Whoo! Finished my exams! And a comic book store opened near my house!

Enjoy! Follow! Comment! Vote! Hug Superboy!

~

"Hey! You! A-Are you awake?" Hazel whispers loudly to the boy in the pod next to her. He was quite handsome, she must admit.

He groans, before his eyes open. They find her immediately, straining to see him through the glass. 

"Oh, you are awake! I-I'm Hazel," she says.

"Uh- Jaime," he answers. "Where are we?"

"Don't really know. Hell maybe?"

When Jaime gets a good look at her, the penny drops.

"You're Hazel Smith. You've been missing for weeks!"

Hazel laughs nervously. "They only captured me a week ago. For the thing on my back."

"You too huh?"

"Yeah. They call it the 'Winged Scarab'. I just call it the Butterfly."

"Mine's a Beetle."

"Oh."

The two stop speaking when the scientist enters.

~Hana~

We are operating out of the basement of the Hall of Justice. When we first got there, I knew the awkward questions would come.

Midnight's prison. My prison stands proudly in the center of the room. 

"What's that?" Cassie asks, pointing to it.

"I don't kn-" Nightwing begins saying, but I cut him off.

"It's my prison. If she takes over, this is where I will go," I say quietly.

I feel him walk up behind me and hug me. I smile, but the moment does not last, seeing as there are people to save.

"We have received intel. There will be a shipment of abductees from the docs of Star City. We hope that, if we follow, they'll lead us to Black Manta and hopefully, Lagoon Boy, Blue, Beast Boy, Impulse, Viper and Swiftchick," I explain to the remaining members of the team.

"Batgirl, Robin and Bumbleebee. You're Alpha. You'll pose as abductees and allow yourselves to be shipped. We'll be tracking you. Superboy, you'll go with them to the shipment, capture and take out a guard, then pose as him to get in. Once you are all inside and in position, Miss M will be sent after you and the captured six," Nightwing explains. 

"Destiny, Miss M, Star, Wondergirl and I will follow in the bio-ship. Alpha, suit down and zeta to Star City."

The plan began to unfold. M'gann readies the ship and we climb aboard whilst Superboy, Batgirl, Bumblebee and Robin leave through the Zeta-tubes.

Miss M flew the ship into the ocean, making me shuffle in my seat uncomfortably. God forbid- if I ever have to go to Atlantis I may die of fright. 

"So have you two thought about leaving Happy Harbour?" M'gann asks.

"Yeah. We're thinking Blüdhaven," I tell her.

"That place is full of crime though!" Cassie exclaims.

"Exactly," Nightwing smirks. "That place needs some hero in it."

We stop, camouflaged just under the water where the shipment is taking place. That's when my ring beeps loudly. Sighing, I pull it into view.

"Head Guardian," I nod when he appears in holographic form.

"Hanabrie Shiloh. We've received intel that a Braxi ship has been seen on its way to your sector."

"Braxi? Why?"

"It is unknown. Remain cautious. Your planet had caused enough trouble."

With that lovely chat, he disappears. "No goodbye?" I mock, dropping my hand. Braxi. I've tumbled with a few of their pirates before, as has Misty.

"What do you think they want?" She asks me.

"Who knows?"

"What's a...Braxi?" Wondergirl asks.

"A humanoid like race, only they eat minerals and are known for mining an in particular rock known as Karyonite. It's poisonous to humans and a few other races. They were trying to sell it off as something else. But I'm sure it's fine," I explain, as we begin following the shipment.

Nightwing opens his holo-computer. "Good. They're leading us to Lagoon Boy and the others," he says.

"How can you be sure?" Cassie asks.

"Wishful thinking?" He answers. I shift uncomfortably from the lie.

"And; the abductee shipment at the docs. How'd you know about that?" She presses. Please shut up Cassie, this is for your own good.

"Aquaman came across the intel while searching for La'gann."

"About La'gann," I say. "He needs to be punished. His own blatant disrespect of his leaders, disregard of orders and desire to act on his own accord is what got him captured in the first place.

"But, Hana-" M'gann begins.

"No. Sorry M'gann, but I'm serious. His mistake could have had a worse outcome."

"I-It didn't though!" She argued.

"And we're lucky, this time. Next time-"

"But there won't be a next time!"

"There will be if La'gann is not shown what he did wrong! His rash decision could have got him, you, any of us killed. When he is rescued his punishment will be decided," I say firmly.

When I turn away from her, everyone looks surprised at my attitude towards this. They must know what it is about, especially Misty who walks over to me.

"Hana," she says, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Aquagirl's passing was not your fault."

"Maybe not. But there were things I could have done to avoid the outcome. I learned that that hard way. La'gann's lucky. He gets the easy way."

No one speaks after that. We sit in awkward silence until the ship we are following reaches its destination.

"Hey! I know that ship..." I mumble, jumping up and walking to the glass. "It looks familiar. Of alien descent, obviously. I know it from somewhere."

"So this is the Light's partner. That ship shares the same alien design sensibility as the bomb that destroyed Melina Island and Mount Justice," Nightwing says.

"Kind of reminds me of...Blue's armour!" Cassie exclaims.

The more I stare at the ship, the more I notice is resemblance to Beetle's uniform. I still can't put my finger on who they are though!

"Miss M. You're up," Nightwing says to M'gann. She stands, morphs into her fish self and phases out of the ship. 

'Alpha squad. I'm heading into the alien ship. Are you aboard?' M'gann thinks.

'Affirmative. We're in some kind of...docking bay. We have a new visual on the aliens, AKA the Kroloteans Competitor, AKA the Light's partner. And...we've got other company. It's Aqualad. If he makes us, were over,' Batgirl thinks.

'Stay whelmed. He won't be looking for you. Don't attract attention,' Nightwing replies.

'Barbara. Can you describe the aliens to me, at all? Or perhaps the ship?' I ask.

'They're wearing a uniform, red and white, alike to Blue's armour. I think their skin is green. Looks like they have yellow eyes. I can't really tell, they've got visors on.'

'Green skin. Yellow eyes. Collecting humans. Rivalry with Krolo's. Beetle-like armour. Narrows it down to five. Could be the Polark. How many arms do they have?' I say.

'Two. They're almost humanoid,' Robin replies.

'Alright, that also takes out the Jabingbing. Can you hear them communicating?'

'Yes, but to us it just sound like...clicking, really.'

'Oh! Do they have pincers?' I ask.

'Doesn't look like it.'

'Okay, that just leaves two. If it's one of the two, we'll be fine, they're just Myconey. They scan different races of alien, then return to their planet to study the anatomy,' I explain.

'And...if it's the other race?' Cassie asks.

'Then there is a high chance that our captured teammates...may be in bigger trouble than we thought. The Reach, are a violent breed of scientist.'

'There are few distinctions between Myconey and The Reach,' Misty says. 'Except for one thing. What colour is in the middle of their eyes?' 

'I can't see through their vis-'

'Orange,' M'gann confirms. 'They have orange pupils.'

Fear fills me and I look at Misty when she looks at me. It all makes sense now.

'We're screwed. We are completely and utterly screwed,' I panic. 'M'gann. You need to find them. We can only hope they haven't been experimented on yet.'

'E-Experimented?' She questions.

'Just trust me. Finding them is prior-'

'I found Garr, Daph, Bart and Lily! They're unconscious but alive. No sign of Jaime or La'gann,' she interrupts, but I don't mind.

'We've got eyes on Lagoon Boy...and, Shimmer? Uh- Plus four civilians and the teens we came with. We're unsupervised now, but Blue's still unaccounted for and escape could trigger a response. Do we wait?' Batgirl says.

'Negative Alpha. Make your move before you need rescuing too,' Nightwing replies. 'You too, Miss M. Get the rest of our team back.'

~

Daphne feels something cold beneath her, with loud sirens in her ears. Someone touches her face gently, and she opens her eyes.

'M'gann!' She exclaims in her mind. 

'Daph? You okay?' Hana asks.

'I-I'm fine, but they took Jaime. Don't really know who 'they' are.'

'Thanks for the rescue,' Impulse thinks, helping Swiftchick stand up. 'Got to find Blue! C'mon Lils!'

'Impulse! Swiftchick! Wait!' M'gann shouts in her head as the two speed off. Before guards can catch either one of them, they are running into different rooms to find Jaime.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy, Miss Martian and Viper emerge from the lab.

'Which way?' She asks. Garfield sniffs the air for a moment, before pointing in another direction. 

'This way!' The trio begin running. 

Superboy had secured the docking bay. Hana connects the bio-ship and opens the hatch, leaving Misty and Cassie to usher the abductees to safety.

Viper, Beast Boy and Miss Martian are close to the docking bay, when Aqualad walks around the corner. Viper freezes after pushing Beast Boy behind her safely.

"You!" M'gann yells in shock, before a glare overcomes her features. "Murderer!"

Garfield and Daphne watch as Aqualad suddenly screams, grabs his head and drops to the floor.

'M'gann, where are you guys? M'gann? M'gann!' 

"The link's down! Going in after-"

Conner is cut off as he runs out of the docking bay, before being hit violently and thrown back across the room. A large alien, wearing armour similar to Blue Beetle's, only black, steps into the bay.

"Apologies, meat. But no one goes anywhere," he says.

He reaches out and touches the wall, prompting the door to close, leaving one abductee, Wondergirl, Shimmer, Lagoon Boy, Bumblebee, Laurel Destiny, Batgirl, Robin and Superboy to face him.

 Meanwhile, Impulse and Swiftchick continue to race around the ship with super speed, still trying to find Blue Beetle. It is not until they come to the last lab, that they find him.

They glance at each other, forming a plan. Bart smashes into the scientist in the room, whilst Swiftchick runs over to the weapons hurting Jaime and another girl.

She rips them away and the two pull open a pod each.