A/N: Hey there, and welcome back to The Chimera! Before we begin, I'd like to thank you all for 200 follows! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that many people.

Now, onto reviews:

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Now, onto the actual chapter!

Mount Justice

August 8, 2010 9:58 EDT

As the Team (sans Kid Flash and Artemis due to prior commitments), run towards the private beach near Mount Justice in our bathing suits, I privately muse on how only Kaldur and I know we're going to have a new team member. Before I wonder how Artemis is going to be introduced to the rest of the Team, M'gaan shouts out "Hello, Megan! We should hit the beach every day!"

Dick preludes the beach day by placing his hand on his head. "First, a moment of silence for our absent comrade."

M'gann lowers her head and closes her eyes. "Poor Wally."

I lower my head as if we were paying our respects to an old friend. "Public schools should not start in August. Believe me, I'm speaking from experience." Seriously, my old school district was several different shades of messed up. I then do a complete 180. "So anyways, let's get things set up." After that, I transform into Fastcat and prepare our little area in one second flat before detransforming. "There, that should do it."

Kaldur turns to us and asks in a friendly tone "Shall we begin with a friendly competition?"

I stroke my beard stubble. "Color me intrigued, Kaldur. What is it that you have in mind?"

"I was thinking of a swimming competition to that island-" Kaldur points at a small chunk of land that can only be defined as an island because it's detached from the mainland "-and back. There will be two rounds, one with powers and one without. However, all swimmers must have at least half of their bodies in the water. Are you interested?"

Everybody excitedly replies. "Yep!/Sure./Of course./Totally."

"Good. This round shall be the one with powers. Whoever makes it to the island and back first wins."

As Kaldur starts counting down from ten, I immediately dial in Oceania and slam down the core once he reaches one. Jumping in, I use my hydrokinesis to propel myself at rapid speeds and I turn my head to see that Kaldur is just behind me, with Superboy and Miss Martian using their powers to reduce drag, and Dick in dead last.

With Oceania's remarkably impressive hydrokinesis, I finish in first place by a wide margin, waiting for a bit because the others were taking a few minutes to catch up to Kaldur and I. Once Connor lands on the island, he grumbles. "How did you beat Kaldur?"

I smirk. "High pressure water blasts and some crazy reflexes. I'm more surprised neither you nor M'gann decided to use your flight abilities to destroy any drag you come across while swimming. Why is that?"

Connor sighs. "I'm not really used to flying in water. For some reason, I keep attracting a small bubble of water whenever I'm in water. It's a bit weird."

M'gann then pipes up. "I'm having similar issues with my telekinesis. It needs fine tuning when I'm trying to pick up solids in liquids."

I think about that for a bit. How is Superman training Connor on this, if he is doing so at all? Hmmm. That's a bit odd. You all need more training then."

Connor winces. Dear god, is Clark actively ignoring Connor?! I swear to Tom Baker, I will force the two Kryptonians in a room where they'll talk about their feelings in order to gain the right to leave. Bats would probably agree with me on that. Probably.

M'gann turns to look at me. Did you say something, Ezekiel?

Just an idea of mine, M'gann. Don't worry about it.

That's what you said about the Bamboo Incident back when we were patrolling together in June.

I wince. We all agreed to never speak of it again! By we, I mean Hal Jordan, myself and M'gann.

M'gann gets irritated and she lets it show in her thoughts. I know you Ezekial Arakelian, and when you have an idea, it's usually crazy. Talk.

I sheepishly reply with I was thinking of locking Connor and Superman in a room together with Red UV lamps weakening them so that they can talk out their feelings.

M'gann blinks. That's just as crazy as the Bamboo Incident.

The real question is: will it work?

In as blunt a tone as possible, M'gann replies Yes, and with a higher chance than the bamboo incident, in fact.

In my defense, I did not know that much about panda biology, nor was I perfect at using Greenhouse to create a strain of bamboo laced with adrenaline inducers.

M'gann moves her arms up in the air, exasperated. You created an aggressive panda horde that took us and Lantern Jordan to contain!

I cross my arms. And which one of us was fighting Tiger Shark to prevent him from killing said pandas?

M'gann grumbles. You were.

And don't you forget it.

I get lightly punched on my shoulder by a curious Connor who looks at me. "What are you two talking about?"

I stare blankly at him. "What makes you think I was talking with somebody?"

"Your face and M'gann's kept changing a few seconds after each other. Ergo, you two must have had a telepathic conversation.

I decide to keep the details lowkey. The Bamboo Incident is something that shouldn't be known amongst the Team because I'll never live it down and I want to keep the idea for making Connor and Clark talk to each other on the downlow for now. "Just a previous adventure M'gann and I had before our first meeting with the rest of the Team on Independence Day."

"Huh." And with that, Connor walks away to the ocean. I thought it would be more difficult than that to make him stop eavesdropping on us.

After that, we finish the swimming competition (unsuprisingly, I came in first for the powered section, but dead last for unpowered which Kaldur took note of and invited me to take swimming lessons that I immediately accepted) spend the next few hours swimming, eating hot dogs, playing volleyball, and burying Connor in the sand before we eventually get called in the Cave for an announcement in uniform. It's only after I get changed into my uniform that I remember that Wally's a bit scatterbrained and might forget that when he gets off school, it'll be late for a beach day (even if one doesn't account for time zone differences), so I open up a private chat between me and him.

Alienated: Hey, make sure to come up in your 'work clothes'. Beach day's over.

Thunderstruck: Awww man! Fine, I'll be there in my work clothes.

Alienated: Good, because we have a new member to meet.

Thunderstruck: Oh, okay.

Thunderstruck: wait what

Thunderstruck: WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER? Who?

Alienated: As River Song says, Spoilers!

Thunderstruck: … I hate you and everything you stand for.

I smirk as I put my phone away and I join everybody in the mission room. As always, Batman is there with Red Tornado, Green Arrow and our newest member, Artemis.

Batman speaks up first as always. "Everyone, I would like you to meet Artemis, Green Arrow's latest protege and your newest member. She will be with you for the foreseeable future."

I feel the familiar tingle of telepathy followed by M'gann asking Zeke, did you know about this?

Yes. I was there for the recruitment in fact, both for my shared experiences being used in the recruitment (which was the official reason for me being there) and using my metaknowledge to identify her (which was the actual reason).

Does Kaldur know about this?

Only the official reason, and he was under orders from Batman to not tell anybody about our new member. Even then, it was because I protested extensively for him to know about it, saying it was unfair and suspicious for him to not know.

M'gann looks at her and then me. So, do you think we trust her?

I stroke my chin, calling up everything I know. As of right now? Don't trust her with anything too serious, like your secret identities. The Artemises I know of are of varying moral standards, so it's up in the air whether she's good or bad. To put it in terms you can understand, she's one of those inconsistent variables in the multiverse. But I'd also like to point out that she's probably more on the side of good from what I experienced from her recruitment.

Does it have to do with her background?

I decide to apply a bit of pressure towards M'gann using my 'scolding older brother' voice. Yes, and you're not getting it out of me. She doesn't want anyone to know about it until she decides to trust us with it, whenever it may be.

M'gann bluntly replies Like us in that regard. to which I reply with Okay, I can see that. before I follow it up with Oh, and before I forget, Dick and Wally know that you know Dick's secret identity.

You mentioned that a few days ago. Literally the day after AMAZO, in fact.

I blink. Oh. I forgot that I already told you then.

I understand. And with that, M'gann ends the telepathic communication between us.

Dick shouts out in curiosity infused anguish "What about Speedy?"

Batman looks all around us. "An invitation to join the Team will be kept open until he joins the Justice League."

A "Huh." is all Dick says in response while Kaldur asks "Now then, do you have a mission for us?"

"Unless something comes up, we do not have a mission for you today. Today was meant for you to show Artemis around and to introduce yourselves to her."

A few minutes later, Recognized: Kid Flash, B-0-3 rings through the room and I see Wally in his Kid Flash costume ready to begin. "Alright, let's get this party started." After that, Wally decides to walk to the holocomputer.

After a few seconds, Wally turns to Artemis before turning back to us and asks "Who's this?"

Artemis turns to Wally and replies in the snarkiest yet most monotone voice she can muster. "Artemis, your new teammate."

Wally adopts the tone Artemis is using. "Kid Flash, never heard of you."

Green Arrow then steps in like a father defending his daughter. "Ummm, she's my new protege."

"W-what happened to your old one?!" Wally asks in a panic.

Recognized: Speedy, B-0-7 Speak of the devil and he shall appear…. Red Arrow steps from the Zeta Tube and towards Green Arrow, practically growling from the looks of it. "Well for starters, he doesn't go by Speedy anymore. Call me Red Arrow."

Green Arrow steps forward. "Roy. You look-"

"-replaceable." Red Arrow finishes bluntly.

Green Arrow sighs, exasperated. "It's not like that! You told me you were going solo!"

"So why waste time finding a sub? Could she even use that bow?" I cross my arms in a silent disapproval of his actions as Artemis walks up to Red Arrow, looks him in the eyes and says "Yes, she can."

Wally shouts "Who are you?!"

"I'm his apprentice."/"She's my apprentice." Artemis and Green Arrow simultaneously reply.

Kaldur then speaks up. "She is not your replacement. We have always wanted you on the Team and we have no quota on archers."

"Whatever." Roy dismisses Kaldur's gesture. "I didn't come here to play under supervision, I'm asking your help with Doctor Serling Roquette."

It takes me a while before I process the name Serling Roquette: one hell of a geneticistknown for curing Connor's genetic defects and for violating laboratory dress and safety codes with her attire. Turning around, I see Dick's eyes widen before he pulls up her page on his wrist holocomputer and I get a bit of a suprise. "Nanorobotics genius and Claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City." I blink. Huh, what else is different here? With that, several screens showing her patents, her place of work, and herself (looking older than I expected) suddenly appear. "Vanished two weeks ago." Nanobots? Please don't tell me we have to prevent a grey goo scenario on our hands. I may not know much, but they tend to be unreasonably difficult to deal with.

"Abducted two weeks ago. By the League of Shadows." I breathe but inside I'm somewhat panicking. Oh dear lord, if the League of Shadows (why are they even called that in the first place? What happened to the League of Assassins?) are going to create a cloud of nanoscopic assassins, I'm going to scream.

Dick smiles, and oh my god they are so pure. "Whoa! You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?"

Wally fistbumps Dick, excited for the potential of fighting ninjas. If it weren't the League, I would be excited too. "Hardcore!"

"I already rescued her. Only one problem-" And with that, Red Arrow holds up a detonator looking device and pushes the button down. "-The Shadows already coerced her into creating a weapon." Photos of a canister, a laptop and a metal tick appear as holograms. "Doc calls it the Fog. Composed of millions of microscopic robots, nanotech inflitrators capable of disintegrating anything in their path: Concrete, steel, flesh, bone. But it's true purpose isn't mere destruction, it's theft. The intruders eat and store raw data from any computer system and deliver the stolen intel to the Shadows, providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting edge science and tech."

Artemis moves her hands as if she's counting. "Prefect for extortion, manipulation, and power broking. Yeah, sounds like the Shadows."

"Like you know anything about the Shadows." Oh dear lord, Wally, Artemis is not good for your ego. Artemis smirks and turns to look at Wally, prompting him to go "WHO ARE YOU?"

I respond with a sly "Artemis, obviously." before I go into Chimera mode with "But the real question is: Why not go to Federal Government buildings, steal their data and sell it to other countries or just use it to commit the greatest act of terrorism ever seen?"

"The Shadows, as their name implies, like to hide in the shadows. Terrorism on that scale would be counterproductive to their ideals." Red Arrow rudely remarks. "Anyways, Roquette's writing a virus to render the fog inert."

"But if the Shadows know she can do that…" Dick begins.

"…They'll target her. Right now, she's off the grid. I stashed her inside the local high school's computer lab."

Green Arrow incredulously remarks "You left her alone?!"

Red Arrow ignores him with a simple "She's safe enough for now." to which Green Arrow rebukes with "Then let's you and I keep it that way."

Red Arrow glares at Green Arrow. "'You and I?' Don't you want to take your new protege?"

I speak up. "Good lord, were you always this high and mighty or do you just have an arrow stuck up your ass right now?"

Red Arrow glares at me (is that his default reaction for people saying something he doesn't like?) while Wally shouts out something I ignore. Green Arrow puts his hand on Green Arrow, who says "You brought this to the Team. It's their mission, which means it's hers now too."

Red Arrow scoffs. "Then my job's done." He walks away to the Zeta Tube and teleports out after updating his designation.

I speak up. "Well, now that that's over with, I'm assuming we're going to fly to the nearby highschool?" before I mutter "At least Psycho Pirate's not on this mission."

I remiscise on the one time he and I met. Putting it mildly it was a disaster, and it ended up with him in a vegitative state, Atomic Skull crippled and his powers weakened to a mere fraction of what they were before after Shockhenge's energy absorption caused irreparable cellular damage, and I only avoided being off the Team for psychological evaluations had I not put Psycho Pirate on my 'People who I should never meet lest my actual origin gets out' list. Still had to get scolded from Aqualad for it, though.

M'g-Miss Martian, we're going on a mission right now- squees, catching my focus. "I'm so excited to show Artemis the bioship."

"To the hangar!" Robin shouts, and I resist the urge to go 'doodooleu'.

We take the elevator and enter the hangar and we see the bioship in rest mode. Artemis looks around like a headless chicken and asks "Sooooo, where's the bioship?"

I point to the only noteworthy object, the red fleshy egg. "Right there."

Artemis looks at it before looking at me back and forth several times before finally asking "You're joking, right?"

All of a sudden the bioship exits rest mode, becoming a red organic spaceship instead of a red egg. I put on the most smug grin I can and reply "Nope." to an awed Artemis who has her jaw dropped

"All aboard!" Miss Martian shouts.

We enter the bioship and sit in our seats, ignoring Artemis' mild discomfort over suddenly being seated by the bioship. Miss Martian activates the cloaking and flies to Happy Harbor High School before landing it in an open section. Disembarking, we activate the stealth tech in our uniforms and Aqualad starts barking out orders.

"Chimera, you're defending Doctor Roquette with Artemis. Miss Martian and Superboy will be on the roof searching for potential infilitrators. Robin, Kid Flash and I will patrol around the school on foot to search for any as well. If necessary, you can all switch positions with others, except for Chimera and I, who are exempt. Any questions?"

Artemis speaks up first. "So, who should I report to if you're incapacitated?"

Aqualad bluntly states "Chimera."

"How'd he get the position?"

"I nominated him for the role and he accepted it."

I decide to clear things up. "If only because Robin still has a bit of an individualistic streak that we're trying to break him out of. I'm not entirely sure why I got recommended."

Aqualad turns to me with 'are you serious?' written on his face. "You possess a clear strategic mind, the ability to keep calm under pressure and the natural charisma that many people often lack. Are there any other concerns you have that should be addressed now?"

Kid Flash continues with the questioning. "What should we do if somebody does sneak up on us?"

"We'll have to hold off the assassin until they retreat and then we'll have to regroup somewhere else with the appropriate equipment. Does everybody understand?"

We all nod our heads and Aqualad smirks. "Good. Now then, if possible, we should identify the locations of the targeted companies as soon as possible."

We all do so and I enter the computer lab with Artemis to see a blonde blue eyed woman who's seen better days in a lab coat and a green shirt. "Doctor Roquette, I presume?"

"You presume correctly. Care to explain why you're here?" She arrogantly asks.

"I came here to offer my help-"

"I don't need help from a teen who can't understand science without turning into an alien."

"Okay then." Clearly she forgot about Upgrade. I decide not to push the subject forward if only because I'll be rebuffed again and to respect her wishes.

Everybody online? I hear Miss Martian ask over the telepathic network.

Ugh. This is weird. Artemis complains.

And distracting. Doctor Roquette frustratingly yells. Coding a distracted algorithm on a kiddie computer with less ram than a wristwatch is hard enough! Now I have to listen to teenthink in my skull?! While she says that, I see the doctor grab her head as if she's going to destroy her brain by crushing it.

I sternly reply with Miss Martian, please disconnect the good doctor from telepathic communications. She's going to be with one of us at the very least, so it's unnecessary to have her hooked up when we're just going to be together.

Sure thing. And with that, I feel something that can best be described as disconnecting somebody from a telepathic network.

Kid Flash speaks up. Does she always complain when somebody helps her?

Probably. She rebuffed me when I offered my help through Upgrade. I replied.

At least you were genuine unlike the newbie here. Kid Flash tells me while sulking.

Hey! I'm here to be a hero just like you, so quit complaining! Oh my god, was I like this when I was their age?

Knock it off you two! I reply. Artemis, Kid Flash here has some sort of brotherly worship going on with Red Arrow, so quit needling him over somewhat justified behaviour. Kid Flash, you don't have the archer you want on the Team, and you're blaming a person who had nothing to do with Red Arrow's refusual. So apologize or may the deities have mercy on your souls when I report that you two were uncooperative because of Kid Flash's blind worship of Red Arrow pushing Artemis away once we get back to the Cave.

Fine. I'm sorry for being rude to you Artemis. I just really want Red Arrow to join us. I really look up to him like a big brother and I didn't like you off the bat because you replaced him in my eyes. Kid Flash apologizes.

Artemis, in a somewhat sad tone as she can muster, apologizes with Okay then, I'm sorry for being rude to you in general, Kid. I was somewhat nervous and happy to join the Team because I didn't have a great childhood or even friends that understood what I was going through in my own home. Growing up was more of a duty than an event in my home if only due to my abusive dad, my absent mom and my runaway sister. It really says something about me that I'm acting all aloof to avoid more emotional trauma.

Well then, now that that's over with, we should get a move on. Out loud, I ask "Doc, can you track the Fog? The virus won't be of use until we find it."

"Of course I can track it, but I'd have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and 'Assasinate me!' written in neon."

I put my hand on Roquette's shoulder and tell her "We will protect you."

She hits a key and announces "Tracking Fog now."

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, I tell everybody through telepathy Fog tracking is up and ready. Everybody, I want you to do your best. After all, we're going to get some unwanted gate crashers pretty soon. Miss Martian, reconfigure the Bioship so that Robin and Superboy can hunt it down.

Ready.

A few minutes pass, during which Robin and Superboy leave. The door opens, and Aqualad jumps in and gets hit by a shuriken, and I tackle the doctor onto the floor, avoiding more shuriken in the process.

A sultry female voice purrs. "Mmmmmm. That had to hurt." A slender woman with olive skin and black hair wearing a damaged green kimoko, black boots, and a mask patterned after the Chesire cat runs up to Aqualad with two sais. Cheshire.

Aqualad configures his waterbeards into swords and goes "Atlantean skin is quite dense." while I transform into Construct.

"And my shuriken are quite poisonous." I shapeshift my arms into hammers and begin swinging them every which way only for Chesire to do a backflip. While we hold her off, Aqualad telepathically yells out M'gann, Kid, Artemis, we are under attack in the computer lab!

On our way! Artemis replies.

Seeing that Chesire relies mostly on CQC, I shift my arms into cannons and start firing chunks of myself that detonate on impact to get Cheshire to keep away. It works, and Chesire's knocked back. Seeing no other option, Cheshire decides to throw one of her sai at the doctor, which narrowly misses thanks to Aqualad changing one of his swords into a whip and hitting the sai midair. Before she can do anything else, Cheshire gets into a sword duel with Aqualad.

"Almost. Posion slowing you down?" Cheshire mocks.

"Jellyfish toxin. I am largely immune." Aqualad rebuts.

Cheshire headbuts Aqualad. "Largely." she mocks, before turning to me. "Now, onto the changeling. Did you know that getting your precious watch would net me a huge reward?"

"Didn't know, don't care." I reply in the gravelesque tones of a Segmentasapien.

With that, Cheshire throws some poisonous shuirken at me. I feel some blades hit my chest and I reply with "Organic polyethylene-based biochemistry is quite different than a carbon based one, idiot. I'm immune to most, if not all, conventional Earth-based poisons."

In a flirtatious tone, Cheshire tells me "Well, that certainly spices things up."

Artemis shoots an arrow just as Cheshire hits me with a sai. "Don't. Move."

Cheshire chuckles. "This gig's getting interesting." She pulls out a bo staff, opens it and hits Artemis's arrows down on the ground. As the rest of the Team surrounds her, she looks around, goes "Maybe a little too interesting", throws a smoke bomb and vanishes into thin air just as Kid Flash tries to tackle her, resulting in Kid Flash and Artemis hugging.

Kid Flash looks around. "Gone!"

Roquette is in a similar incensed state. "She's getting away! You're letting her get away!"

"Focus, everyone! The Shadows will be back." Aqualad commands. We all respect that because of how he channels it.

We hear a beep before Robin comes through. "Robin to Aqualad! We're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadows' next target: S.T.A.R Labs. We're too late. It's destroyed, totally destroyed! The fog decimated it. This is bad. S.T.A.R Labs has cutting edge science and their secrets are in the hands of the enemy. What's our next move?"

"Rescan for that Fog. Find it. We're moving the Doctor." Aqualad orders. I detransform back into a human to conserve battery and I stretch out my arms. Clearly, I'm going to need to visit the medbay to pick up something for my shuriken induced scars.

"Alright, we are going to initiate plan B. Doctor Roquette, I'll take you to a nearby internet cafe where you will continue your work after you spoof your location to the nearby boathouse. Once the Shadows arrive, I'll work on getting to you as soon as possible. Miss Martian, you are to head to said boathouse and shapeshift into Doctor Roquette, where you will pretend to be working to disable the Fog. The rest of us will guard Miss Martian in the hopes that the Shadows believe she's Doctor Roquette."

I speak up. "Knowing how life is, it's the sort of crazy that works."

Roquette protests the idea. "Wait, why can't Chimera protect me?"

Aqualad glares. "Because Chimera has a time limit of fifteen minutes and is inexperienced when it comes to dealing with the Shadows. I do not wish to risk your safety on somebody who could be caught unaware."

Doctor Roquette thinks upon it and decides to support the decision. "You promised that you'll protect me, and so far you haven't betrayed that promise, so I feel that it's our best bet."

"Then it's agreed upon. We shall begin plan B. Doctor Roquette, do you need-"

"All my work on the Fog is on the flashdrive I carry on me, including the necessary programming tools." We all turn to look at her. "What? Did you think I was kidnapped because I was working on the Fog? Of course not! I was kidnapped because my paranoia about data theft resulted in me keeping a copy of every little detail on the Fog with me on a flashdrive attached to my keychain."

That… made a certain amount of sense. The only problem I saw with the setup is that whoever allowed that violation of data security to happen was either overconfident or secretly a League plant. I'm hoping it was the former and not the latter, if only because the former is a lot less worrying.

"I see." Aqualad notes. "Now then, we should be moving now."

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the boathouse. If we actually were covering for the doctor, then it would be a stupid place to hide her. The windows above the doors make a perfect vantage point for a sniper or other ranged combatant and the computer itself is located right in the middle of the boathouse, perfect for assasinations whether by land or sea. And those are the discreet options. The indiscreet options would result in overkill and the League of Shadows having to rework themselves from the ground up due to the artillery used resulting in a search for terrorists with access to weaponized UAVs.

I get shaken from my thoughts when Miss Martian, shapeshifted into Doctor Roquette, looks at me. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be protecting me?"

"As you can see, there's nothing to protect you from right now besides the roof if it's about to collapse, and it isn't, so creating some defenses is not a good use of my time." Switching to telepathy, I tell M'gann Okay, that is perfect. I swear, if you cared about putting the effort into it, you could be one of the best infiltratiors in the League and Team.

I hear a Thank you Chimera! from Miss Martian. Sent telepathically, of course. We can't risk breaking her role until it's too late. For the Shadows, of course.

Looking at the back wall from behind 'Roquette', I tell Artemis and Kid Flash Quit it you two and I get an undignified What?! from both of them.

I can literally see your romantic feelings for each other, and let me tell you, I have never dated a day in my life. So unless you don't want to confess in the middle of the mission, shape up now.

Fine! I hear both of them reply.

It's not until I hear Aqualad yelling "Miss Martian! Stay in camoflague mode and make a wide perimeter sweep!" followed by two metallic clangs. I announce "Guess it's showtime. Places, everyone!"

As if on cue, Kid Flash moves to the doors, Artemis readies her bow and moves to see if somebody'll appear behind her and I turn into Xenowulf. The doors open, and a man in a purple spandex costume with gold lenses and a black spider logo-Black Spider appears. "Wow, I didn't expect this much security for a drop in doctor's appointment." Okay, that does it. Because of his Spider-Man voice, Black Spider will be henceforth known as Josh Keaton from now on.

Kid Flash runs up to Josh Keaton and does a sweep kick that misses because of his target jumping onto the roof. I try to fire a sonic howl, only for a web ball to get thrown in my mouth. "Now, now, let's use our inside voices."

I grab the web ball and throw it aside but before I fire another sonic howl, the sounds of wood and glass shattering rings in my ears and I turn to see a muscular man with white hair, brown eyes, a green jacket, blue cargo pants and black boots with a hook for a hand-Hook. Artemis fires several arrows and I fire a sonic howl, all of which he dodges.

"Don't stop working!" Artemis orders the 'doctor'.

Before I can do anything else, a bolt of lightning hits me and I see a Marilyn Manson look alike in a black leather coat, boots and pants as well as a red shirt bleeding from the palm of his hand. Despite my best efforts, this guy doesn't jog a memory so I ask him "Who the devil are you?"

Marilyn Manson's face grows into a sneer. "December Graystone, child. Remember it well, for I will be your last opponent."

I glare at him, already annoyed at his ego and edgyness. "Don't fucking underestimate me. You're not the first opponent I dealt with who had a wide variety of powers in their arsenal, and you certainly won't be the last."

"We shall see if your claims have any truth to them." And with that, he grabs a flipblade and cuts himself. Suddenly, a fireball appears in his hand which he throws at me, only for me to shoot it with a sonic howl. Alright, let's see here. If he has to cut himself to use his powers, then I'm going to need to nullify his ability to wield anything with an edge. That makes me limited to Oceania if I want to end- Oh right, Aperachnid. I select Aperachnid and slam down on the core, and I feel myself overcome with the Omnitrix's codon energies.

Sensing that I successfully turned into Aperachnid, I immediately shoot webballs repeatedly and he manages to have his back against a wall. "Insolent child! You will pay for your grievances!"

"Oh my gods, I swear you are just one giant talking edgelord cliche. Heh, that's your name from now on." And with that, I make a bunch of monkey noises at him and shoot webs to prevent him from moving his arms and talking before I kick him in the balls. With him incapacitated, I immediately move onto Josh Keaton. "So, what's with the purple costume? Pretty sure you could've gotten something more impressive. Or appropriate."

"So sue me. The tailor was nearly out of black spandex, and I couldn't change my uniform thanks to stupid bylaws." Josh Keaton shrugs before he throws a punch at me that I catch.

"And yet nobody bothered to protest those bylaws?"

"No, not really."

"So you decided to keep the costume instead of getting an unaffiliated tailor to make your own? Doesn't make sense at all."

Suddenly, I hear the twang of a crossbow and the sound of wood being hit. "Martian's here! It's now or never!" Cheshire cries.

As soon as that's heard, Josh Keaton suddenly grows more competent, judo flipping Kid Flash to the side and punching me in the chest. He shoots a strand of web at the box, pulling it closer. Cheshire jumps onto the workspace 'Roquette' is using, Artemis gets hit by Hook's hook, and Miss Martian tries to run only for Cheshire to tackle her to the ground and pull out a sai. Spinning it, she just about gets ready to stab Miss Martian, who decides to drop the ruse.

"We've been duped!" Cheshire yells out in shock.

"Geez, you actually fell for it? If you'd actually bothered to think then you could've won." I smirk. Aqualad, you'll have company incoming.

Thank you for the heads up, Chimera.

It's no problem.

Miss Martian finishes shapeshifting into her stealth uniform self and yells "You'll never find Doctor Roquette!"

"Never's such a long time." Cheshire runs away. "Pursuing target; keep 'em busy!"

And with that, Hook attacks Miss Martian, Josh Keaton rips off the webs on Edgelord/December Graystone before attacking Kid Flash and Artemis runs after Cheshire. "Pursuing their leader, take the rest down!"

Josh Keaton grabs Kid Flash in a chokehold, but before I do anything, I hear the slash of a metal knife against flesh and I see that Edgelord is back in the fight. "Come child, and die to your betters." He says in that sterotypical gasoline burnt voice of his.

"Don't you have better material?" I reply. Seriously, this guy takes edgy to eleven and I didn't even think that was possible. Hmmm, now what to do? Fuck it, it's Brainstorm time. I hit the core and turn to Brainstorm, and I immediately use my neuroelectrokinetic abilities combined with my superhuman intellect to turn a nearby trash can into a supercharged projectile about to fire when I mandate it to.

"Did you really think that I would be defeated that easily?" Edgelord growls.

"When facing a lumiary with a herculean cerebration like mine, of course!" I reply smugly before launching the waste container at nonlethal velocities. Edgelord reclines, concussed and unconscious. Estimated recovery time: 10 days physically, 35 emotionally. Now if only I could replicate the trick with my Fulmini form…

The beep beep beep of the Omnitrix distracts me and I detransform into a human. Swearing in several languages because I'm usually better than that, I immediately move over to Josh Keaton, who's shouting "Hey! Stand still so I can wrap you up."

I immediately sneak up onto Josh Keaton and try to choke him, only for him to kick me. "Now, now. I think it's best for you to learn not to interrupt others when they're working." And with that, Josh Keaton stabs me in the chest with a knife, which I rip out of me very painfully and bloodily.

"CHIMERA!" I hear Kid Flash and Miss Martian yell. Fortunately, the Omnitrix glows green and I immediately turn into Greenhouse. The stab wound heals immediately, and I smirk. "Did you really think there wouldn't be any safeguards in case of fatal injury or death?" I ask mockingly before throwing a few seeds that grow into vines that encase Josh Keaton, who struggles to break free.

Turning my attention to Hook, I grow some fire tipped vines from my back which I use to burn his skin to incapacitate him. After that, I generate a bunch of chlorophyll-water adhesive to clog his hook's mechanisms before I finally knock him unconscious by generating a methane cloud.

Panting, I take a look at the Team. Now I see why Ben didn't use the Methanosian's adhesive generation ability: it's fuelled from your own biomass. I grimace. "Alright, I've managed to incapacitate December Graystone (who will be filed as Edgelord solely for the purpose to mess with him once I get approval to do so), Josh Keaton, and Hook. So, shall we get moving?"

Miss Martian and Kid Flash both light up at that. "Yes!/Of course!"

"Good, now let's run!"

It takes us a while, but we eventually reach the internet cafe, where Artemis is underneath the light of a street lamp with nothing but ambient light, Cheshire's mask, and Aqualad slung on Doctor Roquette's shoulder to keep her company. Seeing no use to stay transformed, I hit the Omnitrix core and detransform.

"Artemis… Where's… the assassin?" Aqualad pants.

Artemis turns away from us. "She… she, uh, got away."

"From you? I thought you had it handled!" Kid Flash slumps before he sees the mask. "Cool, souvenir!" He says in that voice a child has on Christmas day.

"Her mask?" Aqualad pulls out a poisoned shuriken "Did you see her-" Aqualad pulls out another poisoned shuriken "-her face?" Aqualad pulls out the final posioned shuriken.

"It was dark!" Artemis protests, with just a hint of a lie in her voice. Knowing her, it was the first time she saw her sister in years, so no wonder she's messed up.

"It is fine. Robin and Superboy neutralized the fog, and Doctor Roquette is safe thanks in no small part to you." Artemis turns to us and Aqualad responds with "Welcome to the Team."

I cheekily respond with "Yeah, we're working on the name." Everyone turns to look at me. "…I ruined the moment, didn't I?" and I get a chorus of approval from everybody, including Doctor Roquette.

Artemis turns to us and smiles, clearly happy that we're accepting her despite not knowing much about her.

Miss Martian comes up to Artemis. "I've always wanted a sister… here on Earth, I mean. I have twelve back on Mars, but trust me, it's not the same." Yikes, was I the first sibling figure that treated her like an equal to me?

"I wouldn't know. But… thanks."

Aqualad and Miss Martian elbow Kid Flash and I respectively. Kid Flash responds with an "Owww! Yeah, welcome." while I respond with "I already welcomed her onto the Team earlier."

Aqualad asks "You did? When?"

"When I joined Bats and Green Arrow in recruiting her."

Wisely, everybody seems to shut up after that. I still need to figure out just how I managed to get the trust of the League and the Team. It's just odd. I'm not that great at socialization (even though I'm improving) but it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Artemis breaks the silence with "Sooo… what do we do now?"

"We head to the Cave and do a brief mission report before changing and heading home for the night. Once we wake up, we do a more detailed report to be recorded in the League's archives."

"That sounds boring."

"We're still under League oversight even if we're not official UN affiliates. Ergo, we need records for League bookkeeping."

"But don't the UN have access to the League's computers?" Artemis questions.

"Just some heavily restricted access involving mission reports and minutes. Besides, records about the Team go into Batman's League accessible computers, not the League's actual computers."

"Okay, that makes a lot of sense."

"Before I forget, I'm gonna need your Convo ID. We have a chat for the Team, and all sorts of announcements go through it under codewords."

Artemis pauses. "I… Don't have a Convo?"

I shrug. "Then get one ASAP. It's sorta important for us, and it's really secure."

Artemis looks at me blankly. "Okay then, I guess I'll make one when I get home."

We all slowly walk to one of the Cave's entrances, which takes a while due to having to move the three assassins to the Cave's holding cells. Eventually, Batman comes in and practically growls "Debrief. Now."

I decide to speak first. "When we landed at the school, we were given orders that all summed up to 'defend Doctor Roquette'. In between my arrival at her location and the intrusion by Cheshire, I offered to help her but she refused, believing that Brainstorm was the only form I could help with, and upon refusal, I decided that any further attempts at getting her to accept my help would be futile."

Aqualad continues while I catch my breath. "It was around this time that Kid Flash and Artemis began to bicker until Chimera decided to make them apologize to each other under the threat of writing down their behavior."

"Which I'll still be doing. You two need to work out your issues. Anyways, we were told that tracking the Fog would result in us being tracked, and not too shortly after, Cheshire arrived, having snuck by everybody else. I decided that Miss Martian should reconfigure the Bioship into following the tracking algorithm, which Robin and Superboy decided to do."

"She attempted to use jellyfish posioned shuriken to hinder us, but failed due to my near-immunity to the posion and Chimera's transformation into Construct. A few seconds later, the Team surrounded her. She got away, and we immediately began our backup plan of relocating her to a fallback location while we prepared a decoy location with Miss Martian disguised as Doctor Roquette."

"Sometime after setting up the backup location, Cheshire arrived with backup in the form of Black Spider, Hook and December Graystone- who I will be calling Edgelord for future reference. With said backup, we could have failed had we been guarding the real Doctor Roquette."

"When Miss Martian dropped the deception, Cheshire made a run for Roquette and Artemis followed Cheshire. I was informed of the first happening, but not the second."

"At this point, it was practically a brawl in the boathouse. I was the worst off out of everybody, as Black Spider got a lucky shot and managed to stab me in the chest when I tried to incapacatiate him while untransformed due to timing out after incapacitating one of the assassins. Fortunately, the user preservation failsafes kicked in, and I was automatically turned into Greenhouse to heal after I pulled out the knife. We managed to incapacitate Black Spider and Hook (Edgelord having been incapacitated already) and promptly ran to Aqualad and Artemis."

"I will admit that Cheshire got the better of me, but fortunately, Doctor Roquette already uploaded the virus and managed to back away from Cheshire as a distraction, which succeeded. Upon leaving, she was confronted by Artemis, who managed to get her mask off in spite of her inability to capture her."

Seeing where this is going, Kid Flash pulls out the mask which Batman takes before handing it back. "I see. And what of Robin and Superboy?"

"I can only assume that they succeeded in capturing the mastermind and destroying the Fog. Outside of one message from them, the two factions haven't been in contact since we split up."

"Anything else I should note?" Batman questions.

"Given Edgelord's tendency to cut himself to use his powers, I assume he's a magic user specializing in Blood Magic, so restrain him to make sure he doesn't escape. In addition, I burned a little pattern into Hook's skin to stun him."

"I see. Well then, I expect a written report from each of you within a week's time. Make sure to inform Superboy when you see him. Understood?"

We all chorus "Understood!"

Just as we turn to leave, we see an intact Robin and Superboy wearing a singed and damaged solar collection suit come from the elevator. Artemis turns to look at them and asks "So, what took you long enough?"

"Superboy decided to jump in immediately to fight the Fog's deployer despite me specifically asking him not to do so. Because of that, I had to run into Waynetech and make sure that I was connected to a terminal hooked up to the mainframe, which I was thankful for."

I cross my arms and glare at Superboy-No, it's Connor, we're off duty now- in a 'I'm so disappointed in you' kind of way. "I see. Well then, I guess we'll have to discuss impulse control in our next private discussion."

Connor growls for a bit before I glare at him harder. "Okay, dad." He tells me with as much sarcasm as he can handle. I chuckle because in many ways, it's true.

As he walks away, I yell out. "Oh, before I forget, make sure to write a detailed mission report and send it to Batman within a week. His orders, not mine."

"Okay." And with that, we all head to the lockers, except for Artemis. M'gann takes a look at Artemis and asks "Aren't you going to change?"

"When I get home. I didn't bring a spare change of clothes with me here."

"Well then, I guess you'll remember next time, right?" And with that, M'gann puts on her best puppy eyes.

Artemis tries to resist the legendary puppy eyes but fails. "Fine, guess I'll bring some next time."

"Thank you!" M'gann squeals in joy. Hmmmm, are Martians bisexual by human standards? Or is M'gann just naïve? Good questions that I think everybody is probably better off not knowing the answers to.

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you around." And with that, Artemis walks into the Zeta Tube, programs in her destination and walks in. The sounds of Recognized: Artemis, B-0-8 fill the room.

"Well, that was something." I comment.

Wally rolls his eyes. "It is something. Just like it's something for you to be at her recruitment. Can't you tell us anything about her?"

"You're gonna bother me about that until I do tell you something, aren't you?"

"Well, duh. I'm as curious as the next person here. Now, tell us." With that, Wally goes on the ground while clasping his hands as if praying for me to reveal.

"Alright, fine! But all you're getting is some of the details. While I know the entirety of Artemis's background, it's up to her, not me whether or not you'll get it. Kapishe?"

"Kapishe."

"It was about a week ago. Green Arrow, Batman and I managed to identify Artemis's place of residence where we met her mother, who was worried that she was in trouble. From what I felt of the home, 'place of residence' was more fitting as it was clear that Artemis did not have a happy childhood at all growing up. Shortly after we pitched our recruitment offer, Artemis joined and we offered her a place on the Team. She accepted, under the condition that we don't reveal her backstory."

"Okay then, but that still raises one question: How did you get to join in on recruitment and not Kaldur?"

"Offically, it's because of our similar backgrounds. Unofficially, it involves my actual backstory and you're not getting that until I decide to trust all of you to not break down over it and/or reject me over it."

"It can't be that crazy."

"It is that crazy and some more besides that."

"Okaay then." Wally blinks. "Well, I guess I'll be heading off after I change."

I look around. "Same here."

"Of course I'll join you." Dick grins. "After all, somebody's gotta keep an eye on you."

Wally adopts a questioning look. "What, worried that I'll spill the beans on your ID?"

Dick dismisses the concerns with a wave of his hand. "Nah."

As we all change into civvies, we kept bickering some more, even bringing up how the mission went, I think to myself that Artemis is a great addition to the Team. The only question I have on my mind is this: What will Artemis accomplish with us?

The possibilities I imagine cause me to smile all the way from the lockers to my bedroom where I fall asleep. The only answer I get is from my dreams and it's this: Great things.