I don't own Ben 10 or Young Justice
Depths
Royal Memorial Hospital; Star City; March 19th; 7:52AM
Stinkfly and M'gaan landed in the parking lot as people and passer-byes watched them in awe, they were heroes of course but, the two barely noticed their fans and reporters flashing cameras in their faces as they entered the hospital. A flash of green light exploded in the door-way as Ben entered in his human form, a doctor met them in the lobby, leading them down the hall into the residential wing for long term treatment.
"Any updates on their condition?" Ben asked as the doctor flipped through the pages attached to his clipboard; M'gaan walked close beside him but, was more nervous than anything else.
"I'm afraid not," The doctor responded as they approached the room where two residents currently stayed, "Whatever expiermental cryogenic process that held them in stasis must have caused them to be left in this comatose state."
Ben folded his arms as they peered through the window, "However," the doctor continued, "Every time you enter the building, the younger ones watch lights up and all the MRI machines in the building go offline for a whole minute."
"It recognizes my Biomnitrix," he stared down at his left watch for a moment before M'gaan spoke up.
"Any way of telling when or if he might wake up?"
The doctor gave a long-exasperated sigh, "It could be a few hours," just as their faces displayed a twinge of hope, he interrupted, "Or a few years; the technology that kept him frozen is years ahead of anything I've ever seen, I'm afraid this is not a typical coma-patient."
They hung their heads in defeat for a moment before Ben looked back toward the room door, "Can we see him for a moment?"
"Of course," He scanned his I.D card and the lock clicked allowing them to turn the handle and open the door, "Anything for you heroes."
"Thank you, doctor," they entered the room where the two boys lay in hospital beds, tucked into the clean sheets tightly, having not moved an inch in weeks.
They stared at the younger boy, his tan skin was a darker complexion than even Ben's but, it didn't take away from his obvious facial features, the structure of his cheekbones, his hair color, it was definitely their son. He put a hand on M'gaan's shoulder and took a step forward, "Can you wake him up? Ya know, with the whole…" he pointed to his temple without taking his eyes off the boy.
"I could cause a lot of damage without knowing what his psyche is like, who knows what those freaks at Cadmus did to his mind? He could be a zombie or a serial killer or…" a tear welled up in her eyes as Ben turned to notice, he stepped back and put his hands on her waist from behind allowing her to drop her head into his neck, "What do we do?!"
He sighed and let go of her, stepping forwards to observe his son closer, "I'm not completely sure," he reached out and grabbed the boy's wrist, taking a detailed look at his watch, "This has Albedo written all over it…"
She wiped her tears and sniffled as she stepped forward and looked closely at it with him, "I've never seen one that looks like that."
Ben chuckled, "This is what my first Omnitrix looked like; it was a prototype," he pressed down on the command-function as the faceplate popped up with a silhouette of Heatblast appearing, he slid through the playlist with a smile, "Looks like he's only got access to one playlist, the first playlist in the Codon Stream," he gave a nod to M'gaan before glancing back at the device, "I should have done this when we first saw him but, I wasn't even worried about the watch, I was so focused on him, I'm deactivating it."
He quickly turned the popped dial until the faceplate came clean off removing the core entirely, the watch gave a low hum before fading grey, "Too much power for one kid?" She asked as he pocketed the core and turned back to her.
"Are you kidding me? I was younger than him when I got the watch, I'm turning it off until he wakes up; it's too dangerous to be left unattended and active," she smiled in agreement as they sat down in the chairs nearby noticing the other man in the bed beside their son, "What about him?"
M'gaan put her hands in her lap, "Oliver has Queen Consolidated board-meetings all week long, he's taking the first flight over Sunday night," the rhythmic beeping of their life-support was almost too dull for either of them to handle, "I just can't believe Roy actually found him, the real Speedy."
"The clone version is the only one we ever knew; it's almost too freaky seeing him all young like that with an arm missing," they noticed the real Roy Harper was about a year or two younger than his clone counter-part, likely due to the cryogenic stasis he was in for so long, "Who knows how either of them are going to react when they wake up, if they wake up."
"Don't say that," M'gaan looked at her feet with solemn eyes, "He'll wake up, he has to."
"I know, M'gaan, I know," he stood and straightened his back, cracking his neck from the stiff boredom that filled the room, "Well, we've got a mission in less than an hour; something about a Mars satellite?"
She stood with him taking once glance back at Ken who slept peacefully, "Yea… something like that, Nightwing will debrief us, I hear Artemis is joining us for one last go," they both filed into the hall and approached the exit.
"First Wally and now Artemis? It's like they don't want to retire at all…"
…
Palo Alto; March 19th 2019; 8:12AM
"Next on Godfrey's 'bonehead list' the launch of Ferris Aircraft's Earth-Marts communication satellite. That's right folks, it's not enough that we've been invaded by aliens, now we're going out of our way to contact them!" Wally's flat-screen TV was tuned in to the Godfrey Hour but, he wasn't exactly enjoying the man's biased opinionated gibberish, especially knowing as many alien's as he did.
"I'm ready!" Artemis shouted from the bedroom as Wally closed his eyes and shut the TV off in response.
"I'm not happy about this."
Artemis folded her arms, "As I recall, you were wearing the yellow and red just a few weeks ago."
Wally scoffed, "That was an emergency, I was needed."
"Well, I'm needed now."
Wally turned his head away in distaste, "He shouldn't need you, he's my best friend, he knows we're trying to leave the life behind…"
Artemis reached up and put a hand on his chin, pulling gaze back to her, "Don't blame Nightwing, the decision was mine," she pulled him in for a quick peck on the lips, "Babe, you're freaking out over nothing… what could go wrong?"
…
14 Hours Later
Cape Canaveral; Florida; March 19th 2019; 10:45PM
"28… 29… 30…" Nightwing pumped his open palms on Artemis' bleeding chest, the blood seeped through his fingers but didn't stop him from attempting to resuscitate; he quickly leaned in and placed his lips to hers, blowing air into her lungs with force but, he felt no pulse on her neck after doing so.
Nightwing exhaled and stood, staring down at the sand of the beach, "She's dead…"
…
Mount Justice; March 19th 2019; 11:16AM
"They're all going to end up our responsibility, aren't they?" Mal Duncan exclaimed, as he folded his arms at the holo-screen above them with Bart Allen, Ken Tennyson, and Roy Harper's images displayed.
"Not necessarily," Nightwing explained as he reviewed the files for each individual case, "Bart, Impulse, is staying with Jay and Joan Garrick in Central City; Roy and Ken are recuperating at Royal Memorial, Red Arrow is watching over them, Ben and M'gaan are currently making routine checks to make sure they're safe."
Mal sighed and gave a glance to Superboy, "Mhm, they're gonna end up our responsibility."
"Doesn't everything?" Conner responded raising his hands, "I mean, where are we on identifying the Light's new partner?"
Nightwing rubbed the bridge of nose to subdue the headache he could already feel coming, "No progress."
"Recognized Ben Ten Thousand B01; Miss Martian B06."
Ben and M'gaan strolled in through the Zeta-Tubes approaching the group of Mal, Dick, and Conner who yawned loudly from his lack of sleep, "Call me when it's time for the briefing, I'm gonna take a na-"
"Recognized Artemis B07."
From the same tubes came the tall blonde Artemis with her old emerald uniform on and a duffle over her shoulder; M'gaan lit up like a Christmas Tree and twirled around floating into the archer's arms, nearly knocking her over, "Artemis!"
"Time for the briefing."
"Hey, M'gaan!" She returned the embrace as M'gaan planted her feet but kept her hands-on Artemis' shoulders, "I love the hair, you went short-cut?"
"Yea, decided to distance myself a bit from Megan Morse after I graduated."
"I love the look, totally suits you, and I'm sure it suits someone else too, wink-wink," She nudged M'gaan's shoulder as Ben approached from the side; they both gave a quick glance and blushed.
"We're not… I mean, we aren't… involved," M'gaan stuttered.
Artemis gave Ben a glance as he shrugged in response, "Well, that's none of my business," stepping forward she punched Ben's arm in response, having to look up to meet his eyes, "And you, why the hell didn't you call if you were back in the states, asshole?"
Ben chuckled and cleared his throat, "Well, I've been a little busy…"
She walked passed him as they all convened on the holo-ring where Nightwing and Superboy stood, "Catch me up later, drinks?"
Ben waved his hand, "I'm sober sorry, but, we can catch lunch though?"
"Count me in, Conner!" She reached the ring and embraced the Kryptonian.
"We have so missed you around here!" He responded.
"I sure hope so," she put her hands on her hips as Nightwing clapped, drawing their attention to the front of the room.
"Alright, listen up gamma squad," He strolled across the room pulling up a wide holo-screen with the details of the satellite launch projected across it, "the mission is Cape Canaveral to safe-guard the launch of the first Earth-Mars com-sat; there are people out there who don't even like the idea of aliens and will do anything to scrub this launch," M'gaan was shocked and grew a saddened expression.
Artemis noticed and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "But, that's why I came back, because not all of us feel that way," M'gaan smiled back at her, appreciating the sentiment.
Mal chuckled, "So, why are you going?"
"Let's just say after running this team for a year," Nightwing tightened his gloves and smiled, "I'm peckish for a little action."
…
Cape Canaveral; Florida; March 19th 2019; 8:15PM
The sun had just set over the horizon as the launch was entering its final stages of preparation; Superboy floated in the sky above a press conference just outside the launch-pad, dressed in Superman's oversized costume and being lifted by M'gaan's telekinetic ability. Right next to him floated Chromastone, with folded arms looking down on the populace, just so that the absence of the founding League members wouldn't become noticeable.
"And… we are officially at t-minus one hour and counting," a woman in purple stood in front of a podium with Martian Manhunter, or M'gaan in disguise, standing beside her as the clock ticked closer to zero behind them, "Now we do have time for a few questions," she noticed Cat Grant in front and was prepared to take her question when Godfrey strolled in front of her and interrupted with a very 'douche-bag' mannerism.
"Yea, Ms… Godfrey," she finished with a stale energy.
"Ms. Ferris, maybe I'm the only one not drinking the space-cola but, has anyone asked whether Earth wants more communication with aliens?"
Everyone glared at him with discontent, no one agreed and everyone found his lack of manners and biased viewpoints quite infuriating, "Our galaxy contains billions of stars yet, Earth and Mars are warmed by the same sun; the Martians aren't aliens, they're our next-door neighbors, isn't it time we got to know them?"
He scoffed and turned to his camera crew who were broadcasting live, "So, that's you plan? Borrow a cp of Martian sugar? While our world is being invaded!"
Martian Manhunter spoke up, "If I may," they all turned to him to hear his point of view as he stood at the podium, "All the more reason both worlds must stand together, this satellite represents a new cooperation between sister planets; the beginning of an alliance that can protect us all," he handed the podium back to Carol Ferris whom smiled at his speech.
"Thank you, Martian Manhunter, on behalf of Ferris Aircraft and the Earth-Mars Communication Initiative, we couldn't agree more," Manhunter nodded and levitated up before flying faster up to meet Chromastone and Superboy.
"That's it? No more questions for the mighty Man-Hunter? Tell old G. Gordan that name doesn't sound ominous to you!" Gordan waved his fist up at the sky as the heroes paid no attention to him, "And does anyone notice that the shape-shifter and Kryptonian aren't taking any questions! I mean really, his aliens are really alive but, he's still a walking invasion waiting to happen!"
They flew off into the sky approaching the Bio-Ship, "We're out of sight," Chromastone said as Manhunter shapeshifted into M'gaan and Superboy slumped over as the telekinesis carried him more lazily.
"Good, let's just get back to the ship, I don't like you using telekinesis to simulate flight," Conner looked down at his flappy costume and could feel the uncomfortable tug of being held up in mid-air.
"You're welcome," She joked with a smile as Chromastone spoke up.
"You know we have to make it look like the League members who took off into space are still here, if outsiders figure out some of our greatest heroes are missing, it would make us vulnerable to attack," a hole in the sky opened up revealing the camouflaged Bio-Ship.
"I hate monkey suits…"
…
Artemis and Nightwing stood within a tower where they had a ninety-foot view of the surroundings in all directions, they used binoculars to scope out the area in detail, "If nothing else, we have a good view?"
"Ms. M, link us up," Nightwing spoke into the communication receiving a slight nudge in his brain as did the rest of the team being psychically links and capable of thought communication.
"Link established," she announced.
"Good, commence aireal sweep of the cape's perimeter," they agreed and flew off, taking to the skies and makng a curved turn around the coast to keep an eye out for any disturbances.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, a ship approached from the water with a smaller ship attached to cables several dozen feet behind them. The ship detactched the cables and dropped the smaller vessel allowing it to float to the sea-floor dropping latches into the ground, holding it in place. The ship floated around and dropped a dozen men in underwater armor that propelled themselves at the grounded vessel, finding a control panel on it's hull and flipping a few keys; suddenly, two massive cannons opened up and aimed at the surface as they confirmed its operation, "Missile launchers locked, we're go in five."
…
Nightwing kept his eyes out toward the waters with his binoculars, giving a sigh and lowering them to turn his head at his current partner, "I know I'm not Wally's favorite person right now but, it is good to have you back."
Artemis holstered her binoculars and smiled, "It's good to be back, I didn't realize how much I'd been missing it; which is pretty much what Wally's afraid of," she pulled out her bow and aimed an invisible arrow out into the air, "He's afraid the rush that comes with the mask will get it's hooks in and I wont give it up until my dying day."
"I know exactly what you mean," Nightwing chuckled.
…
Ben, M'gaan, and Superboy were silent aboard the Bio-Ship as they did their sweeps; Ben gave M'gaan a silent glare as she turned and ignored it, "What? Now we're never talking again?" He asked.
Superboy coughed and looked away back toward the sky, using his super-vision to examine the coast.
"Gee, you read my mind," She commented sarcastically.
He scoffed back at her, "I don't have to read your mind to know how you feel, M'gaan," he turned to face her, "The breakup was your idea, anyways."
"Don't pretend you don't know why in front of Superboy," M'gaan exclaimed as Conner lifted his hands in sarcastic surrender before silently plugging headphones into his ears, focusing back on the waters.
"I know, I get it, you disapprove on how I use my magic powers!"
M'gaan frowned and stood up from her seat, "You mean how you abuse them! Ripping the souls of you victims out for information, with no regard on what it does to their psyche!"
"They're not victims!" He shouted in disbelief, "They're the bad guys, the kinda people who kill the good guys, ask Aquagirl, oh wait!"
She gasped and fell back into her seat in anger, "I cant even believe you'd put that on me!"
He sighed and folded his arms, "Regardless, that information is helping the team, the League, the entire planet!"
"And leaving your victims in a catatonic lifeless state!" She said as-a-matter-of-factly, "It's not right, Ben! You're behaving no better than Albedo!"
He opened his mouth to say something but, lost the words; finally, he gathered the air and spoke, "If you feel that strongly, why not tell Nightwing? Or the League?"
She looked down at her feet, focusing on the floor, "Because I was hoping that I mattered enough to you to make you stop, I didn't think you'd try and tamper with my mana to make me forget I was upset with you…"
Ben leaned back and cleared his throat, "Look, M'gaan, I'm so sorry about that-"
"Sorry you did it? Or sorry you got caught?" she turned back to the console and placed her hands on the dashboard, "After all we'd been through, how could you think I wouldn't recognize your magic inside my mind, your mana, your essence," he closed her fist as a tear welled up in her eye, "Didn't you know what that touch meant to me? And to have you pervert it like that… Guess I was kidding myself, I mean, how important was I? Less than a month later and you vanish like the wind, gone without a trace."
"That had nothing to with us!"
Superboy narrowed his eyes and pulled his headphones out standing up, "Heads up guys, looks like Black Manta's crew," he focused his infrared and x-rays on the ocean floor, "Working on some sort of plat-form below the surface!"
"Should we hit it together?" Ben asked standing from his seat.
Superboy scoffed, "Trust me, I don't need help from the Day's of our Lives cast," he grabbed a re-breather from the back as M'gaan opened a hatch for him giving Ben an annoyed look.
"Delay that, Superboy, wait for back-up!"
Superboy approached the hatch and pencil dived out and into the water, "Sorry, err, can't, err, breaking-up."
"There's no static over the psychic link!" Nightwing shouted immediately rushing towards the ladder of the tower and heading to the beach with Artemis.
Superboy dived beneath the water and swam at super-speeds toward the base; he backhanded one of the men out of the way, grabbing another by the head and tossing him through the water into a giant-rock covered in moss. He dug his feet into the ground and used his super-agility to propel himself into another guard knocking him out against the hull of the platform.
As the guards fired their under-water laser rifles, one of the men at the control panel began typing in commands, "We're under attack, arming missiles now; recommend activating phase two as a precaution."
The missiles moved into position for firing as nine men used underwater jet-packs to swim up toward the surface from inside the platform; they reached the beach and ran up out of the water as Artemis and Nightwing caught sight of them, "We've got company!" she shouted as they were only half-way down the tower, she shot a grapple-arrow onto the sea-wall for potential floods, zip-lining down with Nightwing using his baton as a grip to follow her down her line.
The men aimed and open fired on them as their laser rifles weren't able to hit them before they made it to the ground, rolling to a stop, Artemis rhythmically placed an arrow on her draw-string and backed up into the sea-wall with Nightwing taking cover with her, "M'gaan, gill-up and help Superboy; Ben, transform and give us some cover!"
A hatch opened up allowing M'gaan to dive through landing in the water and shape-shifting a mermaid's tail and gills before swimming off toward the under-water battle, "Superboy, I'm on my way!"
Ben crossed his arms and transformed into HeatHazard with crimson crustaceous armor and burning lava-rock skin; the hatch grew larger as the Bio-Ship flew towards the coast allowing him to aim down at the sand and launch a massive blaze that formed a ring around them with only one opening, right beside the sea-wall where Nightwing and Artemis hid.
"That's our que!" Artemis attempted to leap over the wall before being pulled down by Nightwing who allowed her to narrowly miss a bolt of energy from a laser-rifle, "I know your rusty but, are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Below the surface, Superboy approached the main console as three men aimed their rifles up at him, he was surprised when an intense electrical shock surged through his back and into his neck. Luckily, even unconscious, the re-breath stayed locked to his mouth as a taller man in a Black Manta helmet put his hand on Superboy's shoulder sending more intense shocks through him keeping him subdued.
"Launch" he growled.
The men were scared but immediately followed orders, "As you command, Kaldur'Ahm," they flew their fingers across the command console as the missiles locked on target and fired toward the surface. It exited water and flew straight towards the satellite which was only minutes from take-off; it was only a quarter mile away from target and there was little to no time to intercept.
Nightwing noticed the projectile closing in on the launch-sight, "Ben!"
HeatHazard nodded and leapt from the Bio-Ship "On it!" transforming mid-air into a pterodactyl-like creature with blue and black highlights that of XLR8 only with a strange jet-pack on its back and a visored helmet.
XLR-Dactyl flew toward the missile at super-speed using its body as a shield and stopping in front of it taking the missile explosion to the face without a scratch; the men and woman in the control-tower for the launch witnessed this display of heroism and gasped, "Should we abort launch?" the man at the main computer asked as Carol Ferris ripped her ID tag off her neck.
"We aren't aborting anything," she scanned her ID and slapped a red-button the console causing the timer to jump from forty minutes to one minute fifty-nine seconds, "Accelerating the count down, final safety checks and then launch."
Artemis and Nightwing watched as the alarm blared from the launch-site where steam let lose from the blast doors, "We're really on the wrong side of this walls," realizing they'd be incinerated if they stayed, Artemis thought quickly, "The trooper's helmets, enhanced to increase vision underwater right?"
Nightwing nodded as she aimed up and fired an arrow which exploded with an intense flash-bang that caused every trooper to shield their eyes, groaning in pain from the light.
"Move!" Nightwing and Artemis leapt over the wall and towards the men.
…
Underwater, two men dragged Superboy's unconscious body threw the murky depths towards the platform where the other guards covered them, they approached Kaldur who stared at Superboy, "Sir, you should have the honor of killing him," He scoffed and turned away.
"Nonsense, he'll make an excellent specimen for our partner, take him to flier," they obeyed and swam up towards the ship from the platform as one man approached still on the platform.
"The first two missiles were shot down and the ground assault… our helmets have become a liability."
He stopped and took a moment to think, "Launch all missiles, rapid fire," he unlatched his helmet and pulled it off, "I will deal with the ground-assault personally," he exploded with speed taking off towards the surface at the speed of sound as the missiles launched from the ocean at a faster rate.
XLR-Dactyl fired off an emerald wave of energy from his beaked mouth destroying another missile as Nightwing finally contacted the soldiers on the beach; he used his batons to bash their faces in one by one, uppercutting another sending him towards Artemis who side-kicked him face-first into the sand. Nightwing brought his baton down on another head before kneeing him in the abdomen and flipping him overhead into the ground. Artemis shot an arrow at the feet of four soldiers who were stunned by the electrical discharge from the arrow-head as she quickly disabled them.
Nightwing noticed as one of the men stood with a dagger in his hand facing Artemis' backside, he approached in her blind-spot as she quickly turned to notice him getting in her closed quarters. Before the dagger could make contact, seconds before, she brutally roundhouse kicked him in the face and shot a rounded-arrow into his chest knocking him six feet away onto his back.
Nightwing gawked as she shrugged her shoulder, "What? I'm not that rusty…"
He smiled and noticed that something had caught her eyes from the water, something that put a fearful look in her eye; he turned to notice the former Aqualad rising from the dark waters slowly in his Manta armor.
…
M'gaan approached the scene finally with Superboy being loaded into the submerged air-cruiser and the missile-launcher dead in front of her, a choice to make, take down the launcher or go after her friend, "They're taking Conner! I'm going after him!"
"Priority is the missiles," Nightwing spoke over the mental link.
She stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes at the men locking the door behind them; XLR-Dactyl fired off an emerald beam destroying another missile as debris got dangerously close to the launch site, he flew in and grabbed another projectile spinning it with his own strength sending it back into another missile causing a bigger explosion.
"There are too many! Can't keep this up!"
She gave a brief sigh-motion which was impossible underwater but, more like a force of habit until she swam over at super-speeds toward the launcher where men fired off lasers at her. She dodged between them as her eyes shun bright green sending a massive wave of telekinetic force that knocked all six of them off their feet and floating uncontrollably in the waters.
One man clung to the console, slamming his palm on the ignition allowing one last missile to leave the platform as M'gaan noticed this and used her telekinesis at its top strength to stop it mid-flight, forcing it to make a turn back toward the platform. It skimmed the surface waters before heading right back toward its starting point as M'gaan swam passed it, it hit the platform and exploded taking the launcher out of commission and sending the men frantically through the water with damaged armor.
Noticing this, the cruiser took off into the depths of the waters away from the explosion with Superboy still captive, "Conner…" she muttered before falling unconscious from the shockwave of the missile.
…
Artemis ran up to Nightwing as they both faced Kaldur and three men that came from the water with him, "Kaldur, you don't want to do this!"
He smiled, "I believe I do!" He used his mystic bearers to draw glowing water up from behind him, on the beach he most definitely had the advantage, forming a ten-foot wave which ne narrowed and launched at Nightwing, hitting him and proceeding to knock Artemis off her feet as well.
Suddenly, the engines fired up and the rockets launched from the nearby satellite slowly taking lift-off into space, Kaldur noticed this and frowned suddenly as the light from the ignition lit up the beach, "The mission may yet succeed," his armored shoulder-plate opened up to reveal a miniature launcher that fired off a single explosive round.
Artemis noticed this and turned with her bow and arrow ready, firing off an arrow which, once high enough, allowed the arrow-head to fly off propelled by its own smaller rocket hitting Kaldur's projectile and exploding before it came close to the satellite.
"No rust on me," she smiled as Nightwing shouted from behind.
"Artemis, behind you!" Dick rushed Kaldur as he formed to mystic-sledgehammers, ducking under one of them but, receving the other to his abdomen, cracking one of his ribs and sending blood slipping from his lips as he landed on his back. Kaldur rushed forward toward Artemis with bloodlust in his eyes, she put her hands up as he destroyed her bow with one swing, attempting a right cross he blocked with his right hammer catching her hand in its water, morphing the left hammer into a sharpened blade. He quickly pulled her in shoving the blade into her chest with no mercy as she slowly fell into his arms, "Welcome back…" he muttered as she stumbled back holding her chest, crimson liquid spurting out from her chest.
"Artemis!" Dick shouted frantically running over, ignoring the pain of his broken rib, and catching her as she fell backwards, lying her down on the sand.
XLR-Dactyl landed and transformed back into Ben as he approached her, watching as Nightwing started compressions.
"28… 29… 30…" Nightwing pumped his open palms on Artemis' bleeding chest, the blood seeped through his fingers but didn't stop him from attempting to resuscitate; he quickly leaned in and placed his lips to hers, blowing air into her lungs with force but, he felt no pulse on her neck after doing so.
Nightwing exhaled and stood, staring down at the sand of the beach, "She's dead…"
"Move out, the mission is a failure-" he stopped when the satellite above them suddenly exploded without warning, completely falling apart in a burning heap of rubble.
Kaldur narrowed his eyes and turned back to the waters, "KALDUR!" he turned as Ben looked back toward him with a rage like no other, his eyes turned bright blue and skin began to glow. His body exploded with intense mana, his head was engulfed in blue-flame, his eyes became cold and unfeeling, his skin turned blue and his clothes disappeared behind the energy, "KALDUR!"
The Atlantean formed two glowing machetes from his bearers as the full Anodite approached with an intense rage; "Come no closer!" He summoned the water from behind him forming massive dragon that roared sending shockwaves through the sand but, Ben didn't flinch. The aqua-dragon grew to twenty feet tall and propelled at the Anodite standing passively still; it tried to take him in its jaws but, the mana energy was too great and it simply exploded with Ben moving a single muscle.
Kaldur rushed him, using his machetes to attack, he tried a downward slash, upward slash, right-cross, each attack was blocked by a small mana-platform that would manifest whenever he attempted to touch Ben.
"Incendia Absum!" a massive pulse of wind blew Kaldur back without warning tossing him into the water where he slowly recovered, "Aquata Risa Spackwata!" a massive water-spout formed underneath him lifting him forty-feet into the air uncontrollably until it dissipated and sent him falling back into the water which felt like concrete from that height.
"Tempestus Impaetus," a bolt of blue lighting came down from the heavens striking Kaldur in the chest with unimaginable voltage, more than enough to fry any normal human, as the electricity channeled through the water only increasing its power. Ben was doing all of this with just his words, he never once moved his hands or arms as the two men approached the Anodite trying to put a stop to it, he simply walked towards the water, "Tempestus Erectum," a massive explosion of wind exploding in all directions from Ben's body knocked both soldiers off their feet and onto their backs ten or more feet away.
Kaldur stood to use his magic allowing him to stand on water as Ben walked on mana-platforms for about a hundred-feet until he came face to face with the former hero; Aqualad smiled as he saw the tears in his eyes, slipping down his glowing skin, "Those tears, they prove truly weak you are!"
Nightwing could still hear and see everything as M'gaan flew up from the water, forming feet from her tail, and landing next to Dick observing Artemis only receiving a grave shaking of his head from her team-leader. Tears fell down her eyes as she covered her mouth and dropped to her knees, "You delude yourselves into believing that friendship, love, and happiness lasts forever! But, it does not!" he coughed up blood and wiped his lip as he stood coming face to face with Ben, "It is but a brief restitute from the cruel world that is reality, people die, even friends."
Ben looked down at the ground with tears still pouring from his eyes, dripping into the water where he could see his reflection, "Your right," he shifted his hand into one long mana-blade, "Everyone dies, even friends," he grabbed Kaldur by the shoulder, looking him in the eye with a comforting smile, "I'm sorry."
"Ben, NO!" Nightwing shouted leaving Artemis' side but, he was far too late, the mana blade plunged through his armor and his chest with blood dripping off the tip from the other side. Kaldur spat blood onto Ben's chest falling to his knees, grasping for air, more tears simply slipped down his cheeks.
Ben lowered half of his mana-platform allowing Kaldur to fall back into the water, staring up at the night sky where the smoke from the explosion drifted aimlessly above them. Ben floated over the water, landing on the beach in front of them, he looked around at them as they stared at what had happened. Nightwing looked away, down at Artemis where he slowly waved his hand over her eyes closing her eye-lids, as M'gaan stood approaching Ben who was lost staring out into the distance; she reached out to grab his hand slowly but, he pulled away, seeming more broken than he'd ever been.
He stepped back and looked over at Kaldur's body, the Manta-Soldiers had swum over, grabbed him and dived beneath the water with him, obviously returning to their base. They were all too weak, too emotionally broken to go after them, the mission was already a failure and they paid the ultimate price for it.
M'gaan tried approaching again but, without even looking, Ben begun to illuminate brighter where he exploded with energy, teleporting away from the area instantaneously.
…
Atlantic Ocean; March 20th; 12:00AM
Kaldur opened his eyes in a white room within one of his father's underwater cruisers; he looked around briefly before feeling his chest frantically.
"Relax, Kaldur'Ahm," Black Manta stepped in the room with his helmet off revealing an African American man with a trimmed grey beard and blonde short hair, "Your soldiers brought you here just in time, my advanced technology has healed you."
He sighed and remembered what had transpired on the beach, "Thank you, Father."
He put his helmet back on and turned folding his hands, "You had quite the day; capturing the Kryptonian, killing a former team-mate, destroying the comm-sat."
"My team did not destroy the comm-sat, Father, its rocket must have malfunctioned our victory was mere-luck."
Manta was silent for a minute before speaking up, "I don't believe in luck; which is why I arranged for a bomb with an altitude sensor to be smuggled on to the rocket days ago."
Kaldur's eyes widened at this, confused, "This was your final test," he said, "To see if you would take credit for what you had not accomplished."
"And what if I had succeeded?"
Manta scoffed, "Than another test would have awaited, for it is not in success where true character is revealed but, in failure, I'm quite proud of you, my son."
Kaldur smiled as he was handed his Manta helmet to him by a soldier, "You are ready for the next level."
…
Mount Justice; March 20th; 3:58AM.
Within the cave, everyone was gathered, Garfield, Mal Duncan, Tim Drake, Veronica, Jamie, Cassandra, Kara, even Zatanna and Rocket.
Kara held her head crying over the granite bar as Zatanna and Mal approached her, "Don't worry," Mal announced putting a hand on her shoulder, "We'll find Conner."
Zatanna tightened her fist wiping smeared mascara from under her eyes, "And Aqualad…" she looked around for a moment, "Where's Nightwing? He should be here."
Mal sighed looking at his feet, "He went to go tell Wally," they all felt the emotional tension behind that and understood he had the hardest job of them all.
…
Bludhaven; March 20th; 4:00AM
Nightwing stood within an abandoned factory staring at a holo-picture of himself and Artemis during her first day at the academy, over five years ago. It was a picture he had taken by jumping her and disappearing during the camera flash, he repeated what he said that day while taking the picture, "We'll laugh about this someday…"
He stopped when he heard rustling nearby in the factory, "Wally?"
Another figure stepped up, "No," it announced revealing himself to be Kaldur dressed in his Black Manta armor, Dick narrowed his eyes as another figured stepped from behind a crate.
Wally approached with his hands in his pockets, another figure stepped from behind them in a blue coat with the hood covering her features, she pulled it back to reveal herself as Artemis.
"I take it our rouse was successful?" Kaldur asked.
Nightwing lowered his eyes, "Almost too successful, the team and the League are in mourning; they may never forgive us."
"And still, only we four know the secret?"
"The secret and the other, that you've been in deep cover in Black Manta's organization since leaving the team," he paused before continuing, "How'd it go on that end?"
"Successful as well, I've proven my loyalty to my biological father; he is bringing me up the ladder, bringing me closer to the Light and their unknown partner."
Nightwing sighed, "Not without cost, Kaldur, the com-sat was not supposed to be destroyed, and Conner definitely wasn't supposed to be captured!"
"It was the only way to save his life and maintain my cover," he turned away holding his chest, "And I'm sure you did not plan on our friend's 'outburst' on the beach."
Dick closed his eyes stepping forwards, "Let's not play the blame game here; we've all been made to make impossible decisions, like choosing to save the Krolotaens on Malina Island or-"
"Saving my friends," he finished, "I certainly didn't have to show you the bomb Deathstroke had placed."
"So, what now?" Artemis asked gripping Wally's hand tightly in her own.
Nightwing approached with a necklace emblazoned with a golden amulet, attacking it to Artemis' neck, "Uh, dude, why are you giving bling to my dead girlfriend?" Wally joked.
"Glamour charm, curtesy of Zatanna," he put a finger to his chin, "Physio-morphic spell, I think, she said it backwards."
"Wow," Wally said stepping beside Nightwing to analyze his girlfriend, "You look… exactly the same."
Nightwing corrected, "To the four of us, and only us, but to anyone else? You're an entirely different person."
"The more impressive trick is how you got something so specific from Zatanna," Artemis folded her arms as in a nearby puddle reflection she appeared to be taller, with raven-black hair and more prominent cheekbones, "Without revealing who or what it was for."
"We have a history."
Dog," Wally chuckled and nudged his shoulder.
"It is time," Kaldur announced as Artemis nodded.
Wally approached and gave her a warm hug which she reciprocated, kissing him on the lips and pulling away, "What could go wrong?" She said ironically.
"Don't say that!" Wally whined, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
…
Kaldur and Artemis approached his cruiser which opened up for them and allowed them entrance, they stepped in as it closed and dived underneath the water, submerging in seconds.
Nightwing watched from the top of the factory building with Wally not far from him, "They're through the hard part, they're in."
"Who are you kidding?" Wally glared at him, "It only gets more dangerous from here."
…
Chicago; March 20th 2019; 5:52AM
M'gaan entered her uncle's apartment, morphing out of her Megan Morse disguise, she put the keys in the nearby dish and placed her coat on the rack. Her stare was solemn and a thousand miles in depth, she was simply going through the motions as her eyes were out of tears to shed. She took a moment to move to the kitchen where she took a sip from a water bottle, glugging down the liquid after releasing most of the water in her body as tears, she wiped her lip and took a sniff to the air.
She smelled something burning, something plant-like, like grass or leaves; she looked toward the balcony sliding-glass door and saw a bright blue glow seeping through the shades.
She sighed and approached the door, sliding it open and pulling back the shades to slip through onto the cement balcony; she found Ben still in his Anodite form with a long cigar-like smoke in his hand only, it smelled nothing like tobacco. On the stool next to him was a mess of green leafy crumbs and an unrolled mess of tobacco. Tears still very apparent on his cheeks, he made eye contact with her and clearly ashamed moved to toss-out the blunt. He was stopped when she reached out and grabbed his wrist, her face was coldly un-emotional, she looked drained more than anything. She grabbed the blunt from his fingers and sat down on the floor next to him putting the smoke to her lips. She pulled a long drag from it and exhaled the smoke which she quickly inhaled again into her nose before letting out another puff of smoke. He blinked at her but, she didn't share his gaze.
She just looked up at the stars as the marijuana spread euphoria and relaxation through her body, she hadn't smoked it in years but, damn it felt good. She slowly leaned her head down, placing it in Ben's shoulder handing him the blunt and wrapping her arm around his.
Even if they didn't know how to feel about each other, they knew one thing for sure, they were in this together, and from the looks of it, for the long haul.
…
Next chapter; Satisfaction.
Any questions? Review them and I'll answer through PM or these Author Notes at the end of chapters.