( MADELAINE PRINCE )

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃. she was tired of nearly dying, she was tired of being treated like a child and she was tired of being away from her mum. 

green arrow places a bowl of pretzels on the table. wally has both his elbows on the table and is resting his chin on his crossed wrists. madelaine sat besides the boy and had her head resting against his shoulder, artemis sat on the same side of the table as them, leaning her right elbow on the table as her head rests in her hand. conner stands opposite of green arrow defensive in his body posture, but the worry is clear on his face. m'gann sits across from artemis, looking expectantly at the hero clearly mirroring the boy wonder who sits beside her.

"thanks, but no thanks." wally says harshly, green arrow backed off instantly.

"yeah, what we want are answers," robin points out, looking to wally and madelaine as his only other means of support since kaldur is not sitting with them. the redhead sits up straighter causing madelaine to lift her head, following the boy wonder's trail of thought before they both turn towards the blonde hero. "about red tornado and his siblings."

nothing shows on green arrows face, he doesn't even flinch.

"exactly." wally snarks, though it loses some of its heat as he sees green arrow reach for the bowl and start to walk away with it. he doesn't even manage to fully turn around before wally's hands are around the bowl, taking it back. "leave the bowl." he murmurs quietly, taking a handful of pretzels into his hand and eating them.

conner keeps his back mostly to the team, green arrow and black canary. he changes his attention to aqualad and batman, who stand on the far side of the room. their conversation only noticeable by the fact that kaldur's mouth is moving.

conner, however, can hear all of it now that he's paying attention. "it was during the taipei mission with red arrow, sports master revealed the possibility of a mole within the team." the team Leader informs the dark knight. "in light of last night's attack, red tornado would appear to be the traitor. but whether he betrayed us willingly or was pre-programmed is still-"

"you knew?!" conner shouts from across the room. everyone turning to the source of the sound. kaldur barely has time to recognize who spoke before superboy launches himself at him. putting his super strength to good use. "that android and his maniac family nearly killed m'gann and mads!" 

m'gann flies over, confused. "conner, what are you doing?"

"kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said nothing!" the kryptonian teen snarls.

"you knew?" robin questions, betrayal clear in his voice.

"and didn't tell us?" kid speaks so closely behind robin that it's hard to tell if they're just that in sync or it was actually meant to be two separate questions.

"we almost died!" madelaine yells out after wally as she stood to her feet, betrayal, anger and hurt all behind her violet eyes which glowed.

"i sought to protect the team from-" kaldur only looks to conner as he speaks.

"sought to protect us from what?" artemis finally speaks up and she's just as mad as robin, madelaine and wally. "knowledge that might've saved our lives?"

conner turns to a mostly silent m'gann. "you and madelaine almost died." she doesn't say anything but looks shaken nonetheless.

"enough." batman gets the instantaneous respect he demands. everyone turns towards him and narrowing his eyes is all it takes for conner to release his hold on kaldur's straps.

"with red tornado... missing the team will now be overseen by rotation supervisors. captain marvel has volunteered to take the first shift."

the mountain of a man, in a red and gold super suit, with a white cape over his left shoulder, face completely unobstructed to show off his blue eyes and slicked back black hair, stands taller the dark knight as he stands beside him. "i'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys." he says simply, a small smile coming over his features.

wally, madelaine, robin, artemis, and m'gann share a look behind a still tense conner and kaldur.

the clone turns to the leader, speaking in a low snarl. "after I dismantle red tornado, you and I are gonna-"

batman started walking the second conner looked away, clearly knowing what the teen(s) was thinking as he unabashedly cuts him off. "red tornado is a member of the justice league. that makes him a league responsibility. you will leave him to us." no one says anything so he turns and calls up a holoscreen of a newspaper article. "i have another assignment for this team."

NEWS OF THE PLANET newspaper

gorilla trades bananas for bullets is the main headline.

"gotham mayor attacked by guerilla gorilla?" wally reads the scepticism is clear in his voice.

"was this the only thing he could find to distract us?" conner asks telepathically.

"batman, please!" robin begs. "tell me you're not sending us on this joke of a wild ape chase."

"you're treating us like kids" madelaine continues on after robin, after the day she's had she either wanted the right respect she deserved or to sleep it all off.

"I never joke about the mission." the dark knight gives his protégé and madelaine no room to try to argue. "i've checked the sources." he continues. "i've studied the patterns. mayor hills' encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents." he turns to the eldest. aqualad, you and your team will depart for india and check this out."

aqualad nods, and the team is already walking towards the bioship's hanger. wally stops in front of the atlantean, making a small noise of disagreement. "your team." he taunts before madelaine grabs his wrist and pulls him forward.

kaldur watches the entire team walk away with a determined look in his eyes.

conner, artemis, and m'gann head into the bioship, sphere coming up quickly behind conner, who is the last one in line. conner turns towards sphere, holding out his hand. "uh-uh. go." he points back inside the mountain.

sphere whirs and beeps before heading back, coming under a flying captain marvel.

"you're coming with?" robin asks sceptically as he, madelaine and wally head towards the ship.

"sure!" the hero says brightly. "we'll have a blast."

"translation: he blames us for red fiasco." he mutters, turning to wally and mads. kaldur walks by. "he doesn't trust us."

wally realizes robin is looking past him and turns to face aqualad. "it's a big club." he remarks darkly. both of them heading into the bioship without so much as a word from kaldur.

madelaine stays standing where she is before sending kaldur a disappointed look "i thought you trusted us kaldur" and with that she was off.

the team leader looks offended for barely half a second before determination sets in again.

———

the camouflaged bioship flies over the darkened landscape. before it even lands the bottom opens to let robin and artemis belay out as a unit. landing almost silently, before releasing the handles and pulling out a pair of birdarangs and nocking an arrow before they head out to secure the perimeter.

the bioship lands behind them and the door opens. letting captain marvel, aqualad, and kid out.

robin and artemis come back as superboy lands behind aqualad, madelaine and miss martian close behind him.

"all clear." robin informs.

aqualad's gear switches with a tap. "switch to stealth," m'gann is the only one that does as he turns to face them. "and we'll review mission parameters."

"parameters?" kid asks, copying madelaine as she changes her suits colours. "we don't need no stinkin' parameters."

robin is quick to agree. "it's recon, we know what to do." with that the two of them turn and head into the jungle, pausing for a moment turning to grab madelaine and pull her forward.

the girl was mad at kaldur but more betrayed than anything, so she'd let the two boys drag her around to prove their anger.

"kid , robin, mystique" kaldur tries.

robin turns back instantly. "the four of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from us." robin points out harshly.

"or did you forget that like you forgot to tell us about the mole?" kid asks both sarcastic and rhetorical as he puts his goggles on.

the two take off, wally carrying madelaine, and captain marvel looks both disappointed and angry at kaldur's lack of a response to it. not that the atlantean could see it with his back to the hero.

kid, madelaine and robin make their way through a thicker part of the jungle. the towering canopy hiding the large shadows flying in the moonlight above them.

"don't you guys think we're being a bit harsh?" madelaine asks as she walks in between robin and wally, both boys sulking to themselves.

"no!" they both said simultaneously making madelaine throw her hands up in defence, wally speaking up again "how are you not mad? you almost died?"

the girl turnt her head quickly to make sure no one was close enough before gesturing both boys closer "when i passed out.. i saw my mom" 

wally and robin pulling back, the redhead giving her a confused look well robin only frowned. he had no clue about where her mother was and how she saw her. through all the months they'd known eachother it was as if parents were an off limits topic for madelaine.

"she told me i couldn't stay with her and i think it's because of her that i even woke up" robin gave the girl a soft smile well wally's hand instinctively linked with hers at his side.

a caw caught the kids attention watching as three vultures screech and dive at them. they barely miss the claws that are nearly as long as the youngest boy's forearm. wally and madelaine take the lead in the clearing.

"i thought vultures only ate dead meat." robin shouts, throwing an exploding birdarang before following. though the device did nothing to even slow them down.

"yeah, these are some very proactive scavengers." kid gripes as they all duck under the claws.

"proactive and super-sized. you thinking what I'm thinking?" robin asks easily.

"kobra-venom?" he, madelaine and robin barely split in time to avoid being caught. "yeah."

.:.

"mads, go!" wally yells as he stops in his tracks waiting for the girl to take flight, her nodding her head before doing exactly that

kid has to use his superspeed to evade the other three, running up a tree and bouncing between the two of them to turn himself into a pinball to knock one the birds out.

it crashes to the ground not far from where wally manages to catch a vine and swing to safety.

———

madelaine and wally had found robin again, the three of them keeping a low cover in the forest not wanting to be attacked by vultures again.

"listen, please..." kaldur's voice enters madelaine's mind , both kid and robin visibly tense also hearing his voice in their head again. clearly disapproving of his presence.

"oh good, aqualad's voice in my head." wally thinks sarcastically, but his face is defeated. "i've so missed that."

as a stark contrast, robin is surprisingly upbeat with his news. "hey, kaldur! kid, mads and I were attacked by giant vultures. 'course, since we're moles, you probably think we attacked ourselves."

"if he did, he wouldn't tell you." artemis quips as she buckles her quiver back on, resting on one of the logs.

"superboy, are you online, or just pouting?" miss m asks curiously, though the edge is clear.

conner grunts through the link, fighting off the giant white wold. " busy. call back later." he barely manages to think as he tries to pry a wolf's teeth from his shoulder.

though a slight slip in his grip, due to trying to respond, gives the wolf time to sink in further and throw him across the clearing and into a large rock.

kaldur walks through the vines to where a trap like what a tiger and captain marvel were captured in has already been sprung. "what gets me is how nonchalant he is about not telling us." kid flash gripes.

"he should be chalant. way chalant. extremely chalant!" robin agrees easily.

kaldur is barely listening to them as he sees two tracks in the ground from the trap.

"how are we supposed to be a team if he doesn't trust us with his secrets?" artemis asks.

"or if conner doesn't expect us to take care of ourselves?" m'gann follows artemis' train of thought, though a little too far.

"did he really think you or i or even mads could've been the mole?" kid asks robin, though clearly keeping kaldur and everyone else in on the question on purpose.

"we've known each other for years!" robin agrees.

"and even if not, you should've trusted us" madelaine also thinks, as the fact that she'd only known kaldur, wally, artemis and conner for a shorter amount of time than the others hits her.

"trust is a two-way street!" artemis pipes up, clearly realizing the dig the boys just made at her and m'gann.

"and you'd know they'd hate it if we kept secrets from them!" m'gann snaps.

kaldur is beginning to lose his patience with the constant arguing in his head.

"not that we'd ever do that. never." artemis gripes.

finally kaldur's restraint snaps. "enough!" that was all he needed to get their attention, but rips one of the pylons from its base, watching as the electricity crackles in the darkness, but nothing else happens. "captain marvel has been captured. and we must act as a team to save him!"

"heh. under your leadership?" kid questions, his expression mostly deadpanned, though he and robin clearly share in the sentiment of betrayal, despite his sarcastic tone. "i don't think s-"

"this is not up for debate!" kaldur snaps, both robin, mads and kf's eyes go wide at the sudden switch from the atlantean's normal demeanor. on top of the fact that insulting his leadership is the last thing you should do since nothing else seemed to set him off. "you all chose me to lead." m'gann and artemis share a look. "when this mission is over," kaldur looks over the tech in his hands "if you wish to select a new leader I will happily step down." robin and kid look down, ashamed.

madelaine's guilt beginning to grow largely, kaldur was their best option at being a leader. the rest of them were either too childish or just didn't connect with everyone like kaldur did.

"but until that time, I am in command here." kaldur throws down the pylon with a grunt, heading off in the direction the trails lead, for once the link is silent.

———

robin moves through the tall brush up the sharp hill from the building that the captain is being held in. kid flash slowly comes up behind him, sliding on his goggles and turning on the infrared.

up in the tree behind the boys, miss martian's camouflaged form lands beside madelaine. they looks to her right to see artemis and aqualad slowly making their way down the hill, the blonde nocking an arrow. the only one missing is conner.

m'gann looks over the open space before the structure, noticeably empty. "i'll fly over." she offers.

"negatory." kid says sharply. "the shield extends like a dome over the whole compound."

"pylons are insulated," robin remarks, looking at his holoscreen "but one good shock could cause a momentary gap."

"i see a target." artemis has her eyes set on a large red button in the outside wall.

then be ready to hit it. be ready, all of you." robin and kid share a small look, with both their eyes covered the true extent of their emotions is hard to see, but they are both frowning.

aqualad runs up to the nearest pylon, stopping less than two feet away before his tattoos begin to glow and he pushes the electricity into the shield.

kid is watching the shield's integrity through his infrared and when he sees a small gap form over aqualad's head he doesn't waste time. "now!"

artemis releases her arrow and it flies through the gap and hits her target right on.

the panel beeps and kaldur pulls back the electricity as the shield deactivates. then waves the rest of them forward.

kid races towards him, m'gann lands while still camouflaged, but as robin makes his way out of the brush his eyes go wide. seeing a howler monkey sitting on the roof, it has been watching them. he gets a sharp look at its enhanced size and the collar around its neck before it lets out a howl.

the two older boys jolt in surprise, just before the actual alarms turn on and an entire pack of howlers charges at the team.

a howler monkey screeches as it jumps at kaldur, who has both his waterbearers shaped like maces. the atlantean takes a sharp swing at the monkey, knocking it several feet away. when the monkey stops skidding he gets a good look at the familiar collar around its neck.

his eyes narrow as the monkey prepares to jump. moving first, but to put his weapons away, the monkey jumps at him, but he catches it by the shoulders and slams it to the ground, his tattoos still glowing. when the monkey turns to try and bite him, kaldur rips the collar off.

the monkey looks confused for a few moments before scurrying away.

kaldur stands tall, looking to his team. "remove their collars!"

madelaine finally flies from her spot in the tree as a monkey the same size as her leaps to latch onto her back, the animal clawing at her face as she shook as much as possible trying to throw it off.

the girl lets her body fill with energy before feeling a wave of energy leave her body, the monkey being thrown back into the ground. a shot of energy leaving her finger at the animals neck before the collar malfunctions and breaks falling off.

robin, while struggling with two that is nearly as big as he is, grumbles. "sounds easy when he says it."

artemis kicks the one closest to her, away, before pulling out an arrow and nocking it. taking out the two attacking robin. the collars fall off with a small spark, and robin stays defensive as the two monkeys look around before running away.

he turns towards artemis, where two more drop down behind her. instead of saying anything he throws two disks, taking out their collars. she yelps when they get close to her, but has enough time to see them scatter to know what he did.

mallah makes his appearance, coming out with another machine gun. he growls and sniffs as m'gann tries to sneak back him in camouflage. just as she makes it through the doorway, he grabs her by the shoulder and throws her into the dirt. knocking her unconscious.

mallah goes to grab her again when kid speeds in. "get your paws off her, you darn dirty ape." his voice a far angier growl than he's ever been before. he goes to shoulder check the gorilla, but the enhanced animal turns so that kid bounces off his massive chest.

"you're not taking my brain." marvel says sharply, as a container full of water comes out from the wall by his head