Young Justice is not mine.
Revelation
"The fall of dripping water wears away the stone."
- Lucretius
MOUNT JUSTICE
Kayanna's giggles echoed off the cavernous walls of the mission room. Her smile was hidden behind her fists, which were up and at the ready as she bounced from foot to foot. Wally stood before her, arms held up in a lazy defensive position, and sported his own bright smile, though he made no effort to hide it.
The floor glowed beneath the two as they circled each other, Kayanna trying- and failing- to stifle her giggles as the speedster's face contorted into a goofy expression, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth, and eyes crisscrossed. Kayanna's stifled laugh came out in a snort, and Wally took the moment to attack as the girl slapped a hand over her mouth.
His fist sailed towards her, and Kayanna barely had a chance to shift to the side to avoid it. She moved her hands back up into a defensive position as Wally turned around, on the offensive once more. He directed a punch towards the girl, and she lifted an arm up to block it. At the last second, however, Wally dropped his arm and went for a low jab.
With her side undefended, the speedster jabbed it lightly, eliciting a shriek from the waterbender as the floor flashed, giving points to Wally and taking points from her. She swatted his hand away with a harsh smack before leveling Wally with a glare as she danced away from him. The speedster knew her sides were incredibly ticklish, so that was a low blow- and based on the smug grin on his face, Wally knew that fact and was absolutely unashamed to have extorted her ticklish weakness.
"Low blow, West."
Wally shrugged unapologetically, "What are you going to do about it, Sanders?"
Kayanna opened her mouth to counteract his reply with a snide retort, but another voice suddenly barked, "Focus, Kayanna, Wally." The two guilty parties turned towards the source of the voice, each one smiling sheepishly at an unamused Zatara- who was their 'den mother' of the week. Captain Marvel stood beside him, but unlike his magical companion, he wore a bright smile.
"Sorry, Zatara." The two chorused together. Zatara's frown deepened, but he turned his attention from the duo to glance at Kaldur and Robin, who were- by far- having a more successful sparing session than Kayanna and Wally.
The two shared a look, their faces contorted, and cheeks puffed as they held in their laughs. When Zatara's gaze flashed towards them once more, the two swallowed their laughter, and Kayanna put on her best serious expression, Wally doing the same.
They eyed each other, and Kayanna found herself putting more effort and focus into actually trying to have a successful sparing session- lest Zatara tell Black Canary the two had been goofing off.
They'd have extra training sessions for weeks.
Kayanna attacked first, just as Robin back-flipped by her to avoid Kaldur's own attack. They shifted past each other, the waterbender catching Robin's reassuring smirk out of the corner of her eye. It filled her with a bit of confidence as she deflected Wally's block to her own attack.
They started to circle each other once more, each silently daring the other to make the first move. Kayanna had to admit, the two were probably relatively evenly matched. Wally typically relied on his speed when in battle, but that didn't mean he lacked actual hand-to-hand combat skills. Koda had taught Kayanna most of her fighting skills when it came to combat, but that more so involved her waterbending, so, for the most part, the pairs hand-to-hand combat skills had been taught to them by Black Canary, which put them on the same level.
"Care to make this more exciting?" Wally suddenly asked, causing Kayanna to quirk a brow.
"I don't know, circling each other like this is pretty exciting already."
The speedster rolled his eyes and threw a lazy punch as Zatara casted a disapproving gaze towards the two. Kayanna deflected the attack and Wally continued to speak, "Oh, ha ha. How about a friendly wager?"
Kayanna had to admit, her interest was piqued. While taking a moment to contemplate the speedster's idea, she kicked out at him. It skimmed his side, and Wally stepped back to push her leg away. She whirled around with a counterattack, aiming a punch at his chest, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her in, pinning the girl to his chest for a brief moment.
The waterbender glanced up at him with a huff, "What'd you have in mind?" She swung her other arm up, and Wally was forced to let go of the arm in his grip to deflect her incoming attack.
The floor flashed, their point scores shifting and changing appropriately with each move as they continued to spar. Besides the duo, Kaldur tossed Robin across the cave floor, but the boy wonder angled his body and landed on his feet before rushing the Atlantean. Kayanna paused in her attacks on the speedster, suddenly finding herself distracted by Robin's determination and fighting prowess.
The boy wonder moved with such fluidity and confidence, and Kayanna found herself admiring him from afar.
Wally smirked at the girl's sudden lack of focus, knowing full well her attention had shifted to his best friend, and when his fist collided- gently he may add- with her stomach, Kayanna was forced to pay attention to her spar with the ginger once more.
Pouting, Kayanna rubbed her stomach as she turned back towards Wally. He chuckled, "Eyes on me, babe." Insert eye roll here.
"So, what's the wager, West?" She ignored the pet name to draw his attention back to the wager he had brought up- and seemingly forgotten about.
"Right, right," The speedster beamed, slightly excited at the thought of Kayanna playing along, "Okay," Kayanna ducked under his swing, diving across the floor in a roll before popping back up. She kicked at Wally, causing him to oof as she caught his side. Regaining himself, he carried on, "If I win, you go on a date with me."
Kayanna's brows furrowed, and she wasn't quite sure why her stomach did a flip-flop, "I, uh- and if I win?"
"I take you out for ice cream."
A breezy laugh left her lips and she shook her head, "Sounds like either way, it's a win for you." She blocked another fist.
"It's a win for us, babe."
Kayanna suddenly dropped down, effectively ending their small convo, and swiped her leg out in a mimic of one of Black Canary's signature moves. Wally suddenly found his back landing harshly against the ground. The floor flashed 'Kid Flash: Fail', and the waterbender stared down triumphantly at the slightly dazed ginger.
"I win."
A pout found its way onto Wally's face and he huffed as he attempted to catch his breath. Kayanna continued to beam down at him, hand propped on her hip, and a sly quip on the tip of her tongue. There was a mischievous and triumphant glint in her eye, but her expression quickly morphed to surprise as her world came crashing down.
Her lungs were suddenly screaming at her as Kayanna found herself staring up at the cave's ceiling, with the cool floor harshly pressed against her back. Wally suddenly came into focus, blocking the ceiling of the cave from her view, and she frowned as he grabbed her arms to pin her down, his fingers suddenly dancing up and down her side.
Kayanna's laughter filled the cave as she squirmed under Wally's grip, breath coming in short bursts as she begged the speedster to stop. He was relentless, however, and continued his barrage on her rips, fingers dancing up and down her side.
Robin found himself faltering as Kayanna's laughter flitted across his eardrums, and when he glanced over, his stomach clenched. A deep scowl settled on his lips, heart hammering as he watched Kayanna, head titled backwards and melodious laugh escaping her lips, struggle underneath his best friend as she tried-and failed- to fight off the tickle onslaught. He glanced towards Zatara, silently hoping the magician would put an end to… whatever was happening between Wally and Kayanna, but the older man just looked done with the teenagers, his nose pinched, and eyes closed in annoyance.
Just as Robin found his body moving to intervene- he was so not the jealous type- a body collided harshly with his own, and he hit the floor- hard. He landed with a jerk, scowl deepening and breath bated. Kayanna's laughter had stopped, and through lensed eyes, the hacker noted her, and Wally, were staring over at him.
Kaldur seemed apologetic and concerned as he hovered over Robin. He hadn't meant to hit the younger boy so hard, as the Atlantean had anticipated him dodging the blow instead of taking it full force. With a frown, he extended a hand towards the downed boy wonder, "Are you okay, my friend?"
Robin accepted the hand, but brushed off the Atlantean's concern, "I'm fine." He scowled, turning the gaze towards the floor. 'Robin: Fail' flashed up at him, taunting him almost, and he glanced away to ignore it, which caused Kaldur's frown to deepen.
"You were distracted." He observed as he followed Robin's gaze. It landed on Kayanna and Wally, who were up and just chatting. The pieces clicked into place, and Kaldur placed a hand on the young hacker's shoulder, "Trust me, Robin, you must not let your feelings affect your performance in battle."
Robin glanced up at Kaldur, "I don't know what you're talking about." He brushed the Atlantean's arm off his shoulder.
"I am just-"
"Are you okay, Robin?" A new voice spoke, and the two glanced over to see Kayanna and Wally approach the duo. The waterbender made a beeline towards Robin's side, blue eyes wide with concern as she gently grabbed his arm. His stomach flip-flopped at the contact, a smugness settling over his body as she focused her attention on him, and not a certain speedster.
"Yeah, Rob, that looked like a pretty harsh hit." Wally chimed in. Whereas his eyes were full of concern for his friend, he couldn't help the slight smirk that found its way onto his lips at the proximity between Kayanna and Robin.
The hacker brushed him off, "I've had worse." He shrugged, only to frown when Kayanna released his arm. It surprised him at how much he missed the contact, and he quickly swallowed the feeling and cleared his throat.
Her hands started to move, however, and Robin instantly recognized the motions as she signed at him, 'You sure you're okay?'
The hacker offered Kayanna a soft smile and a nod in response, his own hands moving with ease, 'Yes, I promise.'
It was only a few missions ago that Kayanna had discovered Robin was fluent in sign language, and ever since then, the two would occasionally exchange private conversations in ASL. None of the other team members seemed to know the language, except for Conner, as Cadmus had apparently taught him ASL.
Whereas Dick Grayson was a 'beginner' when it came to sign language, Robin was quite fluent, but Kayanna didn't need to know that.
Wally eyed their moving hands with a frown. Both Kayanna and Robin had tried to show him some signs, but for whatever reason, the speedster found the language to be more difficult to learn than he had anticipated, "Would you two stop that?" He didn't like being left out of conversations.
Robin signed something else to Kayanna, the boy wonder making purposeful eye contact with his best friend. When the girl let out a short laugh, his smirk increased and Wally's scowl deepened, "Dude!"
"Robin." Kaldur called out, voice borderline warning. He cackled in response and Kayanna rolled her eyes.
The waterbender snagged Robin's hands just as he attempted to sign something else, opting to hold his slightly larger hands within her own to prevent him from further antagonizing the speedster. She huffed as he playfully tried to pull away from her, but held her ground, before smiling innocently up at Wally, "I only asked if he was actually okay, Wally."
"Why don't I-"
The conversation was cut short as M'gann, Conner, and Wolf entered the mission room, the two aliens sharing a loving gaze as their oversized companion happily trotted behind them. They seemed impervious to the fact they had an audience, the Martian giggling happily as Conner whispered something in her ear.
"You know they're a couple, right?" Robin whispered to no one in particular.
Kaldur nodded, soft smile on his lips, "I believe I knew before they did."
"We all knew before they did." Wally snorted.
Kayanna crinkled her nose, "M'gann can do better." The boys turned towards the waterbender, equal looks of confusion on each of their faces. She didn't explain, "I said what I said." Robin shook his head. Kayanna still hadn't moved past her dislike for Conner- and it was starting to look like she may never do so.
Artemis and Dimitri were next to enter the mission room. The two were deep in conversation, sharing some unspoken joke as they broke out into laughter. Artemis glanced over at Conner, a glint in her eye, and she nudged Dimitri and whispering in her ear. Whatever the blonde said caused the younger girl to shake her head.
"Do we tell them?"
"Dimitri already knows," Wally spoke up with a shrug, as if it was obvious, "as for Artemis though…" He trailed off, the small group watching as the archer stared after Conner.
"It is not our place to tell her." Kaldur spoke, placing a hand on the speedster's shoulder.
Wally rolled his eyes, "Dibs on telling her though." Robin reached over and punched his best friend's shoulder, "Dude!" The boy wonder didn't respond, and the conversation ended as Artemis and Dimitri joined the group.
"Is Zatara our den mother of the week?" Artemis asked with a frown.
"It would appear that way, yes." Kaldur answered.
Kayanna crossed her arms and glanced over at the magician, who was talking with Captain Marvel, "Okay, but then why is he still here?" It wasn't that the waterbender disliked the Justice Leaguer, but it unnerved her having two Justice Leaguer's hanging around the team, seemingly acting like their babysitter's. It made her feel as if the League only saw them as kids, and it was a sentiment shared by the others.
"Beats me ba- wait, is he eating my snacks?!" Wally cried out as Captain Marvel took a large bite of a chocolate bar. Before they could get to the bottom of Wally's accusation, the computer cut in.
"Recognized: Batman: B-Zero-Two."
Batman swept into the room, face as stoic as ever, as he made a beeline towards the center of the mission room. Kayanna got the feeling something was wrong, as the Leaguer didn't even acknowledge his two comrades upon his arrival, and he seemed more stiff than usual.
"Computer, national news."
The command was firm and emotionless, and suddenly a large hologram appeared before the team, who had automatically placed themselves in a line as per past mission briefings. Kayanna immediately recognized the face of Cat Grant, a nationwide news anchor who was typically at the forefront of any major breaking news, as she reported live from Metropolis.
"The initial attack was short live, but Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve." The camera shifted from the blonde woman to show an oversized plant, littering with sharp spikes, as it curled dangerously around one of the many skyscrapers that called Metropolis home. It tightened, and the skyscraper was decimated, "And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight." More news clips showed Superman using his laser vision to incinerate a vine, but with each vine destroyed, more appeared.
Excitement spread through the team at the prospect of fighting alongside the League, and Kayanna bounced on her heels in anticipation as Robin questioned his mentor, "Should we get out there?"
"No." The simple word dashed the waterbender's excitement, "The League will soon have the situation under control. That's not why I'm here. According to your intel, Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus Blockbuster Formula to Kobra-"
"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra-Venom." Wally piped in.
"Which the Brain used to create his animal army," Robin tacked on.
Conner scratched Wolf's chin, "And upgrade Wolf."
"The Brain also used inhibitor collars like the ones used at Belle Reve Penitentiary." M'gann furthered.
Artemis cocked her head to the side, inquiring, "Batman, is it possible that the plant-thingy is on Kobra-Venom too?"
"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis." Batman relayed, a holograph containing said results appearing behind him, "The vine does contain a trace amount of some sort of Kobra-Venom."
Kayanna scrunched her nose and shared a look with Robin, "That seems a bit… coincidental." He nodded his head in agreeance, swiping the air to pull up a holographic keyboard. As he began to type away on it, Batman continued to brief the team.
"It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of secret society of supervillains. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning."
"Got that right." Robin agreed with a scoff. Multiple news reports appeared in front of the gathered teens, each one showing the same thing: giant plants causing mass amounts of chaos and destruction. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei-"
The feed suddenly cut out to static, Kayanna flinching as the sharp noise hit her ears.
"Dude." Wally frowned, nudging the hacker as he scowled.
Robin's fingers flew across the keyboard at a speed rivalling a speedster as he attempted to fix the problem. Brushing off his friend he retorted, "It's not me. Someone's cutting the satellite signal. All satellite signals."
The screens flickered to life, an eerie figure revealing himself as he stared into the camera with a menacing grin. Kayanna felt shivers run up her spine at the haunting expression on his face, and besides her, Robin stiffened as the figure stepped back to distinguish himself.
The Joker.
Alert was quick to spread through the gathered teens, and Batman's stare hardened as the Joker knocked the camera lens, lips still split wide in a harrowing smile, "Ladies and gentlemen," He chuckled darkly, "We interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement…"
Leaving his unwitting audience on a cliffhanger, the madman suddenly flung the camera around, revealing a group of intimidating looking villains, "From the Injustice League."
The camera zoomed in on Count Vertigo, a villain Kayanna only knew about thanks to Artemis, who had faced him a handful of times alongside Green Arrow and Black Canary. He began to speak, accent thick and steady, "We are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them, a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been delivered to the United Nations. There is no time limit, but the longer your governments wait…"
Joker shifted the camera back to himself, his pale face once again taking up the screen. "The more we get to have our… jollies." Static overtook the screens once more, but Kayanna could swear she could hear the madman's laughter still echoing around them.
It didn't make her feel very good.
Batman pressed two fingers to his ear, speaking something into his comm-link as Robin rewound the feed. The feed was paused on the group shot of the villains, facial recognition software launching and identifying each villain for the team. Robin read them aloud.
"Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra Humanite Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan and…" The hacker trailed off unsurely at the end, the facial recognition software coming up blank for the last figure of the motley crew of villains. He frowned, "Nothing's coming up for this last guy, and I don't recognize him."
It wasn't often a villain showed up that Robin didn't know. After all, Batman made him keep relatively up to date on the more problematic villains in the world. Utilizing the facial recognition software had been more for the team than himself, as he could've easily listed off the villains, except for that last guy.
The unnamed villain was burly, standing at almost the same height as Black Adam and Ultra Humanite, who were each bulky and oversized in their own right. His face was covered in protective headgear, complete with a face shield with a skull painted on it, which distorted the facial recognition software regardless. Not an inch of skin was exposed on his body, which was covered head to toe in dark protective armor. There were two large cannisters strapped to his back, each one with an explosive logo on it and tubes that snaked down his arms before connecting into some sort of weapons strapped to his wrists. Two large belts crisscrossed over his chest, filled with what appeared to be grenades and other explosives.
All in all, he looked ready for a war.
Batman's gaze swept over the team before it came to settle on Kayanna. She stared up at him, confusion evident on her face as he seemed to speak directly to her, "His name is Bombsquad." The name didn't ring a bell to the waterbender, whose nose was still wrinkled in confusion, and Batman looked back up at the screen, "The League has been monitoring him for the past few months."
There was a pause, and Kayanna felt as if he might give more of an explanation, but the dark knight remained silent. She couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen this villain before, but she knew the team hadn't faced him before, and the waterbender would definitely remember if she had faced this guy alongside her father in the field.
"Still, that's eight heavy-hitters, who are all probably behind everyone and everything we've faced." Robin concluded.
"There's your secret society." Wally gestured to the screen.
Dimitri crossed her arms, lips pressed together, "Not so secret anymore."
Kaldur's eyes flickered over his team, "Perhaps after India they realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer." He proposed.
"Yeah?" Wally held up a fist, a determined look on his face, "That was their mistake! Right now, I saw we go kick some plant creature butt!" He cracked his knuckles, and Dimitri smacked his hands away at the sound.
"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman interjected, and the speedster's face fell, "I have a different job for this team."
"Aw man." Wally whined, and Artemis was quick to punch him in the arm- hard.
With the plants hitting so many locations simultaneously, there must be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it."
Zatara approached his fellow Leaguer, face scrunched in concern as Kayanna felt her heart rate pick up, "You realize what you're really asking them to do, right?"
"They're ready."
The waterbender felt her chest swell with pride as she stood a little bit taller, only to deflate a bit as their favorite speedster exclaimed, "Ready?" He glanced around at his teammates, taking notice of how their once determined expressions suddenly shifted into annoyance at his confusion, "Ready for what?" He reiterated, hoping to finally get an explanation.
There was a loud thumping sound, followed by a pained squeal, and Kayanna glanced over to see Wally rubbing his arm once more, and glaring daggers at their resident archer, "Will you cut that out?" He all but growled.
Artemis rolled her eyes, "Hello, Wally!" She huffed, "If the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think we'll be fighting?!"
The speedster still looked perplexed, "I don't know! I guess we'll-" Dimitri intervened this time, as Artemis seemed ready to rip Wally's head off. She placed a gentle hand under his chin before jerking his head upwards towards the screen, and suddenly all the pieces clicked into place, "…Ohhhhhhh."
Kayanna was lowkey glad her father was not here at this moment, as she was certain he would try and find any and every excuse to pull the younger waterbender off this mission.
Zatara still looked unconvinced, "Well, Batman, I trust you are correct."
"I trust that you can locate the enemy?" The vigilante countered.
"Indeed," The magician affirmed, voice solemn, "Wotan's involvement suggests sorcery is a part of how the plants are controlled. Robin, if you would provide a holo-map, I will search for signs of concentrated sorcerous activity."
Robin obliged to Zatara's request and pulled up a large blue globe. It hovered before them, spinning slowly and the magician approached it. He held his palms outwards, eyes sliding shut as he focused and honed his mystical energy before beginning an incantation. The map froze, and a red dot appeared in the southern United States, marking their destination.
"There. That is where you'll find the Injustice League's central control system."
"Coordinates locked in," Robin affirmed, "The Louisiana Bayou."
The team stood tall and at the ready, Kaldur glancing over them once more before facing Batman, "We are on our way." The dark knight nodded, and just like that, they were off.
Off for their biggest mission yet.
A/N: Okay so I decided to split Revelation into two chapters because it's really getting away from me lmao. I'm trying to limit my chapters to ~10,000 words, and Revelation not split was approaching 13,000 and it was only going to go up xD
Also figured it was time I updated and I've been sitting on this opening for a good three/four months.
Sorry I've been trash at updating lately! After my wedding, I ended up moving to a different state and started a new job. I work full time now, and most weeknights I'm too tired to write and stuff. I'm trying to be better at writing and updating for ya'll, cause I do feel bad, but I also just appreciate you guys being patient with me!
Your support is always appreciated it!
Shameless plug, but I recently started a Dragon Prince fanfic in case any of ya'll have watched the show on Netflix! And if you haven't yet, WATCH IT! We need more love in the fandom, plus, it's an amazing show!
The rest of Revelation should be up within the next week or so! I'm just stuck on closing the fight so it's super close to being done anyways, I'm just not super happy with how parts of the fight are written and might have to rewrite parts.
Thanks again for sticking with me ya'll! You're the best!
-SnowWolf22
P.s. Kayanna and Wally have one of my favorite platonic relationships and I'm trying to show it more! Any flirting Wally does with Kayanna is purely playful and platonic- meaning he does NOT have actual feelings for her, but Kayanna is not used to being flirted with and, though super subtle, actual does have a very minor crush on Wally. I'm not emphasizing it because like I said, it's super minor!
