The Bioship silently landed among the trees. Artemis turned her vigilant gaze away from the building her friends were trapped in as she heard the slightest rustle of leaves and felt a breeze that didn't belong. As an archer she needed to know the wind speed and direction. She gracefully dropped down to the ground below the tree she had settled in.
"Artemis, are you near?" Kaldur's voice called out softly.
"I'm here Kaldur," Artemis confirmed and followed the voice. She blinked in surprise. Standing before the camouflaged Bioship was a group of people other than Kaldur and Rocket. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable smiled at the blonde archer. Rose, Jake's girlfriend was also present beside Spud. Maddie and Jazz Fenton came as well Tucker and a teenaged girl in a red and black suit.
"Jack and Jimmy are working on a cure but we need more tests to know how the energy is affecting Danny," Maddie explained, noticing that the archer was surprised not to see more Fentons.
"Have you heard anything from Jake?" Kaldur inquired. Artemis nodded.
"He's with Danny. But the thing is, Danny's been ordered to guard Jake and to raise the alarm if he sees any of us," Artemis explained.
"Anything else?" Kaldur prompted worriedly.
"Klarion has a crystal ball. Danny has orders to protect it with his life and if he gets it, to take it to Klarion immediately. Oh! Also, if someone says Teekl is the cutest pussy-cat ever, Danny isn't allowed to hurt them," Artemis recalled.
"Makes sense, giving Danny a command in case he attacks the Light, even by accident," Rose muttered. The others nodded slowly in agreement.
Kaldur scanned his new teammates. He knew a little about their fighting capabilities but he felt it was a good idea for everyone to hear each other's abilities.
"I think we should share what our powers or abilities are with each other. You can call me Kaldur. I have Atlantean magic and can form weapons constructed from water," Kaldur began.
"Artemis, I'm an archer. I know how to fight hand to hand too, but I'm more a ranged fighter," Artemis resumed, following her leader's example.
"I can use kinetic energy. I can form shields and throw blasts of energy," Rocket added, putting a hand up slightly to draw everyone's attention.
"Kim Possible. I am a martial arts expert and as you all probably know, I used to save the world on a weekly basis. I retired for college but I'm here to help Danny any way I can. Might be a bit rusty though," Kim introduced herself.
"Ron Stoppable. Side kick. I can run fast and I'm great at being the distraction. I also have mystical monkey powers. Rufus here is pretty good with machines," Ron explained, pulling his pet naked mole rat out of his pocket.
"And we have Wade on standby," Kim interjected, lifting her high-tech watch into view. The screen flickered on and showed a young teen behind a computer screen who waved.
"Spud, I'm a secret child genius. Jake's my bro," Spud announced calmly before turning to Rose. Rose sighed and crossed her arms.
"My skill set is a little more complicated to explain. I was trained from birth by a group called the Huntsclan. I was one of the best. But there were these Aztec skulls. If you gathered them all together you could make a wish that would happen, no matter how big. I wanted to leave the Huntsclan, for reasons I can't tell you. I wished that the Huntsclan were all destroyed and someone else wished that the Huntsclan never took me. I lost all my memories until I met Jake last summer. He jogged my memory and all that training came back to me. I'm a Huntsclan weapon expert and I can fight, really well. I'm also well versed on magical creature weaknesses," Rose explained carefully. The Young Justice members present shared a glance, suddenly realising why Robin and Batman never found any evidence of Rose being trained.
"Jazz Fenton. I'll be honest, I'm pretty new to the ghost hunting stuff and I haven't got great aim. Actually, I'm always catching Danny by accident. But I know psychology. If that helps, then I'm here," Jazz introduced herself with a shrug.
"Tucker Foley. Techno-geek and current mayor of Amity Park. I have experience fighting with Danny and Sam in ghost fights. I'm not as good as Sam, but I'm better than most," Tucker admitted.
"Maddie Fenton. Danny's mom. I'm a ninth degree black belt and I've worked most of my adult life with ghost weaponry and ectoplasm," Maddie informed them all, despite being the only adult, she did accept that Kaldur was the leader.
"I'm um… the Red Huntress, but I guess you guys can call me Val. I have a couple of year's ghost hunting. I'm also a ninth degree black belt. I have spent most of my ghost hunting career gunning for Danny. I have the most experience fighting him, although, he's always held back," Valerie Gray concluded anxiously. Since learning Danny's secret, Valerie knew she had done terrible things to him and felt exceptionally guilty for her actions now. This was an opportunity to make amends for some of those wrongs.
Kaldur nodded at his new teammates and turned to Artemis.
"Are you still connected to Miss Martian?" he asked. Artemis smiled and nodded.
"I'll ask her to link you guys up," Artemis replied and waited for Kaldur to nod.
"Back up's here. M'gann link them up," Artemis announced.
"Who came?" Danielle wondered seconds before Rose, Spud, Maddie, Tucker and Valerie flinched from the telepathic connection.
"Ah, that's so weird," Valerie groaned mentally.
"You get used to it. Quick warning all thoughts are transmitted over the mind link," Kim commented, having been part of a mind link before.
"Kim! Valerie! You guys are here!?" Sam exclaimed in surprise.
"Thanks Manson. Blow my secret identity why don't you," Valerie grumbled.
"Are you all alright?" Tucker interjected worriedly.
"Yeah. We're fine. Thanks for coming Tuck," Sam confirmed.
"Well, Sam's hurt actually," Zatanna corrected carefully.
"How!?" Maddie demanded worriedly.
"It wasn't his fault. Danny blasted me and I got hit. It's nothing. It's just a burn," Sam explained reluctantly.
"Not what Danny said. He seemed to think it was pretty serious," Jake recalled.
"Jake! Are you okay?" Rose inquired.
"Fine. But er… Klarion put this bracelet on me that Danny isn't allowed to touch it and I can't get it off. Until it's off, I can't really help," Jake admitted.
"Alright. Let's clear the mind link. What do we know? And I want everything," Kaldur declared firmly.
"Sorry Kaldur," a few voices chorused sheepishly.
"Okay. Danny is being controlled by a spell. The spell involves a crystal ball and we think it's a variation of blood magic and vessel magic. Danny can't disobey a direct order but he can resist for a time. Klarion and Cheshire can give him orders," Robin reported.
"Danny has to call Klarion master and he can't lie to Klarion. He's also been ordered to protect the crystal ball with his life and if he gets the crystal ball, he has to give it Klarion, immediately," Jake added.
"Resisting orders hurts Danny. And he can't resist if he's in his ghost form," Sam informed the others.
"Dunno if you guys know this but he's been told to raise the alarm if he sees us and if you say Teekl is the cutest pussy-cat ever, he isn't allowed to hurt you," Danielle resumed.
"Wait, can we find out who's involved with that order? It might just be you guys that he has to raise the alarm for," Kim interjected.
"Hang on. I'll ask," Jake muttered.
"Ask?" Valerie repeated in confusion.
"Jake's in the same room as Danny. But the door's locked, Danny's not allowed to touch the door or leave the room without Klarion or Cheshire. He's actually not allowed to say some of the orders we've told you but Robin figured out that Danny could write them down," Artemis explained.
"Why isn't he in the mind link?" Jazz wondered.
"He's worried that if he is, the rest of us in the mind link might become bound to the spell or his orders. He also wants to be kept out of the loop so that if Klarion asks him anything, he won't be able to betray us," Artemis answered.
"He's not sure. He could be able to stretch the order to only mean the guys in cages and me but he said it might not be just us," Jake reported.
"Exact wording?" Robin prompted.
"His friends," Jake instantly supplied.
"Then who doesn't he consider a friend?" Rocket suggested.
"He's never really met me. I probably wouldn't count," Rose pointed out.
"He might not consider family friends too," Jazz commented thoughtfully.
"He doesn't really know me either," Rocket added. Kaldur nodded.
"Robin, can you send us a map of the complex with your and Danny's locations marked?" Kaldur requested.
"Hang on. Tucker, you open for a wireless transfer?" Robin replied.
"Yeah," Tucker confirmed and pulled out his PDA.
"I am too," Spud interjected.
"I can get Wade to open a wireless transfer too," Kim added. Kim pulled her wrist to her face and tapped a button, turning the screen on.
"Wade, can you open a wireless transfer for Robin to send you a map of the building?" Kim asked.
"Sure can. I've been itching to use this computer for more than working on my hologram project," Wade agreed eagerly.
"Sending. Password to decode it is Nightwing," Robin announced.
"Nightwing?" Wally repeated.
"I'm… thinking of going solo. Toying around with new names," Robin confessed nervously.
"Like Red Arrow?" Conner clarified.
"Good for you Rob. Have you told Batman yet?" Wally replied, clearly Robin nodded.
"Not yet. I dunno how he's gonna take it. We both always assumed I'd one day take over from him but I don't want that anymore," Robin muttered.
"Can we keep the mind link clear please? We can discuss this later. But Robin, I'm sure Batman will accept your decision if it makes you happy," Kaldur interrupted.
"Got it," Tucker announced.
"It took you that long?" Spud remarked, glancing up from the laptop he pulled out of his backpack.
"Yeah… why, how long did it take you?" Tucker replied carefully.
"I got on a minute before you," Spud admitted.
"Then I beat both of you. I got it and I've sent a copy of the map to the website. It's IP sensitive so only people in your location can open it. I can password protect it too. Done! Same password, Nightwing," Wade bragged.
"He wasn't part of the mind link," Rose pointed out in confusion.
"Boy genius Rose. He probably hacked in, or followed Tucker and Spud's progress," Kim retorted calmly. Kaldur raised a surprise eyebrow.
"Did you hack in?" he inquired worriedly. If a teenager could hack into Robin's tech, that meant the Bat Cave, Mount Justice and maybe even the Watchtower were compromised.
"No I hacked Spud. He was faster than Tucker and no one told me the password," Wade confessed.
"My tech isn't outdated!" Tucker growled defensively.
"No one's saying that," Spud soothed casually.
"But we're all thinking it," Valerie mumbled to herself.
"I heard that!" Tucker snapped. Valerie flinched, having forgotten the mind link.
So the new rescue team to save Danny and the first rescue team. But at least this team has info about what's going on, unlike the first team.
Any theories on what might happen in rescue attempt 2?
Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.
Happy Easter everyone! Sorry for the late update.
Until the next chapter.
