MoP
Harry Potter and the Myriad of Possibilities: Prologue
Chapter 20: Deception, Part 9.
Disclaimer: This is solely a not-for-profit fan activity and does not intend to infringe on copyrights held by Time Warner, DC Comics, Bloomsbury et al, and JK Rowling. Any characters that are original to this work remain the property of the author.
A/N: The Myriad of Possibilities Series primarily uses the background from the Harry Potter books but some elements and scenes have been borrowed from other sources – including the movies, Pottermore and my own headcanon – that will be covered where they fit into the narrative. The timeline of the DC Comics elements borrows heavily from Young Justice (2011) and may adapt elements and characters from the comics and several additional other media instalments – including but not limited to Smallville (2001) and Superman and Lois (2021) – and relocates events of Young Justice to the Eighties and early Nineties rather than the New Tens as screened and includes several 'legacy' and original characters as a result. Any other recognisable characters belong to their copyright holders.
A/N: Thanks to Dragon97 and 6f5e4d for their help on this chapter.
A/N: This is the final chapter of the 'first run' of Deception, the next part of the overall story will be posted as part of Rebellion. Going forward, the narrative will alternate between the stories depending on the main character of that particular instalment.
Mount Justice.
Sept 22, 21:17 EDT.
Artemis flipped backwards, loosing an arrow and drawing another as she flipped through the air and landed well-braced on both feet. At the same time, Robin slid backwards, birdarangs in hand and threw them into the smoke screen.
The disks clanked against something but had no effect. Seconds later, another fireball flew out of the smoke towards them, missing them by inches as they dodged out of the way.
"Who are we fighting?" Artemis asked Robin, as she fired arrow after arrow at the clanking noises and shadows inside the smoke screen.
"Don't know," admitted the Boy Wonder as he moved to her side and threw several more birdarangs in the general direction of the threat. "But we're sitting ducks by the tubes. Head for the exit!"
Artemis nodded, and they ran towards the tunnel on their right, barely dodging a massive stream of fire along the way.
"Or not," drawled Robin, as a massive wave filled the tunnel and rushed towards them.
They tried to outrun the wave, but they were soon enveloped and slammed against the wall with a thud, causing Artemis to drop her bow. After a moment, the torrent receded to a few inches of standing water, and they were able to get to their feet in time to avoid being torched by another fireball.
A third fireball landed mere inches behind Artemis as she crouched to pick up her bow, but she avoided it and raised the weapon and then nocked another arrow in one smooth motion. She fired it, then turned to run as the mystery foe fired three more fireballs back.
"In here!" yelled Robin from the open door of the fitness centre.
Artemis followed him in, and the door automatically closed behind them.
"Robin to Team…" said the Boy Wonder, tapping his ear bud. "Come in."
There was no response.
"Aqualad!" yelled Robin.
(M'gann, can you hear me?) Artemis asked. (Are you there?) She got no reply, and any further attempts were cut off as the door into corridor was blown open by a fiery tornado, knocking them off their feet.
They were back on their feet in seconds and Robin lead the way towards the shower block. "Robin to Bat Cave, override R-G-Four…Cave calling Justice League, H-O-J slash Watchtower… B-Zero-One, Priority Red!"
The two teens began to turn on the showers as he waited for a response.
None came, but it didn't take him long to figure out why. "Comm is down, locked," he informed Artemis, as she finished the last tap and nocked another arrow. "At least the water's helping."
But the respite didn't last long as within seconds the room seemed to groan around them. The taps popped off the walls, then some of the tiles and finally the shower-heads, turning the cooling spray into a torrent that quickly filled the room.
"Or not," mumbled Robin just before the water swept them up. They floated for a moment, then he gritted his teeth, pulled a birdarang from his belt and swam to one of the walls and attached it. Seconds later, the wall blew out, sending most of it into the hallway along with the water. The two teens hacked and coughed as they try to get air back in their lungs, while running down the hall towards the kitchen and living room area. "We need to get lost."
Artemis looked around the large open plan area. "The extractor hood!" she exclaimed, and pointed towards the stove.
"Good, go!" said Robin, and then turned to a control panel by the door as she ran for the stove.
Artemis jumped onto the kitchen island, collapsed her bow and attached it to her belt, then climbed on top of the stove to pull the vent cover off. "What are you…?" she started, confused and drawn by the beeping from the panel he was working on.
"Downloading Cave blueprints," he replied. "Could come in…" He breaks off as the clank of metallic footsteps became audible, then hissed. "Go! Go!"
Artemis nodded and entered the vent and started to climb, with Robin only a few feet behind her.
Once they reached the first perpendicular opening and moved into it, Robin paused to activate his holo-glove, displaying the blueprints. "Go left."
Artemis nodded, and the two teens entered the new duct just as a stream of fire roared past behind them, just missing the heels of Robin's boots. "Uh, too close," he muttered, then continued to follow Artemis down the duct. "Take the first right… There should be a vent cover right in front of you."
There was, and Artemis removed the cover and dropped down into a new vertical tube without hesitation, with Robin right behind her.
Seconds later, they dropped onto the catwalk of the boiler room below. Robin pulled up the map on his holo-glove again. "This way," he said, then turned on his heel and headed towards another staircase.
But before they reached it, the air-conditioning duct behind them exploded, and a shadowy figure wreathed in flame dropped to the catwalk. The figure looked around, immediately spotted the two teens, then raised its arms sending twin plumes of fire towards them. They quickly dropped off the catwalk and landed between two large pieces of machinery.
The machine on Robin's left started to beep, drawing his attention towards it. As he glanced at it, the machine's sensor bar moved quickly from green to red, and the beeping increased in tempo, then abruptly stopped as the screen cracked. "That's not good!" Robin lamented and took off down the middle of the room.
Artemis gave the stricken machine – which was now throwing off sparks – a hesitant look and followed him, as several pipes burst overhead and began to vent steam.
The shadowy figure – still wreathed in fire – attacked again, now completely concealed by the fire, started attacking them again, prompting the two teens to take refuge behind another piece of machinery. Robin checked his map again. "I know that other access tunnel is here somewhere."
"You mean this one?" Artemis asked.
Robin nodded and Artemis immediately dropped down into the vent.
Robin grabbed another birdarang, armed it and attached it to the machine next to him, then followed Artemis into the duct.
Seconds later, the device exploded.
"Hold on," Robin called out to Artemis, who had already started moving. He pried open a control panel and plugs his holo-glove into it. "Locking out Cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us."
"And I ask again…" said Artemis. "Who is the enemy?"
"Let's find out," smirked Robin. "Downloading Cave security footage..."
His screen split into four images briefly, then he selected one and full-screened it.
The feed showed the Cave's hanger, where Conner, M'gann and Sphere were watching Wally as he worked on one of the bikes.
"Torque Wrench," Wally called out.
M'gann floated one over to him telekinetically.
"Thank you, Green Cheeks," Wally said as he grasped it.
Kaldur walked into the frame a moment later. "I have been meaning to ask, any problem juggling school-work with your responsibilities here?"
"No," Conner replied shortly, his hands on his hips.
"Juggling is just one of my many talents,"boasted Wally with a slight chuckle. "Socket Wrench."
M'gann floated the tool to Wally as she answered. "Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge… Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the Team. This Team, not the Bumblebees."
"Artemis starts school today," Kaldur added."Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?"
Artemis glared at the screen, wanting to respond but aware that there was no point.
"Nah, she'll manage all right," Wally replied, then rose to his feet. "I mean how much more hostile and annoying can she…"
The rest of his statement was lost as the camera and sound cut out.
"What happened?" Artemis asked, worriedly.
"Explosion took out the camera," Robin replied, a slight edge to his own voice. "I'll find another angle."
Seconds later, the new angle appeared, which showed the water under the jetty forming into three large streams before crashing into the hanger and taking out that camera.
The next view showed the rest of the Team charging towards the threat, only to overtaken by the water as the camera cut out.
The last camera showed Kaldur and M'gann heading up the staircase towards the main part of the Cave, obviously trying to escape the water as a burst of flame blotted out the view.
"That's it," mumbled Robin. "All four are dead."
What? Artemis thought, appalled.
"The cameras, I… I meant the cameras!" he assured her shakily, then continued more confidently. "I'm sure the others are okay… Just give me a sec to find the fastest route to the hangar."
Artemis fell against the wall of the tunnel. "Yeah, they're fine," she mumbled, trying to persuade him as much as herself. "They've all got super-powers… they can handle anything."
The two teens climbed out of the duct onto the library's upper level and headed down the stairs. "There's a secret passage behind one of these bookcases," Robin told his team-mate as he hopped over the railing and headed down the right-hand side of the library.
"Seriously?" commented Artemis as she followed suit. "Cliché much?"
"You should see the Bat Cave," retorted Robin with a sarcastic chuckle.
Before Artemis could reply, the main door of the library opened. They both drew their weapons and turned towards the door, then quickly behind the cover of one of the stacks.
The metal clangs echoed through the room as the figure drew closer, Artemis peeked over the books at her eye level to try and see out the other side.
"Artemis, Robin…"
As the clanking got closer, Artemis could see parts of a familiar form. "It's Red Tornado!" exclaimed Artemis brightly, and moved out from cover, smiling with relief.
But her smile flattered seconds later…
"Yes, on the Red… no, on the Tornado!" Robin pointed out unnecessarily, as he knocked her away from the strange android's questing grasp and under a table. But the table offered only a moment's cover and quickly shattered. To make matters worse, a second android – or rather a gynoid – joined the party a moment later, immediately creating twin fistfuls of fire.
The two teens quickly jumped to the top of one of the stacks to try and get a height advantage. "Who or what… are they?" Artemis asked as the gynoid's flames triggered the library's sprinklers.
Robin didn't comment but dropped back to the ground, and Artemis took a defensive position on the bookshelf and began to fire at the pair, but the android used the falling water to block her arrows and the gynoid punched the nearest stack hard enough to trigger a domino effect in them.
Artemis jumped off to her perch and landed next to Robin as he pulled a book – which Artemis idly identified as The Mysteries of Udolpho – out from its spot, triggering a secret door. The two teens immediately ducked into the passage, just as the dominoing bookshelves slammed into the stack that hid the passage.
"Did you know Tornado had… siblings?!" Artemis demanded as they ran down the secret passage.
"No," Robin admitted softly.
At a T-junction, Robin paused to check his maps, then moved to the left.
But Artemis grabbed him by the wrist and held him in place. "So now what? Red Tornado is one of the powerhouses of the League. How are we supposed to take down two of him?"
"They do seem pretty user unfriendly," Robin commented dryly.
"Don't joke!" Artemis begged. "They…"
"Attention, Robin. Attention, Artemis," the android announced over the PA, cutting her off. "You have exactly ten minutes to surrender, or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished."
The two shared worried looks.
"Eight minutes," declared the android, as they ran down a hallway.
"We can access the hangar from here," Robin announced, pointed to a nearby access point. But before they could move toward it, a distant sound caught his attention.
Then, moments later, Artemis gasped as a wave of water rushed into their hallway.
"Or not," he noted.
"Will you please stop saying that?!" begged Artemis as she started to run again, trying to outrun the wave. But despite her best efforts, she – and Robin – are unable to escape the flood and it quickly overwhelmed them, causing Artemis to lose most of the arrows in her quiver as they tumbled off their feet.
Robin pulled a rebreather out of his utility belt and then put it on. Breathing easily, he swam towards Artemis and helped her orient herself and then took a deep breath and gave her the rebreather.
Seconds later, the water-bender ambushed them and grabbed Artemis by the ankle. She gasped and lost her grip on the rebreather as he tried to drag her away.
Robin quickly seeded the tunnel with several birdarangs, then grabbed one of Artemis' stray arrows and jabbed the android in the eye.
Once Artemis was free of the android, he grabbed her by her arm, then fired his grapple towards the far wall, dragging them away from the android as his 'mines' detonated, throwing him back in the opposite direction.
21: 28 EDT.
They swam into the dock and surfaced, gasping for air.
"Look out!" yelled Wally.
They looked up, then took deep breaths and dived under the surface to dodge another fireball.
They continued surfacing and diving as they made their way over to where Conner and Wally were imprisoned in rough cages of molten metal.
"You guys okay?" Robin whispered.
"Forget us…" snapped Conner. "Help M'gann!" Nodding towards a cage of glowing flames on the top of the pier.
"Kaldur, is she…" asked Artemis, then trailed off, worried.
"She is unconscious!" Kaldur replied, his voice strained. "I fear she… we… cannot survive much longer."
Another fireball fizzled out in the water as they ducked down again, withdrawing from where their team-mates were imprisoned and surfacing by the stairs near where Sphere was buried half-way into in dock wall.
Red Torpedo rose out of water, blocking of their escape from that direction, while his 'sister' landed at the top of the stairs to block them from that direction.
Artemis quickly drew an arrow from her quiver, then turned to Robin. "I'm almost out of arrows," she told him apprehensively. And there's no way I can get to my room for more any time soon.
"Distract her, now," snapped Robin and headed down the stairs.
Artemis fired her at the gynoid, the tip exploded covering her and hiding her from view for a moment, until she walked out of the smoke and the fire began to form a hair-like wave behind her.
While she engaged the gynoid, Robin attacked her 'brother', throwing birdarang after birdarang at him. All of which bounced harmlessly off his armoured body.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Kid Flash as one of the stray weapons lodged itself within inches of his head.
As Red Torpedo raised his hands to form columns of water, the two heroes backed away from the androids. Then just as the two are about to strike, the two teens broke away and dove back into the water.
"Six minutes," announced the water-bender, as they surfaced in an isolated part of the mountain.
"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, worried.
"We save them," asserted Robin, but even with his mask, Artemis could see that he wasn't as confident as he sounded. "That's how it works."
"Maybe that's how it's supposed to work!" Artemis snapped. "But those robots already took out our four super-powered friends!"
"You seem distraught."
"Distraught?!" she cried. "M'gann is dying… Kaldur's probably not in much better shape… We have no powers and I'm down to my last arrow… so yeah, I'm distraught!"
"Well, get traught or get dead!"
"How can you be so calm?!" Artemis demanded but followed him down the vent anyway.
"Practice," replied Robin with a smile. "I've been doing this since I was nine."
"What good is that now?!" Artemis demanded. "What chance do we have against two unrelenting machines?"
Robin paused. "Oh… duh! They're machines… and one electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range."
Artemis brightened. "Great!" she exclaimed, then wilted again. "Except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt… because I know I don't have one in my quiver."
"I'm fresh out," admitted Robin, but then smiled. "But I'm betting we can make one… What do you say, KF, doable?"
"Totally doable."
How…? Artemis wondered, then realised what had happened. Robin must have attached an earbud to the birdarang that nearly hit Wally in the head.
"Five minutes?"
"You know, if you had more time…" continued the speedster, a little less confident now.
Robin pushed a panel open close to the floor, then he and Artemis stepped out and headed for the infirmary.
"Med Lab… x-ray machine."
Robin made his way through the lab, staying slightly hunched in case the androids were nearby.
"You'll find a small vacuum tube called a vircator…"
Robin opened a panel on the x-ray machine and easily found the device that the speedster was talking about.
"… that converts high energy pulses."
Robin plugs in his holo-glove.
"Reprogram the unit's microwave conversion from x-rays to EMPs."
Robin does so, then shut off the holo-screen and began to loosen the component.
"… with a cascading energy vector directed outward."
"A ripple effect…" Robin realized as he removed the device from its housing. "… like dropping a stone in a pond."
"A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage," retorted Wally jocularly. "Yeah."
"So, I'll need to hook it up to the Cave's main generator…"
Artemis arched an eyebrow as Robin shut down the holo-screen. "Which is… where?"
He said nothing and continued to look down.
"Four minutes," announced the android as the two heroes got into the position in a gallery above the dock.
"Okay," Robin said. "Make with the distraction."
"Hey, Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?" Kid yelled from below them.
"Yeah, and by the way, worst death trap ever!" added Conner after a beat. "We can escape any time we want."
"I can vibrate my molecules out of here before your binary brains can count to two!"
"Cover me," Robin told Artemis as he hooked a grapple line to the wall, and then swung over to the generator.
Artemis nocked her last arrow and stood ready to act.
"And you can't drown a Kryptonian, dumb bots," Conner buffed. "We don't breathe air."
Kid laughed obnoxiously as Robin landed and disconnected his cable.
"And Ms. Martian?" Wally continued as Robin quickly opened a panel on the generator and started to install the vircator. "I can't believe you're buying her act."
Robin connected his holo-glove and began to type. "Rerouting power now."
"Yeah," Conner continued. "You know how hot it gets in the fire caves on Mars?"
Robin looked over his shoulder, then glared at the screen. "It's not working."
"That cage is just making her homesick!" claimed Conner.
"Duh!" added Wally with a laugh.
"The circuit's incomplete," Robin reported as he disconnected his glove. "I need something conductible. A piece of metal or…"
"Robin, look out!" Artemis screamed.
But her shout was too later, and a massive wave overtook his platform.
Artemis fired her last arrow at the water-bender, but it was knocked off course by the gynoid and it flew past him.
The gynoid turned to attack her directly, but she ducked back out of sight, grasped in her quiver for a non-existent arrow. She turned and hurried for the nearest vent, barely reaching it ahead of further attacks by the fire-bender.
She paused at a tear in the duct and peaked through the opening and saw the water-bender draw Robin out of the water, suspended inside a spout of water, immobile and apparently not breathing.
She gasped and stumbled back. "No, no, no, no…" she mumbled as she curled into a foetal position, barely holding back sobs. "If I surrender… I die with the others… But if I find a way out, out of the Cave, out of the mountain… I can get help. Call in the League."
Then the vent cover under her gave way, dropping her into one of the storage rooms.
"Three minutes."
"Oh, who am I kidding?" Artemis asked herself with a sigh as sat up and rubbed her arm. "The best I can do is hide and hope the League finds me before the Reds." Then she glimpsed something familiar on a shelf above her. She got up and regarded her sister's old mask. "I know you understand," she mumbled as her mind drifted back into the past:
"We have to keep this family from falling apart," she told her sister firmly.
Jade glanced over her shoulder, worry flitting across her face for a moment before calm reasserted itself as she turned to face Artemis. "Toothbrush, duh!" she exclaimed, then hit her head with a smile. "I knew I was forgetting something…"
"Dad will come after you," Artemis told her as Jade headed towards the bathroom.
"Let him," Jade said smugly, as she returned and added her toothbrush to the bag, then zipped it up. "I'll disappear like the Cheshire cat," she insisted, then put on her hat and headed for the door, bag in hand. "You should get out too. I'd let you go with me, but you'd slow me down."
"Someone has to be here when Mom gets out," Artemis insisted confidently.
"Haven't you learned anything?" retorted her sister as she opened the door. "In this family, it's every girl for herself."
When she closed the door behind, Artemis fell to her knees, hugging her bear tightly and fighting the urge to cry.
Artemis stepped forward and picked up the mask. "That might be true about our family," she admitted bitterly. "But I've found a new family. And here, it's all-for-one and…"
"One minute."
Reminded of the urgency of her situation, she placed the mask back on the shelf. Then the souvenir next to it – a familiar arrow – caught her eye and she had an idea…
The elevator door slid open, and Artemis stepped out, her bow loose in her hand.
The Reds immediately turned towards her but didn't attack.
"I surrender," she told them, defeat heavy in her voice. "Stop the clock."
She walked towards them, as she walked past the fire cage, Kaldur stirred a little, clearly not quiet unconsciousness, and tracked her movements. When she reached the Reds, she glanced around clocking Robin – safe but insensate – and Wally and Conner – who were almost completely submerged – as she offered her weapon to the androids.
The water-bender held out an armoured hand to accept the weapon, but she adjusted her hold on it and then exploded into action, kicking out at the android in face and then flipped towards the gynoid and deflected a flame attack.
Then she flipped backwards and drew the souvenir arrow from her quiver and launched it at the Cave's main generator.
When it hit, the vircator started to glow bright blue and crackle with electricity, and then shot out a blue energy wave.
Every machine in the room started shutting down, and the Reds crackled with energy before falling to the ground. As their eyes go dark the fire dissipated and the water level dropped, leaving Conner and Wally gasping, but conscious.
"Kaldur, how's M'gann?" Conner asked worriedly.
The Atlantean groaned as he pushes himself onto his right elbow. "She breathes," he replied. "I believe she will recover. What of Robin?"
Artemis drops her bow and skids to her knees beside the Boy Wonder, as she began to check him over, he stirred and coughed.
"He… he's breathing too!" she reported happily.
"Way to get traught," Robin told her between coughs, then smiled.
Artemis fell back for a moment, giving into relief, then rose and went to look for some tools to free her imprisoned team-mates.
"Figured my only shot was to 'surrender'… pretend to drown before I actually did," explained Robin a few moments later, then shrugged. "I still blacked out though."
"M'gann…" said Conner, taking her hand in his.
"I'll be fine," she assured, but she still sounded weak even with Kaldur's support, so Artemis decided that she'd be going to the infirmary once the boys were free.
"Will you quit playing with that thing and cut us free already?" Wally demanded, nodding towards the laser cutter she had found.
"It's not working, genius," Artemis retorted. "An EMP shuts down all machines, remember?"
"All machines present at the time," corrected Red Tornado as he flew into the hanger and landed beside Wally and Conner. "What has occurred?"
"Had a little visit from your family," replied Robin, then glanced meaningfully at the dormant Reds, his hands on his hips.
"Your extremely nasty family," added Artemis harshly.
"I was not aware I had relations."
"Where have you been?" demanded Conner.
"Monitor duty on the Watchtower," replied the android and made his way over to the intruders. "When it became clear that Cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate, but your Zeta Tubes were also non-functional. I transported to Providence and proceeded here."
As he kneeled to examine them more closely, Sphere whirled back into life and freed herself, then dropped to the deck near Wally and Conner.
"Hey girl," said Conner and got a series of beeps in in return.
At the same, Artemis' laser cutter fired briefly until she switched it off.
"The pulse has worn off," declared Wally and Robin in unison.
Red Tornado reached out to Red Inferno, then a zap connected their fingers as her eyes lit back up. His eyes glowed the same colour as he activated his winds again – much stronger than before – and rose into the air.
Artemis dropped the laser cutter, clutching her throat as the air was sucked away from her. She looked around frantically, but as she watched, Kaldur began to feel the effects and dropped M'gann to the floor as he grasped his own throat… Robin began to stumble… their two imprisoned team-mates are helpless to react and slumped in their bindings.
"Can't breathe…" Artemis gasped as she fell to her knees, then saw Robin fall over before her world went black.