Hello, people! I hope you guys liked the last chapter. Also, as sad as I am to say this, I won't be able to update for a week. I'm going to camp for the next week, and they won't let me bring anything with internet to update my stories. But, I promise I will be writing in my free time.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice
Tim POV
"Form up. If we go down, we go down fighting." I said as we moved closer to each other to get away from the Beetles.
"I bet that sounded more inspirational in your head." Impulse said, his voice shaking slightly. Well, yeah, it did sound more inspirational in my head.
Both the beetles formed a sword on their arms, and the Green Beetle attacked first. Only he didn't attack us. He attacked Black Beetle.
Green Beetle clashed his sword against Black Beetles, who looked very surprised, and pushed his sword against Black's so hard he was pushed back further into the corn field.
As if all of this wasn't weird enough, Green Beetle motioned his hand upward,... and picked up part of the ground from the earth and threw it at Black Beetle. Almost like M'gann's telepathy.
But it was only dirt Green Beetle threw at Black Beetle, so Black Beetle was able to easily slice through it and clash his sword against Green Beetle's. "Warrior, you dare attack me? You scarab rejects are every where tonight." Black Beetle said with a growl.
"Better to be a reject than a slave." Green Beetle said, making me narrow my eyes at him.
I looked over at Impulse, hoping for an answer. "This guy isn't in the history books." Impulse said, just as shocked as us.
"Then who is he? What is he?" Blue Beetle asked, though I knew all of us were thinking that same exact question.
But through our talk, the fight had continued. Black Beetle swung at Green Beetle, but Green Beetle dodged. By turning part of his body into a snake like tail.
"Density shifting, shaping shifting. All the powers of a martian except for-"
'Heroes of Earth, I have established this link to better coordinate our attack.' Green Beetle's voice said in our heads. I clenched my teeth, scowling at Green Beetle.
"That proves it. This guy is the Green Beetle of Mars." I said, glaring at the Beetle for intruding into my mind.
"Another alien? Do we leave them here to fight it out?" Arsenal asked.
While that would be a smart plan for someone of the Light, it was not a smart plan for someone in Young Justice. So, no, I could not let him fight Black Beetle alone.
When Black Beetle hit Green Beetle with a plasma cannon, making Green Beetle back up into the corn field as fire from the plasma cannon surrounded him, I knew for a fact we couldn't leave him. As much as I didn't trust this guy, I didn't like Black Beetle at all. So, I guess we were helping out Green Beetle.
'Blue, distract Black. Keep him busy. Impulse, take out the fire. Arsenal, use your laser on that plasma cannon. I want it out of commission.'I ordered through the mind link.
Blue flew off to distract Black, Impulse ran off to take out the fire, and Arsenal said, "Be ready to move."
Blue Beetle shot giant staples at Black Beetle, and while it didn't hurt him, it did keep him busy while Arsenal got behind Black and shot his laser at Black Beetle' plasma cannon.
Black turned around and shot another laser at Arsenal. But, because Blue was still distracting him, Arsenal managed to get out of the way without being hurt. Good, the last thing I needed was a teammate going down because he was too slow.
I picked a small compacted bomb out of my belt and threw it at him, then ran towards where the others were so I wouldn't get caught in the explosion. "You know, I find it ironic that you lecture me about blowing up the lab when you blew up a wall to a building and the enemy." Arsenal said as the explosion knocked over Black Beetle.
"And you do realize that if you hadn't blown up the lab I wouldn't have to use the explosives?" I asked as Black Beetle laughed.
"But where's the fun in that?" Arsenal asked with a smirk.
Black Beetle's armor started healing over pale white skin, laughing. "I was hoping that would have had a more lasting effect." Impulse mumbled under his breath.
'Your methods are crude, but you have the right idea. Beetle of Earth, fire your sonic cannon at 27 anctrostroms exactly.' Green Beetle said to Blue.
'My scarab's telling me that tactic won't work.' Blue said, looking at Black Beetle warily.
'For one scarab, that attack would not work. But tonight, there are two. Fire now.' Green Beetle ordered.
Both Blue and Green Beetle fired their sonic cannons at Black Beetle, not only slowing him down, but knocking him back and destroying his suit almost completely. 'Scarab says that he won't stay down for long.' Blue said grimly.
'That is true.' Green Beetle said with a nod.
'Then what do we do now?' Impulse asked. That was a good question.
I didn't trust this guy, but for now he was the only one who knew how to take down Black Beetle. Would it be safe to leave with this guy? 'Now, we run.' Green Beetle said, motioning his hand up. Me and Arsenal were lifted in the air, and we flew away from Lex Corp.
"Where are you taking us?" I asked, glaring at him for picking me up without even asking.
"To your HQ. Where is it?" Green Beetle asked.
I bit my lip, scowling. "We already lost one HQ, I can't bring you there." I said, pressing my comm.
"Nightwing..."
Nightwing POV
"Nightwing, I need to talk to you about something." M'gann said, walking up to me.
"What is it, Miss M?" I asked, turning around in my chair, hoping to stop thinking about Osprey's mission.
"It's just that... well. On the mission to invade the Reach's ship and save the hostages, I read Kaldur's mind." M'gann said, lowering her eyes in shame.
My eyes widened, and I made sure no one else was around before asking, "So you know about the plan?"
"Yes, but that's not what I came here to talk to you about. You see, when I read Kaldur's mind, there... there were thoughts about there being a possible mole on the team." M'gann said, shocking me even more than when she said she had read Kaldur's mind.
"Are you sure? I mean, could they have been thoughts from when he was leader on the team?" I asked, hoping desperately that he was only thinking back to the past for whatever reason.
The news of a mole being on the team nearly ripped us apart last time, and I wasn't sure about what would happen if there was a mole now... "I'm sure, he was thinking about this team, not the original one. I... I didn't get a chance to see who it was he thought was a mole, but I... I just thought you should know." M'gann said, looking down sadly.
She looked like she did when she just came to Earth, unsure and scared. "M'gann-"
"Nightwing. There's been a problem. I can't explain the whole problem now, but basically we ran into Black Beetle at Lex Corp, and another alien showed up during our fight with him. The alien seems to be friendly, but I'm not a 100% sure. But, we needed to go somewhere before Black Beetle finds us again, so where should I tell him to take us?" Osprey asked on the comm system.
"Why would he be taking you anywhere in the first place?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"He's the Green Beetle from Mars. He's using his telepathy to fly us away from Black Beetle. Why do I tell him to take us?" Osprey asked, his voice cold. Almost like Batman's.
I shuttered on the inside at the thought. My possible little brother being like Batman scared me, mostly because he was so bright and happy at the Circus. What happened to make him change?
"They could go down to Smallville. Pa's farm can hide them all there till we know if we can trust the new alien." Conner said as he just walked in.
"Right. Osprey, tell Green Beetle to take you to Mr. Kent's barn in Smallville. We'll meet you there." I said, closing the link.
Tim POV
"Thanks for the use of your barn, Mr. Kent. Until we know more about Green Beetle, we can't afford to bring him to our HQ. We already lost one, we can't lose another." Nightwing said from where he was talking with Kon and Mr. Kent.
"Well, he's not the strangest thing I've had in this barn, and I'll use any excuse to see one of my boys." Mr. Kent said, putting an arm around Kon's shoulder.
I looked away, my eyes staying on the ground angrily. I can't even remember what it was like to have people want me around, and seeing something like Mr. Kent and Kon getting together so well, made me wish I had left.
"My name is Ba'arz, and obviously, I am from Mars." Green Beetle said, attracting my attention.
"Obviously. But it is the Beetle thing we want to know about. How are you connected to the Reach?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously.
"I imagine my experience isn't too dissimilar to yours." Green Beetle said.
"I am what you Earthlings would call an archeologist. 2 earth years ago, I stumbled onto a scarab, which attached it's self to me." Green Beetle said.
"Yeah, that part sounds familiar." Blue said with a grimace.
"Because of the scarab, I learned of the Reach, and what they planned for the galaxy. A malania ago, they sent a scarab to every planet showing signs of primitive life. The scarab takes control of their native host, giving the Reach an advance operative on every planet." Green Beetle said, causing me to look over at Blue.
"That explains why they want to reboot my scarab. It malfunctioned on its way to earth, and wasn't able to take full control." Blue said, everything he heard from the Reach aliens the past few days finally making sense.
"Which leads to the question, why aren't you working for the Reach, too? Did it malfunction like Blue's?" Arsenal asked, both of us narrowing our eyes at him.
I looked around, everyone but me and Arsenal believing his story. Even Nightwing looked like he might consider believing this story, though not as much as the others. "No, but my scarab was not prepared for Martian physiology, allowing me to control the scarab and not the other way around." Green Beetle said, making me narrow my eyes even more.
"None of that explains why you are on Earth."Nightwing said, crossing his arms. I blinked at him, slightly shocked. Okay, maybe me and Arsenal weren't the only ones against Green Beetle.
"For decades, Martian Manhunter has sent communication signals from your world to ours, television signals. They are quite entertaining." Green Beetle said, making me snicker.
"So I guess the rumors are true, Martians do like television." I muttered with a smirk.
"Very much. But when it became clear that the Reach were on Earth, I believed my assistance here would be required." Green Beetle said, making my smirk fade.
"The Justice League will need to confirm your story, but for now, thanks." Nightwing said, turning away and gesturing for me to follow.
I followed, walking next to him while glaring at Green Beetle through the corner of my eye. "You don't trust him." Nightwing noted.
"Give me a reason to trust him. The only thing he did was help us defeat Black Beetle, and I'm sure a guy like that would have a lot of enemies. And I don't care what anyone says, your enemies enemy is not your friend." I said, crossing my arms once we were farther away.
"Fair enough. Besides Green Beetle, how did the mission go?" Nightwing asked with an amused smirk.
"Not quite as planned. Arsenal..." I said, trailing off slightly.
In a strange, bizarre way, me and Arsenal were a lot alike. We both had everything we ever had ripped away from us, then given the crappiest of what was available. And while I was struggling with my own revenge plan, I didn't need to ruin Arsenal's. After all, Arsenal had a good reason to want revenge on Luther. "Is rough around the edges. But it all worked out. And I brought back a sample of the alien additive for analysis." I said, holding up the vial with the Reach additive.
"Can't ask for more. Good work, Osprey." Nightwing said, taking the vial.
"Right." I said, turning to walk away.
Before I could go towards the others, I felt Nightwing's hand land on my shoulder, holding me back. "Osprey, you will have to go lead a squad again. I was wondering, since you have little experience, if you wanted to come here early again for one on one training with me." Nightwing asked, his voice slightly hesitant.
I bit my lip hard, and the taste of copper tasting blood filled my mouth. I haven't been one on one with Nightwing ever since the Circus, and now he suddenly wanted to train with me.
Part of me, the part of me that still wanted Dick as my brother, screamed for me to say 'yes!'. But the other part, the part of me that was mad at him for only seeing me now, yelled at me to say 'hell no!'. "I.. Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt. I can get here two hours before the next meeting, if that will be enough time." I said with a nod, swallowing thickly.
"Yeah, that will be enough time. I'll see you then." Nightwing said with a bright smile that showed how happy he was.
I nodded, and walked away quickly. "Osprey." Superboy said, catching my attention as I just left the barn. How many people were going to stop me before I could actually leave?
"Yes?" I asked, holding back my annoyance at being held back again.
"You do remember what I said about the HQ before the mission, right?" Kon asked, making me shift uncomfortably.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked, looking at the ground.
"That applies to this place to. Pa wouldn't mind if you dropped by. In fact, I think he would like it. He thinks I don't have friends, or something like that." Kon said, rolling his eyes.
"...Yeah, okay. Thanks, Kon." I said before walking to the nearest zeta tube to beam back to Gotham.
It surprising how little things can change a person's mind, because mine changed a lot just then. Ra's, Deathstroke, and even Talia didn't offer me anything like Kon just did.
I bit my lip again, my bottom lip becoming covered with blood.
I thought back to everything the Team offered me, all the things they did for me when they barely knew me. Blue thought he saved my life, Bart went out of his way to becomes friends with me. Kon offered me a place to go to get away from my legal guardians, and Nightwing offered to have private training with me. Yet, none of the people I knew before did anything like this for me, no matter how fond they were of me.
It was official, I couldn't help the Light, not anymore. But I couldn't let the Young Justice Team figure out I had worked for them. And, I wouldn't be able to get the revenge I wanted...
But if it meant that my shitty as hell life changed, than it was worth it.
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