"Look at that product!" Robin hissed as he looked through his binoculars and down into the factory. "A buy isgoing down. But if Cobra isn't selling to the usual suspects then-""We need to identify the buyer." Kaldur cut Rob off.
"Just what I was thinking." Wally hummed.
"Ya, you're the thinker." Robin laughed.
"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers." Wally retorted.
"A real leader wouldn't bicker about who's leader." I couldn't help but mutter in French, and Kaldur and Megan sent a look my way. Megan could now doubt understand with her martian mental translator, but Kaldur knew me well enough to know what I had said.
They both had a look of agreement on their faces.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash and we all looked over to see Bane had thrown a rock away to uncover what looked like an old mining tunnel.
"Answers are this way." The villain said.
"So now ElLuchadoris our leader?" Wally said, and I couldn't help but lightly smack him upside the head.
I was getting really tired of this leader talk.
Stupid Batman.
Eventually, we came to a metal door and Bane opened it. Robin poked his head in and looked around.
"All clear." He hissed before flying off and disappearing
I hate it when he does that.
"Had that little fool already gotten caught?" Bane asked.
"No, he just...does that." Kaldur muttered.
"Stay put. I'll get our info and be back before the Boy Wonder!" Wally said, before slipping on his glasses.
"Wait, Kid-"But Kaldur was too late, and Wally had already zoomed away.
"Great chain of command," Bane muttered, earning a glare from all of us.
We all snuck over closer to the wide doors of the warehouse, which led to a runway where forklifts were moving crates of Venom.
"It's a massive shipment." Kaldur whispered.
"Ya, but they're only taking new product; they're not even touching this stuff." Conner muttered back.
"Maybe freshness counts?" Megan and I said in unison, slightly surprising us both.
"Helicopter's coming." Superbot hissed, but none of us could hear anything for a few minutes until the helicopter got closer.
"Miss Martian." Kaldur hissed.
"Got it." Megan said, going into camouflage-mode and flying over to the landing strip, while Superboy, Kaldur and I went up to a raised catwalk to get a better view of the factory as a whole.
After a few minutes, Kaldur's eyes widened.
"Sportsmaster? He's the buyer" Kaldur muttered, and I knew Megan had gotten the info we needed. I pressed my finger to my com.
"Red? You listening?" I whispered, but I was only met by static. "Coms are jammed; which means we can't reach the league, the cave, Robin, or Kid."
"We need a plan, now." Kaldur hissed in his 'scary voice'.
"I have a suggestion." Bane smirked, before jumping off the catwalk!
"What is he-" Kaldur never got to finish his sentence before a giant, tan, monster jumped in through the window.
He kinda looked like Desmond post-Blockbuster, and I knew something wasn't right.
Unfortunately, I didn't have to ponder before the monster crashed into the catwalk and I had to summon winds to make sure I didn't fall and break something.
Superboy goes straight for the monster and thankfully was able to stop it from attacking. Aqualad took out his water bearers and stepped in front and formed a shield to cover himself and me as gunmen began shooting at us, and he retaliated with his own water-based attacks as I sliced my hands through the air, causing my winds to violently shove the gunmen into walls.
Kaldur looked over his shoulder and sent me a look. I nodded and summoned my winds to fly me closer to the gunmen before spinning mid-air, forming a large wind funnel to form around my body; fast enough that the opposing bullets couldn't penetrate. Once strong enough, I slashed my hands and forced the winds to break through the room and crash into the gunmen. Unfortunately, the close contact needed for my attack put me at a disadvantage and a couple gunmen that hadn't been knocked out from my blast went for me and I couldn't use two major attacks in such a small amount of time.
I hate hand-to-hand combat time.
Once one was close enough, I was able to grab the cultist's gun and kick his feet out from under him, causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground.
Sorry
Another cultist came at me and I was able to kick the gun out of his hand, but he dodged my attack at his chest. He sent a punch at me, but I dodged: sending us into a long dance of attacks and dodges.
Suddenly, I felt a mental link form in my head. Thankfully, the upgraded meds I had gotten from Wayne Tech. helped block out most of the pain that would usually flood my head at the telepathic contact.
God bless Bruce Wayne.
"Everyone online?" Megan asked.
"Ya..." Superboy groaned, obviously still not pleased at the mental intrusion.
"Yup." I sent as I was finally able to gain the upper hand in my fight as I spotted an opening where I was able to deliver a sharp kick to his head, rendering him unconscious before I flew behind a few crates for cover.
"You know it beautiful,"Wally said.
"Good, we need to regroup!" Kaldur said.
"Busy now!" Robin said impatiently.
"Robin:now!" Kaldur yelled and I was slightly taken back by the sudden force behind his words. "We need to retreat. Kid, clear a path."
At Kaldur's command, Wally zoomed around all the cultists and forced them down all the way over to the opening where we had entered. Once Robin had rejoined us, Superboy slammed the monster into the wall, followed us through the hole, and slammed the door shut. Unfortunately, the monster was able to crash through the door and chase after us.
"Superboy, the support beams!" Kaldur yelled and Superboy responded by slamming his fists through the wooden support beams, which caused the tunnel to collapse.
We were safe, but it was also pitch black in the tunnel now.
Suddenly, however, a dull red light flooded the cavern and I saw Kaldur snapping a glow stick before throwing it on the ground. We all appeared to be safe and unharmed, but Robin was looking forlornly at the fallen wall of rocks.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked nobody in particular with an empty-sounding voice.
"You are the most experienced, but maybe that's exactly what's made you so unprepared." Kaldur said, and I could tell he was about to say something really wise. "Fighting alongside Batman: your rolls are...defined, you do not need to talk. But this team is new, and the leader must be clear, explicit; he cannot vanish and expect the others to follow some unknown plan."
Amen to that
"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin yelled, taking me slightly by surprise, but then Robin's tight posture collapsed and he slouched, looking down at the ground. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur, you're the only one who can."
"Oh please, I can run circles around-""Come on Wally, you know it's him. We all do." Robin cut his best friend off.
"Hello Megan, it's so obvious." Megan smiled.
"Could'a told ya." Conner smirked.
"Called it." I said, gently nudging Kaldur's arm.
"...okay." Wally gave in with a smile.
Kaldur walked up to Robin and placed a hand on the younger boy's shoulder.
"Then I accept the burden; until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders." Kaldur said, and Robin smiled. "You were born to lead this team. Maybe but now, but soon."
Kaldur turned back to face all of us.
"Here's the plan: our first priority is to stop that shipment from leaving the island." Kaldur said.
"Funny," Robin smirked. "I had the same thought."
As we ran through the remainder of the tunnel, Robin read from his wrist-computer.
"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer, but it still doesn't add up." Robin stated. "He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Cobra to do his dirty work."
"And neither of them have the chops to mix it with the Venom formula." Wally added. "That took some major nerd-age."
"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'." Kaldur said as we came to the end of the tunnel, but was stopped by Bane, who greeted us by dropping a load of needles on the ground that were no doubtfully filled with Venom before being injected into his blood stream.
Like I said, drug addict.
"Halt Ninos." Bane said, and I noticed a button-trigger in his hand. "I'm feeling...explosive."
A beeping sound was heard above us and we all looked up to see bombs above our heads.
"You betrayed us, why?" Kaldur said, and I resisted the urge to smirk.
"Kid you need a running start." Kaldur said through the telepathic link.
Get him to start monologuing, nice.
"-blowing the tunnel with you inside, should have the same effect." Bane ended his story, and lowered his thumb...to be met with nothing.
"With what? This trigger-thingy?" Wally asked, and Bane turned to see him leaning against a tree with the trigger.
Bane went to attack Wally, but Megan picked him telekinatically.
"Finally." Superboy smiled, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. "Drop him."
Ouch.