Disclaimer: I do not own YJ, they belong to DC. I own Mia!
Mount Justice
September 23, 06:34 EDT
After nagging to Canary, Mia was finally able to walk around the cave for a bit instead of being in bed. "There's no way in hell that I'm sitting still for 2 weeks. Plus I know the Team will do something stupid, I feel it." The construction of the Cave still continues as Green Lantern John Stewart and Captain Marvel are repairing the hangar while other Leaguers are doing various jobs to put the cave back in tip top shape. Mia arrived in the Mission Room and sat next to Robin. Green Arrow places a bowl of pretzels between Mia and Wally.
"Thanks….but no, thanks" Wally says.
"I've lost my appetite" Mia adds.
"Yeah, what we want are answers about Red Tornado and his siblings" Robin states.
"Exactly!" Wally exclaims.
Green Arrow went to take the bowl away but Wally stops him.
"Leave the bowl" and he starts munching.
Without bothering to ask, Mia starts eating the pretzels and the two of them shared the bowl. As she was eating, Mia strangely felt better. "That's actually really weird." Mia mindlessly eats the rest of the pretzels and when she placed her hand in the bowl she frowned as she realized that it was empty.
Suddenly Conner rushes over to Kaldur, angry.
"You knew?" he still had Kaldur in his grip "That android and his maniac family nearly killed M'gann!"
"Conner, let him go now!" Mia shouts.
Mia runs over to pull him away from Kaldur but he didn't move an inch. "Damn Kryptonian."
"Conner, what are you doing?" M'gann flies over.
"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!"
"You knew?" Robin asks.
"And you didn't tell us?" Wally asks angrily.
Without saying a word, Mia pushes Conner away from Kaldur and she stood in front of him. Narrowing her eyes, she asks Kaldur "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I sought to protect the Team-" Kaldur was cut off.
"Protect us from what? Knowledge that might have saved our lives?" Artemis states.
"You almost died!" Conner told M'gann.
"Enough."
Batman stopped the 'fight' with a single word. Everyone gathers around him.
"With Red Tornado missing, the team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."
"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys" Marvel says.
Mia smiles at Captain Marvel. She glances at Kaldur and a sad smile appears. "I would've done the same thing now that I think about it."
"After I dismantle Red Tornado, you and I are gonna…." Conner threatens Kaldur.
"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League. That makes him a League responsibility. You will leave him to us" Batman narrows his eyes then turns around to show the Team their mission "I have another mission for this team."
"Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerilla Gorilla?" Wally reads the headline.
"Batman please! Tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase" Robin begs.
"I never joke about the mission" the Boy Wonder looks away "I've checked the sources. I've studied the patterns. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out."
Everyone left to get ready then Wally stops in front of him. "Hmph. 'Your team'" Wally spat.
"Oh Wally." Mia lowkey was trying to go with the group unseen but a hand grabbed her shoulder. She turns her head to see Canary frowning at her.
"So close" "Hi Canary" she sheepishly smiles.
"And where do you think you're going?"
"To tell everyone good luck?"
Canary shakes her head "You, young lady, are going straight to the Med Bay. You're not authorized to go back on missions."
"I have to be on this mission. So how….Batman" "Hey Batman" he looks over at her "Am I able to go on the mission?"
"Yes."
Mia looks at Canary "Well you heard the man. I guess I better follow them."
Before she even took a step, Canary blocks her path and glares at Batman.
"Batman you can't be serious."
"She's fine, she can go."
"Last I checked, Mia has massive internal bleeding and not to mention that she's still recovering from the assault resulting in 3 cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a sprained ankle…."
The two continued to "discuss" about Mia's involvement in the mission, Mia was able to slip by without Canary noticing. Mia quickly changed into her suit and jogged to the hangar where everyone was boarding the bioship. She made it just in time to see Captain Marvel talking to Wally and Robin.
"You're coming with?" Robin asks.
"Sure! We'll have a blast" and he heads into the ship.
"Translation, he blames us for the Red Fiasco. Doesn't trust us" Robin states.
"It's a big club" Wally spat out at Kaldur.
Mia frowns at the way they talked to Kaldur. "They are so getting an earful." She walks to Kaldur's side, places a comforting hand on his arm and gently smiles. He looks at her shocked to see her smiling at him.
"I am sorry Mia. I had thought-"
"It's ok Kal. If the roles were reversed, I would've done the same thing. Give the others some time to calm down and to think through from your perspective."
Kaldur sighs then realizes something "Mia, I had thought you were on bedrest for 2 weeks."
Mia starts walking into the bioship "It's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission."
Kaldur shakes his head and follows her.
Northern India
September 23, 21:36 IST
The bioship lands and everyone got out.
"All clear" Robin states.
"Switch to stealth and we'll review mission parameters" Kaldur orders.
"Parameters? We don't need no stinkin' parameters" Wally states.
"It's recon. We know what to do" Robin adds.
"Hey! Watch your tone" Mia scolds.
"Kid, Robin…" Kaldur starts.
"The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us."
"Or did you forget that like you forgot to tell us about the mole?"
"Aqualad only did what he thought was right. You can't blame him for-" Mia was cut off by Robin.
"And what about you?!"
"What about me?" she narrows her eyes.
"You nearly died from teleporting and you're defending him?"
"I'm looking at this from his point of view. It was the right thing to do."
Robin doesn't say anything. Soon he and Wally dashed into the jungle. Mia shakes her head in disappointment. Later M'gann, Artemis and Conner left leaving behind Mia, Kaldur and Captain Marvel.
"Um, did I miss the part where you actually said what the plan was?" Marvel asks.
Before all three walked, Mia had a sudden sensation that someone was watching her. She turns around and saw no one but that didn't mean that someone was there. "I need to check that out alone."
"Hey Aqualad."
"Yes Blink."
"If it's alright with you, I'm going this way" she points to where the feeling came from.
"Stay safe and no unnecessary teleportation unless it's an emergency" Kaldur orders.
"Yes sir" she salutes and smiles.
Just as she turns around and heads for the jungle, Mia overhears Marvel talking to Kaldur.
"I like Mia. She's very sweet and sisterly."
"Mia is our 'big sister'. She cares about all of us, her second family."
A single tear escapes and Mia quickly wipes it away. "Now let's go find out who's watching me like some creeper."
Artemis and M'gann search by the river. Little did they know that something in the water was following them.
Robin and Wally continue making their way through the Indian jungle. Up above them were three large birds hovering, waiting to attack them.
Conner jumps towards wherever he's going while some creatures follow him.
Kaldur and Marvel reached the location of the assault. Marvel studies the ground and saw gorilla footprints and shell casings.
"Guess this is where Mayor Hills' monkey business went down. So at least we confirmed his story, right? Aqualad?"
"My apologies, Captain. I am…..plagued by doubts. Perhaps I was wrong to withhold."
Suddenly they heard leaves moving and they scanned the area. Kaldur looks down to see pebbles bouncing with every heavy step something was making. Out of nowhere, an elephant came charging at them. Marvel takes it head on then got tossed into a tree. A second one appeared to block Kaldur's path and the first one charged at him.
Mia was following her gut to get to wherever she needed to go but she had no idea where she's heading. "Just where am I supposed to go?" She stops when she got the feeling again. Mia scans her surrounding area then felt something prick her neck.
"That better had been a mosquito" she mutters as she checks her neck.
Mia felt the object and pulls it out of her neck. After close examination, she figures out that it was a tranq dart. "Well shit." Soon her vision starts swaying like she's on a boat and felt herself slip into a state of unconsciousness. Just before she passed out, two shadowy figures appeared in front of her. They take of their masks and Mia's eyes widened for a split second. "Miguel, Tulio?" then she's out like a light.
The elephant charges at Kaldur and he jumps out of the way. Marvel was woken up by the sound of a tiger growling and he looks up to see one wearing an inhibitor collar.
Conner's walking around when suddenly a pack of wolves wearing inhibitor collars started to attack him. "Ah great."
As Robin and Wally are on a cliff scanning the area, they heard a screeching sound from above them so they turned to see three giant vultures coming at them.
"I thought vultures only ate dead meat" Robin retorts.
They start running away with the vultures hot on their trail.
"Yeah, these are some very proactive scavengers."
"Proactive and super-sized. You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Kobra-venom?"
"Yeah."
Both dodged the vultures' talons.
A gator jumps out of the river to chomp on M'gann but she stops it with her powers. Artemis notches an arrow to shoot at it but another one came out from under her and grabs hold of her quiver dragging her into the river. The gator flips underwater in order to drown her. M'gann dives in to save Artemis. She takes off Artemis' quiver then shot the gator out of the river and pushed the water back to create a dry space for Artemis to breathe.
"Okay, nearly drowning two nights in a row is way less fun than it sounds" Artemis claims.
Mia's still out cold and her brothers smirked at each other.
"There's the little traitor" Miguel spat out.
Tulio takes off her cowl and got a good look at her.
"She looks just like mom. Heh, no wonder Klarion got confused. It's a shame that we have to kill her."
"Dude, whatever. Let's just get grab her and get out of here."
Just as Miguel picked her up, a low growl was heard. The Twins turned to see a black leopard walking towards them.
"Put her down" Tulio warns.
"It's just a leopard. Kill it and we can go."
"That's not a good idea Miguel. We'll get her again soon enough but for now put her down and let's go."
Miguel scoffs and drops Mia. Tulio shakes his head then glances down at Mia. He brushes her hair out of her face and whispers "We'll see each other again hermana."
When the twins left, the leopard slowly walks over to Mia and purrs. It licks her so she would wake up and she began to stir. Mia raises her head and back away in shock by the black leopard.
"Oh boy" "Easy there kitty."
The leopard made it's way towards Mia and when it stopped, it rubs its head in affection against Mia. She gently scratches it's head and it purrs loudly.
"Aw you're a big softie aren't you?"
It growls in agreement.
"You're going to need a name. How about…." she checks the sex of the leopard and smiles "Do you like the name Lulu?"
She snarls.
"Lola?"
She purrs.
"Alright Lola it is. Come on girl let's get out of here." As the two were walking, Mia frowns and scratches her head. "Did I really see my brothers or was I dreaming?"
Robin continues to dodge the vulture's attack while Wally's running to get out of the vultures' range. He runs and zig zags from tree to tree and rolls himself into a ball to attack a vulture in mid-air. As the vulture crashes, Wally was able to land without getting hurt.
Conner faces off against a pack of wolves when one bites him in the shoulder resulting in getting his shirt torn. After defeating the pack, he goes up against the alpha, a large white wolf.
Captain Marvel pushes the elephant away but later got swatted away by the second elephant's trunk. Kaldur saw around the elephant's neck, an inhibitor collar. He takes out his water bearers and cuts the collar off. The elephant instantly relaxes and leaves Kaldur alone.
"Remove the collar!"
"On it."
Marvel dodges the elephant's trunk and takes out the collar. Just as the collar fell, the elephant stomps on it and destroys it instantly. Soon both elephants left together.
"Pretty sweet the way you figured out the problem was the collars."
"But the collars indicate an intelligence behind this attack. The rest of the team may also be at risk. Team, report status" a high pitch ring was heard "Ugh. Com is jammed. And Miss Martian failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up."
"Actually, you let everyone split up before communications were set."
"They would not listen!"
"I guess. But back at the cave Batman stopped everyone from arguing with one word."
"Because Batman is….Batman."
"Hey, you don't have to tell me. When I first joined the League, all he did was boss me around. And it's hard not to take it personally. But….I never disobeyed an order and that's probably what kept me alive."
"Batman takes command" "Just like Mia" "He has to…for the good of the League. Thank you for helping me understand."
"Hey, Wisdom of Solomon."
"Aqualad, can you hear me?" M'gann asks.
"Yes, Miss Martian. Report."
"Artemis and I were attacked by animals wearing inhibitor collars like those used on convicts at Belle Reve prison."
Marvel wasn't paying attention and saw a tiger hiding in the tall grass.
"Cool, the tiger! I'll be right back!" and he rushes after it.
"Captain, wait!" he sighs "Hey, Speed of Mercury" Kaldur told himself.
Marvel flies after the tiger and when it stopped by a tree, so did he.
"Hey there, mister. Bet you'd like good ol' Cap to take that nasty collar off you, huh?"
When Marvel landed in front of the tiger, it almost looked worried for him like Why did you have to land right there? The collar shocked it causing it to growl in pain and backed away. Marvel took another step and three antennas popped out of the ground and paralyzed him. A gorilla jumps down from the tree and took the good Cap away.
"Miss Martian…I need a telepathic link up with the entire team, now" Kaldur orders.
"Link established."
"Should you really still be giving us orders? And should you really be following them?" Artemis wonders.
"Listen, please" Kaldur begs.
"Oh, good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that" Wally sarcastically remarks.
"Wally do not make me slap you silly upside the head!" Mia warns.
"Hey, Kaldur, K.F. and I were attacked by giant vultures. Course, since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves" Robin adds.
"If he did, he wouldn't tell you" Artemis comments.
"Superboy, are you online or just pouting?" M'gann asks.
"Busy. Call back later" Conner states.
"Did anyone else hear a growl from his end?" Mia asks but no one answers.
She takes a break and sits on a rock with Lola by her side. "They're such whiney little babies. Get over it already" she pouts.
"What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us" Wally comments.
"He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant" Robin adds.
"How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?" Artemis asks.
"Or if Conner doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves?" M'gann adds.
"Did he really think you or I could have been the mole?" Wally asks Robin.
"We've known each other for years!" Robin states.
Mia growls at how much whining everyone is doing and she's had enough of it.
"That's it" "QUIET!"
Everyone got deadly silent. She got up and starts to pace.
"I've had enough of you guys whining and complaining about Kaldur's actions. Yes he did lie to us but only to protect us from potential danger. Do you really want to think about what would've happened if Kaldur didn't know about the mole?" silence "Nothing? Huh and here I thought you guys would jump at the chance to say something. Anyway, once this mission is over we're going to have a very serious talk. Now shut up and listen to Kaldur for once tonight."
"Captain Marvel has been captured and we must act as a team to save him"
"Hmph. Under your leadership? I don't think-" Wally states.
"Wally!" Mia chides.
"This is not up for debate. You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here."
Mia nods in agreement and looks at Lola with a smile. "Come on Lola, let's go show them the newest addition to the team." Lola follows Mia to the rendezvous point.
At a facility where he's being held captive, Marvel opens his eyes and looks around. Someone with a French accent spoke.
"The brain enhancement of this tigre already pays dividends, no? For he has brought us a prize most glorious. Le Capitan Marvel."
"Why can't I move?"
"It is obvious, no? Your collar is set to prohibit le movement from the neck down. I have allowed you to retain the power of speech as your reactions will be instructive during la procedure."
"La procedure? What procedure?"
"I have often pondered the effect of your powers on the cerebral cortex. I long to see le Wisdom de Solomon up close. Monsieur Mallah, prepare for surgery."
Everyone had met up and went to save marvel but they still didn't notice Lola the leopard.
Mia taps Kaldurs shoulder "Hey Aqualad, can I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
"Can I keep her? Please!"
"Keep wh-" Kaldur finally notices Lola and paled a little.
"What are you two do-" Wally sees Lola too "Um, why is there a black leopard next to us?"
Mia pets Lola's head "I found her, well actually she found me. Point is, am I allowed to keep her?"
"We'll see. For now focus on the mission" Kaldur states
Mia nods and their attention went back to the mission at hand.
"I'll fly over" M'gann offers.
"Negatory. The field extends like a dome over the whole compound" Wally states.
"I can teleport inside."
"No Mia" Kaldur orders.
"Pylons are insulated but one good shock could cause a momentary gap" Robin says.
"I see a target" Artemis states.
"Then be ready to hit it. Be ready, all of you" Kaldur orders.
He heads to the pylons and electrocuted it with his powers. A small hole was made and Wally tells Artemis "Now!" She fires the arrow, it went through the hole and pressed the button to shut down the field. As they made it towards the facility, Robin and Mia looked up to see a monkey on top of the building.
"Maybe it's a nice monkey?" Mia hopes.
It starts howling signaling the other monkeys about the intruders. Soon the monkeys started to attack them. Mia dodges a few but doesn't attack them in fear of hurting them too badly. "I don't want that thing to come out." Not paying attention to her surroundings, a monkey bits her shoulder and she yells in pain. Lola went to her rescue and fights the monkey.
"Lola no killing!"
Lola stares at her then scratches at the monkey so it would run away scared. When it left, Lola walks over to Mia and licks her wound. Kaldur took the collar off a monkey and orders everyone to do the same.
"Sounds easy when he says it" Robin retorts.
"Just do it Rob!" Mia yells as she took a collar off.
The facility doors opened and a gorilla wearing a red hat walks out. M'gann tries to walk past it in camouflage mode but Mallah caught her scent and threw her to the ground.
"Get your hands off her, you darn dirty ape" Wally charged at Mallah.
All Mallah did was puff his chest and Wally hit him hard then stumbled back.
"You're not taking my brain!"
"S'il vous plait, Captain, do not struggle. Brain extraction is largely painless but the benefits are enormous. Just look what it has done for me."
A machine hovers over Marvel's head.
"That thing won't work on me" Marvel states.
"Perhaps. But it works on solid steel so I'll try my luck. I'm told you have the courage of Achilles, no? Perhaps you should have asked for his invulnerability instead."
The tiger jumps and attacks The Brain. He stands in front of Marvel to protect him.
"Traitor! You will suffer for that!"
The tiger cries in pain as electricity is coursing through it's body from the collar.
Lola stops and perks her ears up. Mia notices.
"Lola what's wrong?"
Lola races inside with Mia hot on her trail. Everyone made it inside to see The Brain while Lola and Mia went to the tiger's side.
"It's the Brain!" Wally states.
"Uh, I can see it's a brain" Artemis comments.
"Not a brain, The Brain."
"In the flesh, so to speak. Mallah."
Mallah turns on the pylons and everyone was paralyzed.
"Excuse me garçon" The Brain turns to see Mia "Oui, I would like to order some French fries, French toast and a French Vanilla latte s'il vous plait" Mia spoke in a very fake French accent.
"You dare mock me?!"
"Oui" Mia giggles.
"Miss Martian, Superboy, now" Kaldur orders.
M'gann levitates the control over to her and she turns off the pylons then Conner smashes in with his shirt ripped and the white wolf with him. The wolf attacks Mallah as well as Lola. Mia headed for Captain Marvel and tried to get the collar off but she couldn't.
"It is so nice to finally meet you La Labiwa or should I say Amelia?"
Mia was frozen stiff. "How does he know my name?"
"I have known about you for quite some time now. The way you protected your siblings was most heroic but alas you had failed to save them."
"You don't know jack squat about them!" Mia finally found her voice.
"That is where you are wrong mon ami. I know all about them and I know that they are in fact alive."
"You're lying!" tears began to build in her eyes.
"I may be evil but I am no liar. It is true, they are alive. Come with me and I can take you to them."
Mia hesitates for a bit but she already knew her answers. She stares him down.
"I'll never go with you."
"What a pity."
Soon Brain and Mallah were surrounded by the Team while Kaldur freed Marvel.
"Thanks!" he goes down to help the tiger "Now, one good turn deserves another."
Mallah growls.
"Try it. I hate monkeys" Conner states.
"No Mallah, this will not be our Waterloo" The Brain opens up his weapon "Au revoir, mes amis."
"Get down!" Wally shouts.
Everyone got ready for whatever came next but nothing happened. The lights turned back on and The Brain disappeared.
"Wait, that big weapon thing was….a light switch?" Wally asks.
"Well that was anti-climatic" Mia retorts.
A frown appears on her face as The Brain's words sunk in. "They're alive? All of them? Actually alive? Then when I thought I saw the Twins, I actually did see them. Oh my god." Mia felt lightheaded and fell on her butt. Lola goes to her side and gently places a paw on her leg.
Everyone heads back to the bioship and Wally and Artemis were the last to arrive.
"What are you grinning about?"
"One word. Souvenir" Wally puts on the hat.
"Two words. Gorilla lice."
"Huh? Oh, man!" Wally quickly takes off the hat.
Kaldur takes off the remaining collar and the monkey heads back into the jungle.
"That's the last of the collars?" Marvel asks the tiger.
The tiger growls in response.
"And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?"
It growls again.
"Good. I'll be back for a visit. I promise."
The tiger leaves.
"I think I'll call him Mr. Tawny."
"The rest of the pack is gone. What are you still doin' here?" Conner asks the wolf.
"I think he wants to stay with you" M'gann concludes.
"Can I keep him?" Conner asks.
"If Conner gets to keep the wolf then I get to keep Lola" Mia crosses her arms while Lola growls in agreement.
No one dared to say no to her. She smirks and hugs Lola, who purrs at her.
"First the sphere, now this beast? Dude, you sure make a habit of collectin' strays" Wally states.
"Maybe because he's such a stray himself" M'gann comments.
"Well, he's gonna need a name. Uh, how's about Krypto?" Wally suggests.
The wolf growls, displeased with the name.
"Pass."
"Besides, isn't that taken?" M'gann wonders.
"So you have a pet now huh?" Artemis tells Mia.
She smiles at Artemis "Yeah, her name's Lola. Lola this is Artemis, my sister."
Lola looks between the two girls then walks towards Artemis and brushes up against her.
"Look at that. She likes you already."
"Hey Mia."
"Yeah?"
"Did you really mean that? I'm your sister?"
Mia smiles brightly at her "Of course I meant it Artemis."
Artemis smiles softly in return.
"Look I need to know. Why did you keep the mole intel a secret?" Robin asks.
Everyone gathers to hear Kaldur's answer.
"The source of the tip was Sportsmaster."
"What? You can't trust him!" Artemis shouts.
"I do not. It seemed possible, even likely that he was attempting to divide the team with false information."
"And given how this mission went, he nearly succeeded. But you had to consider it might be true" Robin concludes.
"Yes. As leader, I did. In which case, I did not wish to alert the traitor."
"Hate to say it, but…makes sense" Robin states.
Mia clears her throat grabbing everyone's attention. They see her with an eyebrow raised waiting for them to say something.
"You were right Mia" everyone but Kaldur and Marvel spoke at the same time.
"And?"
"We'll never do it again."
"Good because all of you are grounded!"
"What?!"
"You heard me! No TV, no tech, no having fun for 2 weeks. Do I make myself clear?"
She glares at them and even Captain Marvel felt a chill run down his spine. He walks over to Kaldur and whispers in his ear.
"I think she's scarier than Batman. Just look at the way she glares at them, it's deadlier than Batman's."
"I do not recommend being on the receiving end of Mia's wrath." Kaldur slightly shivers from remembering what happened after the Mister Twister mission.
After Mia's moment of being sisterly, they looked back at Kaldur.
"I am still prepared to step down."
"All in favor of keeping Aqualad as leader?" Wally asks.
The whole team raises their hand.
"Guess it's unanimous" Marvel and Kaldur shook hands "See you tomorrow."
"You're not coming back with us?"
"Nope, gotta fly."
"Yo Cap!"
Mia chases after him. Marvel came back to have a quick talk with her.
"I know that you overheard what The Brain told me. Can you keep that just between us? Please" Mia whispers begging.
"Of course. I promise."
"Pinky promise?" Mia lifts her pinky.
"Pinky promise" Marvel smiles.
He pinky promises then he was off.
"So, what are you gonna call him?" M'gann asks.
"What's wrong with Wolf?"
"Generic, but acceptable" Wally states.
Mia takes her seat and looks out the window thinking about what had happened. "I can't believe it. They're alive after all this time." A single tear escapes and she didn't bother wiping it away.
Mount Justice
September 24, 07:30 EDT
Everyone gets off the bioship and Mia went straight to the Med Bay with Lola right by her side. When she got to her medical room, she immediately lays on her bed with Lola sleeping by her feet and she was out cold when her head hit the pillow. The door opens and Canary walks in with an angry face but it softens at the sight in front of her. Mia sleeping peacefully with Lola at the foot of the bed. "Mia you sure are something" and Canary gently closes the door.