I'm so sorry for the long wait everyone! life sucks lol.
To Red-Hot Habanero: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it - and I love that idea! Deadpool is hilarious :)
To hunter81095: First and foremost, I want to say a genuine thank you for not just flaming me. Your criticism is actually constructive, and I really appreciate that! Now, to address some of your comments/concerns: for my making seem Talia unprepared/without the suit at some points was because it seemed to me at those points most of the other team members were also traveling lightly, weapon-wise. I thought it made sense. And it's not that Talia didn't train in hand-to-hand combat (although she didn't, not extensively), she's just not super good at it. She's short and skinny lol. Don't worry, I am literally all for bisexual representation, and Talia is bi/pansexual, and will have crushes/romances with people regardless of gender.
Now, as for the Stane thing - I chose to use him instead of the plethora of other villains for a few reasons. One I touched on ever-so-slightly in chapter 11 (it was a blink and you miss it type thing). I personally believe that Stane is one of the most manipulative villains - he managed to hide his true colors from Tony for years. The Light is all about power and control, and I personally think Stane is a master at that. Also, part of it is sentimental - Stane was the villain in the first ever MCU movie, and it's my way of kinda paying homage to the start of the franchise. I have a long-term plan for this story, and he fit into it. I'm genuinely sorry if it's disappointing for you to read because of it. I hope you keeping reading and that I redeem myself in your eyes!
(Also, you're right about Peter's spidey-sense - I forgot! I've gone back and fixed, thanks for letting me know :))
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or Young Justice
(also...i have ANOTHER half-baked oc idea. if any of you care, there's a profile for her at the end of the chapter. i'd love some thoughts!)
MOUNT JUSTICE
September 23, 06:34 EDT
Artillery leaned her forehead against the table, struggling to keep her eyes open. She was absolutely exhausted, as were her friends. Other than the times they'd been knocked out, none of them had slept since the attack on the Cave. Besides being physically exhausted, all of them were emotionally rattled, shocked at Red Tornado's betrayal.
Spider-Man was sitting next to Artillery, also resting his head in his hands. Any injuries the mutate had sustained had healed, but his accelerated healing couldn't help his exhaustion.
Shuri had left with her brother a few hours ago, just after the de-brief of what had happened. She'd promised Peter and Talia that she would see them later, as she and T'Challa were planning on staying in the United States for at least another week. Hopefully, the three of them would be able to catch up when their lives weren't in peril.
Approaching footsteps made Artillery raise her head. Green Arrow was walking towards the group of bedraggled teenagers, holding a bowl. He placed the bowl of pretzels down on the table, right in front of Kid Flash. The speedster scowled, raising his head.
"Thanks, but no thanks," he snapped at the elder hero, his words echoing in the silence of the large room. Robin nodded, sitting up straighter and turning towards the Leaguer.
"Yeah!" he agreed, crossing his arms over her chest indignantly. "What we want are answers. About Red Tornado and his siblings."
"Exactly!" the speedster exclaimed. Green Arrow didn't answer but instead moved to take the bowl away. Kid Flash's hand moved in a blur, snatching the pretzels before Green Arrow could take them. "Leave the bowl," he muttered, beginning to scarf up the crackers at rapid speed.
Artillery sighed, resting her head in her hands again. Spider-Man shifted next to her, stretching his arms behind his head as he yawned. As he moved, he caught sight of Aqualad speaking to Batman across the Cave. He wasn't exactly trying to eavesdrop, but his oversensitive ears couldn't help catching snatches of their conversation.
"Sportsmaster revealed the possibility of a mole within the Team," Aqualad was telling Batman. Spider-Man's eyes went wide with shock as he digested this news. He could faintly hear Aqualad continuing to speak to the elder hero, but Spider-Man was too surprised about what he'd just heard to bother continuing to listen.
"Lia," Spider-Man muttered. The girl turned towards him, but before he could tell her what Aqualad had just said, Superboy's enraged scream split the air.
"You knew?" The clone leapt up from his seat, charging across the room and slamming Aqualad against the wall. The Atlantean let out a surprised grunt at the impact, his back hitting the stone wall with a loud crack. Spider-Man winced sympathetically as he and the other team members flew to their feet. "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!" The Martian girl was flying over to the two boys, landing next to the Kryptonian.
"Conner, what are you doing?" She cried in surprise. Superboy's hands tightened around Aqualad's shoulders as he replied.
"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!" the clone spat. Artillery's eyes flew wide with shock, and she and Spider-Man crowded around the two boys. Kid Flash, Robin and Artemis all clustered around as well. Aqualad's jaw tightened, his grey eyes defensive as his teammates stared at him with betrayal clear on their faces.
"You knew?" Robin asked, hurt and anger coloring his voice.
"And you didn't tell us?" Artillery didn't miss the slight emphasis Kid Flash had placed on "us" – no doubt he had meant him and Robin at the very least. The speedster clearly felt betrayed at the fact that Aqualad hadn't trusted the other two original proteges over the rest of the Team. Artillery couldn't help feeling a little bit annoyed at Kid Flash's superior attitude.
"I sought to protect the Team from –" Aqualad began, attempting to placate his friends. His pale eyes were stormy.
"From what?" Artemis interrupted, too enraged to let him finish. "Knowledge that made have saved our lives?"
Spider-Man and Artillery exchanged a look, slightly surprised at the rage of their teammates. Not that they were necessarily okay with the fact that their leader had essentially let them be blindsided, but Spider-Man was in general an easy-going guy, and also new to the Team and the heroing world. Although he would have appreciated a warning about Red Tornado, he wasn't as easily enraged as the rest of his teammates.
Artillery, on the other hand, was not as easy-going. But upon joining the Team she had quickly understood the fact that the Avengers were far less forthcoming – even to one another – than the League was, and so was used to secrecy in a manner that her friends weren't. Sure, she'd never been directly involved in any of the secrets the Avengers kept quiet, but she had witnessed enough that she felt it was just a part of the job.
Now, looking at her enraged friends around her, she wasn't sure. A tiny flame of irritation licked her chest and she joined in at glaring at Aqualad.
"You almost died!" Superboy shouted, glancing at M'gann. The Martian's eyes widened at her boyfriend's rage, but before she could say anything, Artillery stepped forward.
"Conner, enough," Artillery said, controlling her own rage to try and talk some sense in Superboy. She'd been good at quelling his rage in the past. She walked forward and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm sure it was –" Superboy swung around, ripping his arm from the girl's grasp. His glare was now focused solely on her, and she took a step back, startled.
"You went to Taipei with him," Superboy snapped at Artillery. The girl flinched back in surprise and hurt. Superboy and she generally got along quite well, but now he was glaring at her with ice-cold eyes. "Did you know, too?" Artillery blinked, her heart hammering as everyone's eyes fell on her.
"I – no!" she exclaimed truthfully. Kid Flash scoffed loudly, clearly not believing her. Artillery's eyes narrowed, and her chin jutted out defensively. "It's true!" she insisted. "I didn't."
"How could you not?" Artemis asked the other girl suspiciously. Artillery scowled, her shoulders tightening defensively. Now she was really mad.
"I was a little busy realizing that my dad's manipulative, murderous former partner was still alive," Artillery spat, ignoring how her friends' eyes went wide. She hadn't told any of them besides Spider-Man - not only did it not seem super relevant, but she just hadn't had the chance yet. "Not to mention a Winter – "
Artillery cut herself off, suddenly staggered. Until that very moment, she'd completely forgotten about the Winter Solider that she'd fought in Taipei. Her mouth fell closed, her mind whirling in shock at her stupidity. "Never mind," Artillery muttered, staring at the ground. Kid Flash snorted.
"Oh great! More secrets," the speedster sneered. Artillery didn't react, but the rest of the Team looked as irritated as the speedster was.
"Enough." Batman spoke up for the first time, silencing the quarrelling teenagers with a single word. Superboy huffed, removing his hands from Aqualad and allowing the other boy up from the wall as the Team gathered around the Dark Knight. Still, the clone's shoulders were drawn into a tense line, his muscles tense with barely contained rage.
"With Red Tornado…missing," Batman began. That was practically the euphemism of the century. "The Team will now be supervised by rotating supervisors." Batman glanced to the side, and another Leaguer strode up beside him. "Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."
"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," the man said with a broad grin. Spider-Man hear Superboy threaten Aqualad in a low voice, as did Batman. The elder hero strode up to the two teenage boys to reprimand Superboy, and Spider-Man turned to glance at Artillery.
She was still standing a few feet away, her eyes locked blankly on something in the distance. Her lips were moving ever-so-slightly as she mumbled to herself silently. Spider-Man frowned. She only ever did that when she was particularly confused about something, which was not often, to say the least. Slightly concerned, the boy turned back to face Batman as he began the brief.
Spider-Man scanned the headline of the newspaper that appeared on the holographic screen. It read, in all caps: "GORILLA TRADES BANANAS FOR BULLETS."The picture switched, and Kid Flash read the next headline aloud.
"'Gotham Mayor Attacked By Guerilla Gorilla?'" the speedster said incredulously. Behind Kid Flash, Robin shook his head. The Boy Wonder stepped forward, staring at his mentor in disbelief.
"Batman, please!" Robin said. "Tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase." Batman's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly at Robin's outcry.
"I never joke about the mission," the Dark Knight replied levelly. Robin's eyes went wide, and he nodded, lowering his head as his shoulders slumped at the reprimand. Spider-Man winced. Batman could be seriously terrifying at times, and Spider-Man was guessing the blow came extra hard because Robin was Batman's protege.
"I've checked the sources," Batman continued. "I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents." Batman turned towards Aqualad, who was standing next to him. "Aqualad, you and your Team will depart for India and check this out."
Most of the Team headed for the hanger immediately after being dismissed, but Spider-Man paused at Artillery's side. She glanced at him when he stopped next to her. Her eyes were slightly glazed.
"Did you hear any of that?" Spider-Man said with a sigh. She was so distractible sometimes. Artillery cracked a wry grin.
"Enough," the girl replied wryly. She sobered up quickly, her brown eyes grave. "I can't believe I forgot," she muttered, shaking her head in disgust. She and Spider-Man began to walk towards the hanger as she continued to berate herself. "I mean, Stane being alive is big, but another Winter Solider?" she hissed the last two words, exhaling hard with a shake of her head. "I just…"
"Don't worry about it," Spider-Man reassured his friend. "I'm sure everything's going to be fine." Artillery hummed in disbelief, pressing her lips together as she and Spider-Man took their usual seats in the BioShip. Everyone else was already seated, the air filled with a stony silence.
Without a word, Miss Martian prepped the ship for takeoff. Placing her hands on the orbs to steer the ship, she piloted smoothly out of the hanger and into the night sky.
"Setting course for India," she announced.
The Team flew in a tense silence. Usually, on a long flight after a long mission, some of them would have drifted off to try and catch up on sleep. But all of them were full of anger-induced adrenaline, too wound-up to sleep. Artillery hardly noticed the awkward quiet. Her mind was whirling. After a while, she couldn't take it any longer.
Artillery stood up, her seatbelt automatically melting back into the seat as she did so. She glanced at Spider-Man, cocking her head to the side and nodding towards the back of the ship. He nodded and followed her lead, standing also. Without a word, Artillery and Spider-Man slipped out of the cockpit and into the back room.
Neither of them missed the looks their teammates tossed them as they walked past. But they had more important matters at hand than some hurt feelings, and the flight to India was plenty long enough for them to get some work done.
The back bay of the BioShip was hardly ever used, and it was mostly empty. Artillery reached into her utility belt, her fingers closing around a small projector. She turned it on and tossed it gently into the air. The small device blinked, casting a blue light over the room and creating a holographic screen and keyboards in front of the two teens.
"JARVIS," Artillery greeted her AI as she pressed a few buttons to get him up and running. There was a pause as he calibrated to the holographic system, and then his response came promptly.
"Miss," he responded. "How may I be of service?"
"Pull up everything you have on the Winter Soldiers," Artillery ordered. Spider-Man walked around to the other side of the screen. He pulled his mask off and brushed his hair out of his eyes, squinting at some of the information.
"Lia, this is gonna take us a year to get through," he told her, shaking his head. The other girl sighed. Her friend was right; there was just far too much information. Spider-Man thought for a moment, and then amended the search. "JARVIS, try filtering out everything except all known records of confirmed Winter Soldier identities."
After a few seconds, a much shorter list appeared on the screen. Artillery nodded at Spider-Man appreciatively, rescanning the results.
"There's the Winter Solider taskforce," Spider-Man said, nodding at the list. Artillery frowned, looking at the pictures. She shook her head.
"No, it was a dark-haired woman," she replied dismissively. "Besides, all of them are dead." There were only two women in the taskforce, and both of them were blonde. Spider-Man gave her an unimpressed look, surprised that his friend was being so close-minded.
"Hair dye exists. And I wouldn't really be surprised if one of these guys came back from the dead." Artillery hummed, conceding to her friend's point.
"You're right." She chewed her bottom lip slightly, shaking her head as she looked at the page in front of her. Something wasn't adding up. "This doesn't make sense…"
"What doesn't?" Spider-Man asked, turning towards the girl curiously. Artillery frowned, tilting her head and scanning the results on the screen again. There was so few of them, it didn't take her long to read the entire page through again. When she was done, she shrugged.
"I don't know. Think about it, Pete." She waved her hand at the screen as if the motion would encapsulate her point. "Okay, Hydra gets Barnes in 1942. And what – they perfect everything the first time around, never try it again for the next fifty years, get it right again and don't do anything ever since?" Spider-Man raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, they didn't have access to the super-soldier serum until 1991, and then never again after that," he reminded Artillery. "They had to wait." Artillery hummed, pressing her lips together. She still wasn't completely convinced. Why would Hydra only use one type of soldier?
"I guess," she replied. "But what about the brainwashing? They just got that by trial and error?" She shook her head. "There has to be more – if not perfect Winter Soldiers with super-strength, at least other experiments – that we don't know about." Spider-Man nodded slowly. He didn't really see what his friend was getting at – this all seemed obvious, and Artillery hated it when people stated the obvious.
"Yeah, these are the only confirmed ones," Spider-Man reminded Artillery. "No doubt there's more we don't know about. But we have to work with what we got." Artillery frowned, shaking her head slowly.
"Maybe not." She looked over at Spider-Man who gave her a confused look. She raised her eyebrows. "How much do you think Barnes remembers?"
"Remembers what?" Spider-Man and Artillery whirled around. The rest of the Team, minus Artemis and Robin, who had dropped down to do recon, was standing in the doorway. Artillery flicked her wrist, tossing the results off the screen and shutting off the projector. She slid it back into her utility belt, shaking her head.
"Nothing," she replied, shooting her friends a quick smile. "We'll explain later." She did really mean it - she wasn't necessarily trying to keep this stuff a secret, she just wanted to share it with the Avengers first. Kid Flash scowled. It was clear that he was about to demand a more satisfactory answer, but Aqualad cut in.
"Good," he said tersely. "Let's move out." The rest of the Team grudgingly followed their leader out of the BioShip, but Superboy didn't budge. He stayed firmly in place, scowling at Artillery and Spider-Man.
"Haven't we had enough secrets for one day?" Superboy asked them, his arms crossed. Artillery lifted her chin, her eyes narrowed. She still hadn't forgiven the clone for snapping at her earlier.
"It's not a secret," she replied haughtily. "Just something that doesn't concern you." With that, she turned her back on Superboy and marching away firmly. She exited the BioShip, leaving Spider-Man awkwardly standing off against Superboy. The mutate's shoulders slumped.
"Sorry," he mumbled, slipping out after his friend. Superboy scowled, following the shorter boy off of the BioShip to regroup with the rest of the Team. When the last three Team members joined their friends, Robin and Artemis were rejoining the group as well.
"All clear," Robin announced. Artillery cast a look around. The jungle was dark, and the air was heavy with moisture. The only sound audible was the chirping of bugs and birds, and the occasional screech or howl of an animal. No sign of gun-toting gorillas anywhere. Aqualad nodded sharply, touching the A insignia on his belt to activate his stealth tech.
"Switch to stealth," he ordered, pacing to stand in front of the Team. "And we'll review mission parameters." Spider-Man nodded, tapping the spider on his chest. The suit changed color, turning the normal blue of his uniform to black. Kid Flash did the same, a scowl plastered on his face.
"Parameters!" he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "We don't need no freakin' parameters." Robin nodded, a similar look of disdain on his face.
"It's recon," he said witheringly, with a dismissive toss of his head. The two boys began to walk off. "We know what to do." Aqualad frowned.
"Kid, Robin!" he began. Before he could further try to either reprimand or placate his friends, the younger boys had interrupted him. Robin took a step forward, a harsh scowl plastered on his face.
"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us!" he snapped at the older boy. His voice clearly betrayed his anger and hurt at being kept in the dark.
"Or did you forget that?" Kid Flash asked sarcastically. He spoke a little too loudly, considering they were supposed to be stealthy. "Like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Aqualad didn't respond, his gray eyes narrowed stonily. Aqualad sighed. He had anticipated his friends being upset with him, yes, but not to this degree. Of course, he had anticipated telling them in a less emotionally charged setting, when they weren't all exhausted from being attacked.
Taking his silence for acquiesce, Kid Flash and Robin turned around, darting off into the darkened jungle and away from the Team.
Artillery twitched, like she was about to run off as well. Before she could move, Spider-Man reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She knew without looking that he wasn't trying to get her attention; he was warning her to stay in place. She sighed, letting her muscles relax.
"Come on," Superboy's voice cut through the silence. Artillery turned to see that he was gripping Miss Martian's arm. "I'll keep you safe." Miss Martian's eyes narrowed, and she ripped her arm out his grasp, crossing them firmly across her chest. She scowled at Superboy, and his eyes went wide. "I – just…want to protect you," he protested. Artemis walked up to the quarreling couple, scowling.
"Like Aqualad 'protected' us?" She asked sarcastically. She scoffed, thrusting out her bow and hitting Superboy in the chest with it. The clone stumbled backwards, surprised. "Not sure your protecting or your patronizing is good for our health." The two girls walked off together, leaving a stunned Superboy behind.
"Why didn't you stop them?" the clone burst out after a moment of silence, whirling on Aqualad. "You're supposed to be in charge!" Aqualad's eyes widened.
"I – " he began futilely. Superboy snorted derisively, throwing a hand out to halt whatever Aqualad had been about to say. He turned on his heel, leaping off into the jungle. Captain Marvel frowned.
"Um, did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?" he asked tentatively. Aqualad groaned, glancing around. He froze when his eyes fell upon Artillery and Spider-Man, who were still standing there looking at him.
"Well?" Aqualad asked with a sigh, half-expecting his last two teammates to storm off as well. Artillery shrugged. Had she been alone, she likely would have stormed off by now as well. But Spider-Man had a much cooler head. The older boy nodded at Aqualad.
"What do you want us to do?" he asked, speaking for both of them. Aqualad glanced at Artillery hopefully, and she sighed and nodded, albeit reluctantly.
"Thank you," the Atlantean said, relieved. "Artillery, go after Superboy, please. I do not think any of us should be alone." The girl nodded, letting the suit form around her. "Spider-Man, with me." Aqualad looked around. "Try to stay in Miss Martian's telepathic range," he told Artillery with a sigh, berating himself for not having her link the Team up before she'd left. "We must not forget we are still a team."
"Yes, sir," Artillery said, only somewhat sarcastically. Spider-Man rolled his eyes underneath his mask, but before he could reprimand his friend, she was flying off into the night. Aqualad sighed again, shaking his head.
"Let's go."
"JARVIS, you don't happen to see an angry Kryptonian anywhere, do you?" the girl asked her AI wearily. A loud thud echoed throughout the night sky, and she rolled her eyes beneath the face plate. "Never mind."
Artillery angled her thrusters, flying towards the source of the sound. She dropped altitude slightly, so that she could follow Superboy's path of broken logs and small craters. The ground was wet and muddy, which made the trail a bit more difficult to follow, but she managed. She tracked the clone into a small clearing. The clone was standing in the middle, looking around. She landed behind him, and he whirled around, his sensitive ears picking up on the quiet thump of the suit against the dirt. He scowled.
"Why are you following me?" Superboy snapped at her. Artillery glared back at the boy, letting the nanites of her helmet and faceplate slid back into her skin so he could get the full effect of her irritation.
"You still need backup, idiot," Artillery reminded him.
"I don't need anything!"
"Really?" Artillery cocked an eyebrow, placing a hand on her hip as she stared her friend down. "'Cuz you said that last time was with the MONQIs, and after you got your ass handed to you, you told me you were glad I was there." She waved her hands slightly, twitching them in sarcastic jazz hands. "And here I am."
Superboy glared at Artillery. He was mad at Aqualad for keeping secrets from him, distressed that M'gann had almost died, mad that now she was mad at him, and still not completely sure that he believed Artillery when she claimed she didn't know about the mole.
"You –" he began. Before he could finish, a snarl ripped through the air and Artillery cried out a warning just before a large wolf collided with Superboy, knocking him to the ground.
"Superboy!" Artillery raised her hand, a sending a sonic boom out towards the wolf. The animal flew off her teammate, crashing to the ground a few yards away. It got up, snarling and shaking itself off. Superboy shoved himself up from the ground, glaring. "You okay?"
Before the clone could respond, Artillery found herself flying through the air. She landed on her back, her bare head slapping against the wet ground. The impact made her ears ring, and she winced, grunting in a mixture of surprise and pain. She ran a hand over the back of her head, checking for blood. Her hand came away wet, but the moisture was wet, sticky mud. "Ugh."
As she slowly rose to her feet, letting the helmet close over her face and head again, Artillery caught sight of her assailant – another large brown wolf. As it stalked up to her, snarling, she realized with a jolt of shock how big it was.
"Miss," JARVIS said as Artillery and Superboy backed up towards each other. They stopped when they were standing back-to-back. The two young heroes were surrounded by a pack of the wolves. "The average size of an Indian wolf is between forty and sixty pounds. I measure the wolf that just tackled you at one hundred and twelve." Artillery let out a low whistle, shaking her head.
"Someone's been hitting the gym," she muttered sarcastically. She shifted into a battle stance, firing two sonic blasts at the wolves before they reached her. Superboy yelled out angrily, leaping forward and tossing one of the wolves aside. Another one jumped forward and latched itself onto Superboy's shoulder, making the teenage boy cry out in pain. Artillery whirled around at the sound, raising a hand to fire a repulsor blast at the wolf.
"Scan them, J! Find a weakness!"
Another of the oversized wolves threw itself at Artillery, its sharp teeth closing around her calf. She shouted in pain, the sharp piercing of the nanites hurting her. She rose into the air, shaking her leg to try and displace the animal.
"Miss!" JARVIS said urgently. "The animals are wearing inhibitor collars, similar to that that would be used on a meta-human." Artillery glanced down, seeing that JARVIS was right.
"Thanks, J," she huffed out, pulling an arm back. She fired a laser at the collar, cutting through the collar. The machinery fell to the ground and immediately, the wolf let out a surprised whimper and unlatched its teeth from the armor. It fell to the ground, twisting to land on its feet before loping off into the darkened jungle.
Frowning, Artillery lowered herself back to the ground. The armor on her calf was repairing itself automatically, stitching over the holes that the wolf's teeth had made. She picked up the collar, studying it.
"Superboy," she said. "I think –" She paused, suddenly taking note of the lack of sound in the clearing. She glanced around, blinking in surprise as she realized it was empty of both Kryptonians and wolves. "Superboy?"
'Link established.' Miss Martian's voice in Artillery's head made her jump, and then she felt silly for being startled. Aqualad had warned her to stay in range.
'Should he really still be giving us orders?' Artemis snapped, clearly referring to Aqualad. 'And should you really be following them?'
'Listen, please!' the Team's leader said, sounding irritated. Artillery flew a few feet up in the air, listening to the Team bicker as she scanned for Superboy once again. She flew through the undergrowth, the sounds of growling and grunting catching her attention.
'Oh, good!' Kid Flash said sarcastically. 'Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that.'
'Hey, Kaldur!' Robin chimed in. Clearly, the entire Team was just as irritated as before. They hadn't cooled off at all. 'KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'Course, since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves.' Artillery couldn't help but roll her eyes. Sure, she was annoyed too, but that was just childish.
'If he did, he wouldn't tell you,' Artemis muttered snidely. Artillery landed on the ground next to Superboy, who was brawling with a wolf that was even bigger than the rest. It was pure white instead of brown, and clearly both stronger and more aggressive than the others as well. It must be the pack alpha.
'Superboy, are you online or just pouting?' Miss Martian asked. The clone rolled his eyes, shoving himself up from the ground and latching his arms around the neck of the wolf.
'Busy. Call back later.' He nodded at Artillery, who made a motion with her hand. Get back, she warned him silently. Superboy slackened his grip on the wolf, allowing the animal to sling the clone backwards and into a large rock.
'What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us,' Kid Flash continued to complain. Artillery thrust her arms out, sending a sonic blast at the large white wolf, making it hit the ground. Superboy leapt forward, wrapping his arms around the animal and holding it still. The wolf snapped its jaws angrily, but it couldn't move, pinned by Superboy's strength.
'He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant!' Robin agreed.
'How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?' Artemis asked.
'Or if Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves?' Each pair of team members was basically having their own conversation with their partner. Superboy tensed up at Miss Martian's retort, his blue eyes flaring with hurt and anger. Artillery latched her hands around the wolf's collar, pulling it loose and letting the pieces clatter to the ground. Immediately, the animal relaxed, and Superboy pulled back slightly, letting it stand up.
The wolf whined, turning in a circle. Instead of running off as the other two had, it headbutted Superboy playfully. Despite himself, Superboy smiled, scratching the wolf's chin.
'Did he really think your or I could've been the mole?' Kid Flash asked to Robin. The Boy Wonder nodded in agreement.
'We've known each other for years!'
'Trust is a two-way street, and you know that they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them!' Miss Martian said. The usually easy-going alien seemed just as angry at Aqualad as the rest of the Team, but Artillery was willing to bet that Superboy was the real root of her irritation.
'Not that we'd do that. Ever,' Artemis responded promptly.
'Will you all shut up and listen to Aqualad?' Spider-Man suddenly snapped, losing his patience and speaking for the first time. Artillery couldn't hide her smirk at the silence that followed. Peter didn't often lose his temper, and when he did, even if it wasn't explosive, people tended to listen. Still, the quiet didn't last long.
'Oh, so you're on his side,' Artemis bit at the Team's newest member. 'Makes sense - you and Artillery don't trust us, either.'
'It's not about trust!' Artillery yelled, looking away from the wolf and Superboy to cut in for the first time. 'Since when do you care about a Winter Soldier? They're not League business!' Artemis scoffed angrily.
'Enough,' Aqualad snapped, cutting Artemis's next retort short. Their leader sounded angry, and rightfully so. Anyone would be irritated by listening to a bunch of bickering teenagers in their head. 'Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him.' Kid Flash snorted derisively.
'Under your leadership?' the speedster asked disbelievingly. 'I don't think –'
'This is not up for debate!' the Atlantean replied, cutting Kid Flash off. Artillery's eyes widened at Aqualad's tone. He was no longer trying to placate the Team's anger, he was simply taking charge. 'You all chose me to lead,' Aqualad continued as the Team listened in a stunned silence. 'When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here.'
"Nice work!" Spider-Man said approvingly to Aqualad as the two boys trekked through the jungle. Once Aqualad had laid down the law, he had set a plan. "That was so cool, the way you just –" Aqualad shot the younger boy a pointed, if slightly amused, look and he quieted down. "Right, focusing on the mission."
Aqualad nodded, brushing a large leaf out of the way. The two boys walked single-file, trying to figure out where Captain Marvel had been taken. After a few moments of silence, the Atlantean spoke.
"Thank you for backing me up," Aqualad said to Spider-Man with a small smile. "I doubt if Artillery would have listened to me had you not been here." Spider-Man shrugged easily.
"Yeah, don't mention it." The mutate ducked a low-hanging branch. "Artillery can be hot-headed at times." Aqualad chuckled. He had witnessed much of that first-hand. The Atlantean's grey eyes were focused on prints in the damp ground. He pointed at them.
"Those look like they could be gorilla," he mused, glancing at Spider-Man. The other boy tilted his head to the side, bending down for a closer look. He nodded in agreement, standing back up. The two of them were on the right path.
'Team,' Aqualad alerted the others over the mental link. 'Reconvene on mine and Spider-Man's location. I believe we are en-route to where they are holding Captain Marvel.' Everyone on the Team murmured affirmatives, and the two boys set out again.
It didn't take long for them and the others to reach the laboratory. The building sat crouched in a clearing. There were no guards, animal or otherwise, outside the facility, and no noise or outward light to indicate anyone was there. However, there were machines posted around the outside, indicating the presence of some kind of shield. Spider-Man switched to infrared vision in his mask. Once he did so, he could see that the field was dome-shaped, covering the entire facility.
'I'll fly over,' Miss Martian volunteered, unable to see the shield's breadth.
'Negatory,' Kid Flash replied promptly, reporting what he had also seen. 'The field extends like a dome around the whole compound.'
'The pylons are insulated,' Robin reported. He was checking the schematics on his wrist computer. 'But one good shock could cause a momentary gap.' Artemis was crouched next to Spider-Man, and her eyes narrowed. She raised her bow, jutting her chin out as her eyes focused in on her mark.
'I see a target,' she announced. Aqualad nodded sharply.
'Then be ready to hit it,' he ordered. 'Be ready, all of you.' Aqualad stood, motioning for Artemis and Spider-Man to hold position. He bounded down the short hill so that he was standing directly in front of the shield.
'Spider-Man, you call it,' Kid Flash said, glancing up at the two heroes above him and Robin. 'You and Artemis have the same line of sight.'
'Right,' Spider-Man responded. He shifted position so that he was standing directly behind Artemis, as not to block her shot. 'Ready.'
Aqualad didn't respond with words, but he lifted his arms. His tattoos began to glow bright blue, and he placed his hands on the shield, letting electricity crackle from his hands. Spider-Man watched, and slowly a hole began to form. Once it was big enough for Artemis to shoot through, he nodded. 'Now!'
Artemis released her bow string, her pre-aimed arrow flying. Even though both the shield and the hole were invisible to her naked eye, her aim was perfect. The arrow hit the switch for the shield dead on, disabling the generator.
Aqualad stepped back, his tattoos returning to their normal dark color. Stepping through the no-longer functioning barrier, he waved the Team forward. Standing up, Spider-Man offered Artemis his hand. Slinging her bow onto her back, she accepted, hanging onto the older boy. Spider-Man held out his other arm, shooting out a web to an over-hanging tree branch and swinging both of them down next to Aqualad.
As soon as the two of them had landed, a piercing screech split the air. Spider-Man swung around, his eyes going wide beneath the mask as he caught sight of a macaque crouched on top of the facility. When it screamed, an alarm began to blare, and more monkeys began to crowd around.
Answering some unheard cue, the monkeys dropped to the ground and began attacking. Spider-Man backed up, shooting webs at the monkeys' arms and legs to pin them to the ground. He felt bad – he didn't want to hurt them.
"Ow!" One of the macaque's had landed on his shoulder and sunk its teeth though the mutate's uniform and into the skin beneath. Grunting, Spider-Man plucked the creature off of him and tossed it to the ground. Okay, now he kinda wanted to hurt them.
"Peter, the collars!" Karen, Spider-Man's AI, reminded the boy. Aqualad had figured that out earlier that night, when the two of them and Captain Marvel had been attacked by elephants. Spider-Man nodded.
"Right, right." The mutate flipped over the monkey, landing behind it. Before the creature could turn around, he wrapped his hand around the collar, snapping it in two. Immediately, the monkey ran off into the jungle. Spider-Man could hear Aqualad calling for the Team to remove the collars.
"Sounds easy when he says it!" Robin complained, struggling from where he was pinned by one of the monkeys. Artemis spun around, catching sight of her teammate. She knocked an arrow, shooting directly at the collar of the animal. The machinery sparked, and the collar fell to the ground.
Robin landed on his feet as the monkey went screeching off into the jungle. Immediately, the Boy Wonder reached into his utility belt, pulling out two birdarangs and flinging them at the two monkeys creeping up behind Artemis. The blonde swung around, blinking in surprise. She turned back, shooting Robin a grateful smile.
A roar from behind him caught Spider-Man's attention. The young hero turned around just in time to catch sight of the gorilla closing its hand around seemingly empty space. As the gorilla slammed the "empty space" down on the ground, Miss Martian appeared, her camouflage disappearing from shock. Across the battle field, Kid Flash straightened up, his face contorting into a scowl.
"Get your paws of her, you damn, dirty ape!" Kid Flash raised at the gorilla, moving in a blur. The speedster crashed into the gorilla uselessly, going sprawling back over the ground. He landed in a heap, groaning. Spider-Man scowled, releasing another macaque and swinging over to land next to Kid Flash.
"Hey!" the mutate exclaimed indignantly. "Pop culture references are my thing!"
"Dude," Kid Flash said, sitting up and rubbing at his shoulder, which had taken the brunt of the impact. "Right now?" Underneath his mask, Spider-Man smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry."
Miss Martian straightened up. Kid Flash's distraction had given her enough time to collect herself. Scowling, the Martian rose a few feet up in the arm. Her eyes glowed white, and she swept her arms outward, sending the gorilla backwards in a telekinetic shove. The ape went flying through the wall of the facility, creating a large hole. Miss Martian floated after the gorilla, and the Team followed her.
'Artillery, Superboy,' Aqualad called over the mental link as the Team moved into the facility. 'Once you get here, hold position until I say.'
'Roger that,' Artillery replied promptly. She and Superboy were en-route. 'We're bringing company.'
Spider-Man frowned. He was wondering what his friend meant by "company" but he didn't have time to overthink it. The gorilla was already on its feet, snorting angrily. Its beady eyes were focused on the Team, nostrils flaring in anger.
And next to the gorilla was a giant…thing, encased in a metal and class shell. On closer look, Spider-Man realized that the pink thing in the center of the robot was a brain. His lip curled.
"It's the Brain!" Kid Flash exclaimed.
"Ugh," Spider-Man said, slightly repulsed. "Yeah, it's definitely a brain." The speedster rolled his eyes.
"Not a brain, the Brain!" That still didn't mean much to Spider-Man – he wasn't exactly familiar with villains of the League.
"In the flesh," the Brain said. It had a French accent. "So to speak." Then, commanding the gorilla: "Mallah!"
The ape pulled out a remote control, clicking a button. Generators popped out of the ground surrounding the Team, and they began to glow blue. Spider-Man shouted out in surprise as he found himself forced to the ground – the machines appeared to change the gravity around them. Once prone, none of them were able to move.
'Miss Martian, Superboy, Artillery, now!' Aqualad ordered. On the leader's command, the Martian's eyes glowed white. The gorilla grunted in surprised confusion as the remote flew from his hand and towards the heroes. Miss Martian deactivated the machines telepathically, and as the Team got to their feet, the wall behind the two villains blew out.
Superboy was standing in the opening, Artillery hovering in the air next to him. Superboy's shirt was torn, and he had bite and scratch marks covering his chest and arms. Standing next to the two heroes was a large white wolf, clearly the cause of Superboy's injuries. But from the creature's posture, it seemed to be on the Team's side.
"So that's what you meant by 'company,'" Spider-Man muttered to himself.
On an unspoken signal, the Team charged forward. Spider-Man shot a web at the ceiling, pulling himself up. He swung over the gorilla's head, landing behind the large ape in a couch.
"Karen, taser-webs!" Spider-Man commanded, straightening up and shooting out two webs at the ape. Once the formula had hit him, electricity flowed through the strands, shocking the gorilla and causing it to roar.
The ape swung around, ripping through the webs with surprising ease. He turned his machine gun on Spider-Man, and the mutate swung away just as the spray of gunfire hit the ground in front of him.
Artillery and Superboy swept in on the ape from both sides, each of the heroes grabbing onto the gorilla's arms in an attempt to subdue it. The ape snorted, swinging around and tossing Artillery across the room. The hero went spiraling through the air, rapidly attempting to stabilize herself with the thrusters. She was only steady for about a half a second before Superboy was thrown into her, sending both heroes crashing into the wall.
As the two of them detangled themselves, Artemis and Robin were launching a simultaneous, coordinated attack on Mallah. The two marksmen targeted the gorilla's ammunition, destroying the bullet pack.
"Spider-Man, web him up!" Kid Flash shouted, zipping over and grabbing the gorilla's gun.
"Yup!" the mutate said, swinging around the room on one arm. He changed directions, avoiding the gorilla as it attempted to snag him from the air. Meanwhile, he also aimed his free web shooter at the gorilla's arms, trapping them to its sides so that it was tied up in the sticky formula.
The mutate dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch. His teammates fanned out around him, surrounding the Brain and the tied-up Mallah. Across the room, Aqualad had freed Captain Marvel, who had in turn released a large tiger from the mind control collar. The three of them closed ranks, so that the Team formed a circle. Mallah and the Brain were completely surrounded.
"Spider-Man, how long will those hold him?" Aqualad asked, eyeing Mallah's arms straining beneath the webs..
"Not long," the mutate replied. Mallah was growling, and already the webs were snapping underneath the gorilla's strength. The ape roared loudly, ripping its arms from its sides. More of the webs snapped away.
"Try it," Superboy challenged, shifting into a battle stance and cracking his knuckles. "I hate monkeys." The gorilla snarled again, taking a step forward as more of the webs fell away.
"No, Mallah," the Brain said. The gorilla stopped in its tracks, turning towards its boss. "This will not be our Waterloo." As the Brain spoke, the machinery around its protective casing begin to expand in a threatening manner. Spider-Man's eyes went wide as the machinery began to whir, as if a weapon was powering up.
"Get down!" Kid Flash shouted, coming to the same conclusion. Artillery flew forwards, the nanites of her suit rushing out from the armor in order to shield her and her teammates from the bomb should it explode. As the armor began to form a large barrier around the Team, the lights in the building suddenly shut off, plunging the Team into darkness.
After a few seconds, the light overhead flickered back on, illuminating the space were Mallah and the Brain had just been. Artillery blinked, allowing the nanites to drop from the air and return towards her. Their enemies were nowhere to be seen.
"Wait," Kid Flash said in confusion. "That big weapon-thing was…a light-switch?"
Aqualad, Captain Marvel, Robin and Artillery were gathered outside of the Bio-Ship, waiting for the others to re-group after splitting up to de-collar the entire jungle. Which, although it had still taken forever, the time it should've taken was seriously diminished due to Kid Flash's super-speed and Artillery's ability to disable the collars in her range of control.
Now, the heroine was sitting on the ground, exhausted. Even something as simple as disabling relatively basic machinery was draining on this large of a scale. Aqualad was next to her, removing the last collar on a macaque by hand.
"That's the last of the collars?" Captain Marvel asked the tiger he'd befriended. The animal roared in a hopefully affirmative manner. Everyone looked to Artillery to confirm.
"Mm…" the girl closed her eyes, focusing. After a moment she opened them again. "Think so." She stifled a yawn. "Can we get going? I need a nap." Spider-Man chuckled, catching what she had said as he walked up. Spider-Man held out his hand to haul Artillery to her feet, which she took. Once she was on her feet, he wrapped on arm around her to keep her upright, and she slumped against her friend gratefully.
"Good," Captain Marvel said. He turned back to the tiger. "I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" The tiger growled. "Good." He scratched the tiger's back one last time before standing up. "I'll be back for a visit, I promise." The animal roared again before leaping off into the dark jungle. Captain Marvel watched him go, smiling. "I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny!"
"Great!" Artillery said, her eyes still closed. "Love a happy ending. Can we get going, please?" Spider-Man laughed, ruffling his friend's hair playfully. Aqualad nodded, walking up to board the Bio-Ship. Before he could, Robin caught his friend by the shoulder.
"Look, I need to know," the Boy Wonder said with a sigh. Part of him hated to bring this up again, but he couldn't just let it go. "Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?" Aqualad paused, turning around. The Team, including Captain Marvel and the white wolf that had taken quite the shining to Superboy, was crowded around expectantly. Artillery opened her eyes, suddenly wide-awake.
"The source of the tip was Sportsmaster," Aqualad informed everyone gravely. Artemis gasped.
"What?" she almost shouted. "You can't trust him!"
"I do not," Aqualad replied reassuringly. "It seemed possible, even likely, that he was trying to divide the team with false information." Robin's eyes widened in surprise and realization.
"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded." Robin shook his head, looking slightly ashamed. After all, he had been a part of that division. "But you had to consider that it might be true." Aqualad dipped his head once.
"Yes," the Atlantean replied regretfully. "As leader, I did. In which case, I did not wish to alert the traitor." Robin sighed heavily, finally realizing Aqualad's point of view. Now that some of his anger was gone, he was able to look at the situation more clearly.
"Hate to say this, but it makes sense," Robin admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. The rest of the Team murmured as well, finally seeing Aqualad's point of view.
"I am still prepared to step down," Aqualad said, looking around at the Team. Artillery smiled slightly, shaking her head. The other teens looked like they were having similar thoughts - there was no need.
"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Kid Flash asked, raising his hand to make it official. Everyone else followed suit immediately, no hesitation. Aqualad looked around at his teammates, his eyes finally falling on Robin, whose hand was also in the air. The Boy Wonder smiled reassuringly at the older boy. Aqualad nodded once, accepting the leadership position once more.
"Guess it's unanimous!" Captain Marvel said cheerily. He patted Aqualad on the shoulder and offered the Atlantean his hand. The Team leader shook it, and Captain Marvel stepped away. "See you tomorrow!"
"You're not coming back with us?" Aqualad asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. Captain Marvel shook his head, smiling.
"Nope, gotta fly!" The Team watched as their "den-mother" flew off into the night sky. Once he was just a speck in the air, they boarded the Bio-Ship, the large wolf padding after Superboy adoringly. Artillery laughed, a little surprised. It seemed that Superboy had officially collected another pet. Miss Martian placed a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder.
"So. What are you going to call him?" she asked, nodding at the animal. Superboy shrugged.
"What's wrong with 'Wolf?'" he asked. Artillery couldn't help but laugh - Superboy always was one for simplicity.
"Generic," Kid Flash said "But acceptable."
"Yeah," Artillery quipped as she took her seat in the Bio-Ship. "At least until he names his kid 'Child.'"
AVENGERS COMPOUND
September 24, 06:37 EDT
"JARVIS?" Talia asked wearily, as she stepped into the building. She stifled a yawn. Despite her exhaustion, she had been reminded of the pressing importance to share the presence of a Winter Soldier with the Avengers immediately. "Where is everyone?"
"All of the Avengers are present in the conference room, miss," JARVIS replied. "Shall I alert them to your presence?"
"Please," Talia replied, rubbing the back of her neck. She walked through the kitchen on her way, grabbing a baseball cap left on the counter and filling a mug with coffee. "And…tell them it's urgent." Talia headed down the stairs, pausing at the entrance to the room. She could faintly hear JARVIS reporting her presence to the Avengers, and their ensuing murmurs.
The door swung open, and Clint grinned down at her. "Hey, kid."
"Hi, Legolas," Talia said, yawning. She stepped into the room, sitting down at one of the open spaces. She looked up, realizing that everyone was staring at her expectantly. Steve, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, and her father were all there, as was Barnes, T'Challa, and a man named Sam Wilson aka the Falcon, who was a friend of Steve's and often helped the Avengers out. She swallowed, her throat dry. She was suddenly wishing she'd grabbed a glass of water instead a cup of coffee.
"Um…" Talia shifted in her seat, trying to gather her thoughts. "Well." She cleared her throat, taking her baseball cap off and nervously twisting her fingers through the strap. Finally, she spoke. "Remember how Lex Luthor told me that Stane's still alive?" Talia glanced at Tony, who gave her a worried look. He knew that she knew that he'd already relayed this information to the rest of the team, so he wasn't sure what she needed to talk to them about.
"Yes," he replied simply, a gentle prompt to his daughter to move on.
"Right. Well. I think I – I mean, I know that I forgot something important about that night." She shifted her feet again, internally berating herself for being so stupid. She glanced nervously at Barnes, hoping that what she was about to say wouldn't trigger him. "Um…"
"Spit it out, Widget," Tony said, not impatiently.
"I – there was another Winter Soldier," Talia said, the words coming out in a big rush. She saw her statement register to the Avengers, various looks of shock and fear on all their faces. "I fought her – a woman," Talia said. "She didn't, I mean, I don't think she had like, super-strength. I don't think they used the serum on her. Ra's al Ghul said something - like he was borrowing her. From her true handler - Stane, maybe?"
"Or maybe Hydra," Steve muttered.
The reaction to her information was instantaneous. The amused, if concerned, expressions on the Avengers faces at Talia's tongue-tied self disappeared, transforming into shock. All of them had thought that Hydra had gone under - if not destroyed, at least extremely damaged. What members were left were assumed to have retreated to lick their wounds in peace.
Barnes exhaled slowly, his muscles tense. Talia's information had jolted something in his memory, a dusty, hazy fog of something.
"Buck?" Steve said, looking at his friend. "Do you know something?" Barnes closed his eyes, thinking. He could just faintly recall...
"The kid's right," Barnes said, opening his eyes. "There's another."
shitty ending is shitty. i ran out of steam, i sorrys.
also if this chapter is crap i really truly apologize. i do not find this episode particularly interesting, and i think that shows. :/ sorry!
also i uh...as i mentioned above, i have another idea for a YJ oc. i can't help it. i have a problem.
i don't think i'm gonna write this oc quite yet, because not only is my story for her not completely fleshed out, but i think out of all of the ocs i've ever come up with, she is definitely the one with the most mary-sue potential. and that is saying quite a lot, considering i have a grayson sister oc and a genetically engineered spy oc lol.
BUT i thought i'd drop a profile for her down here because i want people's opinion on her. does she seem like a sue just from this? do you like her? hate her?
i just want to hear some general thoughts :)
but a QUICK WARNING about her: i don't want to offend anyone, so in the interest of full disclosure, venus is lucifer's (the one from dc comics) daughter. so if that upsets anyone due to religion or other reasons, please stop reading now!
PROFILE:
Name: Venus Morningstar (I know, I know. Not a good start for lack of sue-ness ;P).
Nickname(s): Vee
Age: Physiologically 16. She's immortal.
Gender: Female
Short Bio: Venus is the daughter of Lucifer Morningstar (undecided on who the mother is yet but I have a few ideas). When her father got tired of hell and "retired" to earth to run Lux, she came with him. She meets the Team during Denial because she's also trying to steal the Helmet of Fate, but she's not with Klarion and Abracadabra. She almost makes off with it after Klarion is defeated and Wally takes off the Helmet, but Constantine shows up and apprehends her. It later turns out that Constantine had been essentially hired by Lucifer (lol i'm still working on this part so bare with me) because her father is kinda tired of dealing with Venus's mischief (yeesh, this is def a work in progress). As punishment, Lucifer essentially thinks it would be amusing to "banish" Venus. He persuades her to agree to help the Team until the New Year, and once she agrees she is literally incapable of going back on it. And then the season proceeds.
Personality: Venus is kinda sociopathic? She doesn't really truly care about that many people, especially at the beginning. She's very charismatic and manipulative, with a dry wit and a dark sense of humor. You could call her a Machiavellian personality. Or, to put it in more geeky terms, I would compare her to Loki from the MCU. Anti-hero type, mostly only willing to help when it benefits her to some extent. (We could call her chaotic good or chaotic neural, not sure which yet)
Powers and abilities (I'm REALLY still working on this part, not trying to make her too powerful lol): Venus has the powers of an archangel - superhuman strength and durability, etc. Even though she's a fallen angel, she still has her wings that allow her to travel between dimensions (earth, heaven, hell etc.) but she hates them and almost never uses them. She also can manipulate people into telling her things like her father, particularly people who are attracted to women (people who are unattracted to her aren't impossible, just more difficult). (OKAY: NOW FOR THE STUFF I'M VERY UNSURE OF CUZ IT'S A LOT) She can manipulate holy fire (this i kinda like) and any type of matter to some degree. She's not as powerful as her father/other archangels, but she was some control. (this one is...a lot. probably gonna scrap it).
Weaknesses (ehehe kinda making these up cuz i've not read a ton about lucifer i just like him and idk his weaknesses...i'm just kinda going with holy stuff and stuff that works in supernatural lol): holy water can seriously harm/kill her (that makes sense, right?), and she can become trapped in a pentagram or heptogram. no matter what it's made of, if she steps into one she can't move out of it until it's broken. Also, once she agrees to something she can't not do it - her word is bond (headcanon that the team always tricks her into agreeing to do tedious chores like the dishes or something and she always falls for it and has to do them lol)
Appearance: the current appearance Venus puts on is of a very attractive sixteen year old girl. She's tall and lithe, looks Caucasian. Long brown wavy hair and dark eyes. Her real demon appearance is red, kinda peeling skin, no hair. Her eyes are just the sockets (dark gaping holes, but she can still see). Her wings are kinda leathery looking, and her fingernails are quite long and curved, like talons. It takes energy for her to maintain her human appearance, so she's more powerful without it.
Likes: cigarettes, classic rock, jazz/blues, shakespeare, mysteries, trashy romance novels, modern technology, cats (especially black cats, because she likes any "traditional" sign of bad luck - she has a black cat named grimalkin), nail polish/makeup.
Dislikes: liars, morals, ignorance, authority figures, a lot of other stuff idk.
Love interest: Conner Kent/Superboy :)
Quotes (heh idk, i feel like these just speak to her character a bit): "I'm a devout practicer of sacrilege." ; "Actually, the Devil didn't make you do it." ; "What in my father's name did you just make me agree to?"
anyways, please leave a review! i would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter/the story, and talia. and i would REALLY love to hear some thoughts about venus - and suggestions? should i write her? yes? no? maybe so?