Chapter 30: The Teams First Mission
It was a lovely Saturday morning at Happy Harbor as the sun shined brightly. All the citizens lived out their usual Saturday routines, but little did they know that there was hero work going on at the secret Justice League base in the mountain. For every Saturday morning was training for the junior Justice League, or the team, as they were more commonly known as.
At the moment they were sharpening their individual unique skills and abilities. M'gann worked on her telekinesis, pushing herself to lift heavier objects with her mind by using the boulders in the cave. Wally was trying to build up his speed by running around the track in the enormous Mount Justice gym. Conner worked on his physical strength by lifting weights, which was funny considering he was only eight, and honing his new abilities in a variety of ways. Roy was working on his aim as well as experimenting with trick arrows with some target practice. Kaldur practiced his water magic by changing the forms of his water bearers and gaining better control of water itself as well as strengthened his electrical output. Then lastly was Dick who practiced and improved his acrobatics, as well as spared with his father to better improve his hand to hand combat.
Bruce was assigned as the team's leader while they were in training and until they were a lot older. He was chosen due to his ability to keep the kids in line and his unique skill of making excellent and efficient training regiments. He'd been their leader for a few months now and he was honestly impressed by the improvement of their skills and hard work. Not to mention the team's natural bond which made their teamwork exercises incredibly successful showing great aptitude for hero work. He knew they still had much farther to go, but he had hope in them to one day take over the Justice League and defend the world. In fact he had a special surprise for them to see just how strong their improving abilities and team bond was.
Dick had just landed a good kick to his chest causing Bruce to fall to the ground, eliciting a great cheer from the little boy. Bruce praised his child proudly, but knew this meant it was time to give the team their surprise.
"Alright good job little bird, now go hydrate and suit up. I have a surprise for you and the team." Bruce said as he passed a water bottle to Dick and patted him on the head.
"A surprise! What is it daddy?!" Dick asked excitedly.
"You'll find out in a moment, now go get changed." Bruce said in a coy manner.
With that the little boy ran off to go put on his suit, excited to see what the surprise was, he hoped it was a mission. As that went on Bruce quickly changed into his suit to become Batman and then made his way to the globe/briefing room. Batman then typed into the hollow computer eventually bringing up the overcome system.
"Team stop your training, suit up, and come here to the briefing room in the next ten minutes." Batman instructed in his usual Batman voice.
For the ten minutes Batman simply stood there stoically and waited for the team to arrive before him. Then before he knew it six little heroes in training appeared before him suited up and ready for further instruction.
"Now that everyone is here, I have called you all to inform you that the League and I have reviewed your progress from the last few months. You all have made significant improvement in both your individual development and your work as a team. So we have decided to assign you your first mission." Batman said in his usual stoic way, with a slight hint of pride at his team's improvements.
Almost immediately in a lapse of childish excitement the team cheered and celebrated the news. Together they jumped up and down and hugged each other, happy they were finally getting a mission. Batman allowed them this for a few minutes, figuring they had earned it and had every right to be excited for their next step.
"Alright settle down." Batman said in his usual manor.
It took a minute but eventually the kids got back into focus, ready to hear what was going to happen.
"Your assignment will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina where we believe activity between an underground cult Kobra and CADMUS is taking place." Batman informed the team as he projected pictures of the suspected organizations and their activities.
Unfortunately as he did so Conner shuddered at the thought of CADMUS being involved. He still suffered horrid nightmares as well as a mild case of PTSD about them. However, thanks to a good recommendation from Bruce, Clark had Conner seeing an excellent and trusted therapist to help him but he still had trouble dealing with his trauma and fear of being taken back by them. Luckily at that moment M'gann sensed Conner's distress and grabbed his hand to make him aware it was going to be alright. At this Conner was able to calm down and focus on the mission again, remembering he had his friends with him to help him.
"Our latest intel on Kobra has informed us that they have recently taken over production of a popular physically enhancing steroid known as Venom. We believe that CADMUS means to team up with Kobra to make some sort of Venom Blockbuster hybrid. Your mission is to get further intel and evidence of this so the League can gain jurisdiction to act as well as know more about what they're planning. I will be instructing and guiding you over your communicators the entire time, so no going off on your own. Now let me be very clear this is a reconnaissance mission only, you are absolutely not to make contact or engage with the enemy. If anything goes wrong, you are to signal me and I will have your escort bring you back here immediately. Understood?"
All the team nodded, some of them feeling a shiver of guilt knowing the last part was aimed at them.
"Good, now are there any questions?" Batman asked.
Kaldur raised his little hand up high, informed that this was how children typically were supposed to show they had a question.
"Yes Aqualad?" Batman asked stoically.
"Who is our escort and how will we be getting to Argentina?" Kaldur asked in his usual mature manner.
"Your escort will be Martian Manhunter. He will be providing a ship from his homeworld known as a Bio-Ship."
M'Gann squealed excitedly at this, having not flown in a Bio-Ship since she first came to earth.
"He will be the one flying you there and flying you back here once your mission is complete or if something goes wrong. Any other questions?"
Roy held up his hand.
"Speedy?"
"When do we leave?" Roy asked with a smirk on his face.
"Tonight." Batman answered deadpan, though internally hoping he was making the right call.
8 hours later
It was pitch black outside, not even a moon to provide any light, as the Bio-Ship flew through the night sky. The organic ship took full advantage of this camouflaging itself to make it invisible to the human eye. All the while the kids watched completely mesmerized and securely, as the ship had made car seats and boosters for everyone except Kaldur and Roy, from the inside of it. For a few of them this was because it was their first time flying while others were just wowed by the way it looked on the inside. Martian Manhunter watched all of this quite happily from his position at the Bio-Ships consul. It was then the Bio-Ship sent the Martian a signal that they were close.
"Alright children we are close, prepare yourselves for landing."
The kids mentally began to prepare themselves, doing their best to remember all the details Batman laid out for them for their plan. Soon enough the camouflaged ship landed on the ground and opened up its landing dock. With army precision all the kids got out of their seats and we're on the ground. From there the team each adjusted their suits for night mode. Kid Flash's bright yellow suit turned black, same for Speedys red tunic and yellow feathered hat, Aqualad's red top also turned black, and Miss Martian made her costume into a full black bodysuit only keeping the dark blue mini cape and thin red X across her chest. Robin and Superboy luckily didn't have to change their costumes as either of their costumes were too flashy.
"Children adjust your communicators to channel 7.36." Martian Manhunter instructed.
Immediately the kids did so, each checking their hidden earbuds were in securely. Normally the League would have had them communicate through the telepathic link the Martians could create as it was more secure, reliable, and private. However unfortunately M'Gann wasn't powerful enough to create one yet and J'honn was going to be too far away as he flew the bio ship around out of enemy sights to create one for them.
"Team, do you copy?" Batman asked through the communicator as he watched them through the communicators connection to the league's satellite.
"Yes!" All the team said simultaneously as they waited for further instructions.
"Good, now do you all remember your assignments?" Batman asked directly.
"Yes sir, Robin and Kid Flash will be doing reconnaissance from inside the factory. Miss Martian and Superboy will be surveing from the air. While Speedy and I will be gathering intel from the ground." Aqualad reiterated to their team mentor/leader.
"Good, and remember to be very careful not to be seen or engage with the enemy unless absolutely necessary. I expect you to be back here by 2400 hours, now move out team." Batman instructed with the utmost seriousness.
With that all cleared the little heroes went off to their assignments. Robin hopped onto Kid Flash's back and the two sped off without a trace. Miss Martian and Superboy took to the skies hand in hand as to both be in camouflage mode as to not be seen as they gathered intel from above. Lastly Aqualad and Speedy carefully moved through the trees, using their stealth training to keep to the shadows and out of enemy eyes.
The Factory
In the blink of an eye Kid Flash and Robin were just outside the factory. Robin quickly hopped off his older friends' back and proceeded to open his glove computer to look into the blue prints they had on the factory. Within seconds the little hero had them up and studied them as fast as he could.
"KF there's a vent that leads into the ventilation system, but there's a bolted on covering. Could you possibly get those screws off with your speed?" Robin asked sincerely.
"In my sleep." Kid Flash answered confidently.
Once the little speedster was directed to a narrow vent shaft that led into the building, he easily got his small fingers around the large bolts and used his speed to unscrew the tight bolts out. After that Robin went under the vent and this time had KF hold onto him as he pulled his grappling hook out. With perfect precision Robin shot the hook at the perfect support angle and with lightning speed had him and his partner shooting up the shaft and into the ventilation system.
From there the two began to crawl through the vents, Robin leading the way as he followed his map towards the production facilities. After a few minutes the two finally saw some light as it leaked through a grated vent. Silently the two took different sides of the vent and proceeded to watch what was going on below. They watched as a series of machines mixed a n array of chemicals into a glowing red liquid. From there the liquid was injected into small tubes and carried off on a conveyor belt. The two immediately assumed this was how and where Kobra was creating the steroid Venom.
However then they saw another part of the room that gave off a familiar blue glow. In a large glass container labeled with its contents was none other than the infamous Blockbuster. Both shuddered a bit as memories of Dr. Desmond's monstrous transformation filled their heads. However they quickly refocused and watched to see what its purpose was. They watched as the conveyor belt pushing venom made its way to the Blockbuster serum. As the tubes made their way a large injection needle would dip into the individual tubes and excrete the Blockbuster serum into it. The boys watched as the blood red steroid turned an eerie purple as the two dangerous substances mixed. This was definitely something they needed to report to Batman.
"Robin to Batman, do you copy?" Robin spoke into the communicator.
"I copy, what's the situation?"
"Kid Flash and I found the Venom production facility."
"Very good, what is it you see?"
"There's a bunch of machines that are mixing some sort of potent highly carbon based mixture to make Venom. But it gets worse. They have a large container of Blockbuster serum as well. Their mixing it with Venom, creating some sort of super steroid I believe. " Kid Flash chimed in with his science background.
"And you can confirm Kobra is behind all this?" Batman asked further, trying to his his concern as the reality CADMUS was involved became more plausible.
"Yes there's armed guards walking around the production room wearing robes with the Kobra symbol on it." Robin backed his partner up with.
"Alright, well done, now return back to the meeting point your portion of reconnaissance is over." Batman instructed.
With that the two made their way back to the meeting point, doing their best to crawl quietly once more through the vent system.
The Jungle
Meanwhile Speedy and Aqualad were making their way through the jungle, keeping careful watch for any cameras or sensors that could watch or track them. They had wandered around for about 15 minutes trying to find some sort of a meeting point for a trade off between CADMUS and Kobra.
"Could we seriously not get any sort of map or blueprint of the island? I feel like we've been wandering around aimlessly for hours." Speedy complained.
"Unfortunately there wasn't one available, but I'm sure if we keep going straight we'll reach where the jungle meets the factory grounds." Aqualad encouraged.
"We better, because I don't want to be the only ones who don't bring back any information." Speedy said feeling insecure already, especially since he was the oldest.
"I have perfect faith we will get something, we just need to be.." Aqualad responded before he was interrupted by the sound of gunshots.
Immediately the boys tensed up and fell to the ground, not sure where the rapid fire was coming from. For a few minutes they laid there but carefully listened for a hit as to the direction of the gunfire. Eventually they discerned that the gunshots were not coming their way and lifted their heads to look for the bright flashes of a gun firing. Only they didn't just see the guns firing but the people firing them as well. On one side they saw men dressed in dark red uniforms with black Kobra bead tattoos and the others completely in black being led by a man with green tubes coming from his head and a black and white mask. The two groups shot at each other relentlessly, but even in the skirmish Speedy recognized the men in black.
"That's Bane and his goons! But what are they doing here? They should be in Gotham!" Speedy whisper yelled at Aqualad.
"Do you thought you could just up and take my supply from me?! Well I'm afraid you got the wrong idea then, so prepare to eat a week's worth of lead!" Bane yelled at the cult members as he shot a fully automatic mini gun at them.
"I think this was Bane's factory originally, Kobra must have taken it to get something that would warrant an alliance with CADMUS. I'll get a hold of Batman report." Aqualad theorized as he pulled out his communicator.
Immediately he dialed the dark knight in, now waiting patiently for him to pick up.
"Aqualad, what's the status report?"
"We think we have discovered this was never Kobra's venom factory, we think it is Bane's. We believe the cult must have taken it by force in order to have leverage to initiate a partnership with CADMUS. At the moment both sides are having a shootout in the Jungle to either claim back or keep the territory. However so far no sign of CADMUS interference yet."
"Very well, good work. Now see if you can find the factory itself, observe conditions there, and see if you can find any evidence of CADMUS to confirm your theory with. Then return to the meeting spot immediately, your portion of this mission will be over." Batman instructed carefully, though mentally he was wanting to get them back to the base now with the knowledge a turf war was taking place as well.
"Yes, sir. We will do so with speed and care." Aqualad responded obediently.
With that the two made their way carefully from the shootout, now looking for the factory itself to see if the shady organization really had ties with this place.
The Sky
Miss Martian and Superboy flew around the majority of the island using the latters super senses to try and find something that could help the League's case. At the moment they had so far come up short only seeing what appeared to be a shoot out of sorts.
"Superboy, did you pick up anything from the fighting?" Miss Martian asked telepathically.
"No, the gunshots made it too hard to tell what they were saying and my hearing isn't developed enough to focus on any particular voice." Superboy responded mad at himself for not being strong enough.
"It's alright, we'll find something. I'm sure of it." Miss Martian tried to encourage.
Superboy was about to respond when something interesting finally caught his ear.
"Wait, I think I've got something." Superboy said suddenly.
"Follow it, maybe it's something that could help the league!"
Immediately the two flew off towards the noise the Kryptonian was hearing. Within minutes they were soon by the factory and found themselves at a building not too far from it. The building wasn't very tall but it was rather wide, meaning that whatever they were keeping in it was large. Unfortunately the facilities were guarded by two armed Kobra members, both looking ready to kill at the slightest sign of disturbance.
"Superboy what do we do, that building's guarded?" Miss Martian asked nervously as they landed on the ground, still in camouflage mode.
"Could you maybe knock them out with a psychic blast?" Superboy asked back.
"I could but I would only be able to knock out one of them, and I'd have to turn off our camouflage to make one powerful enough for even that."
Superboy thought over their options for a bit, looking around for anything that might help them. Then after he saw the wall that led to the right of the entrance, an idea came to his head. Immediately he explained it to Miss Martian, hoping she'd go with it.
Two minutes later
The two guards kept vigilant watch of the area, knowing that what they were guarding was imperative to their possible team up with CADMUS. More specifically the secret far more powerful organization that hid behind CADMUS. The two kept this in mind, so much so they barely noticed a green little girl suddenly appearing in front of them.
"Ah! What the hell, where did you come from?" The guard on the right yelled as he then pulled out his large rifle he had on him, aiming it right at Miss Martian.
Unfortunately before his fellow guard could even react to this Miss Martian suddenly stared at him in the eyes and he was knocked into the wall behind him. This left the guard unconscious prompting the other guard to emulate his unconscious partner and pointed his gun at her. He was about to shoot only to have himself unexpectedly knocked out with a hard hit to the back of his head. Like a rock the guard fell to the ground revealing Superboy standing behind him.
"Yay it worked!" Miss Martian cheered as she clapped.
"Shhh, we gotta look inside now." Superboy said as he held a finger to his lips.
The little Martian girl immediately went quiet remembering their mission was still on going. Superboy led the way causing both to enter the doorway at the same time. As they walked at first it was quite dark, but then they saw a bright blue light coming from down the hall. They followed it slowly both a little nervous as to what they would find. Eventually the two reach the end of the hall only to be faced with a long row of translucent blue glass kennels. Together they walked down the hall and were shocked by what they saw, each kennel had an absolutely enormous wolf in it. Both were absolutely stunned at what they were seeing as well as confused.
"What is all this?" Miss Martian asked.
"I don't know, but it can't be good." The little Kryptonian said a little freak out by it all.
It felt like he was back at CADMUS surrounded by what he assumed were test subjects. But then as they continued to walk Superboy suddenly stopped and turned, only to be met by huge yellow eyes. There before him was the biggest wolf they'd seen with snow white fur and a stone cold face. Now they had passed many of his kind in the last few minutes, but this wolf felt different. As the two stared into each other's eyes a connection was made as they could see they felt a similar pain and history. Eventually Superboy started to move closer and put his little hand up to the glass which was met with a huge white paw on the other side.
"You're just like me." Superboy said with a deep sense of sadness.
"Superboy, get away from him!" Miss Martian yelled as she ran towards and hid behind the little boy.
"I don't think he's dangerous, I think he just wants out."
"Well don't he's clearly not a regular wolf, I bet he's been altered by that steroid Batman was telling us about. He could.." Miss Martian said, freaking out.
But then she saw his big yellow eyes and without even realizing it heard the creature's thoughts. Tears started to leak from the little martian girl's eyes as she heard and saw the canine's memories. She could also see his connection he felt with Conner, immediately seeing the two were kindred spirits.
"Wait no you're right, he isn't bad or mean, he just wasn't out! Superboy hurry smash the door!" Miss Martian cried out.
Without any hesitation Superboy smashed his fists into the glass causing it to shatter. He then immediately threw himself over Miss Martian to protect her from the shards. Within seconds it was then very quiet and the two little heroes looked up to see the large wolf come walking up to them. As soon as it was close to them the large creature then bent his head down and unexpectedly gave each of the children a big wet kiss. Both of them immediately giggled from the feeling of the large rough wet tongue as it tickled their cheeks. Unfortunately the happiness was short lived as the three heard voices coming closer.
"What the hell! Why are the guards unconscious?! You two go in there and see who's responsible for this! Then kill them, they can't know about our experiments!"
The large wolf immediately got in front of the protégés taking a protective stance to ensure they were not harmed.
"We'll take them together Wolf, we'll make them pay for doing this to you." Superboy declared as he jumped to the canines side, also giving him the simple name of Wolf as his little boy sensibilities told him this was what fit the enormous animal.
However Wolf had other ideas as he whipped his head back and pushed the boy away.
"Wolf what are you doing?! I need to be here to help you!" Superboy cried as he tried to run up to him again.
However Wolf only took even more drastic measures as he turned his body sideways and began pushing the two little kids towards the end of the hall. M'gann and Conner tried to resist, but the genetically enhanced canine was just too strong. He eventually got them to the exit and pointed them out.
"No, please let me help you!" Superboy cried out as he hugged Wolf.
Wolf would have none of it as he kissed both kids one more time and then ran towards the beginning of the hall.
"I'll come back for you I promise!" Superboy said as tears threatened to leak from his eyes.
The two little heroes then flew off both scared and sad to leave their new friend.
The Factory
Both Kid Flash and Robin snuck carefully through the open field that laid between the Factory and jungle. They were currently making their way to the meeting spot and just so happened to be the first ones, which was actually entirely on purpose as Batman wanted the two youngest team members out of danger ASAP so he gave them the quickest part. Anyways as they finally reached the jungle's edge they saw two small figures walking through the trees. This caused the two to ready themselves to fight, as they couldn't risk being caught. However much to their luck it was just Speedy and Aqualad coming to complete the last part of their assignment.
"What are you guys doing here, aren't you supposed to be in charge of the jungle?" Kid Flash asked, confused by this sudden divergence in plan.
"Batman gave us a second part to our assignment, we were told to find evidence of CADMUS's presence here at the main factory." Aqualad explained.
"Especially since this isn't even Kobra's factory, it's Bane's." Speedy chimed in.
"Bane! What's he doing here?!" Robin squeaked, wondering what a Gotham villain was doing all the way out here.
"We believe this must have been his factory to keep up his venom supply. Now Kobra is at war with them to take it for themselves." Speedy elaborated.
"This is a much more complicated situation than we thought, not only are we dealing with CADMUS and Kobra, but also Bane. I think we may be in over our heads, we've never received training for anything like this." Kid Flash commented.
"We need to contact Miss Martian and Superboy, find out what they know and leave this place without getting caught. I'll contact Batman to.." Aqualad began to instruct before a loud call interrupted him.
"Guys!"
Everyone looked up to see Miss Martian and Superboy flying at them at incredible speed.
"You won't believe what we just saw!" Superboy cried, the thought of what would happen to Wolf pulsating through his head.
"It was horrible!" Miss Martian said nearly in tears.
"Alright I need both of you to calm down and tell me exactly what youâ" Aqualad began to say as he placed his hands on both their shoulders, only to be interrupted by the sound of movement.
"Everyone in the bushes now!" Speedy yelled as he took both KF and Robin's hands to pull them away.
Within seconds all the team were in the bushes so they could watch what was happening. They all observed as two groups met in the middle of the field, Kobra dressed in various red uniforms and who they assumed were CADMUS which consisted of a few scientist looking people and a hoard of riot gear clad soldiers. Then three people from both sides came up to the clearing between the two. CADMUS had a singular scientist, an slender auburn haired gentleman with green tinted glasses and a long lab coat, and two armed guards come up. While Kobra had a tall pale man in a long red cloak and hood with two non-uniformed gingers one man and woman both very skinny at his side.
"Lord Kobra, it has been too long." The scientist greeted.
"Dr. Tamarind, I am happy to see you made it here safely. I apologize for any interference, we're still dealing with our little pest issues."
"There were no issues whatsoever, but why don't we get right down to brass tax. The serum, how have you improved it?" The doctor asked in a serious tone.
"We have made great progress Doctor, in fact let me show you one of our many test subjects. Bring the beast forward!"
It was then a group of seven large men came dragging, or being dragged by, a large white wolf by a series of king black cords. The poor canine also had a large tight muzzle on his mouth which he tried to struggle out of, just as he had tried with those holding the cords.
"Wolf!" Superboy cried out as he tried to pop out from the bushes.
"Superboy no, we can't be seen!" Aqualad said quietly but affirmatively as he pulled the Kryptonian back to the bushes.
Conner got the message but none the less looked at the poor wolf worried. Eventually the poor giant wolf was brought before the doctor, only to now stare at him with large angry yellow eyes.
"Hmm quite the specimen, I can see he's quite strong and has some interesting developments in his joint areas as well." The doctor observed as he poked and prodded the angry canine.
"Yes, he just earlier broke down the door of his cell and attacked my men. He's also quite durable, borderline invulnerable, as well as quite intelligent. We have many more like him as well, all just as powerful."
"That's all very good Lord Kobra, but I'm afraid CADMUS has not much use for an army of mutts." Dr. Tamarind commented quite disappointed.
"We thought you'd say that, so we prepared a little human trial just to show you how it works on people. Mammoth, come here please, it's time."
It was then the male of the two red headed henchmen came forward.
"Wait, that guy's name is mammoth? He looks like the wind could knock him right down." KF quipped only to be shushed by Speedy.
Mammoth stood close to the scientist as the other red haired woman came over with an injection gun. The scrawny man looked at the CADMUS scientist with a creepy smirk before it was replaced by a painful grunt. Within seconds the once skinny man became a great big hulking monster. The scientist looked upon this in awe all the while all four of the little boys on the team had scary flashbacks of Dr. Desmond's transformation.
"My you haven't just improved the hybrid serum, you've perfected it! Oh the light will be truly pleased, an army of super soldiers and super creatures. You truly have outdone yourself Lord Kobra. So I believe we will needâ." Dr. Tamrind began to say before bullets interrupted him.
Suddenly all around the camp, men surrounded the two groups, all led by Bane.
"Sorry gentlemen but I'm afraid you will either need to pay me for the use of my venom and factory, or I'll fill you full of bullet holes!" Bane laughed maniacally but calmly.
With that turf war began once more, only more violent as mutated dogs attacked Bane and his gang more viciously. For several minutes bullets went off, stab wounds were made, and the chaos of battle surged through the open field. All the while the team was hiding in the bushes with their hands over their ears to block out the noise.
"Speedy, we need to call Batman and Martian Manhunter to get us out of this situation. It's way too dangerous!" Aqualad called out to the archer
"Alright keep an eye out for me, I'll contact him!" Speedy responded as he began to fiddle with his communicator.
However it was then that Bane's gang decided to pull out their secret weapon. A small group of them came out of the trees with a large box that looked like it was covered in microchips. One of the men then pulled out a small remit and pressed a few buttons till the box began to beep.
"Speedy to Batman, do you copy?! Speedy to Batman, do you copy?!" Speedy asked urgently.
"I copy, what is the situation?" Batman answered feeling his anxieties rise as he heard the sound of bullets, only much louder this time.
"CADMUS, Kobra, and Bane have begun to fight! We need immediate evacuation!"
Batman was about to respond but unfortunately that was when the box exploded sending a wave of electricity through the air. For this was an EMP bomb, one that took out the power of almost 80% of the island. This meant the team's communicators then shut down, leaving the poor children stranded alone on the island.