Infinity Island. August 7. 23:49 ECT.
A ling figure sprinted across the roof of a fortress. A guard turned, only to be struck with an arrow in the chest. The arrow let out an electric charge, sending the guard into instant unconsciousness. Another arrow, this time with a line attached to it was fired up at a higher section of the fortress. When it hit, the sides of the shaft lowered, anchoring the arrow to the rooftop. The lone figure was slowly and quietly pulled up, careful to avoid being seen by the army of guards.
The figure, was Speedy dressed in a red and black sleeveless outfit fired an arrow just to the side of a security camera that would have gotten him exposed. Machinery, hidden in the head of the arrow instantly set to work, setting the security camera on a loop. The display screen the camera was linked to was covered in static for a second causing the guard to look at it. But then it went back to normal, showing nothing there to be worried about.
Another electrical arrow was fired at one of two guards, who went down quickly. The other guard turned, but before he could make a move was struck by another arrow.
Inside a lab, a woman, dressed in a labcoat sat in front of a computer with the schematics for a machine on it. "We're losing patience. Complete the project, or forfeit your life." a voice said over a speaker system installed in the room.
"I'm completing as fast as I can." the woman assured the voice.
Three loud knocks echoed on a steel door. But as a guard went to answer it it was kicked down by the revamped Speedy. Ducking under the machine gun fire of the other guard Speedy knocked the gun up, and jabbed the man in the stomach with his bow. Not hesitating for an instant he brought his bow up into the man's chin, then down on top of his head before finishing with a powerful punch.
"Doctor Roquette." Speedy said walking past her.
"Tell me you're the advance guy." Roquette pleaded.
"The only guy." Speedy said pulling out an arrow.
"You couldn't bring backup! What? Were there budget cuts?" Roquette snapped furiously. She was prevented from saying more by the ringing of a gong. The alarm. One guard kneeled in the hallway, ready to stop the archer while the others continued on to the doctors room.
Speedy paid them no mind, pulling out an arrow with a blue head and firing it at the wall. Roquette coughed thanks to the smoke from the explosion that had blown a hole in the wall. "Now or never time doc." Speedy told her.
"We can't leave this." she protested placing her hands on a machine.
"Look! I take it or I take you!" he shot back impatiently.
"Right." she said taking off her glasses. "Take me."
Speedy deftly fired an grappling arrow into a tree and pulled the line taught. Pulling out a line hook he swiftly attached it and held out his hand. "Hang on!" he said, holding her tight with his free arm. They slid down the line at the exact same moment as the guards came into the room and began firing.
"Aaaahhh!" Roquette screamed as the bullets flew past them. Dropping onto the sand they both ran toward a place on the beach. Pulling back a camouflage tarp they revealed a bright blue speed boat. Roquette hopped into the boat while Speedy pushed it into the water. "So what do you call this? The Arrow Boat?" she asked sarcastically.
"I call it a rental." Speedy said placing an arm on the back of her head. "Now get down." he ordered, pushing her head down as the guards that had been chasing them began shooting at them from the beach. Revving the throttle he tapped a touch-screen on the dashboard of the boat. A small triangle appeared, signifying the bats location. A bunch or red dots appeared on the map of the beach. Explosives primed in response to the order. The guards stopped shooting when they heard the high pitched whine. The the whole beach exploded. "I think we're in the clear." he told the doctor.
"Great." she said sitting up. "Leaves only one problem."
Back in the fortress a scarred man in red robes and a man with a high tech helmet on his head stood over the machine that they had been forced to leave behind. "Well?" the scarred man asked.
"She finished." the helmeted man said straightening up. "We're good to go." The bald man smiled victoriously.
Mount Justice. August 8. 9:58 EDT.
The sun was shining brightly, the waves lapping against the shore. Seagull cried overhead as the team left the cave, all of them ready for an awesome day at the beach.
"Hello Megan!" M'gann said dressed in a yellow swimsuit and holding a belly board. "We should hit the beach every day!"
"First," Robin said placing a hand on his face in sorrow, "A moment of silence for our…absent comrade."
"Poor Wally." M'gann said bowing her head.
Central City. August 8. 9:00 EDT.
A loud, shrill bell rang, signaling the start of every teenagers wort nightmare. "Welcome class, to the first day…of sophomore year."
Wally groaned and slouched down at his desk.
Robin and M'gann stood splashing water at each other while Kaldur stood off to the side and Superboy interrupted them by cannonballing in between them. Rorek stood off the the side laughing at them and setting up a grill.
Wally bent down to take a drink from the water fountain but it acted up at the last second, spraying all over him. Looking down and realizing what it looked like Wally moaned piteously.
The hotdogs sizzled on the grill. Arcane plucked one up with his magic and plopped it on a bun and began munching on it while sitting next to Superboy on the sand.
Wally groaned as a pile of slop was dropped onto his tray.
Kaldur served the volleyball over the net to Superboy who bounced it to M'gann. The green skinned girl leapt into the air and spiked the ball.
A basketball slammed into Wally's face, almost knocking him over causing him to glare. The cower as a barrage of basketballs flew at him, striking him all over his body.
Kaldur, M'gann and Robin all brought sand over to where Arcane was shaping it into a magnificent castle on top of a sleeping Superboy.
The end bell finally rang. "Woohoo!" Wally cheered as he raced out of the building.
"Recognized. Kid Flash. B 03." the computerized voice that went with the Leagues zeta-tube said as the tube itself shone with yellow light. Wally was standing in his swim trunks, sunglasses with sunscreen on his nose, holding a beachball, two coolers, an umbrella and a fold up chair. "The Wal-Man is here!" he cheered. "Now let's get this party star, Urmph!" he grunted as he fell on his face, thanks to tripping on the pole of the umbrella, scattering his things everywhere. The beachball bounced between Batman and Red Tornado. "ted." he moaned looking at the Gotham City protector.
The entire team was present and in uniform, with the exception of Wally. Then Aqualad stepped aside to reveal a blonde girl dressed in a midriff baring green outfit with an arrowhead symbol on the chest and a bow in her hand standing by Green Arrow. "Wal-Man huh? Wow, love the uniform." she snarked. "What exactly are your powers?"
"Uh, who's this?" Wally asked stepping up next to Arcane.
"Artemis. Your new teammate." the blonde told him smirking.
"Kid Flash. Never heard of you." he shot back.
"Ahh, she's my new protegee." Green Arrow said stepping up and putting a hand on Artemis's shoulder.
"What happened to your old one!" Wally protested.
"Recognized. Speedy. B 06." the computer said, stopping the conversation.
"Well for starters," the new Speedy said walking in. "He doesn't go by Speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow."
"Roy." Green Arrow said taking a step forward. "You look,"
"Replaceable." Red Arrow cut him off.
"It's not like that!" Green Arrow said. "You told me you were going solo."
"So why waste time finding a sub?" he snapped. "Can she even use that bow?"
"Yes." Artemis said, walking right up to Red Arrow. "She can."
"Who are you!" Wally asked again.
"I'm his niece."
"She's my niece." Artemis and Green Arrow said in unison.
"Another niece?" Robin smirked.
"But she is not your replacement." Aqualad said walking over to Red Arrow. "We have always wanted you on the team. And we have no quota on archers."
"And if we did you know who we'd pick." Wally told him.
"Whatever Baywatch." Artemis snapped. "I'm here to stay."
"Look." Arcane said stepping in front of Red Arrow. "You're here for a reason. At least tell us what it is."
"The reason," Red Arrow said, "Is named Dr. Serling Roquette.
A look of recognition flashed across Robin's face as he pulled up a bio on his wrist holoscreen and the larger screens around the room. "Nanorobotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City. Vanished, two weeks ago." he read off quickly.
"Abducted two weeks ago." Red Arrow corrected. "By the League of Shadows."
"Woah." Robin said shutting down his holoscreen. "You want us to rescue her from the shadows?" he asked excitedly as he Wally and Miss Martian walked closer.
"Hard core." Wally said doing a fist bump with Robin.
"I already rescued her." Red Arrow said walking over to the larger holoscreens. "Only one problem." he said turning to face them and pulling out a holoscreen projector. "The Shadows had already coerced her into making a weapon." On the screen it showed a high tech cylinder from different angles and an insectoid looking robot. "Doc calls it the FOG. Composed of millions of microscopic robots.
Miami Beach. August 8. 21:38 EDT.
"Nanotech infiltrators. Capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete, steel, flesh. Bone." A car pulled in front of the Miami beach college as Red Arrow continued speaking. The man with the high tech helmet pressed a button on the cylinder that Red Arrow had shown the assembled heroes. The device slid open issuing a black cloud that flew through one of the large windows, shattering it and causing a girl to scream. "But it's true purpose isn't mere destruction. It's theft." Red Arrow continued as the FOG swarmed over the schools computers, swiftly going through all of the files. "The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system. And deliver that data to the Shadows." he said as the helmeted man used his laptop to command the FOG to return before closing it and driving off just as the college collapsed behind them.
"Providing them them access to weapons, strategic defence, cutting edge science and tech." Red Arrow continued.
"Perfect for extortion, manipulating, power broking. Yeah. Sounds like the Shadows." Artemis said.
"Like you know anything about the shadows." Wally scoffed. Artemis just grinned at him. "Who are you!" Wally shouted.
"Rochette's working on a virus to render the FOG inert." Red Arrow told them.
"But it the Shadows know she can do that…" Robin said.
"They'll target her." Red Arrow finished for him. "Right now she's off the grid. I stashed her at the local high schools computer lab." he said pulling up a map of the school.
"You left her alone?" Green Arrow asked.
"She's safe enough for now." Red Arrow snapped back.
"The lets you and I keep her that way." Green Arrow said taking a step forward.
"You and I? Don't you want to take your new protegee?" Red Arrow snapped.
Green Arrow was about to respond when Batman put a hand on his shoulder. "You brought this to the team." he said slowly. "It's their mission. Which means it's hers now too."
"Tch. Then my job's done." Red Arrow scoffed walking to the zeta-tube.
"Recognized. Speedy." the computer said.
"That's Red Arrow." Roy snapped as the tube began to activate. "B. 06. Update." and he was gone in a flash of yellow light.
Wally and Artemis glared at each other until Arcane stepped in between them.
Happy Harbor. August 8. 21:53 EDT.
Superboy and Miss Martian sat atop the local high school with the bio-ship hovering, camouflaged behind them. "Miss Martian. Set up a link. We don't want to risk being hacked by the Shadows." Arcane ordered telepathically from his place next to the blonde doctor.
Miss Martian closed her eyes for a moment. "Everyone online?" she asked.
"Ugh. This is weird." Artemis commented from her spot of the other side of Roquettes desk.
"And distracting. Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddy computer with less ram than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teen think in my skull!" Roquette snapped mentally, holding her head in her hands.
"Lady, do you always complain when someone tries to help you?" Kid Flash asked from his place against a wall, munching on an energy bar.
"Pot. Kettle. Have you met?" Artemis asked snidely.
"Hey, I don't need attitude from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the team!" Kid Flash snapped, waving his energy bar at the blonde archer.
"That is so not on me!" Artemis though back, pointing at Kid Flash angrily before turning away and crossing her arms.
"Enough!" Arcane said though the link, with enough force to make everyone flinch as his eyes flashed white dangerously. "There are lives at stake here. And not just ours and Doctor Roquettes. There are countless innocents who could lose their lives if we fail here tonight. And so if one or both of you is incapable of working together then get on the bio-ship and go home."
"She started it!" Kid Flash whined.
"And I'm ending it. Now." Arcane snapped.
"How bout I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter." Artemis thought irritatedly.
"Good idea." Aqualad said as she walked out. Arcane sat back down on the desk near Doctor Roquette and closed his eyes, extending his senses.
"You might cut her some slack." Robin said to Kid Flash. "It was her arrow that saved your but against Amazo."
"What! No! That was Speedy's, I mean Red Arrow's arrow. Right?" he asked, hoping to be right.
"Not so much." Robin grinned back at his friend.
"Hrmph. Well, still not giving her the satisfaction." he grumbled.
"You know, I can still hear you." Artemis said as she walked out to the perimeter.
"Grrr!" Kid Flash groaned, grabbing his head in frustration.
"I couldn't get the Justice League." Roquette sighed in frustration.
"The virus will not be of much use if we cannot find the weapon." Aqualad said from his place behind the doctor. "Can you track it?"
"My utility FOG isn't a weapon. It's science. Brilliant science. And of course I can track it. But I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with 'Assassinate Me' written in neon." she said placing her head on one hand.
"In the right hands, a stone can become a lethal weapon. In the hands of the shadows, despite it's intended use, your FOG is now a weapon." Arcane thought without opening his eyes. "But," he said, opening his eyes and standing up and placing a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry. We will protect you."
Roquette tapped a few buttons. "Tracking the FOG now." she said as a picture of the globe appeared on the computer screen. Finally it centered on the Philadelphia airport.
Philadelphia. August 8. 21:57 EDT.
The same helmeted man that had discovered that the fog was operational sat in a luxury jet liner, a glass of ice water in his hand, when a noise from his computer alerted him to something. A holoscreen with Dr. Roquette's picture popped up, then moved to the corner of the screen, replaced by a globe. The scarred man that he'd been with back at the temple appeared in a separate corner. "Roquette has surface to track us." the helmeted man informed him. "But that link is a two way street." A red dot appeared on the globe, zooming in on Roquette's location. "Sending her location, now." the helmeted man said as the high school appeared on his screen.
"Who do we have near, er, Happy Harbor, Rhode Island?" the scarred man said from his meditative pose half a world away.
Superboy walked along the chain-link fence that lined the school when he heard a flutter of movement. Narrowing his eyes he leaped up to the roof, hopped once and landed next to Artemis and Miss Martian.
"Mmm. That boy." Artemis thought, gazing at Superboy. The young clone turned to look at her for a moment, his expression unreadable.
"He can hear you." Miss Martian snapped mentally. "We can all hear you."
"Oh, I know." Artemis responded unrepentantly.
"If you two are done," Arcane's voice shot through their heads, cutting off any further conversation. "Dr. Roquette has found the FOG. I want the bio-ship reconfigured so that Robin and Superboy can retrieve it." Miss Martian complied, holding out a hand and sending telepathic commands to the camouflaged bio-ship. It de-cloaked, landed and opened, allowing the two young heroes to enter. Once they were on board the ship closed and took off in the direction of the fog. Miss Martian and Artemis turned around and headed back toward their positions at the gate, neither one of them noticing the cat masked figure crouching in the bushes.
"You embarrassed Superboy." Miss Martian scolded her blonde teammate telepathically.
"Didn't hear him say that.'' Artemis shot back.
"Must you challenge everyone?" the martian asked exasperatedly.
"Where I come from, that's how you survive." Artemis told her cooly, neither noticing as the cat masked figure vaulted silently over the fence behind Miss Martian and disappeared behind the school.
Inside the school, Kid Flash stood leaning against the doorframe of the computer lab, when he saw a shadow on the floor, with whoever was casting it just out of sight. Speeding after it, he followed the mysterious shadow into the pool room. Speeding into the dimly lit room, he failed to notice the ball bearings on the floor that sent him sprawling on his back. Before he could react, a boot came down on the side of his head, knocking his unconscious. Then, with a casual disdain, the figure tipped the young speedster into the pool and ran out of the room.
Inside the computer lab a slight buzzing sound was the only provocation Arcane needed to erect a shield of white light around Dr. Roquette. "Doctor, get down!" Aqualad shouted, forming two scimitars of water.
"Aqualad, take out the intruder while I focus on the shield! Dr. Roquette, you need to finish the anti-fog program." Arcane ordered from his place in mid-air. "Team, assemble in the computer lab. There is a skilled assassin and we could use backup."
"On our way!" Artemis thought back as she and Miss Martian raced for the lab. Miss Martian stopped halfway there, a look of realization on her face before she flew off through another hallway.
Back in the computer lab, Aqualad was slowly pushing the assailant back. "My, you're good." the cat masked woman purred, slashing at him with her sai.
"Why don't you help him!" Dr. Roquette asked as the razor tip of one of the sai passed right by Aqualad's cheek.
"I can't!" Arcane snapped. "Without my focus I'm not at one hundred percent. I can only do so much at once. If I lower this shield then you're vulnerable and all this could be for nothing. So keep working!"
Dropping low, the assassin swept Aqualad's feet out from under him and pinned him to the floor face down. "Sorry big boy. You just weren't able to keep up." she gloated, raising her sai, only for it to be shot out of her hand by a green fletched arrow.
"Don't move." Artemis ordered coldly from the door, another arrow already knocked.
In the pool room, Miss Martian floated over the water, her eyes glowing as Kid Flash rose above the water.
"Mmm. This gig's getting interesting." the cat masked assassin purred, making Arcane's eyes narrow. Pulling something from her belt the assassin flicked her wrist, fully extending a full length retractable ninjato. Narrowing her eyes, Artemis let a flurry of arrows fly, but each one of them was cut out of the air. Splintered wood flying through the air was the sight that first greeted Miss Martian and Kid Flash as they entered the side door. "Maybe a little too interesting." the mysterious assailant noted. She quickly pulled something else from her belt and threw it on the ground, blocking one of Artemis's arrows as she did so. It exploded in a flash of light and smoke that Kid Flash charged through almost bowling Artemis over.
"Gone." he snapped as the smoke cleared.
"She's getting away!" Dr. Roquette shouted as Arcane lowered the shield. "You're letting her get away!"
"This is all your fault!" Kid Flash shouted at Artemis. "You were on perimeter! How'd that Shadow get in!" Artemis said nothing, just glared at Kid Flash coldly.
"That's not really fair." Miss Martian said walking up. "I was outside too."
"Outside…being distracted by her!" Kid Flash said after a moment to think. "Besides I can't be mad at you." "You gave me mouth to mouth." he said telepathically.
"We hear that." Aqualad and Artemis snapped.
"Dang it!" Kid Flash shouted.
Miss Martian walked forward placing a comforting hand on Artemis's shoulder. "I didn't do half as well during my first mission. And I know you can't have been Green Arrow's sidekick for very long
"Enough." Arcane's voice was cold and hard. "This is not over. They tried once and failed. They will try again, this time with even more force."
A beeping sound caught everyone's attention. "Robin to Arcane." Robin said over the comms.
"We're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadow's next target." Robin told them, looking at a holographic display of a building projected by his wrist computer. "S.T.A.R. Labs." The building below them crumbled as the camouflaged bio-ship flew overhead. "It's destroyed." Robin said as he and Superboy watched wide eyed as the entire building crumbled to the ground. "Totally destroyed. The FOG decimated it. This is bad. S.T.A.R. Labs is cutting edge technology and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy." Superboy and Robin looked at each other. "What's our next move?" Robin asked.
"Find the FOG." Arcane ordered, then turned to Dr. Rouquette. "We're moving the doctor."
Roquette sat in front of a computer, typing away, trying to finish the virus. Kid Flash sat on a printer behind the computer and Artemis was pacing around the room. As she walked her eyes met Kid Flash's, which narrowed as he glared at her. Stopping her pacing momentarily, Artemis glared back challengingly.
"Stop. Now." Arcane's voice cut through the link.
"What?" they both asked looking up.
"I can feel you glaring at each other. Save it." the spellcaster said cutting off their replies. "Aqualad?" he asked.
"Miss Martian, stay in camouflage mode and make a wide perimeter sweep. Arcane is already out, meet with him then return." the atlantean ordered. A figure dressed all in black hung down for a moment in a three behind Aqualad.
Suddenly red webbing shot down from the trees, sticking to Aqualad's shoulders, pulling him into the air before he had time to do more than yell in surprise. The sounds of fighting could be heard from the trees, but it was too dark to see what was happening. Then Aqualad flew out of the trees, over the sidewalk and slammed into a gray van that was parked on the curb hard enough to dent the metal of the door. A figure in a dark magenta full body suit leapt out after him, landing on the sidewalk in front of Aqualad. Aqualad started rising to his feet, but a man with a metal right arm and a hook instead of a hand leapt over the truck and slammed it down on the back of the atlantean's head. The same cat masked woman the team had been fighting before landed between the two, looking down at the unconscious Aqualad. "The Martian could return any second and signal the wizard, and I'm not keen on going into a fight with a disadvantage. We end Roquette. Now." she said before leading them to the new building.
The door to the room Roquette sat typing at burst open, as the man with the webbing swung inside and landed on the floor. Leaping off the printer Kid Flash launched a leg sweep that the assassin easily avoided by leaping upward and sticking to the ceiling. Pointing his wrist down the assassin launched a burst of red webbing at Kid Flash who rolled to avoid it. Coming up kneeling Kid Flash grabbed a wastebin and threw it at the red man. The man dropped to the floor to avoid the projectile and quickly engaged in a fight with the young speedster. Artemis was just nocking an arrow to help, when the man with the hook hand crashed through the glass room just behind her. He looked at her for a moment, holding his hook in front of his face. He was forced to roll to the side, behind some wooden benches to avoid a series of arrow that the newest team member fired at him. "Don't stop working." she ordered Dr. Roquette, continuing to fire arrow after arrow at the newest assassin.
Quietly the cat masked woman opened a set of windows, just above where Kid Flash and the spider themed assassin we fighting and took aim at the scientist with a crossbow. The bolt flew, but was blocked when a chest of drawers lifted itself in the way. "Martian's here!" she shouted at the other two assassins. "It's now or never!"
The spider assassin kicked Kid Flash out of the way and fired a line of webbing that stuck to the chest and pulled it out of the way. The woman in the cat mask leapt down onto the desk, right in front of Roquette. Artemis turned her head to help, but was nailed in the face by her opponents hook, which he could apparently fire and retract via a long chain. Roquette turned to run but the sai wielding assassin was faster. Leaping forward she knocked the doctor off her feet and twirled a sai triumphantly. But before she could strike, Roquette's skin turned green and her head turned a hundred and eighty degrees. Miss Martian smirked at her. "We've been duped!" the woman yelled.
Down by the pier, in a small cafe with internet access, the Sandbar Internet Cafe, Aqualad peeked out the front door. Turning inside, he looked at Roquette, who had Arcane standing behind her. "I've almost got it!" she said breathlessly.
"Next target's a Wayne Tech facility." Robin realized. "In theory it's systems software could be used to hack the…"
"The what?" Superboy asked him.
"D-doesn't matter." Robin said. "What matters is that Wayne Tech operates a twenty-four hour workforce. We'll never evacuate the building in time!" As he spoke a gray van pulled into the Wayne Tech parking lot. The man with the high tech helmet got out of the drivers seat and went over the the FOG machine he had in the back. Typing in a few commands the light on the device glowed red, signaling it's activation.
"You'll never find Dr. Roquette!" Miss Martian shouted as she lifted into the air and completed the transformation back to her regular form.
"Never is such a long time." the cat masked woman purred. "Pursuing target. Keep them busy." she ordered. The man with the metal arm raised his hook and fired it at Miss Martian.
Shaking off her daze Artemis saw the masked woman making a break for it and bolted after her. "Pursuing their leader." She shouted as Kid Flash punched out his adversary. "Take the rest down!"
"You are soo not the boss of me!" Kid Flash snapped at her as she ran.
"Just do it!" Artemis yelled exasperatedly over her shoulder. Kid Flash was about to respond but the spider assassin came up from behind him and grabbed him in a bear hug.
The assassin's leader quickly came up on where the had left Aqualad. "Oh I do not like being played." she said dangerously as the lenses in her mask started to glow yellow. Seeing the world in infrared, it didn't take her more than a second to find Aqualad's trail. Artemis came around the corner of the van just in time to see her target racing down the road. Nocking an arrow she fired, only to have it knocked aside by a swipe of the assassins sai's.
"I was hoping it'd be you." the cat masked woman purred again before turning and running down the street again. The chase soon lead to the low rooftops running along the same path Aqualad took. Twisting her body slightly, the assassin was just in time to dodge an incoming arrow that instead imbedded itself in the chimney right next to her. She wasn't however quick enough to avoid the spray of purple gas the arrow spewed. Coughing a few times she groaned and fell over, dropping her sai's. Artemis approached slowly, another arrow already nocked. But as soon as she got close enough the woman swept her legs out from under her, so Artemis landed painfully on her back. "Mask has built in gas filters." the woman explained tauntingly. Artemis kicked out at her, but the assassin was greatly superior in terms of close range combat, and it took her only a few seconds to get the blonde girl in an arm lock. "Better luck next time kid." the assassin said, choking Artemis quickly on the back of the neck.
Arcane and Aqualad both looked up, alerted by the thumps on the roof. "We have company." Aqualad said. Arcane nodded, and started glowing white.
"Uploading now." Roquette cheered. "And by the way, you said you'd protect me!"
"Aqualad, by offence is limited right now. Take out the assassin if you can, I'll defend the doctor." Arcane directed. Aqualad nodded, drawing his water bearers and creating two swords made of water. A smoke bomb rolled into the room and burst, sending black smoke into the air in front of them. Arcane's eyes narrowed. Throwing a hand up behind him he erected a wall of white light that three darts bounced off of.
"Aww." the assassin groaned. "I wanted to play with the fish boy. You know, test his jellyfish immunity."
Arcane said nothing, instead opting to make some gestures with his hands, and creating a dome of light around himself, the doctor and the computer. Aqualad took his cue and advanced slowly on the assailant.
Robin and Superboy stood at the now open hatch of the still camouflaged bioship. "It's downloading!" Robin said as he started to receive the virus.
Looking down Superboy saw as the man with the helmet opened the sliding door of the van and prepared to activate the Fog. "Don't need it." the young kryptonian said, leaping down at the man.
"Superboy!" Robin shouted as his teammate plummeted to the ground.
Looking up the man with the hemet gritted his teeth as he saw the teen plunging at him. Grabbing the metal canister slung over his shoulder he ran his fingers along it, activating his helmet's laser. The beam of red light slammed into Superboy and sent him crashing, and smoking to the ground. Turning back to the FOG controls the man hit a few more keys and the FOG came to life.
"No!" Robin shouted seeing the FOG head for the Wayne Tech building. Firing a grappling line, he leapt off the bio-ship after the FOG. Firing another line as he reached the end of his first Robin landed in front of the doors the the FOG had already torn through.
"What in the…" the security guard manning the front desk asked no one in particular as the for swarmed past him. "Hey!" he shouted as Robin raced past him. "You can't come in here!" Grabbing his radio the guard shouted "Unauthorized entry!" into it. Alarms blared and a metal gate began lowering itself into Robins path.
"Wayne Tech override RG4!" Robin shouted. Instantly the gate began raising itself up again. Not waiting for it to finish Robin rolled under the gate and came up sprinting after the Shadow's newest weapon without breaking a stride.
Miss Martian dodged to the side, avoiding another shot from the man with the chain hook. She tried levitating benches at him, but he smashed them to pieces before they hit.
"Kid Flash, we need to end this now!" she said over the telepathic link as Kid Flash avoided more adhesive webbing.
"It's like you read my mind beautiful." he said with a grin. But in the time he had taken to flirt the assassin had managed to attach a line of webbing to his shoulder. Frowning Kid Flash started to spin, pulling the spider assassin off his feet. Stopping when there was just enough line in between them Kid Flash jumped into the air and slammed both feet into his opponent's chest, sending him crashing through a wooden bench unconscious. Grunting as his hook retracted the last remaining assassin fired it at the martian girl again, only to have her redirect it with her telekinesis, causing the hook to slam into his face, knocking him out cold.
"Whoo hoo!" Miss Martian cheered. "I got mine!"
"Great." Kid Flash said from where he was sitting on the floor in front of his opponent, having inadvertently tying himself up when he spun. "Uh, little help?" he asked sheepishly.
The FOG burrowed its way through the Wayne Tech building, boring through glass, concrete and steel. People screamed and ran as the for ate its way through the building. Robin raced into the cafeteria as several workers ran out screaming.
"What's going on?" the cashier asked. "What are you doing?" she asked as Robin plugged his glove into the computer operated cash register.
The boy wonder ignored her. "Please be linked to the mainframe, please be linked to the mainframe!" he chanted pulling up a holoscreen.
Arcane grunted, a bead of sweat trickling down his face and disappearing below the line of his scarf as the cat masked assassin slashed at the wall of light he kept between them. Roquette glanced franticly between the young teen and the upload progress bar on the computer monitor. Finally, just as the wall was starting to flicker, the computer beeped.
"I take it that means the virus was just uploaded?" the woman asked, making Arcane smirk triumphantly at her. "Oh well." and with that she dropped a smoke bomb and vanished. The wall of light vanished. Rorek crumpled to the ground near Aqualad who had five jellyfish toxin darks sticking out of him. It had taken everything Rorek had to expand the shield enough to cover all of them.
Robin typed furiously as the FOG continued eating it's way through the Wayne Tech building. Uploading the virus into the Wayne Tech mainframe he watched as the cloud of FOG over his head began to dissolve, the nanobots self destructing. "Yes!" he cheered, making the cashier who was cowering behind the counter look up. "The infiltrators have been outfiltrated!"
Outside, the helmet wearing man looked up at the building only to see the FOG dissolve. Looking back down he was greeted by the sight of an angry Superboy storming towards him. He fired again but Superboy held up an arm and kept walking, grunting in pain as he heard his skin sizzle. Grunting he held a hand up and clamped it around the man's helmet, leaving the laser with nowhere to go. The helmet overloaded and the man flew backwards, bouncing off the van before falling face first on the ground. superboy stood above him, looking down impassively with a hole torn through the majority of the S-shield of his shirt.
The cat masked assassin was walking out the front door when four arrows landed in front of her. They exploded as one, creating enough force to knock the mask off her face and send her to the ground. "Don't move a muscle." Artemis ordered in a hard voice.
"Wow." The woman said sarcastically, standing up and turning to face the blonde archer. "I am completely at your mercy." She had beautiful asian featured, slanted dark eyes and a smirking mouth.
Artemis's eyes widened. "You?" she gasped.
"I suppose now you bring me to justice. Let your new friends interrogate me." The woman smirked again. "I wonder if your position's secure enough to survive them learning everything I know." The two stared at each other for a long moment before Artemis reluctantly lowered her bow. "Didn't think so. So like the Cheshire cat," the woman said backing up, smoke curling up around her, "I'll just disappear." When the smoke cleared, the assassin was nowhere in sight.
"Artemis, where is the assassin?" Aqualad asked, as he limped out the door, being supported by Dr. Roquette.
"She, ah, she got away." Artemis said, not looking at him.
"Oh, from you?" Kid Flash said as he sped up. "Oh, big surprise! Notice, we got ours." he said his voice losing his mocking manner as Miss Martian floated down with the two assassins, tied up before her.
"Enough." Arcane's voice was hoarse and weak. He stood in the doorway to the cafe, leaning on the doorframe heavily. His skin was pale and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he'd been sick for a week. "Everyone starts somewhere. I don't think I need to remind anyone of the Mr. Twister fiasco." Kid Flash looked down, still not happy but he let it go. Arcane tried to walk, but pitched forward as soon as he stopped leaning on the doorframe.
"I gotcha." Artemis said as she caught him.
"Thanks." Arcane said, fighting to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head.
"Cool!" Kid Flash's voice said, focusing his attention. "Souvenir." he said picking up the cat mask that Artemis had knocked of her opponent.
"Her mask? Did you see her face?" Aqualad asked, taking his weight off Dr. Roquette and pulling out the toxic darts.
"It was dark." Artemis said defensively, passing Arcane to Aqualad and stepping away.
"It is fine." Aqualad said. "Robin and Superboy neutralized the FOG and Dr. Roquette is safe. Thanks in no small part to you."
Arcane took a few steps forward, still being aided by Aqualad. Reaching Artemis he held out a hand. She looked at him for a moment, as if not understanding what he was doing. Arcane smiled. "Welcome to the team." he said. Artemis smiled slightly and took his hand. The rest of them came forward to truly welcome their newest member. Aqualad shook her hand and Miss Martian laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I've always wanted a sister." she said. "Here on Earth I mean. I have twelve back on Mars, and trust me it's not the same."
"I…wouldn't know." Artemis said. Then she smiled. "But, thanks."
Kid Flash just stood there until Arcane reached up and smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow." he muttered. "Yeah, welcome." he told Artemis unenthusiastically. Artemis just held out a hand which he took.
Gotham City. August 9. 01:16 EDT.
A broken down phone booth glowed yellow from the inside. The glow faded and Artemis stepped out. She glanced around briefly then quickly drew and arrow, dropped to one knee and pointed it at a figure in the shadows all in one fluid motion. "Step into the light. Now." she ordered.
Red Arrow walked out, not worried in the slightest. "Nice move." he said walking forward. Artemis lowered her bow and stood up. "Almost made me believe you are Green Arrow's niece. But we both know you're not." he said, his voice losing it's fake amiability. Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Still," Red Arrow continued. "I'm sure GA and Bats have a reason for lying. So your cover's safe. But I warn you," he said leaning in close. "Do not hurt my friends."
On an island the scarred man sat with his eyes closed.
"Report." a voice with a european lilt to it ordered.
"Masters…" the man said. He was sitting in a lotus position, a circle of screens with white silhouette's displayed on them around him. "Before Ojo's capture, he transmitted the S.T.A.R. Labs data you required. But the Wayne Tech intel, still eludes us."
"Once again, the young…heroes interfere." the lilting voice said. "So it's fortunate we have an operative…on the inside." the scared man smiled.
First things first I want to apologize to everyone who reviewed, liked or even just read this story in passing. I had no idea that updating this story would take so long. I am doing my best to make sure that a update lag like this doesn't happen again! If it seems like I am forgetting, please feel free to pm me and ask me to hurry.