
"They took my battery pack. Pinche taradas* stole my battery pack," Keli said.
Tim looked at the Hispanic girl. "Teen Green Lantern, right?"
Keli groaned. "Ay Dios mio*, TEEN Lantern! Not that hard to remember!"
"You're nine for God's sake!" Cassie said.
"Least we agree on somethin'." Jinny looked around the walls of the prison pit, which had numerous fragments of opal gems embedded on them. "Y'know, as far as dungeons go, this is pretty fancy," the gunslinger noted.
"Yeah, it'll make the cover of 'Penitentiary Monthly'," Tim snarked.
Cassie cracked her neck and looked up at the ceiling, which had an opening covered by metal bars. "Hmm, maybe if I try to fly up..."
The blonde Amazon girl charged up her jump, ready to fly into the air; when she jumped, she only made it a few feet before coming crashing down on her face.
"Owww," she said, rubbing her head.
"Cassie?! You ok?" Tim asked, running over to her. She stood back up without his help and looked at her hands.
"Something's not right here. My powers..."
Amy attempted to conjure up a crystal construct with her right hand, but nothing came of it. "Goddammit! I know what's going on. Typical Gemworld spell. This room is negating our powers. In other words, Opal is using cheat codes."
"Well, ain't that a low down dirty shame," Jinny commented. "First time I leave home, I get caught up in some bull #$%. Wonderful."
"La vaquera tiene razón. ¿Por qué me fui de Bolivia? Estúpido, Keli. ¡Estúpido!"*** Keli rambled off.
"We still gotta find Bart," Tim told all of them.
"Bart?" Jinny questioned.
"About yay high, brown hair, as hyper as RDJ on coke," Tim listed off, gesturing the height portion. "Little speedy guy back in Metropolis."
"Now I remember him," Jinny said. "Weird sumbitch if ya ask me."
"The weirdest. Dear God, I hope he's okay," Tim worried. "He can't survive by himself. He's probably already gotten into some deep dookie."
"Tim. It's Bart," Cassie said.
"That's why I'm worried."
"He's a capable superhero in his own right. Sure he might be...odd, but he's just as experienced as you or me," Cassie reasoned, placing her hand on Tim's shoulder.
"Hehehehehe….." Jinny began laughing, bringing everyone's eyes to her.
"Something funny?" Amy asked.
"First time I leave home, I see a buncha aliens invadin' Earth, I get sucked into a jewelry world, and now I'm stuck here with a buncha #$%^& morons in some dungeon. What a #$%^& day!" Jinny rattled off, still laughing in disbelief.
"This is a normal Tuesday for me," Cassie said, shrugging. "Or is it Friday?"
"Guys, I just realized something," Tim said. "Out of everybody here, I'm the only dude. Funny how that works, huh?"
Keli stood up and walked over to Amy. "Nice pony you had back there," the Latina girl said.
Amy smiled down at her. "Thank you."
"You're really tall for a princess. Where's your castle? Do you break out into song? Do you talk to forest animals?"
Amy's smile faltered as Keli continued rattling off questions.
'Dear God, something please get us out of here soon,' the princess internalized.
Our heroes, guys.
Don't worry, the action's gonna pick back up soon, just you wait.
*: Pinche taradas- F #$%ng dumbasses
**: Ay Dios mio - Oh my God
***: La vaquera tiene razón. ¿Por qué me fui de Bolivia? Estúpido, Keli. ¡Estúpido! - The cowgirl is right. Why did I leave Bolivia? Stupid, Keli. Stupid.
For the record, Conner's characterization is based off his comic book one, not the show. I like him better in the comic. Anyways, leave a comment or a follow. Or a fav. Whatever.