Chapter 3
Isla, Santa Prisca
Bane and his men had been surrounded; the red blurs of enhanced humans flying across the cat-walks above intimidated the thugs enough but, the fact that the intruders also sported high-caliber military grade weaponry caused every thug and washed-up assassin to drop their own inferior weapons, placing their hands behind their heads. Bane, however, was calm and content not to say he wasn't still surrendering but, he definitely wasn't shaken by this hostile takeover.
The main figure stepped forwards with a black mask covering his eyes and cheekbones and a red hood covering most of his head, his red cloak draped down passed his knees with long sleeved black undergarments covering his torso and arms. He spoke up in Spanish directly to Bane himself, "My sublime Master proclaims he will depart from this facility if you defeat his champion in single combat."
Bane raised a brow for a moment looking around at the guns pointed directly at him and his men, it was clear he didn't really have any choice. Bane shoved his men aside and stepped forwards placing his hands on the metal bars leading to some-sort of fighting 'arena' or a makeshift one at best, "Just make it interesting," he spat as a loud buzzing noise signified the gates opening allowing him to enter the fighting space.
The man smiled as the gates closed behind Bane locking him inside; the room was small but, still roomy enough for a fight. The cat walks above were filled with the same men dressed in the same costumes aiming the same weapons down at Bane as he stepped further into the room. On the opposite end of the arena, a scrawny, skinny, sorry excuse for a man with orange hair and glitter splashed across his face was preparing himself for battle with another woman of nearly the same appearance aside from her metallic arm.
Besides Bane a gauntlet was dropped filled with vials of red juice along with clear plastic tubes, "You would give me back my greatest weapon? What's the catch?" he picked it up and looked back at the man behind the gate narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
"No catch, it would hardly test his champion's prowess if you weren't at your full strength," the man explained with a grin folding his arms as Bane looked back and forth from his device and the man.
"You want my best?" Bane attached the device to his wrist with a high-pitched whine, connecting the tubes along his back and into his neck; as soon as the device was connected the red juice flowed from it into his neck causing Bane's eyes to dilate, his muscles expanded greatly until his biceps were the size of fully cooked chickens and nearly every other muscle in his body reacted the same way causing him to grow nearly a foot and a half in height and several hundred pounds in weight, "You got it," he mumbled turning back around to face his would-be challenger.
Bane cracked his neck as the skinny man stepped forwards with the woman, she pulled out a device and placed it on the man's shoulder injecting him with some sort of orange serum nearly similar to Bane's but, with completely different results. The scrawny boy twitched as his arm suddenly grew insanely, much larger than Bane's causing the villain to go wide eyed as the rest of his body followed the arms example; he grew several feet reaching 9-feet even and splitting his skin to reveal red muscles, his hair turned dark brown and his teeth grew fangs in place of his canines. He was now much larger and far more intimidating than Bane ever had been, the beast cracked his knuckles and smiled.
The woman closed the gate locking the two in the arena together alone; the beast mindlessly ran forwards swinging his arms down and slamming them on Bane's forearms pushing him back through the dirt. Bane used his slight speed advantage to land a full-strength uppercut followed by a right straight into the beast's esophagus but, to no avail as the punch did literally nothing but tickle his opponent. Smiling now, the beast grabbed Bane's neck and drove his fist into his gut resulting in spat up blood flying across the floor, the beast landed two super-fast left-right combos before grabbing Bane's collapsing form by the wrist. He pulled him up and swung him across the arena and into the metal piping across the walls head first, he tried pulling himself up but, once he was close to standing the beast tackled him into the piping causing bursts of steam to pour out filling the arena.
From the steam, Bane flew hitting the ground back-first and watching as the beast jumped into the air and used the extra momentum to bash his fist into his face even shattering the concrete beneath his skull. His men went wide eyed as the beast removed his fist leaving an unconscious Bane to moan in agony.
The creepy man on Bane's side of the gates smiled brightly at the fights result, "Hail Cobra!" he shouted in English to all of his men as they chanted with him.
"Hail Cobra! Hail Cobra! Hail Cobra! Hail Cobra!"
Mount Justice
The team was gathered in the main hall of Mount Justice in their civilian clothing as Batman introduced their first real mission. Wally, Superboy, Kaldur, Dick, M'gaan and Draken stood side-by-side with one another in that order; each one watched intently as they were briefed on the assignment.
"Isla, Santa Prisca," Batman announced as he pulled up a satellite image of the island on a holo-screen, "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. A strength enhancing drug sold under the street name 'Venom'; infrared heat signatures indicate that the factories are still running at full capacity but, all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in; this is a covert recon mission only, observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will."
Draken could feel M'gann's nervousness from his side, as this was her first time on the field. "You'll be fine." He said, not looking in her direction
Registering that he was talking to her, M'gaan felt reassured and smiled at him as she turned back to listen to Batman once more only to find he was finished and prepared to dismiss them, "So who's in charge?" Dick asked as Red Tornado shared a brief look with Batman before turning back to the team.
"Work that out among your selves," Batman said before turning back to the holoscreens and dismissing them with a flap of his cape.
"Okay Team, let's move out." Dick announced as he left for the bio ship causing Wally to glare slightly
"This is going to take a while." Draken thought with a sign
Bio Ship
The Bio-Ship flew through the air as the entire team was gathered inside mentally preparing themselves for their first official mission. "We're approaching Santa-Prisca," Miss Martian announced in full uniform
M'gaan was fully outfitted in her Martian costume at the helm of her Martian Bio-Ship moving over the water in camouflage mode at Mach two. Silently gliding above the ocean, she announced their arrival, "Approaching drop-zone A."
Aqualad stepped up in his Atlantean armor, tapping the symbol on his belt causing the nano-technology on his suit to shift the crimson color of his armor to a grey and black variant. He prepared for his departure as he stiffened his body; "Ready," he confirmed as a hole opened up in the biological ship below releasing him head first into the water. He swam through the tolerable Caribbean waters as he approached a main-land net separating the waters from the shore; he diced through it with ease using his water-bearers in the form of a machete.
He maneuvered through a mine field on the ocean floor as the beach became closer with every moment, he flew out from the water landing on the sand and looking out for any movement around him, he smiled when he found nothing.
The ground to air detection system was not far, awaiting any movement above the Island to dispatch it to nearby guards; Aqualad placed a red and black device on the hull of the machine, as it opened he pressed his finger to his ear; "Heat and motion sensors patched, data is now on a continuous loop, move in," As he spoke he witnessed the distorted figure of the biologically camouflaged aircraft flying past him from above.
They approached the center of the island and Miss Martian announced their arrival once again; "Drop zone B," she willed her ship to a halt and commanded several harness-like wires to descend from the ceiling.
Robin and Kid Flash stood in full uniform and attached the lines to themselves quickly as they prepared to deploy; Kid tapped the symbol on his suit causing the color scheme to go from yellow and red to a black, grey, and red color scheme. "How cool is this?" Kid asked toward M'gaan who smiled in response.
"Very impressive," she noted as she used her organic clothing to shapeshift her costume to a red and black variant of her normal uniform, better for stealth and blending in.
"Uh, that works too! Hey, Superboy, last chance to try out the new stealth tech?"
"I don't think I'll be needing it." Superboy said "No cape, no tights; no offence."
"What about you?" M'gaan said turning to Draken.
"There's no need for it." Draken said. "My attire blends perfectly with the night."
"Yeah…It totally works for you..." M'gaan hummed with a swooning gaze before Draken turned to look back at her which snapped her out of it and allowed her to clear her throat, "As in that it's good that you can totally do good work in those clothes;" she gave two thumbs up causing Draken to raise his eyebrow. After this embarrassment M'gaan covered up her blushing face by flipping up her hood, fading into the back ground with her own camouflage mode.
When the hole in the floor of the ship opened up, M'gaan and Draken hopped through and levitated to the ground followed by Kid Flash and Robin whom all used their grappling line to lower safely to the ground without a sound. After they had all landed and detached themselves from the Bio-Ship which sucked their lines back into it; Superboy jumped down like the others only he didn't attach a line before jumping, he caused the ground to shake and formed a crater with his feet.
"Knew I didn't need a line," Superboy chuckled dusting off his hands casually.
"And yet, causing a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert part of the mission," Robin noted in a loud whisper.
"Aqualad, Drop B is a go," Kid Flash spoke through his comm-system.
"Head for the factory, I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP;" Aqualad gave them the right directions and the team agreed.
"Roger that," Robin replied as they headed for the designated factory on their GPS.
Miss Martian entered stealth mode and vanished as the five teenagers dashed through the jungle. After running for a while; Superboy stopped his stride and looked back for a moment as he had heard branches and twigs being crushed by boots somewhere nearby, "Did you guys hear that?"
Everyone stopped to look at the boy of steel causing Miss Martian to reveal herself to focus on listening more carefully. After a few seconds, Draken picked up what the clone was hearing "Fighting." He said causing the clone to nod
"Ok Rob, now what?" Kid Flash turned to ask the boy wonder who was nowhere to be found.
Kid threw his hands in the air and darted his head around, "I hate it when he does that!" He shouted in a whisper. "Switching to infrared vision."
Kid twisted the lens of his suits goggles while Draken and Superboy blinked a few times as to adjust their vision.
"I got a squad of armored bozos incoming from the south," Kid announced narrowing his eyes behind the goggles.
"Two squads," Superboy corrected, "but they'll meet each other before they meet us," Superboy added noticing the different weapons and garb of the two groups obviously being of different affiliations.
Bullets began flying as the shots echoed in the distance; M'gaan put a worried hand to her mouth as she'd never legitimately heard death before, those rifles and high-powered guns couldnt possibly be fired without someone losing their life on one side or the other.
Kid chuckled to break the tension, but only did so much, "Guess we don't need super hearing after all..."
"We should stay clear from the fighting." Draken advised in a serious tone as he turned to walk away from the gun-shots; exercising caution towards the covert aspect of the mission, however, some teammates didn't plan on keeping true to that.
"Yea, yea, just as soon as I find Rob!" Kid sped out into the fray dodging bullets and energy rifles at speeds faster than sound.
"Idiot!" Draken signed "You guys stay out of the fight, I'll get them back!" He said sinking into the shadows, literally.
Kid sped up until he accidentally tripped on an exposed tree-root that sent him flying into the dirt and skidding to a halt right in front of a buff man wearing a black tank top and a white and black hockey mask, "So much for the stealthy part, hehe..." Kid dashed in the opposite direction just narrowly dodging point blank automatic gun fire.
The man in the mask had his sight set on Kid Flash and was about to pull the trigger when a Kryptonian fist caught him in the jaw and sent him off his feet and into a tree.
"So much for stealth." Draken thought as he as he knocked out two gunmen
Superboy mounted a man as he grabbed his gun and crushed the barrel with his grip before tossing it aside and sending three more hits to the face. The man grabbed hold of Superboy's torso with his legs and flipped the boy over his head and into the ground before hopping to his feet and smashing Superboy's head into the dirt with his fist. Superboy was about to get back up when a bulky metal fist hooked the man across the face and sending him to the ground once more.
"NRG!" He shouted as the man attempted to grab hold of a discarded M-16 rifle, but suddenly, Draken seem to materialize behind the man before electrocuting him to unconsciousness
Two more men had set their sights on Kid Flash who had disarmed half the assailants already with super-speed, holding half a dozen automatic-guns in his hands. Before they could even fire, Robin jumped from atop a thick tree branch and kicked one guy in the face, using his shoulder as a jumping board he round house kicked the second shooter in the neck knocking them both out near simultaneously and landing with graceful accuracy, "What's wrong with you guys? Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead and vanish into the jungle?" Robin exclaimed as he hit two more guys in front of him with a casual shot from a taser gun.
"That's what you were doing?" Kid Flash exclaimed as he finished knocking another man out; "Thanks for filling us in, we're not mind readers ya know!"
Miss Martian flew from behind him and pushed aside three armed men with her telekinesis, lifting them twenty feet up before dropping them and knocking them unconscious.
"Well most of us aren't!" Kid Flash corrected
"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds!" Ms Martian said
As the leader of the first team was about to retreat he turned to face Aqualad who was obviously attracted by the commotion. He gently placed his hands on the leader's chest and generated his Atlantean bio electricity through him shocking the man and knocking him out cold before stepping on his weapon and crushing it.
A Few Moment Later
"I recognize those uniforms," Robin mentioned, "they belong to the cult of the Kobra!"
"I'm sure Batman would have mentioned if he knew a dangerous extremist was running the Venom operation." Aqualad said
"Agreed; and since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra walked in and kicked them out," Robin deduced, "That's why the normal shipments have been cut off."
"We get it, Kobra waned super-cultists; mystery solved, radio bats and we can-" Kid Flash was cut off by Aqualad making an obvious observation.
"These cultists aren't on Venom; Kobra's been here for weeks, he had plenty of time to juice them all, he's clearly holding it all at once."
Robin grunted, "Exactly, and we don't leave until I find out why!"
Silence followed his selfish statement; "Until you find out why?" Kid Flash finally commented.
"This team needs a leader!" Robin defended throwing his hands up.
"And it's you? Dude you're a thirteen year old kid!" Kid Flash got closer to Robins face as he narrowed his eyes under his domino mask, "Who ducked out on us without a word!"
Robin chuckled and backed up; "And you're a mature sixteen?" He crossed his arms after this and continued, "You blew our cover first chance you got!"
Miss Martian looked over to Superboy who was watching the argument, "Don't you wanna lead?" She asked as Superboy crossed his arms and scoffed in response.
"You?"
"After the Mr. Twister fiasco?"
"You did alright," Superboy commented causing a casual smile to cross her face. M'gaan wasnt used to him giving her a compliment, and it was nice to know she had friends in the entire team; in a way, she felt redeemed.
"Thanks," She said nonchalantly attempting to hide her smile.
As the argument continued between the two heroes walked past prisoners that they had previously tied up when the one in the hockey mask spoke up. He laughed suddenly before speaking, "Clever niños, but you only know half the story," he paused for a moment, "Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."
"You're Bane, one of Batman's worst enemies; why should we trust you?" Aqualad asked rightfully with a glare as he stepped forwards.
Miss Martian knelt down beside the man and let her eyes glow green while she pried through his mind, "There is a secret entrance but, he's also hiding something," M'gaan narrowed her eyes before widening them in confusion, "Ugh, he's mentally reciting football scores in Española, this could take a while;" she turned to Draken who narrowed his eyes at Bane.
"It's not complicated; the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Bane stretched a sinister smile across his face as the heroes looked among each other to weight their very few options.
Later
Bane led them through a dense jungle-area with large trees covering them on all sides, eventually they made it to a cliff where they could easily see the layout of the compound and factory as well as the landing strip for helicopters and planes. There were dozens of men piling crates, packing crates, and moving crates into the facility; several of them were surrounding one man in a long cloak that was taller and more built than the others, however his face was hidden.
Robin took out his binoculars and gasped lightly as he focused in on the facility, "Look at all of that product! A buy is definitely going down but, if Kobra isn't selling to the usual suspects…"
Aqualad sighed and knelt down beside him grabbing the binoculars and taking a look at the armed men, "We need to identify that buyer if our info is going to be worth anything."
"Just what I was thinking," Kid Flash added obviously attempting to seem like he had come up with the idea himself.
"Yea," Robin scoffed sarcastically, "You're the thinker."
"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting through the mission; not sarcastic remarks," Kid Flash stated blatantly as he and Robin practically butted heads, literally.
"These boys will be the death of me." Draken said
Bane stepped over to a cave-like structure guarded by a thick layer of moss and vines and a large boulder that seemed practically immovable in sheer size; The Spanish villain casually picked up said boulder and tossed it aside revealing an abandoned mining tunnel.
"The mission is this way, chinos," Bane said waving them towards the tunnel before stepping inside leading the way through the damp interior.
"So, now El Luchador is our leader?" Kid Flash asked incredulous
"He's better than both of you currently." Draken whispered to himself
Robin bumped Kid Flash with his shoulder for as he walked by him for his stupid comment, they all filed into the tunnel following Bane who held a glow stick above his head to illuminate his path. Eventually, they came across a panel with some buttons on it embedded into the cave-wall; Bane pressed a few of those buttons and a door way opened up leading them into the factory.
"All clear," Robin said as they dashed through the room in silence, ducking behind massive cooking canisters for cover. Bane looked around moments later to find Robin nowhere in sight, "Did that little fool already get caught?"
Aqualad looked around and sighed with exasperation, "No, he just does that..."
"Stay put, I'll get our intel and get back before the boy wonder!" Kid Flash dashed at super-speeds into the facility as Aqualad called out to him in a loud whisper, "Damn it, Kid!"
"Great chain of command," Bane muttered as he walked past them
"Why Thank you." Draken said blankly
"It's a massive shipment; bigger than even we anticipated," Aqualad pointed out as there were hundreds of more crates that they couldn't see from the cliff.
"Yea, but they're only taking new product off the line; they aren't touching this Venom," Superboy mentioned patting the crates of Venom they were currently hiding behind and observing from.
"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian proposed only to be shot down by Aqualad. Bane scoffed at this and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed completely disinterested with their mission now that he was back in his factory, it was killing him to just watch as they sold metric-tons of his product.
"Doubtful, I have a hunch they've altered the formula somehow and that's why they would only need the new product because the old product isn't what the buyer ordered," Aqualad watched as none of the guards left any boxes unattended; even if he wanted there was no possible way to get a sample without tipping off their presence.
"Helicopter inbound," Superboy stated using his super-hearing to notice before anyone else.
"Are you sure?" M'gaan asked until they all suddenly heard the chopper incoming with its loud blades cutting the wind, "Never mind."
As the helicopter landed, Draken turned invisible alongside Miss Martian as they both floated into the sky. Both observed the landing pad as it settled and shut off its engine. Superboy and Aqualad stayed behind to observe from afar as the helicopter opened up its side-hatch and a man with blonde hair wearing bulky body armor and a hockey mask stepped out. As he approached the cult-leader along with his two ugly guards, one being the giant behemoth that took Bane down when the cult took over, and the other being a tall women with ginger-orange hair and cybernetic enhancements on her arms, right leg, and left eye. The buyer suddenly darted in Miss Martians direction and squinted at her camouflaged form but carried on being unable to see anything unusual.
"Lord Kobra," the man said as he greeted his supplier; he stuck a hand out and shook with Kobra as the buy officially began.
"Sportsmaster," he identified the man as the famous mercenary and enforcer of the Light, "The shipment is ready," the cult leader said wearing a red cloak that hid most of his features other than his paper white skin and a creepy sinister-smile.
The red-headed cyborg walked up holding a small briefcase in hand, inside was eight viles of a blue liquid; "The new Kobra Venom?" Sportsmaster asked picking one out and examining it in the moon-light.
"A complete success," the cult leader said waving to his twelve-foot tall massive subordinate known only as Mammoth; "Our mutual friends will not be disappointed."
"This is a game changer; finally we can go mono a mono with the Justice League!" Sportsmaster laughed childishly with the vile in hand, knowing just how even the playing field would be with ten, no, a hundred Kobra Venom soldiers as strong as the Mammoth before him.
' Aqualad, sending you a telepathic image of the buyer now,' Miss Martian spoke through the mental link and memorized Sportsmasters masked face before sending the image through to Aqualad's cortex.
Kaldur focused on his thoughts as an image suddenly appeared in his head, "Sportsmaster!" Aqualad exclaimed suddenly having all the information needed to consider the mission a success, "He is the buyer? Aqualad to Red Tornado, do you read?" static erupted from the com-line clearly displaying the facility had communication-jamming signals.
"I can't reach the league, Robin, or Kid; we need a plan!" Aqualad said looking over to Superboy who shrugged in response and began to think of a strategy.
"I have a suggestion." Draken finally spoke before jumping over the crates they hid behind and ramming two nearby cultists; two more attempted to subdue him but, he back handed them directly into the wall and knocked them unconscious but, not before they let some gun fire out and notified the cult leader.
Sportsmaster narrowed his eyes and looked back at Kobra, "Problem?"
"Never," He turned to his two subordinates, "Make sure we are alone!"
They nodded and turned to jog towards the facility as more gunshots rang out into the facotry attracting more guards by the minute; "What is he-" Aqualad began before a massive beast busted through the factory wall and grabbed Superboy's skull with his momentum and ran off with him.
The cyborg walked in with her arm transformed into some-sort of energy rifle as she caught sight of Aqualad behind the crates along with Superboy trying to hold back Mammoth and Bane fighting off cultists with ease. "Destroy them!" She shouted as Mammoth grabbed Superboy's leg and tossed him through a canister and into the wall causing a mssive flood of Venom to spill onto the floor.
Mammoth charged after him, going around the canister and aiming two fists for the Kryptonian's head, however; this time Superboy met the creature mid-way stopping him in his tracks grabbing his fists with his own strength only to have himself picked up and tossed back into the wall behind them.
Cultists began shooting with automatic rifles at Aqualad who created a shield with his water bearers, he formed a machete and charged at them knocking them out one by one. Draken then grabbed the beast man-handling Superboy by the neck and tossed him back through the air. Helping Superboy to his feet, Draken eyed Mammoth before charging the behemoth with Superboy by his side.
SportsMaster, whom had entered the compound after hearing the commotion, analyzed the entire fight, until he noticed something floating above the battle. It was distorted as if camouflaged but, when he witnessed men being telepathically flung across the battle field; he figured out exactly the opponent he was dealing with. Without flinching, SportsMaster pulled a small baton from his belt which extended into a long silver javelin effortlessly launching it towards the distorted Martian.
Miss Martian noticed just in time to avoid the javelin itself but, that wasn't all it would do as seconds later it detonated only feet from her sending her flying across the factory.
Aqualad took cover behind a large metal canister when two cultists came from behind and pointed their guns at him; It was a short lived victory as Kid Flash came from the side and drop kicked them into each other and out cold on the ground.
"M'gann, comms are down. Can you link us?" Draken asked her telepathically shocking her slightly
M'gaan got to her knees and nodded as the entire team felt a small spark in their brains allowing them to connect their thoughts; ' Link established,' she said before dodging a javeline strike to the ground by floating up.
"Good; we need to regroup." Draken said through the mental link as he dodged all of Mammoths attack before blasting him away with a fireball
" Little busy now." Robin responded as he back sprung away from an attack from King Kobra himself.
"Batman must be desperate if he sends his whelp to fight me alone," Kobra responded as his lackey Shimmer the woman with the orange mohawk and a mechanically modified body stepped forwards, "This is beneath me; Shimmer, take him."
Shimmer dashed forwards as Robin backflipped out of the way of her stampede; her metallic arm opened up revealing a beam like weapon but, just as she prepared to fire…
" Robin, now!" Draken shouted telepathically causing Robin to grunt and launch a smoke bomb beneath him covering his retreat.
Kid Flash ran through the factory in a zig-zag formation knocking cultists aside and relieving them of their weapons as Aqualad, Robin, Miss Martian and Draken followed behind him in that order. Superboy was still in battle with Mammoth as the creature locked hands with him and pushed him back on his heels; Superboy was about to lose this bout until Draken telekinetically grabbed Mammoth before tossing him through two massive canisters containing Kobra Venom and landing flat on his back, dazed and nearly unconscious but, recovering quickly.
"Move" Draken said aloud as Superboy and himself retreated through the secret entrance and the metal doors shut and locked behind them. They didn't make it far down the tunnel before Mammoth crushed the door with his bare-hands and followed them through the shaft.
"The support beams." Draken told Superboy as he nodded his head towards the wooden beams keeping the secret tunnel in-tact.
Superboy quickly caught on as he used his running momentum to ram through the support beams as Draken sent a fireball to the second beam collapsing the tunnel behind them with so much rubble even Mammoth wouldn't be capable of digging his way through.
Aqualad snapped a glow stick in half lighting up the area.
"How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?" Robin asked as he looked at the large rocks blocking the nearest exit.
"You do have the most experience," Aqualad started, "But, maybe that's not a good thing, you and Batman have defined roles in your team and you don't really need to talk but, this team is new and a leader can't just expect us to know what to do."
Robin frowned and looked over to Aqualad as he realized his small mistake, "Oh?! So, I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" he shouted suddenly as Kaldur didn't even flinch at the outburst.
"Yes."
"Who am I kidding?" Robin said. "You should lead us Aqualad."
"I'm honoured you think that highly of me. But I believe he should be our leader." Aqualad said looking at Draken
"Beg your pardon?" Draken asked
"You were able to coordinate our escape just now." Kaldur said
"I basically put us in that situation." Draken tried to argue
"Still, you've been the most level headed one among us from the beginning." Aqualad said
Wally stepped up and raised his hands in protest, "Please! I can run circles-"
"Wally, c'mon." Robin said with a smile, placing his hands on his belt.
"Hello Megan, it's so obvious!" M'gaan said as she put a hand on Draken's shoulder, reassuring him as he had done for her before the mission had even begun, "You're totally better at this than any of us."
Draken looked over to Superboy for help who shrugged his shoulder, "I'm not leading."
Draken then looked to Kid Flash who crossed his arms in jealousy, "Yea, I guess you are pretty good at the hero thing..."
"Okay, then I guess I'm leader" Draken signed as he looked at his allies "Our first priority has to be preventing that shipment from leaving the island."
Meanwhile
SportsMaster exited the same helicopter he'd arrived in, the aircraft was making an odd noise crackling and not taking off at all, "Sabotage… Robin?"
King Kobra sighed, "Undoubtedly," he turned to Shimmer standing by his side, "Fine the problem and fix it."
She bowed and moved towards the copter.
One cultist with Mammoth following close behind approached Kobra and bowed before speaking, "Lord, should we send search parties after the intruders?"
The King was amused but, only slightly, "Don't be absurd; they'll come to us."
With the Team
"SportsMaster's the supplier/buyer but, it still doesn't add up; he doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work," Robin analyzed his holoscreen as they ran through the tunnel back towards the entrance to the not so secret tunnel.
Kid spoke up as he had to run averagely to keep up with everyone, "Neither of them have the chops to add the Blockbuster formula with Venom, that took some major nerdage."
They approached the entrance where Robin noticed blinking C4 charges surrounding it, "Guess he was right after all?"
Aqualad smiled, "We clearly chose the right leader," they sprinted out of the cave and into the jungle.
Meanwhile
"The helicopter is now operational, exhalated one," a random cultist bowed as Shimmer and Mammoth stood beside him.
SportsMaster grunted as he grabbed the small case and approached the copter casually; Suddenly, a blur of speed rushed through the area knocking out cultists left-and-right with ease.
"Take the shipment!" Kobra shouted as SportsMaster immediately made a b-line for the chopper, slapping cultists out of his way in the process.
Several cultists raised their weapons and trained them on Kid but, before they could fire, Superboy landed behind them with enough force to knock them on their asses; he walked through the field crushing their rifles under his boot.
Mammoth huffed as he saw Superboy, "Go again?" the boy of steel taunted. The beast stepped forwards cracking its knuckles until a massive stream of water blasted him through several trees and into the ground, "Sorry, not the plan."
Aqualad used his water-bearers to drain a nearby river and pin down the behemoth with his hydrokinetic prowess; Superboy scanned the area, looking around for his planned opponent before being shot in the back with an explosive that actually hurt.
SportsMaster wielded a crimson energy weapon expertly firing multiple attacks into the Kryptonian's back as he was forced to his knees.
Meanwhile, M'gaan, in her camouflage mode, floated down behind the helicopter and through the open hatch, sitting on the shipment. She knew her orders but, she was literally watching Superboy get pummeled by weapons that caused him to scream in pain. She couldn't let her first friend be hurt like that, not anymore.
She came from behind and attempted to attack the man but, SportsMaster back flipped out of the way and quickly put her in a headlock; continuing to fire at Superboy whose shirt and pants were being torn by the severe gun-fire.
Multiple cultists attempted to shot Kid Flash but, missed entirely as he simply knocked them out one by one; the last one he knocked out he managed to grab his cult-mask with a smile, "Souvenir!" he sped off again as King Kobra narrowed his eyes in anger.
Superboy was still being pinned by the energy-weapon's attacks, unable to move in to save Miss Martian, "Thanks for the work-out but, I gotta fly!" The hatch closed behind him with the Martian girl still in hand.
Once inside, SportsMaster tossed the Martian outside and pointed the barrel of his gun at her head as she choked on her own cough; suddenly though, the helicopter was about to take off suddenly Dark tendrils started to wrap the helicopter, crushing it in the process, courtesy of Draken who floated outside. Seeing this Sportsmaster jumped out of the helicopter into the forest before disappearing. Draken was about to give chase when he saw some cultist try to shoot M'gann. Moving in a blur, he instantly knocked them out.
M'gaan opened her eyes and looked up to see Draken standing beside her "You saved me," she muttered.
"Since I'm your leader now, I guess you're all under my care." Draken said with a small smile when he noticed her blush ever evident against her lime-green skin, "Are you blushing?"
"No!"
"What happened to Sportsmaster?" Superboy asked running towards them still smoking and injured.
"He got away," Draken answered
Robin looked out into the jungle pulling two palm-tree leaves apart but, spotting nothing, "So did Kobra."
"Well, we did manage to acquire the Kobra-Venom before it was shipped off to whoever was employing Sportsmaster," Aqualad added as he restrained Mammoth with a metal pipe, "All in all; I say we did pretty well."
Mount Justice
Batman stepped into Draken's face, getting up close and personal as he nearly shouted, "A simple recon mission; observe and report!"
Kaldur, M'gaan, Superboy, Wally, Dick, and Draken were all lined up in the center of the common room in their own Mount Justice; Red Tornado sat idly by as Batman walked back and forth tearing the teens a new one, "You will each receive a detailed evaluation of your many mistakes," he turned after that to face the entire team whom looked at him wondering why he had paused, "Until then, good job."
"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy;" he turned and walked away but, continued to speak, "How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success."
As he approached the exit, he finished his speech, "And how you determine who leads, shows character," Robin shot Draken a glance but, he didn't look back.