-None of the league have heard from their sidekicks, and when the mountain unexpectedly goes into lockdown, they're forced to break in and piece together what happened.-

-Lots of luv to my buddy Char for inspiring this-

When the mountain had gone into lockdown, no one had known what to do. None of their attempts to override the lockdown were working, and after a couple hours they gave up on contacting the kids. Something was really, really wrong, and although several leaguers offered to blow the top off the mountain, they couldn't risk harming the team.

Mary West and Paula Nguyen both called to ask why their children hadn't made it home that evening. The children's mentors couldn't do much to assuade worry when they themselves had no idea what was going on.

Then, about four am, Batman cracked in. Whoever had locked down the mountain had done a lot to complicate the process of undoing it, and they were clearly experienced, but Bruce was fueled by concern and caffeine and would not rest until he could assure that Dick was safe. 

First he noticed how many things had been turned off remotely; the movement-activated lights were cut, the heating and ventilation had been closed off, about half the automatic doors had been closed before the power had been cut altogether. 

He almost turned everything back on, worried about air flow in the mountain stagnating, but then he paused. Anyone who had shut these things down must have had a very good reason. He left them off.

They got through the zeta just before five, bracing themselves for what they might find. 

The atrium, dark except for the beams of their flashlights, was vacant, except for a single, lone body on the floor.

"Ms. Martian!" J'onn rushed toward where the child's body lay slumped on the floor. His eyes began to glow, scanning for any activity in her brain.

They shrieked, bolting upright, knocking foreheads with him.

"Uncle J'onn!" She threw herself into his arms, trembling like a leaf.

"What happened?" He asked delicately, brushing over their messy hair. 

It was late afternoon, and the team, who were trying to get on the league's good side after a recent incident, had volunteered to label and sort some samples their mentors had had collected from a minor meteorite crash. It was menial work; plugging letters into label makers and leaving sharpie-smeared painter's tape on larger boxes. 

They talked together as they worked, and at some point M'gann must have noticed Conner becoming agitated, because she had a vague memory of telling her roommate to calm down

"I don't want to calm down." He'd growled, scratching at something black on the back of his fist.

"Superboy," Kaldur said in his I-don't-want-to-stir-the-pot voice, "Go take a walk."

"No!" He snapped, standing, "I don't want to."

"Dude, what's wrong?" Wally had asked, but practically before he'd finished, a huge fist was slamming down where he sat. 

He shot out of the way just in time.

"Superboy!"

"What was that--" Wally stalled, meeting his friend's eyes. He dodged again, scrambling to his feet as Conner's blow hit the concrete floor with a grotesque crack.

"What's wrong?" M'gann demanded. Her friend slowly turned to face her, his face dead and expressionless. Instantly he was coming at her, and had it not been for Kaldur tackling him into the floor, she'd have been struck.

"What's wrong with him?!" Artemis demanded.

Kaldur wrestled to keep Conner down, trying to calm the boy-- until he saw his face.

"Team, retreat and replan." He announced.

"But Conner--"

"We can't help Conner until we figure out what's--" The leader was thrown off Superboy as the younger staggered to his feet, dilated pupils clicking from person to person. He did look different; he didn't look angry anymore, just... feral, logicless, like an animal.

That was enough to tell them what to do-- they clearly couldn't help Conner yet, and they didn't want to risk hurting him-- or themselves-- in a fight. 

The five retreated, Kaldur staggering behind. Luckily, Conner had swung at Robin, busting through a sofa cushion, which delayed his giving chase.

"What the hell was that?" Wally ordered as they slipped down the hallway, sprinting for the lab. 

"Lock the automatic door." Kaldur ordered, wincing visibly as they all piled into one of the labs.

"On it." Robin said. "I'll lock him in the residential area, then we can strategize." He tapped busily into his glove. "Maybe I'll lock down the zetas incase he gets loose... So, team leader, what on earth are we... Kaldur?" Kaldur, who was clutching his shoulder, looked up at him, a stern, impatient look on his face. That put Dick on edge. "....Kaldur?"

"Kaldur?" M'gann added, but before she could ask what was wrong, he'd turned on his heel, throwing himself at her. 

They hit the tile with a painful thump, a whirlwind of limbs and hair and hot breath.

"And that's all I can remember." M'gann admitted, hand on her forehead

"That doesn't sound like Aqualad." Aquaman said what everyone was thinking.

"Nor, might I add, does it sound like Superboy." Canary added.

"Do you have any idea how you got from the lab to the atrium?" Batman asked, stooping beside the martian and shining a penlight in her eyes to check for concussion.

"...no," she admitted. "I really don't remember anything after that.

Batman put the penlight away, standing. "We must find the others."

"I think I can feel someone dreaming nearby." M'gann said, squinting their eyes.

"Where?"

Cautiously, with the help of her uncle, they stood, leading the way down one of the myriad hallways.

Kaldur was exactly where they'd expect; collapsed on the floor of a partially destroyed lab.

"Aqualad!"Orin hurried forwards.

"Careful," Batman said, "we don't know what happened to him yet."

Stirred by the voices, Kaldur's eyes opened a slit. "Sir?" he croaked, pushing himself off the floor.

"Kaldur'ahm, what happened?"

They'd been sorting debris specimens when Conner began behaving strangely, fidgeting and scratching his hand, he became irritable, and then... well, Kaldur had a hard time remembering the rest.

He remembered ordering the team to run, then he'd been bucked off, and then a sharp pain, like a needle, pierced his shoulder. Then he was running, trying to keep up with the team, blood pumping, they got to the lab, and then...

"And you can't remember anything else?"

"No, sir," Kaldur said. He turned to M'gann, "Are you okay, did he..."

"He didn't, you did." Canary replied. 

"What?"

"You attacked me, right after we got to the lab." M'gann explained. "Just like Conner did."

Kaldur frowned at his feet. "but.. why?"

"I don't know."

"Possibly finding your teammates will alleviate this mystery." Batman announced, "and I have an idea where we can start."

It was a struggle remotely jumpstarting the automatic doors. The teens stood nearby, M'gann filling her leader in on what he'd done while the boy made horrified sounds. 

Once they were in the residential area, it wasn't hard to follow the trail of destruction back to Conner's trembling body, hunched in the corner.

He looked up, eyes wide as saucers as they entered. "Aqualad!" He shouted, scrambling to his feet.

Several leaguers prepared for a fight, but Kaldur squirmed past their defenses, meeting Conner and grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Be careful," his king urged.

"Superboy's no longer affected." The boy assured, reaching up to cup Superboy's face. "I can tell. Are you alright? What happened?"

Conner was labeling rock samples, when he felt it, a sudden pinch on the back of his hand.

He scratched it, absently.

"Supes, are those slides done yet?"

"I'm working on it!" He snapped, irritated by the discomfort. 

"Calm down," M'gann reminded, "there's no rush."

"I don't want to calm down." He'd growled, scratching harder at the spot on his hand. He felt his blood rushing in his ears with every palpitation.

"Superboy," Kaldur said in his best adult voice. "Go take a walk."

"No!" He snapped, standing, blood rushing to his head. "I don't--"

"and you don't remember anything at all?"

Conner shook his head "I thought..." He lowered his voice, desperate to get this off his chest. "When I woke up, and everything was broken, no one was here, did... did I..."

"You weren't yourself." Kaldur assured. He knew Conner was thinking about his
Cadmus conditioning. "I attacked Ms. Martian too."

"What?"

Batman stepped forwards, deep in thought. "I think--"

Suddenly, he was interrupted by an echoing scream, which bounced down the hallway, desperate and shrill.

Nobody paused to discuss if they should follow it, all heroes acting on instinct: blindly throwing themselves into danger the second someone they cared about was in harms way.

Artemis and Robin were in the woman's change room, one with her bow drawn.

The heroes staggered onto the scene just as Robin was shouting: "What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with you?!" Artemis retorted.

"Everybody calm down."

Dick turned to see his mentor. "How did you get in?"

"It took time. You didn't make it easy for me." Batman replied. "I don't see why you shut the power and ventilation down though."

"I didn't shut down the ventilation." Dick replied.

"Artemis, you can but the bow down now." her mentor reminded, and a little sheepishly, she did.

"Now what happened here, why were you two fighting?"

As soon as Kaldur had turned, they knew something was wrong. This wasn't some Superboy problem anymore that they wanted to help with, this was now a team issue. Hypnotism? Chemical warfare? The possibilities ripped through his head as they pulled Kaldur off their friend. 

"Run!" Wally had announced, and the teens took off, locking the lab after them to keep Kaldur in.

M'gann staggered after then, then she stumbled, then, she ran; she wasn't running away, though, she was running towards. In this case, towards Wally.

Dick got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Something wasn't right.

"Kid!" he shouted, just in time to avoid her grasping fists. 

"Whoa!" Wally exclaimed, stopping as she went flying past him.

"Run!" It was Artemis' turn to yell now, and the three teens shot off down a side hallway. Wally was fast, and Artemis was athletic, but Dick's short legs lead to a quickening gap between him and his friends as they sprinted.

Then.... a sharp pain? On his neck?

"That's all I've got." Dick admitted. "So imagine my surprise when I wake up in a random room, go to find some water, and she tries to kill me!"

"A likely story," Artemis grumbled, then she caught sight of her friends towards the back of the group and squeaked, drawing her bow again.

The league made several exclamations, imploring her not to fire.

"They're recovered!" M'gann explained. "Me too. We don't remember any of what happens after being attacked."

"Please," Kaldur said, "Can you tell us what happened?"

When Dick got tackled, they had no choice but to keep running. It was clear by now how this manic aggression was spreading: physical contact. Surviving was their top priority in this moment, they couldn't help Robin and the others until they'd sorted this out.

Wally and Artemis ducked into the computer lab, locking the door. It wasn't much in terms of protection when the non-humans were infected.

"What do we do?" Wally demanded. 

Being chased around the mountain while their friends were being hurt jostled a memory loose for Artemis: "Can you get into the system?"

"Ugh, yeah, Rob showed me the basics."

"See if you can turn off the lights and lock as many doors as possible, that should slow them down."

Wally, for once, didn't question her, getting on one of the computers and seeing if he could remotely cut the electricity flow to the mountain.

"What do you think is wrong with them?"

"I don't know," she admitted, "but whatever it is, we've got to contain it-- if this is some kind of virus, and it was released to the population..."

"I get the picture." 

The lights in the hallway were still on. "I thought you were cutting the power?"

"I did-- for most of the mountain, in order to keep using the computer I had to keep the electricity on for his part of the mountain. 

"Wally," she smacked his shoulder. "You're leading them right to us!"

"Oh shit-- hold on, I'll--" but he was interrupted by a sort of thudding. At first they thought it came from the door, but it was far too close for that.

"Lock down the vents." Artemis said, but it was two late. As Wally desperately tapped into the keyboard, just as the vents began to close, there was a small explosion. The teens staggered back, blinded from the smoke, and deafened by the noise.

"That's it, then I wake up in the bathroom with my bow, and this guy walks in like he owns the fucking place!"

"I'm sorry, okay!" Dick exclaimed. The plastic explosive on the vent must have been why he woke up covered in dust and debris. "I swear, I wasn't there!"

"It sounds like there was some sort of parasite spreading through the team," Manhunter said, "perhaps something that profoundly affects the nervous system"

"Maybe something that injects its host with a sedative when it switches bodies..." Batman continued. 

"Can any one parasite do all this?" Conner asked. 

"It could, if it was something picked up from those samples you were handling."

"Didn't you scan them for life?"

"We didn't see the need too, anything laying dormant on it should have burned up in the atmosphere."

"You didn't scan them?!"

"Uh, guys," Robin said thoughtfully. "Where's Wally?"

They split up into smaller groups to search, Batman taking the kids with him.  They were mostly quiet, except Kaldur and Robin, who were whispering something at the back, exchanging notes it seemed.

They found Wally in the kitchen, several disgarded wrappers and containers littered the floor, and from the look of things Wally must have eaten half of Conner and M'gann's food, regardless of what it was.

Wally turned to face the, something glassy and empty in his eyes. Bruce realized thie must have been the 'weird look' a few of the teens had referred to. 

Wally started towards them slowly, then faster, then--

"Don't let him make contact with you." Batman ordered, barely dodging the teen.

Robin didn't seem too worried, as he stuck out his foot, effortlessly tripping his best friend to the floor.

Conner was on him instantly, even a feral flash was no match for him in raw strength.

"Kaldur, now!" Dick ordered, and instantly their team leader had sprung forwards with the tweezers from the younger teens' belt.

"Left arm?"

"Clear." Conner said.

"right arm?"

"Right there, on the back!"

Batman watched on as the teen pinched the end of some sort of tick and delicately tugged it from where it had burrowed into Wally's flesh.

"Jar!" Kaldur called, and Dick provided one, together they dropped the parasite into an evidence container and sealed it.

Almost instantly, Wally stopped writhing. Whatever sedative the thing had released was clearly hitting his system.

"And that," Dick announced, "is how you catch an alien parasite!"

"I'll carry Wally to the med bay," M'gann said, "You guys find the others."

It took a couple hours for Wally to be fully lucid. The team waited with him the whole time, partially because he was their good friend and partially cause the league insisted on running some tests to ensure there'd be no lasting affects. 

It took a little time to coax his story out of him: he'd apparently been forced back towards the atrium before Artemis had cornered him with her bow in the washroom, then...

"...Something really hurt in my arm, and... I don't really remember." He ended loosely. He'd heard his friends' sections of the story as well, and by now they'd pieced together a loose series of events to put in the incident report. 

"What I can't get over is that I wasn't he last!" Dick exclaimed. "I mean, I always thought I'd survive a slasher."

"I guess that means Wally is our final girl." Artemis teased, leaning over his gurney. "Seriously though, you're feeling better?"

"Yeah, a bit," he replied. "Just remind me to never to chores for the league again!"