A/N

Welcome back, guys and girls. Here's another one for your reading pleasure, hopefully. Next piece will hopefully up on Sunday.

6,800 views! 57 reviews! 31 followers, and 22 favouritors! You people spoil me silly.

I don't know about you guys, but the recent talks about another season of YJ is getting me too hyped! Please, bring the show back for one last season!

Reviews

Elvisfonz23: It's good to know that you will be at my side for the long run, friend.

MoustachedCat: Holey moley, huge response from you. The comments you made are so inspiring that I am on a mission to release three more chapters this week- this on Wednesday, others on Friday and Sunday. I hope you are as pumped for the sequal as I am, but what do you think about the Superboy standalone? I'm thinking of calling it 'Man of Prime'

Chapter 24: YJ Or The Highway...

Kyle Rayner's POV

October 16th, 5:00AM- Bioship

Troubling news and furious thinking has kept me awake for nearly two days, most of which Robin has purposely sent in circles until he can figure out who the rat is. Still, it amazes me that I'm the only living soul that he has told of the potential traitor. Does he believe that I'm not the spy? Or is this some test to see if I am the spy? Either way, this is severely depressing my mood on a day-to-day basis.

Thinking about it, who could the mole be? There's around three of us that can be ruled out- Wally, Aqualad, and Miss Martian. And don't get me started about how it's impossible for Robin to be the backstabber. He's practically Jesus by how 'good' he can be.

Unsurprisingly, that leaves the tempramental duo of Artemis and Superboy. Both of which could easily be uncovered as a traitor as the other.

Conner Kent- clone, teenager, and manufactured. Out of all of us, he's the only one that could be the mole without him even realising it. Easily, someone could have planted a mechanism or a weird autopilot that makes him forget what he has done, and the worst part is that it's obvious he wants to do the right thing. He wants to overthrow the negative stereotypes that have been implanted on him by the majority of the leaguers, and I'm proud of him for that. But, this is a real possibility that I- and the rest of the heroes- cannot lightly ignore as it could be true, meaning he's no longer safe enough to be apart of the team.

On the other hand of possibilities, Artemis also has a slightly questionable alibi. Apart from what she's already told us, what else do we know about her? Yes, she's smart, cute and sassy, but that's just a classic spy. Yet, something about her seems... off. Green Arrow's niece? If so, why did Robin catch her sneaking around in Gotham once? The coincidence appears too convenient to not question. Immediately after Roy left the team- according to the others told me- Artemis suddenly appeared with spectacular bow skills out of nowhere, saving them in a fight with Metallo.

"Why are you awake at this time?" the soft voice of Artemis suddenly asks, yawning at the same time.

Great, now I have to come up with a believable lie, I curse my horrendous luck. "Just thinking a lot. You know... about this strange adventure we find ourselves embarked upon."

"Okayyy... know you are making me even more worried." Artemis sits up on her chair from the awkward sleeping positions the team often finds ourselves in. Drawbacks of sleeping on a plane instead of a cosy bed. "I mean, you... thinking? The thought is disturbing."

"Aww, are you worried about me, sugarcake?" I tease her using one of Wally's terms, hoping to change the subject.

"One: If you ever call me that again, I'll shoot you with an arrow, and two: why wouldn't I be worried? We're a team." she glares. I laugh.

"Sure thing, Artemis. Team." I say once the hysterical laughing died down.

"You have two seconds to explain what that means, before I actually take those rings and throw them out of the window." she threatens, moving menacingly closer.

"Don't tell me you didn't think I knew." I tease further, to which she sighs and genuinely tries to rip the power rings off my fingers. "Ow, st-stop! I... was... only... joking!" I gasp out between defending her reaches by quickly moving my hands out of the way. "Let's face it... you looovvveee me."

Just like that, she immediately scurries back to her chair, eyes wider than Wally's when he sees food, in apparent shock. Okay... that has got to be the weirdest reaction I have ever seen from anyone. I wonder why, though? Was it something I said? I muse as we stare at each other- me with confusion and her in terror. The fear practically reeks off of her at the moment.

"What are you two doing?" Kid Flash yawns from the side, but our eyes are fixated together. Will she stop it? It's scary.

"Nothing!" we both answer in perfect unison, making me altogether embarrassed for no reason.What's going on with me? I almost scream as a sudden wave of excruciating agony barrels against my heart, seething my whole body as though on fire. It carries on, forcing me to block out the words spoken between Artemis and Wally with the crippling pain. Is this what a heart attack feels like? I think, clutching my heart roughly in a bid to stop the pain. No. This is far too long to be anything natural.

"Kyle!" a yell wakes me as my vision starts to blur, accompanied shortly by a sharp sting flaring across my cheek. Uncontrollably, I cough up a thick, warm substance and choke a little out onto the floor.

Hisses and bubbles emerge from the small puddle of blood as it's acid corrodes into the floor. But, the real question is how it got there. The slap definitely wasn't hard enough to cause bleeding, so maybe it was the now calm throbbing in my chest. Still, the puddle isn't a great sign.

"Did I really hit you that hard?" Artemis examines her hand as though it was a weapon of mass destruction.

"Let's get away from how hard you hit him and to 'oh my god, his blood is acidic, and he's sweating like cattle in a slaughterhouse'." Kid Flash redirects the attention back to me, clearly distressed. "Are you okay, man?"

"Yeah." I manage to spit out. "Just dandy."

"Kyle, are you alright?" Robin appears out of nowhere with his wrist computer, presumably scanning for problems.

"Me and Artemis were talking; he started sweating heavily and retching out blood." Wally explains, the concern still laced in his voice.

"Maybe we should return to Mount Justice, he could need immediate medical attention." Kaldur suggest from the back of the group now crowding my chair.

Conner makes a disgruntled noise from the back. "He'll be fine. He's had worse injuries than that, he is overreacting."

"Conner!" M'gann instantly exclaims.

"Guys, guys, guys, I'm all good. Seriously, if I start dying you will be the first to know." I glance at Robin for a split second. "There's no need to go home, just yet. We have a highly important mission to complete, remember?"

"I know, but... family comes before the mission, right?" Robin says, earning nods of agreement from the majority of the team. "And, we can't afford to go one man down, even if said man is annoying, obnoxious, and has a split personality." he adds as an afterthought.

Another grunt comes from the brooding figure of Conner Kent. "You can say that again." he huffs.

"Do you ever stop pretending to hate me, Conner? It's getting too old." I sneer back, causing him to grunt and near smile at the same time.

"So, that leaves the important question: If we aren't going home, then where are we going?" Wally tiredly asks, highlighting the overall mood of the squad- me and Robin excluded from the equation, of course.

Aqualad heads to his seat and gently seats himself. "Since the brain was our last lead, how about we head to the source of the problem?" he coolly suggests whilst gazing reflectfully out of the window and into the lights creeping over the horizon.

"What is the source? We don't know where the Light is based." Superboy also sits in his seat.

"No, not the Light. Out of all the problems we have encountered, there must be one conclusion. Grodd required an island, the Brain needed money to fund it's experiments, Queen Bee with the scientists to investigate Sphere, and Ra's al Ghul needed information about Young Justice. All of which could be provided by one man..." Aqualad ponders out loud.

"Lex Luthor." Robin finishes the sentence, practically hissing out the name well known to most heroes.

Before anyone could input to that thought, a deep voice rings out within our heads. "Members of Young Justice, halt and return back to Mount Justice." it orders in the voice of the Martian Manhunter, which explains how the voice is inside my mind.

"Uh, M'gann, what is the range of your powers?" Artemis asks.

"Not too far, but he can't be so close, can he?" she answers, looking to Robin along with the rest of us.

"Well... maybe he could have tracked us somehow. It is a Martian ship after all, right? He could track us using the telekinetic signature of something whelming like that." Robin anxiously rubs his forehead. Weird, considering that this is the first time he has ever been anxious about anything. "If Manhunter is on our tail, the other leaguers won't be far behind. Prepare for anything."

"Prepare for anything? Are you insane!?" I incredulously ask. "Do you really want to fight them?"

"Robin's right, Kyle. We've come too far to go back and get grounded." Conner cracks his knuckles.

"Say we do fight them, okay? We get our behinds handed to us and an extra scolding. Do you really want the boyscout lecturing us about how to behave? We'll be like Shazam within the week." I implore them to see reason, but even Miss M appears determined to get our way. "Wow, Kyle, thanks for being the sensible one for a change. Let's go fight our mentors, alright!"

After that, my vision blurs out with a sharp pain. The last fading thought whilst I lose consciousness is how dare they?

Kon-EL/Superboy's POV

Kyle harshly collapses to the ground from his chair, leaving Artemis stood with her bow at the ready. "Did you just knock him out, Artemis?" Wally steals the words directly from my amused mouth, although more in shock than the entertainment I am feeling.

"Gee, Wally, I only tapped him on the shoulder." Artemis replies in his usual sarcastic manner. "What do you think I did?"

Although I am delighted to see the annoying idiot finally shut up, I still have to admit that if this does turn into a full-scale fight, we need someone of his power level. Now, we have only one person that can fly against who knows what- Hawkman, Green Lanterns, and even Superman himself.

"M'gann, contact your uncle. Let him know what our answer is." Aqualad commands, a steel resolve detectable in his tone. Whilst Kaldur is normally relaxed and calm, I personally know that he can be deadly serious when he desperately wants something.

"I've told him. He didn't say anything back." Miss M states, worried. "There's no going back, now."

Good, one less doubt to push away before things erupt. That leaves the rest of my concerns: even if Kyle was trying to dissuade us, he does have a genuine point- we can't stand up against the experienced veterans. But, he got another thing wrong; we can certainly give it our best shot.

"Please, listen and return to Mount Justice. This journey you are on is making everyone worried." Martian Manhunter attempts another persuasion, but his plight inevitably falls on deaf ears. "We will not force you to return, but know this: the League is counting on you- the future- and you are not setting a good opinion. Think about this."

Silence takes over as we inwardly deliberate our next move. "They took that pretty well, at least." KF ruins the process. "Which is kind of... odd, considering that he tracked us down... just to let us go."

Robin's eyes go wide. "They're not letting us go! They want us to be surprised!"

True enough, my ears pick up the faint flutter of capes. "They are here. Not too far away." I inform the group. Everyone freezes, no clue what to do. "How are we supposed to fight? Only one of us can fly? We can't just stay in the ship."

"M'gann, land the ship in the nearest open space, preferable with high areas on the side." Aqualad orders the Martian. Obeying, she frantically scurries to the pilot's seat and steers it. Instantly, the ship tilts slightly downwards, beginning the descent. "Everyone else, prepare yourselves. We need to stand up for ourselves, by any means necessary." he adds on afterwards.

"Maybe we are taking this too far, guys. They're the good guys, just like us." Wally sighs, scratching his neck with nervousness.

"I know, Wally, but they need to realise that we can do things on our own, like they trained us to do. If they want to control what we do, how does that make them better than villains?" Robin assures his friend, but remains firm in his stance.

Despite the redeeming qualities of Superman, he's also a major hypocrite. Freedom and justice- his morals. And yet, he achieves neither on a daily basis. Freedom is supposed to apply to everyone, but not to people under you? And he apparently seeks out justice, but justice isn't letting mass murderers do something awful again, simply because you don't want to ruin your sense of right and wrong. It's selfish.

If there every comes a time that I become the 'Man of Steel', I won't fall into the same foolish traps that he has. I would build a world where people are truly safe, from harm and crime. And, I'll do it along those words. By any means necessary.

When M'gann eventually lands the bioship in a fairly open, expansive plain, I was the last to exit. Of course, Kyle is still unconscious on the floor of the ship.

There they are- Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Zatara, Shazam, and Hawkgirl- waiting to hand us the scolding of a lifetime. It's too bad that they have nothing to say to us that we don't already understand.

"Are you, uhh... you people, alright?" the Flash was the first of the veterans to greet, cringing under the threatening glare coming from the Amazon princess, Wonder Woman.

"Not bad." Wally answers, not with his consistent chilled out attitude. The tension is seeping into everyone, apparently.

"Get on the ship and go home." Superman commands, noticeably directing it towards me.

"How dare you!?" I burst out, letting the anger flow through my body. Many of the people around me flinch at the sudden explosion. "You can't avoid me like a disease and then come here, ordering me around like you want to do what's best for us! If you truly knew what's best, you would leave me alone and never come back! Sometimes, I don't know how an inconsiderate man like you can be called a hero!"

Gasping and with veins close to ripping out of my forehead, it actually feels as though a mountain has been taken off my chest. And looking at the guilty expression of 'Superman' I've never felt more alive. I have gave him enough time to be my father, so I'm done with him.

"Stand down, Superboy." Wonder Woman steps closer to us, toeing the fine line that prevents me from tearing her apart.

"Wonder Woman, can you step back please? You're not helping." Shazam nervously asks, as though fearing that she will turn on him. For the most part, I can't blame him. No man- Kryptonian or otherwise- would want this particular Amazon against them.

"How about we all relax?" Robin clears his throat. "We're all on the same side... I think."

"M'gann, why are you doing this?" the Manhunter asks.

"I'm sorry Uncle J'onn, but this is what needs to be done. Batman needs us to do this." she answers, causing Wonder Woman to double take.

"Batman? Of course he's behind this excursion, who else would allow them?" she scoffs in nihilism. "How could he not tell us!"

"I'm sure that Batman has his reasons." Superman finally speaks out, although with less confidence than before. "Speaking of Batman." he puts his finger on his ear, blocking me from hearing the conversation efficiently enough. "Okay. Are you sure?" he talks over the comm, making strange noises every so often.

After around one minute of intense listening, he slowly turns around and gazes at the team. "Batman wants to see you, urgently."

"And we can't make him wait, can we?" I puff.

A/N

Well, that's all for this chapter folks. I hope you enjoyed the overall randomness of it all! But, isn't that the point of fanfiction?

With warm regards and merry greetings,

Kyle Rayner.

Joking!