𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚊, 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚂𝚎𝚊
𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟸𝚗𝚍, 𝟸𝟶:𝟶𝟾 𝙴𝙲𝚃

'This is it! It's finally time. Are you ready, Failsafe? You have to be, right?! This is so exciting. Our first official mission with the Team!' (Y/n) exclaimed, racing around in our head. A smile almost imprinted itself upon our face, and we had to suppress it.

A hard thing to do when our elation was overflowing the chemicals and hormones of our body, but not impossible, though it took extra effort to get rid of the upward twitch of our lips. Which in the end we might've failed to do.

'Yes, it is exciting.' We pacify ourselves, knowing full well of the disaster about to occur. With no leader this team will be unorganized and scattered, it is fate, having already been written down within our memories. Albeit hazy. And that means we can't change it.

Not to mention, we couldn't stop thinking about the conversation we'd had with Batman after the mission debriefing, right before we'd taken off with the Team. What he'd pulled us aside to tell us. It was very troubling, it felt like he was being aggressive with us. He's never been aggressive with us before when he's told us how to work with the League.

    "Watch out for them, work with them, Failsafe, you're part of a Team now, one where you can't go around doing whatever you want like a child. Be there for them, no babysitting. Now go,"

    'Don't worry Failsafe, Batman's just being a protective mother duck to his chicklets,' (Y/n) teased. We felt something rush through us, and a memory of our parents came to mind.

    'But by that logic aren't we also part of his chicklets?' We chose to ignore the stirring memory.

    'It's uh, a bit different, more complicated than that, Failsafe, but you are right.' (Y/n) chuckled inside of our head nervously.

    We couldn't stop thinking about what he said, mostly because even as we searched our memories we never seemed to figure out what he meant.

    Teamwork was a given, listening to orders too, those were things he told us about every time we went on a League mission, but this time he'd told us to be there for them. What was he trying to imply? That we would run away?

    Troubling. Very troubling indeed.

    "Drop Zone A in 30," Miss Martian announced to both Aqualad and us. We stand up as the bioship's seatbelts remove themselves from our bodies, our chairs morphing into the floor. Aqualad switched his suit to stealth mode, we watched as his top changed color to gray.

    We did the same. Our simple white and black costume turned completely black, we morphed it to be skin tight for better movement underwater. Our white boots took a little more work to shape, but they weren't a problem.

'You know, now that Wally's brought it up, he's kinda right. Our costume does kinda look like street clothes, maybe it's time for a redesign?'

'Our outerwear is sufficient enough, now, let's get back to the mission.'

Aqualad looked at us, we nodded to each other.

"Ready," He looked at Miss Martian.

From outside the bioships window, the island comes into view, "Putting Bio-Ship in camouflage mode."

Miss Martian informed everyone as the ship dropped towards the sea at a steady pace. As soon as we were close enough to the water, a safe drop between the ship and the water, the bioship opened up a hole for us to dive out of.

Unfortunately, we could not create gills, that was one of the rules (Y/n) set with our body. No shapeshifting. Because we hate the feel and look of it, we are creeped out by the mechanics of it.

A shiver ran up our spine at the image of Martian Manhunter shifting, trying to think of his bones and intestines.

We created an air bubble around our head as Aqualad dove in, we followed after and the bioship sealed up, flying away.

There was a considerable distance between us and Aqualad, but we couldn't think of a way to minimize that distance without a method that could be detected or without messing with our body. And in any case, his body is made for water travel, we couldn't be too surprised. At least our body had a natural ability and muscle memory in swimming.

We and Aqualad passed by mines and he had to cut through a net with his Water Bearer, but other than those minor inconveniences we were able to get to the shore just fine. Aqualad handed us the disruptor.

We made ourselves invisible, sticking our head out of the water as we concealed our body temperature, using telekinesis to move the disrupter onto the camera without anyone being wiser to what was happening.

There was no way anyone would find anything suspicious now, they'd have to know exactly what to look for and then some.

We'd bet that if we, ourselves, checked it we wouldn't even be able to find anything. Even if played on loop.

"It's been placed, Aqualad," We said quietly, trying to avoid any unwanted ears. It's not fate to fight this soon but we still want to be cautious. It's a covert mission until it's not, after all.

We and Aqualad exited the water. He walked up to the camera to check and make sure everything was fine and the disrupter worked, it did. No evidence we were ever there.

We morph our costume back to the way it was, with the short white jacket morphing over our black turtleneck. The short white shorts popped out of our skin-tight leggings. Our boots popped back over our leggings, finding a spot to lay on our ankles.

Aqualad contacted the team with his comm. We backed away from the camera, knowing it was safe, but still, human instinct told us to be... Paranoid.

"Heat and motion sensors are patched. Data's now on a continuous loop. Move-in," Aqualad told them before switching his attention to us. We both nodded to each other and started to move out into the trees.

In order to execute the mission we needed to get up a cliff, we flew up, carrying Aqualad with us using telekinesis. We continued to move out as everyone talked through the comms.

"Aqualad. Drop B is a go." Miss Martian reported.

"Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP." Aqualad advised as we headed into the wet forest.

"Roger that," Robin responded.

We continued on through the trees, keeping visibility with Aqualad at all times.

He stopped, motioning with his hand for us to stop too. We landed on the ground behind him, taking cover next to him on the same tree. Looking to him for our next order.

"Superboy, Kid. Switch to Infrared. See if you're being tracked," Aqualad turned his attention to us, "Failsafe, go ahead and survey the area, I'll be right behind you."

We nodded, concealing our temperature once again as we flew into the forest, able to hear gunshots in the far distance. We looked around, enhancing our vision, there was nothing and or nobody around that was suspicious. We signal to Aqualad to move further in.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," Kid Flash said over comms.

"Two squads," Superboy corrected, "But they'll meet each other before they find us."

We winced as gunfire could be heard louder through the comms, straight in our ear. We wonder how Superboy handled this with his more sensitive hearing.

"No super-hearing required now," Kid Flash commented, sarcastic.

"Swing wide. Steer clear," Aqualad advised.

"Yeah, yeah. As soon as I find Rob." Kid Flash cut in through the comms. We continued with Aqualad continuing behind us. The forest seemed to never end, but we were amazed by the new experience. It was like a rainforest.

Not a minute later does the gunfire stop and start again, a moment's stopping point alerts us to how close we are, and another thing too. Which we inform Aqualad of.

"They've initiated combat," He knows we're talking about the rest of the Team, and we move out that way. While Aqualad runs, we teleport ourselves into the middle of the fight, kicking an armed soldier in the jaw with our boot and watching as he falls to the muddied ground unconscious.

"We're not mind readers, you know," Kid Flash nagged. Miss Martian dealt with a soldier behind him, the man was wearing the red Kobra uniform.

"Or I'm not, anyway," He corrected himself as he looked at Miss Martian and then back to Robin.

We could be a mind reader if the Team wanted us to be. But they don't, so we aren't. Kid Flash's statement is correct, though. He is not a mind reader.

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," Miss Martian defended herself as she stopped floating above the ground. Behind her, Aqualad came into the fight to finish off the last Kobra soldier.

We created some rope out of the mud below, transmuting it into the solid fibers that make up a sturdy rope, Miss Martian tied up the men with telekinesis.

"I recognize those uniforms. They belong to the Cult of the Kobra." Robin informed the Team.

"I'm certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation." Aqualad crossed his arms, troubled by this development.

"Agreed. And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons. I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out," Robin's voice had a happy twist.

"That's why normal supply lines have been cut off." He finished, having figured out everything the Team was sent here to find in a moment.

    'He's smart,'

    'As expected of Batman's pupil,'

    It felt as if (Y/n) had more to say, but our conversation ended there.

"We get it. Kobra wanted super-cultists. Mystery solved," Kid Flash exclaimed impatiently. "Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for–" He's cut off by Robin.

"... These cultists aren't on Venom. Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We don't leave." Robin stated. "Not until I know why."

Unimpressed with his best friend, Kid Flash asked, "Until you know why?" He bent down to Robin's eye level.

"This team needs a leader," Robin stated a fact. We know he wants to be the leader. But he won't be, he can't. He's not ready. Wanting to be a leader just isn't enough.

"And it's you?" Kid Flash pointed at the shorter boy accusingly, "Dude, you're a 13-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word."

"Heh, heh. And you're a mature 15?" Robin leaned in, "You blew our cover the first chance you got."

We looked around to gauge the Team's reactions to this fight, Aqualad looked unimpressed, outright done with their behavior. He should've stepped up and stopped this. Miss Martian and Superboy just continued to observe.

"Don't you wanna lead?" Miss Martian asked Superboy. He scoffed.

"Heh. You?" He looked at her, expectantly.

"After the Mister Twister fiasco?" She raised a hand as if to tell him to stop the thought.

"You did all right." He told her, offering a smile. She ducked her head away, pink blush apparent on her green cheeks. She brushed hair onto her face from behind her ear.

(Y/n) kept making gagging noises in our head, for what reason? We do not know.

Superboy looked away, listening in on the conversation between the captives. We pursed our lips, we hear it too, like Superboy, we actually know a bit of Spanish.

'Thank you, Mendozas!' (Y/n) exclaimed. A flash of our previous neighbors confirmed we probably shouldn't be thanking them, for this or anything.

One of the men that were fighting the Kobra cult said, "Míralos, argumenten. Liberarte y asumirlos mientras están distraídos." (Y/n) translated, "Look at them argue. Free yourselves and take them while they're distracted."

"Callade!" Bane hissed, he was the tanned, muscled man in the white and black mask. We translated the word as "Quiet."

"Por el momento lo llamaré. Y entonces me darán lo que necesito." Again, we translated, "Quiet! For now, I play along. They'll give me what I need."

If only the others weren't so focused on Robins and Kid Flashes argument, better yet that they wouldn't argue at all. If only they knew Spanish. Well, Robin probably did. Maybe. Why don't we know if he does or does not?

'I'd be willing to teach him what I know if he wanted.'

'That statement sounds like something Kid Flash would say.'

'EW NO, DON'T COMPARE ME TO HIM. UGH, NOW I FEEL DIRTY.'

Superboy smirked, we looked at him and can see it in his eyes that he knows we know too.

"Yeah? You don't even have SuperPowers!" Kid Flash tried to walk away from Robin, trying to end their argument. But the desperate Boy Wonder followed him. Trying to prove himself.

"Neither does Batman!"

Kid Flash stopped.

"Duh," he snapped at his best friend, again. "You're not Batman!"

"Chuh, closest thing we've got." Robin mocked him, hands on his hips as he jabbed his thumb to his chest, proud to compare himself to his older mentor.

Bane chuckled, alerting the arguing boys to his presence. They snapped their heads toward him. Robin's eyes widen from behind the mask.

We stepped closer to Aqualad, hormones going through our body making us shrink back at the sight of him, though we tried to stand tall. Aqualad relaxed when we stepped closer to him, we thought he was trying to be comforting. He didn't have to be, we were fine. Whatever had just occurred fizzled away.

"Such clever niños. But you only know half the story," Bane baited the boys. Miss Martian and a skeptical Aqualad stepped up. Superboy and we were unimpressed.

"Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance." A seductive offer. One that will be taken up on, even if it is foolish and naïve. Such is fate.

Miss Martian stepped up, cautious. Reading Bane's mind, "There is a secret entrance," She knelt down and placed her hand on her temple.

"But he's also hiding something." Her tone became sour, she closed her eyes and reopened them as they turned pure white.

"Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane is not that easy," Bane teased, his tone smug. Her eyes continued to glow as she ran around in his mind, but not as powerful. She groaned, pulling out of his head. It seems he's given her quite the headache.

"He's mentally reciting fútbol scores en Español." She looked over her shoulder at all of us.

"This could take a while," She explained apologetically.

Bane interjected. "It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Robin shared looks with each other. We were disappointed with Superboy for falling for his tricks.

We avoided their gazes as they let the man go.

He led the whole Team up the mountain, to an overlooking cliff of Kobra's Venom factory. Robin started to observe with his binoculars.

"Look at all that product," Robin mumbled, shocked. "A buy is going down."

Bane walked away from the edge, we followed him with our eyes. We knew he wouldn't kill or end up hurting anyone, but we still didn't trust him enough to have our back turned.

"But if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects, then-"

"We need to identify that buyer," Aqualad stated, voice filled with conviction.

"Just what I was thinking," Kid Flash agreed, he fiddled with his goggles as he stood up straighter, trying to appear commanding.

"Yeah, you're the thinker," Robin smirked, laughing at his friend under his breath as he said those words with a teasing tone.

"Sarcasm? Dude," Kid Flash seemed very annoyed with the younger boy. If we didn't know that they wouldn't, we would be worried they would start to fight irreparably.

"A real leader would focus on getting answers." What the ginger-haired male said was true. And right now, the only way they were going to get answers was from us or Bane.

We all observed Bane as he lifted a giant rock away from the entrance to an old mine. He grunted and swiped his hands free of dust. Miss Martian and Superboy shared a confused look.

"Answers are this way," Bane gestured down the dark tunnel. With hesitance, we all follow down the tunnel. Only Kid Flash has something to say.

"So, now el Luchador is our leader!" He comments sarcastically, though there seems to be anger in his tone. Robin walked past him, shoving him aside and slapping him across the cheek. Kid Flash looked to the others, but all they offered him was a shrug, walking past him. We walked up to him, pressing a hand to his cheek, healing him.

'That was mean of him,' (Y/n) didn't sound too annoyed.

Kid Flash followed behind us as we tried to catch up to Aqualad, who'd followed after Robin and Bane. We had to walk past Miss Martian and Superboy, who walked together. It seemed they were bonding with this mission. We walked alongside our future leader as Bane opened the door to the factory using his fingerprint. Did no one on the Team find that weird? Did no one notice?

Bane propped the door open slightly, giving Robin just enough room to get a look around.

"All clear," He confirmed before running out of the doorway. We all looked at each other before following the caped hero. By the time we all file into the room, he's gone. It's a giant room, the door seems to be in the back, giant containers surrounded the door, making it a good way to sneak in.

"Has that little fool already been captured?" Bane questioned, annoyed at the possibility of our group being compromised and getting captured before we could complete our goal.

"No," Aqualad assured, his voice giving away his own annoyance, "He just does that."

Kid Flash slid his goggles over his eyes, "Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before Boy Wonder."

Before he even finished talking, he was running away.

Aqualad tried to grab onto the ginger before he completely ran away, but he couldn't grab onto him in time.

"Wait, Kid!"

With a smug smile, Bane watched Kid Flash disappear in a mostly gray and red-tipped streak.

"Great chain of command," Bane jabbed at the rest of us, pointedly. Miss Martian, Superboy, Aqualad, and us all shared a look.

"What should we do now?" We asked, it was more to Aqualad than the others.

He looked down at us before sighing, "It's no use with Kid and Robin," He shook his head, moving over to look over the metal containers surrounding us he gestured over to where the Kobra cultists were working.

"Failsafe, can you try and get more information about what's going on over there?"

We nodded, "Yes. We can."

Disappearing from sight and flying upwards we got closer to the working cultists, they were loading a special kind of Venom into containers to be sold off.

We can see through the containers, the liquid is a new Kobra Venom, without knowing what the old one looks like we can't give more detail to Aqualad. A helicopter descended onto a marked landing area where the cultists were waiting.

The helicopter's doors open, letting a blond man wearing a gray hockey mask step out. His outfit is black with a dark blue shirt, made for combat, that notion is supported by how physically in shape he seemed to be.  The man is Sportsmaster.

He walked down a path of armed cultists to their leader, who was standing next to a ginger woman with a half-shaved head wearing a weird, black outfit that covered half her face and both arms

"Lord Kobra," He greeted the man wearing the red robe with a snake's mouth hood.

"Sportsmaster." Kobra returned, and the woman next to him stepped up to Sportsmaster, there was a black box in her hand.

"The shipment is ready," At Kobra's command, she opened up the box she was holding to reveal glowing blue vials.

Sportsmaster took one, inspecting it.

"The new Kobra-Venom?" he questioned.

Kobra gestured to the hulking monster next to him, it had ginger hair and its skin was torn. "A complete success. Our friends will not be disappointed."

"This is a game-changer." Sportsmaster seemed pleased, flipping the vial to catch it in his fist. "Finally, we can go mano-a-mano with the Justice League."

We'd heard enough, flying back into the building to inform Aqualad of our findings, "The buyer is Sportsmaster, it seems the Venom being supplied is stronger, but we don't know how, we're sorry."

Aqualad was with Bane and Superboy on a platform linking the second floor. "That's alright, you've done enough, Failsafe," He turned to the others. Miss Martian should be somewhere around here, spying like we were.

"Comms jammed," Aqualad grumbled as static ran in his ear, "We need a plan."

Pleased, Bane said, "I have a suggestion."

He didn't wait for a reply as he jumped over the railing to the pathway. Falling down on two cultists, shoving one and pushing the other, not before the man can fire off multiple rounds into the ceiling, alerting everyone that there are intruders.

'So much for covert,'

'We stopped being covert as soon as Kid Flash tripped down that hill,'

'True, true,'

"What the–" Aqualad is cut off as the giant monster from earlier broke through the window, tackling him and Superboy to the ground as we barely phase-out of its way.

The boys land on the ground surrounded by rubble, quickly standing up and readying themselves for a fight. The monster lands next to them, roaring for the same. We're still in the air, watching them.

"Destroy them," Kobra commanded. With that simple phrase, the monster charged.

Superboy charged, meeting the rotting monster halfway, he's half the size of the creature, allowing him to throw his arms around it and tackle it. But because the monster's so big it grabbed Superboy, throwing him to the side. And yet he charged right back in, getting angrier.

Aqualad's tattoos started to glow as he activated his Water Bearers and created a shield, crouching. The Kobra cultists started firing on him but couldn't land a hit, with his other Water Bearer he fired a projectile to knock the men out.

    Miss Martian flew in, throwing people around like dolls. Aqualad continued to shoot projectiles while Superboy was launched into a large container by the gingered monster behind him.

Sportsmaster pulled something out, a weapon. It extended to a sharp point before he chucked it at the Martian. Before it can hit her we cover, turning the rod into water. The water fell to the ground, Aqualad's Water Bearer picks it up. The blond man turned to us, unhappy.

    We fall to the ground, initiating a fighting stance.

    Sportsmaster chuckled evilly, taking his own stance, "Let's go then, little girl."

    He charged at me, going for a punch with his left hand, we copied his strength, blocking his attack and trying to kick him in the stomach. He tried sweeping our legs but we buckled down, adding more pressure. We tried punching him this time, which he backed up to dodge, keeping it up we went for another kick. He caught our boot-covered ankle and threw us to the ground.

    We groaned before healing ourselves and trying a new tactic, matching his punch and breaking his knuckle. He worked through the pain to go for a high kick, but we dodged it, jumping up and landing a kick of our own to his face.

    'C'mon Failsafe! Start using some powers, kick his ass!'

    'That wouldn't be a fair fight.'

    'Fair shmare, this is life!'

    He stumbled back, and we fell to the ground before charging lowly at him, punching upwards into his jaw. We jumped back as he went to grab us.

    He chuckled, wiping the blood dripping from his nose, "Okay, girl. I'll admit, you're powerful."

    We readied ourselves again, "That narcissism has been the downfall of many humans. It will consume you as well,"

    "Interesting..."

We felt Miss Martian trying to enter our mind, we let her.

'Everyone online?' Miss Martian's voice is in our head. We dodge another punch.

'Yeah,' Superboy grumbled, his enthusiasm for linking minds is little to none

'You know it, beautiful,' Kid Flash takes the time to flirt. We throw a kick to Sportsmaster.

'We are here also.'

'Yup, that's about everyone!' (Y/n) exclaimed. We can hear the group's confusion but no one can bother with it right now.

'Good. We need to regroup.'

'Busy now,' Robin chimed in, we can feel his distress.

'Let's go help him!' (Y/n) suggested as we flipped over the man, which ended badly as he caught us and sent us flying to the ground, we caught ourselves before we ended up crashing into the concrete, almost getting stomped on.

'Isn't Kobra that way? I mean, let's bag Sportsmaster and a cult leader.' Cult leader began circulating through our head like a chant.

'Make that stop!' Kid Flash yelled into everyone's heads, which made audible groans go through the factory.

'Oh wait, you all can still hear me?!' (Y/n) squeaked.

'Who are you?!' He questioned, clearly in a panic.

'UHHHHH,'

'Enough!' Aqualad stopped the conversation. We got a hit on the older man's neck. We heard a snap and held our breath, he grabbed our arm and punched us in the gut.

'Robin, now!'

"Ah!" We queased as he threw us to the ground. We rolled to the side as he tried to kick us, grabbing his leg and pulling him down. We got up faster than he could, healing ourselves. He was sufficiently beaten up. A red and black streak pushed the man away.

"Thank you, Kid Flash,"

"No problem,"

'Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path.' Aqualad ordered. We became invisible, flying up. Kid Flash looked around for us, confused.

Everyone started to disappear behind the door we came in through, but we couldn't help but want to stay and continue the fight.

'Everyone, to the mine, now.' Aqualad must've sensed our desire. We rushed through the door with Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad. Superboy followed close behind as he shut the door, which was immediately broken through by the monster from earlier.

"Superboy, Failsafe, the support beams!" Aqualad gave us the order, Superboy started hitting the ones on the left as we knocked the ones on the right down. The cave gave way easier than expected. Ensuring our escape.

Rocks fell down, sealing the entrance behind us. The cave became dark.

Aqualad took a glow stick from Robin, snapping it for light. The cave illuminates into a dark red.

Robin stood with his back to the rest of the Team and us, Kid Flash leaned on the wall trying to catch his breath, Superboy and Miss Martian stood close to one another. We stand close to Aqualad, creating a healing field around the group so their injuries won't impede them later. Fate may not be kind with events, but we don't see anything wrong in dealing with inconveniences. We heard audible sighs of relief.

"How can my first mission as Leader go so wrong?" Robin whined the question to himself.

Aqualad set down the glow stick, before looking at the youngest member.

"You do have the most experience. But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared," He offered.

Everyone can see how Robin stiffened, how he held his breath.

"Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are clearly," He paused, looking for the right word, "Defined. You two do not need to talk. But this Team is new. And a leader needs to be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play part in an unknown plan."

Robin turned and jerked his arm, swatting away the idea.

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" He asked with a pained groan. But he shouldn't be in pain, we've healed everyone, we upped the effects.

Despite what we wanted to say, we kept quiet as the Boy Wonder continued, knowing what he was going to say next.

"Ah, who am I kidding?" He questioned, a pained tone to his voice. It doesn't seem like the question is for anyone to answer, however.

"You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can."

"Please!" Kid Flash interrupted, angry. "I can run circles-"

"We concur with Robin, of all orders given out tonight, Aqualad has issued all of them. They have been short, reactive, and effective. Which is more than we can say for Kid Flash and Robins reports this mission," We input into the conversation.

It has nothing to do with us, but our support of Aqualad won't affect anything. The reality is still the same, and that reality is Aqualad will become leader.

"Wally, come on," Robin used his real name on a mission, something we don't condone, "Failsafe's right. You know he's the one, I know he's the one, we all know it."

"Hello, Megan!" Miss Martian said, placing a hand on her hips, hitting her forehead. "It's so obvious."

"Coulda told ya," Superboy leaned against a stone wall, crossing his arms and offering Aqualad a genuine smile. But once he looked at Kid Flash it turned back into a frown.

    "Aqualad is the most responsible member here, and the most trustworthy within the Team and the League," We brought up.

Kid Flash sighed, putting his fists onto his hips and smiling, "Okay."

Luckily, he didn't seem too bothered.

Aqualad stepped closer, toward the still smiling Robin, "Then I will accept this burden."

He placed a hand on the considerably shorter boy's shoulder, "Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon." Robin nodded.

He turned back to the four of us. "Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving the island."

Robin's signature laugh echoed off the cave walls as he smirked, crossing his arms.

"Funny. I had the same thought."

Aqualad told us the plan, his voice was confident, as he took control. He commanded attention and seemed comfortable with giving orders. Like the leader he has to be. Like he now is.

"Superboy, I'll help you deal with Blockbuster, Robin, you distract Kobra. Superboy will handle Sportsmaster as Miss Martian deals with the supplied Venom. Failsafe and Kid Flash will handle crowd control."

"Alright,"

"You can count on me!"

"Let's do this,"

"Let's just get this over with..."

With that over with, we made our way out of the mine.

"Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer." Robin pulled up information on his hologlove.

"But it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work."

Kid Flash ran beside Robin, looking over at the information displayed in the air. Aqualad runs next to Superboy, and we stay flying in the air with Miss Martian, trying to stay together.

"And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom," Kid Flash agreed. "That took some major nerdage."

"I believe the expression is, 'tip of the iceberg,'" Everyone came to a stop upon seeing Bane in the doorway, grasping a long metal tube, a half a dozen more of this same thing is littered on the ground.  They look like syringes. To back up that observation he looked bulkier, incredibly and unnaturally so. We prepared for a fight.

"Halt, niños," Bane commanded, there was something glowing bright green in his hand.

"I'm feeling explosive." He smirked, there were explosives at the edge of the entrance.

"You betrayed us. Why?" Aqualad sounded genuinely confused. We wondered how he couldn't see this coming, the man was suspicious, clearly evil. Wasn't he a known villain Batman fought with before?

Even without knowing what he'd said earlier in Spanish, without knowing he was a villain. Even to us, the man was quite suspicious.

"I want my factory back." The muscled man stated simply. As if it were the most obvious fact ever stated.

'Kid, you'll need a running start.' Aqualad informed him with our linked minds. We see his foot shifted back before he started stepping back discreetly.

"So, I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying." Somehow his smirk widened, his eyes told us how proud he really was of his plan, "If the latter, the Justice League would certainly come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared Santa Prisca would be mine once more."

He gripped the trigger tighter, "Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect," The moment right before he pressed the button, Kid Flash raced past him, grabbing the trigger.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"With what?" Kid Flash taunted Bane with a smirk of his own. He leaned against a tree behind the man, playing it smoothly.

He held out the trigger for Bane to see, "This trigger thingy?"

Bane was not pleased, trying to punch at the speedster, only being stopped as Miss Martian lifted him off the ground. She held him up near the treeline as everyone walked out, Superboy seemed pleased, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Finally," He breathed out, sounding amused, and maybe a little antsy, "Drop him."

The Martian lets go of the Spanish man as he falls right into the half-Kryptonians waiting fist. The uppercut knocked him out. He created more rope, tying the man to a thick tree.

The Team and us got back to the factory just as they finished loading the cargo into the helicopter.

"Kid, go," Aqualad sent him out first, looking toward us. At his signal, we flew onto the scene, tying up any cultists that Kid Flash knocked out. Superboy was getting shot at by Sportsmaster and Miss Martian snuck past him, planting Banes bombs.

We feel as though we should handle the man, but that wasn't Aqualad's orders.

We continued with crowd control, floating down to the ground and knocking out some men of our own.

The helicopter flew away, only to end up crashing into the factory. We were too close to it and almost ended up getting knocked away. We had to create a shield to keep ourselves safe.

But, it was over. We regrouped with Aqualad and the rest of the Team as Kobra disappeared into the forest.

"We picked the right guy to lead," Robin told Aqualad, he sounded very sincere. That is until he turned to the giant factory's fire, "Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman!"

He held up his arms toward the fire, laughing with his signature Boy Wonder laugh.

Aqualad looked down, heavy in thought at the younger hero's revelation.

'Our first mission...'

'We know,'

'It was AMAZING.'

'We completed it, that's all that matters.'
__________________________________
𝙼𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚁𝚑𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝙸𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟹𝚛𝚍, 𝟷𝟶:𝟶𝟷 𝙴𝙳𝚃

"A simple recon mission," Batman berated us all, especially Kaldur'ahm as he got inches before his face.

"Observe and report!" He backed off as he continued to yell at the Team.

"You'll each receive written evaluations detailing your many mistakes," The mammal-themed hero emphasized. We all stood at attention, tensed as he chastised us. We weren't listening, but maybe our teammates were.

They probably were, as the adult walked past Kaldur'ahm and Robin, past us and M'gann, as well as Superboy, most of them had their heads down.

"Until then, good job," The hero congratulated the Team, all of their heads snapped up. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy," As he complimented us the group relaxed.

"How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success," Batman walked back down our line, "And how you choose who leads determines character."

He stopped in front of us, narrowing his eyes, "Failsafe, you and I are going to go over your evaluation right now."

He turned on his heel and we had to follow. Our teammates gazes on us as we exited the room.