Disclaimer: I do not own YJ, they belong to DC. I own Mia!
Mount Justice
July 22, 12:00 EDT
Mia, for once, took the zeta tube from an old phone booth behind her building to get to the Cave. When she stepped in, the computer analyzes her "Recognized: Blink, B04" and she arrives at the Cave to see Robin standing there waiting for her.
"Hey Rob" Mia started walking towards him.
"Hi Mia" Robin spreads his arms out waiting for a hug.
She chuckles and goes in for the hug. After they hugged, Robin hands her a bag that she didn't noticed he had.
"Rob, you know it's not my birthday" "Why is he giving me a present?"
"Actually I didn't know that."
*Gasps* "For once the Boy Wonder doesn't know something? Wow. This needs to be recorded for the history books."
"Ha ha very funny. I'll find out soon enough, trust me."
"Yeah, good luck with that. So what's in the bag?" Mia curiously looks at the bag.
"Why don't you open it and find out" Robin states confidently.
Mia eyes him suspiciously and cautiously places her hand inside the bag. Her fingers gently brushed against a soft fabric, so she grabs it and pulls it out. Mia was speechless when she saw what she was holding: a superhero suit. The suit is a one piece with short sleeves, reaching mid-thigh and a cowl attached to it, the colors are gold with silver lines around it like paint strokes, as well as being lightly padded with Kevlar.
"Rob, h-how? Why?"
"Courtesy of Batman. We thought it was time you needed a suit. There's more in the bag."
Mia looks in and sees a pair of short ankle boots and a pair of fingerless gloves with the same pattern on them as her suit. She clutches the suit and bag close to her then her body starts to shake a little. Robin looks at her with concern and hears sniffles.
"Mia you ok?"
She quickly nods and wipes away her tears before looking at Robin with a watery smile "Yeah I'm ok" *sniffles* "It's just been a long time since someone's given me a present."
Mia laughs a little. Robin looks at her with a brokenhearted look "What happened to you Mia?" Before either could say a word the computer announced someone's arrival "Recognized: Kid Flash, B03." Wally walks in to see Mia crying and Robin looking guilty. He zooms straight to Mia's side and looked at her worriedly then glares at Robin.
"Dude did you make Mia cry?"
"I didn't do it on purpose!" Robin exclaims.
"Wally" Mia places a hand on his shoulder "It's not his fault. I was the one who got emotional and sappy over this" she holds out her suit.
"You finally got a suit?!" Wally exclaims.
"Yeah" she sheepishly says.
"Well it's about time!"
"I know right?" Mia glances at Robin "Tell Bats I said thanks."
"Sure thing."
They spent the rest of their time hanging out and Mia was able to get in a few sketches of the two best friends. She takes them to her room and they were stunned to say the least. Her room at the Cave was a mess but somehow it seemed to express her personality perfectly. They looked at a few of her paintings, some had dollar signs on them while others didn't.
"Hey Mia what's with the dollar signs?" Wally asks.
"Oh those are the ones I sold."
"For how much?"
"Depends on the person who's buying."
"Hold on. You're telling us that people just pay you whatever they feel like?" Robin asks.
"Pretty much. See that sunrise one" the boys turned to look at it "Painted it the morning of the Mr. Twister disaster and sold it the next day for $50 grand to Bruce Wayne" Mia explains.
"What?!" the boys yelled.
"It's true. Wayne buys most of my stuff and he introduced some other people to my work so now I've got a list of clientele ranging from the rich and powerful to the common person. On the list is some guy named Oliver Queen and some reporter from the Dailey Planet who's name escapes me at the moment plus some other people."
The boys were shocked to say the least since they know exactly who Oliver Queen and the reporter from the Dailey Planet are. Robin had no idea that Bruce was buying her paintings, he knew the artist but never placed a face to the name "Why didn't Bruce tell me?"
A few hours had passed and Batman calls them over for a mission. They suited up and went to Isla Santa Prisca.
Caribbean Sea
July 22, 20:08 ECT
Everyone was silent as they mentally prepared themselves for their first mission.
"We're approaching Santa Prisca" M'gann announces.
As they made their way to the island, Mia remembers what Batman told them.
Flashback
"Isla Santa Prisca. This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neurosteroid, a strength enhancing drug sold under the street name venom. Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating at full capacity but all shipments of venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in" Batman turns to look at them "This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will" Batman pulls up a map of the island "The plan requires two drop zones."
"So who's in charge?" Robin asks.
Batman and Red Tornado look at each other then back at them.
"Work that out between you" Batman says.
Everyone but Mia left to get ready for the mission and Batman notices.
"Do you really think I'm ready for this Batman? I mean the others know what they're doing and all I can do is teleport plus I'm not a good fighter as the others."
"Amelia."
Mia looks up to see Batman giving her a look that says You're ready. She nods and turns to leave. However she stops for a second and runs back to hug Batman.
"Thanks Bruce" she softly said in his chest then runs to get ready.
End of Flashback
"Drop zone A in 30" M'gann announces.
Kaldur stands up and turns on his suit's stealth mode "Ready."
"Putting bioship in camouflage mode."
As they got closer to the island, a hatch appears on the floor of the bioship and Kaldur plunges into the sea. He quickly makes his way to the shore and when he reaches it, he jumps out of the water and runs to the heat and motion sensor weapons. Once he took care of it he presses his comm "Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."
The bioship flies over to the next drop zone.
"Drop zone B" M'gann announces.
Everyone stood up and M'gann lowers the safety lines. Robin clips it to his belt, Wally does the same and turns on his suit's stealth mode then looks back at M'gann "How cool is this?"
"Very impressive" M'gann answers then morphs her clothes into stealth mode.
"Uh, that works too. Hey, Supey, Mia, not too late to put on the new stealth tech."
"Got it covered Kid" Mia proclaims as she presses her suit. The normal gold and silver colors changed to black and grey making her look like a stormy night.
"No capes, no tights. No offense" Superboy states crossing his arms.
"It totally works for you…in that you can totally do good work in those clothes" M'gann babbles like an idiot and gives Superboy a thumbs up.
He gives her a weird look then turns away. M'gann covers her head with her hood in embarrassment and goes into camouflage mode.
Mia stifles a laugh "Meg you're as bad as Wally."
"Not now Mia."
"Fine but we will talk about this."
The hatch opens and M'gann, Wally and Robin were the first ones to exit. They land on the ground quietly and when they glanced up, they scrambled out of the way as Superboy lands on the ground hard creating a small hole.
He stands up with a smug look "Knew I didn't need a line."
"You could've fooled me" Mia retorts appearing next to him with her arms crossed.
"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert" Robin complains.
"Aqualad, drop B is go" M'gann states in the comms.
'Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP' Kaldur orders.
"Roger that" Robin says.
The five of them took off to the factory. As they're making their way, the path leads them behind a waterfall and Mia was doing good for a rookie. "Well so far so good" Mia thought as she walks down the path then she slips and falls "Or not!" she whisper yells. Superboy sees her falling and before he could jump to save her, she teleports herself appearing in front of Wally. Wally jumps back a little while Superboy picks up his pace to get to Mia.
"You good?" Superboy asks.
"Yeah just a little shaken up. I'm good."
"You sure?" Wally asks.
"Yes Kid."
The trio continued to follow Robin. He leads the group through the jungle and as they're walking, Superboy stops.
"Did you hear that?"
"Uh, no. Wait. Is this a super hearing thing?" Wally asks.
"No Kid, he's just saying that to scare us. Of course it's a super hearing thing!" Mia whisper yells.
"You do have great ears" M'gann dreamily said.
"Meg do I have to get you a napkin?"
"Why?"
"Because you're practically drooling over Superboy."
"I am?!"
"It's a figure of speech Meg. You're not really drooling over him, it means that you like him…... a lot."
"Oh…uh.."
"We'll talk later."
"Okay, Rob, now what?" Wally turns to Robin but he's gone "Man, I hate it when he does that."
"I'm telling you guys, we need to put a bell on that boy" Mia remarks.
'Superboy, Kid, switch to infrared. See if you're being tracked' Kaldur orders through the comms.
Wally pulls down his goggles and switched it to thermal mode "Got a squad of armed bozos incoming."
The four head down the path and hid behind a fallen tree and a boulder.
"Two squads. But they'll meet each other before they find us" Superboy states.
Soon gunshots can be heard and Mia freezes at the familiar sound.
"No super hearing required now" Wally claims.
'Swing wide, steer clear' Kaldur orders.
"Y-yeah, just as soon as I find Rob" Wally says as he runs down the muddy path.
M'gann and Superboy looked annoyed then noticed that Mia hadn't said a word about Wally's behavior. They turn to see Mia frozen like a deer in headlights. M'gann places a hand on Mia's shoulder and Mia jumps at the sudden contact.
"You ok?"
Mia looks at M'gann "Wha-uh yeah I'm good. L-let's go get Kid out of trouble."
Right as Mia said that, they heard Wally grunting and groaning as he stumbles down the path.
The two groups ceased fire when they heard Wally coming down. He ends up in front of Bane and playfully scolds himself "So much for the stealthy."
Bane open fires at Wally as well as the rest of the armed goons. Wally gets up and dodges the bullets being fired at him. Superboy goes after Bane and punches the guy into a tree. Wally continues to dodge bullets in trees then Robin jumps down onto two goons and fights them complaining "Hyah! What is wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?"
"Seriously Rob?" Mia complains as she takes down a goon "Thank you Uncle Ted."
"That's what you were doing? Way to fill us in. We're not mind readers, you know" Wally states then turns around to see M'gann floating there after taking out some thugs "Er, I'm not anyway" Wally finishes.
"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds" M'gann says.
A Kobra thug was escaping and before Robin could stop him, Kaldur appears and electrocutes the guy. They tied up the goons to two trees and took the time to rest for a bit.
"I recognize those uniforms. They belong to the cult of The Kobra" Robin states.
"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's venom operation" Kaldur concludes.
Mia tunes out the conversation for a bit as a flashback flashes before her from the sound of gunshots. She remembers seeing blood, a gun, and a body dropping in front of her as if it was trying to protect her. A figure looms over her and she looks up to see a man in a black and white mask and a cruel smile on his face. The last words he said to her, she never forgot "Nos encontraremos de nuevo Pequeña Rosa"* and an evil laugh.
Mia was snapped out of her trance when she hears a familiar voice "No i-it can't be" she turns to see who it was and when she did, cold water ran through her veins "It's him." With angry tears in her eyes, Mia marches towards Bane and when she stopped right in front of him she slaps him hard. Superboy was surprised that Mia slapped Bane but Bane wasn't so surprised, in fact he laughed at her.
"Ai mami, that hurt" Bane playfully said.
"Cállate tú hijo de puta" Mia responds in Spanish.*
"Do I know you chica?" Bane stares into Mia's big doe like eyes and smiles at her "Mi mi, pequeña Rosa es todo crecida. Se ven bonitos al igual que su madre."*
Mia was frozen stiff at what Bane told her and Superboy walks over to Mia pulling her away from Bane. He laughs grabbing the others attention.
"Such clever ninos. But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
M'gann kneels down trying to read Bane's mind "There is a secret entrance but he's also hiding something."
"Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane is not that easy."
"Oh. He's mentally reciting football scores en Español. This could take a while" M'gann states.
Mia steps up to Bane again and grabs the scruff of his shirt threatening him "Talk or I'll make you talk tu pedazo de basura."*
She had to be pulled away by Kaldur and Superboy. Once they did, Superboy keeps her in place by gripping her shoulders tightly. Bane laughs at Mia then looks to the others.
"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"Don't you dare trust a word that comes out of his mouth!" Mia yells.
"Blink, enough" Kaldur orders.
She listened but still glared daggers at Bane. Robin unties Bane and he shows them the way. They reached a cliff that overlooks the factory down below.
"Look at all that product. A buy is going down. But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspect, then-" Robin starts.
"We need to identify that buyer" Kaldur finishes.
"Just what I was thinking" Wally states.
Again Mia tunes out the boys' petty argument "Idiots" then notices Bane was gone. She turns to see him walking to a boulder.
"What do you think you're doing?"
He moves the boulder away revealing the secret entrance saying "Answers are this way" and he starts walking in. The Team follows him with Wally complaining "So now, El Luchador is our leader."
As they walked down the mine shaft, Mia walks besides Kaldur trying to put as much distance as she possibly could between her and Bane. Kaldur notes how rigid Mia was walking and whispers "Are you alright?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?!" Mia whispers back snapping at Kaldur *sighs* "I'm sorry Aqualad."
"It is ok to be nervous."
"I'm not nervous."
"Then what is it?"
"Let's just say that I'm not fond of the company we have."
"Bane?"
"Don't trust him, he's a rat" she whispers then yells out "Bane tu eres um burro!"*
Bane laughs "Pequeña Rosa, no creo que tu madre como le habla así."*
Mia growls and went to lunge at him but Kaldur held her back. They reached a door and Bane places his thumb on the fingerprint scanner then the door opens. Bane opens the next door and Robin takes a peek to make sure that the coast was clear.
"All clear" he says.
They followed him to the point behind some large pipes and he disappears.
"Has the fool already been caught?" Bane asks.
"No, he just does that" Kaldur said in an annoyed tone.
"I'll say it again. 'Put a bell on that boy'. This disappearing act is getting old" Mia complains.
"Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before the Boy Wonder" Wally says then zips away.
"Wait, Kid!" Kaldur whisper yells.
"Great chain of command" Bane sarcastically said.
"Aqualad" he looks to Mia "Permission to grab Stupid 1 and Stupid 2 back."
"Granted."
Mia visualizes herself by Robin's side and teleports to wherever he is. Bane was surprised to see that Mia had powers and lets out a small chuckle thinking "Heh. Looks like Little Rosa has powers."
Robin heads to the monitor room. When he reaches it, he throws a bird-arang into the computer next to the Kobra thug releasing knock out gas. The thug passes out and Robin pushes him off the seat. A few seconds later Mia shows up behind him.
"I'm getting real tired of your disappearing act Rob."
"Oh hey" Robin said not taking his eyes off the computer.
Mia walks up to him and takes a seat next to him. Silence fills the room and the only sound that can be heard is the clicking and clacking of the computer keys.
"So what's the deal between you and Bane?"
"I don't know what you're talking about" Mia looks away.
"Don't think I didn't notice you slapping and threatening him back there. Not to mention you calling him a donkey."
"Not the word I'd use."
"Tch. No kidding but still-"
Before Mia could answer Robin, Wally zooms in eating a protein bar.
"What you got? Hey Blink."
"Hey."
"Chemical formulas. I'm guessing it involves venom, but…" Robin states.
"Well, let's see" Mia offers as all three look at the screen.
Pointing the formulas Wally says "This one's venom, and that one's-Whoa. The blockbuster formula from Cadmus."
"What? Why?" Mia asks.
"Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times stronger than venom…and permanent. But how did Kobra get access to project blockbuster?" Wally asks.
"Maybe he said 'Pretty please with a snake on top'" Mia remarks.
"Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier! Using the cult to create a blockbuster venom super formula. Robin to Aqualad, we got…static" Robin announces.
"Must be a frequency jammer. Whoever's coming, Kobra doesn't want anyone listening in on them and stopping the buy" Mia concludes.
"So what do we do?" Wally asks.
"Well I'm taking you two back to Aqualad and we'll go from there."
"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened between you and Bane" Robin demanded.
"You know…I've been wondering about that myself" Wally states.
"Guys this isn't the time for this! We've got a mission to complete."
They gave her determined looks and she lets out an agitated sigh.
"Fine, I'll tell you. He.."
Back with the others, M'gann was in camouflage mode watching the buy going down.
"Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now."
M'gann sends the image to Kaldur and when he received it, he was surprised.
"Sportsmaster. He's the buyer? Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read?" *static* "Ugh. Can't reach the League, Robin, Kid or Blink. Comm's jammed. We need a plan, now" Kaldur states.
"I have a suggestion" Bane says.
He jumps down from the catwalk and starts attacking Kobra thugs which grabs everyone's attention.
"What is he-" Kaldur got cut off when Mammoth comes in through the windows and destroys the catwalk.
"Destroy them" Kobra ordered and his followers attacked the trio.
Superboy and Mammoth go at it while Kaldur dealt with the thugs firing at him and Bane disappears. M'gann flies in and starts pushing Kobra thugs aside with her powers. As she does this, Sportsmaster throws a javelin at her and when she dodges it the thing explodes sending her back on top of a large cellar. Robin, Wally and Mia made their way down the catwalk and stopped to see what was going on.
"Looks like they started to party without us" Mia retorts and teleports herself down to the fight.
The fight continues as Kaldur and Wally take cover from the guns.
"Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!" Kaldur orders.
"Everyone online?" she asks.
"Yeah" Superboy grudgingly said.
"You know it, beautiful" Wally flirted.
"Wally!" Mia scolds.
"Good. We need to regroup" Kaldur orders.
"Gladly" Mia answers.
"Busy now" Robin complains.
"Are you kidding me?!" Mia complains as she takes out a Kobra thug muttering "Thank you Uncle Ted."
"Robin, now!" Kaldur demanded.
As the fight goes on, Kaldur takes out a few more thugs ordering "Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path."
Kid follows the order and all six made it back to where they entered the factory with Superboy not too far behind. As they're running down the mine shaft Kaldur shouts "Superboy, the support beams!" and Superboy took them out. The walls caved in and a pile of rocks blocked the path between them and the cult. Kaldur takes out a red glow stick and breaks it allowing light to fill the space.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asks.
"You do have the most experience. But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting along side Batman, your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan" Kaldur explains.
"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands" a second of silence "Ah, who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can" Robin concludes.
"Please! I can run circles-" Wally began.
"Wally, come on. You know he's the one. We all do" Robin states.
"Hello, Megan. It's so obvious."
"Could have told you."
"God knows what'll happen if I'm leader" Mia smirks then smiles fondly at Kaldur.
"Ok" Wally says.
Kaldur walks up to Robin stating "Then I accept the burden until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team maybe not now, but soon" Robin nods "Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island."
"Funny. I had the same thought" Robins says.
After finalizing the plan, the Team makes their way down the mine shaft back to the entrance.
"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer. But it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work" Robin states.
"And neither of them have the chops to bond blockbuster with venom. That took some major nerdage" Wally concludes.
"Yeah, no kidding. I bet they can't tell the difference between magnesium and manganese" Mia retorts.
"I believe the expression is 'tip of the iceberg'" Kaldur says.
They reached the entrance and Bane stands in their way.
"Halt, ninos. I'm feeling explosive."
"Tu sucio hijo de puta" Mia exclaims.*
She marches towards Bane but Superboy stops her in time.
"You betrayed us. Why?" Kaldur wonders.
"I want my factory back" Bane started.
"Kid, you'll need a running start" Kaldur orders.
"So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared Santa Prisca would be mine once more."
"I told you Aqualad, he's a rat" Mia sneers at Bane.
"Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect. Ah Little Rosa, tell your family I said hello."
Bane presses the detonator but it was gone.
"With what? This trigger thingy?" Wally asks showing him the detonator.
Bane turns to go after Wally but M'gann stops him by levitating him in the air. Mia cracks her knuckles and teleports herself in front of Bane. She punches him hard in the stomach and threatens "Don't you ever talk about my family again burro."
She appears next to M'gann's left side and looked satisfied.
"Finally. Drop him" Superboy states and M'gann did. They tied Bane to the tree on the cliff overlooking the factory and left to finish the mission. On the way there, they have a small psychic conversation with Mia.
"What did he mean by 'tell your family I said hello'?" Wally asks.
"Not now."
"Why did he call you Little Rosa?" M'gann asks.
"Meg not now."
"What's going on Mia?" Superboy asks.
"Mia we wish to help you" Aqualad states.
"Mia tell us what's wrong" Robin says.
"ENOUGH!" they got quiet "That's not important right now, what's important is stopping that shipment of Kobra venom from hitting the streets. Once this is over, I'll tell you what happened. So for now, drop it!" and they did.
The Team sees Sportsmaster walking to the helicopter and the plan began. Wally races out and takes out a few thugs grabbing everyone's attention.
"Take the shipment" Kobra ordered Sportsmaster.
Superboy jumps down and looks at Mammoth "Go again?" Mammoth runs at him and gets hit with water "Sorry. Not the plan."
"You're getting better with your snarky comments" Mia's pride shinning.
"Learning from the best" Superboy states.
Sportsmaster starts firing at Superboy and Mia appears behind the villain. She taps his shoulder and he turns to get her but she teleports quickly. Mia did this a few times to him until he finally got a hit on Mia. He continues to fire at Superboy then stops to take down M'gann putting her in a choke hold while he continues to shoot at Superboy. "Well that wasn't nice" Mia thought and went after Sportsmaster.
"Thanks for the workout but I got to fly" he said tossing M'gann into Superboy.
Mia appeared behind Superboy and got knocked down by the Kryptonian. The trio watches the helicopter take off and M'gann shows them the detonator. Mia smirks "Do it." M'gann presses the button and the bomb explodes causing the helicopter to crash into the factory then the factory is destroyed by the fired.
"I hope you saw that burro" Mia looks up at the cliff where they left Bane.
"I am plagued by mosquitoes" Kobra complains.
"Good 'cause this mosquito's mighty concerted over your pain" Robin states then moves back to the Team as they have a face down the Kobra.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Please say the hard way" Mia states.
"Another time, then" he said and disappears into the jungle's shadows.
"I so need to learn how to do that" Mia says.
"You can teleport" Wally reasons.
"So? I want to be mysterious."
Wally doesn't respond to that instead he pats her head.
She looks up at him "Seriously?"
"Yes."
"We picked the right guy to lead" Robin tells Aqualad.
"I don't like that smile of yours Rob" Mia observes.
"Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman" he laughs.
"And there it is" Mia concludes.
On the way back from Santa Prisca, Mia tells them.
"So here's the deal. Eleven years ago I'm walking with my father back home from the market when all of a sudden we're surrounded by the cartel. Of course we get stopped by Bane's group and he himself was there. He stood right in front of my father babbling about a formula or something and when he threatened to take me as compensation my father tried to protect me. My father's reward for protecting me was a GSW to the heart at point blank range. I remember yelling out 'Papi' over and over again then Bane stood over me. He sneers at me but didn't grab me so instead he tells me 'We'll meet again Little Rosa'. After that day, I never saw him again until now."
Mia pulls her legs up to her chest and looks out the window "Back home, Little Rosa was the nickname everyone gave me because of two reasons: it was my middle name and how sweet and loving I acted when I was younger. When I smile everyone goes 'Oh look at Little Rosa' and 'You're smile is so beautiful Little Rosa' but my smile became less and less happy then I stopped smiling when something happened to my family again. After that, I haven't been back home and haven't heard that nickname in a very long time. So now you guys know, that's my story...or at least part of it."
No one knew what to say or do and they all remained silent. Robin leans forward and places a hand on her shoulder. She doesn't move it and continues to stare at the ocean in the dark of the night.
When they reached the Cave, everyone but Mia got up and left the bioship. Mia stayed in the same position the entire and didn't move a muscle. Wally, Kaldur and Robin noticed that Mia didn't exit the bioship so they went after her. They stood around her in concern and she looks up at them with a numb look.
All three helped her stand up and when she placed her weight on her feet, she stumbles a little. Wally and Kaldur caught her and helped her walk out of the bioship. They reached the lounge and laid her down on the couch then Robin places a blanket on top of her. All three shared a look of concern unsure on what they should do so they silently agreed to give her some space. As they walked to the zeta tube platform, the trio pass by M'gann and Superboy. Kaldur stops to tell them "Watch over her" and the duo nods.
Mount Justice
July 23 10:01 EDT
Mia was back to her normal self a little too quickly causing everyone to keep an eye on her discreetly. Batman calls them to the Cave and Mia lets out a sigh.
"Hey Batman. So how's your morning going?" Mia innocently asks but everyone knew there was snarkiness behind it.
Batman doesn't answer her question, instead he chews them out "A simple recon mission, observe and report. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then, good job"
"Did he just complimented us?" Mia asks.
"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads determines character" Batman finishes.
They were dismissed but Mia stayed behind knowing that Batman wanted to talk to her. She looks at him with a determined face.
"I swear I won't tell a soul."
"I know you won't."
"Then what do you have to tell me?"
"Your superintendent William Rogers and his wife, Rose Rogers, are dead."
Mia was frozen stiff and felt the color drain from her face. She could only say one word at a time, still in shock of what he told her.
"How?"
"They were murdered."
"Who?"
"The police doesn't know yet."
"Why?" her voice breaks as tears stream down her face.
"Whoever killed them were searching for you. For you protection, you will remain here for the time being."
Mia lets out a small gasp and found the courage to talk more "Can I still sell my paintings?"
"Yes but discreetly."
"Who's going to pay for the funeral? Their son is overseas and I don't think the Army is going to let him come back to plan the funeral."
"I will."
"Really?" she looks at him with tears in her eyes.
He nods and she rushes over to hug him. Mia hugs him for a few more minutes then runs outside to the beach ignoring everyone's shouts of concern as she ran passed them. She stares out into the ocean and lets out a scream filled with anguish and pain.
"Why does everyone I love die?! Why?!" she screams out to the ocean like it would provide her an answer.
In an undisclosed location, Sportsmaster has an audience with the Light.
"All I recovered is a single ampoule of Kobra venom" he shows them the vial.
"Peute-etre, the drug can be reversed engineered. Mais what about our young heroes? First Cadmus, then Mr. Twister, now, Santa Prisca" a voice with a French accent spoke.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. But three times is enemy action and enemies of the Light must not stand" a second voice said.
"And what of the young girl who is not affiliated with the Justice League?" a third voice asked.
"I sent someone to find her but he wasn't successful, however he did discover her name and I know exactly who she is" a fourth voice states.
Translations courtesy of Google Translate:
"We'll meet again Little Rosa."
"Shut up you SOB."
"My, my little Rosa is all grown up. You look beautiful, just like your mother."
"You piece of trash."
"You're an ass!"
"Little Rosa, I don't think your mother would appreciate you talking like that."
"You dirty SOB."