Chapter 4: Drop Zone
I own nothing you recognize.
Location: Unknown
Date: March 3rd, 1998
Time: 13:45
"The process is not perfect," noted a man in a lab coat, a scientist, "But it will suffice, indeed it might even offer us more potential."
A second scientist frowned, "Maybe, but in order to meet the standards of the Template, the application would have to be… cruel. Are we really going to do that to a kid?"
A man in tactical gear laughed harshly nearby, "The weapon is not here to have a kind life." He observed the uncomfortable face of the man, "Oh, I'm sorry, did you think I was hired to teach it how to ride a bike?" He walked up to view the screen, "So, we have to damage It before It's body figures out how to heal?
The first scientist shook his head, "No and yes, the bo– It can heal normally. But the Darwin Gene . . . It's body is adapting based on the trauma encountered, if we want It to heal at a rate comparable to Wolverine, we have to inflict physical trauma that would force the body to adapt to that level."
"Which, I take it, would be significant damage?" inquired the Mercenary, his eyes flickering between them. The two scientists wordless nodded.
"We would have to be careful then," mused the Mercenary turning back to the screen, "We obviously want to reach that level. But with as little mental scaring as we can manage . . ."
/
/
Location: Happy Harbor
Date: July 22, 2010
Time: 18:05
Nathan exited an unused side room, having changed into a new mission suit. While he had been fine with wearing his normal Bludhaven anti-crime casual attire on missions, Batman had rejected the idea and insisted he acquire a mission specific uniform.
Thus, after being measured and fitted, Nathan was provided a new custom suit to wear by whoever made those things. Since it was designed based on his preferences, the primary focus was on mobility and physically keeping itself together.
The reason, in perfect honest, was that Nathan had very little to fear in a fight. He could get punched, electrocuted, shot, or stabbed and he would be able to get up in good time. There was no bullet or blade that could shatter or damage his skeleton, and some smaller bullets might not even penetrate his skin. Thus, what armor his suit did have was orientated towards dampening impacts, such as punches, rather than stopping something like a bullet or knife.
The lone exception to the impact armor, which was primarily concentrated around the chest, was the section around his forearms which was given extra protection by way of a metal vambrace. He had also received a new jacket that was made from whatever fabric Batman used.
Although he normally wore sunglasses or a bandana to cover his face, Batman had provided a mask that more securely covered the lower half of his face, the vigilante having mentioned that Nate may one day appreciate a little discretion when it came to his identity. The mask was secured around his head, and aside from identity protection, it also had a rebreather built in that would allow him to breath when gassed or thrown under water.
Since he had made the mistake of letting Batman get his broody hands on it, every part of the suit was varying shades of black.
Nathan was convinced there had to have been some sort of throwdown when Robin told Batman he wanted to wear color.
He was trying the suit out for the first time because the Team had been summoned to the mountain. Apparently, Batman had a mission for them. Nathan eventually made his way to the kitchen, where he found Superboy staring moodily at a static-y TV. He was still clad in his usual unchanging attire.
Nathan tilted his head curiously as he looked at the teen, "Did you get a new suit?"
Superboy nodded seriously, "Yes," he frowned, "But I'm not wearing any capes or tights."
Robin had informed him a few days prior that the moody 'Superboy' was not actually Superman's son, but was instead a clone.
One that lacked certain powers when compared to the original, including the power to happen upon caring parental figures. The presence of the clone had raised a whole new host of questions in Nathan that Robin had been unable to answer, which clearly frustrated the bird as much as it did Nate.
The teen looked him over with a critical eye, before grunting, "Not as bad as Wally."
Nathan shrugged, "Not a high bar, but I'll take it."
He heard the zeta-tubes announce the arrival of Aqualad and Kid Flash and began to walk out to go greet them when Superboy called after him.
"What denomination?"
Nathan paused and looked back, Superboy was looking at him expressionlessly, "What?"
"Your cross," clarified the Clone, "Cadmus explained the concept of religion. What denomination?"
"I'm . . . Catholic," replied Nate slowly.
Superboy nodded, then hesitated, his hands unconsciously drifting to the S on his chest, "Are . . . most heroes Catholic?"
Nathan thought for a moment before shaking his head, "I have no idea. I know at least two, but . . . I guess it doesn't come up much."
And, while I can't be certain, I don't think its religion that's making Superman cha-cha slide you.
Superboy turned back to the TV, staring at it unhappily. He left the clone to his static watching, idly wondering if he should ask Matt to help him. He entered the central room where Aqualad and Kid Flash were talking about just the topic on his mind.
". . . Superman really needs to stop being a full of it and help him out a little," insisted Wally.
"The situation is startling for all involved," remarked Aqualad, "I'm sure he will come around. For now, Superboy seems to be doing fine on his own."
"Yeah, I think he's doing quite well," cut in Nate, knowing Superboy would be listening, "I mean, most 20-something-week-olds can barely lift their own heads."
"Did you always have that?" asked Wally looking at his suit.
"No. Batman gave it to me today."
"Then I'm sure that you will find it useful," replied Aqualad.
Miss Martian and Power Ring walked down the hallway leading from the rooms, and Kid Flash immediately ditched his current group to zip over to the new duo. Since he could imagine it, Nate made no effort to decipher the noise he heard from the conversation.
Power Ring seemed to be content to ignore their encounter the previous week. And although Nathan had to do a bit of soul searching, he had ultimately concluded to give her the benefit of the doubt. She seemed to be stable enough and he was sure that, whatever Batman might do, Flash and Aquaman would unquestionably never allow him to place a dangerous individual nearly unsupervised on a team with their sidekicks.
Recognize: Batman, 0-2.
Recognize: Robin, B0-1.
Speaking of Batman . . .
Batman walked out of the tube and looked around, "Assemble for mission briefing, Team," he commanded them.
Superboy emerged from the kitchen and joined the group as they gathered around Batman, who activated a screen. An image of an island appeared on the screen.
"Isla Santa Prisca. This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neuro-steroid sold under the street name 'Venom'. . ."
/
/
Location: Caribbean Sea
Date: July 22, 2010
Time: 20:08
". . . We're approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian reported to the group.
The others looked up and glanced around, beginning to stretch after the mildly long flight.
"Aqualad, drop zone A in thirty."
The Atlantean nodded and stood up, his chair disintegrated behind him, and he pressed the symbol on his belt, turning his red suit to a dark grey.
Miss Martian activated camouflage mode on the bioship and brought it close to the water, opening a hole in the floor, which Aqualad jumped through.
They flew on, minus their teammate, for a few moments before his voice broke through their comms, "Heat and motion sensors have been patched to a continuous loop, proceed to drop zone B."
"Will do," replied Miss Martian.
The bioship maneuvered over the island itself and proceed to the drop point. Miss Martian announced they had reached it and stopped the ship. She held out her hand and fastening lines dropped from the ceiling, which the non-flyers attach themselves to. Jessica activated her suit, and Kid Flash changed his to stealth mode.
He turned to look at Miss Martian, spreading his hands, "How cool is this?"
She smiled back at him, "Very impressive."
The Martian closed her eyes and concentrated, her clothing changed to cover her almost entirely in a black, although she retained her blue cloak and red x.
Kid Flash blinked and grinned dopily, "Uh, that works to."
The speedster turned to Superboy, who was still dressed subtly in a Superman t-shirt, and gestured to himself and Nate, "You know, it's not too late to put on the new stealth tech."
The clone crossed his arms defiantly, "No capes, no tights. No offense," he paraphrased his words from earlier.
Kid Flash shrugged, but Miss Martian looked at the clone starry-eyed, "It totally works for you . . . in, uh, in that you can do good work in those clothes," she realized what she said a second late and attempted to recover, but failed.
Nathan coughed to hide his laugh, although Superboy just ignored her. The Martian tried to hide from her shame by throwing her cloak over her head and dropping through a hole in the floor. Robin, Kid Flash, and Power Ring followed, Nathan went to jump, but paused to allow Superboy to brush past him. The clone jumped down without a line, and this time Nathan was free to snicker at the yells of alarm from below.
He may have taken 'Covert' out back and shot it, but at least it was mildly amusing.
"What does the word 'stealth' mean to you?"
Nathan followed Superboy, albeit wearing a line, and arrived to hear the tail end of Robin chastising his teammate for his very un-stealthy landing.
"Aqualad, Drop Zone B is a go," Miss Martian informed their teammate, who was probably busy climbing a mountain, as the name Aqualad implied he would be the optimal choice for.
"Head for the factory," came the quiet reply, "I'll track you with GPS and rendezvous with you ASAP."
"Roger that," acknowledged Robin and the group sprinted, or flew, towards their target.
/
/
The group's sprint had quickly been slowed by the terrain, so, after a few moments, they were trudging more slowly through the jungle of the island when Superboy suddenly tensed and stopped them.
"Did you hear that?" the clone asked,
"No," replied Kid Flash, slapping at an insect, "Wait. Is this a super hearing thing?"
Nate paused and listened carefully—once again having to ignore a weird Martian comment—pushing the ambient jungle noise aside to concentrate on listening for footfalls. He quickly picked up the sound of several boots squishing in mud.
"People are out there," he alerted his teammates, "Sounds like two groups," he informed them, before pausing as he heard a new sound, "and a single person." He waved vaguely to where the sounds were coming from.
Unlike Daredevil, Nate couldn't tell range as easily or pinpoint someone based on sound alone. Not at this distance at least.
"Ok, Rob, now what–?" the speedster started, before groaning as he turned and saw his friend was gone.
"Guessing that would be the single person," remarked Power Ring.
"Yeah. Man, I hate it when he does that," muttered Kid Flash.
"Superboy, Kid," interjected Aqualad over their coms, "Switch to infrared and see if you're being tracked."
The two complied and after a moment confirmed the presence of two groups, although Superboy noted that they were on a collision course. A burst of gunfire followed quickly behind his words, startling the non-infrared Team members slightly.
"Steer clear of the engagement," ordered Aqualad, "Do not engage."
"Got it. Just give me a second to find Rob," replied Kid Flash before he sprinted off into the jungle.
Who would have thought a speedster would rush into things?
Superboy suddenly broke into a run, "He's in trouble," he said shortly before leaping ahead, presumably after Kid Flash. The team quickly sprinted after him, although they each lost their footing once or twice on the slick ground, which was steeper than it looked. Power Ring fell behind his sightline, and Miss Martian took to the air. Nathan couldn't fly, so he just tried his best not to slip and hit a tree.
It turned out that Kid Flash had messed up quite badly as He and Superboy were engaging both groups of gunmen. The team had only just joined the fray when Robin jumped out of nowhere and dispatched two of the thugs belonging to the group that had not coordinated their clothes.
"What are you guy doing? What happened to covert?" demanded Robin, "Why didn't you follow my lead and vanish into the jungle?"
Nathan heard but didn't register Kid's response as he tackled a gunman and slammed their head into the ground. M'gann threw another two into the base of some trees. The man who Batman had identified as Bane in the briefing was busy landing body blows on Superboy before he threw him into a nearby rock. Nate ran to help his teammate, but was shoulder charged and knocked to the ground by one of Bane's men, who was followed by another knife wielding thug.
He landed on his back, and kicked the first attacker in the face, breaking his nose. Before he could retaliate against the second, the man was hit squarely in the chest by a green energy blast. Power Ring stumbled out the tree line, looking shaken.
Nathan narrowed his eyes as he detected her erratic breathing and elevated heart rate.
Superboy succeeding in knocking Bane out and Aqualad jumped down on a final gunman from a tree to complete the dispatching of the two squads.
Nathan stood up and brushed himself off, casting a quick glance at Jessica in mild concern, "You ok?" She swallowed and nodded, but she looked nauseous and didn't say a word.
Nathan narrowed his eyes slightly as his senses relayed information to him, but Aqualad averted anything when he walked up to the team and looked around, before gesturing to the unconscious men, "Find a way to tie them up, we need to assess our situation."
/
/
"They belong to the Cult of the Kobra," Robin told them, once they had secured their enemies, "they worship their leader as a living god."
"If Batman knew a dangerous extremist was running the island, he would have mentioned it," guessed Aqualad.
"So they're new in town then," affirmed Kid Flash offhandedly, "Probably wanted some venom to make Super-Cultists or something," he continued, "that's why the venom isn't leaving the island. Mission accomplished. Let's go back and report to Bats."
"The cultists aren't on venom," countered Robin, "which means Kobra's hoarding the stuff," his mask eyes narrowed, "We don't leave. Not until I know why."
"Until you know why?" scoffed Kid.
Robin frowned at him, "This team needs a leader."
"And it's you? You're a thirteen-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word!"
"And you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover!"
Nathan looked on in confusion as the duo began exchanging barbs. In the middle of a mission. While in hostile territory. In front of a group of enemies, albeit tied up ones. That very train of thought, and the fact she seemed to have mostly recovered, had led him to push off inquiring about whatever had shaken Power Ring. At least until after the mission.
The two former (current?) sidekicks continued to argue, beginning to get quite animated.
The rest of the team waited but the argument showed no signs of stopping.
Jessica idly blew a strand of hair out of her face and looked at the sky, Aqualad seemed to be deep in thought and was ignoring the disagreement. Superboy looked irritated. But, of course, he often did.
M'gann turned to the clone, "Do you want to lead?" she asked him curiously as the two continued to argue in the background.
"No," he replied, turning to look at her, "do you?"
The Martian shook her head, "Not after the Mister Twister fiasco."
"You did fine," commented the clone, with a hint of kindness.
"Power Ring?" Aqualad inquired, suddenly looking up, "would you be interested in leadership?"
"Absolutely not," replied the girl quickly, holding up her hands, "I mean yeah, I think I might be older than most of you, but trust me, you want me to follow."
Aqualad nodded hesitantly and turned to Nate, "Perhaps you would consider it?"
Nathan raised his eyebrows, "I don't exactly have the strongest bond with this team yet. You really would consider putting me in charge?"
"Perhaps your lack of attachment is what the leader requires," offered the Atlantean thoughtfully, almost to himself.
Nate shook his head, "No. For a variety of reasons, no," he shrugged offhandedly, "I know my place . . . and it's not at the top."
As Aqualad acquiesced with a thoughtful frown, Superboy and Nathan tilted their heads simultaneously as they heard one of Bane's lackies begin to talk. They were speaking in Spanish however, which Nathan could not understand. Although judging by his smirk, it looked like Superboy could.
". . . You don't even have superpowers!" argued Wally.
They're still going. Guys, seriously, we have things to do.
"Neither does Batman!"
"You're not Batman!"
"Closest thing we've got."
Bane began to laugh, finally interrupting the argument, "Clever niños, but you only know half the story," the rest of the team approached the man, "There is a secret passage I can show you, it will lead you to the factory, where you can learn the other half." He smiled mockingly.
Miss Martian's eyes glowed as she raised her hand to her temple, "He's hiding something . . . by reciting fútbol scores in Spanish." She sighed and turned back to the group apologetically, "there is a secret entrance, but figuring out anything more might take a while."
Aqualad hesitated, "How long?" he asked.
The Martian girl shook her head and opened her mouth, but Bane spoke up before she could reply, "It's not complicated," he insisted confidently, "I wish to force Kobra off the island. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
The team exchanged uncertain glances.
"Best chance we have," muttered Superboy. He turned so only the team could see him and smirked, "And I'm not that worried about his secret."
Aqualad looked at Robin, who, having noticed Superboy's change in attitude, nodded. The Atlantean turned back to Bane and grimaced before reluctantly accepting, "Very well. Show us the passage."
/
/
It was a bit of a walk, but eventually Bane led the Team to a cliff that had excellent line of sight on the venom factory. Robin went and crouched by the edge, pulling out what looked like a rangefinder to examine the factory. The Team waited patiently for his report.
"A buy is going down," confirmed Robin after a moment, "But if Kobra isn't selling all that product to the usual suspects . . ."
Bane walked away from the group, Superboy followed him, content to leave the others to figure out what to do.
"Batman ordered us to only preform reconnaissance," stressed Aqualad, "We won't engage, but we must find who this new buyer is."
"Exactly what I was thinking," added Kid Flash seriously.
"Right. Because you're a thinker," remarked Robin sarcastically.
"Really dude? Right now, a real leader would be focused on answers, not sarcasm."
Bane pulled a large boulder aside with barely a grunt to reveal a tunnel leading into the rock. Nate noted the island ruler's strength was beyond what his appearance might suggest and shifted restlessly. Thoughts of potential ways to fight the man ran through his mind.
He is definitely stronger than me, maybe Aqualad too.
Bane turned back to the Team, and gave a low chuckle, "Answers are this way."
"Great. Now El Luchador is our leader," scoffed Kid Flash, before getting cuffed in the head by Robin as the bird walked past him.
The group walked for several minutes through the tunnel before they eventually came to a metal door. Bane pressed his thumb to a metal scanning pad and a light flickered from red to green on the door. Robin stepped forward to quietly look ahead.
"All clear," informed the bird before sprinting through the doorframe. The group follow more slowly, using some metal vats to provide them cover once they exited the tunnel. A quick review of their total number revealed that once again, Robin had run off. The disappearing act was rapidly losing its already limited charm for Nate.
Bane grunted, "Was Batman's sidekick captured so fast?"
"Doubtful," replied Aqualad, sounding slightly irritated, "He just does this."
"Don't worry, I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder," whispered Kid Flash confidently before speeding off, ignoring Aqualad's protest. Bane laughed quietly again, this time with some disbelief, "Amazing chain of command."
Aqualad looked at him sourly before turning back to the remaining members, "Stay together team. Nobody else run off," he ordered. He then motioned for them to follow him and continued to walk through the factory, making their way forward.
"We're getting close to the front," reported Nate quietly, "Lot of people."
Aqualad nodded and ducked behind some boxes, the Team began moving from cover to cover, eventually stopping when they had a clear view of the venom line operation.
"It's a massive shipment," noted Aqualad with a twinge of concern.
"They're only taking fresh products," observed Superboy, "what about these?" he tapped the boxes in front of them lightly.
Power Ring crouched down next to some boxes and created a small knife construct, cutting a hole in one of the boxes. She raised her ring hand and scanned one of the vials through the hole. She frowned, "This is also venom, and apparently, it's perfectly functional. Why aren't they taking these?"
"Maybe freshness matters?" offered Miss Martian.
"Hey Bane, do you have any idea as to wh—" started Nate.
"Wait," interrupted Superboy, "Helicopter coming."
"The buyer," muttered Aqualad. He turned to the group, "The venom can wait. We need to find a way to get line of sight on this unknown."
"I can go into camouflage mode," offered Miss Martian quickly, "If you allow me to establish a telepathic link to you, I can send you an image of what I see."
Aqualad considered the proposal and nodded, "do it, but be careful."
The Martian girl threw her hood over her head and faded from view until she was barely visible as a slight haze. The haze flew away, out the opening of the warehouse. Following the Martian's flight path led the remaining Team to notice a number of armed cultists entering the depot. Some of them began to walk towards their hiding spot.
"We need get someplace more secure," decided Aqualad. He stood up and led the group further towards the back of the warehouse, eventually locating a stairway that led them onto the catwalk above. Nathan sat down against one of the pillars to wait for Miss Martian's report, although not sitting in the meditative style of Aqualad.
"What about Robin and Kid Flash?"
Nate looked over at Power Ring, who in turn was looking at Aqualad. The Atlantean did not open his eyes or break his meditative form, simply replying, "We have to trust in their abilities."
The remainder of the Team, plus Bane, stayed in uneasy silence, occasionally casting glances down to the patrolling guards below. Suddenly, Aqualad looked up.
"Sportsmaster," he whispered in surprise, "He is the buyer?"
Nathan narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but before he could offer his opinion Aqualad touched the com in his ear, "Aqualad to Red Tornado. . ."
He lowered his hand with a grim look, "Coms are jammed. Which means no contact with the League or our separated teammates." He stood up, "We need a plan."
"Here's a plan," chuckled Bane suddenly, before jumping down on the cultists below with a roar.
Nathan grimaced and jumped to his feet and looking down at the engaging fighter. The others also stared at the island ruler in surprise, including Superboy.
Guess whatever he overheard didn't cover this.
Nathan spun around as he heard glass shatter behind him, then instinctively dove to the side the second he registered a hulking figure flying towards them.
The figure landed on the walkway, which crumpled under the rest of the Team, and they tumbled to the floor. Nathan nearly followed them down, although, being farther from the center, he managed to catch the edge of the walkway and pull himself up.
Not that it mattered much. As soon as he looked back and saw his Teammates being engaged, he jumped down to help. He ignored the newly arrived Sportsmaster and Kobra, who both seemed content to watch the unfolding battle, and with Power Ring and Superboy engaging whatever the giant was, he ran towards the gunmen firing on Aqualad.
He noticed some of the cultists being tossed aside by seemingly nothing—Miss Martian undoubtedly— and so he went for the others.
Since the cultists had so nicely formed a firing line, he unsheathed his claws and leapt at them from the side, going down the line slicing through the barrels of their rifles, ignoring the cultists themselves, hoping their fellows would be reluctant to fire into a crowd of their own men. He reached the end of the row and began to turn to look back down the line when he heard an explosion above him and a second later a rush of wind behind him, he instinctively whipped around, swinging his right arm into a slash, and felt his claws impact something solid.
He had only a second to recognize the projectile he had sliced apart as a javelin before its pieces exploded, knocking him several feet backwards.
Nate hit the ground and quickly rolled behind a container to dodge the spray of bullets that followed him. He was burned slightly, but he was doing a good deal better than the cultist who had been standing next to him, as he could hear them screaming in pain even through his ringing ears.
Explosion aside, those snake masks they wear are solid. It probably shattered and turned into shrapnel.
He grimaced at the thought and blocked out the sound of the injured cultist.
Clearly, Sportsmaster was not concerned with the wellbeing of anyone in this fight.
"Miss Martian!" he heard Aqualad shout, "Link us up!"
He felt a brief and familiar stab in his temple, but it was gone quickly.
"Everyone online?"
"Yeah . . ."
"Online."
"You know it beautiful."
"I can hear you. Or whatever the word for it is."
"We are out of position, we need to regroup," ordered Kaldur.
"Busy now," replied Robin.
While Robin may have been clear to operate, the rest of the Team remained pinned by gunmen, although they attempted to close ranks as best they could. Nathan noted in irritation that while Kid Flash was back, Bane had disappeared.
"Robin! Now," demanded Aqualad.
"On my way," replied the Boy Wonder with a hint of frustration.
Aqualad looked around from his spot behind a vat at the gunmen surrounding them, and shook his head in defeat, "We need to disengage and regroup. Kid, clear a path to the tunnel."
Kid Flash zipped away and dispatched the cultists between them and their objective at superspeed. The group broke from cover and ran back to the tunnel, although Superboy and Power Ring were still struggling with The Brute. They managed to knock him into the way of the other cultists which helped the rest of the team stay clear of gunfire. Power Ring finally hit their opponent with a blast of energy that took him off his feet and hurled him into a group of cultists, giving enough time for the two to run into the tunnels. Aqualad slammed the door shut and they ran back the way they came.
"Superboy, the supports! Don't let them follow us."
The clone immediately punched out the nearest support beams, causing the ceiling to collapse. The team caught a glimpse of The Brute smashing through the door followed by more gunmen before falling earth separated the two sides and plunged the Team into near total darkness; Power Ring's suit offering the only faint hint of light.
Aqualad illuminated the tunnel more with a glow stick, revealing Robin to be crouching down, looking gloomily at the cave in.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong," he wondered despondently, lowering his head slightly.
Power Ring started to say something, but stopped herself. Nate, however, was becoming increasingly annoyed by the Bird's ego, "The lack of leadership?" he offered slightly tersely, "Were you not absent for that entire fight?"
"I made a judgment call that you guys would be fine, and went to sabotage the helicopter," argued Robin defensively, standing up and turning around, "Why was there even a fight in the first place?"
"Bane," supplied Superboy impassively.
"As practiced as you are, your experience came in a different structure than the one this team must operate in," Aqualad spoke up calmly but firmly, "This team is new. Guidance must be provided and so a leader must be clear and explicit. It is obvious now that we do not have the experience with one another necessary to conduct a mission with no uttered word or without defining a plan."
"So I'm just supposed to hold everybody's hand?" demanded Robin before stopping himself and running a hand over his face. He shook his head, "Who am I kidding? You should lead Aqualad, you're the only one who can."
"Please," objected Kid Flash, "I can run circles around anyon–"
"KF, come on," urged Robin, "he's already leader to us in all but name and you know that's for a reason."
"Hello, Megan! It's so obvious!"
"Could have told you."
"Best choice there is."
"I support it."
The clone sent a glare to the lone dissenter.
The redhead shrugged and offered his friend a grin, "Ok!"
Aqualad nodded as the team made their choice, "I accept the burden," he walked forward and put his hand on Robin's shoulder, "but only until you are ready and willing to lift it from my shoulders."
"Now. Robin, you said you sabotaged the helicopter?" inquired Aqualad, turning to business. The Boy Wonder nodded with a smirk, Aqualad began walking down the tunnel, "Good, then we have some time, but we need to get out of this tunnel."
"Yeah. That's probably a good idea."
/
/
"So Sportsmaster was the buyer?" asked Robin doubtfully as they ran back towards the surface. He pulled up a screen on his gauntlet.
"No way," replied Nate automatically, "He's a mercenary, like Deathstroke."
"Exactly," muttered Robin frowning, "That's what worries me. No way did Sportsmaster get the Blockbuster formula or recruit Kobra, and he doesn't have anywhere near the goons for that amount of product! But for the person who does have all those–?"
"–what is a mercenary to that list?" finished Aqualad, "I believe the expression is, 'tip of the iceberg.'"
"Halt niños!" commanded a familiar voice, "I'm feeling explosive."
Bane was back and judging by his size, had clearly snagged some venom from the warehouse before he left. He held a trigger in his left hand, explosives beeped to life overhead of them. Aqualad immediately put his acting skills to work, demanding to know why Bane betrayed them, while simultaneously ordering Kid Flash to get a running start.
Having waited until the explosives were literally right above them, Nate wondered what Bane would have done if he mistimed it, or if they had been talking too loudly and didn't hear him.
Wouldn't that have been awkward, if we all just ran out of the tunnel?
'Halt niños! . . . Oh. Uh, can you take a few steps back?'
Kid Flash rushed by him and stole the detonator from Bane's hand, Miss Martian levitated the turncoat into the air and dropped him for Superboy to take his daddy issues out on.
The man went flying.
Fortunately, not too far, as they were able to recover him and secure him to a tree. Robin grabbed some C4 from a pile the man had left lying around, and the team began to make their way to the factory on ground level.
"The Kobra-Venom enhanced fighter," started Aqualad, looking to Superboy and Power Ring, "Could you truthfully handle him if you were ready for him?"
"He's tough," replied Superboy grimly, "I can take him though."
"Maybe, but . . well, brute force wasn't working so well against him," cautioned Power Ring.
"I think I might be able to handle him, but Power Ring, you will have to help cover me," decided Aqualad, "Robin, is Kobra a serious threat?"
"Sure, but he's not superpowered, just highly skilled. Landing a hit might be hard," answered the Bird, "But I think I can manage him."
"I'll trust you can," said Aqualad, he looked over at the speedster, "Kid Flash you were effective against the cultists, keep us clear by continuing to be so. We also must disable the helicopter. Superboy, smash it if you can, but Miss Martian, take some C4 from Robin and plant it inside. Just in case."
"What about this Sportsmaster?" asked Miss Martian hesitantly.
"And me?" inquired Nate.
Aqualad hesitated, "Nathan, do you think you can take Sportsmaster?"
Nathan thought back to the warehouse and his experiences with Deathstroke, who was currently supposed to be only slightly more skilled than Sportsmaster. And considering Deathstroke had gained a great deal of rep after his last meeting with the mercenary . . .
"With restrictions applied? No. I'm going to get pummeled."
"Restriction–? Ah. Stay with Miss Martian and Superboy then, he will likely try to defend the helicopter. You three can handle him together."
"Sounds good to me."
/
/
The team approached the edge of the jungle cautiously, preparing to assess the situation.
". . . the helicopter is operational exalted one . . ."
"The helicopter is operational," alerted Nate and Superboy in unison.
"One of you has to say jinx," whispered Robin cheekily.
"We have little time. Do you all remember your assignments?" inquired Aqualad.
The Team nodded.
"Good. Kid, start the engagement."
The speedster grinned and threw his goggles on before zipping away from them and slamming into a Kobra cultist and kicking another.
Kobra ordered Sportsmaster to leave with the shipment. However, Superboy leapt ahead of the running group and landed in front of the helicopter causing the mercenary to dive to his left, Superboy taunted The Brute who Aqualad hit with a stream of water, knocking him away. Power Ring stayed beside him, covering him from cultists.
Miss Martian entered camouflage mode, and she flew towards the helicopter. Superboy attempted to smash the side of the vehicle, but Sportsmaster reemerged and began shooting him with a gun that apparently held explosive ammunition.
Nathan immediately charged at him from the side, trying to dislodge the gun from his hand, but the mercenary sensed him and managed to leap up into the air right before they collided, firing into the ground below himself. The bullet missed Nate, but caused an explosion that managed to stun him for just long enough that Sportsmaster could land and kick him backwards, before firing a burst of rounds that impacted squarely in Nathan's chest.
The explosions ripped through his suit, knocked him flat on his back, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Sportsmaster's precision may have been a bit too good, however, as his bullets all impacted square into Nate's sternum which, of course, did not break. He grit his teeth as a wave of pain passed through him. There was no pain where he felt the impact though, instead only around it. Which was not great. Glancing down, he was able to confirm the explosions had dug to the bio-metal-bone and blown a hole in his chest, although it was already starting to heal.
He laid on his back, content to let his body do its thing.
He stared at the night sky for a few minutes, pondering how irritatingly easy he had gone down, before it suddenly took on a green hue. Jessica appeared in his vision, resting on one knee next to him, her ring hand curled in a fist raised towards the sky. A dome quickly formed above them. She looked at him in concern, "I'm not trained in medical, maybe Robin–?"
"I'm fine," coughed Nate, "No need to worry."
She looked at him with disbelieving eyes, "Uh . . . you sure there isn't a little need for worry?" she inquired tentatively, "Your chest is–"
"Healing." An explosion echoed in the night and a few seconds later the dark sky was lit up by fire as the factory exploded. "It'll be fine in a minute," He assured the girl weakly, but confidently. She chewed her lower lip nervously but nodded.
A moment later he heard footfalls coming towards them and struggled to his feet, Jessica stood and dropped the dome, offering her arm to help stabilize him, though he waved her off. The rest of the team approached them.
"Yikes, you ok dude?" asked Kid Flash, wincing as he looked at the chest injury, which was no longer a hole, just a bad burn.
"Yeah, I'm good."
Robin on the other hand, looked at his rapidly healing wound with interest, "Cool . . . Well, that aside, I can confidently say . . . We picked the right leader," He turned to Aqualad and gave him a smile, which changed into a smirk, "Which also makes you the perfect person to explain this mess to Batman!"
The bird walked off towards the factory cackling.
/
/
"A simple recon mission"
The team was back at the mountain. Having assured that nothing had survived the fire, they had returned to the bioship and gone to report to Batman. Who was now pacing in front of them.
Batman looked them each in the eye with his own white lenses, staring into their souls, which tried to flee, "You were to observe and report."
He walked away from them, "You will each receive a written evaluation detailing how you went wrong and the necessary corrections you can and will make," he stated crisply, he stopped and turned to look back at the group as a whole.
"Until then . . . well done." The team looked at him in surprise.
"It is rare that a battle plan survives first contact," noted Batman quietly, "How you handle unforeseen disruptions and unplanned obstacles determines your success in the field. How you chose your leader helps me determine character."
He assessed them for a moment, his face unreadable, "You have, however messily, completed your first mission. Congratulations, Team."
Batman turned and walked towards a hallway, "You are dismissed."
The group looked at one another excitedly.
"Dude," whispered Kid flash reverently, "We did it! We did it!"
"Yeah we did!" replied Robin delighted, and high fived his best friend, while Aqualad smiled. The Atlantean turned to the other team members, "We all did it. And hopefully we will continue to do more good work."
"Yep," replied Jessica with a grin, "But, uh, can we do that good work in a little bit? I'm tired."
Nathan nodded firmly, "Yeah, that jungle environment was nasty." Superboy grunted in agreement, wrinkling his nose.
Miss Martian smiled at her teammates, but blinked sleepily, "That was a lot more intensive than I thought it would be."
"Why don't we clean up then?" suggested Aqualad, "Perhaps we can discuss our accomplishment afterwards."
The various members voiced their agreements to that proposal, and they adjourned to go take a shower.
/
/
A little while later, the group was clean and had regrouped in the central room. Now that the excitement of their victory had worn off, the original trio was equally as tired as the rest.
Robin ran his hand through his hair, "Maybe we can postpone a celebration?" he asked drowsily, "I think I want to sleep."
"Sounds good to me," yawned Kid Flash before tuning towards the Zeta tube, "I'm heading home, see-ya guys."
Recognize: Kid Flash, B-03
As the various members not living in the cave turned to the Zeta-tube to go home, Nate paused, "I think I forgot something in the locker room guys," he stated slowly, "I'm going to go back to get it. Good night."
"Good night," responded Kaldur. Jessica waved, and Robin nodded to him.
He walked down the hallway leading to the showers, as he heard the Zeta-tube announce the departure of the others. He listened carefully as Superboy and Miss Martian went to their respective bedrooms, quietly saying good night to each other. But despite Robin going home, and the time between the showers, he had failed to hear the Zeta-tube announce one particular name.
He turned back and walked down various hallways until he found the man he was looking for, seated in a conference room, typing on a screen.
"You have a concern," stated Batman quietly, not looking away from his work.
"Yeah. I do," answered Nate, not terribly surprised the man guessed his intentions. Batman stopped his typing and turned his chair to face Nate, leaning forward with steepled fingers.
"And what is your observation? Such that it could not be aired in the debriefing?"
Nathan hesitated and gathered his thoughts, "During our first engagement on the island," he started, "Jessica only became involved at the conclusion, despite being with the rest of the group at the start."
"She intervened to assist you," noted Batman, "You said so yourself, and her reaction did not indicate you were covering for her."
"I'm more concerned about what delayed her," replied Nate, "She had an elevated heart rate, erratic breathing, I saw her hands shake." He narrowed his eyes at the vigilante who showed no signs of surprise or concern. His next sentence verified his suspicion.
"She had a panic attack," confirmed Batman, gauging his response, although Nate's own assessment was hampered by the man's mask.
"Why."
"Jessica experienced trauma prior to–"
"I don't really care why she had an attack," interrupted Nate, "But I do want to know why she had it on a mission." He pointed his finger at the Dark Knight, "One that you sent her on."
"She recovered, and remarkably fast, did she not?"
"Yes, but there were live rounds being fired," countered Nate, "She could have been killed," He was surprised by the apparent callousness present in Gotham's Dark Knight.
"She wasn't. In fact, she made significant strides and fared better than I thought she would, despite the fact the recon mission became no such thing," noted Batman calmly, "If you intend to request her removal from the team, you can save yourself the energy, her incident was singular and did not hinder the Team's overall efforts,"
"I'm not complaining that she'll slow us down," disputed Nathan, "I just don't really want a girl to die because you put her on a team to make your son happy."
"Jessica is on the Team because she asked to be," clarified Batman sharply, "Your concern is admirable and commendable, but she will remain until she wishes to leave." The vigilante closed the screen still open on the table without looking, "I acknowledge that you have reasonable misgivings, since I had similar ones," He stood up, "Jessica, however, has my confidence. It was hard to gain, but she will not lose it easily."
Batman began to walk towards the door, "If you do not trust me, which I assume, I will not stop you partnering with her on missions, but she will be on future missions," he turned around at the door frame and his white lenses narrowed, "I consider this matter closed."
Nathan hesitated, he disliked the idea of Power Ring being a part of the team grudgingly, but Batman directly stated that was not the case. If she firmly believed she could handle it, and Batman wasn't going to remove her, then that left him with little motivation—and nothing to gain—by arguing further with the man, so he simply nodded reluctantly.
Batman left without another word. The Zeta-announced his departure a few moments later.
Nathan sat down at the conference table and contemplated the mission and post mission, before finally standing up and walking to the zetas.
/
/
/
This chapter had to be revamped a little, mostly the end conversation. Not going to lie, Nate got dropped as quick as he did against Sportsmaster because past-me got tired and didn't want to write a fight.
Also: please ignore how hella fast Power Ring recovered from her panic attack.
I had one after I almost drowned and know that stuff lingers, but its plot magic.
Best in-story explanation I have is that she's a kind-of-sort-of-not-really-Green-Lantern.