A/N: I feel that I should address this. Yes, I know DC has Tye Longshadow as Apache Chief and Eduardo Dorado Jr as El Dorado. However, I am looking at this from just the cartoon series by itself. I personally think that Goliath and Zeta fit better. Goliath fits for obvious reasons and Zeta because… well I don't want to repeat myself word for word. Look at Virgil's explanation in the first chapter when the team was still deciding on superhero personas. Anyway, on to the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
The inside of the cave was far from a normal interior of cold stone. It was a secret base. It appeared to be high tech and had many rooms. Arsenal had to admit that with a little work, it could become a good base for the group.
"We could use a base like this this..." Zeta said.
"Agreed. As soon as we thwart Damien Darhk's and Dark Archer's plan, we'll see if this place has everything we need." Arsenal said. They stayed on the lookout for any patrolling guards.
Arsenal took out his tracking device. He looked at the signal. "We're not too far from that pod."
He stopped when he heard footsteps. He looked up just in time to see a couple of guards at the end of the hallway.
"Hey!" One of the men exclaimed. "Sound the alarm!" He aimed his gun at the teenagers and started firing while the other guard sprinted over to an alarm on the wall.
Arsenal shot an explosive arrow at the guard that was running up to the alarm while Static created a controlled electrical discharge as a shield from the bullets. The trick arrow reached the guard and exploded just in time. The man groaned as he fell back and hit the ground.
Zeta teleported Kunoichi behind the other guard. Kunoichi repelled herself into the man with enough force to knock him into the nearby wall. He was rendered unconscious from the hit.
"Good work…" Arsenal said. He turned to the guards and he said, "Hide them."
"I got it." Zeta said. He took the first man and teleported. After a few seconds, he returned to teleport the other man.
"Where'd you take them." Goliath asked after Zeta reappeared the second time.
"Outside with the others." Zeta responded.
"Good enough… Let's go. We're not far from the pod." Arsenal said. He led the way again down a couple more hallways, but then stopped. He peeked around the corner and saw several guards standing in front of elevator doors.
"Get ready on my mark." Arsenal whispered to the group. They nodded in response and got ready to attack.
Arsenal activated the tear gas cannon on his prosthetic arm before he jumped to the side. He shot the tear gas container at the guards which exploded. The guards started coughing and stumbled out of the cloud of tear gas, but they were met with the five teenagers.
Arsenal punched one with his prosthetic arm which sent him flying across the room. Zeta teleported and pushed a guard into Goliath's path. He was using a smaller astral form but it was still strong enough to take out three of the guards. Another guard was contained when Static used his electricity to attract the metal on the guard's uniform onto the metal door at the end of the hallway. Finally, Kunoichi used her chi to repel herself into the last guard. She tackled him into the nearby wall. He groaned as he fell onto the floor.
Arsenal pressed the button to the elevator and waited, but he was less than thrilled to wait for it to come. "Come on… Come on…" Arsenal muttered.
"This is why I used to take the stairs... Elevators take way too long." Static said.
"Whatever…" Arsenal muttered. "This hunk of junk better not have that dreaded elevator music…" The elevator finally opened with typical elevator music coming from inside. Arsenal gritted his teeth. "I hate elevators…" He stomped inside with Goliath, Kunoichi, Zeta, and Static joining him. He pressed the down button on the elevator controls. The elevator doors closed and the group descended further into the cave. A few minutes went by before Arsenal snapped. "Can someone please shut that wretched music off!" Static obliged and sent an electric shock through the lights to fry the radio. In an instant, the music turned off. "Thank you." Arsenal said.
"No prob." Static responded.
The elevator rang to indicate that it was on the bottom floor. "Get ready." Arsenal said. The elevator popped open to reveal more metal walls and a concrete road. There were several pieces of large machinery inside. The teenagers hid behind a forklift and could hear someone talking. They got closer and closer while staying behind the machinery. Soon enough, they could make out who was talking. "Damien Darhk." Arsenal muttered with anger in his voice.
The group peeked out to see an assembly of soldiers. A man dressed in a suit with short white hair spoke while a man dressed in black stood ready. He was armed with a bow, arrows, and a sword. The Kryptonian pod was behind them. Machinery was set up that reflected the sun's rays to the pod; there was a hole in the ceiling of the base that allowed sunlight to come in. "…Now is the time to strike. With Superman and several senior members of the League standing trial at Rimbor, the Justice League is left with only a few of its members and these members are ill-equipped to fight a Kryptonian. Before this day is over, the Justice League will be no more!" The soldiers cheered as the speech ended.
"Not good…" Goliath whispered.
Arsenal used a recording function with a microphone on his prosthetic to listen in on Damien Darhk's and Dark Archer's conversation.
Is it ready?" Damien Darhk asked. "I would hate to see that our little investment went to waste."
"There's a reason they called me The Magician." Dark Archer said. "It's ready. It imitates and improves on Brother Blood's ability to influence his followers." He handed an odd-looking device to Damien Darhk.
"Excellent." Damien Darhk said.
"Not good at all… Brother Blood has a telepathic ability to influence people… It's almost like mind-control." Arsenal explained to the teens.
"What do we do?" Zeta whispered. "We can't just run out there..."
"I know..."Arsenal whispered. "But if my suspicions are correct... we're going to need to stop them before they put that thing on whoever's in that pod."
"Any plans?" Static asked.
"Just one... I'll distract them and you attack from behind. Do not hold back." Arsenal said. He didn't wait for a response. It was now or never. He activated the tear gas function on his prosthetic arm and jumped out from cover. He fired the canister into the crowd of soldier. It exploded which caused the soldiers to cough and wheeze. He then pulled out his bow and started firing explosive arrows at Damien Darhk and Dark Archer.
Damien Darhk stopped the arrows with his telekinesis. He threw the arrows aside before using his telekinesis to clear the tear gas away. Dark Archer readied his bow. "You're not Red Arrow." Dark Archer said before firing the arrow.
Arsenal blocked the shot with his metal arm before tensing up. He could feel pain course through his entire body. "Hmm... it seems we have another Speedy." Damien said. He was using his telekinesis to keep Arsenal in place while causing immense pain.
The four teens continued to move so they could out maneuver the two villains and their soldiers. "It's... Arsenal..." Arsenal said. A compartment opened on his metal arm which caused a flash bang grenade to come out. An almost blinding light came from the grenade.
Blinded by the light, Damien Darhk lost his grip on Arsenal. Arsenal dropped to the ground and rushed toward Dark Archer. He grabbed a sword from one of the soldiers and clashed blades with Dark Archer.
Meanwhile, the other four teenagers attacked. Static used his electricity to glide from soldier to soldier using the trash can lid to levitate. He ripped metal parts from nearby machinery to attack the soldiers. Zeta teleported around to throw the soldiers off balance by bumping into them while Kunoichi repelled them into the nearby equipment.
Goliath, in astral form, stomped down on Damien Darhk, but his telekinesis kept the metahuman from crushing him. "Please..." Damien Darhk muttered before repelling Goliath away. The astral form landed a couple of feet from Damien Darhk.
Kunoichi turned back and saw what was done. She repelled herself forward so she could tackle Damien Darhk, but the villain saw her. He stopped her with his telekinesis.
She groaned and gasped from the pain that his telekinesis caused. "My goodness… It almost warms my heart to see you try."
He took out a decorated knife to stab the girl but was stopped when Static sent an electric shock to the knife. By doing so, Damien Darhk was zapped as well. "Ahhh!" Damien Darhk exclaimed. His telekinesis stopped which allowed Kunoichi to escape. She launched herself away from Damien Darhk. The man was repelled by her chi and was sent toward Goliath who was getting back up. The astral form crushed Damien Darhk.
"Is it over?" Zeta asked.
"Let's hope so." Static said.
After being disarmed, Arsenal flipped back and activated his ion cannon. He fired the deadly beam which hit Dark Archer. "AHH!" Dark Archer yelled out before hitting a nearby forklift truck.
"He's down…" Arsenal said. He ran back over in time to see Damien Darhk using his telekinesis to push off Goliath.
"Playtime is over." Damien Darhk said with an angry look on his face. He sent out a large telekinetic wave that hit the five teenage heroes.
They were sent flying back by the attack. Arsenal regained his balance and fired the ion cannon once again, but Damien Darhk stopped the attack. "My, my... Arsenal, wasn't it? You brought more toys to a fight than Speedy ever could." Arsenal growled as he tried to reroute as much power to the ion cannon as possible, but it still had no effect. Darhk approached the boy while repelling the ion blast. "This was fun, but… I have plans; it's time we ended this little battle." He was getting closer and closer.
Static groaned as he got up. He ran over to Arsenal and he said, "Any ideas?"
"Super charge this ion blast." Arsenal said.
Static nodded. Using one hand he gathered electricity from the wall lights and with the other, he added his electricity into the blast.
Damien Darhk raised both hands to add more defense from the blast. The blast didn't stop his dark magic telekinesis; however, he was starting to struggle to keep up the barrier. In addition, he was pushed back several feet.
"Just a little more!" Arsenal said.
"This is all I got!" Static said.
"Then, I'll help." Kunoichi said. She huffed as she raised her hands. She was going to direct her chi into the blast. It was something she had never done before. "Ahh…" Kunoichi said with some pain. It was almost too much, but it worked. Her chi amplified the blast.
Damien Darhk yelled out in pain as he was blasted several feet through two forklift trucks and into the wall.
Arsenal removed the ion battery from his arm and replaced it while Static and Kunoichi huffed. "That hurt…" Kunoichi said.
"You've never had to use your powers like that before. Good job." Goliath said as he and Zeta returned to the group.
Arsenal ran over and grabbed his bow. It was a very close battle. He was lucky that Damien Darhk wasn't at full power. His eyes widened when he saw that Dark Archer was missing when he scanned the room. "Wait a minute! Where's Dark Archer?" Arsenal asked.
"Right here..." Dark Archer said. He had the device in hand and was near the pod. "You lose." He placed the device on the Kryptonian's head.
Arsenal's eyes widened. "No!" He exclaimed.
"Goodbye, heroes." Dark Archer said as he backed up.
The Kryptonian flew up from the pod. It was a girl. She didn't appear to be much older than thirteen. She looked to the group with an emotionless face.
"What's that thing doing?" Goliath asked.
"It's a mind control device... and I'm sure they pre-programed it..." Arsenal said. Without a word, the Kryptonian girl flew at them.
The heroes were on their guard as the girl approached them; it looked like she was ready to attack.
"Do we fight her?" Static asked.
"We don't have a choice!" Zeta said.
"She's stronger than she looks; keep that in mind." Arsenal said.
Goliath used his astral form and tried to restrain the girl. He captured her, but she easily fought out of his grip and punched the astral form several feet away.
Kunoichi was next to attack the Kryptonian. She used her chi to repel herself into a tackle but the girl avoided her. The Kryptonian grabbed her by the arm and flung her across the room.
"Kunoichi!" Zeta exclaimed. He teleported and was able to catch her at mid-flight. He then teleported to the ground.
"Are you alright?" Zeta asked the girl.
Kunoichi gave a small nod. "Arigato... I mean... Thank you." Kunoichi said.
"No problem..." Zeta said.
Arsenal flipped back as the girl punched the ground where he once stood. The punch left the concrete floor with several cracks. Arsenal fired his ion cannon, but the girl raised her hand to block the blast. It wasn't hurting her in the slightest.
"Any weaknesses?" Static asked as he hovered around with the trash can lid
"Magic and kryptonite... both of which we don't have." Arsenal said.
The girl's eyes flared up and she shot heat vision at Arsenal.
"Watch out!" Static exclaimed and he used a trash can lid to block the heat vision. The beam had melted a hole into the lid. Fortunately, Zeta grabbed them and teleported them away.
The Kryptonian looked around for the next opponent and found it when Goliath tried to crush her. She pushed the astral form away before flying up and delivering another punch. Goliath groaned in pain as he fell back into the nearby wall. The Kryptonian followed this by using her freeze breath ability to freeze the astral form. She then flew into the frozen form which shattered the ice.
She took a hold of Goliath and started choking him. He squirmed in her grip as her eyes started to flare up. She was going to kill him with her heat vision.
Kunoichi repelled herself up to meet the Kryptonian girl. She adjusted herself before releasing a large chi blast to repel herself and the girl. It worked. Kunoichi fell onto the floor, but the Kryptonian girl was able to regain her balance thanks to her ability to fly. Goliath fell back onto the ground and huffed.
"We can't beat her. She's too strong." Zeta said.
Arsenal looked over to the girl. She flew back down and started to approach him, Zeta, and Static. "We don't have to beat her. We just need to remove that mind-control device." Arsenal said.
"How?" Static asked.
"Follow my lead." Arsenal said. He ran forward and fired a couple of explosive arrows at the Kryptonian. The girl shot both arrows with her heat vision. Kunoichi repelled herself forward and tackled the girl. It was enough to knock her off balance. Meanwhile, Static used his electricity to pull two huge metal pipes from the wall. The girl looked up and sliced the metal pipes with her heat vision.
Goliath went into his astral form and grabbed her arms. She went to fly out of the grip but was surprised when Static used his electricity to attract nearby metal to keep her from flying. More and more metal was clinging to the girl's feet.
She looked to Static and fired her heat vision; however, Arsenal stepped in and fired his ion cannon. The two beams met half-way. "Zeta, Kunoichi, now!" Arsenal exclaimed.
Zeta teleported Kunoichi near the girl. Kunoichi grabbed the device on the girl's head and used her chi to destroy it. Once again, it was difficult to direct the energy flow, but it worked. The mind-control device was destroyed.
…To be continued.