Santa Prisca. June 19. 00:43 ECT.
Vats of red liquid bubbled in vats and in beakers over flames as alarms blared. People dressed in red cloaks and black masks rushed around, armed for battle. The surrounded a group of thugs, lead by a man in a black and white mask. "Our sublime master proclaims he will depart this facility...if...one of you defeats his champion in single combat." one of the people dressed in red told the thugs in spanish.
The man in the black mask, who had been standing normally, as opposed to his companions who had their hands on their heads, brushed past them and grabbed one of the bars of a door in front of him that lead into an arena. "Just make it interesting." he replied, also in spanish as a buzzer sounded and he opened the door. Behind him the one in red who had spoken smirked. The masked man looked around the arena as the door closed. Guards, armed with automatic weapons were stationed all around the arena, on walkways on the floor above. His eyes narrowed when the door on the other side of the arena opened and a man who looked more like a punk rocker than a fighter stepped through. Both he and the redhead behind him smirked when they looked at him. The other fighter, this 'champion' was tiny, thin as a pole. A clatter behind him brought the masked man's attention to something that the red groups spokesperson had dropped on the floor behind him, a bracelet holding vials of red liquid attached to a chord. "You give me back my greatest weapon?" he asked warily. "What's the catch."
"No catch." the spokesperson told him. "It would hardly test his champions prowess if you were not at your best."
"You want my best?" the masked man asked, attaching the bracelet part of the contraption around his wrist and plugging in the chord to a holder at the base of his skull as the red liquid began to flow. The masked man grunted as his muscles bulged visibly, not just tensing but gaining a massive increase in size. "You got it."
The redhead behind the punk stepped up behind him and injected a bubbling purple liquid in through his shoulder. The 'champion' stood there, grinning psychotically as his muscles bulged, putting even the masked mans to shame. But the transformation didn't stop there. His skin turned green, and split at certain parts revealing the muscle underneath. By the time the transformation was complete the punk rocker wasn't even human anymore. In his place stood a green monster whose only trait to remain the same was the hair.
Roaring the beast charged at the masked man, bringing its arm down viciously. The masked man was able to block the attack but was forced back several feet. Pulling one arm out of the block the masked man let loose with an uppercut followed by a blow to the beasts chest. The blow did nothing. Snarling the beast grabbed the masked man by the back of the neck before landing its own blow to the masked mans diaphragm. Moving deceptively fast for something of its size the beast quickly landed two more blows to the masked man's face making him fall back. Savagely the creature grabbed his arm throwing the masked man into one of the pipes lining the arena walls before charging and slamming full force into him busting the pipe causing steam to escape. The beast the grabbed the masked man by the head and flung him out of the cloud of steam, landing painfully on the ground. Bellowing the beast leapt out of the steam, ready to finish the battle and to the shock of the thugs watching slammed it's fist onto the masked man's face. The man groaned as he fell into unconsciousness.
"Hail Cobra." the red spokesperson said, in english this time. "Hail, Cobra." Soon the chant was picked up by all of the red wearing warriors. "Hail, Cobra. Hail, Cobra. Hail, Cobra." a gray skinned man dressed in black pants, red boots, red arm guards and a red cloak stood smiling as he looked down at the creature in the arena. "Hail, Cobra! Hail, Cobra! Hail, Cobra! Hail, Cobra! Hail, Cobra!"
Caribbean Sea. June 22. 20:08 ECT.
The bio-ship flew silently over the dark waters. "we're approaching Santa Prisca." Miss Martian informed the team. Arcane sat in silence, thinking back to the mission briefing the had received from Batman earlier.
The team stood dressed in their civilian clothes behind Batman and Red Tornado as he looked at several holo-screens, each showing information about the mission. "Isla Santa Prisca. This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength enhancing drug sold under the street name Venom." he informed the team, pulling up different information. "Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in." he said as Wally popped another potato chip in his mouth. "This is a covert recon mission only." he said stressing the covert. "Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will." he assured them. "The plan requires two drop zones." he said pulling up two points on a holomap of the island labeled A and B.
"So who's in charge?" Robin asked quickly.
Batman and Red Tornado turned around sharply. They looked at eachother then looked back at the team. "Work that out between you." Batman replied causing Robin to grin.
"Drop zone A in thirty." Miss Martian said, snapping a still grinning Robin out of his thoughts. The restraints holding Arcane and Aqualad to their chairs retracted allowing the young heroes to stand up. Once they had the chairs melted back into the floor of the bio-ship. Aqualad pressed the atlantean A on his belt and the bright colors of his suit turned a muted dark grey. Arcane closed his eyes and the brightness just seemed to bleed out of his costume.
"Ready." Arcane nodded at Miss Martian making her blush a little bit before she snapped out of it.
"Putting bio-ship in camouflage mode." she told the rest of them. On the outside, the red ship melted into the starry black sky. Bringing the ship down lower Miss Martian opened a hatch in the belly of the ship that Arcane and Aqualad dived out of. Arcane's eyes flashed white as he propelled himself forward with magic in order to keep up with Aqualad. The two approached a net that Aqualad easily slashed through with water hardened into the shape of a blade from one of his hilts.
Before they got out of the water Arcane took something off his belt and floated it through the air above the sensors that lined the shore. Carefully he lowered it down on top of one of the sensors the nodded to Aqualad. "Sensors are patched and running on a continuous loop. Move in." The spellcaster ordered as he and Aqualad raced into the jungle.
"Drop zone B." Miss Martian said as she carefully lowered the ship. Standing up, the chairs and control sections of the ship melted into the floor. Holding out a hand Miss Martian called down hooks that Robin and Kid Flash hooked onto their belts. Kid Flash then pressed the lightning bolt symbol on his new, high tech, armored suit, turning everything not red either black or grey.
He looked at himself admiringly then turned to Miss Martian grinning. "How cool is this?" he asked.
"Very impressing." she told him. The closing her eyes the martian girl ordered her clothes to change. Changing from the boots up, her uniform became a skintight black one piece covering everything but her head and her hands, leaving only the cloak and red X on her chest unchanged.
"Uh, that works too." Kid Flash said, finally remembering how to close his mouth. Hey Supey," he said turning to the kryptonian clone. "It's not too late to put on some of the new 'stealth tech'." the speedster encouraged.
Superboy looked down at the black cargo pants Arcane had convinced him to change into for this mission then back to Kid Flash. "No capes, no tights. No offence." he said crossing his arms.
"It totally works for you." Miss Martian said making Superboy look at her. Her head was resting on her hand as she gazed dreamily at him. Then she snapped out of it and realizing what she said began stuttering nervously. "As in you can totally do good work in those clothes." she finished holding up her thumb. Superboy looked away, his face still impassive. Miss Martian pulled her hood up and entered camouflage mode herself to try and get away from the embarrassment she was feeling.
Miss Martian, Kid Flash and Robin all lowered themselves gently to the ground. Looking up they barely got out of the way as Superboy landed hard on the ground. He stood up as the smoke cleared standing with a satisfied smirk inside a small crater. "Knew I didn't need a line."
"And yet," Robin snapped from where he had landed with his back against a tree, "creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert."
Miss Martian lowered herself to the ground. "Arcane. Drop B is go." She said over the communicators.
"Head for the factory." he told them floating upwards, keeping close to the cliff Aqualad was climbing. "We'll track your gps and randevou ASAP."
"Roger that." Robin said from his crouched position, looking at a holoscreen that showed a map of the island with the others looking over his shoulder, then sprinting into the jungle.
They crept through the jungle, staying as quiet as possible. At one point Robin pulled up a holoscreen that showed four blue icons representing his group and a bunch of red icons, showing the enemy's defences, then creating a path between them. Suddenly a snapping sound stopped Superboy. "Did you hear that?" he asked the others.
"Uh, no." Kid Flash told him. "Wait. Is this a super-hearing thing?" he asked.
"You do have great ears." Miss Martian told Superboy dreamily.
"Okay Rob, now what?" Kid Flash asked, turning to the member of their group with the greatest amount of covert experience. Or, rather turned to where he had been. "Man I hate it when he does that!" Kid Flash gripped.
"Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared. See if you're being tracked." Aqualad ordered.
Kid Flash pulled down his red goggles. Glowing red lines went down the lenses and his vision shifted to a computer generated thermal mode. Down at the bottom of his vision the lenses actually read thermal mode in computerized letters. A targeting computer picked up on four moving targets and zoomed in on them. "Got a squad of armed bozos incoming." Kid Flash replied.
"Rushing over to a log with Kid Flash behind him Superboy narrowed his eyes, changing the spectrum that they saw. "Two squads." he corrected, his eyes landing on a group of six white figures. "But they'll meet each other before they find us." he told them as he watched the two squads approach each other.
Suddenly gunshots could be heard echoing through the jungle. "No super-hearing required now." Kid Flash quipped.
"Stear clear. Do not engage!" Arcane ordered through their comlinks.
"Yeah, yeah. Just as soon as I find Rob." Kid Flash responded. Racing along the muddy banks it wasn't long before he slipped, sending himself sliding and rolling down the slope and right into the middle of the firefight. Looking up Kid Flash came face to face with a heavily muscled man wearing a black and white mask. "So much for the stealthy." he muttered nervously.
The masked man looked down at Kid Flash the lowered his gun and fired. "Ahh!" Kid Flash grunted as he backflipped away from the man and took off running to avoid the bullets. He raced past people dressed in red who were also firing at him. Following the intruder the masked man was shocked when Superboy rushed forward and tackled him. The man landed an elbow strike to Superboy's head and placed him in an arm lock as they landed, using his other hand to keep the teens head pressed to the ground. Freeing his locked hand Superboy grabbed the front of the mans outfit and threw him into a tree hard.
Kid Flash ducked behind trunks and roots to avoid being punched full of holes by two of the masked man's followers. Suddenly Robin landed between them, throwing one away. "What is wrong with you guys?" he snapped as he swiftly took out the other one. "Remember, covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?" he asked.
"That's what you were doing?" Kid Flash asked as he finished taking down another thug. "Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers you know." he snapped at the boy wonder. Then two more thugs were thrown hard into a tree by Miss Martian making Kid Flash look at her. "Er, I'm not anyway." he corrected himself looking back at Robin.
"You told me I could only read the bad guys minds." Miss Martian reminded him.
Looking behind him Robin saw another of the guys dressed in red running at him but he was stopped by Aqualad who landed in front of him. Placing a hand on the mans chest Aqualads tattoos glowed and his arm crackled with electricity, shocking the man into unconsciousness before he stepped on his weapon crushing it. Two more were quickly subdued by nerve strikes from Arcane. "What part of do not engage did you not understand?" he growled, walking past Kid Flash.
"I recognize those uniforms." Robin told the others once they had restrained the two squads."They belong to the Cult of the Cobra."
"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's venom operation.
"Agreed." Robin said. "And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Cobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off." he finished triumphantly.
"We get it. Cobra wanted super cultists, mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for" Kid Flash started but was cut off by Robin.
"These cultists aren't on Venom. They're hoarding the stuff. We don't leave. Not until I know why." Robin said solemnly.
"Until you know why?" Kid Flash said incredulously.
"This team needs a leader!" Robin snapped back.
"And it's you." Kid Flash snapped. "Dude, you're a thirteen year old kid. Who ducked out on us without a word."
Robin laughed. "And you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover first chance you got."
"Don't you wanna lead?" Miss Martian asked Superboy while they were still arguing.
Superboy scoffed and shook his head. "You?" he asked.
"After the Mr. Twister fiasco." she said holding up an hand.
"You did alright." he smiled at her making the martian girl blush and tuck some hair behind her ear. The Superboy's enhanced hearing picked up a new voice.
"Look at them argue!" it said in spanish.
"Free yourself and take them while they're distracted." one of the goons urged the masked man.
"Quiet." he ordered. "For now I play along. They'll give me what I need." Looking at them from the corner of his eye Superboy smirked.
"Yeah? You don't even have super powers!" Kid Flash said angrily.
"Neither does Batman!" Robin argued.
"Chuh, you're not Batman." Kid Flash said rudely.
"Chuh, closest thing we've got!" Robin shot back. They were interrupted by the laughter of the masked man.
"Such clever ninios, but you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest." The masked man urged. "Get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
"Miss Martian." Arcane nodded his head at the man.
"There is a secret entrance." she confirmed. "But he's hiding something." she told them as her eyes started glowing white.
"Stop." Arcane said putting a hand on her shoulder. "If he's trying to hide it from us then you're telepathy would take too long to extract the information from his head. Isn't that right Bane?"
"You know me. I'm flattered ninio." Bane laughed.
"Don't be." Arcane said, his voice cold. "Because if you hurt any of my friends then you're going to answer to me." he said, his eyes flashing white for an instant before returning to their regular blue. "So, what's your game?"
"It's not complicated." Bane replied. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The young heroes looked at each other and Arcane nodded.
Inside the factory the Cult of the Cobra was busy. "Sublime master, they approach." one of the cultists said to his leader.
"Activate the radio jamming net. Nothing must interfere." the leader replied.
Standing atop a cliff Bane pointed the young heroes down, revealing the factory. Looking at the landing pad through special made binoculars Robin watched the proceedings carefully. Look at all that product." he whispered. "A buy is going down. But if Cobra's not selling to the usual suspects then..."
"We need to identify the buyer." Arcane nodded.
"Just what I was thinking." Kid Flash said in a slightly deeper voice than normal.
"Yeah. You're the thinker." Robin scoffed.
"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers." Kid Flash told him.
Grunting Bane heaved aside a large rock that had been propped against the side of the cliff. Once the rock was out of the way a mine shaft was revealed. "Answers are this way." he said, gesturing into the mine shaft.
"So, now El Luchador is our leader." Kid FLash gripped making Robin punch him as he followed Bane into the tunnel. Once they got a ways in they came across a security door. Bane pressed his thumb against a scanner making a red light flash green before the door opened, showing the inside of the factory. Bane opened the door and peeked inside, then a small creak made him look down. Robin was crouched down, also looking out of the door.
"All clear." the boy wonder said, racing off.
"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane asked as the rest of them walked out into the factory.
"No." Aqualad sighed. "He just does that."
"Stay put." Kid Flash said pulling down his goggles. "I'll get our intell and be back before the boy wonder."
"Kid stop!" Arcane hissed but the speedster ignored him, already racing off.
"Great chain of command." Bane said sarcastically. The other four just looked at each other.
Above their heads inside the control room a batarang stuck into a control panel that a cultist had been typing at. Before he could react it released a cloud of gas that quickly knocked the man out. Walking over Robin grabbed the cultist by his shoulder and dumped him off the chair then taking his place and starting to hack the computers.
"It's a massive shipment." Aqualad said as they crouched behind a stack of crates watching the cultists.
"But why are they only taking the new product?" Arcane wondered.
"Yeah." Superboy agreed. "They aren't touching this venom."
"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian said uncertainly.
"Helicopters coming." Superboy told them, cutting the conversation off and Bane narrowed his eyes.
"Whatchu got?" Kid Flash asked, skidding to a halt inside the control room.
"Chemical formulas." Robin replied. "I'm guessing it involves venom but..." As he spoke he pulled up a chemical structure.
"This one's venom," Kid Flash said pointing at it with a candy bar he always keeps on him, "and this one's... woah. The blockbuster formula from Cadmus. Mixed correctly Cobra's new juice is three times stronger than venom. And permanent." the speedster gasped as he read off the stats of the new chemical. "But how did Cobra get access to Project Blockbuster?" he asked Robin.
"Our mystery buyer must also be Cobra's supplier!" Robin realized. "Using the cult to create a Blockbuster/Venom super formula! Robin to Arcane! We got," but he stopped when static sounded in his earpiece. "Static."
The helicopter doors opened and a man with short blond hair stepped out. He had a metal hockey mask covering his face and metal armor on his upper and lower left arm. Stepping out behind him was a man this time dressed in blue-grey armor covering his entire body. On his face was an orange metal helmet that was blacked out on one side with no eye hole. He had short white hair and orange metal bracers on bothe his feet and his hands, as well as several objects hooked to his belt. Slung across his back was a european style sword.
"Lord Kobra." the blond man greeted the lead cultist.
"Sportsmaster." the man responded. "The shipment is ready." A woman with red hair stepped forward and opened a case revealing five vials of purple liquid.
Sportsmaster took one of the vials from its case and looked at it closely. "The new kobra venom?" he asked.
"A complete success." Lord Kobra replied, motioning at the green skinned monster behind him. "Our friends will not be disappointed."
"This is a game changer." Sportsmaster said happily, tossing the vial up and catching it. "Finally, we can go mano a mano with the Justice League."
Above their heads Miss Martian floated in camouflage mode. "Arcane, sending you a telepathic image of the buyers now." she thought at the spellcaster.
Inside, Arcane was crouched on one of the catwalks next to Aqualad and Bane. "Sportsmaster? And Deathstroke?!" Both of them?" he whispered to Superboy. "Arcane to Red Tornado, do you read?" he asked through his comm. "Damn. First Robin and Kid Flash, then the League now Red Tornado. They're jamming us." he growled. "We need a plan. Now." he said closing his eyes to think.
"I have a suggestion." Bane grinned, then the luchador launched himself off the catwalk and onto the ground. He quickly took out one cultist of the two next to him, and managed to point the others gun away from him. But the gunshots alerted the green skinned mammoth outside.
"What is he" Aqualad began but was cut off by a loud roar as the monster crashed through window next to them, landing hard on the catwalk, destroying it and sending both itself and the young heroes to the floor. The heroes glared and got ready to fight.
"Destroy them!" Lord Kobra ordered and the monster rushed forward. Superboy charged forward and the two met in the middle and quickly began beating each other with their fists. Aqualad made a shield of water with one of his hilts and sticking the end of the other one through it fired off high powered jets of water that knocked several of the cultists off their feet. Arcane floated into the air, his body surrounded by a white silhouette sent out beams of light that slammed into the cultists. Bane chuckled from behind a vat.
Deathstroke narrowed his eyes as he watched several cultists being thrown around while all the heroes were occupied. Finally he spotted a slight have floating above the fight. 'There you are.' he thought, taking out a small knife and throwing it at the haze.
"M'gann get down!" Arcane shouted telepathically at the martian girl, knocking the knife out of the air with a well placed beam. Above them Robin and Kid Flash came out of the control room, running along another catwalk. Kid Flash zoomed one way but something caught Robin's eye. Aqualad backed up behind a vat, shutting down his shield as he took cover. Two cultists managed to sneak up behind him only to be nailed by a flying double kick from Kid Flash. On the catwalk he had just come from however three more cultists lined up and began shooting at the speedster who barely managed to get behind cover in time to avoid the hail of bullets.
"Miss Martian, comm's are jammed. Link us!" Arcane ordered as he dealt with projectile from Sportsmaster and Deathstroke as best he could.
"Everyone online?" she asked as soon as the link was up.
"Yeah." Superboy sighed after getting hit by the mammoth again.
"You know it beautiful." Kid Flash flirted as he stood behind a pillar to avoid fire.
"Affirmative." Aqualad confirmed peeking around a corner.
"We need to regroup." Arcane ordered but was cut off by Robin.
"Busy now." Robin thought back as he snuck out to the helicopter Sportsmaster and Deathstroke arrived in.
"Batman must be desperate." Lord Kobra said from behind the boy wonder. "If he sends his whelp to task me."
"What's wrong Koby? You look disconcerted." Robin taunted.
"This is beneath me." Kobra said contemptuously. "Shimmer, take him." he ordered the red head who was shave on the right side of her head. Shimmer grinned, rushing at Robin. Robin grinned, flipping over her and getting into a fighting stance.
"Now Robin!" Arcane ordered mentally. Robin gritted his teeth but threw a flash bang as Shimmer rushed at his again. By the time she could see he had vanished. Shimmer glared at the spot he had vanished from but Kobra directed his eyes toward the factory.
Inside Aqualad was sending out whips of water to take out several cultists at once. "We need to retreat." he thought dodging more bullets.
"Kid, clear a path!" Arcane directed, sending out a single beam of light that split into many in mid-air, slamming hard into the cultists. Racing ahead of his teammates kid Flash slammed bodily into the cultists blocking their path and sped through the door they had come in through followed closely by Aqualad, Robin, Arcane and Miss Martian. Superboy landed near the door but the mammoth was on his in an instant. The clone pushed back for a second, then spun around, still holding the monsters hands, and hurled it into a group of cultists that were trying to catch them. Superboy slammed the door shut, staying still only long enough to make sure that the door locked before taking off after the rest of the team.
The mammoth barreled through the door like it wasn't even their then charged after the cultists flooded in behind the monster, firing after the retreating heroes. "Superboy, bring it down!" Arcane shouted over the gunfire. Superboy nodded, then swiftly punched through the wooden support beams holding the mine shaft up. The cultists fell back to avoid being crushed by the falling rocks. The green monster just looked impassively at the wall of earth between him and the heroes before turning around and walking back to Kobra.
A white light filled the room as Arcane held a ball of light in the palm of his hand. Robin stood staring at the wall that blocked them off from the factory. "How could me first mission as leader go so wrong?" he asked himself.
"You do have the most experience." Aqualad conceded. "But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared." he said making the rest of them look at him confused.
"You have a specific role to fill when working with Batman." Arcane said lowering his hand but keeping the light in the middle of the room. "You don't need to talk because you already know what the other one is going to do. this team isn't like that. And to lead someone you have to be able to communicate with them. You can't just vanish and expect everyone else to play unknown role is a plan we don't know."
"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands!" Robin shot back angrily, whirling around to face the blue eyed sorcerer. "Gah who am I kidding. You should lead us Rorek. You're the only one who can."
"Please! I could run circles" Kid Flash started.
"Wally come on." Robins stopped him. "You know he's the one. We all do."
"Hello Megan! It's so obvious!" Miss Martian exclaimed.
"Could've told ya." Superboy agreed.
"There is no doubt that you are the best one to lead us." Aqualad smiled, putting a hand on Arcane's shoulder.
Everyone looked at Kid Flash expectantly. "Okay." he said finally, grinning at their new leader.
"I accept." Arcane said. "And I won't let you down. But Robin," he said making the boy wonder look at him. "when you are ready, I will step aside. You were born to lead this team. Not now maybe, but you will." Robin smiled and nodded at him "Alright." Arcane said back in mission mode. "Priority one is making sure that that shipment doesn't get off this island."
"Funny," Robin grinned. "I had the same thought."
"Sabotage." Deathstroke informed Sportsmaster at the helicopter.
"Robin?" Sportsmaster asked Kobra.
"Undoubtedly." Kobra agreed. "Find the problem. Fix it." he ordered Shimmer. Shimmer bowed and walked to the helicopter.
"Master," A cultists said approaching with the mammoth at his side "Should we send search parties after the intruders?"
"Don't absurd." Kobra said disdainfully. "They'll come to us." With that he lead the two mercenaries back toward the factory.
"Sportsmaster is the supplier slash buyer. But it still doesn't track." Robin told the others, looking at a holoscreen as they ran. "He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, or to get Kobra to do his dirty work.
"Neither does Deathstroke, but his presence here worries me." Arcane admitted.
"But none of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage." Kid Flash added as they ran through the tunnel.
"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'." Aqualad said as they approached the end to of the mine shaft.
Suddenly Bane stepped in front of the entrance, dropping a vial on the ground at his feet. His muscles had also taken a serious increase in size. "Halt ninios." he told them, holding up a detonator. "I'm feeling...explosive." green lights blinked on around the entrance to the tunnel.
"You betrayed us! Why?" Aqualad gasped.
"Kid, get a running start." Arcane directed, looking around with his eyes.
"I want my factory back." Bane said, still smiling. "So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies, or die trying. If the later, the Justice League would certainly come to avenge their fallen sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect." Bane said holding up the detonator, not noticing the black blur that sped past him until his thumb didn't hit the detonation button. Looking down in shock he saw that his hand was empty.
"With what?" Kid Flash asked from his resting spot against a tree behind Bane. "This trigger thingy?" he taunted holding up the detonator. Roaring Bane tried to punch Kid Flash only to be yanked into the air by Miss Martian's telekinesis.
"Finally!" Superboy said with relish, walking under Bane's floating form. "Drop him." he told Miss Martian. The green skinned alien girl lowered her hand, dropping Bane right onto Superboy's uppercut.
Back at the factory, the cultists had finished repairing the helicopter that Sportsmaster and Deathstroke had arrived in. "The helicopter is operational exalted one." a cultist informed Lord Kobra. Sportsmaster, who was carrying the case began walking toward the helicopter with Deathstroke right behind him stopped when a grey blur raced through the cultist ranks, scattering them.
"Take the shipment!" Kobra ordered as more of his cultists began firing at the intruder.
Superboy landed hard in front of the helicopter, the shockwave sending two cultists flying. "Go again?" he grinned at the green monstrosity standing by Kobra's side as the smoke cleared. The mammoth charged, ignoring the cultist in his way who was knocked aside by Kid Flash. Suddenly a torrent of water slammed into it's side courtesy of Aqualad. "Sorry not the plan." Superboy quipped. Slowly the mammoth began fighting back against the water pressure Aqualad was exerting. Superboy was getting ready to help when he was shot in the back by Deathstroke holding an experimental laser crossbow. He continued to fire until a bubble of white lifted him away from the battle.
"Sorry, but it's just going to be you and me for a while." Arcane told him, rocketing both of them away from the battle. "Aqualad, follow the plan until I get back." the spellcaster ordered the atlantean through their telepathic link.
"You're fighting Deathstroke one on one. What if you don't come back?" Robin asked worriedly.
"They you stick to the plan." Arcane said grimly.
"So, do you have anything special planned for me kid?" Deathstroke asked as he set them both down gently in the middle of the forest.
"Not really." Arcane replied, his hands lighting up with magical energy. "Just removing the largest threat from the battlefield."
"They why not just keep me locked in your bubble. Or tie up that mammoth?" Deathstroke asked as Arcane cracked his neck.
"The bubble starts taking a serious toll if I use it for too long. Add that to the amount of raw power that thing can exert? Not happening. Not to mention the fact that you are the most dangerous person on this island right now." Arcane responded.
Deathstroke nodded his approval. "Smart. Let me guess. Your plan doesn't require you to be there. So you plan on keeping me here so I can't interfere." the mercenary guessed. Arcane nodded grimly. "Then let's get started." Deathstroke said, drawing his sword.
Sportsmaster had taken over firing at Superboy when Deathstroke was abducted. Miss Martian hovered behind him in camouflage mode, ready to act when the criminal backflipped on top of her, then wrapped an arm around her neck before continuing to fire at the clone.
Meanwhile Kid Flash raced by a cultists, the spokesperson of Kobra and knocked him out with a swift punch. "Souvenir." he said, holding up the mans black mask before speeding off again.
The next instant a bolo wrapped around Shimmer, unbalancing her and sending her to the ground hard. Kobra looked over and saw Robin standing nearby. "I know you hate getting your hands dirty." Robin said trailing off.
"True." Korba said pulling off his cloak to reveal the bald head, bare chest and greyish skin underneath. Two red bracers adorned his forearms and red boots of the same style covered his lower legs. The rest was covered by tight black pants. "But sometimes, even a god must stoop to conquer." Robin grinned and launched a flying knee strike that was blocked effortlessly. Robin dropped to the ground and tried to sweep his leg out from under him but Kobra simple lifted his foot a bit then grabbed Robins ankle when he tries a high kick and landed a powerful kick of his own, sending the boy wonder skidding back. "What's wrong boy?" Kobra asked when he saw Robin grit his teeth. "You look disconcerted."
Kid Flash continued to speed through the common cultists, taking them out swiftly while Aqualad continued to push the monster back with the current of water. Putting one of his hilts back in its holder on his back the atlantean stuck a hand into the stream he was making and channeled electricity through it as well, electrocuting the beast. The mammoth roared for several seconds before falling over smoking. Aqualad put the second hilt back as his tattoos stopped glowing.
Sportsmaster was backing onto the helicopter, keeping Superboy at bay with the laser crossbow, still holding Miss Martian captive until he had entered it completely. "Thanks for the workout but I gotta fly." he said, huling Miss Martian into Superboy. The two teens lay there for a moment, watching the helicopter fly away. The Miss Martian smiled and held up the detonator Bane had tried to use on them.
Inside the helicopter a green light blinked on a package of explosives that was attached to the wall. Miss Martian pressed down on the detonation button, turning the small green light on it red. On the helicopter the blinking green light on the explosives also turned red signaling the detonation just before it happened. Sportsmaster grunted as the entire helicopter jerked from the force of the explosion. Looking back at the flames then down at the factory it didn't take Sportsmaster long to realize that the ship was going down. Deftly Sportsmaster leapt from the falling craft and opening a parachute, descended into the jungle.
Elsewhere a tied up Bane growled as he watched the helicopter fall into his factory, exploding in a massive ball of fire. "I am plagued by mosquitoes!" Kobra growled, smalling a foot onto Robin's chest.
"Good!" Robin shot back. "Because this mosquitoes mighty concerted over your pain!" Leaping back the boy wonder landed in front of Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian and Kid Flash.
"Another time then." Kobra said stepping back into the shadows and disappearing. Robin sprinted forward, trying to catch him but it was no use. Kobra was gone.
Arcane was sweating hard, his breath coming in short ragged gasps. Deathstroke was easily the strongest opponent he had ever faced. "Give it up." he heard the mercenary tell him. "I didn't get paid to fight you so I have no obligation to finish this fight. You're out of your league."
The white haired spellcaster was about to respond when a metal boot slammed into his head. "You're going soft." he heard Sportsmaster chuckle at Deathstroke.
"Hardly." Deathstroke replied. "He really is impressive. Anyway, let's go."
Something pulsed in Arcanes chest in that instant, almost like a second heartbeat. Surging to his feet with a speed he didn't know he possessed Arcane ripped the sword out of Deathstroke's hand and pointed it at the two criminals. Swinging it down with a roar he sent out an arc of white light, carving a trench in the ground as it went.
Both villains barley leapt out of the way of the unexpected attack, Deathstroke still in shock that the boy had stolen his sword. "Alright." he conceded after a moment. "You can keep it." he said before vanishing into the shadows with Sportsmaster.
The bushes rustled, alerting the team to someone elses presence they got ready to fight just as Arcane stumbled out of the jungle. "Woah there." Superboy said, catching him by the shoulders. "Take it easy."
Arcane looked around at the wreckage. "Everything went according to plan?" he asked Aqualad.
"Indeed it did." the atlantean confirmed.
"We picked the right guy to lead." Robin said patting him on the shoulder. "Automatically make you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman." he laughed.
"And why do you have a sword?" Kid Flash asked, eyeing the blade in Arcane's hand.
"Souvenir?" Arcane shrugged. Kid Flash looked down at his black mask and back to the sword.
"Man, rip off." he gripped as Arcane stared into the fire.
Mount Justice. August 4. 01:06 EDT.
"A simple recon mission." Batman growled, his face close to Arcane's. "Observe and report. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes." he told them all, walking the line they were in. "Until then, good job." he finished more softly getting surprised looks from all of them. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you chose who leads, determines character." he said this time earning smiles from everyone.
"All I recovered is a single ampule of Kobra-Venom." Sportsmaster said, holding up a vial of the purple liquid.
"Potentially.. it can be reverse engineered." one of them said in a thick french accent. "May what of your heroes. First Cadmus, the Misure Twister. Now Santa Prisca."
"Once is happenstance." another said. "Twice is coincidence. But three times in enemy action. And enemies of the Light must not stand."
*This is a very important chapter, as most of you will understand. This is the chapter where I finally got to place Arcane in the position of leader.
*There are two reasons why I had Deathstroke on the island as well as Sportsmaster. The first is that the show's plan worked so well I didn't want to change it, which meant that I had to get Arcane out of the picture. The second reason was Arcane's souvenir from his battle with Deathstroke, and that will become important later.