The tension on the bioship was so thick it nearly made it hard to breathe. It took the team nearly all day to travel and wait for an opportune time to start scouting. The whole time, Captain Marvel would keep trying to start up conversations nobody was interested in. Most of that seemed to go fully over the adult's head as he tried failed conversation starter after failed conversation starter.

Once the time finally came, Robin and Artemis silently dropped out of the camouflaged bioship. The second they hit the ground, they took off running to scout the area. Slowly the bioship landed and a bigger door opened up for the heroes. "All clear." Robin reported back as the others exited the spaceship.

"Switch to stealth. We will review mission parameters." Kaldur commanded what earned him a heated glare from Kid Flash. "Parameters? We don't need no stinking parameters." While disrespectful on its own, the added disdain did nothing to ease the slight to Kaldur's leadership. "It's recon," Robin added, much in the same tone as his best friend. 'We know what to do." As if sharing the same braincell, the boys turned around and started to walk away from the group.

Kaldur took a step forward, trying to close the distance between him and the first friends he made when he came to the surface. "Kid, Robin." He called out softly. The pair turned around. Well, Robin turned around fully, Wally only turned enough so he would be looking at Robin speaking for the both of them. "The three of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us." He nearly growled at his once friend.

Dick was beyond pissed. Why was it that everybody seemed to have it out for him lately? Batman is STILL hiding that damn usb drive from him and refusing to share what happened while he was at Belle Rêve. Both Bruce and Alfred don't even believe facts Dick KNOWS to be true. Hell, the entire mess with Danny was one gigantic secret that he was given absolutely no time to even work on unraveling because more shit just kept being added to the propeller of a fan! To add insult to injury, he was also barring Dick from helping in the Red Tornado case. A trusted colleague nearly killed them all yet somehow that isn't enough to let him work on it just like he had done countless times before? And on top of all of that, somebody he held dear to him turned out to have known there were issues all along.

Just how many more things are going to happen that he gets to add to his 13 reasons list?!

"Or did you forget that, like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" Wally added sarcastically as he pulled on his goggles. With both of them being beyond frustrated, they ran off together to do what they do best. Work together as a team who could be trusted.

As they made their way through the forest, Dick couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched somehow. Of course, he expected there to be animals in their natural habitat.

Yet

Something about the vibe of the forest threw him off. Even though it's night and most animals would be asleep, it's just too quiet. The normal ambiance of the forest seemed thrown off. Somewhat similar to when a forest goes deadly quiet when an apex predator is near. But, they shouldn't have made enough of an impact to have this effect on the creatures here, right?

After a while of being lost in thought, swinging or jumping around and watching Wally nearly run circles to burn off their frustration, the two decided to continue on foot. "You feel it too, don't you?"

"Burning hatred and severe disappointment that fuels the hatred for being betrayed? Yeah, I thought that was obvious." Wally half joked, trying to get out some more frustrations while still keeping his tone light. He snorted lightly as Robin rolled his head at him, having to exaggerate his movement to replace the eyeroll the ginger couldn't see. "Yeah, forest feels wrong. Something's off for sure."

Dick let himself fall a few steps behind, letting Wally take the lead. At least he could trust the redhead to tell him the truth. He spotted an odd shadow passing over the little clearing they walked through. But, as he looked up, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Probably just a bird or a bat, he thought.

As they were walking, Dick froze as he heard oddly loud thuds from far in the distance. Perhaps it was Superboy moving around but it still put him on edge. The trumpeting noises of upset elephants he knew all too well weren't helping his nerves at all. Signaling to Wally that there was something more off than before, the two climbed up on a hill to check out the area. Once they found a good spot to use as a vantage, Robin pulled out his binoculars to survey the area. Wally, with his special made goggles, did much the same.

They found nothing out of the ordinary.

Oh no.

The something had found them.

Loud screeching came from behind them as only warning to a flock of three massive vultures dived down towards them. They barely had any time to dodge the sharp talons grabbing at them. Robin used his cape as defense, while all Wally could do was lay flat to the ground in hopes they would miss. Unfortunately for him, that resulted in him getting a small slash across his chest. At least somewhat fortunately, it wasn't all too deep so as long as he didn't overdo it, his body would be able to heal it up come noon.

"I thought vultures only ate dead meat!" Robin threw a batarang at the birds who were already preparing to dive down again. The boys set to running, Wally purposely not using his super speed to make sure he didn't leave Dick behind. The batarang exploded behind them but it didn't seem like it had any effect on the animals. "Yeah, these are some very proactive scavengers!" They had to duck down yet again as one of the birds made a grab for them.

"Proactive and super-sized! You thinkin what I'm thinkin?" Dick looked behind him to see a second one of the birds diving down to grab at him. Wally looked back to check on Dick. "Cobra venom?" He didn't wait for a response as they both had to jump out of the way of the bird dive bombing them.

They had to forgo their usual quips as the birds became more obsessive in their hunt for young meat. The vultures had managed to split the two up as Wally now had two of them hot on his tail. Even using his superspeed wasn't enough to outrun them. Meanwhile Robin had no choice but to use his smaller stature to his advantage to dodge and evade attacks by slipping under fallen tree trunks or swinging between a mess of vines. The oversized bird struggled to follow Robin as it crashed into everything.

Wally had already looped back to where Robin was, expertly using his speed and momentum to run up a tree and catapult himself directly into one of the flying fowls. With perfect calculation, he hit one of them dead on, knocking the overgrown chicken down into the forest floor.

Now all alone yet again, Robin was really struggling against two of the feathered fiends on him. They seemed to notice how hard he had it against two of them and changed their tactic. Instead of only going one by one, the avian attackers came at him at the same time. Robin rushed to grapple out of the trap and only managed to escape by a hair as one of their beaks ripped a gash into his cape.

One of the Thanksgiving feasts was stuck, talons lodged into the tree. The other was still out for blood as it tried to snatch the hatchling out of the tree. Robin had to jump out when one of its attempts at bird-napping was nearly successful. He was almost back on the ground when he heard a monstrous growl. Doing a defensive barrel roll, Robin managed to not only evade the now freed predatory pigeon, but also the 10 foot hound that was holding its wing down.

"Cujo!" Robin yelled out in glee as the hound shook his head with the vulture still stuck in his mouth. The happiness was short lived as the other balding peacock dived down to aid its trapped companion. Cujo was forced to let the mutant bird go as he jumped back to stand next to Dick. The boy reached out a hand to pet the massive shoulder of the hound, thanking him for his help.

With one of the birds now injured, they were a bit easier to deal with.

The pair readied up as the enraged emu prepared to attack once again. Robin threw out a batarang that exploded the second it collided with the beast's head. With the smoke blinding the thing, Cujo jumped up to grab it by the leg. Defying all laws of the universe, the hound spun around and flung the mutant at its friend, knocking both of them out of the air and towards somewhere in the distance.

Cujo came back down, very much by his own volition. As he came closer to Robin, he shrank back down to pup size much like he did with Danny. Dick caught the pup in his arms as Cujo slobbered all over his face. Giggling a bit at the odd sensation, Dick welcomed it all. For once getting a pleasant break from the literal shit show that was his life at the moment.

But as always, happiness couldn't last long. Dick heard the telltale signs of a speedster coming at him while struggling through the forest vegetation. Somewhat reluctantly he put Cujo down on the ground and gave the pup a little push away from him. "Go." He whispered. "It's not safe here right now, I'll be fine, I promise." With another small push and a genuine smile, Cujo finally agreed to leave, fading out of view as he went.

Behind him, Dick heard the rustling of plants getting slapped out of the way. He faked a little run so he could come to a stop when his best friend sped into view. "Are you okay?" Wally immediately asked as he did a speed check over to make sure the younger didn't have any injuries. Dick gently pushed Wally off him. "I'm fine, man. What about you?"

Wally pointed back to where he came from. "Louie's stuck in some very annoying and very slippery vines. What about Huey and Dewey?" Dick couldn't help but snort. "Crashed into each other, probably not doing much better."

A very angry screech echoed through the forest, most likely from their trapped Tweeties. The pair didn't need any communication to confirm they had to get the hell out of dodge before the vultures found them again like sitting ducks. They rushed through the clearing and found a good spot to hide between bushes and the canopy of a dense canopy by the river.

Just as they settled into their little vantage point, M'gann's voice called out in their minds. "Link established."

"Should you really still be giving us orders?" Artemis snarked as she did best. "And should you really be following them?" She remarked to M'gann.

The two of them shared a smirk, very much enjoying the somewhat friendly banter between their teammates. Until Kaldur's voice rang out and ruined their fun. "Listen, please." Not one to give up on some good fun, Wally joined in on the sarcasm train they had going on. "Oh good, Aqualad's voice in my head. I sooo missed that."

Robin cackled audibly as he couldn't take the face Wally was making. Now with a lot of the previous tension out of his system, he found it easier to have some fun again. Still, they are on a mission and as the experience senior, he should be setting an example. "Kaldur! KF and I got attacked by giant vultures." He couldn't help himself but raise an eyebrow and give a soft slap on the arm as Wally's shoulders and smile sagged at Robin's statement. Not one to completely ruin the fun for his best friend, he made sure to add his own sarcastic quip into the mix. " 'Course since we're moles you probably think we attacked ourselves."

"If he did, he wouldn't tell ya."

Both of them snorted at Artemis' response. It was starting to become really tempting to see who would win in a competition to piss off the leader in charge. Be it Kaldur or whoever became their new mission babysitter- sorry, supervisor.

"Superboy, are you online... or just pouting?" One of M'gann's rare quips rang through and by no surprise is it directed at the emotionally challenged clone.

"Busy." Came the very short response. "Call back later." So much for his addition to the fun.

"What gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us." Wally added again, fueling the growing fire enough they could start roasting marshmallows any second now.

"He should be chalant. Way chalant. Extremely chalant!" Robin felt the need to watch his friend visibly deflate as he took joy in butchering the English language. Some things just never get old.

"How can we be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?"

"Or how Connor doesn't trust us to take care of ourselves." Dick was pretty sure that was a type of frustration only M'gann felt. Especially with how protective the clone had gotten over her in the past day since the attack.

"Did he really think you or I would have been the mole?" Wally gestured his way through his sentence, nearly forgetting Dick was right next to him and slapping the bird off his perch.

"We've known each other for years!" The boy added as he caught and threw back Wally's wayward arm.

"Trust is a two way street!"

"And you know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them!"

"Not that we do that. Never."

"Enough." Kaldur's voice rang out, effectively quieting all the banter going on. The Atlantean definitely was not amused at their casual roasting of his actions. "Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him."

Wally did not seem impressed by Kaldur's order, still feeling quite bitter about it all. "Under your leadership?" He snorted, "I don't thi-"

"This is not up for debate." Kaldur's sudden outburst threw them all off guard. "You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over and you wish to select a new leader, I will happily stand down. But until that time, I am in command here." Kaldur's frustrations and sincerity flowed through the link to the others. Robin felt a little guilty at enjoying the somewhat unfriendly banter, deciding to respect the rules and listen to his friend.

They all agreed to rendezvous at Kaldur's location. Silence over the link as they all kept to themselves. Back under his command, the team moved as one to follow the tracks. After some tense time, they reached a compound in a big clearing.

Wally and Robin went up ahead as Wally used his special goggles again to survey the structure. The others spread out in the edges of the forest not too far from each other. Wally tapped Dick's arm and pointed to some odd pillars that surrounded the clearing. Having his wrist computer synced to Wally's goggles, he checked out what they were. Before he could give a warning, M'gann beat him to it. "I'll fly over." She suggested unknowingly.

"Negative," Wally warned for him, "The shield extends like a dome over the whole compound."

"Pylons are insulated," Robin added, "but one good shock should cause a momentary gap." Momentary for them to slip through, hopefully.

"I see a target." Artemis reported, the subtle noise of the taunt drawstring passing over them.

"Then be ready to hit it. Be ready, all of you." Kaldur ordered. Dick wasn't sure how he felt about this. Even though they were in a dense forest, this seemed like a very weak amount of security for the likes of Guerilla Gorilla. Glancing to his side, it seemed like KF had the same idea. Still, they decided to stick to themselves. Whether in fear it would cause issues with Kaldur, or because the had no solid evidence to back the hunch, they weren't sure. What he was sure of though, was that I don't know man, the vibes are off wouldn't come over right.

So, they watched as Kaldur ran up to one of the pylons. Using his Atlantean magic, he sent a strong electric current through it. Just as expected, it created a hole in the shield, just wide enough for Artemis to have a clear shot.

With a small echoing beep, the shield powered off. Becoming over the others, Kaldur stood firm until they regrouped at the base of the slope. As Wally sped over, Robin hesitated a bit. He had that same feeling as earlier, when he felt like they were being watched. And just like last time, they were.

He froze as he spotted an unnaturally jacked monkey sitting atop the compound. As if it knew he had been spotted, the monkey screamed out in alarm. The team heard the ape and all got in defensive stances as a mechanical alarm rang and hundreds of equally jacked primates jumped out from behind the first one.

They fought hard against the onslaught of furry fiends until Kaldur called out. "Remove their collars!"

"Sounds easy when he says it." Robin grumbled to himself as he was struggling to keep two at arm's length. Luckily for him, Artemis assisted in shooting off the two collars, freeing both the monkeys and Robin. As the two scurried off, Robin returned the favor and threw batarangs at the primates that snuck up on the archer.

Much to all of their displeasure however, Guerilla Gorilla decided to join the battlefield with an honest to god rotary autocannon. They all tried to focus their attacks on him while also trying to keep the smaller apes off their backs. With the combined effort of M'gann and KF, they managed to send the overgrown chimp barreling through the wall.

Now with a newly created entrance, they rushed in. Before them laid Captain Marvel, strapped head to toe on an operating table. Above him stood The Brain, affectionately called so because it was a robot body controlled by a literal brain. Villains were just so amazingly creative with their names weren't they.

"The Brain!" Wally oh so helpfully called out in quite genuine surprise. Artemis rolled her eyes behind him. "Oh really? I thought it was meatloaf in a microwave!"

Seeming not all too amused, The Brain gave a signal to Guerilla Gorilla. Before they knew it, they were trapped inside a circle of the same pylons as where they found Captain Marvel's tracks. A high pitched frequency rang out and they were all pulled down by an invisible force.

"Miss Martian, Superboy, now!"

With her telekinesis, M'gann levitated the controls out of the stinky monkey's hand and turned off the forcefield. As if right on cue, Superboy came crashing through the wall behind the ape like an angry version of the Koolaid Man. Somehow, Connor had forgotten to mention he managed to find and befriend a mutated white wolf on his way over.

With the combined efforts of everybody, it was child's play to disarm Guerilla Gorilla and render him defenseless. Enraged, he growled out, bearing teeth to all in aggression. To Connor, however, that meant nothing as he cracked his knuckles. "Try it," he taunted, "I hate monkeys."

"Non, monsieur Mallah." The Brain called out in a snobby French accent. "This will not be our Waterloo." Its robot body started to reconstruct itself with a multitude of what seemed to be weapons, pointed straight at Superboy. "Au revoir, mes amis."

"Get down!" KF yelled as The Brain's weapons powered up. Like the idiots they all were, instead of listening to KF and getting down, they all got in defensive stances.

Around them, the lights turned out, leaving the team, Captain Marvel and their new pets in darkness.

A single purple light flickered back on to reveal the pair of villains had somehow managed to escape all of them. "Wait." Wally said confusedly as he relaxed out of his defensive stance. "That big weapon? Was a light switch?"

With their mission now...somewhat completed, Dick felt...weird. While the mission did successfully keep them busy and distracted, it did nothing to negate what happened both a day ago at Mount Justice, nor the shit show that was his past week. But, at least most of the infighting had been resolved as they collectively voted to keep Kaldur as their leader. And ironically, also keep Connor's new stray, affectionately named Wolf.

Dick couldn't help but wonder if Connor had somehow picked up the same horrendous naming habits as their rogues did as this marked the second stray he collected and named after what they are.

May you rise in glory amongst the heroes, Sphere the spherical robot, and Wolf the mutant wolf.