C A R R I B E A N S E A
July 22, 20:08 ECT

To say that the atmosphere inside the Bioship was tense would be a gross understatement. Here they were, all too preoccupied with their own thoughts to say much of anything, on their first official mission from Batman.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian spoke up suddenly, and Silverbird, from her spot in between Robin and Kid Flash, glanced over her shoulder at M'gann.

Despite herself, Reese thought back to a few hours earlier, when Batman had briefed them all, back in Mount Justice.

---

"Isla Santa Prisca," Batman began, standing in front of the holo-screens in the cave. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid, a strength-enhancing drug, sold under the street name Venom,"

Reese tapped her foot against the ground, already getting antsy. Their first real mission, she couldn't wait.

"Infrared heat signatures--" Batman continued as he pulled up more holo-screens. "--indicates their factory is still operating at full capacity. But, all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off,"

Beside Reese, Wally, ever the speedster, was eating a bag of potato chips, and the munching was getting on Reese's nerves. Whenever her adrenaline got too high, her enhanced senses spiked, and right now, all she could hear were Wally's chips being chewed into little tiny pieces inside his mouth.

"--That's where this team comes in," Reese turned back to Batman as the Dark Knight turned to face the six of them. "This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will. The plan requires two drop-zones,"

"So, who's in charge?" Dick asked from Reese's other side, tilting his head to the side.

Batman and Red Tornado exchanged a look, before turning back to the younger heroes in front of them.

"Work that out between you,"

---

Silverbird knew that Robin thought he could be the leader. And in any other situation, she'd agree. Dick was born with natural leadership skills, they just...weren't right for the scenario.

Even at times when Green Arrow or Black Canary had to partner up with Batman and Robin for one thing or another, and she had come along, Reese noticed that Bruce and Dick worked like a well-oiled machine.

They knew how the other thinks, and that made the verbal making of a plan null and void. But, their team wasn't Batman and Robin. No doubt Bruce had done background checks on everyone, studying their fighting styles, or lack thereof, but they didn't know how to work together like a well-oiled machine, or at least, not like Batman and Robin. Not yet, anyway.

Someday, Dick would probably end up leading them, but not today, not right now.

Reese herself knew that she wasn't ready to be a leader, she might never be ready to be a leader. She worked with Ollie and Dinah sure, but Silverbird always followed their lead.

Most of the time, Reese was too scared she was going to mess something up if she were ever put in charge.

M'gann wasn't experienced enough to be leader, she was still trying to figure out Earthian customs, Superboy was too impulsive and angry, and having Wally put in charge? Forget it.

That left Aqualad. Kaldur was strong, smart, and mature, far wiser than his age. He would be a good leader.

"Drop-Zone A in thirty," M'gann's voice jerked Reese from her thoughts, and the brunette glanced over her shoulder as Aqualad stood up from his seat.

Kaldur tapped his A-shaped belt buckle, and his red stealth suit turned entirely black and gray.

"Ready," he answered stoically, glancing at Miss Martian.

"Putting Bioship in camouflage mode,"

M'gann flew the Bioship closer to the surface of the sea, and a hole opened up in the bottom before Aqualad dropped smoothly into the water, beginning the swim towards shore.

A few minutes later, Kaldur's voice came through their comms.

"Heat and motion sensors are patched," he told them. "Data's now on a continuous loop. Move-in,"

Now that they weren't in danger of being shot down by missiles or whatever other fun and dangerous toys Santa Prisca used as their security system, M'gann flew the Bioship above the thick jungle, before stopping again above a clearing.

"Drop-Zone B," Miss Martian said, and Silverbird, Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy, along with M'gann, all stood to their feet, the chairs melting back into the floor.

Miss M held a hand in the air, concentrating before three rappelling lines descended from the ceiling, coming to a stop in front of Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash.

As he hooked the clasp onto his belt, Wally tapped the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, and his mustard-yellow suit suddenly turned the same dark color as Kaldur's, making it easier for KF to blend in during the night.

"How cool is this?" he asked, turning around and gesturing to M'gann.

"Very impressive," the martian answered before she silently willed her own clothes to change into an all-black bodysuit as her cape also grew a hood.

"That works too," Wally added, shrugging before he turned to Superboy. "Hey, Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech,"

"No capes, no tights, no offense,"

"It totally works for you," M'gann answered dreamily, before quickly backtracking. "In that, you can totally do good work in those clothes,"

Meanwhile, not really paying attention to Miss M's embarrassment, Reese sighed heavily as she hooked her own line on. It wasn't like they were really high up, but still...

"You okay?" Reese glanced up to find Robin gazing at her worriedly.

After a moment of thought, Silverbird nodded.

"I will be,"

With that, the two of them, plus Kid Flash and Miss Martian, jumped safely to the ground. They had only been standing there for a few seconds though when the wind whistled above her head, and Reese glanced up in time to see Superboy jumping down towards them.

All four of them scattered, just before the Cadmus clone landed heavily on the jungle-floor, bringing with him a shockwave and a cloud of dirt.

As she sat up, with Robin's help, Silverbird glared at where Superboy was standing in the middle of a small crater, looking smug.

"Knew I didn't need a line," he said simply.

"And yet," Robin retorted, looking a bit peeved. "Creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert,"

"Aqualad," Reese reached up to her ear and tapped her comm. "Drop-Zone B is ready,"

"Head for the factory," Kaldur answered. "I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP,"

"Roger that," Robin cut off as the five of them looked at the holo-map Dick had pulled up of Santa Prisca.

They began their trek through the jungle, even going past a waterfall that Reese thought was pretty cool.

Someday, she wanted to come back, maybe for a vacation. You know, when it wasn't being controlled by crazy drug dealers or whatnot.

As they were walking along a faint path, the sound of a branch snapping reached Silverbird's ears, and she stopped, at the same time as Superboy. When it sounded again, even when they had stopped walking, the two exchanged a glance.

"Did you hear that?" Superboy asked, and KF turned around, giving both of them a dry look.

"Uh, no," he began but stopped when Reese held up a single gloved hand, stopping his rant. "Wait, is this a super-hearing thing?"

"You do have great ears, Superboy," M'gann said dreamily, causing Reese to glance at her for a second, eyebrow raised.

"Okay, Boy Wonder," Silverbird began, turning towards where Robin was standing. "What should we--Robin?"

Where Dick had been standing mere seconds before, there was nothing but an empty patch of dirt, and no Boy Wonder to be seen.

"Aw, man," Wally groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "I hate it when he does that,"

Reese, meanwhile, was more than a little pissed. They had made a pact, hadn't they? To watch each other's backs, and then Dick goes off and does his own stupid little Robin thing. Oh, when she found him again, Reese swore she was going to--

"Superboy, Kid," Aqualad's voice suddenly cut into her thoughts, and Reese's eyes widened. "Switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked,"

As enhanced as Silverbird's vision was, night vision and all that, even she didn't have the ability to see people's heat signatures. Wally had his goggles, and Superboy had the Kryptonian abilities like Clark.

Per Aqualad's orders, Kid Flash slipped his goggles over his eyes, thin red stripes appearing within the lenses.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," Wally spoke up after a few seconds, and when Reese looked where he was, her eyes saw the squad Wally meant, a large group of men with large weapons.

"Two squads," Superboy added, looking to the other side of the jungle. "But, they'll meet each other before they find us," Suddenly, the loud rhythmic sound of gunshots reached everyone's ears, and Wally slid off his goggles.

"No super-hearing required now," the speedster said, and Reese felt stone-cold fear pool in the pit of her stomach.

If Robin was somehow caught unawares out there...sure, he had been trained by the Batman for the past four years, and undoubtedly knew how to take care of himself, but that didn't stop Reese from worrying.

"Swing wide, steer clear," Aqualad spoke up again.

"Yeah, yeah," KF brushed Kaldur off as he grabbed Silverbird's arm and began to drag her behind him. "Just as soon as Silverbird and I find Rob,"

Without another word, Wally had already slung Reese over his back piggy-back style, and the twelve-year-old locked her arms around the redhead's neck as he began to run through the jungle.

But, before they were able to get very far, Reese glanced down at the ground in time to see Wally's feet slip in the mud, sending both of them tumbling.

Eventually, they stopped, and Silverbird and Kid Flash both sat up wearily, in time to see a tall man in a muscle tank and Lucha libre mask standing in front of them, gun pointed straight at their faces. Crap, Reese thought. Bane.

"So much for the stealthy," Wally spoke up, at the same time that Reese's eyes widened.

A split-second before both squads of thugs began shooting at them, KF had grabbed Silverbird and ran with her again, and they somehow managed to avoid getting shot.

While Superboy went up against Bane, Wally and Reese still tried to dodge the thugs' bullets. Reese felt one whizz right past her ear, so close she felt it part her hair before a glaringly familiar thirteen-year-old dropped down from the treetops.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Robin exclaimed as soon as he had taken down the two thugs who were shooting at Wally and Reese. "Remember 'covert'? Why didn't you follow my lead: vanish into the jungle?"

"That's what you were doing?" Wally asked as he kicked a bad guy across the clearing. "Way to fill us in. We're not mind-readers, you know?" Just as he said that though, Miss Martian used her telekinesis to throw two more goons into a tree, and Wally glanced sheepishly at her. "Err, I'm not, anyway,"

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," M'gann retorted.

Through all of this, Reese hadn't yet said anything, resigning instead to stand stoically in front of Dick, glaring at him. How dare he scare her like that? For several seconds, when the gunfire had first started earlier, she thought her Boy Wonder had been hurt, or worse.

Suddenly, her eyes flicked up the slope behind Robin, and she quickly shot an arrow towards another thug. Robin, for some reason, thought she was shooting it at him and ducked down.

Kaldur dropped down from the trees then as well, placing his hand against the chest of the goon and shocking them, his eel tattoos lighting up for a split-second just as Silverbird's arrow split into a bola, wrapping around the thug and trapping him against a tree trunk.

Then, as M'gann and Wally began to help Superboy and Kaldur tie up the defeated thugs, plus Bane, Reese walked forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with Robin.

Then, she leaned closer, making sure that Dick met her eyes. As it were, the Boy Wonder looked as though he wanted the jungle to swallow him up.

"You are immensely lucky that Miss M, Aqualad, and Superboy don't know your identity, Robin, or else I would be breaking out your full name right now because you are a dick," Reese emphasized the last four words by poking Robin's emblem where it was situated against his chest.

"Pretty bird, I'm sor--" Reese cut him off by holding up a single hand.

"Don't," she said simply. Then she spun around, intentionally letting her braid whip Dick in the face. Reese was mad, he could tell, and frankly, Dick didn't blame her. He was an idiot. But did she really have to break out the name-calling?

"I recognize these uniforms," he spoke up instead, walking forward next to some of the thugs they had tied to a tree. "They belong to the Cult of the Kobra,"

"I am certain Batman would've mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Aqualad said stoically, arms crossed.

"Agreed," Robin answered, cupping his chin. "And since there's clearly no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off,"

"We get it," KF spoke up dryly. "Kobra wanted super-cultists, mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for--"

"Uh, KF?" Reese asked, quietly, causing the speedster to glance over at her. "I don't think these guys are on Venom,"

"She's right," Robin added. "Kobra's hoarding the stuff. Nice one, pretty bird,"

Instead of smiling softly and turning a faint rosy pink like she usually did whenever he complimented her, Reese's face turned almost stone-cold, and she faced away from him, pointedly ignoring Dick's eyes.

"We don't leave," Robin continued after a moment, sighing heavily and wishing the brunette would just talk to him. "Not until I know why,"

"Until you know why?" Kid clarified, and Robin straightened up.

"This team needs a leader," Dick retorted, but Wally wasn't swayed.

"And it's you?" the speedster asked. "Dude, you're a thirteen-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word. Heck, Silver and I almost got wasted because we were looking for you,"

"Hey, don't bring me into this," Silverbird bit out sharply, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm on your side, KF,"

"Thanks for the support," Dick grumbled, and Reese snapped her eyes over to meet his.

"You wanna talk about support?" she questioned, walking forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with him again. "Support means watching out for your team, not going off half-cocked in the middle of a Caribbean jungle fighting off cultists without telling anyone where you're going. Did you ever even think for a second that we might like to know where you were going, and what you were up to?"

"You should've known," Robin retorted, gesturing to Silverbird, and Reese scoffed.

"How was I supposed to know?" she asked, and Dick shrugged.

"You've worked with me and Batman before," he tried to justify himself. "You know how we work,"

"That doesn't make it any better, Robin!" Reese exclaimed, clenching her fists. "Batman's not even here, so you shouldn't need to work how you would with him because he's thousands of miles away right now,"

"Right now," Dick shot back. "I'm the closest thing we got to Batman!"

Both of them were, by now, oblivious to the fact that even Wally had stopped arguing with the Boy Wonder, and was now standing back with Superboy and Miss M, watching as the two birds fought with each other.

"It doesn't matter if you are or not!" Reese shouted, trying desperately to keep her volume under control, lest she Canary Cry right in Dick's face. "Batman's not here, he's not going to be here, so you need to suck it up and think about making a plan, rather than going off by yourself without telling anyone! Robin, I thought you died!"

Before Dick could form a response to that, before anyone could form a response to that, Bane chuckled darkly from his spot tied against a tree.

"Problemas en el paraíso, tortolitos?" Despite it all, Silverbird's temper was still running high, and Bane's words didn't help things. Lovebirds, she scoffed quietly. Yeah right. Sometimes she really hated being able to speak every language on Earth.

Reese whipped around and stalked towards the man, but he spoke again before she was able to argue with him.

"Such a clever niña," he began. "But, you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory, via my secret entrance,"

The strange thing was, Reese could tell that Bane wasn't lying. He was telling the truth about his 'secret entrance', but...he was also hiding something. And she wasn't entirely sure what that something was.

As it were, M'gann crouched down in front of Bane, looking thoughtful.

"There is a secret entrance," the martian admitted. "But he's also hiding something," She held her fingers to the side of her head, and her eyes began to glow subtly. Bane just chuckled again.

"Ah, ah, ah, chica," he crooned. "Bane is not that easy,"

"Ugh," M'gann groaned, sitting back. "He's mentally reciting fútbol scores in Español," she glanced over her shoulder. "This could take a while,"

"It is not complicated," Bane said calmly. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Reese didn't appreciate the use of the proverb right now, but it didn't seem like they had many other options.

Eventually, though it seemed everyone was reluctant, the six young heroes allowed Bane to lead them to a cliff, overlooking the jungle. In the center was the massive factory, and with her enhanced vision, Reese was able to catch sight of several of Kobra's cultists patrolling the perimeter.

"Look at all that product," Robin gasped out, binoculars against his eyes. "A buy is going down. But, if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects--"

"--Then we need to identify that buyer," Aqualad cut in from his spot leaning against a nearby tree, looking down at the factory as well.

"Just what I was thinking" Kid Flash agreed, but Robin scoffed.

"Yeah," he cut in, sarcasm lacing his tone. "You're the thinker,"

Apparently, Wally caught the underlying tone as well.

"Sarcasm?" the redhead asked. "Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers,"

Movement from the corner of her eye made Reese turn her head, and she climbed to her feet as Bane lifted a boulder away from what looked like a mine entrance, revealing a dirt tunnel beyond.

"Answers," the man began, swinging his arm out in a wide gesture. "Are this way,"

Despite her skepticism on letting a bad guy lead the way inside, Reese sucked down her pride, unlike some people (*cough* Dick and Wally *cough*), and was the first of them to follow the man down the tunnel, pointedly ignoring the fact that Dick's eyes were burning holes into her back.

She hated being mad at him, truly, but that didn't excuse him for being a god-forsaken idiot. It had barely been four days since the whole Mister Twister fiasco when Dick hadn't thought her strong enough to help them. Okay, maybe she'd had a minor, minor concussion, but that didn't change the fact that her best friend thought she was worthless.

Of course, Dick also hadn't straight up said that, but his actions more than spoke what his mouth didn't. He had said he worried about her, which Reese could understand, but this was ridiculous. He treated her like she was made of glass as if every time she did anything even remotely dangerous, she'd crack and shatter, like the jagged pieces of a broken mirror.

She was stronger than that. She knew that she was stronger than that. So, why couldn't Dick just see that? They were friends, weren't they?

Reese was probably closer to Dick than she was to most of the other people she knew, except for maybe Roy. They understood each other, knew what the other was thinking, but right now...she wasn't sure about anything. At least, not concerning the black-haired blue-eyed acrobat who was walking a few yards behind her.

Wally's scoffing voice broke Reese from her thoughts, and Silverbird glanced over her shoulder at the speedster as he spoke.

"So, now El Luchador is our leader?" Robin hit him as he walked past, but both boys froze when Reese glared at them.

After she turned back around, Dick looked down at his feet, scuffing his toe against the dirt. He hated it when they were fighting because it meant he wasn't able to spend time with his favorite person.

But, he also supposed it was sort of his fault that Reese was mad in the first place. She'd had a point earlier when she had said that it probably would have been a good idea to tell the others what he was up to with the whole 'vanish into the jungle' shtick.

At the time, he'd been too preoccupied, adrenaline flooding his veins with a high that only came when he was in costume, only came when he was Robin, to think about what would happen if the others didn't know what he was doing.

Now, Dick had to figure out how to fix things with Reese, before she completely shut down. When Reese was mad, she got impulsive, and when she was impulsive, she got reckless, and Roy would kill him if anything happened to his little sister.

Not that the Boy Wonder told the red-haired archer everything that happened with him and Reese. Not that the Boy Wonder told Roy how he felt. Well, he wasn't entirely sure about that last part. Batman wasn't really one to talk about emotions with, now or ever, and it wasn't like Dick could talk to Reese about it. That could only end badly.

And the last thing Dick wanted was to ruin his friendship with the person he valued most in the world.

Finally, after what seemed like forever inside the Boy Wonder's head, Bane stopped in front of a control panel, letting it scan his thumb for a moment before a small light flashed green, and a door slid open.

Poking her head around the edge, Silverbird saw that it seemed like the tunnel Bane had led them did indeed lead to Santa Prisca's Venom factory. So, Bane hadn't been lying about that.

"Way's clear," she said, and they began to make their way through the factory. Somewhere along the way though, Robin disappeared again, and Reese's temper got steadily worse.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane grumbled, looking over his shoulder at the rest of them, and Silverbird scowled.

"You'll start to see that he just does that," Her eyes landed on the control room on the floor above them, and an idea suddenly grew inside Reese's head. She turned to Kaldur. "I think I know where Robin's going," she said. "Mind if I go and knock some sense into him?"

Aqualad waved a hand as if to say "go ahead", and Silverbird turned around, shooting a grappling arrow and letting it yank her up onto the catwalk, at the same time that Robin ran across.

Dick's mask lenses widened as if his eyes did the same the second he saw her, but Reese was still mad at him, as she rightly should be. Instead of saying anything, all the brunette did was shoot a knockout arrow inside the control room, making the cultist inside go unconscious.

"We had a pact, Robin," she said softly once they both got inside the control room, Dick knocking the cultist to the floor so he was able to hack into the computer. "Did that really mean so little to you that you didn't care whether I knew where you were or not?"

"What?" Robin questioned, sounding surprised as he stopped typing to turn around and look at the girl behind him. "No, that's not it at all. Pretty bird, you were right earlier. This team is not the same as me and Batman. I guess, I just got so caught up in wanting to be the leader, I just..."

"Ignored everyone else in pursuit of your own goals, without once thinking about how we would feel if we found out you were missing, right before two squads of thugs got into a shootout in the middle of a Caribbean jungle?"

For a moment, all Robin did was blink. "Well," he began finally. "When you put it like that, it kinda makes me sound like some sort of--"

"--dick?" Reese asked, and Dick glared at her. But, despite the fact of the name-calling, she was cooling down, and as it were, the brunette giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. "Sorry," she said, and Robin turned around again.

"No you're not," he retorted, but Robin would be lying if there wasn't a small up-turn to his mouth as well. He was just glad they were talking again.

Dick's fingers flew across the keyboard as Reese leaned over his shoulder, bringing up the cell structure for Venom just as Wally sped into the control room, munching on a protein bar.

"Hey, lovebirds!" the speedster exclaimed, causing both Robin and Silverbird to turn and glare at him. After a moment, KF continued. "Whatcha got?"

Reese leaned towards the computer again, peering at the information structure that had popped up on the screen.

"Chemical formulas," she answered, and Dick continued her thought, because sometimes they were just that in-tune with each other, regardless if Reese was currently mad at him or not.

"We're guessing it involves Venom, but--" Wally gestured with his protein bar as another molecular formula appeared on the screen.

"This one's Venom," he began. "And that one's--whoa," Reese's eyes widened behind her domino mask, and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that Robin was staring at her.

"The Blockbuster formula from Cadmus," she whispered, and Wally nodded.

"Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times stronger than Venom,"

"And permanent," Reese added, before turning to glance at Dick. "But how did Kobra get access to Project Blockbuster?"

Robin's eyes narrowed as he thought. "Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier! Using the cult to create a Blockbuster-Venom super-formula!"

Reese reached up and tapped her comm. "Silverbird to Aqualad. We got--static," when the burst of white noise hit her eardrums, Reese flinched. There was something blocking their communications, and she couldn't reach Kaldur, M'gann, or Superboy.

It didn't look like Robin or Kid Flash were having better luck than she was. When the sound of gunfire reached their ears next, along with various crashes, Reese had a feeling they'd be fighting the bad guys sooner, rather than later.

The three of them, her, Dick, and Wally, ran out onto the catwalk again, in time to see the others fighting, whether it be against cultists or Sportsmaster, who had somehow suddenly arrived, though Reese had a feeling that meant he was the mystery buyer of the Kobra Venom.

Suddenly, Robin had grabbed her hand and dragged Silverbird along with him.

"This time--" Dick began, pushing Reese's head down before a blast of energy would've taken off her head in one clean shot. "You're coming with me,"

Suddenly, M'gann's voice appeared inside Reese's head, and her eyes widened.

'Everyone online?' she asked, and one by one, they each gave their answers.

'Yeah,'

'You know it, beautiful,'

'Good, we need to regroup,'

'Can't, kinda going up against Kobra at the moment,'

'She's right. Busy now,' Robin added as he and Silverbird landed on the edge of the helipad before the cultist who thought he was a god sneered at them.

"Batman and Green Arrow must be desperate," Kobra said. "If they send their whelps to task me,"

"What's wrong, Koby?" Robin shot back gleefully. "You look disconcerted,"

"Aw," Silverbird added, one hand placed against her hip. "It can't be us, can it, Robin? And here I was, thinking we were so likable,"

"This is beneath me," Kobra said dryly, blatantly ignoring the Boy Wonder's comment. "Shimmer, take them,"

Shimmer, who was a tall, slender woman with orange hair shaved on the right side of her head, ran forward, but Reese and Dick both leaped over her head without breaking a sweat.

'Robin, Silverbird,' Kaldur's voice appeared in Reese's head again, sounding a bit irritated. 'Now!'

Realizing that maybe Aqualad had a point, Reese quickly pulled a trick arrow from her quiver, before shooting it straight at the ground. It exploded in a flash of light that gave her and Robin an opportunity to escape from Shimmer and Kobra, running back into the warehouse.

'We need to retreat,' Aqualad said through the mental link again. 'Kid, clear a path,'

Wally did as asked, knocking cultists to the floor as he ran through them. Reese, despite her shortened stature, pushed her legs as fast as they would go as she slid into the tunnel right before Superboy locked the door.

They hadn't gotten very far before Mammoth, presumably a result of someone being given Kobra Venom, busted down the door.

She figured having Superboy punch the support beams of the tunnel could be a viable solution to getting Mammoth off their tail, but Reese had a better idea.

Skidding to a stop, Silverbird spun around so she was facing the direction they had come from, oblivious to the way Robin had stumbled when he realized she wasn't following anymore, and she screamed, the Canary Cry's frequency making the rocks and dirt above them fall to the tunnel's floor, effectively cutting the young heroes off from the cultists and Mammoth.

It also blasted everyone back several yards, so that was nice too.

As soon as they were all relatively safe, Kaldur grabbed a glowstick, cracking it and letting a faint red glow bathe everything around them.

Beside Reese, Robin practically glared at the wall that had appeared when Silverbird had Canary Cried.

"How could my first mission as Leader go so wrong?" Dick grumbled, and Reese gently wrapped her fingers around his as Kaldur spoke up from behind them.

"Earlier, Silverbird was correct," Aqualad said calmly. "You do have the most experience, but perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are...defined, you two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear. Explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan,"

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin burst out, spinning around, but he stopped when Silverbird jabbed her elbow into his ribs. "Who am I kidding?" he asked, glancing to the side as he tightened his hold on Reese's hand. "You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can,"

"Please," Wally sneered from his spot against the wall. "I can run circles around--"

"Wally, stop it," Reese cut the speedster off, gesturing to Aqualad with her free hand. "You know he's the one. We all do,"

"Hello, Megan!" M'gann exclaimed. "It's so obvious,"

"Coulda told ya," Superboy added, his facial expression not changing. Aqualad turned to glance at Wally, who still looked a bit put out, but after a moment, the redhead shrugged.

"Okay," he said simply, and Kaldur walked forward until he was standing in front of Robin.

"Then I accept the burden," the Atlantean said calmly, setting a hand on Dick's right shoulder. "Until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon,"

Robin gave a solid nod, and Reese smiled before Kaldur turned to face everyone again.

"Our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island," he said calmly, and Dick grinned.

"Funny, I had the same thought,"

With that, the six of them began to make a plan, and as they ran through the tunnel again, Robin pulled up his holo-computer from his wrist gauntlet.

"If Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer," the Boy Wonder spoke up as they ran. "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,"

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

"I believe the expression is--" Aqualad began as they all slowed to a stop at the end of the tunnel as Bane stepped out of the shadows, a switch held in his hand. "--'tip of the iceberg',"

"Halt, niños," the man told them gruffly. "I'm feeling...explosive,"

Reese skidded to a stop, her eyes widening as they landed on the multitude of small bombs strapped to the support beams around them. That must have been what Bane was lying about earlier. She...should've seen that coming, honestly.

"You betrayed us!" Kaldur exclaimed. "Why?" Bane began his explanation but Aqualad's voice inside Reese's head made the girl pause. 'Kid, you'll need a running start,'

"--So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemy or die trying.," Bane continued, oblivious to the plan going on between the younger heroes, and frankly, Reese found the irony hilarious. "If the latter, the Justice League would certainly have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect,"

He pressed down on the switch in his hand, but Bane's finger hit empty air. When the man looked down, confused, Wally spoke up from behind him, waving the switch in the air.

"With what?" KF questioned, more than a little bit smug. "This trigger thingy?" Bane ran at Wally, threatening to punch him, but M'gann levitated the man before he was able to hurt the speedster.

"Finally," Superboy grinned. "Drop him," When M'gann did so, Superboy slammed his fist straight into Bane's face, and the man dropped like a rock.

Then, with Bane out of the way, the team headed back to the factory, where Sportsmaster was getting ready to fly out, with the Kobra Venom.

While the others took care of Mammoth and Kobra's cultists, Robin and Silverbird went up to meet Shimmer and Kobra again, Dick throwing one of his bolas to wrap around the orange-haired woman, knocking her away.

"I know you hate getting your hands dirty," Robin smirked towards Kobra.

"True," the extremist reluctantly agreed, taking his cloak off to reveal a bare chest and bald head. "But, sometimes, even a god must stoop to conquer,"

Reese and Dick didn't even need to look at each other before they were moving forward towards Kobra, kicking out at the same time. But, Kobra managed to catch both of their feet in one hand, throwing them back.

Silverbird landed in a crouch, her hood falling around her shoulders. By now, her braid had begun to come out, and strands of silver and chocolate brown were fluttering in front of her eyes.

"What's wrong, boy?" Kobra sneered when Dick landed next to Reese as the latter brushed the hair from her face. "You look disconcerted,"

Then, quick as lightning, Kobra struck, and Robin and Silverbird were put on the defensive. Despite the fact that the odds were 2 to 1, Kobra moved as a snake would...no pun intended. He was lithe and much faster than he seemed.

He kicked Reese away, and she thudded onto the ground beside Dick just as Sportsmaster's helicopter exploded the warehouse, a cloud of fire sending plumes of smoke into the air.

While Kobra's foot was placed against Robin's chest, pressing down on the thirteen-year-old, the extremist reached forward and grabbed Silverbird's neck, yanking her upward as Reese scratched at his fingers. Honestly, what was it with people and grabbing her neck?

"No breath, no scream," Kobra sneered again. "I am plagued by mosquitoes," Robin, from his spot still stuck under the extremist's foot, scowled.

"Good," he grumbled as Reese's face began to inch towards purple. " 'Cause this mosquito's mighty concerted over your pain!"

In one lithe movement, Dick swung his legs out, managing to escape from underneath Kobra's foot, flipping backward as the others, i.e Wally, Kaldur, M'gann, and Superboy, ran forward.

For several tense seconds, Kobra still held Silverbird in his grip, but when Robin took out his birdarangs threateningly, the man scowled.

"Another time, then," he spoke, before abruptly letting go of Reese's neck, letting the brunette drop to the ground, before he disappeared into the shadows of the jungle.

Reese landed heavily on the grass, gasping for breath as Dick ran forward, dropping to his knees in front of the silver archer without a second thought and gently brushing her hair away with his fingers so he would be able to see her neck. Meanwhile, Wally went and looked through the bushes for any sign of Kobra, but to no avail.

"Dude's gone," Kid Flash spoke up, turning back to the others after a few seconds. "Snake's in the grass," After his last statement, Wally chuckled a bit. "Heh, snake in the grass. Get it?"

Dick gave him a dry look over Reese's shoulder, but Robin didn't say anything to him until a few seconds later, when, after he and Reese had both stood to their feet, the Boy Wonder turned to Aqualad.

"We picked the right guy to lead," he said, before turning towards where the warehouse was still burning behind them. "Automatically making you the best one to explain this mess to Batman,"

As he walked away, Dick began to cackle gleefully but was abruptly cut off when Reese jabbed his ribs again.

M O U N T J U S T I C E
July 23, 10:01 EDT

"A simple recon mission," Batman stalked in front of Reese and the others after they had returned from their 'recon mission', dressed in civvies once more. "Observe and report. You'll each receive a written evaluation detailing your many mistakes. Until then...good job,"

Reese wasn't the only one to snap their head up at one of the Batman's rare, rare compliments.

"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--" next to Reese, she saw Kaldur glance at Dick, while the Boy Wonder cracked a small smile. "--determines character,"

With that, Batman walked back down the corridor, and the team dispersed, going off to do whatever it was each of them did in their free time.

Reese went to walk to the Zeta tube in order to go back to Star City, but Dick flashed a hand out at the last moment, stopping her in her tracks.

"I know I can't say this enough," he began. "But I am so sorry, pretty bird, for what happened on Santa Prisca. I didn't mean to scare you like that,"

"It's fine, Robin," Reese answered, using Dick's alias since Superboy was still in the main cave, but the thirteen-year-old vehemently shook his head.

"No, Rhysalin, it's not. I went off without telling anyone, and you and Wally almost got hurt because of it. I promise I'll either bring you with me next time or tell you what's going on. We made that pact for a reason, didn't we? To watch each other's back?"

"Dick..." Reese began as soon as Superboy had walked out. "It's okay. Really. You realized your mistake and rectified it. Everyone makes mistakes. Heck, even Batman. Nobody's perfect, but what's important is that you realize when you make a mistake, and make up for it,"

"Have I made up for my mistake?" Dick asked, suddenly looking very, very nervous. "Pretty bird, you're my best friend. Don't let Wally know I said that," Dick muttered the last part in a whisper, but it made Reese giggle. "I don't want to lose you,"

"You won't Boy Wonder," Reese said calmly, reaching forward and lacing Dick's fingers with hers. "I promise. I will always be by your side, no matter what the galaxy threatens to throw at us,"

Dick glanced over at her. "When'd you get so philosophical?"

Reese waved a hand through the air. "Blame Dinah. I think being around a therapist for extended periods of time drew some sort of...mental poetry into my head,"

"Mental poetry?" Dick echoed, grinning.

"My thoughts come out sounding weirdly poetic," Reese explained, but Dick only chuckled, shaking his head fondly.

"You're something else, Rhysalin Blaire. Something else," Blaire was Reese's middle name, and Dick was really the only person who used it.

"You're not too bad yourself, Grayson," As they reached the Zeta tubes, Dick glanced over at her again.

"You wanna come to Gotham to make up for that movie night we missed after Cadmus?"

"Sure," Reese agreed. "Only if we get to watch the Lion King," Dick sighed.

"The things I do for you, pretty bird," he muttered under his breath. "The things I do,"

-----

Don't you just love foreshadowing? I SURE DO!!!

Hey, the second update in two days, LOOK AT ME!!

You guys sorta got a look into Dick's head, which helps me plan out for Part II of this book, which IS mostly FROM Nightwing's pov, for reasons I will not yet divulge.

Also, during the Invasion arc of TR & TC, I will be bringing in a few more OCs (only two at the most), and one is an ASSHOLE, but I'm excited to write him, so that's something. (He's also like, a complete creep, but we'll get to that later)

The OG Lion King is also like, my favorite Disney movie of all time, so it is now Reese's favorite Disney movie of all time. Sue me.

Next up: Schooled

~matia~