Upon escaping the clutches of the Tamaraneans, Despero had remained close to the coast on which he had been brought to. In fact, it was the coast opposite of the one he had chosen for his invasion, on the same continent no less. Now that he had this mysterious orb in hand, he journeyed inland.
Specifically, he went to the middle of a desert, one that gave him many reminders of home. Earth was known to have many different climates, unlike his home world, so the changes of dense forest and mountains to grassy plains and finally dry desert had been surreal.
According to the intelligence his men were able to gather, there was a location known as Yucca Mountain in this desert. It was a rather misleading name for a rocky outcropping, but he was not here for the geography. There was an underground facility beneath this so-called mountain, one in which humans stored by-products of nuclear energy. The common term was nuclear waste.
The stealth technology on his ship allowed him to reach a rather odd entrance. A round tunnel—clearly artificial—was nestled within the mountain. Two rust-covered pipes emerged from the opening, curving upward and sticking up into the air. It was rather innocuous, appearing nothing more as a relic from a long-forgotten mining operation.
The barbed-wire fence and guards surrounding this location proved otherwise.
While Despero would have preferred to demonstrate his superiority over these Earthling guards, that was not the objective of this mission. Disembarking from his ship, the orb in hand, Despero strode towards the artificial opening. His mind reached out, detecting many other, weaker minds. He was about to alter their minds, making him invisible to their sight when his urge to simply overwhelm them won out. Why should he be creative when rendering their minds unconscious or debilitated would have ensured his safety?
So he gave into his impulse. The number of minds he sensed dropped dramatically until he sensed none. Satisfied, he strode into the tunnel, its rocky sides slowly becoming more smoothed until they became artificial stone, polished and maintained. Only the sounds of his own footsteps kept him company.
As he ventured further into the tunnel, he soon encountered the Earthlings. There were some dressed as guards and others in what passed as Earthling clothing. All of them lay slumped on the ground, no threat to his person, even if they never truly were. Eventually, he reached a docking bay, where a couple of large vehicles were parked. Despero eyed the round, black wheels each one stood on and wondered how a civilization that was creating spacecraft could still be so grounded.
Leaping onto the dock, he noticed some doors wide open, revealing the back of this long, rectangular vehicle was a storage unit. Inside were round canisters, an odd symbol on each one. There was what appeared to be a series of circles, one at the center, and three forming a triangle with each other. Each circle interconnected with the others, the furthest side of the circles broken, unable to complete themselves. It was an odd symbol, but Despero felt the meaning behind it.
Nearby, he found an Earthling slumped on the floor. There was a metal device with wheels, a flat plate extending out in front of the wheeled portion. On the plate was one of those containment cylinders. It seemed this container was being transported somewhere.
He then spotted a large opening. It was round, a heavy door left wide open. Even from this distance he could tell that when the door was closed, it created an incredible seal to ensure whatever lay beyond it was kept within. Walking towards it, he passed through the opening.
Inside he found what he had been expecting. A room with mountains of the cylinder containers, the repository for the nuclear waste as he had been informed. He stood on a catwalk, one that spiraled around the room, leading down to the floor far below.
Seeing yet another cylinder nearby, Despero moved towards it, placing a large hand over its top. Digging his fingers into the metal surface, he then tore the top right off, exposing a green liquid that was contained within it. A powerful odor assaulted Despero, causing him to back away, his eyes watering from it, his nose crinkling as nostrils flared.
As overwhelming as it was, Despero had work to do. Holding up the orb, he held it over the green waste. Slowly he lowered it to the liquid and just before it actually touched it, the green fluid began to draw towards it, trying to swallow it whole. Despero immediately pulled his hand—and thus the orb—away, causing the liquid to fall back into its container.
Now that was an interesting reaction. It seemed this orb was trying to draw the waste to it. Was this how that red creature had been made? How much of the material that comprised its liquid-like body did it need to form it?
Despero eyed the room full of containers. He had quite a bit of material here. Why would he allow himself to limit what he could use?
Now, he could try and open each container by hand, but that would be inefficient. Instead, his third eye glowed and he fired an energy beam. Turning his head from left to right, the beam ripped through one mountain of the containers, causing green liquid to pour out. It flowed down the containers beneath them until it reached the floor. Because of the damage done, the containers on top of the damaged ones toppled over, raining down in a loud cacophony. Some received gashes, which opened their contents out, adding to the amount gathering on the floor.
Satisfied with the amount, Despero then tossed the orb out into the room. It eventually fell to the floor below, splashing into the waste.
The reaction was immediate. The nuclear waste began drawing in around the orb until it was no longer visible. In fact, the waste began to rise upward, pulling in more and more of the wastes. Many of the containers were swept up in the current, some becoming damaged and allowing more waste to accumulate.
Despero tilted his head back as he watched the green, glowing waste rise higher and higher. Humanoid features began to form, particularly arms and legs. Metal seemed to appear where the feet should be, which Despero realized were the waste containers. They had been altered and reformed, creating metal footwear for the giant creature that was forming. Some even formed hand coverings, gauntlets that covered hands and forearms.
A face began to form on what seemed to be the head. A gaping maw became a mouth, opened wide as it let out a strained scream.
Despero began to draw back. He had reached out with his mind to detect any sort of intelligence, but found none, similar to those metal men. He wasn't certain how this creature would react to his presence, so removing himself seemed prudent.
By the time he had exited out of the ground vault opening, he felt a powerful tremor shake the facility. Dust and dirt were shaken loose from the ceiling, descending down towards him.
Lord Despero! a mind called out to him.
Despero merely allowed the source of the voice to feel his attention on them. It could only be one of his men. My lord, a large creature has emerged from this mountain. Are you well?
So it had already breached the facility? How powerful. I am well, he responded to his man. What is the creature doing now?
It appears to be descending the mountain on the easter slope. It is looking around—no, it has stopped. It is looking in the direction of a source of light in the distance.
That must have been some sort of Earthling settlement. No doubt it would be drawn to it. If its escape from this repository was any indication, then it would bring destruction there.
Exactly according to plan.
Captain Atom no longer needed the Geiger counter. It had started making a consistent crackling noise, so he had turned it off so as not to give away his position. While he had referred to it every so often, the sound had only increased in volume.
Which led him to a door at the end of a hallway. Two guards had been stationed in front of it, holding Nth metal spears at attention.
Key word being had.
Because their position gave them complete sight of anything in the hallway as it was a straight shot, Captain Atom had one of two choices. 1: he could use his superspeed to close the distance rapidly, or 2: he could use long distance. Based off of the known intel on Hawkgirl, her race had enhanced vision, so whatever course of action he took needed to be fully committed to.
The Captain chose both.
Once again, based off of known intel, he could fly at speeds comparable to Wonder Woman. He was not as fast as Superman and the Flash was out of the realm of question. Recent events had brought to the intelligence community's attention that the Martian Manhunter was fast in his own right, but they had yet to announce measurable results.
His world slowed down as he launched himself down the hallway, a silver blur that the Thanagarian guards could not miss. The moment he felt that he was able to attack without fear of missing, he held up both of his hands and fired energy blasts. The guards, startled at his sudden appearance, took the blasts head on. Getting hit in the chests, both were flung backwards, slamming hard against the door. They slumped to the floor, unconscious as far as the Captain could tell. Slowing down, he landed a short distance from the door.
Checking around to ensure there weren't others on their way, Captain Atom then turned his attention to a panel on the wall next to the door. It seemed to be a palm reader if the handprint was any indication.
What were the chances one of these guards could open this door?
Hoisting the nearest one up easily, Captain Atom grabbed his hand and placed it on the panel. The whole panel lit up green and the door slid upwards. Immediately, the silver-clad man entered the room, placing the guard down on the floor next to it. He then dragged the other guard in, making certain he was out of sight as well.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Captain Atom froze for only a moment. He knew that voice. Standing up straight, he turned and was shocked at what he saw. With arms and legs spread out and swallowed up by restraints was Major Force. He looked exhausted, his face dripping with fatigue. There were no other signs of damage on his body.
"Major?" he couldn't help but question as he stared at him. "What is going on here?"
Major Force managed to muster a glare. "What does it look like, Atom? These filthy birds are sucking me dry of my power. They've been doing it for…I don't know, days? Weeks? There ain't a damn clock in here for me to tell."
Captain Atom found himself looking at the contraption Major Force was strapped into. He wasn't quite certain what it was for, but if the Major was right, it was siphoning his power. That was not a good thing. It explained the spike in nuclear power his superiors had detected and what the Geiger counter had been reading. Major Force had been a part of the Captain Atom Project, so he was pure, raw nuclear energy, just like him.
"I'm going to get you out of here," Captain Atom said as he began approaching the red-and-yellow man. "Do you know how to undo the restraints?"
"If I knew that, do you think I'd be chained up like this, Einstein?"
Coming to stand before the man, Captain Atom studied the restraints. They looked as if they were Nth metal, which complicated matters. It wasn't as if he could crush them. While it would be easier to use a computer terminal, he wasn't certain where one was…
Oh wait, there it was. Apparently he needed to do more than just a cursory look of the room. Walking to a nearby terminal, he pressed a finger to a touch screen panel. Immediately, the monitor lit up, along with the touch screen. Captain Atom grimaced. Of course it would all be in Thanagarian.
"What the hell is taking so long?" Major Force demanded. "Cut me loose already!"
"Unless you know how to read Thanagarian, then this is useless," Captain Atom responded. If the easy way wasn't available, then he was just going to have to do it the difficult way. Returning back to the Major, he then pressed his hands on the Nth metal restraint that held his left arm. He found that he could dig the tips of his fingers into the restraint right around the major's arm. Doing so, he began to pull in either direction.
There was initial resistance, but the restraint began to pull apart after a few seconds. Impatient, Major Force began to pull his arm towards him, sliding it closer and closer to his body until he was free. "About damn time," he grumbled. "Now get the rest of me."
It took several minutes as Captain Atom worked his way to each restraint, pulling them open so that the Major could pull out his body part. The moment it was complete, the red-and-yellow man stumbled forward, to which the Captain was quick to catch him.
"Goddamn these bastards," Force growled. "They took damn near everything from me. When I get my hands on them…"
"That'll have to wait," Atom told him. "We need to get out of here first and—"
"Freeze!"
Both of their heads snapped towards the open door. There stood a few Thanagarians just outside of the threshold, holding various weapons. "Surrender yourselves now," their leader ordered.
"Do something, Atom!" Force demanded.
Immediately, the Captain thrust a hand towards the guards and fired an energy blast. The guards widened their eyes before they darted to one side or another to avoid the attack. Captain Atom then fired a second beam, this one striking the control panel next to the door.
In response, the door slid down, cutting the two men off from the guards. Unfortunately, that sealed them within the room.
"Good going, genius," Major Force spat as he forced himself away from the silver man. He only ended up stumbling a step or two, but kept on his feet. "You trapped us in this god-forsaken room."
"Not quite," the Captain responded as he looked up towards the ceiling. All he saw were exposed parts of a machine, its purpose unknown to him. However, that meant that if there were any protective materials to prevent external damage, they weren't in place.
Holding up both of his hands, Captain Atom gathered as much power as he could. Bearing his teeth, he then let out a yell as he unleashed a large blast.
The entire room shook violent, which threw Major Force off of his feet, sending him to the floor. "Goddamnit!" he yelled, his voice sounding stronger. Captain Atom just stared straight up, seeing a lot of thick, black smoke. C'mon, c'mon, he silently urged it to dissipate.
Eventually, it began to thin, revealing a dark hole. Considering it was night time, there was no way to know if his attack had breached the outerwall of this place. Moving to Major Force, he helped the man up, pulling one of his arms over his shoulders. "Brace yourself," was all he said before he lifted the both of them up into the air.
Flying up into the hole, Captain Atom followed it as far as it went. Fortunately, it seemed his blast had done just as he wanted, and the two men emerged into the cool night air.
Only to be greeted with the sight of several Thanagarian ships facing them.
"Now what, Atom?" Force grunted. "I don't have nearly any power to fight these guys off and you're too much of a pansy to knock them all off."
"INTRUDERS: SURRENDER YOURSELVES IN THE NAME OF THE THANAGARIAN LEGION," one of the ships demanded.
"What are you waiting for?" Force demanded. "Do something!"
"You're awfully demanding for someone drained of their power," Captain Atom remarked. "And for someone just like me, you have a surprising lack of knowledge on our capabilities."
"When I get my powers back, I'm gonna kick your ass."
Though he was hovering in midair, Captain Atom crouched his body regardless. It was a useless gesture, completely unnecessary, but he found he simply couldn't help himself. The moment he sprung upwards, he rocketed up higher into the air, instantly breaking through the Sound Barrier. A thunderous BOOM rang out as he soared at incredible speeds up into the clouds. The force produced rammed into the Thanagarian ships, shoving them backwards in the air, but not very far. Passing through one of the clouds, Atom then altered his course and flew away from the Gobi Desert, the landscape passing by as a blur beneath him.
If the Thanagarians gave chase, he wasn't certain. All that mattered was that he put as much distance between him and them before he made his way back to America.
Amidst the desert was a city, one that lit up the night as if they were adversaries. Many a city on Earth did this, and some had even earned nicknames. New York City was The City That Never Sleeps. Paris was The City of Lights. In this case, Las Vegas was Sin City.
Casinos illuminated its infamous Strip. Tourists and gamblers wandered in and out, though such traffic tended to be uncommon. Casinos had a tendency to try and hold on to whoever walked inside them, tempting them through various means and senses; flashing, exciting lights for the sights; loud, cheerful, and celebratory effects for sound; and even subtle scents to entice smell. Alcohol dulled inhibitions and was in plentiful amounts. Coins fell into trays. Chips slid across felt-covered tables. Dice clattered, roulettes spun, balls clacked, and cards slid.
The promise of winning a fortune held both entertainment and lurid enticement. One coin into a slot machine, the right amount pushed forward combined with a lucky draw, the right amount of force with the wrist, or the correct guess of a number could change a person's life.
More often than not, that promise was not kept.
From those seeking fun and the ones desperate and addicted, the casinos raked them all in to fill their vaults. Not even a declaration of martial law was going to keep these gamblers from trying one more night to change everything.
On this night, another gamble would also play out, its metal-clad foot stomping into the desert ground harshly. It came with a light all of its own, a radiating green, and it lit up the air and burned the plant-life that it came too close to.
Thick, gelatinous legs carried this gambler, the deadly substance trembling and shaking as it carried the weight of a humanoid-shaped body. Intertwined was corroded metal, some of which took the shape of hands and lined up along the arms. The lump that was the head had corroded bands that wrapped around from the sides, the ends placed where one would expect eyes. Black discs served as a replacement for the optic organs, and in their center glowed circular red lights to act as pupils.
Its attention was drawn to Sin City, and so it approached. What was its purpose? What was it suppose to do? Within its head, a Responsometer malfunctioned, and garbed programming prompted to find its purpose.
Was it to save, or to destroy? No…no, to save. Was that it? Save what? No, save who? The city, the city filled with light surely had an answer, did it not?
The destination was set, and soon enough the malformed creature's path intersected with a road, one that led straight to the city itself. A loud noise stopped the approach, and the lump of a head turned downwards and to the car that had braked harshly, skidding to a stop while blaring its horn. The occupant inside had rolled down a window and was gesturing with an arm, yelling, but the words weren't…understood.
Get out of the way? Moron? Blocking the way? Ah, this car was also journeying to the city. Perhaps…perhaps this is what it would do.
A metalclad hand reached down and grabbed the car, picking it up with the occupant inside and everything. Turning at the waist, the creatures hurled the car at the city, not quite hearing the screams from inside. Distantly there was a crash as the car bounced off a building and disappeared into the lights.
Taking another step, the creature continued on its trek, drawing closer and closer to the city. Answers were sure to be had. Answers to what it should do such as—
"—meat bags—"
Hm? From inside its head?
The Responsometer continued to malfunction.
"—robot revolution—humans need to be exterminated—"
Was that its purpose? To rescue through killing? Very well. Then that's what it would do. To save by destroying, then there need not be a reason to protect anymore.
Heavy footsteps brought the toxic creature closer and closer to the city that had more important things on its mind, such as when the next big payout occurred. No one could really be bothered even as the monster took its first steps into the city proper. Oh, there were car horns blaring, because how dare anything ruin their lucky night? There were more important things, you know?
Soon enough, the creature reached the Strip itself, taking in the sight of people on the sidewalk, and traffic slowed to a crawl as it catered to the opulent establishments that lined it. The very sight was enough to meet the parameters of causing salvation via destruction and doing so in a time efficient manner.
So it began to enact its primary function.
The TV had been on for the better part of the day, no one turning it off even though it was the same thing. There was talk, talk, talk, talk, talk about the Thanagarian occupation, how wrong it was, and what was the government going to do about it because no red-blooded American was going to let this happen sitting down.
The fat load of nothing was pissing everyone off, and naturally, depending on the channel, you would find someone demanding to know where the Justice League was. This had to be their fault, somehow. And hey, didn't these Thanagarians look a lot like Hawkgirl? What if she was in on this the whole time? How could the League be so stupid in letting her join them in the first place?
It was annoying and stupid logic, but right now this was their best source of information they could get right now. The internet was still in the middle of exploding, and Victor was handling that front so far. In as few words as possible, it wasn't any better than what was on live broadcast.
Tim found himself sighing in frustration a lot.
Let's not even get into how things were in Jump. Mom went out to get some groceries…okay, a lot of groceries—and Tim was going to be sure that his parents got some compensation for these unexpected developments—and when she got back, she had so many stories of how much of a warzone it was.
People were starting to panic buy because, you know, a successful alien invasion had happened and now was the time to bury your head in the sand and wait it out, but first, buy up everything you could from supermarket shelves because surely the food supply was next, with toilet paper as a big second.
But hey, there was something to tide over the others for the next couple of days, provided they didn't eat his parents out of house and pantry.
This was a bad situation, he was already cursing himself for it, but you know how things could get worse, right? Oh, sure, how could it get worse after a bunch of Thanagarians took over the planet, the Titans being driven from the Tower, the Justice League going MIA, and the Kalanorians making a surprise return and intend to blow up the planet? How could it really? All of that was bad enough.
So the world had to show that it could get worse.
As with everything happening recently, it started with a news broadcast. A talking head from pick your network of choice was doing their schtick, making whatever argument their network wanted to make, when the graphics for breaking news interrupted along with an alarming instrumental to catch your attention.
And now they're receiving word from Las Vegas of some kind of monster attack.
Ah, so this is how it gets worse.
Las Vegas was in a different time zone, so an hour early. The Thanagarians had been generous enough to go by their time system and all, so they were getting close to the curfew that had been set up. Then again, it was Las Vegas and the gambling addicts would not be denied.
Regardless, the TV now showed images of a green-glowing monster that looked to have some kind of metal fused to it, but what was truly important was that it was tearing its way down the Strip, wrecking cars and the outsides of every building it came across. People were running and screaming, cops had already shown up, but surprise, surprise, bullets had no effect on this thing. Then you had your people who were determined to get into the casino, monster attack be damned.
That last part was surreal, but Tim couldn't say he was surprised.
"Okay, I totally have no idea who that is," Bart was the first to speak up. At some point he had gotten up and was standing only a couple feet away from the TV, so his head was blocking some of the picture. Looking over his shoulder, the speedster asked, "So are we going in and when? Please say now 'cause all this sitting around has been total mode."
"Hey, isn't that the idea? So those bird guys don't find us?" Cassie pointed out, slumped on a couch. "Fighting that thing, whatever the hell it is, puts us out in the open and last time I checked, we aren't buddy-buddy with those assholes."
"Cassie is right," Raven agreed. "The point of a low profile is to stay low with the minimal amount of exposure."
On the TV, the green monster had arrived at MGM and was adding a little of its own green to it. An arm tore into the building, a foot stepped into a pool and contaminated the water, and the monorail was being ripped apart as they spoke.
"Normally, the Justice League or some local superhero would be handling this," Victor pointed out. "'Cept no one knows where the League is, and I just did a check and Vegas doesn't have a local superhero."
"The Thanagarians may take action," Kori said. "They have established their control and authority, so would it not be their responsibility to take action?"
Bart's head tilted. "Um, I think I see them. They're just…floating there. You know, with those floating tanks? They're not using them or anything, just sitting there."
"Hold on." Victor's human eye narrowed, and Tim surmised that the cyborg was doing some quick digging. "Bart's right. The Thanagarians aren't doing anything. They just showed up, but haven't done shit."
"Really? You've gotta be kidding me," Cassie snarked. "So what? They don't think this is their problem?"
"It looks that way," Tim said, adding his two cents.
"So, if the League's not around, and the bird aliens aren't going to do a thing, and the cops can't do anything, does that mean we're up?" Garfield asked, looking to each and every Titan.
"It doesn't. Our jurisdiction is Jump City, and that's in a different state," Raven argued.
MGM's parking garage now had the monster's attention, and it was holding up just about as well as everything else MGM, which wasn't well. The upper structures were being smashed, cars were pushed up together to the point they were being pushed out, and of course people were running…away and…screaming…
Well, not all, some had their phones out and were recording.
"Does it matter?" Tim wondered out loud. "People are in danger, and no one else is coming to help. Those who can are out of their depth, and the ones who aren't are choosing to do nothing."
"And it's the Titan thing to save the day," Bart added.
"We're not exactly at the top of anyone's list to call whenever there's trouble," Cassie pointed out dryly.
"And you shouldn't be." Tim turned his head, and found that it had been his father who had spoken. "This is a situation for the League to handle. Whatever that thing is, it's green, it glows, so there has to be some kind of chemical or radioactivity involved. You'd be putting yourselves into a dangerous situation that none of you are prepared for, unless those classes I hear you take involved this kind of situation specifically. Also, the Thanagarians should be looking for you as well. Would you end up fighting two fronts, this monster and the aliens?"
Well, when it came to fighting two fronts, there had been one time when they had, but that was so long ago and oddly enough did involve aliens. Maybe that was something Dad didn't need to know about.
For a bit, everyone was silent. Guess this is what happened when there was an actual adult in the room laying down common sense. The violence and destruction continued to play out on the TV, the voice of a reporter describing the obvious trying to tell people to evacuate.
"Maybe we aren't the League. We still got a long way to go," Victor's voice cut through the silence. "But none of us are normal and helpless either. What's been the point of Kori teaching us how to fight? Going on patrols whether it be day or night?" Tim pointedly ignored the looks Victor shot his way. "And what about that PR sh—I mean, stuff. We aren't the League, but that's what we're all training to be, right?"
There were nods coming from Garfield and Bart, which wasn't too surprising. Kori had picked up this human gesture and was doing it herself. Tim held more control over himself and kept from doing the same. It was such a bad idea to bring them here, but what could you do?
"So what's the point if we sit here, twiddling our thumbs, while everything goes to h—" Victor suddenly stopped himself, his human eye flickering over to Dad. "—heck." Nice save. "That…monster that's right there, on the TV, right now it's the last thing people need in their lives. Since the guys who took over aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, somebody else should. The League's not here, who knows where they're hiding, so…I figure that we are the ones who step up."
"Because we are highly qualified for this kind of situation?" That was Raven speaking up, and obviously objecting. "Our track record as of late has not been a shining example. Lest you forget, we had one alien invasion try to terraform the Earth, then we have a fight in the heart of Metropolis against robots that have the powers of the Justice League, and we recently failed to stop the takeover of our tower. You are assuming we rebound here?"
To Mom and Dad's credit, they stayed silent. Oh, there were burning questions there, and Tim caught the look that flashed across Dad's face when Metropolis was brought up. Oh, there were questions there, but the man had enough tact to not ask what was burning inside of him to come out. For now.
"If not now, when?" Attention diverted to Garfield, who's voice was remarkably quiet. Green eyes were staring downwards, but as if sensing he was now the center of attention, the shapeshifter looked up. "If we give up because we have a run of bad luck, then why try at all? We've been in worse, remember? That gang of thieves and the guy who knew my parents? We lost so many times until we got it right."
"That's not the same thing," Raven stated.
"Then what is?" Standing up, Garfield moved to tower over a sitting Raven. "Remember how we met, because that's something I do remember. Remember that alien trying to re-enslave Kori? And Blood? Where would any of us be, if we just gave up right there?"
Cassie was nodding now. "He's got a point." She definitely would have said more, but she caught the look Tim sent her. She may not have worn a mask, but her dual identity was miraculously still intact, and his folks were not the first people who were going to learn about it.
"We have encountered many failures," Kori agreed, picking up where Cassie left off. "We keep returning no matter the obstacle—or the threat. This may not be my ho…excuse me, my old home, but it is my new one and I do not want it to meet the same fate. This beast that now terrorizes this brightly lit settlement of Las Vegas goes without check. It is our responsibility to respond when those who are not able to respond cannot, and those that are may not be strong enough to meet the challenge."
"It sounds like we're in agreement," Tim said, his eyes on Raven who returned look for look. His gaze then looked over everyone else, including a very quiet Terra, who perked up and nodded her head like it was a bobblehead. "I'd say suit up, but since no one's changed, let's head out—"
"Not you, Tim." Ah, Dad was speaking, and Mom was coming up to his side.
"Um," Bart began raising a hand with a finger extended. Victor's cybernetic hand abruptly clamped over the speedster's mouth.
As if they hadn't heard anything, Mom began to speak. "We know you take your internship seriously, but you are not going out there and putting yourself in danger." Mom suddenly pinned down Cassie with a gaze. "You too, young lady. We may not have a say with the rest of your friends, but both of you will not risk your lives when you don't have any of these superpowers to protect you. You're staying here, end of discussion."
Cassie had a deer in the headlights look. Not a very flattering look on her. Tim, though, felt he had to try, "But—"
"Listen to your mother," Dad laid down the law, and oh, he could hear some of the snickers. This was so embarrassing.
"Dawg, we got this," Victor said. "You two lovebirds stay behind, and we'll take care of monster boy there. Besides, that means more room in the T-car."
It took an effort of will, really it did, to control his facial expression. Through clenched teeth, "Of course. Be careful."
"Since when has anybody here done that," Raven grumbled as she stood up, levitating over the floor as Victor led the way to the garage. The rest were following after him, leaving only the Drakes plus one dumbstruck Cassie behind.
Well, not really. He was going to have to make an excuse to go up to his room. He'd be able to at least digitally liaison with the team through that. Really, he wanted to be out there, with them, and this was one more reason why taking them to his house had been a really terrible idea.
"So, lovebirds, hmm?" his mother carefully probed, giving him and Cassie a knowing look. "Something you want to share?"
Okay, he took it back. This was the number one reason why bringing them here was a horrifically terrible, horrible, and no good idea.