DISCLAIMER: Come! Read! The power of Young Justice (which I do not own) compels you!
Chapter 49: Undeterred
Roy lunged at Wally, who leaped out of the way.
"Artemis, I think he's under some sort of mind control!" the speedster shouted.
"Ya think?" replied Artemis, ducking out of the way of a kick.
Wally backed away slowly down the hall they'd come from while Artemis moved down the one they'd been moving down. Both were putting space between themselves and Red Arrow, who couldn't go after both of them at once.
"Such clever children" said Red Arrow in a very un-Red-Arrow-like tone. "Much too clever for your own good."
Red Arrow winced and put his hand to his forehead. "What happened?" he muttered.
Before Wally could realize what had happened, Artemis charged forwards and lashed out at Roy, who barely dodged.
"Gah... Traitor!" he shouted.
"Roy, no!" cried out Wally. "She's under..."
Suddenly, Wally found himself wanting to punch Roy. He didn't really know why, but he did anyways, catching Red Arrow on the cheek.
"He's controlling Wally!" shouted Artemis.
"Who's... What... What the hell is going on?" demanded Roy, evading another blow from Wally before darting behind him and grabbing the speedster's arms.
"There's something controlling us and trying to get us to kill each other" replied Artemis. "But I think it can only get one of us at a time!"
Roy blinked and began twisting Wally's arms.
"Artemis! Help!" he cried. "It's not me anymore! It's Roy! He's the one under control!"
"No" grunted Red Arrow. "He's the one! If you help him he'll kill us both!"
Artemis's eyes darted back and forth.
"Talk about a rock and a hard place" she muttered.
The League had reacted quickly, all things considered. Batman had cleaved several MONQIs in half with a pair of batarangs before they had made it out of the hole and the rest of the League responded with various projectiles, energy attacks and rocks.
However, after that first barrage the surviving MONQIs had slipped through and grabbed onto anything they could reach.
Superboy ripped a MONQI grabbing his leg in half and then slammed another one between his palms. A third one grabbed onto his hair but was ripped off and torn in half by M'gann's now-resurgent telekinesis. They shared a quick smile, which was soon interrupted by (you guessed it) robot monkeys.
One of the Lanterns was able to set a barrier over the hole, only to drop it after being struck from behind by several laser blasts, courtesy of the attacking robots.
Green Arrow rolled away from a squad of MONQIs and smashed one with his bow. "Uh... Fate?" he asked, hoping a Lord of Order would have another 'snap-my-fingers-and-solve-all-our-problems' trick up his shiny sleeves.
Unfortunately, the only Lord of Order available was under a pile of MONQIs, letting loose a torrent of curses not heard by humans in millennia.
"Arrow!" shouted Superman. "Get down!"
The archer did as he was told as the Man of Steel unleashed a blast of heat vision, cutting a dozen MONQIs in half.
"Uh, thanks?" said Green Arrow, eyeing the new line in the concrete not four feet from his head.
"No problem!" replied Superman, just as a MONQI grabbed his head and began blasting his face with what was probably a kryptonite-radiation-frequency laser from its eyes. It sure stung like one.
To make things even worse, a second swarm of the infernal robots began streaming out of the destroyed building behind them. The Supercycle opened fire on the swarm but barely made a dent before a pair of MONQIs had grabbed its control rig and begun steering it in circles, chittering the entire time.
A group of the new arrivals piled onto Captain Marvel, burying him in glowing green.
"SHAZAM!" he shouted. The MONQIs absorbed the magic lightning that appeared not a second later and exploded. Marvel only paused for a second to shrug off the scorched remains before moving to help Dr. Fate.
Hal Jordan was dodging some jetpack MONQIs (why did they have to have jetpacks?) when his ring began beeping at him. He was about ready to tell the thing to shut up when he looked up and noticed a Hellfire missile heading towards the main group.
"You've gotta be kidding me" muttered the Green Lantern as he formed a giant tennis racket construct and swung it. The missile exploded harmlessly against the construct but the distraction allowed Jordan to be tackled from behind by (what a surprise!) more robot monkeys.
Seconds later, another missile streaked towards the League and was only stopped by a force field from Stewart.
"We've got a drone overhead!" he shouted.
"On it!" cried Captain Atom, rocketing straight upwards, ignoring the MONQI still hanging onto his shoulder.
"Batman!" said the Martian Manhunter over a telepathic link. "There's a-"
"I know" replied Batman, using a batarang like a knife to slash a MONQI in half.
"No! Not the robots! There's another psychic down here! I can sense them! This base is not yet abandoned!"
"Roger that" replied Batman. "All Leaguers, be advised" he said into his radio. "The MONQIs are a diversion! I'm taking a team in! Wrap up and follow ASAP! Arrow, Canary, Superboy, Miss Martian, you're with me! Tornado, clear us a path!"
The android did not so much blink in acknowledgement (not that it could, anyways) as it summoned a vortex that ripped through the MONQIs standing between Batman and the hole in the concrete.
"A path has been cleared" Tornado said before moving to support Hawkman and Hawkwoman, who were close to being overrun.
In perfect sync, Batman and Green Arrow sent an explosive batarang and arrow (respectively) flying into the hole, tearing apart any more mechanical resistors. Black Canary leaped over the sparking remains and fell ten feet into a corridor, which she quickly rinsed with her patented Canary Cry. Seconds later, Green Arrow, Batman and Superboy had joined her. The last two MONQIs in sight charged, only to levitate briefly before slamming into a wall. Miss Martian smiled slightly as she floated down.
For a second it was quiet, save for the sounds of battle above.
Batman pulled out two more batarangs as he began to run down the hall.
It was time to end this.
Robin peeked out from around a corner. The hall was empty.
"I think we're clear" he said. "They're not following us."
He slide down the wall into a sitting position, joining Kaldur and Rocket, who were still panting.
It was silent for a minute, save for their breathing.
"Well, that could have gone better" said Robin.
The other two looked at him with one of those Dude, really? looks. Robin sighed.
"I know, I know. Batman's going to kill us. Fate, too, seeing as his daughter is all 'Lord of Chaos'-y."
Kaldur glanced down at the floor. "I have indeed failed as leader."
"Hey! Don't blame yourself" said Robin. "We've all made mistakes tonight. Yesterday. Whatever."
Kaldur sighed but didn't say anything else.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Rocket.
"I guess we need to see if we can get out of here and get help" said Robin.
A series of grunts echoed from down the hall.
"What's that?" asked Rocket.
"I don't know" said Robin. "But I think I'm gonna go find out."
"Are you sure that is wise?" asked Kaldur.
"Well," said Robin "It sounds like fighting, and that means someone doesn't like whoever's in charge around her. 'Sides, trouble's been following us all night. Just for once I'd like to be the one moving towards it."
Rocket and Aqualad looked at each other and shrugged before following him down the hall.
Man, who knew that unlimited creative freedom felt so good?
I saw a re-run of "Complications" on Saturday, and the commercial claimed that DC Nation would have new episodes of Young Justice and GL:TAS would be on next time. This means that they canceled both series and didn't even bother to change the commercials!
CARTOOON NETWOOOOOORRKKK!
Oh yeah, I got one of my real life friends who'd watched the first half of Season 1 to re-watch the series online. She made it through Season 1 in a day and a half.
Never underestimate the power of cartoons.
HOW TO BE AN AWESOME AUTHOR/EVIL MASTERMIND:
Step 7: Villains
Of course, once you have a protagonist you want to support, ideally one with likable qualities, flaws and complex motivations (more on all that later) you're going to need a antagonist (or better yet, antagonists) to try and stop them. Unlike a protagonist, an antagonist is not strictly necessary. A story can be about a protagonist vs. nature or society or fate or his/her own inner demons. However, having a character go head-to-head with another character, ideally one who is a physical, mental or superpowered match for the hero, if not more powerful. Remember, if the protagonist is just going to steamroll over the antagonist, it's not going to be much of a story. Keep in mind that antagonists don't necessarily have to be "bad guys". A police officer trying to stop your phantom thief from, well, thieving, is just as much of an antagonist as a crazy guy trying to blow up the planet. However, just as it is often a good idea to make your protagonist likable, making your antagonists easy to dislike will make things much easier for the audience. Now, you may not want that. Certain stories benefit from grey areas and making the reader think about who they should be supporting. But as a general rule, protagonists are good guys and antagonists are bad guys. That's just how it is.
It's always a good idea to make your villain more than a flat character who kicks puppies and blows up planets for the LOLz. Villains are people too and they have their own personalities, quirks and motivations. Worst Case Scenario isn't a good example of this at the moment, but in the future, expect to see the Light developed beyond "those evil guys we're fighting". A well-developed villain is especially important since they are often the "active" ones who kick the story off. Most often, the formula of "the villain has an evil plan we're got to stop it" will work fine, but only if your villain is somewhat interesting. And unless you're playing it for laughs, they should never go down to easily. Nothing breaks suspense like an invincible hero.
TEN WORD OR LESS SUMMARY: Your hero wants to fight someone. Who are they?