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Troubling
August 3rd
The cave was a little tense. Karen had yet to make up with her fellow residents, though Percy seemed to have far more on his mind than his spat with his teammate since his return late the night before. Megan had chatted with her uncle until late into the evening and Percy had disappeared into his quarters until they had all been summoned a few moments ago.
Had Karen even wanted to try and bridge the gap, she hadn't yet had the opportunity. The moment the entire team was gathered in the main hall of the cave Black Canary had jumped into a one on one training session, taking on the members of the team one after another in hand to hand combat.
The kryptonian clone hadn't expected much of a challenge for most of them, all of them had some advantage over Canary, barring Robin of course. To her surprise most of them struggled against the woman. Kid Flash couldn't even get a blow in, Megan hardly tried, and Percy and Kaldur were kept on their toes, though Percy clearly didn't have his head in the spar. Canary seemed to notice as well and lectured him about keeping his head in the moment.
Karen wasn't sure what was eating their team leader but she could tell it was something more than her words earlier. He had stiffly accepted the lecture from Canary before returning to the line up allowing Karen to step forward and give it a go.
"Are you ready?" The older blonde asked only to quickly step to the side to avoid the straightforward charge from Karen that would have ended the fight in a single move.
"I'll take that as a yes." The heroine snarked before spinning around another straightforward attack and dragging a leg into the kryptonian's path so that she sprawled forward off balance. Before she could properly right herself Canary jumped and planted both feet between the shoulder blades of her student, sending her face first into the floor.
Gracefully, Canary used the motion to send herself backward in a cartwheel and back to her feet ready for more. Karen slowly lifted herself up off of the floor with frustration building in her chest.
"You know what you're doing wrong. Fix it, or keep looking foolish." Her teacher said simply.
Powergirl gritted her teeth but approached at a much calmer pace this time, arms up ready to throw and block punches.
"Good, don't let yourself be manipulated in a fight, and if something isn't working change tactics." Canary said getting ready for a much more serious and likely painful fight.
Before the two could finish the encounter however a screen snapped on nearby and Batman's voice echoed through the cave.
"Batman to cave. Several hours ago a new menace attacked law enforcement officers on the East Coast. It was intercepted by several heroes, including your own Xiphos. The enemy was an android that was capable of studying then duplicating abilities of several of those who attempted to apprehend it." Batman said with little more than a brief pause to ensure he had their attention.
The members of the team glanced at Percy at the mention of his involvement. He didn't look their way instead staring at the image of Batman before him.
"It was an android? Who made it T.O. Morrow?" Robin asked, turning his and everyone else's attention back to Batman.
"Good guess, Robin, but Red Tornado doesn't think so." Batman replied.
"Tornado told me it's likely made by Professor Ivo." Percy chimed in.
"But Ivo's dead." Kaldur said.
"So we thought, or hoped." Canary commented.
"Lots of people coming out of the woodwork lately." Percy grunted out, causing the others to once again turn toward him. He simply waved away their attention and turned his attention back to Batman.
"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Kid Flash asked, but was simply ignored as Batman continued the briefing.
"To make certain that this threat is permanently neutralized we're sending two trucks carrying the android's parts to two separate STAR lab facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. There will also be four additional decoy trucks headed to other locations to create confusion." Batman said.
"So we can expect some hostile action…of some kind." Powergirl noted. She and most of the others were not fond of how vague that fact was. They could be surprised anywhere along the route by pretty much anything.
Percy frowned more deeply but said nothing, which intrigued Black Canary. She imagined he would be looking to tell his team at any point about the situation concerning the rogue Amazons. Yet he remained silent. She wouldn't bring it up herself, not because she was worried about issues with her fellow League members but more because she felt this was something that was Percy's right to share with his team.
"You will be splitting into two undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks from a short distance away. Whatever opposition you may encounter should be capable of being handled by your combined efforts or simply led off by the decoys." Batman continued without going into any sort of specifics about possible opposition.
"Heh, road trip it is." Kid Flash excitedly.
"Percy?" Miss Martian asked a bit timidly causing the rest of the team to look toward their chosen leader. Canary was surprised by the show of deferment toward the boy already.
"Huh? Oh, you heard Batman. We'll split into two teams and cover the two vehicles. Powergirl, Aqualad, and Robin will take the first truck while Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and I will take the second." Percy said as he focused back on the situation at hand.
Batman nodded on the screen before it flicked off while the team dispersed heading for the exit of the cave. Black Canary grabbed Percy's shoulder before he could step past her and follow the others out though.
"Percy…" She began only for him to place a finger to his lips until the door closed behind Karen and Megan who were the last to leave.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Dinah said as she placed her hands on her hips and looked at the teen's eyes. They had pronounced creases in the corners and he was clearly bothered by things beyond the simple mission he had been given. Not that it was unimportant but he currently had a lot on his plate at the moment.
"What did you need?" He asked simply while adjusting the bracers on his arms and checking over his gear, already falling into a natural routine that he had developed before heading out on a mission or patrol with Diana.
"Why haven't you told the team about the Amazon problem, like you said you planned to?"
"It has nothing to do with this mission so they don't need to be distracted by it right now. As soon as it's finished I'll fill them in, but we can pretty safely assume that there is little chance that this Donna or whoever is behind Amazo." Percy shrugged.
"Maybe, but there could still be a danger." Dinah said a bit worriedly.
"Then hopefully the little time we have had to try the new drill will help us out in the field. Nothing we can really do about it now. I have to go." Percy said as he took off at a jog to catch up to his team.
Canary watched him leave and let loose a sigh of frustration. She could see where he was coming from. He was right to have faith in his team as well, even if they had clearly had some sort of fight or something. It didn't take a trained therapist to pick out the tension between some of the members during her session with them today. She just hoped it didn't bite them all in the ass.
Diana wanted to pull her hair out at the moment but did her best to retain her appearance of the ever collected Princess of Themyscira. She knew her mother to be in the same situation. Both of them had been organizing the warriors of the Amazons for a day now, readying war parties split up by objective.
Most were needed here at home to protect the islands of their home. That included the Sons of Themyscira. Only those that Diana and Hippolyta were most confident in were given the duty of guarding that portion of their homeland though. There would not be a repeat of the vile acts Donna and her sycophants had committed as they escaped in the night.
The Princess of Themyscira had led her people in conflicts plenty of times in the past. She had organized wars and raids and all manner of other emergencies.
Never had she felt the dread she did now. The only near comparison was when Donna had assaulted the Sons in the past and murdered their brother Jason. Now she knew her younger brother was her lost sister's target.
Yet she could do nothing for him. Instead she was trying to organize the hunt for Donna with sisters that she could never say with certainty didn't agree with the hardliner idealogy regarding males.
Those women who had been raising sons were either still mourning or taking up defense of the Sons of Themyscira on their smaller colony. The other warriors would be used to track Donna wherever she went.
They needed to figure out who had helped her on the island and in Man's World first though if they ever planned on catching up to her.
"Diana, the group bound for East Asia has departed. Their teams will stop in Tokyo first before splitting up to cover as many of the countries in the region as possible." Her mother said as she joined her in Diana's study in the palace.
"Good. I wish I could send more with them. There is a lot of ground to cover in that region, but I'm almost certain that Donna will be in the Americas." Diana replied.
Hippolyta nodded in agreement. The usually radiant beauty she possessed was tarnished by dark circles under her eyes and a paler complexion than normal. She had taken the loss of the young males on the island badly but Diana knew what truly plagued Hippolyta was the fact that her child, one she hadn't seen in over five long years, was at risk.
She couldn't go to him either. As far as she knew he didn't even know he was in danger. Yet the Queen put up a strong front. She looked tired and stressed but she still commanded and led her people with the skill she had possessed for millenia at this point.
In this temporary privacy between mother and daughter though, the woman took her heir's hand and gently squeezed. Diana returned the gesture and both women took the small amount of relief that came from having one another there.
The tiniest of slips of their strong facade in a private moment.
"Percy will be fine." Diana insisted, both for herself and her mother.
"Of course he will. I couldn't save Jason, or Donna but my Perseus…" Hippolyta began before swallowing thickly forcing tears back down.
Diana pulled her mother in for an embrace. They would find Donna and stop her before things got worse. Then perhaps they could take Hippolyta to visit her son. She was sure Percy needed his mother as much as she needed him.
The trucks pulled out one after another, each headed for their destination at some STAR lab location. The two teams soon followed after their objectives as well. It was decided in the interest of blending in better and saving energy that the team would use motorcycles to keep up with the selected vehicles.
"Robin here, Manhattan truck is making good time, no worries so far on our end." Robin's voice called over the radio getting Percy to glance at his two teammates with him.
Wally flashed him a thumbs up while he simply felt the confirmation that everything seemed fine for Megan in his mind.
"Same here. Keep a lookout though. We don't know enough about who wants this thing to prepare ourselves as much as I like." Percy replied.
"No idea what to be watching out for. Makes this seem kind of stupid." Karen said.
"It is simply the job." Kaldur said.
"Just watch for anything…weird." Percy ordered, ending the conversation.
"Sure, anything weird. Like what though?" Miss Martian asked within his head. He had gotten quite used to her being there. Almost comforted by it even.
"Wish I could say I knew." Percy replied.
"But you do know something. You seemed bothered by it back at the cave. What's going on?" Megan asked, clearly worried.
Percy sighed, causing his mic to key up on his radio as he did and Wally to glance his way before turning his attention back to the road and the truck ahead of them.
"I promise to fill you and everyone else in after the mission. It has nothing to do with this, so it needs to wait. Trust me okay?" He insisted.
"Of course. You just seem bothered and I want to help." Megan replied again causing a small smile to spread on Percy's face.
"Thanks. That means a lot actually." Percy responded before they both turned their full attention to the task at hand.
Over with Powergirl, Aqualad, and Robin…Powergirl was suffering through the ramblings of the youngest member of the team. What did she care about 'like is to dislike then aster is to disaster'? It seemed dumb, and they were on a mission right now. They needed to all be more serious.
Then again, maybe the reason she wasn't in the mood to banter with the boy wonder was more that she was still annoyed. Annoyed at Supergirl, annoyed a little at Superman for getting her hopes up, and mostly annoyed at herself for being upset. Especially for having picked a fight the day before with her friends.
All of this social stuff was brand new to her. It got under her skin a bit. She kind of wished she was teamed up with Megan at the moment so they could talk mentally. Having the girl in her head pretty much since CADMUS had been kind of like a security blanket. They were pretty far away for her to keep a continuous connection right now though.
That annoyed her a bit too.
Thankfully Aqualad intervened on her behalf and started talking with Robin. She didn't have the right mindset for friendly chatter at the moment and the Atlantean could tell.
Once more, with Percy's team the Amazonian prince sighed in exasperation as Wally tried to flirt with Megan yet again. The martian girl tried to be gentle and dissuade him tactfully, but Wally didn't really seem to get that. He seemed to think his charm was undeniable.
Thankfully before the speedster could attempt another pass at Miss Martian a group of robotic monkeys rushed out of the fields of corn around them and attacked the truck. Percy had to swerve around one as it shot past him and connected to the back hatch of the vehicle.
"Team One, our truck is under attack. Give me a status check." Percy called out over the radio.
"Kind of figured. Little green robot monkeys that…laugh? Same for you guys?" Robin asked.
"Same here. Take them out!" Percy replied.
Powergirl didn't hesitate, taking off from the back of her bike she swooped in and landed on the roof of the truck before blasting three of the monkeys off with her heat vision. She had to be careful not to damage the truck, but handling a handful of the enemies was easy enough.
Robin and Aqualad both joined her, Robin activated battle mode for his bike creating a drone that hovered alongside them to give a bit of a helping hand. For every robot they smashed another seemed to replace it though and soon they were benign swarmed.
"How many of these things can there be?" Powergirl asked as she tried to pull the half dozen tiny machines that were grabbing onto her off.
"Too many, they are smashing the windows on the truck as well!" Aqualad called out as he made for the front of the truck to protect the driver.
Percy and his team were dealing with much the same problem. The machines identified Percy as the heavy hitter on their group pretty easily and swarmed him, effectively bogging him down just like with Powergirl. Kid Flash was on foot trying to keep the robots away from the tires while Megan had joined Percy on the roof and was doing what she could to help him fight the swarm.
"We need more practice fighting lots of little things." Percy snarled in frustration as he used one robotic monkey to crush two more. Yet more seemed to simply jump out of the corn fields around them and join the fight.
Powergirl felt herself be dragged to the edge of the truck by the swarm of tiny robots and pushed off. Rather than fall to the roadway and be taken out of the fight though she simply began to keep pace with the truck by flying alongside it. So the monkeys turned their laser powered eyes on her and blasted her over and over until she couldn't take the sustained damage anymore and slammed into the ground, hard.
"Crap! Powergirl just went down!" Robin called out over the radio causing Percy to grit his teeth and try to think of a better way to combat these little annoyances.
"There has got to be a way that we can-" He began to reply and coordinate with the two teams only for a monkey to drop right before his eyes and blast him in the face with it's super focused beam of light.
Screaming in pain Percy lost his footing and tumbled backward before falling. He narrowly managed to grab onto the truck and right himself enough to begin flying but his vision was filled with blinding bright spots of light.
"Percy are you-" Megan began to ask if her leader was okay only for her to be blasted by a pair of monkeys as well.
She didn't have the constitution that Percy did and dropped off of the truck. Luckily Percy's eyes had cleared up enough to see his unconscious teammate bouncing off the roof of the truck right toward him. As he caught her he realized that they couldn't keep this up. At least with this truck.
"Kid, save the driver. We can't keep this up. We'll have to find a way to follow after them once we link up with the others." Percy ordered.
He noticed Wally hesitated. He had taken quite a few of the bots out simply due to his speed, but there were still too many collected on the truck to handle. Thankfully the speedster shook off whatever insubordinate thoughts he'd had and shot up to the front before pulling the driver free and getting to safety just as the truck began to be truly torn apart by monkey robots.
Using their eyes the robots cut into the truck and pulled out the pieces of Amazo as the truck careened off of the roadway and bounced through the ditch and slammed directly into a tree bringing it's momentum to a complete halt.
"Xiphos to Team One, status update." Percy called over the radio as Kid Flash set the driver down carefully before running up to check on the two injured guards in the back of the truck.
"There are just too many of them." Aqualad replied. They were being overwhelmed while trying to save the guards and driver as the truck was torn apart around them.
"Protect the guards and drivers, as important as Amazo is, I don't want us losing anyone. We'll regroup and come up with a way to counterattack." Percy said as he set Megan down and checked her over to ensure she wasn't too badly injured.
Thankfully the martian girl was primarily alright. Some light burns but they could easily treat that at the cave. For how diminutive and relatively weak the robots they had fought were, they were still quite dangerous. Especially in a large group like that.
"Xiphos, I may have a way we can track the parts down. Give me a minute to see what I can do." Robin called over the radio.
"Roger that, we'll head your way, meet up at point four." Percy replied. They had been wise enough to set up a handful of positions that could be used to regroup if they were attacked. He'd hoped it would be an unnecessary precaution though.
"Got ya. See you there." Robin replied before the radio went silent.
Percy turned his attention back to Megan as he helped her to her feet. She stumbled a bit so he kept and arm around her to keep her steady until she was able to stand alone.
"This Professor Ivo guy seems like he is two steps ahead of us." She groaned as she slowly regained her balance.
"Yeah…for a dead guy he sure seems to have us and the League figured out." Percy bit the inside of his cheek in thought. That was a worrying thought.
"Wally, head to the rally point and scope it out. I don't want any surprises for the group when we get there to hear Robin's plan." Percy said getting a nod from the speedster before he took off.
"Are you alright to fly?" He asked Megan.
"Yeah, I just kind of blacked out there with all the heat from those beams directed at me. I'm more or less fine now." She smiled at him.
"Good to hear. Let's get moving." He said as the pair lifted off and flew toward the rally point.
The team came together at the garage of a little gas station strung out along the side of the highway. Rather than New York or Boston, currently they were actually closer to Gotham.
"Everyone alright?" Percy asked as he landed.
"I have a new intense dislike of monkeys…and robots, but sure." Karen red as she rotated one of her arms to stretch it out. Having a dozen robots climbing all over her and trying to pull her apart wasn't fun even if she was super durable.
"Maybe we need to call Red Tornado, or one of the other members of the League?" Megan asked.
"No. This is our mission and we can't rely on the League to simply do it for us." Percy said.
"Plus if we can find a way to track the parts then we still have a chance to complete this, show them Robin." Aqualad chimed in.
Robin grinned as he stepped forward with one of the monkey styled heads of the robots. The little thing was cracked open and all manner of wires and other mechanical parts hung out and were connected to the little computer on Robin's wrist. It was pretty clear what he had in mind.
"Ivo is pretty good, but he seems to think everyone else is pretty dumb. There were practically no defenses to his systems when I got my hands on this little guy. I mean look at this. I'm tracking all the other robots in real time, and the parts to Amazo too. It's all on the same system." Robin chuckled.
"No wonder he got the jump on us. He was able to track the Amazo pieces every step of the way." Kid Flash realized.
"Yep, but now we can flip that around on him." Robin said as he showed Percy.
"Good. We know where we're headed now. We'll discuss exactly how we hit him on the way. Powergirl, can you carry Robin? I'll get Kaldur. Be ready to face off with Amazo. It's possible that it'll be repaired by the time we reach it." Percy said.
The team's expression hardened as one before they took off. A tough fight no doubt waiting for them at the end of their trail.
Diana had expected Donna's focus to be entirely centered around Percy. She'd been a bit agitated that her mother and to a lesser extent Batman had convinced her to remain on Themyscira to organize the Amazonian attempt to track down and apprehend her sister. It had allowed her and her mother to at least lean on one another in their worry and grief.
After all, as much as they were dedicated to stop her, especially from harming Percy, Donna was their family. No amount of wrongs done could ever fully change that. However being family did not mean they would stand by and let Donna go through with any more of her terror.
All involved knew what fate awaited the rogue Amazon and her collaborators. There would be no prison this time.
Unfortunately, as much as she knew she was needed here at home organizing the groups of Amazons she had spread across the world and acting as a liaison with the League in the matter, she wanted to be back with Percy.
Canary had let her know about the Amazo situation, and that Percy had learned the truth. Diana had scoffed at that. She knew he would eventually. Her repeatedly heading home over such a short period of time would already have him asking questions and she had trained him personally. It was only a matter of time before he hunted down enough leads to figure things out.
She had hoped a meeting between Donna and Perseus could have been a good thing. A new start for her family. Instead she was doing everything in her power to make sure that a meeting between the two would never happen.
Diana continued to pour her focus into the maps and reports she had before her. They had identified a few leads that her sister could use to navigate Man's world. Plenty of people, primarily women, that wouldn't see the danger of Donna only the charisma she had.
The same had happened here on Themyscira in the past. Donna had worked the other Amazons into a fury and led them on a genocide. It was horrible and while most had renounced such ideology afterward, the fact remained they had participated. Enough so that only the ringleaders and Donna herself could be properly punished for what had happened.
Which meant Diana was worried about just how many of her soldiers were actually helping conceal the movements of her sister and her band of traitors.
Just as she narrowed her eyes at a report from one of the groups sent to the American North East she heard a horn blow. The alarm signaling an attack. Looking out her palace window the Princess quickly realized that the attack was not on Themyscira itself but rather the smaller island given over to the colony of the sons. Smoke already rose up in a series of pillars and she had no doubt that battle raged across the much smaller island.
"Diana! The Sons!" Her mother called as she passed the room already strapping on armor.
"Take the guards when you can. I'm going directly there!" Diana replied before leaping from the window and taking off across the sky toward the island.
Familiar cracks of gunfire and the occasional thump of an explosion caught her off guard. If this was Donna's doing, they were using weapons from Man's World. Something she had thought would never happen.
"So you can change…but only for the worst, sister." She said sadly as she came into position over the battlefield that had been the town built by the sons.
Ten heavily armed and armored women swept through the narrow streets of the town. They showed no mercy to the boys and men of the island or the Amazons that fought to protect them. To have fallen so far as to even disregard that which they claimed to be saving. Killing Amazons to preserve them. Donna's traitors had fallen into insanity.
Diana slammed into the first of the foremost of the traitors from on high. The force of her attack killed the woman, pulverizing her inner organs. This was not a League matter. This was Themyscira and the penalty for these traitors was one thing only. Diana meted out their executions with grace and fury unseen outside of those with divine blood.
Despite being armed with a mix of Amazonian and modern weaponry, the traitors only numbered ten. Nine after she had crushed one upon her entry to the battlefield. In a moment that number became eight as she drew her sword, destroyed the gun in a former sister's hand and drove the blade into her neck.
Wisely the surviving traitors turned their attention onto Diana then, but in doing so gave openings to the Son's and loyal Amazons that they had been so ruthlessly assaulting a moment before.
Between Diana's furious attack and the rallied defenders, the traitors were cut down in quick succession. They drew plenty of blood in return though. Diana was certain that had been the whole point. Show them that Donna's force could still strike at the Sons if they wanted and with apparent ease.
As Diana slew the last of her former sisters the defenders let out a cry of mixed despair and fury. There was no joy in this victory. Even as she saw Amazons and Sons unite and care for one another's wounds she felt only remorse at what had happened. So much pointless death.
Her eyes welled a bit with tears as she saw an Amazon drop to her knees as she found her slain brother in the sands of the beach. He had fallen, sacrificing himself for two younger boys who wept beside the woman.
"Diana…" Artemis' familiar voice called out drawing her attention.
The princess went over to the women to see what she had found. Looking down she didn't need to even hear any words from her friend. At her feet was the apparent leader of this raid. The woman that Diana had crushed upon her arrival.
She had also been captain to one of the teams sent to the North East region of America to hunt Donna. Just as Diana had worried there were traitors in their midst. Luckily only those she trusted most had been kept at home and even among them only those with actual bonds with the sons were set to the defense of the smaller isle.
"I will tell my mother. It seems I cannot stay home and organize our forces as we planned. We may be bound for a civil war." Diana said darkly.
"Know we support you Diana." Artemis said, wiping at her eyes and refusing to look at a nearby body wrapped in a sheet.
Diana pulled her friend into a hug. Artemis had become a mother fifteen years ago now. Her son had been a skilled craftsman and considered serving Lord Hephaestus but wanted to spend a few years with the Sons so that Artemis could still visit him first.
She would never be able to again.
Diana was unsure what the true goal of this raid was, but she did know it had hardened the resolve of the loyalists. Around her Sons and Amazons alike were already preparing themselves to return the damage done by the traitors. Diana would find them an opportunity when she could.
Kid Flash kept pace with a train car that they had identified as the one where Amazo had come to a stop. Worryingly they were pretty sure the machine was assembled once again. That worry was confirmed easily enough when a muffled voice stated a handful of robotic words.
"Accessing Superman."
A blast of red light shattered the wall of the train car revealing a towering humanoid machine looming before the team. Surrounded by his monkey robots a thin man stood grinning at the young heroes.
"Amazo destroy them. Priority Alpha." The man whom the team assumed to be Professor Ivo commanded.
"Accessing: Black Canary." The android began.
"Move!" Percy shouted as he dove down and pushed Kid Flash out of the way while throwing Kaldur around and over himself to land on the train.
As Percy snatched up Wally and continued to avoid the sonic scream the machine was letting loose the rest of the team moved to surround the android. Before they could land a blow though, Professor Ivo sent the remainder of his monkeys to attack the team.
Most were blasted out of the air with Powergirl's heat vision. She had learned from getting swarmed by the annoying machines earlier and it was not going to happen again. While she destroyed as many as she could, Aqualad assaulted Amazo directly using his water bearers to create a large mace style weapon.
Amazo tanked the attack before cracking an open palm across the Atlantean's face and reaching out to grab him by the shoulders. Thankfully Aqualad wasn't alone. Before Amazo could grip the teen properly Robin planted several exploding birdarangs into the machine's face and chest. Miss Martian focused her attention on Professor Ivo himself as the others battled the machines.
Powergirl finished off the monkeys charging her and pushed forward grabbing the last two of the bots before they could turn on Megan as she advanced toward the mastermind.
"Amazo, protect me." Ivo commanded without even stepping back as Megan raced toward him.
"Accessing: Superman." The android said before firing beams of light from its eyes that smashed into Megan's side.
As Megan screamed and was caught by Powergirl, Amazo was engaged by both Percy and Kid Flash with Robin trying to provide support. Aqualad was still reeling from the blow to his face a moment before but was quickly recollecting himself.
"Keep it's attention, I can break him again." Percy shouted as he drew his sword and drove it forward toward the machine.
It lunged backward away from him while accessing the Flash's abilities. Every slash that Percy made toward the machine was avoided as Amazo shifted around each blow with ease. The Amazonian prince attempted to change the rhythm of his attacks but it did little to disrupt the ease with which Amazo avoided his attacks.
Ivo moved behind the android as it moved at speeds not even Wally could properly keep up with and knocked attacks off course and kept the team stumbling into one another. He cackled as he watched Kid Flash crash into Percy and send both boys tumbling as Amazo slapped a birdarang back at Robin foreign him to dive out of the way.
"We aren't making any headway like this." Aqualad grunted as he attempted to attack with his water bearers once again.
Percy narrowed his eyes, before pushing himself to his feet once again and charging forward. He needed to bring Amazo's attention onto himself and the other heavier hitters. Especially with Megan injured from the heat vision of Amazo.
"Kid Flash, get Miss M to safety, Powergirl help me and Aqualad, Robin, get to know the Professor." Percy commanded as he narrowly managed to pivot around a punch sent by Amazo and almost score a blow with his sword as he counter attacked.
No one hesitated as he barked his commands. They had gotten used to that voice from Percy in their training sessions and now they jumped into action with literally practiced ease. Forced to focus on Percy, Amazo was unable to properly counter Aqualad as he rained down blows from his water bearers. Powergirl swept forward with a flying tackle and attempted to grapple the machine and give both of her teammates openings to continue the assault.
"Accessing Superman" The machine droned out before bringing its arms up and crashing them down onto Karen's back sending her smashing down hard enough to bend the frame of the traincar and cause it to bounce on the tracks.
Percy could only widen his eyes as the train suddenly began disconnecting from the track and pitching off of the rail line. Amazo had no presence of self preservation and instead snapped a hand out to grab Percy by the head. Its grip was like steel and each of its fingers drew a thin bead of blood where they squeezed hard enough to begin breaking through his blessedly strong skin.
Luckily, while Amazo lacked any self preservation, Professor Ivo did not.
"Amazo! Protect me, Priority Alpha!" The man screamed as he was catapulted into the air as the train came off of the rails.
Percy felt himself flung away from the train only to be caught by Megan as she left Kid Flash to rescue both Aqualad and Robin before they ended up as smears of red beneath the train. Powergirl was going to be sore but she could handle the wreck far better than either of the boys could.
"As long as Professor Ivo is giving him commands, Amazo is a problem that will just keep coming, Percy, but I can make him stop." Megan said within Percy's mind.
He could feel her emotions with her words. Hesitance. Fear at using her powers in such a way making her an outcast among the group of friends that she had finally found. However what choice did they have but to try? They could likely defeat Amazo given enough time but who would be hurt and what damage would be done before then?
"Follow my lead, do whatever you have to with Ivo." Percy mentally replied, trying to impress confidence with his words. He wasn't sure if it worked, but Megan seemed determined so he pulled free of her arms and launched himself forward toward Amazo.
The android had shielded Professor Ivo just as it was ordered. It had wrapped itself around it's master and largely ended up rolling through the wreck to try and dissipate any sort of force of inertia that might harm the man. It was far from perfect and Professor Ivo was incredibly dizzy, but he was alive and rather unharmed.
The sudden impact of a demigod slamming into the android put that back into question however. Professor Ivo stared at the nearly glowing green eyes of the teen as he brought a gleaming blade up and over his head to slash at him. Amazo reacted with its main priority still being the safety of Professor Ivo. Turning around it took the blow to its back forcing it down onto one knee to better stabilize itself from the damage it had received.
The scientist was nearly petrified. He had felt like the Amazonian really intended to kill him in that moment and realized just how dangerous the boy was. Super powered freaks like them could end his life like it was nothing and at the moment on Amazo could stop it from happening. Best to make sure it was permanent.
"Amazo, kill Xiphos, Priority Alpha!" He shouted, hopping a bit as Amazo let him loose and turning to watch the machine assault the boy.
"Accessing, Black Canary" It spoke before letting loose a scream that sent the hero stumbling backward and cringing in pain.
"Accessing Xiphos" It continued before reaching out and disarming Percy while he was still stunned. Luckily that was enough for him to be pulled back into the moment as he began fighting to defend himself from the machine as it tried to close its arms around his head and likely break his neck.
Professor Ivo watched with giddy excitement as the machine began to tap into the strength of Superman once more to crush the boy. His mind was suddenly filled with a pressure that bordered on agony. He screamed for only a moment before he went limp as dainty green hands pressed onto either side of his face.
Miss Martian deactivated her invisibility and forced her way into Professor Ivo's mind. He was a twisted man but probably not the worst that she would have to deal with in the future based on what she had learned of many of the villains on Earth. She didn't waste any time, knowing Percy was shaken and on the ropes against the android while the rest of the team were still struggling with shaking off the train wreck.
"Amazo, deactivate immediately." Both Megan and the villain spoke at once causing the machine to halt its attack and lock into place. Like a metallic statue it became completely still in an instant.
"Now sleep." She said putting the scientist out of commission as well.
She let him drop to the ground. He kind of deserved a few bruises for everything. The team was pretty banged up.
Percy was bloody as he came over to check on her. Miss Martian was badly burned from the attacks she had been victim of during the night, which were especially painful because of her physiology. If it was possible Karen probably had a concussion and so did Kaldur.
They had all just been through a train wreck as well and while they were alive…they definitely were going to feel the result of that in the morning.
They had won though and they could go home and get some well earned rest.
At least after they called the League about all of this.
Artemis Crock had intended on helping out the team of young heroes that she had been told about. Unfortunately, rather than getting the opportunity she had hoped for to prove to Green Arrow that she could definitely do well on the team, she had been in prime seating to watch the team face off with something with the powers of at least three members of the Justice League.
That suddenly felt like it was more than she could chew. Then again it wasn't like they had handled it and come out unscathed. If anything they had only really won like they had because the martian girl on their team had gotten into the guys' head and shut the big guy down.
Still looked like it could be more than she wanted to deal with.
If she wanted to really push past Sportsmaster's legacy though she needed to start her path into the light. That's something her mom might say…Green Arrow too.
Either way for now there wasn't much she could do so she packed up and headed out to look for some thugs or other lowlife to rough up. She needed a bit of a confidence boost after witnessing that fight.
Donna hummed thoughtfully as she regarded the reports she was receiving from her various loyalists. Few remained back at home and sadly none were very high up or trusted in Diana and Hippolyta's command. She had expected as much. She was in no way underestimating the capability of her mother and sister. Both of them likely had an idea who among those of the Amazons they could truly trust and who they could only use at arms length.
That didn't mean they were infallible. Donna understood Diana's choice to send the less trustworthy members of her forces further afield. She should have been more careful about who she sent where though. Among those sent here to North America, no less than half had been contacted by Donna.
While some were far less receptive to her ideals than she had hoped, showing just how far the sickness that infected her mother and sister had spread, others had embraced her with open arms. Thankfully they weren't the only ones.
Donna's contacts were few and far between but they grew quickly. The amount of women that had been abused and browbeaten by Man's World was staggering. That her sister had not openly launched some form of crusade to remedy it was just another symptom of the problem that Donna could see taking over her beloved Themyscira.
Even more receptive to her plans than her fellow Amazons, the women she encountered here in Man's world were especially helpful in navigating this world and acquiring weapons and supplies to better arm themselves. She'd used some of those in the raid launched against the Son's. It might have been a doomed mission but it would achieve the needed result that Donna hoped for.
Amazons had now died for the Sons. If she was right, then resentment against Diana and the Sons both would begin to fester for requiring their sacrifices to save the Sons. It would have in Donna if she had been asked to do the same. Surely her sisters were not that far gone that it would not affect them.
With Diana likely spread too thin to properly hunt her, the forces of Themyscira either stuck guarding home, or spread out across the world, Donna could largely act with impunity. That is of course as long as she kept a low profile until it was time to strike.
The time was coming soon to remove the origin of what plagued her sister and mother's heart. First however she would need to draw him out, and she was already in the process of making that happen.
It was best to plan for contingencies however. Donna had learned of her sister's comrades in this organization dubbed the Justice League. Some among their number would have made excellent Amazons, yet it was a group dominated by the men of Man's World and infected with their ideals. It was also a threat that Donna did not intend to take lightly.
So she continued to plan and plot even as she prepped one of her more trustworthy and capable lieutenants to probe their target to see just what kind of defenses Perseus possessed.
The team needed a bit to recover from their injuries. Coupled with the lecture from Batman about asking the League for help when needed the team didn't exactly feel spectacular despite their victory against Amazo and Professor Ivo. Both were currently under control and Amazo was being studied at STAR labs as intended. Ivo was going to be enjoying some time in Belle Reve.
Percy had called off the harder hitting training sessions for the day both to let everyone recover and to hold a meeting. Just as he told Black Canary he would, Percy fully intended to tell the team all about what to expect. They had a right to know.
"So, is this like an intervention or something?" Wally asked as he looked between the faces of his teammates as they sat or stood in a rough circle in the living room area of the cave.
Percy sighed as Robin chuckled and the others shifted a bit uncomfortably. They could tell that whatever he wanted to talk about was weighing on him a bit. Percy himself could appreciate Wally trying to alleviate the odd sense of tension that was rising, but it didn't really help him in figuring out how best to broach the topic.
"I guess I just really don't know how best to begin with this." Percy admitted as he drummed his fingers against his forearms.
The biggest worry he was considering about all this would be how the team would feel toward the League, especially Robin. Batman was far more than just a mentor for the younger boy.
"It's something involving your home, isn't it?" Karen asked.
Percy looked toward her and nodded. They were still a bit off balance from their exchange a few days prior but Percy wasn't really focused on that and Karen could tell it was more than just her tasteless remarks about him being barred from going home.
"Yeah. Something pretty bad happened there recently and it has changed some stuff. It also affects all of us and the League didn't want us to know about it. When I managed to find out I decided I don't care if they did or didn't want us to know, we all have a right to." Percy began to explain feeling himself grow more confident as he continued on. The team listened silently as he spoke as well leaving the floor open for him to continue.
"I kinda need to start with some history I guess. I told you all how it is that I am a male Amazonian. How that sort of thing is handled and has been handled in the past. It really is better now and because of that I got to live with my mother until I was twelve and my sister brought me here, to Man's World."
The group nodded along, they had gotten that much at least when discussing his origins with him a while back.
"Not everyone was exactly in favor of the changes though. My sister started the changes on Themyscira for the Sons a long time ago. Like a century before I was born or more. At the time a small peninsula was cordoned off to let the Sons establish their own town and live. Amazons could begin visiting their male family, sons and brothers that in the past they never would have even met. The leader of the Sons was my older brother Jason, just like Diana he was the son of my mother and Zeus. He worked with Diana to try and make a new future for all of our people, but not everyone saw that as a good thing."
By now most of the others had an idea where this story was going. Most of them had been taught enough of history to know how political changes like that usually had some form of violent opposition. Whether they were good for the people or not.
"There was a conflict." Kaldur said sadly.
"There was a massacre. It turns out I have another older sister as well. Practically Diana's twin I guess you could say…it gets kind of complicated. I didn't know until I got the story from Canary who was told by my sister. This woman, Donna, murdered a lot of the Sons alongside several co-conspirators. Then there was a brief but violent civil war. Diana and my mother won, but my brother Jason was killed in the fighting. The leaders of the traitors were locked in a special prison and thanks to Lord Hephaestus a new home was made for the Sons on a small island to the south of the main island of Themyscira." Percy explained before leaning back a bit to think about how to continue best with the story.
"I'm guessing it doesn't end there." Robin pointed out.
Percy shook his head. The room was solemn. Even Wally knew to take the conversation seriously and kept silent to let Percy continue.
" I think, knowing Diana, the hope was that in time Donna and her followers could be made to see reason. Instead they have only grown more embittered. They broke out of prison recently and murdered all of the males on the main island before fleeing to Man's World." Percy said, causing Megan to cover her mouth with her hands as the others all felt their stomachs clench. No wonder their leader had been so distracted.
"Children all under twelve." Kaldur muttered, hardly able to believe the act.
"That's what brings me to now. The new training program the League put us on is actually because Donna is likely going to hunt me now. Not only am I a Son of Themyscira I am the son of the Queen and the first of which was raised by my mother. I will never actually lead Themyscira but I am a part of the royal family. My secret sister can't tolerate that."
"We need to be ready, I get the training exercise now but we need to do more to prepare." Wally said.
"Yeah…but why didn't the League just tell us what is going on?" Robin asked.
"You seemed especially annoyed by Batman lately, Percy." Megan mentioned causing the boy to sigh and Robin to noticeably tense.
"Yeah, I should have figured you would pick up on that. I haven't been his biggest fan exactly even before this but that was for other reasons. Mostly I wasn't the biggest fan of how he treats others. I could get past that easily enough. Just different tastes in personality I guess. My real issue came up just recently. It isn't just with him though. It seems the League agreed with his plan to use us as bait to lure Donna out. We are bait." Percy said, causing the others to look between one another in shock and confusion.
As he expected, Robin bolted to his feet ready to argue against that before he stopped as Karen cut him off.
"It makes sense. They need a fast way to draw her out and we are the best way to do it. Harder to figure it out if the bait doesn't know too." She said. The blonde wasn't approving but she could see the reasoning easily enough.
"It doesn't matter in the long run. I chose to tell you all because I believe you have a right to know. We are still bait, or actually I am bait for Donna. That doesn't change." Percy added in as Robin looked like he would say something to Karen.
The group fell silent as they digested all that they had been told. It was heavy stuff especially thinking about the League willingly using their leader for bait with no intention of telling him or them.
"Are you alright, Percy?" Megan asked softly.
The boy said nothing for a moment before blowing some air out of his mouth to push some hair out of his face.
"I think I'm just fired right now, and like everyone else a bit sore. You all should get some rest. No training for the next two days while we try and recover. Kaldur and Megan you two I want on lighter stuff only after we start back, until Canary, Aquaman, Manhunter, or one of the League's doctors says you are good to go." Percy said as he stood up.
The group nodded as their leader left for his room, unlikely to get an actual full night of sleep. By now they knew him too well to expect that.
That is the Chapter. Next time we see a bit more of how the team will be handling what they have learned and how they handle the fact that Percy has a Demigoddess shaped ax hanging over his neck.
We also will be meeting the next member to join a little better. I wanted to toss a tiny bit into the mix on this chapter showing Artemis off but she didn't do all that much except realize the team she is trying to get onto isn't exactly the Junior Justice League like Speedy thinks. It is just as dangerous as the big leagues in some cases.
Anyway hope you enjoyed.
Till Next Time.