Invaded

Chapter Nine: Darkest

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Mount. Justice
March 23
09:05 PM EDT

"Do we have any leads on Harmony Sato's location?" Nightwing asked, glancing over his shoulder to look at me.

I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest, answering, "No. I haven't been able to locate any of Deathstroke's hideaways either."

Nightwing hummed, muttering, "We'll find her, Phe."

"Recognized: Blue Beetle, B-23. Impulse, B-24," the computer droned as the two materalized in the large zeta-tube.

Impulse laughed, declaring, "Left them in the dust!"

"Left who in the dust?" Nightwing questioned, noticing a red and orange looking remote, "And what is that?"

"Souvenir," Impulse answered.

Blue Beetle turned towards Impulse, asking, "Souvenirs are Beast Boy's thing, isn't it?"

Impulse frowned, admitting, "Oh, really? I thought it was Kid Flash's."

"Can we get to the point?" I snapped, stepping closer to the duo. I gestured towards the forign device before crossing my arms over my chest.

"Oh, right, sorry. Aqualad attacked us with Icicle Jr., the Terror Twins, and a ninja girl I didn't recognize," Blue Beetle explained. The ninja girl must've been Artemis which means their covers haven't been blown.

Impulse waved the device around, adding, "This is how they tracked Blue. I made sure they couldn't do it again."

Nightwing glared at Impulse, asking, "So, you brought foreign, possibly alien tech into the Cave? Rookie mistake."

Impulse lowered the device in realization. Nightwing sighed as he ran a hand through his hair tiredly.

Jutting his hand out, Nightwing said, "Alright, give it here."

Impulse placed the device in Nightwing's expecting hand, uttering an apology.

The Cave's security system alarm began blaring loudly as the computer finished its scan of the remote. I quickly read the scans results, cursing loudly as we realized Kaldur's plan.

The remote was a Trojan horse designed to bypass the Cave's security system.

"I'm an idiot!" Nightwing exclaimed.

Superboy grunted as he was thrown across the room, slamming into Nightwing and I.

"Fuck," I muttered, pushing Superboy off my lower body.

Quickly, I flew high in the air, barely avoiding Tigress' assault. I scanned the area below, assessing our intruders.

Icicle Jr. was taken down by Impulse which means the Terror Twins and Tigress remained. Kaldur was unaccounted for, which left me wondering what was his goal. This attack wasn't planned nor agreed to.

Blue Beetle flew towards me, aiming his sonic cannon at Tigress. I aimed two massive orbs at the Terror Twins, glaring. Kaldur had appeared sometime during the last few seconds of battle.

"Wait for my command, Blue," I instructed, assessing the area below once more. Tigress had successfully taken down Nightwing, Beast Boy, Impulse, and Superboy. If Blue and I were going to make a move, it needed to be a smart one.

"Stand down!" Kaldur shouted, "This battle is over."

"I don't think so, traitor!" Blue shouted, shifting the aim of his sonic cannon from Tigress to Kaldur.

"Then rethink," Kaldur stated, glaring at me; even now, amongst all the chaos, I knew he was speaking to me.

"This is the same type of bomb that obliterated Melina Island," Kaldur revealed, gesturing towards the bomb he planted in the center of the Mission Room.

"I am holding the dead-man switch. If my thumb comes off this button for any reason," his voice lowered darkly, "Mount. Justice falls."

Kaldur lifted his hand high, gripping the dead-man switch tightly. Again, I scanned the Mission Room, assessing Blue and I's success rate. Impulse, Nightwing, Beast Boy, and Superboy were down. Blue and I would have to quickly take down the Terror Twins, Tigress, and Kaldur without the dead-man switch being activated.

Even if I were to release a powerful psychic attack, Kaldur could have contingency plans in effect.

It was hopeless. We must stand down.

I lowered my fists as my orbs flickered away. I slowly descend, landing in front of Kaldur. Blue Beetle's eyes widened before quickly understanding my reasons. Slowly, he landed behind me.

I raised my hands in surrender, muttering, "We stand down."

Kaldur glares at me, nodding, "Wise choice."

Tommy Terror smirked, placing an inhibitor collar around my neck. His rough fingers grazed my exposed neck; I shrugged his fingers off, grimacing.

Icicle Jr. jumped down from the plateau of ice he had created, sarcastically noting, "I'm fine by the way."

"Good," Kaldur curtly retorts, "Escort Beetle, Impulse, and Beast Boy to the flyer."

"What about these three?" Tigress questioned, gesturing at Nightwing, Superboy, and I.

"As hostages here, they have value, but Nightwing is an ordinary human. Superboy, a human-Kyrptonian hybrid clone. And Phoenix is a human user of the mystic arts," Kaldur explained, "And our partner shows no interest in any of those categories."

Nightwing slowly rose to his feet, shouting, "Aqualad, you'll regret this!"

Kaldur slowly approached Nightwing. Swiftly, Kaldur punched Nightwing in the groin, hard. Nightwing groaned, falling onto the floor in defeat.

"I believe I have outgrown the name 'Aqualad' as well as anything resembling regret," Kaldur retorted darkly.

I watched helpless as our attackers began walking in the direction of the hangar.

Kaldur halted, standing beside the bomb. Glancing over his shoulder to look at the three of us, Kaldur added, "I will leave the bomb with you as a souvenir. Oh, and the dead-man switch has a five-mile range. Do not pursue us."

"We have to evacuate," I instructed, glancing at the bomb nervously. Nightwing nodded, already typing rapidly on his holographic wrist computer.

Superboy whistled loudly, his usual call for Wolf and Sphere.

The inhibitor collars beeped once before unlocking, sliding off our necks and onto the floor with a loud clank.

Wolf nuzzled his nose into Superboy's side as Sphere beeped loudly.

We began walking in silence towards the zeta-tubes, wallowing in defeat when the bomb began to hum.

I turned, eyes widened as the humming grew louder and the bomb glowed bright.

I outstretched my hands, igniting a massive orb around us.

"Phe? Phe!" Superboy shouted.

I jolted forward, coughing as I regurgitated the water I had swallowed when we crash landed into the harbor.

I coughed loudly, sputtering water as Mal tugged me out of the water and dragged me onto the shore.

"What happened?" Mal questioned as he laid me beside Nightwing.

I jolted forward, heaving heavily as I continued to regurgitate water. I felt my eyes brim with hot tears as I watched thick, black smoke float into the sky. Debris floated in the water as what remained of Mount. Justice burned in a bright red fire.

I lay flat on my back, visibly crying, "Kaldur… he blew up Mount. Justice."

Washington, D.C.
March 24
03:12 AM EDT

"Recognized: Kid Flash, B-04," the computer droned as Wally exited the whirling zeta-tube.

Wally glared at us, snarling, "What happened?"

"It was necessary," Nightwing paused, gripping his mug of tea.

"It better have been," Wally retorted, adding, "Spill!"

"Kaldur needed to find a way to help us rescue Lagoon Boy," I explained, rising from my seat. Slowly, I approached the ginger.

"He injected La'gaan with a microscopic tag into his bloodstream and he used the raid on the Cave to pass essential intel," Nightwing explained, holding up a small flash-drive for Wally to see.

"A flash-drive with, among other things, tracking software that can locate the tag," Nigthwing added.

Wally snarled, "Like hell that's all he did!"

"Wally," I paused, watching Nightwing rise to his feet to approach Wally.

"Wally, he had to make it look good. He put inhibitor collars on us, but he knew I'd get us out of them. He lied about Phe's powers because he knew she'd be able to protect us from the blast."

Wally countered, "He took three more hostages— members of your Team!"

Nightwing quickly retorted, "And we'll rescue them when we rescue Lagoon Boy!"

Wally gripped Nightwing's collar, shaking in slightly as he shouted, "Dick, he blew up the Cave! You guys almost died!"

Nightwing shoved Wally's hands away, explaining, "No, it's all on the flash-drive. He knew we'd pursue to make it look legit, and that's exactly what happened. He gave us time to get out. We just—we got caught in the debris field from the explosion."

I interjected, "It's partially my fault. I lost control—"

"Do you even hear yourselves?" Wally shouted before asking, "What if even one of you had been left behind, huh? Why take that risk? Why go to such extremes?"

Nightwing turned away from Wally, walking away, muttering, "The drive explains that, too."

"Kaldur needed to cement his position with the Light and the Light's partner," I elaborated.

"Wasn't that why he murdered Artemis?" Wally questioned.

"I guess it didn't convince everyone," Nightwing muttered.

"You guess?" Wally shouted, growing angry once more.

"The Cave is— was just a place, worth sacrificing if it helps us stop the invasion!" Nightwing shouted, adding bitterly, "Look, I'm sorry you lost all your souvenirs."

Wally crossed the room, slapping Nightwing across the face within seconds.

I gasped, quickly standing between the two. I shoved them away from each other, glaring at the two.

Nightwing cupped his cheek, eyes wide. Wally stood, heaving from angry, glaring at Nightwing.

"Are you serious?" Wally seethed, "I don't care about any of that junk. I'm worried about Artemis—terrified for all of you. You are putting yourselves in dangerous situations and you put Artemis right in his hands."

I scoffed, "Wally, we're talking about Kaldur here."

Wally closed the gap between us, glaring at me as he spoke, "I know Kaldur, our friend. Who, in the span of a few months, lost his first love and found out Black Manta was his father."

I flinched at each breath before ultimately stepping back.

"Isn't it possible Kaldur might actually be a traitor?" Wally questioned, glancing at Nightwing and I, adding, "A triple agent? He's supposed to be playing them but are you absolutely sure he isn't playing you?"

I inhaled sharply as I recalled my brief moment of doubt in Cave. I would be lying if this idea hadn't crossed my mind before especially with Kaldur's recent questionable actions. He had blown up the com-sat and the Cave without consulting us first.

It was obvious Wally was angry, but I knew him. I knew he was scared for us and for Artemis.

"Kaldur wouldn't," I stated, masking my unsureness.