Lo and behold, I have returned! The hiatus is over!
And you know what? So is the semester! With school being over I can jump right back into writing more of my beloved story. And with the one-year anniversary around the corner, I feel like doing yet another big ol' Q&A! So be sure to send your questions in for that, either by review or PM.
Also expect some of my other stories to get updated. New chapters for "Tales from Earth-45" and "Konquest" are on the way.
But before I get too carried away, let's take a look at some reviews!:
xbox432: I'm glad you liked the changes I made for Frost and Shark. Those two are just done with losing and done with villainy. All they wanted was a nice quiet retirement with family. Cameron will definitely be back for that in the future. I never expected it the first time I watched the episode, but re-watching it for the chapter, he really did grow on me. Makes me wish they did try something like this for him in the show at some point.
Malchior the Bad: I planned this tragedy for them, ever since the beginning. I figure Chillblaine would be the best replacement for Cameron later, especially since I love that loser. I don't know why you would think Cameron would makeout with Ace or Keemia, since those two are already a couple. And definitely not with Coldsnap. I have a different plan for them. Rooting for phase 5? Phase 4 hasn't even started yet! And no, I have not yet checked them out. I've been a little preoccupied. For Coldsnap getting a portrait... maybe? I do have a Deviantart, I just don't really use it ever. Snowstorm is a good choice for a new name for Cameron if I decide to change it. We'll just have to see.
Mysterygirl145: Damn straight you should watch the whole show! In all seriousness, thank you for the compliments, it really means a lot that my ideas are well-received. And yeah, I'm a real sucker for a redemption arc as well.
Guest for Chapter 1 from Jan 22: Simpler? Maybe. I still felt like this change was a good option so I went with it. It doesn't harm too many things anyway.
Guest for Chapter 2 from Jan 22: Since I'm running with the canon established in the DCAU, Tim Drake had to be the Robin I used.
Dion ComicWiz: Always great to hear from you my friend, sorry for the wait on this one. Glad to know you enjoyed this latest installment as well. Niuhi's return here was the main thing I wanted to get right, especially with the backstory for her being revealed in full. Using to also explain away Freeze's OOC behavior? Well that was just a nice little bonus for me. Cluemaster was another given when I was first planning this chapter, and I always thought he was underrated. His old costume sucked, but by god his tactical armour is god-tier design. And I love his character in general, especially in regards to Stephanie. His one man war against Black Mask? Beautiful! Nice to see that Cameron's interactions were well-received across the board. I really wanted to just plant the seeds of development for exploration later, depending on how people felt. And now? I definitely think I'll do it. Unfortunately, this chapter doesn't have Tomorrow Woman or any extra JSA inclusion, if only because I can explore that later in "Humanity" when I adapt that episode. Riddler being missing? That's just how the villains explain him not being around. I already referenced in 'Tales from Earth-45" that he works as an English professor at Gotham university now, as well as working with the Dark Division. This is why he's been missing. In any case, he will get a chapter on his own for "Tales from Earth-45", specifically a chapter revolving around him going treasure hunting. Should be fun ;)
Zeo: Updates are coming! Herman and Giganta will get something. And I don't think I'll be giving Keemia a pet, neither snake nor turtle.
rmarcano321: Lot's of questions, so let's rapid-fire answer them: Devastation was made as an anti-Wonder Woman. Too bad she sucks at it. Chillblaine is here just because he was another ice-villain from the first chapter. Also because he is such a loser, I love him. Things about Niuhi will be revealed in time. The current Suicide Squad features Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Enchantress, Katana, Rick Flagg, Killer Croc, Killer Frost, and King Shark. Their inspiration for the relationship was absolutely taken from Assault on Arkham. Riddler's location was answered in Dion's response above. Nah, Shimmer will continue to be a jobber. Just a slightly less useless one. I might reference the comics, but that's it. Spoiler's role... well that would just be giving it away ;). King Shark for Niuhi's backstory and Cluemaster is replacing Riddler's original role. Cameron might just make the conversion to hero, we'll have to see. Fun fact: all of the guards were either named after or designed after some of the crew for the show. That should answer everything.
7-Eleventh: No Venom. None at all. he will not be appearing. Eh, I might rename it later, or at least reference that the name got permanently changed. Prometheus does sound cooler after all.
Ndare-47: Oh yeah, her name is tricky, isn't it? Phonetically, her name would be pronounced "New-hi". Hopefully that helps.
Thanks again for all of the reviews you guys! It makes the writing process easier, and it's nice to hear the feedback.
Now that this is out of the way, time for a disclaimer: as usual, I own nothing. Young Justice and all related characters are owned by DC Comics and Warner Bros. Keemia and all related characters are owned by Marvel Comics. There may or may not be a reference in here to Ed Boon's work, I suppose that would be owned by Ed Boon and Netherrealm? I'm just doing that one to be safe.
In any case, away we go!
Gotham City – September 22nd, 06:00 EDT
Among teenagers, there was nothing more sacred, more beloved, than sleep. Craved and sought after by many adolescents, who want nothing more than to relax in their beds, never having to leave their ideal fortress of soft blankets and pillows. To interrupt this comfort is therefore the greatest upset they can endure.
Which is why alarm clocks are so hated.
Artemis was no exception to this rule. She reached out to silence her own alarm, before promptly curling back up among her blankets, trying desperately to sleep away the day. Unfortunately for her, the first alarm was replaced by a second. One of her neighbour's car alarms was blaring outside her window. Par for the course in Gotham, but still, a major pain in the ass nonetheless.
'Damn it,' she thought with a groan as her eyes slowly opened, reluctantly taking in the daylight that streamed through her window and bathed her room in a soft glow. She stared out to see the bed across the room, laying unused, completely untouched. As it had for the past eight years up to this point. An Alice in Wonderland poster hung above the bed, the colours faded with sunlight exposure, but the faces of both Alice and the Cheshire Cat were still as bright and vibrant as the day her sister first brought it home all those years ago.
Her sister. Just thinking about her reminded Artemis of the night she ran away from home.
-Flashback-
Jade walked to her bed, setting her bag on it as she continued to take her various belongings from her drawers and pack them away. The perfect opportunity to run away from the home she hated had finally arrived, and she wasn't about to waste that.
Even if her younger sister watched her with fearful eyes.
"Please… please don't go." A seven year old Artemis begged, as she watched her sister packing her bag.
"Sorry sis," Jade dismissed quickly, packing the last of her clothes. "Mom's not getting out of prison anytime soon, and I refuse to live in this house with just dad."
"Dad and you and me." Artemis corrected, trying to get her sister to stay. "We have to keep this family from falling apart!"
Jade was silent at that, not moving an inch as she seemed to think about what she could say next. Before that could be answered though….
"Artemis, get up!"
-Flashback End-
The voice snapped Artemis back to attention as she sat up in her bed, looking at the door to her bedroom. Her mother, Paula, stared at Artemis from her wheelchair with a stern expression on her face.
"I don't want you late for your first day of school." She continued before moving off down the hall. Artemis watched her leave before groaning in annoyance and falling back on her pillow defiantly. Artemis hated going to school at the best of times, but now?
She had to attend an all new school.
Gotham Academy was an old and proud institution, located right in the heart of Gotham City. It was considered one of the premier schools in the state, and had housed several prestigious alumni such as Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox to name a few. With its incredibly lofty reputation, it was a notoriously difficult school to get accepted into. Only the absolute best students would even be considered for its halls.
Perhaps that was why Artemis felt so out of place? She stood in the large open air courtyard in the front of the school, looking around at the old brick architecture and the numerous other students milling about. Several were studying and talking amongst each other. A small group was even playing with a hacky sack just off to the side of the main entrance. One thing they all had in common was the uniform they wore.
Artemis had determined the uniform to so far be the worst part of the school. She hated skirts, and being forced to wear one, with itchy woollen stocking no less, was proving very quickly to be absolute agony for her. The one solace she had was knowing that it could have been far sooner that this happened; the term was, after all, held back until the repairs in the wake of the battle with Amazo 2 were complete.
'If only that lasted longer, I might have avoided this whole thing altogether' Artemis mused, still fighting with her skirt.
"Artemis?" a voice asked, prompting the blonde to turn around and see a sophomore student with a small, welcoming smile. "I'm Bette, your new student liaison. Welcome to Gotham Academy." She greeted warmly.
"Thanks, um… I'm Artemis. But uh, you… knew that." She said nervously, before someone suddenly grabbed her from behind.
A shorter boy with dark, slicked-back hair suddenly wrapped his arm around Artemis' shoulders, a wicked smirk on his face. "We'll laugh about this someday," he assured her before taking a quick selfie of the two of them and running off.
Artemis blinked at the sudden flash of the camera, before looking around to see that the shorter boy had disappeared as quickly as he came. "Uh… who's that?" she asked in confusion.
"A freshman. Ignore him," Bette said dismissively as the two walked off towards the building.
As the two walked off, another blonde girl watched them leave for the building. Her arms were folded, completely unimpressed with the boy's antics. "Tim, what was that about?"
"Nothing Steph," Tim laughed, blowing off her question. "Just being friendly to the new girl."
"That's more than friendly," Another voice called as a girl with bright purple and blue hair walked over to the two of them. "She another hopeful bat?"
"No such luck Harper. She's more of the Arrow variety," Tim smirked before the three walked off, his focus kept entirely on the photo he'd just taken.
Mount Justice – September 22nd, 18:43 EDT
In the quiet hours of the evening, Happy Harbour had an unexpected yet welcome feeling of serenity. In this peaceful time, Superboy and Miss Martian were currently enjoying being alone together in the hangar next to Conner's motorcycle. After finally getting together in the wake of their mission to Belle Reve the week previous, the two had been nearly inseparable since then.
As a result, they spent most of their time sneaking away to the garage where they could be alone, away from the prying eyes of the team, especially Barry. While the two were engaged in yet another lip-lock, Sphere decided to roll over to them, beeping furiously to get their attention. The two broke apart before M'Gann laughed.
"Someone's jealous." The Martian girl mused.
"Maybe," Conner started, "Or maybe…"
"It wanted to get your attention because your friends were arriving?" Jason snarked before he walked in with Ashley and Niuhi. "I swear, you two are the worst kept secret here."
"You can practically smell the romantic feelings coming off the two of you," Niuhi teased, waving a hand in front of her face.
"Ha ha," Conner said, rolling his eyes.
"So, did you just come down here to tease us? I'd have expected Keemia to be here for that." M'Gann noted, petting the Sphere playfully.
"Nah, Keems is still busy," Jason shrugged.
"She and Kaldur are still in their meeting with Tornado," Ashley clarified. "But she probably would want us to get some more jokes in for her sake."
"Yeah, that figures." Conner nodded. "So, do you have any more obvious ones before…?"
"Hey guys!" Barry called out as he walked over to them, sandwich in hand. "Found Conner and Megalicious then?" he asked the newly arrived trio before turning to M'Gann and Conner. "You two sure spend a lot of time working on his bike."
"That's just because M'Gann really wants to go for a ride," Jason smirked prompting Conner to elbow his ribs while M'Gann and Ashley blushed in embarrassment, and Niuhi gave a snide laugh. Barry didn't seem to get the entendre though as he simply shrugged before looking at Conner.
"Obviously you need Barry's expert help," he determined, as Conner and M'Gann shared a knowing glance, and the Sphere once again beeped and whistled.
"So you have told no one else of this mole?" Red Tornado asked, as Keemia and Kaldur shook their heads in response.
"I cannot be sure one exists. And if it does, if the team is being betrayed from within, we must investigate without… tipping our hands." Kaldur answered, before Tornado turned to look at Keemia.
"What about young Ashley? She sometimes picks information up with her telepathy by accident." He pointed out, while Keemia shrugged.
"I've been practicing more subtle mind magics to help mask my thoughts from telepaths after our fight with Psimon. If Ashley's heard anything, she's not letting on." Keemia reasoned. "Even if she did know, I trust her implicitly."
"Is such a thing wise? Or are your feelings blinding you?" Tornado asked as Keemia suddenly froze, blushing faintly. Tornado seemed to notice the misinterpretation as he clarified, "I refer to how close you are as friends and teammates."
"Oh… right." Keemia nodded before clearing her throat. "Well, my point still stands." She huffed, still trying to keep her new relationship a relative secret, even if Kaldur already knew.
"But still, perhaps we should tell Batman…" Kaldur said, his eyes looking reluctant and unsure at the prospect.
"It probably would be for the best if he knew. He's the most well-equipped to help us out if we need a hand investigating this mole." Keemia nodded.
"Generally, the Batman expects the team to handle its own problems, but the decision is yours." Tornado said simply. "I will return after monitor duty on the Watchtower."
"I thought you were exempt from monitor duty, since becoming our den mother?" Kaldur inquired, as Keemia nodded, folding her arms.
"Yeah, don't tell me us young meat bags are already wearing you down." Keemia scoffed.
Tornado seemed to ignore them as he pressed a few keys to activate the transporter, the large machine whirring to life. "Recognized: Red Tornado-16." the automated voice said as Tornado walked towards the portal.
"I agreed to cover for Green Arrow," Red answered plainly. "He has an interpersonal event with Black Canary. A hot date."
And with that, the team's den mother was transported up to the Watchtower, leaving the two teens behind. "Well isn't he lucky? He gets stuck with monitor duty while Arrow and Canary have a nice date to eat fine dining and place socks on doors? That's what I should be doing right now."
Kaldur chuckled at her irate comments, before shaking his head, bemused. "Then why don't you just go? There's nothing stopping you and Ashley from leaving for the rest of the evening." He pointed out as the two started to walk back towards the rest of the team.
"Other than the fact that we have mandatory training tonight?" Keemia countered with a sigh before shaking her head. "Let's just get this over with. The sooner we're done here the better. Then you can go and give Batman a report about this mole."
"I think I'll do that now actually. It would be wise to inform him as soon as possible."
"Really? You're that worried about this?" Keemia asked.
"How can I not be? Our enemies have an insider feeding them information, and we don't know how much they have acquired from us so far." Kaldur frowned. "This could put us all at risk."
"I know it could, but so far it hasn't. If they come for us, we'll be able to hold them of for as long as we can until the League arrives, right?" she pointed out before punching his shoulder playfully. "Besides, most of us are here, and Tim will be coming later. Artemis too."
She shook her head wistfully before moving on ahead, throwing Kaldur a teasing smirk.
"What's the worst that could happen?"
'Well… it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be…' Artemis decided as she slipped into a back alley on her way to the decommissioned phone booth that the League had turned into a teleporter. Once Bette had showed her around, her anxiety went down a bit. Her heart rate was still erratic, but at least she could focus. Despite how work heavy the classes were, she found them to be fine. Passable even.
Even the other students she met weren't half-bad. Bette seemed to be someone she could trust. After all, she was related to Kate Kane, one of the richest socialites in Gotham and a high-ranking military official to boot. Aside from Bette, she also met a girl with dyed hair named Harper Row. She insisted on apologizing for the random freshman photo-bomber, and declared that she could string him up from any flagpole Artemis chose as compensation for his sudden appearance.
Regardless of how tempting the offer sounded, Artemis ultimately declined. But she did decide to accept the girl's invitation to study together on the weekend. If anything, she seemed like she might be a decent friend.
Artemis replayed these events in her head, in full costume as she prepared to open the door, only for an all-too familiar figure to step out.
"Artemis?" Robin asked in sarcastic wonder.
She gasped in surprise before turning to face the ever snarky boy wonder. "Robin, I… uh…"
"How random that you're in Gotham City instead of Star City, where your uncle Green Arrow lives." He said, his voice clearly indicating that he knew more than he let on.
"I'm uh, I'm here to see my cousin." She covered up, before mentally slapping herself for how hasty and rushed that sounded. "She was in the state spelling bee. Here, in Gotham uh… Gotham City." She said before internally cringing. 'God that's so stupid!' she berated herself.
"C-o-o-l." Robin nodded, clearly amused by how flustered she was. "Did she w-i-n?"
"N-o." Artemis scowled, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. Robin clearly knew too much, but what bothered her more was how snide he was about it. Almost like it made him superior to know this stuff.
"D-r-a-g." Robin shrugged as Artemis folded her arms.
"Yeah. Let's just go to the cave," she said impatiently.
Robin nodded before giving an exaggerated bow. "Ladies first."
"Your town, you go." Artemis countered, her hands on her hips.
He relented before stepping into the booth and activating the teleporter. "Recognized: Robin B-01" the synthesized voice said before the boy wonder disappeared in a flash of light.
'God is he always like that? How did Keemia put up with him for this long without killing him already?' she mused mentally before she entered the teleporter behind him.
"Recognized: Artemis B-09."
"Get down!"
Robin's voice was the first thing Artemis was greeted with after stepping out from the portal and into the cave. When the light faded, she had only a few seconds to dodge an incoming fireball as she cart-wheeled to the side. Robin leapt over the smoke and flames that surrounded them to land in front of her, ready to move at a moment's notice. From what Artemis could tell, the entirety of the cavern was ablaze.
Robin threw two of his discs into the smoke before another fireball flew at them in response. The two immediately dodged before Artemis drew her bow and fired an arrow at where she presumed their assailant was. More fireballs flew towards her and Robin as the two narrowly dodged them again catching sight of two shadowy figures through the smoke and flames.
"Who are we fighting?" Artemis asked, as numerous possibilities flew through her head. None of them seemed to be particularly pleasant, but they also seemed equally as unlikely. She fired another arrow to cover for Robin as he retreated to her side.
"Don't know, but we're sitting ducks by these tubes." He grimaced. "Head for the exit." He declared before rushing off with Artemis close behind. Avoiding a stream of fire, the two ran down an adjacent hallway, only to be met with a rapidly advancing wave of water.
"Or not…" Robin relented before the two turned to run, before the wave caught them in a surge of water. The Force of the wave send them colliding with a nearby wall before they slumped to the floor as the waters receded as quickly as they came.
The two quickly got to their feet, running through the leftover puddles as more fireball rained down upon them, evaporating the water into bursts of steam on contact. Choosing another hallway, they avoided a fire tornado before rushing into the workout room of the cave.
"Robin to team, come in Aqualad!" Robin spoke into his communicator, leading Artemis past the equipment and towards the shower room.
'M'Gann, can you hear me? Are you there?' Artemis said, attempting to use their telepathic link, only to receive no response. The fire tornado soon burst through the door to the exercise room, the explosion knocking the two to the floor before they quickly scrambled into the shower room.
"Robin to Batcave, override TD-4." He said into his communicator before he and Artemis entered the shower room and started turning the taps on in an attempt to mitigate the flames should they continue to follow them. "Cave calling Justice League, HOJ slash Watchtower. B-01, priority ray."
Once they were all on, he and Artemis backed up to the far wall, their weapons drawn and ready. "Com is down. Locked. At least the water's helping."
As soon as he said this, the pipes all around them started to creak and groan due to extreme pressure. The taps burst from the walls spraying more water as tiles came loose and fell to the floor. Shower heads came off next under the pressure as he showers were soon flooded.
"Or not." Robin sighed as the water filled up to the ceiling. However, it seemed that whoever was controlling it had incredible precision as it only filled the shower room, not spilling out the open doorway. On the other side of the door, the fire tornado sat ready to attack them again.
Robin swam to one wall, setting an explosive disc onto it before backing away as it detonated. Water rushed out of the hole, relieving the pressure as Artemis and Robin spilled into the adjoining hallway. Not wanting to give their pursuers another chance to catch them, they rushed towards the kitchen.
"We need to get lost." He panted as he and Artemis searched around for an exit.
"The air vent!" she exclaimed, pointing to the vent above their stove.
Robin nodded. "Good, go!" he urged as she rushed forwards to remove the cover, while Robin hacked into the mainframe from the panel on the wall.
Artemis stared at him, unsure. "What are you…?"
"Downloading cave blueprints." He answered. "Could come in…"
Any further answer was halted by the sound of metallic footsteps rapidly approaching down the hallway they entered the kitchen from.
"Go, go!" he whispered before the two jumped into the vent and started crawling away to safety, with Robin bringing up his holoscreen to guide them using their newly acquired map. "Go left." He said as they approached a fork, before they turned off. And just in time as a sudden jet of flames rushed past from where they were just seconds before.
"Ugh, too close." Robin grimaced. "Take the first right. There should be a vent cover right in front of you."
True to his word, there was a large rounded vent cover. Artemis easily removed it before she and Robin slid down the vertical ventilation shaft. They finally reached the bottom after a few seconds, crashing through another cover and landing upon a walkway in the boiler room. They took stock of their location before Robin pulled up his map again and surveyed the blueprints.
"This way!" he said, pointing down a small stairwell. Then ran down before another explosion rocked the room from behind them. They turned in time to see a feminine figure wreathed in flames fall through the same vent they came through, land on the walkway in a crouched position, before slowly standing up and turning to face the teens.
It raised its hands above its head, sending columns of fire up to the ceiling, and immediately raised the temperature of the boiler room to near unbearable levels. Deciding not to waste any more time with the stairs, the two teens leapt from the side railing before ducking behind some of the machinery. An intensely loud beeping noise was heard, as the two turned to see pressure gauges for the machines reaching critical levels as the glass started to crack and break from the strain.
"That's not good…" Robin groaned before rushing off with Artemis, as jets of white-hot steam erupted from the pipes and even more of the machines creaked and bent under the immense heat. The two ran under the walkway, avoiding another stream of fire as they took cover, with Robin consulting the map again. "I know that other access tunnel is here somewhere."
"You mean, this one?" Artemis asked rhetorically as she opened a vent on the floor before jumping in. Robin left an explosive on the machine to cover their trail as he followed her into the vent.
The blast outside seemed to have done the trick as the two set off again, before Robin stopped in his tracks and cracked a panel off the wall. "Hold on." He said, before connecting his holoscreen to the interface through the access ports on the wall. Artemis looked at him quizzically before he explained. "Locking out the cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us."
"And I ask again; who is the enemy?" Artemis said impatiently. Robin just gave a small smirk in response.
"Let's find out." Robin decided. "Downloading cave security footage… there!" he grinned before calling up the video feed. The camera showed the rest of their team gathered around Conner's bike and their new Sphere. Barry seemed to be hard at work fixing the motorcycle while the others watched, almost bemused.
"Torque wrench," Barry asked, as M'Gann handed him the tool with her telekinesis. "Thank you, Green Cheeks."
"God you're incorrigible." Keemia huffed.
"That's a big word," Ashley mused.
"He's a big doofus." Keemia retorted as Kaldur stepped forward.
"I have been meaning to ask, any problem juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here?" the Atlantean asked.
"None for me, I graduated." Jason smirked.
"I haven't even started." Niuhi chimed in while Keemia snickered.
"I'm still home-schooled, so it's no problem for me." Ashley answered.
"No." Conner said bluntly.
"My folks have a very strict policy on keeping up with my homework, so there's probably not gonna be a problem with that. Not unless I want to be grounded that it. Unfortunately, Conner here has to suffer the same penalties, all because his room is across the hall." Keemia joked before Conner gave her a playful punch to the shoulder.
"Juggling's just one of my many talents." Barry grinned before holding out his hand for another tool. "Socket wrench."
"Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge," M'Gann admitted. "Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the team. This team, not the Bumblebees."
"That's still such a weak mascot name. Couldn't you be the Hornets or something?" Jason mused.
"Bumblebees are way cuter though." M'Gann pouted.
"Artemis starts school today," Kaldur interjected, halting any further arguments. "Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?" At that, Artemis' eyes narrowed.
"Nah, she'll manage alright." Barry defended, surprising Artemis and Robin. "I mean, how much more hostile and annoying-"
Any further comment from Barry was cut off by a sudden explosion destroying the camera, and sending the team sprawling.
"What happened?" Artemis asked.
"Explosion took out the camera." Robin surmised. "I'll find another angle."
He called up four more video feeds, each with a different angle to show what had occurred. In the second, a massive torrent of water rose from the lagoon, crashing into the team while another tendril of water struck the camera and destroyed it. On the third, the team attempted to rush into action before another wave overtook them, destroying that camera as well. On the fourth and last one, M'Gann rushed up some nearby stars with Kaldur and Niuhi before a sudden burst of flame destroyed the last camera.
"That's it. They're all dead." Robin said bluntly as Artemis flashed him a look of horror. "The cameras! I meant the cameras. I'm sure the others are okay." Robin assured her. "Just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar."
Artemis slumped back on the wall as Robin searched, her patience wearing thin very quickly. "Yeah, they're fine. They've all got superpowers. They can handle anything."
"Ah yes, the amazing super-powered Red Hood. Blessed at birth with the power of gun." Robin snarked while Artemis shot him a scathing glare.
"You know what I meant!"
A few minutes later, the two would silently enter into the library, jumping from the vent on the ceiling as they landed on the upstairs balcony. Robin looked around for any signs of their attackers, before leading Artemis don one of the nearby staircases. "There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases."
"Seriously, cliché much?" The archer scoffed in disbelief.
"You should see the batcave," Robin smirked before the two were suddenly grasped by telekinesis and frozen in place. Ace slowly emerged from the darkness before releasing the two once she saw who they were.
"Robin! Artemis!" she gasped before rushing forwards and hugging them.
"Ace, what happened? How did you escape?" Artemis asked while Robin continued to search.
"I don't know, one minute we were just talking, and the next water shot out of the lagoon and attacked us." She frowned. "Fire started raining from the ceiling as well. I think Keemia might have teleported me to safety, to try and find some help."
"She teleported you away? Why not Superboy? He's invincible!" Artemis scoffed before realising what she said when she saw Ashley's face. "I didn't mean it like that-"
"No, of course you didn't." Ashley sighed before walking off to join Robin. "Do you guys have a plan?"
"Yeah, escape." Robin nodded before the sound of a door opening upstairs put them all on high alert. The three ducked behind a nearby shelf as metallic footsteps could be heard descending the staircase.
"Artemis, Ace, Robin." A synthesized robotic voice called out as Artemis gave a sigh of relief.
"It's Red Tornado!" she said thankfully before rushing out to see him. Only once she got out from behind her cover, she found that it was most certainly not Red Tornado. The android in front of her looked similar, but the yellow markings on his chest were glaringly different. As was this android's hostile intent as it reached forward to grab her.
Robin jumped out, tackling her aside and under a table, while Ace used her telepathy to throw a desk at the android before she joined them. "Yes on the Red, no on the Tornado!" Robin grimaced as the three ran to escape their pursuer. As they approached the other entrance, another red android entered. This one had a more feminine build as crackling flames danced around their fingers. The three teens barely dodged her sudden burst of fire as they scaled the bookshelves and ran across the tops of them, trying to stay out of reach.
"Who… what are they?" Artemis asked as the sprinklers overhead turned on to put out the flames. This only allowed the first of the androids a new source of power as he controlled the water around him, forming a shield that deflected Artemis' arrows. The second android punched the bookshelf closest to her, sending the entire row falling like a set of dominoes as Artemis jumped to the floor where Robin was searching the shelf in front of him for a secret lever. Ace used her telepathy to hold the shelves back while simultaneously creating a barricade of desks for more cover.
Finally, Robin found what he was looking for as he opened a secret tunnel and the three escaped, with Ace releasing her hold on the shelves to bury their trail. The secret door closed just as the reds arrived, crushing the desks with their increased strength as they found their quarry to be missing once again.
"Did you know Tornado had siblings?" Artemis asked as the three ran down the hall.
"No." Robin answered, shaking his head.
"To be fair, I don't think he knows!" Ashley chimed in, looking back to make sure they weren't followed.
The three ran to a fork in the hallway, as Robin turned to go down a side path. Artemis grabbed onto his arm before he could proceed though, and held him back. "So now what? Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down two of him?"
"They do seem pretty user unfriendly." Robin mused before Ashley nodded.
"Well, Amazo 2 had the powers of over a dozen League powerhouses, including Red Tornado, and we still beat him." The telepath pointed out, before Artemis rounded on her.
"Don't joke! They-"
"Attention Robin." The android's called over the intercom of the cave. "Attention Ace. Attention Artemis. You have exactly 10 minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished." It said, giving the three of them an ultimatum, as they looked grimly at each other.
Back in the garage, Aqualad and Niuhi were trapped within a cage made of fire, while they held an unconscious M'Gann. The two of them were normally okay with extreme temperature, but the heat was quickly drying them out as their gills were forced shut in order to survive the extreme conditions. The flaming android flew over to them in a column of lames before increasing the intensity of the heat, sending the two of two of them into a fit of laboured breathing.
On the floor below, the other members of the team were held fast in metal. The heat from earlier had melted several of the vehicles and the androids used it to seal Superboy, Kid Flash, Red Hood, and Keemia inside. In addition to this, Keemia also had a piece of metal welded over her mouth to prevent her from speaking any incantations.
The four struggled within their prison, before the water android emerged from the lagoon, and clenched his fist. The water suddenly spilled out before slowly rising around them, with the intent of acting a countdown clock towards them being drowned.
The androids examined the incapacitated heroes before nodding. "Nine minutes, forty-five seconds."
The trio ran down the halls, attempting to reach the hangar as fast as they could to save their team mates. "Eight minutes," the androids spoke again, their voices taunting them with an insidious countdown clock as Robin gritted his teeth.
"We can access the hangar from here." He said before Artemis turned her head and gasped as a torrent of water cascaded down the hall towards them. "Or not."
"Has he been like this the whole time?" Ace asked as Artemis gave a nod.
"Pretty much." Artemis nodded before turning to Robin as the three started running again. "Now, will you please stop saying that?!"
The torrent caught up with them, trapping them in the depths of the water. Robin removed his cape, which was slowing him down in the water, before taking out a rebreather and using it for a few precious breaths. Afterwards he offered it to Artemis who graciously accepted, while Ace simply focused her telekinesis to form a bubble of air around her mouth and nose.
They didn't have long to catch their breath as the android controlling the water shot out towards them at breakneck speed before grasping Artemis' ankle. She struggled in his grip, while Robin took one of her arrows and stabbed the android in the eye to distract it, while Ace grasped herself and her friends with her telekinesis and shot forwards down the hall away from the android. As the android removed the offending arrow, it saw the trail of explosives left behind and the blasts sent it further down the hall, while the teens escaped, breaking the surface of the water inside the hangar.
The three coughed and sputtered, relishing the chance to breathe oxygen again before Barry's voice called out to them. "Look out!" he warned as the three dove out of the way of an incoming fireball, before swimming underwater and surfacing near their trapped teammates.
"You guys okay?" Robin asked as Ashley made her way over to Keemia, watching her worriedly.
"Forget us, help M'Gann!" Superboy urged as he looked up to the fiery cage.
"Aqualad! Is she…?" Artemis trailed off.
"She is unconscious. I fear she… we, can't survive much longer." Aqualad panted as Niuhi gave a weak nod.
"Yeah, this heat's not doing us any favours." She coughed before the flaming android shot more fireballs at Robin, Artemis, and Ace. The three dove for cover again, before Keemia's eyes became focused and she flicked her free wrist, revealing a small wand.
"Oh my god, stored magic!" Barry realised, having researched the phenomenon. Keemia gave a soft but curt nod as she used the wand to teleport out of her bindings before she appeared on the upper platform. With another flick of the wand, the metal on her face disappeared as she spat to the side.
"Oh god, that tasted awful." She groaned before teleporting again, to avoid a stream of fire. This time, she appeared off to the side before conjuring a shield that easily stopped the fire from reaching her. Ace, Artemis, and Robin soon arrived at a staircase as they started running to meet her. The water android wasn't too far behind, however, his focused was soon trained on Keemia as opposed to the other three.
"Keemia, look out!" Ace warned as Keemia had just enough time to turn around and see a column of water slam into her face before rushing towards the ceiling, forcing her roughly against the rocks. Being slammed into a wall and water-boarded did a number on Keemia as she weakly fell from the sky, losing consciousness.
"No!" Ashley cried out before catching Keemia gently with telekinesis and lowering her body to the ground, rushing to her side. The androids quickly surrounded her, Robin, and Artemis however as they were soon left with almost no escape.
"I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis grimaced as she drew her bow, while Robin gave a short nod.
"Distract her, now!" he urged as she fired her last explosive arrow at the fire-wielding android, while Robin rushed to engage the other one, throwing three of his discs at it. They bounced off its body, providing little more than a distraction as one ricocheted and embedded into the warped metal, only inches from Kid Flash's face.
"Whoa…" the speedster grimaced.
The two robots got on either side of Artemis and Robin and fired their elements, only for Ace to rush forwards and knock herself and her teammates into the water, while the androids' attacks collided to make a massive cloud of steam, covering their escape further.
They dove deeper and deeper, before removing yet another vent and climbing up, once again surfacing in a side tunnel as the three were left winded from the encounter.
"Six minutes." The androids called out as Ace moved back towards the water.
"I'm going back for Keemia."
"Not by yourself! You'll be killed!" Artemis practically screamed.
"And what will they do to her, do you think?" Ace countered, silencing the archer. Artemis seemed dumbfounded before sighing and looking at Robin.
"So what do we do now?"
"We save them. That's how this works." Robin answered.
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work, but those robots already took out six of our super-powered friends, and one rabid vigilante." She scoffed before Ace slapped her shoulder.
"Like you're being any help here. All you've done since I've found you two is complain!" Ace scowled. "If you were half the hero you think you are, you'd actually try something."
"Oh that's rich, I'm being lectured by some super-villain's pet project?"
"Pot, kettle." Ace glowered as Artemis suddenly paled at the implication. Robin watched the two with a smirk.
"You two seem distraught." He mused.
"Distraught, M'Gann is dying!" Artemis screeched. "We have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow, of course I'm distraught!"
"In case you haven't noticed, Keemia also almost died. And because I know you haven't noticed, I also have powers!" Ace yelled. "Why am I even bothering with you?"
Robin nodded before looking at Artemis seriously. "Get traught, or get dead!"
"How can you be so calm about this?" Artemis asked before Robin and Ace started moving on ahead down the vent, with the blonde archer trailing not far behind.
"Practice. I've been doing this since I was nine." Robin answered.
"What good is that now? What chance do we have against unrelenting machines?" Artemis asked frantically.
"I... wait. Duh! They're machines!" Robin exclaimed, having an epiphany. "And one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."
"You're right. We could still take them down!" Ace nodded.
"Great, except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt, because I know I don't have one in my quiver." Artemis frowned.
"You're a real ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Ace muttered while Robin smirked.
"You know, I'm fresh out. But I'm betting we can make one." He grinned before reaching up to touch his communicator. "What do you say KF? Doable?"
On the other end of the line, Barry looked at the disc embedded inches from his face, which had a communicator attached to it, allowing him to hear everything Robin said. "Totally doable!" he nodded eagerly.
"Five minutes." The androids spoke again, as the water rose another quarter inch closer to his chin.
"You know, if you had more time." The speedster grimaced.
The trio arrived in the medical lab of the cave, before crawling out of the vent, making sure the coast was clear. "I think we're good." Ace whispered. "I'll watch the door to be sure." She said before moving off as Robin nodded.
"Alright, now that you're in the med lab, find an x-ray machine." Kid Flash urged before Robin found the x-ray machine in question and removed the side panel. "You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator that converts high energy pulses. Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from x-ray's to EMPs, with a cascading energy vector directed outward."
Robin did as he was told, before carefully removing the unit with an awed expression at the plan's brilliance. "A ripple effect. Like dropping a stone in a pond."
"A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage, yeah." Barry confirmed.
"So I'll need to hook it up to the cave's main generator…" he mused.
"Which is where?" Artemis asked before Ace looked back with a grimace.
"Isn't that back in the hangar, on the ceiling?" she asked as Artemis' eyes widened and Robin gave a grim nod.
"Shit…"
Back in the hangar, the two androids stood near the fire cage, having seemingly given up the search for the remaining three members of the team. It was more likely though that they were just waiting for them to show up again. After all, their ticking clock threat worked before, why wouldn't it again?
The hydrokinetic android worked alongside his sister to ensure Keemia was down, only this time they ensured she was unconscious, as she now lay at their feet just inches from the cage. They took a minute to survey their handiwork before walking to the edge of their platform and looking at Kid Flash, Superboy, and Red Hood, still trapped below.
"Four minutes." They announced.
In one of the exit tunnels used for the Bioship, the trio emerged again from the vents before carefully moving over to the edge to stake out the hangar. Ace's eyes immediately fell to the fallen form of Keemia.
"Keemia…" she whispered fearfully, before Robin laid a gentle and knowing hand on her shoulder.
"We'll get her out of there. We'll get them all out." He assured her. Ace gave a small smile and nodded back before Robin activated his comm. "Okay, make with the distraction."
Barry nodded before grinning at the androids. "Hey! Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?"
"Who created you losers, anyway? Did they have a fetish for T.O. Morrow, or did their OCD demand they finish the elemental set?" Jason added. "That reminds me, where's your Earth bender? It's the best element!"
"Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever." Superboy chimed in, not wanting to be left behind with the insults they were hurling. "We can escape any time we want!"
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two!" Barry called, as Robin, Artemis, and Ace all moved into position.
"Besides, do you know how many things I carry in my utility pouches? I could probably melt through this metal without your weak ass flames." Hood laughed, as Robin prepared a grapple.
"Cover me," he urged as Artemis drew her bow with her last arrow while he swung over.
"And you can't drown a Kryptonian dumb-bots. We don't breathe air." Superboy bragged, trying to keep up the distraction.
Robin made it to the generator safely, opening the panel as prepared the EMP generator they made, hearing Barry's laughter ringing out all through the hangar. "And Ms. Martian? I can't believe you're buying her act." He scoffed as Robin activated his holoscreen.
"Rerouting power now." He nodded before turning back to his trapped teammates providing the distraction.
"Yeah, you know how hot it gets in the caves of Mars?" Conner jabbed.
"A lot hotter than you could ever get, you crusty matchstick!" Jason added before he and Conner broke into genuine laughter.
"That cage is just making her homesick!" Conner jabbed again.
Robin frowned at how long it was taking as he checked over the system again. "It's not working." He muttered before noticing the flaw. "The circuit's incomplete. I need something conductible, something metal or-"
"Robin look out!" Artemis cried as a sudden surge of water knocked Robin off of the generator and into a freefall. Ace flew out before catching him with her telekinesis, suspending both of their bodies in the air.
"Artemis was about to fire on the androids, but a sudden ball of fire forced her to dodge, knocking her aim off as the arrow instead landed on the ground behind the robots, detonating harmlessly. The pyrokinetic kept up the assault as Artemis fell back, hiding in the vent once again.
"We're going down here, aren't we?" Ace grimaced as she narrowly dodged a stream of water.
"Yeah, but we can at least go down fighting." Robin nodded.
"Time to feel the aster," she sighed before rushing forward in a barrel roll as she and Robin avoided streams of both fire and water before landing on the platform. She let Robin go before staring at the androids, who turned to her with interest. "Ready for what I can do?" she asked before her eyes glowed and suddenly the entire platform shimmered and warped, forming massive walls and barricades that weren't there previously.
"Reality warping?" Robin asked in awe.
"Yep, and since it runs on my thoughts, I can see all around us, even if they don't have minds to read." She smirked.
"Cover and an advantage. I can definitely see why Keemia likes you now." He chuckled as Ace fought a blush.
"Not the time!" she called before noticing that the robots hadn't moved in yet. "Wait… what are they waiting for?"
Robin looked around warily before they heard the telltale hissing of steam. The two androids combined their powers as the platform suddenly flooded with a thick cloud of steamy mist. "Uh oh… smokescreen."
"I can't see them… I can't see anything!" Ace panicked before a sudden impact from behind knocked her to the floor and unconscious.
"Ace!" Robin cried as the platform warped back to normal and a jet of water picked him up before slamming him on the ground roughly, knocking him out as well.
As Artemis hurried through the vent, she found a hole in one of the panels that allowed her to peek through into the hangar. Looking through, she saw Robin and Ace, both knocked out and suspended in a column of water. She gasped in horror before falling back, grasping her head in a panic. Images of her teammates suffering flashed through her mind as she began to hyperventilate.
"No… no, no, no, no!" she sobbed before curling into a ball on the floor. After a few seconds, she looked out again to see Robin and Ace laid out on the platform next to Keemia, while the water rose up to the chins of Conner, Barry, and Jason. Kaldur and Niuhi had since passed out from the heat.
She watched carefully before considering her options. "I surrender… I die with the others. But if I find a way out… out of the cave…" she began before once more crawling through the vent. "Get out of the mountain, I can get help. Call in the League!" she reasoned before suddenly slipping down a vertical shaft, falling for several meters before coming out of the vent and crashing in the trophy room.
"Three minutes." The androids announced as she groaned painfully before standing up again.
"Ugh, who am I kidding?" she sighed. "Best I can do is hide, and hope the League finds me before the Reds." She frowned before looking to the wall and seeing the trophies they had gathered, including one of Cheshire's masks.
"I know you understand." She sneered, looking at Cheshire's mask with undisguised hatred.
-Flashback-
"We have to keep this family from falling apart!" Artemis begged her sister, hoping that Jade would see reason and stay with her. Jade seemed silent, almost contemplative, as she slowly turned to face her sister. And then…
"Toothbrush! Duh, I knew I was forgetting something." Jade admonished herself, before going into the bathroom and grabbing the last of her toiletries.
Artemis looked at her, heartbroken as her sister was about to abandon her to their rapidly breaking home. To their dad who would want nothing more than to break the two of them for any attempt at rebellion, like Jade was attempting. "Dad will come after you." The blonde warned.
Jade zipped up her duffel bag before pulling on her jacket with a smirk. "Let him." She declared. "I'll disappear like the Cheshire Cat." She said, adjusting her ball cap before grabbing her bag and heading for the door. As she reached it, she stopped for a moment. "You should get out too." She warned her sister, before giving a shrug. "I'd let you come with me but, you'd slow me down."
"Someone has to be here when mom gets out." Artemis said defiantly.
"Haven't you learned anything?" Jade asked, almost in disbelief. "In this family, it's every girl for herself."
With that, she closed the door. And Artemis was alone.
-Flashback End-
She held the mask in her hands, gazing into its empty eyes, before her own eyes narrowed in determination. "That may have been true about our family, but I found a new family." She declared with a smirk. "And here? We're all for one, and-"
"One minute." The android interrupted her musings, as she hastily put the mask back. As she did however, she noticed one of her arrows displayed proudly next to it. Her eyes widened at the possibility before hardening again in determination. It was time to free her friends.
The elevator door to the hangar opened with a muted bell tone as Artemis emerged, holding her bow out in front of her in both hands. "I surrender." She declared as the two androids turned to look at her. "Stop the clock." She begged as she approached.
She took a quick side glance at Robin, Ace, and Keemia, as the water below finally rose over the heads of her team mates. The androids approached her, as the hydrokinetic held out his hand to take the bow. She looked at the open hand for a moment, before suddenly leaping in the air, and jumping off of its hand, to knee it in the face.
The pyrokinetic attempted to blast her, only to be met with Artemis' boot kicking it in the face, as she back-flipped away, drew the arrow back, and fired. Time seemed to slow down as the arrow soared through the air, and across the hangar. In less than a second, it found its target; embedding right below their homemade EMP generator and completing the circuit.
The effect was instantaneous as the generator sparked to life before ending out and absolutely massive EMP wave. It struck the androids almost instantly, causing them to spark and spasm before they collapsed on the ground, their power gone.
With their captors out of commission, the fire cage disappeared and the water receded, freeing their trapped team mates. Conner, Jason, and Barry all gasped, taking in precious oxygen as Conner looked up to the platform.
"Kaldur! How's M'Gann?" he asked.
Kaldur groaned painfully before sitting up. "She breathes. I believe she will recover."
"We're okay too, thanks for asking." Niuhi scowled before Kaldur turned to his other fallen comrades.
"What of the others?" he asked as Artemis ran to Robin, reaching out as he coughed and sputtered, with Ace doing the same.
"They're breathing too!" she said in relief as Robin slowly turned his head to face her.
"Way to get traught." He smirked before Artemis fell back, sighing in relief.
With their team mates from the cage now recovered, they all walked down to where Barry, Conner, and Jason were all still trapped. The androids were left off to the side, while Keemia's unconscious form was being watched over by Niuhi, who generated some small ice cubes to try and keep her swelling down where she hit her head.
"Figured my only shot was to surrender, pretend to drown before I actually did." Robin said, explaining as to why he went down so easily. "Blacked out though."
"Sure, that's what happened." Ace scoffed, rolling her eyes before Robin jabbed her shoulder playfully.
"M'Gann…" Conner said worriedly before the Martian girl reached out to hold his hand.
"I'll be fine," she assured him, while Kaldur supported her weight to stand. Despite the fire being long gone, she was still feeling fairly weak.
"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Barry asked Artemis, who was currently trying to get one of their welding torches working.
"Ugh, Barry keep it down." Keemia groaned as she sat up slowly. "Some of us have concussions over here." She snarked as Ace rushed to her side.
"Keemia! You're okay!" she said worriedly, hugging her close.
"Of course I'm okay. It'll take a lot more than Sektor's handicapped cousins to-" she was cut off as Ace suddenly captured her lips in a kiss.
"Whoa! Since when was that a thing?" Barry asked in surprise.
"Since sometime around Bialya I think?" Robin mused before Kaldur jabbed him in the ribs to admonish him.
"I think they'd prefer to not be gawked at." He said pointedly as Barry gulped at the underlying threat.
"R-right, anyway just cut us out of here!"
"It's not working, genius!" Artemis scoffed. "EMP shuts down all machines, remember?"
"All machines present at the time." Red Tornado corrected as he suddenly arrived, flying down to where the teens were bickering. He landed in front of them before taking stock of the situation. "What has occurred?"
"Had a little visit from your family." Robin said, jerking a thumb to where the other androids lay.
"Your extremely nasty family." Artemis added.
"I was not aware I had relations." Red Tornado answered, in as much surprise as his voice could muster.
"Like that's any comfort." Niuhi said snidely before looking at the still kissing couple. "God, don't you ever stop to breathe?"
"Where have you been?" Conner asked Tornado, as the Leaguer moved to investigate the offending androids.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower. When it became clear cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But your zeta tubes were also non-functional." He reasoned before kneeling down to examine the two. "I transported to Providence, and proceeded here."
Sphere finally managed to free itself from the wall before rolling over to Superboy, who gave a small nod to it. "Hey boy," he greeted.
Artemis watched before suddenly being knocked back as a beam of heat came from the welder. She deactivated it quickly before Barry and Robin both quickly realized what this meant.
"The pulses wore off!"
Red Tornado reached out to the androids, as a spark of red electricity flew between the fingers of the Leaguer and the deactivated androids. In a second, the two intruders were back online, before Tornado's own eyes glowed a murderous red.
He took to the air immediately before conjuring two massive cyclones around his arms and siphoning the oxygen away from the teens. They all tried to escape or fight back, but one by one they eventually succumbed and collapsed to the floor.
"Can't… breathe..!" Artemis struggled before she too succumbed.
"Artemis." A voice called, echoing all around the blonde as she struggled to wake up.
"Artemis, can you hear me?" it spoke again before Artemis opened her eyes to see Superman standing over her, a worried expression on his face. She groaned painfully before Superman reached down to help her up. "She's alright," he called as Artemis turned to see that several other members of the League were present.
Aquaman and Martian Manhunter comforted Aqualad and M'Gann respectively. Green Arrow watched Artemis with undisguised concern while Batman talked with Robin. Flash and Captain Atom worked to free the team mates still trapped in the metal, with Black Canary overseeing them as Zatanna attended to Keemia's injuries.
"What happened here?" Superman asked as Artemis suddenly turned to him with a sneer.
"What happened? The Reds happened! Tornado and his…" she exclaimed before noticing that Tornado was gone, as were the other androids. "Wait, where are they?"
"Gone…" Robin said ominously as he turned to face her. "All three of them… gone."
Boom! Another one done!
And Red Tornado... is a traitor?!
Or not. We'll see. *shrugs*
Housekeeping now, starting with Ace: Got a bit more expansion on her here. Mostly in terms of how she works with the other members of the team. Artemis and her are definitely going to have a significant amount of distrust between the two of them, as their interactions would suggest. It'll only get worse from here though, watch out. We also see her first major weakness: if she can't hear your thoughts, she needs to rely on sight. Not a big worry with a group backing her up, but alone? That's anyone's game. She'll also have another short-coming, one that Artemis is helping to make. See if you can guess.
Speaking of expansion, the batfamily grows! Kate Kane has been referenced, and yes she is Batwoman. Bette may or may not be Flamebird already. I'm undecided on that. Stephanie is already Spoiler, and Harper is already Bluebird.
Artemis gets more growth, both from the episode and new. While some people she trusts more, others? Not so much. It'll help fray the knot even more. Oh the twists and turns this will take!
See why I wasn't sure about Netherrealm when I included a Sektor reference?
Ace and Keemia both come out. Another cute little moment, so let's see how this builds next time.
Next time... oh next time...
Tensions will run high. Trust will be strained. Leadership tested, and Marvels made. On top of that there's more danger to be had. Another major villain appears as well as another big hindrance. But who really cares about that? It's just gonna be a Nobody...
Tune in for the one-year anniversary with: Alpha Male!
As always, be sure to read and review.
Ciao for now!
~WafflesTheApprentice