UNDER THE RED HOOD 2 by gotti999
CHAPTER TWO
Megan, do you copy? Bane got away, but we've got the kids. We'll rendezvous with you after we drop them off somewhere safe. You guys tail Luthor, but do not engage. Nightwing's voice echoed through Beta Squad's head.
"Roger that," Miss Martian replied back.
Beta Squad, consisting of Superboy, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash, tailed Lex Luthor discreetly as he made his way to an underground hideout beneath the building hosting his party. They watched closely, using the shadows and their training to remain undetected. The hideout was a high-tech bunker, filled with monitors and armed guards. They listened intently as a conversation between Lex and Queen Bee began.
"I'm happy to continue supporting your political campaign, Lex, as long as you hold up your end and open the factory for the production of the drug X in Bialya," Queen Bee stated, her voice dripping with authority.
Lex Luthor, ever the calm and composed mastermind, responded, "It's no matter. You'll be getting the first batch of ingredients needed for it."
Queen Bee's eyes narrowed. "The meta-teens, you mean?"
"Of course," Lex replied, a sinister smile playing on his lips.
Miss Martian, using her telepathic abilities, asked Nightwing, "Are you getting all of this?"
Kid Flash, unable to contain his anger, added, "Luthor is scum. Can we take him down?"
Aqualad's voice came through the telepathic link, calm and measured. "Negative, Kid Flash. Just observe for now."
Suddenly, a zeta-tube opened, and Bane, whom Alpha Squad had just defeated, stepped through. "We have a problem. The sidekicks took the kids away, and they seem to have a new member—one of the Bat's playthings."
"Those American filth," Queen Bee spat, her anger palpable. "Lock down the bunker and get more guards from topside down here."
"If they stopped that shipment from coming, there's a good chance they're still here," Lex Luthor said as Queen Bee moved to a desk with a monitor and began inputting commands.
The computer's voice echoed through the room, "Lockdown initiated. Metahuman scan initiated. There are 2 metahumans identified in the building."
"Find them," Luthor ordered his robotic assistant, Mercy, who immediately began an infrared scan of the area. She quickly identified Miss Martian in the vents. Kid Flash and Superboy were behind a door nearby.
Mercy's hand elongated and broke through the vent, grabbing Miss Martian by the neck and pulling her down, causing her to crash onto the hard floor.
"Megan!" Superboy screamed as he broke through the door, leaping into the air to land in front of Lex and Mercy.
"SB, wait!" Kid Flash cried, but it was too late. The element of surprise was lost, and the battle was about to begin.
Superboy leaps in front of Lex, Queen Bee, and Mercy, who has a disoriented Miss Martian by her throat. She morphs her other hand into a cannon and points it at Superboy.
"Let her go!" he yells.
"Is that any way to talk to your father?" Lex replies with a smirk.
"You're not my father!" Superboy screams, lunging a punch at Mercy. But Lex Luthor utters the words, "Red sun," and Superboy remains frozen in place.
"Yes, you are," Lex says with an evil smile.
"Connor!" Megan yells as she comes to.
Kid Flash, over his comms, says to Beta Squad, "Beta Squad, do you read? Our cover is blown. They know we're here, and Superboy and Miss M are down. Send backup."
"We're on our way, KF. Just hang tight," Nightwing replies back over the comm.
As Mercy points her blaster at Megan, ready to fire it, Kid Flash zooms in, using his shoulder to hit Mercy and knock her back, releasing her grip on Miss Martian.
"Ow, my shoulder," Kid Flash says as he helps Miss Martian to her feet. "We've got to get out of here," he says.
"And why would we let you do that?" Queen Bee says as guards dressed in black suits with laser guns walk through the entrances. Alpha Squad is surrounded, facing Queen Bee, Lex Luthor, his android assistant Mercy, and even an injured Bane.
Miss Martian tells Kid Flash, "Keep them busy while I try to undo whatever Lex Luthor did to Superboy. How deep is Lex's programming? I thought I had cleansed him before."
Kid Flash nods, his face determined. He speeds around the room, creating a whirlwind to disorient the guards. Their laser guns fire wildly, but Kid Flash is too fast for them to hit.
"Come on, guys! You're gonna have to do better than that!" Kid Flash taunts, dodging another blast and knocking a guard off his feet.
Meanwhile, Miss Martian hovers over Superboy, her hands glowing with psychic energy. She closes her eyes and delves into his mind, searching for the source of Lex's control.
"Connor, stay with me," she whispers, her voice trembling with urgency.
Superboy's eyes flicker, but he remains frozen, the red sun command still holding him in place. Miss Martian digs deeper, her psychic tendrils weaving through the layers of Superboy's mind. She encounters resistance, a dark, twisted knot of programming left by Lex Luthor.
"How did I miss this?" she mutters, focusing all her energy on unraveling the knot.
Across the room, Kid Flash continues to evade the guards, but he's starting to tire. Mercy, recovering from Kid Flash's earlier hit, morphs her hand into a massive hammer and swings it at him. He barely dodges, the hammer smashing into the floor with a deafening crash.
"You're fast, but not fast enough," Mercy growls, her eyes narrowing.
Kid Flash grits his teeth. "We'll see about that."
He speeds towards her, zigzagging to avoid her swings. With a final burst of speed, he slides between her legs and delivers a powerful kick to her back, sending her sprawling.
"KF, hurry!" Miss Martian calls out, her voice strained. "I need more time!"
Kid Flash nods, turning his attention to Queen Bee and Lex Luthor. Queen Bee raises her hand, and a wave of psychic energy crashes into Kid Flash, sending him flying into a wall.
"You're meddling in things you don't understand, child," Queen Bee sneers.
Kid Flash struggles to his feet, his vision blurry. "Maybe, but I'm not giving up."
He charges at Queen Bee, but Lex Luthor steps in his path, a sinister smile on his face. "This ends now."
Lex presses a button on his wrist, and the room fills with a blinding red light and a circle of flames circle the room Kid Flash stumbles, his speed faltering. Miss Martian screams as the flames intensifies, her psychic connection to Superboy severed.
"No!" she cries, falling to her knees.
Superboy's eyes snap open, glowing red with rage. He breaks free of the red sun's hold, but his movements are jerky, controlled by Lex's programming.
"Destroy them," Lex commands.
Superboy lunges at Kid Flash, his fists swinging with terrifying force. Kid Flash barely manages to dodge, the ground shaking with each missed punch.
As the chaos unfolded in the underground hideout, Kid Flash darted around the room, narrowly avoiding Superboy's powerful punches. The air was thick with tension, and the sound of fists hitting concrete echoed through the space.
"Nightwing! I really need that backup right about now!" Kid Flash shouted into his comms, his voice laced with urgency. Superboy, his eyes glowing with an unnatural fury, lunged again, and Wally barely managed to sidestep the blow.
"Superboy has gone rogue!" Nightwing's voice crackled back through the comms, calm but urgent. "We're almost there. Just keep him busy!"
As Kid Flash continued to dodge, he noticed the struggle within Superboy's eyes, a flicker of the friend he once knew battling against the mind control. "Come on, Conner! Fight it!" he urged, hoping to reach the real Superboy beneath the rage. But Superboy was relentless, charging forward with a roar, fists ready to strike. Kid Flash knew he had to hold on a little longer until his teammates arrived.
As the fight escalated, Kid Flash felt his energy waning. He was visibly sweating, his heart racing as he dodged Superboy's powerful strikes. Just when he thought he could keep evading, Superboy's hand shot out, catching him by the neck with a grip like iron. Wally gasped, struggling to breathe as he strained against the hold. "Nightwing! Backup!" he managed to choke out, desperation evident in his voice.
Suddenly, one of the entrance doors blasted open, and Aqualad stormed in, his presence commanding. "Nightwing! Red Hood! Get Superboy!" he yelled, raising his water guards to extinguish the flames that threatened to engulf the room. He quickly extinguished the flames surrounding Miss Martian and rushed to her side. "Miss Martian, are you okay?" he asked urgently.
She let out a weak groan, barely able to respond. More guards appeared, pointing their laser guns at the grounded Miss Martian and Aqualad. Kaldur swiftly created a water sphere around them to protect them from the blasts. "Miss Martian, I need you to get up. Superboy needs your help," he urged.
Miss Martian could hear the cries of her team leader, but she couldn't move; her body felt like it weighed a ton. The flames had already done severe damage to her Martian physiology. Some guards approached the water bubble, but Kaldur transformed it into a giant mace, swinging it to keep them at bay.
"Please, Megan, we need you," Kaldur pleaded once more, desperation in his voice.
Nightwing and Red Hood wasted no time. They sprinted towards Superboy, who was still holding Kid Flash aloft, his rage palpable. Red Hood fired non-lethal bullets at Superboy, but the half-Kryptonian barely flinched. Nightwing hurled batarangs, aiming for Superboy's vulnerable spots, but Superboy caught one of Nightwing's escrima sticks, tossing him aside like a rag doll. As Nightwing flew through the air, he managed to drop explosives from his belt, and they detonated behind him, creating a massive explosion that rocked the warehouse.
Superboy staggered, momentarily dazed by the blast, but he quickly shook it off, his anger only intensifying. Kid Flash, still held by the neck, saw Red Hood switch out his non-lethal cartridges for the nth metal ones. The bullets struck Superboy, visibly disorienting him for a moment as he instinctively shielded his face. But the impact barely penetrated his half-Kryptonian skin.
With a fierce roar, Superboy leaped to crush Red Hood, who ducked and rolled out of the way just in time. As he moved, he left behind an electric stun grenade, which detonated right in Superboy's face. The explosion sent a shockwave through the air, and Superboy let out another roar, his clothes tattered and his body crackling with electricity.
Now more furious than ever, he charged at Red Hood, who was still firing and evading, each shot echoing through the warehouse.
As Superboy continues raging towards Red Hood and Nightwing, who is just getting up from the initial toss, he glances over to see Red Hood holding a cartridge with a suspicious green glow coming from it. "No, Red Hood, don't!" he yells, but it's too late. Red Hood loads it up and fires one bullet into the gut of Superboy. The blast echoes through the building, and Superboy stops in his tracks, his anger fading and turning to confusion. The red sun command seemingly fades as he looks down at his abdomen to see a gut wound and blood flowing from it. Superboy had never seen his own blood before. He touches it; it's warm. "Megan," he calls out weakly as he falls to his knees.
Luthor, watching from above, smirks and says, "I think it's time we take our leave."
"What about our guests?" Queen Bee asks.
Lex replies, "We can frame it as an assassination. That's just the right PR my campaign needs," as he activates a Zeta tube. He, Queen Bee, and Bane take their leave. "Oh, and as a little present," he adds, as Mercy begins to count down a self-destruct sequence.
"Artemis, we need extraction now!" Nightwing shouts.
Artemis replies, "Copy," as she drives the Beta ship to their location.
"Why the fuck would you do that?" Nightwing yells at Red Hood.
On the bio-ship, Nightwing performs emergency surgery on Superboy to get the kryptonite bullet out with the help of red sun lamps. Meanwhile, Miss Martian is on a gurney receiving treatment from her prolonged exposure to the flames. Nightwing goes off on Red Hood.
"Tell me again why, in God's name, do you have kryptonite bullets?" Nightwing yells at Red Hood.
"Oh, please, Dick. You didn't really think I'd join a team with a Kryptonian and not have any kryptonite? Did Bruce teach you nothing?" Red Hood retorts.
"Don't bring Bruce into this!" Dick yells back. "You endangered the life of your own teammate!"
"In case you hadn't noticed," Jason yells back, "all our heavy hitters were down. I had to do something, or we'd have all been taken out."
"You don't know that!" Dick yells again. "Miss M could have…"
"Miss M could have what?" Jason interrupts. "Cried? She was incapacitated. I did what was best for the team YOU put me on. If anything, she should thank me for stopping her boyfriend from doing something he'll regret for the rest of his life."
Dead silence falls upon the bio-ship. Megan weakly says, "Thank you."
Jason scoffs, and Aqualad says, "That's enough. Today's mission was a success. We were able to find out that Lex somehow uses meta-teens to create his power-boosting X drug, and we have confirmed for a fact that Lex is in league with Queen Bee, as well as the rescue of 30 missing meta-teens. We did good work, team. Do not let our victory go unnoticed. Superboy will heal, and Miss Martian will recover. Thank you, Jason."
Jason scoffs again, walking out of the now-landing bio-ship, bumping shoulders with his brother Nightwing as he leaves.
"And you were worried he wouldn't fit in," Kid Flash says in a joking manner.
MOUNT JUSTICE
Superboy and Miss M are at the med bay while the rest of the team convenes in the briefing room. Batman is already on the monitor.
"Good work on your mission, team. The League has finally been able to crack the missing components of the drug X thanks to your intel about the meta-teens. It seems Luthor has been harvesting bone marrow from these vulnerable teens for all sorts of experiments and drugs. And the teens are back with their families. Well done, team. The Justice League sends their regards," Batman says.
"We're happy to help any way we can," Kaldur replies.
Red Hood broods in the corner, watching. "But this fight is far from over. We will stop Luthor from getting his hands on any more meta-teens."
"Good man," Batman replies. "Batman out." The transmission ends.
Just then, the news continues playing on the TV. "I'm reporter Cat Grant on the scene as Lex Luthor makes his arrival back to the United States from Bialya after the assassination attempt made on him and Queen Bee."
Lex Luthor is seen surrounded by cameramen. "I find it disappointing that these hooligans chose to attack me not on my home soil but on the foreign land of those who welcomed me into their home as a guest. I promise this won't go without retaliation. It takes more than that to kill Lex Luthor."
"Luthor, Luthor," a reporter asks, "does this mean the tension between the United States and Bialya is even worse than ever?"
"I can't speak on behalf of the United States as I'm not elected yet, but I can tell you this: the relationship between myself and Queen Bee and the nation of Bialya has never been stronger. When I'm elected, you can take that as your answer. No more questions for now," Luthor says as he walks away, hounded by the press.
"What a load of bull," Wally says and asks, "What else is on?" changing the channel.
Authors note: expect chapter 3 next week, if you can't wait that long you can head over to my , and help support the story
Spoilers everyone's favorite kryptonian cousin supergirl will be making her appearance maybe even join the team who knowsanyway I hope you enjoyed the read