Around an abandoned warehouse, littered the entire Young Justice team. Kid Flash, Robin, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis were all knocked out on the floor. Razor and Aqualad were still barely standing as the two stood against Clayface.
Batman had sent them on a recovery mission in Gothem after Clayface, Killer Croc, King Shark and Poison Ivy had all escaped from Arkham. GPD had caught Killer Croc and and King Shark while Batman had gone after Poison Ivy.
Razor rushed forwards with a roar and sliced at Clayface's arms as fast as he regrew them, preventing him from shape-shifting his arms into anything. Aqualad pulled his Water-bearers and, without thinking it through, fired a stream of water at his chest. However all the spray did was splash clay and water in Razor's face and eyes.
Razor stopped his attack to wipe his face clean as Clayface's arm grew back and created a giant mallet at the end of it. He hit Razor back to his team as he felt some of his organs get knocked around. He breathed in deeply as he watched his leader get ready to take on Clayface alone.
He then thought of something and ran to Artemis. He gave her a couple shakes before slapping her across the face.
"Ow hey!" She yelled as Razor ignored her and grabbed her grappling arrow.
"These have wire braided in with them, right?" he asked as Artemis nodded still rubbing her face.He tied the rope around his left arm and ran away leaving her with the arrow and a length of rope.
"Fire at him when I nod and then jump out of the way" he said going to the far side of the building. Artemis loaded the arrow and looked at Razor. He got to a electricity box before he looked at Artemis and nodded.
Artemis smiled, knowing what his plan is and fired the arrow. The arrow struck Clayface's chest and she jumped back away from the rope.
Razor then unsheathed his claws and jammed them into the box. He screamed as he felt electricity flow through his body, but he fought through the pain as he heard Clayface screaming as well. Aqualad also jumped back out of harm's way just in time.
After about a minute, Razor pulled his claws out of the box as Clayface melted into a puddle of clay. Aqualad hurried and put him in a cylinder container that Batman had given them. Aqualad smiled as his friends started to wake up, but then he looked up at the narrowed eyes that were looking down at the team
DJ's p.o.v
"Oh man, I got clay in places clay should never be" Wally said pulling clay out of his pants. Everyone laughed, even Superboy, until they came face to face with Batman, who was standing there with, somehow an even more scowling face.
"I need to speak with Aqualad. Alone" he said in a commanding voice. "The rest of you, get washed up and head home."
"Head home? I am home" Superboy said as he, M'gann, Wally and Artemis all walked to the showers. Robin still stood beside Aqualad while I stood off to the side.
"Just Aqualad" Batman said to Robin who made a face that told his mentor he was pissed. He then walked away as Batman turned to me. He was about to repeat himself when I stepped forwards and stood next to Aqualad.
"Both me and Kaldur made calls on this mission. So if there is any blame-" I started but was cut off when Kaldur stepped in front of me and faced me.
"No, my friend. My calls are what put the team in danger. Your calls saved the mission and possibly the team. I thank you for wanting to take some of the blame, but this is one that I will face alone" he said. I looked at Batman before nodding and walking to the door.
As it shut though I waited on the other side. I would've normally listened in. But I've been getting lessons along side M'gann and Superboy about how to be more... normal. Plus I trust Kaldur will tell me what is going on.
After a few minutes Kaldur came outside with a look of sorrow
"What did he say?" I asked. Kaldur sighed.
"I need to go to Atlantis for a while. To sort some things out" he said. I nodded.
"Okay, I understand" I said as we walked around the base.
"Batman said he won't have a mission for the team until I return. But if something comes up can I trust you to lead the team?" He asked me. I shook my head, catching his attention.
"Black Canary and me are going international in Africa. Apparently some of Canary's regulars are doing some big weapon deals in Africa. Batman's sending us to collect intelligence" I said. He nodded.
"Robin?" He asked. I shrugged.
"It might be a good opportunity. If Batman has a mission for them while we're gone than it'll be a good chance to see if he's matured" I said as Aqualad nodded. My watch then beeped letting me know that Black Canary was ready to go.
"Canary's ready to go. See you when I get back" I said as he waved at me. I ran to my room and packed a few days worth of clothes and my spare suit. We didn't have permission by the African government to do any hero stuff. So we were just going to collect Intel and find out if there's anything more going on. But first we needed to get debriefing from Batman, so that'll, getting prepared and flying there will probably take a day.
I smiled and looked down from the javelin as lots of animals that I've never seen ran away. We were in stealth mode so we could get into the country undetected.
"So remember, we're just here to gather intelligence on whose here and if there's anyone higher up that the League doesn't know about" Canary said. I rolled my eyes.
"So you've said. And Batman and Superman" I said as she shot me a slight grin.
"It's been a while since we've done an Operation together. It's nice" she said. I smiled. It was nice actually.
"I know. So who's all gonna be there that we know of?" I asked. She handed me a folder while still driving.
" 'The Twelve Brothers in Silk?' Sounds like a knitting club" I joked. However Black Canary was serious.
"They are no joke. Imagine seven guys with nearly Shiva-level talent and a lifetime of training" she said. I've read books while I was in Cadmus, so I knew that Lady Shiva was no joke.
"Wait, seven? The folder says twelve?" I asked. Black Canary went silent for a few seconds before she put the javelin on autopilot and turned to me.
"There were originally twelve and they were the most fearsome and ferocious group ever next to the Al Ghul family. They were all brothers, but had one sister. White Canary" she said. I looked up from the folder and looked at her with disbelief.
"Do I have an aunt?" I asked. But she remained serious.
"About a year, before me and Ollie met you me and the Birds tracked a huge shipment of weapons coming into Gothem once night. Enough fire power for someone to take on the Batman and the GPD together. .50 caliber snipers, anti-tank bullets, rocket launchers, you name it" she said
"We defeated them, but once word of their defeat got back to White Canary, she set out to kill all of them and got five of them. But the last seven exiled themselves from the clan and went into hiding" she said. Suddenly the ship landed at our destination. Just outside Rabat.
We exited the Javelin stealthily and quickly closed the doors. We were going with the tourist scam, a mother and son vacation.
"So why come out of hiding after only a short amount of time?" I asked as we walked down the streets in our civilian clothes.
"Well, while fighting was their strong suit, money handling wasn't. My guess is that they ran out of money and had to come out of hiding to work" she guessed. The plan was to walk me around and see if I can pick up any scents of Chinese males all related.
"Wait" I said coming to a stop down town. We've been walking for about three hours and so far nothing. But now I smelled them. They were close.
"This way" I said leading Canary down an alleyway. We were retracing their footsteps right now, less than ten minutes prior.
I finally reached the end of the trail coming to a large metal door. I pointed to the door as Black Canary nodded. She then looked around before she jumped up onto some crates and then onto the fire escape. I quickly followed her moves before running up behind her.
We got to the roof and went over to a skylight. Luckily for us we were on top of an abandoned building, so the windows were already broke.
I looked inside and seen seven Chinese men all wearing red robes, several African men who wore camouflage clothing and red hats. The lead on even had a machete clipped to his belt and even if I couldn't smell it, I could still see the dried blood on it from where we were. Black Canary immediately started taking pictures for evidence.
"Gentlemen, your guns" one of the African men said as another uncovered large crates behind them. They then pulled out an AK-47 and handed it to one of the Chinese men.
He loaded a magazine into it before he aimed it at something. I looked over and seen several spray painted outlines of people on a concrete wall. However each outline had symbols or objects painted on their chests.
The symbols were a Superman S, a bat outline, Wonder Woman's eagle W, a green arrows ring, a red X, a lightning bolt and finally the trident of Poseidon. I gave Canary a light tap and got her attention. She turned and seen what I was looking at. She put a finger to her lip, telling me to remain quiet, but I could see it in her eyes she was shocked.
As he pulled the trigger the concrete wall began to be blown apart from the bullets. When the dust cleared each target had several large and clean cut holes in the wall, some even in their heads. The man smiled and laughed while he inspected the gun. He then turned to the others and nodded.
"These are awesome bullets. Imagine if that was Batman's suit!" He exclaimed in Chinese while pointing to the Batman silhouette. Black Canary looked over at me and I nodded letting her know I knew what he said.
"Well gentlemen, it seems we have a deal. But one more thing..." The biggest of the Chinese men said in English before he smiled.
"...Sis?" he said in a questioning tone. Suddenly a chain whipped out from the shadows and sliced through all the heads on the Africans side. One by one the bodies dropped as their heads dropped off their bodies.
Out from the darkness of the shadows, a Chinese woman now appeared. She wore clothing similar to Black Canary's, except that hers were all white.
As she walked next to her brothers, me and Black Canary slowly turned to each other before sliding down out of sight.
"This is bad right?" I asked as she nodded. She then held up the recording device.
"We got enough to keep Batman happy. Now, let's go" she said. However as she was about to start walking back to the fire escape, I heard a small click using my enhanced hearing.
I quickly grabbed her from behind and rolled backwards as bullets erupted from the ground. We stopped rolling before taking off running as the sound of someone yelling in Chinese was heard.
Third person view/ a minute earlier.
"Thank you sister" the leader of the brothers said. His sister, however still wore her usual facial expression. A scowl.
"Be lucky father has given you another chance or I'd-" she suddenly went silent and began looking around.
"Did you lock all the doors when you arrived?" She asked. One of the brothers nodded.
"Yes and we double checked" he answered.
"Then how come I feel like I'm being watched?" she asked only to receive silence. Their father, after learning of his sons failure, had made his daughter the next leader of the clan. So it made sense why no one questioned her.
Her eyes then made their way to the roof as she seen the skylight. Thinking quickly she grabbed another magazine and opened fire right where someone who was spying on them would've been standing.
Unfortunately she heard no body drop, but she did get a sound. Footsteps
"After them you idiots!!" she yelled as her brothers either took off out the doors or climbed up to the skylight using crates.
Meanwhile, she wiped the blood off of her Chain-whip. There is only a few heroes who would be brave enough to dare spy on her. And she had a feeling that she knew who it was.
As DJ and Black Canary ran, DJ kept looking behind them to see if they were being followed. However one time he did, a man jumped out in front of him and kicked him hard in the face with enough for to break a man's cheek bone. However...
"Ow!!" The man said collapsing onto the ground and holding his now broken foot. He then proceeded to curse in Chinese.
DJ was about to start laughing, but Black Canary pulled him to start running again.
"No time to mock" she said worried. If one of them were able to catch up then the others weren't far behind.
As if magic, the other six men then jumped up onto the roof surrounding the two. They started to approach, so DJ threw his closed fists to the side and unsheathed his claws at the same time, making all of the men stop advancing.
However more footsteps seemed to snap everyone out of the trance as White Canary came up the fire escape slowly. Her eyes never leaving Canary.
"Canary" she said in an unimpressed voice looking over at DJ. "And you are?" She asked.
"Your worse nightmare lady" he answered before he suddenly swung his claws down at one of the brothers, who tried to grab him from behind.
"You wanna try it? You last brother wasn't so lucky!" he yelled making the man jump back. White Canary chuckled before she circled, so that she was in front of DJ.
"A tough one you got here Canary. Son?" She asked. Before Canary could answer DJ came to her defense.
"And what if I was? Wouldn't make your chances at beating me any better" he said. White Canary laughed harder now.
"Oh I like this one" she said before looking at Black Canary.
"You six get her, I have the boy" she said as Canary and the men started fighting.
"As Black Canary dodged and delivered attacks, DJ circled White Canary who got her Chain-whip ready.
"So are you really her son?" she asked. DJ paused and looked at Black Canary, who just kicked one of the brothers off the roof and into a large dumpster.
"Yeah" he said after a moment. "I a-" he was cut off when White Canary swung her chain at his exposed neck. If it wasn't for his Adamantium spine, his head would probably be severed.
However, he still dropped to the ground with a large hole in the left side of his neck as blood poured out of it. He quickly closed his eyes to allow his attacker to believe he was dead, which she did. White Canary then turned to Black Canary, who had her back to her as she continued to fight her brothers.
"Oh don't worry" she said in a low, sad and yet teasing voice. "I'll reunite you two, after all" she said before readying her whip.
"No mother should be separated from her child" she said throwing all her weight into the whip. It soared towards Black Canary, who had just defeated the last brother and turned to see the whip less than five feet from her. To close to dodge.
However, DJ suddenly appeared and let the whip wrap around his claws. White Canary's face went pale as DJ smiled and pulled White Canary to him in a swift motion. He then grabbed the front of her uniform and using all his strength, he threw her across the rooftop until she landed against a flagpole with a thud, stunning her for a few seconds.
DJ looked at the whip before an idea popped into his head. He quickly ran at White Canary and grabbed her by the throat standing her up. He then wrapped the Chain-whip firmly around her and tied the ends into a knot. Not tight enough to cut into her skin, yet not loose enough so that she could easily get out without scraping her arms to shreds.
"That'll hold you for a while" he said walking back to Black Canary. However White Canary's mouth wasn't covered.
"What are you gonna do huh? You have no jurisdiction here. You'll get in more trouble than me" she said as DJ stopped walking and turned around.
"I didn't say I was calling the police. I said 'that'll hold you for a while'. It means I'm leaving you here for a few hours until someone comes up here and sees you tied up. Then if they choose to call the authorities, that's their decision. Plus what are you gonna say? Black Canary and Razor captured me while me and my brothers were in the middle of a arms deal" he said walking past Canary, who smirked at her nemesis.
"Gets a lot from his mother, doesn't he?" she said walking away along side DJ. Once she was close enough, the two High Fived each other while laughing.
Meanwhile in Atlantis.
Kaldur panted as he ducked under a punch from one of Black Manta's goons before uppercut him. About a half a dozen guards fired back at the troops while Queen Mera and Tula helped take out a few with a few tricks, but the numbers were starting to become overwhelming. Another guard fell as Kaldur began to worry. Not only about his own safety but the safety of his old girlfriend and his Queen's unborn child.
But how could he do anything? Any communications with the Justice League and his king were knocked out and no one would notice anything until King Orin tried to return, which may be hours.
Suddenly Kaldur remembered something. Something from before Batman had called them to come and assist with apprehending the fugitives from Arkham.
Flashback
"No way" Wally and Robin said at the same time in amazement. All of the team were sitting in the common area. Wally and Robin sat in front of M'gann while DJ, Superboy and Kaldur watched the TV. But if Kaldur could hear them, then he had no doubt that DJ and Superboy couldn't. Meanwhile Artemis just worked on sharpening her arrows.
"I am completely serious, I would never lie to any of my team" M'gann said cheerfully.
"We can contact each other through your mental link without you now" Robin said before quickly going wide eyed. "Not that we'd ever not need you" he said flustered as M'gann laughed.
"It's okay, I understood. And to answer your question, yes you could. The first time I shared the mental link with you all it remained there, all I've been doing is re-activating it. But anyone within the link can do it themselves, if the person they wish to contact were close enough" she said only to get ignored as Wally and Robin began touching their heads like M'gann does and waving their fingers at one another.
"...But it can only be done with a lot of dedication and concentration" she added as the two boys stopped now embarrassed. Everyone else started to laughed as Kaldur only smiled and shook his head.
flashback over
Kaldur quickly ducked under a beam that was fired at him. He was then swiftly pulled back by one of the guards, who seen he had lost focused in the fight. He quickly got to his feet and ran to Orm.
"Keep them off of me please" he requested. Orm looked at him shocked before firing again.
"Ah, we'll try but it's getting pretty hard!" he shouted over everything happening. Kaldur got backed up before closing his eyes and sheathing his water-bearers.
'Come on M'gann, please let this be true' he thought before using all his concatenation on contacting anyone.
Above the Pacific Ocean
DJ and Black Canary were flying back to the base. This javelin was a gift from the Justice League to use incase M'gann's bio ship was being used.
Well, not really a gift. This javelin was made with a defect in the haul, wasn't made to be used for space travel. So the Justice League decided to keep it on earth and the sidekicks had just decided to create the team.
Suddenly DJ lurched forwards and clenched his head. Black Canary immediately stopped the javelin and put it in hover mode. She then tried to inspect DJ, but he got up from his seat and tried to walk still clutching his head. However he just collapsed not a few feet away from his seat.
'They're getting worse' he thought worrying about how he would be able to lie his way out of this.
'What's getting worse? ' Kaldur's voice asked in his head. DJ paused now very worried.
'Kaldur? Geez note to self get Mr Manhunter to give M'gann some more lessons on link establishing' he thought back.
'Listen, Atlantis is under attack by Black Manta he is a villain who took Oceanmaster's place when he-' the link was suddenly cut. DJ knew from talking from M'gann that it was probably pain that caused it.
DJ opened his eyes and seen Black Canary was looking at him with a concern look. Ignoring her, he quickly ran to the javelin's communicator.
"Aquaman 0-6" he said into the mic as the computer beeped and Aquaman's image appeared on the screen. He seemed taken back with seeing, who was trying to contact him.
"Razor, what may I do for you?" he asked.
"Aquaman, I just received word from Aqualad. Atlantis is under attack" he said. Aquaman's face went white as he stopped swimming and activated his coms.
"Aqualad B-02" he said. He tried again before grunting and looking at DJ again.
"How'd you contact with him?" he asked quickly.
"Through a mental link that we shared with the team. We previously learned that we are able to use it without M'gann doing it. However he was cut short only after just notifying me about it" DJ said before going over to another screen and pulling up a hologram of where they were.
Meanwhile Canary took his place and pulled Batman into the conversation as well.
"I'm all the way in Tokyo Bay as is Superman and I'm afraid we cannot spare him" Aquaman said.
"Both Green Lanterns are off earth, something to do with the corps. Our javelins can withstand the ocean pressure, unfortunately we have no other League members, who could withstand the pressure if they needed to get out" Batman said. DJ suddenly came back.
"Sirs, I may have an idea" he said pulling up the hologram of where they were. "Me and Canary and currently two miles from Atlantis above sea levels. With my metal bones, it'll still feel like I'm in a vice. But I'll live with a re-breather found in every javelin the Justice League provides. Uh with your permission, your majesty" he said giving a light bow. Aquaman sighed.
"We don't normally allow Outsiders into Atlantis. You may be in for a less than heartwarming welcome if you were to go" he said. DJ shrugged.
"My leader is in danger. Enough danger that he felt the need to contact me using a method that we hadn't even tested other than M'gann. So I'm going, regardless of the danger" DJ said. Aquaman smiled.
"Any man who is willing to risk a lot of harm for a teammate is okay in my eyes. You have my permission son. And my respect" Aquaman said holding a fist to his forehead. DJ did the same.
"Thank you sir, but Aqualad is more than a teammate. He and everyone else on the team is my friend" DJ said. Aquaman nodded.
"Understood, I already talked with Superman and he has agreed to let me leave. With the currents being what they are I imagine I'll be back in Atlantis in four hours. Poseidon, grant this young boy a safe passage" he said before signing off. Batman looked at DJ before he nodded without saying a word and signed off as well.
"I don't suppose there's anyway I can get you to wait for someone to back you up?" Black Canary asked. DJ only grabbed the re-breather out of the holding compartment.
"Nope, let go" he said walking to his possessions to get his suit. Black Canary sighed.
"He does get a lot from me" she muttered before going back to the controls.
They arrived over the middle of Atlantis and the side door of the javelin opened up. DJ had gotten his costume on and was now prepared for action.
He looked down into the dark unknown and breathed a few deep breaths.
"You know, those re-breathers only last for an hour, two tops" Black Canary said from the control seat. DJ opened his eyes and grabbed the ends of the door.
"I know" he said before he jumped out of the javelin and into the water, disappearing from sight within a few seconds.
Black Canary sighed before she closed the doors and flew back to Mount Justice. The javelin only had enough fuel to go to Africa and back, so she couldn't even go and get Aquaman and save him some time.
Meanwhile Aqualad battled the Lieutenant of the squad. His one water-bearer was a shield and the other was a sword while the Lieutenant had a large knife. All Kaldur had to do was hold off long enough until his King returned. DJ was sure to have alerted him by now.
However the number of troops were becoming overwhelming and most of the guards, who were protecting Queen Mera had fallen. Only Orm and another guard remained.
However one of the blasts hit Orm in the shoulder and he fell to the ground and hit his head, knocking him out. Now several of Manta's goons aimed their weapons at her and Tula. Normally Mera would've been able to defeat them all, however she also had her unborn child to think about. So she slowly raised her hands in the air.
Aqualad blocked the Lieutenant's attack but he caught his Queen and Tula getting surrounded in the corner of his eye and he even seen Tula get backhanded when she tried to help Orm up. And that was all the time that the Lieutenant needed to hit Kaldur in the side of his head with the blunt handle of the knife.
Kaldur groaned as he then felt a sharp pain in his neck. He just was able to see the Lieutenant had his knife against his throat. But he took it away.
"There was specific orders not to hurt you. However..." he said as one of the squad members handed him a plasma gun. He took his time loading a shot into it.
"I don't think a small wound will make Manta too angry" the Lieutenant said before aiming the gun at Kaldur's shoulder.
Kaldur's eyes widened before he squinted and looked over the Lieutenant's shoulder. He then turned and covered his head.
The Lieutenant was confused so he turned around and looked up.
"Oh sh-" he was cut off when something fell at a fast speed and landed right in front of him. The landing caused a sandcloud to kick up covering Kaldur, the Lieutenant and whatever fell.
The sounds of punches and kicks were heard from the cloud. The rest of the squad, composed of a dozen, surrounded the cloud except for two who kept trained guns on Mera and Tula.
As the cloud started to disappear the unconscious Lieutenant then flew out taking one of the squad members with him leaving only eleven remaining.
The cloud then completely disappeared and Kaldur and DJ were standing in combat stances.
They then ran out and attacked the squad. DJ grabbed one by the collar and threw him into another while he grabbed the man's gun and turned down the dial on the side so the shot was less lethal.
He then shot all the guns out of the of the remaining nine's hands. He left the two holding the Queen and Tula because they were standing in front of the two Atlanteans and he didn't want to risk the shots. Plus they were too shocked to do anything.
Kaldur then used a whip to take out four others while they were nursing their hands. The remaining five got to their guns again.
"Maneuver double Zero-R!!" Kaldur shouted. DJ nodded and ran at Kaldur, who locked his hands together. DJ jumped into Kaldur's hands and the Atlantean launched the teen at the rest of squad.
DJ threw the gun he had in his hands mid air at one of the squad members hitting him in the gut. He then turned his body horizontally.
He struck all five with his body and the force of an Atlantean throwing a metal-boned man was enough to knock all of them back and into the hands of some more guards and Garth, who had just arrived.
The one guard in front of Tula immediately dropped his gun and put his hands up. The one next to him however did the opposite. He grabbed the Queen and put the gun to her head.
All the guards present aimed their weapons at him while everyone else tensed up. Kaldur leaned over to DJ.
"What do we do?" Kaldur said. DJ tapped his head. Kaldur nodded and did the same thing as before. It was less painful was now, possibly because they were closer.
DJ and Kaldur then stepped forwards. The man tensed up and aimed the gun closer to the head of the for some reason calm Queen.
"This is Razor who is speaking now. I am simply saying what he wants me to" Kaldur said before looking over at DJ, who didn't break eye contact with the man.
"You are not stupid. Well clearly you're stupid, you're holding a Queen at gunpoint with a dozen guards around you. But I understand, you see a dozen guards and two sidekicks, who just took down thirteen men. You grabbed the nearest person with the the most leverage. The guards don't wanna risk her safety, so they can't make even the smallest shot on you. But you made one fatal error, you threatened a woman in front of me" Kaldur voiced as DJ stepped up and unsheathed his claws.
"So here's what's gonna happen if you do kill her or even hurt her. First I'm gonna take that gun and break it over your head. Then I'm gonna gut you like a fish and rip your spine out like Predator does... The only way you get out of this alive is if you let her go" Kaldur said as DJ cracked his neck from side to side.
The man let out a loud gulp sound as he looked behind him. Royal Guards had surrounded him so he had no where to run. Slowly, he put the gun away from the Queen and raised his hands.
Suddenly the Queen turned and gave the guy a right hook to the side of his face, knocking him out. Bubbles erupted from around the re-breather as DJ laughed.
"Nice one miss" Tula commented while she was in Garth's arms. Mera however had her eyes focused on DJ. She came up to Kaldur and looked at him.
"Can this one be trusted? " she asked in Atlantean. Kaldur put a hand on DJ's shoulder and nodded.
"He can be your majesty. This is Razor, he is one of my friends who are on my team" Kaldur defended. Queen Mera nodded before looking back at DJ. She then noticed the black thing he had on his mouth. She assumed it was helping him breath.
However suddenly DJ looked to the side and jumped beside Queen Mera. As soon as he did he was hit in the side of the face with a plasma blast, effectively wreaking his re-breather.
Several guards shot their guns at the goon, who had regained consciousness and had grabbed a gun. Their blasts stunned him as one of them jumped and restrained him.
"DJ!" Kaldur shouted as said teen struggled to hold his breath. He couldn't heal from drowning, so if he didn't find another re-breather, this was it for him.
Queen Mera cupped her one hand and waved the other over it while she spoke in Atlantean. In her cupped hand, a blue mist seemed to form. She then inhaled it into her mouth.
DJ's eyes started to close as his lips started to open and let water inside. Mera came in front of DJ and kissed him. While she did a blue glow was seen going from her mouth to his mouth.
DJ's lungs suddenly felt like a huge gust of air had gone into them and swirled around. Mera stopped kissing the man as DJ coughed into his arm.
"Oh man, felt like I just inhaled glass" DJ said before freezing. Did he just talk under water? Queen Mera chuckled at seeing his reaction.
"I've made it so your lungs will take in water and extract the oxygen, you'll be able to temporarily breath both water and normally. You are basically an Atlantean without gills. Though you'll still be weak since the oxygen levels in water are low" she informed. DJ nodded and admitted he still did feel weak.
"And while I have you here, I must thank you for saving my life" she said. DJ nodded respectively as Garth came up.
"I hate to interrupt, but eighty percent of Atlantis has damage done to it and Prince Orm is injured and still unconscious" Garth said. Before anyone could say anything, DJ stepped forwards.
"Eighty percent? What wasn't hit?" he asked. Kaldur pulled up a map with Atlantis split into five sections. Four of them were red.
"One, two, three and five were damaged. Nothing in four though" Mera said. DJ shook his head. A classic distraction scenario.
"What's in four?" he asked. The guards all tensed up.
"That's classified to onl-" "It's where we are currently keeping a large frozen creature that our scientists were researching" Mera interrupted looking at the guard, who was going to pull the 'you're not an Atlantean' line. He didn't dare speak back.
"They are going after that creature. Alright I'm going to stop them" Kaldur said. DJ stepped next to him.
"I think by 'I' you mean 'we' " he said. However Kaldur turned to him.
"No my friend. Orm, while also the prince, was also Queen Mera's personal guard. With him still unconscious, I only trust you to protect her, my friend" Kaldur said.
"I don't need protection" the Queen assured Aqualad. However, he still didn't budge.
"No my Queen. If something happened to you or your child, I would never be able to look my king in the eye again. Now Razor is the best fighter on my team and I would only trust your life to someone I can trust" Kaldur said. Mera looked at DJ, who looked like he didn't like the idea any more than she did. Garth then stepped up.
"Then I'll go with you, my place is beside you" Garth said.
"Your place is with Tula" Kaldur said with a tone that caught even DJ off guard. Kaldur was always nice to everyone no matter what.
And with that Aqualad swam towards the science center. DJ looked at Queen Mera before he looked around.
"We might wanna get somewhere else, your majesty. We're out in the open here" he said. Queen Mera nodded.
"Uninjured guards are to recon and find any civilians they can. Bring them to the university" she ordered as the uninjured guards all swam off in multiple directions. DJ then seen a guard lying on the ground unconscious.
He bent down and picked the guard up as Garth did the same with Orm. Queen Mera used her magic to pick up the rest and the group began to walk to the university. While they did DJ made his way next to Garth.
"You know I don't think I've ever seen Kaldur talk like that to anyone. Whatever you did must've really hurt him" he said. Garth was angry with the boy's sentence, but was more angry with himself.
"It did" was all he said.
"Then get out there after him" DJ said. Garth looked at the boy with a confused expression.
"He said he didn't want me with him" Garth said DJ stopped in front of him as Tula and Mera kept swimming.
"And if the roles were reversed? What would Kaldur do then if it were you?" DJ said as Garth went into thought.
"I can haul this guy too" he was interrupted by an explosion in the distance. "But make a decision soon" he added.
Garth suddenly threw the guard onto DJ's shoulder and swam towards the science center as well.
"Thank you!" he yelled back to the land dweller. DJ nodded and continued on his way. Once the university was in sight, he seen that a number of the guards had returned with any civilians they found. Some were injured and some were fine.
DJ set the guards down beside a few more, who were awaiting medical attention. He then walked over to Queen Mera and Tula.
"Where is Garth?" Tula asked worried. DJ raised his hands in a calming motion.
"He's fine, but he went to back up Kaldur... But we have no time for that now. A few dozen men approaching from the north. About half a kilometer" he said. In the water, he could smell a lot farther. But his hearing was lowered slightly while his sight was the same.
Tula quickly swam up and looked to the north. He was right, more men than before and armed better.
She quickly swam down and reported what she saw to the Queen.
"Get everyone inside, walls and doors are better than nothing" she commanded as everyone who was able started moving the injured inside. However, DJ only stared to the north as he seen the men starting to come over the hill.
"Razor, Razor let's go!" Mera said. DJ turned to her and just stared at the Queen. From the look in his eyes, she knew what he was thinking and nodded respectfully at him. He nodded back as she closed the doors to the university.
He growled and crouched down. While he did, the students civilians and guards all looked out the window in disbelief and confusion at what he was doing.
Suddenly DJ shot up to his feet and ran at the troops. They fired their weapons but what he didn't reflect or dodged, didn't seem to have any effect on him.
He met the army with a clash immediately taking out four enemies. He then punched and kicked as many as he could. The plan was to keep them away from the University until Garth and Kaldur returned.
But soon the overwhelming numbers and the amount of times he got shot, got to DJ too much. But once he was on the ground, he snarled as his eyes lost their hazel colour to red once more.
He stood up with a huge burst of strength and knocked off any person who tried to hold him down. He then looked down at them with a crazed look before he leaned his head back and cracked his neck.
"So I'm assuming that this doesn't get me out of trouble for everything?" Garth guessed as the two teens walked away from the science center. Manta had escaped, but not before he blew up most of the creature. Aqualad had managed to grab a small bit before the building collapsed.
"No it does not" Kaldur said before putting a hand on his shoulder. "But it is a good start" he added as Garth smiled. Suddenly they heard screams and seen a bunch of goons running at them.
Kaldur pulled his Water-bearers while Garth prepared a spell. However the goons just ran past them scared out of their minds. Kaldur seen that their armor were cut up with some cuts gone deep enough causing blood to leak out into the ocean. He even seen a pair dragging one that was unconscious.
"Help me!" the last one said limping. Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder and threw him back into a rock. DJ stood over him with his slightly bloody claws before he aimed at the neck.
He tried to thrust his claws downwards, but a forced kept his arm where it was. He turned and seen Kaldur had his arm in his grasp stopping him. However instead of snapping out of it, he growled a primal growl at his friend.
"Razor" Kaldur said as that seemed to snap him out of it. DJ sheathed his claws and put a hand to his head as Kaldur let go of his arm.
"Sorry" he muttered rubbing his head. Kaldur nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. He knew it was easy to get into a battle rage and not be able to get out of it. But the thing that confused him the most was that he needed to use some strength to stop Razor.
"Our city was heavily damaged and many Atlanteans were injured. But it could've been far worse" King Orin tells Garth, Tula, Kaldur and DJ. He then places his hand over his wife's stomach as she places her hand over his almost with fear in her eyes.
"I am grateful to you all. Especially you Razor" he said looking at the boy. "You protected my wife and helped save my city. So for that, I'd like to make you an official Atlantean. You need not ask permission to visit and you'll be invited to all celebrations. But if you do come, bring equipment for breathing under water. I know what my wife has to do to give you the spell and I'd appreciate it if she didn't do it every time you came" Aquaman added chuckling slightly. DJ chuckled and nodded respectively.
"This contains all that survived the explosion" Orm said, his head and shoulder wrapped with bandages. In a small glass container that fits in the palm of the Prince's hand, was what remains of the Sea Star.
"It is already regenerating. The Star requires further research. But with the Dome compromised, we cannot safely secure or study it here in Atlantis" the Prince looks to Kaldur.
"Perhaps the Surface World can do better" he said as Kaldur smiles.
"I'm sure they will be eager to try" Orin tells his brother.
"Kaldur?" Aquaman said The teen steps up, raising his fist to his forehead.
"Call me Aqualad, my King" Kaldur corrected.
The King's mouth raises in a small smile as he nods. Kaldur then looks at Garth and Tula before he nods at them two.
"And I wish you two nothing, but happiness" he said as Tula and Garth smiled that he approved. He and DJ walked back to the repaired Zeta-Tube.
As they reached the Tube, Kaldur suddenly stops and stands in front of DJ.
"Wait my friend, there is something I wish to do" he said before his hand started to glow orange. He then lifted up DJ's right sleeve and wrapped his hand around it. DJ struggled slightly in his grip as it burned, but he knew Kaldur would never hurt him.
Kaldur let go as DJ nursed and looked at his wrist. There was a tattoo now there in black ink. It looked like two hands and wrists in the middle of a Bro handshake.
"This is the Atlantean symbol for brothers in arms. I, myself have only given it to one other person in my life. It means that no matter what, we will always have each other's backs" Kaldur said.
"Kaldur, you don't need to do this" DJ said feeling honored. Kaldur smiled and put a hand on DJ's shoulder.
"I know, I want to. It is my way of saying thank you for saving my Queen, my home and myself" he said. DJ nodded and with that the two stepped into the Zeta-Tube, unaware of the mission that waited for them.