chapter thirty-six.
( a caged bird sings. )

     It's been over a month since M'gann's kidnapping—two months since Yue departed from that warehouse in Blüdhaven with the glamour charm around her neck, leaving her friends believing she was dead.

With Kaldur's mind still in ruins until a week ago, the mission had been put on the backburner. There was nothing that could be done to further their standing in The Light as long as he was unconscious and, now that he's aware once more, they have more pressing matters to attend to.

Yue sits on Kaldur's bed, by his knees, and M'gann sits on the seat beside them. The familiar weight of the mind-link rests over her mind, keeping the two undercover heroes and their 'kidnapped hostage' connected to one another at all times.

With a sigh, the Martian leans forward to press a glass of water to Kaldur's lips for him to drink. Yue glances up at the camera in the corner of the room. "He's still not himself," she announces to Kestrel. It was a white lie to cover their backs as they plan for a way to rescue M'gann.

But then who is? Turning away from the camera, her eyes fall onto her reflection – her black hair and brown eyes, a reminder of who she still is – and she frowns beneath her mask.

M'gann places her hand against Kaldur's forehead, then glances back at Yue. "So, what's our next move?" She asks.

"With that inhibitor collar disabling the rest of your powers, I have no idea," Yue answers. She carefully takes the glass of water from the Martian and stands up from the mattress to place it on the cabinet across from the bed.

"Guess we're lucky Kestrel hasn't pressed a button to block my psychic powers, too," M'gann says.

Yue's fingers tap against the top of the cabinet, before she turns back to face M'gann and Kaldur. "Or pressed another button to blow your head off with the explosives built into that collar." She leans back, her arms crossing over her chest as she watches her two friends. "As long as he's watching us from the Manta Flyer, I just don't know what to do."

"It hardly matters," M'gann states. "You know Manta plans to kill me as soon as I've cured his son."

Kaldur sits still in the bed as he has for the last month, his back resting against the pillows pressed up to the wall. His seafoam eyes stare blankly at the wall across from him. "Which is why he must not learn I am already cured," he tells the two women. "Not until we devise some way to save M'gann's life."

Yue suggests, "If it comes down to it, we might need to blow our covers."

"We cannot." Kaldur replies, though it doesn't sound as if he truly believes the words he speaks. "We have only just gained The Light's trust, our mission–"

"Our mission doesn't mean anything if M'gann doesn't make it out of here," she reminds him. "If you can't do it, I can, Kaldur."

"Don't," M'gann tells her. "I'm not worth risking the mission for."

Yue frowns, "We can't keep stalling forever. How long until Manta decides this isn't worth the wait anymore?"

The door to Kaldur's room swings open and both girls turn to face it. Black Manta walks into the room, his head held high and the red eyes of his helmet glowing in the dim light. "My patience has run out, Martian. You have twenty-four hours. Finish curing my son." He starts. "Or die."

He walks back out of the door and as soon as it clicks shut behind him, M'gann glances up at Yue. "Guess that answers your question," she murmurs. "I'm doomed either way."

Five hours later, with the timer on M'gann's life ticking down and nineteen hours left to make a move, the two undercover heroes and the Martian sit in Kaldur's room going over their plan. Yue had to admit that there were so many holes in the plan with so much room for interruption and discovery. But what choice did any of them have? – In a few minutes, she would leave the infirmary and make her way to the control room where she would deactivate the collar's controls and release M'gann.

Black Manta, or Kestrel, would no doubt catch her and she would plead it was done while under Miss Martian's control. Whether they believed her or not was another issue; they'd certainly kill her if they even suspected she had betrayed them. But she can't worry about that—because as long as M'gann makes it out of here alive, it will have been worth something.

It's a risk they have to take.

"So, we're all agreed then?" Yue stands at the foot of Kaldur's bed, her arms crossed as she observes M'gann and Kaldur carefully. The Martian sits beside Kaldur on the mattress, her eyes glowing brightly as she pretends to be psychically helping him.

"No, we're not," M'gann disagrees. "I don't want the two of you risking exposure for me."

"Instead, you expect us to sit back and let you die?" Kaldur asks rhetorically. In the last five hours he had come around on the possibility of blowing their cover to ensure M'gann's safe escape. "No. Yue, begin."

Yue looks up at the camera. "Kestrel," she calls out to the mercenary still watching over them. "Been on duty for twelve hours straight. I need to stretch my legs, and I need coffee."

A quiet static emits from the camera, followed by the sound of Kestrel's voice, "Go ahead."

With one last glance back at Kaldur and M'gann, Yue turns and leaves the room. She stops in the doorway, her eyes falling onto the Manta Trooper stationed outside. "Take over," she orders him. "I'll be back in five."

"Yes, ma'am." The trooper salutes and, once he disappears into the room and the door shuts behind him, Yue walks down the submarine's hallway and to the entrance to the staff's break-room. She halts for a second, surveying the rather empty room, as another Trooper turns toward her with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Want some?" He offers. "Just brewed a fresh-pot."

She stands there for a moment, then shakes her head. "No thanks," she answers monotonically. The trooper shrugs his shoulders and turns away to fill the rest of his cup, while she continues down the corridor.

She just makes it to the end of the hallway, right outside the control room, when the submarine's alarms begin to blare. The red lights flash like neon warning signs as Black Manta's voice calls out. "Intruder alert. Reinforcements to my son's room. Now!"

"M'gann?" She tries to call out to them through the mind-link. "Kaldur? What's happening?"

When she's met with no response, nothing but the emptiness of an abruptly disconnected mind-link, her heart sinks to her stomach. No, she thinks. She has a mission, and she needs to see it through, intruder or no.

She steps into the control room, glancing over the two remaining Troopers who stayed behind even after the others left to provide backup and protect Kaldur. "I'll coordinate from here," she announces. "You two protect Kaldur'ahm." The two Troopers jump to their feet at her sudden arrival, each of them reaching for their guns as they run out of the room to follow her orders.

As they disappear down the hall, Yue leans down over the screen, huffing out a sigh as she realises it's the navigation system and not the collar controls. Hastily, she goes through each screen in the room, her agitation and fear growing with each second that passes. "Come on, come on," she whispers, reading over the next label.

"Kestrel to Cardinal." Victor's voice emits from the comms-device in her ear. "The assassin Cheshire and her sister are onboard the submarine. The hero-one has locked herself inside Kaldur'ahm's cabin, the Martian's attempting to save him. Guess she realised if her patient dies, she dies with him."

No, Yue silently pleads as his words wash over her. "Artemis?" She questions, her heart racing a mile a minute. She back-tracks, "I thought heroes have a code. They don't kill."

"Even heroes break their codes, kid." Kestrel replies. "And it doesn't look like she's too happy that her Martian friend has picked a side. Get back there now."

"I'm on my way." She races to the other side of the room, her eyes scanning over the last few control labels before she finally finds what she had been looking for. She quickly slams her hand against the collar control's button, then sprints out of the room and back in the direction of M'gann and Kaldur.

Artemis doesn't — she wouldn't – kill, she'd never cross that line. But there's a lingering, nagging feeling in the back of Yue's mind that she can't quite shake off as she runs through the submarine to stop her before she goes too far.

"Megs!" She shouts, only able to pray that M'gann could somehow hear her thoughts from across the ship. "Megs, you should have all your powers back. You need to tell Artemis. You need to stop her before she can–"

Yue bolts around the corner, her eyes widening as she quickly steps to the side and narrowly dodges a misdirected bolt from Black Manta's helmet. The supervillain stands further down the hall, going toe-to-toe against Cheshire who gracefully evades each of his attacks with the skill of a trained assassin.

Cheshire pushes off the wall, using her momentum to slice her sword downward at Black Manta. The man dodges to the side, blocking the assassin's attacks and firing his own heavy hits every chance he gets. His armoured hand wraps around the blade of her sai and with a growl, Cheshire kicks the supervillain away from her, forcing him to let go of her weapon as he falls back.

"Cardinal, to my side!" Black Manta orders, his eyes falling onto Yue as she stands at the end of the hall. He rises to his feet slowly, one hand braced against the wall beside him.

"Yes, sir!" Seeing no other choice, she unsheathes her sword from where it hangs off her waist and charges into the battle. She swings the blade at the assassin, purposefully missing every swing of the sword before she slips under Cheshire's arm and takes a protective stance in front of Manta.

"Take her," he commands. "I'm saving my son!" Black Manta runs for Kaldur's room, leaving the undercover-hero alone with her best friend's assassin sister.

"This isn't over!" Cheshire shouts, one of her sai pointing toward Black Manta's retreating form before she glances back at Yue with a snarl. "My sister will have her revenge."

So it's true, she realises, Artemis really is here and she's out for blood– for Kaldur's blood.

Yue hates secrets; she always has and always will. But the mission was too important, and she had done it all so Artemis wouldn't have to. She wasn't meant to wear the mask again, nor was she supposed to seek vengeance. Yue hadn't believed Artemis was capable of it, but Artemis still thinks Kaldur is a turn-cloak—a murderer.

She needs to stop her before she does something she regrets.

But, first, she needs to get Cheshire out of the way.

Cheshire lunges in her direction and Yue, as the twin-sai slices at the air in front of her, jumps back to avoid the attack. She dodges the first weapon, only for the second to slice against the bare skin of her upper right arm as she quickly steps away from it. She grimaces at the feeling of blood slowly trickling from the open wound.

The assassin swings the weapon again and Yue takes another step back, then raises her sword to block the third swing of the sai.

The metal blades screech as they come into contact, the three prongs of the sai lock Yue's sword into place and Cheshire's smirking kabuki-mask stares at her tauntingly as the assassin pushes up with all her strength, prying the sword out of her hands.

It hits the ground with a clang and Cheshire takes advantage of her distraction to attack again. Her foot presses into Yue's stomach and she's sent flying back through the corridor, her back hitting the wall at the end of the hall with a loud thud. The pain travels up her spine as she presses her hands against the cold ground and attempts to weakly push herself up.

"You're fighting on the wrong team," Cheshire states, stalking toward the undercover hero as she twirls one of the sai around in her hand. "So don't take this personally." Her arm reels back, aiming the sharp weapon in her direction, and Yue freezes where she sits.

Until her mind splinters suddenly, and the half-destroyed dimly lit corridor of the submarine disappears around her.

Her eyes shoot open, and she finds herself in an oddly familiar dorm. The one she and Artemis had shared during their first year at Stanford– before Yue moved in with Wally, and Artemis got her apartment in Star City.

Kaldur and Cheshire stand on the other side of the room, and a woman in an orange-and-black suit sits on the bed across from hers. Artemis, she realises after a moment as she takes in the woman's blonde hair and the tired brown eyes hidden behind her tiger-like mask. It has to be Artemis, she thinks, because she would recognise her anywhere.

A light fills the room and as M'gann appears in front of them, Artemis rises to her feet. "How dare you," she spits venomously as she confronts the Martian. "How dare you steal this memory! Yue was your friend, too!"

Frowning, Yue follows Artemis to the centre of the room. "This isn't your memory. It's mine," she says, then glances up at M'gann and nods her head.

The truth was bound to come out eventually, it always does.

M'gann nods back in response and, slowly, Kaldur's former Aqualad suit materialises over his body as the masks disappear from both Artemis and Cheshire's faces. The effects of the glamour charm are the last to fade away and a faint smile crosses Yue's face as she steps in front of Artemis, gently grabbing her hand.

"I'm alive," she reveals. "I'm here."

Artemis shakes her head in disbelief, then pulls her hand away from Yue. "No," she disagrees. "No, we- we buried you. We mourned you."

"Look." M'gann's eyes begin to glow as she replays the night of Kaldur's attack for them all to see. The memory of his sword curving around her ribs just enough to give the illusion of a stab-wound, followed by Dick placing the glamour charm around her neck.

Yue watched with a frown as her dark hair turned blonde and her eyes paled to a hue of green as her past-self fiddled with the golden charm. "Kaldur didn't kill Yue," M'gann explains. "They faked her death so she could become Cardinal and join his deep-cover mission to infiltrate the Light and the Reach."

"You're..." Artemis trails off, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes as she looks Yue up and down, still in a state of disbelief. "You're alive."

"Yeah, Arty," she grins. "I'm still here."

A sound, something between a sob and a laugh, falls from Artemis' lips as she pulls Yue into a tight embrace. "You're alive!" She repeats herself. "I thought... I thought Kaldur killed you. When I heard he had taken M'gann as well, I needed to confront him, I'm–" She lets go of Yue and turns to face Kaldur, a look of regret painting itself across her visage, "–Kaldur, I'm so sorry."

"You needn't be," Kaldur shakes his head, then takes two steps forward until he's at her side and able to rest his hand on her shoulder. "It is I who should be sorry for keeping you, all of you, in the dark."

Artemis smiles up at him, her hand rising to rest over his. "I'm just glad you aren't a traitor, after all."

"Not to bring up the elephant in the room, but," Yue glances over her shoulder to meet Cheshire's gaze. The oldest of the Crock siblings stands behind them, her arms crossed and a somewhat amused smirk on her lips. "What is she doing here?"

"I figured I owed you a favour after all you've done for my sister," she answers with a shrug of her shoulders. "But I guess we don't need to take vengeance on Kaldur'ahm anymore. You dodged a bullet, fish-boy."

Kaldur nods gratefully. "We appreciate the cooperation."

"We need to get back," Yue sighs, her lips curling into a frown as she looks up at M'gann. "The three of you need to get out of here while you still can. It won't take long for Manta and Kestrel to realise something's up."

As suddenly as it appeared, the dorm fades away, and Yue's returned to the submarine's poorly lit corridor. The sai that Cheshire had been aiming beforehand flies through the air, digging into the wall just a few inches from Yue's face.

Her eyes widen as they flicker from the weapon to the assassin. "Couldn't go any easier on me?" She asks jokingly, rising to her feet with a quiet grunt of pain.

"Where's the fun in that?" Cheshire smirks beneath her mask. She begrudgingly kicks Yue's sword back in her direction, the weapon slides across the ground until it stops at her feet. "Let's hope you're good at acting, little bird."

"You still owe me a favour," she states, then leans down to collect her sword. She tilts the blade side to side for a moment, testing the weight of it in her injured arm before she glances up at the assassin standing across from her. "And I need to cash it in."

Footsteps echo through the submarine's hall, and Yue realises that Manta's troopers are still on their way to provide back-up. "Name your price quickly," Cheshire replies as the footsteps grow louder.

"Blow up the control room on your way out," she orders. "And make this fight look good."

Cheshire lets out a laugh, then charges in her direction. Yue side-steps the downward swing of her second sai, ignoring the screeching sound the weapon makes as it slashes at the wall she had been standing against. "I do love property damage," she agrees gleefully.

Two henchmen run into the corridor. Cheshire leaps away from Yue's sword, her eyes flickering between her and the henchmen. "Things are finally getting interesting," she says smugly.

Yue dashes forward to swing her sword at the assassin, only for Cheshire's hand to grab her shoulder. She vaults over her, then spins around to wrap her arm around her throat in a headlock. When one of the henchmen comes sprinting in their direction, Cheshire kicks her forward.

Stumbling into the henchman, Yue grabs his shoulders to steady herself, only to roughly knock him into the wall. His helmet slams against the thick wall and he groans in pain as he slides onto the ground.

She falls to her knees in front of him, pretending to be more injured than she is as she takes her time. Behind them, she can hear Cheshire attack the second henchman before running out of the corridor.

Only when she's sure Cheshire has made it far enough away does Yue rise to her feet, her hand covering the bleeding cut on her forearm as she glances in the direction the assassin escaped to. "We need to go after her." She orders the henchmen, knowing one was in no-shape and the other's head was likely still ringing from the impact. "Now!"

A loud boom echoes through the submarine and the room shakes around Yue, who braces her uninjured arm against the wall to keep herself steady, as she smirks beneath her scarf-mask.

"Cardinal." Kestrel's voice once again calls out to her through the in-ear piece, and she fights the urge to roll her eyes at his voice– she had gone nine years without hearing him and she was certainly beginning to miss those times. "Cheshire and her sister are headed for the exit. Rendezvous in the docking bay."

"On it." She responds, then glances down at the two henchmen laying in front of her. "Don't worry about it," she says sarcastically to them as she sheathes her sword. "I'll handle it myself, you just keep getting some rest, guys."

By the time Yue reaches the docking bay, Kestrel already has Cheshire pinned to the ground and a gun pointed at her. Artemis, with her sister's sai in her hands, leaps at the mercenary and Yue has no choice but to tackle her friend out of the air to keep her cover. They both roll across the floor of the docking bay until Yue presses the archer's arms against the ground and glances over her shoulder at Kestrel, "I've got one!"

Kestrel looks over at her, taken by surprise at her sudden entrance, and Cheshire swings her legs up to swipe at the man's feet. He falls to the ground in a matter of seconds and Cheshire, after kicking his gun across the room, rolls away from him. She hastily collects her remaining sai off the floor and points it in his direction as he reaches behind him for his bo-staff.

"I know it's personal for Kaldur, but why did you take the mission?" Artemis asks, her voice lowered into a whisper only Yue can hear, as she flips them over so that their positions are reversed. She pins Yue's hands to the ground, preventing her from gaining the upper-hand as Cheshire and Kestrel continue to fight behind them.

"You know me, I can never say no to my brother," Yue answers in a hushed tone, her lips curling into a smile. It wasn't far from the truth because Dick asked and she said yes. She always does when it comes to him. But there was another reason, too. "His next choice was you, you know," she admits, "and I didn't want you to come back, Arty. Not when you finally got away from all this."

Artemis blinks in surprise, "You did all this for me?"

"Stop toying with her!" Kestrel shouts, "Finish it!"

"Have I ever said I hate my dad?' Yue rolls her eyes, then lays her head flat against the tiled ground beneath her. "Sorry about this, by the way."

"Sorry about–?" Before Artemis can finish her sentence, Yue's head jerks forward to headbutt hers and she raises her legs to kick upward, knocking the archer away just enough so that she can sit up and tackle her onto the ground.

With one knee against Artemis' chest, pinning her to the ground, Yue reaches for the sai that had been kicked across the room during Cheshire's fight with Kestrel. She slowly lifts it above her head, pretending to prepare for the final strike. "M'gann!" She calls out.

"Incoming!" M'gann announces. She phases through the ceiling and, with a simple wave of her hand, Yue is lifted away from Artemis and thrown in Kestrel's direction. The two of them hit the wall and are kept there by M'gann's powers as she floats toward them.

"I'll finish them," Cheshire states as she walks over.

"Sorry, no," M'gann refuses, her eyes flicking from Cheshire to Yue and Victor. "I've been dreaming of my revenge for weeks." When Cheshire lets out a sigh, the Martian rolls her eyes. "Don't push your luck, Cheshire. You're lucky I'm even letting you get away."

"Fine," Cheshire spits, turning away from the three of them as Artemis passes her the re-breather and wetsuit she had used to board the submarine. "We're gone."

When the two sisters disappear behind the closed door of the airlock, M'gann turns back to Yue and Victor with a smirk. "Now, let's see what fun I can have with you two."

Behind her, Victor chuckles. "Yes, let's." He opens his closed fist and drops three beads that roll across the floor, exploding beneath M'gann and sending the Martian flying across the room. Her powers weaken for a moment and, as Yue and Victor drop to the ground, the mercenary rises back to his feet and starts running for her. "See? Wasn't that just fun?"

"M'gann, get out before he captures you again!" Yue warns through the mind-link.

"Right, right." M'gann's tone is light, lighter than it had been in the month since she was first kidnapped and brought aboard the submarine – and if it wasn't for their current situation, Yue would've smiled at that fact. "And sorry."

"What?" Her brows furrow as she stands back up.

M'gann floats up off the ground, her eyes glowing as she stretches her hand in Victor's direction. In the blink of an eye, he's thrown back against Yue, and the Martian phases through the floor beneath them to escape.

With a huff, Yue pushes her father off of herself and climbs back onto her feet. Her eyes scan over the empty docking bay in triumph. M'gann and Artemis have escaped, Kaldur is cured, and with the control room destroyed, taking all video footage with it, no one would ever know she had been the one to release M'gann.

She's safe.

Two weeks after the rescue mission, two weeks after Kaldur regained his strength and revealed his well-being to his father, he was taken to Black Manta's office to meet with members of The Light. The Manta-Submarine was docked somewhere along the coastline for repairs and The Light, ever eager and hungry to see their goals through after a month of delays, were waiting on call to hear updates of Kaldur's condition since his miraculous recovery.

Yue stands guard outside of the office, her back to the door and her hands behind her as she diligently observes the empty corridor. A bandage has been wrapped around the cut on her forearm, and her red mask hangs loosely around her neck.

She can just faintly hear Kaldur and Manta's voices from behind the closed door, not that it matters, Kaldur will inform her of any discoveries after the meeting is over and together they'll formulate a way to relay that information back to Nightwing. For now, she just has to remain patient.

Her eyes flick to the right-end of the corridor as footsteps begin to approach. Victor turns around the corner, his cowl pushed back over his head to keep his face revealed as he walks straight toward her. "Cardinal," he greets.

She nods respectfully in return. "How are the repairs?" She inquires.

"Slow," he answers. "Not only has the enemy escaped, but all security footage from their attack has been destroyed along with the control room." His voice is cold and deliberate, and Yue tries to keep her expression neutral as he stares down at her with an icy look so familiar it takes her back to her childhood. "You were in the control room during the attack, care to explain how they got past you?"

Her heart pounds in her chest. "You called me back to Kaldur's room," she reminds him. "Surely his life, his recovery, is more important than the Martian's escape."

"Of course." Victor nods. "It's just intriguing, isn't it? Sportsmaster's daughters knew exactly where to attack to free Miss Martian, almost like they had some inside help."

Yue's pulse quickens. "What are you implying?"

His blue eyes narrowed momentarily. "I'm implying that someone with intimate knowledge of our operation might've tipped off the enemy. Someone who knew exactly where to strike to ensure the Martian's escape."

"You think there's a traitor on the inside?" She questions, trying to deflect suspicion. This isn't good, she thinks. She had, before Artemis and Cheshire interfered with the plan, expected to be found and killed for releasing M'gann. She had prepared herself for the possibility, but Cheshire destroyed the control room and took out any proof of her betrayal, and she had thought she was in the clear.

She underestimated Victor.

"That's one explanation. Either our security has been infiltrated since before the attack, or the Martian somehow mind-controlled somebody on the inside to release her when the time was right," he says. "You spent the most time with her, did you notice anything suspicious?"

A chill runs down her spine as his gaze remains unwavering. "If I did, I never would've let her near Kaldur's mind or my own," she says. "But if there's anything else I can do to help you investigate, let me know. I want to get to the bottom of this just as much as you."

"Of course." Victor's lips curl into a faint smirk. "I'm sure you do."

She knows his words are a warning. But before either of them can say anything else, the door of Black Manta's office opens behind her. Yue steps to the side, bowing her head slightly as Manta and his son exit the room.

"Cardinal. Kestrel." Black Manta looks between the two of them. "Is there any news?"

Victor glances at Yue, then back to Manta with a shake of his head. "Not yet, sir. We'll have to remain docked for the next couple of days at least to complete the repairs," he informs their leader.

"Perfect." Despite the statement, Black Manta huffed out a sigh at the mention of delays. "It gives the three of you time to carry out your next mission."

AUTHOR'S NOTES.

   ✶     Artemis is back in the game, Victor is onto Yue, and we have three chapters left until Act Two is finished. This has been an insane ride, and I can't wait to share the next few chapters with everybody. Especially considering I was stuck on the next one "Chapter Thirty-Seven" for two months, before finally finishing it last week.

   ✶     I'm also half-way through writing Act Three. The brainrot for Yue and Wally has been that bad that I wrote out seven chapters for act three before actually completing the next one for act two. But hey, it's over now so I'm free from act two and can finally pour attention into the next act.

   ✶     But to conclude my yapping, I just want to announce that I have published another Young Justice fanfic "Nightglow" for Dick Grayson. Featuring a Green Lantern oc.