chapter four - drop zone

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SOMEWHERE IN THE CARRIBEAN SEA
JULY 22nd — 20:08 ECT

"approaching santa prisca," m'gann announced.

dick stared out the window of the bioship. surely enough, he could see the island fast approaching them. this was their first official mission, it had to go perfectly.

dick thought back to just hours earlier when batman had assigned them this covert mission. santa prisca was home to a dangerous and illegal neurosteroid called venom that was being used as a strength enhancer.

the league had gathered infrared heat signatures that proved that the venom factory was working at full capacity, but  all shipments of venom had been inexplicably cut off. they hadn't dared go in for fear of the businessmen finding out and just moving elsewhere.

until now.

it was a covert recon mission, the team was there to observe and to observe only. in batman's words, "if the justice league needs to intervene, we will."

the plan required two drop-zones, and the team had chosen the leader for the mission. dick wasn't surprised at the choice.

"approaching drop-zone a in thirty seconds," m'gann said.

kaldur stood up, pressing on his belt to change his outfit from its garish red to a dull blue. "ready."

"i'm putting the bioship in camouflage mode, you're clear to exit."

kaldur nodded, watching as a small hole opened up on the floor of the bioship. about a metre below them was water, and kaldur took no time at all to just dive right in. 

he radioed in a few minutes later. "heat and motion sensors are patched, data's on a continuous loop. clear to move in."

"drop zone b in thirty seconds," m'gann announced a minute later.

wally stood up, turning to dick. "look at this!" he said, pressing on the lightning bolt symbol on his chest. the bright colours of his uniform slowly faded to dark.

"dude, you showed me, like, twelve times yesterday." dick laughed, adjusting his gloves to go almost all the way to his elbows.

"i know, but it's so sick!" wally spun around to show off his uniform. "you should get the new stealth-wear."

"i already dress for stealth."

"i miss the days when you wore bright green tights."

dick scrunched his nose up, shaking his head. "they were so bad."

"what about you, supey?" wally asked. "are you boring like the boy wonder here?"

"no capes, no tights, no offense."

"it totally works for you," m'gann pined, catching herself quickly. "in that... you can, uhm, you can totally... work in those."

"nice, save, meg," dick laughed, watching as she pulled her hood over her head and disappeared.

a grappling hook came down from the ceiling over wally and dick's chairs. they both attached it to their belts as another hole appeared in the bioship floor. dick and wally zipped down, landing softly on the dirt below. m'gann appeared a moment later, her hood down.

their stealth was fruitless, though, as superboy decided to just jump out of the ship. the three of them dove out of the way as he landed with a loud smash, creating a small crater.

"i knew i didn't need a line," superboy said, smirking.

"oh yeah, because creating a seismic event will definitely help with the covert part of our mission," dick said, standing up and crossing his arms.

"aqualad, drop b is a go," m'gann said, holding her hand up to her earpiece.

"head for the factory," kaldur's voice sounded in everyone's earpieces. "i'll track your location and rendezvous."

"roger roger," dick said, holding out his hologlove, which was displaying a map of the island. he turned to the others, gesturing to it. "this way."

~

the jungle freaked dick out a bit. it was a place where shrubbery and trees were so thick that anyone—or anything—could be hiding just one leaf away from you. also, spiders. very large, very scary spiders.

dick led the team down toward a small waterfall. it was perfect, the sound covered any noise they made. they walked along the edge of it for a few minutes before coming to the end of the ravine, having to climb up the 60° wall.

dick checked his map, they were getting close to the factory. he turned around to tell them just that, but noticed that the other three had fallen behind. this actually seemed to work in his favour, though. it was much easier to blend in with the shadows by oneself than with a group.

dick continued forward, hugging close to the trees and keeping an eye out for creepy-crawlies. he paused at the top of a hill, hearing maybe a half-dozen footsteps coming his way.

frowning, dick peeked down to the bottom of the hill. there was a squad of armed men walking past, led by a muscley man with face paint, though that didn't last long. they bumped into another squadron just ten metres away and began firing at eachother.

interesting.

"AHHH!"

dick whipped his head toward his left, where the yell had come from. it sounded like wally, but no. he wouldn't scream, he wouldn't infringe on their mission.

nevertheless, a ginger boy in black spandex tumbled down the hill, landing directly in the centre of the crossfire. bullets flew immediately, directed at wally this time. he managed to dodge them (thanks to his speed) but with so many people shooting at him, he wasn't going to be able to do it for much longer.

superboy jumped into the battle, tackling mr muscles. dick sighed, jumping down on one soldier and then kicking another. he gave them each a punch good luck, or rather, a punch to make sure that they were unconscious.

"so much for stealth, huh, guys?" dick asked, dodging another soldier's punch. "you couldn't have followed my lead and hide in the shadows?"

wally took out another one, turning to dick. "that's what you were doing? i can't read your mind, rob."

"and i can only read the bad guys' minds," m'gann said, landing on the ground beside wally.

the soldier dick was fighting pulled out a knife, forcing dick to flip out of the way. kaldur jumped out of nowhere, grabbing the guys' chest and using his electric powers to knock him out.

~

dick surveyed the group of men sitting against the trees, tied up and unconscious. half of them were in street clothes, the other half in red cloaks. "i recognize the uniforms, they're members of the cult of the cobra."

"batman would've mentioned it if he knew that an extremist cult was running santa prisca's venom operations," kaldur said, finishing tying up the last of the members.

"certainly," dick said. "i'm guessing that the cobra came to toss these goons, that's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"so what are they?" wally asked. "super-cultists now? let's radio bats and we can head ho-"

"they're not on venom," dick interrupted. "they're hoarding it, we don't leave until we figure out why."

"we already have our evidence, you can't make us stay."

"watch me. this team needs a leader!"

"how come it's you?" wally rubbed his eyes. "you ducked out on us as soon as you got the chance."

"you blew our cover the moment we saw someone!"

"yeah, 'cause i was out looking for you!" wally yelled, running a hand through his hair. "you're fifteen, di- rob, you can't disappear in the middle of a foreign country!"

"oh yeah, because you're sixteen and so much wiser-"

their argument ceased as soon as big man muscles-and-face-paint started laughing. "ha ha ha ha! you fight, yet you only know half the story."

this attracted the attention of the whole team. they semi-circled around him, all looking hesitant. the man continued, his voice deep with a thick spanish accent. "i can get you into the factory, i know a secret entrance."

m'gann closed her eyes, bringing her hand to her head for a moment. "there's a secret entrance, but... but he's also hiding something."

"i'm not that pliable, chiquita." he laughed.

m'gann groaned, looking at the team. "he's mentally reciting football scores and español."

"c'mon!" he urged. "the enemy of my enemy is my friend, chika. you can call me bane."

"how about you shut up, măgar?" dick cut in. this guy wasn't trustworthy. not in the slightest. but he was their way in. "break our trust and we'll break your neck."

~

bane had led them up a small mountain overlooking the factory, pausing to look over the edge. dick pulled his binoculars out of his utility belt, watching as the cultists moved boxes of venom from the factory down to the tarmac, obviously expecting a buyer.

"a buy's definitely going down," he said, passing the binoculars to wally. "look at all that product. but if cobra's not selling to the usual suspects then-"

"-we need to identify the buyer," kaldur finished.

"just what i was thinking." wally nodded, handing dick's binoculars back.

"yeah, you're the thinker." dick laughed into his hand.

"this is just toxic, dude."

big man bane walked over to a big boulder, picking it up and moving it away to reveal a dimly lit tunnel. "come on, it's this way."

after a minute of walking, bane paused, stopping in front of some sort of door. he placed his thumb on the fingerprint pad beside it and the door opened, revealing a large room filled with machinery and boxes.

dick peeked in it first, scanning every nook and cranny he could, at least from where they were standing. "all clear."

before anyone else even had the chance to look out the door, dick had already made a plan. it was simple really. it didn't even require anyone else. they could just stand here for an hour and he would have done everything he wanted.

ah, working alone was so much better.

dick jumped up to a pipe on the wall, swinging on it until he had enough velocity to jump onto a nearby platform. his eyes were on the prize: a computer room attached at the very top of the room they were in. dick jumped from the platform to a staircase, running up it and silently opening the computer room door.

there was about a dozen computers in the room and only one cultist. dick pulled a chloroform bomb out of his utility belt, chucking it toward the guy. he coughed for a few seconds before passing out.

dick walked over to the cultist, pushing him onto the ground and sitting in his chair. he wafted his hand through the air to dismiss of any extra chemical that could be floating around. since he was still upright and conscious, it didn't seem like there was much.

"whatcha got?" wally's voice came from behind him.

dick continued typing on the computer, nodding for wally to come see. "chemical formulas-"

that sure grabbed his attention.

"-i'm guessing it involves venom, but-"

wally grabbed a granola bar from his snack pocket, taking a bite and pointing at one of the two chemical formulae on screen. "that one's venom, see the hydrogen right there? and that one's... woah..."

"what?"

"it's the blockbuster formula from cadmus. they're mixing it and, if they do it right, it's gonna be tripling the effects!" wally took another bite. "and also completely permanent."

"so cobra has access to blockbuster?" dick patted wally's cheek affectionately. "you're a genius, iubit. our mystery buyer's cobra's supplier!"

"using the cult to make a super-formula?" wally hummed, crinkling up his granola bar wrapper and shoving it in the unconscious cultist's hand. "that's op. imagine if the big guns got ahold of that."

"that's what i'm afraid of." dick tapped his earpiece. "robin to aqualad: we've got... it's static, comms are jammed."

"do you think they're still waiting in the doorway?" wally covered his mouth with his hand, giggling.

a loud CRASH sounded from a couple rooms away, met immediately with the sound of shattering glass. dick raised one eyebrow. "i'm gonna assume not."

the duo began heading toward the sound, running through doors and over bridges. when they finally found their team, it wasn't a pretty sight.

m'gann was just hit by an explosive, flying (not by choice) into the far wall. superboy was fighting a terrifying 10ft tall monster, and he wasn't winning. the only thing stopping kaldur from becoming a bloody corpse was his water shield, and even that wouldn't last much longer.

wally headed to help kaldur, so dick figured the four of them could handle it. he had another plan, another solo plan. honestly, all of his plans had gone amazing, like, every-time. he was truly a strategist.

this was probably his easiest plan yet. 1) distract whomever is outside with his jazzy fight techniques and 2) break their helicopter just for laughs.

everyone online? m'gann's voice echoed through his head.

yeah.

online and ready to shine!

good. we need to regroup.

oh, they were all so predictable.

i'm sort of in the middle of something. dick stepped outside, instantly being hit with the gross humidity. just like he had planned, two of the cult's leaders stood outside too, a girl with shaggy ginger hair and a tall man in a red robe.

"robin?" the cult leader scoffed. "batman must truly be desperate."

"and yet you seem disconcerted."

"shimmer, take him," the leader commanded, and the ginger—shimmer—ran at dick full force.

she aimed a punch at him, but he dodged it easily. dick kicked her back and she immediately lobbed another hit at him. wow, shimmer was barely trained in hand-to-hand fighting.

robin, i'm not playing. kaldur chided. you're a part of this team, you can't just LEAVE.

dick's expression soured. as much as he despised it, he was part of a team. and if they were really doing so badly that they needed him to hold their hands out of crossfire, so be it. he would sooner throw the mission than be the reason that wally gets hurt.

good thing he could finish his two-step plan easily.

dick pretended not to see shimmer coming toward him. he fake-stumbled back, throwing a bird-a-rang directly at the helicopter's gas tank. dick punched shimmer in the cheek, lobbing another bird-a-rang into the propellers.

god, he had perfect aim.

dick threw a flash-bomb onto the ground, jumping through the door and down to the floor below it with a pizzaz-filled tuck and roll. "pe bune, măgar?" he muttered as he joined his teammates.

nice to see you again, robbie. wally winked, hiding behind a pillar so that the bullets couldn't reach him.

we need to retreat! kaldur smacked a cultist in the face with his water bearer. kidflash, clear us a path to the tunnel!

wally did just that, knocking down the cultists like dominos. they weren't unconscious, but it was enough to buy them time. superboy finally gained the upper hand in his battle against frankenstein's monster, picking him up and throwing him 10 metres away. he ran into the tunnel as fast as he could, kaldur closing and locking the door behind him.

that didn't work for long, rather, it didn't work at all. the monster knocked down the metal door as easy as one could pick a flower. bullets started flying down the halls, a couple of the ricocheting around and almost killing dick.

"superboy, the support beams!" kaldur yelled, running faster as superboy knocked down the beams, thus knocking down the entire tunnel.

dick felt wally's arms wrap around him as the roof began falling down. they ran until the dust cleared and it seemed safe enough. only half of the tunnel had fallen. they weren't buried alive.

the rest of the team caught up quickly. it was pitch black, but dick always kept a few glow-sticks in his utility belt. he cracked them, providing a small amount of light, and handed them to wally, who immediately began making jewelry from them.

dick faced the tunnel wall, running his fingers across his forearms, trying to settle his emotions. "i can't believe my first mission as leader went... so horribly."

"you're the most experienced." kaldur's voice echoed slightly. "but perhaps that was your downfall. you're so used to fighting alongside batman, fighting alongside your partner. you both have roughly the same skillset, you both are experienced to a point where, without a word spoken, you both know exactly what to do.

"but this team is new," kaldur continued. "we're inexperienced and we don't know what to do. thus, the leader must be clear, we must all be on the same page. they can't just vanish and expect others to play their parts in an unknown plan-"

"so, then what?" dick lashed out, turning around. "you can't just shit on me because i know what i'm doing! i can't always hold your hands! i can't... i can't lead. i'm not a team player, i'm selfish and conniving-"

"well, don't be too hard on yourself-"

"no, walls, i'm right. aqualad's right. i'm not fit to lead, i work better on my own. i always... i always have."

"so what?" superboy stepped forward, crossing his arms over his chest. "you're quitting the team?"

"no! if being a team player is my weakness, that means it's what i've gotta work on, right?" dick grinned, turning to kaldur. "you should lead us, kal."

kaldur turned to the others. unsurprisingly, everyone agreed on giving him the position. it hurt dick a bit, hearing how kaldur would be so much better but it was his fault, anyway. what could he do about it now?

"then i accept the burden," kaldur said, placing a hand on dick's shoulder. "that is, until you're ready to take it upon yourself. you were born to lead this team, robin, maybe not yet, but soon. and when that time comes, i will happily take orders from you."

wally smirked, saluting dick from a few feet away. "you're looking like a dime today, my liege."

"oh, please!" dick put on a transatlantic accent, fanning his face with his hand. "if i'm a dime then you're a quarter, frumos."

"okay," kaldur interrupted them before this turned into a minecraft roleplay. "our top priority is preventing that shipment from leaving the island."

dick gratefully accepted a beautiful glow-stick hat from his boyfriend, turning to their new leader. "you took the words right out of my mouth, chief."

~

"so if sportmaster's the supplier/buyer, but he has to be working with someone else," dick said, reading from his hologlove whilst running down a dark tunnel. it was a talent. "he's lowly, he doesn't have the connections to have cobra do his dirty work, let alone acquire the blockbuster formula!"

"make it plural," wally said, running at dick's pace. "neither of them have the facility or the brain power to bond venom with blockbuster. they're working with scientists."

"i would say cadmus but we kinda already arrested those guys."

"why are there so many evil scientists?"

"dr doofenshmirtz," wally and dick said at the same time, bursting out laughing.

wally suddenly skidded to a halt, making dick bump into him. he groaned looking up at where his entire team was stopped. bane was standing near the tunnel exit, holding what looked like... a trigger button in his hand.

"hola, amigos."

dick looked around them, noticing the explosives rigged up along the support beam. if he hadn't been reading data on venom/blockbuster, he would've caught that. fuck.

"you betrayed us?" kaldur asked, actually looking solemn. "why?"

kid, grab that button. kaldur commanded.

"i want my factory back!" bane furrowed his eyebrows. "either you would take down my enemies for me or die trying. the justice league would've come to avenge their sidekicks, of course, my plan was foolproof. santa prisca would be mine once more. blowing this tunnel with you inside should have the same effect, no?"

dick felt wally whiz past him and watched as muscles stared at his hand in disbelief. did he really think that his plan was foolproof? he could use some tips from dick.

"oh wait," wally said, standing behind bane, looking casual as ever. "did you need this?"

"YOU SHITHEAD!" bane yelled, going to punch wally only to realize that m'gann had picked him up. he was powerless.

superboy smirked, walking so that he was nearly standing underneath bane. "drop 'im." m'gann did just that and, my-oh-my, did he get a beating.

wally sauntered over to dick, tossing the trigger up in the air and catching it again. dick's eyes widened. "oh my fucking god, kf, you're gonna blow us up!"

"i'm pretty good at catching it."

"you're literally going to hit the trigger, dude."

wally sighed, placing the trigger on a rock beside them. "i guess we should stop supey; we kinda have a high-profile drug deal to take down."

~

the cultists (and shimmer) stood near the helipad, talking to sportsmaster (CRINGE!!!!). dick frowned as the helicopter began to whir. the fact that they decided to fix his hard work was annoying, but at least he had bought them all enough time.

"see ya on the flippity flip," wally said, saluting dick with a grin. he ran full-speed at the cultists, knocking a couple out and dodging the fire of bullets from the others.

superboy jumped into the battle, heading toward his best friend, frankenstein's monster. before the monster could even touch him, kaldur spewed a powerful stream of water directly at the behemoth, knocking him a few metres away. 

dick ran over to where wally was fighting one of the cultists. the ginger pulled off the guy's mask, holding it up proudly. "souvenir!"

"gonna add that to your marble collection, kf?" dick cackled, knocking out the cultist beside him and hitting shimmer with a bird-a-rang that promptly tied her up.

"date night on friday? me, you and marbles." wally laughed, running away to help kaldur.

dick turned to the cult leader. "i know you don't like getting your hands dirty, so i'll make this quick."

the leader pulled off his cloak, revealing a 7ft tall man who was built like a renaissance stature. "i trust you know well, sometimes even a god must stoop down in order to conquer."

dick cocked his head. "how'd you know i was raised catholic?"

the god didn't say anything, so dick ran up, kicking him in the face. the other managed to catch his foot, forcing dick to fall to the ground. he jumped up again, lobbying another kick, but the god just caught it again, kicking dick back. the acrobatic flipped back just in time to land on his feet.

"you look disconcerted, boy wonder," the god mocked.

"sorry, i'll do my best to get concerted," dick shot back, punching the guy.

he threw dick down, stepping on his chest. his ribs had just stopped hurting from the fucking mister twister attack, and now this? at this rate, his organs would be jumbling, uncaged, by next year.

from where dick was laying, he watched as the helicopter took off, immediately being blown up. good. their plan was working, even if dick was about to be stepped on by god.

"i am plagued by mortals! nay, mosquitos."

dick managed to push the god's foot off of his chest, summersaulting backwards and pushing himself to a standing position. the rest of his team stood behind him, looking worse for wear.

the five of them seemed to scare him off though. he stared at them with trepidation before backing into the woods. "another time, boy wonder."

dick ran after him, scanning the forest, but he was nowhere to be seen. "did you guys get sportsmaster?"

"no, but he was on the helicopter when we blew it up," m'gann said.

"dude, he's a gothamite." dick stared at where the helicopter had crashed—the factory. the entire facility was on fire, caving in on itself. "he'll never die."

"preach it!" wally laughed.

dick turned to kaldur. "you did good, kal. you're the right guy for leader. you're also the right guy to explain this shit to batman."

MOUNT JUSTICE
JULY 24th — 13:06 EDT

"a simple recon mission!" batman yelled, staring at the five teenagers. "observe and report! you will each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. but until then... good job."

bruce had a flair for drama.

"thanks?" m'gann brushed her hair behind her ears.

"don't thank me: no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. how you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success, and how you choose who leads is what determines character."

dick felt kaldur's hand on his shoulder.

"you're dismissed. i expect you all to show up to training tomorrow," batman said, walking to the zeta beam and disappearing.

"ho-ly shit!" wally's mouth hung open as he high-fived dick. "we just got complimented by batman."

"after getting severely reprimanded," dick countered.

"he said good job!"

"he said that we're receiving an evaluation about every mistake we made."

wally shook his head, walking behind dick and resting his arms on his boyfriend's shoulders. "think of the positives, iubit."

dick shook his head, turning to their other teammates. "you guys still wanna watch a classic? i propose the breakfast club."