Hey, guys. Welcome to the next chapter of, 'Young Justice: The Light of Hope!'. I hope that you guys will enjoy the chapter. Also, I want to say that this story now has a TV Tropes, so if you want to add some tropes into it, feel free to do so...anyway, I don't own anything except for my OCs as the OC Ma'rkus M'orzz AKA The Red Martian belongs entirely to 9655
NOW LET'S GET ON WITH THE STORY!
"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League," Batman explained as we see everyone hanging out at their new Superhero Lair, Mount Justice while hanging out in the main area as Batman and a few heroes stood in front of Maria and the others as they were all wearing their civilian outfits. "We're calling it into service again. Since you eight are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."
"Real missions?" Richard asked as Bruce nodded.
"Yes, but covert."
"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Flash says as Green Lantern nods.
"There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."
"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman continued as he smiled. "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."
"The ten of you will be that team,"
"Nice," Peter says as Gwen does a double take in bewilderment.
"Wait, ten?"
"Yes, ten. This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian, and Zatara's Daughter, Zatanna." Batman says while pointing ahead as the gang spots Martian Manhunter and Zatara appearing on the scene with their niece and daughter.
"Hi~," Zatanna says with a sexy wave as a smirking Markus walks over to her.
"Hello, I'm Red Martian," Ma'rkus says while reaching over to grab Zatanna's hand and kiss it, causing her to blush and giggle as Zatara glares at him coldly.
"Welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash," Wally says while zooming over to flirt with Miss Martian. "That's Robin, Blue Lantern, Superboy, Aqualad, Supergirl, and Spider-Man. It's cool if you forget their names."
"I like your t-shirt," Miss Martian complimented Superboy while using her shapeshifting to change her shirt to be black as Superboy smiled lightly.
"Today is the day," Kaldur says to the others with a smile on his face as Maria nods with a giggle.
"Indeed,"
"Also, are you seriously going to keep him?" A deadpanned Kaldur asked while pointing over at Neo, who was riding around on her left shoulder as Maria nodded.
"Hell yeah, Neo is my sidekick now," Maria said while rubbing Neo's head as he cooed, and Kaldur rolled his eyes amusedly as they then go over to greet the new girls to their team, and once they were done, a stern Batman turned to Kon-El.
"Superboy, most of us will be leaving. You are not going anywhere. Just sit tight until Red Tornado returns." Batman says with a stern glare as Maria rolls her eyes and turns to Superboy.
"In nicer, Non-Batman Words, please stay here with me, Neo, Miss Martian, and Red Martian long enough for Red Tornado to return after doing some real quick errand with the rest of the Justice League," Maria says as Superboy nods.
"We will be leaving soon as well to gather M'Gann and Zatanna's belongings." Martian Manhunter says as Zatara nods.
"We only came here with our daughter and niece to familiarize them with their new team and living environment first."
"What's the sitch, Batman?" Richard asked Batman, who turned around to leave without turning to him.
"We're heading back to Gotham."
"Hey, while we're gone, Cousin, you should pick out your real room instead of the guest room that you have been using, but just know that you are free to visit me and my family whenever you want," Gwen says to Kon-El reassuringly as he smiled warmly and nodded as Gwen and the others then turned around to use the Zeta Tubes to teleport away with multiple flashes of yellow light as Markus then turned to his Cousin.
"So, will you be okay with living here?"
"It beats living where we came from," Megan says with a knowing and somber tone as Markus nods. "Anyway, it might not be a bad idea to pick out rooms. We're the only three from the team who will ACTUALLY be living here full-time."
"You are not wrong. Anyway, I think Papa said that the rooms were this way." Maria says while pointing to the left as the group nodded and Megan flew ahead as Kon-El followed after her.
"Heh, you know what I just now realized, Markus? Superboy gets to live with Megan here in the cave full time, and I don't think that Wally picked up that little tidbit, which means that he is so gonna be jealous." Maria says with an amused smirk as Markus laughs and nods as they then fly after the two with the help of their Blue Lantern Ring and Red Lantern Ring.
"I have to ask, does this Kid Flash want to mate with Miss Martian and you?" Neo asked through telepathy as Maria nodded blankly.
"Yep, but he won't get lucky because Markus is overprotective of Megan and I see him like an annoying little brother," Maria answered truthfully as, while she doesn't think that Wally is a brat anymore, he is way too immature for her.
"There are a few rooms here to choose from, so I guess we can have our pick, right?" Megan asked while she and the others arrived near the hundreds of rooms placed before them in the hallway as Maria nodded.
"Yep, you three can pick literally any room that you want."
"Cool, and I have to say, it's an honor to meet you, Blue Lantern. My people and I heard of your many accomplishments." Megan says to Maria with a starstruck look on her face as she smiles.
"Nice to hear that, but you don't have to call me by my Hero Name when I'm in my civies. Just call me Maria."
"Heh, okay, Maria." Megan said with a smile as she then looked around and picked out the nearest room before her as the White Martian opened up the room and stepped inside to see a spacious room with a bed, several drawers, and a TV inside as well as the room having its own bathroom and a Mini Fridge. "Ooh, these look great."
"Yeah, but it is kind of...lacking," Maria says with a wince as Markus nods.
"Indeed, we need to spice up our rooms by adding posters, a rug, and maybe a couple of beanbag chairs."
"Agreed, although I think it's best that we should look at the other rooms before picking our rooms. What do you think, Superboy?"
"..."
"Superboy?" A confused Megan asked as she and the others turned around to see that Kon-El had disappeared from sight.
"Did Kon-El just pull a Batman on us?" A surprised Maria asked as she and the others stepped out of the room and spotted Superboy standing inside another opened room that basically looked the same as the past room.
"Huh, wow, this room looks the same as the one across the hall; same size and everything." A disappointed Markus says as Neo turns to Superboy and his horns glow red.
"Are you going to take this one, Brother?"
"I don't know."
"Jeepers, you could fix this place up to be very comfortable. Wouldn't it be cool? We could be right across the hall from each-," Megan says before she and the others notice that Superboy has once again left with the help of his super speed. "...Hmmm, I wonder if this is going to be a habit..."
"Trust me, it is. We got used to that with Robin whenever he pulls a Batman." Maria says with a knowing tone as she and the others leave the room as they walk down the hall and spot Kon-El standing inside a room that seems same as the others, but was far larger.
"Wow, this room is different than the others."
"Indeed. Are you thinking about this room, Supey? Because I was planning to get the second room." Markus says as Superboy nods.
"Yeah, this room feels more...comfortable than the other rooms."
"Nice, it looks like we are set with the room situations," Maria says with a soft smile on her face just as Neo's horns glowed red as he turned to her.
"The Martian and the robot are back."
"Oh, good, let's meet up with them," Maria says as the others nod and go back to the Main Area as Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado stand in front of them.
"Shall we, M'Gann?"
"Yes, I'll see you guys soon," Megan says to the trio with a smile as she and Martian Manhunter then use the Zeta Tubes to teleport away with dual flashes of yellow light.
"Hey, Red Tornado." Maria greeted Red Tornado with a cheerful smile on her face as she walked up to him. "How are you doing?"
"Pretty good, I suppose. Anyway, I must return to the Hall of Justice to retrieve encrypted programs to update a few of the computer systems here in the cave."
"There's a lot of history here, isn't there?" Markus asked curiously as Kon-El remained quiet but had an intrigued look on his face.
"Yes, this is where it all started when the Justice League was first formed. This is the base of operations for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern Hal, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter during the first invasion of Darkseid and his Army of Parademons. Anyway, Mount Justice was hollowed out by Superman and Green Lantern Hal and it became the home of the Justice League, but nowadays, the League uses the Hall of Justice in Washington DC and later the Watchtower."
"Huh, this is where Superman-All of them would be here on a regular basis? And a crisis brought them together? I guess it's kind of like how we came together?" Superboy asked as Maria nodded.
"He, he, yep, we are essentially following our mentors' footsteps."
"Hmmm, yeah...anyway, I'm going to explore alone," Superboy says while turning around to leave as Maria and Markus watch him go curiously.
"I will return shortly." Red Tornado says while turning around to leave via the Zeta Tube as it was only now that the Blue Lantern realized that Neo was no longer riding around on her left shoulder and looked around worriedly.
"Hey, where's Neo?"
After cueing back with Superboy, we see him making his way through the hallway as he scowls seriously and has a flashback of when Blue Lantern and the others found him, their fight against Blockbuster, and being found and scolded by the Justice League as Superman's disgusted, shocked, and angry glare flashed in his face as Kon-El rubbed his head and was then surprised when a small figure ran past him, stunning him since no one else is supposed to be in Mount Justice and was unable to hear his presence as demented laughter rang out and a suspicious Superboy used his Super Speed to zoom ahead as he then skids to a stop and was taken back at the sight of a random ass teenager standing by the Mount Justice's Supercomputer.
Standing before him is a 5'6-feet-tall, 16-year-old Boy with blue eyes, shaggy shoulder-length brown hair with bangs covering his eyes lightly, thick black eyebrows, a small nose, a sharp chin, Caucasian Skin, a short slim build, and his outfit consists of a sleeveless red shirt with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath, a brown belt with a golden belt buckle, long blue jeans, and a pair of black/white shoes. His name is Lucas 'Snapper' Carr, an ally to the Justice League who helped stop Darkseid's Invasion and a student at Happy Harbor High School.
"I've got to call the Justice League."
"Who are you?" An alarmed Superboy asked as Snapper turned to him in shock.
"What are YOU doing here?"
"Do I KNOW you?" Superboy asked with a raised eyebrow as the kid turned to him with a stern glare on his face.
"You're not supposed to be here! You CAN'T be here!"
"Yes, I am. I'm a part of...we haven't given ourselves a Superhero Team Name yet, but I'm a part of the team with Supergirl, Blue Lantern, Spider-Man, and such. Is there anyone else here with you? I'm sure that they can verify-," Superboy says while briefly turning his head to see if there was any other superhero around them before turning back to the kid as he was surprised to see that he was gone. "Where did that kid go? He was right there. There was no way that the kid could sneak away without me knowing unless he was Robin or Batman. What is going on? Show yourself!" Superboy screamed angrily, only to hear a demented laugh yet again as he looked back and was shocked to see the kid standing by Mount Justice's Supercomputer again.
"This is Snapper calling all members of the Justice League!
"This doesn't make sense! You, this room, everything keeps disappearing and reappearing! It's almost as if this place is haunted!" Superboy says just as a loud crash rang out as the duo flinches in shock and worry.
"What was that?"
"I don't know."
"Oh, man! I think there's someone else in here!"
"Really? You think so?" Superboy asked while speaking sarcastically like how his Cousin and her potential mate do. "Blue Lantern and Red Lantern are here. If there really is an intruder here, then we should go and find them before the intruder does."
"I need to get the Justice League here asap!"
"Didn't you hear me? My friends need help." An annoyed Superboy says as the demented laugh rang out yet again.
"Oh, no! What are you doing here?! You're not supposed to be here! You can't be here!"
"Who are you talking about-," Superboy asked just as multiple Poisoned darts flew in and collided against the boys, causing Snapper to lose his coordination and have difficulty speaking as Kon-El was left unfazed by the darts. "I guess that answers my question. Ghosts can't shoot us."
"Oh, you're feeling it now, aren't you? Loss of coordination, difficulty speaking, confusion, it's all a part of the effect, but you know what you'll feel more?" A Mysterious Voice says just as something bashed against the back of Superboy's head, not hurting him as he looked around confusedly. "Awww, did the little boy get a bump on his head? You led me right to them, you know. You're famous, you know that? You're going down in history as the guy who sold out the Justice League. You're a riot, kid, but you gotta admit...you didn't see this coming, did you?" The Mysterious Voice says while stepping out of the shadows with a crazed grin on his face as Kon-El stares at him in deep shock and disbelief.
Standing before him is a 6-feet-tall, 32-year-old Man with green eyes, bright green hair falling down in a mop style, thin black eyebrows, a big nose, ruby red lips with a massive and wide smile that is constantly on his face as it gives him a sinister sort of appearance at all times, a sharp chin, Chalkwhite Skin, a tall slender build, and his outfit consists of a long-sleeved high-collared purple suit with a long-sleeved orange and green undershirt, a skinny purple tie, a flower on his lapel, a silver chain at his waist, long skinny purple leg pants, and a pair of purple shoes. His real name is unknown, but he is known as the Joker, a psychotic supervillain of Gotham and Batman's Arch-Enemy.
"Don't you just love surprises?" Joker asked with a malicious laugh while pressing down the flower on his lapel to produce some kind of green gas that collided against Kon-El's face, affecting him somehow as he groaned and passed out as, after fast forwarding in time, we see Superboy waking up to find himself tied up and gagged with Snapper and spotted a sinisterly giggling Joker preparing a big gift-wrapped trap for the Justice League. "He, he, he, this is going to be a blast," Joker says with an evil laugh before running off as, a few minutes later, the Justice League appears and turns on the lights.
"Why is it so dark?" A female superhero asked suspiciously as Aquaman looked around.
Standing before them is a 6'5-feet-tall, 96-year-old (Physically)/35-year-old (Mentally) Amazon with blue eyes, straight waist-length black hair, thin black eyebrows, a small nose, a sharp chin, J-Cup Breasts, Fair Skin, a very tall muscularly well-toned slender hourglass build, a perfect thick heart-shaped ass, and her outfit consists of a golden diadem with a red star on her forehead, a pair of red star earrings, a strapless red bustier held up by a brace of gold resembling two W's, a pair of silver bracelets around her wrists, a large golden belt with her Golden Lasso of Truth attached to it, blue briefs with five white stars on them, a pair of red boots with a white stripe on the front side. Her name is Diana Prince AKA Wonder Woman, an Amazon Princess and a Superheroine as she was a member of the All-Star Squadron, and became the founding member of the Justice League as Diana is also the mentor to Wonder Girl.
"And where's Snapper?"
"Is this a present for me? Aww, come on, you guys shouldn't have." Flash says with a grin as Green Lantern raises an eyebrow confusedly.
"Something is not right here. I don't understand, is this for a party? If Snapper contacted us, I do not think it would be for a party."
"He must be around here somewhere," Superman says as Flash turns to grin at them.
"Why wouldn't it be for a party? I don't know if you guys have noticed, but there's a big giant present in the middle of the room. My guess is that it would be a surprise party."
"But if this was a surprise party for us, shouldn't Snapper be around to yell, 'Surprise!', at us?" Wonder Woman asked, remembering the Justice League doing the same thing for her birthday, and it ended with her nearly slicing off the Flash's head as everyone learned a lesson to NEVER surprise Diana ever again.
"Yeah, it is a bit odd." Superman says as everyone, sans Flash, grew tense and alarmed.
"Well, either way, this kid is something else. He went all out with a present and everything." Flash says while going over to open up the present as Batman's eyes widened in realization and turned to him seriously.
"Flash, don't open that!" Batman warned, but it was too late as Flash opened up the box and was surprised when a bunch of Joker-like Monkeys jumped out of the box.
"Monkeys?! Seriously?!" An annoyed Flash asked as Green Lantern looked around suspiciously.
"Who thought this was a good idea?!"
"Joker!" An angry Batman says while turning around to see a manically laughing Joker emerging out of the shadows as everyone else glares at him and takes fighting poses.
"Hey there, Bats, how are you doing?"
"How did you get in here?" A serious Superman asked as Joker grinned savagely.
"Oh, Boy Scout, your security was a lapse, to say the least...and Snapper totally dropped the ball in the vigilance department," Joker says dryly as he then points over a tied-up Superboy and Snapper.
"Snapper!" A worried Wonder Woman yelled as Flash gave the Joker a dry look.
"Seriously? Come on, Man, you think that a box full of Monkey Clowns would stop us?"
"I can't believe that this is our life now," Aquaman says with a deadpanned tone as Martian Manhunter turns to the Prince of Mayhem.
"What is your angle here, Joker? There's no way you would confront us with just a box of monkeys."
"True, but I think it was funny...oh and THIS is the deadly part," Joker says with an evil laugh while reaching into his pocket to pull out a detonator and pressing it as it caused his Clown Monkeys to drop a bunch of bombs and cause a huge explosion that covered the whole room, but Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Flash were able to either tank the explosion with ease or outrun it as they zoomed over to confront the Joker while Martian Manhunter phased out of the ground in front of Kon-El and Snapper while holding onto Batman as he lets go of him, allowing him to turn tangible as Bruce ran over to slash apart their binds with his Batarang.
"The Joker's a maniac and unpredictable. We need to get you out of here and to safety."
"No! I can help!" Snapper says as Martian Manhunter shakes his head.
"You cannot. You are powerless and don't have any skills. Not to mention that you are just a kid. Just let us handle this."
"This is my fault! He tricked me and followed me right to the cave!" Snapper says as a glaring Kon-El cracked his knuckles.
"Well, I'm not powerless! I can put this 'Joker' down!" Superboy says as Flash raises his arms and begins spinning them around rapidly to create dual red tornados that blow away the pink smoke with Superman helping out by using his Super Breath as Aquaman and Wonder Woman look around for any sign of the Joker.
"You know, I don't like people who mess with my fun!" Joker screamed while rushing over to try and stab Superman in the back, only for his knife to bend against his invulnerable back as Kal-El slowly turned to him and gave him a deadpanned look.
"Tell me...did you really think that would work?"
"No...but this will!" Joker says with an evil grin while reaching into his jacket to pull out a small box that contains some Green Kryptonite but Kon-El is able to see what he is doing as, while he doesn't know what is in the box, Superboy doesn't want him to attack Superman and leaped over to try and attack the Joker, only for said person to not only dodge his attack but also punched him across the face so hard that it send him crashing down into the ground as his lip was covered with blood.
"I'm bleeding? H-How is that possible-Wait...I couldn't use my Heat Vision or fly...am I losing my powers?" Superboy asked to himself worriedly as a glaring Snapper charged forward.
"You are going down, Joker!"
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! The little boy that plays publicist to the Justice League? The exclusive fanboy that gets an all-access pass to the most powerful people on the planet? Don't make me laugh." Joker says as he is about to punch him, only for Wonder Woman to zoom over and deliver a mighty punch across his face that sends him crashing against the wall.
"You hurt him, I will kill you." Wonder Woman threatened with a harsh glare as she cracked her knuckles. "Unlike Batman, I don't have a moral code against killing supervillains."
"Neither do I!" Joker says with a crazy laugh while pressing the detonator again to have his Clown Monkeys throw more and more explosions that covered the room as Kon-El was sent flying over to crash down near the Zeta Tube.
"Recognized Superboy; B06,"
"Ugh, in the short time that I have been in the 'Outside World', I have come to a certain conclusion about one thing...I FUCKING HATE MONKEYS!" Superboy snapped while kicking a nearby monkey as he paused a bit and turned back to the Zeta Tubes. "Hey, wait a minute, something doesn't make sense here. The Joker is in Mount Justice and has caused so much explosion and mayhem and yet Blue Lantern and Red Lantern haven't appeared yet. Not to mention that Green Lantern hasn't flown off to try and find his daughter. Also, the Zeta Tube Scans everyone that comes in and out. It registers them audibly for everyone to hear." Superboy says, showing off Clark's intelligence, as he then turns around to run over to Superman.
"Superman, I'm sorry that I...I mean...I'm sorry about this, Aquaman!" Superboy says while running over to grab a surprised Aquaman and toss him over to land inside of the Zeta Tube as, much to his shock, the Zeta Tube didn't go off whatsoever. "The Computer didn't recognize him! It didn't recognize one of the Founding Members of the Justice League because it only recognizes people who are actually here! That means...NONE OF THIS IS REAL!" Superboy screamed while raising his arms and slammed them down into the ground to create a big shockwave that knocked away everyone, including Neo, as Kon-El blinked and looked around as he was surprised to see himself standing in the empty Main Area of Mount Justice.
"I recognize you. You are Maria's Sidekick Neocortex...wait...you did all of this!" An angry Superboy says as Neo's horns glow red and continue showing him visions of the past. "Why do you keep showing me these images? That kid with the Justice League, the Joker, and his Monkeys, where did you come from? Why did you show me these images-Wait, you...you were the one that would teach me about all of these things when I was in the Containment Pod. You were the one that put images in my mind of flying, using heat vision, performing feats that only Superman could do...and what the sun was like...did you show all of this to me because...you wanted to show me the history of Mount Justice?" Superboy asked as Neo nodded, and his horns glowed red.
"Yes, I wanted to help you out, Brother," Neo says thoughtfully as we then fast forward in time and we see him and Superboy having a talk with Red Tornado, Maria, and Markus.
"This G-Gnome or what Maria affectionately calls, 'Neocortex', has a very strong connection with you in particular because it has been with you your entire life." Red Tornado says as Kon-El nods.
"Yes, I understand that, but what I don't understand is how it all felt so real. When the Joker punched me, I felt it. I felt everything, the heat of the explosions, even when I picked up Aquaman. I was even bleeding."
"It was a psychic phenomena triggered by Neo. It has a great telepathic ability. In this case, it happened to trigger what is called Perception at a Distance. It was able to perceive traumatic acts that occurred here in the cave quite some time long ago." Markus explained as an intrigued Maria turned to him while having Neo ride around on her left shoulder.
"How is that possible?"
"The psychic residue must be strong for it. Lingering here after so many years and for the G-Gnome to pick up on it. There are studies of mental interaction between living organisms that indicate that some unknown mechanism in the brain allows the mind of one person or thing to induce physical change or even pain in another person remotely. Given this particular G-Gnome's attachment to you and the incredible images it can manifest, indicates a rather large mental capacity that is exactly what Markus and I believe occurred here." Red Tornado explained as Markus turned to Superboy and Maria.
"In order words, the psychic connection between the two of you was so strong that your brain was causing any pain you feel. When the Joker struck you, you 'felt it'. Your brain inflicted that pain so much so that it led you to actually cause yourself to bleed. It is a good thing that you did not engage further before breaking the connection or the results could've been deadly."
"Well, in that case, I will go home and punish a certain 'someone' for using his telepathy powers to hurt people," Maria says while giving Neo a stern glare as she and Red Tornado turn around to leave as Markus turns to Kon-El.
"So...uh...with all of the crazy stuff going on in your brain, did you learn anything about yourself?"
"Yes...I...fucking...hate...monkeys."
And done. I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter, and I can't wait to write the next chapter.
Anyway, as always, I will catch you all later.
