Caribbean Sea
June 22, 20:08 ECT
"I haven't been around the Caribbean Sea in so long…" I muttered to myself as we flew over the vast stretch of water. The bioship had become our own personal transporter for missions.
"You feel fine? No, 'I want to burst out crying' or 'I'm going to punch someone in the face' feelings?" Kid whispered back at me, joking, but still he was worried. He was an open book, I could always tell.
"Don't worry. I just missed being around here." I answered, giving him a small assuring smile.
"We're approaching Santa Prisca." M'Gann announced as a small island could be seen in the horizon, quickly becoming larger and wider as we neared it. This might not be a very safe place, and we might be on a mission, but the island was pretty great. It could be considered a tropical paradise.
Our newest, and most official, mission was given to us a few hours back. Batman had said that Santa Prisca was the primary source of an illegal and dangerous steroid. It was a strength-enhancing drug, and it was fabricated in one of the factories in the island. Apparently the factories were still creating the drug, but all the shipments have been cut off without explanation. Batman wanted us to covertly, enhance on the covert, go to Santa Prisca and obtain information.
Easy enough, right?
"Drop-zone A. Ready." M'Gann said, breaking my thoughts off.
Aqualad got out of his seat, pressing a button in his belt that made his costume all black and dark grey. It was stealth mode, and could I just say, we all looked rather good in it. I liked my costume when it was on stealth mode, the grey in my suit transformed into obsidian black and the white, bullet proof material, to dark grey, even my mask!
The bioship descended, almost touching the water, and Aqualad jumped out. All he had to do was to take out the heat and motion sensor so we could pass into the island without being seen. I told you, easy enough.
"Drop-zone B." M'Gann said, alerting us of the fact that this was our stop.
Kid pressed the lighting bolt in his costume, changing it all to black, and M'Gann shifted her white shirt and blue skirt to a black body suit. Superboy and Robin stayed the same.
"Now you can put your stealth talents to use, Wonder Boy." I smirked at Robin who was silently gloating the fact that he didn't need to change even if the back of his cape was a bright yellow.
"And you can pull your 'I'll stop time and go away before you see me' stunt. I always liked that one. " He answered back.
"Hey, Supey. It's not too late to pull out the stealth tech." Kid teased.
"No capes. No tights. No offense." Superboy crossed his arms.
"It totally works for you." Miss Martian smiled. "In that you can totally do good work with those clothes!"
Oh, I knew M'gann had a crush on Superboy. I could see why too, the boy, anger issues or not, was pretty good-looking for his age. They both seemed like they would balance each other out. M'Gann with her happy-go-lucky attitude, and Superboy with his more...serious tone.
Soon enough, we had all jumped out of the invisible bioship and landed with soft thuds on the muddy ground below us. Superboy, well, he created a crater on the ground so you can guess how quiet he was.
We all ran, in a hurry to get to the factory, through the rainforest. Honestly, I could totally use one of those short uniforms like Wonder Woman's. It was so hot out!
We walked behind a waterfall, the cool spray cooling me down, trying to take the most unnoticeable route to our destination. Aqualad had said through comms that he would meet us at the targeted location.
"Hmm, this is so romantic, a walk behind a waterfall in the moonlight." I whispered sarcastically.
Robin turned to me, "Our first date is going great, don't you think? I chose the place pretty well. "
I smirked, "Oh, yes, definitely. Where are you gonna take me for our second date?"
"Probably to a jail interrogation room, and get information from worldwide targeted villains, it'll be fun." He teased.
"Hey, guys? Sorry to break your moment, but we're on a mission and I don't want to have to deal with this." Kid groaned silently.
"Whoops." I deadpanned back.
Superboy stopped behind us, shushing us, "Did you hear that?"
We all shook our heads, but of course, he had super hearing. We would not be able to listen in to what he could hear; it might as well have been a mile away.
"No, wait is this a super hearing thing?" Kid stupidly asked. Of course it was!
"You do have great ears." Miss Martian sighed dreamily. Goodness, she really had it bad, maybe even worse than Wally did for her.
"Okay, what do we do next?" Kid asked us, turning to where Robin had been only a few seconds ago.
I cursed under my breath, "Are you kidding me?"
"I hate it when he does that." Wally whispered back at me. He put on his red goggles, switching to infrared and informing us that there was one squad of four men, armed, on our tails.
"Two squads." Superboy announced, telling us that the second squad that was following was made up of six men, and they too, were armed. "But they'll meet each other before they find us."
Gunshots started to resound through the area, and Kaldur gave us direct orders to stay hidden, but Kid said he would go find Robin. I sighed as Wally ran off, trying to tail Dick.
I slapped my forehead as Kid slipped, tumbling down the hill we were seated on and landing in the middle of the gun war. The men stopped firing the guns, obviously surprised, but then the gunshots started again, alerting us of them targeting Kid.
"Guys, it's time for some action." I told Superboy and Miss Martian as I started running down the hill, jumping over rocks and spots in the mud that would have slowed me down too much.
Wally was diving and flipping up and down through the gunshots, but if we didn't help him then he wouldn't last much longer. As I came close enough to the squads to recognize faces, I saw that Bane was in between the chaos of it all.
I mentally rolled my eyes; of course he's here. Strength enhancing drug present!
I stopped time, weaving through people, and taking out my whip. I lashed out at the four people squad, taking them all out. When I realized that Superboy and Miss Martian were posed to go to battle, I unfroze time.
Superboy hit Bane, but Bane punched him harder in the face. I whipped Bane's back once before lunging back a meter and be back-to-back with Robin.
"Where have you been?" I snapped at him. "Hopefully doing something useful!"
Robin punched a kicked out at two men. "I was doing something useful! I was following directions! What is wrong with you guys? You should have followed my lead and banished into the bushes, remember covert?"
"That's what you were doing? Way to fill us in, Rob! We're not exactly mind readers!" Wally pushed and kicked two other men, looking at M'Gann when he said the last word. "Well, I'm not, anyway."
"You told me I could only read the bag guy's minds!" M'Gann defended herself. Good point she had there.
Aqualad appeared from the trees, electrocuting one of the goons. When they were all down, we tied them up together, making sure they were unconscious.
"I recognize those uniforms, they work for the Colt of the Kobra." Robin analyzed.
"I'm certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running around Santa Prisca in this operation!" Aqualad crossed his arms.
"Agreed." Robin stated. "Hence there is no love lost between the Colt and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came and tossed them out! That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."
"Great going, genius. You figured it out. Now, we just have to radio Batman—" Kid started, but Dick cut him off.
"These guys aren't on Venom! Cobra is hoarding this stuff. We don't leave—Not until I know why." Robin said.
"Until you know why? Robin, this is not just your mission! We were all assigned to find out what was going on here!" I argued with him.
"This team needs a leader!" Robin shouted back.
"Oh, and you're it?" Wally snapped back. "You're a thirteen year old kid who docked out on us without a warning!"
Robin cackled, "And you're a mature fifteen?"
I sighed, rubbing my gloved hand over my temple, they always argued like this. I walked over to stand next to Kaldur. "You know, you're the oldest out of all of us, you would be a good leader."
Aqualad nodded. "Thank you, Timeless, but I don't know if this team would want me as their leader. Especially, Robin."
"I wouldn't mind you as our leader, and for what Miss Martian and Superboy are talking about, I know for a fact they would think the same as I do. KF, well, we don't think too differently concerning these things." I answered.
Suddenly, Bane started laughing, that couldn't be good news. "Such clever, niños, but you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, let you into the factory, reveal the secrets."
My eyes narrowed dangerously, he was calling us kids. I was sick of people underestimating us. Unfortunately, that was the only thing giving us a major advantage.
M'Gann crouched. "There is a secret entrance, but he's hiding something." Suddenly, her eyes started glowing hot white. "Ugh, he's mentally reciting football, sports, and Español! This could take a while."
Bane smirked, "It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
I glared at him, "Es mejor que nos digas que quieres, Bane. Yo se que tu motivo no es ayudarnos." Yes, I knew Spanish, and I spoke it quiet fluently. The perks of living in South America for most of my childhood.
Bane smiled evilly, "Ah, una chica que me entienda. Bueno, lo siento por decirte esto, pero si quiero ayudar. Tu quieres que mi enemigo caiga, you quiero lo mismo, vamos a ser una aliansa por hoy, asi esta bien?"
I clicked my tongue in thought. He had offered to make a temporary alliance for tonight, just to see our common enemy fall. "Alright, he has me convinced. He wants to make an alliance tonight, he'll help us as long as Kobra falls down."
Aqualad nodded, "Lead the way, then, Mr. Bane."
We had been walking for a while, following Bane through the jungle. I was starting to doubt my judgment, what if Bane suddenly bailed on us and decided to attack us. He was much stronger than any of us.
We soon came to a ledge in a small clearing. Bane stopped, making us follow his move. He pointed at a building a long way down from the cliff we were, and Robin got his binoculars out. When he confirmed that there was a huge amount of those drugs being produced we all greed that we had to find out who Kobra was selling his products to since they weren't the usual suspects.
Miss Martian, Superboy, and I followed Bane as he walked over to a mining tunnel blocked by a rock. Bane easily moved the rock away from the entrance. "Answers are this way."
We all piled into the tunnel. "So, now the luchador is our leader." Kid rolled his eyes. Robin smacked him on the shoulder and went in first, I ran after him, placing a hand on his arm to signal that we had to talk.
"Rob, I know you want to lead this team, but you have to understand, even if you are the most experienced out of all of us, you're still pretty young. Remember, it is a lot of responsibility." I tried speaking softly to him, letting him know I meant well with my words.
He sighed, "Don't you think I know that?" And with those last words, he sped up his pace, leaving me behind with Wally.
I stared at his back; he knew he wasn't cut out for the job. I guess he had as much of a pride problem as everyone else; he didn't want to admit that he didn't believe that he could be the leader of us. Oh, Dick could be so prideful sometimes, and when it did happen, it wasn't good for him.
He often wouldn't admit that he had weaknesses, and that could be one of his downfalls as well as one of his strengths.
We arrived at a door that Bane opened with his fingerprints, the entrance led to the factory, I supposed. Bane and Robin looked through the cracked door, scanning the perimeter.
"All clear." Robin announced, running out of the room into the hallways.
"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane questioned us, and I couldn't blame him for asking, if I was him, I would have done so, too.
"No, you see, he's an expert at disappearing." I answered in a monotone voice.
Wally put his goggles on, "Stay put, I'll get the intel before the Boy Wonder!" And with that final notice, he sped off.
I growled deep in my throat, "We'll see about that. Those two are going to get each other killed with their contests!"
I could hear Kaldur complain to my request behind me, but I didn't care.
This would be a piece of cake, it was almost as if first place had been already secured for me.
I ran away from the group, sticking to the shadows, and weaving through the barrels. I needed to locate the data base.
Now, if I were an evil mastermind who could create strength-enhancing drugs, where would I keep my mission plans?
Where…Aha!
I smiled in triumph, stopping time so no one would see me as I ran around him or her. I just loved the fact that I could make as much noise as possible as I passed the bad guys while the Fastest Boy Alive and the Boy Wonder had to be cautious of where they stepped and what they did.
Advantage? You know it!
I reached the room at the top of the factory; it was over-looking the whole process of the mission Kobra was planning on doing. I unfroze time, roundhouse kicking the man at the computer in the face so he lay unconscious on his chair. I rolled him away from me, smirking as Robin came in shortly.
"Thank you for clearing the room, but now let the brilliant hacker do his work." He strolled over to me, winking and proceeding to clear all security from the software.
We studied the writing in the screen, and I looked at Rob. "Venom?"
"Of course."
"Whoops, interrupted your date." Wally sped into the room. "What'd you guys got?"
"Chemical formulas, we're guessing it involves venom, but—" I stopped talking.
"This one is venom," Wally pointed out. Leave it to our science genius to know everything we needed about chemical formulas, "And that one is…Whoa. That's the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus. If mixed correctly Kobra's new juice could be three times stronger than Venom, and permanent."
"Well, what are the odds of these two working together…" I trailed off as realization dawned upon me. "Our mystery buyer is also Kobra's supplier!"
"Using the Colt to create a super venom formula." Robin finished. "Robin to Aqualad…" I could hear a crackling noise from his comm unit.
"Static." I stated. "We better go."
Robin nodded, "Just let me download the files…"
I sighed, "Fine. By the way, where did you get the chocolate bar, Kid?"
Wally's eyes widened. "Uh, this? It was dropped off on one of the rooms. I'm not giving you any, by the way."
I glared at him, and stopped time. I took a large bite from his chocolate, and returned time back to normal for Kid to see me chewing his food in my mouth. "Really, Timeless? That's low!"
"Done. Let's move." Robin announced, running out of the room before we could reply.
Kid and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and hurried out after the Boy Wonder.
I could hear gunshots going off, and I had to wonder, what was really going on out there?
Bane might as well have given off our cover. I really doubt Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian willingly let themselves be seen.
The guys and I reached a metal bridge between the solid floor on the right side and the left side; we could see the fighting going on from there. Sportsmaster and Kobra were fighting off our team, and they were winning. Bane, as I thought, wasn't anywhere in sight.
Kid ran away, going down the staircase at the speed of sound, and even faster. Robin and I looked at each other before smirking, and running off to perform our stunts.
'Everyone online?' I heard M'Gann's voice ring through my head.
'Yeah…' Superboy begrudgingly said.
'You know it, beautiful.' Wally flirted.
'Good, we need to recruit.' Kaldur commanded.
'We're a bit busy.' Robin and I said in unison.
We jumped out from the ceiling of the factory, landing on the soil beneath us, and right in front of Cobra. "The heroes must be desperate, if they send little children to defeat me."
"What's wrong, Kobi? You look…disconcerted." Robin teased.
"Afraid we're tougher than we seem?" I tried acting smug, even though I knew we could totally get out butts whipped by Kobra.
"This is beneath me. Shimmer, take them." Kobra spoke to the extremely skinny woman standing next to him.
Shimmer ran toward us, and we jumped to different directions, smirking at her. She lunged for me, and I stopped time, moving out of her reach, and when I unfroze it, she looked disoriented at my stunt.
She gave up on me, knowing that I was too much of a match for her, and instead ran toward Robin, who jumped out of her grab. His smirk got bigger as he got into a fighting stance right in front of her, daring her to try and fight him.
He could handle Shimmer by himself. We needed to stop Kobra.
'Robin, Timeless…Come here now!' Aqualad shouted at us telepathically.
Robin and I looked at each other, nodding in begrudging agreement. He threw a smoke pellet down, and we disappeared with his grappling hook. We ran down from the top of the factory, down to the main entrance, moving in when we saw that Aqualad wanted us to retreat.
Kid cleared a path for us to run down on, and escape. We went into the same door that Bane led us through, and Superboy slammed locked the door behind us.
We kept hurrying out when we heard a growl from Kobra's latest masterpiece, a big dude who had obviously been injected with the super venom. There were gunshots coming closer and closer, too. Superboy knocked down the support beams, buying us some time to run out of the tunnel and take a rest on our side of the wooden mess.
Kaldur lit a red beam, letting us see through the darkness of the tunnel. I shivered, we might be in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, but down here, it was impossibly cold. Wally sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around me, and M'Gann did the same on my other side.
I smiled at them both in gratitude, what would I do without those two redheads?
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin pondered.
Oh, so he thought that he was the leader? He kept leaving us without a warning, for goodness sake! That boy could have some of the stupidest thoughts in his head, sometimes.
"You do have the most experience," Kaldur stated, "but perhaps that's exactly what has left you unprepared. When you fight alongside Batman, your roles are defined, you do not need to talk, but this team is new. The leader must be clear, explicit, he cannot vanish and expect others to take part in an unknown plan."
"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands!" Robin growled. Then, he whined, low and lost, but then he said something that surprised most of us. "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur. You're the only one who can."
"Please, I can run circles—" Wally stood up from his seat next to me, but I silenced him. "Common, Wally, you know he's the one."
"Hello, Megan! It's so obvious!" M'Gann exclaimed.
"Could have told ya." Superboy shrugged, showing one of those rare smiles.
It took Wally some seconds of silence before saying, "Okay."
I smiled at Kaldur, "I told you they wouldn't mind."
Aqualad walked over to Robin, placing a hand over his shoulder. "Then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon."
I could tell that was the one sentence that brought the most life into Dick's day. Dick smiled so brightly, it was contagious. We all broke out into wide grins, except Superboy, who had only a small smile plastered on.
"Well then, I'm glad we figured that out!" I stood up. "Now, what's the plan, Captain Kaldur?"
Kaldur nodded, "Our first priority is preventing that ship from leaving the island."
"Funny, I had the same thought." Robin teased.
I smirked, "Glad to see your old self is back, I was starting to get sick of Mr. Jerk of the Week."
Robin nudged my shoulder lightly, "Very funny, Diana."
We ran out of the tunnel to be met by Bane, and a lot of explosives ready to go off at any given time. "Halt, niños, I'm feeling…explosive."
"Wow, come up with that on your own, did ya?" I snapped. "Que paso con la aliansa? Ya no sirve?"
"Sorry, bellesa, pero no. Hubo un…cambio de planes." Bane answered.
I groaned. "That is so typical to say from any villain, 'there's been a change of plans', how many times have I heard that one before? And don't call me beautiful unless you want to get your butt kicked."
Robin and Kid's eyes narrowed, "He called you what?"
Aqualad ignored us, "Why did you betray us?"
"I wanted my factory back." Bane growled. "So I forced you into a situation that you either took down my enemies or die trying."
'Kid, get a head start.' Aqualad said in between the telepathic link.
Bane smirked. "If the latter, the Justice League would have come to avenge their sidekicks."
Whoa, hold your horses there. Did he say sidekicks? I want to be the one who punches him unconscious.
"When the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside," Bane raised his hand to show a switch that would detonate the bombs, "should have the same effect."
As soon as Bane tried pressing the controller, it was out of his hand in a blur of black and red. "With what? This trigger thingy?" Wally grinned.
Bane tried lunging toward Kid, but M'Gann levitated him in the air.
"Finally! Drop him." Superboy and I smirked at each other as I got out my whip. I was going to enjoy this.
I lashed out at Bane, making him cry out in pain as I gave him a second bloody mark on his back. Then, Superboy punched him in the face, sending him back a few feet.
"All right, now that we got rid of el luchador, we should keep moving." I said, looking at Kaldur for approval of my command.
He nodded.
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"The helicopter's operational again." One of Kobra's followers bowed to Sportsmaster. He walked over to his transportation out of the island with the suitcase that contained the super venom before Kid surprised him by speeding in and hitting a bunch of goons where it hurt.
"Take the shipment!" Kobra commanded, making Sportsmaster get over his shock and start running toward the helicopter. Yeah, he wasn't going to get very far.
Superboy and I dropped in, him smashing the ground beneath his feet and I landing with the softest of thuds on the floor. "Are you in a hurry?" I faked innocence.
Kobra's little pet that had almost smashed Superboy flat before he came running toward us, but I stopped time, and lashed at him with my whip, taking him out of the equation easily.
I unfroze time, and Superboy smiled at me. "Your powers really come in handy sometimes."
I shrugged, "What can I say? It's a gift."
We departed, running in different directions to knock out as many people as possible. Kid and I had made a bet on who could take out as many goons as they could, so far, I had a fair advantage since Wally had punched about seven men, but Kobra's pet's knock out was a total of fifteen points.
I was so going to win this; I could just imagine Wally writing my science essay that was due in a week. Gosh, I loved it that he was a tiny Einstein when it came to science.
I could see Sportsmaster shooting at Superboy, while gripping Miss Martian tightly by the neck.
Kid ran in, taking the gun from Sportsmaster's hands and I used that distraction to punch him in the face, freeing M'Gann from his death grip. He had been choking her.
Suddenly, Robin appeared a few feet from me, smirking at Kobra. If I had the time, I would have so stayed and watched as Dick kicked the older man's butt, but there were still goons to punch unconscious and guns to take out of hands.
Kid and I ran as fast as we could, of course, he was quicker than me, but we kicked and punched with all our might.
"How many…did you get?" Wally panted.
"Counting Kobra's pet, twenty-five!" I got out my whip; ready to pounce on anyone who tried hurting my friends and I.
"Ah, man! I only have eighteen!" Kid ran away as soon as he said that, probably trying to win the bet that we had.
It didn't matter; he was going to lose anyway.
I stood in the middle of unconscious adult bodies as I could feel the helicopter's wings flapping wind everywhere, and shaking the hair out of my face. Sportsmaster was getting away!
I tried using my laser, but the helicopter was out of range. Then, it just suddenly exploded into flames, and I could see M'Gann's hand on a trigger as she sat next to Superboy.
Sometimes, I would think that she was a truly awesome chick.
As the helicopter was coming down, I could see Sportsmaster opening a parachute, floating away from us. The helicopter landed on the factory, bursting it, too, into a great fire.
Okay, it's official; its way too hot in this island. I wanted to get out.
Aqualad and Kid came over to me smiling in triumph.
Kaldur put a hand on both of our shoulders, "You did good work out there, but I believe that I got the most enemies, thirty-one."
Wally and I's shoulder slumped, and pouted. "Fine, then. I just want to get out of here, it's way too hot!"
"You're the one who's lived in this climate ever since you were little! I'm sweating like a pig!" Wally exclaimed, raising his arms in exasperation.
"Just because I was born around here doesn't mean that I liked the climate!" I snapped back. "Anyway, where's Rob?"
Our eyes widened, and we ran over to where he laid on the ground, Kobra stepping on him. "I am played by mosquitos!"
"Good, because this mosquito is mighty concerted over your pain!" Robin groaned, flipping over and out of Kobra's foot.
We stood behind him, like a unit, protecting each other, and ready to fight. There was a long silence of waiting who would make the next move, who would strike or retreat first.
"Another time…" Kobra disappeared behind the shadows of the jungle behind him.
Dick looked behind the plants, trying to find Kobra, but turned to us with a frown.
"Now you know how it feels. It ain't nice." I crossed my arms.
"Sorry." He apologized, and then looked at Kaldur. "Hey, we picked the right guy to lead…Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman!" Robin cackled.
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Mount Justice
August 4, 01:06 EDT
"A simple reckon mission. Observe and report." Batman scowled at our team as we stood in a line. Bruce looked at Kaldur for a long time, making him lower his gaze in shame.
We were silent as we got our lecture from the world's worst pep-talk giver, he was good at pointing out what we did wrong, though.
"You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes." Batman's angry look softened just an inch. "Until then, good job."
We all looked at him in surprise, turning our heads in his direction in perfect unison. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads determines character."
I could feel a smile itching itself across my face. Well then, we didn't do so bad did we?
"You are all dismissed." Batman announced to us, leaving the room and shuting down the holographic computers.
I breathed a sigh of relieve. "Guys, we should celebrate!"
"Oh, we should go out and have dinner! I'm starving!" Wally's stomach growled, like always.
"That sounds fun. I've toured around Happy Harbour, I know a good place to eat!" M'Gann grinned at us while Superboy just shrugged.
"It would be nice to celebrate." Kaldur admitted.
"Well, let's go!" Dick told us, and we all started walking in a line, two people talking with each other, and the rest behind them.
Dick and I were in the middle. "You know, I'm proud of you, Bird Boy."
He raised his eyebrows at me, "Why?"
"I know how badly you've always wanted to lead, and sometimes you show us that you're a complete natural at it, but for you to give up that place to Kaldur…Well, that was really noble of you." I pushed him slightly to the side.
"Yeah, well, I did what was best for the team." He answered, a slightly embarrassed tone.
"And that makes you all the better." I kissed him on the cheek. Dick stood there for a moment, accidentally bumping into M'Gann and Superboy.
I could only laugh as he let out an ungraceful 'whoops' and ran to catch up to me.