I don't own Young Justice or Ben 10
Darkest
Green Lantern Sector 2814 Detention Center; March 28th
As one of the most secure prison's in the Solar System, it was no question that the most dangerous creature on Earth would be transferred out of Belle Reve; they were naturally prepared for anything, they had at least one Green Lantern on board at all times as well as hundreds of armored guards with alien weaponry to boot; the station was on the dark side of one of Jupiter's many moons, far out of the way and in an uninhabitable zone. There was only one prisoner aboard, he was deemed the worst of the worst for this sector; he attacked Earth five years ago and nearly killed the Justice League, he was bound by dense neutron-star shackles materialized by a God. Locked in a forcefield, weighed down by a simulator projecting five-hundred times Earth's gravity, shackled and bound by unbreakable bonds, Vilgax the Conqueror looked toward the ground, patiently waiting in his own thoughts.
"System check," one of the guards announced walking into the control room filled with camera-screens, keys, and switches.
"All systems are online."
One of the alien guards turned toward his superior, "Sir, there's something approaching the station; fifty-thousand clicks away, it's traveling almost half the speed of light!"
"Sound the alarm!"
Crimson lights flashed through out the base as an intense quake shook the entire moon their facility was built on, the control room watched as a figure tore through the security doors like it were made of tin-foil, tossing it behind him. The lights had been damaged so, all that could be seen was a crimson hour-glass symbol glowing on his broad chest and red flashing eyes. Beams of heat flew from the intruder's pupils, melting through their doors, and cutting down their men. As another door was easily kicked in, the trespasser was met with a dozen men, weapons trained on their target.
"Fire!"
Their energy-weapons bounced off the intruder's skin with no lasting effects, the enemy rushing in with blinding speed, killing them all in mere seconds; snapping necks and vibrating through hearts. He slowed down to grab the last man by the throat, lifting him up where the light shun down on him, "S-Superman!?" he choked out.
The intruder did in fact bare the symbol of the House of El emblazoned on his suit, however; he also had a crimson Omnitrix symbol on his chest just below the 'S' crest on his skintight silver-suit.
"Sure, let's go with that," the Kryptonian-looking attacker snapped the neck of the guard with one twitch of his fingers, dropping the body in a heap. He opened the next door which led to the prisoner lock-up but, what he didn't see coming was an emerald-blast of will power hitting him in the chest and sending him back-first into a wall.
"By the name of the Green Lanterns, I order you to halt!" Guy Gardner, the ginger cocky Lantern of Earth stepped into the light with his smoking ring aimed at the trespasser.
"Sorry, not my objective," he flew forwards aiming a fist for the Lantern's skull but, a will power bubble formed around him shielding him from the attack, however; the shield's integrity didn't last long, slowly cracking under the pressure of the Kryptonian's monstrous strength. Gardner morphed the bubble into a fist-construct which knocked his opponent back, pinning him against the same wall; Guy believed he had this taken care of until the trespasser's eyes lit up crimson and blasted through the construct, striking the Lantern through the chest, piercing a lung. Blood splattered from his mouth as he fell to his knees, "You should have walked away," the Kryptonian announced stepping over Guy's choking body, slowly letting the life seep from his chest and mouth. In seconds, his ring floated off his finger and navigated through the ship, as if nothing had happened; the intruder sped through the facility, killing anyone who stood in his way, until he managed to get to the final cell. The only prisoner on this moon, the Kryptonian approached Vilgax, stepping completely into the light for his old friend to see.
"Albedo," Vilgax growled without even opening his eyes, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Albedo now out and in the light, was visible enough for Vilgax to come to a conclusion once he peered up from his binds. He had somehow managed to scan Kryptonian DNA, wearing a copy of Superman's suit only in a silver-variant, he now sported a white-goatee like Ben's and his muscles had broadened as well, "Early release, for good behavior," the evil Kryptonian used a short beam of heat to melt the scanner that opened the prisoner's cell.
As it sparked and short circuited, the impervious glass cell slid open, "And you believe you are strong enough now, to tear these off of me?" he questioned trying just barely to lift his wrists from the ground.
"No," Albedo twisted the dial on his chest as it popped out, "But, remember, I can take any alien I transform into and evolve them to the next level," he slapped the faceplate down as a wave of crimson energy spread across his body, simulating millions of years of evolution, his body bulked up considerably, his bones pultruded from his back, elbows, and face; his skin turned a sickening grey and his suit tore off aside from the waist-down.
"Perhaps, yes, an Evolved Kryptonian…" Vilgax lifted himself as much as he could as the now behemoth Albedo stepped into the cell and gripped the shackles with thick grey fists. They soon tensed as he pulled with enough force to rip the moon they stood on asunder, the chains strained for several minutes until a loud clanking filled the empty station. Shards of neutron-star material flew across the metallic floor, clattering in the silence, Vilgax stood and shook them off of him.
The Evolved Kryptonian huffed, placing his hands on his knees, the task he had just completed was not an easy one, without the evolutionary function it wouldn't have been possible.
"Thank you for the assistance, I'll be taking my leave now," he stretched his arms and walked toward the exit before the creature grabbed his arm stopping him; Albedo slowly morphed back into his normal Kryptonian form with a flash of red light.
"And what are you going to do now? Go back after Ben Tennyson?"
Vilgax growled to himself but, stayed silent facing the exit.
"What if I told you that I have some very powerful friends that can help us not only take down Ben Ten Thousand but, his entire little Justice League that helps him?" Albedo folded his arms with a cocky smirk, "You tried it alone too many times, this time, we'll have back up and a very well-thought-out strategy."
Vilgax was silent for almost a full minute before turning with a sinister smile, "You have my interest."
…
Gulf of Mexico; March 28th 2019; 2:03PM
Hidden below the surface of the water, deep within a cave, a Manta cruiser sat stationary with Aqualad and his crew prepping captured teens, including Superboy, for transport, "How can you even look in the mirror?" Conner spat his words like venom as Kaldur turned around to face him, he continued, "The Team, your friends, Atlantis; you betrayed them all."
"Silence," Kaldur muttered without paying a single thought to his prisoner as the metallic doors behind him slid open, revealing Black Manta in his full armor.
"Why is this prisoner still on board?" he asked through the menacing echo in his helmet, "He should be delivered at once to our partner, prepare a pod at once."
Kaldur closed his eyes for a moment, "I will handle it personally, father."
"Negative, I have other duties for you, my son."
Conner scoffed, "You're not his son, you're his errand-boy!"
Kaldur scoweled and turned to face his former-comrade, "I am aware of my role in the bigger picture, Superboy, question is: are you?"
He approached with an injection-canister filled with orange sedatives which he promptly pumped into the half-Kryptonian's chest; the room began spinning and Conner lost his balance, toppling over onto his side.
The men opened his confinement and carried him into a pod which closed up with a transparent orange sedation-chamber; Conner was wheeled away by two of Manta's men, "Kaldur'ahm," Manta announced, "You should know my faith in you is absolute, however; some of my more paranoid partners require further proof of loyalty."
"You have my word father," Kaldur started with a ruthless glare, "I will do whatever it takes to enter the Light."
…
Kaldur departed from the main vessel in a smaller, faster ship; on this ship he was given a small team of meta-enforcers to help him complete his mission including, Icicle Jr, the Terror Twins, and Tigress, Artemis' new undercover identity.
Silence filled the ship for several minutes until the female twin decided to speak up, "Brother Tommy," she beckoned in a southern drawl loud enough for the whole ship to hear, "I think we're plum-crazy to throw in with this feller; why, it wasn't two years ago that this Aqualad tried to have us locked back up in Belle-Reve," she jabbed her thumb at him from behind.
"Well, Sister Tuppance, folks say he's had a change of heart since finding out who his pappy is," Tommy responded in the same tone of voice, Kaldur ignored him maintaining his composure.
Icicle Jr sauntered over and laid a hand on Tuppance's shoulder, "I hear he switched side because of some girl!"
Kaldur closed his eyes, he could see Tula's face, even before she-
"I'm more worried about this Tigress," Tommy shouted over his shoulder breaking Kaldur's train of thought, "How come the Terror Twins ain't never heard of her before?"
Tigress sighed and glanced back at them, "You know we can hear you?"
"That we do, missy; these are open questions, ya see?" Tommy chided.
Tigress rolled her eyes beneath her mask, "And which one of you is going to ask one of these open questions of Black Manta?" Tommy's smile faded into a defeated frown as she continued, "Which one of you wants to suggest that Manta's own son and his hand-picked right hand, can't be trusted?" Her smug demeanor gave off waves of confidence, she certainly was a good actress.
Tommy huffed and turned back to his station as his sister followed his example; Kaldur spoke up in an aggravated tone, "Perhaps we could focus on the mission now, we're approaching our target," he stared down at the radar which located the subjects they needed to see.
…
El Paso; New Mexico; March 28th 2019; 6:18PM
Jamie looked up from his TV when a ring at the doorbell distracted him, "Voy a abrir la puerta!" he shouted as he made his way to the front and unlatched the bolt-lock, turning the knob to see who was on the other side.
"Dude!" Jamie shouted at Bart whom was in full costume at his front door, "What're you doing?"
"We're here to hang, to chill, spend a little down-time with my buddy blue, BB, the bee-tell, ya know chillanging?" the speedster responded with hyperactive chattering as Jamie looked around desperate to know if anyone had seen them.
"In full costume? Someone's going to see-" he stopped and closed the wooden door behind him, "Did you say we?"
Veronica levitated down onto the porch next to Bart in her full energy form, "Hi, Jamie," she hummed reaching up and brushing a lock of mana behind her ear as-if it were human hair, "Sorry, we forgot some people on the team have secret identities!"
Jamie's knees nearly melted on sight but, he kept his cool and cleared his throat as the Scarab spoke up, "The Impulse is annoying, destroy him; heart rate elevated, mate with the female for prosperity!"
Jamie blushed as his armor encased his body, spawning insectoid wings to use for flight, "Let's just go before anyone sees us," he muttered as he tried to ignore his Scarab's crudeness, taking off into the sky, his blue armor blending in with the sunset painted sky.
Veronica and Bart blinked and gave each other a glance but, the speedster simply shrugged and sped off through the neighborhood. The Anodite floated into the air and followed after Beetle with a short smile across her face, watching as he frantically scanned the area for anyone who could've spotted them.
"Ya know," She announced herself getting closer to his altitude and speed and facing him, "Bart doesn't understand the idea of keeping two identities but, I do."
He glanced over at her, a natural smile curling over his armored lips, "Well, he is from forty-years from now, I guess keeping your loved ones safe isn't as big of a priority in 2059."
Veronica stared back down to the dust-trail that their speedster pal left in his super-sonic wake, "I don't know, I sense great pain from him, especially when he's with you; like he knows something bad is about to happen to you."
Blue narrowed his eyes, "I'm sure it's just the fact that he's stuck in in this era until time-machines are invented; I wouldn't worry about it," he faked another smile, knowing in his gut that perhaps Bart is right to be afraid of him, he shook the thought as they both landed in a flat-land with hills and dirt with scattered boulders as far as the eye could see.
…
Unknown; Unknown; March 28th 2019; Unknown
Conner forced his eyes to open groggily for just a moment, staring out at the moving ceiling above him, or rather, he was being moved under the ceiling through some sort of corridor. He glanced around and noticed two figures standing above him talking in some unknown foreign language, almost definitely alien, "I see no use for the Kryptonian-clone hybrid; born with powers, cloned by our partners."
"Half of his DNA is still human, perhaps the meta-gene is involved in splicing the two together," the alien's language sounded nothing like the Krolotaens and more attuned to an insectoid clicking, "Besides, fresh meat is fresh meat."
Conner groaned being incapable of understanding them, he couldn't stop his eyes from shutting, falling back into sedated unconsciousness.
…
El Paso; New Mexico; March 28th 2019; 6:34PM
"Watch this one," Jamie announced gathering his companion's attention with his sonic cannon forming out of his right hand and firing an intense wave at a nearby boulder; the structure cracked before shattering in an explosion of dirt and sound.
"Well?" He looked back at Bart and Veronica, the latter of whom was giving him an impressed smirck.
"Yawn!" Bart chided, "Really? That's the best you could do?"
Veronica stepped forward, "Allow me," she held her hands out an adjacent cliff which was just south of their position, "Eradiko!" a bolt of violet lightning flew from all ten of her fingers sending out a clap of thunder as a landslide of rubble collapsed into a heap at the bottom, resulting in an explosion twice as impressive as Jamie's.
"Not too shabby, but!" Bart zipped over to close quarters with Beetle, "If there's anything I learned from my era is that it's easier to destroy…" he bolted away running in crisscrosses around them, likely far beyond the speed of lightening, before coming to a stop less than two seconds later, "than to create! Ta-da!"
They looked around for anything significant but, saw nothing of the sort, "The impulse has created nothing! And his method is faulty, tactical destruction is much more effective than creation," the Scarab was ruthless and blunt but, not inaccurate.
"Ta-da to what exactly?"
Impulse stayed in his position with his arms up in the air, "Curb the attitude, get a little altitude, mis amigos," His Spanish was butchered but, Veronica and Jamie floated up into the air a hundred feet or so and looked down where they saw a fully formed, accurately depicted, self-portrait of Bart constructed completely of pebbles and stones.
"Impulse! By Impulse; is that crash or what?!"
Blue and Veronica gave a short smile with the moon shining down from above, "Definitely crash," he was basking in Bart's creation when suddenly a figure, silhouetted by the moon, slammed her forearms into Blue Beetle's back tackling him directly into the center of Bart's portrait.
Spiritus gasped and threw up a shield as Tommy Terror bashed both fists into her shield; it both protected her and sent her plummeting into the ground.
"My portrait! I spent 1.068 seconds on that!" Impulse zipped through the field where he swiftly dodged a jumping side-kick from Tigress but, focusing on that, led him to smack right into the recovered Tommy. As Impulse tumbled back, the assassin pulled a gun from her belt and shot a high-density net wrapping around Bart's whole body.
Tommy and Tuppance held Beetle down for as long as they could, evem with their enhanced-strength, the Scarab was a powerful set of armor; he was almost free when Icicle Jr shouted, "Hold him!" sending a wave of ice into the hero's chest encasing him completely in it.
"No!" Veronica shouted standing and regaining her balance, she fired off multiple bolts of purple mana which Tigress used her sword to accurately dice apart one-by-one. Bart recovered with a loud grunt which caught Tigress' attention, quickly slinging another trap toward him before he vibrated out escaping.
Veronica formed a mana-dome over Jamie and entered it as only she could, she placed a hand on the ice for only a moment waking Beetle and allowing him to shift his right arm into a sonic-cannon also cracking the ice in the process. He fired off waves of sound from within which shattered the ice that encased him, nodding to Spiritus whom lowered the dome.
Blue Beetle immediately fired off sonic waves which incapacitated both Tommy and Tigress, hitting the ground with their backs but, the female-assassin wasn't finished yet getting up to retaliate until a blue-staple caught her wrist. Blue fired it from his armor as Tuppance approached from the side receiving a beam of mana into her chest knocking her onto her stomach juxtaposed to her brother.
Blue Beetle, Spiritus, and Impulse all gathered together as their adversaries recovered, "The advantage is ours, recommended action: evisceration," the Scarab had a point but, was still far too inhumane, besides, they weren't looking for a fight to begin with.
"Or, since they out number us four to three, we use option b, strategic retreat," Beetle's armor manifested wings and a jet-pack with thrusters already primed.
"I like that plan," Spiritus agreed.
"Fine, but first," Impulse looked around, "How did they find us way out here? Ohhh, gotcha!" The speedster pointed to the top of a cliff not too far from them and zipped away with astonishing speed he grabbed a hand-held device from Kaldur, whom had been watching the entire time, "So, you're Aqualad, working with the bad guys, I see," Bart dodged several blade swings before noticing the device in the Atlantean's hand, "Using that device-thing to track my friend Blue here, not crash dude, crack at all," he zipped passed Aqualad with precision grabbing the tracker from his grip.
"Yoink! Moded!" he zipped back down the mountain side as Spiritus kept the shield up and the villains out, "They can't track us now! Let's book!"
Impulse sped off as Spiritus slashed her palms down expanding the dome-shield and knocking her adversaries back; they all took off, on the run and in the sky, "Great!" Tommy shouted, "How are we going to track them now?"
Kaldur, after stepping down from the cliff, pulled out another identical device with the same shape and color-scheme, "You have some sort of plan, pal?" Icicle asked.
"As it so happens…"
…
Mount Justice; Happy Harbor; March 28th 2019; 7:17PM
"He's not trained, Ben," Dick argued in his Nightwing armor staring up at a hologram displays of Ken in action, in the parking garage of LexCorp, "He was lucky no one else was in there with them."
"Is this about him or me?" Ben folded his arms over his chest, "Did M'gaan talk to you?"
Nightwing sighed and leaned a hand on the console, "She didn't have to, what Conner's told me and what I've seen; you cant keep using your powers that way," he took a few steps forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Remember the person you were, the hero you could be, kay?"
Ben took a deep breath, "I hear you," in submission he lowered his head to give deep thought to his choices.
Nightwing turned and allowed his fingers to fly across the holographic keyboards, "I'm going to submit Ken as a candidate for the Team but, he'll need training first, you and M'gaan will have to take care of that yourselves."
Ben gave a sincere smile, "Thank you, Dick."
"Recognized: Blue Beetle B22; Impulse B23; Spiritus B09."
"We left them in the dust!" Bart announced high-fiving Beetle as they strutted through the zeta-tube.
"Left who in the dust?" Nightwing questioned immediately, being raised by a detective, his instincts told him something was up.
"And what is that?" Ben pointed at the orange and black hand-held device in Bart's hand.
"Souvenir!"
Beetle turned and whispered, "Souvenirs are Beast Boy's thing."
"Really? I thought Kid Flash-"
"Can we get to it?" Nightwing interrupted their ramblings with a decisive tone.
Veronica spoke up for the first time, "Aqualad attacked us with Icicle Jr, the Terror Twins, and some assassin we didn't recognize…"
Bart held up the device in a cocky manner, "This is how they tracked Blue, I made sure they couldn't do it again," he sounded proud but, Nightwing simply glare as Ben exhaled and turned back toward the holo-ring frustratedly.
"You brought foreign, possibly alien, tech into the cave?" Dick scoffed and facepalmed, "Rookie mistake!" he put a hand over his eyes and took a long deep breath to reassess his options, "Alright, give it here."
Bart handed it over without question but, as Nightwing looked at it he narrowed his eyes.
…
Atlantic Ocean; East Coast; March 28th 2019; 7:24PM
"So, if you had another one of them gizmos, why didn't ya just say so?" Tommy scratched his head as they flew in the cruiser high above the murky waters.
Kaldur smiled staring down at an identical version of the device Impulse snagged in New Mexico, "This device confirms that the first one acted as a trojan horse; Impulse brought it into the cave, where it remotely hacked and bypassed all security," each of the villains on the ship aside from Tigress turned and flashed a sinister grin.
"Mount Justice is ours."
The cruiser dived beneath the water around Happy Harbor, vanishing into the depths of the mountainous head-quarters.
…
Mount Justice; Happy Harbor; March 28th 2019; 7:33PM
In the depths of the cave where small pools of natural underwater springs, from the water Aqualad peeked his head out and made sure he was alone; realizing the room was abandoned, he stepped completely out into the open with a large duffle hung around shoulder. A beeping rang like an alarm around but, just ended up being Sphere, rolling toward him and ultimately recognizing him. Figuring him to still be a member of the team, Sphere rolled away without a care in the world leaving the traitor to his own devices.
…
Unknown; Unknown; March 28th 2019; Unknown
Conner opened his eyes again, this time he could feel everything, he was conscious but, paralyzed; it had to be the sedative, he struggled to turn his neck as he peered through the clear pod he met eyes with a female alien he'd never seen before, her clothing covering most of her body but, her skin was green and her eyes bright yellow. He turned even further, as far as he could, and saw a line of pods just like his with unconscious teenagers all in the same upright position.
…
In the lounge of the mighty Mount Justice, Wolf laid sleeping on the green couch adjacent to the TV but, from the kitchen behind him one of the vents that hovered above the stove opened up from the inside. Tigress landed silently on the ground and snuck behind the enhanced-husky whom raised his ears but, all he sensed was Artemis so he allowed her to put a collar around his neck as he continued to sleep, "Good boy."
…
In his room among the many in Mount Justice, Beast Boy sat on his bed with his IPhone hanging in front of his face by his tail which he enjoyed the benefits of having to watch Hello Megan, the series his mother stared in when she was a teenager.
"Hello Megan, Hello Megan!"
Garfield smiled seeing his mother again, he liked the show because it genuinely made him feel closer to her. Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door which prompted him to pause his videos, toss the phone to his bed, back flip off the bed, and finally open the door. What he didn't prepare for was a jaw cracking fist knocking him into the floor of his room, Tuppance Terror slowly put a collar around his neck.
…
Deep in the grotto, where the memorials for fallen heroes stood hidden from the public, Ben looked up at Artemis' hologram; if only he'd been faster, stronger, trained harder… He sighed and crossed his arms across his chest closing his eyes, completely distracted by deep thought.
Suddenly, Ben spun around as quick as he could but, being gripped by the shoulders by Tommy passing through Artemis' hologram and into the stone wall, sending cracks across its structure.
"Terror, move!" Shouted Icicle Jr as Tommy spun around and out of the way leaving Ben to cross his watches but, just before he activated the transformation, he was hit with a blast of ice that completely encased him.
Tommy and Icicle stepped back as, inside the ice, Ben's eyes shun bright blue as mana-energy exploded outward sending shards across the room. A flash of green-light exploded causing them to shield their eyes for a moment as a large nine-foot-tall tiger-creature with crimson fur, four arms each with jagged in the knuckles, and four piercing green eyes beneath a luchadores mask, "Combination of the tiger guy and Fourarms; okay, not good…"
Tommy rushed him as they clashed grips, pushing against one another until RathArms uppercutted Tommy through the air, landing in a small spring. Before RathArms could turn around, Icicle stuck a collar around his neck, as he tried ripping it off, it electrocuted him with enough volts to fry an elephant into bones and ashes. RathArms fell to his knees, a crimson light signified his defeat as Ben fell face down into the ground; Icicle turned around and saw Tigress with the trigger, "Let's go…"
…
Nightwing, Impulse, Blue Beetle, and Spiritus stared at multiple holo-screens, "Ughhhh!" Dick groaned loudly, "I'm an idiot…" he grabbed his batons from his belt and turned around only to be hit in the chest with Ben's unconscious body knocking them both through the holo-screen dispersing it.
Aqualad, Tommy, Tuppance, Tigress, and Icicle Jr stepped into the mission room facing the speedster and armored hero with confident smirks.
Spiritus formed a shield which Tommy Terror plowed right through grabbing her by the neck and plunging her back-first into the solid-stone walls of the mountain, "Veronica!" Blue shouted dashing over to aid her, sending a backhand into Tommy's face which caused him to drop Spiritus, "Berdi Mordo Nata!" from her mouth spewed intense orange flames that seared her attackers' skin and forced him to back away. Spiritus and Beetle floated up into the air to get the perfect vantage point as Jamie comforted the slightly injured Veronica.
Icicle immediately shot his ice into the ground freezing over the concrete as Beetle sprouted wings and Impulse sped around the frozen area, "Ah, classic 'freeze over the ground and the speedster can't get traction' gag, right?!" he shoulder tapped Icicle Jr at three-hundred miles-per-hour sending him tumbling into the cave wall.
"Wrong!" Bart announced looking down toward Tuppance, "That worked so nice I'll try it twice!" he zipped through the holo-ring and aimed for the female-terror but, she kicked him in the chest sending him right into Tommy's arms holding him up by the scruff of his suit. He took the liberty of speed punching the bulked-up blonde but, the jabs had no effect and his fingers stung afterwards.
"Owe, my hands! What are you made of?"
Tommy lowered him to eye level, "Snips, and snails, and puppy-dog tails…" he quickly stuck a collar on Bart whom smiled in response.
"Ha-ha! I'll just go ahead and vibrate right through this-" after two or three seconds of trying to use the speedforce, he realized his powers were being dampened, "and I have no speed, I'm so moded, aren't I?"
Tommy lifted him up and right hooked him in the face sending him onto his back twenty feet away, suddenly; a sonic wave pushed Tommy back as he covered his ears and tried pushing through it.
Nightwing came to, pushing Ben off of him and standing up trying to regain his balance when he was sucker-punched as a flying right side-kick sent him spinning until Tigress dropped to her knees and swept him off his feet, mounting him in only a few seconds. She quickly slapped the collar around his neck as he smiled, "Sorry, no super powers for your collar to turn off."
He swiftly reached his legs up, wrapping them around his neck, and pulling her onto her back slamming her head into the holo-ring. Nightwing stood to continue the fight but, he felt a surge of electrocution coursing through his veins, searing his neck until it ceased, and he collapsed.
Tigress held up the remote without emoting, Blue Beetle and Spiritus aimed their blue and magenta glowing energy attacks down at the intruders when Kaldur stepped into the room, "Stand down!" he shouted with a duffle still over his shoulder.
"Switch to plasma-cannon; wide dispersal, incinerate them all."
The Scarab was emotionless and could never understand why he couldn't use that option, Jamie gave Veronica a concerned glance before Aqualad began speaking again.
"This battle is over," he stated simply placing the duffle down and unzipping it.
"No, it's not! Traitor!" Blue formed two plasma-cannons aiming them directly at Aqualad as Veronica covered both hands in mana ready to strike.
"Yes, it is, Beetle," Kaldur pulled the duffle down revealing a large cannister-like device, "This is the same bomb that obliterated Melina Island," he pulled from his pocket a thin-device with a triggering mechanism at the tip, "I am holding down the dead-man's switch, If my thumb comes off this button, for any reason, Mount Justice drops off the map."
Jamie turned to Veronica, "Scarab says I could survive the blast, what about you?"
"Maybe, but I know the others can't, we can't just let them die."
Blue Beetle and Spiritus lowered themselves down until they were standing hands up in front of Kaldur, "We're standing down."
The former team-leader ordered Tommy to collar them both, negating Jamie's access to the Scarab and numbing Veronica's sense of mana.
"Wise decision," Kaldur said as Icicle used a slide made purely of crystal-ice, hopping off in a huff.
"I'm fine, by the way," he muttered feeling neglected but, received no sympathy.
"Good," Kaldur responded coldly, "Escort Impulse, Beetle, and Beast Boy to the flier."
Tigress approached with folded arms, "What about these two?" she referred to Nightwing and Ben still unconscious.
"In here, as hostages, they have value, however; Nightwing is an ordinary human, and Ben Ten Thousand has impossible to crack encryptions on his watches, neither category is of any interest to our partner," Nightwing barely stood, adjusting his footing to keep his balance.
"Aqualad!" The former boy-wonder shouted, "You'll regret this!"
The Atlantean strutted forwards casually, coming face to face with Dick before using all of his strength to sucker punch him in the chest. Sending the air out of his lungs and him to his knees, "I believe I have out grown the name, Aqualad." He turned around with a menacing smile, still clutching the dead-man's switch, "As well as anything resembling regret."
He took a few steps as Tommy carried Beast Boy and Impulse whilst Tuppance and Icicle led Beetle and Spiritus out of the room, "I'll leave the bomb with you, as a souvenir oh, and the dead-man switch has a five-mile radius," he gave a cocky smile before turning back around, "Do not pursue."
…
Kaldur led his team with their captives through the beach and toward his cruiser which had a hatch open and waiting for them; Blue stopped for a moment but, was shoved forwards by Icicle, "Move it, bug."
"No, we cannot allow ourselves to be taken prisoner!"
"Not much choice is there?" Jamie replied to his scarab but, Icicle replied considering he couldn't hear the alien-bug.
"None at all."
"Incorrect, I have disabled the dampening functions of this collar so that you may attack."
"And risk Aqualad blowing Mount Justice with that dead-man's switch? I don't think so…" He whispered closer to his neck.
"Then, Jamie Reyes, you give me no choice; I am taking control," suddenly the collar on Beetle's neck fried with smoke pouring from it, next both of his hands morphed into studded-mallets.
"What? No, you can't!" He uncontrollably swung knocking Icicle and Tigress aside with loud metallic thud; he ran until he had enough distance to turn and form a plasma-cannon. By this time, Kaldur turned and formed a shield from his mystic-bearers just barely stopping a blast from taking off his head. The shock from the blast did knock him through the air and into a flat boulder and as he did, the switch flew from his hand and clattered on the ground.
Jamie shouted, "No!" and looked up but, there was no explosion, "You were right! It was a bluff! Get him!" the Scarab complied and ran toward Kaldur with impressive strength. The Atlantean held his hand out and slapped Beetle's chest sending a surge of mystic-electricity through out his body, searing a hole in his armor and stumbling back. Before it could regenerate, Tigress used a blow dart to send a tranquilizer into his exposed skin. He stumbled back, collapsing on the sand in a blur.
"Jamie!" Veronica shouted as violet energy exploded out around her; shattering her collar and allowing her to grow ten feet tall and split her glowing hair into eight different mana tendrils. In her anger, she whipped Tigress into a tree, breaking her arm and used her mana tendrils to grip Tommy and Icicle, "You'll pay for hurting my friend!" she lifted them into the air and sucked the energy out of them, causing them to fall unconscious.
Kaldur had already grabbed Tigress, loaded Beetle and Impulse into the cruiser, "Not so fast, murderer!" a tendril flew out and gripped Kaldur's ankle but, he gripped and sent a mystical surge of electricity through the mana-construct zapping Veronica in the process. He quickly closed the hatch and took off into the night-sky, the vessel was gone and a smoking Veronica collapsed to her knees.
…
"I can't believe we didn't take that energy girl!"
Icicle nudged Tommy, "Bossfish still has a soft spot for the team…"
This gave way to Tigress, holding her injured arm, sharing a concerned look with Kaldur, "Do it," he ordered as for a mere moment he saw Artemis again, remembering everything they shared together as a team.
She took her mask off, lowering her eyes with a solemn exhale, "You sure?" as if she didn't want this either, it wasn't something she'd ever forgive herself. But, she had to.
"Do it."
Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Beast Boy tied up together all watched as Tigress pressed down on the trigger, and as she did it was followed by a flash of light that blinded them all for a few seconds. Once the light cleared, the explosion was clear, a mushroom cloud drifting into the atmosphere with a fireball at the base launching molten rubble into the nearby ocean. Once the fireball had calmed and the smoke had thinned, the crater was finally visible, completely molten from the unfathomable heat that just vaporized the mountain, Kaldur and Tigress looked away in regret and disappointment, turning the ship around and flying off.
In the waters, the Super-Cycle floated as RipJaws pushed the alien-vehicle back to shore, it carried Nightwing face up on the seat unconscious completely. Suddenly, the waves from the explosion knocked Dick off the cycle and into the water, RipJaws was injured and exhausted but, Mal Duncan had dived in and pulled him to the cycle, "Questions later; can you swim Nightwing back to shore?"
"Yea, man."
…
Washington DC; Hall of Justice; March 29th 2019; 1:40AM
"Recognized: Kid Flash B03."
Wally stepped through the hall's access door and into the main library where Nightwing sat, in deep thought, no doubt.
"What. Happened?" Wally asked in a serious tone that Dick wasn't sure he'd ever heard him use before.
"It was necessary," was all Dick could say as he sipped a cup of coffee.
"It better've been, spill."
Dick sighed, "Aqualad needed to find a way to help us find Superboy, he already injected Conner with a microscopic tag and used the raid on the cave to exchange essential intel," he displayed the thumb-drive which Kaldur slipped him during his sucker punch, "a flash-drive with, among other things, tracking software that can lead us to Superboy."
"Like that's all he did," Wally folded his arms.
"Wally, he had to make it look good, he put inhibitor collars on us but, he knew I could get out of them."
Wally growled, "He took three more hostages! Members of your team!"
"And we'll rescue them when we rescue Superboy!"
Wally used his speed to grab Nightwing by his armor and slam him against the wall, "Dick, he blew up the cave!" he took a breath, "You guys almost died!"
Dick grabbed Wally's wrist and pulled it off of him, "No, it's all on the flash drive, he knew we needed to pursue to make it look real, he knew exactly how it would happen, he gave us exactly the amount of time I needed to get us out… we just, we got caught in the debris field of the explosion," he looked down at his feet with shame.
"Do you even hear yourself? What if even one of you had been left behind?" Dick walked back over to the table and sat down, "Why take that risk, why go to such extremes?"
"The drive explains that too; he needed to cement his position with the light, prove that he's loyal so he can join them and their partner."
Wally rolled his eyes, "Isn't that why he 'killed' Artemis?" he put sarcastic quotations around her death.
"I guess it didn't convince everyone," he muttered back.
"You guess!?"
"The cave is… was just a place!" he stood back up and stepped closer to the speedster, "Worth sacrificing if it helps stop the invasion!" he got even closer and threw his hands in the air, "Look, I'm sorry you lost all your precious souvenirs but-"
Dick was immediately shoved five feet away into a sitting chair, "ARE YOU SERIOUS!? I don't care about that junk, I'm worried about Artemis, terrified for her! And you put her right into his hands!"
Dick put an elbow on the arm-rest of the chair he'd been shoved into, "We're talking about Kaldur here, c'mon man!"
"I know, Kaldur, our friend, who watched Albedo murder the love of his life and found out Black Manta is his father; isn't it possible that Kaldur is really a villain, a triple agent!" Wally's explanation was convincing but, Dick still had faith, "He's supposed to be playing them but, are you absolutely sure he's not playing you?"
…
Atlantic Ocean; East Coast; March 28th 2019; 2:02AM
After docking the cruiser back into the main vessel, Kaldur met up with his father as they watched Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Beast Boy in pods identical to Conner's by suited men resembling the alien nurse that treated Superboy.
"Come with me, son," Manta put a hand on Kaldur's shoulder and led him through a corridor and into a secure room, once inside a monitor lit up in front of them, "Allow me to officially introduce, Kaldur'ahm, my son."
Lex Luthor, Queen Bee, Klarion, The Brain, Albedo, Ra's Al Ghul, and Vandal Savage were all on separate screens looking down at Kaldur and his father as he explained his merits, "He has succeeded in every mission and then some; not only did he capture Beetle as instructed but, he acquired two bonus meta's as well and as for the destruction of Mount Justice…"
"Well, indeed, we appreciate initiative, vision, and strong family ties; Kaldur'ahm, welcome to the Light, it's time for you to meet our partner."
…
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