A/N
How are you people? Hopefully, when I get my laptop fixed, I should be pumping these out quickly. Anyhow, here is the most recent addition of this story.
6) Reckless instincts, lead to reckless decisions...
25th September, 10:00PM
"As I previously said, this is perhaps the most important mission you have undertaken. Perhaps the most dangerous, as well. There will be no room for improvisation, only full commitment to the plan. Are you listening, Kyle?" Batman's briefing still echoes in my head, as we approach the dense jungles of Amazonian Brazil, aboard the enough, we also have Shazam and Red Tornado on board, this time. It seems the infamous tactician is taking no chances this time. The power of the Helmet of Fate is on the line. I can't see why we have to do this, we are just sidekicks after all. I mentally complain at the stressful situation.
"We aren't sidekicks." Robin states using the telepathic link, which I completely forgot even existed.
"We are... protégés, it's different." Wally elaborates.
"No, it's not. Both are terms for bootlickers." I respond, softly, because I know how much Wally adores the Flash. "and then you just have Aqualad, who, no offence, has his own term of bootlicking to Aquaman." I jest, avoiding the glare thrown my way by Connor, just daring me to insult him.
"Settle down now, kids." Shazam interrupts the argument in his own way. "Kyle does have a point, btw." Shazam adds, making me chuckle a little. He winks at me and stands up, once he stretched his legs a little bit, he flew out of the ship. "Going to scout ahead, don't have a party without me." he informs as soon as he exited the flying ship.
"Now that's all over, how about we go over the plan? " Robin suggests after a awkward few moments of silence.
"Great idea, Robin. It will allow us to prepare for the mission." Aqualad inputs, an almost anxious tone present on the fringes of his voice. "I will go in with Red Tornado and Wally. Together, we will neutralise any alarms or patrolling guards around the compound." he continues, gesturing to Wally and Red Tornado. Wally playfully salutes, but Red Tornado stays still in his chair, not moving an inch.
"Me and Shazam will infiltrate the facility undetected and take back the helmet. " Megan briefs, her enthusiasm leaks into us, through the mental link. The team now looks to us remaining three, as the final piece.
"Me, Connor and Kyle will be on hand to support and if necessary, en-"
"Break some things." Artemis began, but was cut short by Superboy's interruption. Superboy claps his hands together and cracks them impatiently. "If there are any monkeys in this jungle, they are dead." he presses on, the smirk on his face signifies he is imagining what he will do to those poor monkeys. "I hate monkeys." he mutters maliciously under his breath.
"We are approaching our destination." Aqualad states, seemingly unfazed by Superboy and his sadistic dreams.
"Let's go save the world!." I stand up and shout, tumbling over when the ship suddenly jerks.
"I'm so sorry, Kyle." Megan gasps through the link, Superboy sits in the background laughing, soon the entire team join in.
"You won't be laughing when I'm in the honour guard. "
25th September, 10:30PM - Kyle's group
Sitting in my position twiddling my thumbs, I resort to blowing air onto Connor's back in my boredom. After my third blow, he spins around and glares at me threateningly. "What?" he growls, I put my hands up in the air, pretending like I didn't do anything. "Idiot." he mumbles as he turns back around.
Looking for someone else to annoy, I throw a small rock at Artemis, it hits her on the lower back. Surprised, she turns on her heels and points directly at me. "I swear Kyle, if that was you." she barks, keeping her finger pointed at my heart. Pulling the same move I did with Connor, I put my arms in the air, in a surrender-like pose. "I thought so." she turns back around and scans the area with binoculars.
"They are taking too long." Connor comments, Artemis nods in agreement.
"You're right. Should we move in?" she agrees, I was about to answer, when I noticed that the question was aimed at Connor and not me. Why do you guys never ask me? I question in my mind.
"We will go in together." he replies and they were about to run off, when I noticed one glaring detail.
"Guys." I call and they both stop in their tracks. "Did you not hear my question? I meant for it to be a joke, but... I thought it." I probe, really hoping they heard me, but chose to ignore me. Realising the implications of my question and knowing the answer, Superboy's eyes go wide.
"New plan. Me and Kyle will save Megan, you will get the helmet." Superboy orders to us, jumping away before we could debate his decision. Following him through the air, I glance back at Artemis and note the concerned look she is giving me. Don't worry, We got this. I assure, even though I know that she can't hear me at all. After it took me a while to catch up, I grabbed Superboy from the air and speed up.
As the sight of the compound comes into view, explosions ripple the air surrounding us. Anti-aircraft guns. I strafe to the left and right to avoid the incoming shells, narrowly avoiding one, that just skimmed my right arm. Reaching the target destination relatively unharmed, I drop Connor onto a battle, where Shazam is in the midst of battling Blockbuster and Mister Freeze. Landing myself next to Shazam, I block an incoming freeze blast from Mister Freeze, using a constructed riot shield.
"Need some help?" I joke, blocking another blast with the same shield. Out of the corner of my eye, I observe Superboy being thrown onto the ground by Blockbuster.
"Uhhh... yeah, I think so." he responds, soaring through the air and tackling Blockbuster to the ground, just as it was about to crush Connor.
"Kyle, go and get Megan and the others. We'll deal with these two." Connor commands, launching a unified attack on Blockbuster with Shazam. Throwing my constructed shield into Mr Freeze, I soar away and search for my injured friend.
Artemis POV
Sneaking through this very tight tunnel or you could say vent, the only sound I hear is the sound of my constant breathing and the bangs as my knees slide against the hard and cold metal. Halfway through the tunnel, Ip picked up on a clear and authoritative voice that would put Batman's to shame. Judging from the tone, it sounds as if someone is getting shouted at for some reason. "What do you mean, that you cannot move the weapon?" the voice barks coldly at the other member of teh conversation.
"The weapon cannot be moved any further, when any of my men touch it, they fall to the ground unconscious." the recipient of the shouting replies timidly, probably fearing the wrath of the shouter.
"No doubt the heroes outside have something to do with this." the voice reasons, a little quieter than before. "Very well. Abandon the weapon and evacuate the facility, prime the backup explosives. If we cannot have the weapon, neither can they." the voice continues, before a sharp snap and a massive sigh of relief could be heard.
"The light will have my head for this." the remaining male voice states. The light? What on earth is the light?. Picking myself up, I commence my knee dragging once again, my head still reeling from the unveiling of that disturbing information. Guess it's my job to get the helmet and save the day. No problem, I just hope they thank me for this. Bringing out a sigh of my own, I kick down the grate and jump down onto the solid floor and ready my bow.
Kyle's POV
Soaring just above the facility, I notice a huge amount of bad guy activity to the eastern side, so I think it's best to check it out. Landing in the middle of the chaotic movement, I spot five prostrate figures on the ground and I recognise them as: Robin, Miss Martian, Wally, Red Tornado and Aqualad. As I come closer, I have to swat a few attacker with a literal fly swat, which I might add was pretty fun. Finally reaching them, I blast off the restraints that hold them and they slowly shrug off the tiredness in their limbs. "Need some help, guys?" I ask, for the first time in a while, actually a genuine question.
"We are fine. Although, Miss Martian seems to have encountered... brain freeze." Aqualad informs and for a second I thought he was joking.
"That explains the lack of communication." I mutter, slightly concerned about how Superboy will react.
"Where at the others? " Robin inquires.
"We need to help, there are some serious issues that need to be solved." Wally cracks his fists in a way Connor would.
"I will stay and tend to Miss Martian, for you, priority number one is the helmet of fate." Red Tornado speaks for what seems like the first time in the mission, no doubt, because it is.
"Let's go." I command to the determined heroes and grab Robin, lifting off into the air with him in my arms. "Damn, how much do you weigh?" I joke, seeing as though I could lift him with one arm.
"Less than you." he sarcastically responds. As we reach above the fight with Blockbuster and Mr Freeze, I dive and drop Robin, who acrobatically kicks Freeze in the chest. Joining the fray, I charge at Freeze with a constructed guard around my right fist and punch him. This sends him a few yards, luckily for him, I was holding back. Out of nowhere, a blur later and Freeze was wriggling on the ground, handcuffed and rendered useless.
Turning our attention to the remaining villain, I watch as Shazam blasts lightning into the beast and Superboy follows up with a series of punches. Next, Aqualad joins in with his waterformers, smashing at the villain with hammers. Kid Flash takes his turn and distracts him, constantly running from side to side in it's eyeline, infuriating it.
Seizing the opportunity, I construct a cannon and launch Robin into Blockbuster, finishing it off with a round of explosive disks. Falling to the ground, we stand victorious over our foe and fist bump each other. Suddenly, an explosion rippled and the shock wave would have sent us to the ground, if I didn't form a reactionary field around all of us. Observing smoke and fire engulf the building, we all thought that we had failed. Surprise over took that, when Artemis stood in front of us cockily, waving the helmet in front of us. "Look what I found." she mocks, vhuckling slightly.
"You are awesome." I blurt out, ruining whatever pride I have left.
"I know." she announces cockily.
"Can we go ho-" Wally was interrupted by the sight of missiles approuching us and a plane taking off into the night sky.
"Artemis! Shoot them down! Kyle! You help!" Robin orders, but I have another goal in mind.
"No! I'm going after the plane!" I shout, as I take off for the plane, intent on placing a tracker on it.
"Get down here, now!" Robin yells at me, but I shut his voice out and carry on. They will thank me later. When all the shouting is out of their system. Speeding up, I latch onto the plane using a constructed grappling hook and I reel myself in. Finally, at the tail, I slam a tracker onto the right side of the tail and let go, avoiding the heat generated from the engines. Preparing to face the wrath of the team, I go back down and land on the ground. The looks on their faces were furious.
"Disobeying an order, not cool bro." Shazam was the first to speak.
"Not to mention endangering our lives, as well." Aqualad spoke up next, however, his voice was in his usual collected tone.
"I will put this in my report." Robin adds in, barely containing his fury.
"At least tell me that whatever you did up there, was worth it." Artemis has here say.
"If it isn't, the-"
"Yeah, yeah, you will kill me." I interrupt Superboy. "I went up to the plane and placed a tracker on it, no big deal." I explain.
"No big deal! What if we weren't able to take down the other missile? This could have easily been a group of civvies." Robin growls. The Boy Wonder does have a point there.
"Jackass." Artemis insults.
"Hey."
26th September, 09:00 AM - Justice League Meeting
"As detailed in Robin's report, the Helmet of Fate was recovered by the Young Justice and two criminals arrested and sent to Belle Reve prison." Batman briefs, knowing about the other detail in Robin's report, but wanted Hal to sort it out.
"We cannot deny that this is very coincidental." Aquaman speaks up, thinking about how the same school where three heroes are studying, gets attacked.
"The only think coincidental is how all of the major attacks are being targeted at the Young Justice." Wonder Woman inserts.
"Hold on here. Are you saying that all of these attacks are specifically targeting the YJ?" Green Arrow asks.
"Yes, both me, Wonder Woman and Batman agree on this." Superman inputs, concerned at the motives behind such actions.
"These are just kids, they aren't capable of dealing with this." Flash comments, worrying about Wally.
"I agree, they can't deal with this alone." Hal Jordan agrees.
"We could just assign another member as guardian." Hawkgirl suggests, peaking the interest of the league.
"Thank you for volunteering, Hawkgirl." Batman thanks, secretely hiding his amusement.
"I'm a Thanagarian, not a babysitter." she states, clearly annoyed at Batman.
"Join the club." Black Canary smirk, earning a few wheezes of laughter from the Flash, who shuts up under her glare.
"It's settled then." Batman announces and the members begin shuffling out of the room. Before Hal could exit Wonder Woman grabs his arm and leads him back into the room. Hal is confused at her actions, but secretly hoping she will kiss him.
"We need to talk." she whispers, deflating Hal. "It's about Kyle. He is becoming a liability to the other group members." she continues.
"Woah. Kyle is a Lantern, he isn't a liability." Hal replies, slightly affronted the Amazonians bluntness.
"He is reckless and in Robin's report, he says that it could have cost the team. We can't allow that." she quietly informs. Hal sighs and stressfully rubs his forehead.
"What can we do?" he asks, knowing he wasn't going to enjoy her suggestion one bit.
"How about we talk some sense into him, together. If we judge him to be a liability, then he will be removed from the team."she puts forward.
"Why, we?" Hal questions suspiciously.
"You aren't the best role model." she bluntly explains.
"Fair enough." he gives in.